CAT5

Pretty much this. While I think both instrumentation and vocals are important, in my personal experience, I find that i'm more often drawn to the former. There have been many cases where I've heard vocals that I didn't enjoy, but found myself able to appreciate them under a new light thanks to how appealing the music was - bands like 凛として時雨 and 9mm Parabellum Bullet come to mind. The opposite has never been true for me.

Of course, feel free to use this thread for things like that too!

This is a joke-poll, located in the intentionally silly, troll forum. "caring" isn't much of a factor here. ; )

Our Dear friend @Pho has sworn a scared oath, vowing to never download music again. In an attempt to peer pressure him into downloading again, I've constructed this poll. Clearly, this is an extremely important dilemma that demands the attention of everyone on MH. So...Should Pho start pirating again? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) To submit a poll for the MH POLL OF THE WEEK, P.M. @CAT5 with your poll question, choices, and state whether it's multiple choice or not.

Canada is quite lucky! I hear both mothercoat and OWARIKARA are fantastic live bands. otori, PENs+, and Atlantis Airport are still fairly young bands as far as I know, but I trust Steve's taste in music/live music, so I'm sure they will be worth it too.

of course You might be surprised. As integral as hip-hop is with kpop, I think most of our regulars will have something to contribute. That's unfortunate. Surely there's something hip-hop related that you could enjoy?

Would anyone be interested in a hip hop theme for this Sunday?

She's cool - I just keep forgetting to give her music a listen! kenmochi hidefumi is def. one of the last ppl I expected to produce for a jpop artist, though. I agree about cinema staff. It would be a shame for them to go completely pop when those guys really have some chops. I pretty much cringed at the intro and the piano ballad song. I'm not huge on either indigo la end or gesu (mostly because of enon's vocals), but that new gesu song too me by complete surprise. As for your picks - it's good to see BugLug on that list. I tried them for the first time with their new album and I was surprised at how varied and fun it was. The song you chose is definitely fun I can see why you like it with all the chanty "WOO OH OHH"s and all. That reggae part was both hilarious and awesome. If you didn't get to SCAPEGOAT, then I would have. The song you chose was one of my favorite from that album. I may have mentioned this to you before, but the vocalist reminds me of Hizumi...very briefly at times. THE ORAL CIGARETTES...I've yet to listen to any of their releases, but this song is super decent. I don't care for the chorus, but the verses are very nice. APOGEE - not a fan of the engrrish, but It's cool to hear that they're continuing to embrace their electronic side more. Geskia's material is usually pretty sick. I'm not sure how I feel about this new direction of his, but I'm still pretty hype about the album. @fitear1590 sokoninaru...you already know what I'm going to say. They're not bad, but atm, I'm having a hard time seeing them as anything other than a poor man's ling tosite sigure. I'll keep an eye on them and see how they progress, though. XENON - surprisingly cool track with some pretty neat synth work. The chorus is a bit underwhelming, but all in all, I would not mind hearing more of this band. Nimo, is it just me or does this dude kinda resemble Ice? aha.. @beni this miwa song reminds me a lot of that noanowa song you like. I'm actually having a hard time figuring out why, but i like it. uchuu, - i feel like I could like this band, but the vocalist just sounds tacky to me, aha. Speaking of issues with vocalists - My BACTERIA HEAT IsLAND - this song is fantastic, musically, but I still can't get into tenten's vocals.

Hiromi is amazing indeed, but I haven't really followed her much beyond her first 3 albums. Has she released anything cool since then?

I would basically recommend trying everything starting from the "To (melt into)" album and the "(Two) into holy" single. I'd say that's the point at which their music became noticeably more interesting. Prior to that, you could arguably say that their music was your typical indie stuff.

Sink. The combined swag would be far too much for one ship to carry. and niggas can't swim @Disposable and @Gaz?

ROBOTS IN DISGUISE - 'The Tears' - Featuring NOEL FIELDING I've never heard of this band, but this song seems to be a very straightforward, pop-punkish track with a bit of a piano and some random electronic elements. The vocals kind of remind me of the vocalist from scanners, who are also from the UK incidentally. While not "bad" per se, there's not really anything going on in this song melodically (vocally or instrumentally) that manages to grab my attention. Lyrics are also something that I normally don't pay attention to (unless they're strikingly effective in a positive or negative way), and perhaps if I did. then I'd probably have more to latch on to in this song. This is a pleasant listen, but just a bit ho-hum for me overall. Next: 凛として時雨 - replica

New Re-trick! Suuuper tight as usual!

This is kind of a clusterfuck of an issue, and I couldn't possibly begin to break all of the facets down, but essentially, I agree with you. When it's comes to racism here in America, the reality of it is simply unavoidable. From the African American/Black perspective, there's both institutionalized racism at play and certain inherited (perhaps even cultural at this point) thought patterns that have given rise to a sort of self-imposed oppression. A slave-mentality if you will. With this duality being the one reality for many blacks in America, it's kind of a catch-22. The more you oppose it, the more you perpetuate it, but if you do nothing, then it won't simply go away on it's own. It creates a paradigm in which people are forced to act (or in this case react) one way or the other. So while I don't agree that rioting or marching will help solve anything, I do understand why people do it. They're hurt, they're angry, they're confused. But unfortunately, I don't think it amounts to anything more than self-gratification in the long run. I'm not sure what it would take to get people (everyone - oppressed, non-oppressed, oppressors) to reach that point of complete lack of prejudice, but your sentiment is certainly ideal.

Best New Tracks: April 2015 Best New Tracks is a new series brought to you by MH's Official Reviewers (ORZ)! Every month we'll be recommending brand-new Japanese songs from the recently passed month, so stay tuned! Feel free to comment or discuss any of this month's picks and even offer your own as well! We're also trying out a new format this month, so let us know what you think! ; ) Visual Kei "NONONON" by Anli Pollicino "猿 (Saru)" by BugLug "LOCUS" by Far East Dizain "灰色の森 (Haiiro no mori)" by My BACTERIA HEAT IsLAND "au revoir" by Nimo "蕾 (Tsubomi)" by SCAPEGOAT "SPiCA SPHiA" by パノラマ虚構ゼノン (XENON) "九尾 (kyuubi)" by 己龍 (kiryu) Rock / Metal / Punk / Etc. "Hello,world!" by BUMP OF CHICKEN "地下室の花 (chikashitsu no hana)" by cinema staff "Kaedit Nos Pestis" by Sigh "GET BACK" by THE ORAL CIGARETTES "ELE!!!" by THE TURTLES JAPAN "calling" by uchuu, "私以外私じゃないの (Watashi Igai Watashi ja Nai no)" by ゲスの極み乙女。(Gesu no Kiwami Otome.) "夏の落とし物 (natsu no otoshimono)" by そこに鳴る (sokoninaru) "Calling" by 雅-MIYAVI- Pop "Over The Rainbow" by Atlantis Airport "Faraway" by miwa "雪風 (Yukikaze)" by スピッツ (Spitz) "YOU" by 泉まくら (Izumi Makura) Electronic "TOO FAR" by APOGEE "LUNARIA" by Chouchou "Remains Domain" by Geskia See you next month!

This is one song that I'll continue to cherish throughout the ages, and one of the few that I've always found to be spiritually grounding. I consider it a classic, and I feel like the lyrics, simple as they are, have a timeless poignancy to them.

I tried the new きのこ帝国 single today, and while the melody in the teaser prompted me to expect something a bit more compelling, the actual songs were extremely pedestrian. After their last album, I can't say that I'm particularly surprised, though. On a brighter note, here's the new PV of a new indie-pop band called Menoz. If this song is any indication, they seem pretty decent. The female vocalist reminds me of Sebastian X's vocalist in both sound and mannerism. Their first mini album is out on the 6th of May, so something to possibly look forward to.

I don't recall caring too much for the first yamp kolt album, but the new one was pretty nice. I need to revisit it, though. Some great features on there. (I also shared some of トンチ's solo stuff in the catfiles thread if anyone's interested). Will hopefully get to the new salyu album soon. Her solo stuff has never been remarkable in my book, but her salyu x salyu and lily chou chou projects have yielded some amazing music. - Has anyone tried the new Izumi Macra (泉まくら)? I was surprised at how different it sounds from both new and old daoko material. Izumi's tone and delivery is a bit more gritty than I remember and the production is heavily steeped in underground hip-hop.

Here are a few particular songs (rather than bands in general) that came to mind:

Really enjoyed their 1st and 3rd albums, and this new direction of theirs is sounding fantastic so far! Definitely looking forward to this one!