R E P O S T ! Sometimes I'll repost a song. :O Yeeah~
Current repost is:
Otherwise... I try to add new songs monthly. Past songs are below.
Sakamoto Maaya - T shaatsu [lyrics] (27 August 2004)
I know, I barely updated hours ago, but wanted to put up an extra song in lieu of me being late. Sakamoto Maaya's probably best known with non-Japanese fans from anime. There's not much to say beyond the fact that her voice is the epitome of feminine in my mind. I honestly feel that some of her songs are boring but her voice... I love to listen to it. This particular song exhibits it well. It's just her and a piano at the start of the song but the sound slowly builds in intensity until everything explodes in the chrous.
Aiko - Pieces [lyrics] (27 August 2004)
Aiko uses her sweet, cute voice to do a cover of L'Arc~en~Ciel's Pieces. Just her and a piano, and it's good. Wish I knew if this was from anything in particular...
Jousama - jousama monogatari (12 August 2004)
I don't really need to explain much, because you'll be sitting there going, "WTF?! o_o" after this, so. Queen medley in quite literal Japanese. You can cry or something, if you wanna.
Shiina Ringo - marunouchi sadistic (live) (10 August 2004)
Shiina Ringo is just one of my favorite artists, and it's my belief that she's better RAW! LIVE! What ultimately drew me to her in the beginning is hearing live performances like this (Oh, how I miss the old Napster days where you could find random things like this >.>), where her voice is obviously just as perfect live as it is recorded. I chose this particular performance because I heard this version before I heard the original, and was shocked to hear the difference in the two. They were two different animals!
For those of you who like this, try to find a PV of hers called okonomide, where she sings in front of an orchestra in the swankiest, sexiest lounge singer-esque dress you've ever seen her sway hips in. It took me a couple of watches to finally realize, "Holy crap, it's a live recording!" That's mad skills, folks.
Sons Of All Pussys - Paradise (04 August 2004)
S.O.A.P.! Yeah yeah yeah! In the four years after their album REAL came out in 2000, L'Arc~en~Ciel could only be seen apart, in solo projects such as this one (actually, this song came out after their return, but who cares? X3). S.O.A.P. is fronted by L'Arc's guitarist ken, has a guy named Ein on bass, and has L'Arc's former drummer Sakura on drums! They make no frills, no nonsense rock, and damn, it's tasty. :D Ken's not necessarily the -best- vocalist out there but who gives a rat's ass when the melody slaps you this hard?
I'm in a bit of a Ken mood just because I just saw L'Arc in Baltimore. If you haven't heard about it already, look around various L'Arc communities for ken's "I am dolphin" speech during the concert, which I have not yet seen quoted correctly (you FOOLS!). >.>;
Dir en grey - kigan (28 July 2004)
Yeah, not something as OBSCURE (ha ha, get it? ._.) as some of the other stuff I've been posting, but I like this song. A lot. There's some badass drumming in the beginning, guitar riffs that suck me in, and a chorus that goes straight into RAGE. Wow, Dir en grey's lyrics are kinda evil, aren't they? XD The imagery in this song is pretty screwed up (find a translation here), but such is so very typical of Deg. I'm also a sucker for (lead singer) Kyo's screaming "I'm- gonna- fucking- rip- you- in- half- and- shit- on- your- intestines" voice; in fact here's Kyo in a nutshell: "RAAAAAAAAGHHdsldskhjfldkjvlrtjwogelkgj! ! !". Don't worry, it's good... uh, "clean" fun.
EGO WRAPPIN' - A Love Song AND
EGO WRAPPIN' - Tobacco (22 July 2004)
Wow, yeah, I suck. I have all of these great new CDs and I haven't been sharing like I said. Don't worry, I simply can't decide what to put up. For now here's a double-header for you. EGO WRAPPIN' is a jazz group whose lead singer has quite a distinctive and (I don't want to say feminine) very womanly voice. This is the perfect kinda music to play on a moonlit night when you're alone with a lover or just wish you were. A Love Song is a little more upbeat. Let's just say it's the night-on-the-town dinner date, while Tobacco is... after the dinner date when you kick off your pants shoes. Light some candles and sit back, and this time I promise I'll leave these up a bit longer than usual and yet give you guys some more really soon.
L'Arc~en~Ciel (As P'UNK~EN~CIEL) - milky way (15 June 2004)
Whoops! I forgot to mention that I was going to Japan, hence, the GIANT gap in updates. Well, anyway, I did and came back with a good chunk of CDs, so it means that I have more to put up for you guys. Anyway. I saw L'Arc~en~Ciel (favorite. band. ever.) when I was in Osaka and got to hear this little ditty after their intermission. P'UNK~EN~CIEL, for the uninitiated, is tetsu (the bassist) on vocals, yukihiro (the drummer) on bass, ken (the guitarist) on drums, and HYDE (the vocalist) on guitar. It's a newer version of their classic (off of their 98 album Heart), available off of their latest single, jiyuu he no shoutai. The sound in this version is a plain-as-day testament as to how versatile this band really is. It was AWESOME live (they had a seperate drumset come out from beneath the stage with a giant gong that says, "P'UNK~EN~CIEL", and HYDE wears an eyepatch), and the recorded version really captures the energy I felt.
All right, sorry. I tend to *cough* lose control when L'Arc is involved. Enjoy the song. I'll put more things up later tonight to make up for my absence.
Witches - She Came (26 May 2004)
Korean Ska! Lively, (mock)lamentful, catchy as hell! I saw this flash movie at sambakza.net and thought it was ultra cute. Very cool. Loved it. I used to play the flash file over and over just to hear the song until I got the mp3. The song and the movie compliment each other so well. XD
MC Chris - Fett's Vette (19 May 2004)
My backpack's got jets / I'm boba the fett / I bounty hunt for jaba hut / To finance my vette The rest of the lyrics are here. If any of you watch Sealab 2021, you may recognize this person as the voice of Hesh ("Hesh wants SEX!")! So yeah, MC Chris and other nerdcore rappers are a fun outlet for people like my programmer husband who is so very wonderfully/tragically a geek with an inner homeboy. Did I mention that I'm hard for programmers? ♥ Tee-hee.
J - Twisted dreams (17 May 2004)
Crap, one day late again; sorry. So hey, remember that now-defunct band named Luna Sea? J used to be in it. What's pretty interesting is that J doesn't have your typical Japanese rocker voice. It's not high-pitched. His is a gritty, deep, MANLY (heh heh), beast that lets you know that he is a badass. This is the eighth track off of Blood Muzik; J sounds like he's sending your bitch-ass to hell (with a quick, evil laugh at the end of the first verse and) with this song's fast-paced, heavy beat and grinding guitar. Drive to it.
COCA - Telepathy (13 May 2004)
Sorry, looks like I'm one day late. Meh, anyway. COCA is an interesting solo artist whose sweet voice kinda reminds me of the lead singer of The Cardigans or Frente!, minus any traces of angst or whine. Random fact, she draws/paints all of the artwork for all of her album covers. A track off of an early album of hers, Gabriel's Holiday, this song is light and breezy with laid-back guitar, as if you're swaggering slowly beside a swimming pool in a faraway resort and humming softly to yourself. A little haunting, a lotta enchanting. ^^
Zeppet Store - Tender (9 May 2004)
Zeppet Store is one of my favorite bands, and I'm always happy to put up their music. The vocalist, Seiji Kimura, is one of my favorites. This is a song off of their fourth album Clutch. The bass and percussion is reminiscent of the famous riff from Smashing Pumpkins' 1979 which is what got my attention at first, but what held it was the upbeat guitar and the soft vocals at the beginning which build up and crescendo into the chorus. I love the guitar solo that plays a little over halfway through the song and comes back towards the end. If you want a good solid rock song to nod your head to this is one.
Denki Groove - Nothing's Gonna Change (5 May 2004)
Denki Groove is Takkyu Ishino and Pierre Taki. They designate their music as "techno pop" but that's probably because it's hard to put their sound into words. You can liken this to classifying a gourmet truffle as a Hershey Kiss. Nothing's Gonna Change was actually released in Europe in 2001 and Japan and Asia as a single in 1999 and on their album VOXXX from 2000. Like being pulled into a moving car, there's no real buildup or introduction at the beginning; you're immediately thrown into the thick of the song without apologies. No sound is overbearing and compliments all others nicely: Touches of synthesizer. Calming vocals. A solid steady beat that varies enough to keep you entertained, but not so much that it drowns out everything else. I'd love to dance to this in a club!
drug store cowboy - hobby (2 May 2004)
[reposted: 27 August 2004]
This song gives me a hard-on. Off of drug store cowboy's third album myself and myworld, it starts with some pseudo-industrial sounds and gradually builds up to a sort of something with the dark, heavy guitar that I'm a sucker for. Lace it with some whispery vocals and yes, panting, until the song builds more momentum and you get melody along with an introduction to an actual singing voice. To be fair, this isn't a song that's -completely- representative of drug store cowboy's other songs but it certainly raises an eyebrow enough to pay attention to these guys. Mmm, delicious.
♥ ♥ ♥
Songs are for sampling purposes only. Please buy the damned CD if you like the music. Page layout and design © 2004 by Pink.
