CAT5

Any noteworthy albums? Also, I'm sure you have a few to mention, Monsieur Turtelz

Just as the title says. What well-known bands have you never bothered listening to? You know, the bands that everyone likes to talk about and/or dick-ride. The bands you're committing "blasphemy" by not listening to, ahaha. ; ) X Japan I have no idea why, but I've never been remotely interested in these guys. I've heard a few of their songs on turntable.fm, but nothing that made we want to go grab an album... Supercar Eastern Youth These 2 bands in particular are very popular amongst Japanese indie-heads, but I suppose I never tried them because when I first started exploring indie, I had a very hipster-ish mindset and avoided the big names. I'll have to get around to it one day, heh... Some others: THEE MICHELLE GUN ELEPHANT AKFG Ging Nang Boys BLANKEY JET CITY Fishmans 54-71 I suppose I should at least try a few of these bands out...Funny, because I'm sure they probably have some tunes that are worth hearing too...

Wow, I'm only familiar with DIR EN GREY from your list...I mean, I know of X Japan too, but I can't name any of their songs, haha... 01. Radio Moscow - No Jane 02. Lily Chou-Chou - エロティック 03. うさぎさんの片耳ちょんぎったろか - 動物飼いたい 04. イツエ - 時のゆらめき 05. オワリカラ - シルバーの世界 06. mmm (ミーマイモー) - ゲロ吐く時の歌 07. lycoriscoris - daydreamer feat.Piana 08. Bonobo - Sapphire 09. 東京カランコロン - 永遠の19才です 10. BUGY CRAXONE - FAST Lots of good stuff on this shuffle, but I'll have to roll with Lily chou-chou this time. 'Erotic' is such a timelessly beautiful song and salyu's vocals are just perfect. Shame she hasn't done any work like this since...

I'm creating this as a kind of sister-thread to jduv's topic. So instead of bands that are on the decline, what bands do you think are improving? Off the top of my head, THE NOVEMBERS would be my first choice. I've been loosely following them since 2008, and at the time, they seemed to be your slightly above-average indie-rock band, but their works from 2011 and beyond have converted me into a full time fan. Their sound has become much more atmospheric and there's an air of sophistication about them now that many indie-rock bands can't seem to create these days. Post-rockers sgt. have always been "pretty good" but it wasn't until their 2011 release "Birthday" that they made a substantial impact on me. Their previous works tended to be hit and miss - where the "hits" were great and the "misses" were just boring, but "Birthday" was thoroughly masterful. I'm hyped for whatever they plan to release next! Japanese reggae/dub/indie-pop band Tam Tam have improved with every release, and this year I really feel that they've found their niche. I'm hoping they'll continue on this trend of theirs. That's all I've got for the moment. So what bands do you think are improving?

Promising bands that have traveled down the ol' dirty shit road? Let's see... BYEE the ROUND... I first heard their debut album in 2007, "give me a chocolate" which was an amazingly aggressive indie-rock record. Instrumentally talented with a vocalist that actually sounded masculine (which isn't common amongst all of the high=pitched, effeminate vocalists you hear in Japanese indie-rock). Their second album was a mess and their 3rd was actually fairly redeeming, but after that, they went major and signed with sony. Everything went straight down hill from there. Their sound has been streamlined and tailored to appeal to the mainstream/pop audience. That's like trying to taking a lion out of the wild and trying to domesticate it. Sadly, this happens far too often with indie bands. 0.8秒と衝撃。... First heard them in 2009 with their "POSTMAN JOHN" single. My initial thoughts were that this group was spiffy. On their subsequent releases, my thoughts went from "just spiffy" to "wow, these guys are actually pretty rad and original". Unfortunately however, the novelty of this band's sound wore off pretty quickly. Even if your formula is original, if you don't implement any fresh ideas, you're likely to go stale sooner or later. Oh well... sleepy.ab... These dudes were once considered Japan's answer to Radiohead, but unlike Radiohead, they haven't been able to maintain the quality of their music. Their first 4 albums were really great (which is a nice feat in itself), but mostly everything after 2007's "Fantasia" is one big sappy MEH-fest. Which is ironic because these guys once excelled at making sappy music that still managed to be compelling...now it's just....sappy. And boring. 9mm Parabellum Bullet... Ok, Ok. 9mm hasn't gone to complete shit. In fact, I still keep up with their work. These guys are an odd case, though. They went major in 2007, their first full album was released through SONY, and I consider it a Japanese rock classic. So I can't exactly argue that going major had anything to do with the decline in their sound. But after the first, they've had a slow, but steady decrease in quality. Thankfully, they seemed to have plateaued at the "above-average mainstream rock-band" marker and haven't dropped any further. Still, I had to list them here because they were once something much more special I think.

I gotta rool with 9GOATS on this one! Amber Gris is cool, and I respect what they're doing, but honestly, their sound is just a bit too sappy/romantic for my preferences. I think 9GBO can do that sound as well, but they also know how to rock out and keep things more interesting overall.

I tend to buy in bulk as well...probably at least 2-3 releases at a time. Though there have been instances where I've bought just one release out of inpatience, heh.

I'm single, but....

LMAO...this was taken yesterday. And yes, I've kept that dinosaur of a monitor for a loooooooong-ass time. Had it since...'03 LOLOL

HERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPPP DERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP

Welcome to the forum! Nice taste indeed. Enjoy yourself! ahueuehe

^ Only ones I know from that list are perfume, plingmin, and Pax Japonica Groove. I heard perfume stuff on turntable.fm ALL THE TIME, but I don't mind them. I haven't listened to plingmin or pax in forever, but I can say that I'm a fan of TeN. : > 01. Matthew Santos - Uncertainties 02. MY WAY MY LOVE - Kill your idol 03. hiro:n - Re:Wonderful day 04. オワリカラ - 8と約1/2 05. 信近エリ - 鼓動 06. Zero 7 - Look up 07. mr. gnome - Three Red Birds 08. amiina - Púsl 09. Secondhand Heart - Trouble 10. Goodie Mob - Beautiful Skin Going with OWARIKARA here...there's such an odd, off-kilter funk to that song that is just infectious. ;3

MEJIBRAY VS. DIAURA Ok, the battle is on! 2 bands that are relatively new to the VK scene - for some representing the hope for VK and for others it's decline. Which band do you think is better AND WHY?

^ I know some of those artists (buck-tick, sfp, 9gbo, kagrra, and nightwish), but I'm not familiar with ANY of those songs offhand 01. cokiyu - With My Umbrella 02. Senkawos - Spine 03. MOUNTAIN MOCHA KILIMANJARO - Caught in the middle 04. Rockettothesky - Barrie For Billy MacKenzie 05. Cibelle - Green Grass 06. Nancy Elizabeth - Bring On The Hurricane 07. Outkast - Mighty "O" 08. Big K.R.I.T. - Good 2getha Feat Ashton Jones 09. THE BACK HORN - 汚れなき涙 10. plugnet - Good Flight All good songs, but I'm going to choose Big K.R.I.T. since that's the most recent song I've heard and it appeals to me most at this moment in time.