J-Music Thread #Reloaded

Post by **SonicTempest** » Mon May 30, 2005 18:43

This is the...what, 3rd? 4th one?

Anyhow, this thread is for J-Pop/Rock fans to discuss their favourite artists, new songs, etc.

To get stuff started, here's a list of albums/singles I've been listening to recently:

SPITZ - Souvenir - this album is very, VERY awesome. Nice guitar work and composition, as well as great vocals. Personal favourite tracks are Haru no Uta, Watari, Honoho, Nampura Hiyori, Koi no Hajimari and Amattare Creature.

L'Arc~en~Ciel - New World and Jojoushi - Both excellent singles. New World has that upbeat, uplifting feel that we all know from tracks like Driver's High and Winter Fall, while Jojoushi is a slower, more Kasou-esque tune. They also did a P'unk en Ciel remix of Kasou, but I don't really like it that much -_-

Sakamoto Maaya - Loop - This is the ending theme for the anime Tsubasa Chronicle, and while the anime didn't grab my attention too much, the track itself is pretty nice. Nice lyrics as well, and it has the guitar/strings combination that I love so much in Maaya's songs. The high quality of the vocals is a given, of course.

Do As Infinity - Need Your Love - Not too bad an album...it's got that DAI feel to it. Noteworthy tracks are Yutaka no yume, Blue, Be Free, ROBOT, Need Your Love and Na no hanabatake.

Janne da Arc - Gekkouka, WING, Diamond Virgin - a triad of JdA singles, mostly on par with what I've come to expect from them. Gekkouka is a melancholic, slow tune in line with other tracks like Kokoro no Yukue. WING is rather hyper and fast-paced...not sure I like it too much. Diamond Virgin has a lot of the energy that I've observed in other JdA tracks like Acid Breath, but it seems to be lacking....something. I still like it a good deal though.

I've also gotten into The Pillows recently, thanks to Alseid, and while I don't like all of their stuff, and I think their vocalist isn't that great, their compositions are interesting and varied enough for me to like them on the whole.

Apathy Wind · Post by **Apathy Wind** » Mon May 30, 2005 19:36

The Pillows did the end theme for FLCL, no? I freakin loved that song and always wondered what their other stuff sounded like. Does that Ride on Shooting Star (?) actually appear on any of their albums?

Bugle/Hawk'M · Post by **Bugle/Hawk'M** » Mon May 30, 2005 19:52

Pretty much all the stuff in FLCL is from The Pillows's Fool on the Planet album. Ride on Shooting Star is probably thier catchiest song, but all there stuff is pretty good. They have about 10 other cds, so they have a lot of good stuff.

Kyosuke Kagami · Post by **Kyosuke Kagami** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 21:30

No KPop and/or KRock

*cries*

Bugle/Hawk'M · Post by **Bugle/Hawk'M** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 21:53

Well, I've heard some Seo Taiji, but I couldn't get into it. The production sounds very American.

Monpochi · Post by **Monpochi** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 22:03

Almost every R&B song in Korea that i've heard so far sounds like American production..

Some of the males incorporating "Usher" in their sound.. :roll:

Edgey · Post by **Edgey** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 02:55

*runs into the thread* Did I hear Jrock???

Anyways, here's the release I've been listening too alot.

Dir en Grey - Withering to Death You see, Vulgar was a good release. It wasn't great but it was good. I guess DeG owns one of those time turners from Harry Potter, reevaluated what might have gone wrong and then came back and made this awesome CD. (actually they quit drinking so they could make this release) I have never been so happy with a CD before in my life. All the songs, too me, are very well produced. Of course I have favorites. =P
I highly recommend "The Final", "Jesus Christ RnR", "Spilled Milk", "Dead Tree" and "Higeki Ha Mabuta wo Oroshita Yasashiki Utsu"

I'll be getting Hora's solo CD very soon as well as Dir en Grey's 2 new PV DVD releases. I honestly didn't think the PV for "Saku" was actually the light tame version. *lol*

Bugle/Hawk'M · Post by **Bugle/Hawk'M** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 07:36

I didn't care much for Withering to Death. Dir en Grey always seems to have a few songs I like, and then a lot of stuff that is just fast and angry.

I think I'll go through the 4 cds I own, though not the newest stuff:

Hyde - Roentgen (english version)
It's really nice soft music. Mostly vocal and somewhat jazzy. It's something I can just lose myself in.

Nightmare - Ultimate Circus
Great, somewhat fast, hard rock album. It has good guitar solos and overall interesting composition. I'd say Nightmare is probably my favorite active indy band.

Speaking of indies, my favorite indies band was Due'le Quartz, then they broke up and Miyavi started wasting his talent at guitar on his solo stuff. Anyway, the bassist and singer of Due'le Quartz have started a new group called [Figure;] (with the former Due'le Quartz drummer doing support). I've heard the second single they've put out and it's really good and similar to Due'le Quartz. Awesome bass playing and stuff

L'arc~en~Ciel - SMILE
Thanks to tofu records making a domestic release, I only had to pay the price of the usual US cd for this. I really like this cd, it may not be the same as older L'arc stuff, but it's still a great album.

L'arc~en~Ciel - Clicked Singles Best 13
Another tofu records release. Awesome collection of L'arc singles, plus Anemone, which is a just plain fantastic song. I love every song on it.

Tofu records apparently just released the L'arc US concert on DVD, so I'll probably pick that up sometime, too.

Post by **SonicTempest** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 19:55

Just got hold of the second track on Sakamoto Maaya's Loop single, High Touch.

It's got more of a rock feel to it than most of her stuff. I think her voice seems a bit out of place with the more "rough" feel of the track - not that I don't like the song on the whole. It reminds me of Melissa by Porno Graffiti in more ways than one...catchy percussion and guitar riffs, and nice vocals (although like I said before, not entirely fitting).

Edgey · Post by **Edgey** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 04:44

I managed to convert my coworker into the ways of Malice Mizer and L'arc~en~ciel

PenPen · Post by **PenPen** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 15:03

Listening to a whole lot of Do As Infinity as of late. Their "Do The Best" CD is pretty good, but the "Do the B side" isn't as good.

Edgey · Post by **Edgey** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 05:07

Daishi of Psycho Le Cemu was arrested for drug possesstion

Psycho le Cemu vocalist arrested for stimulants

Kajinaga Daishi, vocalist of rock group Psycho le Cemu (29), was arrested by the Kanagawa police during a two-day operation of its task force against drug use and small arms for suspicion of stimulant use.

According to the investigation, Kajinaga is suspected of using stimulants while in the metropolitan area of Tokyo at the end of May.
On May 31, Kajinaga underwent a urine analysis that showed up positive for stimulants.

In regard to the investigation, Kajinaga denies all allegations, saying â€œIâ€™m not using them.â€

Prefectural police forces are trying to gain ground on the trafficking routes used for stimulants.

According to Nippon Crown, the record company to which Psycho le Cemu is signed, since their debut in 2002, Kajinaga has been performing under the name DAISHI.

6/3/2005

Discuss?

Kyosuke Kagami · Post by **Kyosuke Kagami** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 22:25

I'll try to upload some KRock stuff and share it with you, guys.

I'll make some comments about Seo Taiji (my favorite Korean artist

) later.

Xenogias · Post by **Xenogias** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 22:52

Meh, most of the J-Rock ppl listen to is just cause they heard it through an anime :\ same with some J-Pop (BoA and Ayami is all I see ppl talking about).

I only listen to two J-Rock groups, one of them doesn't even play anymore. But i've been listening to them for years.

LunaSea and X-Japan

I've never bothered to try any of the J-Rock groups there mentioned cause I will imediately think of some slow tuned anime song. X-Japan & Hide own

Edgey · Post by **Edgey** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 00:06

I finally got it!

Hora - Inner universe

For those who don't know, Hora is one half of the now disbanded fav band of mine Schwarz Stein. He was the one that did all the compositions and bg music (as opposed to Kaya who did the singing and lyrics ) Overall I'm quite happy with CD (despite the fact it's only 6 tracks but hey that's alright) This time there is a female vocalist in this which is just plane spiffy sounding. Hora does do vocals for the song "Modulate God" (for the reason that he realized he should have his own vocals on his own solo release XD ) If you're into industrial then this would be a good CD to have a listen too.

Song picks:
Inner Universe
Modulate God