Shadowcrunch's happy lil ditties

I like the way Sooth set up a thread he can just keep adding to, rather than firing up a new thread for each new sound, so I'm copying that format. And he's not getting royalties, so

NOW, I've been really enjoying my anime and manga. Been enjoying looking up aspects of Japanese culture and finding awesome symbolism they've passed down for centuries. Due to preferring my anime subbed instead of dubbed, I've even been gaining an affection for the Japanese language. I did NOT, however, expect to find Japanese music I would consider post-worthy! In fact, I believe my only previous experience with Japanese rock was some kind of live live-action STAGE version of Bleach....and despite not being able to understand the words, the people could NOT sing. Just...EWWWW.

Enter Gackt. Gackt Camui. I found him while watching the movie 'Bunraku' (which I may review later in movies). He was one of the two main heroes of the film. Looked him up to see what else he's done, and he's been rocking out Japan for years. He used to be in a band called 'Malice Mizer'...imagine if you will, Japanese GOTH rock, but done well. Now he's just Gackt, and he does a wide assortment of music styles. Oh, do NOT google image him and expect the voice to match the face....this guy is SOOOO androgynous he puts 60s-70s Bowie to shame. Gackt is like the Uber Anime hero...scary. Anyway, this song...and the video... I can't understand the Japanese, but I just like the sound! Yes, it's got the terminator theme done in flutes, but it also rocks with riffs and such. Gackt has a decent range and he does that operatic reverb thing (throat warble??) , and in the chorus the voice reminds me of Geoff Tate (Queensryche...old GOOD queensryche). Screw it...I like it....here's the vid:

This video came up in discussion a while ago, and it kind of ties in to an ongoing conversation Soothsayer and I are having about short movies (shorts! ) sometimes having more to them than full length feature films. So, I managed to find a link to the uncensored version of this 13 minute music video, and I leave it to you decide if this is pure music video, or a short film.

http://vimeo.com/28623696

So the other day I was 3D blending to some tunes, and wanted to watch a video of a certain tune... which lead to suggested videos on the side of youtube showing some 'top 10 metal tracks of the 80s, top 50 ballads of the 80s, top 25 metal albums that shaped the 80s', and so forth. I watched a bunch. I quietly nitpicked why video makers chose this song or that, and why not the one I thought of by that band, and "hey, that's not a frickin ballad, that's just pop!" Anyway, in the midst of it all, I found a band. Hoo doggy, I likes this band! Swedish metal band calling themselves 'Sabaton'. (this is where Vaderxanth would pop in and be all "I had three of their CDs and really liked them cuz I've known about them for years"... but he can't cuz he's in Question Mark County, Ontario, UP!!! So, HA!) Two videos for you. The first is less video and more lyrics and album art (that's actually exactly what it is) and this song was in a 'top metal ballads' compilation.



The next one is a damn good song, you get to see the band members (not quite what I expected), and Peter Stormare plays the Nazi commander! This song is about the Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, and after a brief wiki, one can find that many of Sabaton's songs are about historical wars. Bonus!

Shadowcrunch wrote:

(this is where Vaderxanth would pop in and be all "I had three of their CDs and really liked them cuz I've known about them for years"... but he can't cuz he's in Question Mark County, Ontario, UP!!! So, HA!)

Actually, I've never heard of them but I do like the sound! They did remind me of a group which I found years back named Manticora.

Small Wiki excerpt: 'Manticora is a Heavy metal band from Hvidovre, Denmark'

Ooh Manticora is good stuff! Will have to listen to more...after I finish my current task... which I popped on because I HAVE to share a find! BUT FIRST... my latest favorite Sabaton song: Heh...awesome rhyme! "Thunder is sounding, Artillery pounding!" Go Arty!!! (and again, about real history stuff!)


Okay, now that you've had an intensely fast drum beat pounded into your head and you're growling "Thunder is pounding, Artillery sounding" quietly to yourself, a little story. My phone music player will grab the internet's nuts while playing music, and tug the lyrics out of the cloud, displaying them as I listen. Today I accidentally hit a button (trying to keep my screen from going dark) and I got a list of band details like discography, biography, photos, videos, band members, ETC..., and similar artists. OOH! What's similar to Sabaton? I wrote them down, and am spot checking on the youtube. The list goes: Raubtier, Powerwolf, Hammerfall, Alestorm, and Freedom Call. I have heard Hammerfall before, and am saving them for last. Nothing JUMPS out at me yet with the first two... but Alestorm.... Heh. Fired one up and read the comments first:

Quote :

The Scottish buccaneers stand ready to capture the wealth of the Seven Seas. "Black Sails at Midnight" offers a treasure chest of sweeping Scottish Pirate Metal worthy of any loot-loving corsair. Irresistible growling choruses from the port side and lively keyboard melodies and heavy metal riffs from the starboard side form the basis of this highly explosive rum-induced metal mix.

Yes... Scottish Pirate Metal. New genre? I can already hear Soothsayer complaining about picturing muppets dancing to this.

Heh...WOW! Looking for another example of Alestorm, and saw this as a top comment: "Everyone knows that a good pirate crew has at least one, if not two, fiddle playing midgets." Oh yes, now the curiosity is piqued... Oh, and I'm sorry, but it's just NOT possible to be bad-ass with one of those keyboard/guitar things...

Yikes! Looking at the suggested crap on the side... "okay, let's click that one..."

Quote :

On "Goi, Rode, Goi" Arkona, the Pagan Metal mongers revolving around frontlady Masha Scream, give the legends and traditions of their Russian homeland new life and thus, forge steadfastly forth creating a captivating mix of metal and folk exceeding in a welcomed diversity. The characteristic signature sounds stemming from the mind of Masha run through the compositions in which folk melodies, delivered by authentic and at times medieval instruments, join the lively metal riffs, blastbeats, and double bass interludes.

The jury is still out. I mean, I guess it's metal... ish. But there's just so much going on here! Maybe if I close my eyes and don't pay attention to the waterlogged viking looking dude or the woman's costume? Now I have to sample more...sigh.



I sampled more... damn! My bet is on the vocal cords being gone in 4 years...

Not to sound like someone we kid about (hey, we're all friends here), BUT... this is one I've been listening to for a while Even though they're "pagan" metal, I felt they were more akin to folk metal, especially with the happy Yarilo song. In fact, Mrs Soothsayer had once asked me how do I find stuff like this (Arkona), and I tell her it's simply checking out the recommended links... found Arkona by going through Tyr songs.

Since this is your music thread, I won't post any Tyr for you (though I suggest their songs Regin Smiður (sung in traditional Faroese, a language so isolated only one itty bitty tiny island uses it) and Hold the Heathen Hammer High). However, and forgive me for doing so, I will post another fine Arkona song for you. You may delete it if you wish, I shall not take offense (again, this is your music thread after all).



You know, come to think of it, I've been neglecting my music thread for a while now...

Don't talk (type) like an idjit. Threads are for sharings and discussionings. That said, the video you posted for Leaky Bessmertin Bogov was actually the first ARKONA (does it HAVE to be all caps?) video I watched, but I felt it was a poor example of "we suggest this for you cuz you're watching Sabaton and Alestorm." So I kept digging until I started finding some similarities.

I have listened to Tyr. Can't remember if it was you or Vader who pointed me in that direction, but I have given them a listen, and definitely not bad. Hmmm... actually I think they came up when I was grilling Vader about the "sounds like Metallica" song that turned out to be Shinedown. He was youtubing up a storm of bands he could think of and I think Tyr was in the list. Anyway, yes I have enjoyed some Tyr. You know, I watch the music videos my peers post... speaking of, you ever watch Gackt's 'Returner' vid yet? No? Oh, must be too busy at work, huh? Whatever... no, it's okay... I understand...

Good gravy I was supposed to be in bed a while ago! But there were badges, and laundry, and bathroom breaks...and and and...

And then I remembered I found a video this morning I had to share cuz I was floored by it! Before that though, some FYI!!!

2...3?...4 posts ago? I shared the video for Sabaton's 'Screaming Eagles' which is my current fave of theirs. As I was reading the lyrics on my phone, I was catching the little hints about fighting alone against the Germans at Bastogne, and something about Omaha Beach, and it occurred to me they must be singing about a real fighting group, but I don't remember any 'Screaming Eagles" from Goddard's or Pieper's history classes. To the WIKI! ...whoa... The Screaming Eagles was a nickname (callsign?) for the AMERICAN 101st Airborne!!! According to the wiki, they were BEHIND enemy lines a few days before the storming of Normandy, and yes, they fought the Germans at Bastogne, France! So foreign metal has a song about one of our fighting forces!!! YAY for patriotism! (not being sarcastic, it's very cool!)

Now... I started this thread sharing Gackt. This morning I was youtubing on my phone, and I found a video from a live concert. The song is okay, but the choreography blew my mind! Also, I've seen different "artists" doing "the Robot" for about as long as I've been alive, but I don't think I've ever seen it done this good! Very awesome stage presence, and very interesting/awesome use of sound effects BEHIND the song to help make the choreography more interactive for the audience! Give a watch! There's another version of the video with the Japanese and English subtitles, but the video itself is darker and more pixelated, so I will make you search for it yourself if you're interested...

I've heard this song maybe 5 times so far... haven't heard it in over a year, and SOMEHOW every now and then it will just pop in there and get stuck like some bad Traffic Lights!

HA!!! A classic done classicaler! Just give it a chance to get past the narrator guy and enjoy!

This came up in conversation. How To Destroy Angels, the band featuring Trent Reznor and Mrs. Reznor (you try spelling it!) has a new album, and as they are releasing themselves, it's $5 for a full album download. Since Sooth informed me he never saw their debut video in which "the chick is on fire," I'm posting. As I recall, the music was a bit too... something... for Vader, but he liked the video. I admit to enjoying the sound of NIN with a female lead, but I'm weird.

Edit: if anyone else has problems with the one word, it's 'crowned' and NOT 'crowd'. I thought it said "they crowd the sun" but that could be the laptop speakers...

VEVO has been shoving ads down my pipes at the start of EVERY video... yet one of them kept giving me a WTF, so I finally checked out the video. Know what? I like the song! I can't really categorize it... kinda spoken word, rock, ummm... yeah. Also, the video is, ummm.... yeah. Lou Diamond Phillips and muppets. Now I'm off to see if the band has any other stuff I like!

Playing a game, minding my biz, when suddenly a steam chat pops up. It's Vader! He wants me to watch a youtube video! Save, exit, click. WTF....why, man? Just, WHY?!




So I start clicking the suggestions on the side, and parry with:

Okay, since I am a third party in this (between Vader and 'crunch), I am going to give my opinion on both these songs.

The second song, Little Apple by Chopstick Brothers, is a rather good song.  **Side note.When the guy in the beginning was talking, I recognized the language.  Thank you Good, Bad, Weird!**  I'm definitely going to listen to this song a few more times, add it to my Pandora list.

The first song... wow.  WOW.  This surpasses every single level and bar set by What does the Fox Say.  Catchy.  Funny.  And the music is a good listen.  Weird, but good.  I know a few people who would like this one.

Both are good finds!

EDIT - I'm sharing both of these on Facebook.

EDIT 2 - How many characters or anime do you recognize?

Sabaton. Swedish power metal...speed metal...whatever you want to call it. The ones I've mentioned in the past that base many of their songs on historical war events and people. They're at it again. Their new-ish album (came out in May, just read about it today) called 'Heroes' has a neat spin! Each song is about people doing heroic things in and after wartime! Some songs are about groups, some are about individuals. An example is track 5, 'To Hell and Back,' which is about Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated American veterans of World War II, and his dealings with PTSD after the fact. Yes, these Swedes made a tune about a Texan suffering from PTSD...I call AWESOME! There's a song about the German fighter pilot who saw an American bomber couldn't shoot back cuz it's guns were damaged, so the German escorts the Americans back to Allied airspace. Just nice stories done to speedy power thrash metal sounds! NEAT!

The first track, titled 'Night Witches' is about the Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment. It was an all woman bombing group, and it's kinda screwed up. Here's a quote from the band explaining what set these ladies apart:
First up is “Night Witches,” which actually is a story about the 588th Night Bomber Regiment. They were female bomber pilots fighting for Russia. They were in old World War I planes even though they were fighting in World War II. They would only give the women the bad, shitty planes, and they didn’t want the rest of the world knowing they had women flying for them so they would only fly at night. Since they had those shitty planes, made of only wood and canvas, they were so slow that any German could overtake them and shoot them down so they would fly really high through the air and then for the last mile they would idle their engines – so they would turn their engines off – and they would glide because they were so light towards their targets. Then they would drop their bombs, and then try and start their engines and get back home before the Germans caught up with them. That’s how they got their name, because the German’s thought, “the Night Witches are coming” when they heared the whooshing through the sky – a noise that would remind them of witches on broomsticks. They did several thousand missions. While most of the allies would do their typical 25 missions before heading back home, some of these women in the Soviet Union did over 25 missions a week, and sometimes it may have even been 10 a night, because they could only carry one bomb in those crappy planes. 



Somebody needs to set this song to a video of Strike Witches! Oh, and here's a wiki link in case anyone is interested in what the other songs are about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_%28Sabaton_album%29

Now what the f**k did I find?! And yes, you have to do the whole thing so you can get all the different musical styles involved. This is just....yeah... I'm at a loss but I think I like it!



 And follow it up with?

Remember how I said the He-Man 'What's going on' video can shine a little light on any dark day? I think I found another. This... this is classic shit right here.... CLASSIC...
.

.
.
Oh my.... there's so many... Here's an oldie!
.