Bear

New Nile and Rotting Christ? No thank you, good sires. I am eagerly awaiting the ucoming Megiddo album though. First proper release since their last album, The Atavism of Evil, released all the way back in 2002. Excellent band, and the new tracks are stunning. It's got a real genuine old school vibe to it, it's just oozing of mid to late 80's. Fans of old Bathory, Celtic Frost and Venom should check out the band. The new track as well as the old ones, event hough the first album has more of a Beherit feel to it as well.
 

Stray Cat Rock: Machine Animal - Yasuharu Hasebe continued the series after a phenomenal "comeback" to the series, and he continued doing his own thing. The plot is very similar to the previou one, but maybe not as socially relevant as it. It's cool and full of attitude, an amazing Meiko Kaji and a bunch of cool and good supporting actors, it's visually awesome with its colourful filters and lighting, the odd camera angles and flashy editing, and this is topped off with a superb soundtrack. Psych rock, sentimental pop and other cool sounds. The music itself really manage to su up the film as a whole. Another great addition to the series.
 
Fun fact: all the four first Stray Cat Rock films were released the same year. Not unsual in Japan in the 60's and 70's, but it's still crazy.
 

 
 
I (pre-)ordered the entire Stray Cat Rock: The Collection on blu-ray the other day as well. I don't buy many films anymore, but these I just had to get even though they were a tad expensive for my liking. Should arriv ein august. Can't wait!

Great name and probably a shitty band.

I agree. How anyone can tell the difference between this, this and this is beyond me. The Beatles simply had no diversity whatsoever. 'tis all the same.

I agree. How anyone can tell the difference between this, this and this is beyond me. The Beatles simply had no diversity whatsoever. 'tis all the same.

Nice! Can't stop laughing at some of that. Fucking Rastafarian Targaryen and Theon & Ramsey. Hohoh!

I enjoy plenty k-pop, and play some tunes every now and then. Most albums and EPs are ruined by a poor ballad or five, though, so I tend to just listen to some tracks on youtube whenver I feel like k-poppin'.

I know nothing about korean indie, or indie in general, but does Glen Check count? If so, Glen Check! Haute Couture is a fantastic album.
 

Nice! Can't stop laughing at some of that. Fucking Rastafarian Targaryen and Theon & Ramsey. Hohoh!

Nice! Can't stop laughing at some of that. Fucking Rastafarian Targaryen and Theon & Ramsey. Hohoh!

You should wear dresses more often then. Lookin' good.

Ah yeah, that was a cool movie! Tough to compare them, since they're very very different but A Girl... was high-quality atmospheric stuff. Still, Max reigns supreme for me, for now.

Holy shit, dat new Mad Max movie. I don't say stuff like this often, but this was easily the most visually amazing and intense film I've ever seen. Also, gotta love how the action is non-stop basically, and the world is so well-crafted and detailed. Had they fucked up the story and the characters, it would still be a pretty impressive flick -- thankfully, they didn't, so it was all 10/10 for me. I'm just sad that the year is not even half done, and I definitely won't see another movie that will top this.

Me too. I hope it's something that is there for a reason, something that works with the rest of the album, and not just something that's there just for the sake of being there.
 
 
 
I'll admit that Graveward have grown on me since it's release. I've gotten used to You, even though he is no new Shinichi, and I am fine with the production now. I think it is slightly better than In Somniphobia as well. It never really match the best tracks of In Somniphonia, but it's a bit even, helped a lot by its lenght. And don't get me wrong, I do not see In Somniphobia as bad or anything. I think it's a brilliant album, more than enjoyable from start to finish. But there's a couple of songs, while amazing, is a bit below the rest of the album. Which makes it "uneven", not uneven. Get my drigt, homeboys?
 
I think the album works way better with speakers than head phones too, which is surprising. Music with this much different details tend to work better on headphone, but but not this album. The overall sound of the album sounds a lot bette on speakers.

I will check them out. I'm especially interested in the Yokai Monsters. Looks neat!
 
 
There's a lot to look into on this list as well: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls003190690?ref_=tt_rls_1
 
Looks like there's plenty gold to be found there.

I think that might be the only japanese album I've heard this year. I expect Kinoco Hotel's "La Réminiscence De Marianne" to join Graveward as soon as I hear it though.

I think that might be the only japanese album I've heard this year. I expect Kinoco Hotel's "La Réminiscence De Marianne" to join Graveward as soon as I hear it though.

Whaaat? I might be a bit biased when it comes to Studio Ghibli, but I think My Neighbor Totoro is absolute brilliant. Such a nice film. If I ever get a kid or two I'll make them watch My Neighbour Totoro and other Studio Ghibli films over and over and over and over again. Like, fucking always. At its worst, Studio Ghibli is still amazing, and My Neighbour Totoro is top 5 Ghibli films for sure.

Yep, Matango is a cool one. But I'm a sucker for kaiju/tokusatsu stuff anyway, sort of.
If I'm not mistaken, either Kinniku Shojo Tai or Ningen-Isu also wrote a song named after it.

Matango - A japanese horror film from 1963, directed by Ishiro Honda. The film is a tokusatsu, which is a term used about films that heavily rely on special effects, usually horror, sci-fi or fantasy films. Matango is a dark and bleak horror film about a bunch of people that go out on the sea, encounters awful weather and drifts to an island.
 
Matango is a proper slow-burner, and for the first 70 minutes Honda is taking it slowly, going through the film in the pace of a snail. What makes it work so well is the bleak, nightmarish atmosphere and the fact that the film is very smart. The characters might do dumb shit, but they are not dumbed down, as in e.g most slasher films. The dumb stuff they do can in many ways be rationalized and understood, even if you don't agree with the choices they take.
 
Being a tokusatsu I had expected lots of special effects, but there wasn't all that much. But what was looked fantastic, and the scenes in the mushroom forest was so good. Surreal, psychedelic and nightmarish. Lovely stuff.
 
So, it's well-directed, well-acted and just brilliant. Absolutely stunning film.
 

Godawful video, but the song is actually pretty good. I'd do fine without those poppy female vocals, but aside from that it's good. Dani sounds better than he's done in years. I get a very 1998-2000 Cradle of Filth vibe from it. Hm.

Ordered these the other day. Should be here in a week and a half or something:
 



 
 
I should look pretty god damn sexy in those.

The baby swans are here again.

Born about 90 minutes ago! The fluffy things look utterly confused just following the big white ships around. There's 7 of them this year, 1 less than last year.
 
So cute!

Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter - I'm not quite sure about this title to be honest. Sex hunter? Where? The title makes this seem like a proper, sleazy exploitation film, but it's nothing like that. Not at all. While it's an exploitation film, it's a film that deals with serious subject. It's a socially relevant film dealing with things racism and war, and the film carry a stron anti-war message.
 
Anyway, for the third entry in the series Yasuharu Hasebe, director of the first film in the series, takes back the director's chair, brings back the exploitation of the first film, and more important than anything else, he brings back the badass attitude, styliized, almost psychedelic visuals, the coolness that totally lacked from the previous film and a really cool soundtrack. It's well-paced, well-acted with Meiko Kaji in the lead and several of the same actors as in the two previous films.
 
The addition of Golden Half, a five piece hafu (biracial?) j-pop group of the 70's, is much appreciated. Not only because their great music, but also because of the themes the film deals with. A smart move by Hasebe.
 
Not quite as good as the first, but it's only a small step behind. While the first one was a 9/10, this is a 8,8/10. Close. Great films!
 

Mad Max: Fury Road - Finally a big budget, mainstream film that lives up to the hype. What a fucking movie, guys. When I first heard they were getting close to shooting a new Mad Max without Gibson I got sceptical, when I started seeing pictures from the film I got super exited and over the last half year or so my expectations had gone sky high. So, there's not much substance here to be honest, but it nails everything aside from that. Fantastic action, stunts, cinematography and badass characters. It's full on action from begining to end, but it's made in such a way that it just gets more and more fun with each god damn scene, one after one more over the top, cheesy, ridiculous and cooler than the previous one.
 
I thought they really managed to capture that good Mad Max-feeling as well. It didn't just feel as another post-apocalyptic film. It felt like Mad Max. Brilliant work.
 
It's damn nice to see a film without too much CGI as well. As far as I could see, the majority of the special effcts, stunts and all that was the real deal. If it wasn't, then it's some of the best CGI ever because I could not tell that it was CGI. That's awesome!
 
Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron was great too.
 
Mad Max: Fury Road is simply a film the lives up to the hype. Badass to the core.