Spectralion

Artist: MUCC Album: T.R.E.N.D.Y. -Paradise from 1997- 1. 睡蓮 (Suiren) 2. D・f・D (Dreamer from Darkness) 3. B.L.U.E -Tell me KAFKA- 4. HATEЯ 5. レインボー (Rainbow) 6. Rendez-Vous 7. TONIGHT
Rating: | Something old, something new – finally something decent!
 
I love MUCC, I really do. That’s why I’ve been a bit pissed at them for not getting their act together ever since they dropped that monstrosity of an album Karma. Sure, they had some quality songs along the way, but not enough that I could bear listening to a whole album of theirs without cringing every few minutes. So, understandably, I approached their latest offering, T.R.E.N.D.Y. -Paradise from 1997- with extra caution… only to find that my fears were pretty much baseless. Let’s see how this giant of a 'mini' album goes, shall we?

First off, "Suiren" is a fitting opener with its faint background vocals and ominous guitar strumming that soon turns into an insistent synth riff, leading into chunky distorted guitars reminiscent of the band’s heyday of nu-metal stylings. Just from these beginning few minutes it’s evident how MUCC upped the game this time, mixing something old with something new. As promising a start as it is, I can’t help but feel that the track’s a tad too long for its own good (almost 8 minutes, seriously?). Next up is "D・f・D (Dreamer from Darkness)", delivering another riffalicious outburst followed by surprisingly laid-back verses. The guys soon pick up the level of aggressivity though, as well as the pace, with varying results. Some metalcore-wannabe riffage, that proverbial dead horse, also finds its way into the mix, but not in annoying amounts. A solid song, all in all.

Next up, we’re treated to something lighter as "B.L.U.E -Tell me KAFKA-" begins – or so we think! Miya whips out his heavy metal chops once again, reliably chugging along with a steady drumbeat. I have to give props for the wonderful chorus, guitar solo and sick breakdown as well. It’s a song that perfectly showcases MUCC’s gentle and powerful sides equally. As "B.L.U.E" winds down, we’re led into the next number, "HATEЯ", with a peculiar poppy beat (Tatsurou & co ain’t no hollaback girls!). Despite this initial light-hearted impression, "HATEЯ" turns out to be the obligatory zetsubou-ridden teenage angst anthem of the day. It’s not as lame as it sounds, thankfully, throwing in some well-needed tempo changes and a soaring, melancholic chorus with an exotic touch.
With that, it looks like we finally arrived at the calmer point of the release, as evidenced by Tatsurou’s gentle singing over some simple but touching guitars. "Rainbow" isn’t exactly what you’d call a standout track, but it proves to be a breath of fresh air after the intensity of the previous songs. With its subtle atmosphere, emotional (but not sappy!) melodies and steady mid-tempo beat, it would’ve even fit on an album like Gokusai. The follow-up, "Rendez-Vous", changes it up with an interesting electro-rock mixture yet again, complete with dubstep-inspired breakdown (that actually sound somewhat decent). Despite all its efforts to become memorable, it falls a bit flat though. Thankfully, we have "TONIGHT" to close this T.R.E.N.D.Y. mini album: a weird Frankenstein-monster of cheesy heavy metal clichés and gang-chorus punkiness, but it totally works! It’s never a bad thing to end your album on an energetic note.

All in all, I’m quite impressed with what MUCC cooked up in the studio this time around! I went in with no expectations whatsoever, but these guys proved that they still know how to craft catchy and memorable tunes, even if not quite at the same level as, say, in their glory days. All these past years I’ve been waiting and waiting for them to deliver something cool, and they finally came through. Moreover, the mini album (even if the songs themselves are pretty long) has an ideal length: it’s almost begging me to start over again and again. And that is what I shall do.


Support the band! T.R.E.N.D.Y. @ iTunes (US)
T.R.E.N.D.Y. @ CDJapan
T.R.E.N.D.Y. @ Yesasia

The way sexy men take photos lmao
 

it is announced at Chanty one-man live tour final at Shinjuku ReNY at 2015/06/27 that their new maxi single "m.o.b." will be released at 2015/10/07, although details have not yet been announced
 
 
btw they will hold their one-man live tour "コタツとミカンと君と僕ワンマンツアー" at Nagoya ell.FITS ALL at 2015/12/04, at Shinsaibashi paradigm at 2015/12/05 and at Shinjuku BLAZE at 2015/12/23
 

 
 
SET-LIST at 2015/06/27:
 
01.天翔る
02.ひどいかお
03.ソラヨミ
04.やんなっちゃう
05.君と罰
06.ダイアリー
07.monorium
08.とある星空の下
09.パセリ
10.ALIVE
11.ミスアンバランス
12.絶対存在証明証
13.真相
14.衝動的少女
15.ひどいかお2
16.「C」
17.奏色
18.フライト
19.赤い糸
 
EN1
01.犬小屋より愛をこめて
02.にゃこのテーマ
03.おとなりさん
04.終わりの始まり

Ya that last hiatus wasn't even noticeable so who knows, and that new single is great news. I'll cuddle and cry in the safety of the last moran and rin singles as visual kei dies around me. 

Artist: cali≠gari Album: 12 01. わるいやつら (Warui yatsura) 02. 脳核テロル (Noukaku Terror) 03. 颯爽たる未来圏 (Sassou taru mirai-ken) 04. セックスと嘘 (Sex to uso) 05. トゥナイトゥナイ ヤヤヤ (Tonight Toniyayaya) 06. ギムレットには早すぎる (Gimlet ni wa hayasugiru) 07. とある仮想と (Toaru kasou to) 08. 紅麗死異愛羅武勇 (Crazy I Love You) 09. バンバンバン (Ban Ban Ban) 10. フィラメント (Filament) 11. あの人はもう来ない (Ano hito wa mou konai) 12. さよならだけが人生さ (Sayonara dake ga jinsei sa)
Rating: | A fine achievement from the masters of weird.
 
When I heard the sad news that long-time drummer Makoto was out of cali≠gari, the future did not seem very bright for the band. At least, that's what I thought. cali≠gari have been kind of slacking off in terms of releases these past few years anyway – sporadic activity, lots of live-only and fanclub-only cash grabs, you name it. I, however, cannot hate them no matter what they do, as long as they deliver quality tunes I can get into. This album continues to prove that statement right, while at the same time asserting that they remain a force to be reckoned with, even as a three-piece.

12 is another typical cali≠gari full-length (as much as you can call such a quirky band 'typical'), packed with catchy melodies and occasional crazy outbursts. The band manages to find a decent balance between those two extremes. Gone are the days of totally mental freak-outs, like "Hakkyou Channel" for example, but they can still pack a punch when needed. Case in point, take the frantic trance-like pummeling punk of an opener "Warui yatsura", or the follow-up track "Noukaku Terror." These filthy little beasts contrast well with the album's brighter and airier compositions such as the gorgeous revamped version of "Tonight Toniyayaya" (proving that the creative juices are still flowing) or the sweet closing track "Sayonara dake ga jinsei sa", reminiscent of another old tune of farewell, "Good Bye."

The best bits of 12, however, are the instances where the band isn't afraid to openly show their love for '80s new wave and pop nostalgia. Songs like "Sex to uso", "Gimlet ni wa hayasugiru" and the like are characterized by big fat slappin' bass goodness, twinkly synths, sharp cleaned-up guitar tones and… is that saxophone I'm hearing?? Clearly, they spared no creative expense when arranging these fine pieces of 'updated throwback' music. There’s even a nod towards a sort of proto-VK atmosphere (very much like what they did around 1998-1999) in tracks like the swift "Sassou taru mirai-ken," the post-punk tinged sax-o-rama of "Crazy I Love You", and the aforementioned "Sayonara…". Altogether, these colorful elements make this full-length both enjoyable for hardened, long-time cali≠gari fanatics and those new to the band's curious antics.

Overall, 12 paints a picture of a band of 'professional eccentrics' who still know how to rock out as well as craft some interesting songs. The days of youth are gone, of course, so one mustn't expect an onslaught of all-out craziness. They more than make up for that with a big bunch of catchy moments that blends their past styles and influences into a powerful mixture that sounds anything but dated. In short, this is probably the best cali≠gari has done since their comeback. I cannot wait to see & hear what the future holds!


Support the band! 12 @ iTunes (Jp)
12 @ CDJapan
12 @ Yesasia

I don't understand this seemingly endless pursuit some people have to give their illegal downloading habit this queer moral justification. I download shit and break the law while doing it with no illusions or general regard about nuffins. I wish these guys and gals could realise their rock star dreams but I don't lose sleep over the fact that they had to take a post at 7/11 instead. It really is up to them and the labels to come up with something that can entice people to buy stuff in the internet age if they want to keep at it. 
 
I personally don't care about the bands wishes, but I don't expect them to want to high five me either if I go to them "Yo I came to yus show 2 support bcuz I got dat last album from rutracker. I shared it with my buds and yus got like five more fans nao!", much like I don't expect anyone to be friends with me if I'm caught with my hand in their back pocket. 

btw that beautiful painting is by Tobias Kwan, check out his other artworks, he's very good
http://tobiee.deviantart.com/art/Motherland-Chronicles-33-Nesthead-II-416738271

didn't do my eyebrows for a week, and #bae told me I look like a tired spanish soccer mom, feels weird :\

 
#rooting_4_jock_team_of_ur_choice this summer, tho. </3

look at these nerds

On June 6th, Kamijo returned to New York. This was the first time he's performed here since 2008, shortly after Noble was released, and I was thrilled to have been able to attend both shows. Like many others have already shared, the set was a mixture of all of his past bands as well as some of his solo material mixed in arbitrarily. But does his grace hold enough stage presence to really dominate the stage on his own, or is visual kei still just enough of a novelty that we'd really just pay to see anyone here? 
  The concert started at 8pm. I had purchased VIP tickets for an exclusive chance to meet the leader of Le Roi himself, which meant I needed to get there early. Luckily, fellow concert goer and ORZ member @ShanethVarosa got there around 3 an were about 10th in line (or in queue as other bizarre dialects refer to it). It took about an hour for other fans to really start showing up, but that meant we got an early shot at getting some merchandise, a topic I'll breach shortly. The American / Canadian fans looked as I had expected: all different shapes and sizes, mostly of European decent with a handful of Hispanic and fans who actually flew in from Japan to follow him around the world (hmu if you're that rich pls), and one (1) girl who looked like she was from India or Pakistan. Just about everyone had some sort of unnatural hair color and dressed like the Tim Burton inspired crowd from high school I have tried rather hard to distance myself from. Corsets and pin stripes galore. One girl had thick white foundation, a corset that cut her waist size in nearly half, and tight leggings that probably, but not really, justified her going commando. This was all topped off with a Jasmine inspired forehead jewel between her eyes. Decorum of this nature was more or less the standard for the show-goers. Several people dressed up in more rococo-esque outfits, such as a girl in tall boots with long, tight, curled extensions like Maribelle from Fire Emblem and a Moi-même-Moitié purse that was very on point. Another girl had a fairly exact replica of Hizaki's dress from Holy Grail era Versailles that was very well made, and a wig to match. Unfortunately, she wore absolutely no makeup so I wouldn't consider this a cosplay so much as akin to just coming dressed like Hizaki. Michelle Visage would say the same, as well as wonder if this outfit was supposed to be shade.   After the initial shell-shock of being the only pedestrian in the vip line, the management staff came out and split the line 1/8th to 7/8th since we were blocking the entrance to a local business. Before 5, the vip must have been well over 100 people, with the general admission starting to fill up. We were told that we could go in at 5, but someone allegedly forgot their costume at the airport and delayed the whole night by half an hour. During this time of standing around and trying to explain to middle aged white folks walking passed what "a kamijo" was, two girls were walking around with an American flag bedazzled with Kamijo crest in the middle of the stars, asking fans to sign it. I wrote "thank you for coming to America (アメリカに来ていただき、ありがとうございます。)" and signed my name in Japanese-- after Google translating it of course because I haven't written or used Japanese grammar in about 3 years now. She still complimented my handwriting, though, and was surprised it was legible *tongue click*. After the show, Kamijo took this flag and danced around with it, at one point with it covering his entire head like a little kid pretending to be a ghost with his bedsheets. I suppose he liked it, as he thanked us for about 4 minutes straight. I should have left my number, but didn't think of that until way after...   Somewhat early on, an Asian woman came out of the venue and started pulling in people, five nerds at a time. Eventually it was explained that this was for buying merch as they'd much rather we buy things before the show, rather than after as people were leaving. Shane and I went up and saw the rather small selection of goods available:  red Kamijo live strong-ish bracelets, 3 different kinds of t-shirts, a photo set, a photo book, and a poster. Overall, the selection was lame. They only had 1 size of each shirt, the bracelets were $10, and I was really hoping he would sell his upcoming albums early. I ended up getting a poster and a photo set, since those were actually both quite nice. The photo book was also gorgeous, but I would have wanted to scan it for ZombiexJuice and didn't feel that spending $40 on a book I would ultimately destroy was a smart investment. At least the line wasn't super long at this point, but I had @Zeus hold my spot in line before he had to leave for some sort of prior engagement, making him 2 school 4 cool to go to this concert.   After hours of waiting, they eventually called us in to come upstairs in the club to line up for the meet and greet. This was the moment I had been waiting for: my heart was pounding in my ears and my hands started sweating. Almost immediately my boredom from standing outside and having to talk to Shane vanished as I climbed those stairs because -he- was lurking around, somewhere, waiting. The whole time Shane is panicking and telling people he's going to die, which didn't help the fact that I have a nervous pee reaction. Perfect. I meet one of my idols and all I can do is pee on him.   After a few minutes of more waiting, people start getting called into the hallway, with the staff closing the door behind them. I knew -he- was there and I'd began rehearsing what I had wanted to say to him. 2 years of standing in front of a class and reciting dialogs in Japanese had led me to this moment. Soon enough, it was my turn. I round the one door the staff kept closed and there he was: standing, waiting, hair all fluffy with a big crow feather shoulder accoutrement and blue contacts, waiting for his 12 seconds of acknowledging my existence. I shyly came over to him and he said "picture picture" and stuck out his hand. I shook it (I think I was supposed to?) and they took my picture with him. He posed, I tried not to look frantic. We had a moment. After, I had my chance to actually say something. In my most rushed Japanese I said "私はニックと申します。どうぞ宜しくお願いします。(watakushi wa Nikku to mou shimasu. Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu)" which is hyper formal Japanese for "hi I'm nick." He just kid of nodded and smiled and the photographer was pretty much getting his assistant to drag me away from him since I exceeded 12 seconds. I did it, kids!   I then stumbled downstairs to the stage to then wait for another 2 hours, all while staring at my checki and genuinely not processing what just happened. The venue itself had seating on both sides of the stage, but most people stood in front. I managed to get right up front, stage right, and secured my spot for the whole not (with the exception of switching spots so my short friend could see over me (not Shane, although he is fairly petite   )). Slowly the venue started to fill in. The entire room never ended up completely packed, but upwards of 400 people were standing.    The show finally started at 8. It began with a montage of Kamijo videos and pictures throughout his career, culminating with the band walking out on stage and beginning with the Versailles hit "Masquerade." Just wanted to give a little shout out to @sai here because he did the "haters gunna hate" walk during it. The energy was amazing and the presentation and delivery was just as good as the studio version.  It was also really nice to get the chance to see Masashi perform live, as I've only seen the band when Jasmine You was still alive. While this isn't exactly the same as seeing Versailles, the main spirit of the band was there. For this show, he brought with him Meku (of Aim / Galyd), Shin (he plays drums idk), Masashi (of Versailles / Jupiter), and Daishi (of [MU:]).  As the music died down, he stopped and said "NEW YORK. Long time no see!" followed by "BONJURRR BONJURRR" back and forth with the audience for an uncomfortably long time.   After Masquerade, Kamijo continued to perform a mixture of past singles that he had written. Just wanted to give a shout out to [u Early on he played "Shout and Bites," which honestly threw me since I wasn't expecting any indie material at all. He also played one of my favorite Lareine songs, a slightly revamped version of "薔薇は美しく散る." Unfortunately, the only people in the audience that were feeling that song were me and this guy who gave Kamijo a bouquet of blue roses, but you can't expect everyone to have taste.   I believe his fourth song was "Phantom," by New Sodmy. This is one of his lesser known bands, as they were only around for about a year. I haven't listened to them much, but they sounded like Lareine to me without the symphonic aspects. This song was alright, but I spent most of the time it was playing trying to figure out what song it was.   As I don't remember the tracklist order, my description of what comes next is going to be on a fuzzy timeline. At one point, he played what seemed like new version of "冬東京" (Fuyu Tokyo) which was needed as there are now two guitarists instead of one. I never really paid much attention to this song before, but I am now really into it. "Why don't you touch my heart, cause it's a sentimental night? Fuyu noooooooooo Tokyo deeeee~♫." I'm not sure if the version they played last night is going to be the same to be released on Royal Blood, but then again I wasn't really familiar with the song to begin with so it could have very well been the same song with less nasally vocals. Kamijo also performed "fiançailles" during his little Lareine section, which apparently is the most famous Lareine song in terms of last.fm and sales? Who knew?! I was a little disappointed, however, because throughout this whole section clips of various Lareine music videos were being played. The video started with a section of "Metamorphose" and I prematurely "yaasssss'd" on the inside before I realized it wasn't actually that song.   There was a little jam session after the Lareine tribute was finished in which Kamijo walked off stage. Once that was finished, everyone else left and Kamijo came out and sang "Love Will Be Born Again" in Japanese. I thought this was Sympathia at first, but then I remembered Hizaki wrote that song and I'm awful at being able to tell ballads apart. This set was really nice, as it was one of the main points where it felt like Kamijo stood out, especially in deep blue lighting. This isn't to say he was overshadowed throughout his performance, but his guitarists were at the edge of the stage quite frequently and he treated them as real members of the show, rather than having them stand in the back wearing all black while he pranced around up front.   Like the rest of his shows, the next section of the performance was playing "Symphony of the Vampire" in full. This was great live and it seemed to flow much better with him singing it in front of me than it does on my iPod. My favorite part was still "Royal Tercet," but I have a new appreciation for "Throne." During this part of the show, the background video changed to a thrown with his symbol above it. Towards the middle of the album, the crest turned into blood and bled down the wall it was hung from. Very edgy.   After Symphony of the Vampire was finished, he ended his main set with "片手に夢を持つ少女." This makes for a great hype song live, and the support members seemed really into it as well since they were probably partially the ones who recorded it on the CD. I'd like to point out that for the most part, I was in front of Meku. He never reached out into the audience, which was very frustrating, and always had a tough act on to try to be cool, I suppose. He managed to nail Hizaki guitar solos with no effort, even with a bit of the masturbatory twitching at times, but for the most part he wasn't as energetic as I was expecting. "片手に夢を持つ少女" was the first time I really saw him light up.   The band then left the stage and the room fell dark. They kept us there for about 5 minutes before another Kamitage began playing on the screen, this time with audio, of clips of all of most of his major music videos--"Metamorphose," "fiançailles," "冬東京," "Billet～幼き夏の便箋～, "Ascendead Master," "Philia," "Destiny-The Lovers-," "Masquerade," "Vampire," "Louis," "Moulin Rouge,"  "Yamiyo no Lion," and "Heart." For whatever reason, he completely ignored "Truth," even though that was through Warner as well. The group then reentered the room and began moaning along to "Bastille." The crowd got into this song and, as I said when I first heard it, was really a live song. His encore also included "Moulin Rouge," which he started off the song with "Let us all dance together!!!" as the club lit up in various colored lights so people could actually see each other, and "Aristocrat's Symphony." The last song was a blast for me, as it's been 6 years since I've been able to see it performed live. It wasn't as good as when Versailles played it all together, as only 1 of 5 people on the stage really had any connection to it, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.   When this was all said and done, Kamijo thanked each of the members individually, then thanked the audience for a good 2 or 3 minutes. Then, as I said earlier, he got his signed flag and pranced around with it before thanking us some more. He was truly happy to have performed here and seemed happy with the turn out. He then left the stage and probably went to go count all the money he made by charging $120 for VIP tickets for a 10 second photo with him.   All in all I had a really great time at Kamijo's show and I would definitely see him again. My only gripes with the night were things not entirely related to him and that I wished the support members and himself would have interacted with the audience more. Sure, Kamijo directed us with what sort of hand motions he wanted, but I wanted him to reach out and fondle people's faces (he did it to one girl. I could have been the one, god damn it) or grab their hands...anything! If Kaya can lick people's hands while singing, I don't see why he can't stage dive or something. Another thing I would have changed would have been the encores: it would have been cool if he ended with "Heart" or "God Palace," and I'm genuinely surprised he didn't play "Louis" or "Yamiyo no Lion" at all, but that might have been because this was a history tour.   Vive le Roi!

[CD track list]
01.砉(keki)
02.SODOM
03.FACE TO FAKE.
04.アリア(aria)
05.救われない世界(sukuwarenai sekai)
06.BLACK STAR
07.【VIper】
08.キレイゴト(kireigoto)
09.ISOLATION (included in TYPE B )
10.WARUAGAKI
11.ゲバルト(gewalt)
12.halo.

Charisma.com will release their new (major label debut) album "OLest" on 2015/07/08.
 
Tracklist:
 
01. やれよ。 02. お局ロック 03. マメマメBOYがさつGIRL 04. アラサードリーミン 05. ダリぃだらりん 06. こんがらガール 07. 超絶に胸が痛んでいるあなたの上司 08. 黄昏各位   New PV swag:  
  Somehow I thought there was a thread for this already? o: Guess not...

Artist: Royz Single: THE BEGINNING 1. THE BEGINNING 2. 0 3. umbrella. 4. THE BEGINNING (ins.) 5. 0 (ins.) 6. umbrella. (ins.)
Rating: | The beginning of something good.
 
Knowing very little about Royz before the release of this single, I had precious little by which to gauge my excitement. I had listened to their album, "Core," back in October and thought it was decent and showed promise. Then their single, "Supernova," and it's B-side, "Alive," really blew me away. So, I guess one could say that I was pretty excited even though I wouldn't consider myself a big fan of the band. Recently, the influences of the electronic genre have pervaded almost every visual rock band in the scene and it's been a pretty divisive issue. Nonetheless, if a band blends the perfect amount of hard rock with their electronic beats, I'm going to be a fan.

"The Beginning" is an interesting one, for sure. It's quite different from not only other Royz songs, but from a lot of modern pop/rock-esque songs. It blends together a few different genres to ultimately come up with one of the catchiest rock songs of 2015 so far. This band tends to work exceedingly well as a machine of fun, post-hardcore numbers with incredible rhythm and "The Beginning" is no exception. The one possible downfall of the song is the awkward-to-annoying introduction, but once that chorus hits, you will forget about any prior mess.

Oftentimes, the B-Sides make or break the single. If you didn't enjoy the song the band is promoting, well here's something else to make you feel better. For instance, "Alive" was much better than "Supernova." On this single, the B-sides were great compliments to a great promotional single. "0" was along the same lines as most of their recent work: uplifting, fun to sing along to, and great to just lose yourself in. "Umbrella" was a bit more subdued than the previous two songs. Mid-tempo ballad range, to be exact. Subaru's voice really carries well in this song, especially the chorus, where he displays a lot of personal emotion. One of their better composed and arranged tracks. The final track, "Heil," is exactly what I thought it would be. Heavy, fast-paced, and hard-hitting. The beat is incredible and the energy isn't misplaced at all. The only true con of this number is that the melodies Subaru has created aren't exactly strong. It works with the nature of the song, but he's definitely done better.

All in all, I feel like if you want to check out this band and haven't already, I would start with their album "Core" and work from there like I did. It sets up expectations for their career in a much more realistic way.


Support the band! Purchase Type A here
Purchase Type B here
Purchase Type C here
Purchase Type D here

Best New Tracks: May 2015

Best New Tracks is a new series brought to you by MH's Official Reviewers (ORZ)! Every month we'll be recommending brand-new Japanese songs from the recently passed month, so stay tuned! Feel free to comment or discuss any of this month's picks and even offer your own as well!
May was a busy month! We've got tons of recommendations this time around, so sit back, relax, and dig in!
Visual Kei
"午前二時 (Gozen Ni-ji)" by AvelCain

"ひどいかお2 (hidoi kao 2)" by Chanty

"キャリー (Carry)" by Develop One's Faculties

"包丁の正しい使い方～思想編～ (houchou no tadashii tsukaikata～shuusokuhen～)" by DEZERT

"Pairidaēza lost" by IX -NINE-

"The Beginning" by Royz

"Voyage" by Sadie

"Lament." by the LOTUS

"new born baby" by VERY BERRY

"Fake" by グリーヴァ (grieva)

"アネモネ (anemone)" by ペンタゴン (pentagon)

“螺旋 (rasen)” by メディーナ (Mediena)

"まつぽいよ (Matsupoiyo)" by 最上川司 (Tsukasa Mogamigawa)

Rock / Metal / Punk
"Lies And Sorrow" by 16REASONS

"Surrender" by Boris

"Ignorant Rain at the End of the World" by envy

"Feedback" by geek sleep sheep

"行く先へ手を伸ばす" (Yukusaki e te wo nobasu) by ROLE

"おかげさま (okagesama)" by SUPER BEAVER

"僕の言葉ではない これは僕達の言葉 (boku no kotoba de wa nai, kore wa bokutachi no kotoba)" by UVERworld

"Music Traveler" by クウチュウ戦 (koochewsen)

"売春 (Baishun)" by 女王蜂 (Ziyoou-vachi)

Indie / Alternative
"ムカデ (mukade) Starlight Ver." by amazarashi

"夏がそうさせた (natsu ga sousaseta)" by never young beach

"飾りすぎていた (kazarisugiteita)" by odol

"Anyone" by theCharmPark

“めまい (memai)”by ミツメ (mitsume)

"あぱんだ (apanda)" by 吉田一郎不可触世界 (Yoshida Ichiro Untouchable World)

"i I I i...." by 湯川潮音 (Yukawa Shione)

"アニバーサリー (anniversary)" by 禁断の多数決 (kindan no tasuketsu)

Pop / Idol
"Is this call??" by BiSH

"My Heart Beat" by Crystal Kay

"DREAM" by FLiP

"LOVE" by MACO

"Now I Know" by PassCode

"Beautiful" by Superfly

"LOVE TO YOU -by CUPS-" by Suzu

"The edge of Heaven & Revolution" by T.M.Revolution

"I Believe U" by TiA

"Stay With Me" by TOKYO GIRLS' STYLE

"Birthday" by 安室奈美恵 (Namie Amuro)

"TOKYO/OSAKA" by 神田莉緒香 (Rioka Kanda)

R&B / Hip-Hop
"ONE OF THEM" by EMI MARIA

"Night Club Session" by NAGAN SERVER & MANTIS

Electronic / Jazz / Other
"Speak no Evil" by Kyoto Jazz Sextet

"Ants" by nego

"doll (kidkanevil remix)" by Noah

See you next month!

Couldn't stand the summer hotness so I went to cut my hair short. Unfortunately the barber failed to cut as the pic i showed him and gave me an Ohara Sakurako mushroom head look instead. :/
 
Before:

 
 
After:

 

Ringo Sheena announced a new song "Kamisama, Hotokesama", which will be a theme song for an "isai vivid" smartphone commercial. The song will also feature Shutoku Mukai from ZAZEN BOYS and NUMBER GIRL fame as a co-vocalist/guitarist (you can hear his vocals vaguely in the end of the sample below - ro69 assumes that he will be responsible for "rapping" in the same vein as that guy from Maboroshi in "Ryuukou") 
 
No other details known, Taiwanese/Chinese fans are expecting the single announcement to come out after her Taipei gig(s) though.
 
Commercial:
 

 
Very Jihen-y so far!

Artist: Boris Album: Asia 1. terracotta warrior 2. ant hill 3. talkative lord versus silent master
Rating: | Holy fuck.
 
Before I begin, I need to warn you. Asia is not a single. Asia is a raw, ugly, discordant album as massive as the continent it's named after.

It may be three tracks, but the length of each is enough to make your jaw hit the floor. On top of that, Boris didn't craft Asia with easy listening in mind. So after the initial shock wears off, I am glad to inform you that this is one of Boris' most beastly concoctions, a nice throwback to the days when Boris were firmly a drone doom band. It shows that even twenty years later, the band can still contend for the heavyweight belt for "heaviest band in history". And they did it with only three people! Asia is one of three new albums in a series dubbed 'New Noise Literacy'. The count starts at 003, so I'm not quite sure where 001 and 002 are. Perhaps the answer is buried somewhere within all the noise of Asia, since Boris expects you to derive some form of fulfillment from the album. And for as suprisingly difficult as it is to describe, enjoying the album is quite easy.

When I say Asia is heavy, I don't mean aggressive melodies and harsh vocals. I'm talking about music so heavy you feel time hover around you in anticipation. Drone doom is the kind of music that lumbers forward, contorting the mood through feedback, noise, and clever use of tritones. Asia doesn't care about how much patience you have; if it takes ten minutes to set the mood it will take ten minutes. Enjoying Asia is an exercise for the listener in appreciating the journey and flexing your imagination. With the freedom to impress your own thoughts and meanings on the music, one can only imagine the band's state of mind when these tracks were birthed.

For as smothering and merciless as it is, Asia is anything but depressing. It succeeds at conveying all types of emotion, some of them disturbing but some are cathartic and others even beautiful. For example, the slow burn of terracotta warrior opens up into a majestic wall of warm sound that collapses upon itself and leaves everything as it began. It literally feels like a soldier rose from the dust to combat the darkness once more. The second track ant hill is much harder and toys with noise borrowed heavily from countless Merzbow jam sessions. I can almost imagine a large colony of ants crawling to and fro, moving their antennas in time with the noise. There's three distinct sections to this song, all of which use sound to color very different soundscapes. Despite being the shortest track, I find that it's the least accessible. talkative lord versus silent master sounds like silence had an argument with noise and lost, combining ideas and motifs explored into the first track to bring everything to a close.

There are plenty of drone albums that tax even my attention span, but Asia would not be one of them. For long, instrumental drone doom, this about as diverse as it comes. There are only two things I can't find answers for: where is 001 and 002 of this series, and why Boris decided to call this album Asia? But, then again, Asia's sister albums are titled warpath and urban dance, so maybe it's best to not read into such things. I had high hopes that Asia would resemble their collaboration with Sunn 0))), Altar , but that is not the case. Instead of crafting a spiritual successor to their last drone doom album - as I consider Praparat to be drone with a healthy serving of the unclassifiable - Boris have once again mixed a bit of the old with a bit of the new. If I had to pick something most similar to it, it would be The Thing Which Solomon Overlooked. Asia is not for everyone but if you are a fan of drone, doom, ambient, or Boris, Asia might be for you.


Support the band! Purchase Asia (New Noise Literacy 005) here straight from their label, Inoxia!
Purchase warpath (New Noise Literacy 004) here straight from their label, Inoxia!
Purchase urban dance (New Noise Literacy 003) here straight from their label, Inoxia!

I have a drawing thread.
I have a music thread.
I have a video thread.
One more couldn't hurt right?
 
Here's a recent photo I took/graphic I created.
I shoot with a Nikon D5000 (a decent hunk a' junk. I want to buy a new one)
and I used Adobe Illustrator for this.
 

 
It was a sunrise above Boston on my way down.

Me working as KAMIJO and MASASHI's staff!

This made my day.

Me after new haircut + hair colour, May 9.
 

sup. [2]
 

My native, Javanese, Indonesian, and not-so-good-English for online stuff.
Yeah, We Indonesian people have many languages in our country.
Basically in my hometown, if you use Indonesian languages, you'll be considered as "city boy".