Pretsy

her new digital singles "花束を君に" "真夏の通り雨" will be available for download since 2016/04/15

Tfw you cannot tell some generic K-pop artist and Halsey apart:
 

The point what I was going to make regarding your comment in general is the fact that Japan has been upright trying to revise the whole idea of being another nationalist, annexing and massacring regime and call it all "false", is the main contributor to all the anti-Japan bias that has been spread throughout specific Chinese channels, media outlets and whatnot. Do you seriously expect Chinese media and/or people to lay their arms down after a long period of Japan's WWII denial? Germany as a case in point went for further lengths to issue apology for any kind of misdeed during WWII whereas Japan went for bringing up strong anti-Chinese (and prolly anti-Korean) messages instead.
 
Trust me - if someone had such a tragedy, and the person or side responsible for such deed just disregards or denies the whole matter despite the sufficient evidence for DECADES and beyond...I wouldn't blame the constant campaign against such deniers. History is a very serious matter, and "Yeah let's just forget it we cool k" won't really do it. Not to mention that not only China, but Singapore and many others are eagerly waiting when Japanese officials or at least public media goes for further lengths to express honest apologies.
 
So to the topic: they can freely attend their Yasukuni ceremonies as long as they are ready to go for these mentioned "lengths" to discuss this significant, historical matter with all the sides concerned - and no, "hurr commie China gon' take us" won't just do: propaganda war hysteria is not an excuse for not discussing and eventually issuing an apology, or the apologies (since there's more).

uh

Yus.

The fact that so many Monochrome-Heaven posters still name Tokage as “the greatest or most significant or most influential” poster ever only tells you how far posting still is from becoming a serious art. Literary critics have long recognized that the greatest posters of all times are Demon Android and Trombe, who were not the most famous or richest or best sellers of their times, let alone of all times. Art critics rank the highly controversial CAT5 over posters who were highly popular on forums around Europe. Meme critics are still blinded by commercial success. Tokage posted more than anyone else (not true, by the way), therefore he must have been the greatest. Literary critics grow up reading a lot of posts of the past, art critics grow up watching a lot of CAT5 posts in the shoutbox. Meme critics are often totally ignorant of the ironic shitposting of the past, they barely know the best sellers. No wonder they will think that Tokage posted anything worthy of being saved.

Yus.

Yus.

The point what I was going to make regarding your comment in general is the fact that Japan has been upright trying to revise the whole idea of being another nationalist, annexing and massacring regime and call it all "false", is the main contributor to all the anti-Japan bias that has been spread throughout specific Chinese channels, media outlets and whatnot. Do you seriously expect Chinese media and/or people to lay their arms down after a long period of Japan's WWII denial? Germany as a case in point went for further lengths to issue apology for any kind of misdeed during WWII whereas Japan went for bringing up strong anti-Chinese (and prolly anti-Korean) messages instead.
 
Trust me - if someone had such a tragedy, and the person or side responsible for such deed just disregards or denies the whole matter despite the sufficient evidence for DECADES and beyond...I wouldn't blame the constant campaign against such deniers. History is a very serious matter, and "Yeah let's just forget it we cool k" won't really do it. Not to mention that not only China, but Singapore and many others are eagerly waiting when Japanese officials or at least public media goes for further lengths to express honest apologies.
 
So to the topic: they can freely attend their Yasukuni ceremonies as long as they are ready to go for these mentioned "lengths" to discuss this significant, historical matter with all the sides concerned - and no, "hurr commie China gon' take us" won't just do: propaganda war hysteria is not an excuse for not discussing and eventually issuing an apology, or the apologies (since there's more).

The point what I was going to make regarding your comment in general is the fact that Japan has been upright trying to revise the whole idea of being another nationalist, annexing and massacring regime and call it all "false", is the main contributor to all the anti-Japan bias that has been spread throughout specific Chinese channels, media outlets and whatnot. Do you seriously expect Chinese media and/or people to lay their arms down after a long period of Japan's WWII denial? Germany as a case in point went for further lengths to issue apology for any kind of misdeed during WWII whereas Japan went for bringing up strong anti-Chinese (and prolly anti-Korean) messages instead.
 
Trust me - if someone had such a tragedy, and the person or side responsible for such deed just disregards or denies the whole matter despite the sufficient evidence for DECADES and beyond...I wouldn't blame the constant campaign against such deniers. History is a very serious matter, and "Yeah let's just forget it we cool k" won't really do it. Not to mention that not only China, but Singapore and many others are eagerly waiting when Japanese officials or at least public media goes for further lengths to express honest apologies.
 
So to the topic: they can freely attend their Yasukuni ceremonies as long as they are ready to go for these mentioned "lengths" to discuss this significant, historical matter with all the sides concerned - and no, "hurr commie China gon' take us" won't just do: propaganda war hysteria is not an excuse for not discussing and eventually issuing an apology, or the apologies (since there's more).

The point what I was going to make regarding your comment in general is the fact that Japan has been upright trying to revise the whole idea of being another nationalist, annexing and massacring regime and call it all "false", is the main contributor to all the anti-Japan bias that has been spread throughout specific Chinese channels, media outlets and whatnot. Do you seriously expect Chinese media and/or people to lay their arms down after a long period of Japan's WWII denial? Germany as a case in point went for further lengths to issue apology for any kind of misdeed during WWII whereas Japan went for bringing up strong anti-Chinese (and prolly anti-Korean) messages instead.
 
Trust me - if someone had such a tragedy, and the person or side responsible for such deed just disregards or denies the whole matter despite the sufficient evidence for DECADES and beyond...I wouldn't blame the constant campaign against such deniers. History is a very serious matter, and "Yeah let's just forget it we cool k" won't really do it. Not to mention that not only China, but Singapore and many others are eagerly waiting when Japanese officials or at least public media goes for further lengths to express honest apologies.
 
So to the topic: they can freely attend their Yasukuni ceremonies as long as they are ready to go for these mentioned "lengths" to discuss this significant, historical matter with all the sides concerned - and no, "hurr commie China gon' take us" won't just do: propaganda war hysteria is not an excuse for not discussing and eventually issuing an apology, or the apologies (since there's more).

You do know that current and earlier Japanese establishment NEVER issued any kind of apology - merely 'grief' for their deeds in WWII (incl. rape of Nanking etc.)? As much as sensationalist newspapers would go for instant anti-Japanese campaign, you cannot blame them or others for feeling really bad about military symbols being worshiped and spilling dirty rumors/slandering on them until Japan formally and publicly issues a huge apology. Germany did that, so why couldn't Japanese officials either?
 
As much as I'd be a Japanophile, I feel quite bad for Japanese selfishness about "hurr we were the only victims"-reasoning, just saying.

The new Iggy Pop album was a pretty good one, I agree! Not top-notch material for me, but nice and enjoyable.

Alrightey:
 
Esperanza Spalding - Emily's D+Evolution
 
Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression
 
Underworld - Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future
 
The last prominent highlight of mine is...(drumroll)
 
 
Honorable ones:
 
Silent Siren - S
SHISHAMO - SHISHAMO 3
Akasick - Rinrin Fruits
Akai Kouen - Junjo Randoseru
Yakushimaru Experiment - Flying Tentacles (LOL?!)

I hope more people will participate than last time (thank you, @beni XD), since this was a pretty cool/busy month imo.
 
The 'rules', in case anyone forgot:
 
 
Let's get started!
 

MUNIMUNI - A KILLS A / You can't believe how much I waited for this release (well, any new release by them xD), and it sure delivered. Maybe I'm just biased, but this definitely touches AOTY territory for me, even if it's just a short EP of sorts. MUNIMUNI continue on the path of blurring early '80s goth rock and post-punk tendencies with a dark and obscure visual kei flair, wearing their influences on their sleeves. Great tunes, awesome atmosphere.
 

Cobalt - Slow Forever / One of my friends turned me onto these guys at the beginning of the year, so my hype for the new album wasn't all that huge, but I guess it would be similar for an old listener like me with MUNIMUNI: this new (double) album dropped after 7 years of silence! What a gargantuan, monolithic beast! Mixing black metal, progessive traits and just general extreme aggression, Cobalt forge some ungodly aural behemoths. Not an easy record.
 

Domo Genesis - Genesis / First full-length from the Odd Future dude, after a handful of mixtapes that didn't really grab my attention. I stumbled upon the music video totally by accident, but it dragged me in HARD. What a delicious funky tune! The rest of the album isn't too far behind in terms of grooviness, nor quality. Top-notch productions, some cool raps, and overall nice chillin' feeling. Perfect accompaniment to warm spring/summer afternoons and nights.
 
 
Honorable mentions
 
ギャロ (THE GALLO) - DIAVOLO / Typical gallo kei, only this time it's even better! Can't complain.
Guerrilla Toss - Eraser Stargazer / Totally crazy and funky noise-pop that fans of Melt-Banana and Afrirampo would dig.
Church of Misery - And Then There Were None... / Not as remarkable as their last effort, but solid nevertheless. Doom on!

Patrik is saying one thing and doing the exact opposite later (i.e. denouncing "pesky neo-vk ideals" and basically adopting them full-on years after) - why am I not surprised atm?
 
 
 
 
 
edit: just show up already, Patrik.

they've been flopping in shitty internet band limbo since I was like in 6th grade RESPECT 

I have some thoughts regarding elitism that I thought might be relevant here.
From my perspective, I've come across what I'd personally categorize as two different kinds of elitists. The main thing separating these two would be their motivations.
The first type of elitist I like to call the "psuedo-elitist". For me, this is the most common type. This type of elitist is driven by insecurity. They feel the need to bash and criticize any and everything they don't like in an effort to validate their own tastes. Some of them also make it their mission to learn as much about music as possible and to listen to all of the "objective" music classics - which is nice, but they don't do it for the sake of the knowledge alone - they do it so they can feel like they have a leg up on others. Some of this type are actually really knowledgeable, but unfortunately, they wield that knowledge from an unbalanced place and use it to boost their egos instead of shedding light in a healthy fashion. More often than not, they also lack individuality because they're constantly looking outside of themselves for validation instead allowing themselves to trust and appreciate their own, unique music taste. Most of this kind aren't even aware of themselves, so they end up coming off as assholes - or just looking like clowns to those who can see through them. They're usually troublesome to talk music with because they're too wrapped up in their own egos to properly perform the dance that is conversation.
The second type of elitist probably doesn't even personally identify with the term "elitist" and you'd probably never catch these guys referring to themselves as such. They have discerning tastes and they may be super knowledgeable about music, but they are self-validated and don't look outwards to "objective" standards - they define their own taste, they come up with their own ideas about music, and they completely OWN however they feel about music, regardless of anyone else's opinion. These people understand subjectivity and that their perspective is really not "elite" at all. They're able to seamlessly interface with music fans of all kinds. They're pleasant to talk to because they're more interested in exchanging perspectives, as opposed to trying to force their own opinion on others or prove that their opinion is somehow "right".
Thankfully, the first type can become the second type later on if they wish. I definitely went through a "pseudo-elitist" phase when I was younger, which I'm glad I grew out of.

Isn't that pro-war imagery?
Off the top of my head, R-shitei and Gossip have also used the military flag. R-shitei's song, Gyokusai melancholy, is (I think) about a kamikaze pilot going off to kill himself for his country, and it always struck me as being critical of Japan's military practices. If I am correct, they're using it ironically to make a point, not trying to glorify it.
 
Or I could be wrong and these VK bands really admire Japan's military past. Which would be concerning, considering my family's history with Japanese troops, but it doesn't stop me from enjoying the music. *shrug*

Who is pretzy though?
 

 
 
 
Mysteries and dank meme gifs aside, the idea is that people are too sensitive and aggressive about opposite opinions in general and ordinary discussions become way too restricted consequently, y'know.
 
---
 
Off-topic, but it seems like AKB48 has got Koreans raging about their unintentionally "offensive" anti-war imagery - i.e. utilizing 'rising sun' flags, symbolism, tanks, Yasukuni worship etc. Do you guys think VK bands are to blame as well for (ab)using "unintentional nationalist/military imagery, symbolism and paraphrases" in their art and practice? Since this kind of fad didn't really fade away AFAIK.
 
E.g. MERRY's nationalist gimmicks throughout their career.

Who is pretzy though?
 

 
 
 
Mysteries and dank meme gifs aside, the idea is that people are too sensitive and aggressive about opposite opinions in general and ordinary discussions become way too restricted consequently, y'know.
 
---
 
Off-topic, but it seems like AKB48 has got Koreans raging about their unintentionally "offensive" anti-war imagery - i.e. utilizing 'rising sun' flags, symbolism, tanks, Yasukuni worship etc. Do you guys think VK bands are to blame as well for (ab)using "unintentional nationalist/military imagery, symbolism and paraphrases" in their art and practice? Since this kind of fad didn't really fade away AFAIK.
 
E.g. MERRY's nationalist gimmicks throughout their career.