enyx

I actually found Hallelujah a little disappointing, personally. I'd argue that it's their weakest post-2011 release largely on account of the fact that they didn't really take any risks at all throughout the entire album; the whole thing feels decidedly 'safe' from start to finish. That doesn't mean it's 'bad' exactly, it just doesn't push their creative boundaries at all - which is what every release they've put out for the last 5 or so years has done in some way or another. As a result some of the tracks feel rather like filler or leftovers from previous albums, such as 時間さえも年老いて, !!!!!!!!!!!, etc. Even its high points, while enjoyable, do come with that 'more of the same' sort of feeling, so I've noticed I only really end up listening to most of the tracks on this album when they come up in a random shuffle as opposed to deliberately seeking them out. I'm hoping their next release sees them going back to a more experimental mindset.

New teaser:

Kaoru's been pretty open about his love for downy for a few years now, so him being involved with this doesn't necessarily surprise me even though I'll admit I wasn't exactly expecting it. SUGIZO can be really cool when he gets his creative cap on, so it's nice that he's involved in some capacity too; I wonder if his involvement means that there's going to be a prominent violin component in there somewhere? Don't know anything about Morrie so I can't really comment on his involvement.

88kasyo out of nowhere! The end to this year just keeps getting better. Loved that track on first listen; leans a lot more to their restrained side but has more than enough psychedelic shit going on that it doesn't get boring. Definitely a step up compared to their last PV song. Any chance of them getting an album out before the end of the year?

Very good thread, thanks for sharing.

Brilliant! I really liked Uchu Conbini but they were pretty much a one-man show in many ways; I'm not surprised at all by how similar this group sounds. That PV song is really promising, definitely looking forward to this!

Best. Match. Ever.

It does, in 2017

Yup. To quote a pretty good post I saw on this elsewhere:

Welcome to the United Kingdom, where the only fucking allowed is being fucked by your own Government. Honestly, I get that 'non-conventional' porn is an easy target that probably no MP would be willing to defend purely out of embarrassment, but the precedent this sets really scares the hell out of me. When the Government is passing legislation to allow it to outright block access to websites showing perfectly legal content because they arbitrarily decided that it, in their opinion, is 'non-conventional', you know something's majorly fucked up. Add to that the law that was just passed forcing ISPs to store at least a full year's worth of your browsing history which can be accessed by any one of up to 48 state agencies (so much for the right to privacy) at any time, and you start to wonder whether anyone got the memo that 1984 wasn't intended as a fucking instruction manual.

Cool kids take photos in black and white these days, right? Plus a bonus from when I straightened my hair

It's gotta be toe. I mean both are really solid bands; LITE is one of those groups that I feel can always be relied upon to release something good and enjoyable, but toe is just... toe. Other than their first ep toe have knocked it out of the park with every release and have pretty much spawned their own 'toe clone' sub-genre at this point. Like @CAT5says, their sound is far more iconic. This might sound like a strange way of articulating it, but LITE, while I think fairly consistent, have always felt like a product of the Japanese math scene as opposed to one of the artists that defines or pioneers it. I still find time to listen to every release they put out, though.

@ZeusHoly shit, siraph! I'm definitely not surprised to see them already breaking into the anime world, but nevertheless I'm EXTREMELY happy that the song seems to hold up really well and is actually quite a curve-ball for them. Even though I tend to come down pretty hard on anisongs, I don't mind them at all when the artist in question actually manages to make one that still sounds creative and not uninspired. Also I couldn't care less about engrish unlike @CAT5, so it's all good for me

That feeling when you're totally out of the loop and don't even know who or what a Kawaii_Minpha is

Anyone up for a classic 8pm GMT Sunday dub tomorrow?

I accept bribes.

This video just caused me laugh hysterically for the last half an hour. Skip to 8:04, 11:10, and 17:48 for the best bits.

Hmmm, so that's two Machupicchu Industrias bands releasing new stuff on different labels (the other being Enemies, who are also disbanding). I wonder if that label's having issues or something? I guess we'll know if toe and Tangled Hair follow suit in the future. Anyway, should be alright. motk usually release decent stuff and their split with LITE wasn't bad. Will keep an ear out for it.

I generally avoid hyping myself up too much whenever a promising new J-indie act comes along. Bands in this scene have a habit of cropping up, releasing an amazing EP, then trailing off into obscurity or just shitting the bed entirely. This case is a special one though; the reality right now is that this group is looking like the primary successor to two of my all-time favourite musical projects (unless ハイスイノナサ can salvage their current situation somehow), and for them to have kicked things off in such brilliant fashion just fills me with joy. I'm curious to see how they develop stylistically. Right now it's extremely obvious which tracks are written by Terui and which ones are written by Hasuo; the two's compositional styles do compliment each other for the most part, but at the same time it can feel a little disjointed so it'll be interesting to see whether their writing tendencies start to converge as time goes on. I'd argue that Annabel is the weak link at the moment; she's fine as a Yumi-clone but it's precisely that fact that keeps making me want to hear Yumi singing these songs instead. Hopefully she can start to come into her own a little as the band progresses. I'll concur with @CAT5 that in the margin is their one notably weaker track right now. It could work quite well as a ハイスイノナサ song with Ai Kamano providing vocals, but Annabel doesn't suit that song at all, and it feels rather at odds with the rest of the EP. Otherwise Terui does a really good job though, his other two tracks on the EP are brilliant. As for Hasuo... well let's just say that my biggest criticism of late-era sfp was his apparent disappearance from the band's creative process. I don't know whether he was pushed out, lost interest, or what (and let's be honest, none of us will ever know), but the band's music sorely missed his input in their last couple of years if writing credits are to be taken at face value. I've been enjoying his stuff with LAGITAGIDA and 385, but this is what I've really been hoping for. The demo songs they've been releasing on Soundcloud also sound brilliant, so I'm extremely optimistic for whatever they release next. Here's hoping they put out a full-length before too long EDIT: Just a heads up, the EP is available for direct purchase on the JP iTunes store. @Seimeisen made a great tutorial on setting up a Japanese iTunes account here if anyone's interested.

I hate my facial hair. Granted it's nowhere near as extreme as it is on a lot of guys, but I still dislike it regardless. I think the main reason is that I just don't consider myself to be particularly masculine; I think of myself as being more on the androgynous side. I'm kinda lazy with shaving it though; I only tend to do so if I'm going out to something or it's gotten to the point that it's too noticeable. Also when beard itch kicks in... that shit is the bane of my existence.

Brb, calling YOHIO.

I decided to try straightening my hair, for shits and giggles.

I don't think the song is particularly special by THE NOVEMBERS' standards, but this is one of the coolest videos I've seen for a while.