J-Music Thread #Reloaded

dexaler · Post by **dexaler** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 10:35

vk pwns cos it is a fascinating subculture that i would hate to see disappear (not to mention a good subject for my honours thesis heh heh 8) )

but yeah, a playlist isnt a photo album, music is the top priority...

speaking of that... some artists (i would hesitate to call them musicians) should just stop producing (and torturing us with) their shitty music and become full time models ;p miyavi is the first that comes to mind... hm... (glances around for miyavi fans)

Bugle/Hawk'M · Post by **Bugle/Hawk'M** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 15:38

Miyavi is frustrating for me because when he was in Due'le Quartz he played fantastic guitar. It's as if he broke his wrists trying to get a solo contract. On the subject of the subculture, it annoys me. There are so many screaming fangirls with no taste for music saying stupid shit like "Miyavi is love". There is nothing wrong with liking a band's image, but I make a point to listen to a band before I go to see what they look like. It's really hard to call myself a jrock and visual kei fan because I don't want to be confused with what so many jrock fans are like.

dexaler · Post by **dexaler** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 10:51

that is very true. but fangirls/boys are the same everywhere. in fact, i would say most people are not discerning listeners... image/appearance is indeed everything in most people's eyes (hormones are powerful)...

i like jrock of course, but i dont call myself a fan. being a fan seems to have negative connotations. it seems to place one under the classification mentioned above; fans of a musician rather than his music. and that is a general trait of fandom. people seem to be attracted to the person instead of his art. i can't self righteously say that there is anything wrong with that but i do think that it should not be confused and blindly associated with the other very different group that appreciates the art over the artist.

no! its the holidays now and here i am writing some essay on fandom...

anyway back to some livelier topics ;p

get your galneryus lyrics now!

hilarious stuff... this might sound evil but i really wish that their english never improves 8) i do hope their music continues improving though... i guess they are the greatest (and maybe only) hope for jmetal right now...

their first album was The Flag of Punishment, a great album in its own right. but it is their second album, Advance to the Fall that was truly spectacular. sadly, looking at the trend of their releases... their 3rd album would be due in 2007 haha...

Post by **SonicTempest** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 19:56

Thanks to KK, I finally got my hands on the complete Another Story album by Janne da Arc (I was missing about half of the tracks until recently).

I honestly think it's the best album I've heard from Janne da Arc. Their later stuff is quite lacking in comparision, even though some of the tracks are quite catchy. It seems as though they put out some great singles, then fall asleep when recording the remaining songs for the album.

This isn't the case with Another Story, where even the tracks that aren't singles are really nice.

And of course, Rainy ~ai no shirabe~ is probably still my favourite JdA track of all time.

Edgey · Post by **Edgey** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 22:03

dexaler wrote:vk pwns cos it is a fascinating subculture that i would hate to see disappear (not to mention a good subject for my honours thesis heh heh 8) )

but yeah, a playlist isnt a photo album, music is the top priority...

speaking of that... some artists (i would hesitate to call them musicians) should just stop producing (and torturing us with) their shitty music and become full time models ;p miyavi is the first that comes to mind... hm... (glances around for miyavi fans)

Miyavi is featured in every freakin' magazine so I see what you mean X_X On the cover too! WTF!?

Post by **SonicTempest** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 20:08

Janne da Arc's new single "Furimukeba...Destination" is out, with two tracks, predictably called "Furimukeba..." and "Destination."

I think I prefer the former, since the latter is pretty much just fast-paced synth-laden throwaway fare that they seem to be churning out a lot lately.

Bugle/Hawk'M · Post by **Bugle/Hawk'M** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 03:35

Hyde's third album, FAITH, is out there and is even getting a US release by Tofu Records in a couple months from now (with bonus promotional video DVD). I gave it one listen and I don't quite know what to say about it. I liked it overall, but no song particularly stands out. The two ends of the spectrum are represented best by the two singles from the album. Countdown is more of the simple hard rock and Season's Call is more of the melodic rock. There seems to be a strong message, but because of the engrish and japanese I don't know if it's for or against christianity or religion at all. I look forward to seeing lyrics and translations to figure it out. The song Masquarade from the earlier album 666 seems to be written as a person questioning thier faith, but I don't really know where Hyde stands. If anything, the question of religion does get my attention. The song DOLLY I would guess is about cloning. I guess overall the message of the album has me puzzled.

Anyway, in other news Rentrer en Soi is soon to release singles that will lead up to thier self-titled second album After listening to thier first full length album, PROTOPLASM, and thier mini-albums I'm awfully excited to see the band progress. They are quickly becoming my one of my favorite active bands. Also, Nightmare is going to be a best of album containing songs from thier past three albums. Nothing new, so not really a big deal. Maybe they are taking a break.

I liked Dir en Grey's song dead tree (from thier latest album) which mostly surprised me because I find Dir en Grey's stuff is hit or miss for me, but the song was pretty intricate and interesting.

Edgey · Post by **Edgey** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 03:16

Pierrot disbanded. Sucks, because I was really liking them. -_-

Dir en grey will be a part of the Family Values tour. I don't know if they will be a part of some dates though since it'll be in the summer and DeG has some tour dates in Japan. *crosses fingers that they'll be in Toronto*

Bugle/Hawk'M · Post by **Bugle/Hawk'M** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 05:35

I had just heard about the Family Values tour thing from a friend that I had gotten mildly aquanted with Dir en Grey's music. It's apparently coming to the DTE energy music theatre near detroit, and concert tickets for the lawn are only 10 bucks, so I'll probably go just because I can.
This reminds me that Hyde is doing a couple of venues in California to promote the US release of FAITH, and tickets apparently were sold out in like 15 minutes. I may like L'arc and Hyde more than Dir en Grey, but considering I won't have to cross the country to see Dir en Grey, I'm happy. I'm always mad that I don't have the finances to see jrock performances even when they are in the US, but it is nice to see they are stepping away from doing anime conventions.

On the subject of Pierrot breaking up, I had heard about it but forgotten because I never really got into them.

Post by **SonicTempest** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 05:37

On a random note, I just found out that Sakamoto Maaya's second singles compilation, Nikopachi received a US release recently.

It's got a LOT of my favourite tracks on it (Tune the Rainbow, Gravity, Yubiwa, among others) so I'd highly recommend it to everyone.

-Defuser- · Post by **-Defuser-** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 17:27

Just got my hands on the latest Asian Kungfu Generation Album "fanclub"pretty awesome,go listen to it...

khdu · Post by **khdu** » Sun May 28, 2006 11:08

-Defuser- wrote:Just got my hands on the latest Asian Kungfu Generation Album "fanclub"pretty awesome,go listen to it...

Speaking of Asian Kung-Fu Generation, what is the name of the album "N.G.S" is in? Checked the official site-- it's all written in Japanese.

dexaler · Post by **dexaler** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 05:16

listened to rentrer en soi's latest album. here is a simple summary:

1 good song:

Jude - a decent song by any measure but not nearly RES at its best.

3 great songs:

Protoplasm - one of their singles, and it doesnt disappoint. this is the kind of song one would come to expect from RES after listening to their sphire croid album.

Karasu iro no taiji - the other single on the album. sounds disturbingly like dir en grey. thankfully it sounds like a good DEG song with a better vocalist and a more polished sound.

Binetsu shita de shajitsu shita shinsou wa atesaki fumei no tegami to naru - in my opinion, the best song in the album by far. it is songs like these that keep my interest in RES going, even despite........

8 songs not worth mentioning:

Except maybe Gedoku magaini suicide, which is particularly bad. One might listen to this album and inadvertently come up with some DEG parallels. I guess this is what they call having some "contrast" in an album.

Bugle/Hawk'M · Post by **Bugle/Hawk'M** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 05:43

I was mostly confused by the album. I was hoping it would be more like what they've already put out, but it's still better than a lot of the stuff out there. I dunno. I still have faith that the band will put out some really good music.

dexaler · Post by **dexaler** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 16:27

maybe i sounded a little critical but i still rank RES among the best jrock bands today, alongside the likes of Kagrra (which is still the best in my books) ;p as long as they continue producing good stuff like binetsu and protoplasm, i d always be looking forward to their next release.

btw just in case people were wondering what happened to dir en grey... it seems like they ll be releasing a new single next month... i for one am hoping that their first release in almost a year would be better than the dismal clever sleazoid...