21 posts tagged “ramblings”

(I have no idea what I am really saying, but basically just on a hiatus until whenever. Please stick with me? Please?)

This place has become inactive. Infact I should have put up a hiatus note a little while ago.  I think right now I am having an identity crisis when it comes to my reviews and this site and the other one I run- Paradise lost. This blog, Time to Fall I'm talking about from here on, is not just a year old... it is years old. And somehow I am pleased with it's current form. I am not sure if it is interesting for readers, but when I can be asked to write the reviews I enjoy it and enjoy the finished product. It has taken my a bit of experimenting and time to grow into the current way of reviewing, but I am satisfied with where I have ended up. I don't know everything about the music I review, but I can describe what I hear and how it makes me feel and I enjoy that. Who cares if anyone reads through it all?  Being able to talk about the music I like, freely talk about it, it wonderful. Sometimes I struggle with what to say, but still... I'm happy where I am.

However I feel like my archives should be at the same level as the more recent posts, and they aren't and that bugs me more than it should. The fact that it is all so disorganized, it's all presented in different ways, and some of the writing from back then is so immature.... it bugs me.

I want to move this site. I love vox in many ways but I want to move over to wordpress- over to my main domain so I can have more freedom with the layout and stuff. I also want to rewrite and reformat. Need to sort out tags and categories. Maybe remove all single reviews (or atleast some, or those where all the songs end up on a album)... I want to do something with the old stuff.  But it's finding the time and motivation to do this. This blog is years old and well...it's bloated. Full of stuff I think "should I keep?" and long album reviews to sort through (laughing at in the process XD).  It needs cleaning, it needs to move and I need to move on from the old stuff. I want to be more organized, I want the reviews to look nicer (I know people like music previews, and atleast one picture...which I want to include)

I have started on this massive project but I have no idea if or when I will finish. Maybe in the end I will end up deleting all the old stuff and really starting anew.

Either way I will begin to clean this place out. First to go are the random posts, which will be backed up and deleted/backed up and moved over to my  livejournal.

There will be change...slowly but surely. And I hope to maybe add a few reviews during this, but I can't promise anything. I guess I am going through that stage where you just become really tired of owning a website and just want to take a step back from it for a while ^_^ It happens to everyone right?

(comments off for no particular reason other than I don't think there is much to say to this ramble : )  )

[edit] More personal (and rambly) version of this here ^_^ [/edit]

Isn't it just such a beautiful song? The live sounds alot different from the recorded version, and maybe I prefer the recorded version but either way it's a riduculously good song. Their sound was described as "haunting" and I agree. The song is soft and gentle, yet filled with a raw emotion. The gorgeous high vocals contrasting to the rougher rock instrumentation is really what makes this so unique and so beautiful, too. They have taken away the flute for the live, but that only adds to the haunting, forlorn atmosphere. i just love the dynamics of the song, how it builds up then fades away again. It's just a REALLY GOOD SONG. It's indescribable all the emotions it makes me feel.

I have been trying to get into Postrock. At first it sounded like something boring to me, but... well it started when I heard alot about Mono. And the intriguing title of their latest album and the good reviews made me decide to listen to them. And well, they are really incredible. And so I realised that Postrock is so far from boring... that in the case of Mono it is music that doesn't need words, the evokes emotion without telling a story through that convential mean and instead the instrumentation speaks clearly so many emotions, gives so many feelings. It really blew me away, Mono did. So I decided to find some more Postrock. I'm still trying out artists, and so far Mono and Presence of Soul are the only ones I'm really listening to. ^^ But it's an intriguing, varied genre which has gone beyond my (admiteddly low) expectations. 

Gackt is back!!!!! I love Gackt, he was my one of the first japanese artists I loved (one of the first I listened to actually)- and for about a year or two the only jrock I was into (I've only grown to love Jrock steadily over the past year or so). He's one of my favourite's though. Gackt released a single earlier this year, which was reminscent of early songs but still really powerful- brought to life by Gackt's amazing vocals, the lyrics and thoughts of Gackt as sumarai (lol).  Then he was quiet, instead doing other wierd things like that vocaloid and the game machine (slot machine?).

Well, he's released a new song!! Titled Jesus.... the full PV came out today or yesterday...

Hearing the song I become really excited about the new single!! I love listening to new Gackt, his music rarely gets old. Even Yami which was pretty much ripped off of his old works was totally awesome for me.. I think like kiyoharu Gackt has found a style that really works and he can rehash it as many times as he likes. This song though...is a little different. The PV is nothing special (I do like seeing him perform though) and admittedly I stopped watching to write this and rant about the song. hehe.  The good thing about youtube is reading people's comments and one person comments "Ok the song is about being hurt and trying to find some bit of closure within yourself. The MV is suppose to be about a German soldier about to kill himself. The whole thing is that it's suppose to be asking for answers from Jesus." which definitly helps to understand the song a bit. It's a pretty awesome song in it's own right- loud, fast and heavy. It's also pretty catchy.  A great song and I'm waiting for the single to be released : )

Comes out in only a few days!! It's amazing how Kiyoharu can stay so consistently good...no...so consistently FUCKING AMAZING. His music never fails to move me. So beautiful...like alot of Kiyoharu songs it's soft and accoustic (although there's a cool electric guitar bit), with rich vocals and a wonderful sense of meloncholy. It's relaxing, so so so so so beautiful and emotional- totally moving.  I like this PV too. Kiyoharu looks amazing, and he gives a gorgeous passionate perfomance, and theres some imagery and stuff too. Mainly it's nice to watch Kiyoharu XD   Overall, pretty excited for this. Kiyoharu never dissapoints. Never ever.

Compared to that 12012's new song is so boring!! The PV made me angry (although the band looked good, even though they were just STANDING there looking gorgeous for no apparent reason).  So many heartless people, even the girl was a bitch- she bullied the man she loved wtf?! The PV made me LOL too caus' everyone was gorgeous, even the doctor was some hot 20 something. Anyway, I hope the B-sides good.

There's some other new stuff too. Like Clazziquai Flea. Never been into Clazziquai but I'm loving the new song- gonna try the new album soon.

Ah...and it's not new but Red Roc hello is an AWESOME song. The PV with TOP is awesome too. TOP looks so amazingly sexy, especially in the beginning with the long hairstyle. I love TOP with long hair, it definitly brings out the best of him. And the whole gangster theme of the PV, and the dark lyrics with the rather upbeat song: so awesome. And TOP as a gangster!! Smashing up his girls with her new guys car... totally cool.

That is all :D

LOL. I had to laugh when I heard this news. Leah Dizon, a Gravure idol has married her stylist and is even pregnant. And she's been hiding this for four months already!!  What will happen to her now? For sure I can't see her continuing her work as a Gravure idol, racing queen and all that softcore stuff. And I also wonder about her music career. Now that she's already on a second album, she ain't so new and sparkly- and neither will she have her other career to support it: so what will happen to her now? I guess she does have a nice sum of money saved up (hopefully) and she will want to focus on her child now.  I was willing to wish her the best, I mean I'm sure her husband must be a nice guy...right? Wrong. This next bit of news sounds so dodgy and gives all the wrong impressions about everything, especially her husband.

So basically it makes it sounds like they were hot for each other , she got pregnant he thought "hey this is leah dizon. She's hot!! let's get married" and thus they did exactly that. It's only been a year, and it all sounds very rushed.  Even in the first news it mentions that they decided to marry because she was pregnant. So would they even still get married if she wasn't? It sounds very dodgy. And he sounds horrible!!  It could be rumours but still, even if the rumours of him being a player are false- why the freak did he say about his wife she  has a "big peach". He should say he loves her and wants to be with her, support her for the rest of her life. Some mushy stuff like that!! Man, that comment made me feel angry. What about Leah dizon? Is she really happy being married to this guy? She does sounds like she's happy and she likes him, yet from this news (I hope I can see more of this news) from that one comment by him: it gives off the wrong impression.

Anyway, it sounds like she likes kids though which is very cute. 22 is a nice age to have kids I think, and her circumstances are good now: I mean she has the money and then she can raise them while she's young. He is also obviously able to support her with his own succeful career. So basically things could work, perhaps they really are in love and will be together for a long time now. Or this marriage will dissolve as quickly as it was announced. Either way  I wish her the best, and last of all...congratulations to her!! :D  I do wonder though- when she eventually comes back how will the response be? 

(And I suppose all I'm saying is only off a couple of pieces of news I've read, there could be more to this which will be later revealed...)

1: Firstly a picture....

They look great!! So very very cute. Which just shows that they aren't bad looking, apart from in the Emergency PV which really did absolutly nothing for them. (Then again all the ChuSeok pictures are awesome. I totally love the Hanbok) Check out the lyrics from Emergency too. I thought the song had a darker more mature sound and I was right. I love the lyrics and they have such a great meaning about not giving up and lose hope. Also the subbed version of Seeing You. Once again very beautiful lyrics that I would totally expect from the songs. I love the "I'm calling" bit. Such a sad song, with such a beautiful sound.

As you can tell, I'm totally in love with Smash, I still hate neverending story but I'm listening to the other tracks alot. I want them to release something soon, just now or in November (because with TVXQ coming back they won't stand a chance). I want to see what they do next. And I want them to get a new look. hehe.

2: Check out this song by Kiyoharu. It's beautiful right? He has two new albums out (the previews are so tantilizing- I need them so badly!!) as well as a live DVD, which unfortunatly is like £40 and I just can't...not when the albums themselves are £20 even with only 8 tracks and a DVD with one PV (naturally despite that I still want them).

3: I mentioned this just now but...TVXQ ARE COMING BACK WITH THEIR 5TH KOREAN ALBUM!! I can't wait. I need to pre-order and soon!!  The pictures are so sexy. It's amazing how they started so dressed up, now well...they barely wear anything. Not that I'm complaining XD I wonder how it will sound. I really loved all their Japanese releases, and I like their faster dance numbers in their Korean discography. I'm sure it will be great though.

[edit] Dong Bang Shin ki in a hangbok! *drools* They all look so relaxed and happy. Such adorable smiles.  

I wasn't expecting to see this and I really did stop and stare. I swear these guys look like they came straight from a manwha (most boybands do). And..... Hero... [/edit] 

3: And I suppose I should say sorry the blog is dead. I did review Dir en Grey's Glass Skin but I was lazy and didn't cross post. Which is wierd as usually I post here first and crosspost to there- but somehow I didn't. Feel free to check it out if you're interested anyway.

4: I'm back to school though and it's killing me so I tend to end up watching drama's in my free time- you know, wasting time instead of actually bothering to update my sites. Sorry (_ _)

They are suddenly re-uniting?! That almost feels too good to be true!! Ah...I used to be a fan like over a year ago. I think I first heard them right when I was just getting into Jpop!!

Read the article here

I guess alot of people are gonna be extremly happy about this though. Even I can't help but feel excited about what they are gonna release.

Wait. Next spring? That's way too long to wait...

Isn't this so amazingly beautiful? Their voices really compliment each other.  I also watched a duet between kuroyume and L'arc and ciel- from around 91/92...before I was born most likely! o_o It was pretty awesome but definitly made one think "should have been there"- not quite as great recorded if you know what I mean.

It's weird to think I'm only fangirling over Kiyoharu now, yet he was around when I was but a kid. Actually in 99, the year we moved to the UK, I think SADS came over to the UK for a tour!! But obviously only 7/8 years later I would discover the band- and know about the tour.

Sometimes these things are pretty wierd. Some people have been fans of musicians since they started, seen them when they were teens and now as adults, can go on about how they have changed since back then. Some people know alot of about older generations of music. Most haven't though have they? Very few perhaps would be better wording.  For me- thinking about it properly, even after 2 years I'm still a Jpop/Jrock newbie. I don't even listen to the majority of bands and singers around now, nor do I really have that much knowledge about it. I guess because I listen to Jpop/Jrock, Cpop/C-rock and Krock/Kpop I cannot really devote my all to one!!

What i'm getting at is I think it would definitly be interesting if more people shared music from Japan from older era. All I've heard of (not neccesarily heard their songs) are Pink Lady, X Japan, D'erlanger (I think that's it), BUCK TICK, Kuroyume and Koshi Inaba (who I think was around in the 90's or earlier- not entirely sure. I've only heard a song by him! [edit] turns out he's vocalist of B'z. [/edit])  

Plus a few more who have been going for 20 years or more- like BUCK TICK and some others I cannot recall!

Need more 80's Jrock!! XD  And what about the 70's? Or 60's? I mean I don't even know what was going on in Japan at that time... let alone the music.

but yeah. You get my point （^_^） I might start googling this soon- see what I can find. :D

And wow. I originally planned to share the performance, and just mention the l'arc and the whole 92 thing. Somehow it morphed into these strange musings! 

I found a kiyoharu livejournal community!! It's great to read about him, and see news!! Kiyoharu is sadly unpopular : ( Don't hear much about him. Glad to find a community with up to date info!! I kinda stopped listening to Kiyoharu for a while but I've gone back into fangirl mode now XD

Well news is that he will be releasing two new albums september 9th!! Both contain 8 tracks, which will be accoustic versions of his songs, SADS and kuroyume. Limited editions come with DVDs though content has been unconfirmed.

Forget Ayu's A Complete- stuff that. I WANT THIS SO BADLY. Is it possible to save £40 in just over a week? I will make it possible. 8 tracks is a little tight, but I'm hoping the DVD content will make up for it. And you know accoustic versions of SADS/kuroyume/solo- and you know- it's kiyoharu who I love so so so so much and this just sounds so awesome. And I want first press Kiyoharu goodies, because all of his albums are obviously not first press anymore and you know if you go back to SADs and Kuroyume then it's hard to get hold of, especially kuroyume, and certainly no bonuses!! And first press is always awesome regardless.

I also really want Kiyoharu clips which is a collection of his PVs.

And I was gonna buy some Nell albums.

Stupid music industry. There's always too many things to buy!!  And it's too expensive. I'm a jobless 16 yr old- I survive on my allowance. I just spent a tonne of money buying clothes too.

Hm...decisions decisions... I'm definitly being tempted quite alot. Definitly very very tempted here.

I have gone into bad mood with school looming ahead, and I find myself listening to Nell quite a bit. Their music is the kind you can put on loud and immerse yourself in, and it's kinda relaxing and almost comforting to listen to. You can lose yourself in the feelings and the mood of the songs.  But at the same time you can put it on in the background and just let it play whilst you do something else.

Their music is pretty soft rock, but their songs have a great mood/feel to them and their work is simply beautiful. Seeing so wiki.ppn is down I'll take some info from Kome which sums them up well: Nell, a Korean band named after a movie starring Jodie Foster and discovered by Seo Taiji, is a pop/rock band with a very original and mesmerizing style. Their sometimes almost dreamlike music and the vocalist's unique, skilled vocals are filled with emotion that is sure to win over the heart of anyone who appreciates beautiful music.

Once again I cannot be asked to write full reviews (I'm so lazy. Hehe) but I will talk about a few favourite song that you should definitly check out!! I'm gonna ramble because I really really love these songs so I really want to right alot!! :D 

Firstly one time best seller, the remake found on their remake album let's take a walk. The song that really got me into Nell. It's a beautiful song,  a very soft and hypnotizing song, with  a dreamlike quality to it. The song has mellow, sad atmosphere. Feelings of regret, of losing something important. It's increbily powerful. There's so many feelings in this song. There's just so many layers, so many feelings... so many sounds all in this one 6 minutes long song.

The instrumentation is really stunning, I don't know how to describe it but it's a blend of soft rock and like synth, or a keyboard. It's really beautiful. And the vocalist has a gorgoues voice. His voice is just...so unique. The song is slow, but with many subtle variations. Also fantastic use of repetetion. The way they overlay the vocal parts at one point is just so ethereal and so beautiful.  I love the ending where the lines "is this the end?" are repeated. Ah...and when he sings falsetto. The vocalist has the most beautiful falsetto!! Also that backing talking thingy is pretty amazing. One listen and you're pretty much hooked on the song. It's incredible song... there's just so much to it. It's beautiful and I could honestly talk about it forever (because there are just so many parts to this song that are awesome).

I''ll stop rambling on about One time best seller though and move onto Promise me. A very relaxing and hopeful soft rock number. It's another great song. The song focuses alot on the wonderful instrumentation, with only a few verses and long instrmental parts. I love the chorus which is basically just the vocalist repeating "promise me" over the gorgeous instrumentation. Somehow it creates the most amazing feeling. It's almost like it doesn't need words. Once again I love the use of synth (though I think it's a keyboard). It all comes together to create such a full and uplifting atmosphere. This song is all kinds of awesome. Pretty short but very sweet. Got such a great feeling to it.

Next is Tokyo!! This one took a couple of listens to grow on me. It was only last night when I was listening on my mp3 player. I kinda lay there really absorbing the lyrics and the mood of the song and I realised just how amazing it was. Not to mention so catchy! Alot of Nells work subtely work their way into your brain~ XD The highlight of the song are the mature and realistic lyrics- reflecting on life and love in a rather bittersweet manner- "II think i'm losing weight again/ I think i'm losing taste again/I think i broke my heart again/Will you stay with me?".

Listening you can imagine the bright lights and conrete jungle that is any large city, like Tokyo. Tokyo is one of the biggest cities in the world, so  I can imagine why they would choose Tokyo. Tokyo at night with the neon lights, people rushing home or going out. People still up and out or stuck in the office.  The sort of faceless city where you can lose yourself in your life, convince yourself you're happy, but really you're empty. It's not real. What's real are what you feel but even then... The song kinda makes me go down this strange route of thought! Listen to the lyrics though. They can really be interpreted in alot of ways. They kinda make you think.

Back to the song. The song almost has a dance beat to it, that sort of feeling. The keyboard gives it a feeling like something of the 80's but to great effect.  The song has this constant beat, sounding almost like it's in a distance. The verses are soft and mellow, and the chorus comes suddenly and it's loud- in your face. The vocalist uses his brilliant falsetto for a great effect. This is really awesome song. It's pretty strange, but at the same I really like the feeling and the lyrics are pretty amazing. They make you think. And hey- no engrish!! An amazing, very mature and beautiful song. I love how it varies throughout and all the different dynamics to it. 

So there you have it! I won't make this any longer than it should- though there are still a few songs that I could mention. Nell are awesome though. I'm slowly working through their discoggraphy and their are few songs I truly hate.  A band I really really need to save up to buy their albums!! I'll hopefully have some money next month though..They are all kinds of awesome. A very unique band with an incredible sound.

When I can be fucked, I may try and  review their discography. Maybe. Sometimes heir songs are pretty indescirbable. I'll have to think.. : )  

Ps. No images. Wiki.ppn is down. Googling gets porn stars.