Pretsy

inartistic sure knows how to keep the suspense :v

well yeah & if accompanying PV is not gonna feature band members twerking I'm gonna be disappointed 4 real

where's STRAIGHT OUTTA OSAKA?

I guess this is the closest thing to ling tosite sigure collaborating with 9mm that I'll ever get, haha.

(bolded) this is what I meant really though (in my country it's way too low tbqh - except if you dabble around with gardening for private matters etc.)
 
But seeing as the average hourly wage for part-timers in Japan (according to Nikkei BP) is about 973 Yen (approx. 9,5 USD  + AKS themselves said they are going to follow the normal "Baito" etiquette in this case)  - I can't say much about this...

But he was already pretty clear about it. It's not a cover, it's the same recordings he said.
 
 
Normally I would suspect that some random seller on Yahoo wanted to make some money and just faked the tape. But Kisaki's official site confirms the cover and tracklist and it's pretty weird in itself that the tracklist is 2/3 of the Nude-of-J tape. Which is another thing, the Nude-of-J tape has 3 tracks, so it's not just that the tape somehow ended up in the wrong case, someone must have gone through the trouble to copy over those 2 songs specifically.
 
 
Aaaaand there's more. I recently got the mp3s for another purported early Kisaki band, SHEY≠DE, via trade. It was later brought to my attention that they were probably fake. Fake files can happen in trades, although my source was usually a very realible one. One of the tapes I got is also on Kisaki's homepage, this one:
 
http://kisaki-official.syncl.jp/?p=shop&id=530032&af=
 
So, I showed my files to another japanese guy I know who's very knowledgable about old vk stuff, he said the tape I got was actually by a band called INSANITY.
 
And here's where it gets interesting.
 
Upon googling a bit I found this old auction where somebody was selling that old INSANITY tape: http://aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/w80588066/
 
The tracklist is slightly different, but look at the cover! It's the same as on Kisakis page, except that one is red!
 
 
For comparison:
 

瑠璃の雫 by SHEY≠DE
 
1. insanity
2. XXXXX
3. 夢遊病者
 
 

Unnamed tape by INSANITY
 
1. 恋模様
2. Desert Labyrinth
3. 瑠璃の雫
 
The first song on the SHEY≠DE tape has been altered with the name of the actual band (!), and the second one has been replaced with xxxxx (!!). The third song of the INSANITY tape was used as title for the SHEY≠DE tape (!!!). Now that's creative! But hey, at least he came up with a COMPLETLY NEW fake name for the 3rd song this time. And he re-colored the cover in Photoshop. That's gotta be worth something, right?
 
The INSANITY tape was sold for 1000 Yen btw. The seller could have asked for a lot more for a SHEY≠DE tape, so there's no reason whatsoever for him to fake a SHEY≠DE tape into an INSANITY tape.
 
 
At first I thought I was spoofed by a tricky trader. But there seems to be more to it. So after the dubious LAYBIAL and Levia tapes.... make it three.

Inb4 MGS5 theme song...
 
just kidding!

Dudes behind Usher and Janet's hits are now doing Miyavi?
 
...eeh.

Artist: Femme Fatale Album: Gladsheim -Blanche- and Gladsheim -Noir- Score: Not quite femme or fatale. Just a very rough and unpolished effort.
Femme Fatale is the newest band of the season to show up on my radar. Once Femme Fatale was announced and a release date for their first two releases was given, a lot of eyes have been on them. It's not everyday that Kaya decides to start a band and many visual kei fans kept their eye on them to see if they could deliver. I know I sure did and I'm not a fan of Kaya in the first place. The PV for Freya showed a promising start for a new band with a few obvious flaws that needed to be fixed, but I figured that both Gladsheim minis would have that sorted out and could be pretty legendary releases if they played their hand right. So after seeing how Kaya would operate in this band via the aforementioned PV, I came to see if I could create a space in my music rotation for a new, potentially promising visual kei band.

These two minis are far from legendary. In fact, this is pretty average and disappointing that this is the best Kaya could muster given the amount of time I've waited. As a relative newcomer to Kaya, I don't quite understand why so many people love him. Sure, he has great vocal control and a nice voice but for the majority of the first mini album he sang in an unflinchingly consistent baritone voice. I can tell that there's range he's refusing to use and when a band allows the vocalist to take center stage and he doesn't shine the result is confusion and disappointment. The subpar production quality does no favors either. The drums don't sound quite right, the tone of the guitar doesn't hold up when the band wants to get more aggressive, and the more melodic numbers are a gigantic snoozefest. But there are some good qualities here if a listener is willing to stick through it. I'll cover Blanche first, then Noir. The score above is the average.

Blanche reflects the "Femme" side of the band and has a majority of the slower tracks. Like it's brother, Noir, it starts off with Walhalla. It's an intro track reminiscent of Kaya's solo project. It doesn't reflect the style of the band at all but it's the second most interesting track on Blanche and that raised a few red flags for me. The other is the ending track, The Fatal Day, where the band kicks it up a notch and tries to get aggressive. The flat production betrays the guitar timbre and the tone of the drumming is annoying, but it's the one track from Blanche that I remember liking. I'll count my blessings since there are no ill harsh vocals and the attempt at trying to do something interesting makes it the best track on Blanche. Afterglow, L'oiseau Bleu, and Luftschloss all follow after Walhalla and are coated with a nice film of boredom. They sound like one long song with only two interesting parts. The first is the nice solo in L'oiseau Bleu, which shocked me out of my complacency with the feedback that starts it off. The second is the last minute of Luftschloss, when Kaya puts some power into his vocals. I don't remember anything about Afterglow other than Kaya's vocal melody during the chorus. Other than that, this was a very rocky introduction to Femme Fatale.

Thankfully, Noir doesn't follow in the same footsteps. Reflecting the "Fatale" side of the band, these four tracks eclipse anything on Blanche. Anyone looking into this band should start here first. Digitalis sounds like a second attempt at The Fatal Day and it (along with the next four tracks) shares a lot of the same issues. However, it undulates during it's runtime. The song has clearly defined parts that work together and the aggression and energy they put into the song eclipses any of the issues I had with it. Babel starts out even more aggressive with hints of black metal poking thorugh with those half-assed blast beats. Even the guitarist is moving at a faster speed and the piano in the background is a nice touch that doesn't backfire. There's an interlude here where Kaya gets to shine before the song turns up again, but it's eclipsed by the tracks that come after it. Crimson Nail and Salome is the Femme Fatale formula perfected. There's nice bass presence, nice atmospheric presence, and the aggression is turned down just enough for the melody to be viable. The Kaya freakout halfway through Crimson Nail is the definitive moment of both mini albums and is pretty awesome in that throwback 90's way. Salome has a less creepy but just as interesting opening. It features some derpy gang vocals but it's the most straightforward rock track and ends the album on a high note.

So was the hype deserved? Not really. I would not think that Kaya and aggressive metal would work together better than Kaya and mid-tempo rock tracks, but Femme Fatale proved me wrong. They are a diamond in the rough for sure and need time to grow into their own. There are also some issues that need to be fixed before I can consider them a top tier band, but I do look forward to seeing what becomes of them.

(鴉)
Alamaailman vasarat

 
+ those acts you know already etc.

Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana

 
Welcome back to my back-to-the-past reviewing! This time I am going to give a spin to one of my biggest favorites from Ringo Shiina (and in music in general), "Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana" - or more familiarly along us, Ringo fanboys/girls, "KZK". The album itself was always used as a definitive introduction (for many, many years!) to anyone interested in giving lovely ms. Shiina a try - no matter what kind of music or culture you were into. Since new people here aren't really clueful about so-called "goals of reviewing" in MH, I can tell something: reviews aren't just "puny writing" - the rest is up to you to figure out.
 
Rambling aside (again), ~lazy PRZ is getting lazy~ - so let's explore track-by-track-wise (I bolded my favorites, JIC):
 
1. Shuukyou
 
People might get scared of the intro due to sudden strings climax, but everything after soothes and gets the listener along with an interesting, culture-clashing mix of avant-garde-ish instruments 
(something in the vein of John Zorn I think?) and orchestra. And of course I have to note Ringo's beautiful, almost requiem-y singing - gotta adore her moody vox during mellotron parts. You've gotta give it to
Shiina if you want to make a good starting number for your concept album - or the hell, for your "definitive album". PS. those who bothered to try out mixtapes might have noticed Zess using this as an introductory song in his "first" mixtape - hope this entices you...
 
2. Doppelganger
 
Imagine a decent orchestra-backed, french ballad-like number warping into d'n'b-like psychedelia in various parts - that's probably my best description for "Doppelganger" which belongs to one of the simplest pieces (yet still, quite weird to those not used to works outside mainstream music comfort). A decent piece - not much to say from my part.
 
3. Meisai
 
Oriental noir meets gipsy-like number with various samples (the whole album is filled with interesting/odd samples/noises though - let's call this trait as "KZK-ing" for now), and ofc - Ringo's lovely, seductive singing supporting the absinthe & opium-scented mood. Got to admit that this feels like a fast-paced Klezmer piece to me, which is always welcomed when it comes to "far-out genres in Japanese music".I have a thing for songs with strong emphasis on themes and such, so yeah - definitely a fav!
 
4. Odaiji ni
 
Calm, piano-driven ballad with Ringo's sensitive high-key singing - a good breather after a roller-coaster trio we had earlier. And all of this ofc supported by familiar, albeit vague "KZK-ing" - a la partial guitar soloing and radio speech etc. "Odaiji" works well in the context, but lacks much to be considered as a sole song or so - decent-ish, I think?
 
5. Yattsuke Shigoto
 
Once we get over TV announcement sounds, radio-ish recording of intro and vacuum cleaner (yes, vacuum cleaner!), we get to the almost upbeat, orchestral version of something what was quite very fast-paced and grungey (ZCS version). Props to the rhythmic accompaniment and Shiina keeping up the spirit of the original, somewhat. Let's not forget the harpsichord either - since hey, it's always welcome! *cough*Malice Mizer*cough*. But either way, 
If you want a more "accessible" and less "weird" number off KZK, give this one try - it's not really avant-garde-y, but sure it is unique in one way or another.
 
6. Kuki
 
Considered to be one of her classics - and probably even as one of her "definitive songs". Gloomy-ish, orchestral piece with memorizable, easy-to-hum-along melody - with its own climaxes and odd "culture clashes" instrument-wise (ever wanted to hear Koto and Klezmer fiddle in the same song? Here ya go), will be sure to get many people (no matter what kind of "musical orientation" you have) enjoying the song at its fullest. Kudos to greatness of classics!
 
7. Torikoshi Kurou
 
One of the prime "KZK-ing" examples - beatboxing, cornet, kalimba, whistling, shamisen, melodica, comic horror-like "ooh" chants etc. This song is quite fun to jam along to, despite its otherwise 
very simple structure - and very short length (approx 2 and a half minutes, wow). 
 
8. Okonomi De
 
Those familiar with Shiina's work acknowledge the fact that she has a thing for "title symmetry" in her various albums - and KZK ain't an exception when it comes to this. What would be an otherwise "stroll around and sing in the rain"-like song, this has a lot more potential than its older counterparts (think of possible songs off 50s-60s, which fit my description) - "KZK-ing" almost everywhere, very beautiful climax...Unlike
its symmetrical coupling, "Odaiji", "Okonomi" has much "it" to end up as a solid song outside KZK too!
 
9. Ishiki
 
Didgeridoo and some bass notes leading up to jazz/blues-like number without much "stereotypical" emphasis on former-mentioned genres (thanks, bamboo flute). You've gotta give the drum/bass shred break a good listen, though - one of the KZK "tidbits", YES! I have not much to say about Ringo herself - the vocal melody is perhaps not amusing me that much, nor getting me along? I don't know. Arrangement saved the song though.
 
10. Poltergeist
 
"Edith-Piaf-meets-haunted-waltz-dance-hall" - and yet still, my description still does no honor to gems of KZK. Title really fits the fleeting mood of this song, and Shiina helps to keep the mood thanks to her
almost obvious French chanson-y influences. Apply my compliments towards "Meisai" to this as well.
 
11. Souretsu
 
Grande finale of KZK, interestingly named "Souretsu" ("Funeral") carries on with certain traits we heard in Shuukyou (hurdy-gurdy, koto, sitar, emphasized orchestra backups), but freshness is still retained.
Eerieness grows by each second - and minute, and thus - we end up in what we could actually call as "avant-garde" in KZK. Imagine if Shuukyou was followed up with a nightmare-like finale with organs and
backup band causing audible havoc for almost a minute...yes, definitive example of a fantastic, earthshaking finale, YES!!!!!!!!/Pretsy going mad due to lack of sophisticated compliments/
 
 |  Pros: "intrepid experimentation" and "KZK-ing" , cons: "Odaiji" is not impressing much and "Torikoshi" is too short (that's all)
 
Post-rating conclusion: some songs are hard to chew on - no matter whether they dwell inside or outside KZK's context, yes - but once you give it a proper, more "fearless" listen...you will realize that genre limitations are not going to stop you from at least admiring the album. Trust me - even if I might sound biased all the time - you will totally miss out, if you just let this classic (various music mags back from the day share my thought too) go. What about me? I am adoring - and in fact, thanking this album for making me pay proper attention to what I really enjoy, or enjoyed in my favorite music for many years - intrepid experimentation and honest ways of expressing yourself. As a last reminder, don't let my not-so-serious nitpicking distract you
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

cleans 7/10 - his vocals remind me of more controlled Daisuke (Kagerou's Daisuke, yes), but other than that - nothing really amusing :/
 

note: this guy is
's (no, not that supergroup) vocalist/guitarist btw, and no - he doesn't have any solo releases so far (only these "self-covers" @YT) 

I scored a 23.
 
Tetora and I are clearly the winners here. 

the bands i like are breaking up therefore the scene is breaking up

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenji_Ito

The concert heavily features videos from their Gauze era, including clips from the PVs of the songs they're playing. Always careful to avoid shots of the bandmembers, though. The only time they actually showed old band footage (during MASK) the bandmembers faces were all censored out. As intro they are using the Gauze -mode of adam- music and the video for it. 
 
It showed that its been a while since they performed many of these songs, now that I re-evaluate a bit, I'm not sure if the band actually felt "bored" about any of the tracks, but rather weren't used to it, because the delivery on the new song was also a little bit stiff. I'll report again a bit later in the tour to see if this has passed by then. 
 
Kyo were struggling with some microphone issues early in the concert but it was resolved during raison detre.
 
Info on the new track:
New song starts off with a atmospheric short intro with acoustic guitar, then goes into a complex and pretty rapid exchange between heavy tremolo picking reminiscient of black metal mixed with some punk-esque stuff and some short phases of more DSS sounds and also sections that sounds quite Gauze-y with clean guitars. Has a decently short guitar solo. There's no harsh vocals at all in the song. It's roughly three minutes long.
 
First impression is that they tried to squeeze a little too much stuff into a too short timeframe, but I'm sure it'll grow on me during the tour, the guitarwork is some of the best they've done so far, I like how its more riffing (BM style) than chugging.

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/dir-en-grey/2014/shinkiba-studio-coast-tokyo-japan-6bce9a42.html
 
OMG.

they're gonna spend 2015-2017 releasing this tours documentaries alone tbh

I'll try to give some kind of report of the show they're playing tomorrow after I get back.

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/dir-en-grey/2014/shinkiba-studio-coast-tokyo-japan-6bce9a42.html
 
OMG.

That's not a Japanese-only thing though. Just look at Toddlers & Tiaras and/or the whole child beauty pageant scene as a whole.

D - 7th Rose [2010]

 



 

fuck why am I doing this to myself

 

Okay so the first installation in this trainwreck series will be the one album I wasn't able to shut up about for approximately 2 years and I hereby want to apologize to all of you. I had to listen to this at nighttime and stay up until 4AM because it's goddamn hot outside and people are actually being hospitalized. I couldn't move a fucking muscle without sweating from all possible locations. FUCKING GLOBAL WARMING KIDS.

 

I'm listening to my own Lossless rip, fully formatted for the best torture listening experience. ANYWAY, HERE WE FUCKING GO. ALSO LOL WHAT IS FORMATTING.

 

1. 7th Rose ~Return to Zero~

Okay so basically just an interlude leading up to the actual title track of this album. Not sure if this is a build up to hype you up or to have the holy spirit protect you from the monstrosity following this interlude. Pope Francis/10

 

2. 7th Rose

Jesus fuck. Asagi's either suffering from sincere bronchitis or the main avex guy was ill and hired Maria Cross to do the retake on the harsh vocals, who probably just was like "well at least it sounds better than whatever I do" and gave it the thumbs up. The harsh vocals are atrocious and I have absolutely no idea why anyone in D thought this was a good idea. This entire fucking song is a mess because literally NOTHING adds up and everyone's just heavily ramming around on their instruments while Asagi sounds like he just shat a lego garage. The good thing about this song is that the chorus is actually good and it isn't poppy, which has been a trend lately. Then again this album was released before MEJIBRAY even formed so idfk. But whatever, I fucking love this song anyway. Holy shit why do I still like this, probably nostalgia/10

 

3. 花摘みの乙女 ～Rozova Dolina～

A wild studio formatted synth string appeared! Always love me some of those. D, you were major at this point in time, couldn't you hire a guy to do the actual recording of these strings I mean holy shit. Apart from that this song is actually pretty fucking cool. Asagi's dramatic vocals are actually placed really well, the accoustic work is perfectly executed and everything just sounds fantastic. If only it weren't for the synth strings/10

 

4. Tightrope

This song somehow relates to some other D or ASAGI solo song but all I remember from this was that PV that included dogs and Asagi being chained to a wall with ropes and singing about freedom.

 



 

Tightrope was actually the song I expected to really hate by now but fuck it's really catchy. Since I'm more of an individual song kind of person I'm sort of glad I gave this one a fair relisten. Everything else that somehow slightly sounds like this sucks. I actually really enjoy something for once/10

 

5. Crimson Fish

This is the song with the most individual plays according to iTunes. Then again, "according to iTunes" my most played track is a song that I haven't even played like 10 times so yeah iTunes fucking sucks. Apart from the fucking horrible synth strings and the misplaced echo-y intro, this song is actually still really good? Holy shit. This song still fucking rules/10

 



 

6. Independent Queen

Obligatory heavier middle song comes in right at the middle point of this album and it's really not that surprising. Welcome to fucking VK, kids. OBLIGATORY GUITAR SOLO RUINS EVERYTHING. Does D have a fucking contract that obliges them to put a fucking guitar solo in every song even if it doesn't need one. Obligatory Engrish as well, lovely. Eh this song is whatever, I can't even be bothered to make semi-decent comments about it. I'M INDEPENDENT QUEEN/10

 

7. 13月の夢見丘

The year doesn't have 13 months, that's fucking silly. What are they teaching kids in schools these days.

 



 

Folky song of the album that I actually really like because it's so overly fucking cheesy. The synth strings don't really sound that horrendous here so who fucking cares. My review, my opinion. Sort of want to skip through a field now/10

 

8. Day by Day

Day by Day is, I don't know what it is. It's an okay poppy song I guess but why the fuck is it on this album. It's placed at the worst fucking place too, right in the middle of where this album is starting to bloom. It's like someone finally being able to buy that car they always wanted and then accidently setting it on fire. This is leaving aside that Toki no Koe is going to fucking kill anything good going on until this part though. Why was this necessary/10

 

9. 絡繰り絵巻

Could've done without the heavy bits. Starts of good, then gets progressively worse. It's like eating a Subway sandwich when halfway through the lettuce starts to get gross and sulky because the fucktard who made your sandwich put three fucking bottles of ranch sauce on your sandwich. That's how this song feels to me. Overall it's still good, I just wish I could take some bits out. Subway needs to use less ranch sauce/10

 

10. 鬨の声

This is where I can unleash all my inner fury because this album was actually going really well up until this monstrosity. I HONESTLY THOUGHT THE ALBUM FLOW WAS GOING TO BE PICKED UP AGAIN AFTER DAY BY DAY AND THEN THIS FUCKING HAPPENS.

 



 

Who the fuck approved this. These 5 guys sat around a table and thought "well this sounds good enough to print on disc". Multiple avex guys could've fucking approved this. The harsh vocals are once again fucking atrocious. The instrumentals are awful, this song is too long for the kind of song it tries to be. The obligatory guitar solo is actually the best part here, for the rest it's as big a train wreck as this current review. Hope burned before my eyes/10

 



 

11. Sleeping Beautiful Beast

Thank fucking god for a decent ballad. This is what I'm talking about. Is there software that deletes certain tracks from discs because that's what I'd like to do to Toki no Koe. Sleeping Beautiful Beast would be even better placed after Karakuri Emaki (or whatever the fuck it's called). This review could've been called "Toki no Koe ruins everything". Pretty fucking good/10

 

12. 三日月揺籃歌

Outro sort of thing? Idk sounds pretty good to me though it would've been better to end with Sleeping Beautiful Beast because this sounds more of an intro than an outro to me. UNLESS IT'S LIKE AN INTRO TO 7TH ROSE. BUT DIDN'T THAT ONE ALREADY HAVE AN INTRO THOUGH.

 



 

Actually sort of yes. Depends on which version of the album you have. If you have type A and B it's pretty neat. If you have type C this one doesn't make any fucking sense. GOOD OLD VK STRIKES AGAIN. Depends on which version you have/10

 

13. 風がめくる頁

BONUS TRACK DESU. Okay this song is nice and it works as an outro but not this sort of outro. It's a goddamn single on an album that's nothing similar to it, why the fuck is it even on here. Like I know this one's at least optional but jesus. Liking it more when it's not a fucking closer/10

 

---------

 

FINAL VERDICT TIME

 

VERDICT OF 16-YEAR OLD ME:

VERDICT OF 21-YEAR OLD ME:

 

For the amount of hate this album gets by fans of the band, it's actually really good. I still consider it their best major album, because it really just is a good record. Toki no Koe is like the only thing that really makes you cringe on here, that's basically it.

 

DO I WANT TO PUNCH MY YOUNGER SELF IN THE THROAT FOR LOVING THIS?

 

NO

 

Alright, that's it I'm fucking done. I'll be keeping how many times i want to punch myself in the throat for liking what I did. So far that score's on zero, HA.

 



 

NEXT TIME ON BLAST FROM THE PAST [PROBABLY, IDK]:

 

NIGHTMARE - majestical parade

and no one posted Especia? Sheesh...
 


 
Idol group with heavy retro/vaporwave influences <3 (you guys should check their latest album "GUSTO" out, it's neato)
 
Also, there's an interesting band called HERE (unfortunately ungoogleable and thus undownloadable)

imagine if new Merry was...decent? lol.