The 凛として時雨 (ling tosite sigure) / TK from 凛として時雨 Thread

[Pretsy 1343]

TK would have my respects back if he only bothered to define his own album as something much more consistent and quality-tier in general, instead of sliding in a few cool parts but leaving entireties stale af.

 

Speaking of something merrier, LTS enthusiasts - keep your ears open.

 

(penned by TK btw)

 

The good ol' glory of that familiar TK post-chorus hook you heard in "es or s" (forgot which songs) and "Secret Sensation"!

[CAT5 9075]

TK would have my respects back if he only bothered to define his own album as something much more consistent and quality-tier in general, instead of sliding in a few cool parts but leaving entireties stale af.

 

Speaking of something merrier, LTS enthusiasts - keep your ears open.

 (penned by TK btw)

 

The good ol' glory of that familiar TK post-chorus hook you heard in "es or s" (forgot which songs) and "Secret Sensation"!

 

lmao, it's hilarious to hear TK in a group like SMAP! He penned an Ando Yuko track too, but it was a snoozefest...not even good by Ando's standards.

 

and yeahhh, i feel ya on the "sliding in a few cool parts but leaving entireties stale af." It's like TK has a select few music pallets, where he abuses the same chord progressions, but then inserts some cool-ass riff to try and save the day. But i'm not gonna lie...that shit gets me like a good 85% of time tho

But I mean, I enjoy his sound enough that it would take very little to please me, though. For me, listening 'es or s', was like microwaving day-old pizza. 'secret sensation' on the other hand was at least fresh, even if I've had it a thousand times before

[saishuu 3220]

I'm listening to the EP for the first time right now and I'm honestly surprised by how good "subliminal" is. Tracks 1 and 3 are also pretty good. Violins + EDM elements are actually used well here and really make the songs stand out imo; "ear+f" has my favorite guitar riffs in the entire release, while "Secret Sensation" has killer bass lines - seriously, TK + Hidekazu (I'm not sure if he's still a support musician for this project, but these bass lines must be his) is an awesome combo. I agree with CAT5 about the other two songs; track 4 has a nice guitar solo and track 5 has a nice ending, but that's it. Both are pretty forgettable.

 

As much as I like most of his solo work, there's one thing about it that's been bothering me though: looking back at his entire output, it just sounds like Ling with a few embellishments. That's the exact reason as to why I liked his second solo album the best - while it borders on mainstream at some points, it's still relatively different from his Ling style and that's what this solo venture should be about. I'm really not interested in having basically 2 average bands doing the same watered down thing. The Ron Swanson gif CAT posted says it all.

[enyx 903]

I found subliminal pretty decent, but couldn't find too much else in the EP to enjoy. I still feel like he's mostly just churning out songs to fill a release quota rather than really putting his creative energy into it, even if there are some very brief flashes of quality here and there. I really have to third the "sliding in a few cool parts but leaving entireties stale af" thing. It reminds me a lot of what happened to the GazettE's writing abilities around 2010 or so. Oh well, I guess it's better than es or s, at least.

[yakihiko 1480]

Secret Sensation is a beautiful release. I kind of prefer more TK solo than 凛として時雨 itself. Judge me like that xD

[CAT5 9075]

You can hear a bit of TK's new song "signal" in this trailer:

 

 

[Hakoniwa 222]

I love LTS and TK, but I agree "es or s" didn't please me as much as I'd expected.

Anyway, the new Aimer one is pretty nice : 3 (produced by TK)

 

 

Aimer confuses me... I usually find many of her songs like "meh" but it really depends who she's working with. I wish she'd work with TK more often... (this can be my tanabata wish lol)

[CAT5 9075]

3 hours ago, Hakoniwa said:

I love LTS and TK, but I agree "es or s" didn't please me as much as I'd expected.

Anyway, the new Aimer one is pretty nice : 3 (produced by TK)

 

 

Aimer confuses me... I usually find many of her songs like "meh" but it really depends who she's working with. I wish she'd work with TK more often... (this can be my tanabata wish lol)

 

I love the aimer x TK collab! The entire single is great, though. 

 

Agreeing with you about aimer in general. I love her voice, but at the end of the day, she's just a great voice and it takes working with certain other musicians to bring out the best in her. I would love for TK to produce an entire album for her. Her collab with Yoko Kanno was also brilliant. Some of her stuff with Hiroyuki Sawano is great too, but I find Sawano is at his best when he's NOT producing pop songs.

[bonsaijodelfisch 328]

agreeing with the general notion on aimer. just want to throw in, that her kanno yoko collab and this TK collab are in my opinion probably the two best single pieces of music of the last 5-10 years. Not as in jrock, pop,  japanese or else. music, full stop. It's almost annoying how perfect these tracks are.

 

EDIT: sorry for derailing a bit, however back to topic: yes, a whole TK/Aimer album would be something i would consider donating internal organs and/or limbs for if necessary. 

Edited July 7, 2016 by bonsaijodelfisch

[indigo 389]

I think it would be cool if TK produced a collaboration album with not only Aimer but a wide array of different artists.

Edited July 12, 2016 by indigo

[CAT5 9075]

 

 

Spoiler

 

I'm only jk, but it's still pretty funny to see. The song is actually fine, and as much I enjoy ling's anime songs (and anime songs in general), even I think this is a bit too basic for TK. Would have been totally different for me it were, say, an Aimer song.

 

Not sure how I feel about the new version of Shandy yet...it's definitely a bit more organic, and almost sounds like a live version of the original, but I still don't know if I like it more or less.

 

Completely ignoring the acoustic version of unravel. TK DOES NOT have the voice for this kinda of stuff.

 

 

Edited September 7, 2016 by CAT5

[enyx 903]

On 9/7/2016 at 7:13 AM, CAT5 said:

 

 

I listened to the rerecorded Shandy and found it rather decent. I liked the way the section from 1:10 - 2:06 was reinterpreted, not necessarily in the sense that I prefer it to the original but just in the sense that it was different and refreshing. I stopped listening to signal halfway through and I've already heard the acoustic version of unravel so I didn't even bother. 

[indigo 389]

Found a radio rip of the new single. I think it's kinda catchy song but... it still feels like a TK one man show, I need 345 and Nakano to shine more. The guitar solo part at 2:25 is neat, though.

 

 

 

Edited August 19, 2017 by indigo

[CAT5 9075]

8 hours ago, indigo said:

Found a radio rip of the new single. I think it's kinda catchy song but... it still feels like a TK one man show, I need 345 and Nakano to shine more. The guitar solo part at 2:25 is neat, though.

 

Thanks man. TK 's songwriting has become so lazy that's it's almost offensive 

 

I guess that's his "brand" now, though...Looks like this song is gonna be used for anime or something?

 

I feel like i've heard the song a million times before already, so I just feel incredibly indifferent to it, but knowing me, I'll probably still end up liking it down the road. =/ 

[Pretsy 1343]

That awkward moment when even another mainstream math-indie aficionado Enon is much more interesting to listen to per each project. TK has defo failed us lol.

[CAT5 9075]

Who's heard the new album, and what are your thoughts?

[indigo 389]

Here's how I feel about the new album

 

Ling Tosite Sigure #5 REVIEW.

 

After finally listening to the album I can share some thoughts about #5. The album title is obviously a reference to their early EPs and first full album but 5 is also the number of years it has been since I'mperfect, Ling's previous full length album. (This is actually their 6th full length already).A lot has happened since 2013: TK has been focusing mostly on his solo material, gettin' some dough from the endless anime OPs he's done, and let's not forget Ling's 2015 EP "es or s". To be completely honest, I don't have very warm memories about said EP, I can't remember a single melody or riff off of it for the life of me. So as you can guess, it didn't spend a whole lot of  time in m y headphones.I'mperfect on the ot her hand I enjoyed a lot although it's not my favorite. Regardless of some recent "missteps" I always get excited when these guys release new music, so here's my track by track review!

 

Ultra Overcorrection

One thing is for sure and that's the fact that Ling Tosite Sigure know how to start an album! They always have known. Some of the song titles on this album are a bit ridiculous but I really like "Ultra Overcorrection", sounds cool!The song kicks off with 40 second long burst of instrumental energy. TK is on F IRE on this track, delivering a solid riff after a solid riff. Miyoko's vocals really shine on the chorus and Nakano punishes the drumkit as always."Ultra Overcorrection" can easily compete with the best songs of LTS, fantastic opener.

 

Chocolate Passion

Quite typical to Ling, the next song starts out of nowhere before you have time to say "Chocolate Passion". Miyoko's vocals have a big role again, and it brings me pleasure to hear her say "chocolate".Alon g with DIE meets HARD this song is more like the run-of-the-mill Ling we've come to expect lately. But I just can't bring myself to dislike this song. Not on the level of previous track but this IS catchy.

 

Tornado Minority

The chorus on this song... So, so good! I know I'm talking a lot about Miyoko but she's really putting TK to shame with her vocal performances. I find myself  waiting inpatiently for her parts. The dynamic dual vocals  are just one of the many reasons why I prefer LTS over TK's solo material.After two very energetic tracks this serves as a cooldown and focuses more on the atmophere althought TK gets to stuff in one of his noisy guitar solos. Think of something like "this is is this?" off still a Sigure virgin?

 

Who's WhoFO

 Who's WhoFO continues on the tranquil side of things. On LTS standards. The "who who(?)" or "ooh ooh" are so TK's thing. Some great use of falsetto by TK too, for example at 3:05 and 3:32. Those really stand  out. The vocals in general are very emotional, more so than in the previous songs.I really like the atmosphere again. I'm not the kind of guy who demands to hear mental guitar wizardry all the time. This is the kind of song that makes me forget about stress and all that jazz for five minutes.

 

EneMe

This song starts off with a really cool, driving beat as I call it. Sadly that lasts just for about a minute, I really dig it. "EneMe" is one of the most interesting compositions on #5. Things keep switching up and it sou nds like a hot mess, but after all this is Ling we're talking about.I feel like I need some more time to digest this song. Screams on this album are really scarce, I think this song's outro might have the only screams on the album? Nonetheless they're a nice throwback to their older material.

 

ten to ten

Finally we get to what might be the most interesting song on the whole album, "ten to ten"! Based on some other people's reception, many seemed to really dig this song too. It feels different, it's uncharted territory for them for sure.At first it's very barebones on LTS standards, TK singing and playing the guitar, 345 and N akano providing a steady and simple rhythm section. At this point the focus is on TK's vocals. Ultimately this culminates to the chorus which is the real surprise of the so ng! I'm not sure if I have ever heard LTS do a chorus like this one.During it the instruments completely over-power Miyoko's vocals  which are buried in the mix, it just sounds, well.. epic. And fresh after all those standard TK'd hooks we've come to expect from them. It keeps getting more epic as it progresses.It stands out  from the rest of #5 with its build-up and satisfying payouts. And if you want some of that aforementioned guitar wizardry, listen to the outro of "ten to ten" What a way to end a song. So far one of my favorites along with Ultra Overcorrection.

 

Serial Number Of Turbo

Don't get me wrong, I'm completely fine with the acoustic guitar but to me this feels more like TK's solo material. If I remember correctly that  was also the downside of "es or s".This feels a bit too safe? I love the bass on this track, though. Otherwise "Serial Number of Turbo" is forgettable. My least favorite on the album.

 

DIE meets HARD

 Alright, next up is the first single they released from the album. When I heard it for the first time I thought it was alright but that was the first impression and I was just excited they released something new. Now t hat the dust has settled, I still think it's pretty alright song but I expect more from these guys.The main guitar riff annoys me a lot and the melodies are bland. It's nothing special on the instrumental front either. I do like the breakdown in the middle of the song, though. This should've been a TK solo song as well.

 

High Energy Vacuum

After two of my least favorites, we get to the good stuff again. TK is on point again with his riffage. I don't particularly like the mixing on this track, though. My biggest gripe is with the vocals that are mixed too loud in the chorus, otherwise it's fine. But mayb e that's the high energy vacuum?As the title suggests, the energy here is high for sure, and often that is when this trio excels. I love Nakano's machine gun snare hits and TK's shredding solo. I was also wrong about only EneMe having screams, there are some on this song too. In summary, a strong track.

 

#5

It's already the last song? Oh man. Usually the last songs on their albums are epic, atmospheric numbers with explosive endings. #5 fits in that category. The song begins with some bright, beautiful guitar playing and fat basslines. The part between 1:12 - 1:20 is GROOVY! One of my favorite moments on  the entire album. It's just way too short.Vocally TK does one of his best performances. Nakano gets to be in the limelight too with a sick drumsolo. Miyoko's vocal duties on this song are quite minimal, she just sings in the outro but she's a beast on the bass of course and she's been shining vocally for the whole album. Especially the first half. All in all, this album left a really good taste in my mouth. It's no  match for the classics like still a Sigure virgin?, just A moment or Inspiration is DEAD but it's a strong album and between this and I'mperfect it's a tight fight. Ling Tosite Sigure continue the stream of great full-lenght albums, after the mess that was es or s.I'm sure I will be listening to this album a lot more in the future.

 

Stand-out tracks: Ultra Overcorrection, ten to ten, #5

 

 

I was gonna write just a few words but this got out of hand, lol.

Edited April 10, 2018 by indigo

[Rian7075 1]

So I dunno if you guys know already, but there's a subreddit and Discord Server for Sigure which was made about a year ago. You guys might like it as there's a lot of active people, some online personalities(YTubers and others), and overall a really dope place. You guys might even find out something new about Sigure!

https://discord.gg/2t7VNUE

https://www.reddit.com/r/LingTositeSigure/

[CAT5 9075]

 

Thoughts on 'katharsis'?

 

@Pho and I settled on the following:

 

"Some parts of this are actually sorta decent" - the epitome of TK's songwriting 2013 - 2018

[CAT5 9075]

Looks like TK did a song for the Japanese release of the 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' movie. Sounds pretty good so far!

 

 

[CAT5 9075]

New song/MV from TK:

 

 

 

Whoever the female singer is on this, she should have sung more cuz her voice is nice and blends surprisingly well with TK! Nice song tho overall.