CAT5 9075 Posted January 4, 2018 We're a bit later than usual due to all of the seasonal business, but here's our latest installment of recommended tracks! We're not quite done with 2017 just yet!!! @The Reverend's Pick "流れ☆" by Free Aqua Butterfly "Nagareboshi" by Free Aqua Butterfly I try to use writing mini-reviews for the Recommended Tracks thread as a chance to expand my musical horizons, explore things from around the varied Japanese music landscape, and share my discoveries; and then sometimes I throw those noble intentions out the window and just use this as a platform to talk about a band I really like that has released something cool lately. Free Aqua Butterfly's "流れ星" (Nagareboshi) is a pick from the latter category. Free Aqua Butterfly have been a pet band of mine since I first heard them on the Deep More Deep #3 compilation back in 2015, and they do not at all fit the mold of J-bands I usually like. I think being Visual Kei is at least partially defined by the other bands you play shows with, but Free Aqua Butterfly barely look like a VK band most of the time and have a very J-indie lineup that includes a girl on bass who shares vocal duties pretty equally. (I wonder if it's weird for her to be playing at VK event shows with 25 boys who all spend longer on their makeup than she does?) Recommended if you're looking for some catchy, sweet pop-rock that is played and presented without any pretense, or if you're intrigued by the idea of VK band using a dual-female/male-vocal setup and playing upbeat tunes that don't veer too heavily into 'oshare' territory. Spoiler @doombox's Pick "PULSE" by defspiral It was nice to see defspiral back in rare form this month with “PULSE”; It’s been a while since they've been quite this leather clad and smokey eyed -- possibly not since they were in their previous incarnation as The Underneath. defspiral have been riddled with some identity issues over the years that kept them from gaining as large of a following as they deserve, but I’m glad to see they haven’t lost their spark along the way. The song’s vibe is dark, dangerous, and sexy. Basically, the perfect storm to get your heart racing! Spoiler @plastic_rainbow's Pick "絲" by BABOO "ito" by BABOO Who would've thought that BABOO, one of the biggest WTF bands of 2017 with their supposedly 'kawaii' toddler-in-diapers act, would turn things around and reemerge as a band with a lot of promise? Dropping the cute and bright oshare-kei look, they've gone darker yet still embody a kind of tainted playfulness to their look and sound. Upon listening to their new single 黒白-kokuhaku-, I was blown away by the very first track, "絲" (Ito). It starts abruptly but introduces an ardent guitar that soothes an empty heart, and Bero's impressive vocals float about in the background and come back to the foreground like a guiding light as he sings with heightened emotions. If you thought the year of 2017 was feeling short on notable VK ballads, you can add "絲" to that miniscule list. With such an unexpected change in sound within one year of their formation, it's not certain whether BABOO will stick with their current direction or not, but whatever they give us next I hope it'll be just as good! Spoiler @CAT5's Picks "凍狂" by 八十八ヶ所巡礼 "koukyou" by 88kasyo Junrei It's been three years since 88kasyo have released a proper album, and to the average J-rock fan that seems like an eternity. To make matters worse, the guys have teased our starving ears with a few new music videos since the end of 2016, and now going into 2018, they've yet to announce any new releases! "koukyou" is their latest appetizer and it's a delectable mix of catchy hooks and melodies offset by the band's quintessentially progressive quirk. Their sound is continually being refined, and here they've hit the perfect stride between accessibility and untrammeled instrumental wankery. In short, it's a jam! Let's just hope they actually release something new this year! Spoiler "同じ夜" by DAOKO "Onaji Yoru" by DAOKO "Wait....THIS is DAOKO????" is exactly what I thought when I first heard this track. It's dark, cinematic, atmospheric and dare I say 'mature'-sounding? Basically, the song is a stark contrast from the 'kawaii' hop-hop of her early career and miles away from the nondescript Jpop fodder that she's releasing now. It's produced by indie up-and-comers D.A.N., which explains why it's so different for DAOKO, as it essentially sounds like one of their songs with her on vocals (which is actually an improvement over D.A.N.'s tonedeaf vocalist, but I digress). It's great to hear DAOKO excel in a style so foreign from her usual, and although this song is a one-off, it shows that she has the ability to morph and adapt to the artistic inclinations of her producers. I just hope she does more cool collaborations in the future, because I could take an entire album of this! Spoiler "鏡面の波" by YURiKA "Kyoumen no Nami" by YURiKA I'm a HUGE haisuinonasa fanboy, so as soon as this song started and I heard the robotic vocal lines, the strategically place guitar-flourishes, and the single piano hits that sound like raindrops gracefully hitting the ground one by one, I KNEW this was produced by Yoshimasa Terui! His style is unmistakable, and YURiKA sounds right at home with it. I love how Terui brilliantly tailors his mathy and experimental tendencies to the kind of wondrous and imaginative pop soundscape that you'd expect from an anime OP - all without sacrificing ingenuity for accessibility. I haven't heard every OP of 2017, but I love Terui's work so much that i'd proudly deem this the best anime theme of the year anyways! Spoiler - Liked our list? Have some new recommended tracks of your own? Feel free to comment below and share your thoughts! 6 plastic_rainbow, Ozileras10, yakihiko and 3 others reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ozileras10 371 Posted January 4, 2018 This month was pretty weak in my opinion 1 CAT5 reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Reverend 3566 Posted January 4, 2018 @CAT5I'm digging this Daoko song a lot, I like her voice over music that sounds so 'nighttime'. Is her new album mostly previously released songs? Or do there just happen to be two that I recognize as being old? 1 CAT5 reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yakihiko 1480 Posted January 4, 2018 @CAT5 If I remember well, you like/used to like DIV. Did you skipped ACME or you aren't enjoying them? 1 CAT5 reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CAT5 9075 Posted January 4, 2018 19 hours ago, Ozileras10 said: This month was pretty weak in my opinion Yeah, December is usually a pretty busy month for ORZ, so we weren't able to cover as much as we usually would. There were definitely a few more things I could have written about, though. 8 hours ago, The Reverend said: @CAT5I'm digging this Daoko song a lot, I like her voice over music that sounds so 'nighttime'. Is her new album mostly previously released songs? Or do there just happen to be two that I recognize as being old? I just read that apparently there are only 4 new songs and 10 old songs on the album, although since I don't follow her that closely, most of it was still new to me. 4 hours ago, yakihiko said: @CAT5 If I remember well, you like/used to like DIV. Did you skipped ACME or you aren't enjoying them? Completely overlooked them, as I've been out of the loop with new music for most of 2017. Did they release something new? 1 yakihiko reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yakihiko 1480 Posted January 5, 2018 18 hours ago, CAT5 said: Completely overlooked them, as I've been out of the loop with new music for most of 2017. Did they release something new? @CAT5Besides the SENKOU mini, they have released マグロ解体チェーンソー single on December's 6th, which is really worth a try. 1 doombox reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
