enyx

Anyone got their eyes peeled on Lop abuse on somebody's stuff?
 
Name always cracks me up as I have no idea what lop means, besides a term used in dutch soccer when you flick the ball upwards, so i'm sticking with that for now
 
Nice emotive post-rocky sounds, especially like how the bass is utilized
 

I have to agree with 'sink', 'VINUSHKA', 'audience KILLER LOOP', 'Infection', and 'close, down, back to'. All of those are really solid openers that I probably would have posted myself were they not already posted.
 
THE NOVEMBERS - Moiré
Opener for their third mini-album 'GIFT'. I adore everything about this song as an opening. It starts off calm and rather dreamlike, and then just builds and builds in terms of grandeur over its 8 minute runtime. Unfortunately I don't think the rest of the mini quite hits the same level of quality with the exception of the closing title track, but still, that doesn't take anything away from this fantastic song.

 
Spangle call Lilli line - mai
Opener for their sixth full-length 'PURPLE'. Pretty much from the instant this song starts, you get a feeling for what Spangle call Lilli line is all about. This song perfectly encapsulates almost everything that 'PURPLE' goes on to present later in the album.

 
Dir en grey -  鬼眼 -kigan-
Opener for their third full-length '鬼葬'. Yes, I know Dir en grey have already been mentioned twice in this thread, but I find this track often gets overlooked despite being my personal favourite opener of theirs. It manages to be atmospheric, calm, energetic, and batshit insane all at the same time.

I have to agree with 'sink', 'VINUSHKA', 'audience KILLER LOOP', 'Infection', and 'close, down, back to'. All of those are really solid openers that I probably would have posted myself were they not already posted.
 
THE NOVEMBERS - Moiré
Opener for their third mini-album 'GIFT'. I adore everything about this song as an opening. It starts off calm and rather dreamlike, and then just builds and builds in terms of grandeur over its 8 minute runtime. Unfortunately I don't think the rest of the mini quite hits the same level of quality with the exception of the closing title track, but still, that doesn't take anything away from this fantastic song.

 
Spangle call Lilli line - mai
Opener for their sixth full-length 'PURPLE'. Pretty much from the instant this song starts, you get a feeling for what Spangle call Lilli line is all about. This song perfectly encapsulates almost everything that 'PURPLE' goes on to present later in the album.

 
Dir en grey -  鬼眼 -kigan-
Opener for their third full-length '鬼葬'. Yes, I know Dir en grey have already been mentioned twice in this thread, but I find this track often gets overlooked despite being my personal favourite opener of theirs. It manages to be atmospheric, calm, energetic, and batshit insane all at the same time.

I was expecting worse based on the sample. It's not my favourite Miyavi song but it's not particularly bad either. It's just... average.
 
Also I can't help but find the contradictory paradox of complaining about his 'lack of progression' while simultaneously comparing it negatively to his previous works (thus indicating a clear, albeit unfavourable, progression of some kind) to be rather amusing.

downy uploaded a PV for 猿の手柄 (from their first album) onto their Youtube channel today. I could be wrong, but I believe this is a completely new PV rather than a simple re-upload. Both their first and second albums were recently re-released so I'm guessing that's the reason.
 

downy uploaded a PV for 猿の手柄 (from their first album) onto their Youtube channel today. I could be wrong, but I believe this is a completely new PV rather than a simple re-upload. Both their first and second albums were recently re-released so I'm guessing that's the reason.
 

Shinkiro (short ver.) radio rip here.
 
I am so ready for this album.

Shinkiro (short ver.) radio rip here.
 
I am so ready for this album.

Shinkiro (short ver.) radio rip here.
 
I am so ready for this album.

Sorry for the double post but I think it's worth bumping the thread for.
 
Sigure's YT channel uploaded a 2min PV sample for Fantastic Magic and promptly blocked it. However there's a re-upload floating around on tumblr for those that are interested. Personally I quite like it, moreso than both contrast and unravel.

By the way people, in case you're interested in (original) composers of each IMMORTALIS song, here's the interview in ameblo with per-song analysis
 
http://ameblo.jp/712031/entry-11847194786.html
 
so here's the list:
 
Elisabeth Addict - Takumi (he did the original song 5 years ago, apparently) mostly + Kyo and small input by other members (at least according to Barks.jp)
Destrudo - Takumi (around the same period with "Elisabeth"?)
Latour - UTA
Nine Melted Fiction - UTA
Zephyr - Takumi (obviously)
Hidden one - YUCHI (also, Mozart reference in the solo)
Aftermath - YUCHI
Uyuu no Sora - Takumi
The Daemon's Cutlery - YUCHI
Scars Like Velvet - UTA
Mama - Kyo
Vandal - UTA (obviously)
Hemimetabolism - Takumi and Kyo
Kugui - UTA
Madara Ningen - the whole band as far as I understood?
In All Weathers - Takumi and Kyo

Vo. 京 (DIR EN GREY)
Gt. 匠 (ex. Rentrer en Soi)
Gt. UTA (ex. 9GOATS BLACK OUT)
Gt. YUCHI (kannivalism)
Dr. 未架 (ex. Rentrer en Soi)
 
sukekiyo’s formation, debut album, and recent live shows have all generated a lot of discussion lately. As such, I thought it would make sense to finally give the band its own thread here in the artists forum, rather than having discussions split across the IMMORTALIS news thread, IMMORTALIS review thread, and Dir en grey artist thread. Obviously new announcements and reviews of releases should still be done in their respective forums, but all of the other stuff can go here instead of derailing those threads.
 
Some questions and points of discussion to get the ball rolling
How do you feel about sukekiyo as a whole? Are you a fan of the band? Do you think it’s being overhyped?  What do you think of their recent live performances having a specific dress code? Does it suit the atmosphere of their music more or does it turn you off? Are the comparisons between sukekiyo and DIR EN GREY inevitable or justified? Do you think the desire to compare the two will die down once the novelty of 京 being one of the members wears off? To what extent do you consider sukekiyo to be 京’s ‘solo project’? Is it fair to use such a term when it appears that the other members also seem to have considerable influence on the band's music? What would you like to see from the band in the future? Do you expect it to be a full time project? 

Vo. 京 (DIR EN GREY)
Gt. 匠 (ex. Rentrer en Soi)
Gt. UTA (ex. 9GOATS BLACK OUT)
Gt. YUCHI (kannivalism)
Dr. 未架 (ex. Rentrer en Soi)
 
sukekiyo’s formation, debut album, and recent live shows have all generated a lot of discussion lately. As such, I thought it would make sense to finally give the band its own thread here in the artists forum, rather than having discussions split across the IMMORTALIS news thread, IMMORTALIS review thread, and Dir en grey artist thread. Obviously new announcements and reviews of releases should still be done in their respective forums, but all of the other stuff can go here instead of derailing those threads.
 
Some questions and points of discussion to get the ball rolling
How do you feel about sukekiyo as a whole? Are you a fan of the band? Do you think it’s being overhyped?  What do you think of their recent live performances having a specific dress code? Does it suit the atmosphere of their music more or does it turn you off? Are the comparisons between sukekiyo and DIR EN GREY inevitable or justified? Do you think the desire to compare the two will die down once the novelty of 京 being one of the members wears off? To what extent do you consider sukekiyo to be 京’s ‘solo project’? Is it fair to use such a term when it appears that the other members also seem to have considerable influence on the band's music? What would you like to see from the band in the future? Do you expect it to be a full time project? 

Who are you to separate bias from what people enjoy? Why do you even care? Let people enjoy the things that they enjoy and stop trying to find objective truth in subjectivity. It's extremely annoying.

Seriously, Shinya sucks for 4-5 years now, ever since they started the faster, heavier stuff. And seriously it sounds to me that the people on the Sukekiyo review site shitstorming Dir en grey relentlessly never really listened to something else than Dir en grey, or at least that kind of music. Like "OH WHAT A REVELATION, there are other ways the guitars and drums can be used?"
 
Why always compare the two? Sukekiyo are Sukekiyo, Deg is Deg. Deg doesn't do technically complex stuff, that's just something to expect from the band. They came out of a very simple form of rock, and they didn't really progress in terms of technique. Like ever. And the most obvious link is Shinya. And even calling Dir en grey out to make a good enough follow-up..like what the fuck? Why should they? This is not some kind of rivalry. People should know good enough that each of the bands have entirely different composers of entirely different musical backgrounds. Nagoya-inspired progressive whatever on one hand, and western-inspired avant garde sludge whatevercore something on the other. (Dir en grey compositions are cheap? Fine. Rammstein are too. Nirvana too, by the way. So what? If you don't like the way Dir en grey is managed musically, guess what. Maybe you should search for another kind of music. And if you like Sukekiyo, surprise! You found it.)
 
This is just so messed up. Good, ok. Dir en grey "made it", so they're open to this sort of a feel of need to critizise the band to counter the hype around them, whenever there is an opportunity. "Sukekiyo is a good release..oh by the way Dir en grey sucks and DSS was a shitload of fuck..just sayin...". We.get.it. It's like people are relieving their stress from a trauma they got from meeting a furious Dir en grey fanatic.
 
Ah yeah and to the discussion: nearly every professional drummer on this planet is better than Shinya, and Kyo probably looked for people to fit his sort of style, I don't suspect a technical approach.
 
EDIT I apologize for that, but.it just had to get out there.

This. So much.
I think a lot of this supposed "rivalry" or bashing stems from people's distaste in STU, hell even possibly Rinkaku and The Unraveling. Its pretty much just spite. And its not as if we didn't know that DIR EN GREY was going to take it down a notch. Kaoru specifically stated MULTIPLE times that their newer releases are going to be simple and quite honestly, its understandable. They successfully progressed substantially after the Marrow of a bone to Dum Spiro Spero. That takes a lot, especially having to deal with 7 strings vs 6 strings and fairly complex song structures. To want to tone down, while still keeping the essence of groups sound for a while is OK. It shows maturity. It shows that they too are human beings who know when to take necessary breaks. There are other bands other than DIR EN GREY that one may listen to at the end of the day if one isn't happy with the direction the band is going in. The end.
This sudden spark of "hate" is what's the popular thing to do. And while Kyo is the front man for Dir en grey, he doesn't even have that much musical say compared to Kaoru or Die. So if anything the comparison music wise vs Sukekiyo makes absolutely no sense...
As far as Shinya goes, he is one of my favorite drummers but its no secret that once the band started treading into more difficult territory, he's flawless in the studio but live, he cannot hold his own for some reason. Kaoru and Die have done a better job being clutch on the areas they may have had issues in, but I consistently notice the same minor screw ups in every single recent live DVD release. I dunno if its him not practicing or what....Chances are, the newer stuff they'll be playing will be better for him.

I'm inclined to agree with this theory as well. It's further supported by the fact that Hasuo (key.) seemed to stop contributing creatively after they went major. I know that composer credits don't always tell the full story, but it's worth noting that he was specifically credited on 5 of the 8 songs on air feel, color swim, yet on amp-reflection and Prog-Roid together he was only credited on a total of 2 out of 24 songs  (line and パーセンテージ) . school food punishment's later discography seemed to be almost entirely dominated by the Yumi-Ryou partnership (despite the latter not actually being in the band), so it's logical to assume that la la larks will follow on from that sort of sound, especially now that both of them are officially in the band this time.
 
On one hand it's a shame but on the other it could be a good thing. I have a soft spot for pre-major-label sfp but I do like their later music as well and this band/environment seems more suited to that style than a seemingly somewhat dysfunctional sfp. I just hope these anime songs don't become as repetitive as songs like Future Nova, RPG, etc were.

I'm inclined to agree with this theory as well. It's further supported by the fact that Hasuo (key.) seemed to stop contributing creatively after they went major. I know that composer credits don't always tell the full story, but it's worth noting that he was specifically credited on 5 of the 8 songs on air feel, color swim, yet on amp-reflection and Prog-Roid together he was only credited on a total of 2 out of 24 songs  (line and パーセンテージ) . school food punishment's later discography seemed to be almost entirely dominated by the Yumi-Ryou partnership (despite the latter not actually being in the band), so it's logical to assume that la la larks will follow on from that sort of sound, especially now that both of them are officially in the band this time.
 
On one hand it's a shame but on the other it could be a good thing. I have a soft spot for pre-major-label sfp but I do like their later music as well and this band/environment seems more suited to that style than a seemingly somewhat dysfunctional sfp. I just hope these anime songs don't become as repetitive as songs like Future Nova, RPG, etc were.

Never listened to SATORI before, but I really enjoyed that track. I'll be sure to check out more of their stuff.
 
For those that like HaKU, they recently released a new PV out of nowhere:

 
As a follow up to my previous post, la la larks' crowdfunding project for their CD was successful. I'm still not entirely sure if it's going to be a single, mini-album or full-length, but there's a demo for the title track up if anyone's interested:

just found this new PV by SATORI... very laid back stuff, nice dual male & female vocals and some jazzy feeling (sax. I guess?). I like it a lot!
 

 
official homepage; http://satorijp.web.fc2.com/

anyone know about this band (uchu konbini)?
 

 
getting hooked when I first watched this video, the album samples looks good tho~

宇宙コンビニ
 


Daijiro Nakagawa / だいじろー　(Guitar)
Emi Ohki / えみちょこ　(Vocal , Bass)
Yuto Sakai / なずお　(Drum)

They seem to romanize their name as (uchuucombini). I bought this band's debut mini album a few days ago after a cursory listen of their samples, AND I'M SO GLAD THAT I DID!

Having formed in January of last year (2012), they're still really new to the scene, but their sound is already wonderfully polished! They don't look like much (not that looks really matter outside of VK), but they're quite talented for their field of music. They describe themselves as a "progressive pop" band, and while that label is accurate, they could be more easily be described as a math-pop or math-rock band with female vocals. I'm an absolute sucker for math-rock, math-pop - math-anything basically! I adore the the playing style. My friend and Japanese-indie hero Steve Tanaka described them as so:
 
"Amazing vocals and tricky instrumentation with buttery smooth, clean and sublime guitar tones and creative drumlines."




There are already quite a few math-rock bands in the Japanese indie scene, but there aren't quite as many in this form (with female vocals). Sure, you have bands like ハイスイノナサ‎ (haisuinonasa), but their sound is much more than just straightforward math-rock. The closest band I could think to compare uchuucombini to is tricot. However, I think uchuu has tricot beat hands down. The only thing that tricot has over uchuu right now is their raw aggressiveness, but I think uchuu trumps tricot in every other aspect.

After a year of letdowns and being severely underwhelmed by a number of Japapanese indie and former Japanaese indie bands, I was elated to come across a band like this! Some female fronted bands that were initially very promising (like akai ko-en and tricot) put out some highly dissatisfying releases this year, so I'm happy to see a new wave of promising female fronted bands like 宇宙コンビニ and chouchou merged syrups. storming the scene.

I can only hope that 宇宙コンビニ will go on to release more quality material in the future. Their sound isn't perfect, though. I'd like to hear them write some slightly more upbeat or aggressive tunes, but I do enjoy their laidback, post-rock aesthetic since they can pull it off beautifully. They could also write some slightly stronger melodies, but that's not a major issue here since the melodies on their mini album are already quite nice! So yeah, they're not flawless, but their debut is splendid and they're one of the brightest new lights to appear on the J-indie scene imo!

HaKU's new song is stupendously awesome 
 

Even though this is "kinda" breaking the rules, I thought I would post this here, since it may have bypassed many of the indie fan's radars.




Yeti, although formed from the members of 4 VK bands, sounds like no other VK band out there. They have a very strong indie/math rock influence.  Check em out!

There hasn’t been anywhere enough time to properly digest this album, so consider this more of a “first-impressions” than a definitive review.
 
Going into this album my faith in the GazettE was pretty much the lowest point it had ever been at. I got in to them shortly after DIM’s release and greatly enjoyed not just that album, but their previous material as well. TOXIC and DIVISION, however, both disappointed me (especially the latter). FADELESS didn’t do much to convince me that this album was going to be any different, but I’m delighted to say that I’m pleasantly surprised by BEAUTIFUL DEFORMITY, though it does share some of their previous two releases’ low points.
 
MALFORMED BOX - Good
The obligatory GazeStep intro. This one sounds substantially better than [XI] & INFUSE INTO in my opinion.  I guess there’s not much else I can say beyond that since it’s just an SE, so on to the next track.
 
INSIDE BEAST - Good
I really don’t want to like this track… but I just can’t help it. Although I don’t mind electronic music in general, I never felt that the GazettE were very successful when incorporating it into their own music. I felt that this was particularly noticeable in the English-titled half of DIVISION, most of those tracks just sounded like very formulaic GazettE tracks with some random WUBWUBWUB thrown over the top to try to mask how dull they were. INSIDE BEAST, however, seems to actually use the electronic elements as a key component of the song, and that’s why it succeeds where previous attempts failed. It’s also ridiculously catchy, particularly the chorus. This is probably going to be my ‘guilty pleasure’ of the album.
 
UNTIL IT BURNS OUT - Poor
This song is a complete waste of time and very characteristic of what dragged down DIVISION & TOXIC. It feels like the bare-minimum of a GazettE song, it does nothing particularly interesting and just feels like it’s there for the sake of having another song on the album *yawn*.
 
DEVOURING ONE ANOTHER - Good
Quite like this track. It definitely gives off a Marilyn Manson vibe which I’ve seen a few other people mention and personally I dig it. Ruki’s screams are incredibly satisfying on this song and generally speaking it’s just an enjoyable heavy track.
 
FADELESS - Poor
Didn't really care for this when it came out and I still don’t care for it now. I get the fact that it’s sort of a throwback to their YEEHAW GAZERAWWK days but all that accomplishes is highlighting how dull their instrumentation is at times compared to those days.
 
REDO - Awesome
For some reason I just really dig this track. It’s chill, relaxing and quite different from their other ballads over the last few years. Quite like the guitar lines in this track too, they aren’t exceptional but they’re good enough to keep the song interesting throughout. If I had to think of a criticism for this song, it’s that I wish it was longer.
 
LAST HEAVEN - Awesome
A lot of people have been singing this song’s praises and I have to agree with them, this is easily Ruki’s best composition in the SONY era. The highlight has to be that guitar solo towards the end, fantastic stuff.
 
LOSS - Undecided
I don’t know what to make of this song, on one hand I like many of the individual sections that it has but on the other hand I find it really disjointed when they’re all thrown together into the same song. It feels like the band tried to incorporate too many ideas and it just ends up feeling enjoyable yet awkward and directionless. Maybe I just need more time to digest it.
 
THE STUPID TINY INSECT - Good
What happens when you fuse VENOMOUS SPIDER’S WEB, SLUDGY CULT & ヘドロ together into one song? You get THE STUPID TINY INSECT. Somehow this track feels more complete than the aforementioned three in my opinion, it’s not revolutionary but it’s certainly enjoyable.
 
IN BLOSSOM - Awesome
This track is ridiculously awesome! Well, it’s awesome once that awkward, unnecessarily-trying-too-hard-to-be-heavy, intro is done with. Once the song properly gets going, however, it just kicks ass all the way until the end. Fantastic stuff.
 
鴉 - Awesome
Another ridiculously awesome track. I love the energy and its “in your face” nature. This just sounds like one of those songs that the band had a lot of fun with and you can feel that when you listen to it. In that sense it kind of reminds me of their indie days; it’s scrappy and just fun as hell.
 
黒く澄んだ空と残骸と片翅 - Undecided
I've had a different impression of this song each time I've listened to it. On one hand it’s an energetic heavy track, on the other hand it feels kind of generic and formulaic. I guess this is another one I’ll have to let sink in before I can make my mind up.
 
TO DAZZLING DARKNESS - Poor
This is the most disappointing song on the album in terms of what I expected after hearing the previews. I already knew that I didn’t care for FADELESS and UNTIL IT BURNS OUT’s preview didn’t do much to make me interested in the song but I was expecting more from TO DAZZLING DARKNESS. It starts out quite good, it’s atmospheric and dark, but then it just seems to aimlessly meander around and never really develops into anything.
 
CODA - Good
A good closing track, very atmospheric build up before it finally starts to break out about half way through the song. Probably my favourite closing track since DIM SCENE.
 
Conclusion
BEAUTIFUL DEFORMITY is a definite step up from the GazettE’s previous two albums, though admittedly that isn’t saying much on its own. My big issue with TOXIC & DIVISION was how formulaic many of the songs sounded, they were effectively the bare-minimum requirements of whatever GazettE-song-archetype they were going for. BEAUTIFUL DEFORMITY’s tracks feel like they have a lot more soul put into them aside from the occasional let down here & there. It might not reach the heights of DIM or NIL, but it’s definitely the most consistent album they’ve put out in the SONY era so far. I’d rank it below DIM & NIL but well above TOXIC & DIVISION, kind of in the middle ground that I also consider DISORDER & STACKED RUBBISH to be in.