Oh my...

So, today I almost died. An old lady was pulling into our parking lot at CVS and hit the side of the building. She thought she was stepping on the brake, but it was actually the gas pedal. Anyway, it made the wall cave in a bit, and the whole metal wall of shelves behind the cash registers fell down. If I had still been standing there, I would have been crushed and cut by all the metal. Luckily, I had JUST stepping into the PhotoLab to do some film... like, 10 seconds earlier. Wow. I had a minor panic attack and had to sit down on the floor until I stopped shaking. I also got to call 911 and give a statement to the police. No one was hurt, including the old lady, so it was all okay in the end.

So, I'm now relaxing at home. To help blow off some steam, I decided to upload some musics for you to sample. You know the drill: delete after 24 hours, buy the album, yadda yadda.

Aldious - Defended Desire: Aldious is this ridiculously sexy, musically talented girl metal band from the great nation of Japan. Their music sounds like some of X Japan's more bombastic tracks. I really like their sound, and they fill a unique need in the world of J-metal/visual kei. Awesome song!

D - kaze ga mekuru PEEJI: Okay, so this song isn't new at all, but I love it too much not to post it. D does Kagrra's neo-Japanesque sound even better than Kagrra sometimes. This song is one of those. Beautifully melodic and catchy.

Kagrra, - tsuki ni murakumo, hana ni ame: Speaking of which, Kagrra's new single is a nice return to form. Lots of wafuu-ness here, with koto standing out in the arrangement. Lovely melody, nice lyrics, definitely memorable.

Kiryu - wakare biyori wa honoka ni somaru: This is turning into a very wafuu-y post, so we might as well continue the theme with Kiryu's new song. The vocals are still the weak point, but the arrangement is gorgeous and the lyrics tug at my heart. Good stuff.

NoGoD - KAKUSEI: Best song of the summer. Seriously. J-rock at it's absolute finest, with some of the best lyrics I've heard in years, and the catchiest chorus ever! Also, a hell of a guitar solo in the middle. If you download anything, download THIS!

Tsubakiya Shijuusou - Gunjou: Tsubakiya is one of those sadly unknown j-rock bands. They are pure rock, with some pro-Japanese tendencies, and awesome songwriting abilities. If you like bands like Glay and Tokyo Jihen, you should probably like this.

Touhoushinki - Mirotic: THSK (DBSK) is a Korean boy-band. With an edge. I love this song, and am unapologetic for it. Catchy, catchy club/dance music with faintly smutty lyrics. The video is pure sex.

Download at my MediaFire page here --> DOWNLOAD!!

日本語忘れているかな～～～

わぁぁぁ～～！久しぶりですね！最近忙しくなって、書く時間がなくなったわ！ごめんなさい！

私は相変わらず元気です。毎日、仕事しているし、親戚と遊んでいるし、楽しい生活している。まあ、詰まらない部分もあるけど。でも仕事はね楽で、色んな人と出会うから悪くないです。そして会社員の割り引きは最高！！たくさん化粧品を買ったよ！（＾＿＾）ｖ

ちなみに　今週、私はうちの犬に噛まれた！あの子はお父さんが死んだ事でまだ落ち込んでいるだと思う。でも一回も人を噛んだ事はないから、とてもびっくりした！血が出たけど、私は病院に行かなくても大丈夫だった。よかった！でもね　手が痛い。

また長いブログ書きますわ！お楽しみに！

新興宗教楽団NoGoD － カクセイ

Japanese:

心が見えない　誰も

心を見られたくない　誰も

当たり障りの無い言葉を並べて

何が言いたいの？

指先での会話

こんな時代でも　本当の声聞かせてよ


君の声をカクセイせよ

最果てまで届くように

光を乗せてこの闇をかき消してくれ

愛してるも大嫌いも

伝えなければ意味がない

信じて欲しいその声を


心無い言葉で

冷たい涙を流させるよりも

心ある言葉で

優しい涙を流し合う道を進め　今！


君の声をカクセイせよ

なくしたもの掴むため

大切な思いをその言葉に乗せて

愛してるも大嫌いも

共に前に進むためのかけがえの無い

君と僕の架け橋になる


その心カクセイせよ

Translation:

No one can see your heart...
And you don't want anyone to be able to see it...
So you line up inoffensive words,
but what do you want to say?
Conversation with our fingertips
Even in an age such as this, now let me hear your true voice.

Awaken your voice!
So that it can reach even to the very end.
Ride on the light and erase this darkness.
"I love you" and "I hate you"
don't mean a thing if you can't convey the words.
I want you to believe in that voice of yours.

More than drawing cold tears with cruel words
Let's walk the path of speaking kind words and crying gentle tears together now!

Awaken your voice!
For the sake of grabbing onto the things we've lost.
Take those "precious feelings" and ride on those words.
"I love you" and "I hate you"
Those words will become our irreplaceable bridge
so that we can walk forward together.

Awaken your heart!

Band Spotlight: exist†trace

I've decided to re-new a feature of my old blog: the Band Spotlight section. This is where I pick a band to introduce to you, tell you a little about them and their members, and provide a few sample tracks for your listening pleasure. I always appreciated these posts on other music blogs because they introduced me to bands I would have never listened to otherwise. Well. To kick things off, I've chosen the visual kei band exist†trace.

exist†trace is a five-part band made up entirely of women. They got their start five or six years ago in Tokyo, and have since been climbing slowly but surely into the visual kei spotlight. This is remarkable because when they first started, they were disregarded and mocked by a large portion of the v-kei fandom simply because of the fact that they are female. To put it simply, the majority of v-kei fans are young girls who are interested in the genre mainly because it is made up of good-looking men. It wouldn't be inaccurate to compare the genre to that of boy bands in the west, although the sound is obviously very different. So exist†trace was forced to prove themselves on the basis of their musical talents, rather than relying on innate sex appeal.

Luckily, they are talented, and with a string of strong releases they have won over a large group of fans, both female and male alike. This makes me happy, because I think v-kei could benefit from having more female fronted bands (or even the occasional female member). I think this also helps exist†trace appeal to a broader, more mature audience.

Of course, there have been other female v-kei acts in the past: ClothoidDoll and kana instantly come to mind. More recently, Kanon Wakeshima has achieved some level of popularity, but is hardly what I would call famous. Moreover, most of these acts were popular more for the novelty factor than any real talent. (Hebi Ichigo, anyone??) In major acts, there is Inugami Circus-dan (angura-kei, and far different in sound from exist†trace) and Onmyouza (can we invent a Heian-kei for them? They barely fit into any sub-genre.) but both of these bands have only female vocalists and sounds that place them outside the realm of standard v-kei. So, exist†trace is unique in many regards.

exist†trace are:

Jou [vocals]

Miko [guitar]

Omi [guitar]

Naoto [bass]

Mally [drums]

Sound-wise, exist†trace fall into the category of dark metal, although they're rather hard to pigeonhole so easily. Their songs range from melodic to chaotic, and definitely have a gothic sort of feel. Jou's voice is capable of being both gently alluring and full of rage. (However, she is never nasal or squeaky like some female Japanese singers.) The guitarwork is above-par, and the arrangements tend to feature bass and percussion rather heavily. This makes them sound rather dark, but in fact many of exist†trace's songs are quite catchy. They have a nice balance and manage to be both complex and accessible.

If you like bands like D'espairsRay, Phantasmagoria, or D, I recommend you give exist†trace a try!

Recommended Tracks:

• RESONANCE
• SACRIFICE BABY
• VANGUARD
• unforgive you
• KNIFE
• umi no shizuku
• hana no sakanai machi

[DOWNLOAD]

So, there you have it! Our very first band profile is complete! I really hope you download at least of couple of these tracks and listen, because I really think exist†trace will appeal to a lot of different people. Now, if they'd only do a US tour...

Oh noes!! It's a visual kei review!

Yup, yup. Time for a good, old fashioned music review. Off we go!

Various Artists - NEO VOLTAGE (2010)

1. v[NEU] - in my secret... - Wait, this album is v-kei, right? It sounds like bad disco... oh wait. There we go. Shouty, rappy vocals. But this still sounds like a reject track from DanceDance Revolution. The chorus is actually pretty catchy in a camp kind of way. My, my. Also, bands get no points from me for having a name that I can't figure out how to pronounce. This track is all over the place, and not in a good way. Fail.
2. HERO - Days. - Wow, the opening is blatantly ripped from Green Day's American Idiot. Hey, you know I am smart enough to catch stuff like that, guys! This is watered-down pop punk at its very worst. The singer has one of the most nasal, annoying voices I've ever heard. Ugh. This is just kind of pissing me off.
3. exist†trace - unforgive you - I hope I can count on ET for something a little more... rock. Thankfully, the opening is all dark guitars and shooka-shooka percussion. I like the shooka-shooka. Jou has such a lovely voice, and it's always nice to see an all-girl V-kei band doing so well. This song has a gorgeous melody and some positively soaring moments. Absolutely recommended.
4. シリアル⇔NUMBER - SPACY LOVER - Did I like a SerialNumber song a few years ago? I can't remember... not a good sign. This is some more lightweight pop-rock, which I like when done well and despise when done poorly. This sounds like a track that AnticCafe threw away. Again with the pathetic nasal vocals. Match that up with a completely uninspired arrangement and you get... blargh. This hurts my heart.
5. 花少年バディーズ - 落陽 - Is this a ballad? It sure starts off like a ballad, with some actually decent (if simple) piano and gentle guitar work. Hmm. The vocalist is okay, but certainly nothing to write home about. I feel kind of burned out on this kind of song, and it sounds like it would work better on a Christmas album, not on one released in the sweltering months of summer. Weird disconnect, but not horrible. :/
6. Aioria - 光彩の沈殿 - Wow, bad keyboard/harpsichord that sounds like it was taken from a Castlevania soundtrack. Did Mana produce this? Didn't that era of v-kei kind of die? That said, this song at least has some drive to it and an arrangement that doesn't instantly put me to sleep. But the keyboards are really infuriating. And the vocalist does not have the kind of voice to pull off this style of pseudo-goth. I don't hate the song, but I'll probably never spin it again.
7. 愛狂います。- 春夏秋冬 - This song opens in a bouncy, synthy kind of style that gives me hope for a decent oshare-kei track. As it continues, that's pretty much what unfolds. The vocals are cute, the lyrics are playful, and the musicians are at least competent (but nowhere near overwhelming). Do you remember the band Charlotte? This sounds like one of their lesser songs. Again, I don't hate it, but I won't cry if I never hear it again. Yay for ambivalence! (Also, 4:38 is too long for a boppy pop track. Keep it under 4:00, guys!)
8. 【_Vani;lla】- AUTO DEィATH CUSSION -別会議 ver. - Oh my god... the chanting at the beginning makes me want to hunt these guys down and crack their heads together. The sneery, growly vocals are so obnoxious I can't even find the words... And I refuse to use a thesaurus! ARGH. Who thinks this kind of music is fun to listen to?! They need slapped, too! DELETE!
9. ゴールデンボンバー - †ザ・Ｖ系っぽい曲† - Okay, I love the title of this song (ZA V-KEIppoi kyoku) as it means "The V-kei-ish Song". That's just kinda funny. It starts off with some very Vidoll-esque grunts, then breaks into some pretty typical half-spoken/half-sung vocals. We also get some dark, metally bits and absolutely cliche lyrics. As an actual song, this sucks, but as a parody of the hundreds of nearly identical songs being released in the v-kei world, it's kind of brilliant. I have to give them props for that.
10. ベルベット - 四季 - It has to be a ballad, right? Yup, it sure is. Unfortunately, it's a ballad by a band whose singer can't really sing and the guitars are absolutely uninspired. This song wants to put me to sleep so badly...
11. キャンゼル - Wish Upon a Star -first edition- - This is actually the first really mid-tempo track on the whole album. Sadly, it's a very very forgettable bit of white noise whose melody I will forget three seconds after I hit 'stop'. I used to like tracks like this, but they just bore me any more. There is no inspired songwriting, no clue that the guys put any soul into this song at all. It's a carbon-copy of songs from ten years ago. -sigh-
12. 凛 -the end of corruption world- - Foolish - Please, Kisaki, do something to save this mess of a omnibus album. This is only Rin's second song so far, and it stays in the same vein as Phantasmagoria and Kisaki's other bands. Thankfully, Kisaki is usually able to write and (over)produce some decent songs. Riku sings in a way that conveys his passion about the music, even if I don't always dig his screaming. This is a heavy, fast track with no discernible melody in the verses... but the guitarwork has some nice moments, and there is a fun sing-along chorus that will surely become a fan favorite.

Final Thoughts: Well, I think the biggest problem with this omnibus is that it never knew what genre it wanted to be. It has oshare, pop-punk, dark metal, sappy ballads... It's the kind of collection that only pleases crazed fangirls/boys who collect ever track mindlessly. The only standout tracks were by exist-trace and Rin... the rest is throwaway filler trash. A big disappointment, because a lot of these bands are being heralded as the next best thing in young v-kei. That makes me a very, very sad person.

On the work front...

So yeah. I should have blogged this a lot sooner. After getting the job with the school district for next school year, I had an interview at CVS pharmacy. The manager's name is Ian, he's a pretty cool guy, and he hired me on the spot. For the past two weeks I've been working 30+ hours a week mostly on register and learning photo development. I really enjoy the photo lab. It's intriguing to get a glimpse of complete strangers' personal lives. It does kind of make me feel weird tho.

So, I like the job, it's not minimum wage, and I get to get out of the house and do something. Plus if I decide to sub here and there during the school year, I could make some decent monies. Good stuff.

On the bad news front, Moses had to go back to the Humane Society. He had serious separation anxiety and food aggression, which unfortunately they never told me about. I wish I had the time to work with him instead of just giving up, but I had to be realistic for his sake as well as mine and my family's. -sigh- Back to hunting for reasonable puppies!

Summer is starting to get more... summery here, so hopefully I will have fun pictures soon!

Cheers!

Woot!

So... Yesterday I had my interview with the school district to become a substitute teacher / teacher's aide. The interview process was really very easy and the lady was friendly, so I didn't feel nervous at all. She pretty much hired me on the spot, and I'll be on the sub list starting in August (new school year). I have until then to get all my clearances and paperwork finished, and I have an orientation sometime in July. She told me that they have so many assignments open that I can pretty much work full-time if I want to. So yeah! A job!

Then when I got home, I had a phone call from CVS pharmacy that they wanted me to come in for an interview. So I'm gonna do that today at 1:00. It would be great to have even a part-time job over the summer, and I really don't mind working in retail. So we'll see how this goes.

Looks like one way or the other, I'll be gainfully employed! Yay!