bonsaijodelfisch

There are quite a few problems here:
 
 
1. "This is a broad description, but it brings with it serious doubts about anything I said being entirely wrong" - This does not logically follow in regards to your previous comment. Now you're arguing about the Japanese Idol Culture and its existence, where as previously you were making arguments about "sincere", "authentic", and "famewhoring" artists (buzzwords that have 0 meaning when in consideration of their musical context -- i.e. the music they're making). I can see what you're trying to do; but it doesn't follow because there is a disconnect between the two points you're trying to tie together. Being an Idol =/= someone isn't sincere about what they're doing (remember: The Music Industry is a business at the end of the day, and these are people that WANT to get into this business, regardless of its musical merits, or lack thereof). "Sincerity" is not only a buzzword in this context; but it involves someone's motives which you have no clue of. Thus, that can't be argued. Second, notice the lack of citation in the long description regarding Japanese Idol Culture. Are we to accept a source for its lack of citation? To do so would be fallacious, but what's worse is:
 
 
2. "You can also take the numerous scandal reports into account..." No, you can't, because said information is incredibly suspect, and based off of internet rumors that (I'm guessing) are found on Tumblr, MH, and various other sites where gossip on this topic is readily available. Do we have certainty that ALL of this is true? No. We don't even have a guarantee that half of it is true. The problem with making assertions from such sources, is that they tend not to hold up. Though, I'm not willing to go to the extreme to disregard ALL of it, because that oddly enough, supports what I said from the start:
 
 
3. You're making arguments based on an image, and not based on the merits of the music itself. I find it appalling that someone who stresses "authentic" music and artists is so hung-up on the image a band portrays, and not the very music that they make. You're upset that it infringes on your belief of what "true" metal is, when you don't even bother to talk about the music and what "true metal" is in the first place. Instead, you glossed over it in one sentence and called it "fine" -- if I recall correctly. This is the part of your argument you're failing to unite. You are trying to discredit BABYMETAL as artists without touching their music. Instead, you are critiquing their image based on what you think you know from Internet Articles and rumors, and trying to draw it into a musical context of "well, this is bad Metal, because it's not AUTHENTIC". If we are to even BEGIN talking about something being "authentic" or not, then you will have to develop heavily-scrutinized criteria to begin the conversation. If you can define this, we can perhaps go from there.
 
 
Sadly, when discussing music and its merits, the music needs to be discussed, not the "image" and stage gimmick of a band. But, you are unable to do so, so you attempt to make this idealized (and heavily Romanticized) argument that there is this magical (yet to be defined by you) difference between a "true" artist and an "inauthentic" one. Are Japanese Idols as skilled as someone who is a professional Opera singer? No (as the Wiki page mentions these are inexperienced kids being signed); but the lack of experience =/= a lack of authenticity, or a lack of sincerity. After all, Japanese Idols fall under their own niche of appreciation.
 
 
4. "As to your pop music description..gosh you're a smartass. Creating an issue where there isn't one." You seem to have missed the point I was making. You are arguing that BABYMETAL are not authentic because of the whole list of buzzwords you have mentioned up to this point. The problem is, by your logic, if you take those words ("famewhoring, pop idol machinery, sincere, authentic artists, puppets, sellout, and fabricated") you can just as easily slap that onto Metal, another Popular genre, that revolves around Marketability, and the music industry (i.e. labels) for distribution, to make a similar point that it's not "authentic" music when in consideration of Art Music. The reason why I refuse to do so, is because not only is that argument just as baseless; but it doesn't logically follow.
 
 
 
 
tl;dr: Attaching your problem with an image of a band to their music is detrimental, and irrational, because it says nothing about the music even though it's trying to make a critique on it as a whole. You have Romanticized ideals as to what music "should" be (though music should never be anything other than "art for art's sake"), and are unable to discuss the merits of the music to unite and better define your argument. Don't like the band? Fine, I don't either; but don't let your terrible idea as to what makes music "authentic" try to make comments on the music that you are unable to argue against (based on your inability to write a Pop composition).
 
 
 
 
"there is more in music than famewhoring and pure instrumentals...."
 
JS Bach would be rolling in his grave right now.

it's not quite up there, but the guys from "byee the round"

 
and "nothing is carved in stone"

 
are quite raspy.
 
most filth in the voice would be (both) singers of church of misery, but they're quite stoner-y

 
but yes, it's quite the rare sight

Point beeing? i fail to see it
 

as mentioned earlier, if you're statement would be true this would also apply to every single goddamn bandmember existing except for the songwriters themselves. this would also apply to the whole frickin concept of classical music.
 

how is cheesy clichee shit cool with every other metal-thing and fantasy-movies etc. but not with this? i understand not liking cheesy stuff, but hell no to double standards
 

I'm no expert on identifying VK, but i'm pretty sure this is not
 

don't worry, nobody does and should care about anyones definition of what genre xy should be
 
 

that statement has never been true, and it certainly hasn't changed "nowadays"
Also: basically everything relentless said

ok, i think i need to adress this.
i read that kind of argument a LOT and the hypocrisy behind it is just staggering.
 
when in a band the guitarist writes all of the music you don't hate on the other members for playing songs they didn't write, you don't hate on actors who perform in movies/theatre that they didn't write the piece they perform, you don't hate on classical orchestras that perform music by guys already dead for hundreds of years, but somehow it is "lame" and for some not really apparent reason without "soul" when 3 teenage girls perform a series of high-energy metal-gigs all over the world?
 
on top of that these tracks are so wildly creative, new and fresh, but apparently only the concept of a selling-machine?
u-huh, because death-core-powermetal tracks about chocolate with reggae parts and dragonforce guitar-solos are a failproof combination for big bucks. sure thing...
 
i can totally understand having a disliking for the cutesy high-pitched voices, or the riddicculous genre-mish-mash that is going on, or just the tracks in general for their complexity or whatever. 
but listening to those tracks it is painstakingly clear, that a LOT of creativity, thought, work and heart went into creating something truly interesting here
(and the amount of controversy they stir up is probably the most solid proof of that)
 
if now the second guitarist from the right is the writer of the tracks or not, how would that make any difference?

ok, i think i need to adress this.
i read that kind of argument a LOT and the hypocrisy behind it is just staggering.
 
when in a band the guitarist writes all of the music you don't hate on the other members for playing songs they didn't write, you don't hate on actors who perform in movies/theatre that they didn't write the piece they perform, you don't hate on classical orchestras that perform music by guys already dead for hundreds of years, but somehow it is "lame" and for some not really apparent reason without "soul" when 3 teenage girls perform a series of high-energy metal-gigs all over the world?
 
on top of that these tracks are so wildly creative, new and fresh, but apparently only the concept of a selling-machine?
u-huh, because death-core-powermetal tracks about chocolate with reggae parts and dragonforce guitar-solos are a failproof combination for big bucks. sure thing...
 
i can totally understand having a disliking for the cutesy high-pitched voices, or the riddicculous genre-mish-mash that is going on, or just the tracks in general for their complexity or whatever. 
but listening to those tracks it is painstakingly clear, that a LOT of creativity, thought, work and heart went into creating something truly interesting here
(and the amount of controversy they stir up is probably the most solid proof of that)
 
if now the second guitarist from the right is the writer of the tracks or not, how would that make any difference?

moody as in dark, hopeless, misantrophic etc.:
Monster, Ergo Proxy, Texhnolyze
 
moody as in melancholic:
Kino no Tabi, Hotarubi no Mori e, Samurai X Trust and Betrayal (this one would fit into the "dark" cathegory aswell tho)

usually i think i prefer the more old-school VK band like calmando qual here,
but in this case with lycaon in the race i must admit, that with their pv for eros, with them actually swallowing cum, they've shown a dedication to the whole VK-genre that other bands still struggle to achieve.
 
my vote goes for modern VK here

usually i think i prefer the more old-school VK band like calmando qual here,
but in this case with lycaon in the race i must admit, that with their pv for eros, with them actually swallowing cum, they've shown a dedication to the whole VK-genre that other bands still struggle to achieve.
 
my vote goes for modern VK here

BAND BATTLE

 

LYCAON

 



 

VS.

 

CALMANDO QUAL

 



 

 

Which one is your favourite and why? Figured we'd get these band battles started up again!

Additional note by me: I know that many people around here have a lot against this artist - I do get it of course (sometimes it's either a) her vocals or her overboard, quirky and naive "musical status"). But seeing as fortunately some people manage to get over these pretexts - and see that she definitely deserves her own position in Nakata's "girl-vocal-group-trio" (Kyary-Perfume-Capsule these days), who for their part deserve respect for being able to convey Nakata's lively world of electro music. Those who are quite interested - AND acknowledge "the man behind Kyary", know certainly what I'm saying.
 
Tracklist with romanizations:
 
Now that we have a producer, who's definitely on fire release-wise - we have a chance to look at his...or in this case, Kyary's new full-length called "Pikapika Fantajin". Some people felt that Kyary's release tempo was getting too fast, and thus some singles ended up being quite "effortless" according to the general critic fanbase (especially in Japan, hm). But in the end the album itself managed to reveal some truly welcome surprises , and I am going to take them into account as well as I review this piece...
 
After we get past the majestic-like intro, the album kicks out with three single tracks - "Kirakira Killer" ,"Yume no Hajima Ring Ring"'s album mix and "Mottai Night Land". "Kirakira" is a full-on, upbeat and typical Kyary track, so there's not really much to say about it - other than that it's quite great, and works well as a possible "indicator of typical Kyary-istic sound". Yume no Hajima Ring Ring on the other hand caused some "small ruckus" in Japanese netizens' part due to various plagiarism/"zero effort"-crapstorms. Quite unfortunate that this child-like, but nicely nostalgic piece got too much hate - and in vain. Yes - the song itself was way too straight-forward as a Kyary's single song, but Nakata interestingly enough took some notes from general reaction towards his piece - and rearranged some parts (especially the final chorus which sounds much more...nostalgic and epic, hehe) for this album. My positive opinion didn't change at all even after some "obvious renovations" in this album mix - best single out of "Pikapika" over here! "Mottai" instead has nothing much to pinpoint - very straightforward effort as well, but I think ragtime-y piano saves it from becoming a dull filler.
 
Then we move on to the song, who deserves a lot more than just this lousy paragraph - "Serious Hitomi". Quite a shocker for those familiar with Kyary's earlier repertoire, seeing as the song heavily relies on "real band sound": you can hear and jam freely along to the guitar soloing, dynamic bassline and nice drums. I cannot come up with any proper comparison for "Serious", but let's make a bit faraway fetch anyway: imagine if Kyary covered Tokyo Jihen's "indiest" songs - a la "FOUL" or "Noriki" for instance. Might sound too biased to be true, but at least it gives you a general idea about awesomeness happening here. Possibly the best song of Kyary? J/k, j/k...very good one though.
 
Rest of this album still needs more "digesting" - but on the other note, it makes you think whether Nakata was getting too lazy while making this album: "do do pi do" and "Tokyo Highway" are definitely the stars of "latter half", mainly thanks to their nods towards Nakata's other projects (Capsule and Perfume, respectively), but in the meanwhile we have songs like "Ring a Bell" and "Koi Koi Koi", which are just wayward silly - and Explorer, despite being quite an okay track (retro-y strings  ) , is definitely nothing close to the proper closer material, and thus leaves a listener confused. Where did "Chan Chaka Chan Chan"-like closers go, Nakata? I'd personally put "Yume no Hajima" here, thanks to its obvious farewell-like message.
 
I have nothing much to say about remaining single mixes - they are okay, albeit very straightforward efforts.
 
The release in general starts out quite solidly, but ends up quite lazily (the same problem occured in "Nanda Collection" as well). Positive thoughts-wise though, there are many tracks worth pinpointing - and my personal picks are:
 
Standouts: Serious Hitomi,  do do pi do, Tokyo Highway, Yume no Hajima Ring Ring
Cool tracks: Kira Kira Killer
Okay tracks: Mottai Night Land, Family Party, Sungoi Aura, Explorer
Tracks worth the big fix:  Ring a Bell, Koi koi Koi
(I won't rate the title track - intro, duh)
 
- Not really perfect, but still very solid release by Kyary...and Nakata. Might come back here to edit more if I have more to say/fix.

I must admit this duo completely slipped under my radar before, even though they had already released quite a kickass debut record last year (this one I'm reviewing here is their first major album, 2nd release in total).
 
I first became intrigued when I was shown the PV for the opening track イイナヅケブルー, which is a completely addictive and repetitive (two things that walk hand in hand here) electro-pop dance number with some slick rap parts and catchy chorus. The Charisma girls are at their best when they do this type of style, and, accordingly, they sure like to utilize their talents in this area, manifesting in some pretty sweet songs such as LOOKER, ジェンガジェンガ or Train HELL. It doesn't get boring of course because, even if these songs are in a similar style, they sprinkle random fun twists throughout (I'm not qualified enough in electronic music to know these various subgenre-hints tho).
 
The duo adds more variety by delivering some tracks that are reminiscent of more straightforward J-pop or songs that are a bit softer. I personally think these instances are the weaker links of the album for the most part, tho it is kinda nice for them to chance it up once in a while. Anyway, they both stand their ground firmly, providing some catchy moments as usual. The album ends on a note that is kinda typical of the whole sound of the release, which is always a good thing to do - the combo of the last three tracks is pretty killer!
 
Even on the first listen lots of songs burrowed themselves deep into my mind, addictive stuff indeed, as I already mentioned. One of the best Japanese releases this year for me, for sure! I do recommend it strongly for lovers of modern electronic pop (with hints of rap and dance music) to check it out.
 
| tons of cool tunes & very little filler, great for replaying again and again

Artist: I.T.G. Album: Instigate the Grief Score: I have 99 problems and it's all this album.
Apparently, Zaku left all his talent with RedruM and acquired his musicians from the discount bin outside the office that was once Dear Dolce. It's the only reason I have for why it sounds like everyone in this band is so awful at their "profession". Any hope that you may have had that this band would be decent should have been assassinated with those YouTube previews that were black metal demo quality at best. The album sounds exactly like those previews and it really makes me wonder what they invested their money into. Then, I look at the outfits and realize that they look really snazzy and then all my questions are answered. Then, I get this dreadful feeling crawling up my spine to inform my brain that I'm in for a really bad trip. I still wasn't ready. This took my expectations of how terrible visual kei can be, encased it in concrete, and threw it off the side of a fishing boat into the ocean.

Instigate the Grief is the result of when a band thinks they can cash in on the visual kei craze while doing no work at all. Zaku and co. must have seriously sat down together after the recording for this album was finished and banked on the fact that all ten of their fans and those baka gaijins on Monochrome Heaven would buy enough copies for them to cover the 500yen down payment for the studio time in someone's garage complex. This is exploitation at it's finest, being a cookie-cutter collage of visual kei's creative drippings with some attempts at an industrial rock and gothic atmosphere that fails completely due to issues that should have been rectified before this album was pressed to disc.

For starters, the recording quality of this album is abysmal. The attempt at the D.I.D. sound fails miserably. Any studio additions are there to give the illusion that there's depth to the music. There is not. The band literally took anything they could and placed it on top of their music without regard for balance or space in the mix. Some samples they used are at such a high frequency they can cause deafness! It only gets worse. Zaku is the biggest culprit and is responsible for sinking this ship. He manages to both sound dreadful on every track and get worse as the album goes on. Any time Zaku comes onto the microphone to do harsh vocals it either sounds like he's gargling peanut butter or everything devolves into noise. Every single vocal effect in ProTools was applied to his voice before they transcoded the master tracks to and from 96kbps four times for that authentic-kei feel. I envision that afterwards, they all sat around, stroked their cocks, and nodded in agreement, "Yes, yes, this is exactly how we want to represent ourselves!". Is every member in this band deaf?

This is the antithesis of musicianship. They stapled together as many visual kei cliches as they could find. Track names are so edgy I can shave my face with them. Songs jump between "aggressive" verses and poppy choruses, as if the formula hasn't already been beaten to death. Even the breakdowns lack any type of moshable rhythm and just sound lame and lifeless. I can even point to sections of songs where they just didn't try, like BABY ON THE DEATH VALLEY where Zaku repeats the title in Engrish before they free form shit all over your eardrums for a minute straight. Then there's also numbers that would make Black Gene for the Next Scene blush at the reckless abandon of synth in tracks like DIGITIZED FAMILY.

There are no redeeming qualities to Instigate the Grief. Every track ranges from terrible to torturous. Questionable decisions in both composition and production make you wonder if anyone listened to the music after it was recorded. For example, the drums in No Answer are panned almost entirely to the left and right for no reason, leaving a gigantic gap in the sound stage that's unaccounted for. It takes a track that had one or two ideas and makes it just as vapid as everything else on display. If you want another example, the drums in BABY ON THE DEATH VALLEY get a mention for being the single worst drums I have ever heard recorded in my life. Bedroom doujin bands with prerecorded drum loops sound more professional than this. And no, once again I am not kidding. Guitars are weak and have no life, and it seems like the distortion on the guitar placed in the mix and not out of the amp, making things sound even more terrible. Bassist? What bassist? I can't hear any bass underneath all that low end distortion and typewriter drum pedals.

This album is an example of why piracy is good. If I had purchased this album, I would have asked for my money back. If you bought this album I really feel bad for you. I deleted this album immediately after I finished the last track. You couldn't get me to buy this if the government paid for my trip to the otolaryngologist. I'd much rather play frisbee with this CD than ever listen to it again. I was fundamentally changed as a visual kei fan by the end of this album, after discovering that there are bands who think they can insult my intelligence with such awful music.

You will never catch me say this again any time soon, but this band deserves to disband. Now.

sooo, first episode of tokyo ghoul was a bit of a mixed bag, i really don't like the main character (or any of the characters) so far.
also everything story-related is probably the most generic and obvious stuff that one can think of when speaking about sombie/vampire-esque shows in general, so this was pretty disappointing too.
 
that beeing said, the thing looks bloody brilliant, beautiful scenes and settings aswell als great animated and directed sequences (particularly liked the bit when trying to eat again...). who knows, could still obviously become more interesting, it's only been one episode so far...
 
first episode of free! eternal sth was nice aswell, pretty much what you'd expect, some bro-ing/friendshipstuffs, some sports, tons of fanservice and some brilliant animation.
 
started the new SOA too despite hating and dropping the first one after 15-ish episodes. so far the setup is nice and i'm genuinely interested what might happen in the course of the arc but i'm still very much positive that it'll be turning into some storytelling/pacing-trainwreck and overall low-level harem show again (the last scene + the ending/outro seem like a quality indication of that...)

Japan's Yowakutemo Katemasu. Baseball drama.
 
Great cast of young actors.

Hey guys,

 

as some might already know i also play in a band as saxophonist (or atm bassist) 

 

Funkômas



(me is bottom row orange shirt btw)

 

Facebook

 

it was mainly a backgroundmusic-swing-coverband when i joined, but we now have changed towards only playing original self-composed material that borders into the aforementioned genres (i'd like to think it compares a bit to Tokyo Jihen, but that's probably a stretch/wishfull thinking)

 

we released an album back in march (i think) and here is a little trailer of that

 



 



 

here are some of the songs in full if you are interested in having a listen 

 

Friends Of Drug Abuse

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7899279/01%20Friends%20Of%20Drug%20Abuse.mp3

 

Happy Violence

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7899279/03%20Happy%20Violence.mp3

 

Modern Schizophrenic

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7899279/06%20Modern%20Schizophrenic.mp3

 

Rise Again

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7899279/09%20Rise%20Again.mp3

 

Your Brother

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7899279/10%20Your%20Brother.mp3

 

most of these songs (all save for 'brother') have been written by me, but the CD also features a bunch of songs from other bandmembers too.

thanks in advance if you took the time to listen to some of the stuff, and even more thanks in advance if you decide to leave some feedback or sth

also generally still considered "good MUCC" probably, but without the angsty vibe of the early releases are the two albums that you already have (shion and kyuutai) plus Gokusai (which is very much worth checking out if you like those you already have...)

it also has another (a new? special edition? vinyl only?) cover, with a friggin CAT
 
this is how you internet
 

ok, i'm just through and just wanted to say
 
holy fuckin' shit, i'm floored
(light novels is where it's at btw...)