bonsaijodelfisch

I was out of town five years ago the last time MONO made it to Wisconsin and I have been kicking myself ever since. I thought that the likelihood of them making it back to my tiny midwest state was slim to none. Well, let’s just say that my excitement was palpable when I found out that this band would be making the trip to a venue only about 15 minutes from my home.
 
I am not sure about everyone else, but I always find it more fun to have someone else to chat with in the downtime between bands (and also to laugh at my hilarious headbanging). Since tickets were very cheap and the venue was so close, it was easy to convince my girlfriend as well as a couple of other friends to join me. The three of them aren’t exactly as in to post rock as I am (to put it lightly), but all of them enjoy MONO to some extent. Besides, I knew they were in for a treat.
 
The show was at one of the most well known venues in Milwaukee,: The Rave. I have been there several times before and I have never really enjoyed the location, but I had only really seen shows on the main stage. MONO was set to play on their smallest stage, which was downright tiny. The disappointingly low attendance - maybe 100 tops - made it understandable, but it’s kind of funny to see a band you have loved for a long time relegated to such a small stage. Also, it was very low, almost abnormally low...the kind of stage height that would would work great for a sitting show, but not a bar venue.
 
We walked in maybe a couple minutes after the opener, Holly Hunt, had started playing. According to their Bandcamp, this guitar and drum duo “...capture the meditative power of repetition [and] the ecstatic joy of tempered variation.” I’m not sure about that. but what I can say is that I have never experienced something so boring yet so loud. To put it bluntly, this opener was bad. Sludge/drone/doom isn’t something I spin every day, but I do enjoy it on occasion...but not this time. I know the point is to be repetitive in this style of music, but your repetition still needs to be interesting. I heard some of the most bland riffs that long overstayed their welcome. 
 
A single song seemed to span about 10 minutes with no breaks in between. And it was Loud. Offensively loud. I thanked god I had earplugs, as the droning guitar still felt loud even with them on. Now let’s talk about the charisma of the band... Nothing says excitement like playing more than half of your show with your back towards the crowd looking at your amp...   Perhaps all of this wouldn’t have been so bad if there was a quieter place I could retreat to and talk to my friends, but the only choice was to endure. About 40 minutes later, the noise finally broke, a few people clapped and cheered, and I was finally able to remind myself as to why I came here.
 
MONO took the stage with decidedly little fanfare. No talking, no hyping - nothing. It is about the music. They launched right in to “Recoil, Ignite” off of Rays of Darkness, which is perhaps my favorite song of theirs and a hell of a way to start. While little was going to getting in my way of enjoy this epic song, suddenly a huge problem became apparent - the low stage. If you have seen MONO before, you know that a good deal of the time the guitarists are playing sitting down. Well, once you mix this with a low stage it makes for a very difficult viewing experience unless you are one of the few pressed up against the stage. Due to this “difficulty,” I eventually gave up trying to peer through gaps in shoulders and heads and spent my time with my eyes closed just soaking it all in. Considering I always enjoy closing my eyes at shows and letting the sound wash over me, perhaps this wasn’t a terrible thing (even though I was pretty damn irritated at the time).
 
Mono followed  with “Unseen Harbor.” I found the first half of the song to be a little lacking without the orchestra that accompanies the band on the recorded track, but that ending climax was just as lovely as ever. It is mind blowing how calm a beginning on a track can be, almost a little boring for me to be listening to a music venue, only to be devastated with the pure intensity of the later part of a song. It’s hard to put in to words, but I think that juxtaposition just brings a certain power to the music that really makes it emotional.
 
“Kanata” brought some relief with a somber piano after the ending climax that came before. Then in to “Where We Begin,” which I must admit, I don’t find to be an overly interesting track. The band rounded out the night with two tracks from “Hymn to the Immortal Wind,” “Ashes in the Snow” and “Everlasting Light.” I kind of wish they have switched the two song as I feel like the ending to “Ashes” would leave much bigger final impact to the show and allow me to leave with my skin crawling with goosebumps.
 
While I had hoped they would played more from “Rays of Darkness,” the concert was spectacular. Mono’s playing was nearly flawless and the band has such a great chemistry, which is amazing to behold as their interactions are so subtle and without word. Only a few things kept this concert from perfection...with a slight shifting of the track order and different venue, I think the goosebumps would have never left my skin. If you ever have a chance to see MONO live, do it. While I love their studio releases, it’s hard to emulate the pure force exuding from their live performance.

Artist: ウワノソラ'67 (uwanosora’67) Album: Portrait in Rock ‘n’ Roll 1. シェリーに首ったけ (Shelly ni kubittake) 2. 年上ボーイフレンド (Toshiue boyfriend) 3. 傑作映画の後で (Kessaku eiga no ato de) 4. 雨降る部屋で (Ame furu heya de) 5. 葉っぱのように (Happo no you ni) 6. Hey × 3 ・ Blue × 3 7. station No.2 8. 夢見るアクター (Yume miru actor) 9. 涙のフォークボール (Namida no forkball) 10. レモンビーチへようこそ (Lemon Beach e youkoso)
Rating: | A blast from the past: retro-pop perfection!
 
ウワノソラ'67 (uwanosora’67) appears to be a side-project of the ’70s inspired pop band ウワノソラ (uwanosora), featuring vocalist Megumi and the personification of “heavy lifting,” Hirohide, who handles everything from composition, lyrics, arrangement and production to playing instruments like acoustic/electric guitar, bass and even marimba. Their first album Portrait in Rock ‘n’ Roll might have been released in June 2015, but stylistically, it fits right in with the music from half a century ago. As their name implies, they mostly take their influence from the ‘60s, citing the sound of “girl group” legends like The Ronettes, the harmony-soaked tunes of The Beach Boys, and so much more.

In true pop tradition, the album hits the ground running with their biggest hit, “シェリーに首ったけ (Shelly ni kubittake)”. Backed by a whole slew of support musicians playing everything from saxophones to harp, the group’s lush arrangements shine through, recalling Phil Spector’s “wall of sound.” The song is jaunty and fun in a very classic way, but the composition has a few surprises, such as the oddly percussive and bass heavy section in the middle of the chorus and a short slide guitar solo. Vocalist Megumi delivers a very sweet performance, singing in a slightly higher (more “Japanese”?) register than the American girl group singers who influence her. If the song isn’t enough, be sure to check out the PV below for wonderfully campy synchronized choreography—it’s like Japan’s version of the Hairspray musical.

“年上ボーイフレンド (Toshiue boyfriend)” is more piano and orchestra-based than the opening track. In fact, I was first reminded of Welsh indie pop group The School, who also have similar '60s influences to ウワノソラ'67. This track adopts a slightly more melancholic, wistful mood, featuring gorgeous string arrangements and heartfelt vocals. It’s evident that Hirohide has a knack for classic pop songwriting. Every song is a joy, from the cheerful tracks like “傑作映画の後で (Kessaku eiga no ato de)” to the album’s gorgeous rainy day ballad, “雨降る部屋で (Ame furu heya de)”. What really makes the album pop, however, are the immense arrangements. Whether it’s the horns that punctuate the verses of tracks like “涙のフォークボール (Namida no forkball)”, the majestic fluttery harp in “夢見るアクター (Yume miru actor)”, Hirohide’s own marimba action in ”葉っぱのように (Happo no you ni)”, or the numerous rich sax solos sprinkled throughout, the lovely arrangements are what take the album to the next level, transporting the listener to another era. While the album’s creativity dips ever so slightly in tracks 5 and 6, the second half of the album finishes off almost as memorably as it started.

Vocally, Megumi also deserves some praise. She knows how to balance the innocence, charm, and heart most befitting of these colorful arrangements. While not technically a very soulful vocalist, she makes up for it (like many of the best singers of the '60s) with an enchanting naiveté that is equally as powerful. In ”雨降る部屋で” in particular, it amazes me how moving her delivery of the simple chorus gets with each repeat—I get goosebumps every time. While some listeners might find that she occasionally spends too much time in falsetto (such as in the choruses of ”夢見るアクター”), overall, she makes the most of her role in the group. Throughout the album, there are also a few instances of playful “shooby dooby” background vocals, such as in “station No.2”, further grounding the music in the '60s. The album’s already beautiful final track, “レモンビーチへようこそ (Lemon Beach e youkoso)”, ends with a glorious, choral outro.

It’s clear that ウワノソラ'67 have been doing their homework, paying homage to the musical styles of the past in such an authentic way. If there is one potential drawback to the album, it’s that the group doesn’t infuse their music with contemporary edge. British artists like Amy Winehouse and The Pipettes had similar musical “foremothers” to ウワノソラ'67, but their lyrical content was “updated” with a lot of contemporary sass and attitude; as far as I can tell, that is not the case here. But maybe that’s the point. Portrait in Rock ‘n’ Roll truly is like listening to the sounds of the ‘60s in fresh, modern recording quality, but instead of an LP in hand, you have a CD (or just mp3s)! Currently, I prefer this side project to the “normal” ウワノソラ output and I’m praying that this album isn’t just a one-off endeavor!

What did you think of the album?


Support the band! UWANOSORA SHOP
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the trailer is cheap and cheesy as fuck, but somehow i dig this, might check out when it comes out...
 

that shahmen album is awesome! thanks for that, this'll do some rounds on my ipod for sure!

ON the brightside their look is amazing i forgot to mention that wowowowowo

i think everyone get's the mimicing-lip-synching aspect of video shoots, so the main reason is of course an aesthetical one (and a bit of health and safety as whitegrey rightfully pointed out)
 
video-directors for some reason really don't like the look of cables, microphones etc. except when going for a reeeally "gritty" practice-room kinda look. which is why we end up with these weird hybrid-like performances with unplugged instruments and unconvincing performances. the weirdest thing to me is when there is the performing artist, with an unplugged instrument, standing in front of an unplugged, turned off marshall stack without even AC-connection.
 
the point is, if the goal is to fake a performance, why not set it up like a performance? everything differing from the actual setup makes it more disconnected. personally i would even go as far as microphoning up the drumkit and amps even if just for the looks sake (or better, Particularly for looks sake). Instead we get singers, that have to act out without their microphones, which is completely uncommon for them and they don't know what to do with their hands, or they get an unplugged micstand, with the plug for the cable clearly visible which is probably just as bad.
 
the overall problem with most of the examples is just a strong disconnect between intention and execution. If the intention is to convey the feeling of the musicians performing (in a promotional, idealised way ofc), use the setup of a performance (but watch your step ). If the intention is a clean image, good look on the artist etc. why use the instruments at all? Plenty of possibilities for pretty clean images without weird poses with unrealistic instrument-setups.
 
 
EDIT: to clarify, i'm not talking about actually blasting the amps, but just setting them up, so they could believably do so...
on a sidenote: as a audio-engineer/producer/recording-artist i really like the look of a fully mic-ed up backline and drumkit and cables in general, so i'm probably biased

i think everyone get's the mimicing-lip-synching aspect of video shoots, so the main reason is of course an aesthetical one (and a bit of health and safety as whitegrey rightfully pointed out)
 
video-directors for some reason really don't like the look of cables, microphones etc. except when going for a reeeally "gritty" practice-room kinda look. which is why we end up with these weird hybrid-like performances with unplugged instruments and unconvincing performances. the weirdest thing to me is when there is the performing artist, with an unplugged instrument, standing in front of an unplugged, turned off marshall stack without even AC-connection.
 
the point is, if the goal is to fake a performance, why not set it up like a performance? everything differing from the actual setup makes it more disconnected. personally i would even go as far as microphoning up the drumkit and amps even if just for the looks sake (or better, Particularly for looks sake). Instead we get singers, that have to act out without their microphones, which is completely uncommon for them and they don't know what to do with their hands, or they get an unplugged micstand, with the plug for the cable clearly visible which is probably just as bad.
 
the overall problem with most of the examples is just a strong disconnect between intention and execution. If the intention is to convey the feeling of the musicians performing (in a promotional, idealised way ofc), use the setup of a performance (but watch your step ). If the intention is a clean image, good look on the artist etc. why use the instruments at all? Plenty of possibilities for pretty clean images without weird poses with unrealistic instrument-setups.
 
 
EDIT: to clarify, i'm not talking about actually blasting the amps, but just setting them up, so they could believably do so...
on a sidenote: as a audio-engineer/producer/recording-artist i really like the look of a fully mic-ed up backline and drumkit and cables in general, so i'm probably biased

just finished Final Fantasy IX
 
very cool game, world and characters. battle system is a bit too barebones and easy i think and the story tries a bit too hard to push some FF7ish "destroyer-of-worlds" narrative in the last third, but overall great experience.
 
next up probably one of the FF1-4 remakes

as a bystander i also want to add, as a general understanding of discussion, nobody has a problem with stating an actual opinion or liking sth ("wheee nice catchy track and colors, i want to touch it seductively") but if you add some things, that leave the realm of opinion into the area of wrongly stated facts, people will point these out.
By constantly claiming D are (paraphrasing) "doing things outside of the box", "not jumping the latest trend" and are "<3 daring" in their compositions, you are making them out to be some sort of progressive avant-garde powerhouse, that they clearly aren't (at least with this release).
As pretty much everybody then pointed out this type of song, as well as the looks have been done to death by billions of other generi-kei bands (and probably D themselves). 
This doesn't mean that one can not like it, or even that it's necessarily a bad thing in general, but daring/outsidebox/etc it is not.

as a bystander i also want to add, as a general understanding of discussion, nobody has a problem with stating an actual opinion or liking sth ("wheee nice catchy track and colors, i want to touch it seductively") but if you add some things, that leave the realm of opinion into the area of wrongly stated facts, people will point these out.
By constantly claiming D are (paraphrasing) "doing things outside of the box", "not jumping the latest trend" and are "<3 daring" in their compositions, you are making them out to be some sort of progressive avant-garde powerhouse, that they clearly aren't (at least with this release).
As pretty much everybody then pointed out this type of song, as well as the looks have been done to death by billions of other generi-kei bands (and probably D themselves). 
This doesn't mean that one can not like it, or even that it's necessarily a bad thing in general, but daring/outsidebox/etc it is not.

*sound of glass shattering*

as a bystander i also want to add, as a general understanding of discussion, nobody has a problem with stating an actual opinion or liking sth ("wheee nice catchy track and colors, i want to touch it seductively") but if you add some things, that leave the realm of opinion into the area of wrongly stated facts, people will point these out.
By constantly claiming D are (paraphrasing) "doing things outside of the box", "not jumping the latest trend" and are "<3 daring" in their compositions, you are making them out to be some sort of progressive avant-garde powerhouse, that they clearly aren't (at least with this release).
As pretty much everybody then pointed out this type of song, as well as the looks have been done to death by billions of other generi-kei bands (and probably D themselves). 
This doesn't mean that one can not like it, or even that it's necessarily a bad thing in general, but daring/outsidebox/etc it is not.

as a bystander i also want to add, as a general understanding of discussion, nobody has a problem with stating an actual opinion or liking sth ("wheee nice catchy track and colors, i want to touch it seductively") but if you add some things, that leave the realm of opinion into the area of wrongly stated facts, people will point these out.
By constantly claiming D are (paraphrasing) "doing things outside of the box", "not jumping the latest trend" and are "<3 daring" in their compositions, you are making them out to be some sort of progressive avant-garde powerhouse, that they clearly aren't (at least with this release).
As pretty much everybody then pointed out this type of song, as well as the looks have been done to death by billions of other generi-kei bands (and probably D themselves). 
This doesn't mean that one can not like it, or even that it's necessarily a bad thing in general, but daring/outsidebox/etc it is not.

Best New Tracks: July 2015

July was a big month for Japanese music and the Official Reviewers (ORZ) have been extra busy sifting through the plethora of releases, all in order to recommend you the best new tracks! Feel free to comment or discuss any of this month's picks and even offer your own as well!
Visual Kei
"Fatal Error Race" by D.I.D.

"愁いリビドー (Urei libido)" by DADAROMA

"Everlasting Flavor" by Diawolf

"この世で一番美しい薔薇よ (Konoyo de Ichiban Utsukushii Bara Yo)" by Kamijo

"The Screaming Pain" by Lament.

"鳥籠トロイメライ (torikago träumerei)" by My Fairytale

"アオイヤミ (Aoi Yami)" by Purple Stone

"砉 (Keiki)" by コドモドラゴン (Codomo Dragon)

"造花と嘘 (zouka to uso)" by ユナイト (UNiTE.)

"人形劇 (Ningyougeki)" by リライゾ (Liraizo)

Rock / Metal / Punk
"closer" by Does It Escape Again

"信じて (Shinjite)" by Galileo Galilei

"STRIKE A BELL" by LEGO BIG MORL

"From This Day" by Nature Living

"Dream Box" by NoisyCell

"Iolite" by Sailing Before The Wind

"male bee, on a sunny day. well well well well!" by THE BOHEMIANS

"夜の公園 (yoru no koen)" by シュリスペイロフ (Syurispeiloff)

"トーキーダンス (Talkie Dance)" by ヒトリエ (Hitorie)

Indie / Alt.
"the lonely crowd" by Mouse on the Keys

"Jaguar" by N.Y&BICYCLES

"Dali" by PELICAN FANCLUB

"My Little Wish" by toe

"夕霧 (yuugiri)" by 北園みなみ (Minami Kitasono)

"シーン (scene)" by 水中図鑑 (Suichuzukan)

"new place" by 雨のパレード (Ame no Parade)

Pop / Idol / R&B / Hip-Hop
"LAST STARDUST" by Aimer

"5th season" by BILLIE IDLE

"Lights Go Out" by CJ Li

"サマーサマー (summer summer)" by Caro kissa

"やれよ。(Yareyo.)" by Charisma.com

"Claymore (DJ Koo Remix)" by GACKT

"Ex Tape" by 倖田來未 (Koda Kumi)

"LUV PANDEMIC" by TOWA TEI

"スパイス (Spice)" by 東京カランコロン (Tokyo Karankoron)

"Pocket" by whiteeeen
PV
"綺麗 (Kirei)" by 印象派 (Inshouha)

"DREAM" by 岸谷香 (Kaori Kishitani)
PV
"Run Away" by 滴草由実 (Yumi Shizukusa)

See you next month!

and another one.
 
Post-Black-Indie-Alternative or sth. #AmIHipYet?
 
sounds exactly like all the other shit
 

*sound of glass shattering*

lol, u mad bro? don't worry, here's help for your spontaneous, incoherent bursts of anger and inferiority complex http://www.amazon.com/X-Cream-Penis-Enlargement-Cream/dp/B00G9GIKTW
 
more on topic the already mentioned "church of misery" are obviously magnificent, and in a similar territory "boris" is a pretty safe bet (although most of their material probably is more on the "experimental/noise" side of things)

 
on the blackmetal (well, post-blackmetal-hardcore-sthsth) frontier "COHOL" is a splendid ensemble, great guitarwork and drumming coupled with some complex, yet easily digestable songwriting. A+

 
this band "Cyberne" is probably from somewhere in the grind kind of things, which is probably more punk than metal, but whatever. their own genre description range somewhere between "intellectual hyper-extreme" to "tokyo noise ultra terror" or something, i call troll
regardless the music is great, they sometimes feature a grad total of three drumkits to blast you with super fast odd timesignature goodness with insane amounts of energy. good stuff

 
funnily enough the truest "metal" thing from a musical standpoint here is some touhou. most of the time i'm not a huge fan of these, because of either some pisspoor production or lazy songwriting (well, -arrangement) or both, but "Demetori" sure is something worth checking out. some of the most epic shreddy kitsch-laden melodic instrumental powermetal one can imagine.

 
there probably won't ever be a post about japanese metal where i don't mention "knellt"
super unknown osaka psychedelic doom entity with massive sound, great songs and superbe musicians and vocals.
(unfortunately no studio stuffs on utube, but the live gives an impression...)

I want to pause for a moment and make sure we clear up that going about the conversation in this mindset is very misguided. This is one of the few conversations (at least part of it) where going about this in a "classical vs. pop/jazz" mindset doesn't quite work. I appreciate your knowledge of music; but in this regard you're slightly off. It seems like you're assuming that diatonic chords within the major and minor keys "tend to sound way too 'classical'". Not only that; but to draw that paragraph into context yields:
 
 
 
Here you're just barely scratching the surface on the bigger picture. This may be because classical isn't your thing, and you aren't entirely familiar with it (which is understandable); but you don't take into consideration that what you described is not unique to "pop/jazz" by any stretch of the imagination -- with the only difference coming from how it's notated. 7th, 9th, 11th, and even 13th chords, suspended chords*, and diminished chords have all been expressed across tons of "genres" of music (to a FAR lesser extent in pop); but how they are used, and how they are read, varies. When reading a Classical work you don't see suspension and go "oh, this is a Dsus4 chord" even though the sound is exactly the same like you would find in other genres. It would (in a classical sense) be considered a leading tone that resolves to a chord (in this case D). Keep in mind that there is definitely jazz (and classical) that does as you say ("Strain away from this exact definition of a chord "gender", fogging this definition either by the addition of laddernotes...or ones alien to the roots..."); but that isn't unique to jazz, and that style is certainly not representative of the whole genre when it's still a very modern understanding of chord structure. It's not even an understanding that is pursued in Pop. If it was, that would be news to me. (Pop as in the genre, not the broad term "Popular Music")
 
 
 
 
Yes, there is my confusion. I thought we were comparing voicing with power chords vs. other ways to play a given chord. I wasn't aware we were strictly discussing power chords. My point was that voicing power chords are lazy (requires little effort) compared to all the ways you can voice chords. Especially when it comes to piano or guitar, I will actively avoid power chords and only use barre chords when absolutely necessary. And I do agree with the matter of viewpoint when it comes to power chords because like I said: there's no "wrong" approach to music, even if I or others criticize it. Your style is ingrained in doom/stoner/black metal and I can dig it; but always keep in mind our interests represent many colors of the same spectrum, and all the different genres/styles we like aren't as far apart as they sometimes seem.
 
 
 
 
Just a slight misunderstanding on both of our parts, not a problem. It's been fun discussing music on a music forum.

I never said it was "bad", only lazy (because there's really no "wrong" approach to music). Using a power chord means you're omitting the third from a chord, which is the most important note for determining its color (major/minor). In context of a piece, you can write a song using parallel fifths and still determine the key (plenty of indie rock does it); but relying on power chords for your progression will always sound more hollow due to the nature of the harmonic series where there is very little distinction between the prime and fifth when played together. It's fine, except there's nothing profound about it and is seen as lazy chord voicing. And when all that exists are power chords, there becomes little to appreciate for me.
 
 
 
There I disagree. Holding, picking, strumming, and fingering the guitar all take a degree of of practice similar to fingering and bowing a violin, or proper breathing for a horn instrument. In all cases you're presenting yourself with different challenges that all have the same basis: you have to know how to use it first, even if one's knowledge is very limited. You should listen to someone pick up the guitar for the first time and attempt "Smoke on the Water", or attempt any movement with their hand on the frets. There will be complete disconnect until the muscle memory begins to pick it up -- the same with pretty much any instrument.
 
 
 
 
I have no idea what kind of guitar you're playing, or how you voice your chords; but the statement that "power chord-based music gives you even more freedom with your voicings, as you don't have to waste three fingers on the powerchord itself, so you have three left to throw in all kinds of 7s, 9s, 11s" is completely false which I'll demonstrate with one diagram i sloppily put together.
 
 

 
 
Please tell me how the second diagram (a power chord voicing which "gives you more freedom") is any more efficient than the first voicing? It's not. In fact, the second voicing is damn near impossible unless you have freakishly large hands. Second, you're conflating "chord voicing" with tuning in your last statement. If we are talking about weird tunings, then yes I agree that you can tune to make extended chords easier; but then like I said, everything else suffers because of it. Then within standard tuning (as I showed above), using a power chord as the basis for chord voicing is a terrible idea. I guess you could try it; but good luck.
 
 
Ok, we're jumping back and forth to different topics so please bear with me. That's where your musical focus is a bit too narrow. Drop tunings, and "weird tunings", are not exclusive to distortion-based music. Even on an 8 string you can voice chords on the lower registers. A pedal may distort the overall sound but I guarantee it will not be completely lost unless the gear a performer is using sucks or they're setting their pedals to completely drown out any nuance of what they're playing. Then maybe there you'd have a point.
 
 
 
That's because I never said a 7/8 string was better for "tuning stability", only a better alternative to drop tuning because: A. the extended range, and B. you aren't forced to relearn the fret-board by diving into strange tunings. All the voicings stay the same, you have everything there like you did with a 6 string, only more and far more versatility -- all without having to retune.
 
 
 
It is

For those that aren't familiar with Kobyashi, he's the vocalist/guitarist and main composer for THE NOVEMBERS. We have a thread for them over in the artists section.