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Well i am finally through all the Onmyo-za albums, so now i am in to the Ps

starting off i picked up a solo album from the X-japan guitarist pata "raised on rock"
Its a very blues rock album. also pata reminds me of a Japanese slash...its the hair, minus the top hat.




Next in line is a guilty pleasure and some nostalgia. one of the first non-anime related bands i started listening to in the early 90s an all female Jrock group known for TV commercial songs

Pink Sapphire

Been listening to a lot to Danheim in these past few weeks. Danheim is a Danish artist who makes music inspired by Norse myths and such. He is also quite the history buff. The music has suited my current position in life, makes the days go by faster.

Still on the folk metal, Tengger Cavalry have been taking up a lot of my playlist the last few days. Theyre an oriental metal band with heavy mongolian/tuvan influences, with the twangy instruments and throat singing.

Tobias Sammets avantasia is always a good choice. i remember when i got hooked on his original band with the funny name "edguy" back in the late 90s when they were fresh out of high school and were told "nobody wanted to listen to that kind of music".

Good thing they didn't listen. vain glory opera was the first album i picked up and i have been a fan ever since. they also have a great sense of humor (the life and times of a bonus track comes to mind).


Over the years before youtube and many internet assets to check out new bands i picked up a smattering of japanese bands from the well known like anthem, to the less well known like fatima hill.

One of these that i am now listening to is sheena ringo. i only got her first 3 "solo" albums and kind of lost interest after that as i am primarily a rock/metal guy and she started working on other music styles.

We are talking 1999 here and still she always struck me as akin to Haruka from FuriCuri(maybe it was the nurse outfit for that music video).. a bit strange with an edge of crazy.

Now into the S's

This is the big block with some of my favorite bands.

To start off with it will be Seikima II (holy devouring demon/the end of the century). i have been a fan for over 2 decades myself.
formed in 1982 they have sold more than 10 million albums in japan alone.

I like to think of them as a cross between judas priest and king diamond a mix of skilled heavy metal music combined with dark themes as the theme behind the band is that they are all demons or akuma-with a heavy reference to kabuki theater

A full breakdown can be found here-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikima-II

One of my favorite early songs from them-house of wax

music video





The english version of the same song-

Still listening to eastern music. I discovered this a few wekks ago,unfortunatly this guy died from his desease roughly 3 years ago. Mayhe rest in peace...

Been a while since my last update. grinding through all the seikima II albums and then demon kogure's (seikima IIs singer) solo album collection took some time, very enjoyable time

Now i have moved onto the SEX MACHINEGUNS

They are a fantastic band with a solid basis in classic bay area mid-late 80s thrash/speed metal in the vane of testament, exodus, overkill, old metallica etc.. with the added benefit of a bit of humor akin to steel panther in the lyrics department.

So of all fething things, Alestorm decided to do a cover of some song from a terrible obscure French Donkey Kong cartoon. Nearly fell out of my chair after making the connection. You know that feeling when a show you used to watch comes back to haunt you somehow? It’s that kind of feeling.
They don’t have a music video for this one, but it hasn’t stopped someone from trying.

Not surprised....it is alestorm afterall. they have a great sense of humor along with bands like Edguy (the life and times of a bonus track is epic) . there are some other great covers i would rank up there as better than the originals-

.Jagdpanzer-wreck of the edmonds fitzgerald
.lacuna coil-careless wisper (yeah a depech mode song)
.frog leap studio-rains of africa
10 masked men-stayin alive (well any of their covers are great)

and the like.

Moving on to the next big section. another of my favorite japanese bands i have been listening to since the 90s

SHOW-YA
One of the biggest and most well known all female hard rock/heavy metal groups in japan. their early influences were inspired by deep purple, the doors, the beatles and the like.

They got their start in the early 80s as almost a pop rock band and competed directly with another all female group called princess princess. the latter being more pop. show-ya's earlier works did have a jem here and there that foreshadowed the heavier sound they would adopt. with songs like fairy. they really hit their stride on the 5th album immigration. keep in mind this is the japanese music market forcing them to churn out high rates of albums. the debut album was 1985, they hit that 5th album a mere 2 years later in 1987.

The lead singer decided to go on a solo career stint in the early 90s but reformed with the band in the early 2000s and they are still putting out new albums since the reunion. still rocking into their 50s they are also well known for promoting female rock acts with a nearly yearly event concert called naon no yaon.

I rate them right up there with classic judas priest and similar groups.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show-Ya

fairy from the 92' hard way concert before the breakup





And something a bit more recent 2014

doing a cover of X-japan's kurenai




They also do a fantastic metal cover of the beatles "blackbird" (even though i am not a beatles fan)

Enjoy!

Shaka Ponk, a French kinda art rock punky type outfit,

Bit left field in terms of my general preferences, but an excellent band all the same.

After 11 studio albums, 2 live albums, 2 cover albums and a singles collection i finally worked my way through my show-ya catalog.


Next up is a bit of a change.

Minami takayama is a famous and prolific voice actress who also has her own music group TWO-MIX

She has done many famous characters like conan from the long running detective boy conan series, or dilandau from vision of escaflowne.

Some of her music has been used for the animes she does voice work for. including the themes for detective boy conan and gundam wing

they also did a very cool cover of the lupin the 3rd theme.


The music is techno fusion with elements of rock, jazz, Jpop, and even orchestra.

skavenlord

While going through random youtube playlists i finally heard lovebites. they were pretty solid but i found some other gems i liked better

Rie AKA suzaka

she is a guitar virtuoso who gets guest singers when she needs vocals on her albums (when she isn't doing instrumentals).





the other one is one that has surprisingly been around since 97' and are famous for doing anime themes.

yousei teikoku-fairy kingdom.

its a mix of gothic/metal/electronic and classical.




I already ordered a couple suzaku albums and i put yousei teikoku into my shopping cart on cd japan,so i will have to do another order.

Pretty Reckless - Death by Rock and Roll

Great art on the video but NSFW

Right now I'm listening to Shadow Fall (Alphabet Squadron 2!)

But just prior to that I was listening to ridiculous medieval covers:

Felt like a glutton for punishment, so was playing the Resident Evil soundtrack today. Wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but “dying clown farts” was not up there on the list. Had to stop for a few minutes because I was laughing too hard.

Mr Morden wrote:Pretty Reckless - Death by Rock and Roll

Great art on the video but NSFW

Spoiler:

Man, found that on Spotify a while back. Certainly a nice surprise! Got any recommendations for someone getting into that band?

Captain Joystick wrote:Right now I'm listening to Shadow Fall (Alphabet Squadron 2!)

But just prior to that I was listening to ridiculous medieval covers:

Spoiler:

Ha! Bardcore is awesome! Had a friend dump a bardcore Smash Mouth cover one day. Still feels more lively than nightcore.

Mr Morden

good call there on pretty reckless, a good blues rock sound, my wife likes them alot.


I appreciate you and your "associates" could arrange that for us.

I won't even "look up into your lifeless eyes and wave...just like this"





Back in the late 90s i was watching quite a bit of Japanese entertainment shows like HEY!HEY!HEY! music champ.

That got me listening to many great bands including some of the more mainstream rock acts including Aikawa Nanase and this guy-

T.M.R. or T.M. revolution (Takanori Makes Revolution) with is blending of rock and electronica/techno, he also likes to wear some impressive stage costumes.








i am currently listening through his catalog in my collection now.

So next up is a newer band from japan that is a fusion of classic Japanese traditional instruments and modern rock instruments.

With almost an anime flare to their look and costumes- the wagakki band.

the singing style like with onmyoza is traditional shigin (adding pitch to traditional poems)

Their most well known song is senbonzakura or 10,000 cherry blossoms, but i thought i would share something different this time.

slight sidestep it is the 4th of july- as an american, here my playlist for the USAs birthday includes the following soundtracks-
.patton
.the great escape
.band of brothers
.glory

the marches for
.when johnny comes marching home
.dixie's land
.battle hymn of the republic
.star spangled banner
.anthems of the 5 military branches

and not to be forgotten the fantastic iced earth album -the glorious burden

including the 30+ minute epic of the 3 day battle of Gettysburg (july 1-3 1863)





P.S. and some sabaton songs as well

in the late 80s and early 90s THE band that dominated was X-japan
which is next on my play list.

X-japan is the band that is best known for really kicking off the visual kei scene. with the band leader/drummer looking like the iconic pretty boy that could have walked off the pages of a girls comic.

They had an incredible run with their first 3 albums, from that point on the bass player left the band citing musical differences, they then released an epic 30 minute EP and finally a 4th full album that consisted of mostly ballads and studio tracks that were cut from the previous album. after this point things went south for the band. the singer left, one of the guitar players committed suicide, and even though they were still hugely popular the band ceased to exist for a time. they later re-united with the singer and started releasing new material, but by this point i had stopped listening to them. so my collection is limited to the first 5 releases.

Not as well known as big hits like silent jealousy, but one i enjoy off the first album-rose of pain. an 11 minute epic with some impressive tempo/time changes.

Today marks the day when one of the best men I ever had the honour of knowing died far too early. So I have been listening to Kaizers Orkestra all day and remembering all the good times we had. ( Lyrics also included in the spoiler tag)

Trondheim


this ones for you

 aphyon wrote:
Trondheim


this ones for you

Thanks man, it means a lot

Rob Zombie makes music for heretics.

CSM approved.

I've been watching Beavis and Butthead recently and decided I'd make a playlist covering from 92' through 98's -ish and anything I could find that turned up in one of the videos played on the show. It's been absolute magic. I've added some other stuff here and there and am up to a 400 song playlist that's just lots of fun.
I even added songs that suck so I can change it, or not.

Other than that recently the Pixies, the Breeders, Dead Kennedys, The Melvins and some new retro wave stuff I fell into a few years ago that I enjoy.

Last year was a solid year of Monster Magnet.
Who are amazing.

So new arrival just slipped into the play list

The new album from the classic bay area thrash band TESTAMENT

titans of creation.






On my normal playlist i have moved into movie soundtracks in the line now

the fantastic 13th warrior by Jerry Goldsmith





The babylon 5 suite by Christopher Franke





And black rain by Hans Zimmer

A little update as i cruise on through my soundtracks

Up this week
.bill and ted's excellent adventure
.braveheart
.crouching tiger hidden dragon
.galaxy quest
.highlander soundtracks 1,3,4 (not the queen album the actual background music)

todays commute playlist update

fisrt we start with some excellent soundtracks to some campy movies

the hunted-soundtrack done by world famous taiko group KODO

Kull the conqueror

metal orchestra fusion that would make micheal kamen smile.




Then we start the list of "the lasts"

.the last action hero
.the last samurai
.the last star fighter

and top it off with season 1 soundtrack to the orville., Seth MacFarlane making better star trek than star trek

todays update

starting off with a little love for mel brooks with

.robin hood men in tights




followed by

.rob roy
.south park the movie
.team america the movie
.the 12 girls band....how that got stuck in with my soundtracks i don't know

like the wagakki band it is a fusion of modern and traditional instruments this time from china.