Once again: what are you listening to now?

[Kaskade89052]

 

[Kaskade89052]

 

[Eppie]

And from the "WTF are they doing in Japan" topic, some Babymetal. Leave it to the Japanese to combine J-pop idols with heavy metal.

And if you like maids, these girls are actually pretty damn good.

Well, colour me a Babymetal fan now. What a concept. Heavy driving intros, verses and solos punctuated by catchy j-pop choruses and fully choreographed. I ordered the first two CDs and the Budokan blue-ray, but they were not in stock on the U.S. web site so Amazon says they are shipping from Switzerland. Sure hope the blue-ray is not region locked.

And @Pogre, last night I cued up a bunch of Babymetal, Wagakki Band and Band-maid on Youtube. Holy crap, is Band-maid ever good. Not just a couple of songs, great repertoire. I would love to see these girls live. Check out the live recording for Domination. No lip-syncing studio video this time. These girls can play!

The video for Onset is a live instrumental.

 

[Pogre]

Well, colour me a Babymetal fan now. What a concept. Heavy driving intros, verses and solos punctuated by catchy j-pop choruses and fully choreographed. I ordered the first two CDs and the Budokan blue-ray, but they were not in stock on the U.S. web site so Amazon says they are shipping from Switzerland. Sure hope the blue-ray is not region locked.

And @Pogre, last night I cued up a bunch of Babymetal, Wagakki Band and Band-maid on Youtube. Holy crap, is Band-maid ever good. Not just a couple of songs, great repertoire. I would love to see these girls live. Check out the live recording for Domination. No lip-syncing studio video this time. These girls can play!

The video for Onset is a live instrumental.

I haven't checked out Band Maid yet, but you just put them back on my radar. I'm gonna check them out when I get home.

 

[Eppie]

I haven't checked out Band Maid yet, but you just put them back on my radar. I'm gonna check them out when I get home.

And if you enjoy Japanese culture, this little piece is just plain fun. They visit the home town for Miku Kobato, the rhythm guitarist/ vocalist. Turn on closed-captioning for subtitles. This is so typical of Japanese pop culture but I still get a kick out of it.

I just wish bands would put flac downloads on their web sites. Their CDs are only available from Japan and Europe, and by the time you add shipping you're looking at $50 or more for one CD. Downloads are available on 7Digital and Ototoy but can require a localized VPN and Paypal account. It really should be easier than that these days. Ah, just checked 7Digital and they have a Canadian web site as well. World Domination is only $10.99. SOLD! Wish they had New Beginning as well but World Domination is supposed to be one of their best.

 

[Trebdp83]

I think Eppie just became a groupie.

 

[Eppie]

I think Eppie just became a groupie.

I used to watch anime for years and grew to enjoy Japanese pop culture. A lot of anime use popular artists to record their opening and closing credits so you learn a bit about the music scene at the same time. Some kitchy stuff for sure like the many pop idol groups (who hasn't heard of Korean BTS these days?) but also some great rock, alternative and classical music. I don't speak the language, just a few words learned over the years, but most of this stuff is translated and subtitled on-line, often by fans, which helps.

This piece is from one of my favorite anime sound tracks. It's an ambient instrumental that has some really beautiful cello.

 

[Eppie]

And one more for fun. Yoko Kanno is a really gifted composer / song writer who has written all genres of music from pop to jazz to classical and entire movie scores. Super talented. This is from the sound track to Cowboy Bebop and played by Seatbelts. Lots of jazz bands have covered this song. I imagine that it would be very fun to play.

 

[Trebdp83]

Hey, I can dig it. I watched Perfume 8th Tour 2020 "P Cubed" in Dome last night. No shame here, it's colorful and fun stuff. It's supposed to get atmos treatment soon from Apple Music.

 

[Eppie]

Hey, I can dig it. I watched Perfume 8th Tour 2020 "P Cubed" in Dome last night. No shame here, it's colorful and fun stuff. It's supposed to get atmos treatment soon from Apple Music.

Awesome! Never dreamed I would see a Perfume fan here. I still have 3 videos from when they appeared on Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ between 2008-2009. Interviews and performing Baby Cruising Love, Love the World and One Room Disco. Youtube has only one interview that I could find but in 2009 a fansub group translated the interview and included the song performance. PM me if interested. (About 200MB each.)

 

[Eppie]

Of course, listening to the new Band-Maid album I downloaded, World Domination. 15 tracks for $11 and the album is very good. Not as complex as some American metal but a good all around rock album. Also picked up Galore by the Cure featuring "Why Can't I Be You", "Just Like Heaven", "Lovesong" and remasters of "Close to Me" and "Friday I'm in Love". Classic 1997 alt-rock.

 

[Kaskade89052]

 

[Kaskade89052]

 

[Kaskade89052]

 

[Kaskade89052]

 

[Kaskade89052]

 

[Kaskade89052]

 

[Kaskade89052]

 

[Kaskade89052]

 

[Kaskade89052]