L'Arc~en~Ciel - KISS

I was at a loss on what to write this week, but then I remembered about this. L'Arc~en~Ciel are one of my favourite bands of all time, so when I heard they were finally releasing another cd after Awake came out aaaall the way back in '05 I went pretty nuts. It was kind of like a birthday present not on my birthday, if y'know what I mean. Even though their KISS album has been out for awhile now, I only just recently heard the whole thing properly, from track 1 to track 12, about last week I think. (Honestly...what rock have I been living under...)

Well, after hearing it, I have just one thing to say. It's freakin' brilliant. Despite what all those hating posts aroundandabout say. I'm not gonna go into a b(*&$-session here on that though. To put a bit of a twist on SB's trademark description of good music, KISS is earsex for the generations. Their sound has progressed further, but it's still distinctly the same L'Arc we all know and love. From the slightly eccentric opening track, Seventh Heaven, right through to last December's jazzy single Hurry X-mas. It's all love.

I've got to say, I would never have expected L'Arc to have done a song like Hurry X-mas. When I first saw the PV to it I was like, hey, this is...unbelievably, weirdly catchy in a good way. It's so different to anything they've done before, but then again I suppose they've always had a few different songs in the mix of their albums, like 'Ophelia' from the Awake album. Keeps things interesting. I didn't even expect it to be on the album either, I thought it was something they pulled out 'specially for the occasion, but it fits in as a cheery closer.

Seventh Heaven is also another very different song. THAT INTRO MOTIF! Is quite out there. The first time I played it, I was like, Huh!? Maybe I was a bit stunned from the PV. But it's another one of those songs that grows on you after the second play. Need to let it all digest before you can fully appreciate the angle they're coming at, I guess. Then, once it does, it's really, really addictive.

Spiral - Now this song should have been a single. I think that's all I have to say on that, really.

ALONE EN VIDA - Another song that probably should have been made a single. Love the chorus. Actually, the whole thing sounds like one long, great catchy chorus to me. Tells you how musically literate I am, eh. You can feel a bit of a melancholy vibe from the song that carries through even in Ken's solo. It sounds really cool with the strings going on in the background, and the mix of acoustic guitar running throughout too.

I feel a bit of a duty to mention Daybreak's Bell and Link somewhere as well. Definitely reccommended to listen to, as well as the whole album, for that matter. I heard these two around when they were first released as singles, compliments of Youtube, but the novelty still hasn't worn off. Heheh.

I quite like all the songs on the album, but for me, the standout track was 'My Heart Draws A Dream'. Straight off, from the first time I heard it. Which was, well, only last week lol. But I just can't get it out of my head. If I had to compare it to another L'Arc song, for me it'd probably be the sequel to Snow Drop. Everything in it blends into just..the PV, the song... i'm kind of not really sure what to say. Just listen to it. Like I said earlier, earsex for the generations. With soul. It'll leave you humming, "My heaaaaart draws a dream, la la la...", well, something along those lines while trying to reach those notes Hyde does, without your voice breaking. Yukihiro's entrance into the song with the drums is great too. I've got nothing but praise for Ken's guitarring, as always. And of course, where would they be without Tetsu's bass. The whole universal peace/unity theme going on in the PV is pretty cool too, with the smooth transitions between the band and all over the world. I like it how they've kept that whole idea up from the Awake era (were they doing it previously too? dunno eh...). Even the whale and the buffalos in the middle of the clip add to the feel of it. It's kinda strange how My Heart Draws A Dream ended up as the Subaru Ad song.

I've also gotta add, KISS would probably win best album cover of the year, if there was an award for that.

Alrighty, my posts have begun to start waning in frequency again...But new and should-be cool j-post should be done by this weekend! I hope. But in the meantime, another filler-ish episode about the chronicles of my life.

Not too much happening lately, a bit busier, a bit slacker again these past few days. It's been like my 'Golden Week' of due dates this week, so to speak. Pulling late nighters to get that assignment done the night before already, and I'm only first year too. Daaang. Nonetheless, good times at the U, despite all the work, which, despite being work, is always an excuse to complain about. The other day a group of us went to Mcdonalds for breakfast after finding out our econ test marks. We got out at like 10.20, ran halfway across the Uni, somehow ending up with a few more people in the posse'. Arrived just before 10.30 to get bacon and egg mcmuffin burgersx2. With discount vouchers. Gahahah. Then we were just starting to head back when we saw the long walk back and decided we'd go catch an early lunch. **Pulls out the vouchers again**. Really gotta save as much coinage as possible though, all my pocket change seems to be going towards bus rides... After that, we just got too lazy to go line up again for soft serve cones. The woman at the counter probably would have started getting annoyed by then too. Ohh man. Could really feel the fat running through our veins going back. XD

Come to think of it, I haven't eaten any burger-junk food for about 2 years since I got some pretty mild food poisoning after eating at this dodgy shop down south. Maybe that's why I've beeng going nuts over the Mcdonalds lately lol...turning into a bit of a fatass now...but that could just be the guilty factor running through my mind. I suppose I should make the most use of my super metabolism while I still have it though. To quote something a great man once said, "I'm on a seefood diet. I see food and I eat it." That sounds so much better said verbally. But yeah, I'll start getting really worried only when the man boobies begin to come. >_>

Earlier today the bus let me off a bit of a distance from my place, so I decided to jog the rest of the way, since I haven't had much exercise since P.E. stopped being compulsory. Yeop. That's about it, really.

Oh, and a message to my dear "wife" who seems to be quite scary. See! I did mention you!

Hmm...listening to L's themes while studying make me feel smart...
Hope somehow his intelligence rubs off onto me for my test tomorrow!

Online purchasing days - HandMC - Days / Pride + BLEACH OST Vol.1

Finally got to do a long overdue j-music related post!

Haven't been posting much lately, which is a bummer :/ Been tied up with a lot of uni stuff lately, all the friggin tests and stuff. I'm really supposed to be doing some of my assignments / study / etc, but heck, I figured that the work is just gonna keep on coming, and it's more interesting blogging online and complaining about it. So might as well, y'know, de-prioritise it for now...probably until the night before the due date.

But just gotta say, HECK YEAAAAH! All my cd's arrived this week!

I got the High and Mighty Color - Days and Pride singles online on auction. It feels so good when they arrive in the mail. Original Japan Edition. They were second hand though, apparently ex-rental singles, but still came in pretty nice condition. The covers look so cool. MEG still had his dreads.

Anyways, I listened to the singles again, because I haven't heard the Goover stuff in awhile. Still love the songs as much as when I first heard em. To be honest, their Goover days were my favourite. Nothing against the newer albums - they're good in their own way, but Goover was more experimental, which makes it so unique. Pride is one of those songs you can listen to anytime, any place, any day. Days is a bit slower, slightly ballad-like but it's a mean slower song with loads of variations in the music to keep you there. Something to listen to on a sunny day. But at the end of the day I probably had more fun with the bubblewrap they came in. (Joking only...). >_> Hmm, I think I should do a proper review on Goover sometime soon after hearing these two again after so long eh!

Gotta credit SB again for telling me about it. At like, 3am in the morning, about 8 hours before the auctions closed! That guy...honestly, knows everything going on music-related. Never ceases to amaze me.

I also got the Bleach OST 1, although that took slightly longer to arrive in the mail because I bought it from a different seller. Yay, now I can listen to Number One by Hazel Fernandez in full 1000+kb orgasmic cd quality. The rest of the tracks are pretty cool too - let you rehear the soul society arc. My favourites out of the instrumentals are the acoustic 'going home' track, which is pretty relaxing, and 'never meant to belong', the slightly sad, slightly haunting track which gets played whenever something tragic occurs. I quite like the strings in it, which is surprising becuase I normally find violins (correct me if i'm wrong here) to be too squeaky for my tastes.

Oh, I also found out that the hollow track 'nothing can be explained' has vocals to it. It's a pretty strange track though, but you can hear all the little details so much better on cd.

Online purchasing days... I'm addicted now. Kinda wondering why the heck I didn't get into it sooner at the same time. :D

Another thing added to my list of procrastinating activities, among Youtube, msn messenger and blogging...

In my list of stuff to get eventually: the Bleach Rock Musical! And numerous concerts. Ohhh the concerts. So gonna break the bank.

Game Sound Best (Part 1)

May already! The year '08 is blowing by way too fast.

I decided to write about another one of my favourite sources of music. Video games! I'm quite an avid gamer, well, used to be back in the day, although i've slowed down quite a bit recently. The onset of uni work really does begin seem to kick in...
I suppose I get to let loose a little of my nerd side here and blog about some of my favourite music from games. How ironic, after trying to put on a cool-guy air for so long...

I was originally gonna just post my top 5 game songs/game music in one big mega-post but in the end I decided to spread it out a bit. For longevity's sake. Okay, so i'm being an indescribable cheapass and just dragging things out...but at least I can write a bit longer on each song/artist/thing, right? Heh, also gives me time to think about what no. 4 and 5 are. :D

Anyways, here goes, in no particular order.

Lithium Flower - Scott Matthew / Yoko Kanno / Tim Jensen

Okay, so this isn't a game-song, full stop. But I just had to put it somewhere, anywhere, because it's that good. So I settled with in here. Possibly my favourite anime-related song of all time (at the moment). I originally heard it on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on an ad for Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, some time ago. Instant love with this song. I can't say i'm a fan of the anime though, it's probably quite good, but I never really took the time to watch the series. Will probably do in the near future though.

Actually, anime is great in that same way as games too. How d'ya make a good as anime (ala Naruto, Bleach, etc) better? Have artists such as Yui, Home Made Kazoku and Alice Nine perform the openings and endings! Such an innovative way of spreading the music love. And it works darn well too, even for some of the odder or less-well known artists that you'd never normally listen to - it really gives them a chance to shine, and you hear their music in a context that you otherwise normally wouldn't listen to.

This song's a combination of the creative genius of Yoko Kanno, who composed it, with lyrics by Tim Jensen and vocals done by Scott Matthews.

Best known as S.A.C's ending theme song, Lithium Flower has got this sterile feel. Not sterile as in it's been so stripped clean that the song's just left impotent, devoid of any soul. More of a cool-sterile kind of thing to it. Laid back. Is that the term? All in all, a pretty simple song, but. it. is. pure win. There's not too many instruments in it, just your straight rock instruments consisting of bass, guitar, drums and mad vox. But I suppose it's the simplicity that makes Lithium Flower what it is.

The lyrics have are pretty trippy, they follow the digital-age thing going on in the anime. Probably would describe my perfect woman, lol. Just to clarify though, I'm not referring to any digital/fictional girls here. >_>

--
she's so cold and human
it's something humans do
she stays so golden solo
she's so number nine
she's incredible math
just incredible math

and is she really human?
she's just so something new
a waking lithium flower
just about to bloom
I smell lithium now
smelling lithium now

how is she when she doesn't surf?
how is she when she doesn't surf?
how is she when she doesn't surf?
I wonder what she does when she wakes up?
when she wakes up

so matador
so calm
so oil on a fire
she's so good
she's so goddess lithium flower
so sonic wave
yeah, she's so groove, yeah
she's so groove
yeah

wow, where did she learn how to surf?
wow, where did she learn how to surf?
wow, where did she learn how to surf?
you know I've never seen the girl wipe out

how does she so perfectly surf?
how does she so perfectly surf?
how does she so perfectly surf?
I wonder what she does when she wakes up?

I wanna go surfing with her
I wanna go surfing with her
I wanna go surfing with her
I wanna go surfing with her

Maybe I should consider doing an anime sound favourites or something...

[lyrics taken from http://www.animelyrics.com/Anime/ghostshell/lithiumflower.htm ]



Open Your Heart - Crush 40

This one's the theme song for Sonic Adventure, originally for the (sadly) now defunkt Dreamcast console. Another song that I really like. I remember repeatedly playing the final boss as Super Sonic on that game just to hear this song being played. Man was that cool. When I was like, 10. And then my dreamcast eventually died on me... :/ Looking at the cover brings back memories.

Crush 40 do pretty good music in general, usually updated hard rock versions of classic tunes from Sega games, as well as the theme songs for the newer games in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. What really stands out to me is how they layer their music. Not only the guitars, but the vocals too. Parts of some of their songs border a bit on the edge of, hmm... not really my tastes, but then the majority of it is all good eh.

Open Your Heart. Man, time passes, music tastes have developed, but this song still has a place in my iPod playlist.

One of the highlights for me was Jun Senoue's guitarwork on this song. The intro somehow brings to mind a mental image of the effect of a cluster bomb on a fretboard, a spatter of electrified notes with some nice reverb to give it a badass far-off sounding effect. It's cool how Jun Senoue's guitar complements the song without stealing the show. Too much. I also love it how he incorporates the harmonics into the rhythm. And the solo. Man i'm a solo nut...

And there's jussssst the right combination of sustain and vibrato in the vocals to make you go wild. Plus another undeniably catchy chorus to boot. It's not many bands that can layer their vocals and make it sound un-cheesy. Like the above, the lyrics to this song were probably written for the purposes of the game in mind, but still sounds cool all the same in other places. It just wouldn't be Crush 40 without Johnny Gioeli's rockstar vocals.

All in all, a band with good tastes that I hope to keep hearing more of in the future! :D

HINOI team - Night of Fire

I've been starting to get into a bit of eurobeat lately, and this is what I found through searching "Para Para" on Youtube. When I was supposed to be doing an assignment. It's quite funny. I've gotta agree with what SB said when I linked him. The guy looks so out of place in it. The first time I saw this, I laughed as hard as when I saw Ai Otsuka's Smily PV.

I don't know anything about them, but somehow I get the feeling that I've heard this before - it sounds like an Initial D song. Quite catchy. One thing's for sure though...things could get a bit weird if it gets stuck in my head. XD

Anyways, here's the youtube link to the Night of Fire PV:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCAFl_tqw1w&feature=related

And here is what seems to be an instructional video of how to do the dance?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iIwJdQDcSA

Maybe something to try while VERY, very drunk. Or even sober, for some of us.

One of their members, Hinoi Asuka also has some solo works of her own, so could be worth checking out if you're into this kinda stuff. I think i'll try search for some info. on them on Wikipedia later. That place is pro as for anything and everything.

[EDIT: Noting the comment below, I am mistaken about Hinoi Asuka. Cheers for the info. though :)]

ONE OK ROCK (ワンオクロック) - Naihishinsho / And I Know / Yume Yume

The other day I was eating a mint - roughly tic-tac sized, and then my friend cracked a joke which made me laugh. I forgot that I had the mint in my mouth and accidentally sucked it in and half-choked on it. Anyways, a few minutes later, i'm walking along and I start to get this wasabi-effect in my upper left nostril with a bit of a tingly feeling. Y'know, that super clearness where you can smell every smell in the world, both good and bad, filtered through a tinge of minty freshness. After I blew my nose..yeah, naaasty. Moral of the story? Mints can be ruthless as...be careful guys!

Don't ask why I added this. Trying to add in a bit of variety to my posts every once in awhile, I suppose, lol... >_>
--

Anyways, here's the main.

ONE OK ROCK!

I found out about them by accident while on one of my Youtube lazy days (which occur quite often). Naihi Shinsho is a pretty sweet song, and probably my favourite out of the three of theirs I've heard so far. It kicks off with a catchy guitar line and cool fast-tempo beat to go, which brings to mind +44's When Your Heart Stops Beating and Lycanthrope. It's one of those songs that you can hear the first 5 or so seconds of and just think, "Yeop, this is gonna be a hella good song." And you won't regret thinking that either. Taka's singing style is pretty unique in the way he changes tone of his voice, between the verses and chorus. All-in-all, a good, good rock that will keep you entertained for many days (and hopefully longer) to come.

The PV is kinda reminiscent of Alice Nine's Cosmic World with the white screen in the back, although very different. With the flashes of the random ring-looking girl and dreadlocks dude in front of the car. Simple, yet a good as rock PV focussing mostly on the band.


And I Know is another great song of theirs. It's takes a slower approach than Naihi Shinsho, as it's more ballad-like, I'd say. From the album, 'Keep it Real'. Unfortunately, it seems this one didn't make it as a single. However, it'd definitely be a stand out track on the album, even though I haven't heard Keep it Real. Yet. There's no PV for it (that I can find anyways), but check someone's fan-vid on the sidebar all the same!


Yume Yume. This song is another song with a beat. I found it really cool how it starts off with one of their guitarists, Tora, doing the verse. The guitar takes a slight funk edge, which adds to the unique quality of this song. And then when the singer comes in with the chorus, whoaah. The addition of the keyboard is brilliant, and complements the song really well. Another song which will leave you with another memorably catchy chorus to hum. Very nice solo in the middle too, I must add.
I could keep talking/typing about how much I like this song, which I've been listeng to for the past 30 minutes or so, non-stop, but I'll leave you all to listen to check it out yourselves. :D
Actually, I'd say this song is in competition for favourite ONE OK ROCK song with Naihi Shinsho, for me anyways.

Something cool I just found out, donno where to say it so i'll just add it here. Their new live dvd concert, entitled 世の中のシュレッダー (Yononaka Shredder), just recently came out on the 19th of March. Probably worth checking out if you like their music!

RUSSELL PETERS!

[Hmm, every day seems to be an emo hair day lately...not that i'm emo... >_>]

Okaaay! Now, this isn't related to J-music. Actually, it's not even remotely related to music, but I was browsing through youtube (again.) and I found this posted on, so decided to yeah.

Russell Peters! Friggin BRILLIANT comedian is all I can say. :D
The Comedy Now 45 minute video. This never ceases to crack me up. Check it out! Or, watch it again, lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24Ryj1ywoqw

ALSO! SUPPORT HIM AND BUY HIS OUTSOURCED DVD! (Live concert from San Francisco)
It is greatness on a disc.

Here's his site if you wanna find out more..or, there's always Wikipedia...

www.russellpeters.com/

Since when did Youtube scrap their 10 minute vid limit?

Credits to Blossoming for showing this to me originally all those years ago. XD

MAXIMUM THE HORMONE - Zetsubou Billy

[Yes! Finally, it's here! The long-awaited new post! I think i'm the only one getting excited about it...]

Alrighty, I recently finished watching the DeathNote series and man that's one intelligent anime. Normally I don't listen to the heavier side of J-music, so I never thought that i'd be saying this, but this song has really kinda grown on me.

Generally speaking, I don't like extremes in terms of music. Put on your good L'arc~en~Ciel, Luna Sea, HandMC - that kinda stuff and I'm on cloud nine. But the heavier, darker bands like Dir en Grey aren't really my vein of music. I suppose i'm quite mainstreamed, so to speak. But really, this song is darn cool. Maybe not for everyone cool, but toe-tapping-headbanging cool, in the confines of your room or car. I must sound like an advertising billboard here. T_T

Of course, you're probably never going to hear this song on a Saturday morning cartoon. Okay, I am quite mistaken there. But you get the idea. However, Zetsubou Billy's not your standard metalcore screamo song with three guitar chords and some guy who's just inhaled a lot of helium that just sounds too extreme for normal sane people to handle. Instead, they intertwine the occasional screams with their own technical blend of uniquely interesting musicianship, the result of which is definitely Guitar Hero material. The guitar in the intro-verse will just have you wanting to air guitar to the days. I've gotta add that while this is happening, the switch from the clean singing to the howd'yadescribeit...insanity rap is quite a nice touch. The chorus is worth mentioning too. It's got a bit of a rugged half mental-edge to it and yet still retains all catchiness. And then just when you think you know this song inside and out after hearing the shortened version 11 times as the second ending to DeathNote, the femal vocals kick in, and make the song that much cooler. Especially after the breakdown, Ue-chan's singing brings in just a whole new element to the song, albeit being only for a short few seconds. Drummers that can sing always seem to be good singers.

They remind me of the band Atreyu actually, back in their 'The Crimson' days. Haven't heard any of their newer stuff though, but if you like music like this, chances are that you've probably already heard of Atreyu too.

The PV is, of course, dark. It's gotta be, for a theme to an anime like DeathNote, and to suit their lyrics. It'd just be wrong if they had anything else. It's pretty cool how they keep up the Kira theme in the vid. When I saw it for the first time, I mistook their bassist for Flea, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They have pretty similar tattoos, and from the angle you see him, the hair (kind of) looks similar. But then you begin to note that its not him. After the n-th time watching the PV. Hahah, I just had a mental image of this song to an Ai Otsuka-esque video. Ohhh man...that wouldn't work too well.

I'm probably not gonna listen to any other heavy songs for quite awhile, not many usually make my playlist these days. Particularly because currently i'm quite addicted to that Perfume song, Secret Secret. But worth checking out, at least once. Just to hear something different in a crazily cool kind of way.

Just curious though, if anyone knows, is there another band in the PV too?

m-flo

[And I feel yeaaaaaahyahhh, yeaaaaaahyah...]

Okaaay, so its not really more new material just hitting the charts again... but its good stuff, right? By the way, they have a new-ish best 'm-flo Award SuperNova -loves best- album. Looks pretty mint. **Note cover below.

Generally as a rule of thumb, I don't touch the hip-hop/rap side of music much. Linkin Park was probably the closest that it got.

HOWEVER, m-flo is one of the very few exceptions that I think I'll ever listen to consistently. They don't do like, the usual hard stuff that you see dominating the airwaves all day. Instead they do more melodic stuff, y'know, good beats, with vocals you can listen to without wanting to knock someone out. Actually, they've kinda opened me up to similar artists like HOME MADE KAZOKU.

Something that cracked me up was when I found out that Verbal's in the Teriyaki Boys. No disrespect. Tokyo Drift. Man that song is weirdly addictive.

I originally heard them when they still had Lisa with them, 'Been So Long', 'Hands', L.O.T (Love or Truth), the old stuff. It was alright eh. 'Hands' was especially good, with the contrast between Lisa's singing and VERBAL's rapping, and the piano to the drum backbeats. But their 'm-flo loves' era is friggin breakthrough. It's Verbal and DJ Taku plus special guest artists. Can only describe it as epic. 'Specially m-flo loves Minmi - Lotta Love, from the album Cosmicolor. The first time you hear the song it's like, huh? Is Minmi off key a bit there? And then you listen to it again and man is it wow, wouldn't have it any other way. It'd be a pretty mean song to hear pumping through some speakers in a club. I currently have that as the alarm on my phone to wake me up in the mornings. It's like my dose of caffeine for the day. The PV is pretty cool too. Those kids like, are more krunk than most people I know. Oh, and the Yasutaka Nakata Capsule Remix version of the song is pretty psychedelically trippy. Just as epic. You'll see. Check the stream bar on the right.

Other notable songs I quite like are:
m-flo loves EMYLI and Diggy MO' - DOPAMINE : Such a funky song. Gotta love everything about it. It's just music for the generations. I can't really pin what instrument that's going in the background but it just blends in with the song like butter. Excuse another bad analogy. But yeah, DJ Taku doing the DJ'ing at his best with the crew, making good good music.

m-flo loves EMYLI & YOSHIKA - Loop In My Heart（Home Frown Remix）: Alrighty! This is the best version of this song, from the remix album...DOPE SPACE NINE! I don't know why on most places it says 'Home Grown Remix', but it says this one their site, so i'll go with it. The music to the original version of this song was alright to me, but this version just kicks it up quite a few notches. Nonetheless, another good song you can listen to to the days.

m-flo loves melody. & 山本領平 - miss you : A pretty easy listening song with smooth as vocals. Hm...what else can I say about it? Deeeejayyyy, play that music louder. I think that about sums it up. Oh, I love the PV how it just goes on and on. It's pretty neat-o how they did it.

I read on Wikipedia though that Cosmicolor/ Electricolor: Complete Remix was going to be their last 'm-flo loves' mix though... half hope the rumours aren't true, half wondering what they'll pull out next, but we'll see eh...

Man they've got trippy as sunglasses on all of their cd covers... I want a pair too.

PERFUME - シークレットシークレット Secret Secret

Hmm...been a bit lately again lately so haven't really posted much...

BUT! Check this out!
Damned addictive new song by none other than...

PERFUME!

From the new 2nd album 'Game'. I've been called 'womanly' numerous times for listening to them lol. Yeah. You know who you are. But man are they catchy...listen to Electro World and yeah. Oh, and this song. Instant fandom. I'm quite tempted to get their album. Yasutaka Nakata I think it is doing the backing music? Good as stuff. Kind of brings to mind that X-files theme song remix that I've had in my head these past few days.

I have to thank renaye whose blog I read to find out about them from

And Boogie who told me to watch this PV. :D

Aya Hirano - NEOPHILIA

Today, I was sitting in a stats lecture, but this time I dozed off in it...
I went to another stats lecture later on in the day to catch up on what I missed out, but man, I fell asleep in that one too lol...didn't wake up until a friend sitting next to me punched me. Hahah, what a wakeup call that was.

Man it feels weird to not open a post with a pic.


Hmm, I'm not really sure what to say about this one, other than that I really like the song. I'd say it rivals Nami Tamaki's Brightdown, but most likely because I heard both songs at around the same time lol.

I like this PV more than Nami's Brightdown. It's pretty abstract, focussing mostly around Aya, a crash test dummy and a lot of running mascara, but the simplicity kind of makes it that much better, so to speak. I think the song and PV mesh together pretty nicely.

Aya always keeps her music in a pop-rock setting, which is always nice to hear. When I originally heard her song 'God Knows...', I thought it was friggin' great, but Neophilia is quite a step away from the happy-happy image that I have of her. It's got hmm...how d'ya describe it...shows a more mature side to her music? Both sides are equally good though eh.

Another song I think I'll be listening to on repeat for awhile.

ALICE NINE アリス九號

[Welcome to...]

So! A lot of you out there have probably heard of these guys. A five member band consisting of: a singer (Shou), a bassist (Saga), drums (Nao) and of course, two guitars (Tora and Hiroto). I first found out about this band when I stumbled across their White Prayer and Akatsuki PV's while endlessly Youtubing one day last year. They're a bit fanservicey, but man do they they rock pretty hard. Actually, come to think of it I'm a bit of an outcast as a fan... if you've seen any of their live clips, you'll see why lol.
Maybe I like them so much because I've always wanted to be in their position, making cool rockaholic music, thousands of screaming girls as fans...[daydreaming...]. Hmm...I could probably say that about a lot of bands though to be honest.

Shou's vocals are somehow a bit reminiscent of Hyde's singing from L'arc~en~Ciel, which is pretty cool. Clean, but with a taste for rock. Their music is all really unique, with songs ranging from experimental electronica-ish music such as the interlude, Cradle to [ALPHA], to the amazingly catchy Cosmic World in all of Tora's synth-guitar glory, to even the heavier stuff. Such as Yami ni Chiru Sakura. Which is a little to heavy for me on most days. Oh, and I just have to mention 'Gin no Tsuki Kuroi Hoshi' somewhere, which is another song worth looking at, so I'll just add it in here.

I like all of their songs quite a lot, from the softer stuff to the heavier stuff, but these ones just had to have their own, y'kno. Space.

Akatsuki. This song, as well as White Prayer, really got me addicted to this band. Call me weird, but hey, good music is good music, right? Akatsuki's been on my playlist for quite awhile now, and it still hasn't gotten old. Yet. I like the instrumental version just as much. The PV is really cool as well. It's set in sort of a deserted mansion, with a damned cool backlight and sweeping camera angles, which gives it a nice, empty feel. Good, good Visual Kei at its finest.

White Prayer. This one's got this intangible element of mystique to it. Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm a bit weird, but yeah. It starts off a bit soft, but when the chorus comes in, WOW does it really kick in. Although they're not that complicated, the guitars really intertwine with the song, complementing it really well. The bass really comes through at times, particularly during the softer parts, giving it that extra touch. I wouldn't substitute the drums for anything else either. It's a song that is definitely likely to appeal to most people, hard-rockers and soft-rockers alike :)

Velvet has to have the most badass intro to a PV/song I've seen yet. Such an amp-up song, yet so refined. They really go a bit wild in this one. It borders on the edge of heavy, so if you're more of a soft-rock kinda person this may not be for you. But then again, if you love music from artists like The Gazette, then this is probably right up your street. Another really dynamic PV. I love it how they keep you guessing when it's gonna end.

Also, check out some of their live clips! They put on a pretty dynamic show. Particularly 'Time Machine' from Alice in Wonderfilm, and 'Q' from their more recent 'HELLO, DEAR NUMBERS' concert.

須藤あきら (Sudou Akira) - Waiting for YOU

Whoa! it's been awhile since my last post...bad, bad, bad...been a bit busy with other things lately...

Ohhh man, this morning I was sitting in a lecture, and the guy put up A LOT of notes to copy down. So like, the whole class around me is silently writing them out with frivolous intent. Of course, being the lazy dude I am, I decided to just economise on time and cameraphone it. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn off the shutter noise. Needless to say, much dissing from the lecturer ensued...

Well, that's my stupid thing for the year done lol.

Alrighty, enough random things for now and onto the main event. The music.

[Waiting for YOU]

So it isn't the newest song on the block. But damn will it rock your socks off! If you haven't yet heard it, I suggest you do. If you already have, listen to it again. Akira Sudou is probably one of the best female rock singers to appear these past 20-or-so years. In most of her songs, she's got a pretty rugged hard-edge feel to her voice, but when she sings clean, man does it sound smooth.

Waiting for YOU is probably my favourite song of hers, out of the one's I've heard so far. There's like, this feeling of ephemeral emptiness to it, ykno? In a good way. Not that I have any idea what the song's about, but yeah. It's one of those songs you can listen to to burn away the endless summer nights, reminiscing as the world passes you by. Or in my case, in front of a PCscreen at 2 am...

...damn I sound like an old man...

I first heard it as the ending to the anime, Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040. Although I only saw maybe two or three episodes of the anime, the music hooked me pretty fast (the anime itself was pretty good too, but I never really got a chance to see any more of it). Then I found out that it also features on the album 'As Sekiria', which contains pretty much all of the anime's music (honestly, any anime that can incorporate a fictional band which makes rock music has gotta be good). There's also another version of the song called 'Waiting for YOU (Re-Tracked)' on it too. It's got a pretty trippy tribal mix-ish kind of thing to it, but retains all the greatness of the original. Basically the same song, but with a different feel. Her other songs are your pretty catchy mainstream-with-a-twist songs. My personal next best few are: 'y'know' (the anime's opening), ぶっきらぼうな愛に溺れたい Bukkirabou na Ai ni Oboretai (...somehow this song always reminds me of the colour blue...don't ask...>_>) and あなたの海 anata no umi (this one has the strangest intro to a song, but...you'll see...), Make A Motion (funky-ish rock with a grungy groove?) and トンネルの中の惑星 Tunnel no Naka no Wakusei. Blue Image is also quite a nice rock ballad.

Now begs this one question...What ever happened to Akira Sudou!!??

[Oh, and by the way, the images were found from this fan-site http://interne.to/akira/disco.html]

Nami Tamaki - BRIGHTDOWN

Nami Tamaki always makes headbangingly good music. This is another one of her brilliantly catchy pop songs set to a heavier backdrop. Kinda reminds me a bit of her cover of Luna Sea's Storm. Over time she seems to be making a move more towards a rock side and less of the Believe/Reason style of music that she started with. Which is all cool eh. She's an amazing, amazing singer. 19 years old only? And already famous with a plethora of albums, singles, songs, anime openings, the list can go on. I got hooked on her instantly after hearing Dreamers. Man that's a good as song. This is like, the sequel. Well, in terms of addictiveness anyways. New album entitled 'Don't Stay' is set for release on 23 April, with this song on it. Must, must listen.

The only thing I didn't like is the background dancers in the PV. I donno, call it personal taste, but i've never really taken too much of a fancy to background dancers in things eh, 'specially when there's like, a band involved... Maybe it's because it always brings me back to a BAD, bad mental image of a friend's suggestion (whose name shall remain undisclosed due to the extremely high risk of grievous bodily harm to me) that I should try to play Fade in the TQ to a cd with some people dancing around me...lol. Or it could be that i'm artistically illiterate...who knows...

Even so, it's still pretty h-h-h-HOT! (Excuse the bad pun...)

Luna Sea

Lately I've been listening to this band waaaaaaay more than usual. A weird combination of Dejavu and Rosier on repeat in my head... so good for when you're on the bus and there's some random down the back with his headphones cranked so loud with weird techno music that it overpowers everyone else's headphones. Then again, people start to think you're a bit crazy when you start tapping your head in time to the imaginary music. And then air guitarring...

I don't think Luna Sea have ever actually released a bad song. Even one. From Gravity to Dejavu and everything else in between, they've got it all. The rock ballads. The emotion. The friggin crazy stuff with style. Honestly, these guys have their own unique brand of rock that'll just eat you up and leave you to digest, so to speak.

Somehow they always remind me of Skid Row...don't ask...

Unfortunately they've broken up already. But! They did have the ~One Night Dejavu~ reunion concert late last '07, around December I think. From what i've seen of it so far (on youtube...gahahahah...) it looks darned cool. The sound on youtube is a bit strange though, one of the guitars is a lot louder than the other. It's definitely worth checking out eh - all their best in one concert. Also, I've read on Wikipedia that Sugizo, their bassist is now in a 'superband' called S.K.I.N with Yoshiki from X-Japan and Gackt...but haven't heard anything from them yet. Leave a comment if you have any info. on this! Leave a comment anyways even if you don't!

The cover of the Luna Sea Memorial Cover Album -Re:birth-! Featuring covers of their songs by a lot of good bands!

My top three from the album are:

Storm - Nami Tamaki : Trippy as version of the song. Actually, I was a bit skeptical of how it'd be like at first, but it's pretty darn good

Rosier - HandMC : Loved the original! Love this version! My all time #1 favourite cover of Luna Sea on this album!

Sweetest Coma Again - Abingdon Boys School : Nice.

このは(Konoha) / cloudy dayz - ナイトメア Nightmare

Konoha! Great single from the band Nightmare! Actually, pretty much all the music I talk about will generally be good eh :D

This one's a bit softer than most of their other songs, with a bit of a jazzy-esque feel to it, but they still keep their good visual kei/rock edge to it. Their last single, Raison d'etre, the opening to Claymore somehow didn't appeal to me that much. It was alright eh, but personally I think this one comes off a lot catchier.

The other track, 'cloudy dayz', is darn cool. Lots of trippy guitar stuff in there. It's not entirely a heavy song, but also not 100% soft either. A combination of both I suppose. And the guitars. It's the first thing that hits you. After the intro. And then the verse and chorus. Maaan..very, very nice. Sakito and Hitsugi are on fire! Again lol. I apologize for the fact that I'm not talking about too much else other than guitars lol. But another cool song too, nonetheless.

[Edit: Whoa. Just found out there's a PV for cloudy dayz too. Pretty intensely cool. Check it out on the sidebar link!]