What are you listening to?

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

Inspired from a similar thread on another board and when I say inspire I really mean just copying their idea.

 

The idea of the thread is to encourage sharing music and just sharing your enthusiasm for a certain artist you are really into. Try to avoid just spamming YouTube links with shitty little one liners about the VK boys being kawaii or dis song is so bruutal. This topic should not be like in this thread and should promote discussion. It doesn't have to be VK/Japanese either since I know a lot of us listen to tunes outside of Japan.

 

Band Name:

You must write a description of the band and what you find enjoyable/interesting/terrible/whatever about them. Try to really show what they’re about, what their sound is like, what artists they are influenced by/have influenced or some other means of describing their music.

[Zeus 7997]

I'm currently listening to COHOL.

 

COHOL describe themselves as a black hardcore death metal band from Tokyo, but black metal should do just fine. COHOL hit the spot for me because they mix black metal and hardcore in a way I haven't found any other band to do as successfully. They don't have too big of a discography yet but their one album, 空洞, is good enough for me to play it on repeat. The one thing this band nails above all other black metal bands is musicality - in an effort to be the blackest of the black too many bands forego music for pure aggression. What ends up happening is that

 

1. The music sounds like blackened death metal, deathcore, or some other genre that isn't black metal with some tremolo picking thrown in for kvltness
2. The album sounds like one long, angry, tortured track. I like anger and forlorn despair in my black metal tracks as much as anyone else, but I also like dynamics. Setting your drum to play at 200 BPM in 4/4 while you repeat one riff over and over again Burzum-style is not kvlt. It's annoying.

 

There's plenty of pig squeals, shrieks and growls to suit those that want to headbang, but they're not afraid to get cuddly with an acoustic guitar or turn up the ambience and forget about blast beats and tremolo picking for a track or two. Songs like desertion on the ground and 回廊 do a really great job of breaking up the monotony that many black metal bands bring to the table every time they put out an album. It also heightens the intensity of when they do decide to get heavy, because it's less expected.

 

Obvious influences for me are clearly Bathory and Burzum, for fearless incorporation of influences that the most ignorant of metalheads would turn their nose up at as well as constantly evolving song structures that revolve around a central motif. In a way though, they're truly just influences - I can't say that they borrow too much from any one band as much as they do their own thing. And they do it very, very well.

 

I also cannot forget to mention that their music doesn't sound like it was recorded in a sock. 空洞 was recorded with decent/good equipment and mastered very well. This goes way past the snobbery of the "lo-fi idon'twantyoulisteningtomymusicpleeb" sickness that plagued second-wave black metal. I actually enjoy listening to this band and I can get deep into the mix with my gear. I appreciate that a lot.

 

If I've intrigued you enough, check it out here:

 

[kissapuu 4]

Zess that stuff sounds really awesome. I'd love to hear the full album but didn't find it with a quick look-around...

[evilcoconut 109]

Currently listening to 악퉁 - Autumn Leaves.  English name is Achtung.  As I'm sure everyone knows by now, I quite love Korean rock.  They describe themselves as fusion folk rock, which I can kinda see, this song in particular has a Korean pipe instrument haunting it in places.  But they're also fairly jazzy at times.  Vocalist is a mid-range trending towards high kinda guy, but very expressive and just the right amounts of vocal shred in places.  He doesn't oversing either, which I find is a problem in a lot of Korean vocalists for whatever reason.

 

Can't really say who they're influenced by lol, but I would say Sister's Barbershop and Achime are similar in style.  Or you could say they're like a less harsh Kuroneko Chelsea or a more ~fun~ Mamalaid Rag.

 

You can find some vids on YT, but they're mostly live clips from what I can tell.

[DogManX 179]

The band I'm currently listening to is "The meads of asphodel" from britain. I found out about this band over popular japanese black metallers Sigh, whose keyboardist did an album with them.

 

The music TMOA do is a sweet mixture of folk and black metal. The songs usually are typically structured like black metal songs you'd expect from Mayhem or Immortal. They, though, convey alot more melody, which is the key driving point behind the sound and sets this band apart from other colleagues of the genre. Of course also the folk metal influence plays a big role, almost every imaginable instrument has been used so far to create a sound which sends you to the central middle east of the early centuries A.C., although the band doesn't hesitate to use a great amount of synthies to add to the atmosphere.

The vocals are as gurgling guttural as they can possibly get, setting a crazy contrast to the very melodic sound that comes with it. The drums and guitars are fairly simple, while last come up with neat solos once in a while. Production quality is not intended to be bad, but rather reflect what this band was and is able to afford for recording. But it always fits perfect with the mood of each album. The lyric content consists of themes about war, religion (mainly christianity) and social critics.

 

It's difficult to say by which they're influenced, and even more whith whom man could compare them to. I guess if you mix up Bathory and Sigh, you'll get a vague idea of what their sound is made of.

 

Here's a listening example.

 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Totally randomly I tried a song by the Finnish band Oranssi Pazuzu yesterday and digged it pretty much, so I downloaded their newest album (officially released a few days from now). They play black metal in a pretty interesting, dare I say avant-garde style with a dash of psychedelia.

 

I tend to steer clear of any "fancy experimenting" bands in this subgenre, especially the "blackgaze" kind, so I don't really have the proper vocabulary or footing to express if this band is by any means unique compared to other experimental black metal groups, but they sure as hell know how to craft a weird atmosphere that is kind of evil-sounding, menacing and twisted - but usually not in the way you would expect regular BM bands. As I mentioned they incorporated a good deal of psychedelic or spacey feel, this is mostly prominent in the trippy / acid-y guitar effects, making for a pretty far-out listening experience. Things get even more interesting when they spice it up with other weird stylings (dub? in my black metal?? ...sweet!) but everything seems coherent and well-put-together still.

 

If you guys like "weird" and experimental black metal, or just wanna give something new and different a try, I recommend their new album Valonielu (but basically any of the other 2 full-lengths is just as good).

 

Here's the song that got me hooked to listen to them:

[Augie1995 325]

Ahhhh, I've been on a metal/prog spree for a good month now but the ones that I'm really listening to right now is Between the Buried and Me, Protest the Hero and TesseracT

 

Between the Buried and Me is a progressive (not really) metal band from North Carolina, US. They've released a total of 6 studio albums, an EP, and a Live CD/DVD of their album Colors. Most of their sound is your awesome metal sound that you expect to hear from a band that's was born at the turn of the century. Reason I'm really into them is because Tommy Rogers, the vocalist, has a freaking unique and amazing growl that I have never heard, his voice has like 5 different settings, and he can really hit some beautiful notes. Songs like Ants of the Sky from their Colors album are the reason I love them because of the beautiful mixture between some ambient guitar melodies, clean melodies, driving riffs, insanely fluid leads, and a varied, fast-tempo drumming that Blake Richardson provides. BTBAM are able to combine some beautiful melodic sections, heavy riffs, and even mix up the song by ending it with some crazy country hoedown sound xD(Check out Ants of the Sky 11:30). Unlike most bands, they don't aim for long songs, but nevertheless, they end up with long songs that are just perfect and never bore. In 2011, they released a part 1 EP titled Paralax I: Hypersleep Dialogue, an EP containing 3 songs, 8-11 min long each, and then a full 73 min. album a year later titled Paralax II: Future Sequence

 

TesseracT is a very progressive UK metal band formed in 2007. Their credited to be the leading pioneers in the 'djent' movement. They've only released 2 albums in their lifetime, One and Altered State (The latter being one of the best albums I have heard this year). Daniel Tompkins, a highly-regarded vocalist with an insane amount of vocal control, was their singer from the start and helped record their One album but Daniel left the band in August 2011 for personal reasons. After a long search, they finally got Ashe O'Hara as their new singer the man with the voice of a thousand Angels (Not exaggerating here). Soon after Ashe joined, they began writing new material and released their second album, Altered State, on May 28, 2013. Altered State has to be the grooviest, most atmospheric metal album I have heard in ages and it is absolutely riveting. I love that they don't feel the need to include heavy vocals in their music and can still make some groovy metal. 

 

Protest The Hero, they've been together since the guys were pre-pubescent little runts. They've matured to become one of the most amazing technical metal bands out there. Even though they've been around since 2001, they've only released 3 studio albums: Kezia, Fortress (The best of the bunch), and Scurrilous(the more progressive of them all). Their drummer, who's been with them since the beginning, departed this year and has been replaced with a support drummer , Chris Adler (Lamb of God) who's given the band an ever more stronger and heavier metal sound. With Adler in their rains, the technical insane riffing of Luke Hoskin and Tim Miller, the groovy bass lines of Arif, and Rody Walkers amazing vocals (with the constant guest appearance of the beautiful and talented Jadea Kelly), Protest The Hero have announced the release of their 4th studio album, Volition, out October 29, 2013(they've already released two of their songs on YouTube). This album is surely going to blow away any album out this year and even all of their previous works (the guys are also complete goofballs)

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Augie: Damnnn BTBAM sounds nice! I only just now remembered that I've already downloaded their discog but forgot to listen, haha. So thanks for this reminder!

[RoseOfHizaki 131]

Currently listening to a band called 'Make Them Suffer'

 

They hail from Australia and are a deathcore band with symphonic elements in their music. their symphonic elements arent really complicated or have any serious depth or changes but still add a really erie layer to their music which i find awesome.

 

Ive listen to other deathcore bands in the past but never really got into them as much as Make Them Suffer, but I really dig the vocals, very loud and aggressive and the tracks have some pretty awesome metal breakdowns which make me want to fucking mosh and headbang in the street while on the way to work. 

 

you might say "but hizaki, most metal genre's have metal breakdowns, especially metalcore bands...." And this is true. I have listened to many metalcore bands but there is some sorcery at work that just grips my soul when i hear MTS do a metal breakdown and give me a severe case of breakdownitis. 

 

there are occasionally clean backing vocals on some of their chorus's. but thats about it, its all down to the frontman to work his magic. 

 

Another reason why i love this band is most likely because their lyrics speak to me on a very personal level.

 

Many 'haters' have called out for the band to lose their symphonic elements and go straight deathcore but I strongly believe that MTS have a formula that works similar to the way that SHADE EMPIRE works but on a less avant garde level.

even though the piano arrangements are fairly simple they still add that much needed extra layer in the background that keeps the music just flowing - In a way its almost poetic how such simple piano arrangements can end up being one of the highlights and staples of a deathcore album but it works and it definitely adds to the music.

 

 

MTS are hugely popular in Aus and definitely one of the better bands of 2012

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWeIlm4EOMI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Augie1995 325]

Augie: Damnnn BTBAM sounds nice! I only just now remembered that I've already downloaded their discog but forgot to listen, haha. So thanks for this reminder!

A lot of people say that Colors is the best of the bunch, I have to agree with that. I have their Alaska, The Great Misdirect, Colors, Paralax I&II albums and it is honestly non-stop thrill and enjoyment of music to me. Colors is so cohesive and well put together that the albums almost flows as an entire song, the Paralax albums have an even bigger synth involvement from Tommy and are so intense, and Alaska has to be the heaviest album yet.

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

@DogManX

Damn I like them! That's the type of 'folk' metal I like. Basically black metal with some folky elements to it. Folk metal seems to have turned into a real gimmick these last couple of years and the only worth while bands to look into are ones that fall more into the black metal spectrum. I know I'm generalizing but seriously Eluveitie sucks.

Anyway, if you haven't tried these artists yet. Negura Bunget, Primordial, Drudkh and Windir might be to your liking.

I haven't had a chance to listen to the rest in this thread but I'll try to tonight

[Zeus 7997]

The next artist that I get to share with you all in this thread is Syntheme.

Now if there's one thing you all should know about monikers in the acid techno scene is that they're just that: monikers. Expert knob twiddlers who want their music to be listened to devoid of labels will just come up with another name and push their music, making the entire scene go bonkers because a new challenger rose up out of nowhere. It's reached levels where no one really knows who is who and who claims to be who and who doesn't, so I hope that you understand when I say that I don't know who Syntheme is. On one hand, Syntheme is Louise Helena Wood, who has gone on to do interviews and perform live shows as Syntheme. Then there's a rumor that Syntheme is actually Global Goon, who is actually Aphex Twin Johnny Hawk, who used Wood as a frontend to push his acid techno experiment. No one really knows and both Syntheme and Global Goon have dropped off the radar for the time being. But whoever this is knows their acid fo' sho.

Nothing gets my Sennheiser 600's more excited than the modulated 303 line following the Friday Night Fever disco intro to Red. Or the chillwave, melancholic tune of Eqxq or Mexicone. Or the haunting female vocals on the intro of Mimtro. Or really, just the entirety of Lasers 'N' Shit because it's a fantastic acid techno album that sounds like all the good parts of the late 80's/early 90's. It encompasses the best parts of many albums, overdrives the bass, and leaves me with an entire album of music I just can't stop listening to. I may not be able to dance to this, but I do dig it. Enough to move.

It's a shame that the focus of mainstream electronic music chose the house and dub family over drum & bass, acid techno, and braindance, or I'd have more music like this.

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

Okay okay okay! I'm finally in my own home with a real computer to take part in my own damn thread.

 

As of right now, my current music obsession is Primordial. I started listening to them because I was looking for something to hold me over while I waited for the new In Solitude album and shit son! After the new album was released I DON'T EVEN CARE! Because Primordial has blown me the fuck away and is taking up all my music time.

 

So these guys fall into a mix bag and you can either identify them as either black metal or folk metal. I'd even go so far as to say, atmospheric but the whole definition of atmospheric is up in the air anyway depending on who you talk too. Yet the black metal sound is the most dominate in their music while the folk is at a minimum. There is acoustic songs and their music is more melodic than your standard black metal but don't expect songs full of flutes and bag pipes and other dumb things like that to make them folky. I think they fall into the folk genre more through their lyrics which focus on Celtic and Pagan themes. The vocals changed through each release, with the earlier material jumping back and forth between harsh vocals more akin to black metal and clean vocals for the more melodic portions of songs. Later releases though, specifically the last two the vocalist either fucked up his voice or found a style that allows for a mixed harsh yet cleaner melodic singing style.

 

Overall the music is dark and brooding. Songs are long, usually building up to a climatic moment or creating a dark atmosphere and world that sucks you in.

 

Anyway, here is the song I've had on repeat for days. It's everything I love in a song and oh so magical :U

 

[Miasma 162]

Recently been obsessing over singer-songwriter Kayoko Yoshizawa's indie debut. Found about her from people in my music circle aka. stalking Last.fm profiles.

 

Really cute quirky pop is the best way I could describe her music. Kayoko is really good at using playful catchy melodies to highlight her dainty vocals. Some songs are borderline sappy while others are more melancholic. The instrumentation is on point; Kayoko strums away at her acoutsic guitar and invited musicians to play various fun instruments. There are pedal steel guitar melodies in らりるれりん, organ flourishes in 化粧落とし, and a sweet melodica tune in ぶらんこ乗り.

 

As for influences I couldn't really say what's inspired her, but I do hear some Kabukichou-era Shiina Ringo in Kayoko's 未成年の主張. Certainly fans of Shiina Ringo will like this, but I implore you give this a try if your feeling up for some fun upbeat music that will brighten up your day.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXfrVTftwpg

 

 

[CAT5 9075]

One of the recent highlights of my musical endeavors would undoubtedly be the...

 

Robert Glasper Experiment

 

 

The Robert Glasper Experiment consists of renown jazz-pianist Robert Glasper, bassist Derrick Hodge, drummer Mark Colenburg and saxophonist Casey Benjamin.

 

I'm a big fan of jazz, soul, hip-hop, and r&b music, so when I discovered these guys last year, I was delighted to hear a band that was able to masterfully fuse all of these genres together. Their debut album "Black Radio" was one of my favorite releases of the year, and even won a grammy (which shocked the hell out of me since you wouldn't imagine a band that isn't very highly publicized receiving such an award!). Now, in 2013 they've returned with an even more immaculate album, aptly titled "Black Radio 2"!

 

 

This album was instant love for me. With so many artists featured on one album (Common, Lupe Fiasco, Snoop Dogg, Jill Scott, Norah Jones, Lalah Hathaway, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Anthony Hamilton, Brandy and more), you might expect the flow to be disjointed, but the Experiment keeps things amazingly cohesive. It's one of those records that I can turn on and play without skipping anything. Seriously, the album is ridiculously easy to listen to, yet the quality of musicianship, songwriting, and vocal performances is pretty staggering. I think that's the brilliance of Rob's experiment - his ability to take genres like r&b and hip hop, give them a sophisticated edge and leave their accessible nature intact. His choice of features is also damn near flawless - he chose performers that are all talented in their respective fields and not just people who are "hot" for the moment (although I do scratch my head at the snoop dogg feature - lupe and the band manage to save the song he's on thankfully lol).

 

"Black Radio 2" is also very organic - not just the composition of the songs, but the album itself. From the intro track with snippets of the featured artists introducing themselves, the introspective monologues, the hilarious interlude with Wayne Brady, to the spoken word by Malcom Jamal Warner that closes out the album - it feels like something much more than just a collection of songs - I think it's a statement. I feel like this album and their first are also beautiful pieces of social commentary; urging listeners (especially the black community) to discover (and rediscover) their creativity and originality instead of falling into trends.

But anyways, I love this album. I love their music. It's classy, it's hip, it's beautiful. I think it's clear that Glasper and his friends are trying to make music that will stand the test of time - and to me, this album has instant classic written all over it!

Here's a song from "Black Radio 2" featuring the lovely and gorgeous Jill Scott. :>

[CAT5 9075]

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!

[DeithX252 1266]

Maaya Sakamoto (坂本真綾)

 

I am the only one here who love seiyuu (anime voice actor) singing in an album? Now let me introduce Maaya Sakamoto (坂本真綾). Some people said that her masterpiece era was in collaboration with Yoko Kanno. But I doubt that! Her new album, Singer-Songwriter (シンガーソングライター) is another masterpiece! The album give calm, relaxing atmosphere, heartwarming, not just mainstream pop ballad. The main instrument make you feel good is the acoustic part, and the string, combined with beautiful goddess voice. Maaya's voice is light, but can reach high notes. I have seen her live performance (from DVD of course), and she is great singer, almost perfect performance! Usually I skip 2 or 3 songs while listening her older albums, but not in Singer-Songwriter, the songs are worth to listen, ALL. So I can say this album is one of the best release in 2013. This is the sample song ニコラ (Nicola) from her new album:

 

 

I can upload the album if you are interested, but I am sure the album is spread on the net. I think the album title represent herself as a singer, and songwriter too (although she still need other musician for arrange the music). For me Maaya Sakamoto is my first inspiration in J pop music, not just boring and mainstream pop, she give different aura with her vocal. She is already 33 this year btw

 

Oh and in addition, she perform in RIJF 2013 this year, her first appearance in RIJF, but pretty good performance

[Bear 1817]

The band I'm currently listening to is "The meads of asphodel" from britain.

 

It's difficult to say by which they're influenced, and even more whith whom man could compare them to. I guess if you mix up Bathory and Sigh, you'll get a vague idea of what their sound is made of.

 

Briliant band! Well, their older stuff at least. Their two last were kinda disappointing, especially the last one. And I wouldn't call them folk at all. Experimental black metal with some sympohnic black metal and lots of psychedelic rock.

 

As for inspiration, I think their biggest inspiration is Hawkwind (covered a song and have had several Hawkwind members guesting their albums, Huw Lloyd Langton plays on many of their albums), Venom, Sigh, the Italian black speed thrashers Bulldozer and lots and lots of punk bands. They've covered bands such as Doom, Hellbastard, G.H.B., Discharge and so on. Their two first albums are my favourites, but I dig everything done before The Murder of Jesus the Jews, which also was a good album.

 

 

 

BESTIAL CURSE

 

Bestial Curse play black metal in the vein of 80's black metal acts such as Bathory, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost and Venom. It's straight forward and evil, yet catchy black metal without any silly gimmicks, female vocals or synth. Just straight to the point muscle rock from hell with devilish vocals and a bad fucking attitude. There's really not much else to say here. If you enjoy any of the mentioned bands you most likely won't be disappointed by Bestial Curse.

 

[utomunukara 48]

I hope a noob is allowed to post something here

 

 

LILI LIMIT

Makino Junpei (vocal & guitar)

Doki Taiyo (guitar & chorus)

Kurose Riyo (bass & chorus)

Shimizu Mika (keyboard & chorus)

 

 

Stumbled upon this new band from a friend's timeline in early 2013. Their demo song called "morning coffee" was quite impressive, I could say it's similar to the cabs' musical style. My second “discovery” was a song called Document / ±0, which came from their second mini album "A-E". it' sounds like a mix of tricot x haisuinonasa x the cabs with Engrish lyrics -I actually prefer vocal-less version of this lol-.  These boys and girls really have good skills, their live performance is really good as well. The only thing I concern is, vocal needs more effort (but fortunately they got nice back vocals ), I'm sure time will tell. 

I think this band is worth a try, especially for those who listen to zankyo record bands. *Fyi, "A-E" is one of recommended albums on zankyo shop online (considering this record label's reputation on Japanese indie scene, LILI LIMIT may have a great chance in the future).

 

 

soundcloud

 

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Here I got an article about LILI LIMIT mini interview.