CAT5

I came here to be naughty

^ Since you don't have a last.fm, I'm just basing this off of the threads you've posted in here ;P

yeah...when I first heard them, I was coming straight out of my psuedo-Elitist-metal-head phase, so it was extra tough for me to get into Ling at the time, as well as indie-rock in general. I absolutely abhorred 9mm's vocalist at first too lol....it wasn't until maybe a year later in 2008 that this whole "indie-rock" thing finally started to click with me. In retrospect, I regard 2007 as an epic year for Japan's indie-rock scene, though. These girls are indeed pretty cool. Even though I find the vocalist to be a bit nasal at times, I enjoy worse (Ruki of Gazette for instance), so it's no big deal really. Admittedly, I don't listen to them very often, but there's something incredibly charming about this band. Well, besides the fact that they're a band of cute female rockers, haha ;] Interestingly, kinoco's guitarist, keme (ケメ) released a solo album last year which was a bit more my style. She plays folk/folk-rock, but still keeps things very retro. I enjoy her coarse, raspy singing voice as well. keme (ケメ) OHP~ MYSPACE http://youtu.be/lXx7P-nkUc0 http://youtu.be/k0L98kjZfPY In addition to keme, I discovered last year that there's more of a scene for this psychedelic-pop/retro revivalist music than I'd realized. I'm sure there are tons more out there, but the few bands that I've actually heard are: six http://youtu.be/mOkg4FiS-K8 サロメ??唇 http://youtu.be/qSBd72CJeZM ??????スペィド http://youtu.be/sMtSgWtx7zc デリシャスウィートス http://youtu.be/v-h7DUwBWEA PEACOCK BABIES http://youtu.be/5tUoD8CxJkc and MAYBE....maybe ミラーボールズ "old news"? haha, I'm really starting to feel old ;] GO!GO! was one of the first Japanese rock bands I got into back in 2004, so I originally heard Iroha around the time it was released. I haven't given the new mini a listen yet, but I guess I won't get my expectations TOO high. Also, I've only heard HOSOME's "Jakamashi Jazz" album, which I remember being pretty cool. I know there was also a first album, but I never got around to checking it out. How is it btw? ;]

Back in 07, one of my friends sent me their "SUBWAY KILLER" song which hooked me instantly. While not one of my all-time favorites, PPP is an incredibly solid band who have always been consistent as far as quality is concerned. In fact, I think their sound has matured fairly rapidly over the past few years. "Matin Brun' was such a huge leap forward for them imo, and I'm not sure if that album gets enough recognition from us overseas fans. Ling Tosite/Rin Toshite....(whatever you wanna call them) is pretty much a given. Even if you're not necessarily a fan of them, you have to respect what they do. I didn't even realize that they were one of my favorite bands until I noticed how many plays they had on my last.fm lol ... I still remember when "Inspiration is DEAD" came out - although I'd seen the band mentioned in various indie circles prior to that, it was my first real exposure to them. I initially downloaded it to see what all the fuss was about, and while I found both TK and 345's psychotic, chimpmunk-y vocals a bit grating, their music was undoubtedly fresh and their skill unquestionable. TK's infectious guitar riffs garnered many repeat listens from me, so I eventually grew immune to their vocal style. In fact, I've even grown to appreciate their vocals - couldn't imagine it any other way. As for THE UNIQUE STAR....I appreciate their effort, but they're such a blatant Ling rippoff that I can't help but compare the two. Simply put, no one does Ling better than Ling. No competition at all there... Thanks for posting about the mornings! It's good to see that they finally released an album, as I remember hearing their "neng neng" EP and the split they did with ARTLESS NOTE which were both released years ago. I hate to see promising indie bands release a demo or something, and then disband or never get around to releasing anything else. Unfortunately, given the circumstances of being an underground/indie band, it's all too common an occurrence. So yeah, it's good to see they got an album off. They have that same kinda chaotic, yet controlled sound that hyacca has. Love it! ;D

THE JAPANESE INDIE THREAD Since the J-indie fanbase seems rather small on this forum, I've created this thread in an effort to consolidate discussion - as opposed to making a billion different threads for every J-indie artist/band. Of course, this thread is for discussion of non-VK bands/artist - though we don't necessarily have to limit ourselves to rock and rock oriented genres. So besides myself and Aion, who else here is a die-hard J-indies fan? If you consider yourself a fan, you can start by discussing a few of your favorite J-indie bands, how you got into J-indie, or what you're looking forward to this year. Whatever you'd like to discuss. Anything J-indie goes! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As for me....WOW! Where do I begin? I guess one of my recent favorite bands would be Haisuinonasa (??イスイノナサ). I was first introduced to them back in early 2009 thanks to a mix that my pal Steve Tanaka (organizer of the Next Music from TOKYO tour) put together. It was pretty much love at first listen, as Haisuinonasa combines so many of the elements that I enjoy in music - female vocals, mathy instrumentation, ethereal/dreamy atmospheres. Wasn't much of a surprise that they were signed to Zankyo. Here's one of my favorite tracks from their first EP: 8DbzqtNY6GA There's a plethora of other fairly new bands that have caught my ear, but for me, haisuinonasa remains one of my favorite young indie bands to emerge from the scene. Switching gears a bit, I'm really looking forward to OWARIKARA's upcoming album. It'll be released in a few days and judging from their new PV, "Swing", they haven't fallen into a sophomore slump at all! ;D bwT30DWZIm8 As for disappointments for 2011 so far: I thought the new Lillies and Remains album was a bit underwhelming. It wasn't bad, but the album got pretty boring for me after the first few tracks. However, I adored the opening track "Across the Line" The new Merpeoples was also pretty lackluster. As with Lillies and Remains, the new album "metropolis" wasn't "bad", I just thought it paled in comparison to their debut. Listening to "Shaman" from their first mini album zrkOGoa50q0 and this song from their new album: You can kinda hear the difference in their sound... At any rate, I'm looking forward to hearing what else this year has to offer. Anyways, enough of my rambling. Where are the other J-indies fans at!!!???

I'm still waiting for this year to warm up on the Jazz end, as there haven't been many notable releases yet. Even quasimode's album was lukewarm at best. Emi Meyer's 3rd album was, unfortunately, a return to her Norah Jones-esque light-jazz-pop style. While not bad, the material didn't leave as much of an impression as her 2nd album did. As far as Jazz-pop goes, Nakayama Uri's full-length, "VIVA" was as delightful as could be expected. However, since all but 2 of the songs were released on 2 separate EPs last year, the actual album didn't feel new at all. Jazz-vocalist, Karen Aoki released an album this year, but I personally tend to ignore her work. Her voice is mediocre and she makes it even worse by singing entirely in Engrrrrrish. A pal told me that she covered a Lady Gaga song on her new album...all the more reason for me to avoid it. On the other hand, jazz vocalist Rika Tanaka just released another album titled "When She Flows". While she also sings primarily in Engrrish, her voice is definitely superior to the more well known, Karen Aoki. Female Jazz Saxophonist, Kaori Kobayashi just released a new album as well, but I've yet to listen to it. Not really sure what to expect... So far, the most competent Jazz release I've heard this year so far would be the jazz pianist, Taihei Asakawa's "Catastrophe in Jazz". LHuDzNO7lvE I'm thinking the latter half of this year should prove much more exciting for Japanese Jazz...;]

The debut album by mergrim, "Invisible Landscape... ", is pretty fantastic. ;] uE6kseAwSgw

INNER SCIENCE - Emphases

LMAO, Take a chill pill babe. I'm no conspiracy theorist, I'm just openly pondering about the possibilities ;] It's just difficult for me to take a piece of information and not process it in different ways. That's just the way I work. ;]

Forgive me for not trusting my government, but I do wonder if they're using Bin Laden's death to set us up for another "terrorist attack"...I mean, the media did make an awfully big deal over something that most Americans didn't even consider relevant. It wouldn't surprise me if someone, somewhere used Bin Laden's death as an excuse for another attack... I'm just speculating, though. Just speculating...You can't always take every bit of info the media feeds you at face value. That's one of the problems with society today.

Really finding it difficult to give a shit ^^;;

If I could pull up some of my old posts from long-gone tokyo-nights forum, I could provide quite a few "weeaboo moments"...^^;; As for now, my last.fm is a weeaboo moment lol ;]

2011 has been great so far and it seems to be getting better! ;D My favorite Japanese releases so far: Caroline - Verdugo Hills Maria Hato - THE LATTER HALF OF ALOHA NAOITO - 379DAYS salyu × salyu - s(o)un(d)beams serph - heartstrings 中山??り - VIVA 緋??陽 - 燃????泣?鳴る 旅団 - Lingua France 平賀?????? - ??????ゃん My favorite non-Japanese releases so far: Bâton Rouge - Fragments D'eux Mêmes Braids - Native Speaker Conquering Animal Sound - Kammerspiel Epic45 - Weathering Grails - Deep Politics Stateless - Matilda Nostalgia 77 - The Sleepwalking Society Radiohead - The King Of Limbs Shona Foster - The Moon & You Thao & Mirah - Thao & Mirah These will no doubt change by the end of the year, but these are my standouts so far...;] Looking forward to the upcoming Owarikara album. Also, the no1curr singer-songwriter/folkstress, chimin is probably releasing a new album this fall.

HAHAHA, I agree. There are some bands that I wish would take 3 years to craft a good album, instead of consecutively releasing crap every year (9mm Parabellum Bullter springs to mind). But yeah, to stay on topic - I can't really add anything to this discussion other than the fact that I'm interested in what this single will sound like. I'm much too casual a Dir en Grey fan to get involved with all the analytics and whatnot. ^^;;

Indeed. For me, they peaked at "Termination" and everything has been downhill since... Unfortunately, they seem to redefine a new low for themselves with each step...

So here's the new 9mm PV: zVgWnd-HDwA They're such a talented band, but...alas, their downward spiral into utter mediocrity continues =/

Dynasty Warriors Sieben.....lol ^^;;;

BAAAAAAAAAAAAM! avatar'd

LOLOLOLOLOL. OH SHUT YO PUSSIFIED SARCASTIC-ASS UP ;] Actually, PK. I found something else in my old photobucket that's just for you: Seriously, though. You're reading far too deeply into this thread. I'm not trying to insult VK at all. I was obviously very much into VK, and I still have love for some of it. I'm just amazed because I forgot all about these signatures/avatars - and considering how different I am now, I thought it was pretty funny....I guess you'd only find this thread funny if you were a bit more familiar with me (like Aion or Jonno who I've been cool with since like 06 LOL). Anyways, I did not mean any offense by it. Sorry if this thread came off the wrong way (but then again, this is the "toasted waffles" section afterall) ;]

HAWT HAWT HAWT!

So, apparently, I've been a member of photobucket since 2004, but I haven't used it IN YEARS. So I decided to log into my old account today and I just found a whole buncha old avatars and sigs that I used to use around 2004 and 2005. LMAO I was a different person @__________@ (for those of you that don't know, I go by "one80" pretty much everywhere else) Satsuki sig XD Another Satsuki sig (looks atrocious btw! XD) LMAO...I think I may have put this in my sig somewhere...maybe. I know I didn't make this, though... LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL......I see miyavi in this sig...and some VK band XD WTF......Do as Infinity...and.....? who this other person is, I have no idea XD Sadly, I remember using these as avatars: ....thankfully, I've evolved ^^;;;

your choice

As herpdawg would say: RUDE.

Hai gaiz. I'm CAT. The new CAT. But you can call me Wes. Or one80. Or wesone80. CAT80. or WesCat. or CATwes. CATCAT. Or precious kitty. Or J_o_n_n_o_J. Or PeaceCAT MK II. Or Shovel Hitler. Or Craig. Or Doe. Or ChampCat. Or Original-Cat. Or Cattox. Or ZesshoCAT. Or OR OR OR OR OR OR. your choice. I like music. The best music. Better than your music. I'm a fan of Japanese music but mostly Visual Kei. I'm a mod. I will ban your ass. I'm a pompous asshole. I'm out of my mind. I'm the nicest, coolest guy you will ever meet. ^___________________________________^ Here's a pretty woman: