Pretsy

FINALLY!
 
Dir en grey - GAUZE

 
It's time for some fresh views on essential pieces of VK/J-rock (sry) history! And what do we have here:
The (major) debut album of DEG - and pretty much their most popular album in the scene...or WAS at least (I didn't research much about popularity amongst certain J-releases).
Either way, the most atypical thing I am going to do here is "a goal" (which most reviews are not in a need for tbqh) - to knock on cliched claims concerning GAUZE that have passed
from one generation to another (as in "older j-rock fans" (~2006) to "newer ones" (2006~)), for eg. "the poppiest DEG album ever", "the safest DEG album ever" etc. So get prepared!
 
The first thing to mention is the fact that how they emphasize their members' skills in a whole album - there's room for guitarists their rhytmic co-operation
and jamming ("Raison Detre", "Mask"), bassist with powerful bass tone and complex riffing ("Yokan", "Cage", "304") and of course a small spotlight for band's drummer ("304"). I think this is a good way
to introduce a whole band's talent to newcomer in minutes or so - and I dare to say that this is unfortunately the only DEG album where this trait is "emphasized" 
(for instance, "WtD" almost isolated rhythmic players out of the mix). Thumbs up!
 
"Poppy" is an adjective that tarnishes listeners' expectations and lets GAUZE stay quite overlooked in most occasions - and for no reason. Like most people, who were involved with DEG for years, I am very aware
of the fact that DEG was always "abrasive" albeit constantly changing. For eg. The combo of Intro and "Schwein no Isu", "Mazohyst" and "Zan" are not "contextless tracks" at all, no - 
those and other non-single tracks are, in fact, the *actual* "main content" (= the sound that the album is supposed to revolve around). To support this statement, let's check out on album's build:
*MC = "Main Content" 
 
intro - MC - breather - MC - MC - breather - MC - MC - breather - MC - MC - breather/finale - outro
 
Of course, as you can hear it in certain MCs and breathers - "radio-friendly" accessibility is highly noticeable.It's accessible album if we rush a bit with my former comments, yes - 
but as I pointed it out already, GAUZE's main focus is not on the breathers at all, but on the dirty, old school vk rock worshiping, frantic rock sound with various influences thrown in 
(Kuroyume, Luna Sea, Vasalla - to name a few) instead. Take a note of songs they play off this album post-Blitz 5 days, and you will notice what I am talking about. 
 
Rambling aside, my actual views: thanks to its simple build - and figureable concept, or "the main content", I found myself liking and listening to this album more than to other releases. Many songs might 
feel quite apart to each other style-wise (newcomers hardly won't even try to tie such songs like "Mask" or "Akuro no Oka" into the same album), but they sure knew what to do with the flow - 
and kudos to them! I like how daring experiments were handled along the way, without radically weirding out on listener - cases in point, varying signatures role-wise in "Raison" and "MASK" + 
probably "intentional" offbeat/offkey frenzy in "Zan". Breathers are not bad either and should not be excluded due to bland "poppy"/"safe" statements - I might not be respecting the guy's deeds these days, 
but Yoshiki sure deserves a good pat on his shoulder for taking boys' musical influences and interests into account and "paving a way to the airwaves" without making them turn into total sellouts. It's no
wonder that his productions ended up as instant J-rock classics though - radio-hits, but with a taste! And of course, the high nostalgia value of album's sound (to quote myself: "the dirty, old school vk rock worshiping, frantic rock sound with various influences thrown in") deserves an honorable mention; no wonder that people here and there 
suggest newbies to go with GAUZE whenever it's about "being introduced to old school vk" !
 
Low points of this album in my case would be the small amount of "daringness" in "304" and "Mazohyst" for the most part; the latter is of course supposed to gloom and give some sort of "taboo shock value", 
but nine minutes of Kyo screaming over requiem-y minors is just too much. Thankfully they placed the most accessible song of theirs ("Yokan") after abortfest to give a proper breathing pause, Phew. This is just nitpicking though.
 
Final thoughts: some might assume that "I haven't even reached my goal" or so on - if you read carefully, you should have noticed through my instances that instant genre/mood-spewing is too risky here:
give a few more listens, take a look at my "build scale" I wrote above and think more...don't let the singles fool you when it comes to realizing the actual content. Apply this to some of your classic favorites,
and see it for yourself...
 
 
Some big favs worth mentioning and a rating, go:
 
- Yurameki: the poppy instance of Kaoru and Die's classic, fantastic ways of co-operation (which they don't unfortunately utilize these days)
- Raison detre: interesting rhythmic approach and tasteful ways of using electronics
- Tsumi to Batsu: the bastard child of glam rock reject and noise-y maniac banging? Yes!
- Yokan: very accessible, but at the same time one of the loveliest, hummable songs DEG has ever done
- MASK: odd but cool way to approach ska punk sound + that jam ending
- Zan: something what you might think as a "lousy attempt at thrash metal" suddenly ends up as something ingenious
 
 | It'd be quite dumb to round up "4,75" (minuses for Mazohyst - nitpicking again, I know), so let's make it go that way. Brilliant, classic Japanese music release - a total must for those who want to have "their own bite" on old skwl

FINALLY!
 
Dir en grey - GAUZE

 
It's time for some fresh views on essential pieces of VK/J-rock (sry) history! And what do we have here:
The (major) debut album of DEG - and pretty much their most popular album in the scene...or WAS at least (I didn't research much about popularity amongst certain J-releases).
Either way, the most atypical thing I am going to do here is "a goal" (which most reviews are not in a need for tbqh) - to knock on cliched claims concerning GAUZE that have passed
from one generation to another (as in "older j-rock fans" (~2006) to "newer ones" (2006~)), for eg. "the poppiest DEG album ever", "the safest DEG album ever" etc. So get prepared!
 
The first thing to mention is the fact that how they emphasize their members' skills in a whole album - there's room for guitarists their rhytmic co-operation
and jamming ("Raison Detre", "Mask"), bassist with powerful bass tone and complex riffing ("Yokan", "Cage", "304") and of course a small spotlight for band's drummer ("304"). I think this is a good way
to introduce a whole band's talent to newcomer in minutes or so - and I dare to say that this is unfortunately the only DEG album where this trait is "emphasized" 
(for instance, "WtD" almost isolated rhythmic players out of the mix). Thumbs up!
 
"Poppy" is an adjective that tarnishes listeners' expectations and lets GAUZE stay quite overlooked in most occasions - and for no reason. Like most people, who were involved with DEG for years, I am very aware
of the fact that DEG was always "abrasive" albeit constantly changing. For eg. The combo of Intro and "Schwein no Isu", "Mazohyst" and "Zan" are not "contextless tracks" at all, no - 
those and other non-single tracks are, in fact, the *actual* "main content" (= the sound that the album is supposed to revolve around). To support this statement, let's check out on album's build:
*MC = "Main Content" 
 
intro - MC - breather - MC - MC - breather - MC - MC - breather - MC - MC - breather/finale - outro
 
Of course, as you can hear it in certain MCs and breathers - "radio-friendly" accessibility is highly noticeable.It's accessible album if we rush a bit with my former comments, yes - 
but as I pointed it out already, GAUZE's main focus is not on the breathers at all, but on the dirty, old school vk rock worshiping, frantic rock sound with various influences thrown in 
(Kuroyume, Luna Sea, Vasalla - to name a few) instead. Take a note of songs they play off this album post-Blitz 5 days, and you will notice what I am talking about. 
 
Rambling aside, my actual views: thanks to its simple build - and figureable concept, or "the main content", I found myself liking and listening to this album more than to other releases. Many songs might 
feel quite apart to each other style-wise (newcomers hardly won't even try to tie such songs like "Mask" or "Akuro no Oka" into the same album), but they sure knew what to do with the flow - 
and kudos to them! I like how daring experiments were handled along the way, without radically weirding out on listener - cases in point, varying signatures role-wise in "Raison" and "MASK" + 
probably "intentional" offbeat/offkey frenzy in "Zan". Breathers are not bad either and should not be excluded due to bland "poppy"/"safe" statements - I might not be respecting the guy's deeds these days, 
but Yoshiki sure deserves a good pat on his shoulder for taking boys' musical influences and interests into account and "paving a way to the airwaves" without making them turn into total sellouts. It's no
wonder that his productions ended up as instant J-rock classics though - radio-hits, but with a taste! And of course, the high nostalgia value of album's sound (to quote myself: "the dirty, old school vk rock worshiping, frantic rock sound with various influences thrown in") deserves an honorable mention; no wonder that people here and there 
suggest newbies to go with GAUZE whenever it's about "being introduced to old school vk" !
 
Low points of this album in my case would be the small amount of "daringness" in "304" and "Mazohyst" for the most part; the latter is of course supposed to gloom and give some sort of "taboo shock value", 
but nine minutes of Kyo screaming over requiem-y minors is just too much. Thankfully they placed the most accessible song of theirs ("Yokan") after abortfest to give a proper breathing pause, Phew. This is just nitpicking though.
 
Final thoughts: some might assume that "I haven't even reached my goal" or so on - if you read carefully, you should have noticed through my instances that instant genre/mood-spewing is too risky here:
give a few more listens, take a look at my "build scale" I wrote above and think more...don't let the singles fool you when it comes to realizing the actual content. Apply this to some of your classic favorites,
and see it for yourself...
 
 
Some big favs worth mentioning and a rating, go:
 
- Yurameki: the poppy instance of Kaoru and Die's classic, fantastic ways of co-operation (which they don't unfortunately utilize these days)
- Raison detre: interesting rhythmic approach and tasteful ways of using electronics
- Tsumi to Batsu: the bastard child of glam rock reject and noise-y maniac banging? Yes!
- Yokan: very accessible, but at the same time one of the loveliest, hummable songs DEG has ever done
- MASK: odd but cool way to approach ska punk sound + that jam ending
- Zan: something what you might think as a "lousy attempt at thrash metal" suddenly ends up as something ingenious
 
 | It'd be quite dumb to round up "4,75" (minuses for Mazohyst - nitpicking again, I know), so let's make it go that way. Brilliant, classic Japanese music release - a total must for those who want to have "their own bite" on old skwl

FINALLY!
 
Dir en grey - GAUZE

 
It's time for some fresh views on essential pieces of VK/J-rock (sry) history! And what do we have here:
The (major) debut album of DEG - and pretty much their most popular album in the scene...or WAS at least (I didn't research much about popularity amongst certain J-releases).
Either way, the most atypical thing I am going to do here is "a goal" (which most reviews are not in a need for tbqh) - to knock on cliched claims concerning GAUZE that have passed
from one generation to another (as in "older j-rock fans" (~2006) to "newer ones" (2006~)), for eg. "the poppiest DEG album ever", "the safest DEG album ever" etc. So get prepared!
 
The first thing to mention is the fact that how they emphasize their members' skills in a whole album - there's room for guitarists their rhytmic co-operation
and jamming ("Raison Detre", "Mask"), bassist with powerful bass tone and complex riffing ("Yokan", "Cage", "304") and of course a small spotlight for band's drummer ("304"). I think this is a good way
to introduce a whole band's talent to newcomer in minutes or so - and I dare to say that this is unfortunately the only DEG album where this trait is "emphasized" 
(for instance, "WtD" almost isolated rhythmic players out of the mix). Thumbs up!
 
"Poppy" is an adjective that tarnishes listeners' expectations and lets GAUZE stay quite overlooked in most occasions - and for no reason. Like most people, who were involved with DEG for years, I am very aware
of the fact that DEG was always "abrasive" albeit constantly changing. For eg. The combo of Intro and "Schwein no Isu", "Mazohyst" and "Zan" are not "contextless tracks" at all, no - 
those and other non-single tracks are, in fact, the *actual* "main content" (= the sound that the album is supposed to revolve around). To support this statement, let's check out on album's build:
*MC = "Main Content" 
 
intro - MC - breather - MC - MC - breather - MC - MC - breather - MC - MC - breather/finale - outro
 
Of course, as you can hear it in certain MCs and breathers - "radio-friendly" accessibility is highly noticeable.It's accessible album if we rush a bit with my former comments, yes - 
but as I pointed it out already, GAUZE's main focus is not on the breathers at all, but on the dirty, old school vk rock worshiping, frantic rock sound with various influences thrown in 
(Kuroyume, Luna Sea, Vasalla - to name a few) instead. Take a note of songs they play off this album post-Blitz 5 days, and you will notice what I am talking about. 
 
Rambling aside, my actual views: thanks to its simple build - and figureable concept, or "the main content", I found myself liking and listening to this album more than to other releases. Many songs might 
feel quite apart to each other style-wise (newcomers hardly won't even try to tie such songs like "Mask" or "Akuro no Oka" into the same album), but they sure knew what to do with the flow - 
and kudos to them! I like how daring experiments were handled along the way, without radically weirding out on listener - cases in point, varying signatures role-wise in "Raison" and "MASK" + 
probably "intentional" offbeat/offkey frenzy in "Zan". Breathers are not bad either and should not be excluded due to bland "poppy"/"safe" statements - I might not be respecting the guy's deeds these days, 
but Yoshiki sure deserves a good pat on his shoulder for taking boys' musical influences and interests into account and "paving a way to the airwaves" without making them turn into total sellouts. It's no
wonder that his productions ended up as instant J-rock classics though - radio-hits, but with a taste! And of course, the high nostalgia value of album's sound (to quote myself: "the dirty, old school vk rock worshiping, frantic rock sound with various influences thrown in") deserves an honorable mention; no wonder that people here and there 
suggest newbies to go with GAUZE whenever it's about "being introduced to old school vk" !
 
Low points of this album in my case would be the small amount of "daringness" in "304" and "Mazohyst" for the most part; the latter is of course supposed to gloom and give some sort of "taboo shock value", 
but nine minutes of Kyo screaming over requiem-y minors is just too much. Thankfully they placed the most accessible song of theirs ("Yokan") after abortfest to give a proper breathing pause, Phew. This is just nitpicking though.
 
Final thoughts: some might assume that "I haven't even reached my goal" or so on - if you read carefully, you should have noticed through my instances that instant genre/mood-spewing is too risky here:
give a few more listens, take a look at my "build scale" I wrote above and think more...don't let the singles fool you when it comes to realizing the actual content. Apply this to some of your classic favorites,
and see it for yourself...
 
 
Some big favs worth mentioning and a rating, go:
 
- Yurameki: the poppy instance of Kaoru and Die's classic, fantastic ways of co-operation (which they don't unfortunately utilize these days)
- Raison detre: interesting rhythmic approach and tasteful ways of using electronics
- Tsumi to Batsu: the bastard child of glam rock reject and noise-y maniac banging? Yes!
- Yokan: very accessible, but at the same time one of the loveliest, hummable songs DEG has ever done
- MASK: odd but cool way to approach ska punk sound + that jam ending
- Zan: something what you might think as a "lousy attempt at thrash metal" suddenly ends up as something ingenious
 
 | It'd be quite dumb to round up "4,75" (minuses for Mazohyst - nitpicking again, I know), so let's make it go that way. Brilliant, classic Japanese music release - a total must for those who want to have "their own bite" on old skwl

FINALLY!
 
Dir en grey - GAUZE

 
It's time for some fresh views on essential pieces of VK/J-rock (sry) history! And what do we have here:
The (major) debut album of DEG - and pretty much their most popular album in the scene...or WAS at least (I didn't research much about popularity amongst certain J-releases).
Either way, the most atypical thing I am going to do here is "a goal" (which most reviews are not in a need for tbqh) - to knock on cliched claims concerning GAUZE that have passed
from one generation to another (as in "older j-rock fans" (~2006) to "newer ones" (2006~)), for eg. "the poppiest DEG album ever", "the safest DEG album ever" etc. So get prepared!
 
The first thing to mention is the fact that how they emphasize their members' skills in a whole album - there's room for guitarists their rhytmic co-operation
and jamming ("Raison Detre", "Mask"), bassist with powerful bass tone and complex riffing ("Yokan", "Cage", "304") and of course a small spotlight for band's drummer ("304"). I think this is a good way
to introduce a whole band's talent to newcomer in minutes or so - and I dare to say that this is unfortunately the only DEG album where this trait is "emphasized" 
(for instance, "WtD" almost isolated rhythmic players out of the mix). Thumbs up!
 
"Poppy" is an adjective that tarnishes listeners' expectations and lets GAUZE stay quite overlooked in most occasions - and for no reason. Like most people, who were involved with DEG for years, I am very aware
of the fact that DEG was always "abrasive" albeit constantly changing. For eg. The combo of Intro and "Schwein no Isu", "Mazohyst" and "Zan" are not "contextless tracks" at all, no - 
those and other non-single tracks are, in fact, the *actual* "main content" (= the sound that the album is supposed to revolve around). To support this statement, let's check out on album's build:
*MC = "Main Content" 
 
intro - MC - breather - MC - MC - breather - MC - MC - breather - MC - MC - breather/finale - outro
 
Of course, as you can hear it in certain MCs and breathers - "radio-friendly" accessibility is highly noticeable.It's accessible album if we rush a bit with my former comments, yes - 
but as I pointed it out already, GAUZE's main focus is not on the breathers at all, but on the dirty, old school vk rock worshiping, frantic rock sound with various influences thrown in 
(Kuroyume, Luna Sea, Vasalla - to name a few) instead. Take a note of songs they play off this album post-Blitz 5 days, and you will notice what I am talking about. 
 
Rambling aside, my actual views: thanks to its simple build - and figureable concept, or "the main content", I found myself liking and listening to this album more than to other releases. Many songs might 
feel quite apart to each other style-wise (newcomers hardly won't even try to tie such songs like "Mask" or "Akuro no Oka" into the same album), but they sure knew what to do with the flow - 
and kudos to them! I like how daring experiments were handled along the way, without radically weirding out on listener - cases in point, varying signatures role-wise in "Raison" and "MASK" + 
probably "intentional" offbeat/offkey frenzy in "Zan". Breathers are not bad either and should not be excluded due to bland "poppy"/"safe" statements - I might not be respecting the guy's deeds these days, 
but Yoshiki sure deserves a good pat on his shoulder for taking boys' musical influences and interests into account and "paving a way to the airwaves" without making them turn into total sellouts. It's no
wonder that his productions ended up as instant J-rock classics though - radio-hits, but with a taste! And of course, the high nostalgia value of album's sound (to quote myself: "the dirty, old school vk rock worshiping, frantic rock sound with various influences thrown in") deserves an honorable mention; no wonder that people here and there 
suggest newbies to go with GAUZE whenever it's about "being introduced to old school vk" !
 
Low points of this album in my case would be the small amount of "daringness" in "304" and "Mazohyst" for the most part; the latter is of course supposed to gloom and give some sort of "taboo shock value", 
but nine minutes of Kyo screaming over requiem-y minors is just too much. Thankfully they placed the most accessible song of theirs ("Yokan") after abortfest to give a proper breathing pause, Phew. This is just nitpicking though.
 
Final thoughts: some might assume that "I haven't even reached my goal" or so on - if you read carefully, you should have noticed through my instances that instant genre/mood-spewing is too risky here:
give a few more listens, take a look at my "build scale" I wrote above and think more...don't let the singles fool you when it comes to realizing the actual content. Apply this to some of your classic favorites,
and see it for yourself...
 
 
Some big favs worth mentioning and a rating, go:
 
- Yurameki: the poppy instance of Kaoru and Die's classic, fantastic ways of co-operation (which they don't unfortunately utilize these days)
- Raison detre: interesting rhythmic approach and tasteful ways of using electronics
- Tsumi to Batsu: the bastard child of glam rock reject and noise-y maniac banging? Yes!
- Yokan: very accessible, but at the same time one of the loveliest, hummable songs DEG has ever done
- MASK: odd but cool way to approach ska punk sound + that jam ending
- Zan: something what you might think as a "lousy attempt at thrash metal" suddenly ends up as something ingenious
 
 | It'd be quite dumb to round up "4,75" (minuses for Mazohyst - nitpicking again, I know), so let's make it go that way. Brilliant, classic Japanese music release - a total must for those who want to have "their own bite" on old skwl

Artist: ア​ルルカン Album: 墓穴 Score: Okay paradoxal, you win. Finally.
I could understand if someone glanced at Arlequin, sighed, and thought to themselves "yet more standard pretty boy metalcore". Snazzy looking bands with laughable musical ability are a dime a dozen in this scene, and they all sound the same - like recycled shit sprinkled with preservatives so you won't mind the stench or notice that you've already heard that riff five times this week. It's also understandable that due to the massive waves of shit that lap on the shore constantly that Arlequin flew under your radar. They certainly flew under mine. So, as I girded my loins for part two of really bland metalcore that people adore for reasons I do not understand, I was caught off guard. Imagine my face, then imagine how it would have looked when the first track was a righteous kick in the ass.

At one point I may have even thanked VK Jesus, but don't put me on record as having ever said that.

What sets Arlequin apart from the countless other bands that play this exact type of music are that they're good at it. Or, good enough to impress me. Arlequin is the one in a thousand band that can take electronics and metalcore and construct music that doesn't make me deaf. The last visual kei band capable of that feat was D.I.D., and they've left a void in the scene that Arlequin is both ready to and capable of filling. It's not the Holy Grail of visual kei but it's better than anything I've heard this scene fart out in a while. That in itself is revolutionary. It's also sad that decent has become good and good has become great in this small, inbred scene but this is not the time to bemoan the gradual manufacturing of this type of music. All the other basement-kei no1curr aggressive metalcore bands in Japan that spend more money on make-up and wigs than guitar lessons should pull up a chair and take some notes.

Boketsu is three tracks featuring decently good production, impressive riffs from guitarists intimate with their instruments, and a vocalist who can both growl and sing. The last part alone is what really puts this band on my radar. He can clean up on the technique and watch the inhales before he ruins his voice, but the lack of modulation and the remarkable consistency he displays on all three tracks is great. He reminds me of a Kyouki who is more in control of his voice but he definitely has his own style. He's also charismatic enough to make the aggressive verse - poppy chorus formula work to their favor. There's also enough power and energy in the breakdowns to put them a notch above obligatory, although I can do without them all the time. There's amazing bass presence on both the part of the bassist and the drummer and even the electronics are placed thoughtfully and not slathered all over the place like special sauce on Big Macs. This is solid but not amazing and it's clear where there's room for improvement. As these members make more music together, I expect them to become an even tighter unit.

Arlequin did not overplay their hand here. Halfway through the first track, I had to toss my hat up to them. For a bunch of nobodies, they wrote some solid tunes here. This is confirmation that at least SOMEONE over in the land of the rising sun is playing more than brainless metalcore. Even in 2014, there's room in visual kei for stodgy old heads like me. I look forward to seeing this band move up through the ranks and become semi-influential.

That is, if they don't pull the whole disbandment shuffle before then.

quoting Aramajapan because I am a lazyass:
 
The single will be out on 6/8 and will be LIMITED (apparently)
 

 
Neato stuff

Hello everyone,
 
I'm Rocket. I'm kind of new to these forums. I used to be a lurker under the name shimokita-dreamer back around 2010 but only made a single post and it wasn't an introduction. My friend CAT5 persuaded me to re-join. So without further ado let me introduce myself a little below.
 
I'm a 25 year old male who has recently graduated university and is stuck in a transition period. More importantly, I've been into Japanese music since 2001 via games and anime. However, I hadn't really become acquainted to specific scenes until late 2003 when I discovered the Japanese music communities on Soulseek and the Japanese Music Room forums which have since been shut down. Some of my favourite genres include: Hip Hop, Electronic, Jazz, Post/Mathy-Rock and anything in between. Although I'm open to listening/trying out music in all genres and languages. I'm well aware that this is mainly a VK forum and while VK is not usually in my wheel house I am still open for listening to VK recommendations anyone happens to throw their way. Do know however that it will be very hard to sway me over to the VK side. It is possible though (I'm looking at you Southern Hip Hop). I also have a weakness for sultry female vocals and female drummers. 
 
Anyways, enough about me. It's been a while since I posted on a forum so I may not be too active trying to find my footing and all, but I hope over the coming days, weeks, years, and millenniums! I will be a familiar name. I aspire to be the Rocket in everyones pocket. 
 
EDIT: Thanks everyone for the warm wishes. I'm already starting to feel like I belong here. 
 

 
To see what I've been listening to lately, click here: http://last.fm/user/tombikordek
 
Sometimes I DJ on plug.dj as Under_A_Rocket
 
I used to be a gorilla on TT.FM as Saint Gori-san

Cooking With Yoshiki book confirmed for release, featuring over 20 recipes inspired by each X-Japan member.

TK from 凛として時雨(ling tosite sigure) new album "Fantastic Magic" will be released at 2014/08/27, although details have not yet been announced

吉澤嘉代子 (Kayoko Yoshizawa) has just announced her second major mini-album, to be released on October 22, 2014.  It is called "幻倶楽部" (pronounced "maboroshi kurabu") and will retail for 1,667 yen. This release comes just after her major debut mini-album "変身少女," released in May 2014.
Tracklist
1.ケケケ
2.シーラカンス通り
3.うそつき
4.恋愛倶楽部
5.ちょっとちょうだい
6.がらんどう

http://yoshizawakayoko.com/schedule/release.html#tag:yoshizawakayoko.com,2014-07-18:1424

=====================================

EXCITED!  This will probably be just the pick-me-up I'll need at that point in the semester.

That's probably what their manager at PSC said when he or she saw their sales on their last trainwreck.

You might give Yasutaka Nakata's projects/produced acts a go? (seeing as you mentioned Tommy february, Koda kumi and Boa)


and there's Kyary too but eh...
 
MEG might fit your taste too:

 
and ofc Ami Suzuki

 
So yeah, my safest recommendations so far

2nd mini album "月の反射でみてた" 2014.8.6 Release!!
Tracklist:
1. origin 
2. Everything Changes
3. セピア色の車窓から 
4. 光の加減で話した
5. 闇には祝福を
6. 成仏してしまった男 
7. 足跡
No Big Deal Records / NBDL-0017 / ¥1,800(tax out)
 
hell yeah, can't wait!!

八十八ヶ所巡礼 (88kasyo junrei) will release their new album "攻撃的国民的音楽" (Kougeki-teki kokumin-teki ongaku) on 2014/08/08 (like clockwork, that date! lol).
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D90AOhojK3M

Inb4 MGS5 theme song...
 
just kidding!

Artist: REALies Album: Drama Score: Deep breaths Zess. Deep breaths.
Before I begin, I'm going to invent a new term called musical dysmorphia. I will use this term throughout the review to describe a glaring flaw with this album. Musical dysmorphia is when a song awkwardly and unevenly moves between multiple genres with reckless abandon. It is the result of a composer stitching together compositions from entirely different genres to form The Musical Centipede. Do not mistake this for being diverse and do not think that this is a good thing. This is a very annoying thing to have to endure.

Fortunately, the listener will not be subjected to it for the first half of the album. As a matter of fact, the album was enjoyable up until 久遠-kuon-, which I found to be a tepid but unoffensive pop-rock track. I enjoyed the heavy bass presence on NEVERLAND (but I could do without the modulated screams here and there) and the entirety of セツナキャンドル and gossip, which I would call the best tracks on the album. In fact, I would dare to call NEVERLAND and セツナキャンドル good-to-excellent songs if REALies didn't resort to a contrived pop chorus to hook those pieces together. For the first half of Drama, I got something better than I expected from REALies, which is a solid pop-rock album with a few flaws. These flaws are the occasional flatness of Rayka's vocals, the occasional cheesy chorus, and an over-reliance on synthesized instruments to carry the bulk of the melody. The last point is the biggest flaw of them all. The production overall is really good for a visual kei band, being crisp and clean while still balancing everything in the mix. This is notable because there is a lot of electronics buzzing about in every track and for the first half of the album they don't overpower the band too much. But such great production reveals the artificiality of these instruments. There are violin swells, piano runs, and shamisen twangs that would have been REALized better if the instruments were authentic. Luckily, most of these fake instruments are relegated to flourishes only.

A critical downfall of Drama (and the reason for the low score) is the second half. Musical dysmorphia stops the album dead in it's tracks and spends the next five tracks in a rut it can't escape from. The first half of the album does diversity right, smoothly moving between rhythmic and tonal changes to good effect. There is thought and care put into the first five songs that is missing from the next five. Instead of smooth transitions, REALies resorts to interlude abuse to bring together parts of songs that have no business being together. We have dubstep portions, a trance intro, an exceptionally bad shamisen snippet, random breakdowns, and the occasional half-assed rap portion courtesy of Rayka. They're all broken off into their own sections and follow each other with not even so much as the backwards woosh-ing sound that Nega used to stitch their disjointed songs together. So let's explore this part of the album now.

彩花唄-いろはうた- starts the decline of Drama. It all starts with the inclusion of the shamisen I keep mentioning that doesn't sound quite right. At first you think the track is going to have it's own distinctive flavor but its inclusion sounds like an interlude and not a legit element of the song. The rest of the song is more pop with two interludes where it pops up again and again to be the ultimate tease. If it were an actual pop song played with traditional Japanese instruments it would have been excellent but it seems that REALies weren't brave enough to take that jump. However, this is just disappointment at the track. This disappointment was magnified by the following track. The piano is too loud, the guitars are heavy but the riffs don't hold up to the dynamic ones from earlier, and the growling is just bad. The chorus assassinates the track, being another cookie cutter rendition complete with off-key vocal ticks. It's then followed up by the worst track on the entire album.

180 is the perfect example of musical dysmorphia at work. It's three minutes flat but starts off with a trance intro before being pummelled with the loudest mishmash of riffs and synth on the album. Heavy riffs and terrible growls are abundant so I reasonably expected another cliche "heavy" song. Then it starts shitting all over itself around 0:53 as the hype train slowly ascends into pop territory and the song fools you into thinking it's going to turn out decent. To be honest, there was a period of about ten seconds where I thought this would actually happen. Then I thought that the track has to level out. It doesn't. Around 1:53 the train decided it wanted to be a plane and then shot off into orbit with another, more upbeat electronic interlude before jumping into a faster-paced rock section. And just when you think you've heard everything, there's a lynch.-like breakdown near the end there for no reason other than the gang didn't know how to end the song. Each section lasts for about twenty to twenty-five seconds and that's not enough time for any part of it to develop and the song sounds too disjointed to work. My repetition of the word disjointed is intentional. I wouldn't blame you if you did a 180 on the album right now.

The next two tracks are no better. LiNE combines all of the elements I don't like into one song. There's more terrible harsh vocals, a dubsteppy breakdown later, a four second excursion into the post-hardcore scene, and then a jump right back into a poppy chorus. It works about as well as I've described it. The track following it is completely forgettable and I have nothing to say about it. Things don't shape up until the last track, Drama, which is a half-ballad half-pop song with more fake violins. It's a pretty boring end to an otherwise lackluster album, but it's consistency and flow which was missing from the last five tracks makes it a decent album closer.

So I was surprised and then summarily disappointed. I was expecting an entire album of really bland pop with terrible vocals. What I got were some promising tunes, one or two songs I admit I liked, and then a shitshow to prove my fears right. There are a lot of positives here to talk about, more than I was initially going to give to the band, but Drama would have been much better off being a mini-album. There are too many bad tracks one after another to call this even a mediocre album. REALies needs to reign in the influences and compose more tunes like the first five songs and less like the last five songs. I also never want to hear another band do anything resembling 180.

This is really only an album for prior REALies fans. The rest can live with hearing gossip once on plug.dj.

Seeing as you mentioned "kabukicho no joou with orchestra backing" and "les feuilles mortes" (which is titled as "Kareha" in Ringo's repertoire), I am really sure that it's Shiina's Dai Ikkai Ringohan Taikai No Moyo - DVD release (release year 2007, Blue-ray 2013).
 
It's on JPS  - and as always with Shiina stuff, not something you would find @YT

Ok... That was my first intention also... But I didn't know the 'which is titled as "Kareha" in Ringo's repertoire'-part/fact which got me confused and unsure later on (because I knew las salle de bain was not the one even tho that one's also french)... I say many thanks to you for bringing that up and pointing it out in detail 
 
-> you'll get +1 REP for that

Seeing as you mentioned "kabukicho no joou with orchestra backing" and "les feuilles mortes" (which is titled as "Kareha" in Ringo's repertoire), I am really sure that it's Shiina's Dai Ikkai Ringohan Taikai No Moyo - DVD release (release year 2007, Blue-ray 2013).
 
It's on JPS  - and as always with Shiina stuff, not something you would find @YT

Moulin Rouge segueing into Fuyu Tokyo?
 
Kamijo sure knows his setlist game

that feel when we will never see a VK doo-wop band (((((((

Waggaki band will release new music video on 2014/08/27 titled "華火" (hanabi), which will include up-to-date video technology-enhanced title PV about the story in the title song, which is written by Yuko Suzuhana (the frontwoman of the band) - DVD and Blu-ray editions will be available, and include making-of scenes and such.
 
Looking forward to this...despite dat cheesy narration
 
Must also note that this will be their FIRST "original" song - seeing as their earlier songs were purely vocaloid covers.

This sounds like the musical equivalent of tap water . . . except Byou's rockin' the cca. 2012 L'Arc Hyde look, so more like stale tap water.
 
(still, more listenable than what I usually sample from them)

TIL Pleasance is a word

Sorry, it's Vimeo, because YT sucks balls with their copyright shit in Germany.
But I've fallen in love with Royal Blood. These guys are just a duo (from the UK) - Bass/Vocals and Drums - but fuck, they sound so fat. I'm totally addicted to them, especially because they are so raw (but not toooo brutal) and kind of have an old MUSE vibe going on. Shit's delicious, try it out if you like Britrock.
 

 
Can't wait to see these guys live someday!