So recently it's been fairly cold. And the last couple of days it's been raining. 
I was supposed to go out to Fukuoka with some friends, but didn't. I chose to do something else~ It was just as fun and...as much of a release though so... Whatever yeah?
I have close to nothing in my refrigerator... Some water, a FFVII Potion, a mostly empty bottle of wine, a pack of sliced cheese, a bunch of homemade jam, Peach Chuhai and a Fanta Melon Cream Soda~

Neh... Bought Dragon Quest IV for DS recently.

Ermm... Job For a Cowboy is death metal enjoyment~? 

Paramore is female fronted emo love~

Pfff... I dunno what else to say...
I'm thinking more and more about what I want out of life and I'm releasing that I more and more just don't want to be in a serious relationship. Which... Isn't much of a problem. With the hours that I work, it would be hard enough to even make a relationship last for a short time, let alone a long time. 
That and... I just don't want to put the effort in anymore. It seems like everyone that I want to be in a relationship is just not available and I'm just tired. Just so tired...
I'm also tired of people assuming that since I know some Japanese, that it should be easy for me to start a relationship. I don't fucking think so. I don't spend a lot of time out at night and that's only because I want to have a clear head and be able to do my job the best that I can. I want to try to be well rested. 
Maybe I need to just stop caring about anything and everything you know? Just say "fucking it all, fuck you all". 
But I could never do that. 
The only person I say "fuck you" to is myself.
But really, I stop saying it to myself and say it to the person who is holding me back.

So uh... I died didn't I? 
As far as this journal goes I have. Or pretty much anyother journal! 
But being busy doesn't help a damn thing.
Purpose of journal is going to change AGAIN. I think this is the third time I've done this. But... I think that I need another place to do things in a slightly different manner.
I'll keep this open, unlike other blogs and journals that I've kept in the past. It really isn't all that likely that someone I know is going to bother me or if some fucktard is going to say some stupid shit. 
That's what disallowing comments is for anyways! ^______^
Anyways...

Things really have been busy in the past... 6 or 7 fucking months. 
Things have slowed down a bit recently but they're bound to pick up rather quickly and rather soon.
I'll survive though yeah? I hope anyways... 
Somethings might happen that I really don't want to have happen, but what can you do right? Somethings just happen and then you fucking have to get over it. 
Although there are always things you can never get over. Or maybe it's just people. Whatever.

Can't say I have have all that much more to say! But when I do, I'll say it. Yeah...
Sayonara.

I'm so excited right now.
Phantasmagore, Deadsy's second album, comes out August 22th, the same day that  Amputechture by The Mars Volta comes out.
However, my excitement is not for TMV, but for Deadsy. I love TMV, don't get me wrong. But I've been waiting far, far longer for a new Deadsy album.
The wait hasn't been as long as that for Commencement, but still. The excitement rages on and on, especially with a steady stream of new songs being posted on their MySpace for the fans to take a listen to.
"Babes In Abyss" remains a favourite for me, but "Razor Love" is a definite solid song, just like "Better Than You Know" and "Asura".
I really hope to have the album the day that it comes out. The wait has been long and the time is nigh.

TRAX came out with their first album, Cho-u. I can't say it's good, I can't say it's bad. It's a solid effort that doesn't sound like a lot of their singles.
Most of the songs are very melodic, almost ballad like. Not that that's a bad thing, but when you get used to a certain sound, it's hard to deal with such a certain shift in style. Thankfully, there are still some harder songs but not a lot. And the album is really short too. With only 9 new songs, that's a bit of a disappointment.
It's solid though.

Danger Gang is loves~
And... The first female visual kei band. Which pretty much translates to, girls dressed up like girls! Wow! Just kidding. But typically, VK bands are male. A female vocalist is a rarity but it happens (Inugami Circus-dan and Onmyouza have female vocalists, but the rest of the members are male).
But I find them very impressive. Let's face it, Japan is dominated by female pop vocalists, but little or no bands. It's nice to have something different. And besides that, there aren't enough female bands out there in the world. What was the last all female band you heard? Bikini Kill is the only one I can think of.
They make some pretty good songs, a bit of punk (that just screams riot grrrl), your nomral rock sounds and some nice melodies. Vocalist Waka is a bit masculine sounding, but it adds to the overall sound of the band. She can have a feminine sounding voice at times too, especially when she really sings.

Agalloch. Portland, Oregon. Folk metal. Black metal. Post-rock. Doom metal.
I was suprised to find out that Agalloch, a band I discovered thanks to that wonderful webcomic, Questionable Content, was from Portland. It's like finding out that your favourite band actually formed in your home town. Not that they're my favourite band. But they're pretty damn good.
Most black metal and folk metal is from Europe. So the fact that a band like this exists in the US, let alone Portland, Oregon is an immense and pleasent suprise. The fact that they don't suck, sweetens the deal.
And lemme tell you, they don't suck. At all. They're easily one of the best metal bands I've ever heard. And they have such a dynamic sound, they aren't your typical earbleedingly loud metal band, they're nice and fucking melodic. The song arrangements are well written and played. And the vocals are just typical black metal, with some clean singing for good measure.

Dizzee Rascal proves to be fucking awesome. Showtime, is classic and better than Boy In Da Corner. It's filled with love and more love. And awesome beats and rhymes.

I hadn't talked about it, I hadn't even really thought about it. But I got Kogoeru Yoru ni Saita Hana by D'espairsRay awhile ago. Being their latest single, it has to be mentioned. Espescially since it's their first single after first album. With [Coll:set] the band was much more focused and they had more of a focus on written songs. They still have a dark sound on both, but there is more agression and anger on [Coll:set] than on Kogoeru.
Kogoeru is filled with hooks. From the title track to the song "MAZE". But it's filled with good songs too. The title track is one of the best of their catalouge, featuring delicate keyboards and the occasional string. Nowhere is there a scream to be heard, but that's what that last song, "PIG" is for.

Thinking of singles though. Dir en grey came out with a new one. Unlike D'espairsRay, there is only one new song instead of three. In fact, there's only one new song and the other three songs are live renditions of songs from six UGLY and Withering to death. And because I don't care, I haven't heard the other three songs, only this shiny new song interests me. And boy is it fucking good.
Diru seemed to have lost something during WTD. There are a few goods songs, but the rest of them are all just throwaways. Ryojoku no Ame however, could have fit onto WTD or even Vulgar. Both are sonically similar, and Diru still actually plays Vulgar songs.
Ryojoku though, is a blast of melody. It's got the hard bits in there, those being some of the best parts of the songs. However, what really matters is the melody, both in the music and in Kyo's voice. They do what they do best, write a good song. And after the disappointment of CLEVER SLEAZOID (although I've warmed up to it) and WTD (as a whole), this is a breath of fresh air and a ponderance of what direction the band will go in next.
Hopefully little or no Americanization.

Edit: TMV has been pushed back. I'm too lazy to change that part of the entry.

Let me welcome myself back by talking about a band that you might not expect me to talk about!
Yes. That’s right. Linkin Park.
I’ve known about Linkin Park since MTV first showed the music video for “Crawling”. So really, it’s been a very, very long amount of time.
And over time I’ve disliked them more and more. Their sound hasn’t changed a bit, they’re still the same slightly arty nu-metal band that they’ve always been and that they always will be. Their lyrics remain bland and angst-y too.
But there is one thing that remains good for the band. One of the things that you might not think of when you think of their sound. But the band’s sound has always been driven by that nice little element, that little secret that people might ignore because they don’t see the it as an important factor for their sound.
That’s right. DJ Joseph Hahn.
The huge key to their sound, his parts of their songs, played on keyboard, or samples, or scratches, makes up a huge part of their sound. He’s by far the most important element of the band with his skillful work as a keyboard player and a DJ.
And he’s by far the best DJ in the mainstream at this point. Because let’s face it, no one cares about that guy from Slipknot (isn’t he DJ Starscream of some bullshit like that?) anymore or even DJ Lethal from Limp Bizkit.
Joseph Hahn is the one DJ that matters in the mainstream, his keys some of the best to be heard on the radio. With Hahn, Linkin Park remains the best nu-metal band out there, despite their obvious and very huge flaws.
Now if only he’d do some solo work.

Next on the agenda!

I downloaded a song called “Setsuna” by Panic Channel (the Panikku Channeru side) and thought that the song sounded strangely familiar as far as the lyrics went.
After a bit more listening and reading the lyrics to an untitled song at the end of “Clear”, I came to the conclusion that “Setsuna” was a full version of this short untitled song.
And after listening to the end of “Clear” along with “Setsuna”, the opening of “Setsuna” is very much like that of the untitled song.
There are only a few differences to the songs though, mainly the way that the songs are played.. But first, “Setsuna” is a full 6 and a half minutes, where as the untitled song is only around 1 minute and 54 seconds. Quite the difference in length! Along with that, the untitled song is entirely acoustic, whereas “Setsuna” features electric guitar, drums, piano, bass and strings.

Also thinking of Panic Channel, somehow, I’ve heard almost all of their first full-length album, TRICK, except for two songs.
It’s a pretty good album, for the 8 songs I’ve heard. It’s catchy (PANIC*ch songs) and features quite a few varying styles of songs from both sides.
“Shizuku” (from Panikku) is an acoustic affair, “Date” (from PANIC) is a ska song, “Kimi to~[ ]~to” (also from PANIC)  is a ballad and well... “In~Midara~” (from Panikku) is an interesting song about S&M. And “Ura” (also from Panikku) has something to do with mothers. WTF ever MEGURU.
However, the entire album makes very good use of the kinds of songs that they’ve done during their time together. It’s melodic, it’s aggressive, it’s pure Panic Channel.
Now... If only I could hear those two new singles! And maybe soon they’ll release a second album.

Okay, next band to talk about.
I’ve recently been very interested in Girugamesh (or Girugameshu if you want to be really anal about romaji). Girugamesh has been an interesting band for me because I’ve only heard about 8 of their songs and most have been mostly hard songs, with a show of melodic flair thrown in (“Reality” for example features a nice little string break). “gokusou” has a nice bit of piano in it for melody.
Satoshi (vocals) has a wide range of vocals though, from grunts, growls and a nice singing voice, he does the things that Kyo (from Dir en grey) used to do so well! Well, minus the nice singing voice. Kyo is very off-key...
They seem to have the talent and ability to write good songs, so we’ll see what’s next for them!

I just have to say, 24 Hour Party People is the single greatest movie about music. Ever. There are plenty of good ones (hell, A Hard Days Night was pretty good) but it totally takes the cake.
It really shows the ‘80s Madchester scene in a way that hadn’t been previously seen, the sex, the drugs, the bad business. And the bands that were part of Madchester were awesome too.

Time to blow the local horn!
Around for a few months, The DJ Savio Project (the work of Matt Savino, a recent high school graduate with the class of 2006) has been most impressive in his work.
Using the term work though, is very vague. Savio, in general, is a local techno artist who has gained a local and dedicated following.
I mainly bring this up because I recently got a copy of a CD from him, which has all of the songs that he has released at this point on it. This includes a interesting remaking of the Mortal Kombat movie theme.
Savio’s songs being techno, show great promise. His melodies and ability at creating music is excellent for someone who has just recently started doing what he’s doing.
And I recommend to anyone willing to listen, to listen to his music.
Find 4 of his songs on his MySpace page, http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=50474090&MyToken=ca12002e-2b7d-4d70-bcaa-3ffe9134d7ec

I’m really gotten into Asobi Seksu recently.
I had never heard of them before until I saw a review for Citrus on AMG. Then I saw a review for the album on Tiny Mixtapes and thought “Why don’t I listen to them?”
I’m really glad I did too.
I went to find their website and sample a few songs. I fell in love. The vocals of Yuki Chikudate hooked me from the get-go. That and the shoe-gaze fireworks that go on in the songs.
The lyrics of the band... Well, I can’t say what the lyrics are about. I haven’t payed much attention to the actual lyrics, I’ve paid more attention to the vocals and the instrumentation. The lyrics though, switch liberally between English and Japanese.
The music of the band is very melodic at times and then other times, a blistering mass of distortion, ala shoe-gaze.
It’s wonderful.

Thinking of stuff I’ve just gotten into recently, I finally listened to a grime MC. Been meaning to. Of course, I chose to sample Dizzee Rascal (and his first album, Boy In Da Corner).
I have NEVER been this impressed by any MC or rap group since I first listened to Jurassic 5. That says a lot.
I mean, I’ve listened to Public Enemy, but that’s art in a form and they’re also far older. J5 and Rascal are much newer and very different stylistically from Public Enemy. J5 has the old school playfulness of Run DMC and Beastie Boys, whereas Dizzee Rascal has the aggression of Chuck D.
Dizzee Rascal though, I find to be very different. His vocal style, is thickly British and sometimes it’s very hard to understand exactly what he’s rapping about. Not that that is bad thing. It’s probably what best fits his vocal style. Among the thick British accent, he also has a aggressive and sometimes speedy style.

Thinking of Dizzee Rascal, he did a remix of a Beck song called “Fax Machine Anthem”. WTF dude?

I really get the feeling that Commencment by Deadsy is a concept album.

Last piece of agenda.
I finally. FINALLY heard Towers Of London. They are... Ah, interesting.
I can't say they're special, but the energy that the band has, is. They combine punk with attitude of Mötley Crüe. They look like them too.

-fin-

I've waited for a lot of things in my life.
Love. Food. Games. A torrent. Accesories for my mp3 player. A cat. Finally moving back to Vancouver, Washington. Which, by the way, has never happened, although for the better.
But. I have NEVER waited as long as I have for Deadsy.
In fact, it's been a near constant wait since I first heard Deadsy peforming "Tom Sawyer" on the Family Vaules Tour 2001 live album.
I looked for Commencement, their first released album since they came together in 1996, from 2002 to 2004.  After finding Commencement, I used the internet to find out about their latest venture, Phantasmagore.
Now, waiting for something from 2002 to 2006 might now seen like a long time, but there are also the broken promises by the band. Since last year, maybe even the year before (!) they've been saying they were going to release a new album.
But when it came down to it, they hadn't done anything but write songs.
Now, in their defense, they also performed new songs live. This works fairly well! Radiohead recorded Hail To The Thief AFTER playing a large amount of concerts. Then when they had all the songs down, they did it in the studio. This seems to be the same sort of path that Deadsy has taken.
Last year, Deadsy released a music video for a song called "Babes Of Abyss". From that an mp3 popped up. Many people had enjoyed that as one of the single, FULL demos that had been released to that point. There had been many shorter demos, but never a full demo.
And as the news came that the album was almost down, a promised, full unmastered version of "Better Than You Know" was put on the internet (via MySpace) by Deadsy.
This has started an even bigger buzz among fans.
It's at the point where it feels that time of Phantasmagore is almost upon us.
Without a solid release date, and... Maybe a record deal. But who needs those?
But the album is done, a video is to be filmed (for "Babes Of Abyss" they say) and the album is to come out, with the probability that they will tour after they are finished with the video.
So, rally round, the "Best kept fucking secret" is upon us, their time is coming.
The album is going to be good.

I once again, just want to say how much I fucking love merry.
I have had "Pinku-iro no seishun" on repeat. I don't know how many times it played but Gara's vocals... They're so emotional during that song, kind of like "Ren'ai kousaten" but... Better.
merry is one of those bands that I have to see live at some point. Whenever it's possible. I don't think they'll ever come to America, so I'll have to wait until I'm in Japan. And... I'll enjoy every minute of it, no matter how little of the songs I recognize.

The first ever Peeping Tom album is just downright... Infectious.
But that's Mike Patton for you.
The album totally obscures genre boundries and he puts anything and everything into every one of the songs. If you can stand to, listen to the radio for the song "Mojo". Or, request it. Whatever. Just fucking hear Peeping Tom. You'll be glad you did, I assure you.

Broken Social Scene's self-titled and latest album found me... Disappointed.
I really like the melodic and nearly vocalless nature of Feel Good Lost and it disappointed me to hear vocals on every song and for each song to melodic, yet energetic.
Energy isn't a bad thing, don't get me wrong. But with a band like BSS, they're best off taking it nice and slow and staying instrumental.
Now, that isn't to say that their self-titled album is bad. Far from it in fact. It's a very, very good album, however, there is a side of the band that I like and I didn't get.
Call me fickle.
Now... To listen to You Forget It In People.

Back to merry.
I recently acquired Gendai Stoic , their first full-length album.
It's a pretty good collection of songs, although I found myself turned off by at least one song. However, it's a good album and if someone is interested in checking the band out, do your best to find some samples from that album and then go from there.
Or, you can just buy it. Whatever~!

How The West Was Won.
Recorded in 1972.
Released in 2003.
The single greatest live album.
Ever.
Led Zeppelin is very impressive, their studio recordings proving that they're just one of the greatest British bands from any era. HTWWW solidifies that as a 3 disc, two date live album.
Although there isn't one concert as a whole, let alone two, the songs still gel together as you might think they would in a live situation. From "L.A. Drone" and onwards, the songs move and flow together.
Now, you might think it's foolish to call one live album the single greatest ever, but when you hear the album, you'd agree.
More than 2 hours long, 3 discs total, the band is at its finest. Meaning of course, they're fresh off of IV and moving into the stages of Houses Of The Holy.
All of their previous albums are well represented and HotH is represented pretty well, even though the songs are still in their early stages. And I can't overlook the fact that there are a few covers on the album, all in a medly that is contained in "Whole Lotta Love".
And it also can't be forgotten that around 15-16 minutes of "Moby Dick" is just one giant drum solo.

I can't say I'm really excited about new American or European bands, but one band has really caught my attention.
Dope Stars Inc.
I first heard them... Well I don't really remember when, but I know I was hooked from the beginging. I was glad to finally hear Neuromance, their first full-length album.
Combining equal influence from glam, punk, techno, industrial and synth-pop, DSI are the Italian Stallion of the industry. Their songs are strong and Victor Love is just charming, pulling a Billy Corgan like move and recording the album on his own.
Along with playing the music, the man handles the vocals. Billy Corgan again? Well, they're both pale...
Anyways, the music ranges from danceable industrial, just just being just as angry as Ministry, although a whole lot more melodic. The music of course, has attitude and is very danceable, ala KMFDM.
Victor's vocals range from a croon to a punk like shout and boy, does it fit in with the music.
His lyrics are interesting too! That's not something you get to read everyday, now is it? His lyrics almost seem like they were ripped from Neuromancer, the book by William Gibson that the album is named for. So, it's your typical cyber-punk stuff, with the numorous technilogical references. Some of the lyrics also border on militant, i.e. "Rebel Riot".
They are one of the few new bands to look forward to!

-fin-

Is this longer than my Radiohead post?

Deftones are one of those bands that have changed so much stylistically over the years that it’s hard to keep track of what they might do next. Kind of like TOOL right?
When they made their major label debut in 1995, after being around since 1988, they came onto the scene and did something that no one else had truly done before.
Sure, bands had fused hip-hop and alternative rock before, but never to the degree that Deftones did. You could say that Faith No More did it better, but they’re too totally different bands, therefore there is no reason to compare the two.
Released in 1995, the first Deftones album, Adrenaline, is a pounding mess. They combine their hip-hop influence in the vocals of Chino Moreno with a combination of punk and nice, crunchy hard rock. That’s not to say though that Chino raps ALL the time. In fact, there are only a few songs that are dominated by the rapped vocals. Chino actually sings, albeit off-key and screams in his maniac way. And while we’re going with things that aren’t, the music isn’t just hard and fast, it’s also slow and melodic. Slow as in Melvins slow.
Their second album, Around The Fur uses that same sounds, but make it more melodic and more hip-hop influenced. Take “Mascara” for example. Who needs the acoustic version of "Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)" when you have “Mascara”?
And then just when you think you know what they’re going to do next, they throw their fans for a loop. They release the highly experimental White Pony. White Pony itself, takes the influences of Deftones and throws them all in a blender. What comes out is one of the most wonderful and beautiful albums to ever be released. From “Digital Path” to “Teenager”, there is an large amount of beauty in the album, along with some flat out new wave influenced songs. That’s not to say that the album doesn’t have a tough side. Boy does it ever. “Elite” and “Korea” are two of the best examples that can be given for their tough side. “Elite” is just flat out aggression and Chino screaming the entire song. “Korea” is aggressive, but has less screaming. Either way, you get the best of both worlds with White Pony.
And then their self-titled album is just a bit of a mess. Not a good mess like Adrenaline, but a bad mess. The album finds the band abandoning their new wave influenced songs. Their self-titled album has its good points, but mostly it’s just a failure at trying to make an album that sounds like what they sounded like before White Pony. It does some good songs though, although few and far between.
So when their next album comes out, what kind of sound will they have? We’ll just have to wait and see.