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Riku has announced that he has joined marder suitcase and will commence solo activities from 4.22

To coincide with her debut 20th anniversary, 椎名林檎 (Shiina Ringo) will release a new full-length album as well as a new live video on DVD/Blu-ray on 2019/05/27. The album titled "三毒史" (Sandokushi) will be released in two types: regular edition CD and limited edition CD in a hardcover book case. The album will feature an array of guest artists such as Miyamoto Hiroji (Elephant Kashimashi), Tortoise Matsumoto (Ulfuls), Mukai Shuutoku (Zazen Boys, Number Girl), Ukigumo (ex-Tokyo Jihen, Petrolz), Hizumi Masayuki (a.k.a. H ZETT M) and Sakurai Atsushi (BUCK-TICK). Tracklist: 01. 鶏と蛇と豚 (Niwatori to hebi to buta) 02. 獣ゆく細道 (Kemono yuku hosomichi) with Miyamoto Hiroji 03. マ・シェリ (Ma Chérie) 04. 駆け落ち者 (Kakeochisha) with Sakurai Atsushi 05. どん底まで (Donzoko made) 06. 神様、仏様 (Kamisama, hotokesama) with Mukai Shuutoku 07. ＴＯＫＹＯ 08. 長く短い祭 (Nagaku mijikai matsuri) with Ukigumo 09. 至上の人生 (Shijou no jinsei) 10 急がば回れ (Isogabamaware) with Hizumi Masayuki 11. ジユーダム (Jiyuu-dom) 12. 目抜き通り (Menukidoori) with Tortoise Matsumoto 13. あの世の門 (Anoyo no mon) The footage of the upcoming live DVD/Blu-ray "(生)林檎博'18 ―不惑の余裕―" was recorded on her debut 20th anniversary tour, and will feature the following: 機知との遭遇 -Sound&Vivision- 本能 流行 雨傘 日和姫 APPLE マ・シェリ 積木遊び 個人授業 どん底まで 神様、仏様 化粧直し カーネーション ありきたりな女 いろはにほへと 歌舞伎町の女王 人生は夢だらけ 東京は夜の七時 長く短い祭 旬 恋の呪文はスキトキメキトキス ちちんぷいぷい 目抜き通り(2018年11月22日) 獣ゆく細道 ジユーダム 悲しみの果て 五右衛門 きらきら武士 夢のあと -ending- 丸ノ内サディスティックneetskills remix -bonus track- はいはい (2018年11月22日) 余裕み時間 (MC集) You can already view some full songs from it on Youtube (putting it behind a spoiler tag cuz it's a lot of videos). They might not start if you play them here, but if you click on the YT titles and open them on YT they should work. ....Okay, I admit I just made this thread cuz it's pretty killer both Atsushi and Mukai are collabing with her.

You just made me think of this video... 😛

just found out my Shinjuku lodgings are a three minute walk from Like an Edison/etc... RIP my wallet

I used to think that LiME hated me (while all the Kizu guys treat me really well) but today he replied me on twitter asking me when i return to Japan cuz he's waiting for me.... SO DAMN CUTE. I'm so relieved and happy rn.

Well, he left the band on 2019.04.08. He has been doing music for a while now and now that he is in his mid-twenties, he would like to do other things. So he will play in any other bands. He said that he has been trying to make a living as a writer and レツスンプ (?) but he saw that his skills were limited which led him to feel anxious about his future.

behold the collab of the century

its nearly 2am and i ave come to the point of translating jrock songs into irish

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes, 20 seconds. Contains 1669 words. There was a time when a Schwarz Stein reunion would have been at the top of my music wish list. The late 2000s were drawing to an end and I was still very much immersed in their eschatological vision of digital decadence, a dream of liberation and redemption with the technopolitan paradise awaiting. With their first two albums, 2003’s New vogue children and 2004’s Artificial Hallucination, Kaya and Hora established their very own, unique sound, not only as an electronic act in the visual kei space, but also within electronic music in general, fusing beat-driven, danceable EBM with tinges of trance, synthpop, industrial and chanson. Their conceptual and lyrical focus on themes and dualisms of oftentimes biblical proportions (entrapment vs. salvation, earthly dystopia vs. transcendent utopia, freedom vs. sin etc.) and allusions to hedonism and sexual liberation as an antidote to the paralysis of totalitarian social order give Schwarz Stein a distinct gothic edge which resounds in their music in an obvious yet elegant way. Accompanying even more upbeat tracks is an almost omnipresent melancholia, lingering in the timbre of reverberating keyboard strokes and gaining momentum in the lyrics and vocal delivery. Kaya’s singing voice has always struck me as exceptionally powerful yet composed, while retaining fragility, warmth as well as emotional depth and nuance throughout its entire range. He croons with such clarity and smoothness, his lower register seems more like the dark hues of a bright color while his midrange is forceful and voluminous, at times erupting into a subtle, wistful vibrato. Even his highs stand out to a certain degree – they sound youthful, open and bright while thinning out only in falsetto. Similar to their sound and overall design philosophy as a band, Schwarz Stein’s visual aesthetic revolves around the juxtaposition of visceral darkness and playful sensuality. The foundation of their style is a mixture of BDSM fashion and gothic glitz, which in and of itself would be anything but revolutionary and was actually quite the cliché couture of early 2000s visual kei. But Schwarz Stein put a unique spin on their makeup, costumes, props and stage design by incorporating an iconography and visual aesthetic that is unmistakably inspired by H.R. Giger. On a superficial level, it might seem gimmicky. But Giger’s transhumanism actually translates in a very meaningful way into Schwarz Stein’s world, where the non-human part, the intrusive, dehumanizing element resounds not only in their musical concept as a purely digital act but also in themes like estrangement, solitude, corruption and slavery to an unfree system. Interestingly, this clear vision of their style had already been established during their Rudolf Steiner demo days and (unsurprisingly) became a little less prominent during their prime under music and fashion label owner Mana. In 2006, two years after their initial disbandment and subsequent pursuit of solo careers, Kaya and Hora came out with a onetime collaborative session album titled another cell. While it was a solid release, especially for Kaya lending INNER UNIVERSE and FROZEN PAST his voice, it suffered from lower production value and a creeping disconnect in the duo’s collaboration; a first foreshadowing of what the future would hold. When Recurrence of Hallucination dropped in celebration of Schwarz Stein’s 10th anniversary, the sense of foreboding left behind by another cell turned into sobering reality. Even though the 2011 mini-album was released under the Schwarz Stein name, it feels even more like an on the side cash grab. It consists of three slightly remixed and somehow less exciting versions of tracks from Hora’s solo work, one new, albeit sub-par composition and an instrumental intro, which ironically trumps the rest of the EP. The whole thing sounds anemic and detached. And I don’t even so much take issue with its shortcomings in the engineering and production department; the switch to Kaya’s label トロイメライ (Traumerei) surely came with budgetary constraints. It’s the blatant decline in songwriting and compositional quality and the obvious lack of effort put into the project I find so deeply disappointing that not even nostalgia suffices to compensate for it. After their official reunion in 2014 and a handful of hit-and-miss singles, Schwarz Stein finally announced a proper new mini-album titled Immortal Verses and scheduled to release in September of 2018. The track list and cover art looked promising at first, calling to mind their trademark mix of gothic kitsch, dystopic gloom and stoic sensuality. In a lot of ways, however, Immortal Verses completely fails to correct course. In fact, it seems entirely ignorant of any shortcomings or failures in the first place and instead reiterates in an even more opportunistic way the exact creative principles which not only spoiled its predecessor but also threaten to water down their entire legacy. The main problem boils down to the songwriting and composition. As a solo artist, Hora has always been frustratingly impervious to any kind of innovation when it comes to his sound. It wouldn’t even be much of an overstatement to say that he’s been making the same three songs for thirteen years now – there’s the abrasive industrial banger, the spacy club anthem and the ambient mood piece. Even his sound palette hardly changed in over a decade which makes his albums altogether feel like weary and unfocused attempts at amplifying the slowly fading echo of his accomplishments from times past. Unfortunately, this is exactly what plagues Schwarz Stein’s post-reunion material. There’s very little in the way of original ideas. Instead, songwriting and composition seem to be largely governed by a self-referential process of copy & paste and an aggravating compulsion to check the same old boxes. It’s formulaic to the point of redundancy. Lotus is a prime example of that. It’s the mini-album’s thematic and narrative climax, the focal point of overall tension building and pacing. By virtue of its placement and function, it tries hard to be loud and spectacular, to emulate the abrasiveness and tonal density of their harsher, more industrial-oriented output. Nothing about it works though. Structurally, it is entirely predictable and musically, much too familiar. What should’ve been an homage, I assume, ends up as an awkward amalgamation of Schwarz Stein’s BIO GENESIS (2003) and Kaya’s Sodomy (2013, music written by Hora). The thumping beat, the ominous synth lines, the nervous, channel-hopping buzz of distorted guitar samples… it’s all there, ready to wreak havoc but the individual elements simply don’t add up to anything meaningful or enjoyable. Lotus misses the mark widely and by recycling old material so bluntly illustrates the duo’s petty refusal to be creative with disheartening clarity. And to add insult to injury, even Hora’s “death voice”, a simple yet somewhat iconic voice distortion effect (cf. CREEPER, 2004), is employed so ham-fistedly here, it degenerates into a meaningless, lackluster gimmick. In short, Lotus is Immortal Verses at its worst: derivative, unimaginative and overstated in all the wrong places. Despite all that, however, there are a few redeeming moments and some genuinely sensible artistry to be found on the mini-album. The lyrics of Immortal Verses tell a short but moving tale of a lost love which has rendered the protagonist broken and immobilized, slowly withering away in deeply solitary, lifeless apathy. The memories both painfully elusive and relentlessly parasitic begin to haunt them in the form a faint, flickering light. The longing for what seems forever lost in time – love, happiness, the feeling of wholeness – is presented as an inescapable dilemma: it’s the sole raison d’être and ultimate martyrdom at the same time. The narrative unfolds over the course of all five tracks and adds a welcome element of cohesion which the music alone oftentimes fails to provide. In some cases, the lyrical themes of isolation, estrangement, solitude and yearning resonate quite beautifully with the instrumentation and vocals. morgue, for instance, does a decent job as an opener with its simmering organs setting a somber mood and the beat building tension in unison with dramatic synth strings. It’s neither loud nor overbearing but a patient moment of exposition, providing a well-rounded backdrop for Kaya’s equally subdued yet poignant vocal performance. Although he’s always been a competent vocalist, his voice sounds more refined and confident than ever. Even in otherwise unremarkable tracks like Immortal Light and Forest of Paralysis, he manages to break the relative flatness of the instrumental and add depth, a third dimension for emotion to resonate within and become tangible. Wachtraum is most noteworthy in that regard. In similar fashion to COCOON (2014), Kaya hums impressively clear, low notes during the verses which transition into an elegant, climactic hook. The tension that has been progressively built during the first three cuts and peaked in Lotus quietly dissolves in these last, satisfying moments of calm reflection and melancholy. And even though they don’t quite reach ethereal quality of tracks like transient (2003) or Emergence of Silence (2004), these quieter moments bring to light little bits and pieces of something I thought Schwarz Stein had lost for good: their identity. I find it difficult to assess Immortal Verses in a broader, more general way that would be commensurate with a conclusion of this review. There’s one reason for that and it’s the sincerest bottom line I can produce. Immortal Verses is an extremely hermetic release – and deliberately so. Neither does it engage in any kind of dialogue with the tropes and trends of contemporary visual kei - be it stylistically or musically - nor does it build upon the duo’s established sound and innovate it. The mini-album’s entire artistic scope and purpose are wholly determined by its relationship to Schwarz Stein’s previous work. Immortal Verses is a sonic soliloquy, a nostalgic stroll down memory lane and as such it explicitly and exclusively caters to a very specific audience: Schwarz Stein’s most devoted, longtime fans. In a perpetual sequence of anachronistic references, the songs try so hard to tie in with the collective memory of a sympathetic fan base that they fail to say anything much but this: contemporary Schwarz Stein is for those who remember. Without that memory, there just isn’t much to enjoy.

烏名 鳴と不愉快な仲間達 (Karasuna Mei to Fuyukai na Nakamatachi) has now become a formal band called gulu gulu Vo. 哀/I [Ai] (ex.Kuroyuri to Kage f.k.a 烏名 鳴 Karasuna Mei) Gt. 凛人/Rito (ex.MIZTAVLA 光 Kou) Gt. Kazari (ex.llll-Ligro-) Ba. 藍珠/Lanju (ex.Grieva 緋雨 Hisame) Dr. 螢ちゃん/Hotaru chan (ex. Balalaika f.k.a カタセ ケイ Katase Kei) They will make their first appearance at cure festival on 4.28 and hold their first oneman on 8.12 at ikebukuro EDGE Their first Single「変なメリーゴーランド」 will be released in 2 types on 5.28 -不味い盤- 1. 変なメリーゴーランド 2. 嗅覚障害 3. 不味い麻酔 -美味い盤- 1. 変なメリーゴーランド 2. 嗅覚障害 3. Rubra

the bigger question is that.....marder suitcase is still running??

Well, since he either quits or has everyone quit on him, I guess a solo career is the best option 😄

so which one is madeth gray'll and which one is beyonce

Maybe they will finally release something good !

大衆演曲ケダマ。‏(Taishū Enkyoku Kedama.) have two new members, Hyou [guitarist] and Yuura [bassist], who joined the band. (I'm not sure what happened to their original guitarist, 弘明寺ろく助 [gumyoji rokusuke], as his Twitter page no longer exists. Original topic on the band is below.) New Lineup Vocalist: 座長 赫猫 (Akaneko) 六弦 (6-string) Guitarist: 雹 (Hyou) 六弦 (6-string) Guitarist: 利野 (Rino) Bassist: 憂羅 (Yuura) Individual pictures below

it was announced at their final oneman tour at 2019/04/21 at Takadanobaba AREA that support Gt. 椿(Tsubaki) has officially joined the band and that Rides In ReVellion new album "Re:Vellion" will be released at 2019/07/24 (3 types) Limited edition (4000yen) will include CD (10 songs), DVD including "INNOVATOR" PV and booklet Regular edition A & B (2800yen each) will include CD (9 songs) only [Limited edition tracklist] 01.The Beginning of Re:Vellion 02.INNOVATOR 03.-CHAIN- 04.紫煙 05.Eternal～渇望の空～ 06.Close. 07.Seirios 08.アムネシア 09.Flower 10.OPENING NEW DOORS [Regular edition A tracklist] 01.The Beginning of Re:Vellion 02.INNOVATOR 03.-CHAIN- 04.紫煙 05.Eternal～渇望の空～ 06.Close. 07.Seirios 08.アムネシア 09.Flower [Regular edition B tracklist] 01.INNOVATOR 02.-CHAIN- 03.紫煙 04.Eternal～渇望の空～ 05.Close. 06.Seirios 07.アムネシア 08.Flower 09.OPENING NEW DOORS they will hold their oneman live "黒い十字架の立つ丘-Brand New World-" at 2019/05/29 at Shinsaibashi soma and another oneman live "Born to be an “INNOVATOR”" at 2019/08/10 at Umeda CLUB QUATTRO

Monochrome Heaven's 2019 Banner Contest Hey everyone! This is a shout out to all digital artists on the website interested in content creation. It's about time to add some new bands into the rotating banner at the top of the forum, and for that we can use your skills! What better way to show off some skills than in a friendly competition? Here's the basic idea: Create a banner according to the rules which I will define in a moment. Respond to this topic by submitting your banner in a post. Since you cannot edit your post after you submit it, make sure your post is the way you want it before posting. You can submit as many banners as you have time / energy to create. The second phase of the banner contest will be anonymous voting from the community. The top three voted banners will be added to the top and the members who created those banners will be announced then. Winners of the contest will get their screen name in a special color in addition to having their work featured at the top of the forum! Rules: Banner should have dimensions of 800x120. Banner should have a thin, rounded white outline. Banner should preferably be a PNG, but a GIF is acceptable if you are interested in making an animated banner. Banner should in some way relate to Japanese music. Normally, we feature a band at the top, but there is room for creativity. Banner should have the text "Monochrome Heaven" on it. Banner should contain material that is Safe For Work. NSFW banners will be automatically disqualified. Banner submission should remain anonymous until the end for fairness. All banners will be shown at the end. Banners can contain anything else you think will give you an edge in the competition. The submission deadline will be open for four weeks, or until May 18th, 2019. Have fun! I'm excited to see what our members can come up with.

Good to know other people have the same phobia. In a "I'm not alone in this, yay!" way of course. I freeze whenever I see a wasp or anything that slightly resembles it. Some time ago I was spending summer vacation in a place known for having lots of lakes and bugs, especially mosquitoes and wasps. When I went out to eat once, I passed walls, trash cans and other surfaces covered in so many of those yellow nightmares they were hardly visible from underneath them. I get chills whenever I think about it.

whenever i see a wasp or a bee or whatever yellow flying insect with a stinger i literally run away screaming...same with spiders both small and large aaand centipedes, these little motherfuckers are the worst once my grandpa saw a centipede, chopped it in half with an actual axe and these two halves just ran away in opposite directions like nothing happened....

Thank you so much for the follow! Followed you back~

you're not alone buddy

Ok, @yomii....I might have to rescind the statement I made on your status not too long ago! There are some cool features here, and this definitely has the potential to be dope!

i like the look (except that weird beard) and trailer seemed fine to me, so haters gonna hate and i'm waiting for more

Great, dramatic episode with some proper moments based close to solely on chemistry. Also, Tormund owns it! Should obviously end up on the iron throne and just kill whoever doesn't like it. Why? Because he's fucking worth it. Fantastic character! Spoiler

Kisaki where are you ?!

@-NOVA- This song is actually really amazing!!!!!

Ayy, thanks for the follow

My name is Lauren, Its nice to meet you~ i usually came onto this site on and off but i never really had an account, So i decided to create an account finally x3

thanks for following

Thank you so much for the follow! Followed you back~

Type A Type B

that sounds pretty metal

i am actually! they were the band that gotme into this scene years ago x3

I like the bands name and what it apparently represents,and nice to see Mei back with the Ai name as well, it almost feels like seeing memento mori being resurrected right before my eyes, never thought it would ever happen. Yokusou had a huge impact on me the first time I listened,because it was different from what memento used to deliver.With so many good musicians involved,I wonder what they gonna bring to the table this time,if it's going to sound like something off KTK discography,MM,or something completely new.

This is so exciting! I'm stoked to see how they tie it all together. To the people complaining about the singles, they totally could've dropped a 10-11 song album with all the singles, but instead we get 9-10 new songs plus the old shit. Pretty fair and a longer listen imho.

me: /slowly and painfully learning any language because of mental health problems/ also me: /buying tons of manga in japanese to learn useless constructions and bad words i can't really use in daily conversation/

Ouch... they really don't know where they're going... it sounds like a mortal kombat song... which is not a good thing at all... really disappointed in them lately... To think that they were the ones to release Oboreru Sakana as a debut song, which was also one of the 3 or 5 best VK songs that year... We're very far from that quality now

"Ballad EP", why not ! Previous ones were "full" heavy (and surprisingely very good imo, especially URGE), iam not against hearing new sounds if it's done right. (i admit i cringed with the jazz kei song but well there is only one thanks god...) siren (Mao's singing is impressive) and alone without equal seems promising. One more time if i look at their debut and Sadie's last works, it's a very nice level x)

i've never listened to a full x japan album and have no desire to fix that. kurenai is a cool song tho.

You should have rigged it to read “Gackt” in all cases.

CD Tracklist (Cost: 2,700 yen + taxes) 01.唐紅 (Karakurenai) 02.カラリカラマワリ (Kararikaramawari) 03.PSYCHO CLUB 04.黒い太陽 (Kuroi taiyou) 05.産声 (Ubugoe) 06.ティーネイジ～new dolls ver～ (Teenage?) 07.lazy 08.ホール (Hole) 09.BROWN SUGAR 10.地獄に堕ちた野郎ども (Jigoku ni ochita yarou-domo) 11.INU 12.シャボン玉 (Shapontama) 13.星くずのメロディ (Hoshikuzu no melody) 14.ティーンネイジャーアンドロックンロール (Teenager Rock and Roll)

cockatoo tushie...? 🧐

Mine is a large page of cats, right now there are 5, but 3 are feral and I can only feed them...but they more or less don't leave this area or the things we've built for them to sleep in. The one making all the weird faces is essentially my child (Kiki) and I have raised her from barely 2 weeks old. She showed up in the pasture almost at the dead of night, and if I hadn't heard her mewing who knows what would've happened, I feel very lucky to have good hearing, no one else heard her through the walls. She would follow me around as if I was a parent cat, only 1 foot away at any time, and sleep on my shoulder. I really got no sleep for 4 months just like a real parent lol, she would cry all night if she couldn't be on or near me. (The problem was where I was staying had an annoying and poorly trained dog and I couldn't risk it.) Now she's bananas just like me though, and we chase each other around, as I grew up with over 13 cats I can't help feeling a little part cat my whole life lol, I love them more than anything (legitimately) and I seem to have always been able to make friends with every single one I meet. The fat fluffy one was rescued from the middle of the highway as a kitten, I more or less raised her too but she had a much less dependent personality, she's still weird though and likes to '''hide''' in fake plants. She'll also scream at me if I don't give her meat and sometimes sit next to me while I eat and grab my hand lol. Aside from them a number of years back I lost my near lifelong cat and his brother, they were both pure white with heterochromia, wasn't a good time for me...but it was lucky I found Kiki shortly before, definitely helped me deal with such a big part of my life gone. I also have a four year old flame knee tarantula, it was smaller than the size of a water bottle cap when I got it. Now maybe a bit bigger than a mandarin.

Yep this is what I want, nihilism eating sunflower seeds off the floor in your underwear while the neighbors watch-kei