CAT5

shalom ✌️

6 hours ago, Chell said:

Yes, some of the less compassionate people are also the ones talking the most about compassion.

Indeed. Actions > words. Always. You'll know them by their fruits.

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On a brighter note, a brief bit from a conversation I had earlier:

my future wife: ...so when you were a kid, you taught yourself how to ride a bike?

me: yeah, basically.

my future wife: so..."by-cicle-ly???"

me: ....

...and I thought my dad-jokes were unrivaled until now.

On 2/7/2020 at 3:22 AM, platy said:

https://www.elephantjournal.com/2020/01/compassion-is-not-convenient-it-is-not-business-as-usual/

 

@CAT5 I thought you might find this interesting. 

 

ahaha, you ALREADY know! There's a lot that could be said here, but I'll try to keep things concise:

Essentially, I agree with what the author is trying to say. This new-age, "positive vibes only" / positive psychology nonsense is simply not functional. I see this type of stuff parroted in so many different ways on social media and people are just eating it up. It's like sure, it's good to be positive, but you also have to be sober-minded. Being positive does not mean you should just ignore the negative. No, not at all. Being positive is about being able to recognize, assess, and deal with the negative and still be able to move forward and grow inspite of it. In fact, if you can't do that, then you're not really being positive at all. You're just deceiving yourself.

In order to heal, you must first correctly diagnose the ill. And if you're reaping bad fruit in your life, you have to go back and look at the seeds that were planted.

Doing this takes honesty, humility, bravery, and compassion. You have to be honest enough with yourself to even recognize and admit that you've reaped bad fruit in your life. You have to be humble enough enough to take on the responsibility of dealing with that bad fruit (instead of pridefully claiming victimhood). You have to be brave enough to take on the daunting task of searching for and plucking up all of the roots that bore this bad fruit (cuz it can be painful and hella uncomfortable). And you have to be compassionate enough with yourself to realize that this is not an overnight process, and not beat yourself up for it.

But the people who have allowed themselves to be possessed by this "positive only" stuff are doing themselves and others a huge disservice because they negate everything i just mentioned in the last paragraph. As a result, these people are usually the opposite of honest, humble, brave, and compassionate. How can they be honest with you when they can't be honest with themselves? How can they be compassionate towards you when they can't be compassionate towards themselves? If they can't deal with the discomfort of dealing with their own selves, what's gonna happen when you come along and inevitably make them uncomfortable simply by being human? --> These are the same kinds of insecure, feeble-minded, and bitch-hearted people that will cut you off just for having a difference of opinion or a different perspective than they do. The kinds of ppl that get anxiety attacks when you tell them the truth about themselves.

So yeah, that whole positive-only nonsense disarms people from being able to competently deal with negativity, or rather things that make them feel negative or uncomfortable. Which is really just disarming ppl from dealing with reality in general. It doesn't help that this bitch-made attitude is being increasingly supported here in western culture. It's like so many people are trying to make the world into one big "safe space", but there's way more of the world than there are any of us individually, so the more functional idea would be to simply get comfortable being uncomfortable.

That wasn't necessarily concise

I've found spotify to be increasingly convenient, but I still prefer to have actual files on my computer, as I suppose I'm just stuck in my ways. Tho despite spotify's amazing catalog, there's still a lot of stuff (old and new) that's just not available there. So in light of that, I use google music to upload my own files for streaming too.

Whenever I buy CDs, I just rip them and then put them away.

Looking forward to the new album!

updated: 02/06/2020

GREAT

(stuff that I TRULY enjoy listening to, and that truly moves me. the question here would be "which tracks DON'T stand out?".)

★★★★★★★★★★ ---> ★★★★★★★★★★

downy - 砂上、燃ユ。残像

single | 2020.02.05

This is not the greatest downy track in existence, but dayum, this band's sound just speaks to my very soul! It's almost like it gets better with each listen. The remix is dope too. Looking forward to the album next month!

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DECENT

(stuff that I consider listenable, but not particularly compelling. may have potential to grow on me. could have a few of standout tracks)

★★★★★★★★★★ ---> ★★★★★★★★★★

DIMLIM - MISC.

album | 2020.01.28

I had very high hopes for this after hearing "what's up", but those hopes were quickly dashed. I honestly can't decide if I want to file this one under "Decent" or "bad". "What's up" is still a great track, and I like "For the future", too. And there are some nice ideas here and there, but everything about this album was handled in such a tacky fashion that it's almost embarrassing.

-

sleepy.ab - fractal

album | 2020.01.29

Stellar production and beautiful soundscapes that are, unfortunately, restrained by boring songwriting. Given their last few albums, I expected this turnout tho. Despite the snoozefest, there are a few wonderfully written tracks here that are well worth it.

-

tricot - 真っ黒

album | 2020.01.29

I haven't really been into tricot since their early, EARLY material, so I was pleasantly surprised at just how listenable this album is. In fact, this is definitely the best stuff I've heard from them in ages, plus their musicianship is has grown exponentially. Still, they're just missing something. Maybe this one will grow on me?

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envy - The Fallen Crimson

album | 2020.02.05

I'm a sucker for envy's sound in general, but the excessive, airy post-rock elements here just get really old really quickly. It's like they were playing straight from the post-rock handbook on some songs. That said, I do appreciate the more hardcore moments on the album. "Fingerprint mark" in particular is amazing. Shoutout to Achico for being featured on track 4!!!

-

羊文学 - ざわめき

ep | 2020.02.05

Typical, run-of-the-mill indie-rock with female vocals. Pleasant, but completely lacking in character.

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BAD

(stuff that doesn't do a thing for me/stuff that I have no desire to listen to again. may have one or two  standout tracks, but is irredeemable otherwise.)

★★★★★★★★★★ ---> ★★★★★★★★★★

When people say that they need rational and empirical evidence that God exists, I just imagine one of two scenarios happening:

#1. The world's top scientists publishing a study called "Proof of God"  with said evidence.

or

#2. God appearing in a humanoid form and showing the world that he has control over everything by performing various miracles.

In both cases, this would completely miss the point of "believing" in God. I guarantee that most of us would see all of that proof and "empirical evidence", and the world would not change a bit. We'd see it and say "oh, that's cool.", then go back to treating each other like shit.

The new single is on spotify:

I fuckin love this band.

There's something about downy's music that's almost always initially difficult to wrap my ears around...but then when it finally clicks, I just end up loving it. Took about one or two listens for that to happen with this song. The remix is pretty dope too. Sad that Yutaka passed away, but I'm curious how an album without him is gonna sound like. I'm somehwat familiar with SUNNOVA...He's a hip hop producer with an experimental edge iirc, so this should be interesting!

edit: i'm not a huge fan of the of drum kit they've been using since the 6th album (i preferred the drums from 5th)...they sound a bit muffled to me, but this is honestly a VERY minor grievance.

I LOVE the way Robin's vocals are mixed here tho. Not as dry as on 6th, but not as heavily effected as on 5th.

【downy New Album Release in March 18th, 2020】

https://friendship.lnk.to/DuneScatterPersistenceOfVision

Our 7th album "Untitled" will be released on the coming March 18th from our new label "rhenium records".Check out our new song "Dune, Scatter. Persistence Of Vision" on streaming services now! You can listen to Yutaka Aoki's guitar playing in this track.

Also, SUNNOVA(Sampler/Synth) is joining downy from this new album.You can listen to his remix of "Dune, Scatter. Persistence Of Vision" as well!

▼リリース情報
downy
フル・アルバム
『第七作品集『無題』』
2020.03.18 ON SALE
[rhenium records]
　
1. コントラポスト
2. 視界不良
3. 36.2°
4. good news
5. 角砂糖
6. ゼラニウム
7. 砂上、燃ユ。残像
8. pianoid
9. 鮮やぐ視点
10. adaptation
11. stand alone

LET'S GOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is hard

6 hours ago, Zeus said:

people who are sex-positive and way too interested in how others use their private parts, believing that sex is the key to opening up a peaceful society. There aren't many of 'em.

Good lord. I'm all for free-will and ppl doing whatever they want, but that is such a ridiculously awful ideology 🤣

Perhaps that would work if everyone were sex robots without a conscious, but sex is so intimately tied to so many other things (like emotions for instance) that I HIGHLY doubt that would lead to peace. I mean, What's gonna happen when person A fucks person B, and person C has particularly strong feelings for for person B?

Uh oh.

Please share album comments, thoughts, reviews here:

I want to be DIMLIM's producer, cuz they don't know what the hell they're doing anymore.

Me listening to the majority of MISC:

nah, it wasn't horrible, but "What's up ?" was false advertising like a muhfucka. That was the best song on this bih.

"For the future" was nice too. Chorus ruins  "Tick Tak".

Overall, I appreciate their willingness to experiment, but I definitely think the album was a mess and many of their artistic choices were...questionable. Also lol'ing at the fact that they still sound VK as fuck.

p.s: the boogieman shit was better.

7 hours ago, platy said:

I'll start off with Engrish.

Yep, although this is a problem that I have with Japanese music at large too. Apparently, the Japanese simply think "it's cool". 🤦🏿‍♂️

4 hours ago, platy said:

People who are the life of the party probably have really dark secrets and/or fucked up issues. Tried and tested. 

I don't doubt this at all, but from what I've experienced and observed, I think this is the case with pretty much everyone. I think we all have an idea of who we are, and we present a certain version of ourselves to the world , but underneath the surface, there's all kinds of stuff dwelling there in the abyss of our hearts: trauma, resentment, anger, sadness, lust, envy, you name it. Some would call this the "unconscious" or the "shadow", but whatever you call it, if you don't visit that underworld often and get acquainted with these things...if you don't maintain a habit of healthy self-reflection, then all it takes is the right circumstance for any of these things to come bubbling up and usurp the authority within you. It's not pretty.

15 hours ago, saishuu said:

also 'before it's too late' sounds like it'd fit right into gackt's discography tbh

I was legit just playing "what's up" on YT again, and a GACKT PV started playing immediately after. Mind you, I've not watching anything remotely Gackt related. YT knows! 🤣

1 hour ago, Komorebi said:

What is it that makes them VK to you? To me, they no longer fit the criteria. 

It's sho's voice and singing style.

I was being half-facetious in what I said, because if they say they're aren't VK anymore, then who am to say otherwise? But that doesn't change the fact that that singing style is endemic to VK.

What about you? Why do they no longer fit the criteria in your eyes?

16 minutes ago, Komorebi said:

It is still unprecedented since Retsu has stated they are no longer VK.

Yes and a pig could tell me it's a zebra. That wouldn't make it so.

3 hours ago, Zeus said:

Forgive me but I don't see what's so special about "What's up?".

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this brand of indie/math (done to this extent) unprecedented in the VK scene? The sound itself may not be inherently unique, but contextually, you gotta give these boys their props.

3 hours ago, Zeus said:

Sounds like a bunch of half realized ideas spread too thin over odd time signatures to me. The chorus is the only remotely memorable part.

2 hours ago, Saishu said:

It sounds like everyone in Sokoninaru and Develop One’s Faculties are playing at the same time while falling down the stairs

This is just the style. I can understand how it might sound chaotic and senseless to some ppl tho...and it may be that I'm biased because my ears are just acclimated to music like this.

But to me, it sounds like a glitchy/IDM-like approach to composing, and you hear this type of thing done in ling tosite/Tk's solo stuff and haisuinonasa, amongst many others. The sokoninaru comparison is especially apt because they've been REALLY hammering, and in my opinion - overdoing-, this style lately.

This type of composing can get REALLY tedious if overused, but I think DIMLIM did a fine job in this song of keeping things cohesive, catchy, and interesting, and not just being flashy for the sake of it. It's not an easy balance to strike, and trust me, in comparison to a lot of the stuff out there that takes a similar approach, DIMLIM are doing this style justice. Their VK leanings just make it even more special imo.

That said, we'll see how well this plays out on the album...

THIS IS FUCKING GREAT

Samples sound good too!

On 1/22/2020 at 11:30 AM, Peace Heavy mk II said:

RED…[em]: a bit too rough for my liking. I get that this is when their hurgleblurgle kind of approach to art really started, but doesn’t mean I need to be fully here for it. A part of this almost saved me from disliking it, but it wasn’t enough.

On 1/22/2020 at 11:30 AM, Peace Heavy mk II said:

MARMALADE CHAINSAW: sticky sweet and incredibly wasteful. Started a trend of bands naming things with “chainsaw” in their names, which makes me wonder if the Japanese really know what a chainsaw is? Surely you don’t need one for spreading jam but I’m not Julia Child.

On 1/22/2020 at 11:30 AM, Peace Heavy mk II said:

Amber: This band likes to have female names as titles. Amber, Kasumi, Audrey, Yurikago….it makes me wonder what their take on feminism is. They’ve already displayed a rather ham-fisted pro-life stance a few albums ago, but maybe their time within the inner machinations of the visual scene caused them to change their stance, especially having interacted with so many female fans and the changes fame brought to them. I wonder if this song’s direct is a reflection of that as well — it’s hard to get into an artist’s head and really understand how they see the world.