Luna Sea Reboot...?

If you go to lunasea.jp/reboot and wait a few seconds, this is what you get.

So are they getting the band back together? Pulling a Menudo and getting five new guys to take up the mantle? Or just re-releasing their catalog on blu-ray? Stay tuned!!!

Here's a 1920x1280 wallpaper of the above image: imgur.com/6SNLk.jpg

review: nogod | "kakusei" pv (2010)

NoGod's back with their major-label debut, sounding just as awesome as they always have, no sell-out-ish-ness in evidence, hoorah. :)

thx sssdss!

I dig the constant spinnin', I can't believe the lead singer is still dressing like that (thought for sure he'd graduate to something more subtle or mature but fuck it, i guess!), the bassist couldn't be happier and the lead guitarist's solo is Sugizoppoi!

Best part of the video is definitely @2:12, though the lead-in to the solo and the first and last thirds of the solo itself are pretty epic. And @3:13, damn, Grumpaluffagus, smile!

review: heidi | ""yokan" (2010)

heidi
yokan
2010

I checked out Heidi's Yokan because Dir en grey has a cool track called "Yokan."

Heidi's is inferior, very radio friendly, and not VK at all. Nonetheless I kinda like it. It makes no bones about its happy sappiness. It is Summer in Japan.

The next track, which jdic claims is "Kodama," meaning "echo; to echo; the spirit of a tree," isn't bad either, the piano riff giving it a sense of foxes causing trouble in the woods.

The other two tracks sound different from these first two, but still like the same band, and not like blatant throwaways, which is a real rarity these days, so I say, check it out.

rating: :)

Upcomingly...

New Creature Creature album Inferno in July!

And to hold us over, singles from Exist Trace and Deluhi in June, and also crap from Scandal, Mucc, Vamps, and Gackt. :P

edit: and NoGod and Kagrra and Despairs Ray (thx guys!)

edit2: and Nevermore ^_^

review: "the road" (2009)

No apples scene (awww), no baby-roasting scene (thank god), and with a few more very brief flashbacks then I remember, but otherwise this grim film hews very closely to the grim book.

Excellent acting all around. Lots of apocalyptically pretty landscapes to chew on, too. But I dunno if I'd recommend it; after it was over, and as much as I had looked forward to it, I didn't feel like it was a must-see or anything. (I don't blame the filmmakers for this; it's just the nature of the story.)

rating: :\

LOST Finale II

Chemical Pictures previews...

"My Harlot Broker" + "Warau Picasso" + "Human Rubbish"

via SR

review: ian mcewan | "solar" (2010)

Ian McEwan
Solar
2010

Ian "the evolutionary psychology-flavored literary author" McEwan has a quickie novella out called Solar.

The protagonist is a former Nobel Prize winner, now a little washed up, overweight, aging, married five times, cheated on all his wives, and he frames someone for murder, steals a colleagues' green technology research, founds a successful venture based upon it...

The only other McEwan book I liked was Saturday. If you feel similarly, put Solar on your list.

rating: :)

LOST Finale

Discuss!

SPOILERS INSIDE (Such as: Ben & Hurley become a couple!)

With V.I.P. Pricing, Fans Buy Their Way Closer to the Band AND INFURIATE ME

If your name is Yoshiki, do not read this.

NYTimes.com:

Nearly a decade after “The Producers” introduced the $480 ticket to Broadway, V.I.P. pricing has established itself in the ledgers of rock ‘n’ roll. This summer Justin Bieber fans can pay $350 to attend a pre-show soundcheck. For $800, Christina Aguilera will pose for a picture. (For $900, Eagles fans get dinner but no photo-op; most packages also include plenty of swag.)

At Bon Jovi’s three sold-out shows this week at the New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., the top package — which includes the takeaway chair, a leather bag and a catered meal — is $1,875.

Once available only for top-dollar tours by the likes of U2 or the Rolling Stones, V.I.P. packages have trickled down to the rank-and-file of live music, as artists try to maximize grosses and reap some of the markup value that the best seats get on resale sites like StubHub.com.

“It’s probably the biggest negotiation in any tour deal,” said Randy Phillips, the chief executive of AEG Live, promoter of the Bon Jovi tour. “On a hot act you can make as much money from 10 percent of the house as the other 90.”

In 1996 the average ticket to the top 100 tours cost $26, according to Pollstar, an industry trade magazine, but since then it has increased more than 140 percent, to $63. One reason is the collapse of record sales, which has forced artists to rely on touring for most of their income.

...

Many in the concert industry still worry that high prices and the conspicuous segregation of crowds into the have-lots and have-somes could backfire.

“These aren’t just customers,” said Dan Berkowitz, the founder of CID Entertainment, which organizes V.I.P. programs for Bonnaroo, Coachella and other festivals. “They are fans who have an emotional attachment to that artist. So if all of a sudden the artist says, ‘You can’t get close to me unless you’ve got $1,400,’ they’re going to lose people.”

V.I.P. packages are not available on every tour, but the number of acts that avoid them altogether is dwindling. The most prominent is Bruce Springsteen, whose tour last year had a maximum ticket price of $98. In concert he been known to praise theaters that do not have special V.I.P. boxes.

I think I'll go see Bruce this year. I find this shit so fucking UNrock-n-roll that the fact that ANY band can get away with it depresses me. Have some self-respect, fans, fuck!

And do you, as a multi-millionaire rock star, fucking take $1000 from your fan the cubicle dwelling desk fool? Boo! Boo I say!

The inequities remind me of CEOs that make a gazillion dollars while all their workers earn shit. So effin' weak.

review: mucc | "yakusoku" PV (2010)

I dislike the L'Arc-ish overuse of symphonic instruments, I dislike the technoey syncopated cymbal beat in the chorus, and I dislike how the band didn't seem to be involved in the making of this video, like they just took ten minutes to play the song thru a couple times and told the effects guy to take care of the rest, and the effects guy started but died from boredom before he finished, and the director decided to add crappy aging filters overtop of everything in the obscene and deluded hope that fans wouldn't noticed how no one did their jobs.

I also distrust Tats' proclivity towards appearing uglier and uglier in each successive video.

Lame song, lamer vid.

rating: :(

Thirty

Pac-Man and The Empire Strikes Back are both 30 today. (I don't think I saw Empire til 1986 though... on TV. But then I had it on VHS, to watch AT WILL!)

review: danko jones | "below the belt" (2010)

danko jones
below the belt
2010

The opening stanza of the opening track quotes not one but two Metallica songs and that's cool, and so is EVERYTHING ELSE on this record.

Danko Jones is the fuckin' man -- cocksure and badass on stage, lucid and intelligent in interviews, the rockingest, rollingest guitarist/songwriter/lyricist/singer to strut the earth in the last two decades. Tight, speedy riffs, neither punk nor metal but heavy and angry and fun and playful all at the same time.

Every song's awesome, but some songs are more awesome than others so I'll point you to "I Think Bad Thoughts" (and its first stanza) and "Active Volcanoes" for its approach-anxiety-reducing advice and "Tonight is Fine" for its 1970s swagger and "Magic Snake" for its chorus' apt description of my Friday nights nowadays, and why does "Had Enough"'s main riff make me think of Rust in Peace?

And that's just the first five songs. There's eight more, including the PV-ized "Full of Regret."

John Calabrese (b), Danko Jones (v/g) & Dan Cornelius (d).

Also let it be known: the producer for 2008's crushed-sounding Never Too Loud is out, and the guy who did 2006's awesome Sleep is the Enemy and 2003's classic We Sweat Blood is back at the board.

And the band's hitting Europe in June, you lucky bastards. Behold them! Even if you hate the songs (impossible!), it's worth going for Dank's between-song chatter.

Get the album, and worship the man!

rating: :)

New Danko Jones? Yes please! :)

1:21-1:35 nails it. :)

Between this and his appearance in Yo Gabba Gabba, i'm beginning to like Elijah Wood. :)

Danko Jones' official site is dankojones.com!

Pirates Released

I saw a yellow raft, shredded, slapped across the rocks near the pier near our apartment last weekend, and wondered about the story behind it getting there.

Slate:

As for the Russian destroyer, it was not operating according to an 18th-century code of honor but according to international law, such as it is. Theoretically, the captain was supposed to hand the detainees and the evidence over to regional police. Not wanting to involve himself in legal wrangling, however, he decided to 'release' the pirates instead. And thus they were 'set free' in a tiny inflatable raft, with no navigation equipment, 350 miles off the coast of Yemen. The raft has since disappeared. In the 21st century, this is how pirates walk the plank.

In fact, the Russian destroyer wasn't the first to hit upon this solution. Asked last weekend, the commander of the European naval force that coordinates military operations off the Somali coast said there had been 'similar instances' involving Dutch and Danish ships, but he declined to elaborate. He also noted that of 400 pirates captured in the last three months, only 40 have been prosecuted. The rest have been released. Or 'released.'

This doesn't seem like a totally bad way to handle the situation: the article goes on to admit that local courts can't handle the problem, international courts don't want new asylum applicants/rigmarole, and for the most part, it's cheap, easy, fair, and right.

A Public Service Announcement

Eating Raisin Bran becomes far more pleasant when using a wooden spoon.

I Smell Advertising

Pillows Live!
May 21st @ Slim's in San Francisco
May 23rd @ the Glasshouse in Pamona
Opening acts : noodles, monokuro, op chocolat
delicious-label.com

Dir en grey Bluray!!

Dir en grey
with the proof in the name of living
live @ nippon budokan
5.26.2010

CYOGH: High and Mighty Color?

Name the best H&MC tracks...

+ title
+ year/album
+ reason

Definitely gonna dump most of these guys' stuff...

CYOGH: Deathgaze!

This was sad! But here we go:

-1
294036224052 (2004)
dearest
dies irae (2004)
evoke the world
the fist (2004)
memento mori (2009)
proof
sinner

You may also wish to add the rest of 2008's Awake ~Evoke the Urge~ album to beef this paltry list up...

Tokyo couple married by robot in rooftop wedding

Voice of: Joan Rivers!

BBC:

Japan has hosted the world's first wedding conducted by a robot.

The couple decided to use the robot as they are both connected with Japan's thriving robotics industry.

Since robots had brought them together in the first place, they said, having one officiate at their wedding was a natural choice.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is robotics...

For better or worse, for richer for poorer, in disrepair or fully operational...

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something fluent in over six million forms of communication.

Dual Monitors Handy

I tested this setup once before with an old 15" Dell monitor, but it didn't seem like it'd contribute to my workflow so I didn't make the leap.

Which was a mistake!

Tried again today (with a 22" Samsung) and the 26" Asus, and now i see the dual-monitor scenario is way more compelling, especially if you game in one window and websurf in the other, or watch TV in one and surf in the other.

Or if you hate that Chrome and Zune won't obey the "show windows side-by-side" command)...

Here's a better pic:

[embiggen]

CYOGH: Deathgaze?

Here's a challenge: find a good Deathgaze song. :p

• title
• year
• reason

Chest Compressions Never Felt So Good!

My sassy black woman CPR trainer once said, "People are worried they gonna hurt the person when they do CPR. Don't! If you're doin' CPR, the person's already dead -- worst you's can do is bring 'em back to life."

disc review: karma to burn | "appalachian incantation" (2010)

karma to burn
appalachian incantation
2010

So you know I love Pelican's long instrumental metal dirges, and Russian Circles' proggish flights, and the Sabbathian, stoner-licious grinds of Kylesa and Priestess and especially Spiritual Beggars.

Add Karma to Burn to that list.

Will Mecum (g), Rob Oswald (d), and Rich Mullins (b).

Their first three albums were all pre-9/11, before my interest in their post-metal/stoner style. But they reformed in '09, and the fruits of that reformation are sweetly intoxicatin'.

Just a three-piece, and not aiming for advanced technicality or proggishness at all, they play simple, straight-ahead rock that, at its best, somehow reveals a subtle complexity, while keeping its raw power.

Check out some official videos, you'll get the drift.

You'll also likely note how their song titles STINK.

rating: :)

review: vamps | "devil side" (2010)

I'm HAWT and I've hired all these actresses to pretend to like me to prove it!

vamps
devil side
2010

My god, Hyde & Kaz, can you ruin any more songs for us? Your cover of Motley Crue's "Live Wire" is so lacking in life and so demoralizingly processed and SO DEAFENINGLY MIXED and so devoid of subtlety or texture and so half-assedly re-written that you might as well have just attached a cheap clock radio to your dog's, tuned it to static, and let him to run riot around the studio in the hopes of generating some interesting music through the doppler effect!

Meanwhile, "Devil Side" is pretty good. Still too processed-cheese-like, but the catchy chorus melody is worth shoehorning into a commercial or anime intro.

Regular edition's $10, limited DVD edition (in case you forgot how to spell "youtube") is $15.

Lastly, I gotta ask, what is Hyde's fixation lately with paying women to lick him in photos and videos? We've seen the girls screaming for you on all your live DVDs, dude -- we know you can get chicks! Keep harping on the point and people are gonna start to think you're ~hyding~ somethin'!

rating: :\

J-Summit (thx kytrax!)

J Summit New York
DATE : May 16, 2010
DOOR : 6 PM
AGE : 18+
TICKETS : $10 Adv., $12 at the door

Not going, because: who? But you might. I mean, it looks like every act has a guitar player in it, which is something.

Yeah, I Guess You're Right

review: david eagleman | "sum" (2010)

David Eagleman
Sum
2010

This is a nice easy book; each musing is only five minutes long (two small pages, sometimes three) about different possibilities of life beyond, only some of which include "God."

A few are pretty clever; others are a little too cute. But the clever ones make it worth getting, and here's three that I think stand up the best:

"Circle of Friends" / "Scales" / "Microbe"

rating: :)

Remember When Women Were Funny? Neither Do I!

I just wanna say that I think the all-womens-SNL hosted by Betty White two days back SUCKED BALLS.

"Hey, let's bring back all the women we fired and have since sunk into oblivion because of their clear and present dungness, and Tina Fey, and dredge up old skits that were retired for a reason, and have Betty White say things inappropriate to her age and station, and that will be funny! Right? No?" Ugh. :(

Happy Mother's Day!

To celebrate, here's a lifesaving tip:

Don't talk while he drives!

Ask Ken Lloyd Part 2: Ken Answers!

Ken got back to us already!

Ken Lloyd

jrocknyc 1 day ago

My 5-year-old daughter and baby boy are half japanese+ half white/american.

What's one cool thing and one lame thing they can expect to experience/encounter/feel as they grow up and (maybe maybe maybe) enter the japanese music business?

They'll have two countries to call home - which is cool, except those countries will force them to choose on one citizenship when they get older - which is lame!

If they learn both English and Japanese, they will also be able to grasp the similarities and differences of both cultures in a much more deeper way. Language is always the key to understanding because that's how we all communicate.

They don't want to enter the music business - trust me!

Mark 1 day ago

For those of us who missed you at AnimeNEXT, when do you think you will be back in the States?

Hopefully much sooner than everyone thinks!

cengiz 1 day ago

Are you an ass man or boob man?

My grandmother told me "more than a handful is a waste" so... I guess I am a boob man, although I think I have more of a tongue fetish. The tongue is way underrated!

Paul 1 day ago

Got a couple:

-After releasing so much music over the past decade, what do you (Ken) as an artist and also Fake? feel like you have left to achieve?

Just to keep evolving and to create the music that best expresses what I feel at that time. I've never felt the need to achieve...that's just the way I'm built, I'm afraid.

-In the past few years Inoran departed the group and Oblivion Dust has resumed activities. How has that changed the group dynamic within Fake?

With me taking full control of FAKE?, I've been able to take each album in a much more particular direction and really push it in terms of theme and concept. When Inoran was in FAKE?, each album was basically a greatest hits of the songs we had at the time. I think the albums made after he left have more of an identity to them. It is more about the album as a whole rather than a collection. In a way, I became a novel writer, after years of writing short stories for a magazine.

Regarding OD - OD doesn't really effect FAKE? musically as they are two separate bands. But it is nice to know I have two canvas's I can paint separate pictures on.

Ryu Lloyd 1 day ago

What was the real reason for Inoran leaving?

I used his lighter without asking him and he got all upset about it and quit the band.

No...he left to join Tourbillion. It's a simple and boring answer, but there's not much else to it other than that.

ashiesdgy 1 day ago

Do you agree that England has gone down the pan?

Seems like every country is going down the pan right now because of these crooked politicians! Time for la revolution!

Azu 1 day ago

-Is Oblivion Dust getting back next year or not? Since Hyde will be doing L'Arc again so KAZ can get out of VAMPS for a while.

Haven't really talked about it with the other two OD members, although it's on all of our minds for sure. We're all concentrating on each of our bands right now, but there's definitely a possibility and we'll get together to discuss it when the time comes.

-Will FAKE?/OD do a worldwide tour soon?

I hope so.

-You wrote on your blog that you're busy with making ''brand new noise''. When can we expect to hear new stuff from any band?

I'm always "making brand new noise". The creating bit is the best part of my job, so I try to do it as much as I can. It'll come out when it's done. No point in giving people a half baked cake.

-Wasn't Ray McVeigh supposed to be the producer of the Switching on X album? What was the decision to let Youth do the production?

Youth was always going to be the producer for the latest FAKE? album. Long story short - Ray was originally supposed to co-produce it, but he disappeared for a month just before the start of the recording. As a result, the start of the album got delayed and we decided to give Youth full control of the album. Not what we had planned, but Youth has helped create a fantastic album, so I am very happy how things turned out. I think all things in life happen for a reason, and this was no exception.

-Now that you guys have your own label with FAKE?, what can we expect in terms of new stuff like live DVD's and so on? Is it harder this time to release stuff like that? What about OD live DVD's in the future? I wonder because the 2008 OD live DVD was kick-ass xD

Sure...live Dvd's, remixes, Mp3's...anything is possible. We are taking it slowly to begin with though. We want to gradually build it up as we go.

-What exactly is the reason for you not doing encores with both bands? I never truly figured that one out..

The whole idea of encores seemed (and still seems) very egotistical. The fact that you have 2~3 songs ready to play before the crowd calls you back on stage? It's like saying "Yeah, the crowd will love us, so what should we play when they call us back out?". I dunno...I've always felt that the band should give every last drop of soul during the main part of the show, so when they are done they have nothing left to give. But that's just the way I feel and I could be wrong. It's all a matter of perspective.

MUSHI 23 hours ago

-do you like potatoe?

-do you love me?

Yes I like potatoe. And yes, I love you...especially because you misspelled potato.

redprophet 19 hours ago

ask him what's with Oblivion Dust and will Ken be releasing new album with this band. oh and if he is planning any gigs (with FAKE?) in Europe

Yeah, there will be another OD album out when the time comes.

We're working on doing gigs outside of Japan as we speak. Would love to take FAKE? over to Europe.

kenecchi 17 hours ago

-"Oblivion Dust" is a euphemism for cocaine, right?

"Oblivion Dust" can be taken anyway you want, but yeah, I've heard people say it's a euphemism for coke. I think people confuse it with the term "angel dust" and Oblivion just adds to that trippy vibe. Cheech and Chong should be proud of us.

-How about: Sex, drugs, rock & roll; which would you choose if you could only have one of the three for the rest of your life?

Are you kidding me? I'll take the sex. Besides, drugs and rock n' roll is bad for you!

ashiesdgy 13 hours ago

Oh! Who do you think is going to win the election/are you happy with whos won?

errr....which election are you talking about? Whoever wins will probably screw the country up anyway, so....no, I'm not happy with who's won!

Lunarisu 11 hours ago

-"Are you single?" 8D

Yes, I am single...and I will probably never get married as I don't want to accumulate too much karma during this lifetime...I'm still trying to get rid of karma from my past lives.

-"At what point do you realize you're falling for someone, and how do you initially react to that realization?"

Usually I know pretty quickly if I like someone or not...then I run like hell!

-"Secondly, I feel that your lyrics have gotten more and more spiritual. How has your worldview generally evolved over the years, since OD 'til today? What are some of your current spiritual convictions?"

Well, I am not religious, but I do believe in spirituallity. Always have. The fact that it is more apparent in the lyrics is a reflection of me understanding myself, the world around me and the relation between the two, more and more as I grow older. The more confident I become in my beliefs, the more it seeps through in what I do or say. It's an age thing.

As for spiritual convictions...I'm still learning, still trying to figure it all out. I do know one thing for sure though...we are all made of stardust.

FAKE? Switching On X Sampler
Fake?'s new CD is Switching on X. It's available in the US through iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/switching-on-x/id364232043.

I'd like to thank Lauren @ MusicTaste for initiating this fiesta, Ken for taking some time from his day to answer, and YOU GUYS for asking interesting questions that spanned the gambit. Pretty cool, eh? :)

review: aural vampire | "zoltank" (2010)

aural vampire
zoltank
(2010)

A lot of these songs -- at least ten out of the 16 present -- were already released, and will be familiar, even boring, to many of you.

"Economical Animal Superstar" and "Darkwave Surfer" -- the two tracks that got me hooked on this band like FIVE YEARS AGO -- have been remixed or remastered or EQ'd or just had more crap dumped on them. They appear here only to emphasize how the Aural Vampire ship has sailed, and Exo-Chika and Raveman have missed their ride. You coulda been somebody, guys! Now you just feel like a marginally successful hobby.

This track has a real poignancy to it, really hits a stride. Other tracks don't.

On the other hand, "Cannibal Coast", "Transcrypt," and "Border of the Dead" (all only two years old or so) remain cool, and unmolested, and worth spinning.

The remaining songs on this "collection" have a few cool, memorable bits scattered among them -- but require too much labor to find and enjoy. A lot of the sonic experimentation and digital manipulation on this record fails abysmally, and has me thinking that AV's few good tracks are flukes.

(When these duds were just loose b-side/compilation throwaway tracks, dug up in 96kbps in some corner of the web, that was one thing, but to legitimize them by placing them on an "album" imbues them with greater responsibility.)

It's convenient to have all these tracks consolidated into one neat package, but that's about it for upside.

JaME has the kanji/kana romanized for you taggers here.

rating: :/

review: matenrou opera | genesis / "R" (2010)

matenrou opera
genesis / R (2010)
"R" we've heard and rocked to already; it was a live distro a couple months back. It still rocks. "Genesis" is a little more light and bubbly and keyboard-friendly but does what it aims to amicably enough. :/

Ask Ken Lloyd

FAKE? Switching On X Sampler
Fake? has a new album coming out (or out already!?) called Switching on X.

The US label behind it, MusicTaste, contacted me about doing an email interview, and I asked back if I could let you guys submit questions instead. And they said yes!

Submit your questions for Ken in the comments below. ^_^m

review: unsraw, sadie, lynch (2010)

unsraw
guilty (2010)

unsraw's back with more tuned-down, double-bass'd growlfests, but i see no need to subject myself to them anymore. two years ago it was exciting, promising; now it's just mindnumbing, except for glimmers of niftiness in "Withering Blood" @2:40-2:45. (also, the first and last tracks aren't real songs either). :(

lynch
a gleam in the eye (2010)

i've always felt lynch coulda been something, but i never play them, never want to hear them, and little connection to their material or aesthetics; the breakdown 2/3s thru the title track is a good example. the b-side's also cool. But worth tagging, encoding, filing, backing up every month? for something i doubt i'll ever spin again except by accident? :/

sadie
dress (2010)

sadie is one of the better young bands from the last five years, but the title track sucks and the b-side sucks and don't let the recycle bin lid hit your folder on the way out, sadie. :(

~

The malaise I feel now echoes how i sorta felt around 2005, when lots of bands were aging / running in place / repeating themselves / copycatting each other, and boring the fuck outta me.

Then Gilg and Matenrou and Unsraw and Sadie and Dio and Deluhi and NoGod (thank god for NoGod!) popped up on my radar and reinvigorated my passions -- sorta like how '90s melodeath carried forward my '80s metal lust.

So now i'm at a point where i'm just dying for something NEW, but, for the first time, lacking the energy and patience and time to really search it out. I can't dig anymore. I'm in a rut. :(