ghost

Not bad at all!

Any of ya'll like Kenny Beats? His production is: He did some collaborations with Denzel Curry and Rico Nasty and both albums are pretty fresh. Samples Denzel Curry - DIET_ Rico Nasty - Big Titties (feat. Baauer, EarthGang) *@CAT5 speaking of Earthgang!

So, I'm surprised by how much of the album I actually enjoyed. It's like @YuyoDrift pointed out, but there is some musical semblance to an older era of jrock. For me, I hear some throwbacks to lynch.'s own "I Believe in Me" and even a touch of "Inferiority Complex". That being said, I think the album is an inconsistent pile of concepts frankensteined together into a seemingly complete project. I want to start out by saying that there are absolutely some great tracks on here. The highlights for me (in order of appearance) are Barrier, Eros, Idol, Zinnia, and In This Era. The only real dud for me is Aster which I think is the worst ballad lynch. has ever written. It's just boring and the climax of the song isn't a good enough payoff to have to sit through 5 and a half minutes of serviceable song writing and none-too memorable melodies. The choir-like vocals at the end seem tacked on as there aren't really any other moments in the album with anything like that. And that leads me to my first real issue with "Ultima" as a whole. A lot of tracks show lynch. playing around with new ideas but they seem like half-baked afterthoughts. Ultima features a female vocalist for a short 15 seconds, Allergie shows just how brutal the group can be with a heavy-as-lead breakdown and vicious growls from Hazuki but is tonally set miles apart from everything else on the album, and Aster & Eureka include some underutilized choir vocals . I'm all for experimenting, but my issue here is that none of these ideas really come together into one cohesive effort. The female vocals in Ultima are there for literally just the intro before the song even takes off. What was the point of them? They hardly add anything. Why are they using choir voices in the last two tracks? I've already made comments on the choir voices on Aster but why are they also in Eureka? If they had been incorporated throughout the song somehow I think I would've warmed up to them more, but what the band has done is literally write an unrelated minute-and-a-half break just to fit in an extended choir section. The song would've worked fine without it, if not better, because it's bloated in its current state. You might also be saying, "but ghost they used choir voices in Zinnia too" and, yes I don't think they're really worked in all that much better there either. But it sounds more natural to me there because it goes well together with the flute acting as a sort of orchestral support. And this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I think Allergie should've been left off the album. It's not a bad track, but it's tonally entirely different than anything else on the album. "Ultima" has its heavy moments, but this is such a stark contrast. It feels more like lynch. decided to add it in to throw a bone to fans of their more hardcore sound. Everything else for me is just par for the lynch. course. Xero is yet another paint-by-numbers lynch. track down to the breakdown countdown. They've done songs like this to death and I don't hear Xero offering anything different or better. It's this album cycle's Evoke/Antares, F.A.K.E., Blood, or Joker (Except, I really like Evoke). Rudeness and Machine are too short and don't offer anything impactful in their short run lengths. I think these tracks definitely could've used more development. Although not their worst offering, I think "Ultima" as a whole just doesn't all come together. In total I'd say there are 5-6 tracks I can say are solid with the rest either being average or in need of some more time in the thinking chamber. If anything I'm quite pleased because the tracks I do enjoy I find refreshing and somewhat set apart from other songs in their ever growing library. They strike this perfect composition of throwback sounds, balance between melody & heaviness, and new direction that's re-ignited my interest in the band. But the album could've used more work and that's my main criticism; they need to give themselves more time in between albums. I'm not sure what their contractual obligations say about how often they need to pump out albums, but assuming they're not in a release-an-album-a-year situation, I really wish they would slow down and refine their work. That being said, don't sleep on this one. I think it's their most interesting release since D.A.R.K.

Based on the poll, I think I know how I'm gonna feel about the album. But people saying that it sounds somewhat different has got me so intrigued. BRB, gonna take a listen.

It came today and it works beautifully 😭

There's a special repress up for Meitei's Komachi. A bit pricey at around $45 USD shipped, but it looks lovely. This is worded much better so I'll just repost the description from the artist's bandcamp: Buy: https://metronrecords.bandcamp.com/album/komachi Full album

MAKE IT POP I haven't seen any kind of general pop thread in the global music sub-forum and that just will not do! 2020 is shaping up to be an amazing year for pop music and there must be a thread to discuss everything pop-related! I'm going start by sharing some upcoming releases I'm looking forward to and then sharing some artists I've enjoyed since last year. Upcoming Releases Rina Sawayama Sawayama (04.17.2020) -Rina's been making some waves in the indie pop scene. She seemingly just came out of nowhere but managed to make an impression on people with her self-released EP "Rina" with hits like "Cyber Stockholm Syndrome" and "Ordinary Superstar". Her sound is very reminiscent of 90's pop/r&b but she finds ways to make it sound fresh and interesting. She's got a new album coming out in April of this year titled "Sawayama". Samples Purity Ring Womb (04.03.2020) -Purity Ring is a Canadian electronic pop duo drawing from sub-genres like glitch-pop and synth-pop. While they can sound bright and poppy, their sound is more strongly defined by dark and ominous undertones both lyrically and musically. They're probably most known for their tracks "Fineshrine" and "Obedear". They'll be releasing a new album titled "Womb" in the beginning of April and it's sounding like it'll be a more lighter listen. Samples Recent Favorites Grimes Miss Anthropocene (02.21.2020) -I'm sure Grimes doesn't need an introduction. She's known for her unique sound of ethereal and pop music and made hits such as "Genesis" and "Kill V. Maim". Her album "Miss Anthropocene" came out earlier last month and, honestly, it's been one of my favorite releases in 2020 so far. Certainly not the most amazing album and, arguably a bit half baked, but there are some solid tracks on the album and I've been revisiting it often. Samples Charli XCX Charli (09.13.2019) -Charli XCX went to the top of my favorite artists in 2019 when I listened to her latest album "Charli". Her sound was so different than a lot of other pop artists I had heard. While she certainly has songs with tons of pop appeal featuring bright dance-y music and catchy lyrics, she also brings with that a blend of future pop and experimental sounds. The production on her latest record is absolutely amazing and I was hooked from the first track onward. Although I'm a fan of her latest sound, she's probably most known for songs like "Boys" and "Vroom Vroom" (which, I absolutely love both). Samples Sophie Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides (06.15.2018) -If Charli XCX's recent output is futuristic, then Sophie's music is so far ahead in the pop genre that by the time it's considered a classic the human race will have evolved into a higher physical state (fun fact, Sophie actually produced Charli XCX's EP "Vroom Vroom". ). All jokes aside, this album is quite simply something else. It has a few more traditional poppy moments but the other 90% hits you with leftfield experimental sounds intermixed with soundscapes and industrial bass music. The production on this record is so good though and there were so many times I kept asking, "what the hell was that sound? How did she do that?". It's certainly not for everyone, but for those looking for a more expanded take on pop music, so much as to the point of almost being unrecognizable, I highly encourage you to take a jump. Samples

Should be coming in the mail in the next couple days. Will report back!

@Mihenno Yeah. The fact that the "dpad" is those set of 4 buttons, thumb will wear out fast. You're right, it's time to live right. Do you own an OEM pro controller or third party? I always trust products from the official company (and it's currently on sale on amazon), but this SNES themed one looks really tempting: Edit: I caved and bought the one pictured. I couldn't help it since I found it for just under $40 😅

Anyone tried playing fighting games on the switch? I saw that MK 11 had a huge discount so bought that last night (still downloading though, 25G and taking 8 hours!) The joycons don't strike me as a controller designed for fighting games so I was wondering if anyone had any first hand experience. P.S. I heard the pro controller is better, so I'm considering getting one of those.

Somehow I missed your comment! This is pretty good! I never got into them in their early days, but this sounds right up my alley!

BlueBerry IceCream ~With SeaSalt Caramels 👅

@colorful人生 Nice! Subscribed to their channel with haste. It's always nice to find a source for new music.

ASEUL dropped a new album today titled "Slow Dance". The album is a bit hit and miss and I think she's still refining and perfecting her songwriting, but there are some really good tracks on here. She's really nailed that 80's pop / shoegaze-y / bedroom pop sound and I think she's one of the more unique artists in the k-indie scene right now. Listen Bandcamp: https://aseulmusic.bandcamp.com/releases Cassettes available (edition of 100 / *bonus track) Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3UpUxciy04 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/785adWJo2uSCmUXhqQcGIa

Boris - Feedbacker (tour edition) Gotta be one of my favorite variants for a record.

Sigh - Heir to Despair One of my favs from 2018

Yeah, interesting concept but the buttons as a direction pad doesn't always work well and they're really freaking tiny. Impressive tech tho. I want that so bad! Might've gotten one if I already didn't own one. Btw, the Nintendo eshop is having a digital game sale right now. Not a lot of big titles but there are tons of decent time-wasters $0.20 - $5.00. I picked these all up for $10: -Akane -Diggerman -Timber man VS -Qbik -Crypt of the Necrodancer -Super Star Path Might be worth checking out: https://www.nintendo.com/games/game-guide/#filter/:q=&dFR[generalFilters][0]=Deals&dFR[platform][0]=Nintendo Switch

@Mephistopheles - hey there! Yeah, all the deadman items are still available (minus the one crossed out already obviously)

Bump! This post will be open for just one more week! Not sure when I'm coming back after. Check out some cool items!

Still a ton of items left. Take a look for some mega rare goodies!

Elusive

@platy - That's so interesting. I'd really love to listen to that. There's gotta be a somewhat similar video floating online somewhere. This actually helps so much and I think it's maybe what might have happened with the last girl. She did have a huge life milestone she was trying to achieve. Yes, it is frustrating because I'm ready to get into something serious, but I think it's better that these prospects ended earlier rather than later so that my or their time wasn't wasted further. But it's already tough enough to find people that you think are compatible with you, so it's a bummer for sure when you find someone and they back out. *ugh* I dunno, dating apps are so....like I never have high hopes or expectations using them and just try to meet people, but you're right. Once in a while you match with someone and you get excited because they seem promising. And yeah, I can't tell you how many times I've uninstalled dating apps, deleted accounts, re-made accounts, and get excited by the possibility of meeting someone. I guess I just don't know any other way right now to meet people in real life. I've tried asking people out in public and that usually ends up working out less, and I've tried looking for people in group settings like church, but I often don't find people I'm interested in + are available/are also into me. So, here I am in this vicious cycle. But I appreciate the answer. It gave me a lot of new insight on dating and just dating app behavior in general.