Champ213

Well, I don't upload as much anymore as I used to do, mainly because I don't listen to so much new jrock anymore, but I mostly see it as a community service. I downloaded a lot over the years, why should I not give something back if I can? As such, uploading is its own reward I guess. But, in all honesty: when I was still trading and had access to rare stuff, it was highly satisfying to upload some rare stuff just for the sake of it. Especially when other people who acquired it the same way would try to flaunt it into others people's faces. Sounds silly? It sure is, but gosh yeah, that was satisfying.

Well yeah. I think it goes without saying that nobody should support a band that makes music they don't like. That seems rather self-explanatory and obvious to me. But your post made it sound like you would not support a band NOW, while they make music you DO like, because you think they will change anyway and become sell-outs. How do you know that a band will change for the worse later?

That's a good point. The clothes you wear have probably a more questionable history than the music you buy, considering that most clothes, even expensive brands, are manufactured in 3rd world countries under often horrible conditions. Or coffee. Or bananas. Being worried about greedy record company execs getting my money instead of a poor starving rock band seems odd when most people don't give a second thought about the money the spend for other goods. Maybe I misunderstand your meaning, but are you saying you don't want to support small indie bands because once they get money and become successful they will try to go major and change their music to something you don't like? So you rather not give them any money, so they will stay unsuccessful and never change their sound? XD Because that sounds like a pretty convoluted reasoning. Not supporting a band NOW because at some point in the future they may change their sound is kinda odd. I am the first to admit that I download a lot of music. But if I really like a band, I want to have something by the band, and it's only fair that I pay the band for that. So what if only a small fraction of that money actually reaches them? That's the way they chose to make their music availible. Nowadays, you don't have to go that route. You can try to go for crowdfunding, or self-publication over the internet - which of course is a lot of work, so many bands still seem to prefer signing with a record label, which means other people will take care of production, management, marketing and logistics. Which means a cut in their own profits. But it's their decision to make. I'm not going to boycot a band I like because they willingly chose this way of publishing.

Different kanji aside, wasn't Kisaki's band technically called "凛 -the end of corruption world-" anyway? Last.fm listeners will be fine either way. XD Anyway, vk bands picking names that have been used by other vk bands before happens all the time... I can think of a bunch of examples.

I buy CDs (or any other band merchanside) mostly for myself. Because I like to have it. Supporting the band, however little of it actually reaches them, is just an added bonus (and what they do with their money is really up to them - I'm not too much in the business of judging other people's lifestyle.) And if the music of a band I used to like suddenly turned bad - well, I'll stop buying it. In this day and age nobody has to buy bad music anymore. There is usually more than one way, legal or illegal, to listen to something before buying, if you are unsure. I think it would have to be something REALLY serious for me to stop buying music I like (or any other band stuff) just to prevent the few cents of my purchase from reaching the artist - like, I dunno, them turning into completely fucked-up nazi assholes or child rapists or whatever. Then maybe I would think "Yeah.... maybe I'll just keep my money". But them spending "my" money on useless stuff? Hardly. Suffice to say, that hasn't happened to me so far.

He is, when you are playing nice and peaceful, he is usually one of the first to attack me unprovoked. Well, he and Attila. But when I was just as psychotic as him, he became quite pleasant when other leaders were just pissed off at me, lol. He's also fairly venal, you can often bribe him into attacking other nations with you. And in the end when it was only me and him left, he was actually afraid of me. But yeah, it seems that Alexander respects strength, but will exploit any weakness you may show. And playing for anything but domination seems to be weak in his eyes. That's why he tends to be so irritating. Granted, I was on one of the lower difficulty levels when I played that game, not sure how that strategy would work out in more difficult levels. Playing for domination seems to become incresingly more difficult the higher you get. I think it also makes the A.I.s more aggressive and more likely to initiate a war.

I wish blogs would take the time to re-upload the stuff they repost. That would actually be useful. Sometimes when you are looking for some older release the original link might be dead, so having some mirrors would be nice. But it's not uncommon to look for a specific older release and find nothing but the EXACT SAME dead link reposted on 4-5 blogs. So frustrating. XD Oh, and the file with most downloads in my Mediafire account are the limited-edition bonus tracks from Girugamesh - NOW with around 3300 downloads, followed by Ascendead Master by Versailles with 3200 downloads.

I have played this game more than I should have, lol. It's one of those "Just one more round and then I go to bed..... oh, hey, are those birds singing outside?"-type of games. XD My favourite victory so far: bribe the city states into submission while conquering all other civilisations, except Alexander (I left Alexander because he has a high tolerance against warmongers and liked me even when I was a ravaging tyrant subjugating the entire world. Plus, he's a cutie.) Then, when it's only me and Alexander left, initiate a UN vote - and win for lack of other candidates. So cynical.

Okay, I had to laugh a lot at "La Bouche - Be my Lover". That's quite a throwback into my teenage days! XD Also: Kurenai is one of my favourite X Japan songs. I do know the songs by Gackt and Girgugamesh too, and have heard of some of the other artists, but nothing that really floats my boat. 1. 摩天楼オペラ - coal tar 2. Turisas - Ten More Miles 3. Oasis - Cigarettes & alcohol 4. Suede - Killing Of A Flash Boy 5. C418 - I Lack an Emotion 6. Plastic Tree - ムーンライト――――。 7. Nahemah - The perfect depth of the mermaids 8. 犬神サーカス団 - いつか 9. NightingeiL - Clean Pack 10. Ulver - Østenfor sol og vestenfor maane Okay, "Killing of a Flashboy" wins this by a mile (no pun intended) in front of "Ten More Miles". "Cigarettes & alcohol" is actually a very neat little song too (though I haven't listened to it in ages), and "Clean Pack" is one of my favourite NightingeiL songs, so not a bad result here. The rest of the songs I know I listened to before, but can't really remember them right now.

I only listened to a bunch of their songs so far, but I'm getting a strong Psycho-le-Cemu vibe from them (and not just because they totally cloned PLC's "Ai-no-uta"-outfit in one of their PVs - the song 道のり totally could have been a PLC-song.) There isn't much "cheerful" vk I really enjoy, but I do like what I heard so far. Also, the PV for NANDAKANDA is, without a doubt, the best vk PV in recent years.

ElDorado - AULA It may not look that special at first, but I really like the simple look of it. But more importantly I love how the cover is tied in with the booklet. I made this photo to illustrate: There are more member photos inside the booklet, followed each by a page of reflective material. If you hold it the right angle, the members are getting mirrored by it, just like they are mirrored by the surface of the lake on the cover photo. I think that's really neat. Although technically it's not just the cover art as such. So, are we doing non-japanese too? Because I really love this: Tenhi - Saivo It's just so dark and eerie and mysterious, yet beautiful, and it totally describes their music to me. It's also very simple and iconic. It makes you wonder, who are these people? What are they doing there? Ironically, it also features something on a lake being mirrored by the water, but that's just a coincodence, I swear! There's tons of stuff I'm forgetting though.... if I can think of some, I'll post more.

I don't have the booklet so I wouldn't know for sure, but I would assume it's hiragana simply based on the fact that the の is a hiragana. I think they sometimes use katakana instead of hiragana to make a title look more "ancient", writing particales and the kana stems of kanji in katakana was pretty common in older times. (So I wouldn't say that using katakana for these particles is "not correct" - it's just an outdated, antique way of writing.) But when it was used, it was used coherently, ie. you would either write ALL of them in katakana, or ALL of them in hiragana, as you would today. So I don't think they would randomly have one hiragana particle and one katakana particle within the same title.

He does look kinda out of place with all his metal-dude band mates. Like an aging host club waiter trying to pass off as a school boy. Still love him though! XD

If I see any more personal attacks in this thread, may they be implied at one person or just aimed at a broad group of people, or any attempt to put down people's opinions by ad hominems, I will hand out warnings on the double. Get over yourself people, and accept that not everyone likes the same things you do. My banhammer is yearning for some action after a long period of rest, so be careful.

Dat sax! XD But it's good to hear Daishi again!

I openly admit that I have a bias for vocalists. A boring vocalist is more likely to ruin things for me than boring instrumentals. On the other hand an amazing vocalist may just be able to a save a song for me. I do appreciate good instruments too though, and for truly great songs, both things have to fit. I just tend to notice the vocals more, but maybe that's just me.

Me too! XD But yes, that's an interesting point. I guess it's true that sometimes it's just the nostalgia that lets us continue to enjoy some songs that we probably wouldn't take notice of if they were released today. That's true. But I'm mostly baffled by the abruptness with which some people seem to exchange the things they love. My listening habits have changed a lot over the years as well, but I have to go back really far to get to some "lol, wth was I thinking?"-moment. And my answer would usually be "Well, I was 12 years old." On the other hand, I have literally experienced people saying things like "Lol, I have just seen my last.fm charts from last year. I was such a weeaboo back then, totally embarrassing." Some people suggested that maybe they never loved the music to begin with, or loved it for the wrong reasons, but I think it may be the other way round, ie. they reject it now for the wrong reasons, like wanting to present a more "adult" taste, wanting to disassociate themselves from a fandom they grew to dislike etc. I think music should be journey and you should keep exploring stuff, but a journey becomes kinda pointless if you vehemently try to forgot parts of your journey once you have moved on somewhere else. I do not listen to the same music I listened to 10 years ago, but I always try to bring the best bits and pieces of each stage of my musical journey as luggage into the next. Thus I can on rare occasions spin some old HIM or Marilyn Manson CDs, or some generic but fun vk song from 5 years ago, and be completely unashamed. XD

Well, a band changing their sound is bit of a different thing. Obviously it's totally possible that a band changes so much that their new music doesn't appeal to you anymore. Happened to me as well. But I was more thinking of people who suddenly start disliking or even hating the very same songs they once loved, not new songs by bands they used to love. Also, w0000000t for a fellow Suede fan! I do agree that their newer stuff is not the same as the older stuff, but I still like them. The new songs are okay, but the old ones mean so much to me that it will never change. As a band, Suede are still my favourite. Anyway, lots of interesting replies so far, still have to catch up on reading some of them. XD

Let's just say, you don't often see charts that have Children of Bodom next to Morning Musume.

First of all, let me clarify what I mean by the title. In my 10+ years in the online jrock community I have more than once experienced how people drastically change their tastes in music within a very short time, often only a few months. And by "drastic" I don't necessarily mean that they start to listen to music that is completely different in style (quite often it's just one variety of rock/metal to another variety of it), but the way that they suddenly regard bands they once loved with nothing but disgust. The most obvious example in jrock is that people listen to vk for a while, then suddenly change rather abruptly to something else, and subsequently start to hate all or at least many of their old favourites, feeling embarrassed for what they listened to just about a year ago. I never really understood this kind of fickleness, and I don't recall when it last happened for me. It's one thing to keep expanding your musical horizons, but it seems odd to me to do such an 180° turn. That's not expansion, it's replacing one thing with another. I guess there's some stuff I listened to when I was 10-15 that I'm not exactly proud of, lol. But I can say with confidence that any band or any song I truly loved since about that age (15/16) is still dear to me in some way. I may not listen to them anymore, but I can usually still understand what I saw in those bands/songs at that time. And never has my love turned into hate or embarressment. As you could say, I'm completely at peace with my musical history of the past 15 years. So I wonder.... Is it an age thing? Something that just may occur naturally when growing up, and may happen any time between 15 and, dunno, 22, but rarely after that? Basically, you just give up on music that was part of your childhood/teenage age in exchange for something that is perceived as more "adult"? Most people where I witnessed this change were probably between 20-22 at that time. Is is something specifically about vk? Maybe something about the way that many binge-listen to vk for several years up to the point that they literally get sick of it? (And often listen to it very indiscriminately too.) Or maybe because vk is considered "immature" and has to be left behind when changing to a more "adult" taste? Or does this happen with other genres as well? Has such drastic change ever happened to you, and why do you think you suddenly feel hate/embarrassment towards something you loved not too long ago?

Welcome to the forum, hope you will have a good time here. I looked at your last.fm charts, that's quite a mix you got there. XD

I would welcome you to the site, but if you have been here for years I'll just say glad you decided to step out of the shadows! Hope you'll become more active and continue to have a good time here! Yup, Trombe is pretty much the best member around here. XD

I'm not going to judge by the bands on each label because in the end that's just about personal tastes and isn't really reflecting on how well-managed a label is. (If I would go by that, it would be Danger Crue by a large mile though.) However, when I look at Danger Crue's list, I see a lot of bands that have been around for a long time. Granted, as been said before, DC has been around a lot longer than PSC, but I guess it's a good sign if bands are willing to stick with a label for such a long time? I assume it means they're doing something right. Also, DC seems to have more variety in their bands, but then again, they just seem have more bands in general. Maybe the labels are a bit too different to be compared? Would it be more to the point to compare PSC to, say, Under Code (before they ceased activties)? I'm not sure, but how did Under Code handle things like Youtube?

Sounds good so far! Also, can I just mention that I love Kon's hair?

I think the "being used to it" is a huge factor. Some years ago I didn't like harsh vocals, or at least not when they compromised the entire song. Nowadays it seems completely normal to me. Sometimes today I come across bands with harsh vocals that I don't like at first, but because the songs themselves are great I listen to them anyway - until I suddenly notice that I don't mind the vocals anymore (One example would be the band Skálmöld - and that guy isn't bad by any means, it just seemed a bit too raspy for my taste at first.) I couldn't really say why I like some harsh vocals and not others, I guess some just lack power and energy, or they just sound unpleasant (odd, I know - it's screaming, it's not exactly supposed to sound pleasant in the first place). But I'm defenietyl not one to analyze their "technique" or something.