enyx

I have no problem with bands adopting traits of EDM into their music so long as it feels natural and not forced. I'll give this a shot.

It depends on whether her depressive issues are long-standing or whether it's a more recent thing. If it's something she's been dealing with for a long time then I'd say that there's a good chance that that this decision is something that could become permanent. If it's a more recent thing, then it's entirely possible that she could change her mind after a year or two. Regardless of whether it's permanent or not, her work with midori is something that I really appreciate and, whilst her solo work is something I personally don't care too much for, I think she's definitely a loss to the Japanese music scene. Hopefully she reconsiders.

I'l be at one of the O2 Islington gigs for sure, probably the Saturday.

It seems like this band has a lot of potential as far as the instrumentals are concerned, but the poppy overtones hold it back a bit. I feel like I need to hear the rest of the mini before I can say anything else.

I didn't care too much for his self-titled album nor the recent singles, but he's still one of those musicians that I find to be worth keeping an eye on. I'll definitely check this out.

I'll be there in 15 minutes to half an hour.

I have mixed feelings towards this list personally. I feel some tracks definitely deserve their places (perhaps not in the same order, but at least within the top 25 itself), such as Rhapsody in beauty, 懐春, and 光の加減で話した, but at the same time there are some tracks on here that I feel are rather overrated; particularly unravel (which I personally consider to be one of TK's weakest compositions) and phenomenon. Then again, such is the nature of subjectivity, I doubt anyone will completely agree with everything on the list. Still, I appreciate the work that you guys put into it.

I'm not particularly supportive of the idea of splitting news based on genre (particularly one as subjective and controversial Visual Kei, with it's lack of an objective definition). One thing that I like about Monochrome Heaven is the fact that it's slowly moving more towards promoting musical diversity, and I feel that giving VK and non-VK news their own sections would hinder that somewhat. Personally I'm mostly interested in non-VK stuff, but every now and then I still come across some interesting VK news purely because of the fact that I see it being posted here while I'm predominantly searching for other things, and that helps me to stay aware of what's happening in the VK scene even if its not my main area of interest. Basically I think this site should keep promoting musical diversity within the Japanese music scene, rather than trying to segment it.

Count me in.

Persona 5 is looking surprisingly good. I really enjoyed the previous two games but my interest in this was actually rather subdued until now. Definitely picking this up on release. This caught my eye also. I'm not sure if I'll get it immediately upon release but it's something I'm considering picking up. The only problem is that I don't trust Gearbox very much as a developer, so I want to wait and see what the reaction is like after launch before I commit.

Really nice find. I'm particularly interested in robin aoki, Fragment, and SUNNOVA's picks, but I'll probably check out all of their lists eventually. Edit: Listening to the first release on aoki's list and already falling in love.

I swear my loyalty to Trombe, and no other.

The Zemeckises is a fictional family that Kyo created. There's a pretty good summary of it here. That video was basically just a crossover promotional video for VITIUM using The Zemeckises. Also, sukekiyo now have their own official Facebook.

Really digging how the studio snippet of 雨上がりの優詩 sounds. It gives me a slightly different feel to the one it gave me when I heard it live. I still think that focus' vocal melody could have been better but the song as a whole (from what we've heard of it) still sounds nice. Can it be February yet?

I'm finally catching up with my backlog, which presently consists of Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS), Valkyria Chronicles (PC), and Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PC). I was playing & (mostly) enjoying SMT IV for quite a while, but then the PC release of Valkyria basically took away all of my attention when it was released; then as I was working on getting the last few decorations/trophies for 100% completion, the PC port of Ground Zeroes took over my life instead. Now I'm just trying to finish up all three of them (100% for VC & GZ, and just however much I feel like completing in my SMT IV playthrough). FInally, I'm still casually speedrunning Mirror's Edge whenever I'm in the mood/bored. Finding the time for all of this hasn't been particularly easy with exams and constant plug sessions, though

This gif is perfection.

This thread topic is too good not to revive, so since Cat gave me permission, I'm going to bring it back from the dead. For me, music is an absolute must when it comes to studying or just getting shit done in general, but it largely depends on what type of music I'm listening to. Specifically, predominantly instrumental music that features notable rhythmical interplay, with calming (or just not 'in your face') sentiments tends to work really well for me. Examples of artists that have a lot of music like this include toe, how to count one to ten, and haisuinonasa. There's something about different instrumental sections combining in such a precise way to create something that's holistically greater than the sum of its parts that puts me in the perfect mood for being productive myself. The other type of music that I find can be rather helpful has already been mentioned by Sai and Cat, namely IDM. For example, artists like Solar Fields and Ametsub tend to be extremely effective. Once again I find that the most important thing is that the music has to be calming, but not in that sort of 'putting you to sleep' sort of way; rather, I need it to be calming enough that I don't get particularly stressed nor overly distracted, but 'active' enough that it keeps my brain subconsciously processing things.

I keep hearing her vocals in a lot of different music lately and I have to admit that she's caught my attention somewhat. I'll probably check this out when it's released; although VITIUM is coming out on the same day so that will probably be my main focus.

Just a heads up for anybody that isn't aware, the date for the OST-themed plug that we discussed earlier in this thread was eventually set for this upcoming Thursday, so today's session will be (I presume) themeless.

Some impressive lists here. I myself have only been to two concerts for Japanese bands before. 2010.08.03 - DIR EN GREY, London (Setlist). 2014.09.18 - sukekiyo, London (Setlist). I once intended to go to DIR EN GREY's 2011 concert in London also, but backed out for stupid reasons which I now regret.

I'm hella down for a soundtrack-themed plug!