CAT5

I'd say that these are some pretty "must-hear"/definitive albums J-rock albums that should be heard at least once. Album names (from left to right) D'espairsRay - Coll:set Rentrer en Soi - Sphire Croid the GazettE - DIM Tokyo Jihen - Kyoiku AYA - Kinjirareta Uta trico - Musics TRANSTIC NERVE - RAISE A FLAG toe - For Long Tomorrow 9mm Parabellum Bullet - Termination sleepy.ab - palette SADS - THE ROSE GOD GAVE ME Rin toshite Shigure - Inspiration is DEAD OGRE YOU ASSHOLE - Alpha Beta vs Lambda Midori - First LITE - Phantasia Kiyoharu - Mellow kacica - MOSAIC HEAD PHONES PRESIDENT - VARY GO!GO!7188 - Tategami Eternal Elysium - SEARCHING LOW&HIGH 101A - one day

ah, I see. thanks =)

Please, no ridiculously big pics. Make this thread pleasant to view at least. And can you elaborate on what you mean by definitive? Are we just posting our favorite J-rock albums, albums that we think define the sound of J-rock, or albums that have defined our own personal journeys through j-rock? xD

What, you mad? Keep it movin' buddy.

A thread to counteract all of the hate ;') Here we talk about bands/artists that we absolutely love, and why. GO! I'll post a bit later

http://www.youtube.com/user/wesone80 I used to upload rare PVs back in 08, but apparently SSTV bitched and had them removed....so I don't bother uploading anything anymore =/

oh, I'm aware of that. There are plenty of bands (not only in Japan) that get labeled "indie" in reference to the style of music they play. I'm also aware that there are many bands posing as "indie" when they're actually on a major label. A lot of major labels have sub-labels that are supposedly "independent". However, the indie music I'm referring to is the true DIY/underground stuff. The people that are making music for the pure joy of it instead of trying to appease some label. And that's as far from rotten as it gets.

WTF!!!??? I'd be PISSED.They'd have to give me a free subscription for AT LEAST a year or somethin'...=/

Most mainstream Japanese music makes my heart bleed. Not all of it, but a very good amount of it does. I'm pro-indie like a muthafucker, but I've also heard tons of bullshit indie music too. The difference is, most of this major label released music is so shamelessly vapid that it makes me feel like killing something!!! For major labels, there is rarely a happy medium between musical integrity and profitability - it's pretty much all about the money. It pains me to know that the mainstream music world (not just in Japan) is run by suits who know more about business than they do music. But hey, this is Earth and money is God. I've witnessed too many times how major labels take good bands/artists and turn them into pure shit or degrade their sound considerably. A few recent examples being Mass of the Fermenting Dregs, 9mm Parabellum Bullet, School Food Punishment, and immi. Also, there is such a lack of variety in the mainstream that it drives me crazy! PEOPLE WILL LISTEN TO WHATEVER THE FUCK IS PUT BEFORE THEM, so why are they scared to play more than the same 10 songs on the radio? Why do these music award shows praise the same few artists? Why aren't the major labels using their power to expose people to music of all kinds? WHY ARE THEY INSULTING US LIKE THIS!!!!!!???? Because the major labels are a bunch of pussies who could care less about music. Showing the world how diverse and wonderful music is would be too risky for them, so they'll continue to shove the same ol' shit down our throats as long as it sells. And before the masses can regurgitate the shit they've been force-fed, the powers that be will move on and stuff a new dick down their throats. I REFUSE to gag on the cock of the corrupt music industry. I've managed to make myself angry it seems >_>

I'm not talking about songs that you've recently fallen in love with and play a million times a day, so don't list songs that were released last week - hell, even stuff that was released within the last year shouldn't count. I'm talking about songs that you consider TRUE classics. Songs that you could still imagine listening to 10 years from now. During the last 6 years, I've listened to a SHITLOAD of rock music from Japan (probably more than some Japanese people have in a lifetime xD). but the only song that I can say that I've consistently loved is Tokyo Jihen's Sounan. In my opinion, it's TJ's best song to date and one of the finest Japanese rock songs I've ever heard. I first heard this waaay back in 2004 when I still quite new to Japanese music, so I won't deny that it has a bit of sentimental value for me. But at the same time, there are very few Japanese songs that I heard back then that I still listen to today. It's elegant, yet fun. Catchy, yet skillful...but most importantly, it still gets regular play from me =) Uploaded%20by%20.%20-%20'>http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/xcubwi?additionalInfos=0"%20width="480"%20height="320"%20allowfullscreen="true"%20allowscriptaccess="always"> Tokyo%20Jihen%20-%20SOUNAN Uploaded%20by%20EMI_Music.%20-%20Explore%20more%20music%20videos. What songs are classica to you?

^lmao, so true. But you forgot about me. I look down on you all. But I love you all too ;')

oh man...that was me 9 years ago haha. Except I was using kazaa. GAHT DAYUM I feel old

Considering that listening to Japanese music helped open my mind up to music of nearly all styles and languages (including my own - English ^^, I'm positive that my taste in music would be much more narrow. Basically, I'd probably only be listening to hip hop, soul music....and maybe a little trip-hop and downtempo stuff. hahaha...

What are some of the craziest, weirdest, or plain out silly band names you all have seen? (Of course, I'm referring to only Japanese bands). Here are a few: Bump of Chicken OGRE YOU ASSHOLE Qomolangma Tomato rejuvenated half-face Angel'in Heavy Syrup TIGER SHOVEL NOSE SEXFACTOR BEAUTY EXPLOSION Rachel Mother Goose Super Junky Monkey kill the poltergeist urban security TONS more out there!

Indeed. I've found that to truly see a band for what they are, you'll have to distance yourselves from all the fans and all the hype. I've been able to get into plenty of music (including DeG) because I was able to disassociate myself from the stigma of stereotypes and popular opinion. That's not always easy to do, though...it takes time in most cases. lol, you and I are on the same page. ReS was my #1 VK band and the very first Japanese rock band that I got into back in late 04 (or early 05). I also agree that Kyo's influence was a negative for the band. I understand how much Satsuki must've admired/respected him, but only Kyo can do Kyo. Satsuki should never have attempted harsh vocals or that mumbling stuff. I liked Satsuki's vocals most on Sphire Croid and relative releases.

Deluhi does need a few "anti-pop" pills. I know it's trendy for VK bands to do the whole hardcore verse/poppy chorus thing, but imo Deluhi was never good at it. I'd also suggest that their vocalist limit his use of English...but the Japanese think it sounds cool, so...

Deadman LUNA SEA lynch. Moi dix Mois Schwein cali?gari ???????? pezite tosinn FLiP 9mm Parabellum Bullet

Why fail? It's my opinion.Well, you can't really blame dir en grey for their fanbase...They've been around for over 10 years...I don't think you could prescribe anything to get rid of their fans. Not even death...

J-rock doctor you say? Well, this is basically a thread for you all to vent your frustrations about certain bands. Tell us what you think is wrong with them and offer your opinions on what might make them better. Of course, everything in here is open to discussion/debate. So in this thread, YOU ARE ALL DOCTORS. (some more qualified than others ) Name your patient(s) - name the band(s) Give them a diagnosis - explain what you think is wrong with the band. Give them a prescription - explain what you think could make them better. Discuss So, I'll go first. Patient: D'espairsRay Diagnosis: Sloppy vocalist, Redundant guitarist Prescription: Get Hizumi some Ritalin. Kick Karyu's ass out of the band or at least get a 2nd guitarist! =/ and another... Patient: Rentrer en Soi Diagnosis: Well, ReS is quite dead. Prescription: Slap some sense into these fucks so they can get back together and make some good VK again. Also, Satsuki needs to be bitch-slapped about 15 times for making that solo shit and mildly tortured so he never does it again. ^^;; Harsh medicine =)

If you're GOD, then I must be the GOD of CATS. lol, Welcome...even if you're 55 posts late. ^^; and yes, TW has a nice community. I also came from an exclusive community fraught with pompous assholes (well, we weren't really assholes, but everyone thought we were ) I initially registered at TW with some malevolent intentions, but I ended up sticking around instead...so you know there must be some cool people here. ;')

It's not completely impossible. Music can be analyzed objectively and critiqued, but the appreciation of music can not. You can flat out say a certain band is bad, and then make a point very objectively. Such as:"Toshi is a shitty vocalist". Though this is my opinion, it does hold objective fact. It is just like comparing guitarists and the skills they use to play. Clearly you can tell who is better than the other by sheer comparison. And if you want to go through the trouble, you can look at a band objectively, and decide from that point whether or not they deserve the success they've received thus far or not. Green Day and Pearl Jam, two prominent bands in the 90's, I could argue do not deserve the amount of fame they've received. Why? Because they were only signed by major labels to please the markets demand for rehashed-pop-punk and the markets demand for "grunge" -- completely cheating the system and pushing out hits that the record label wants. etc. So I mean music is not as subjective as people like to think, because if it was, it would completely destroy the art movement on which it has grown from. I agree to an extent, but you're kinda missing my point. In this thread, arguing a band's value accurately is nearly impossible because everyone is on a different page. There are too many factors involved and everyone here has their own idea of what a band's "value" is. Just as someone mentioned earlier, some people are basing a band's value purely on how much they like or dislike that band.So all you have is a buncha people going back and forth, aimlessly. Now, if the topic were to be narrowed down to something a bit more specific like, "most undervalued bands based on record sales" or anything that we could all refer to on an objective scale...then I think that would be a more viable discussion.

This whole dir en grey argument is useless, as it's impossible to judge the "value" of a band accurately and objectively.

I'm not a gamer - I only own 3 games on the xbox 360 which I barely play. I'm a bit of a Gundam freak, though...so I've found myself playing one of those 3 games, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 quite a bit recently. I like games that you can just turn on and play without putting much thought into it, and Dynasty Warriors' style of mindless hack-and-slash pretty much does the job. Naturally, the soundtrack on DW: Gundam 2 sucks, so I like to listen to my own playlist while dominating the battlefield. The songs that I put on that playlist usually have the following attributes: "fast", "energetic", "epic", "dramatic", "fantastical". I've got stuff on there from Dir en Grey, the gazette, D'espairsRay, Epica, 9mm Parabellum Bullet, THE BACK HORN, Muse, Maximum the Hormone, Queens Of The Stone Age, School Food Punishment, Circa Survive, Closure In Moscow, UNLIMITS, These Arms Are Snakes, Rin Toshite Shigure, Yoko Kanno, etc, etc...ALL kinds of stuff. Hell, since it's a Gundam game I even have Gundam and other Anime theme songs on it too. Here are a few of the songs I have on my playlist for DW: Gundam. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOpsNTIlK9Qhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSqg6V8_9N4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2tWbYgmMwg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8ajTh76VR8I'll put anything on my Gundam playlist as long as it "fits" the game lol. A good amount of these songs I don't even listen to when I'm not gaming haha... ANYWAYS, what songs do you all like to listen to while playing video games?

Peace out and have fun~