hiroki

yeahh about time, he's been supporting them since Mitsuru left so it's great to see him join the band formally

so excited for this. i was really afraid that keiya would nv sing again given his previous throat condition - but thankfully he's back

Maybe my point didn't come across as clearly as I would like. Yes, of course there's the entire cluster of issues with subjectivity/taste/personal preferences. I'm quite the relativist with respect to that (you can read my previous exchange with relentless on "progress" on pg.18), and unlike some others I don't think there's objectively good music. So you can rest assured that I will never try to impose my own opinions on others - I'd rather spend my time focusing on what I enjoy instead of trying to change other people's mind lol. Anyway I was trying to make 2 other points: 1) To say that x is bad because x sounds the same as everything else is an incredibly lazy way of dismissing something. Firstly it's almost always grossly inaccurate (like what Biopanda has said), so there's that. What irks me more is that people who say that pretend they don't have a kind of sound they like and return to, which they usually have. So that's a strange assertion at best and pure hypocrisy at worst; because as much as genres are exceedingly slippery, people do tend to identify with them. I haven't met anyone who, when asked what they listen to, responds by answering "Oh, I only listen to music that is different". And if being different is not so important after all, why say that x cannot be good music because it is not different? In short: I'm not saying that original music cannot be good (which is a broad-brush sweeping generalization); I'm saying music need not be original to be good (which is an opinion that gives people the autonomy to identify what is good for them). 2) My other beef was that the phrase "pop rock" (and other variants e.g. oshare, neo-vk, what have you) is an empty concept usually mobilized and abused by people who don't listen to - and cannot specify - what this elusive genre is supposed to mean. I'm reminded of how the term "otaku" is used by the larger part of the Japanese society to "label" and derogatorily stereotype certain groups of people as social rejects, when the fact of the matter is these people whom they call otaku are mostly well-adjusted individuals who happen to have an "unfashionable" hobby and who don't identify with the term itself in the first place. It's the same problem with pop rock. Whenever a term like this is stretched from wall to wall to mean everything you want it to mean, then it becomes a useless concept to say anything meaningful with. Except as a shorthand for "all these are stuff I don't like and so why is it that others like them?!".

Here's my unpopular opinion so feel free to disagree. Different ≠ Good. I'm tired of hearing "so-and-so is the 1251878th pop-rock band, therefore they are shit." I need someone to explain to me - logically - how people actually arrive at the ludicrous position that being different is a necessary condition for being good. If someone likes a certain style or sound - isn't it obviously natural to continue seeking out the same sound he enjoys so that he can derive the same satisfaction from it? People who love 90s nagoya kei are unwavering fans because of its very distinctive sound which has been arguably "lost" - and hence the nostalgia for that period. Is that really hard to understand? No. While having some originality is always welcome, it is neither necessary nor sufficient (nor even the most important) criterion for enjoying the music in question. Pop-rock tends to be unfairly tagged as "the genre where everything-sounds-the-same" although pretty much the same thing can be said of "dark/gloomy kei", "core-ish music", electro, etc. Any counter-objection that I'm over-reducing the complexity of latter "genres" can be likewise applied to pop-rock, which I believe is more diverse than what most people (especially people who despise it) assume it to be. These days everything from Royz to Xepher to AKB48 are being carelessly chucked in the amorphous and ever-extending category of "poppish music", which allegedly (and almost by definition) sound the same. I do wonder if it isn't laughingly pretentious for people to dismiss stuff they don't like by saying "pop-rock all sound the same, hence they are garbage" while remaining willfully blind to their own human impulse to seek out the same sound/style when it comes to their pet subgenres. (I'm not going to name anyone.) It's incredibly easy to sound different. I can record 620 minutes of belting chromatic scales non-stop, or 4 seconds of farting into the microphone. Sadly that makes for neither good nor enjoyable music.

Thank god they don't sound like nega. Anyway, there's the black swan for people who like nega, and we have this for people who prefer something different. Everyone's happy

i really like the title track :') i agree that the production could have been better - but at this point i guess i'm just delighted that kazuki and co. are still around. definitely gonna buy it.

dear money, it was nice knowing you :')

omg i need this right now. @ambergris, the item hasn't been listed - i'll PM you when i see any shop put them up ^^

wow i've totally forgotten about this thread XD @relentless, i don't think i've ever heard Brendel's interpretation of Schubert (i like his Beethoven though). i'll give them a go

hope towa forms new band soon

hmm i'm with you on this. i don't think i'll ignore anyone who asks anything from me, as long as they are polite about it. of course that doesn't mean that i'll always accede to their request though. in my case, i've asked someone nicely for re-up before and didn't even receive a reply. i would like to think that said person didn't see or forgot to reply, but still, i didn't think it was very nice of him/her.

wow they sound so different i thought this is a new band under the same name XD still like it though

so many familiar names... and i didn't even know that fumiya's still active lol. really looking forward to this band.

omfg.

oh nice its keita. always liked him more than ryu anyway haha.

I don't normally get a tracking number either, but there was once my package was late by 2-3 weeks, so i emailed them and it turned out that they had forgot to send the package. They apologized, sent it, and gave me a tracking number to assure me lol.

oh man i love Rey so much ._.

on one hand i'm excited to see roa still active, on the other i guess this finally spells the end of Virgil ;_;

-dies-

ok i just checked.. my BANG ME is with little hearts and it has the latest release date in my entire order. i use Fedex so i should get it before november. (thankfully it's not with my jishuban order since i'm using SAL for that, which will take 2-3 weeks lol)

well i have mine pre-ordered at either Little Hearts or Jishuban (can't remember which - currently have pending orders at both). If no one has uploaded by the time I get my copy I WILL SAVE EVERYONE <3 hopefully we get to hear their live dists too one day... somehow... XD

new look

I do think in theory this is a cool idea if people are dedicated, although it's going to take an incredible amount of time and effort to even preserve information about 5-10% of *everything* that has been released. The longer you go back in time, chances of recovering such information diminishes exponentially. Sure there are people who collect the older stuff etc., but information like where/when/how, etc. are usually already lost. Another thing: tracking down catalog numbers and tracklists for releases of bands like DEG and the GazettE is of course effortless. The challenge comes when we get to the really obscure bands that play at lives where 5 people attend and only sell stuff through mail order XD And then we have those "buy 2 T-shirts at our lives and we give you our newest single as a 'bonus'" kind of bands (say hi to nano mother Ted). But yeah, if one day someone is insane enough to kickstart such a project, I'd be interested to help (if time permits)

well i'll follow kazuki to hell and back XD still hoping i can somehow find a copy of "Period" that they gave out during belmosaic's last live, although i know it's probably never gonna happen also hoping that their 1st single here isn't live-limited x.x