Pandabear

Unpopular opinion #457 I don’t think Deluhi is/was that great of a band. I don’t get all the hype surrounding their music. I think they had some okay/good songs which I enjoyed, I just don’t get all the praise the band gets, especially on this forum. Is it because they were a fairly decent vk band and the majority of other vk bands were so crappy that they made Deluhi sound amazing by comparison and lead to their music being overhyped? I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case, which I believe also happened when Mejibary came along. Although Mejibary have been getting better. Anyway, Leda was probably the best part of Deluhi and he definitely raised the bar for other vk guitarists, but I find the band to just be decent. They never put out anything amazing or what I would expect from advanced players/composers to put out. I feel the parts were greater than its sum when it comes to this band. So yeah, I can’t share the OMG Deluhi was so amazing they should get back together mentality.

^ You need denkitribe. He uses a lot chiptune influence in his songs that have that videogame feel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQptaAovyIs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt-idiJGcNg Or how about some Dirty Androids? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iTHLmGeGvo Maybe some TyDi? Yoko Kanno may not me be an EM but this song is pretty awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJVnX8EE3Q8 As is this one

Skynet put their debut album up for free. Modern metal with some djenty guitars and growls/nice cleans. Good stuff. Download: HERE

The Human Abstract - Mea Culpa I need to learn that epic ending solo...

I listen to a ton of music. I'm already compiling my best of 2013 music list as well. However recently I've found the majority is non-Japanese. The only 2 albums I would recommend the staff and everyone to check out is Jupiters Classical Element and Ling Tosite Sigure I'mperfect. My argument for classical element is that IMO it's the best VK release of 2013. Actually you can forget about them being vk, because it's one of the best Japanese release from japan for 2013. Rather than spit out a typical metalcore/poppy/whatever kei music, Jupiter put out a powerhouse of epic powermetal. The vocals are powerful and strong, no whiny vk nasals singing. The guitars are tight and hammer out plenty of cool riffs and tasteful shredding solos. The drumming is equally strong, fast and tight. There's choirs and atmospheric keys and orchestrations. It's a great release both from a musical and technical standpoint. The second album is Ling Tosite Sigure's I'mperfect. First off, you probably won't hear an album like I'mperfect or a band that sounds like them. They mix post-hardcore, indie and math rock into their music and have dual male and female vocals.They use plenty of dynamic's, which can results in soft melodic singing and smooth jazzy guitars followed by harsh screams, wailing drums and distorted guitars or vice versa. The best part is that there is a very consist melodic approach kept through the album. So there's always some sort of melody that ties some of the more jarring parts of the bands music. And while their music can be jarring, it's never overdone.

^ Wow I really liked the Clan of Xymox stuff. I'll have to check out more of their material. Lately I've been more into instrumental stuff. Been looking for artists specifically from Japan and found a killer few. Recently discovered him. He does vocal stuff too, but I really like his clubby instrumentals. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTnY6RRuzRw Progressive house with some hints of dubstep. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWVc9k7r3pI You can never go wrong with 80kidz. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh2ciwXJGO4 There aren't many songs by aran I've been able to find, but from what I found, I like. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh5qy0BsmLo Not japanese, but I'm still on flux pavilion fix. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS_2qH-pCSA

Atilla on their about that life tour. They were really fun. However, Upon A Burning Body demolished the night. They were super tight and brutal live. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHLGI_ttjuM Iwrestledabearonce was sick too. Got to meet their awesome vocalist and take a picture with her.

Upon A Burning Body - Sin City Seeing these guys with Atilla and Iwrestledabearonce in a few hours. I'm ready to rage.

Yeah, there’s no such thing as skreamz either. It’s likely people are just having fun with the people who label music screamo. Checked out both bands and they’re post-hardcore with influences borrowed from other genres. Old Gray has some indie and post-rock influence in their music in addition to the post-hardcore. I thought they were okay. Vocals didn’t really do it for me. Both the cleans and screams are really rough. The lyrics are little bit better. They did have some interesting lines, but overall they still need polishing. Their songs had interesting sections I did enjoy. It’s always good to hear post-hardcore bands that don’t sound bland and completely weak. It’s the same problem that plagues metalcore. If you like this type of sound you might like Alexisonfire. They are what post-hardcore should be. Early Thrice was pretty post-hardcore influenced too. They’ve evolved over time but are still one my favorite bands. And these guys might not be post-hardcore, but if you want amazing lyrics give them a listen. They’re rock/alternative although they are known for having a vocalist who screams, but not in the metal type of way. They’re also one of my favorite bands and Jesse lacy, their vocalist, is one of my favorite songwriters. Lyrics are dark/honest and after their second album they resemble a lot of metaphysical poetry. Lots of paradoxical/deep content and the use of conceits. Recommend their last 3 albums. Brand New - Sowing Season Brand New - In A Jar

There is no such thing as screamo. At least not in the sense people use it. Most non knowledgeable people just label any type of metal that uses screams/growls as screamo. They tend to be noobs to metal so it's not surprising. Personally I like all the subgenres of metal. From post-hardcore to metalcore, deathcore, symphonic, death metal, thrash metal, technical metal, black metal, grindcore, etc. I'm a metal head so I listen to those genres on a daily basis. And I do enjoy bands who have well written songs lyric wise regardless of the genre. I'll give the band you mentioned a try.

Haha I kinda feel the same way. Although perhaps not as passionately as you do. And on the topic of bands being influenced and copying each other, it does seem at times that people don't know the difference. To me a rip-off is a piece of music that steals heavily from another song for nearly if not all the entire song. Take for example Deathgaze's Forsaken and Breaking Benjamin's Diary of Jane. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C1rUo20vUw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoXo36YNQ2U I mean it's clear Deathgaze ripped of Breaking Benjamin. The guitar riffs, the melody and the chorus are exactly the same. It's no coincidence and it's not an influence. They pretty much blatantly stole the musical components of Diary of Jane. They would have been better off doing a cover of the song. I'll never understand why an artist or band would go through the trouble of recording the near exact song and pass it off as their own original work when they could have taken all that effort and made something original. To me, an Influence can be a number of things and isn't always obvious. A similar guitar riff from another song for a few seconds or a melody for example. There are many bands that give nods to their influence by playing certain riffs, melodies, drumming parts or what have you during their songs for a few seconds and then move on. It's done tastefully and doesn't mean they ripped of whatever band their influenced by. Likewise similar chords or chord progressions can be used by numerous bands to create certain moods and at times may sound similar, but that doesn't mean they're ripping each other off. They simply might be using similar established chords or chord progressions. Of course, there are bands and artist who are influenced by other musicians and put out material that sounds nothing like what they were originally influenced by. It's really about execution. It's cool if bands want to pay tribute to their influence or have a similar sound because they love it, but they should try to be as original as possible. For example, writing entirely new original melodies that were inspired by other melodies, but that do not have any similarities. To be honest I don't bother with people who don't know the difference between bands copying and influencing each other. They usually tend to have a rabid fangirl/fanboy mentality or are musically immature. Sometimes both.

DJ Kimori - Nexus

Yeah V/H/S 2 was much better than the first one. I just saw it last night and the shorts were much more interesting. All of them were pretty good, but Safe Haven was the best one. That short alone makes V/H/S 2 worth watching. It got really creepy towards the end and then it gets totally messed up. That ending was great too. I think I'm going to check out more anthology type horror movies.

KInda messed up her songs for her second album leaked. Instead she released an EP from the few select that weren't. That being said Utopia may only be an EP, but it's one of the best pop releases I've heard for 2013. Not surprising since it's from Kerli. I love the positive energy Utopia had and the mix of electronic/piano songs. And I didn't really like the Lucky Ones at first, but it really grew on me. It's extremely catchy. It managed to chart in the U.S too so that's a plus for Kerli. She's so incredibly underrated it's not even funny.

I've heard very good things about the Audition. I've been meaning to check that movie out. And I agree with jigsaw on there being a lot of boring horror movies. The haunted house cliche being one of them. I don't get the hype surrounding some of them. Paranormal Activity being one of them. It was so overhyped when I watched it, I was extremely disappointed. It wasn't scary at all. The most recent major horror flick I've been interested in is the remake of Stephen King's Carrie. There were already remakes of Evil Dead, The Thing and Dawn Of The Dead and all those turned out decent. Maybe not as good as the originals, but they weren't butchered.

Flux Pavilion - Haunt You Total Eargasm

I swear we had a thread for this already but I couldn't find it. Perhaps it was in one the previous incarnations of this forum, but anyway here's a new one. A place for discussing/recommending horror movies. I love horror flicks in general and since Halloween is coming up, I've pretty much have been watching loads of horror movies. Just finished watching the Evil Dead Series. The first two films are sick. They're some of my favorite horror films. Army of Darkness was good too, but it was departure from the stick horror genre into comedy. I'm still looking forward to Army Of Darkness 2 though. Evil Dead Evil Dead II Going to watch V/H/S 2 for Halloween with some friends. A cool anthology of horror shorts. Some of my other favorite horror flicks have to be v/h/s The Thing (80 version) The Exorcism 28 Days later An American Werewolf in London Night of The Living Dead (original) Dawn of The Dead (remake) It The Shining And that's all I can come up with at the top of my head but there's tons more. What are some of yours?

Flux Pavilion - Starlight

Yes. Make tagging obligatory. The system will be more efficient if everyone has to use it. No more releases will fall through the cracks and go as untagged either. I like the open tagging system we have now. However I can see the downsides it poses. For example people tagging releases incorrectly, whether they are using quotes, "rock" or using incorrect descriptions that have nothing to do with the music genres. I'm with Aion on only using tags that apply to the music and not having labels, band members etc used as tags. I say keep the open system for now, make tagging obligatory and sees how things go. If people are tagging too many releases incorrectly and it becomes a big problem switch over to the closed system. Although tags by bitrate/realse date would be cool, I think it's unnecessary. Most people already provide those two things in the post anyway. And I'm not sure how often someone would use those tags to look up a release. It seems like a lot of effort to go through when someone could just easily look up a release using a number of other keywords like band/album/genre etc. The only tags I think should be disallowed are redundant ones. Like the ones that already banned. J-pop, J-rock. I have no problem with people using visual kei, old school, or a specific genre of kei as a tag. Although they may fall under the vk umbrella each of the subgenres of vk have their own distinctive sound which may help people who are looking for a certain type of kei. I think tagging by mood is flawed since releases can have several moods. I don't want to tag an album with a half dozen moods in order to post a album. And I said before, I think tags should stick to describing the musical genres of a release. However broadening tags for releases marked visual kei would be useful. Tagging an album as VK isn't enough to describe what type of genre it is. In addition to the vk tag, it should have at least another tag like rock, metal, pop or whatever. Unless this poses a problem. Say your looking up a rock tag and then get a whole bunch of vk releases you're not into. If it's possible to use the search function in the vk download section and like wise, use the search function in the general download area, but only get results for the respective section your in, than do it.

Raunchy - Twelve Feet Tall

^ Try Karnivool Porcupine Tree Coheed and Cambria You might also dig Tool

Yeah the weird guitar intro has been addressed, other than that the mix could be improved. Drums could have slightly been more prevalent and perhaps try to pan your lead to the left instead of the right. It's fine the way it is, but it threw me off, since I usually pan lead guitar left like everyone else does. Although that's just personal preference. You could also experiment with having some leads in the center. You don't have vocals so it would be easy since most of the instruments in the center are bass and low mids and the guitar could easily fit into the unused higher frequency range. Maybe the rhythm would have sounded better without the chorus or flanger effect on it? Just some nice clean rhythms with some delay or reverb to taste. Or perhaps you tried that and it it didn't sound good? You could always do another take of the rhythm but with a clean guitar and then mix that behind the rhythm guitar with the effects and you'll get the chorus/flanged guitar with the sparkle and more defined attack of the clean guitar. I did really enjoy the bass playing on this track.

Digging the new ISS album. They're really pushing the whole electronic hardcore music thing. I See Stars - Ten Thousand Feet.

@hoodoomends For post-hardcore/post-hardcore sounding, try these

For Indie/indie sounding try these.