What are you currently listening to?

[BurlyHeart]

This is incredible. Must find some of their albums next time I visit Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42U9BsUSxOU

[Lemnear]

this made my day
Fred again.. & Anderson .Paak - places to be

[Lemnear]

perfect for a summer afternoon with a red sunset on the horizon, and the light coming in softly through the curtains

Groove Armada feat. Bryan Ferry - Shameless

the original is a little less delicate, but much more stylish
Bryan Ferry - Shameless

[Lord British]

Believe the hype, this is the best video ever (and doesn't Al look like Bob Odenkirk?)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNBWLFZfxTM

[Lander]

A little unconventional, but I've been rediscovering the BBC Radio adaptation of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and it's as wonderful - if not more so - than I remember. Easily the definitive nontextual version of Adams' famous work

Of particular note is the soundtrack, if not the production overall. Each time The Guide shows up to exposit - at least one or twice an episode - it's accompanied by an ELP-style prog rock backing track that nails the eccentric retro sci-fi tone, and rather pleasingly, every one is unique.

[Lemnear]

Negrocan - Cada vez que te veo

Negrocan - Cada vez que te veo (Gigi D'Agostino Remix

[null1024]

Listening to MBS002:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DbFj7jXa7A

Not all the songs on it are quite my jam [and I think like two or three of them are outright just not good], but it's overall pretty cool.
I'd say the first two songs are the best though.

[Daytime Waitress]

This is incredible. Must find some of their albums next time I visit Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42U9BsUSxOU

How/why did I forget that midori existed? Thanks, BH.

Anyway, slipping into the weekend with a mix of some older DnB/jungle, UT99 maps as the backdrop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRPIcraGkvc

Is this what the kids call ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ?

[Lemnear]

Anyway, slipping into the weekend with a mix of some older DnB/jungle, UT99 maps as the backdrop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRPIcraGkvc

Is this what the kids call ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ?

For you, here's some "ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ"

https://www.youtube.com/@4AMBreaks

Low Poly Breaks [DISC. 1]
Low Poly Breaks [DISC. 2]
Low Poly Breaks [DISC. 5]
Low Poly Breaks [DISC. 6]

[Daytime Waitress]

Anyway, slipping into the weekend with a mix of some older DnB/jungle, UT99 maps as the backdrop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRPIcraGkvc

Is this what the kids call ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ?

For you, here's some "ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ"

https://www.youtube.com/@4AMBreaks

Low Poly Breaks [DISC. 1]
Low Poly Breaks [DISC. 2]
Low Poly Breaks [DISC. 5]
Low Poly Breaks [DISC. 6]

Always dig Jungle Fatigue, and that Planetary Drift mix is golden.
Thanks, Lemnear!

[Lord British]

Believe the hype, this is the best video ever (and doesn't Al look like Bob Odenkirk?)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNBWLFZfxTM

Oh, and here's the singer playing the guy who's after the Beefheart LP in High Fidelity

https://youtu.be/QOwjVVSNOtY?si=yFzN8ML_OWw6cvjR

[BIL]

Found this dude when searching for R4 mixes: brings just the precise amount of heat, precision and soul to everything he touches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSn644dgUEY

Outstanding performance of a standout track! Really illustrates the song's character, breezy yet full of rooftop-scampering joie de vivre. There's an instant sub.

Brother man is amazing Looked up some Axelay jams and holy balls.

[Daytime Waitress]

Found this dude when searching for R4 mixes: brings just the precise amount of heat, precision and soul to everything he touches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSn644dgUEY

Outstanding performance of a standout track! Really illustrates the song's character, breezy yet full of rooftop-scampering joie de vivre. There's an instant sub.

Brother man is amazing Looked up some Axelay jams and holy balls.

Hot damn!
I was already on my way back to this thread to post his hot Kirby Superstar and slick Pilotwings 64 covers.
The latter is only a miserable thirty seconds long but at least made me realise I need a full album arrange done by him.
Maybe it was by dint of spending so many hours with it shortly after the N64's launch, but I reckon PW64 was my first proper introduction to jazz/fusion/lounge and for that I owe it a hell of a lot.

[Arino]

Found this dude when searching for R4 mixes: brings just the precise amount of heat, precision and soul to everything he touches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSn644dgUEY

Outstanding performance of a standout track! Really illustrates the song's character, breezy yet full of rooftop-scampering joie de vivre. There's an instant sub.

Brother man is amazing Looked up some Axelay jams and holy balls.

You're so late to this BIL

[To Far Away Times]

I'm not really a pop music guy, but I've always liked Sara Bareilles. She strikes me as more of a Carol King singer/songwriter like you'd find in the 1970's than a modern day pop hit maker.

Check out her cover of Goodbye Yellow Brickroad. What a voice. She does that steady belted noted, into vibrato, back to a steady note, and then the run at the end, in one long ass continuous phrase. Fucking ridiculous.

[Daytime Waitress]

I'm not really a pop music guy, but I've always liked Sara Bareilles. She strikes me as more of a Carol King singer/songwriter like you'd find in the 1970's than a modern day pop hit maker.

Check out her cover of Goodbye Yellow Brickroad. What a voice. She does that steady belted noted, into vibrato, back to a steady note, and then the run at the end, in one long ass continuous phrase. Fucking ridiculous.

Ridiculous is the perfect word for it - and then she just gets up and walks away from the piano like, "tee hee!", like she didn't just produce one of the most immaculate covers in pop music history and leave the live audience with their souls irreparably altered.

I didn't expect much going into that, but thanks for sharing it.

[Some-Mist]

I'm not really a pop music guy, but I've always liked Sara Bareilles. She strikes me as more of a Carol King singer/songwriter like you'd find in the 1970's than a modern day pop hit maker.

Check out her cover of Goodbye Yellow Brickroad. What a voice. She does that steady belted noted, into vibrato, back to a steady note, and then the run at the end, in one long ass continuous phrase. Fucking ridiculous.

we had a chance to see sara bareilles in waitress but other disappointing plans got in the way and it still stings. ended up seeing phillipa soo in amelie and mark ruffalo/danny devito/tony shalhoub in the price on broadway and it was slated for after (friends wanting to do something else, still regrets : )

[Some-Mist]

we were also supposed to see amber gray in hadestown in late 2010s because the s/o loved her in natasha pierre and the great comet of 1812, and her understudy filled in when we went and saw it on broadway lmao

[Steven]

Today is the 20th anniversary of the release of BUMP's (still best-selling) album ユグドラシル, so I listened to it again for the first time in 3 days. Yeah, it hasn't been very long since last time, and it's still as good now as it was 3 days ago and 20 years ago. I really go miss how they used to do albums, with opening and ending tracks and a shitload of really good album songs so it's not just the singles that you already bought years ago and have listened to 20,000 times each already. Now these guys do so much contract work that there's almost no space on the albums for anything but those singles that you already have. Not really looking forward to their new album next week because of that, at least it's going to have the live BD, which is really what I want, but I'd buy it anyway even without that.

Anyway, my ユグドラシル's case is pretty fucked up at this point. That's what happens when you bring it with you when you move to the other side of the world and then bring it with you again when you move back to the other side of the world that you just left. Still one of their best albums for both singles and album songs. Only a few things left on here that I haven't seen them play live, too: sailing day, which they haven't played since 2013, 同じドアをくぐれたら, which was always super rare, and レム, which they have never played live, probably because there's no drums or bass, leaving half of the band with nothing to do.

[Steven]

Flying get



This doesn't release until tomorrow, but naturally I have it anyway.

There's only one new song on here that I haven't heard and I got it an hour and a half before I had to go to work, so instead of listening to the album I watched most of the live footage instead, and it matches my terrible memory perfectly. They even kept in the part with the harmonica mistake and him admitting to it, which made me happy.

The album itself is solid even without listening to that one new song, but I really wish there were more album tracks. Next one's probably going to be the same way, sadly.

Listening to it now and they definitely made some (cool) changes; Sleep Walking Orchestra has a new intro and they slightly increased the volume of some the background synth on なないろ. I wonder what other changes they made...

Great, there's a weird editing error on strawberry where Fuji-kun's voice sort of flickers back and forth between centered and panned slightly left for a moment and then he's stuck panned left for a while before eventually returning to centered. It doesn't do that on the single and I highly doubt that it's intentional. Other than that, it's a great album, possibly one of their best. Everyone knows BUMP is way better live than in the studio, and fortunately 木漏れ日と一緒に lives up to that astonishingly beautiful live recording that they released 2 years ago; I've had a feeling that it would be possibly the best song on the album for the past 2 years, and I was right. Absolutely looking forward to see BUMP live again very soon... and it will be very soon.

[vol.2]

The end of the summer is my favorite time of year here in Baltimore. The nights are getting cool and dry enough to leave the windows open and there's a cool breeze to cut the warmth of the sun. It always struck me as a shame that September is that horribly rushed moment for everyone due to schools and colleges starting back up, and the whole work world is coming back from their summer vacations and getting ready to double-down on the hive mentality. It can be a challenge to make the time to appreciate the beauty we have before the days are too cold and the nights are too short.

I think that's why I tend to reach for easy going music this time of year. Recently I've been listening to a lot of JJ Cale (not to be confused with John Cale), but also one of my favorites, NRBQ.

[Lord British]

The end of the summer is my favorite time of year here in Baltimore. The nights are getting cool and dry enough to leave the windows open and there's a cool breeze to cut the warmth of the sun. It always struck me as a shame that September is that horribly rushed moment for everyone due to schools and colleges starting back up, and the whole work world is coming back from their summer vacations and getting ready to double-down on the hive mentality. It can be a challenge to make the time to appreciate the beauty we have before the days are too cold and the nights are too short.

I think that's why I tend to reach for easy going music this time of year. Recently I've been listening to a lot of JJ Cale (not to be confused with John Cale), but also one of my favorites, NRBQ.

Aw, you posted this on my friend Joe's bday who played drums for NRBQ. RIP Joe

[Steven]

Absolutely looking forward to see BUMP live again very soon... and it will be very soon.

BUMP OF CHICKEN TOUR 2024 Sphery Rendezvous

Day 1



"I've... been here before."

Yep. This place is Belluna Dome. It used to be called MetLife Dome, and I went to MetLife Dome to see BUMP on the first day of their 2019 tour aurora ark. It wasn't until I arrived at the dome's station and looked at the railroad tracks and remembered seeing this station before... remembered that I'd been here before, just under five and a half years ago, and had returned to the same place without knowing it was the same place, so that was weird.

It was built for baseball, not music, so the acoustics in this place suck ass due to the giant holes in the walls, but once night fell we got to hear all of the crickets in between songs. Chama said it was like a campfire, as if he invited a friend who invited a friend who invited a friend and this continued until there were 31,000 people all gathered together at the camp site. At the end of the show, he invited everyone to come back and experience the campfire again. That was really nice. It was also supremely hot and humid inside and everybody was super sweaty and smelly and nasty. Fuji-kun always sweats a lot, and halfway through he mentioned that he was probably the sweatiest person in the whole place, but this time at the end he looked like he'd gone swimming.

Fuji-kun also apologized for the messed up audio on the album. I have to go fill out some form to get a new CD with fixed audio... I'll do that later. At least it's free.

Last time I was here I was over on the right side in the stands, but today I was here:

Spoiler

Relatively close to the small stage, so not bad. I, by some insane luck, had the best seat (standing, really, but...) in the whole place at their 20th anniversary special live, where I was in the very center of the front row only two meters away from the stage, but I've also had a lot worse seating than today.

The setlist today was just as weird and unexpected as my sudden realization, and it was also a bit short at only 18 songs instead of the typical 19, but still better than the short 17 song setlist from 2016. Opening with Sleep Walking Orchestra was... a decision, I guess. Not the decision I would have made, but that's what they did. They played their old staple 車輪の唄 followed immediately by 記念撮影, both songs MIA since 2019 (and I was their for what was previously the final show where they played both of them, now that I think about it), and then my beloved and super-rare 飴玉の唄 a few songs later after they literally just played it the last time I saw them in April... holy shit BUMP my tear glads have a finite capacity. All three of these beautiful songs that close together is too much. Also saw Fuji-kun using a Telecaster for the first time in my life. He looked really fucking weird with a Telecaster.

Highlight of the night:

レム, which they have never played live, probably because there's no drums or bass, leaving half of the band with nothing to do.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THEY PLAYED IT! THEY ACTUALLY PLAYED IT! They decided to have Hiro swap between acoustic (his nice Martin, I believe) -> Les Paul Standard -> acoustic mid-song without any interruptions, which was cool, and when he had the Les Paul they added a crazy band arrange thing so they rhythm section would have something to do. Always wished they'd play it and that I could see it, but never thought they'd actually do it. Glad I was wrong. It was also the first time I've seen Fuji-kun with an electric but Hiro with an acoustic on the same song. This combination looked even more strange than Fuji-kun with the Telecaster. My reaction to seeing this odd combination before they started playing was "WTF is this? I've never seen this before."

Setlist was... if I'm being completely honest, probably one of the weakest I've seen them do, and it was heavily propped up by 飴玉の唄, レム, and a god-tier encore: カルマ and 虹を待つ人. It was still an excellent show, poor acoustics aside, but not quite as good as I'd hoped it would be. Maybe I just got spoiled by that ridiculous setlist from Homesick Eisei 2024 earlier this year. They'll probably never top that. This show was also less cinematic than Homesick Eisei 2024 was. That show had that awesome voyage through space theme, but this didn't have anything like that, and the typical crazy laser show was dialed back a lot as well.

Well, that's it for today. Time to get some water to avoid dying of dehydration and then go to sleep.

[vol.2]

Aw, you posted this on my friend Joe's bday who played drums for NRBQ. RIP Joe

Damn. Sorry to hear it man.

Very cool he played with them though; I really do love NRBQ. They passed this way in June of this year, but I was unfortunately out of town, but they tend to still tour every year.

[To Far Away Times]

Pearl Jam - Wreckage

Off the new album, sounds like a song Tom Petty could have wrote. Which I guess makes sense. I saw PJ live and Eddie Vedder mentioned that he had Tom Petty's guitar and used it for a cover of "Won't back down."
I think if they would have pushed this as the main song the album would have done a lot better.

[Steven]

BUMP OF CHICKEN TOUR 2024 Sphery Rendezvous

Day 2



Normally when I see BUMP, I usually become really sad once the show is over. What if I have to leave Japan? What if I am never able to see them again? Yesterday, that didn't happen. I haven't seen them two days in a row since April 2014, so it was really nice to do it again after so long.

Today I got a weird seat. Directly in front of me is... a speaker. Yay. Look to the left and realize that I'm in the front row! Awkwardly, and on the far right side, but in the front row! I was so close to that speaker that every time the bass drum was played I could feel the sound wave physically pushing my body backwards slightly. Cool! Haven't been this close since 2016, when I used the last of my good luck with seating. It's been mostly just terrible seats since then, but not today.

Spoiler

Fuji-kun, Chama, and Hiro all stopped by to hang out right in front of me for a while, and Fuji-kun and Chama both sat down on the edge of the stage to play Gravity right where the camera girl in my picture is, with Fuji-kun almost falling off the stage in the process of jumping down to the lower ledge and Chama grabbed him to prevent him from falling off, but with absolutely no interruption in the performance. That's the second time I've seen him nearly fall off the stage. Be careful dude!

For some reason, I almost always like their day 2 setlists more than their day 1 setlists, and today was no exception. 記念撮影 and レム fortunately stayed, which means they're guaranteed to be on the eventual Blu-ray from the tour final. The stuff that changed was largely stuff that I hadn't seen in 7 to 9 years, like Aurora changing to アンサー and 飴玉の唄 becoming the extremely rarely played 太陽, which I haven't seen since 2015, and that day in 2015 was incidentally the last time they played it before today, so it was great to see such a rare song again after so long. I really wanted to see 飴玉の唄 again, but I'm very satisfied with what it was replaced with.

MC stuff was largely the same as yesterday, and Chama did talk about inviting a friend to this summer camp-like event, and then that friend invited another friend who did the same and so on. We could hear the crickets again, and this time Fuji-kun introduced the band to both the human audience and the crickets. We also found out that Chama spent 8000 yen (!!!) at the convenience store today trying to win those prizes that they give away and that Hiro gets embarrassed if there are more than 15 people watching him play. 15 is fine, but 16 is too many. Lol you guys are so weird sometimes.

Better and/or more energetic performances today from everyone except for possibly Chama, who was as lively and as good as always. He also got stung on the right arm by a bee during rehearsal today and didn't let it bother him at all, although he had a big welt on his arm the whole night. Or maybe they seemed better today due to having the speaker directly in front of me so I could hear much better, but I guess it doesn't matter. Hiro made at least one mistake, the one I remember clearly being on his last big solo of the night on the oldest (kind of, anyway...) song they have after 28 years of playing it, but I'll forgive him.

Really glad I went today. It's not over yet, though.

[Daytime Waitress]

The Kawai love-in in the late realisations thread got me revisiting the Patlabor 2 OST.
I don't have words for how simultaneously ethereal yet utterly grounded and entombed in concrete this thing still feels 30 years on.

Haven't been back to re-examine the movie's ruminations on remilitarisation in probably over twenty years, but it definitely made an impact on a teenage Waitress just finding out about this Annie May chick.
Hell, between this and the original GiTS movie, Oshii's ponderous ponderings probably saved my cheeks from a life of sordid weebdom.

[Lemnear]

Is this what the kids call ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ?

More ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ for you.
I don't know why, but this thing gave me the urge to play RayCrisis

[Lemnear]

End of Summer Music Mix (VGM Soundtracks)

[Lemnear]

Areknuteknyterne "Untitled" (1986, Yecch Tapes)