into the void

Awesome! Just found Love Love Love's album!!!

Two of my most compatible neighbors of last.fm have been listening to them! Was trying to get their stuff last week but MUAHAHAHAHAHA... someone just uploaded the album yesterday! So checking it out!

Also just found 1000s album and other band.. My Autumn Rain... I don't think it's an album, maybe a compilation... So will be checking that out!!!

Well... not much of music this week... meh... I didn't really check out bands.. I only checked out SONGS.

Japanese:


D.W.ニコルズ - 春風 
Woo! I had NO IDEA d.w. nicols released a new single! But for some reason it was right on top of the itunes japanese store! So I went and bought the title song... Will definitely buy the album when i've channeled money into the BOA account!

DAMNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN addictive and INCREDIBLY HAPPY song... Seriously. I think the lyrics are really nostalgic, reminiscing school days, but mann the tune! It's like this band is really incapable of making un-inspiring songs! lols~ ^_^b



ポリプロピレン - サンセット
I really really like this song by this band.... Got this song off the Quip58 sampler. I think for short they call themselves polypro... But there's practically NOTHING for this band... Can't even purchase the music LEGALLY.

残像カフェ
quite a nice band... Sounds more towards J-pop band, though. Still, nice stuff... Found them through a random click on a last.fm top listener for throwcurve. This was her most played band for the week. Only stuff I could find on them were youtube PVs tho =(

The Dilemma of Hedgehog
Just a song or two by the group.. Seems like an okay group, but maybe too punk-rock for my current flavor!

That's it for Japanese this week! Sorry!



عربي/Arabic

Yeap... felt like listening to Arabic songs thsi week...

It's like this, I don't mind arabic songs, ANY GENRE, because they just sound so COMPLETELY different... And you know the only Arabic you hear in Malaysia, and the only Arabic I had heard growing up in Malaysia were always only if it had to do with Islam... So it's just INCREDIBLY weird but cool when you hear like a Arabic rap song! lols.. SERIOUSLY!

Anyway...


فرقة جدل (Jadal) - Quite a cool/nice Arabic rock band from Jordan... They have a few nice songs on youtube :)

AKHER ZAPHEER - Only managed to find a song from this guy searching in English... Will ask Mohammad if he can look for something in Arabic for me!!


Well that's it for this week!

WELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL... for some reason, I found Riki Kinoshita (art-school, guitar&vocalist; a.k.a. the next person after Yoshitaro and Isshiki-san I don't mind having a child with lols) on Twitter (these bands and their long-time hardore fans all seem to be friends! Thus linked to one another).... and he ACTUALLY quoted 1 Corinthians 13 as his favourite "word" (well he used kotoba......... phrase... maybe?!)

WELL! Seems like Art-School moved up in my "like" list!

But then again... he said he's not a Christian =(


Anyway, passage he quoted was,

1 Corinthians 13:2,13

「たとえ預言する賜物を持ち、あらゆる神秘とあらゆる知識に通じていようとも、たとえ山を動かすほどの完全な信仰を持っていようとも愛がなければ無に等しい。信仰と希望と愛。この３つは決して滅びない。だがその中で最も大いなるものは愛である」

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.... And now faith, hope, and love abide, these threel and tehe greatest of these is love.


Is he getting married or what?

No, actually, he was talking about loving one another.

Yes,

I think Chizu is my favorite Lunkhead album. There's a raw, yet more refined, power to those songs. Yes, 月と手のひら is a most balanced album between solid rock sounds and synthetic sound engineering, and I think the Tsuki to Tenohira album has the most soul, but... somehow, I do like Chizu alot. Hmm that said, I do like Tsuki to Tenohira a hell alot too!

I mean who can't beat 灰空 (Haisora)?? Seriously, pure rock goodness there. And 白濁 (Hakudaku)... DAMN, ANOTHER PURE SOLID rock track!

And I suppose, I really miss these type of Lunkhead rock songs...

They seem REALLY different these days. Was just sampling VOX on iTunes and yes, it seems to follow-up on the feel of At0m. While I do like the songs, I'm just not crazy over it... Maybe not yet, I suppose... But listening to At0m and sampling VOX, I actually do like Chizu much, much better... Is that bad?! Goshhh.....

But I also think sometimes, maybe it's just the type of rock songs I like. I'm very narrow minded, actually, in my music taste, I've realized. Because seriously, there really is just a very few few type of sounds that I like, and any band that is able to produce tunes along those lines, I'd tend to really like them naturally.... That said, my recent Japanese playlist is kinda an antithesis of that theory tho!


Well I guess, what I mean or what to say is that, I guess, it's way easier listening to Chizu again =)

GREAT TRACKS DUDE!

Astrogrrrl and I go see our favorite local bar band, the Hold Steady, every time they play. They always end with our favorite song, "Killer Parties," and sometimes I think, man, all the people I get to hear this song with, we're going to miss each other when we die. When we die, we will turn into songs, and we will hear each other and remember each other.

-Love is a Mix Tape, Rob Sheffield-


This week's bands:

Japanese:

サカナクション - yeah... FINALLY... Unfortunately, the first album I checked out a year ago, I just DIDN'T like the whole electronic sound, you know! But after hare-brained unity, I think I like those electronic/disco sounds wayyyy better...!
パウンチホイール(PaunchWheel) - ok, I FINALLLLLYYYYY purchased the two tracks that were available on iTunes. It's IMPOSSIBLE to get this band unless you get the real CD itself and since, i am NOT anywhere near Shimokita or any of their live, I guess 2 tracks off iTunes is better than nothing!
Peaky SALT - One of my last.fm neighbor was listening to them, so I thought to check them out. Quite ok, a little punk-ish rock.
鴉 - Downloaded them a whole year ago and liked them, actually, just never really got into them... But their songs are really quite good. Pure rock songs... But I think they're a little visual tho... Not sure...

That's it... No English bands =(

I did re-check out:
Something Corporate - Goshhhhh.... Hurricane is still my most favorite SoCo song!!!!!! And yes, I like Audioboxer's version better than the one in Leaving Through the Window... The piano part is longer on Audioboxer!
Armor For Sleep- I used to really love this band. This was like a band I found entirely through those "e-card" sampler that were popular for a short time back in 2005.


To check out:

Japanese:

PaperBagLunchBox - I think I heard of them a year or so ago, but didn't get anything of theirs till now...
back number - was on heavy rotation on one of my last.fm neighbors list... She listens to damn alot of good bands and we usually like the same type of bands, so I thought I'd try this band out.
THE ELEPHANT KASHIMASHI - Quite popular band but for some reason, had not checked them out yet. I did listen to a song or two last year but it didn't catch on.
butterfly inthe stomach - knew about this band last year along with Starboard and Oceanlane when I was searching for new music, but there weren't anything available by them at that time...
Local Bus - Random check out.... But so far, this bands seems too indie for my liking lols...
清竜人 - SEEMS TO BE REALLY POPULAR! Two or three of the Japanese last.fm neighbors have been listening to this dude this week!
ザ・ガールハント - Downloaded these guys awhile back but didn't really play the track till this week. Thought I'd give them a secon try after browsing through hare-brained unity's blog and reading about their DJ session with the vocalist of The  Girlhunt.

English:
Holiday Parade - This band was also on heavy rotation on the JPN last.fm neighbor's list! So will check them out!



Lunkhead released a new Mini-album this week. VOX. Will check it out if I can find a download... Will purchase when I FINALLY transfer some money into my dying BOA account...

And no, I have not even checked out Tsubaki's single yet...


I still love them very much, if you should know... Perhaps, I love them too much... It's sad, unlike many people, and like what Ame said to me before how Lunkhead songs save her... but... It's not the same with me for songs... I love the bands, and the bands do put meaning in my life and gives me a dream, and like I told Phooi Wah, I think some of my best and greatest memories of America were all shared with friends AND had to do with BANDS or going for shows...

But at the same time, music are the playlists of my life... They really are, every song and every band i had ever loved in my life  is a soundtrack to those periods of my life.

But because of that... sometimes, some songs just can't follow you on... And sometimes, some songs are just too painful to revisit...

Rob Sheffield wrote it very aptly in his book, "Love is A Mix Tape":

This is a calssic example of a tape taht tries to ruin a bunch of great songs by reminding you of a time you would rather forget. Sometimes great tunes happen at band times, and when the bad time is over, not all th tunes get to move on with you.

I get it home, make it halfway through side one, and the file it away in the Whatever pole because Renee loved them and it is too hard. Maybe next year, maybe not.


I guess the opposite is true too, you know.. Sometimes, some songs mark the best days of your lives and when those times are over, it's just too hard to revisit the songs because they remind you of something that was so beautiful and perfect that's now over...

I don't know... I'm just.. glad, I'm able to listen to Japanese bands again... I think a for a month or two there, I couldn't even listen to Japaense songs, thus explains all the English ones on the rotation these days...

It's like what Rob Sheffield wrote in his book too... I guess... I just gotta learn to listen to music again.. And thus all these new bands, and it's been pretty cool to be able to find new songs each week taht are awesome and totally addictive on my playlist... I guess, it's like how when I came back from America, I knew I just had to erase my entire music library and start anew... Coz, I just had to...

And I guess, I still can't go back to those bands I love...

I was listenining to D.W.ニコルズ and S.R.S. a lot just before the whole thing happened... And yes, while マイライフストーリー is probably the most hopeful and inspiring song I can listen to and give me hope to get through this, NO, I don't feel that way, because I don't feel hopeful and no matter waht band or song or whatever they sing, music just can't save me from my loss in faith and hope in life. I'm really sorry.

And while hare-brained unity has been the only band that has somehow seeped its way back into my playlist, I really, really hope and wish and want Lunkhead and Tsubaki to come back too... And I hope they will...

I've heard this last song on so many mixes over the years. It's a different song every time, but the same thing always happens. You hear something you like, and you press rewind to go back to it. But you can't rewind the tape to the exact same place again. So you start fresh.


Well, like how Taking Back Sunday has been so very timeless for me, popping up here and there in playlists before, throughout and post America, I hope Lunkhead too can be the same for me.


What song has been with you throughout?

Bands I've been listening to a lot.. Post Japan-Dream Destruction and subsequent fallout:


I've gone back American, actually =) Which is cool. These bands coupled with watching ALOT of House has really made me love America once again, after a really, really, really long time being in a haze with Japan.



THE AMERICAN PAST:

Northstar
- My Ricochet (acoustic and album versions)
- Taker not Giver
- Cinderella
- Rigged and Ready

New Found Glory (DAMN! It HAS been awhile!)
- The Story So Far
- Downhill From Here
(wow..... put together the two titles really sound depressing and bleak!)

Taking Back Sunday
-Miami (wow!! Who'd have thought this song!)

Brand New
- Soco Amaretto Lime
- Logan to Government Center

Fall Out Boy
-Sophomore Slump and Comeback Year
- Of All the Gin Joints In The World
- Sugar, We're Going Down

The Format
- The First Single (Cause A Scene)

Cassino
- The Gin War

Dashboard Confessional
- Vindicated
- Thick as Thieves

Reuben's Accomplice
- Lost Sun

Thursday
- Standing At The Edge of Summer (STILL my FAV Thursday song!!)


I just redownloaded Something Corporate again and mannnnn... listening to the songs really brings me back to the KDU days back in 2001... geez... Next few bands I wanna RELISTEN this week is definitely gonna be Blink-182 and Finch... Oh oh  oh!! And STARTING LINE too!!!... I'm sure I'm missing out some bands, but mannn... Really feel like I'm back in that first spring in America!


BLAST FROM THE PAST:

Placebo - Every Me, Every You
Garbage - When I Grow Up
The Verve - Freshmen (HOLYCOW!)
Our Lady Peace - Clumsy (HOLYCOW!!!)

Don McLean - American Pie
Bob Dylan - Mr. Tambourine Man


Gosh.... I feel 16 when I listen to these songs!!! What's next?? OASIS??? ahahahahaha... we'll see, we'll see if that Brit Pop feelin comes to me... But seriously? American and Brit nostalgia at the same time??? I think that'd be too much!


夢から覚めたあとの歌

WELL... I TOTALLY HAVEN'T felt like listening to ANY Japanese songs at all recently after the whole dream having crumbled... Thus explain the completely English and American-heavy playlist above...
Anyway... Considering that I HAD TO completely change my Japanese playlist, because I CANNOT listen to anything before... especially Lunkhead and Tsubaki... For some unknown reason, the first band whose sound just suddenly came up in my head was Orge You Asshole, so yes, they've been on REALLY REALLY heavy rotation as of late.


Orge You Asshole (mannn their songs are so damn upbeat!)
- かたっぽ
- しらない合図しらせる子
- ピンホール
- コインランドリー

plenty (I downloaded this band awhile back but didn't really play the album till now, quite good)
- 東京
- 後悔
- 理由
- ボクのために歌う吟

砂場 - 影炎 (This was the first band I listened to post the Japan  Disaster... I got this song from Quip 58 Sampler)

Multi Color Vox - Yellow (Holyshit!! This is an INCREDIBLE song!!!!!!! This song is TOTALLY Finch!! It could have easily been in Finch's discography except for the whole Japanese singing thingy... lols... TOTALLY. It's like the LOST Finch song that they forgot how to make! lols!)


Yeap, that's it... That's all I've been listening to for the past 2 months. But I'm checkign out new bands recently and I've added S.R.S and D.W.ニコルズ and hare-brained unity back to the playlist... So hopefully, I'll be able to listen to Lunkhead and Tsubaki soon again...

English:
.... it was a whole mix of Electro/Pop/Rock playlist....


Japanese..

12月8日
- Quite Cool band, for such a small band... I think they have good tunes.. If they're not defunct, I hope they come up with better stuff.

おとぎ話
- I could only find 1 e.p., so I guess it's not a fair nor complete assessment of this band... But in their e.p. Hellogoodbye, they sounded alot like the Beatles... Well duh, even the title was ripped from the Beatles. The second track off that e.p. is almost like a lift off Beatles' O bla di, O bla da... Seriously... Actually Pauchwheel's Real sounds like that too..



So! Do I fill the quota of 3 new bands a week?? Hopefully... Is anyone still reading this blog anyway! gee..

yes, I still love Japan, but I guess... some dreams have to die... or well, at least, I hope, it's just not the time yet...

木漏れ陽が優しく降って
いつかの秋を思い出した
こんな風の気持ちよい日は
誰かに何故か優しくしたくなる

何もかも受け止められる気がしていた
でも何一つ受け止められてはなかった

世界はどれだけの事を思い出に変えて進むのだろう
だけどいつか忘れていくから悲しいけれど生きていける

君はいつも笑っていた
そして時々泣いていた
あの一言が言えたなら
僕らは今でも笑えていたのかな

たまに君の事ばかり思い出してしまう夜が来る
だけどいつか忘れていくから悲しいけれど生きていける

ああ僕らはどうしてこんなにも
大事な物ばかりをその手からこぼしていくのだろう

嬉しい事があれば笑い、悲しい事があれば涙する
当たり前の生活を抱きしめて僕らは生きていく
たまに君の事ばかり思い出してしまう夜が来る
だけどいつか忘れていくから悲しいけれど生きていける


Can't believe it took me SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO frigging long to feature this song. Epic Fail. =_=


This is the FIRST FIRST FIRST ever Lunkhead song I heard when I downloaded a J-indies mix on jpopsuki in July 2006.There were quite alot of the usual J-rock/J-indies band on that mix but I totally fell in love with Lunkhead's song only.

Of course, at that time it was IMPOSSIBLE to find anything Lunkhead online... I think there was only Chizu available... and then a few monts later when I got back to CA, Tsuki to Tenohira was also uploaded by then.


But I really, really, really loved this song and I still do very much. When I first heard this song, I thought it was absolutely beautiful.

The part of this song I love the most is the first chorus where Odaka-san sings, "Sekai wa dore dake no koto wo, omode ni kaete susumo no darou?"

I remember the feeling this part gave me was of someone who is trapped by troubles of this world, but he takes flight and fly away to the sky above...

I STILL don't know what this part means (Oh, How i wish I could ask Yoshitaro one day... But I think it's better luck asking Yamashita-san, because at least he can explain it in ENGLISH!)... That's because apparently, the part can't be translated... Grammatically, it doesn't make sense.

But, I can still remember those mornings I played this song on the train on the way from Boston to Framingham... I remember when the train passes Fenway Park, there is a part along that route where it comes out of a short tunnel and you can see the lights through the window... And I can still remember listening to this chorus play as I looked out of the window on one of those mornings...

I also remember printing out the lyrics to the song and transcribing it to hiragana so I could memorize the lyrics... I remember I was memorizing the lyrics while I waited for the train from Framingham back to Boston and I still remember at one of the stops, I was holding the lyrics and trying to sing it with Odaka-san... DUDE, his PRONUNCIATION was TOTALLY DIFFERENT yo!!!

And most of all, I remember, it was this time that I liked Plastic Tree and Lunkhead... And it was around winter on the year before I left America. And I remember telling myself "I want to see Plastic Tree live... and I also want to see Lunkhead live," --- And i think that was the moment I decided that the only way to do that was to leave America to go back to Malaysia, because with the immigrant status that I was in, I could have never gone to visit Japan... And I wanted to visit Japan.... Because I wanted to go for LIVE... and to do that, I had to come back to Malaysia.

So..

That's how I came back.

Because of this song.

Sometimes I want to think it's all just a label but sometimes I also know it's not just that. I want to believe that we're all not that different. But sometimes I can't help but see those differences. I want to believe that though we are from different countries, grew up in different cultures, have different religions, I want to believe more in what we have in common and things we can understand about each other, than in the things and circumstances and beliefs that divides us. I want to seek first to understand, but in turn, I also wish to be understood.

That's what I feel about my work with the students in ELS.

こんにちは。

 

この手紙ははじめじぶんの日本語でかきます。この手紙にすべての誤りをお詫びします。

 

みんなさん元気ですか？六月にNewAlbumをリリスしますですね！おめでとうございます！今年本当に私がLIVEに行くことを願っています。

 

さいきんランクヘッド達は色々な事がありますね。Official MyspaceとOfficialTeamとOfficialStoreも発足しました！毎年のLUNKHEADはますます進歩するになる。そして．．．石川さんの事がファンみんな本当にショックだようね…でも、ぜったいそれよりヘッド達がもっと色々な気持ちがあったと思うんです。もう頑張ってください。

 

ねえ、アメリカに住んでいた時にはたくさん「マレーシアに帰るか？」と考えました。もしアメリカで働いたら、日本へ行く事ができません。だから、あの時はランクヘッドのライブに行きたいためにマレーシアに帰りました。私はバカだね？！？！でも、時々私は本当にランクヘッドのライブに行きた過ぎるとおもうんです！ライブに行く事がたいへん好きですよ！アメリカにもたくさんライブに行きました。でも、時々それはよくないんだろう？ライブに行きたい過ぎなら、人生に他の道を見られないんだよう？

 

それでも、私は未練がありません。

 

でも、マレーシアに帰ったの後に、人生についてもっと悲しくしんぱいするになります。

 

さいきんたくさん考えている。毎日毎日私の未来はもっと暗くなると思うんです。私が決のためことはそれぞれ失敗ばかりかもしれません。

 

私は夢がある。

でも、時々その夢が消えます。
時々その夢が見えません。
時々、その夢をまだぜんぜん分かりません。

 

未来が本当に分からなくて、一番ほしい事をまだ見つけられない。

この暗さの中で、よく考えている。もしかしたらほかの生き方があったかもしれません。この世界はたくさん色々な事ができます。そしてこの人生はたいへん大切な物で、この世界はもっと大切なするべき事があります。神様は私にこの人生をくれたということは、ぜったい私はより大切なしているべき事があるとおもんです。

 

でも、私はぜんぶその選択をしませんでした。よりいい仕事ができたかもしれませんが、私は英語の先生になる事を選びました。

 

それはライブがたいへん好きですから。

 

不確かな夢でも、日本へ行きたいんです。

 

今もたくさん他の事をできますが、私は日本に行きたい。ライブに行きたいですから。LIVEに日本に行きたい事のために、一生のプランは立てられます。それは私のバカな夢だよね。

 

けど。

 

 

あなた達も夢がある。その夢のために１１０％自分をささげています。何かあっても、困った時も、うれしい時も、疲れた時も、過去と今と未来も、本当にあなた達はこの愛する事のためにぜんぶ自分をささげています。

 

私は本当にそれを賞賛するんです。

 

ねえ、小高さん、私はあなたがたくさん他の事をできると思います。小高さんはよくこの事を考えますか？私は小高さんが本当に非常に有能な人ですから、小高さんが色々な事をできると思うんです。

 

でも、小高さんはいつも「まだ歌を歌いたい」と書きました。

 

それは本当にステキな事と思うんです。

 

小高さんは何にでもなる事ができますけど、小高さんの心の中には歌だけがある。

 

歌を歌う事が小高さんの本当の天職と思うんです。

 

それは本当に一番素晴らしい事と思うんです。

 

 

時々もっと人生の事を考えたなら、もっともっとぜつぼうにする。

 

あの時には歌がじゅうぶんじゃないんだ。
歌を歌えないんだ。

歌の力の感じたくないんだ。
時々歌う歌がないんです。

でも、

 

時々あなた達の歌を聞く時には私はすこしだけでも、もっと強くなって、もう一歩を歩き出せる。ありがとう。

 

あの時の間だけでも、すこしだけ心にはまだ見えない夢の影を見られる。

ありがとう。

 

本当にみんなさん、ありがとう。

 

 

ねえ、小高さん。私の夢はバカな夢だけど、不確かな夢だけど、小高さんと山下さんと合田さんと石川さんも私に一つ夢をくれました、本当にありがとうございます。あなた達がいるから、私はまだ人生の可能性の美を信じることができます、ありがとう。

 

歌を歌いたいかぎり、歌いつづけてください。私たちがのぞむのはそれです。

 

では、いつかライブにあいましょう。もしNewAlbumのリリスの後にツアがあったら、ライブに行かなければなりません！（笑）Good Luck and All the Best for your new album. iTunes Music Storeで曲を買いました！うれしかった！

 

 

I is secretly in love wid...


His hair is usually perfectly bobbed.
He is the epitome of coolness (sorta! ahahaha).
Reincarnate of Cobain-que.
He encapsulates the last remnants of grunge.

<3