Pandabear

I had an opportunity to see them live but I turned it down. I think I was still disappointed from hearing GO. I haven't heard NOW but I've been meaning to give it a listen. Don't know if I'll like it or not... If they ever come around my area again, I think I'll go. Anyone know if all they play live is their new material? Or is it a mix of their old and new?

Found out some more details for the NYC show. Tickets are $25 and VIP ones are $45. I thought the price for the VIP tickets were great, but then I found out the only real advantage is that you get into the show 15 minutes before anyone else does. So I guess the extra 20 dollars is to get a chance to be right in front of the performance and to buy the"limited" amount of merch before anyone else does. What I did like was the fact the band is doing a 1 hour and a half one man show. So no opening acts. And they'll be doing a signing for all the fans after the show.

Always wanted one of these. Now I have one. Was going to get a TBM shirt but they had terrible graphic designs. So did the Dir en grey T-shirts. Why can't bands have merch with some decent designs? Nearly all of the shirts for bands I like just have horrible designs. >> A mint condition RG 321 Ibanez Guitar for $125. Will be customizing it with new pickups, ring pots, other aesthetic modifications and possibly a new neck.

Well the game was somewhat linear, but I never thought it was "too" linear. I liked the story at the start. I thought it was interesting, but towards the end it did lose some of its steam and was just meh. The characters were great IMO. I liked all of them and they were backed by some great voice acting. The new game is suppose to address the linear and story issues among other things. It's suppose to be superior to the last game, but I guess we'll see. It was already released in Japan and got near perfect scores in reviews. But I can't help but think there's some bias when it comes to FF games. Also checked out Versus and that looks great as well. Kinda sucks it's only being released on the PS3. I only have a 360.

Now that a whole year has almost passed, what were in everyone's opinion the best albums of 2011? They can be Japanese, non- Japanese and be of any genre. There’s no limit to the amount of albums you can pick so you can choose as many as you like. You can simply list them or give a brief description of why they made into your Best Albums of 2011 list, like I have. Here's mine list. I haven't listened to that much Japanese releases this year so there's not much of that on there. And I haven’t listened to all the albums I wanted yet thanks to my slow internet connection so I might amend the list. Rather than just choosing my favorite releases or bands, I tried to choose albums that stood out musically from everything else or just had something else going for it. I had most of these on repeat for a while. Here they are in no particular order 1. Sebastian Bach - Kicking And Screaming This is like a great 80's hair metal album that just happened to be released in 2011. It’s got the best of both era’s. Bach’s higher pitched metal vocals, a excellent and very clean sound production, some kick ass rock and roll guitar shredding, and a mix of hard rocking moments and songs like Dance on your grave, more melodic stuff like My own Worst Enemy and the occasional, but well done power ballad. 2.Trivium - In Waves People were impressed with Shogun thanks to the technicality of that album, but I think I easily prefer In Waves. To me their new album is the best of the band but in a more accessible and refined sound. The album is definitely a metal album, but its got a perfect balance of melody and heaviness. The title track of the album is a good example of this. However every now and then you will run across into the full in your face aggressive screaming metal song. Yet they don’t feel out of place on the album and like everything on the album, are done very well. The guitars are awesome as always, the intricate guitar work, solos and shredding don’t feel out of place or like they were there just show off. They actually add to the music. Plus I love some of the varied sounds like the middle eastern instrumental track Ensnare The Sun. 3.Times Of Grace - Hymn Of A Broken Man This was released back in February and it was one of the first albums that totally stood out from everything else musically and instrumentally at the start of the year. It was just so damn good. Though I will admit I am bit bias because it helped me through a rough patch in my life. The band may only be Jesse Leach and Adam Dutkiewicz, but they were at their best and the result totally destroyed Killswitch Engage’s last effort. Jesse’s passionate vocals are freaking awesome and is one of the reasons the album is so great. The other reason of course is Adam D’s instrumentation and sound production. They both created the album out of emotional and physical pain they experienced so the album is dark. Jesse’s vocals cry out anguish and are aided by Adam’s moody dark soundscapes and his straight out brutal riffage and drumming. But what I really love about the album is that it isn’t just dark, it’s hopeful. There’s always some positive spin on songs or a ray of light to counter the emotional and pain ridden passages. The bluesy and all acousticThe Forgotten one was also a nice addition to the album. 4.Asking Alexandria - Reckless and Relentless I like to describe these guys as Techno Death Metal. Though they’re more like metalcore instrumentally wise, with a mix of death metal and clean vocals and techno breakdowns. This album is on my list simply because they have a sound that no other metal band has out there. Although there are other bands that use electronic bridges and elements in their music I feel this guys do a better job at it, and they make it interesting and fun. I loved their first album and Reckless and Relentless was a step up from that. It’s got more death metal vocals, the addition of string sections, their unique and signature techno sound, catchier choruses, and their not giving a fuck what people think attitude. 5.The Devil Wears Prada - Dead Throne I was never really into these guys until I heard their Zombie Apocalypse themed EP appropriately titled Zombie EP. That thing totally blew me away. Hell it would be on my list if it wasn’t for the fact that it was released in 2010. Dead Throne is great follow up to that EP. It continues in the heaviness and technicality of their Ep but with some more melody and in a longer album format. A majority of the songs are around the 3 minute mark and a few don’t even reach it, but in no way does this take away from the songs and it can even be seen as an advantage. It’s easily some of the band’s best work and I love Mike’s “banshee” screams and his deathcore growls. 6. The Human Abstract - Digital Veil I was uncertain on how this album would turn out after the disappointment that was Midheaven, but it was an excellent comeback. Their new vocalist brought in some more heaviness with his growls while keeping the feel of the clean vocals from the previous vocalist. The fact that A.J was back was another huge plus. The guitar work is top notch again and the whole album is highly technical. It’s got their signature metal sound with some neo classical elements. 7. Dir en Grey - Dum Spiro Spero Anyone who’s heard this album knows why it’s here. This was a great album. A good combination of their “progressive” sound with their heaviness and oriental sound. On the composition and technical side of things, this album destroys. Personally I liked this better than Uroboros. 8. Plastic Tree - Ammonite Ammonite is like the best of Plastic Tree’s previous albums, Dona-Dona and Utsusemi with a throwback to some of their more alternative rock and shoegaze material. Moonlight sounds like it could be off of Utsusemi and there are other songs that have a very poppy feel. The opening and closing tracks are very shoegazey and dream-poppish. Then songs like I love You So remind me of albums like Chandelier. This is the most solid album they have done since Nega to Poji. Another Pura classic. 9. Blood Stain Child - Epsilon As I remember this got mixed reviews from users on here. Initially I liked the music, but wasn’t sold on Sophia’s operatic like vocals. After a few more listens I ended up loving this. It’s kinda hard to describe the sound of their music. I suppose it death metal with electronic and dance influences? In any case I love Sophia’s vocals now and the fact the she sings in flawless English. Ryo’s death growls work well and I also enjoyed the lyrics of the songs. The blasting drums are crazy, the keyboards are great too. I love the guitar solos and the bridges are really memorable. To top it off it’s got great sound production. 10.Perfume - JPN To me this is what the follow up to GAME should have been like. I liked Delta but I felt it was lacking. JPN however delivers some great electro-pop with the better moments of Delta. Perfume is still one my favorite electro-pop groups and I’m glad they delivered some of their catchy and fun songs with this release. The fact that the songs flow right into one another adds a greater sense of unity for the whole album. 11.Brian Setzer - Setzer Goes Instru-mental I nearly crapped my pants the first time I heard Brian Setzer’s guitar playing. Anyone familiar with his work with the 80's rockabilly group Stray Cats knows what I’m talking about. He’s a phenomenal guitar player. I’m usually picky when it comes to instrumental music but I had to check out this album once it was out. Needles to say its amazing. Brian’s still got some epic jazzy guitar skills and his cool looking pompadour.

fPPuHHfUwOc Anyone a fan of Final Fantasy XIII? It was the first Final Fantasy game I played and I loved it. I thought it was a great RPG. I liked the Crystarium System for leveling up and the graphics were just wow. They were some of the best I had seen and some of the scenery was just breath taking. XIII-2 is one of the new games of the upcoming year that I’m really looking forward to play.

Awesome! It's about time. I hope it's as good or even better than their last one. I was iffy with Fake?'s last new album, but it eventually grew on me. I'm just glad Ken is back working on Oblivion Dust. I'm also curious about that other project he started "Atom on Sphere".

Wow, I really need to check out more of their material. First album I heard by them was Black Empire. They really impressed me with the first listen I gave them. Naturally I agree with the consensus that they are awesome.

Yeah I only care about the music. So fans don't affect me. I'll listen to what I like and won't listen to what I don't. It's as simple as that. Though its always nice when you have open minded and reasonable fans of a certain band or genre to connect with and discuss their music.

Dir en grey. Got at the venue 15 minutes after the doors opened and their was a long ass line that stretched across the block, around the corner and about another half a block. They put on a great show. Crowd was very response. Dare I say one of the best concerts I’ve been to this year? Yes. Played mostly a mix of their new stuff and the revamped versions of older songs like obscure and hydra.

Saw them for the first time open for diru. They were great. Kinda disappointed they only played for like 40-45 minutes. I’m glad they performed Burn Away, Blue and Always.

Trivium - In Waves

Firefox. Used chrome for a while but went back to FF again.

Veil Of Maya - Resistance

Five Finger Death Punch - American Capitalist

I wanted to hear it, but I'll wait to the U.S release.

Noto Mamiko - Ashite no Te

Batman Arkham City Gears Of War 3 Both for $30. Two games for the price of one. Totally worth the wait on black Friday. 2 Crucial 1GB RAM Sticks A microphone pop filter Tons of guitar cables. And Panasonic RP-DJS400 Headphones

Alice In Chains - Grind Alice In Chains - Would? Not only are they one of my favorite bands, but Layne Staley is one my favorite vocalists and Jerry Cantrell is one of my favorite guitarists. I always loved Layne’s epic voice and his vocal technique. And I always thought Jerry’s use of the whah pedal was genius and find his riffing and soloing to be tasteful but powerful. I was pleasantly surprised with Black Gives Way to Blue. It still had that Alice In Chains sound and I liked Duvall’s vocals. He's the only guy in the metal scene I know of with an afro. Ended up seeing these guys perform on the Black-Diamond-Skye tour. They were epic.

^ Your review of the skullcandy is one the reasons I was reluctant to buy a pair. I've read so many other reviews of people having the same experience with the brand. But yeah I think I'll take your advice and avoid the brand.

I’ve been actually wondering about this for a while now, but does anybody know or have a good estimate on how much VK bands spend on their attire/clothing and stuff like makeup and hair? I recall people saying it was a couple of thousands dollars, but I can’t say if that’s true or not. It seems kinda right. I’m mostly just curious.

So what kinda of earphones or headphones do you use to listen to your music? I’ve been using the apple earbuds that came with my Ipod. They turned out better than the ones that came with my now broken Nano a couple of years back. However the sound quality has gone to hell and I’‘ll probably end up buying some JVC gummy earbuds or Sony earphones that are like $10. I like to use earphones for casual listening and when I go out so I’ve never really had a reason to spend like $50 or $100 on them. It always seemed kinda of a ridiculous amount of money to spend on earphones. Especially since most earbuds in that range are in-ears and I don’t like in-ears. They feel uncomfortable to me and they always ended up slipping out. On the other hand I can easily spend a good amount of cash for quality headphones. I use those mostly for home use. From listening to my computer to playing my guitar. I’ve gone through a couple of cheap ones. I’ll probably end up purchasing some studio quality ones for mixing down the road. I’ve still got a good pair of Shure headphones and I recently ordered some inexpensive Panasonic ones. They seem to have decent sound quality and are stylish. I can never find headphones at a decent price range that have good sound quality and are stylish. Most of the ones I come across are aesthetically unappealing. I like the look of the skullcandy brand, but I’ve been reluctant to try out a pair.

The Smashing Pumpkins - Ava Adore

So what does everyone use to make/record tracks? I use audacity and ACID PRO 5. I'm more of a live performer so I haven't had need for much. I quite like Acid for remixing tracks or when I'm using loops. However now that I am getting into recording, I've been considering stuff like Cubase and Pro Tool as sequencers for my DAW. I'm leaning more toward Pro-Tools but before shelling out like 600$ I want to make sure its worth it and that I'm not just buying into a popular name.

Hmmm I actually know quite a few rock/metal bands that constantly use the F Word in at least of their songs. But back to the questions at hand 1. I do care about lyrics. Just like I care about the actual music. However music always comes first and there are a lot of bands out there who make great music, but have sub par or mediocre lyrics. So even though music will always come first, and sub par lyrics won't ruin a song for me, I respect bands who put as much effort into their lyrics as their music. Good songwriting serves to make songs even more awesome by adding weight, emotion and depth to the music. I believe this can range from honest simple lyrics to vivid poetic songwriting and use of complex wordplay, or syllabic patterns. I study poetry on a regular basis so I always enjoy a well written song or the occasional conceit or dactyl in a song. From this thread alone, I see a lot of people don't really seem to care for the lyrics in the music they listen to. Fortunately for me I enjoy all of the lyrics from the bands I listen to. Obviously some more than others, but to me they all have something unique to offer. Of course this all applies to songs I actually understand in my language. It doesn't really matter to me when listening to something foreign. The music does. 2. Stupid lyrics won't necessary turn me away from a song. If the music is good or somehow complements the songs I'll listen to it. However that being said I won't say any song I have on my hardrive or Ipod has stupid lyrics. Actually I may just be lucky and haven't come across a song with stupid lyrics....yet. I think I'm more likely to be turned off by a song with amazing lyrics and crap music. And I'm especially likely to be turned off by a song with crap music and crap lyrics. 3.I would listen to songs that go against my ethical/political/religious/worldview. In fact I pretty sure once in a while I do. I think it mostly because the bands that write lyrics that go against the masses or society do it for shock value, I'm fine with it. I don't think any band out there would actually advocate violence, or something shock value like. And I'm fine with bands like RATM. They're fun and again I like their music. I think the only real examples of music I wouldn't listen to are songs I actually first came to know about on the news. Stuff that bashes homosexuals, or is clearly intolerant of other peoples race or religious views. I mean stuff like that just promotes hate, ignorance and perverts music IMO.