fitear1590

YES!

Another track, "My Liberation":

I actually really like both Bae Bae and LOSER. My only gripe with Bae Bae is that the beginning and ending sound truncated, like it's a "radio edit" or something. The piano and beat in LOSER are beautiful though! Pretty cool songs, overall. The new track is exactly what I don't like about k-pop, but 2/3 ain't bad, haha! accurate.png

I slacked this month, so it was nice to go through and find some overlooked songs/releases to check out. Some highlights included: @@beni Chanty: Yay, so glad you included Chanty! They're a rising VK fave for me. Having said that, this song was one of least favorites on the album, haha. (I enjoyed tracks 4-6 the most I think). Also, as @yakihiko mentioned, I didn't even make the connection between the title of this one and "first" version of "ひどいかお". I wonder if there's a lyrical connection, because musically, they don't seem that similar (and I much prefer the first one ). @@Peace Heavy mk II DEZERT: I haven't truly checked out this band yet, but the few attempts to sample them have left me feeling "eh, I'll get to them later." This song, however, caught my attention! Pentagon: This was the most standout track to me on that single! They definitely need to explore this "cabaret" style more, as there doesn't seem to be anything particularly memorable about their usual stuff. Also, it took me forever to figure it out, but this chorus is quite reminiscent of Tokyo Jihen's "禁じられた遊び". @@fictioninhope IX -NINE-: Never heard of them or EARTHERLY, but this is pretty sweet! Really nice of them to offer it for free on soundcloud as well. Gonna keep an eye on them! @ the LOTUS: I was about this close to including a track by them ("A.P.O.") myself, but I'm glad to see you covered them! "Lament." was my second favorite track off that single; kind of reminded me of Heartless' "白蓮" from their MASQUERADE single. I hope the band finds their own sound, because I like the vocalist, but they're still a bit generic. Still, they have some potential. geek sleep sheep: I need to check out the album. This track sounds good, though I think I prefer the sublime, shoegazey sound of that "kaleidoscope" track. Koochewsen: This is tight. I wanna hear more. The romanization of their name is so goofy though, haha. odol: simply stunning! I also really liked your blurb on this one @@CAT5 never young beach: Yesss, gimme that beachy guitar pop. Also, since you mentioned CARD, I'll have to give them a listen too. Yoshida Ichiro Untouchable World: This is some wonky shit. Love it! kindan no tasuketsu: wasn't expecting this sound at all, but it's lovely. EMI MARIA: This is a neat track, indeed. It's a shame you say the rest of the release doesn't continue this sound. Also, if you like this, be sure to try out Alina Baraz if you haven't already. NAGAN SERVER & MANTIS: Wow, I would not have recognized the "Footsteps in the Dark" sample if you hadn't mentioned it. This is chill as fuck and my kind of hip hop. Thanks for doing the heavy lifting this month, fellow ORZ-colleagues! PS: I love how beni dominated pop and CAT had the last two sections to himself, haha.

Omg, this might replace THE SKULL FUCK REVOLVERS as my favorite crazy band name. Fantastic.

Good points, the logo is totally redesigned and the discography section only mentions this upcoming single (i.e. their previous singles and mini are nowhere to be found). Seems like it could be a fresh start indeed. Definitely curious about what they'll come up with!

The linguaphile-nerd in me is super impressed with Yuudai's accent in English. It's so clear!

Um, dat image and the pretty "SE" don't go together, haha. Excited that they are back, but what ever happened to the "BLACK or WHITE" concept single?

I can actually make it today, so what time does the free-for-all plug sesh start?

Chanty, all the way. Their singles have been really enjoyable for me and their debut album seems to have maintained the quality. I'm still gathering my impressions, but it has a decent amount of variety. I checked out Pentagon's album, because there was a lot of hype leading up to it, but I deleted it from my HD after 2 listens. Their new single is a bit more memorable, but they still have some cheap production quirks and generic tendencies to overcome before I see myself getting any more invested in them. In the end, Chanty's "indie rock" style of VK is much more novel and interesting to me. Perhaps pitting them against Yeti might have been a closer battle. Are you referring to the cover art or the PV? Explain, gurrl.

I'm somewhere in between "enjoy from time to time" and "avoid like the plague." I simply do not enjoy, at least what I perceive to be, "standard" k-pop: electro/beat-heavy, dancey pop with faux hip-hop "swag." This style will never be for me. (I realize a lot of these examples are getting outdated, but that's how out of touch with k-pop I am, haha.) I'm extremely picky, but there are a handful of k-pop songs I do enjoy: 2ne1 - It Hurts After school BLUE - Wonder Boy [guilty pleasure status! ] BIGBANG - Monster GD&TOP - Don't Go Home SHINee - Sherlock B.A.P. - Coffee Shop With the exception of maybe "Sherlock" (which I somehow enjoy for the Michael Jackson-esque style), the songs listed above are pretty far from the "standard" k-pop style I described above, so I guess that has to do with why I enjoy them? Of the few full single/album k-pop releases I've checked out though, I don't think I've ever enjoyed the whole thing, making me think the songs I enjoy are mostly flukes. However, I think this has less to do with k-pop than with mainstream pop music in general.

Cat, I'm glad to see you covered Kiryu and Gesu no Kiwami Otome. Those songs were almost on my list as well. Beni, the MBHI track is awesome, which is saying something, because Tenten's vox usually piss me off for some reason, lol. Wasn't expecting them to sound anything like this. ender, so glad you posted Spitz! I forget that they're still around and they proved that they still kick ass. Kusano's vox make me melt :') Yay, so glad you got to hear something new from the list, TheStoic! XENON was a cool surprise, indeed! Now that you've checked out some of their older material, any recommendations? Thanks for your comment

New ハイスイノナサ (haisuinonasa) video

English is my mother tongue, but I'm also fluent in German after studying (also abroad) in college. I even teach beginner-level German right now! I took Spanish for five semesters in high school and, despite not being able to speak it very well anymore, I have retained a surprising amount of vocabulary over the years! I also took three semesters of Japanese in college, but my speaking skills have diminished quite a bit since then. I still know my kana (I don't think I'll ever forget this) and a fair amount of the kanji I learned.

Ugh. Let's hope they take this break and come back even stronger. While I haven't loved their music since "Ikutsumono e," I would be devastated if they broke up now.

Nice topic, Cat! I remember when you introduced Lianne La Havas a few years back. I checked her out and enjoyed her guitar stuff, but it didn't really stick with me. This new song, however... Hot damn. GORGEOUS! It's got such a great vibe to it. Musically, it kind of reminds me of something Kimbra might do, with that spacey funk feel. Lianne's vocals are a lot different though (much richer! Sorry, Kimbra bb!) You got me looking forward to her new album, bruh! Speaking of Kimbra, I see you there Bilal. "Shrieking like an R&B Thom Yorke" is not that far off, hehe. Actually, all three of these are really cool! Thanks for sharing! ___________________________________________________ Here's a few that I've been into lately. Moodoïd is a French psychedelic band, led by guitarist/vocalist Pablo Padovani. If anyone is familiar with Melody's Echo Chamber, Pablo apparently plays guitar for that project as well. Their album Le monde möö was on my 2014 AOTY list. They've only released that, their 2013 self-titled EP, and a new single this year, so if you haven't been following them, you can easily catch up. Their compositions are really interesting and their imagery/videos are very... creative? If you're ready to get weird, give Moodoïd a try! Tele Novella is a new discovery for me, but their style probably isn't a surprise for those that know my music taste--I love me some 60s-inspired indie pop. This band, from the Austin indie scene, keeps it interesting with a sllightly mysterious/psychedelic tinge. To complete the package, charismatic guitarist/vocalist Natalie Ribbons, whose ex-band

YES! Their "Tokyo Under Note" single was one of the best surprises last year. Thoroughly looking forward to this. And they are rocking that pseudo-Moran look

Not my favorite song from Cuushe's new EP, but still good!

Goddamn, they weren't kidding about "demo" quality... But the song does sound pretty nice! Hopefully, their real recordings will be alright!

I know it's tough to pull off a different accent and sound natural, but lawd, did Radcliffe even try? I saw it months ago, but I recall him saying "anything" the super British way ("eh-NA-thing") throughout the movie, despite his "American" accent. (You can hear him say it in the trailer two times.) I don't know why they didn't at least attempt to fix the accent in post-production. Such a goofy-ass movie.

I only like their song "rem" but UGH THEY DIDN'T PLAY MA FAVE SONG! Semi-interested in what this Reno fellow's project will be like.

Nice song, indeed! Keep up the good work.

3 vocalists, a messy assortment of promo pics, and dat name. I'm so confused!