enyx

It's hard to give a definitive top 10 or anything like that, but the tracks that immediately stand out to me when being asked this are シャンディ (Shandy), moment A rhythm (single/long ver.), eF, a 7 days wonder, mib126, and Metamorphose.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm super hyped for Xenoblade Chronicles X. The original was already fantastic and one of the best all-around JRPGs of the previous console generation, and X seems to be taking everything that was great about the original and amplifying it (although the soundtrack probably wont be as good with Sawano as the sole composer, in my opinion). Just look at that world design!

Well, my opinions on Sigure should come as no surprise to you by now. They're one of my favourite bands, even though I've been a slightly disillusioned with their music over the last couple of years. Their recent output hasn't been 'bad' per se, it's just been rather average and uninspired by their standards; as though they've hit some sort of creative burn-out or are simply more emotionally-involved with their solo/side projects. That said, however, average Sigure is still better than what a lot of bands put out. My favourite albums are still a Sigure virgin? and just A moment, both of which, despite being their first two full-lengths released after signing with the evil Japanese music empire SMEJ, seemed to be much more experimental while still retaining a significant amount of the band's aggressive, rock-based style. In that sense, they feel like the most "complete" Sigure albums to me. I'm a little sad that they reigned in much of their experimental tenancies for i'mperfect and the following singles (also, can they stop with these repetitive anime songs already?), but I guess that's TK from territory these days. Fun question: Do you guys say "Ling" or "Sigure" when shortening the band's name?

Well shit, this utterly sucks. I know their second mini wasn't quite as good as their first overall but they were still one of the most promising young bands in the scene in my opinion. Does anybody have a good translation of their reasoning?

Absolutely. In my personal opinion it would be better to keep the themed plugs for Sundays and let the impromptu mid-week plugs be themeless.

focus sounds nice; I like the overall vibe a lot but Kyo's vocal melody could perhaps be slightly better I feel. It also seems to fade out right before transitioning into some sort of heavier section, so I need to hear the full song before I can make any judgements. Collab choices are... intriguing.

I could dig a covers theme. I also think I recall seeing it mentioned in one of the previous plug chats (though perhaps that was you, ender). Personally I'd rather have that on the Sunday following the 90s plug rather than doing another female vocals theme so soon (besides, covers can still have female vocals ).

Perhaps I brainfarted while reading the chat (not unlikely, knowing me) but I'm pretty sure that it was 90s music that both yourself and Saku considered as the possible theme? Then again, maybe you guys carried on discussing it while I was away or something, in which case I apologise for wasting your time with this post

I don't know any of those bands. I feel like a disappointment 1. Opeth - The Lotus Eater 2. the GazettE - THE STUPID TINY INSECT 3. the GazettE - AGONY 4. THE NOVEMBERS - Dream of Venus / children 5. 凛として時雨 - a over die 6. Dir en grey - 【KR】cube 7. School Food Punishment - RPG 8. Fightstar - Give Me the Sky 9. downy - 弌 10. 9GOATS BLACK OUT - nude the GazettE showing up twice in succession was a little random, but oh well. Quite decent shuffle overall.

I wasn't expecting the second CD to be that big. I wonder if the live version of 烏有の空 is the extended version or not? Also, it's interesting that the first four tracks are all listed as collaborations this time, rather than remixes as I initially thought. That actually has me somewhat nervous since I thought the Kirito collab was massively underwhelming.

Sigure gets my vote. Shame about THE NOVEMBERS though, they would have been my first pick had they been a viable choice. I'd also be cool with Kagrra, if they were to get picked.

Holy hell, I want your hair colour. Anyway, figured I might as well post a pic of me. This is one of the few selfies I'm semi-comfortable with.

Ah, I see. No worries Starting time is 3am in GMT+7 if I'm not mistaken.

Do the songs have to include female vocals only or is a mix of male/female vocals in a song okay too (so long as the female vocals are at least as prominent as the male ones)?

Banned for not sleeping or doing coursework.

Confirmed Enter Shikari - The Mindsweep (even though I'm ambivalent towards ES) sukekiyo - VITIUM Not-Confirmed-but-Likely Ling Tosite Sigure - TBA THE NOVEMBERS - TBA the GazettE - TBA There are probably a lot more that could go in the second category that I'm forgetting about but eh.

Banned because I have no idea how to pronounce your username. K Triangle? K Delta? Dash K Triangle Dash? *flips table*

Shaheen is honestly the first new character that I actually like the design for in T7. The sword puts me off a little, but other than that he's the most down-to-earth looking. Well, I guess Katarina was too but her design seemed lazy as hell. Hopefully they don't give him a whack fighting style; I know Tekken seems to have been going in that direction lately but I've always preferred the more 'realistic' characters.

Stumbled across these guys earlier today and was pleasantly surprised. They're a Hong Kong based math/post rock group.

THE NOVEMBERS - 今日も生きたね (kyou mo ikita ne) As far as the general concept goes it's not really anything revolutionary, but there's something about its simplicity and overall execution that I just really like. Having the band members all walk onto the scene separately before meeting up and leaving together as one group is simple yet effective, and it really fits the overall feel of the song rather well in my opinion. 雨のパレード (ame no parade) - ペトリコール (Petrichor) I'm a sucker for well-executed interpretive dance PVs in general, but this particular one takes the cake for having really good cinematography and scenery to boot. I actually can't think of many others from this year that stood out to me. 2013 seemed to be full of them but 2014 has felt rather "meh" as far as PVs go in my opinion.

Sorry for not posting in this thread earlier! I hope you guys don't mind if I pick out some of the albums from the list and drop some quick comments on them. I have to echo CAT5's sentiments regarding TK from 凛として時雨's Fantastic Magic. It's not bad by any means but I can't help but find its more simplistic song-structures and poppy undertones somewhat disappointing overall, especially after flowering which was my favourite album of 2012. I think it says a lot that my favourite work from TK this year has been Acoustic Installation and his remix for sukekiyo. I also have to agree with others that have mentioned the title track being one of the best tracks on the album, as well as unravel's popularity probably stemming from Tokyo Ghoul rather than the song itself. THE NOVEMBERS really are coming into their own as of late. I find that noisy albums tend to have a habit of either being really good or coming across as too gimmicky without any actual substance. Rhapsody in beauty is definitely is a case of the former and not the latter, and I feel rather comfortable in listing it in my personal top three albums released this year. I also think 今日も生きたね deserves some love; sure it's only a two-track release rather than a full-length but I found both tracks to be very good. I found HOLLOWGRAM enjoyable but certainly nothing revolutionary. I'd say Qualia is one of the more enjoyable releases of the year but there have definitely been other releases that deserve more praise. Still, I'm interested to see what they put out next so it must have done something right. As for sukekiyo, they're definitely a band that people either seem to 'get' or 'not get'. That's not to say that people that don't get them are musically inept or anything, it's all subjective in the end. I think one of the main problems is that a lot of people tried to compare sukekiyo to 9GOATS/RES/DIR EN GREY when in reality sukekiyo seems to be going for something rather different to all of those bands; with the similarities being more of a natural by-product of its lineup rather than a direct attempt at emulation. What I enjoyed about IMMORTALIS is that is genuinely comes across as a labour of love more than anything else, and ultimately has a sound that can't be directly compared to anything else out there at the moment - at least not in its entirety. Still, I'll admit that it's definitely not for everyone.

They do seem to have some innate ability to act as a catalyst for petty arguments. I feel like Firewall could somehow turn that into some cheesy marketing tool for their next album Anyway, I wouldn't necessarily consider this to be my 'favourite' performance because I find it really hard to think of one specific performance that I can consider entirely better than the others, but I've always found this version of LOTUS from the 輪郭 DVD to be particularly impactful. It might seem like a weird choice since Kyo's voice is absolutely shot here, but that's precisely why I like it so much; there's something inspiring about watching him continue to put in so much effort while his voice is in such a bad state.