All right, so now, what is this? Maybe the tenth post in 15 where I could again express puzzlement at the very sudden and surprisingly pervasive infiltration of loudol by hip-hop* influences, perhaps best expressed in this post. Idols who just an album ago were yelling and growling and headbanging during breakdowns are now trying out their rap chops in sometimes surprising soundscapes. Which, fine, tastes change and you gotta change with them. But imagine my surprise when chika loudol long-timers C-Style dropped a new one the other day: Continue reading
collaboration
Tsurezure’s Latest Might Actually Be Their Bestest
What if I told you that I acquired exFallen, the latest album from personal love and 100 Days Of subjects Yukueshirezutsurezure, roughly 20 minutes after it officially became available, and then didn’t listen to it until, well, yet, because I waiting for this particular song and MV to come out to subject myself to what was to come? Believe it or not, that’s the boat that I’m in, and I was nervous as all hell when the usual “news at 9:00!” tweet happened and it was clear that the moment had arrived.
Why the nerves? Because I had this overwhelming fear that adding the work of one Chris Fronzak was going to send the song spiraling out of control, overwhelmed by the momentum of lading it with a gimmick outsized even by fans’ wildest dreams. And it also could suck! There are no guarantees in this world, you know? A thing that could be good implies in its very conditional that it could also be bad!
This, though, is very goddamn far from bad:
I’m tremendously sorry, friends, but this is winding up to be maybe my favorite thing ever from NSLE. Maybe my favorite idol thing this year. And it doesn’t even have anything to do with the collaboration (which is minimal)! Four months ago, this was a delicious treat; now, in a world long hungry for something as exquisite in its amalgamation as a Peak Tsurezure song, and in its weird context, and with such a perfectly related MV (right down to the chains) I’m not sure if they or anybody from Codomomental has hit something so completely out of the park. Even considering this, fight me.
Fronz, if you’re reading this, we should talk
It’s enough to make a longstanding fanboy flush inside. And, of course, because the nearest parallel for this song is the delicate dance of brutality and elegance in “Drama with Nietzsche”, I get the same wash of feelings, which is that this could be one of those enviably perfectly suited crossover songs that could drag your cocksure Western metal fans toward idol-related things without breaking a sweat. And that it’s done not in the beat-you-over-the-head way of BBTS, but in the fractured quietude that only NSLE has ever perfected, makes it all the more delicious. Maybe the Fronz attachment helps to lift the song to new audiences; maybe it gets some random airplay outside of Japan and starts to catch on. Regardless, it’s damn near perfect.
As fans, we’re really going to miss Tsuyame; I hope that she at least gets to cheer on her old friends as exFallen turns them into a real-deal thing.
HOLY SHiTS, Holy Shit
Oh, okay, now WACK has another mix-up group!
I totally misread the original tweet and thought this was a Chitti solo project for some reason. Instead, it’s another spin on WACK playing together for purposes of fun. In this case, TIF fun!
At the very least, it’s a fun tune, no? The lyrics are … the lyrics are interesting. And Chitti and Maika are featured. All is good.
Festival Collaborations Are Fun: Check out MEY
Like a realtor, I love your referrals! And like a content-hungry guy who has a website, I love when those referrals are extremely topical!
Such as:
@homicidols this is pretty cool. Interesting concept as well. https://t.co/nzf5cyUQWC
— God's (not) in his heaven (@Eyex1st) June 15, 2018
Also!
for the weekend update @homicidolshttps://t.co/xSKANhX8Jm
— Martin (@jpidoldeath) June 15, 2018
I think we can do better than the dang Weekender! Continue reading
BiSH Have Become the Queens of All Media
I sometimes wonder about what really goes on in Watanabe’s head. The person he portrays is a callous, free-wheeling imp who functions largely through a Hegelian series of resolutions of superego and id, but I think it’s pretty clear that the Watanabe who traps girls on islands and makes people go on morning fun runs just to prove their mettle, who forces idol icons to sleep in a car and eat nothing but rice, is in many ways an idol himself; Watanabe (just like Homicidol Maniac!) is a persona more than a person, and so the very essence of what he puts on is not in fact the rotten-egg target posing as manager of BiS and BiSH and EMPiRE and GANG PARADE, but at the very least a calculating, deliberate mind*. Anybody who’s ever read or seen Hamlet knows that playing the fool frees one to expose so many more truths, after all.
Now, I don’t think that Watanabe is quite up to Shakespearean standards, but he is a performance artist in his own right, with human emotion and maybe even an entire industry** as his media. The thing about artists, though, is that they still need to get paid, and getting paid can get complicated, so you wind up with situations like BiSH’s song to promote something called KIRIN LEMON:
There of course can be discussion around whether the SCRAMBLES sound, or the WACK approach in general, has in fact entered freely into the mainstream, and how it obviates the very notion of the “alt” edifice that they largely created, but that’s not this moment. No, right now it’s about the various things that BiSH in particular is doing to make some lucre. Continue reading
Q’ulle Did Great Theme Music
It seems that our old friends in Q’ulle are taking good and generous advantage of their Avex association, too, and for good and cool and on-brand ends at that. My first response to seeing a little bit of buzz around the following was to get all excited about another new album or the like, but it’s actually for a collaboration with something (a show?) called DYNAMITE BOATRACE:
Now that is some quality-ass idorock
This being a Q’ulle release, of course nobody’s going to be satisfied with just that much. Continue reading
It’s Been a Long Wait, but It’s Worth It for Zekkyou
Gah, I have been waiting >forever for this, and it’s my own fault; I’ve had placeholders about item #2 in this post just sitting in the queue for … well, a while. Nonetheless! It’s time for some motherhubbard Zekkyou rocking your dang face off:
Urge to two-step rising …
Welcome back to the world of staged, pro-shot MVs, Zekkyou, and prepare for the warm embrace that this is going to bring you even before you set foot in the UK. Continue reading
All about Those BiSH Collabs
It was reflexive, the way my teeth gritted this morning when I saw the tweet from BiSH:
【MONDO GROSSO新曲のボーカリストはアイナ・ジ・エンド！】
TBS系火曜ドラマ「きみが心に棲みついた」挿入歌である
MONDO GROSSO新曲『偽りのシンパシー』
ボーカリストとしてアイナ・ジ・エンドが参加。#mondogrosso #BiSH #アイナ・ジ・エンド #きみ棲み #偽りのシンパシー https://t.co/Fa0MIYfgC9— BiSHオフィシャル (@BiSHidol) January 16, 2018
“Oh cool!” I thought at first. “Another Aina collaboration with somebody that I’ve heard of!” And then came the gritting, as such a notion recalled Aina + TeddyLoid, a project toward which my first reaction was tepid enthusiasm (“Good for Aina, though!”) and has since aged like unpasteurized milk. So it followed, then, that when I finally got to press play:
Oh that’s good work! One could be forgiven for hoping that Watanabe would put that TeddyLoid pile of meh right into the memory hole and spare us another electronic collaboration for Aina (or anybody, really), but this is nice. Like, really nice. And seeing how deep have gone the disses toward Mr. Loid lately, I’m beginning to understand why. Also why I should be adding MONDO GROSSO to my personal list of things to catch up on!
But this is about BiSH collaborations, not just Aina’s, which means that there must be more, yes? Continue reading
Whereupon Year-old Things Pay off for BILLIE IDLE
You guys remember when this happened right?
I sure as hell do; I’ve rarely been as excited about anything*, and I waited — WAITED! — for months for the results to come out. Finally, yesterday, they did. Continue reading
The Joke’s on Us for Joking about the WACK Shuffle; Election Impending
Well, at least all of that sudden noise is going to result in something more than a cynical cash grab.
Building on the (deserved) reception of SAiNT SEX and (sigh) the WACK shuffle album, the two-headed troll called Watakuma Kennosuke, in conjunction with the suits at avex, is going to hold … an idol election:
EMPiRE,BiSH,BiS,GANG PARADE参加
『WACK & SCRAMBLES WORKS』シャッフルメンバー、アートワーク公開!!WACK総選挙「VOTE!!WACK!!」決定!!1位/2位獲得メンバーはavexよりソロデビュー!
詳細→https://t.co/63KIUhgHzj#あなたの清き一票でメンバーのソロの歌が聴けるチャンス#EMPiREisCOMiNG pic.twitter.com/lq0Ij4JQbs— EMPiRE OFFiCiAL (@EMPiREIDOL) November 13, 2017
The top two vote-getters will get a solo single*; yes, the voting is facilitated by buying lots of CDs. Continue reading
