indigo

Made some upgrades to my PC: A full-modular 650W power supply, no trouble with that one. And then a Phanteks CPU cooler to replace my stock cooler. After installation I noticed that the cooler is being noisy. It should be around 600-1800 RPM and it's constantly going 1700 RPM. I tried to change the settings in BIOS but no luck.

indigo's unpopular favorites of 2016 It's a little after midnight here, so basically I missed the deadline, but it's still sunday somewhere! I'm not in it for the prize really, I just wanted to get this list out there for fun so I didn't really invest in creativity, it's just a simple list. I imagine these artists won't appear on many - if any - lists. It's good to have a bit of diversity too, right? Some of these videos might be blocked for you, my apologies for that! Here are the Japanese albums I enjoyed the most last year! #1 ムニムニ (Munimuni) - A KILLS A I feel like this album would be on a bunch of EOTY lists if it wasn't for the hmm... unique vocals. I have never been bothered by his voice, though. And he uses his lower register a lot more on this mini-album anyway. I must admit the vocal melodies and delivery can be for an acquired taste. Every time I hear someone say "I love the music but can't stand the vocals" about a band I enjoy, it makes me particularly happy for some weird reason. Few of us have been waiting for new Munimuni material for ages and finally we got a new mini-album! A KILLS A is only 17 and half minutes long but it's still something. And that something is 17 and half minutes of quality music: melancholic rock with fucking awesome atmospheric, wailing shoegazey guitar. Just listen to it on BIG MONEY or NEO SONG, for example. Third song &4 is the weakest point on the album but it's still good. Sample song Highlights: BIG MONEY, NEO SONG, KOGEN #2 Age Factory - LOVE I'm not entirely sure, but I like to think that this album is about a summer, two teenagers and first love. As you know, everything feels 10 times worse when you're a teenager, especially a break up. This album has that whole bittersweet, exaggerated end of the world atmosphere. You could almost cut these feels with a knife. I simply adore the vocalist's voice, I just want to give him a man-hug and say "it's alright". It's near impossible to pick a favorite song, they're all my favorites. This album needs to be listened to from start to finish as one consistent piece of music. For me "LOVE" hit hard, one of my favorite rock albums in a long time. Sample song Highlights: EVERYTHING, maybe with the exception of Veranda #3 iri - Groove it I stumbled upon iri's music randomly. I saw the cover art and was intrigued. A few youtube song samples later I was excited. After the full album I was hooked. The album is influenced by urban music; R&B, soul, funk, hip-hop. The production on the album is smooth and groovy. The list of producers include mabanua (ナイトグルーヴ), STUTS (Wandering) and Kenmochi Hidefumi (breaking dawn, フェイバリット女子) among others. iri's voice is soulful and despite her young age she sounds mature. There's even some parts where she is rapping but she is comfortable with it, it doesn't sound awkward or try-hard. Perfect music for a night drive in the city! Sample song Highlights: breaking dawn, Wandering #4 友川カズキ (Kazuki Tomokawa) - 光るクレヨン (Gleaming Crayon) Tomokawa has been around for a long time. He's been churning out albums regularly for 40 years and I think we're close to 30 studio albums by now. He's known for his avant-folk style of music and Gleaming Crayon continues on the same line. The most well-known characteristic of Tomokawa is his idiosyncratic voice, I'd describe his technique as "coughing-your-lungs-out". It's desperate, disgusting, intimidating. Most of the time his voice is accompanied by acoustic guitar. There's also some occasional instruments; distressing drums, scary strings, sporadic saxophone, you name it but which ever the instrument, it's always a harrowing feat. Sample song Highlights: つつじ, 愉楽 #5 SALU - Good Morning I remember when I saw the PV of first single Tomorrowland and thought to myself "this is trash". Well, since then I have changed my opinion a bit, it's still my least favorite song though but the rest of the album makes up for it. The opener "All I Want feat. Salyu" is a strong one. It's nothing like "Tomorrowland". It's an emotional song, with a piano-based beat. The subdued "la la la's" which serve as a chorus are beautiful and last minute lets Salyu shine. The production on this album is great for the most part, it's soulful. There's jazzy horns, piano aaaaand I just noticed that I love to list instruments. SALU flows on these beats effortlessly and he got some good hooks. There's surprisingly lot of singing too, like on "How Beautiful" and "Lily". All featuring artists do a great job, there aren't any rappers but singers Salyu and Mika Nakashima and trumpeter Kuroda Takaya. Especially Salyu almost steals the show on her feature. Sample song Highlights: All I Want feat. Salyu, How Beautiful, タイムカプセル #6 Yellow Studs - door There are bands that I wish would evolve with every album, and then there's bands like Yellow Studs. They have basically been doing the same thing since forming - garage-ish rock with hints of jazz - never really changing their sound, and damn I'm glad they haven't! They have nice melodies, raspy vocals and great instrumentation with catchy guitars, cool upright bass and some lovely keyboard/piano. I've always enjoyed their faster tempo songs the most, and this album proves it true again. おはよう (Ohayo) is a great example, it might be one of the best songs they've done so far and it's one of my favorite songs of 2016! It's simply a fun album which never fails to lift my spirits. Sample song Highlights: ガラクタ, おはよう

^ awwww yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!

we are gonna plug tonight, right? ;3

Thanks for the heads up! This is an older song but the songtitle is very fitting now.

New Run The Jewels album is coming on January (and it's free!) And new J. Cole album, 4 Your Eyez Only, coming December 9th, AAAAhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Re-playing Tomb Raider (2013) on PC. Also seriously considering buying Steep, I want to play it sooo much but not sure if I wanna pay 60 euros for it..

Well that sucks.

Was just listening to Grave Pleasures' (f.k.a Beastmilk) today and wondering when will they release something new and then I see this, haha. I'm glad this is sounding a lot more similar to Climax than anything on Dreamcrash.

Dub or plug today?

simple but effective!

No point making a new thread, here's some new info: Their album "METEO" will be released on 2017.03.08 Tracklist: 01. Messenger Boy 02. 朝の4時 03. 細い杖 04. Cosmic Wonder Bowler 05. LA 06. Fried Bird 07. 何あせってんの 08. 魔術師 09. フルサト 10. マス釣り 11. Finish Field Aaaand here's a PV for "細い杖 (Hosoi Tsue)". There's also english translation of the lyrics in the video description. Sounds great if you ask me!

Sampler is up on youtube. MOON WALK sounds niiice~ lmao @ preview of song #4

@fitear1590 Great review! I enjoy your style of reviewing. I don't agree with all your opinions but I think I would give it the same score you did. My expectations for this album were very high, like they always are with THE NOVEMBERS releases and I was a bit disappointed if I'm being honest. And it's still one of the best J-albums released this year so that's saying something about the quality of their music. Some notes about the album / songs: - 1000 Years is like a poor man's version of Blood Music.1985. - Kobayashi's vocals on 愛はなけなし (What Little Love) make me think that he would be a great nagoya kei vocalist. - I think @CAT5 put it well with there being no notable "UMMPPH!" moments that make you revisit the songs time after time. For me moments like these are the first chorus of Rhapsody in beauty with the siren guitar and Kobayashi's high notes interlocking, the killer riff starting at 1:30 in Wire (Fahrenheit 154), the chorus of 彼岸で散る青 (Jigan de chiru ao). There were no moments on "Hallelujah" where I thought "holy shit that's amazing!" - My favorite songs after multiple listens: Black Rainbow, What Little Love, Just Going Far. That guitar riff in Just Going Far's "chorus" is fantastic! And for lolz: 1. (To) melt into, 2. Zeitgeist, 3. Rhapsody in beauty, 4. Hallelujah

I'm also cool with plug and halloween-ish songs.

not a big syrup16g fan but this song.... so good.

Killing a bunch of Negan's men with a rocket launcher is pretty savage, though. On another note, it may not be today, or tomorrow but I can't wait for Rick to bury that axe in Negan's head. : 3

I always associated (Japanese) city pop with these bands with young male members with trendy clothes, colorful caps or beanies and guitar straps adjusted a bit too tight. And chill chunez. jk but not rly ...So bands that have already been mentioned like yogee new waves, the fin., never young beach (notice the marine theme, maybe it should be sea pop? beach pop?) I have to agree with the blog post on city pop being more about the certain vibe and aesthetic rather than a similar sound.

Tour15 The Unstoppable Tour Tour15 Never Free From The Touring Tour 16-17 FROM DEPRESSION TO TOURING I wonder what's next...