Jigsaw9

I actually never clicked on last year's thread so I didn't know this was a thing. Sounds nice, I'll keep tabs this year for sure. Adding a non-Japanese section too, just to keep track of things...

I'm surprisingly impressed by these guys, so looking forward to whatever they have in store.

pls turn the lights back off

Just an observation, I think the romanization should be "Sheldrake" - it's written as シェルドレイク in the pic, not ジェルドレイク. Google took me here so I guess it's supposed to be this dude. Interesting reference btw.

Hell yeah, awesome!! My last music-related buy is... a digital copy of KEEL's single "死々" from Google Play, lol.

After THE BLACK SWAN disbanded in May he has only done random session appearances, if I understand it correctly. However, he recently tweeted that he'll do lots of music stuff in 2019, so who knows, maybe he'll start/join a full-time band again.

My huge favorite from the '80s is BOØWY who were total pop-rock perfection imo (but I am a rabid stan so...). They formed in 1981 with their first recording lineup being a 6-piece (complete with saxophonist), but their most long-lasting and most known material is from their glory days as a 4-member band. They toured their asses off, released a handful of albums and called it quits in 1988, by the time they were one of the biggest rock acts in Japan, later inspiring youngsters in the early '90s to start their own bands (a.k.a. the "band boom" in Japan). Kyosuke Himuro is an explosive frontman with just the most awesome voice, and together with guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei they composed songs that were compact, streamlined, catchy yet creative. Tsunematsu Matsui is the stone-faced bass powerhouse and Makoto Takahashi is his smiley and energetic drummer counterpart, completing the rhythm section "Yin and Yang" (ok, this sounds kinda corny, but rly just watch them perform, they're total opposites in terms of stage presence but both awesome). Here are some cool vids, hopefully they stay up (BOØWY's YT videos tend to get taken down fairly regularly): "MARIONETTE" music video with animation produced by Gainax "PLASTIC BOMB" live version from their 1987 Christmas gig "NO. NEW YORK" awesome live version from their 2-day last live at Tokyo Dome

Finally watched the full PV. I wasn't impressed by AvelCain at the time, but this is quite nice! I dig the old-schoolish sound, we need more of bands like this. Karma's voice is something I have to get used to (sounding like a 15 y.o. who just broke down sobbing while he learnt that he's not getting the award for the Kiyoharu Pageant 2019), but I see no problems here. Gonna keep an eye out for these guys.

It's keyboardist Tooru Yoshida.

Yeah, Moi Dix Mois is pretty much 'Programmed Harpsichords Non-Stop: The Band'. Not sure whether they had an influence on these newer bands tho.

I am completely here for this. The song/video was fun too. edit: Also, the band's first release will be sold in advance at their TSUTAYA O-WEST gig on 2019/05/19. General sale of the release will start on 2019/05/22. They don't specify what type of release it will be but I guess it's safe to assume it might be a single.

Just got (the Hungarian edition of) The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson & Nicole Galland as a late Xmas gift from a friend and jumped right into it. It's super fun and readable! Crazy sci-fi involving secret organizations, magic and time-travelling. Quite a big volume too, at least compared to the length of books I usually read, so it's quite the task but no complaints if it remains this good, heh. I'm thinking of picking up Stephenson's The Diamond Age again after finishing this (I've had it for a long time but never really read more than half of it). I'm also re-reading Mary Shelley's classic Frankenstein in a gorgeous Barnes & Noble edition. Still a great story.

Their looks are always so interesting, so props to that (eventho I completely lost interest in their music in the past year or so).

Asagi subtly snatching away Morrie's backing band, smh...

tfw u cannot ☒☒☒☒ bandman

^ LMAO same, I was like "..........who" (granted, I don't follow Jupiter that closely).

Short version of the music vid is up and it definitely sounds like something Atsushi is associated with (in this case, kinda like a less all-over-the-place DALLE throwaway, mehh). Also, the single can be ordered at the above webshop, comes in 2 types (CD or CD+DVD). The release itself only has the title track "Zoui" and its remix.

It's pretty confusing, but it looks like the album was available from 2018/12/26 only at lives and ordered through the official webshop. Now that version is sold-out apparently, and the 'normal' release date of the album will be on 3rd February (at the official webshop, dunno if regular stores will carry it). This PV song is not bad btw. I listened to the previews too, but something's missing for me. I did really like his stuff back when he started WW tho, so dunno, maybe I'm just not into this style that much anymore.

I love how they announced the album for "1999"... Can't wait! *prepares time machine*

Cautiously looking forward to this! Their album was surprisingly good.

What the actual fuck. :'DDD

Interesting! Looking forward to hearing this.

^ Yeah, that seems plausible! Can't wait for the details.