CAT5

This theme should be interesting

Played this on plug a day or 2 ago, but Zazen boy's bassist is coming out with a solo album in May. Sounds promising!

The south has been completely ignored, as usual. I'm glad to see toe playing NA again, however. I haven't heard much in the way of new post-rock this year, but the new marriages album was pretty nice.

Promising sounds indeed. Looking forward to it as well.

Great review of an utterly fantastic band! It looks like our favorite tracks are different, but other than that, my thoughts are mostly in line with yours. I actually felt like the 2nd track '地図にない街' was a bit of a stylistic regression as well...or rather, I felt like it was more of a refinement of some of the earlier styles they've played. This actually makes me wonder if this single serves as some kind of metaphor for their progression as a band, with each track representing a stage in their sound? Although I suppose that couldn't be the case, with so many elements of their sound not present. Either way, I agree that "blind" definitely stands out in their discography, and as the third track, it makes me wonder if this is a precursor of things to come. At any rate, it's a wonderful single and it pleases me to say that this is one band that has yet to disappoint.

You tried, bruh. The 1st is over in most places, so gonna move this now.

aha, this was far too obvious.

Ofc it's real. I don't bother posting fake rips or transcodes, and I especially don't bother with this April Fool's nonsense

Far East Dizain 1st Single 『DIZAINIZE - EP』 1. LOCUS 2. LAST SCENE -link removed- credit: four1fifteen

Best New Tracks: March 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! @fitear1590's picks: "The Crow" by a crowd of rebellion "Eternal Dream" by CROSS VEIN "Daze" by Cuushe "scenes (Live, featuring NAOKI & RUPPA)" by ユナイト (UNiTE.) "一騎討ち (ikkiuchi)" by 女王蜂 (ziyoou-vachi) @CAT5's picks: "はちみつ (hachimitsu)" by CHARA "一番星 (ichiban boshi)" by DAOKO "ブラインド (blind)" by ハイスイノナサ (haisuinonasa) "waiting for you" by シベールの日曜日 (Sundays & Cybele) "WINDLESS DAY" by シャムキャッツ (siamese cats) "宙を撃て (chu wo ute)" by ヤマジカズヒデ (Yamaji Kazuhide) 's picks: "The Way Down" by FACT "Just Give Me The Rock 'N' Roll Music" by WHITE ASH "煙たい" (Kemutai) by 片平里菜 (Rina Katahira) "カオスリロン" (CHAOS RIRON) by Plastic Tree "A Malice of Rider" by a crowd of rebellion "INAZUMA" by ALSDEAD "曼陀羅" (Mandara) by OZROSAURUS "Broken faith" by waterweed @beni's picks: "歌謡曲 (Kayoukyoku)" by 大森靖子 & THEピンクトカレフ (Seiko Oomori & The Pink Tokarev) "神様の悪戯 (Kamisama no Itazura)" by SuG "Secret Garden" by Chara "ETERNAL SLEEP" by THE BLACK SWAN "Gimme U" by 倖田來未 (Koda Kumi) "World is mine." by vistlip "あらかじめ语られるロマンス (Arakajime Katarareru Romance)" by 乃木坂46 (Nogizaka46) "シーサイドスリーピング (Seaside Sleeping)" by ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION "My Room" by きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ (Kyary Pamyu Pamyu) See you next month!

lol, that reminds me of this:

"Taking over daoko's fanbase" was perhaps a poor choice of words, as I didn't mean it quite as literally. What I meant by that is izumi might appeal more to fans of the whole indie/alt-hip hop aesthetic now that daoko's music has shifted a bit more into jpop territory. I'm not sure if Izumi is trying to go the same route as daoko, but if that's the case, then she would definitely need to work with mainstream/jpop-friendly acts. As for J-hip hop exposure, Izumi is signed to Fragment's label (subenoana) and has already worked with some extremely reputable/respectable names in the J-hip hop world (in addition to Fragment themselves): OMSB from SIMI LAB, EVISBEATS, mabanua (ovall)...and now Olive Oil, LIBRO, and DJ Mitsu the Beats (GAGLE). It doesn't get much more legit than this. This is pure, nonsensical stanning. Technically, Izumi was active before daoko and even released her first album a month prior to daoko's debut. Izumi and Daoko both sound the same, but other than that, I don't see a reason to call either a knockoff or a copycat. They both practically appeared around the same time, on 2 different labels that share EXTREMELY similar aesthetics (subenoana and LOW HIGH WHO? respectively), both backed by great producers. Daoko's career just managed to skyrocket into the mainstream/jpop world, thus more people know about her and associate her with this sound. Izumi may be lesser known, but to call her a knockoff would be inaccurate.

"kawaii" indie hip-hopstress izumi makura will release a new album on April 22, 2015! 泉まくら『愛ならば知っている』 2015 4/22 発売 型番 sube-040 販売価格 2,000円(税込) レーベル 術ノ穴 1. baby pro.by DJ Mitsu the Beats 2. pinky pro.by YAV(MADSOMA) 3. Love pro.by Olive Oil 4. Lullaby pro.by 食品まつり 5. YOU pro.by nagaco 6. Circus pro.by Olive Oil 7. 愛ならば知っている 8. 幻 pro.by nagaco 9. 明日を待っている pro.by LIBRO https://twitter.com/macra_iz/ http://subenoana.net/artists/macra https://www.facebook.com/izumimakura - The producers for this album look great. I imagine she might be taking over DAOKO's fanbase

Are you a Morning Bird or a Night Owl? 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.

Yeahhhh. I feel the same way. Aesthetically, they're legit, but their music leaves so much to be desired. It makes me wonder if they're trying so hard to appeal to a certain crowd/image that they've unwittingly sacrificed their sound along the way? I usually like for bands to maintain some level of rawness, but I feel like tricot would actually sound better with a bit of pop refinement. Other bands that I think fall into that whole "aesthetics > sound" trap are kinoko teikoku, indigo la end, and even though she's not "indie" (not anymore at least), Seiko Oomori. Like I said above, I think she'd be ok with a bit of refinement. wow.....This is pretty upsetting actually. They were a cool band (and one of the more interesting female fronted ones), so it's sad that they're calling it quits. What makes their disbandment even worse is that those samples sound great! - Speaking of female-fronted bands, here's a new all-girl band that one of my pals is into. They'll be releasing their first mini album in a few days. Nothing special or amazing, but still promising considering that these girls are only 17. My friend said they sound like a young/old-school akai-koen, and that description is accurate!

I didn't expect anything great, but I was still extremely underwhelmed. The vocalist was never the best, but it's like she found a way to sound even more shrill and annoying than before. As common as it is for J-indie vocalists to sing outside of their range and sound strained, her attempts on this album were just plain bad (kinda sounded like karaoke at times). The songwriting didn't help either...I don't think they played or sung a single, memorable melody the entire album - which doesn't bode well when you're trying to play hooky, melodic rock of this nature. The featured drummers (esteemed as they may be) didn't do much to save the album either. The hype surrounding this band is certainly lost on me. They started off nicely with their first mini album (I liked their first PV enough to buy the mini blindy...and via proxy at that), but everything that followed has been a bit of a mess. It's a shame because female-fronted math-rock bands are still pretty novel. On the bright-side, at least the production on the album was pretty decent this time around.

fox capture plan's new PV for their upcoming album "UNDERGROUND" Thoughts? I've been following these guys nearly since the start, and while I was initially hopeful given their lineup, they're yet to crank out anything stellar. They're going for a post-rock aesthetic with a jazz setup, but I think they fall short in both areas. For me it all comes of a bit cheesy (especially the melodies), and the production is too clean, sterile even. I do wonder if their sound is more effective in a live setting, though. Also, has anyone listened to the new tricot album?

I found that song a bit unremarkable, but cinema staff usually deliver with their album material, so i'm till looking forward to it.

what @Zeus says is true. Here's a natural resizing of that picture 152 x 300 I've taken the liberty of cropping a bit of the original pic in order to maximize the avatar space: 198 x 300 Either one should work!

Do you have a link to the picture you are trying to add?

While I agree with everyone on the "whatever fits" notion and don't particularly have any overbearing preferences, I've still noticed a few trends within my own taste. The most significant being that the bulk of my favorite bands all tend to be male-fronted, yet if I were to give you a list of voices that I feel a particular fondness for, they'd mostly be female (whether solo or not). So with that in mind, I've gone with female vocals.

Welcome back, bromodachi~