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Manabu

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Posts posted by Manabu

  2. Posted

    Not sure if this is the best place for it but I'm looking for a specific Luna Sea live, it was on youtube but taken down, unfortunately I can't remember the date or location but I can remember a few things

    • It was from 2010 onwards
    • They played Rosier
    • Sugizo had a very worn black stratocaster
    • During the solo of Rosier Ryuichi is doing jazz hands
    • Sugizo is wearing a long blue coat, J is in a black vest with long dirty blonde hair, Ryuichi is in an all black suit

    Can't remember a huge amount more but if memory serves then it was quite a packed event, any help or ideas would be appreciated

  4. Posted

    We're almost there, the year drawing to a close and hopefully a few days where we can forget about how bad everything has been and without further adieu 

     

    1. How are you spending the holidays? (What holiday are you celebrating?)
    2. What presents are you hoping to receive?
    3. What presents are you planning to give?
    4. Have you been naughty or nice?

    (Feel free to answer as many or as few as you like)

     

    I'm at home with the parents, we're going to my sisters to see the whole family because the UK restrictions are being relaxed. As for gifts, I've mostly asked for CD's and books so hopefully I'll be spending some time enjoying Hide with spread beaver and reading some Junji Ito classics.

     

    I've picked up some toys for my nephews, skincare for my niece (very sad realising she's grown up and isn't content with dolls or colouring pencils anymore) and crafting items and books for the parents.

     

    Lastly, I'm confident in saying I'm on the nice list!

    Elagabalus and ghost reacted to this

  7. Posted

    33 minutes ago, BrenGun said:

    I personally think XJAPAN is really boring. How often I listen, I cannot feel what people feel. I don't understand why this band is so hyped... But well it was SHAZNA who make visual kei popular in Japan, it wasn't XJAPAN 🤣  you can read that in an interview, over here on the board.  And nope XJAPAN were not the only founders of visual kei.. the guy who started the SHOXX magazine gave life to it, including all bands who appeared inside the early issues😁

     

    That's cool, I think with X Japan they're the kind of group that may seem boring to some but need to be respected for what they were doing, it's similar to what J Dilla did for hip-hop, it was new and ground breaking at the time. Can't say I know much about Shazna but I'd argue the likes of X Japan, Buck-Tick and D'erlanger had quite a lot of involvement in making VK popular

    lichtlune reacted to this

  8. Posted

    VK is such an expansive genre that it might be easier if you tell us genre's you already like. 

     

    Luna Sea are a great starting point because whilst X Japan are considered the founders of Visual Kei, Luna Sea really crafted the genre and were quite ahead of their time.

    Merry are another group that I'd massively recommended , quite a few different styles in their music but they're imo one of the most unique VK groups, if I had to I'd say they're a hard rock/punk group but they've got a lot of jazz influences.

     

    I'd recommend their greatest hits albums because you'll get the full scope of their music.

    Furik reacted to this

  13. Posted

    TL:DR Version
    Acidman - Alma
    Alice Nine - Gemini
    Baroque - Puer et Puella
    Chanty - Chantyの世界へようこそ
    Develop One's Faculties - Reincarnation
    Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - All that we have now
    Matenrou Opera - Avalon
    Radwimps - Zettai Zetsumei 

     

    Honourable Mentions
    Amazarashi - ワンルーム叙事詩
    Miyavi - What's My Name?
    Shounenki - Any EP/Mini Album

     

    Spoiler

    Heidi - Alpha
    I feel I could put this on the list for the last track 'Kanata' alone because of how good it is,  I'm sure I've heard the verse guitar riff somewhere before but the way the drum and bass hit with it and the explosive chorus and the guitar solo. This felt like a refinement of Heidi's sound and the band at their best, catchy guitar riffs, funkybasslines, interesting rhythmic sections and switch ups, a guitarist that looks like Plastic Tree's Ryutaro.


    Baroque - Puer et Puella
    Potential controversial choice? I know this was a real mixed bag especially compared to their older stuff (sug life is still a banger) and whilst songs like 'Girl' are definitely on the pop side this is still a well written album and credit to the group for not only trying something new but completely owning it,  the guitar work in this is high quality and a lot of the time takes the center stage.
    Damn, they even have a song with dog bark samples and it still sounds excellent. An extension of planetary secret, it still has someof those space elements like the synths but they've been refined and toned down, there are some well executed ideas running throughout.

     

     

    Develop One's Faculties - Reincarnation
    Another tough choice, the second album has the better singles but reincarnation is consistently good through out the entire album. The slap and pop guitar, the impeccable drum work, Yuuya's vocal display (the passionate shouting at the end of insert memory is worth hearing)
    Every song felt massively different to the others whilst the group maintained their unique sound, from the heartfelt bouncey ballad of 'Ettad' to
    the heavier Donald Trump prediction 'It is what it is' and jazzy ネガティブベイビー. This is an album brimming with energy, every moment feels like they've tried to make it interesting without becoming obnoxious, I can't do this album justice in  words.

     

    Alice Nine - Gemini
    Still a great record, whilst I liked Alpha Gemini feels like where the band should've gone after zekkeishoku. An album that's great the entire way through, each song sounding different except for the great ideas behind the gemini trilogy and honestly such good guitar work throughout the whole album.

     

    Radwimps - Zettai Zetsumei 
    This easily could've gone to Batsu to Maru to Tsumi to but Zettai Zetsumei has some really memorable songs as well as some nice ideas that generally are pulled off pretty well and in my opinion this was when they really started gaining popularity and came in to their own sound.

     

    Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - All that we have now
    A very marmite group with the autotune vocals but I've always felt their keyboardist Minami is genuinely talented, they definitely lost their way
    later on but the first two albums are a masterclass in the electronicore genre. This really could've gone to either album but I felt all that we have now pushed the boat out just the right amount with experimentation, some complex electronic parts, never went overboard with the heavier elements, a solid release.

     

    Chanty - Chantyの世界へようこそ
    Wow, what a great first album, this had me hooked straight away even if the singles were some of the weakest tracks from the album, this felt like a breath
    of fresh air with a style closer to J-Indie. The singles honestly sound entirely different to the rest of the album but tracks like monorium and フライト capture a rarely seen lighter sound in visual kei. Another release where it felt like the band were really in sync with each other, Akuta had great vocal prowess, パセリ offered the bass and guitars at one of their best parts without being distracting. Whilst it could be argued the group played it safe with this release (especially considering some of their earlier material) it was a good choice with just enough flair.

     

    Matenrou Opera - Avalon
    Anomie was great but a bit too early for this list I can't say I've listened to an awful lot of MO after this album but this it had such a perfect blend, great choice of keyboard sounds, all the parts share the lead moments well. Some fantastic vocal displays here, from the high pitch cracks at the end of notes to the powerful vibrato and belting out of notes. Even the worst songs like San Jikan still have some really good ideas.Jolly Roger, a track so epic that I can look past the cheesy lyrics, Cross Counter, another fantastic track that even though he very clearly says "sh*t like you just don't care" instead of shout it's still fantastic.

     

    Acidman - Alma
    This was a tough call because whilst this album is good as a whole unit, shinsekai has one of their best and most passionate singles. This album has a great mix with a lot of the more rock and punk elements, more interesting pieces like final dance scene and the classic heart warming Alma, everything is well executed.

     

    Honourable mentions
    Shounenki - Any EP/Mini Album
    This may seem like cheating but I couldn't not put them on here, they always had great songs but notable issues, akashic had the likes of artlessness boy but was marred but awful production, they struggled to ever release a full album of new songs. They had a lot of different styles and a very scattered discography which was arguably their crux but that doesn't change the fact they really could put out some well written tunes with such a unique vocalist.

     

    Amazarashi - ワンルーム叙事詩
    InB4 Boku No Hero Academia, this is a great EP that's a lot brighter than most of his stuff, it's the kind of EP you listen back to and think every song would
    be on the greatest hits, I've always felt it has a certain winter feel to it (partially because of it's release date and when it got uploaded) A nice mix of acoustic guitar, piano accompaniment, soaring vocals, moving pieces as well some more relaxed moments.

     

    Miyavi - What's My Name?
    Oh Miyavi, you tried to sellout twice and failed both times but here you are on my list. In my opinion the last great Miyavi album, an entirely new experience with a more minimalist approach, it felt raw but so big with it's focus on mostly a single guitar and drums, admittely it's not as goodas his earlier works but by limiting himself it really brought more focus on his guitar work, sadly the limitation did leave a few songs feel a bit empty.

     

    CAT5, Anne Claire, monkeybanana4 and 2 others reacted to this

  19. Posted

    This is surprising, he's one of the founding members but I imagine after 18 years he's probably tired of the scene. I do wonder how the band will progress because whilst they've had a lot of departures this leaves them with only two full time members in Yudai and Ryo.

  20. Posted

    7 minutes ago, platy said:

    How long have you been doing that?  Do you do it everyday? And I agree, listening to music, podcasts or audiobooks is a really good motivation for walking/jogging.

    I started around the middle of April and do it every day, I've always been quite unfit so a lot of it was building endurance and getting a better diet, trying to do it every day was a major hassle in the beginning but now it's ingrained as part of my morning routine.

    The first few weeks were really tough and I'd have to take breaks in the middle of jogging, I still take breaks in between push ups and sit ups because my body just can't handle that many in a short time but jogging is fairly easy now

    spockitty and platy reacted to this

  22. Posted

    On 6/19/2020 at 8:21 PM, violetchain said:

    I've been playing Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links on Steam for the past few days. I'm pretty bad at it though, since I mainly pick cards that I think look cool or have funny names/descriptions instead of the most powerful ones. 😓

     

    I really enjoy the fact that they let you make a bunch of different decks for each character though. The auto-fill and related card features are really handy. It's a lot easier to navigate through all the cards than on some of the older YGO games I used to play on GBC, GBA, etc.

     

    I've only unlocked up to Yusei so far, but I'm super excited to get to Mako Tsunami, since he was always my favourite and I always lean towards water/ice when I have to pick a monster element. I always used to play with a mainly water deck in the older games.

    I can't remember which sets they're in but when I played I used a shiranui deck, focuses on the graveyard and extra summoning a lot with a lot of extra effects, very good for overwhelming opponents.

     

    Because it's the steam sale I've been buying a lot of Sonic games (really loving all stars racing) as well as Jet Set Radio

  23. Posted · Edited by Manabu
    More text

    I'd argue that it is quite important because in my opinion there are two vocal techniques that are staples of most forms of Visual kei, those being Falsetto and Vibrato but obviously not every group employ these and during the years when Oshare Kei and the western inspired metal stylings were popular these techniques weren't nearly as popular. I wouldn't call it subpar but visual kei has a far smaller talent pool and with it having such a high disbandment rate it can hard for vocalists to stay in music consistently and improve their vocals.

     

    As for some good vocalists, I really rate Chizuru from the group 'Pentagon' (not the k-pop group) 

     

     

     

     

    Debatable but that's one of his best performances in my opinion, good use of techniques

     

    Annoyingly I can't find the song I wanted to show you but Akuta from Chanty has the blessings of having a unique voice and good technique

     

    You might have to delve quite deep to find some great vocalists (I'd recommend listening to more of Chanty and Pentagon than just the songs I've posted)

     

     

    platy reacted to this

  24. Posted

    3 hours ago, felipar said:

    I still use slsk, I'm there as felipar.

     

    What are the other sources used to download VK nowadays besides jpopsuki, slsk and this forum?

    There are a lot of blogs floating around that still have download links, quite a few died but there are some that still have links, drop me a message if you need any of them

    felipar reacted to this

  25. Posted

    I got my votes the wrong way round sadly (I put my best as the worst and vice versa)

     

    First and foremost

    This is a 16 track album as well and Mucc definitely bit off more than they could chew

     

    An average experience with no songs that are entirely terrible but very few songs that are worth returning to, most of the songs I found decent sounded like filler and just lacked any form of staying power., There was always a nice phrase, rhythm or melody but they were never enough to make me want to hear the songs again. On the other hand I found that most of the songs I disliked at least had some attempt to stray from being played out metal even if it didn't work out that well. 

     

    There were a few idea's floating around but none ever seemed executed that well, songs like Sandman were a bit different but felt messy and hastily composed, Overdrive was going for a skate-punk vibe but feels almost too fast with it's short length and somewhat awkward structure ruining the flow of the track. アメリア has a nice chorus and the second half of the song is far better than the first but you're listening to 2-3 minutes of standard nu-metal bounce, Maya fiddling on guitar and Tatsurou just talking to get to it. Both COBALT and スーパーヒーロー feel like the group is on auto-pilot, funnily enough these were two of the tracks I liked more but they're arguably the most forgettable.

     

    Then there are songs that have potential yet never really fulfil it, Friday the 13th has the brilliant 1950's diner-esque dance piano running through it but can't capitalise on it meanwhile 海月 offers a lot of dynamics with it's mix of synths, pianos and tones but they can't come together to make a truly great track. Lastly songs like 自己嫌惡 and My WORLD (惡 MIX) although not great at least have a few good parts but are muddied by shoehorned metal that seems to be there just for the sake of switching things up, I can appreciate that but this a technique Mucc use so liberally throughout this album.

     

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