Pretsy

All I can think of right now, and the location is Paris. Yet another pv by EllDorado at the same location lol
 

has made a "location-centered PV thread" earlier, except that the focus point was more on the most popular spots. After a good chitchat with Amoz and Panda I decided it'd be good
to make a thread about unusual PV locations in BOTH VK AND non-VK
 
You know the drill already, hm? Feel free to either mention or post PVs with locations that you find quite atypical to the said scene or so on (so abolish those castle kei PVs, please...or okay j/k, nevermind)
 
I highly doubt that my threads would really garner attention but it'd be really fun and intriguing to see how many "exotic spots" we could name and such, my examples:
 
Negicco - Hikari no Spur (location: Lapland // Rovaniemi, Finland, thx Amoz!)
 
Guniw Tools - baby's one do (location: somewhere in Nepal)
 
Luna Sea - Mother (location: Ireland)
 
La'cryma Christi - Nangoku (location: Palau - ps. this band had like tons of exotic spots in their PVs. e.g. Venice in their Dwellers-era...)
 
Vamps - Angel Trip (location: Thailand (?))
 
etc. etc.
 
Feel free to share some of yours!

has made a "location-centered PV thread" earlier, except that the focus point was more on the most popular spots. After a good chitchat with Amoz and Panda I decided it'd be good
to make a thread about unusual PV locations in BOTH VK AND non-VK
 
You know the drill already, hm? Feel free to either mention or post PVs with locations that you find quite atypical to the said scene or so on (so abolish those castle kei PVs, please...or okay j/k, nevermind)
 
I highly doubt that my threads would really garner attention but it'd be really fun and intriguing to see how many "exotic spots" we could name and such, my examples:
 
Negicco - Hikari no Spur (location: Lapland // Rovaniemi, Finland, thx Amoz!)
 
Guniw Tools - baby's one do (location: somewhere in Nepal)
 
Luna Sea - Mother (location: Ireland)
 
La'cryma Christi - Nangoku (location: Palau - ps. this band had like tons of exotic spots in their PVs. e.g. Venice in their Dwellers-era...)
 
Vamps - Angel Trip (location: Thailand (?))
 
etc. etc.
 
Feel free to share some of yours!

I'll definitely need to check GAGLE and Ovall.
 
I'm not too good with writing "reviews", but I'll try to write something about my favorite J-hip hop artist:
 
THA BLUE HERB

TBH comes from Sapporo and was formed in 1997. Consisting of 3 members: Boss The MC aka ILL-BOSSTINO (MC), DJ ONO (Trackmaker, used to be live DJ) and DJ DYE (live DJ, joined in 1999). ILL-BOSSTINO's lyrics are poetic and powerful with strong message performed with good flow and presence. He also has other projects which are more club oriented (HERBEST MOON (dub, house), JAPANESE SYNCHRO SYSTEM (techno, house)). DJ ONO is an excellent track maker with often quite metallic, machine like sound. He has also released solo works.
 

I want to see that 烏有の空 performance so much.

They might be a bit too pop for this thread, but I love Shounannokaze. They're goofy, yes, but their voices all have so much personality and their lives look like so much fun.
 
I can't listen to Suirenka without smiling.

Good idea, prz! Lots of cool stuff has come out of the "J-urban" sphere (aka Japanese ppl making traditionally "black" genres), so I'm glad to see that we have a place to discuss this area of music now!
I tend to shy away from the mainstream side of things, and not only because I've hipster-ish tendencies. I just think a good bit of it tends feel caricature-ish - like the Japanese's understanding of the music is blatantly shallow, and comes off as a cheap imitation as opposed to a reinterpretation or an assimilation of the style. Granted, there's a lot of great mainstream J-urban (and crap indie stuff) - I just feel like there's a greater level of understanding and music done in earnest coming out of the indie/underground world.
 

Never really tried misia, but vocally she reminds me of Bird - but better. Still need to try that one m-flo album you recommended.
 

I never really tried Ken Hirai's music either, but that 2nd song definitely sounds like he belongs in this thread. @herpes might know better?
 

ahaha, this beat is a blantant ripoff of Mary J. Blige's "Real Love" smh
This kind of thing tends to happen quite often in Japan. Do you think they consider this a kind of homage to the originals or are the producers just being lazy and sneaky lol? I'm inclined to believe the latter, but I'm open to believing the beat culture over there might be different.
As for some of the artists I enjoy? Here are a few:
GAGLE

 
These guys have been around since 1996 and i'd consider them a must-hear for anyone digging into J-hip hop. Their sound is very traditional/boom-bap type hip-hop. MC Hunger is imo, one of the best Japanese rappers to ever do it. Firstly, he understands how to flow properly over a beat (which seems to be a big problem for Japanese rappers), his lyrics are thoughtful, and his delivery is always compelling, without being abrasive - you can tell he means what he raps. DJ mitsu the beats is an excellent producer too - one of the finest I've heard out of Japan.
Ovall

Since this band has relations to GAGLE, and even released a collab album with them in 2012, i figured I'd talk about them next. From left to right in the pic, the band is mabanua (drums, and sometimes vocals), Shingo Sekiguchi (guitar), and Shingo Suzuki (bass/keyboard). They describe themselves as a "spiritual jazz/hip-hop " band and for me they're like an unheralded supergroup. All 3 of these guys are producers, with mabanua and shingo suzuki being especially into beatmaking. Mabanua has produced for and worked with a ton of artists, both abroad and in Japan - from yoko kanno, CHARA, daoko, izumi makura, ohashitrio, nakano pierre of ling tosite sigure, and more. He also has his own solo albums, which are in a similar vein to ovall's music. Sekiguchi and Suzuki both have their own music projects as well. Ovall is super smooth overall, with instrumental tracks, mabanua singing on a few tracks, and guest vocalists/rappers on others. In the spoiler are the trailers for 2 of their albums:
Hanah Spring (Hanah)

Continuing the collaborative trend, this woman has worked with Ovall as well. She originally appeared on a major label under the sole name "Hanah", creating *mostly* mundane pop-r&b, but she has now resurfaced as "Hanah Spring" on an indie label called pirates records. I'm not sure what happened (perhaps the label dropped her), but whatever it is, I'm glad a change was made. Her music under "Hanah Spring" is much more viable. She's taken on a more organic, slightly jazz-tinged approach and has actually managed to make some legit "neo-soul" music, which is difficult to come by in Japan. She's spent some time in the U.S. and has opened for acts touring Japan like Erykah Badu, The Roots, Brian McKnight, and Musiq Soulchild - so that may or may not have influenced her style. Her voice is fantastic, although I prefer it when she sings in Japanese, as i'm quite picky about Engrish.
I will stop at 3 because this post is getting too big, but I will be back to add more artists and discuss further!

~J-URBAN THREAD~
 
So WTF is "J-urban music"?
 
J-urban is basically an umbrella term for Japanese r'n'b, hip hop, soul, reggae, rap and related genres.
And as most already realized already, we never really managed to think of a thread that would cover this separate "scene" or "department" of the J-music - not to mention that I can already see a few
users who would be really glad to contribute at least a bit - or get familiar with a vast variety of major AND even indie urban artists.
 
The idea of this thread is contributing-wise free-for-all as with those J-pop/J-indie threads - but make sure to post commentaries as well rather than spam one hell of a  crazy series of YT embeds  (I'd really recommend to spoiler such links while posting, mmkay?)
 
So let's "get on"
 
Examples:
 
Anything related to Exile and their umbrella groups in the "softer" department:
 
m-flo (before they went EDM)
 
May J
 
Ken Hirai (kinda?)
 
MISIA
 
And so on
 
Feel free to contribute/talk about your current and new favs!
 
 
You know the drill already so go go go!

~J-URBAN THREAD~
 
So WTF is "J-urban music"?
 
J-urban is basically an umbrella term for Japanese r'n'b, hip hop, soul, reggae, rap and related genres.
And as most already realized already, we never really managed to think of a thread that would cover this separate "scene" or "department" of the J-music - not to mention that I can already see a few
users who would be really glad to contribute at least a bit - or get familiar with a vast variety of major AND even indie urban artists.
 
The idea of this thread is contributing-wise free-for-all as with those J-pop/J-indie threads - but make sure to post commentaries as well rather than spam one hell of a  crazy series of YT embeds  (I'd really recommend to spoiler such links while posting, mmkay?)
 
So let's "get on"
 
Examples:
 
Anything related to Exile and their umbrella groups in the "softer" department:
 
m-flo (before they went EDM)
 
May J
 
Ken Hirai (kinda?)
 
MISIA
 
And so on
 
Feel free to contribute/talk about your current and new favs!
 
 
You know the drill already so go go go!

~J-URBAN THREAD~
 
So WTF is "J-urban music"?
 
J-urban is basically an umbrella term for Japanese r'n'b, hip hop, soul, reggae, rap and related genres.
And as most already realized already, we never really managed to think of a thread that would cover this separate "scene" or "department" of the J-music - not to mention that I can already see a few
users who would be really glad to contribute at least a bit - or get familiar with a vast variety of major AND even indie urban artists.
 
The idea of this thread is contributing-wise free-for-all as with those J-pop/J-indie threads - but make sure to post commentaries as well rather than spam one hell of a  crazy series of YT embeds  (I'd really recommend to spoiler such links while posting, mmkay?)
 
So let's "get on"
 
Examples:
 
Anything related to Exile and their umbrella groups in the "softer" department:
 
m-flo (before they went EDM)
 
May J
 
Ken Hirai (kinda?)
 
MISIA
 
And so on
 
Feel free to contribute/talk about your current and new favs!
 
 
You know the drill already so go go go!

#tentacles 
 
Tekken goes Hentai with the new Yoshimitsu.

 
Harada's gonna have some problems with Warframe imo. Gotta love the look anyway.   

 
 
 

I see '#triggered' as a prelude to your user pic XD
 
HWRARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! *planet explodes*

Agreed; I think it just had more variety, thus a better flow.
 
It also has Agony, which I barely ever mention
 
Oh, and CHIZURU!

omg thevideo
 

Hey guys! As some of you know, I've been working on some music with a fellow MH member.
 
I present to you "Zero One Complex!" 
 
Long story short, we're a Hard rock duo who draws influence from many different genre's/ bands as well as life experiences. We just released our first single "Core", which can be streamed/downloaded here: (https://soundcloud.com/zero-one-complex/core)
 
We'd greatly appreciate it if you guys gave us a listen. If you enjoyed the song, please give our page (https://www.facebook.com/zero.one.complex?fref=ts) a like, and feel free to share and download the song.
 
We have more coming soon!
 
And of course, you guys can post how you feel here!

Have some music you'd like to talk about, but not quite sure where to post about it? Then this thread is for you! This topic will be used for the discussion of all of the genres and artists that don't have enough fans here to warrant threads of their own. Feel free to use this thread to talk about any music that you feel wouldn't fit into existing topics or probably don't have enough fans to deserve it's own topic. Old or new, it doesn't matter.
-
I guess I'll kick things off.
I'm really excited for some of the modern/"neo"-soul releases coming out. The new Hiatus Kaiyote album "Choose Your Weapon" just dropped this month and it's brilliant, though a bit lengthy @ 18 tracks. Still among the best records I've heard this year so far.

Some great tracks from the album:
Lianne la Havas just released the music video for "unstoppable" - from her upcoming 2nd album "Blood", set to be released on July 31st. It's sounding super lovely so far. I hope she hasn't ditched the guitar entirely - either way, I have extremely high hopes for this record.


Bilal is dropping a new album called "In Another Life" in June, and a new track from it is now streamable via NPR:

 

http://www.npr.org/2015/05/12/406162374/songs-we-love-bilal-satellites?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nprmusic&utm_term=music&utm_content=20150512
It sounds dope so far, but knowing Bilal, the album will likely veer off into the left field somewhere. Looking forward to it, though!

Same. 420 blaze it, etc.

They do have guts to basically copy DOGMA's trailer. 'Mini alubum' though.

LMAO @ this dramatic budget-GazettE-DOGMA-teaser realness
 
I'm intrigued tho.

Another rushed release with hardly a break after their last flop, sigh.

K