CAT5

Since ppl keep asking for it. Tomorrow's theme will be HIP HOP Any kind of hip hop from anywhere. Theme will start @ the usual 8pm UTC/GMT https://plug.dj/monochrome-heaven

^ If no one else wants one, then I'll take one!

Whether you love to hate him or hate to love him, KOHH seems to be a person of interest smh. Here's a pv from his upcoming mixtape: I will say one thing, though - he seems to be one of the few Japanese rappers out that have that whole new-school "swag rap" style down.

I was just telling Pho the other day that it's crazy how SFP's sound was so poppy and palatable, yet so distinct. I'm sure this will be pretty good. They have a sound that easily lends itself to anime and other imaginative contexts imo.

Honestly, your lists look ideal. The only reason @beni and I have relatively large lists is because we tend to cycle through a lot of music for ORZ purposes. I think our lists would be much smaller if we were both listening to things that solely pertained to our interests.

Some of the members here have been using their last.fm journals as a means to rate new music and keep it as a reference throughout the year, so I figured this is something that we can bring to MH. Everyone has slightly different formats, but the general setup is the same. You basically rate releases based on the 5-star system, with 1 star being the lowest, and 5 being the highest. So feel free to join in and post your ratings. Update whenever you feel like it. However, I will restrict this thread to Japanese releases only. You can also feel free to discuss the ratings of others. CAT5's 2015 ratings (Updated: 2015.05.02)

I chose chanty. Pentagon isn't bad, but I found their sound a bit OVERLY formulaic...and i wasn't a fan of the constantly key-changed, pop choruses. Chanty is more my speed because musically, they're not too far from a lot of the non-vk indie/pop-rock bands out there - with the exception of the vocals. Needless to say, I enjoyed chanty's album a bit more.

Are there any albums from them that you find particularly recommendable? - On a different note, EMI MARIA just dropped an album called "Euphoria". I've liked a few of her songs in the past, but she never managed to convince me entirely. This new stuff sounds promising though - especially if you're into atmospheric pop-r&b ala Jhené Aiko. It's a sound that I haven't heard in Japan's pop/r&b realm to a great extent, but i'm glad someone finally caught the memo. Her braids in this video is a good look. The song is a bit disjointed, and i don't really care for the clubby mid-section around 1:51, but overall I appreciate that she's trying something a bit different. I've heard far too much J-r&b that was just staunchly formulaic, so this is nice to hear.

toe will be releasing their 3rd album on July 22nd, 2015! No other details are available atm. New motk and toe in the same month:

New MOTK set to be released on July 15th! ウルトラ ヴァイヴ 邦楽 > ロック/ポップス 2015年7月15日発売 MMD52 国内盤 CD 1. I Shut My Eyes In Order To See 2. Leviathan 3. Reflexion 4. The Flowers Of Romance 5. The Lonely Crowd 6. Mirror Of Nature 7. Le Gibet 8. Obsession 9. Hilbert Dub 10. Dance Of Life https://twitter.com/mouseonthekeys http://mouseonthekeys.net/ No album cover yet. I am excited, though!

This thread needs to be revived (can't believe I never posted here). Seconding everything sai posted. I'm a fan of most of the stuff coming out of the sphere of Japanese ambient/idm/glitch/minimal scenes and I've also delved into some of the house/club/techno/electro stuff too. Too many loves/likes to mention atm, so I thought i'd post about something new: New artist out on flau called Noah. With a name as common as that, she nearly slipped under my radars, but she seems pretty promising. Nothing new at all - pretty much your run-of-the-mill ambient/dream-pop(really reminds me of cokiyu, moskitoo, and old piana stuff). Still a nice listen for fans of the style, though! Also revisited oscillator's "夜音" album recently. Some of the tracks featured some very unappealing vocal-melodies that, to me, didn't mesh too well with the backdrop, but overall it was still "pretty nice", as I remembered. One of the standout tracks from that album imo:

voted for everything! would love to have this pic upvoted! thanks in advance! ;3

I'm only a casual dir en grey fan, but this is still my favorite track from them! Great choice, I absolutely adore that opening riff. Another one of my fav. dir en grey songs. I love how "big" the riffs are in this one. As for some of my personal favorites, here are 2 that came to mind. Neither are particularly creative or musically jaw-dropping, but they've struck a chord with me and have stick with me throughout the years. 凛として時雨 - replica (the riff starts at 1:23 and plays throughout most of the song from there. you can hear it particularly clearly at 1:45, though it's rhythm is slightly different at that point). It would be easier to choose a riff from ling that ISN'T awesome. TK's vocals may be troublesome for some, but he's an absolute demon on the fretboard. More than his technical skill, his sense of melody and knack for coming up with distinct, yet catchy riffs has always awed me. I love this riff in particular because it's kind of wacky-sounding, yet furious and intense at the same time. This one also feels a bit more "thematic" than a good bit of TK's other songs since it's used a good way though the song and not just as an intro/outro thing. 9mm Parabellum Bullet - Termination (the main riff here - starting at 00:10. it plays a bit throughout the song. You can hear it for a bit longer @ 3:18 as it closes out the song, and eventually ends without distortion) Yoshimitsu Taki was, at one point, one of my favorite guitarists next to TK. A lot of his riffs in early 9mm material were catchy and had a distinct style to them. I enjoy this riff because it sounds beautifully out of place. It sounds like it was lifted from a cheesy European folk metal song, yet here it is in a "hard" "indie-rock" track? A wonderful microcosm of 9mm's subtle genre grafting at the time. EDIT: Here's another really simple, but effective one that i'm fond of: OGRE YOU ASSHOLE - ロボトミー (opening riff, used throughout most of the song) I love how OYA took this one, repetitive riff and expanded it into what is imo one of the best songs they've ever done. It's simple, but it has a groove to it that sucks you in makes you nod along; almost like that of a really sleek hip hop beat.

Sure

ME AND @beni BE REPPIN DAT WATER SQUAD ALL DAY DOE. TURN UP!!!! We're just....unfrozen snowflakes

Just registered today! @beni helped me get started, so I'm looking forward to having fun with this! My username on there is CAT5. yoroshiku! ^^

This is a multiple choice question. MH POLL OF THE WEEK #22: What languages do you speak? To submit a poll for the MH POLL OF THE WEEK, P.M. either @CAT5 or @beni with your poll question, choices, and state whether it's multiple choice or not.

There will be no theme for today.