Pretsy

Wow.

"ZETSUBOOOUUURGGH" *pinch harmonics ensue*
 
People must be pretty naive to believe that this *is not* a DOGMA leftover (it is really)

Ulver's album Shadows of the Sun has helped me through some really difficult times, so it holds a special place for me.
 

It's probably my favorite LS track. :') Can't get over those guitar riffs and Ryuichi's vocals.

As a small update: they are half-active atm so that might explain it (having this "DEATH MASK" moniker once again and performing older songs once in a while, god knows how long it will last)
 
Regarding me and my reasons for necroing: the fact that I converted our fellow Stallion into this Kuroyume fandom made me realize the beauty behind Romance of Scarlet. Holy motherheck, I feel so bad for my earlier me and my questionable dislike towards that album, so many Shin gems...christ.
 

 
So beautifully eerie, unf

Hue hue

I am not really sure if I would call all of  their first albums as " masterpieces" xD but let's give it a roll once again:
 
1. MOTHER (very obvious choice - Zess summed it up well when he described its unusual, brilliant cohesion (each song feels like it's in own right place))
2. IMAGE (even with ultra-goofy songs a la IN MIND (it's not bad but weirdly unfitting context-wise) it has this nice "dark" vibe around it)
3. EDEN (would have been okay if last songs showed much more effort instead of being, well, "post-punk pop leftovers" as mr. grumpy Gordon from jrocknyc would have put it)
4. Self-titled (Rerec is way too clean and the original, while packing a huge punch of awesome live songs, has this annoying Extasy mastering value I cannot get over anymore)
5. STYLE (I usually snore during "FOREEBA AN EEBBAA", but otherwise - very commercialized rendition of MOTHER...a follow-up but oh well, I liked lives anyway)
6. LUNACY (Packs some good punches, e.g. Virgin Mary, White Out, KISS, FEEL, 4:00AM (awesome trip-hop experiment), but yeah, your good ol' LS in its palatable form...)
7. SHINE (read my statements @earlier comment and add BREATHE (<3)...way too palatable)
8. A WILL (nothing remarkable nor interesting if you are very familiar with their earlier output)
 
phew.

If you guys listen to MY WAY MY LOVE, then the songs that Yukio writes are REALLY apparent, haha. This is great. Excited for the album!  

Well, even though SHINE is the album of theirs that I like the least, I still think it's a great album. But then again they are pretty damn awesome. Songs like SHINE, STORM andTIME HAS COME are beyond amazing.
My personal ranking of their album would be:
 
1. EDEN
2. IMAGE
3. MOTHER
4. LUNA SEA
5. STYLE
6. A WILL
7. Lunacy
8. SHINE
 
1-4 are all masterpieces. 

it is announced at cali≠gari live "cali≠gari シリーズ "街" 本八幡発狂" Motoyawata ROUTE14 at 2015/11/07 that their new mini album (title not yet finalized) is planned to be released in 2016, although details have not yet been announced
 
 
btw they will hold their live tour since Yokohama BAY HALL at 2016/04/23 and up to EX THEATER ROPPONGI at 2016/06/24
 

A Serbian Film sucks, and that comes from someone deep into all kinds of exploitation film. Didn't have any impact on me whatsoever as I felt it tried way too hard to be shocking. "Let's take everything that's awful and press it into one film. That'll be cool and shocking, bro.". No, it won't. That's not how you make a shocker anymore. It's also way too polished and well-made for its own good IMO. 3/10, boring.
 
I'd rather watch Martyrs, Audition, À l'intérieur, Irréversible or some other classics if I want something shocking, because these films has a lot more going on. The terrorizing, dark and disturbing atmosphere and feeling in these films are amazing. It's a lot more than just some graphic shit like A Serbian Crap. Mmmmmh!

Serbian Film.
 
...
 
Jesusmotherfuckingchrist.

Serbian Film.
 
...
 
Jesusmotherfuckingchrist.

Serbian Film.
 
...
 
Jesusmotherfuckingchrist.

this rating music nerd talk is so SEXY

For me, Zankyo Records is a personal favorite and just a lovely, lovely label for J-indie fans in general. They operate in the realms of "indie-rock", post-rock, math-rock, and even the mildly experimental. 9mm parabellum bullet got their start here before they went major, same as cinema staff. Other fantastic acts on the roster include ハイスイノナサ, te', mudy on the 昨晩, 3nd, COgeNdshE, and more. Even their overseas artist roster is impressive with bands like Maps & Atlases, Tubelord, Rolo Tomassi, 65daysofstatic, and Memory Map!

I also love PROGRESSIVE FOrM - absolutely brilliant Electronic label with an amazing roster! AOKI takamasa, Ametsub, Gesikia!, mergrim, m-koda, LLLL, and the list goes on. Basically, your wet dream of Japanese IDM artists. On a similar note, flau is somewhat close in sound, but with more of a focus on ambient, dream-pop, and modern classical. They're not necessarily a favorite, but they have some great acts like cokiyu, aus, and cuushe. Interestingly, geskia seems to have a residency here too.

stiffslack is just a fantastic label for Japanese emo and math-rock - akutagawa, LITE, low-pass, MIRROR, PLAY DEAD SEASON, bed, climd the mind. And for non-Japanese bands, they've got This town needs guns, enemies, Football, Etc.

kiti is a great, small label for J-indie-folk artists. mmm(ミーマイモー), Kenichi Fumoto, Kyoko Mimura, Sachie Hiraga, and Nohtenkigengo. And along the same lines, cgcg (鳥獣虫魚) publishes a lot of CD and CD-Rs for the same, and similar folk artists.
 
Also, does anyone know if SPACE SHOWER MUSIC is an actual label or just a record company with many sub-labels? Or is it some kind of distribution type deal? Lot of good artists/bands connected there.

THE NOVEMBERS? With fitz and me on the team, you already know bruh. And yeah, I was super pleased with the piqnic, it might even be one of my favorites from this year. I'm glad that @Zeus wrote about it, because I surely would have if he hadn't! Major thanks to @Jigsaw9 for recommending that one!
And yeah, you did cross my mind with the title of that NETWORKS song, haha.
 
 

I wouldn't say that you're alone in your sentiments, as both of Enon's acts have been featured several times in BNT this year, by different contributors. For me personally, Enon seems to be hit or miss, and while I think he's had an overwhelming amount of hits this year, the latest single just didn't grab me as much as the others before it. Still looking forward to his work, though since I agree, he has only gotten better!
 
 

No, thank you for contributing! THE NOVEMBERS were on the light-ish side this year, but I'd certainly recommend you give the piqnic a go too. And no worries, you can always contribute something new this month!
 

Really glad you enjoyed this! I don't think it's a release I could listen to that often, but certainly good background/study music!
 

ahaha, feel free to vote for as many as you'd like! Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad we were able to recommend some nice tunes for ya.
and yeah, it was tough for me to find a standout on 'Elegance' because it works so well as a whole!
@@fitear1590 - That Chanty track is really nice. Those faux-emo screams REALLY remind me of something you'd hear in 9mm parabellum bullet or cinema staff. Such crossover appeal indeed!
Also really glad you wrote about DIV, that was a good one. Would I be wrong to say that it kinda reminds me of girugamesh at times? I meant that in a good way, of course!
@ @doombox - hearing your picks just really make me miss the good ol plug.dj days, before the drama and the site itself kinda ruined things. 'endercore' lives on, though! Crystal Lake is nice, despite not being my usual taste.
@ @beni - really happy to see you wrote about VELTPUNCH. The track you chose is especially good. It's great that they're still around and still rocking!

All 5 options are all either neutral or negative? Autotune can be great - Believe is still, almost 20 years on, one of the best club songs produced. Farrah Abraham's album was unironically one of the best albums of the year, due to her outsider artesque attempt at using it. Blanket statements about it being cheap/lazy are themselves intellectually lazy.

^ What I've meant is that at this age and decade people should really give up on overstating their hatred (yeah, not dislike - hatred) for trends that will most likely pop up and stay with us for a little bit longer. Feel free to be indifferent or show your dislike, but hatred (your statements make it seem so)?
 
Also: Mucc example is vocoded. Same goes for that Teen Hearts MV ("electronic" effect (vocoder) vs. notes adjusted to the closest, correct pitch (autotune)).
 
P.s. autotune =/= vocoder (just because it USES a phase vocoder doesn't make it a "vocoder")

If it fits the genre/style of a certain song, then why not? (emphasizing the latter since it sometimes works for non-electronic numbers too)
 
"Burn it with fire" statements are too naive for this decade tbqh

^ What I've meant is that at this age and decade people should really give up on overstating their hatred (yeah, not dislike - hatred) for trends that will most likely pop up and stay with us for a little bit longer. Feel free to be indifferent or show your dislike, but hatred (your statements make it seem so)?
 
Also: Mucc example is vocoded. Same goes for that Teen Hearts MV ("electronic" effect (vocoder) vs. notes adjusted to the closest, correct pitch (autotune)).
 
P.s. autotune =/= vocoder (just because it USES a phase vocoder doesn't make it a "vocoder")

Seems like Kyo is not ready to give up on his leatherboi look...
 
(kinky!)

This is kind of a hard topic for me to say, either way. Lately I've been feeling some disconnect from the scene, but more on the side of the fans than the actual music. For quite some time, I felt like I was pretty "in-tune" with a majority of the fans and that we'd agree on many opinions about bands. Lately though, it seems like so many bands that everyone would have been "meh" about, they're gushing over instead and it just leaves me wondering why. Obviously people will like what they like, of course, and there's nothing wrong with that.
 
I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping that I'm just in some sort of lull at the moment, since I really do appreciate the scene... I mean I've been part of it for over 12 years now, which is definitely long enough to say that it's had a HUGE lasting impact on my life(for better or worse lol). I think in general for me, I just get "exhausted" with music sometimes. Having to rip 300+ CDs a month for my store can get so exhausting sometimes that I find myself just sitting in silence more often than not. I think that sometimes people need to step away from the scene for a little while and kinda... decompress and go back into it with a fresh point of view, since being surrounded constantly by so many mediocre bands can sort of overwhelm you and mask all of the great bands that still exist.