i did say more music

[acchikocchi]

and also a news update: I'll be shipping out for Japan in August, as I did get into JET after all. :D The period from application to departure is so long that it still doesn't feel very concrete, but I imagine it'll pick up once I get my placement.

--

Anyway, the point of this is recent discoveries:

I seem to be the last person to have heard of sleepy.ab, which is kind of surprising because they're right up my alley. Ambient and melodic, with a clear high-ranged vocalist and dreamy lyrics, but plenty of darker edges. Various tracks have also reminded me, at certain points, of Shugo Tokumaru, Muse, Fridge and the Sigur-Ros-et-al brand of melodic Scandinavian cold weather music. This is not surprising as they're from Sapporo and understand cold weather.* (The difference is that not all of their music is meant for COLD and ICE. XD;;) That's not to say that overall they sound particularly like any of those groups... I am really awful at the "group x sounds like the lovechild of group y and singer z after a pub crawl with band c" type comparisons so it's just, idk, freeform sonic association. Uh. Downloading would probably be a more reliable way to find out what they actually sound like.

Everything is from paratroop, their latest album, except "loop", which is from fantasia. I'm happy to upload more for any interested parties. :)

diver
do re mi
flee
insomnia
mori
loop

The hook for noanowa is that they have a cello-playing frontman (frontwoman), which as a former cellist I can't in good conscience resist. After love at first listen with "Haku", I then found that... the rest of their music is cheerful bouncy pop that sounds nothing like that. Well. Haku remains an excellent track, wailing cello and ethereal vocals and all. Sort of Björk-ish. Just give it a minute to get past the piano intro and out of the initial melody.

Haku
Haku live, i.e. cello action

Not so recent discoveries in the next post.


*It's hard to explain but some bands do cold climate music and some don't. Spitz doesn't, for one, winter music for Spitz is a cold day in Tokyo, no snow. As a matter of fact I can't think of a single snow or ice lyric off the top of my head, probably because Kusano grew up in Fukuoka. Versus the aforementioned Scandinavians - Sigur Rós, Kings of Convenience, Björk, Röyksopp, etc. - or the Arcade Fire. Or even GLAY. White landscapes broken by black branches.

Comments

[thawrecka]

Congrats on getting into JET!

[padfoot]

Congratulations for getting into JET. :D I'm really excited for you. ♥

[changetje.livejournal.com]

Congrats on getting into JET, that's amazing! :D

Ooh, taking some of the songs, thanks! :3 I totally know what you mean with winter/summer music. I think Spitz is more of Spring music, it reminds me of Sakura and grass XD But KAT-TUN is totally winter music, while NEWS and Arahi are more Summer-ish :D

[shabzilla.livejournal.com]

sdha;'opdflks;aklsdjf;ldsjfk OMGGGGG MERRRRRR IN JAPANZ AHHHHHHHHH CANT WAITTTTT!!!!!!

obvs update when you know your placement, did you app for kanto or somewhere else omg are you going to come early and chill in tky??? :dalskdja;lskd;lakds IM SO EXCITED AHSIDJALSDJLAS

[bonjovial.livejournal.com]

There is still so much waiting, but at least this is the fun part! :D

[brustreet.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on JET! If you're ever in Seoul, look me up and we'll party in Hongdae.

[pithetaphish]

\(^_^)/

Now I just needs to write another ema board asking the gods to place you close by! ^_~

[mananeh.livejournal.com]

I really liked do re mi! Some of the songs reminded me a lot of Spitz actually :)

[canis-m.livejournal.com]

JET get! Congraturation!

RE: climate + music, IAWTP. Seasonality is so important to my listening experience. One listens to Spitz all year long even though they don't do winter music because obv one cannot endure a Spitzless existence for months on end, but I always feel hideously out of sync if there's snow on the ground and "Umi wo mi ni ikou" or whatever is playing on the car stereo. XD; And there's no point even breaking out the Southern All Stars until it's 70+ degrees F and sunny.

[peroxidepest17.livejournal.com]

Eee Congrats on JET! I hope you get placed somewhere awesome.

[ettezag.livejournal.com]

Congratulations~ even though everyone and their mum already knew you were going to get in, haha. Completely relatedly, have you spoken to Kris recently? If you've not, I think you can guess where she is.

[razberrycreme.livejournal.com]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY CONGRATULATIONS ON JET!!!!!!! :DDDDDDDD

Thank you for the music :D :D

[araanaz9.livejournal.com]

Congrats on getting in JET! Knew you would. ;)

[ina]

Congratulations again! :D You only be in Japan starting from August. :( Knowing us you probably arrive a week after I left. :( I had hopped we would see each other in Japan.

[akamaru07.livejournal.com]

You're going to Japan! Congratulations for getting into JET! WOW!