【由利】GARNET CROW part5【七】

This is a casual chat thread centered on GARNET CROW. Feel free to talk about all sorts of things and have fun. ◆ A relaxed, easygoing atmosphere is encouraged. Tense, combative vibes (・A・) are no good. ◆ Don’t disrupt the thread or attack people with fixed usernames; ignore such behavior. ◆ Newcomers, longtime fans, and regulars are all welcome. ◆ Don’t bother or bash other artists or other threads. ◆ This is a general chat thread, but please keep topics that belong in dedicated threads (such as lyric analysis) mostly over there. ◆ Start thinking about the next thread after >>950. Previous thread: 【Yuri】GARNET CROW 03 part 2【Nana】 (actually the fourth thread) http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1166779350/

Past threads: 【Yuri】 Garnet Crow 【Nana】 http://music2.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1050524388 【Yuri】 Garnet Crow II 【Nana】 http://music2.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1050524388/ 【Yuri】GARNET CROW 03【Nana】 http://music5.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1122031082/ 【Yuri】GARNET CROW 03 part 2【Nana】 (actually the fourth thread) http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1166779350/

Related threads: 【▽▼BEING GIZA▼▽::140】 http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1174647091/ GARNET CROW part 169 http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicjg/1174649685/ 【In the universe】Yurippe (Yuri Nakamura, vocalist) is so lovable. 12th worship thread【Reigns supreme】 http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/mjsaloon/1172999286/ 【Azuki】A thread for Lady AZUKI Nana (AZUKI Nana, lyricist), part 3【GARNET CROW】 http://tv11.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/geino/1174728794/ ▲Hitoshi Okamoto part 3▲ http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/minor/1158944668/ 【GARNET CROW】Let’s talk about Hirohito Furui【God Hand】 http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1175579171/

AZUKI Nana’s World of Lyrics 2 http://love6.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/poem/1105277275/ For lyric interpretation, try that thread. (It’s fine to talk here about how good a lyric is or what techniques it uses.)

I feel like I went ahead and started this on my own... Is that okay?

I was hoping to grab the 2-get post.

Thanks for setting this up.

>>6 Sorry about that.

>>1 Thanks for setting it up. After looking at the old threads, I think it might be nice to bring back the template line: “Wonderful music is right here.”

We haven’t finished putting the old thread to rest, but let me throw out a topic: Do you listen to GRAPEVINE? Someone started a comparison thread, so I got curious. Both bands have a sound and melancholic musical style that might be hard for some people to get into, right?

My grandpa’s dying words were, “If there’s a fishhook, go ahead and take the bait.” Just kidding. Vine’s lyrics are just lyrical masturbation. “FLY” is especially bad—reekingly crude. I also saw someone in this thread say they loved those poems that sound like something a real-life kid would write. Still, those Vine fans who pretend to know everything about all music are kind of entertaining too. Music: 50 points. Lyrics: -50 points.

These are Tanaka-kun’s lyrics ↓ http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uta-net.com%2Fuser%2Fphplib%2Fview_9.php%3FID%3D45132&_gwt_pg=0&hl=ja&mrestrict=chtml&q=GRAPEVINE+FLY+%E4%BD%9C%E8%A9%9E&source=m&output=chtml&site=search

I’m not into that style of lyrics either. But some of them do seem to build a pretty complete theme, so you can’t lump them all together. Anyway, let’s not bash them too harshly.

Yeah, they really do reek of that...

>>1 Thanks for setting it up. The previous thread has been put to rest too.

Rana has learned how to put a thread to rest! The magic Rana knows now: Put thread to rest — “shineji” 　　　　　　　　　　 sage 　　　　Weak at bashing 　　　　Weak at riling people up

Is that Tsu-n? lol. That ID is funny, lol.

>>10 Their new album has the usual sharp rhymes and a wide variety of songs, from straight-ahead rock sounds to gentle mid-tempo tracks. I think it turned out really well. If you’re comparing things like the rhythm section, Acid might be a better comparison, but I still think the songs here are better.

I’ve been listening to GC’s indie-era album again after a long time. It really is great... Though I prefer the fourth album’s “Sky” style, built around simple piano and acoustic guitar, the heavy arpeggios and strings are hard to give up. I just realized that “dreaming of love” might have been better with saxophone, real drums, and a proper jazz arrangement.

*The Nightingale and the Rose* is a fairy tale I read over ten years ago, and one I really love. So the first time I heard “dreaming of love,” I got chills~

I posted this in the Being GIZA thread too: Speaking of jazz, DIMENSION’s new album comes out on April 25. If you have the money, buy it! I hear it’s their 15th anniversary. They’re a band that makes great music. That reminds me, they don’t really have any connection to GC, do they?

>>19 > I just realized that “dreaming of love” might have been better with saxophone, real drums, and a proper jazz arrangement. Personally, I like that fake-jazz arrangement built from cheap lead sounds and sleepy programmed percussion. It has an indie-era feel, or maybe that slightly unpolished quality, lol. I like the repeating phrase in the interlude too, among other things. Does DIMENSION have absolutely no other connection with them? I don’t really know what they usually do, but I often hear that they’re excellent musicians.

>>22 DIMENSION have at least worked with B’z, ZARD, Takei, Shizukusa, OOM, and Supercar. About the sax in “dreaming of love,” I was just thinking it might sound amazing if they added Katsuta’s saxophone and had today’s GC re-record it. Even if not, it’d be interesting to hear Katsuta play with them somewhere sometime.

>>23 Oh, I see. So they’re that active as session musicians? I had no idea... Am I just uninformed? lol In other words, they’ve always had access to people who could add saxophone. If so, I wish they’d bring sax in sooner. Maybe they’ve left it alone because they write and produce everything themselves.

I only own one DIMENSION album. I’d like to buy more when I have some extra money.

Come to think of it, they haven’t used saxophone since the first album, have they? That was Ryusho Yokomichi on sax. I wonder what his connection to the band was... I’ve always wondered why they brought him in. I think he’s about the same age as Mochi (Hitoshi Okamoto)...

One of the people in DIMENSION looks like Raijin.

“Eien ni Hoomure” is great too. The acoustic guitar accompaniment with the chorus effect, the lyrics about recovering from death, and the memorable guitar solo—no matter how many times I hear it, I never get tired of it. The cymbals are a little too loud, though, which is a shame. Anyway, those figurines you’re talking about... lol

I don’t want figurines, lol.

Can you stop talking about skating already?

Figurines are merch. It’s so GIZA, lol. Didn’t someone say they wanted to get away from the GIZA image? That’s definitely impossible now. Since they have a stable fanbase, they’ll just keep moving further toward the idol route.

ttp://holdingwish2007.nobody.jp/diary.html > They’re really going to make these, right? > If they’re only 10 cm tall but faithfully reproduced with seven- or eight-head-tall proportions, their faces will be... > The sculptor will have to work really hard, or they’ll turn out terrifying! ( ﾟ言ﾟ；) That’s exactly right, lol.

When I heard they were releasing figurines, honestly, I felt like they were treating the fans like idiots. It felt like they thought we were gross nerds who’d buy anything.

Anyway, I wonder if Azuki would write anti-war lyrics. I’d like to see her try. Usually that kind of thing is preachy and sounds like empty platitudes, but I think Azuki could write something really powerful by taking a detached, wide-angle perspective. >>33 From their perspective, maybe they thought they were doing something for the fans. I don’t like it myself, but I think it’s a pretty straightforward way to sell things. This business has always run by finding and valuing its core fanbase.

Aren’t “Maboroshi” and “Koyoi Eden” anti-war songs?

“Maboroshi” has lines that sound anti-war, but overall I think it’s more like longing for a past that can never return. As for “Eden,” I think it’s a little different. I haven’t studied the lyrics closely, so I shouldn’t say too much.

Ah, though, I guess you could call that anti-war too...

Right, neither song is really about anti-war, though. “Maboroshi” is metaphorical, and “Eden” doesn’t have that as its theme either.

In the end, the question is whether Azuki has anti-war beliefs—or an anti-war ideology, I guess. Even if she’s a pacifist, given Azuki’s somewhat timid-seeming personality, I don’t think she’d write lyrics that directly call for peace. >>32 Is that the website mentioned in the previous thread? The drawings are really cute. I’m not a *MÄR* fan, but I can see how a soft vinyl figure with four-head-tall proportions might appeal to newer fans, lol.

I deliberately won’t nitpick, lol. She probably couldn’t write something that directly calls for peace (and I wouldn’t want her to write that kind of thing). But I think Azuki could do it through a character like a boy who has lost everything. She could avoid saying it directly, use scene-setting, and weave in lonely, melancholy metaphors.

Lyrics that convey a sense of emptiness are one of Azuki’s specialties. If she really wanted to write them, she could probably do it pretty easily.

I won’t nitpick any more, lol. Even if it’s quiet here, don’t try so hard, lol. By the way, does anyone have any music recommendations lately? I listened to Linda Perhacs, the psychedelic folk artist, and the often-mentioned Hyde albums *ROENTGEN* and *Paatos*—they were all really good. Looking for music through GC fans’ tastes really does make it easy to find stuff I like.

Sorry, lol. There was absolutely no response... What a rookie mistake, lol. Just pretend you didn’t see it.

A band that sells figurines to its core fans and now they’re anti-war? lol

To put it more harshly, “GIZA’s idol-product stuff is anti-wa—(ry” and that’s where this goes, lol.

>>42 Some good albums lately are *The Middle Earth Album* by Glass Hammer and *The Perfect Element* by Pain of Salvation. The former uses a lot of mandolin and has a calm, traditional feel. The latter is progressive metal with literary lyrics and a melancholy sound (though they’ve started mixing in gothic elements too).

It’s not as if GC couldn’t survive outside GIZA, so it’s a shame that they ended up where they did. That said, moving to a Sony-affiliated label that controls anime companies would feel a little strange too.

The Wiki front page is a featured article again, but on my phone the text cuts off at the “6/6 remix” entry. Is it just me? The wiki is pretty interesting. Hyde’s is too. You have to read the entry about his vocal range, lol.

They really want to emphasize his vocal range, lol. It is quite wide, though. It’s just a shame his natural voice only reaches high C.

GC is causing quite a stir in another thread, lol.

Of course it is. They brought over all the news at once, and the thread title is catchy too.

>>50 Where?

>>50 ttp://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/mjsaloon/1169916339/ Is this the one? How did it get so lively? lol

By the way, GC’s new song... lol

>>53 There’s no need to go attack other versus threads too. >>54 When it was announced yesterday, I also thought, “What the heck... what is this?” But if the song is good, that’s what matters. I went to Tower Records yesterday and bought DIMENSION’s album, but I was a little disappointed with it personally. Maybe I just haven’t listened to it enough yet. And! Tower Records was promoting Hazuki Morita! I knew she was a young GIZA jazz singer, of course I bought it. It’s pretty good. The ninth track especially. Though it’s still a bit rough.

>>53 Or maybe this one? http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/mjsaloon/1155332535/l50 Someone responds to the Yurippe topic starting at post 368.

It’s finally on the official site... “Namida no Yesterday.” This isn’t good, lol. From the title, it doesn’t feel like it’ll show the kind of GARNET musicality you’re all looking for. I think it’ll be along the lines of “Kaze to RAINBOW.” So now we have to look forward to the B-side again? >>55 As far as GIZA goes, I only really buy GC and Takei, so I don’t know much about the others. I’ll give her a listen sometime.

>>57 I posted about Hazuki Morita in the Being GIZA thread too, but the response was pretty muted, so I’m lonely. Give her a listen when you have time. There isn’t even a thread about her.

>>57 The B-sides never disappoint, so you can definitely count on that. No idea what tie-in the song will get, though. If I had to guess, maybe “Kekkai.” Anyway, it doesn’t seem like it’ll be a quiet, heavy arrangement.

Still, getting gloomy every single time they announce a new song is kind of... something. It’s a little sad if all we can do is look forward to the B-side. I like “Ameagari no Blue.” Don’t you think that phrase itself is really evocative? Well, I’m saying that because I know what the song is like. “Namida no Yesterday” as a title, though...

Yesterday Tears

>>60 Hmm... I don’t like that kind of electronic arrangement that sounds like something Avex would do... > “Ameagari no Blue”

It’s quiet here~ (・∀・)/~~~ Let me give it a bump. >>46 PoS change their style dramatically with every release. I agree that their music has become hard to classify as progressive metal. (・∀・)/~~~ Why do people always compare them with Dream Theater, anyway... Though I also often hear that their early work was more metal and sounded similar. >>62 If it were released as a single, I think it’d be interesting. The arrangement is among GC’s most accessible, so longtime fans might not be as easily won over. I like it well enough, though. The bright synths and light guitar sounds evoke a fresh summer, while the lyrics and vocals feel melancholy. That contrast really gets me. (・∀・)/~~~

There are lots of topics, but it’s still so quiet...

Even when Yurippe writes a beautiful song, I feel like it can be heavily influenced by the lyrics. That’s not to say Nana-sama’s lyrics are bad.

What do you mean by “influenced”? Do you mean the lyrics by Azuki affect the way Yurippe composes the music?

I mean, even if the music is good, the impression it makes on listeners is influenced by the lyrics, right?

Ah, so that’s what you meant after all. At first I was wondering if Yurippe might write a good melody and then have to keep changing it because of Azuki’s lyrics. Well, that’s the more natural interpretation. If you’re not a fan, is it hard to get used to Azuki’s lyrics? Her ideas often involve death, and she has a strong fondness for quirks like unusual readings of kanji...

I’m curious how new fans who got into them through *MÄR* react when they listen to the early material.

AZUKI70

AZUKI71

AZUKI Nana—[wordplay on her name].

This is kind of beside the point, but does that count as *ateji*—kanji used for their sound rather than their meaning? When did people start calling it *ateji*, anyway?

This thread sometimes gets busy all at once. It’s hectic, huh? ^^; Isn’t *ateji* when you ignore the usual reading and force a different one? Ah, but in this case, for example... would you have to read “幻想” as “gensō” like normal? Would reading it as “yume” count as *ateji* too? Anyway, people everywhere just call it “an unusual reading.”

× *ateji* ○ *ate-yomi* (a special reading) Why not just call it that?

Then that’s what we’ll call it, lol.

“Anywhere” gives me chills...

Ahh... yeah, it’s like being struck by lightning all at once. But I’m Team “WEEKEND”! I listen to it every Saturday.

By the way, does Sunday count as part of the weekend too?

>>77 I like that song too. I get completely absorbed in it.

Doesn’t the week run from Sunday through Saturday? So Saturday is technically the end of the week, and Sunday is the beginning.

>>64 It depends on the topic, I guess. (・∀・)/~~~ Even if there are lots of things to talk about, it’s naturally mostly going to be GC. The new song isn’t coming until July, so for now we can only dig up old topics. Well, going by the new song’s title and content, it makes you wonder whether it’ll still be tied to the previous anime deal... and so on.

“The moment when you take me away” The best.

I like it too. That song is kind of addictive. For the same reason, I also like “Kyou no Kimi to Ashita wo Matsu.”

I strongly agree with this recent trend.

Well, this trend shows just how little there is to talk about with GC right now. It’s pretty common to start listing your favorite songs, lol. It’s a shame to form weird preconceptions based only on the title. I know you can’t judge a song by its title alone... Anyway, I hear it’ll be a refreshing song, but it’ll probably be the usual GC formula: melancholy inside a bright melody. It’s about time for a single with a six-minute-long track, and maybe some chorus delay to create a mysterious rock sound...

So, should we turn this into a worship thread instead? lol Or a pervert thread?

Anything but that, please, lol.

ttp://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/97118214 Hey, is this really a non-sale item?

>>89 No way. That’s the one they sell at concerts for around ¥2,000. ...Isn’t that price kind of outrageous?

Exactly... and they’re claiming it was given away, lol.

>>87 Even though this is already the fifth thread, it still struggles to get moving, just like before. That’s the reality. Compared with earlier ones, this thread is pretty quiet too. We could review old releases, talk about live shows, or turn it into a worship thread and start over... Personally, I’m fine with anything, lol.

So, to sum up the suggestions, this is a thread for reviewing concerts and old releases in a pervy, worshipful tone. OK?

That works for me. But figurines and overusing anime tie-ins are pushing them further away from the mainstream than before. Even if they make the Oricon charts, that’s no good at all. Well, I wouldn’t want them to lean too far toward the mainstream either.

Someone’s selling their own GC illustrations on Rakuten Auctions, lol.

>>94 As long as they’re still with GIZA, that kind of thing is only to be expected. They’re probably the act at GIZA most likely to attract new fans right now, so don’t complain.

Bump.

>>95 Upload it.

What do the GC illustrations look like?

Only AZUKI’s, number 100.

Lately I’m really into “Jewel Fish”(^^)v Lines like, “The moment when you take me away” and “Even if I pour out a thousand words” are great too(^^)v But “CANDY POP” is great too(^∀^)ノ I can’t choose!! Ahahaha!

It’s nice to talk about favorite songs, but what about the postcards, everyone? That upcoming DVD... I wasn’t satisfied with the content, like the Tokyo show. I’d be happy if they added more different songs and made the overall concert longer, but maybe Yurippe (Yuri Nakamura, vocalist) wouldn’t have the stamina, lol. If they don’t increase the number of shows, she can’t get more experience as a lead singer, either.

The postcard arrived. Luckily, I won tickets for July 7. I was pretty satisfied with last year’s set list. “Holding” and “Oukan” really moved me. I hope they’ll mix in some earlier songs or quieter album tracks that you can just sit and listen to. At this point, I don’t mind if they stop singing “Yume Mita Ato de” and “Timeless Sleep”... But if the members really like those songs, I guess there’s nothing to be done, lol.

>>101 “The world population of six billion is too much to handle.” I like “Jewel Fish.” I like “Aoi Tori” too. “cried a little” is a masterpiece. “Yofuke no Ryosei-tachi” is good too. They’re all songs they never play live, apparently.

I like those too! It’s just a coincidence that the songs they don’t play live are masterpieces. My favorite is “Kyou no Kimi to Ashita wo Matsu.” The lyrics are great, and Yurippe’s falsetto is the best!

>>103 “Holding” dragged a bit too, I think, lol. Basically, they should avoid choosing songs that are beyond Yurippe’s ability (like “wish★”—she might not hit the high notes, and might not keep up with the rhythm). They should know best how difficult their own song structures are.

>>106 I want to dance to the “wish★” choreography with everyone again~

I stopped by this evening, but it’s so quiet. Well, I guess that’s how things are at this time of year.

Yeah, I guess that’s how it is right now. I’m curious about “Namida no Yesterday,” of course, but I’m even more curious about the B-side. Will it be another song with a dramatic story arc? By the way, was the live version of “Kaze to RAINBOW” the one with more of a rock sound, or the one that leaned more Latin?

>>109 I didn’t see it myself, so I can’t say for sure, but apparently they didn’t add sounds like samba whistles, and the arrangement leaned toward a rock sound. The real instruments sounded good. Honestly, I’m not into the Latin-style version because the electronic arrangement leaves too little of an impression.

About that live photo being put up for auction on Yahoo again...

Putting that badly taken photo up for auction again and again looks like some kind of harassment.

Goo-goo-goo...

Waaah, waaah, waaah...

>>113 is Shikao Suga, and >>114 is Ryoko Moriyama? You’re showing your age.

>>109 By “dramatic story arc,” do you mean something like “Mawarimichi”? Recently, the B-sides to “Kimi no Omoi Egaiteta Yume Atsumete” and “Hare Dokei” felt very GARNET-like and left a strong impression on me. I especially think the one from “Kimi no Omoi...” is great. The ethnic-sounding instruments create a dreamy atmosphere. The way it feels both refreshing and languid is what makes GARNET interesting. I wonder what they’ll come up with for this new release. I’m looking forward not just to the sounds, but also to lyrics with a hint of irony.

“Kimi no Omoi...” is great. The B-side is dreamy too. “Mawarimichi” has a fantasy-like feel... I’m looking forward to the B-side! Lately, though, the title tracks keep getting overshadowed by their B-sides... I wonder what “Namida no Yesterday” will be like.

I think GARNET’s B-sides tend to be more unconventional than the title tracks, but they always come together nicely. In my view, they haven’t had a major failure yet. This one should be worth looking forward to too. “CANDY POP,” for example, created a gentle, traditional-music-like atmosphere they hadn’t done before, but it hardly had any of the usual problems of that style, like dragging on...

Still, I feel like having no weaknesses is itself a weakness... Every artist should have some weak points, but GARNET is too versatile... Well, that’s also where I find their appeal. It’s like, “These people can do anything!”

>>119 Huh? I think I see the bait.

>>120 Oh, sorry. Anyway, I’ll keep looking forward to GARNET.

>>118 I like how they keep the tracks to around three minutes. (・∀・)/~~~ Their relaxed, distinctive sounds really stand out, but they can also lack impact. Maybe you’d call that dragging on. Either way, they keep those parts compact so it doesn’t feel that way.

>>122 “Nogare no Machi” is another one that seems like it might feel unsatisfying, but is actually just the right length. If they put hard rock or that kind of sound into GARNET, I think it’d get tiring if the songs were too long. They’re also discussing it in Furui’s thread, but do you still think GARNET’s programmed sound should be heavier? Even in the indie era, despite the poor sound quality, electronic arrangements like “A CROWN” had really good beats and sounded great... Also, would Hayama’s usual arranging style suit GARNET?

>>123 Doesn’t programmed instrumentation depend on the song? I don’t think a heavier sound is automatically better. Hayama’s arrangements tend to lean toward guitars, like his work for Kamiki, so I don’t think they’d quite fit GARNET, who foreground synths and piano. Though if Hayama arranged a song for them, I’m sure he’d adapt it to GARNET’s atmosphere.

It’s a little quiet here, so let me bump the thread.

Mochi’s ability to bring out such a variety of synth sounds and rack modules is what makes him so central to GARNET’s sound. He really is an outstanding arranger. Anyway, back to the topic: the new song doesn’t seem to be getting a great reaction, but it’s probably going to be a *Detective Conan* tie-in.

How can the new song be getting a bad reaction? They’ve only announced the title so far. Though that title is ridiculously corny, lol.

People imagine what the song will sound like based on the title, and that’s why the reaction is bad, lol. In that sense, the *Conan* news is pretty good.

When I hear *Conan*, I think of “Mysterious Eyes” and that early-era sound. I want to hear Yurippe’s cute singing style from back then again. Come to think of it... there were some awkward bits too, like those guitar solos dropped in at the time.

They’ve already announced the ending theme. Why are they keeping the opening theme a secret...? I hope it’s *Conan*.

If it were the ending theme, I’d actually be more excited.

Doesn’t the title “Namida no Yesterday” sound like an ending theme to you, or is it just me? But the official site says it’s up-tempo...

Is this GARNET’s first silly song? They’re a veteran group, so they’ve got some gravitas, lol. It’d be hilarious if there were a line like something from Saegusa, lol.

I’m not a big fan of Saegusa because she’s doing “Roman Hikou”... But I could accept a song that’s just a little silly. If it’s GARNET, anyway. If it overlaps with Saegusa’s musical style... then it’s over?

No matter what, Yurippe’s singing style would get in the way of that direction, lol. There’s no way they’ll overlap with Saegusa, so don’t worry, lol.

>>135 That’s a relief, lol. Speaking of which, when the description of “Namida no Yesterday” says “GARNET-style summer,” am I the only one who thinks of “Spiral” and “Crystal Gauge”? ...Though “Crystal Gauge” isn’t really a summer song.

Sound-wise, it reminds me of “Ameagari no Blue.” Is that unusual for GARNET? I think the refreshing synths and piano lines really show off what makes GARNET distinctive.

Sorry for posting from my phone. This is a bit off-topic, but what music do you listen to besides GARNET? I used to be obsessed with ELT. I discovered GARNET through “Mysterious Eyes,” got into them because of “Kimi to Iu Hikari,” and became a real fan after “Yume Mita Ato de.” The first CD I bought was “Hare Dokei,” and then I slowly collected the rest. These days I’m kind of interested in Chihiro Onitsuka.

>>138 It’s quiet here, so that’s totally fine. Keep throwing out topics. I usually just lurk and read... though I don’t have time for that today. I basically like quiet music, but you could say I listen to everything. I listen to dark ambient stuff, and after watching *Sugar & Spice*, I dug out some Oasis too. Lately I’m probably into Nick Drake, Onitsuka, and Hyde’s *ROENTGEN*, after seeing it mentioned here. Artists who make clever, heavy use of strings and piano really are great.

Sorry to interrupt. I want to lend an album to someone who doesn’t know GARNET. Which album should I lend them?

Hello, everyone. I’m a baseball-playing kid who loves GARNET. “Eden no Katasumi” is great, right? I’m looking forward to the new song too!

>>140 The best-of album.

>>138 Chihiro Onitsuka is great. I feel like her use of musical variety to express herself on *Sodatsu Zassou* has something in common with GARNET CROW. She’s making a comeback this month, so I’m really looking forward to it, lol. I generally like singer-songwriters with varied musical styles, so I listen to ALI PROJECT and Miho Komatsu too.

>>138 I might listen to Yumi Matsutoya. And ZARD too. >>140 I think *Crystallize* is good. It has a variety of songs, so it should hold up well to repeated listening.

Any album except the fifth would be fine... but the early stuff, with her less-polished singing, is probably best. The first album doesn’t have a particularly heavy sound, so I think it’s very easy to get into.

>>138 GARNET, ELT, Chihiro Onitsuka... Our taste in female singers is exactly the same! I also listen to Ringo Sheena. For male artists, I’m into Tamio Okuda, Southern All Stars, GRAPEVINE, that kind of thing. >>140 The best-of album is probably the place to start!

>>140 Oh! If you don’t count the best-of, I think the first album is best.

How about the indie album? It really captures the GARNET CROW sound.

Maybe lend them the best-of first, then go through the albums in order? (Though I don’t know if they’ll get that far.)

Personally, I recommend lending them the first and second albums as a set... Rather than making them focus on the singles, let them hear more early material, including album tracks.

>>138 I used to like mainstream hip-hop like Ketsumeishi and Rip Slyme, but now I listen to almost nothing in Japanese besides GARNET. Even I find that surprising, lol. Oh, but I like Love Psychedelico, and I sometimes listen to Chihiro Onitsuka too. My earlier impression of her was that she was the kind of artist I’d really like.

Why did this thread suddenly get so active? Post here more often, lol. There must be a lot of people lurking... >>146 I don’t know why you specifically mentioned GRAPEVINE, but I like them too. *Idea no Suisou* is good.

>>140 I’d say the best-of is a safe bet. If I were lending someone an original album, I’d choose the second. Personally, I think it’s easy to listen to and probably has broader appeal, lol. >>138 I tend to listen to Nick Drake, Eric Johnson, and anything related to Nuno Bettencourt. I hardly listen to any Japanese music besides GARNET. Recently, I’ve been listening a lot to Nuno’s album *Schizophonic*. For some reason, I also found myself listening to Cloudberry Jam nonstop for a while.

Thanks for all the replies. I especially like the early songs, so I was torn between the first and second albums. The best-of is good too, but I’ll try lending the first album this time.

Sorry, I wrote it wrong. × Cloud Berry Jam ○ Cloudberry Jam

>>152 Yeah, even I don’t really know why, but I like VINE singer Tanaka’s distinctive voice! >>153 I’ve never heard of them... Is there something that might appeal to GARNET fans too?

>>156 Well, probably not... lol. Honestly, I haven’t really thought about it, so I don’t know. But Cloudberry Jam is one of Yurippe’s favorite artists, and Nuno is one of Mochi’s (Hitoshi Okamoto’s) favorite guitarists. When Mochi was a student, he apparently tried to cover songs by Extreme, Nuno’s band, but in the end he couldn’t quite play them properly, lol.

>>157 If they’re artists she likes, then I have to give them a listen! I’ll check them out next time! Still, whenever someone brings up a topic, this thread grows really fast, but it feels like it’s about to stall again...

>>158 Keep this momentum going tomorrow too, lol. I feel like I’m always throwing out topics... Maybe they’re just not good enough... Someone give me a high-quality topic every day, lol. Of the artists mentioned so far, I think GARNET fans might get into Nick Drake, Chihiro Onitsuka, Hyde’s *ROENTGEN*, and GRAPEVINE. Not sure about Nuno...

>>156 Also, his rhyming is cool. He makes great use of both alliteration and end rhymes. And it’s impressive that the themes and structure of the lyrics still hold together even with that much going on. In that respect, he might even outdo Azuki, though it’s not really something to compare.

The themes are a little like Azuki’s, which might be why they’re easy to get into. It’s also the kind of thing where the more you listen, the more you understand what’s good about it.

Tanaka’s lyrics are really twisted, lol. They’re always about how this person or that person gets on his nerves, lol. He cites a particularly crude, mocking line from one of the songs... you’ve got to be kidding, lol.

Are there any current artists with that kind of vibe? Everyone around me listens to BUMP and ELLEGARDEN, and I just can’t get into them... orz

>>162 He skillfully uses similes, metaphors, and other devices to blur the themes. The subject matter is what it is, so there’s always a slightly cynical angle, but it has a literary quality. “Buta no Sara” is cool. I like his lyrics too. The world we live in is strange, and people are always building up grievances and frustrations, so in that sense I think his lyrics feel very true to life. That’s what I like about them.

“Namida no Yesterday” is a refreshing, up-tempo song. Yurippe also said they wanted to make it both pop and catchy, so maybe it’ll be like “Ring Ring a ding.”

It doesn’t necessarily have to be pop and catchy... Is it just because it’s summer...? Please add some of that special GARNET flavor.

Why is it so quiet here? lol

It’s strange how the thread goes quiet as soon as we talk about GARNET. Even the “favorite GARNET songs” topic didn’t get much going. Maybe people are taking the chance to post a lot about other artists here, since they’d get flamed for doing that in the main thread. There are GARNET topics too—the fan-club magazine just arrived. Let’s keep going even if it’s quiet. At the fan-club event, they’ll definitely sing “Yume Mita Ato de,” the Best Lyrics pick! Otherwise there’d be no point to Nana’s Best Lyrics project. Surely it won’t be like the GT senryu project, where Nana just comments on the site and the collaboration ends there. Personally, I really hope they sing “Yuudachi no Niwa,” which ranked tenth. Also, in her comment on “Himawari no Iro,” Nana only wrote “It hurts.” What was hurting her? It’s been a while since I posted something long.

I’m >>138. Someone mentioned Delico earlier; I like them too! I also listen to Hitomi Yaida and the Carpenters. Yurippe’s favorite artists include Alanis Morissette. I looked her up on Wiki and found that Ringo Sheena and Chihiro Onitsuka like Alanis too, and seem to have been influenced by her. What are the benefits of GARNET’s fan club? I signed up for the official fan site on my phone before, but quit because there were too few diary updates and pictures.

>>169 The mobile version of GIZA MUSIC NET is terrible. I’m still subscribed, but it makes me want to cancel. If you break G-NET’s fee down to about ¥300 a month, it seems reasonable. The fan-club magazine is interesting too. There’s no point to the email alerts since they’re no faster than the PC site. And you’re guaranteed to get tickets for live shows, I guess—except for the premium events.

>>168 Seems like everyone especially likes VINE, lol. I like them too. Maybe it’s not really that quiet. There are probably a lot of people just reading without posting—lurkers. After all, this thread isn’t only for GARNET; it’s also for broader music talk and general chatting... so of course it wanders off-topic sometimes. Changing the subject, though, I feel like “Yume Mita Ato de” would’ve been a hit even without that tie-in. But I shouldn’t say too much without knowing for sure. What was “Himawari no Iro” about, anyway...? This isn’t a lyric-analysis thread, but I suppose it’s okay to talk about it here. I think the theme might be an allusion to Van Gogh, who painted sunflowers. Does Azuki have some particular attachment to this subject? Or would it just take too long to explain? lol. That one comment alone gives no clue whether she was being serious.

That’s Azuki for you—she’s hard to figure out, lol.

I think seriously analyzing it would be a waste of time, lol. That’s a bit blunt, I know. What kind of review do you think this is? It’s just the fan-club magazine, lol. Azuki probably wrote that comment casually.

Hey... have we run out of ideas for long posts too? lol If people don’t show up, there’s no way to come up with good topics...

Yeah, Nana doesn’t seem very enthusiastic, lol. Especially that last part. But it did make me laugh. You can tell which single’s B-side she’s talking about, anyway.

>>174 I’m waiting for Yukio.

>>175 Well, you could say that’s part of her charm. (・∀・)/~~~ It’s the kind of thing where you think, “That’s so like her.” By the way... we haven’t seen Mr. Ao Ichishiki around lately. I wonder what happened to him?

Yeah, that detached attitude is part of it, isn’t it? (^ω^;) It’s a good quality too.

>>178 Isn’t that the same tripcode as mine? lol You even left a half-width space in it.

You’re right... it is the same...

Well, well... is this a fixed-username festival? (・∀・)/~~~ >>179 I’ve seen the name Fenrir over in the TV and entertainment sections too. That’s impressive...

>>138 Jun Shibata, Ringo Sheena, Hikaru Utada, and so on. Come to think of it, I used to listen to GARNET CROW obsessively every single day, and I’ve finally gotten tired of them lately!!! ...Though I’ll probably want to listen again in a week or so. By the way, I like ELT too. They were the first artist I ever got into. This is beside the point, but a lot of GC B-sides have been uploaded to Nico Nico lately! I hardly own any singles, so I’m really happy about that!

The intro to “Himawari no Iro” feels like it could be used in *Spirited Away*.

*Spirited Away*, lol. Brings back memories. ^^; Anyway, why is ELT so popular? I don’t feel like they have much in common with GARNET. Onitsuka, Shibata, and Nick Drake make sense to me.

There isn’t really any obvious connection.

Montevi songs are being uploaded all over Nico Nico!! New fans might not know them, but Montevi is the group arranged by Mr. Furui! You might never get another chance to see this stuff if you miss it now!!! Anyone who doesn’t know them, go listen! You’ll be like, “I’ve heard this in *Conan*, but Mr. Furui arranged it?” ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpQj5NM0D_E There are lots more in the Montevi thread.

That “I wish” song with the cross held to her chest~♪ So nostalgic. I like “Sayonara” too. No surprise from the God Hand.

No matter who Furui arranges for, nobody can beat GARNET... Sometimes I think that. His spacious, layered harmonies are just fantastic.

As a GARNET fan, could you recommend some Western music for me?

>>189 I’ve recently gotten into Angelgrace and Pain of Salvation, so I’ll throw those out there. Honestly, I’m not sure there’s much of a connection, though, lol.

>>189 Then try Danny Wilson. They work neo-acoustic elements into their arrangements, so they should be pretty easy to listen to.

GARNET CROW’s new single, “Namida no Yesterday,” on sale July 4, 2007, has been confirmed as the opening theme for the anime *Detective Conan*, broadcast nationwide on Yomiuri TV and the Nippon TV network Mondays at 7:30 p.m.! It is scheduled to air starting Monday, June 18, so be sure to watch! ■ GARNET CROW — New single “Namida no Yesterday,” on sale July 4 1. “Namida no Yesterday” 2. “Go For It” 3. “Ichiban Suteki Datta Hi” GZCA-4096 / ¥1,260 (tax included) Looks like the third track will show GARNET at their best. Going by the title, the second sounds like it might be a refreshing, synth-bright, catchy pop song. Is there no instrumental version? Though personally, I didn’t find the instrumental of “Kaze to RAINBOW” all that interesting, so maybe it’s fine without one.

I don’t really listen to instrumentals of their recent songs, except “Maboroshi.” Actually, I’d rather have instrumentals of the B-sides. “Float World,” “crier Girl & crier Boy ~ice cold sky~,” “in little time,” “Yuudachi no Niwa,” and so on. They’re masterpieces, right? I’d snap up an instrumental collection if they released one, though I doubt they will. Are there any songs—album tracks or B-sides—you’d like to hear as instrumentals? >>177 Sorry for making you worry. I just ran out of things to say, so I went into full lurker mode. Don’t worry about it.

Isn’t this a pretty interesting cover?

I burst out laughing at work, lol. What is this anachronistic vibe? lol So, was this the members’ own idea? The title and everything? It feels like they deliberately aimed for this kind of look. Or does it just expose GIZA’s lack of aesthetic sense? >>193 I think the instrumentals from around the first album are all pretty good. They blend acid jazz, neo-acoustic, R&B, and other styles really well, with a good sense of rhythm, and the arrangements are detailed and rewarding to listen to.

That’s so corny. They’re supposed to be a group of creators, but there’s almost no sense of artistry at all. What’s going on? Sigh... Though I guess they probably think it looks good. The idea mentioned in this thread—no faces on the cover, make a concept album—doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon.

>>193 Instrumentals... Come to think of it, people have talked before about wanting them to release a collection. But no matter how good the songs and arrangements are, without Yurippe’s vocals, it feels like something’s missing. Take an early song like “Eien ni Hoomure.” The arrangement is really polished, but without that lonely singing style, it still feels unsatisfying.

Why go for a Showa-era style? Is that just how the song is, or are they playing around with a concept? lol If they’re going with that concept, I’d actually like them to commit more fully, like making the photo quality look bad, as if it were a real vinyl record. The halfhearted approach feels off... Maybe a black-and-white photo of just some middle-aged guy would fit better, lol. >>196 “Group of creators” is just how they’re positioned within GIZA. First of all, GIZA itself isn’t exactly about artistry, is it?

No, if they went that far, I wouldn’t like it either, personally, lol. Though if they even used a mixer or something to affect the sound quality, I’d give them credit for it, lol. GARNET’s synth work used to have a bit of an old-fashioned flavor in a good way (like “Kimi to Iu Hikari”). I wonder how this one will sound. With a cover like that, I’m even starting to worry about the song itself.

Even if the music video has a Showa-era style, at least make it as chic as Pizzicato Five. That’s my heartfelt wish.

>>200 No, no, no, no, lol. I got curious and looked them up, but Pizzicato Five... that’s way too surreal, lol.

>>200 Pizzicato Five fits even less, lol. But, well, now that I think about it, Azuki was involved in the concept, so I’ll let it pass... Just this once, I’ll assume the members took that into consideration when they made it. Come to think of it, Azuki has mentioned environmental issues in the fan-club magazine and other places, hasn’t she? I wonder if she’ll write lyrics that warn people about the environment. It might be interesting if she changed her songwriting style a little to fit the concept.

What’s this concept by Azuki?

I was thinking of their seventh anniversary by mistake. >>202 Even if she uses religion as a subject, I doubt she’d write about the global environment. I’m looking forward to it too.

Still, I hope this kind of thing is a one-off. Though I think they probably will do it.

Recommended 2ch thread: 【Hamer】Blow it loud! JAGUAR 50 Flute【Chinpei】 [Weekly Shonen Manga] That person is in Hitoshi Okamoto’s thread too. (ﾟДﾟ)ﾊｯ! Nana-sama (AZUKI Nana, lyricist) playing the flute!

Come to think of it, they’re going to play the new song on Hitoshi Okamoto’s radio show tomorrow, right? I wish someone in the Kansai area could give us a rough idea of what the song sounds like afterward, lol. When you’re in Kanto, moments like this are so frustrating...

People haven’t reacted very well since the cover art was announced, but based on their track record, I have a feeling it’ll be the kind of song that grows on you after a few listens. “Bokura Dake” and “Yume Hanabi,” as well as “Rai Rai Ya,” all got a poor reaction at first, but people ended up appreciating them later. I still can’t quite get into those three... If “Bokura Dake” had more of Hitoshi Okamoto’s riff pushed to the front, maybe I’d like it. Does anyone else feel that way? Some people say “Rai Rai Ya” has a progressive-rock sound too... I guess it really comes down to personal taste.

Yurippe’s singing was best in the early days☆ I wish she could go back to that... Of course, I like her now too. What other artists do you all like?

It’s quiet, so here’s a topic: what do you think of the leaked audio? I listened a little to the one linked in the main thread, but so far the chorus structure feels a bit weak to me.

By the way, Sakai passed away... right? lol. Hearing the news at work still came as a bit of a shock...

Have ZARD (Sakai) and GC ever worked together in any way?

>>212 Yurippe has written songs for them. Hirohito Furui has arranged songs. Hitoshi Okamoto and Hirohito Furui have performed live with them. Anything else?

Yurippe composed ZARD’s “Tomatteita Tokei ga Ima Ugokidashita.” Besides composing and arranging songs for ZARD, Hirohito Furui also joined their tours. Hitoshi Okamoto toured with them too. Nana... I don’t think she had any particular involvement.

Oh, there was actually quite a lot. I’m surprised the leader and Hitoshi Okamoto both played as support members. Thanks.

Come to think of it, Hitoshi Okamoto also composed a ZARD B-side.

...Maybe I’ll pick up ZARD’s 15th-anniversary best-of on my way home from work tomorrow? I like their style and sound, but I’ve never owned any of their singles or albums, lol.

There’ll probably be a tribute album released, and prices at places like Book Off will go up too. It’s not like *ZARD BLEND II*, but sales will probably shoot up. While everyone interprets all this through memorial tributes and warm messages, it’s a little hard to watch an artist whose popularity had declined get promoted again this way, with sales suddenly soaring. It leaves me with an uncomfortable feeling I can’t quite explain. I know, I know, but I still feel that way.

Well, it probably wouldn’t be newsworthy, but I still hope someone mentions somewhere how much she influenced GARNET. That’s just a fan’s selfish wish, lol.

I feel conflicted about it too, even personally. I mean, I feel kind of bad toward her real fans... If I were one of them, I’d probably think, “I wish more people had listened to her and learned about her while she was still alive.” Even so, I really want to listen to her now. Is it awful of me to feel that way? lol

I’m not sure what counts as a “real fan,” either, but from a fan’s perspective, whatever the reason, it must be good if more people hear her songs and more people find something in them that resonates. (・∀・)/~~~ After all, it means being able to share what makes her special with others. At the same time, of course, there are fans who might think, “Everyone’s just riding a temporary wave. They only care now because it’s convenient. How pointless.” I think that’s also a natural way for someone who’s been a fan all along to express their feelings. Yeah.

I can’t help thinking, “What if it had been a member of GARNET CROW...”

Me too. (・∀・)/~~~ I can’t seem to stop thinking that way for now. Whenever I think about what happened, whether I want to or not, that thought comes along with it.

>>220 When I listen to her songs, I can’t help feeling like she’s still alive. There’s such an astonishing amount of life in them. Once you really feel that, then...

It hurts...

Even after two days, it still doesn’t feel real...

“LAST LOVE SONG” really cuts deep.

>>227 Life is fleeting...

>>225 Still, someday we’ll have to try to move on from this feeling. I want to eventually let go of thoughts like “maybe she’s still alive.” After the memorial service and everything connected with her has come to an end, I’ll try not to think about it anymore. The GARNET-related things mentioned above are the same.

Still... if Sakai saw her fans staying this depressed, she probably wouldn’t be able to rest in peace. In life, she reached so many people with positive, forward-looking lyrics and songs, and I’m sure she’d want to see everyone get back on their feet and move forward, even just a little. Of course, it’s not only about her.

Hitoshi Okamoto has composed B-sides, you know.

We should just keep loving her from now on.

Ironically, this incident has made GARNET’s music feel even more powerful to me.

Following the tribute with Onitsuka felt pretty good. Her atmosphere helped soothe me. Though that program will probably get criticized anyway. Unrelated, but L’Arc using that kind of programmed beat was pretty experimental. It startled me when I heard it for the first time in ages. I doubt the general public will go for that sound.

Thoughts on *Music Station*: Onitsuka once said she wanted to make rock music, and she really did come back with a very Radiohead-like sound. I wish the Izumin tribute segment had been longer.

Still, it’s good that they did it at all.

>>234 Ah, I get it. It was nice to have Onitsuka right after that. That programmed beat in L’Arc was probably Yukihiro’s influence, right? It was a pretty interesting experiment. The singing style felt a little like their heavy early sound... >>235 I think Onitsuka’s singing has gotten a little worse. I thought they gave Sakai plenty of airtime. They also used that final segment well.

http://tv11.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/apple/1180793547/ Lmao!!!!!!!!

>>235 If it went on too long, it might be difficult for her family... I think a brief, understated tribute like that was the right thing to do.

This is a late reply, but GARNET are more likely to hire Hisatsugu Suzuki than Katsuta from DIMENSION. I think Suzuki would be easier for them to approach.

Super late reply, lol. GARNET don’t really bring in outside drummers or bassists. Maybe they have some pride or attachment to the idea of the four of them making music together... Or perhaps it’s because of their style of blending digital and analog sounds. They’ve said that since the early days, so it probably won’t change much.

But they do outsource arrangements to places like cybersound. That studio seems to focus mainly on dance music and electronic, digital sounds—in other words, programming—so it fits their style, right?

The thread’s slowing down a bit. Bump.

Someone in the previous thread said Azuki and Ms. Izumi had absolutely no connection. Is that true? Maybe they happened to meet right around the time Ms. Izumi passed away...? Could there have been something?~(￣▽￣) ...Just tossing in some fuel.

Probably not. I think their connection was about the same as an ordinary person’s. Not just Azuki, but Yurippe and Hitoshi Okamoto too—everyone was in the same position. (This is a broad generalization.) They were simply at the same company, and I don’t think they had much of a relationship. Yurippe’s song contribution and harmonies, and Hitoshi Okamoto’s shipboard live performance, were all temporary, one-off things. I don’t see any real relationship having been built.

Azuki never even had the chance to contribute lyrics. I think they really had no connection at all. Well, Sakai wrote almost all the lyrics, so that’s understandable.

Saegusa is No. 2 on the album chart. Isn’t there a Dream Theater fan in this thread? The competition is intense, lol. This week is wild, lol.

Since *Octavarium*, Dream Theater has gotten a lot more metal. Their music has become this technically oriented metal with changing time signatures, which isn’t really what I think of as progressive metal. I used to like them quite a bit, but let Saegusa beat *Systematic Chaos* fair and square, lol.

I think it’s amazing that sales like that were enough to get No. 2 on the daily chart. Though it did feel a little embarrassing, lol.

This thread is so quiet, it’s a little worrying, lol. Do I need to come up with some good topics to liven it up...?

This thread has always been kept going by a few people, so it’s fine if it’s quiet.

Still... since it’s supposed to be a general chat thread, it can’t keep going like this. And there’s a limit to how quiet it can be, lol.

http://www.gyao.jp/enq/garnetcrow/

>>250 Just ask, “Are there any artists you like besides GARNET?” and a whole bunch of people will show up!

I’m tired of that topic. I already know a lot of people will mention melancholy-leaning artists like VINE and Onitsuka, plus ELT (?). I’ve seen them live, but VINE’s musicians play so loud... It hurts your ears without earplugs. They’re as noisy as melodic hardcore. Besides GARNET, has anyone been to a particularly memorable live show? It’s almost live-music season, so here’s a topic.

The JUDE show I saw at Fuji Rock in 2003 was the best.

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga5iEAuynBs

For a live show to become unforgettable, you need a little time to pass♪ For sheer volume, it was GUNS. Did Hitoshi Okamoto go to their Tokyo Dome show too? For atmosphere, Bob Dylan. He’s great at creating a live-show mood. Seeing Pink Floyd in America was like getting blasted into outer space! I’ve been to a lot of shows, but those are probably the ones that left the biggest impression.

Speaking of Floyd, I’m reminded of Dream Theater’s awful cover. Floyd’s psychedelic guitar work is the good part, so what did they do to it...? I don’t usually go out of my way to see Western artists live. They’re generally more theatrical than Japanese acts, and I’m often more satisfied by Western shows, but I still find myself looking up Japanese artists. Then I regret it... like L’Arc and BUMP, whom friends dragged me to see...

>>255 I borrowed VINE’s new album, *From a smalltown*. In every respect, it made a strong impression on me. The thick sound of the guitar rock (the snare reverb is great) and the band’s sheer presence both really come through. I wonder if the lyrics reflect the vocalist’s state of mind at the time. “Mama” and “Yubisaki” are heartbreaking. I feel like I want everyone to tell me, “You absolutely have to listen to this!” Though this is a bit off the live-show topic.

>>258 Bob Dylan, GUNS, and Floyd are all so different musically. I saw Dylan when he came to Japan, but his voice was shot, which was a little disappointing. His persona was just what I’d expected, though. Among the famous acts, I also saw the Stones at the Dome, but they were only tiny specks. I couldn’t tell Mick from Keith, which was a letdown too. Whether it’s Dylan, Floyd, or the Stones, anyone who didn’t get to see those rock acts live in the ’60s or ’70s is in the loser group.

Some people might find Floyd a little drawn-out and sleepy. But that atmosphere is exactly what’s great about them. Even among progressive-rock bands, I think their appeal comes more from the psychedelic atmosphere and structure than from technical skill. Well, progressive rock generally does value structure and atmosphere.

>>260 Since you like VINE now, try borrowing *Lifetime* and *Idea no Suisou*. Both are highly regarded albums, with a really pleasant guitar-rock sound. Their word choice is excellent too, and they’re great at rhyming and fitting the words to the melody.

>>262 Rather than being known for atmosphere, some people say they’re the weakest performers of the big four.

Yukio went over to the ZARD thread and hasn’t come back. (´;ω;`)/~~

He (or she? I remember someone saying she was a woman... but this might not be the same person behind the account) probably won’t be back today.

>>260 You should listen to East Village too, a band people have almost forgotten, lol. They’re nostalgic neo-acoustic. I have a soft spot for cheap sounds like synth-pop...

The re-formation of the Brilliant Green is interesting too. I hear they’ll have a song in *Tantei Gakuen Q*, so I’ll check it out. There used to be a trend of “GARNET fans also like Onitsuka, Cocco, and the Brilliant Green,” didn’t there? Now they’re all coming back. I didn’t think that would happen—especially with Cocco.

Hmm... I’m glad they’re coming back too, but there are a lot of things to worry about. If the Brilliant Green turns into Western-style pop rock, I personally won’t like it. I want to hear that lazy early sound with its UK and grunge flavor. By the time Kawase started doing solo projects, the songs had gotten pretty catchy. Well, there were still bits and pieces like distorted guitar arrangements, so it wasn’t unlistenable. Cocco, please do your best and give us something with that decadent feel from before. As for Onitsuka, I hope she works on her pitch and volume and gets back to how she sounded when she was active.

Onitsuka, the Brilliant Green, and Cocco have all lost some of that bleakness and low, dark sound. For a GARNET fan, that might be fatal.

The Brilliant Green always feels a little fake to me. It’s so obviously a manufactured project.

Maybe it’s about Kawase’s public persona. Since she started her solo project, that side has been emphasized, and it’s becoming harder to deny that the music is just an accessory to her image.

There was a time when the Brilliant Green was described as a “fashion band.” If you put it that way, what does that make B-Being GIZA, which just gathers pretty older girls to sing without establishing a musical identity? Well, lol. Though they’re so small that maybe they haven’t reached the point where people would even think that way.

This new music video has a Pizzicato Five vibe.

>>273 Being was also once mocked as a B-grade industry-rock company. The *Rockin’ On* crowd probably hated the company from the start. I feel like there’s a lot of criticism from them. Though the *Rockin’ On* crowd is pretty similar themselves, lol.

Kawase’s “being forced to do this” vibe was way too obvious, and then there were those things she said on the radio before...

>>276 What was it again? Anyway, Kawase also has a role like Ayumi Hamasaki at Avex, setting trends as a fashion icon, so she can come off like a puppet of her management.

>>277 The lyrics on their first and second singles were in English, but they didn’t sell at all. For the third one, she reluctantly sang in Japanese (“There will be love there”), and it became a huge hit and made them famous. But when she went on the radio because of that song, she said, “Please stop buying my CDs.” She didn’t say it jokingly; she sounded sulky. Seems she really hated singing in Japanese.

Ah, I see... So that’s what happened. English lyrics, huh? If they got trapped by writing in English, they’d end up with the kind of setup ELLEGARDEN has now. The sort of thing where they copy a genre from Western music and fail to develop anything distinctive.

I’m dying that you all managed to stretch a topic about the Brilliant Green this far, lol. But that’s because there’s so little to talk about with GARNET right now.

Come to think of it... will GARNET release an album this year? I feel like they could release about one more single. Though maybe it’ll be a preview single.

Did any of you guys go to the event today?

I’m the person who went to the event today~ I’m still not home yet. Getting back to the Goto Islands in Nagasaki is quite a journey~

I’m with the Tokyo group. I more or less know what happened from the main thread, but for the tastes of people in this thread, how was the live singing? The event seems to have been organized pretty well, but in the end the music is what matters. It sounds like a lot of people in the main thread were first-timers, so it’s hard to tell.

I went to the event~ The guy next to me came alone and wasn’t talking to anyone, but he kept chiming in during the live songs and the talk. It was annoying and gross; I couldn’t stand it... Since it was a Sunday event, I was able to go. I wish they’d hold *LIVESCOPE* on Saturdays and Sundays too...

Ah, sorry for double-posting. Maybe Yurippe was in good condition, but her live singing was at a level where you basically didn’t have to worry about it. The opening of last year’s OKAMOTO NIGHT was a little dangerous, but this time she sang steadily, and her falsetto was beautiful. I thought she was really good.

Maybe because there were so few songs, she didn’t feel much pressure. Still, the recorder part in “Wasurezaki” was... Her singing in that section seemed pretty risky, lol.

“Eien ni Nemure” made me cry. Yurippe is a goddess.

Maybe including “Eien ni Hoomure” was an indirect message to Sakai. They probably didn’t want to make a formal gesture of it, so they casually worked it into the set list as a fan-club event song.

I missed the damn thingーーーーーーーーーーーーーー!

>>290 What happened? *Close-up Gendai*? *Conan*?

>>289 That’s definitely possible.

Thinking of it that way makes it even more moving, lol. The fact that her live singing was in good shape was one thing, but if that really was what was in their hearts... Ah, that closing lyric about loving someone for a lifetime, followed by “Eien ni Hoomure”—it really gets to you. Even an audio recording would be enough. The gentle acoustic-guitar phrase is so good.

>>286 Did she start taking vocal lessons again? If she sounded that good live, I’d cry myself dry. Anyway, I’m looking forward to the 7th. What if she falls apart during the intro to “Eien ni Hoomure”?

>>294 Especially her falsetto—it came out so naturally and effortlessly, it brought me to tears. Personally, “Yuudachi no Niwa” was the best~ I never thought I’d get to hear it live, and it’s my favorite song...

The song choices and the number of songs probably helped, but I think the main reason she sang well this time was that it was a fan event, so she didn’t have as much pressure to perform a live show. Compared with a concert meant primarily to let people hear the music, with its talk session and quiz, I think this felt a lot less stressful.

>>289 Come to think of it, isn’t “Yuudachi no Niwa” like that too?

>>297 Why “Yuudachi no Niwa”?

I’ve never seen them live. Would I be better off going, or am I happier having never gone?

http://www.utamap.com/showkasi.php?surl=A00847 Unlike “Eien ni Hoomure,” this one is more metaphorical and harder to understand. Maybe that’s because it deals with death? It seems best to read it as overlapping a sudden rain shower with life and death. You could interpret it as a breakup song, but considering the individual lines, that reading feels off. The unusual wording and imagery are so good. If one phrase were written more plainly as “an unchangeable future,” it might mean much the same thing, but leave more room for interpretation. That’s also what makes the image of the earth drifting into the sea of space easier to grasp.

>>297 Hmm... Like “Eien ni Hoomure,” it does express a sense of moving forward, but to me the language feels a little too harsh. It’s hard to take it as a message. The lines about wiping away even the little bit of hope that remains feel kind of... lol.

>>300 Azuki (AZUKI Nana, lyricist) is really clever with unusual kanji readings. They can help adjust the rhythm too, and I’m impressed by her literary sensibility. How does her mind even work? Changing the subject a little: http://vista.o0o0.jp/img/vi8234572790.jpg http://vista.o0o0.jp/img/vi8234581064.jpg http://vista.o0o0.jp/img/vi8234586275.jpg If they appeared in the media looking like this, the group’s whole image would change in an instant, lol.

>>302 The person in the middle photo looks like someone else entirely, lol. They put quite a bit of effort into this one. I really hope they make more of an effort this time with TV appearances and everything else.

So cute.

I think the DVD *“le 5 eme Anniversaire” L’Histoire de 2000 a 2005* had a first-press edition, but what about the catalog numbers? Which one was the first press, ONBD-7051 or ONBD-7050?

>>305 I think those numbers just distinguish the discs in the two-disc set. ONBD-7050 is Disc 1, and ONBD-7051 is Disc 2. It probably has nothing to do with whether it’s a first pressing.

>>306 I see, so that’s unrelated. Thanks for the answer.

GARNET has so many tricks up its sleeve. When they really try, they can even come up with an arrangement this strongly pop-oriented. Even so, they haven’t lost their own sound, which I think is impressive. It must be Hirohito Furui’s skill as an arranger. The fourth album, for example, really makes you realize how talented he is.

Yurippe (Yuri Nakamura, vocalist) can sing well as long as it’s not live... At live shows she’s always lowering the key. I’ll go hear her at the next event.

Having to lower the key is getting discouraging... It seems like performing live more often should improve her ability somewhat, but she still has too little experience. Of course, the songs are difficult to sing too. “Anywhere” has an absurd number of high notes in a row.

>>309 At an event there are fewer songs, and she probably isn’t as nervous. At a live concert, that kind of thing happens more often...

Yurippe herself seems to think a stronger lower register is better. At live shows, though, it feels like she pushes her voice in a strange way...

I wonder if Yurippe does vocal training regularly. Some people worry that a dedicated vocal coach’s habits will rub off on a singer’s voice and diminish the qualities it used to have. >>312 Rather than just saying her lower register is the problem, I feel like Yurippe tends to rush ahead anxiously. She’s okay with mid-tempo songs, but a little weak on fast ones. In “Kimi no Omoi...” and “Eden,” the vocals seem to rush ahead of the music. GARNET’s instrumentalists are strong, though, so I’m not worried about them...

I listened to her on YouTube for the first time in a while. Has her singing improved a lot? It used to feel a little cloying, but now it’s really comfortable to listen to.

Well... I guess if she can overcome her nerves, we can expect a decent level of singing. >>313 Before live shows, she avoids irritating foods to protect her voice and takes proper care of herself as a vocalist, so I doubt she does no training at all.

This is a little late, but... Yurippe looks so unnaturally cute in the “Namida no Yesterday” music video...

Could it be a different person? lol. The clothes probably have something to do with it, but her whole aura has changed so much.

Yuri is cute all the time.

>>318 Well... of course. Especially this time. I feel like she’d smell really nice, lol.

By the way, have your tickets arrived? You can’t even get started on a live show without them.

Apparently they were mailed on Monday.

So it was a lie that it included about 40 minutes... lol.

This is my first post. I’ve been a fan since the first album. How did you all discover GARNET? For me, it was the *Conan* best-of album.

Sorry. I accidentally bumped the thread.

Sorry. I accidentally bumped the thread.

>>325 Use lowercase half-width “sage.”

>>323 *music freak*.

>>323 I bought the first album because of the cover. I still think it’s a god-tier album.

>>323 *Conan*, I guess. Music usually isn’t influenced by TV for me. It’s pretty rare for me to get into a band that way. I happened to see it, and it stuck in my head. Maybe her voice in the mid-to-low register gave me an impression that was different from ordinary singers.

>>328 Agreed. The production is really careful, and the lyrics, melodies, arrangements, and everything else are all well-balanced. Apparently there are going to be about three ZARD tribute albums, but are they not planning to release unreleased recordings or covers? I know there are complications with putting those out, but fan-picked best-ofs, staff-picked best-ofs, and so on are already too much... Considering the older best-of albums sold well, I honestly didn’t expect them to keep churning out so many similar compilations. I’m getting tired of hearing about them, and the commercialism is obvious.

For fans, it just means being forced to buy the same songs over and over. If that much is supposed to count as a tribute, I’d rather hear other people cover them. There’ll probably be plenty of criticism about how well the songs are sung, but wouldn’t covers actually feel fresher to fans? Personally, I’d like to hear Yurippe sing “Tomatteita Tokei ga Ima Ugokidashita.”

Can they really sell that many copies? If you call it commercialism, does that mean they think there’s a market for it? The old best-of albums have already come out, and so many used copies are circulating.

>>323 “That *Sport* song is good” → Google → GARNET CROW “Spiral” → “Oh, I see” → soon forget about it... (A few years later) “That *Sport* song is good” → Google → GARNET CROW “Bokura Dake no Mirai” → “Oh, I see” → soon forget about it... (A few years later) ZARD passes away → Google → “What’s Being?” → GARNET CROW → “That *Sport* song is great!” (・∀・) Something like that.

Heard “Mysterious Eyes” and “Natsu no Maboroshi” on *Conan* and thought they were good → stopped watching *Conan* → happened to see “Wasurezaki” → randomly searched for it on Yahoo and listened to samples → bought all the albums → now I’m completely hooked That’s about how it went...

Heard “flying” in a commercial → “This song is great!” → borrowed a MiniDisc of the first album from a friend → didn’t realize how good it was... → years later, bought “flying” on iTunes by chance → noticed GARNET’s page and thought, “Both women are so beautiful!” → Googled them → rented all the albums → bought every single → God-tier! → Yurippe is so hot, hāhā Indirectly, it was “flying”; directly, I got into them because of their looks.

>>332 At this rate, they’ll even release an orchestral instrumental collection next, lol. That’s how it feels. Commercially speaking, it’s definitely a pretty clumsy release strategy. Still, sales will probably rise a little. >>333 You’re a legend in every sense of the word, lol.

>>323 Heard “Natsu no Maboroshi” and “Yume Mita...” on *Conan* → “These songs are great!” → bought the *Conan* best-of → “Oh, GARNET CROW” → end of story. (A few years later) borrowed a best-of → “Huh, I know more songs than I thought,” lol → end of story. (Six months later) found the best-of MiniDisc → listened to it → “GARNET really is great!” (･∀･)!! I’m still a pretty new fan. (`・ω・´)

>>331 Yurippe’s singing style should suit “Tomatteita Tokei ga Ima Ugokidashita” pretty well. As people have said repeatedly, Sakai’s singing was very even, and I don’t think it matched Yurippe’s compositions all that well. She really needs catchy melodies like Oda’s to pull them off smoothly. Thinking about it that way, losing key collaborators like Kuribayashi and Oda must have been a big blow to her...

>>337 How long you’ve been a fan doesn’t matter. (´･ω･｀)

>>339 Oh... GC. That’s very convincing, lol. Are you going to the musical memorial service?

My story: I got interested in Miho Komatsu first → bought the *Conan* best-of → bought Komatsu’s albums up through the fourth → got tired of them → before I knew it, I was completely hooked on GARNET. Also, I bought the live DVD yesterday.

Anyone here who came over from ZARD...?

I got into them after seeing the “Yume Mita Ato de” music video on CS channel Viewsic.

Bought *TOP*. Bought *TOD*. Bought *TOE*. I still wasn’t interested. A few months later, saw them perform “Yume Mita Ato de” on *Music Station*. “Ohhh, so GARNET CROW has released a lot of songs...” Randomly Googled their official site and listened to a sample of “Last Love Song.” I was hooked.

Saw the *Tales of Eternia* commercial → liked the theme song, bought the game and played it → wanted to hear “flying,” so bought the first album → listened only to “flying” until I got tired of it, then lost interest → for some reason got into Morning Musume (Hello! Project) → found the second album in a CD store by chance and bought it → listened, but didn’t feel much → stayed a Morning Musume nerd → later found the third and fourth albums in a CD store and bought them (there was a long gap in between) → listened to the third. “This is pretty good...” → tried the fourth too. “This is really, really good...” → dug out the first and second albums and listened again → graduated from being a Morning Musume nerd and fell completely into GARNET Hello! Project was declining just as my own musical taste was getting back on track, and GARNET grabbed me immediately, lol.

>>342 (=ﾟωﾟ)ﾉ Hey there!

>>342 Me too. (･ω･)

>>336 I’m #333, but this is the first time I’ve realized I’m an oddball, lol. I don’t watch anime, so *Sport* was pretty much my only way in. Usually people discover them through ZARD, Kuraki, *Conan*, *MÄR*, and so on, right? Come to think of it, anyone get into GARNET because they saw Yuri Nakamura in *Pacchigi!* and mistook her for Yuri Nakamura of GARNET? If so, even I, an oddball, would be shocked, lol.

>>348 That’s way too unlikely, lol. Come to think of it, there is an actress with the same name. I heard she played the heroine in a tokusatsu show, and that brought back a really old memory.

So, what did you think of the DVD? It’s more polished than I expected. I thought it was pretty good.

No. 1 on the daily chart, get!

>>351 Since it’s DNA, please be kind to me. ﾉｼ

Oh, it was only the daily chart, but they did well. As someone in the main thread said, I hope “Namida...” does well too.

>>346 >>347 When did you get into them? Don’t tell me it was after she died?

>>354 Listened to ZARD → saw an unusual ZARD interview in *music freak* and watched it → heard that GARNET CROW started as an indie act, so I thought I’d check them out → “GARNET is great!” (・∀・) Something like that.

>>355 There seem to be quite a few fans in the ZARD thread who like both bands, but when I think about whether ZARD fans would necessarily like GARNET, I’m not so sure. Of course, everyone’s taste is different. GARNET don’t really make songs that feel like strong homages to other artists. I don’t want to keep wishing for things, but I wonder if Björk’s ambient music, with its heavy use of strings, could influence GARNET’s work somehow... Especially the *Vespertine* era.

Sorry for the sudden question, but what are you listening to right now? I’m listening to “Ameagari no Blue.” I’m playing through the fourth album from the start.

Listening closely, “Ameagari no Blue” sounds a bit like ZARD. And maybe a little like Avex too. The question is, which side does it sound like more? I’m listening to “Nogare no Machi” now. It’s great—the distorted guitar, and that slightly eerie piano sound. They fit together really well.

>>356 I don’t think it has anything to do with shared musical qualities. Isn’t it just that there are lots of people because it’s easy to find an entry point? Like how some people often listen to artists associated with Being.

>>359 >>356 probably didn’t expect GARNET to be so easy to get into. There are plenty of entry points, including songs they wrote for others, but their sound is a little more idiosyncratic than that of other Being artists.

Bump.

I happen to be listening to *I’m waiting 4 you*. “Yuzukiyo,” “Kono Fuyu no Shirosa ni,” and “Ameagari no Blue” are all great~

In “Kono Fuyu no Shirosa ni,” Nana’s sense of impermanence and Yurippe’s wistful singing come together beautifully. It’s amazing how the sound creates such a vivid visual impression...

Azuki and Yurippe really are a perfect match. I wonder if there’s anyone besides Azuki who could do justice to Yurippe’s compositions. The lyrics always fit the music so beautifully... Azuki’s sense of rhythm is incredible, lol. She keeps surprising me, lol.

So Yurippe and big sister Nana really are hooking up...

>>364 She seems to write things down as they occur to her. That kind of rhythmic sense is probably innate. It’s hard to fit lyrics to Yurippe’s compositions... In Being, besides Azuki and Inaba, I feel like no one else could handle them very well. Wasn’t Sakai struggling with them? “Tomatteita Tokei...” is really difficult.

This band doesn’t really choose set lists with fan service in mind. They only do a few live shows a year, so why not pick more fan-favorite hits? Even if you want to buy the live DVD, the set list is so unfriendly to newcomers. They have great pop songs on their albums, like “Hare Dokei” and “Mou Chotto...,” but they don’t perform them. It’s unbelievable.

>>366 “Tomatteita Tokei...” is over the top. It drags on and on, doesn’t it? lol Usually the amount of lyrics is fine, but that one is too wordy. The words don’t land gracefully on the melody at all. I wish they’d include more B-sides. The structure is nearly the same every time, which is kind of... It gets boring.

I just saw “Namida no Yesterday” on TV for the first time, and it’s completely different from their songs up to now.

>>369 Is it really different enough to make you feel that way? Though I do think Yurippe herself seems completely different.

Since I started reading 2ch, I’ve focused so much on reading and writing posts that I hardly listen to Western music anymore. In exchange, I’ve built up a huge amount of fanboy knowledge about Western music, lol.

>>371 You don’t need to go out of your way to say that here, lol. >>370 Her look with the hat and everything is completely different from before.

>>369 What about “Ameagari no Blue”?

>>369 Yurippe has repeatedly said in interviews that this is a summer song unlike GARNET CROW’s usual style. She also said in *100 Songs Memorial* that the awkwardness is what makes it GARNET CROW, right? So feeling like it’s unlike their previous work is exactly what Yurippe and the others were aiming for, lol.

“Yume Hanabi” and “Maboroshi” too... they really put their fans through the wringer, lol. Still, I think the gentle combination of sounds in “Maboroshi”—the percussion, nylon-string guitar, and strings—is at the heart of their music. >>374 I guess they’re still taking into account the fact that they have a tie-in, as usual? They seem to work pretty freely, but they do stick to that kind of thing.

>>375 > I guess they’re still taking into account the fact that they have a tie-in, as usual? > They seem to work pretty freely, but they do stick to that kind of thing. “Namida no Yesterday” was originally a story about a bright-red goldfish, and it was a ballad, so I guess they made it brighter for the *Conan* opening. Still, I’d really like to hear the red-goldfish version as a ballad.

A story about a red goldfish?

>>377 Nana said that “Namida no Yesterday” was originally a story about a bright-red goldfish.

ASCII art of a tired character riding along and saying, “Ah, I’m exhausted...” and “Rumble, rumble~” This ASCII art is so cute.

Compared with the previous release, this one may be more carefully made. (・∀・)/~~~ The intro to “Namida no...” is great. The strings-and-synth sound is more memorable than last time, too. I feel like the guitar also stands out in just the right way. (Though one phrase sounds familiar.) Looks like they’re still going in the direction of using a lot of guitar.

>>380 Yukio, have you recovered emotionally? You hadn’t posted at all, so I even brought up Dream Theater as a topic for you, but you still didn’t show up. I guess you weren’t even lurking here.

Yukio probably went to hang out in the ZARD thread, lol. I can’t be the only one who got goosebumps from the second B-side this time. That piano-and-synth combination is killer... lol.

>>381 Sorry. (・∀・)/~~~ I got a little too carried away having fun in another thread.

>>383 When you said in the ZARD thread that you wanted to go to the musical memorial service, I thought you’d been hit hard emotionally. Glad you seem okay. >>382 “Go For It” is an aggressive song. Someone here said they wished they’d made an anti-war song, and this is the complete opposite, lol. Judging by the line in “Float World” about pushing back against tomorrow, Nana seems pretty combative too, lol. It’s a very GARNET CROW song. It feels like their own signature style. The intro to “Ichiban Suteki Datta Hi” reminds me of “Ring Ring a ding.” A long time ago, I predicted “Namida no Yesterday” might sound like that, but it turned out to be the B-side.

Well, Azuki probably writes pretty freely without being especially attached to a particular position, so she can come up with lyrics that seem to hint at anti-war ideas. As for “Ichiban Suteki Datta Hi,” the arrangement has a hard-rock direction that reminds me of the third album.

“Go For It” is really good. The majestic intro with the synth layered in is fantastic already. The guitar solo in the interlude has a great feel too. Overall, it seems to carry on from the fifth album (“Haru Matsu” and “Himawari”), but still feels fresh... The B-sides always surprise me.

It feels like GARNET CROW has evolved a little more.

Sorry to go back to this, but about >>376–378: Where did they say that?

>>388 GARNET CROW part 171 http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicjg/1180273099/528

Happy birthday, Yurippe! How old are you now? Come on, tell us the truth. (´Д｀)

In the end, when one member leaves, then another, won’t “Garnet” just become Yuri Nakamura?

“Garu”?? You mean “Gane”??

Yurippe has finally turned 30 too, huh?

>>386 This is my favorite track on the release. From the intro, their appeal just spills out everywhere. (・∀・)/~~~ The title track is good too, but it’s the B-side for me~ >>393 The Tokyo crowd gets to see her a little ahead of everyone else.

So, is anyone from the Tokyo group here?

I’m here~ Second-floor seats...

ﾉ I’m on the second floor too...

It was quite a while ago, but once when I got tickets for Hitomi Memorial Hall, part of the second floor counted as S seats. I was in an S seat right in the center of the front row on the second floor, and it was awesome... But I have to go on a business trip this time, so I can’t make it. orz

I’m on the second floor too... In that case, I wish I had something like binoculars.

I have one extra ticket for tomorrow. Anyone want to go? You can enter with me as my guest.

I really want to gooooo.

Everyone keeps saying they need binoculars, but it must be really annoying for the people being watched. Poor Yurippe (Yuri Nakamura, vocalist) and Nana (AZUKI Nana, lyricist).

>>402 GC fans don’t care about that stuff.

I just got back. Maybe because there were only a few songs, Yuri-san sang with all her might, and I got goosebumps again and again. They also played “Eien ni Hoomure,” mentioned above. Yuri-san’s singing was wonderful, of course, but Nana-san’s piano solo in the intro was fantastic. And “Wasurezaki”—I never expected Yuri-san to play the recorder in the intro. She did a little tuning-like thing before the song, and I wondered, “What’s that?” I guess you shouldn’t underestimate the recorder just because it’s an instrument used in music class. After the live show, Nana-san calmly began playing the piano, and everyone sang “Happy birthday dear Yurippe~.” It seemed to be a surprise, and Yuri-san just stared in amazement. She quietly said, “We didn’t rehearse this, did we...?” As for the talk show—or rather, before that, I want to know what was up with the emcee’s voice. I thought it was Eriko Kusuda. Anyway, Hirohito Furui was smiling the whole time from the start. What was that about? The person who used to edit *JGM* was moderating, and—oh no, I barely remember what they talked about.

Yurippe’s voice really carried at the live show. Her pitch wandered in a few places, and her falsetto was unstable at times, but overall I thought she was in pretty good shape. The talk show was fun too. What was going on with Azuki and Hirohito Furui? lol Azuki’s rambling story about the tea fields really hit my funny bone. And the thing I was most curious about at the live show was... I think I saw Yukio, lol.

How was the Yuri-and-Nana talk?

Maybe because there were only a few songs and it was an acoustic-style set with a goal of unplugged sound, Ms. Nakamura felt relaxed, and the performance was fairly steady overall. (・∀・)/~~~ A few missed words and pitch slips were just cute little mistakes. Later on, though, Furui’s synths were sometimes buried by the acoustic guitar and percussion, so the sound didn’t come through clearly, which was a shame. Ms. Azuki’s piano was a little quiet too. Since the group is built around synths and piano, that was a real drawback. >>406 Oh, it was pretty interesting. I feel like this might become another weird topic in some thread, lol. During the talk, they showed a photo of fish Ms. Nakamura took at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. Then they started talking about Ms. Azuki and Ms. Nakamura going to Okinawa together. Apparently Ms. Azuki stood beside Ms. Nakamura the whole time she was taking pictures, and took photos of her too, “because she was cute...” (・∀・)/~~~

Ah~ speaking of Okinawa, here’s a slightly disappointing story. When they went into a restaurant, Ms. Nakamura and the others asked, “Do you have an autograph board?” The staff replied, “May I ask who you are?” lol. The photos of Ms. Nakamura taken in Okinawa were lovely... >>405 Huh? lol (・∀・)/~~~ Did you ask the people who shook hands with them? lol I know someone who was among them.

Honestly, I was annoyed by how the staff handled ID checks before the show. The notice said ID checks would start at 3:00, so a lot of people gathered. After checking everyone, they told us to go back outside... They sent about 300 people back to the front gate of the university. That was ridiculous. It inconvenienced both university staff and passersby. The staff themselves said, “Both passersby and the university are really upset with us.” Well, of course they are. GARNET CROW fans are so mild-mannered they didn’t crowd around and interrogate the staff. That’s what I thought, having been to all kinds of live-show riots.

>>409 Oh, so that happened. I thought it started around the time they were selling merchandise. I didn’t get there until just before 6:00, and my ID check was over in a flash, so those people who arrived at 3:00 just for the ID check... that’s rough.

>>408 No, sorry, lol. I said something weird. Don’t worry about it, lol. I started lining up for the early merchandise sale, and it was rough. They were doing ID checks at the same time too. I asked the person in front to save my place, and somehow managed to get through it.

>>409 The way they handled that was definitely not okay.

>>408 Speaking of the talk session, the topic of the old guy’s cat was nice too, lol. When they asked, “Whose cat is this?” and showed the photo, the members all started meowing... lol. But the audience shouting “So cute!” made me lose interest for a moment.

>>413 Did all the members meow?

>>414 First, Hitoshi Okamoto (Mochi/Okamochi) said “Meow.” “Is that Mr. Okamoto?” “I’m a dog person, lol.” “Ms. Nakamura?” She shook her head and meowed. Hirohito Furui pointed at Yurippe: “Interesting. Meow.” Yurippe: “Meow?” (Audience: “So cute!”) Audience: “Nana-san!” “Ms. AZUKI?” Furui: “...Sorry, it was me, lol.” Azuki leaned toward Yurippe. Yurippe said, “I was just about to say that~” So Azuki was the only one who didn’t meow, lol.

They even begged her, “Azuki, you say it too!” But she refused, right? lol

Azuki is always a beat late when she talks, lol. But once she starts speaking, she can really go on, lol. By the way, someone in the main thread said that when they were talking about video games (*Resident Evil*), Azuki asked Mochi, “Did you unlock Tofu?” Did everyone hear that part of the conversation?

I heard it. I don’t know *Resident Evil*, so I wondered, “What’s Tofu?” What is it, anyway? Is it gamer slang? lol

If I remember correctly, after you beat the game once, there’s a mode where the character you control turns into a block of tofu. You need a special code, and there are various other unlock conditions... People who know, know, lol. This proves Azuki is a serious fan, lol.

I heard that too, lol. During the talk, Nana-san even knew about the tofu that supposedly only expert players get to see—and that speaks in a Kansai dialect. Right, the fan-club magazine Vol. 3, famous for her *Tomb Raider* cosplay, also said she cosplayed *Resident Evil*, lol. I’m so happy they brought together the entire run of fan-club magazines for this event~

That was great~ I was so moved. There was someone who said they came all the way from Nago, Okinawa. That’s amazing. Even when Ms. AZUKI was asked questions, she often just went “...” I guess she really is mysterious. But I think that’s part of her charm. I think Ms. AZUKI is genuinely in love with Yuri-san. Let’s call the cake having no candles a cute little mistake... But why did they make her blow on it? lol The last song was “Yuudachi no Niwa”... I was personally a little disappointed. Is it really that good? It’s a B-side, right? I’ll listen to it again. There was a lot of interaction with the audience, and it really felt intimate.

They didn’t say it directly, but Yurippe probably likes Azuki just as much... They were so lovey-dovey, lol. You could tell from their behavior during the talk how close they are. The final “Yuudachi no Niwa” was a little lacking in impact. I like the song, but the running order felt a bit awkward. Since it was an acoustic live, I imagine they wanted to close with something mellow.

I was surprised that the live show started right away. Wow, it was great. I’m still basking in the afterglow. Until now, I’d only watched DVDs and thought GC live shows were kind of... But this time made me feel like I have to go to the next one. The lyrics to “Yuudachi no Niwa” are really good.

They didn’t put candles on the cake so her age wouldn’t be revealed... though everyone already knows. Is Mochi the same age as Haruka Igawa? Hirohito Furui is probably the same age as DEEN’s Yamane.

When I saw their tour around the time of the first album, I thought I’d skip their next live show. The volume was weak, and the band was all over the place. There was really nothing to enjoy. These days, regardless of Yurippe’s pitch, I think her volume has gotten much stronger, and the band feels tighter, so it’s fun to watch. David’s improvised fills and Ohashi’s bass were cool. Kurose and Ooga were still a little iffy... Someone like Kurose would be better off playing metal.

>>415 I really want to hear Yurippe say “Meow,” lol. Though if you really want to hear it, you can in “Shiawase na Pet.”

>>422 Yurippe never used to initiate physical contact. It always seemed one-sided, with Azuki being the one to do it. I can only think something must have happened.

>>426 Yurippe’s “meow” was in a low voice, so it wasn’t that cute, lol. It was interesting that they tried to have a conversation using only “meow.” >>427 Maybe they finally crossed a line they shouldn’t have, lol.

Azuki should write some lyrics comparing their relationship to something. I hope she slips it casually into a B-side or something.

>>429 Maybe it’s already hidden in something they’ve released.

>>430 You mean “Ichiban Suteki Datta Hi”? lol

>>428 So the cat from back then is gone now... orz

>>430 Maybe something like “Koisuru Koto Shika Dekinai Mitai ni”? Another unexpected one is “Call My Name.” They said something about it in a *JGM* interview too.

If you pick a love theme, you can make lyrics that metaphorically describe their relationship however you want. I can understand why you’d want that, since direct expressions like “Koisuru...” are pretty rare for GC, but I’d still like a memorable line, even just a hint, that suggests the two of them, lol.

There’s something captivating about yuri, after all. The footage of them on *Music Station* for “Rai Rai Ya” really got me. Not the kind of thing I should be writing first thing in the morning, lol.

This is my first time watching the *Twilight Valley* DVD since the event... I was disappointed because Yurippe’s voice was so low... It felt almost an octave lower. It was completely different from the live show. Did everyone else feel that way?

Yeah... It really does feel like her live voice and the DVD are two different things. Why is that? Even so, personally I think this is the best DVD so far. The gap between the two felt smaller to me this time...

>>436 It’s not an entire octave lower, lol.

>>436 Hey, lol! An octave is from one C to the next C, you know? lol

Rather than the key being lowered, it’s probably an issue with the mixer and sound processing. The overall sound gets lighter, so it feels like it lacks impact.

Three consecutive singles in the Top 10! ━━━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━━!!!!!

It just means their core fans really came through, I guess. That refreshing, catchy style probably didn’t do much, lol. Changing the subject, what about the TV appearance? Even if it’s only a short segment, I want to see them get teased, lol.

Have they been on *HEY! HEY! HEY!* before?

It’s their first time on *HEY! HEY! HEY!*. But they’ve been on serious music shows like *Music Station* five or six times already.

They’re not the kind of artists who are good at chatting, so I always thought they’d never appear on *HEY!×3* or *Utaban*... I wonder how it’ll go. ...I’m super excited, lol.

>>428 My memory’s a little fuzzy, so I’m not sure, but I think I heard Yurippe meow once while Furui-san was talking about his cat. She said it in such a cute voice that I got really excited. Does anyone remember when Yurippe meowed in that cute voice?

>436 >440 Maybe I feel that way because I saw the December live show in person. Some people like >437 say otherwise, so I’ll watch it again. Even so, I’m still pretty shaken.

>>445 I’m the kind of person who’d watch out of curiosity. The GARNET members seem to have a pretty high wall between themselves and other people until they get close, so if they were with Downtown, I imagine the conversation would be really hesitant and awkward.

I only watch Downtown’s *Gaki no Tsukai*, so I can’t imagine how they’d talk to each other. ...Would dirty jokes be okay? lol

That segment is short. If they tease Mochi, it could be pretty interesting, but if he doesn’t put in the effort, it’ll just be a safe, ordinary conversation. Whether GC can pull off one of those brilliant conversations where they completely fail to respond to each other depends on Mochi, lol.

Mochi can talk, but I feel like it’ll still turn into a safe, predictable exchange. If Azuki or someone else spoke up, it’d be weird but probably interesting. Though I don’t think she will, lol. Hey, if she brought up the “Let’s go to the tea fields!” story in that kind of setting, the fans would lose it laughing.

The key is that it’s a “fan club meeting,” lol. ...No, if they said something like that on a nationwide show, as a fan I’d still feel embarrassed. orz Hey, didn’t *HEY!×3* once insult Kuraki when Hikki was a guest, and wasn’t there some controversy afterward? I think it was a long time ago, but is it really okay for management to let GC appear?

Aiuchi and Saegusa have both been on that segment already, so it should be fine.

Being did make Downtown apologize for that before. But I don’t think we need to worry too much. It was a long time ago, lol. Personally, I think it’d be nice if GC came out with some random, silly talk and seemed a little goofy. If they could use this format to erase old impressions like “low-voiced,” “dark,” or “the *Conan* band,” that’d be interesting, lol.

You mean something like, “It’s actually not that intimidating”?

Yeah, something like, “It’s actually pretty easygoing.” Though I’m not sure that would be good either, lol. Anyway, even if it’s only a short appearance, I hope they can show people something that’s different from their usual image.

Did anyone here win? The postcard for the TV show, I mean. Lucky you if you get to go. Though even if you win, it could be rough if it rains and the trains stop. I’m in Ibaraki, and the Joban Line is pretty unreliable, lol.

It was an email, actually.

They accidentally brought up Marillion in the main thread, lol. I was going to reply there, but thought it was off-topic, so I’m posting here. I used to listen to *Brave* a lot~ It’s probably out of print in Japan now, right? After Fish left, Seisoku kept saying they were the heirs to Pink Floyd. Brings back memories. I don’t know that song, though~ ^^;

Fish was usually discussed in a more Genesis-like context. Come to think of it, wasn’t Marillion known as a Genesis imitator? I haven’t listened to them much, even within prog, so my knowledge is pretty vague.

>>460 Right, when Fish was in the band, they leaned toward Genesis. After he left, they leaned toward Pink Floyd. That Pink Floyd fanatic Seisoku Ito gave *Brave* a 100 or 99 in *Burrn!*, I think~ I only know *Brave*, but it really is a classic album. ^^;

It’s definitely easier to listen to the post-Fish stuff, since it’s more Floyd-like. Ito’s passion for prog and hard rock is abnormal, lol. I feel like he still brags about the Floyd concerts he saw on the radio and elsewhere, and could go on forever about them, lol.

I misspoke—it was after Fish left.

It’s kind of funny when a prog-rock topic sneaks in here, lol. The name Marillion really takes me back. By the way, has anyone bought or borrowed an album by another artist lately? If you’ve found anything good or especially liked something, tell me about it.

>>464 ・SNoW ・Yonin Bayashi ・Doves I jumped on SNoW’s first album when I heard it had a fresh R&B sound, but it’s more carefully crafted than the glossy sound they have lately. Her vocals go without saying, and the musicianship on the acoustic and electric guitar backing is impressive too. Doves’ first album also has a dark sound rooted in a distinctive UK feel, and I got really into it.

>>464 The Cranberries’ vocalist Dolores O’Riordan, whom Yurippe said influenced her, released her first solo album, *Are You Listening?*. It’s great!! (・∀・)

Yurippe’s singing style—with its slightly rolled pronunciation and rich, heavy voice—was probably influenced by Dolores. The Cranberries are on Yurippe’s list of favorite artists, but more than their musical style, I think what influenced her most was Dolores’s ability as a vocalist.

She also likes Alanis and Cloudberry Jam, right? Musically, it probably is The Cranberries that influenced her most. Hmm... I’m not sure whether the acoustic side of the other two had much effect on the early neo-acoustic direction.

I think the early neo-acoustic sound mainly came from the arranger’s taste, and then they gradually incorporated each member’s ideas. As for musical influences, Yurippe may have been somewhat conscious of them while composing, but... it’s hard to say. Just liking an artist doesn’t necessarily mean they influenced your music.

Come to think of it, she apparently likes the Flipper’s Guitar too, lol. That’s Shibuya-kei and neo-acoustic.

>>464 Nanamusica.

At least “pray” apparently came from wanting to try something with the ethnic-music flavor of The Cranberries.

Oh~ so they’ve said which songs were musically influenced by them. Even if that song was influenced by ethnic music, GARNET really made it their own.

The early work was built around neo-acoustic, but it’s hard to tell whether they were actually influenced by the Flipper’s Guitar. Even just on the first album, there are acid-jazz-style arrangements, repeating choruses, and R&B-style arrangements—in short, there’s a pretty eclectic mix of sounds. That’s obviously GC’s own craft too, but even if there were a little influence, it’s almost impossible to see, lol. Were the Flipper’s Guitar just the catalyst for them wanting to make neo-acoustic music? Was it around the time Furui said he wanted to create a neo-acoustic-style sound?

The Flipper’s Guitar were probably just a catalyst. Leaving aside whether there was any musical influence, GC’s neo-acoustic sound was ultimately just a phase they went through to establish their own musical identity. I think that’s probably how it was. Their goal seems to be a sound that combines digital qualities with the warmth of analog, which is probably why they started with nostalgic neo-acoustic music.

>>465 I love SNoW too! She has great vocals, and the sound is carefully produced. Her powerful, husky voice is a different type from Yurippe’s, and the lyrics are good too.

SNoW gets good reviews everywhere. I’m planning to give them a listen next time. Anyway... don’t forget to watch *HEY! HEY! HEY!*. It’s only a short appearance, but it’s a rare TV spot. Though I’m sure you’d watch it even if I didn’t remind you, lol.

Nana-sama said quite a lot. ^^; Yurippe was cute. (*^。^*) And Nana-sama was beautiful too. (=^・・^=)

Maybe because Mochi’s joke fell flat, they ended on a really awkward note, lol. Azuki went on and on in Kansai dialect. She’s pretty good at saying funny things, lol.

That was rough, lol. I can understand that happening at a live show, but this was nationwide TV. Still, Downtown helped smooth things over.

I want to see the four of them shopping together, lol.

I’m dying that they split ¥350, lol. How cheap can you be? lol Yurippe was picking on Mochi again, lol. She knew it’d be boring, but still tossed the ball to him, lol.

I knew they’d put him on the spot, but I didn’t think they’d do it there, lol. Mochi knew it too, but he must’ve had mixed feelings. It’s different from being at a live show.

I think Yurippe just passed the ball to Mochi; it doesn’t mean she was the only one who wanted to do that. Besides, Mochi had even brought a handkerchief in advance, so they probably discussed it beforehand with the staff too. At the live show, that bit really was something Yurippe forced on him.

Still, if he knew the joke would fall flat, going ahead and doing it is kind of... lol.

Maybe because people always put him on the spot, he carries a handkerchief around so he can respond at any time, lol. Anyway, being put on the spot is probably routine for him, so he doesn’t make a big deal of it in that kind of situation. Well~ even if it was planned in advance, it was still rough. ^^;

Are GIZA salaries low?

I remember people used to post links in the B thread about low wages and overwork. But I don’t know the details.

The person who should’ve said less ended up talking the most... Nana-sama... By the way, why does Yurippe look so good on TV? Is that a rude thing to say...?

Mochi, who tries hard during the radio talk segments, should take charge of keeping things moving. Come on, step up as the straight man. Azuki talks when she should, but when she shouldn’t, she really doesn’t say a word, lol.

Someone in the previous thread said they listen to Jun Shibata. She’s apparently going to be on WOWOW today. But I don’t subscribe to WOWOW, so I can’t watch. Still, Shibata and GC seem to be going in completely different directions.

Honestly, if you can find something in common with GC, does the direction really matter? Whether it’s here or in the previous thread, Onitsuka and GRAPEVINE are completely different too. Personally, the hard part about Shibata is that her voice gives me the same impression all the way through. With songs like “Hitori,” I also feel like her arrangements don’t have much range.

Why are people so fixated on whether artists have different musical directions?

Here comes someone who really loves Shibata Jun. “Hitori” does sound the same from song to song, that’s true. *Oort no Kumo* is definitely a great album. The latest one, *Tsukiyo no Ame*, is interesting too. By the way, I missed *HEY! HEY! HEY!* aaaaaah! Will it be on YouTube or somewhere?

The reason someone gets into an artist can’t be explained by musical style alone. Just as ZARD fans might listen to prog or metal, there are all sorts of ways in. >>494 I think someone posted it on YouTube. Shibata Jun’s “Tameiki” gives me a similar feeling. There are arrangements I like, such as the jazz-style piano and organ, but the melodies feel a little blurry. Listening to the whole album is kind of tiring.

34　10　↓　*3,101　*16,194　*2　“Namida no Yesterday” / GARNET CROW No. 34 in its second week. Yeah, about what I expected, lol.

>>496 It’s kind of sad that the Conan effect did absolutely nothing, lol. Though I can understand why.

Everyone who missed *HEY! HEY! HEY!* because of Conan is blaming it on that 2ch fanboy, apparently.

It’s on YouTube, so anyone who missed it can relax, lol.

⊂二二二（　＾ω＾）二⊃ Whoooosh! Made it to 500!!!

I haven’t helped the sales, but the new song has been pretty well received by people around me. This catchy, accessible approach definitely isn’t a failure... It’s just that the faint retro touch (like the synthesized strings) doesn’t seem to be quite their thing. How is it with people around you?

The comments I hear most often are “It’s easy to get into” and “the words are clear” (・∀・)/~~~ Though some people say her voice still doesn’t quite have that pop sound.

“Namida no...” was playing in a clothing store at SATY yesterday.

I get the feeling it’ll be popular with the middle-aged crowd, lol.

This time, it’s not just the cover—things like the CD designed to look like a vinyl record made me feel again how strongly they’re committed to their music (・∀・)/~~~ That kind of design might be irresistibly nostalgic for a certain generation.

Sorry to interrupt the conversation, but besides Azuki, are there any other lyricists you like? Since we talk about Azuki’s lyrics here so often, I thought it might be interesting to ask. Personally, I really like how Kazuya Yoshii can express complicated things in simple words.

Izumi Sakai is the best!

During the live commentary for *HEY! HEY! HEY!*, quite a few posts said she was ZARD’s successor and that the two sounded alike. I wonder if some people got into GARNET CROW through ZARD, too. My friend also says GARNET CROW sounds a lot like ZARD (they only know the big hits like “Makenaide” and don’t even know Being). But I think Yurippe (vocalist Yuri Nakamura) has a much stronger, darker character, and they sound completely different. It’s strange. In another thread, someone said GARNET CROW sounded like Izumi Sakai and got absolutely flamed by some kid, so I never got to hear what everyone thought. I’ve been wanting to ask for ages— what exactly sounds alike? My friend just says it’s the general vibe. They even said that after hearing “Koyoi” and “Himawari” in the DVD commercial, so I’m even more ??? Unrelated, but another friend says Yurippe’s voice sounds like an organ.

I think they’re similar in terms of overall vibe. If you put it that way, you could probably say the same of the whole Being scene, not just GARNET. I guess the impression created by their appearance is just too strong. If you see someone dressed shabbily, you start doubting their character, too. Once you’ve decided they look alike, maybe you naturally start thinking the music does as well.

>>506 He was great in his Yellow Monkey days, and he’s good solo, too. I think the lines in “CALL ME” are especially brilliant. I’m a big fan. “What does it mean to be human? The number of answers is the shape of this world.” “A folded-up truth feels empty.” (A metaphor for a mobile phone.) Even looking at the whole song, it’s a great story about a man’s desperate desire to be needed by someone, to have someone call out to him, expressed through the subject of a phone (・∀・).

>Looking at the whole song, it’s a great story about a man’s desperate desire to be needed by someone, to have someone call out to him, expressed through the subject of a phone... I got that part wrong earlier. Yoshii is great at coming up with lines that grab you right away. He’s not a full-time lyricist, but that knack really makes me jealous, lol.

If they want to broaden their appeal to old men and women, they should get on *Kohaku* first. As for mirror balls, I don’t think they’d lose to Kenichi Mikawa or Sachiko Kobayashi, lol.

>>512 Rather than a mirror ball, I think it looks like a heat-resistant suit. http://www.city.tondabayashi.osaka.jp/public/section/syoubouhp/honsyo/pictures/tainetuhukufront.jpg Instead of going on *Kohaku* or whatever, I’d be a hundred times happier if they held a New Year’s Eve countdown live show.

If they were going to do one, I imagine the members themselves would rather hold a countdown show, too. They probably don’t like *Kohaku* much themselves. It seems excessive to be tied to that one show just because they appeared on it once.

This is a slight tangent, but I don’t think appearing on *Kohaku* is much of a status symbol anymore. For the last few years I’ve just switched between the fighting programs and variety shows, and haven’t watched *Kohaku* at all... What counts as a really big show for artists these days?

The big names are turning it down. It used to feel like a prestigious stage, but now it’s in pretty bad shape. *Music Station*, which can boost your Oricon ranking, must be a pretty important program for musicians.

For enka and kayokyoku, *Kohaku* is effective, but for J-pop... They’d be better off holding a countdown live or taking a holiday. Besides, there’s that TV Tokyo show these days, isn’t there?

*Kohaku* has become one of those shows where it’s almost more prestigious not to appear. >>506 Takashi Matsumoto (・∀・)/~~~ A lot of lyrics these days are message songs centered on inner feelings, so I’m really drawn to his expressive descriptions of scenery—it feels so fresh. I wish more people would write lyrics like he does.

>>506 Shintaro Sakamoto (Yura Yura Teikoku), Kenichi Asai, and Masatoshi Mashima during his Blue Hearts days.

>>506 Masamune Kusano. Personally, rather than calling Nana (AZUKI Nana) a lyricist whose work reads like a book report, I’d call her a poet who never became a novelist; Masamune is the real poet. He’s great with words and more careful in his choices. His writing is concise, and he makes excellent use of the spaces between the lines. There’s a kind of innate genius to him that’s completely different from Nana’s. I like them both, but in a word, Masamune can really write. It’s just that his old surreal quality hasn’t shown up much lately...

Kusano has a rich vocabulary and is great with metaphors. I like his lyrics too. They feel much lighter than Azuki’s, but I also like how he scatters his views on life and death throughout them.

“Rinne no Hate” is incredible. Masamune is a god.

“Aoi Kuruma.” If you listen closely, it’s actually a song about a lovers’ suicide, lol. Its view of life and death is different from Nana’s, and it’s pure Masamune’s world. He once said that living things are scooped up from the sea with a cup, and when they die, they flow back into the sea like water. He writes love lyrics with that as their premise, which makes them so fleeting and beautiful. He also tends to mix in fantasies and a bit of the perverse, which I like. On the GARNET side, even “Eden” is already pretty dangerous, but I still wish she’d write something more intensely erotic.

>>522 I think GARNET’s “flying” and Spitz’s “Aoi Kuruma” leave a similar impression. They both have a strange, drifting quality. You can’t quite tell whether anyone actually died. The music makes it even harder to tell. GARNET’s version is eerily powerful, while Spitz’s is so breezy it’s almost creepy. Come to think of it, Azuki sometimes uses expressions that feel very Kusano-like. “Jewel Fish” and “Blue no Mori de” have a bit of that Kusano flavor. “Your silhouette, crossing even the desert”—that sounds like something Kusano might write, too.

>>523 Themes like “Aoi Kuruma” and lovers’ suicide sound pretty heavy, but I always feel they’re just fantasies in someone’s head.

Looks like everyone listens to Spitz closely, rather than just having them on as background music. I’m surprised. >>524 I think so too. I could imagine Kusano singing the lyrics of “Blue no Mori de” without it feeling out of place. That narrative quality and abstraction. Azuki and Kusano have different themes and methods, but they share a fundamental emphasis on life as a “dream, an illusion.” Personally, I like the lyrics to “Nagisa.” They’re full of impermanence.

Even though the approach is different in “Natsu no Maboroshi,” I think it has a similar quiet, understated way of showing you death. >>524 Kusano’s lyrics have those abstract lines with a great feel for language, right? He can write lines that stick in your mind after one read—vivid, memorable phrases. It just feels like lately he hasn’t really been making the most of that.

It’s impressive how he can create such depth with ordinary, simple words, and surprise you by combining simple words in unexpected ways—that’s Masamune. There’s something lovely about how he insists on writing only in Japanese, too. >>527 Recently, Masamune seems to have deliberately started writing more straightforwardly. He said that now he’s older, there’s no point in being contrarian for its own sake, and that in an age when the future is hard to see, he wants to sing about the future all the more. He also said he knows that what he writes can hurt people. Maybe Nana will change as she gets older, too. There have always been subtle changes, but, as she herself said, things really changed a lot after *Last...*.

If you look just at the albums, as their musical style has changed, the everyday themes seem to be gradually disappearing, and the writing as a whole has become grander and more metaphorical.

Isn’t “Robinson” the name of a hotel in Thailand? Why give it such a bizarre title? By the way, this thread talks about everything except GARNET CROW. Some threads wander off topic on their own, but this is the only one where people deliberately drag the conversation elsewhere.

>>530 I guess the Robinson department store Kusano saw on a trip to Thailand inspired the song. That sort of title feels very Kusano to me. But as the thread title says, this is a casual chat thread centered on GARNET. It’s fun for GARNET fans to talk about things besides GARNET, too. You get to learn about all kinds of interests. >>528 So he’s doing it deliberately, huh—he wants to sing about the future. I always felt the old style suited him better, so I’m a little disappointed. Guess we won’t get lines like “Your breasts are the best in the world~” anymore, lol.

>>530 Apparently it was originally just a working title, and at first it was only a candidate for a B-side. By the way, the working title for “Cherry” was “Biwa” (loquat). >>531 Haha, lol, you brought up that song! But if a 40-year-old guy sang “Your breasts are the best in the world~,” it’d just be gross, lol. I do feel they’ve become a bit bland, but lately Spitz has been full of love and wonderfully refreshing. I like it.

>>530 There was a time when this thread got so quiet that people were basically saying, “Anything’s fine as long as there’s at least some GARNET talk.” Even Yukio. would periodically bump the thread with “Just stopping by to give it a bump~” and keep it going. I also heard Masamune Kusano got hit on by a guy.

Who is Yukio?

>>533 Seriously? Apparently he was approached while playing in the snow wearing a red jacket. >>534 I thought we’d stopped seeing Yukio in this thread, but here they are in a place like this.

Seems like this isn’t the same person as the one in our thread. >>535 Haha, lol. Is that for real? Early Hyde apparently looked like a cute girl, too, and almost got lured away once.

Kusano really does have an unusually youthful face, and early Hyde had a very girlish look, too.

Kusano is 40 and still looks that young—unbelievable. I think Nana (AZUKI Nana) might be Kusano’s type: a strong-willed girl who isn’t overly feminine. And apparently Kusano likes bugs, walks, and the sea, too. There, I somehow steered the conversation back toward GARNET.

>>538 But Kusano seems like the attention-seeking, kind of clingy type, so maybe he’d be better suited to a woman with a nurturing, maternal side. Nana would probably just leave him hanging, lol. Still, maybe they are similar in terms of sensibility.

No, I heard he can’t stand being left hanging, and that just makes him like the other person more, lol. I read it in some magazine. What a masochist...

Azuki and Kusano both have their own odd sides, so maybe they’d actually get along pretty well.

Having two weird people together isn’t necessarily a good thing. I feel like they wouldn’t even be able to hold a conversation, lol.

>>534 Yukio Tanaka. Didn’t he just reach 2,000 hits?

This may sound harsh, but I feel like both Kusano and Nana have something a little off about their personalities... By the way, Spitz is going on *Music Station* next week~ It’s been a while. Maybe I’ll watch.

People with sensitive sensibilities do tend to have a lot of sides that are hard to follow, lol. But if they can channel everything in a positive direction, that’s a wonderful thing. This may sound strange, but I think they’re eccentric in a good way. Spitz is going on *HEY! HEY! HEY!* too, right? What’s gotten into them all of a sudden? That’s the sort of feeling I get.

Kusano is gay.

How often does Spitz make this many TV appearances? Once every few years? Maybe GARNET actually appears on TV more often~ Kusano always looks hilarious, totally flustered because he’s not used to being on camera, lol.

This conversation has gone way off track. I’m dying, lol. >>546 At least he’s straight. Come to think of it, Spitz has a song called “Nana e no Kimochi,” right? lol Somehow I really like the album that song is on.

>>548 It’s on their seventh album, *Indigo Chiheisen*. “Talking late into the night at a Royal Host along the highway~” I really like how the song unfolds from that scene. I’m impressed they worked Royal Host into a lyric. That’s true overall, but if you just look at that bit, it’s hilarious, lol. It makes me picture some weird scene with Nana. Well, I’m probably the only one who thinks that way, lol.

LOL, someone posted this thread over in the Spitz thread! Who did that? They’re saying stuff like “GARNET” and “Nana,” and have no idea what it means~

Kusano has a girlfriend, so he’s definitely straight, lol. Anyway, what about Azuki? lol

>>550 Probably one of the trolls, lol. 707 ：名無しさん＠お腹いっぱい。：2007/07/28(土) 08:54:04 ID:4OjV1ngX0 Their sound is really old-fashioned and pretty bad. That’s actually a compliment coming from them. 816 ：名無しさん＠お腹いっぱい。：2007/07/28(土) 11:13:07 ID:4OjV1ngX0 544 ：名無しのエリー：2007/07/27(金) 22:55:09 ID:JGDPOa290 This may sound harsh, but I feel like both Kusano and Nana have something a little off about their personalities... By the way, Spitz is going on *Music Station* next week~ It’s been a while. Maybe I’ll watch.

>>551 Hey, doesn’t Azuki have Yurippe-kun?

>>552 LOL, the reply you quoted—I wrote the one afterward, but not the earlier one in this thread, lol. Besides, those posts are on different boards, so there’s no way the IDs would match.

↑ Sorry, I posted in the wrong thread, lol. Never mind me, lol.

>>554 Sorry for confusing you, lol. It was just the post by ID:4OjV1ngX0 that continued below, lol. It had nothing to do with your reply.

>>553 She and Yurippe-kun are really close. I bet they shared a bed when they went to Okinawa, too.

This doesn’t even feel like a GARNET thread anymore, lol.

So after plagiarism, the next thing is lesbians? Idiots never run out of material, do they?

Masamune has taken over this thread.

Haha, lol. Anyone got any other good jokes? Tell me, lol. Anyway... happy birthday, Azuki (・∀・)

I’ve gotten into RIP SLYME lately. What do you think of them? I never expected to get into hip-hop. Do you think we might be drawn to melodic music more easily, since we’re all GARNET fans?

“Melodic” covers a huge range of music. You could go in all sorts of directions with this topic, lol—melodic death metal, speed metal, symphonic metal... Even metal that seems like nothing but noise at first can be grouped under “melodic” styles. I don’t listen to RIP SLYME, so I’m not sure, but I guess their biggest appeal is their catchy tracks and flow.

By the way, I listen to YUI, though basically just her early stuff around her debut. These days she’s making rock that doesn’t really suit her cute voice or her technical ability, so I’m not that into it.

Happy birthday, Nana!

I’ve been listening to Elephant Kashimashi lately. I used to dislike them because the lyrics were so direct, but I gave them another listen recently and realized that bluntness is exactly what makes Elekashi great. Miyamoto’s voice, like he’s squeezing the words out, is the best. I feel like there’s less and less music that lets you see the creator’s humanity and life. Songwriting has become so systematized that almost everything that comes out sounds like a model student. In that climate, Elekashi’s presence is precious, even though they haven’t had another hit since “Koyoi no Tsuki no You ni.”

Speaking of older stuff... I had a break from work today and watched a rerun of *1 Litre of Tears*, and it made me think Remioromen were actually pretty good up through “Konayuki.” Kobatake’s string arrangements are still awful as ever, but the melodies and lyrics are excellent, and it felt great to listen to. The drama scenes probably helped, of course.

Remioromen have been using more string arrangements lately, and that’s a shame. I’m already tired of songs like “Akanezora” and “Hotaru.” I wish they’d go back to their *Ether* era.

That’s a pretty common opinion among Remioromen fans, lol. The early stuff might really have been better. (Thinking that about GARNET, too, makes it even more depressing, lol.) They overused synths and strings, and the charm of the original three-piece lineup completely disappeared... The lyrics were better before, too—those lines that felt cut out of everyday scenes. Now it’s all lyrics like “It’s okay to be a little stupid,” lol. >>566 I think that human, strongly personal quality is what makes them good, regardless of technique or musical style. They feel like they have a strong message.

I used to think GARNET fans only listened to GIZA, but this thread is nice. The main GARNET thread never has this kind of atmosphere. I also love the dreamy, lush feel of early GARNET and those thick harmonies, but I don’t know anything about music, so I have no idea what else to listen to. I really love the atmosphere of Yaida’s “I’m Here~.” For Spitz, I guess it’s the “Robinson” and *Hachimitsu* era.

If you want dreamy, layered harmonies that feel almost like a round, try symphonic metal, gothic metal, or progressive rock. How about giving Renaissance a listen? A GARNET fan who runs a site once highly recommended them. Anyway, speaking of *1 Litre of Tears*, Erika Sawajiri was godlike back then, lol.

Paatos seems pretty popular in this thread, but what are they actually like? I guess GC won’t use backing vocalists live anymore. Maybe they decided they weren’t needed because Yurippe’s voice has changed and become more powerful.

So they switched to strings? Backing vocals can make the sound fuller, and although Yurippe’s voice has definitely become much stronger, her singing is still somewhat one-note, so the harmonies could help give the songs more expression. It’s a bit of a shame. >>571 Sawajiri’s hair now is even more disastrous than Yurippe’s bangs, lol. Way too much makeup. It’s like she has a complex about her youthful face...

>>572 White Willow and Hyde are good, too. Personally, I’d also recommend Pale Forest. Was the drummer at the last live show Kurose, if I remember right? Was he chosen to fit the change in their sound and vocal style? I don’t think it worked, though. The overall sound was too loud. He stood out strangely from the back.

This is going to get reposted in the Sawajiri thread again, lol. Be careful, or you’ll give the trolls material, lol.

>>571–574 Thanks, that’s really helpful. I’ll give them a listen soon. >>575 Haha, Sawajiri, lol. I’m dying. Isn’t it fine? Most of what’s being said is just general discussion, lol. Anyway, after reading the conversation above and joining in, I suddenly really wanted to listen to them, so today I bought a Spitz CD for the first time in ages. This one’s B-side is a ballad, and I had a feeling you’d all be into it. Spitz is scary—they have almost no throwaway songs. Masamune is amazing. If I say that, will this get reposted in the Spitz thread too, lol?

Following up on Sawajiri, aside from the embarrassingly over-the-top promotion for the new single, I think the songs themselves are pretty decent. I actually prefer the B-side, which has a bit of a French house feel, to the title track. The processed vocal style and lack of vocal power, which hold the title track back, work well over the B-side’s simple rhythm. She’s said publicly that she likes dance-electronica and that sort of thing, so maybe how genuinely invested she is in that style affects the quality of the results?

I think I heard somewhere that the title track’s intro is really similar to a certain obbligato...

>>577 She often plays that kind of music on her radio show, too. And for some reason, she also plays Led Zeppelin, lol. http://seibun.nosv.org/nou/?p=%B2%AC%CB%DC%BF%CE%BB%D6%A4%C8%B8%C5%B0%E6%B9%B0%BF%CD%A1%A1 LOL

Huh? lol, nobody’s replying now, lol.

Nana-nee is 34.

>>579 Come on, lol. Nobody here is going to fall for that kind of thing, lol. This hasn’t really come up before, but do you think GARNET might appear as an artist with a connection to ZARD at the memorial concert? Hirohito Furui and Hitoshi Okamoto were support members and contributed songs, and Yurippe also wrote a song for them, so it seems pretty likely, right?

>>582 I can already hear Yurippe singing “The clock that had stopped has started moving again.”

Those lyrics are pretty philosophical for Sakai, aren’t they? I heard she’d been interested in philosophy for a long time, but I wonder if she also looked at Nana’s lyrics to match Yurippe’s music. Still... as time passes, Sakai’s death feels more and more real. We really lost someone who was far too precious.

In the ’90s I was listening to completely different stuff and wasn’t interested, so I only really know the hit songs and the ones she wrote for other artists. But there are quite a few songs that suit Yurippe’s voice. “My Friend” and “Kitto Wasurenai” fit her almost frighteningly well.

>>584 Well, maybe it is an unusual one. But it’s a shame that the lyrics don’t fit the melody very well. Someone mentioned this before, but I don’t think she’s very good at fitting lyrics to a melody. And Yurippe’s compositions are already pretty intricate, so it must be quite hard to write to them, right?

I watched *Music Station*. Masamune was so nervous he was almost as bad as Yurippe, lol. >>586 She’s not very good at fitting lyrics to the melody, and she herself doesn’t quite stay on the beat, either. Still, when you think about how her voice and the atmosphere around her are really the main appeal... it makes you feel a little wistful. >>585 I think “My Friend” would be good for GARNET to sing, too. “Eien” would probably suit them as well.

Sorry, lol. I listed those songs because, honestly, I was waiting for someone to call me out on them, lol. But I do think “Eien” would suit her. If Yurippe covered it, I’d want her to avoid that instantly dated-sounding programmed backing as much as possible, and please don’t add gospel, lol. Use Yurippe’s own layered vocal harmonies instead. Masamune’s jab at Tortoise with the “Tutankhamun” line was pretty good. He also made a subtle remark about their different styles, lol.

I was thinking “Ai ni Oyogi Tsukaretemo” might work, too. Rather than saying “Eien” doesn’t feel like ZARD, it’s more that, even though it’s a good song, Sakai was overshadowed by it. Anyway, if they appear at the live show, how many songs would each act probably perform? Masamune, lol. He calls someone else Tutankhamun, but didn’t he have a mushroom haircut himself back in the day? lol That was pretty shocking, too.

I doubt even the amount of support they usually get would have any effect, lol. But I don’t think they’d invite Saegusa or Kamiki, either.

I think Yurippe would be better suited to ZARD’s later, quieter acoustic style. Ohno’s later compositions had a lot of interesting ideas and were closer to the kind of songs she usually sings, so they’d be easier for her to perform, too.

If they actually got to perform, they’d be shocked. Singing at a venue like the Forum would feel like a dream. If the other GIZA girls miss this chance, they’ll probably never get to see a place like that in their lives. They’re doomed to stay cooped up in the “Bread Factory” cage, lol.

Isn’t it at Budokan? That’d be even more amazing.

Oh, right—the second show is at Budokan, if I remember correctly. If they do get to perform, not only GARNET but the other GIZA girls would get to take part in ZARD’s memorial live and sing at such a huge venue. Of course they’d be happy, but at the same time they must have complicated feelings.

We keep getting caught up in GIZA-related speculation, but the media will surely cover it, too. It feels like a lot for GIZA to deal with in every respect. If they add more artists with a connection to ZARD, who else might it be?

If B’z perform, that’d be enough to make it a huge event.

B’z covering ZARD, lol? I can’t picture it at all, lol. But I guess Maki Ohguro will probably appear.

I want to hear Yurippe sing “Love is gone.” It would suit her perfectly.

I hope the GIZA girls don’t leech off ZARD.

Please, GARNET CROW, don’t come.

>>598 “Love is gone” is a great song.

If the older guy reworked the arrangements of later ZARD songs and Gane covered them, it could make for a pretty interesting project. They could add more piano and synths than usual, for example. Having Cyber do the arrangements could be good, too.

Setting the older guy aside, having Cybersound rearrange ZARD songs and then Yurippe (vocalist Yuri Nakamura) sing them? Their label is really freewheeling, lol. Seriously, though, I don’t think Cybersound’s plain arrangements suit ZARD songs. It wouldn’t work. ZARD needs arrangements that are glamorous and memorable. With Kuraki, the arrangements lean toward Black music, with lots of synth bass and drum loops; Gane’s arrangements center on dreamy piano rhythms. I think both Kuraki and Gane have developed arrangements that fit their own styles and atmospheres.

I hope Maki Ohguro doesn’t appear at the ZARD memorial live. I can’t really explain it, but she’d just get in the way. I definitely want Gane and Tsutomu Takei to perform, though!

This topic feels like it could start a fight.

I have a feeling Gane, Takei, Shizukusa, and Ohguro will perform. But I also have a bad feeling that Saegusa, who has no connection to this at all, will be shoehorned in. (It all depends on Nagato’s whim.)

That’s fine, as long as Maki Ohguro doesn’t perform. Why not have all the GIZA girls appear? Including the ones who switched labels.

Would they appear under the name GARNET CROW? AZUKI doesn’t seem to have any connection to ZARD. I think it would probably be credited to Nakamura, Hirohito Furui, and Hitoshi Okamoto. Could the delay in the Being newsletter be because they’ve been told to keep the performers and details confidential, so they can’t send it out yet? It sounds like the newsletter might arrive after general ticket sales. Probably not, but if names like GARNET CROW, Kuraki, and Aiuchi are all on the bill, tickets would instantly become scarce and impossible to get through general sales (and if B’z show up, imagine how crazy it’ll be~).

Even if Gane doesn’t appear as a full group, at least one member probably will. Yurippe seems less likely, but Mochi and the older guy have worked as support musicians in everything from songwriting and arranging to the shipboard live shows. They’re impossible to leave out when talking about ZARD.

Weren’t the support musicians already confirmed to perform? They said they were going to recreate 2004, after all.

AZUKI has no connection in the first place, and even if she came out, there’d be nothing for her to do, so there’s zero chance, lol.

Anyway, the older guy and Mochi will probably perform, even if it’s as support musicians rather than under Gane’s name.

If I remember right, the keyboard lineup in 2004 was the older guy and Okusu. Were the guitarists Oga, Mochi, Ota, and Watanuki? Too bad for Azuki, lol—the spots are already taken. Anyway, she doesn’t use synth effects like pads, backing leads, or strings at all; she’s basically on piano, and she’s not all that technically skilled, either, lol.

If she were technically skilled, at least she might have a chance... lol.

I think Azuki could just sing backing vocals for Yurippe.

I’m not going. No matter how faithfully they recreate it, Izumi-chan can’t sing anymore (;_;) The star of the show isn’t coming back (;_;)

We’ve already discussed this to death... lol. Even if Mochi or Hirohito Furui performs, I’m not going. There’s no way to get tickets at this point, and I’m not that devoted anyway. I am curious how they’ll frame the story on TV, though.

Does “recreating 2004” mean keeping the same support musicians and changing the lead singer for each song? If so, the older guy and Mochi are confirmed, then. If they sing “Tomatteita...” too, I feel like they’d choose Yurippe, but what about Nana? lol Still, “Tomatteita...” was the encore, so they might change the setlist.

How many people would they need if they changed lead singers for every song? lol At first, I thought Yurippe’s only connection was writing a song for an album, which seemed too minor, so I didn’t think the odds of her appearing were very high. But if that’s how it works, then she’s definitely going to be there.

Still, it seems unlikely that they’d have Yurippe sing “Tomatteita...” solo as the encore at a memorial live, so maybe they’ll change the running order or leave it out entirely.

Sorry to interrupt the conversation! Today I bought “Crystal Gauge” for 210 yen!!!

>>621 Nice find.

>>621 Hiyahiyaa~ Cryyy~ Cryyy boy~ This is great to listen to in summer—it feels so cool and refreshing. For some reason it reminds me of Naeba (the older guy).

>>621 I know it’s not nice to say, but I just have to... I got it for 100 yen, lol.

I got “Yume Mita Ato de” for 80 yen...

“Crystal Gauge” is great, especially in summer (・∀・)/~~~ On hot, humid summer days, that clear, transparent voice feels cool and is so pleasant to listen to. I love the light acoustic-guitar chops and the glossy synth phrases. When it came out, the frequent use of acoustic guitar really stood out, and it felt like they were moving closer to guitar pop. I wondered if they might return to their debut-era sound~ My prediction turned out to be completely wrong... lol.

I think it was Iwai, not Mochi, playing the acoustic guitar part.

Mr. Iwai, lol!

Wasn’t it Mochi in the music video? I can’t quite remember. I also hoped they’d return to their early style around “Maboroshi,” so I was looking forward to the fifth album... and got thoroughly let down, lol.

If Iwai played it even in the music video, that’d be “???” indeed, lol.

I’m sure both Mochi and Iwai played it. But it was Mochi in the video... Come to think of it, who plays it at lives and such?

>>627 Yurippe herself apparently wrote the song with guitar pop in mind. And then the next release was a song with scratching and a sampled male rap vocal, lol. I wanted to say, “Hey, weren’t we sticking with that direction?” >>629 It became an album that really highlights those memorable guitar phrases. I’m guessing the next one will be guitar-centered, too. The guitars are already pushed right to the front on the newly released “Namida...” It’s about time we got to hear Mochi’s flashy tapping, lol.

>>627 It wasn’t Iwai, it was Oga. I think it’s mentioned in Oga’s profile or somewhere. Oga played on “Natsu no Maboroshi,” too.

Is the older guy really into guitar now? lol I liked their early atmosphere better...

Maybe they keep adding more guitar to match Mochi’s progress, lol. Hirohito Furui: “Mochi, you can play this, right? Even a beginner like me can do it... heh heh.”

Of all Gane’s songs, the one I hate most is “Nakenai Yoru mo Nakanai Asa mo.”

I think “Naki Naka” is pretty good. I wasn’t used to Yurippe’s changed singing style at first, but isn’t that languid quality nice? I can’t stand “Mou Chotto Sagashite...” more. What’s with that carefree feeling, like it was written specifically as a song for *MÄR*?

>>637 The older guy himself said that if he were to put one more song into *MÄR*, it’d be “Mou Chotto Sagashite Mimashou,” so it doesn’t seem like he deliberately wrote it to fit the show. Apparently it’s pretty well liked by people around Yurippe, lol.

The guitar riff in that song does help, at least. As an arrangement, I don’t think it’s that different from their other work, but the song itself isn’t very good.

That song was prepared specifically because of the *MÄR* tie-in, so unless they get an anime tie-in like that again, they probably won’t make another one. Personally, I’d welcome a song that was clearly written with a TV-drama tie-in in mind... Though, of course, they’d need to have a tie-in lined up before they could start writing one, lol.

The lyric “Let’s look a little more” is kind of dumb, too, lol. Combined with that tempo, it gives the song a carefree, deflated feeling. Maybe if they used all-English lyrics or something, and made the beat a bit faster, it would feel lighter. It’s very similar to “Marginal Man” in both rhythm and arrangement, so one of the two is enough.

Personally, I prefer the more restrained “Marginal Man.” The four-on-the-floor electronic beat and occasional guitar in the arrangement don’t get in the way. “Sagashite” is too clattery, lol. And when you think about the lyrics, the contrast with the bright sound is interesting, since “Marginal Man” is on the same album. I think that one has more character.

I prefer “Marginal Man,” too. Speaking of the fifth album, Mochi’s bends all over “weekend” are really hard to take. Still, I can’t give up the melancholy arpeggio in the intro to “Himawari no Iro.” Sudden change of subject, but do you think GIZA will ever start a girl band? Something like a three-piece with the kind of buzz Remioromen, Straightener, Chatmonchy, or 55 have. If they could make the most of their looks, it might have potential. The music itself... well, that’s another story.

>>643 Come to think of it, they really don’t have one. At least someone like Supapoi can write her own songs, so she must be able to play some kind of instrument.

A three-piece band... If they write their own material, I’d really like to see one. First, they’d need a decent guitarist. In that sense, Kitasora used to make loud music and was a pretty good guitarist. She could also program and arrange on her own, so it’s a shame she disappeared. They could make Kitasora the singer-songwriter and bring her back, then recruit and promote a female bassist and drummer. If they really tried it, maybe it could work.

>>644 The model of preparing the songwriters first and then promoting the artists has been established for a long time, so it’s not easy for the GIZA girls to start a band.

>>645 It’s such a shame about Kitasora. She was a serious musician who even did home recording, but then she suddenly vanished... And she was a rare person who respected Mochi, lol.

Kitasora got fired because she was pregnant with Mochi’s baby, right? Mochi’s quite the guy~ (-o-;

>>643 Speaking of Straightener, I think they were on *Top Runner*. I wish I’d watched it. It’d be cool if the GIZA girls had a band with a rhythm section like Nakayama and Hinata~ They could go all in with English lyrics, too. Anyway, putting that aside, couldn’t they at least get to the level of Chatmonchy...?

>>647 Sales-wise, she was doing fine. Kitasora really had a lot of different talents, and was a rare presence. What on earth is GIZA doing...? She was also someone who could understand how hard Mochi worked... yeah, lol.

There was Ramjet Pulley before, too. I liked them pretty well, especially compared with Montebi. “Over Joyed” and stuff like that was good.

It’s a shame about Montebi, too~ A drummer who also sings is a pretty interesting lineup. They’re on hiatus, but I doubt they’ll ever come back...

A girl band from the current GIZA roster—and a three-piece, at that? lol. It sounds pretty interesting... They could handle effects and tuning like ZONE did, with a dedicated staff looking after them from every angle. Even if they have to push it, why not give it a try?

To me, GIZA feels like a place where good things keep getting ruined one after another—Montebi, too. Even if they actually formed a three-piece with solid musicianship, I feel like they’d put it on the shelf right away. Sorry to interrupt, but what do you think of their current musical direction and the quality of the recent singles and B-sides? Honestly, I feel bad saying this about Mochi, but I don’t think putting his electric guitar at the center works. The music was originally built around a quiet, restrained combination of piano and acoustic guitar, and I think Mochi’s guitar coming to the front is fine for a few album tracks—as long as it doesn’t get tiring.

It’s not that I have a problem with guitars, but I wish they’d make better use of the harmonies like they used to. Yurippe’s voice and AZUKI’s lyrics are what make this GARNET CROW to me, but with the recent songs, if that voice weren’t there, they’d feel no different from any random J-pop band (I’m not putting J-pop down). I don’t dislike the current songs, but I still prefer the older ones. I’d rather they think of themselves as a songwriting collective than a band. Instead of trusting their instincts, I want them to rerecord things again and again, polishing them until they’re satisfied. ...What a demanding wish.

Their early multilayered vocal harmonies were highly praised everywhere. I often hear people say they must have been inspired by Enya. I think the best early harmonies are on “Kim’n’chi” and “Holding.” “Kim’n’chi” is healing when combined with the song itself and that arrangement. “Holding” has a great floating quality. More recently, maybe “fillaway.” That massive harmony arrangement really sounds like Enya. Yes, I still want those harmonies. I think Azuki broadened her themes a lot from that style of capturing little moments from everyday life. When they debuted, I never imagined she’d write things like “Kakurenbo” or “Himawari.”

Sorry, this is a bit sudden, but even though it’s Western music, doesn’t this sound a lot like Gane? http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=4T24Md5patA If Yurippe sang it, I don’t think it would feel out of place as a Gane song.

Yurippe singing “Kimi to Iu Hikari” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwCARzhA4cE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyNA52cpooE It’s the same song, but she sounds like a different person.

>>654 Mochi’s guitar does give the songs more to listen for, and it is interesting, but honestly, I also feel a few tracks per album is enough. The new album has guitar on it, too, but that nostalgic feeling is still very Gane. Even so, I can’t help feeling that the dreamy, acoustic sound is what feels more like Gane. Whether the lead single works depends on whether it has an anime tie-in, doesn’t it? I think the B-sides have been consistently good. The second track on the new release made a good impression on me right from the intro.

My speakers are acting up, so I can’t listen to either of them, lol. >>657 They’re Norwegian, right? If you like them, how about *Playing My Game*? Since it’s a Nordic sound, maybe you’re picking up on Gane’s dark, lonely feeling in that chilly sound. I often get that impression.

The Nordic scene really does have a lot that sounds like Gane, and maybe quite a bit that Gane fans would like. The other day I bought *Vinland Saga* by the Nordic band Leaves’ Eyes. It has a restrained gothic-metal sound, and it’s really good. The singer on the cover looks great, too (・∀・)ｲｲ! Whether it’s prog, gothic, or something else, I recommend looking around in that scene.

>>660 >>661 Until now, I’ve mostly listened to artists Yurippe likes, so I’ll check these out. Thanks!

>>662 If you can, tell us what you think afterward.

I also like Elis and Within Temptation. Their synth-built symphonic sound and the hard-edged riffs of gothic metal are great. And they have female vocalists, too... For some reason, female vocals just feel reassuring, lol. Almost everything I own might be sung by women, lol. >>654 I think the B-sides have maintained their usual quality. Though Mochi’s guitar is getting more noticeable on the B-sides, too, lol. I don’t think that’s something to worry about.

Good grief... it’s so quiet. I’ll give it a bump (・∀・)/~~~ >>661 Gothic music generally has mid-tempo rhythms and dark arrangements, and with a female vocalist, there are definitely a lot of things that feel connected to Gane. When it mixes male death-metal vocals with beautiful female singing, though, that feels like something else to me. >>654 Maybe the fourth album is the one that best balances Okamoto’s guitar, using effects and harmony arrangements while still evoking their early atmosphere. Is that the best example? Songs like “U,” “picture~,” and “Kono Fuyu no Shirosa ni” have that heavy guitar tone, melancholy solos, and harmonies. Also, the sound production around “Wasurezaki” and “Blue no Mori de” really expands that calm, everyday feeling of their early sound.

Hitoshi Okamoto really isn’t needed.

That’s not true. Gane wouldn’t be complete without his character in the group (・∀・)/~~~

I don’t think so.

Poor Mochi. I think Mochi is essential to GARNET.

It would feel lonely if he weren’t there... (・∀・)/~~~ Neither Oga nor Iwai could fill the gap left by his particular charm...

...No.

They wouldn’t let him take part in making Gane’s music and only gave him the role of playing guitar, so he asked to work on solo projects instead... Same as those three in Montebi.

Mochi’s textbook-style guitar playing is steady, so it suits GARNET CROW, right? Mr. Oga is definitely good, but his guitar is too attention-seeking. Shimeji belongs with Saegusa’s side. But to be blunt, when people say they don’t want Mochi, are they talking about him getting fat? Mr. Oga is more handsome and fits GARNET CROW’s vibe better. You can’t deny that. Lose some weight, Mochi.

The bassist and drummer are support musicians anyway, so why not have Mochi be a support musician, too?

>>674 Still, with two keyboards plus the vocalist, I think it’d be hard for a new person to fit in, lol. But I would kind of like to see Hirohito Furui and Oga have an intense showdown live.

>>654 I don’t mind guitar-centered music, but honestly, I’d like them to spare us the fifth album’s run of similar arrangements and similar mid-tempo and slow songs. If they want to push guitar, they could do something ominous and with a sense of progression, even if it’s short, like “Nogareru no Machi,” or bring in someone like Kurose and switch to live drums and bass for a hard-rock sound.

>>674 Their lineup looks so awkward on TV, lol. They could just bring in guitarists from elsewhere for recording, and they wouldn’t be faking it with a guitar-synth sound or anything. Musically, it doesn’t seem like it’d be much of a problem... lol.

GARNET doesn’t need that kind of overly assertive guitar. In other words, they don’t need the Oga type.

I dislike Oga because I feel like he’d make a move on Yurippe and Nana. Mochi’s friendly, harmless-looking vibe is what I like, lol.

>>679 “Harmless-looking” is hilarious, lol.

Ohhh, I see. In that case, I understand! Mochi is better after all.

I don’t like B’z or ZARD either, but I can kind of understand why people like them. I have absolutely no idea what’s good about GARNET CROW, though.

・A broad musical range, and they’re always enthusiastically committed to music. ・The distinctive qualities of the vocals, lyrics, songs, and arrangements blend beautifully. ・The lyrics balance inner feelings and descriptions of scenery well, without forcing a message on you.

Yurippe, Nana, and the older guy are all a little eccentric, like artists. Mochi is an ordinary guy in the best sense. I bet he’s always worrying about something, lol.

Mochi’s the busiest one—doing the Bread Factory live shows, support work, radio, and getting worked the hardest. But he seems to get paid the least, lol. On top of that, he gets picked on by the members, the support musicians, and even the fans...

Even the support musicians tease him?

I remember an early interview where, while introducing the members, Yurippe said something like, “Mr. Okamoto is still in his usual good spot—everyone’s favorite person to tease.” There was also a bit where Oga burst out laughing while watching Mochi answer a question about his goals for the live show, and Kitahara teases him in things like the Bread Factory live segments, lol. Iwai is nice to Mochi, though.

I just checked the Being GIZA thread, but why is Nana-sama always treated like the designated butt of the joke there? (T_T) It kind of hurts. Didn’t people used to worship her as a beauty...? Come to think of it, lately there hasn’t been much praise for Nana-sama in the Gane thread, either.

>>688 It really has been awful lately. Reading the board’s music salon thread is painful (:_;) Is this the *HEY! HEY! HEY!* effect?

Isn’t it because you keep calling her “Nana-sama”?

Nana-chan.

>>598 I’d definitely cry... In a way, it might become a really overwhelming moment... If it were Yurippe, I’d still want her to sing it, even though Ms. Sakai isn’t coming back...

Ever since someone started a thread on the music salon board pitting them against ZARD, there seem to be more trolls seriously attacking people. That said, it’s basically just people putting on a show by arguing with themselves. >>688 People still praise her in the Gane thread after the live shows, don’t they? At this point, going on and on about how beautiful she is feels a bit late~ Being artists tearing each other down is the most pointless thing imaginable.

>>687 Ai-chan-sama was teasing him...? Unforgivable!

Sorry to interrupt. I dug out an old Gypsy Kings CD my parents used to listen to and gave it a spin. Someone in the previous main thread said the intro to “Maboroshi” sounds like the theme from *Onihei*, and the song they said it resembles, “INSPIRATION,” is really good. It’s Latin, but not especially bright; I feel like there are some things in common with Gane. What do you think? By the way... my parents also liked the first album when I played it for them. It’s funny that our musical tastes are so similar. Is it upbringing or genetics...?

That Spanish-style guitar work in the intro is really good. We’re from completely different generations, though, lol. My parents listened to them, too, so I heard them at home. Maybe the thing they have in common is that they both evoke nostalgia? The reason it doesn’t feel bright must be that it mixes nostalgia with the sadness hidden inside it.

I spent a while hanging out in the ZARD thread, and wasn’t that because the Gane fans there had such bad manners? I used to believe there were no bad people among Gane fans, but the truth is, there are some, and that’s that. Still, Nana-sama’s popularity will probably come back after a while...

In places where IDs aren’t shown, people can say anything. Gane fans like Azuki and even started an appreciation thread, but everyone hated those vulgar comments, didn’t they?

So it was the trolls talking to themselves.

But shouldn’t you all stop talking about this topic? ◆ Keep things relaxed and easygoing. A tense, combative atmosphere (・A・) is no good. ◆ Don’t bother other artists or other threads, and don’t bash them. This is a rare thread where we can calmly talk about Gane and other artists, so it’d be a problem if the trolls brought their behavior over here.

>>695 Maybe it appeals to your parents’ generation because that kind of neo-acoustic music has that quality, or because it has a pleasing old-fashioned feel to it. With digitally arranged music becoming so prominent these days, GARNET feels like a precious exception. Though if you look carefully, you can still find music in that vein.

Completely unrelated, but it was really fresh when avex—whose image used to be catchy, easy-to-understand music with programming at the forefront—released DAI, centered on acoustic instruments and drawing on a range of genres~ I really think it’s a shame they broke up.

Why did it suddenly get so quiet? lol. I’ll give it a bump. DAI was also a group that got a lot of praise early on. Though they took plenty of criticism after that...

I like Love Psychedelico, early Ketsumeishi, The Yellow Monkey, and Thee Michelle Gun Elephant. Am I the odd one out here? Does everyone really not listen to bands like Ketsumeishi? Their lyrics are good, and I like the reggae, too. Though I’d hate it if GARNET sang reggae, lol... They have done some bossa nova-like songs, though. Yurippe (vocalist Yuri Nakamura) seems to be into German theater or something. After neo-acoustic, kayokyoku, rock, Latin, bossa nova, etc... is opera next? lol

People here seem to like gothic, progressive rock, other dreamy styles, or quieter works. Maybe everyone tends to avoid music that’s too far from GARNET’s atmosphere. Though sometimes people do mention twisted guitar rock like GRAPEVINE. >>704 Since you already have a keyboard player, why not bring in an orchestra too and do symphonic metal?

Why does everyone here talk like “I really know my music”? Are you all sockpuppeting?

Really? Don’t people talk like this in real life, too? Or are the people around me just weird...?

>>707 Whoa, lol.

Isn’t this how people talk across the whole board? Or is this thread special?

>>709 Correct.

Well, it’s nice, isn’t it? That’s what makes this thread great (*´∀｀*)

Woof, woof. ★Victims of the “Garnet” prize-winning email scam★ http://pc11.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/antispam/1186676187/

The Spitz-like album comes out October 10 (though the title sounds a little suggestive). Must be nice... I wonder how much longer we’ll have to wait for GARNET. At least I’d like to hear some news about new songs. That’s really how I feel lately. Personally, I want to hear more of Yurippe’s falsetto on the sixth album.

Hey, hey... their new song only came out the other day, lol. They probably won’t release an album this year. I heard the next release is a single, so we should be hearing album news around now. (I think someone said something like that in the main thread, too.) >>713 Spitz’s new album is called *Sazanami CD*—I don’t think that sounds suggestive. Though “Nade Nade Boy” on it does make you wonder... lol. It has a very old-fashioned feel to it.

Quite a few people earlier in the thread said GRAPEVINE was good, so I gave them a listen. They really are good. I like guitar rock that’s intense but still catchy. The singer’s slurred, very English-sounding delivery is nice, too, lol. I like how beautifully they use synth strings in “Kono Yubi Saki,” and I’m fond of that mellow arrangement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEDnY8MDEYQ

>>714 No, am I the only one who feels like “Namida Ieri” came out ages and ages ago? Maybe it’s because the tie-in started airing so early, lol. By the way, not many people are old enough to know the word “sazanami,” are they? I didn’t know it myself, but apparently there used to be a condom called “Sazanami,” lol. Some people even say “CD” was short for that, lol. >>715 I see. Maybe I’ll listen to them, too.

I bought the “Yume Hanabi” single for 100 yen. The B-side “ring ring a ding” is so much better than the title track, I’m dying, lol. I usually only listen to albums, but I think I’m going to start collecting 100-yen singles.

I didn’t pay much attention to them around the *MÄR* period, but I really think the “Hare Dokei” single is excellent. I like both the title track and the B-side. The single as a whole has an early-era atmosphere, which is nice.

>>717 You’re missing out if you don’t listen to the B-sides. Every GARNET B-side is a gem.

It’d be such a shame to leave out “Mikansei no Neiro” and “in little time.”

The B-sides aren’t just great in the early days—the recent ones are high quality, too.

Speaking of B-sides, track two usually has that very GARNET sound, while track three tends to be more experimental. Track two often has dark lyrics and composition/arrangement, with a lonely feel, while track three might incorporate bossa nova or accordion, which they don’t normally use, for a more pastoral sound.

Having more B-sides means they can try all kinds of songs. With “Kimi Kazarishi,” both the second and third tracks feel like classic GARNET to me. Personally, though, the B-sides are pretty hit-or-miss.

Even though a B-side collection is apparently one of the most requested things in the fan surveys, they won’t release one, and they won’t release a music-video collection either. What kind of company ignores its fans this much... But anyway, it’s nice that singles now have two B-sides. You don’t feel like you wasted your money buying a single. “Go For It” has been a recent hit for me. It’s dark in style, but the lyrics are unbelievably straightforward—it’s an encouraging song. Maybe they’re trying to broaden their range of expression.

As someone mentioned earlier, Azuki (AZUKI Nana) has been showing more imagination in songs like “Kakurenbo,” “Himawari,” and “Marginal Man.” GARNET’s experimentation never gets stale. It’s great~

Now I’m curious to see what they’ll do with the next B-side. Of course I’m looking forward to the title track, too, but I’m even more excited about the B-side.

Didn’t they say B’z and Kuraki would appear at *What a beautiful memory*? If that report is true (it is a news site, at least), then Yurippe’s chances of appearing are high, too. The old guy and Mochi are basically confirmed. AZUKI will probably come along to keep Yurippe company. Being’s other artists are obvious; Maki Ohguro might appear, and Aiuchi and Shizukusa seem likely, too. I’m even starting to think TUBE might show up. The tickets won’t just be platinum—they’ll be beyond that.

A news site? Setting B’z aside, Kuraki has almost no connection to ZARD. I’m dying, lol. Can we just treat it as speculation based on star power? I thought Ohguro wouldn’t appear because of that whole Being business...

I like ZARD, so I bought a ticket on a whim. If GARNET appears, I’ll be thrilled.

I only know ZARD’s famous hits and the Conan songs. For better or worse, I feel like they always stuck too closely to the formula, which puts me off a little. Well, it’s not good to dislike them without listening. Azuki, go to the venue and cheer on Yurippe, Mochi, and the older guy. Those of you who got tickets, be sure to look for them, okay? lol

It’s not confirmed yet... but if Yurippe appears, Nana might come, too, lol. The older guy and Mochi would stay onstage as support musicians the whole time, so would the two of them make a big entrance together? lol

>>728 Anyway, it is technically a news site: (c) Innolife & Digital YTN & Joynews24 & inews24 http://same.u.la/test/r.so/news21.2ch.net/news4plus/1188388875/ It’s a Korean news site, so it’s not exactly a definitive source... Though the Being GIZA thread and the ZARD thread both seem to be gradually treating it as confirmed.

Personally, I don’t really want her to appear... It feels like she’s trying to ride on someone else’s fame, and I don’t like that. B’z, Kuraki, and the other artists who were active alongside ZARD in the ’90s are enough.

I just borrowed the ZARD album *Eien*, which I used to own but lost. I hadn’t noticed before, but the older guy arranged three songs on it. Did he do “Atarashii Door,” too? Even when I just listen straight through, I can usually guess correctly whenever I think, “Ah, this arrangement sounds like the older guy,” lol. It’s different from Tokunaga and Ikeda—there’s a distinct flavor to it, or maybe a certain karmic quality.

Among Being’s arrangers, the older guy’s arrangements really are the best. Akashi would be next. The piano backing, synth pads, and the character of the arrangements overall all feel delicate, which is great. Ikeda always gives me the impression of using very over-the-top strings, which I’m not so keen on. Personally, I like ZARD’s *HOLD ME*. Sometimes I find myself thinking it might be their masterpiece, lol.

I think Utada’s “Beautiful World” from the *Evangelion* movie sounds quite GARNET CROW-like, both in the song itself and in the way it uses synths.

“Beautiful World” is great. I like Utada’s songs in general, both the arrangements and structures, but this one especially.

I’m not knowledgeable enough to really get it... But Utada’s songs have always struck me as having arrangements that take center stage too much. GARNET has two keyboardists, yet their overall sound is usually pretty quiet. Maybe that’s because they prioritize making sure people hear Yurippe’s voice?

It’s so quiet~♪ But that’s perfect—I’ll write a bit about whatever’s on my mind. (In the main thread, you have to read the room, so it’s hard to just write whatever you think of.) When I think of GARNET, I keep being reminded of ABBA and Ace of Base, whether in the lineup or in other ways. ABBA are a bit too old, so especially Ace of Base. Even the cover photos are divided into four panels, lol—it really feels similar. Musically, they also lean toward minor keys and have a slightly melancholic quality (though GARNET aren’t as danceable). I also recently noticed that the beginning of “Natsu no Owari no Nagai Ame” sounds a lot like the start of their “Beautiful Morning.” (You can hear it on YouTube.) Am I imagining things... hmm.

>>738 Their musical styles are different. Utada has R&B elements, which is a different direction. Still, I think this genre generally puts the vocals up front.

I heard Yurippe appeared at the memorial event. Does anyone know any details?

>>741 I’m not sure exactly how much detail you’re looking for, but do you mean more than what’s in the main thread? I lurk in the ZARD thread, too, but that’s about all I know. The Mixi community seems to have more details, after all.

Ah... I forgot there was the main thread and that other main thread, lol. Okay, that’s enough. I wonder if she sang “Tomatteita...” If it sounded good, I hope they’ll eventually record it with an arrangement by Hirohito Furui. Including it properly on an original album would feel a bit odd, so maybe as a bonus track, or released quietly in some low-key way.

Speaking of ZARD, they’re apparently going to release an unfinished recording called “Glorious Mind” as a Conan tie-in. How long are they going to keep dragging things out like this? Well, I guess no one’s expecting much in terms of sales anyway.

>>743 You can tell from his recent work with Kamiki that Hayama’s sound is, for better or worse, a very sharp-edged Being style, with the guitar tone especially prominent. If the older guy did it, it would definitely turn into a completely different piece.

Wasn’t that arranged by Tokunaga? Anyway, “Tomatteita...” is a masterpiece. It gives me the impression of a more mature, slower version of “Last Love Song.” It might be one of Yurippe’s greatest songs, too. It’d be a shame not to record her own cover, but since the lyrics were written by Sakai, I guess we’ll be forced to buy the tribute album...

>>740 Now that I listen again, it doesn’t sound that similar, lol. It’s much easier to get into than “traveling” or “FOL,” and so on. Well, I like all of her songs anyway. Before I discovered GARNET, I used to listen to Utada a lot, too. But after I got into GARNET, I found it hard to take R&B-style arrangements and singing... Utada is still amazing, though. She even does her own arrangements. There aren’t many female solo artists who can do that much, are there?

>>746 Huh? Was it Tokunaga? I always thought it sounded like Hayama, lol. Sorry for just blurting that out without checking. Being forced to buy an album would be rough. There’s no way I’d do that for just one song. I’m not that interested in ZARD, either...

I checked, and it is credited to Tokunaga. As it happens, I bought the album just for “Tomatteita...” I guess you could say it was partly as a tribute. Some people say the phrasing is cut up strangely, but Sakai’s lingering vocal style was unexpectedly good. Then I listened to the other songs, too, and ended up thinking, “What? ZARD is actually pretty good,” lol. It’s hard to believe how much I used to hate ZARD in the ’90s, lol. Also, Being is getting criticized everywhere over things like “Glorious Mind,” but I’m still grateful they discovered GARNET and brought them into the world. And if we’re talking about shady behavior (I won’t name specific examples), I think other record companies are much worse.

>>749 Rather than discovering GARNET, they created GARNET, didn’t they... We should be grateful they brought Nana and Yurippe together. And the older guy, of course (well, Mochi too, lol).

>>750 If even one person hadn’t connected with another during Kuraki’s project, GC probably wouldn’t have been born, after all.

The synth layers like pads and brass, combined with the repeated, heavily used chorus parts, do sound similar, and there’s also a mysterious floating quality (・∀・)/~~~ You might be onto something.

Oh... it hasn’t sunk to the bottom at all, lol.

>>752 Did you post in the wrong thread? Or were you replying to >>748?

I think they forgot to put it after >>736. They mean Utada’s arrangements are similar to GARNET’s. Though the key changes and all the layered choruses in the new song are pretty over the top.

>>755 Thanks, I see. So people who know their stuff can tell. I’m a little surprised.

>>751 Being is known for project bands, but the details of how GC came together are still a mystery. I think there’s a chance they could’ve ended up as a duo like MANISH, lol.

Having the group handle the lyrics, composition, and arrangement, with each member specializing in one role, is different from the project bands they’d done before. I’m amazed Being came up with that. If they’d been even a little different, this combination could never have happened.

>>757 That takes me back, lol. MANISH was great~ If it had been a duo with Yurippe and Nana, everyone would’ve called them MANISH 2.0, lol.

>>758 Wait, what about Mochi?

>>758 In that sense, GARNET could be considered an outlier at Being. Maybe that’s why people bring up their musical direction and things like that. I think Yurippe and Nana are both incredibly talented, but I especially think it was crucial to have Mr. Furui join the group. When they debuted, I didn’t realize he was that great... Oh, and I think Mochi’s guitar has a lot of character, too, lol. Especially on “Sayonara~”—it’s amazing. >>759 They definitely would’ve said that, lol. I don’t dislike MANISH either. Maybe they made it a four-piece to avoid people getting that impression.

If the arranger had been Hayama or Tokunaga instead of Furui, I probably wouldn’t listen to them. If it had been Oga, even less so, lol. They really can’t do without him. >>758 Mochi is a miracle, too, lol. Maybe the company picked him because his delicate, restrained playing fit the group’s musical style—that can’t possibly be true, lol. (They couldn’t have settled on the musical direction before forming the group.) Well, for Mochi, getting to play at the ZARD live is a pretty big deal. >>760 The whole thing started when the company asked Yurippe, who could compose, “Would you like to try singing?” But did they never consider letting her write lyrics herself? I increasingly feel they brought in Nana to rescue a talented lyricist who was being left behind by the times. If the idea was to make the lyrics, music, and arrangements as perfect as possible, though, that’s as far as it goes... It sounds nice to say they deliberately chose a great lyricist, but wouldn’t things have been pretty precarious if Nana hadn’t become a member of GARNET?

It must have been hard to figure out what to do with Azuki. If she could sing well, she’d have debuted already. ...I guess she must be really bad at it, lol.

But Yurippe and Nana really were a remarkably good choice. Their lyrics and compositions are impeccable, and they’re both beautiful in completely different ways. MANISH apparently didn’t get along very well, but these two seem close. Just imagine pairings like Saegusa and Nana, or Kamiki and Nana... lol.

>>762 Exactly. Sometimes I feel like GARNET was made not for Yurippe, but for AZUKI. This may sound vulgar, but if you form a band and have her write every song, she can get a steady stream of royalties. Yurippe was aiming to work behind the scenes anyway, and I doubt she cared much about the money. Hmm? So was Mr. Furui paid a flat fee for his arrangements? They wouldn’t disclose details that specific, would they...

Whatever else, Mochi really feels like “the fourth member,” lol.

Mochi feels like a temporary stand-in member, lol. Basically a support musician.

I bought “Namida no Yesterday” yesterday, but these people have completely lost their appeal. The B-sides are no good at all, either.

This time, for once, I like the title track better than the B-sides. “Go For It” seems to get better reviews, but I prefer “Ichiban Suteki Datta Hi.” >>768 You went out of your way to buy it, though, lol. Maybe don’t listen to the next single—or rent it instead.

>>768 Could you explain in a little more detail? At least say what kind of songs attracted you before, or something. I think we can talk about anything here, but there’s nothing to respond to if you put it that way.

I think the B-side lineup is exactly the kind of thing fans would like. Especially the second track.

When you get right down to it, is >>768 saying that songs whose choruses don’t really take off are mediocre? I’m not one to judge, but that’s a very typical Japanese pop-music way of thinking... Considering “Maw arimichi” on the previous release got pretty good reviews, I can understand it. As for “Namida Ieri,” honestly, I feel the same way. My reaction was more or less, “Will this song get the crowd going live...?” The arrangement is nice, though...

Sorry to change the subject, but did you get the fan-club newsletter? It goes into a lot of detail about the live show, so even people who didn’t go can get a general idea of what they talked about. I thought it was pretty considerate. It looks like “Sekai wa Mawaru to Iu Keredo” is coming out in the fall. As the radio announcement said, it seems to be the kind of mid-tempo ballad they do well, so it might be one of their recent lead singles worth looking forward to.

November 21 — GARNET CROW, “Sekai wa Mawaru to Iu Keredo,” theme song for the Thursday Mystery drama *Kyoto Chiken no Onna*. I think the credibility of this is virtually zero, but you never know, lol.

I hope it turns out even better than “Maboroshi”...

Since it’s the same drama time slot as when “Maboroshi” came out, the report should be pretty credible, right? “Maboroshi” was great. It’ll be hard to top that, but GARNET is really suited to mystery-drama theme songs, so if the news is true, I’m looking forward to it.

I think “Maboroshi” is already a pretty great song, except for those awful programmed drums that ruin the atmosphere, so the bar is definitely high.

>>776 That may be, but it looks like someone just copied and pasted it from a blog. The tie-in and the atmosphere do seem like a good match, but I doubt the effect will be very strong. Who knows how the sales will turn out.

>>777 I just listen while trying not to notice those drums. If I focus on something else, I can’t hear them, lol.

The classical-guitar arpeggios and the strings that come in during the instrumental break are so amazing that I don’t mind. Of course... if it weren’t for those fighting-game punch sounds, it would be perfect...

>>778 Did “Maboroshi” not sell that well? It made the top 10, right? I’ve thought for a while that Oricon doesn’t mean much anymore, so lately I’ve had to check MU-GEN to know how the charts are going, lol. >>779 Yurippe’s falsetto is great, too. The new song definitely needs some falsetto as well.

“Maboroshi” reached No. 7. Considering that it came out before the album, its sales were decent, too. If they pick the right release date this time, I think it can chart, too.

>>782 Thanks. Right, it came out not long before the fifth album, if I remember correctly. And since it only had one rearranged version on the B-side, that’s a very good result.

I remember “Maboroshi” getting played a lot on cable radio. If they do an acoustic live, I hope they sing this one.

Since the new song in November seems to be for an Asahi TV drama, there’s a good chance they’ll appear on *Music Station* for the first time in a while.

>>783 That rearrangement was by Hayama, who even went to the memorial live.

I think that arrangement is the kind you put on and enjoy the atmosphere. It seems like it would go well with a drink. You couldn’t say that about the original...

It’s all your fault—I can only hear those drums as fighting-game punch sounds now, lol. I never noticed them before, orz.

>>788 Okay, let’s drop this subject now, lol. Hayama’s arrangement of “Holy ground” might be divisive, but I’m happy about it. He’s a famous, proven name, after all. It really is the sort of arrangement that makes you want to listen while drinking wine. He’s impressive, as expected. >>785 Wouldn’t it still depend on Yurippe’s condition? People keep saying this and that, but I think a lot of GARNET’s songs are difficult to sing, so even if she’s in good shape, it must be hard to reproduce them exactly like the recordings.

Honestly, Hayama’s arrangements for Kamiki are a bit questionable. It was her major-label debut, so I imagine he was deliberately trying to change her direction, too. Still, all that stands out to me is the very Being-like old-fashioned, floaty quality, and that bothers me a little... As for Yurippe, if she just stayed in tune a little better, she’d probably be fine.

Is it true they’re holding a live show at a temple?

The main thread says it’ll be a live show for 5,000 to 6,000 people. That’s amazing. Is this their first event on that scale since the school-festival live shows? Can they fill it? Five or six thousand is about half of GARNET’s regular fanbase, lol.

Don’t they have a little over 7,000 fan-club members now?

And it’s apparently a World Heritage site... amazing.

So why is it at a place like that again? lol. And suddenly it’s an event for 5,000 to 6,000 people.

>>793 Huh? That many? I’m not in the fan club, but maybe I should think about joining... I really can’t figure out what Being is thinking. Are they planning to release another DVD, or promote the next album...?

>>796 I went to the Tokyo fan-club event with some fans I know offline, and they were even signing people up for the fan club at the venue. We got talking about it then. They said if you joined now, you might get member number 7777, lol. But people who quit partway through probably leave their numbers unused, so who knows how many members there really are.

>>797 Oh... but number 7777 would be impossible to resist for an AZUKI fan, lol.

>>792 Osaka Kosei Nenkin Hall holds 1,700, and Nakano Sun Plaza holds 2,200. Some people couldn’t get tickets, either, so even 4,000 wouldn’t have been enough. Looking at it that way, they should be able to fill this venue. Even the fan-club events that regular attendees don’t go to draw around 3,500 people at venues like Nihan and Hitomi.

>>799 I see. Then it’ll be hard for fans who aren’t fan-club members to get tickets this time. But an outdoor live show at a temple in Kyoto... I really want to go.

But unfortunately it’s only one day, and it’s in Kansai... too far away.

If it’s canceled because of rain... will they refund the tickets? It’d be awful to travel all the way to Kyoto only for it to be canceled because of rain, lol. By the way, someone immediately started a live-event thread on Mixi. Is that okay? That poster seems to keep making questionable posts...

>>777–788 Specifically, which song has those programmed drums that sound like boxing punches? Tell me.

>>803 Not the album version—the single version. Someone also said at the time that the intro sounded like a shooting game.

On the album version, the percussion is too noticeable. Maybe the effect of the classical guitar in the single version doesn’t come through as much as it should (・∀・)/~~~

The quality of “Maboroshi” is almost perfect, so if the arrangement isn’t perfect, a lot of people will notice, right? I still prefer the single version. From that dreamy intro to Yurippe’s low vocal coming in after a beat. No matter how many times I listen, that transition is great. AZUKI’s lyrics fitting into it—like “Beyond the sidewalk”—are brilliant, too. But what do you mean by the intro sounding like a shooting game? Do you mean a specific game?

For someone like me, that phrase at the very beginning brings up an image of a lonely-looking city at dusk (・∀・)/~~~ It feels like everyone is hurrying home. That such a short musical phrase can make you imagine so much is why the lyrics, melody, and arrangement feel so perfectly blended.

That song really makes you think. I thought it was just an abstract, nostalgic song, but maybe it’s actually raising a real-world issue. Maybe it contrasts people in developed countries who have somewhere safe to return to with refugees in developing countries who are victims of those countries and have nowhere to go. But that’s just my personal interpretation...

>>803 “Day after day—(pow!) what is it—(pow!)”

>>804 That’s the thing that goes “pow, pow,” huh? Thanks. I think that part is just a little detail. It’s not like the intro stands out more than the song itself. >>808 You should check out Nana’s lyrics thread.

There’s already a thread for discussing the lyrics, so let’s leave it at that.

>>810 >>811 Sorry if I annoyed you. I was being a little thoughtless. I’ll go take a look at the lyrics thread, too.

>>810 Oh, it’s Ao-Iro. Long time no see. I haven’t seen you around for a while, and I was a little worried~ I’d hoped the album version of “Maboroshi” would have an orchestral arrangement. Maybe Ikeda, who can work with strings, could add a restrained amount of real strings. I think that kind of just-right, beautiful sound would bring out the song’s nostalgia even more and make for a great arrangement.

>>813 Personally, I’d actually like to hear more of your interpretations here, but there’s already a thread specifically for that, lol. It’s a bit of a shame.

>>814 Got it. I’ll post some when I feel like it. Though I don’t know how many people would want to read them, lol.

Anyway, I hope the new song will be the kind of Gane-style ballad that shows AZUKI at her best, with a strong theme and expressive lyrics, like “Maboroshi”—dark, but still warm. I really want to say “This one’s a masterpiece, lol!” in this thread again for the first time in ages.

It also depends on the tie-in. As far as recent masterpieces go, I’d say “WEEKEND.” I was really surprised the first time I heard it. I didn’t know they could do that kind of song. I think it’s a classic that should always be on the setlist.

Judging by the new song’s title, I feel like the lyrics might have a touch of irony, so maybe we can expect something in AZUKI’s style. For longtime fans, it might be a satisfying song.

I’m a new fan, so I don’t really know: what are some examples of AZUKI-style ironic lyrics?

Maybe “Matsuri no Jikan” and “flower.” But when we say “ironic,” they only have that color to them. What matters more is the sense of emptiness and impermanence they convey. Maybe that’s where the AZUKI quality is. That’s what I think, anyway.

I’ve been a fan for six years, I guess. Does that count as a longtime fan? “Mizu no Nai...” is somewhat ironic, too. More recently, maybe “Anywhere”? I wish they’d release those kinds of songs as singles and play them on TV and radio...

>>820–821 Thanks. I’ve read the lyrics, but I haven’t heard “Matsuri no Jikan” or “flower”... They don’t seem to do that much on singles. Maybe “Kaze to RAINBOW” is in that category, too. For that kind of feeling, I like “pray” and “Holding you,and swinging.” >>821 I’d like them to release those as singles, but people outside the fanbase don’t pay attention to the lyrics... I really love “Maboroshi,” but it doesn’t seem to have sold very well.

>>822 Honestly, I don’t pay attention to the lyrics of artists other than Gane, either, lol. To be honest, “Maboroshi” was their first TV-drama tie-in, so I did hope a little that it might become a big hit like “Yume Mita Ato de.” But the music industry is tough these days...

Really? I like a lot of lyrics by artists like Kenji Ozawa, Kazuya Yoshii, and Kazumasa Tanaka, and I often go out of my way to read them.

Outside of Gane, I like Ketsumeishi’s lyrics.

It seems like a lot of people care about lyrics. To be honest, I’m not very interested in Gane’s lyrics themselves, either＾＾； People have praised AZUKI’s lyrics for ages, but my reaction has always been, “Oh, okay.” Didn’t AZUKI herself say, “I don’t really have anything to communicate”? Ultimately, maybe she doesn’t want to limit the imagery of the words. Maybe the meaning itself doesn’t matter that much, as long as the lyrics fit the music.

I think “Mikansei no Neiro” is a great example of the wonderful synergy between Azuki and Yurippe. The interplay between that deep vocal style and the lyrics is amazing. Azuki must be good at writing lyrics for alternative or grunge-style songs. I’d love to hear something like that someday.

The memorial live got pretty prominent coverage on *Zoom In Saturday*, but of course they didn’t show Yurippe, lol. Are they going to release “Glorious Mind” as a single? At this point it’s getting one of the biggest possible tie-ins, but the song isn’t even finished and it hasn’t made much of an impression. I wonder how it’ll do. It has gotten a little attention, though...

So “Namida Ieri” is already over? Is this the shortest Conan run ever? I feel like Saegusa’s song before that was used for over a year. Is this how GIZA is treating Gane now? Though Conan tie-ins are barely worth anything these days anyway, lol.

Right, right, okay, okay. At least getting a tie-in does have some effect on sales. Conan may have declined this much, but it’s still hard to find another tie-in that can beat it. That’s just how bad things are, lol. It’s a pretty miserable situation. If possible, I wish they’d move Conan out of that time slot sooner and make Being sweat a little. Then maybe they’d actually do their jobs, lol.

I think 5,000 of “Namida Ieri”’s sales came from the Conan effect. You really can’t underestimate it.

Yeah. It’s Conan, after all.

Speak of the devil, lol. The new song’s tie-in is Conan’s ending theme.

What perfect timing, lol. I can’t believe it actually happened. This time it’s an ending theme, and it’s a ballad, so maybe we can look forward to it.

It probably won’t be a ballad that’s more appealing to hardcore fans, like “Maboroshi,” but a simple, catchy ballad like “Yume Mita Ato de.” >>827 That sounds good~ Not just Azuki—I’d like to hear Mochi’s rough, distorted guitar tone, too. But if they went in that direction, they’d really sound like the brilliant green, wouldn’t they?

I wonder if this is another tie-in piled on because of the memorial-event connection. Or... did the clingy attachment just switch from *MÄR* to Conan?

I like Conan, so personally I don’t mind, but it’s not great if the public’s impression of them increasingly becomes “the people who sing Conan theme songs.”

Two Conan tie-ins in a row again. If that’s the case, maybe they’ll get the movie next spring, too? Since they’ve already gotten the “Conan theme song singers” image, they might as well do a movie theme, lol. The *MÄR* tie-in was such a letdown that now I’m actually happy when I hear they’ve got a Conan tie-in. Though honestly, a TV-drama tie-in would still be better.

>>838 They even had Conan sing “Namida Ieri” in the original story, so if the creator becomes a GARNET CROW fan, a movie theme isn’t out of the question. The creator even checks out local Conan statues, so if he says, “Let’s use GARNET CROW for the movie,” it might happen. After *MÄR*, maybe they’ve won over the original creator, too, lol.

Still, it’d be a problem if that led to GARNET being treated like someone’s personal property. This may be a pretty arbitrary opinion, but if it means they’ll get saddled with an unwanted image, I’d rather they had no tie-in at all. That’s what I think.

But it’s about time we heard Yurippe’s voice in a movie theater. So I hope they finally get a Conan movie theme next year.

>>838 It’s about time they did a movie theme, isn’t it? In terms of the number of theme songs, they’ve actually done as many as Kuraki... So why do they never get picked? By the way, what kind of song is ZARD’s “Glorious Mind”?

>>839 “Won them over,” lol? They’ve been singing Conan theme songs for ages... And I already wish they’d stop getting involved with anime. Even if it’s a Conan movie tie-in—that formulaic series—it feels so belated at this point.

>>842 When it comes down to it, Gane just isn’t prominent enough to help with promotion. Kuraki and Aiuchi are both past their peak, but they still have a more glamorous image. I also hope from the bottom of my heart that they stop doing anime tie-ins. No tie-in would be much better than an anime one. I think they should just try one release without a tie-in and see what happens.

If they could get a tie-in that really fit Gane as they are, I wouldn’t mind if it were anime. If Gane’s songs fit one type better, I’d say TV dramas < anime, so I’m fine with anime tie-ins. Maybe there’s something suitable in a late-night time slot? For TV dramas, I feel like their options are limited to something like “Maboroshi,” a two-hour mystery, late-night dramas, or NHK—less mainstream projects. Maybe a horror movie would actually work, lol. I don’t mind trying one or two releases without a tie-in, but I don’t want them to keep doing that, lose sales, and eventually stop releasing songs.

Still, we can look forward to Conan ending themes. “Wasurezaki,” “Yume Mita Ato de,” and “Kimi to Iu Hikari” were all among the stronger lead singles, weren’t they? “Wasurezaki” has a very simple form, but that enveloping, organic atmosphere is incredible. I’m sure they’ll do a good job this time like before.

>>845 >I don’t want them to keep releasing songs without tie-ins, lose sales, and then stop putting out music. Given GIZA’s current state, I don’t think that’ll happen, lol. Their DVD sold a little over 10,000 copies in its first week, after all. Even without a tie-in, they could probably sell at least that many, right?

At this point, Conan ending themes are definitely the best balance between musicality and sales for GARNET. Among hardcore fans, there’s already a pattern of giving up on the title track and focusing on the B-side, but it’d be a problem if the supposedly disposable title track ended up affecting the overall direction of the album. With a single, it’s fine.

>>845 Exactly. As long as they can find a place where Gane can show off their strengths, I don’t mind if it’s an anime tie-in. Saying they’ll stop releasing songs is too dramatic, lol. There are plenty of people at Being who couldn’t possibly sell less than they do now, and lots of them haven’t been fired. Besides, GARNET has a strong core fanbase. Just look at how often they release things around *MÄR*—that proves it. Still... getting into the top 10 might become harder.

If the music doesn’t change so obviously, I can accept anime tie-ins, but for some reason the opening themes always become really blatant... Not just Conan—please spare us the openings, at least.

I actually like “Namida no Yesterday,” though.

I actually like “Hare Dokei,” though.

Sorry. Just ignore it as the rambling of an old fan. By the way, I still haven’t forgotten how shocked I was the first time I heard “Naked Story.”

>>853 I’ve been listening since the first album, too, so I guess I’m a longtime fan as well.

“Mysterious Eyes” was a Conan opening theme, too. Was that one okay? Of their opening-theme songs, “Kaze to RAINBOW” is the only one I’m not fond of. For some reason, I actually prefer the TV-edit version. It’s not an anime, but “flying” was an opening theme, too.

I prefer the game version’s arrangement of “flying.” The guitar is more sharply strummed, and Yurippe’s singing is a little different in places, too.

>>855 I don’t really like any of the ones you listed. They do feel like they’re pandering to whoever’s providing the tie-in.

“Mysterious Eyes” is simply a good song. It’s an early signature track with a nostalgic guitar-pop feel. “Yume Hanabi” and “Kaze to RAINBOW,” though—I’m tired of those. >>852 “Hare Dokei” has a faint resemblance to their early style, so I like it.

I wouldn’t listen to “Mysterious Eyes” on its own, but for some reason it feels like a good song when it comes after “HAPPY DAYS?” It’s like the sautéed carrots served beside a hamburger steak. >>856 Agreed. The first version of “flying” I heard was the TOE version, so the single version just sounded like it had an overly elaborate intro. Even setting aside that Yuri’s voice is a little quiet in the TOE version, I think it’s good.

>>855 The samba whistles and stuff are nice. Compared with the single version, I feel like the arrangement has more variety. >>857 The bass notes in the intro have a lot of weight and fit really well with how the song develops afterward. I think it sounds great.

“Kaze to RAINBOW” and “Yume Hanabi” feel a little too similar. I think “Yume Hanabi” has a slightly more memorable riff, and the percussion is used pretty effectively, but overall, there isn’t much difference between them...

I think all the arrangements are great, aside from those often-mentioned programmed drums. Of course, “Mysterious Eyes,” too. I wrote that I’m not really into anime tie-in opening songs, but they always incorporate a variety of different styles and surprise me, so I don’t dislike them that much. For people who don’t like current musical trends, songs like “Yume Hanabi” and “Kaze to RAINBOW” might actually be welcome.

Are they those drum sounds you often hear in club and dance music...? Someone brought it up a long time ago, but in “Mysterious Eyes,” that tambourine going “sha! sha!” on every beat really bothers me.

Once you start noticing a repeated sound like that, it’s hard to stop, lol. I’m so focused on the appeal of Yurippe’s vocals that it doesn’t bother me as much.

There’s an interesting sound in “A crown,” too. Whenever I hear it, for some reason it gives me a really strange feeling. I like the song itself. Is it a drum sound? I don’t know anything about music, so I can’t tell whether it’s an ordinary sound or a weird one.

Isn’t the sound in “A crown” percussion? I don’t know, either, so I can’t tell the difference between drums and percussion, lol. Could someone who knows explain?

That’s what’s called programmed drums. They’re simulated sounds put together using equipment like a sequencer or synthesizer. What’s different from regular drums? If you’re wondering about that, compare Being acts like ZARD with artists who have a drummer, and you might be able to hear the difference. Just remember that percussion is mainly used as decoration in a song. It doesn’t usually push itself to the front like that~ As for the difference in the sounds... right, you don’t normally hear such clearly defined sounds. That’s an extremely rough explanation, but that’s basically the idea~ By the way, percussion is the general term for percussion instruments. “Drum” is a specific instrument. But when people say “percussion,” they often mean ethnic instruments like the cajón Kamei plays at fan-club events.

A cajón can make snare and hi-hat sounds, too, but you don’t get many chances to hear one in person~

>>867 Thanks. I’ve seen you around in the ZARD thread, too. No wonder you’re a regular name in the fan-club newsletter crowd. I didn’t know percussion was the general term for percussion instruments. But “snare” and “hi-hat”? Those are new words to me... By the way, Yurippe updated her diary and commented on the new song. After reading that, I have a feeling it might be a masterpiece. When it comes to ballads, I think the best were “call my name” and “timeless” (though I can’t leave out “Wasurezaki”). What kind of song will it be?

I’ve heard the word “snare” before, but I didn’t know which part of the drum kit it referred to, lol. I think what matters most in music is how it sounds, but knowing more must make it more enjoyable. Ever since I got into Gane, I’ve really started thinking that way. I want to appreciate the music from more angles and understand it more deeply.

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>>870 Agreed. Magazines often say “intricate sound,” but I don’t know enough to understand what’s intricate about it, lol. I guess people who know can tell.

Lead, pads, clavinet, guitar, chorus— the sounds are varied, but I think they’re all integrated cleanly and without waste. The vocals, like the falsetto, also sit nicely on top of the music, so I do think Gane really has an intricate sound. I’m incredibly excited for the new song.

I see... the older guy really is amazing. To be honest, I’d always thought Cybersound’s arrangements were better... lol. It wasn’t until I heard “Maboroshi” that I first thought, “Okay, he’s got something.” lol. But it’s true that even a layperson can tell the fifth album is flawless from beginning to end. I can’t wait to hear the new song.

When it comes to Gane, I also think Cybersound’s work is better, lol. Starting around “Mizu no Nai...” their sound is a perfect match for Gane.

I think the remix of “Timeless” and “float world” are both masterpieces. But something like “Maboroshi” can divide opinion, so you can’t say one side is always better.

Since we’re talking about Cybersound, here’s something I’ve wondered: why does the single version of “Bokura dake no Mirai” credit only Hirohito Furui for the arrangement, while the album version says “except arrangement miguel sa pessoa”?

This is just my guess, but >>877 maybe that (album) credit was supposed to refer not to “M-7,” but to “M-12” (the rearranged version of “Sky”) and was printed incorrectly. I hadn’t noticed it myself until now, lol.

>>878 Ah, I see. Listening to it that way, the rearranged version of “Sky” does sound like Miguel, lol. One more possible misprint for the GIZA list, lol.

By the way, do spelling mistakes in the lyrics count as misprints? Some of the kanji choices may have been deliberate, after all.

>>878 The compilation album credits Miguel for the arrangement of “Sky,” so it’s definitely a misprint, lol. GIZA even gets arrangement credits wrong. Amazing, lol. >>880 As mentioned in this thread, they later changed the wording in “Marionette fantasia,” “Only stay” (“sooner than expected”), and the album version of “Hare Dokei.” Those three should be confirmed misprints. For “Meguri Kuru Haru ni” (“if you make your way through the crowd of people passing by”) and “Kyou no Kimi to Ashita wo Matsu” (“walking close together among the people”), I think we should reserve judgment. The only spelling mistakes I know are “for we” in “Futari no Rocket” and “Hummer” in “Go For It,” but the leading theory for “for we” is that they prioritized how it sounded. Also, it’s not exactly a spelling mistake, but the English in “Jewel Fish” makes “six billion” sound like “six hundred thousand.” Let someone more knowledgeable handle the spelling mistakes, but given GIZA’s history of misprints, I think “Hummer” mentioned here is one, too. Are there really enough spelling mistakes that you could think some of them don’t count as misprints?

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When I sing “Spiral” on a Joysound karaoke machine, the lyricist is listed as “AZUKI t.” Has this already been mentioned?

The other day I bought the ZARD memorial album, and it looks like the lyric “kimi” (“you”) was misprinted as “watashi” (“I”). What kind of mistake is that? lol. It startled me~

>>884 “You” and “I” completely change the meaning, lol. People in the ZARD thread called that out, too, right? lol

With all these misprints and things, Being really is hopeless. How can their production process be this bad?

Huh? Are there that many misprints at Being? I haven’t bought much besides Gane, so I don’t really know. Has it been like this since the ’90s?

What other artists are people here listening to lately? Let’s bring that question up again after a while.

>>888 I’m listening to Toshiko Akiyoshi because I’m going to a concert in October. But mostly I’m just listening to *Kogun*.

Gulliver Get. Their new song is way too good. I might get into a GIZA artist other than Gane for the first time, lol.

I bought Angela Aki’s new album. Compared with the previous one, it feels a lot weaker, but I still think the piano sounds so good~ I wish Yurippe and AZUKI would do something with just vocals and piano, even once.

I’ll throw in my pick, too. Lately I’ve gotten completely into Celtic and traditional music on the gentler side. Listening on a nice day is so refreshing. Still... the more pop-oriented artists like Cara Dillon, SeanNorth, and the Corrs are prominent, so most of what I listen to are artists in that genre who don’t lean quite so far in that direction, lol.

Gåte are godlike: traditional-sounding melodies and fiddle blended with prog-style synths and gothic-style riffs. And don’t forget they have female vocals, too.

>>889 A jazz musician, huh~ I haven’t heard them, but they sound interesting. I’ve seen Gåte shelved in the metal section before, though...

I own some Gåte, too, but they’re not metal at all. They do occasionally have riffs with that kind of flavor, though. By the way, the latest thing I bought was Anekdoten’s fifth album. Sadly, since the previous release they’ve leaned too heavily on the Mellotron, and the cello hardly has any presence anymore.

I bought Edenbridge’s fourth album. As always, their gentle female vocals go really well with the grand symphonic sound. With Yurippe, too, I think the compatibility between the vocals and the song matters more than technical skill. >>895 Gåte is a Norwegian band, right? They’re barely talked about in Japan, but apparently they’re very famous in their home country now and even sell well, lol. What a strange country... I borrowed an album from a friend and listened to a little. They’re not metal, but they’re not traditional, either. It’s a kind of everything-in-the-pot rock. I imagine even people who like both genres might feel a bit misled.

>>890 Gulliver Get. Every CD shop I go to recommends them. Are they really that good...? Maybe I’ll buy the CD and give it a listen.

Are they really that much of a hot topic?

You mean their new song, “Machi,” right? I only found out about them recently through MU-GEN, so I’m a bit of a novice, too, lol. I don’t know whether they’re considered a hot topic. But “Machi” is definitely a good song. I can see why CD shops recommend it. You can preview it a little on their official site (and watch the music video, too), so give it a try if you can. Is GIZA finally getting a successor to Gane?

Besides Gane, I listen to B’z, Tsutomu Takei, FEEL SO BAD, and Montebi from Being, but I haven’t heard of that band. Are they guitar pop, like Montebi or early Gane?

The only bands I’ve ever really gotten into are Supercar and GARNET~ Though with GARNET, I’m including the female members’ looks, too.

Unfortunately, Gulliver Get aren’t guitar pop. By the way, their promotional tagline is “late-blooming EGO-WRAPPIN’, sexy DREAMS COME TRUE,” lol. That’s very GIZA-quality. Every member can compose, and they have a drummer, too. I think they’re a proper band. Most importantly, GIZA had absolutely nothing to do with making them, lol.

But bands like that never get a big push—they usually get left alone, lol.

At least they probably won’t be pushed as hard as Saegusa or Uura. I hope not, lol. It’d be better that way. Once their profile gets too high, they’ll get bashed, too. Still, I hope they can sell at least around 2,000 copies of a single.

Someone in the Gulliver Get thread kindly told me about it, so I’ll post it here, at least: Gulliver Get — “Machi” ttp://www.gyao.jp/sityou/catedetail/contents_id/cnt0043183/

We’ve got a Gulliver Get shill here, lol.

I can’t blame you for thinking that, lol. The song is just that good, so I got a little carried away... Sorry.

>>899 I don’t want them to be called Gane’s successor. The singer isn’t cute, lol.

If the music is solid, I don’t mind if the looks don’t quite measure up. Though I’d still think, “Well... it’d be even better if they did.” >>900 FEEL SO BAD is great. They’re one of the more unusual acts at Being. Their thrash-like, brutal and intense riffs and driving speed are incredibly cool. Being needs more bands like that.

It’s not exactly recent, but I’ve gotten into Miho Komatsu again. She has a lot of songs that grow on you. I feel like her staying power is finally starting to show.

>>901 I really like Supercar’s later electronic sound, making good use of synths. People say they broke up because of romance and disagreements among the members, but Gane feels reassuring in that respect, lol.

What’s “erotica-tronica”? lol

“Erotica-tronica,” romance between band members... this is all so lewd, lol. I like Supercar’s “strobolights.” Their singer has a great voice, different from Yurippe’s.

That techno-idol group Perfume is surprisingly good. I thought I’d never get into an idol group in my life, but maybe because the arrangements and overall sound are good, you really can’t underestimate them, lol. Their new song “Polyrhythm” is interesting.

>>914 I knew someone would bring up Perfume. They’ve quietly become pretty popular on the prog board, too. Though some people criticize the lip-syncing.

Just the title “Polyrhythm” seems like it would get prog fans interested. As for the lip-syncing, they’re idols, so I guess it’s understandable, lol. Still, it’d be a shame to leave them exclusively to the Akihabara otaku crowd, lol. They’re idols, but it’s really clever to give them interesting music that brings out techno. Isn’t this a revolution in the idol world? Though I don’t really know. This way, they can reach all kinds of audiences.

They’re accepted by both idol fans and music buffs, so online they’re a wonderfully chaotic presence, lol.

Still, they haven’t become a topic at all on this Japanese-music board. It wouldn’t be surprising if someone started a thread about them. Anyway, what will the temple-show setlist be? “Nogareru no Machi,” which someone mentioned in this thread, sounds like it’d be interesting.

I really hope they play “Yuzukiyo.”

Ah~ that would definitely fit.

They absolutely have to play “pray” and “Yuzukiyo.”

Songs that evoke the night sky: “Yuzukiyo,” “sky,” “Yofukeyo no Ryuuseitachi,” “Rusty Rail,” and “Yume Hanabi.” Songs with a dreamy or mysterious atmosphere: “pray,” “Marionette,” “Ukiyo,” and “Maboroshi.” I especially want to hear “Mawarimichi,” too.

It doesn’t have to be at a temple, but I’d like to hear “blue bird” outdoors when it’s cool.

I feel like they’ll play “Mawarimichi” and “Yuzukiyo.”

The rain-related songs “Yuudachi no Niwa” and “Yasashii Ame” seem like bad luck, so they probably won’t play them, lol. I also think “Mawarimichi” has a pretty good chance.

Songs they probably won’t play because of the season or time of day: “Natsu no Maboroshi,” “Meguri Kuru Haru ni,” “Natsu no Owari no Nagai Ame,” “Kono Fuyu no Shirosa ni,” “Tatoeba 12-gatsu no Yoru ni,” “Haru Matsu Hana no You ni,” “Sky Blue,” “Ameagari no Blue,” and “Sorairo no Neko.”

I’ve always thought “Haru Matsu” was a premium-live kind of song. I hope they play “Houseki Sakana.”

>>927 But that doesn’t fit a temple, lol. When I think of a temple, I think of... “Holy ground” (a sacred place), “Yuzukiyo” (obviously), “pray” (Japanese feel), or “Kakurenbo” (though that’s a shrine), for example. Maybe they’ll play “Mawarimichi”—it seems pretty popular.

I want to hear “pray.”

It’d be interesting if they gave “Nogareru no Machi” a slightly metal-style live arrangement, but that would be a strange choice for a temple, lol. The intro synth and piano sounds could have a really dreamy feel, though.

>>930 What about arranging it like Pain of Salvation’s “BE”?

Does anyone listen to Tabito Nanao?

Polippe has huge breasts.

>>931 You mean Pain of Salvation? That’s another really impressive prog band (is it metal?) lol. I’ve only heard *The Perfect Element, Part I*~ I listened to it because everyone was talking about it, but it’s a really memorable album that grows on you. Apparently the band is into concept albums and changes their musical style a lot from record to record, but what’s the arrangement like on that one?

>>934 It’s like this: 146/318: 名無しがここにいてほしい [] 2007/04/03 (Tue) 15:11:17 ID:tQH2zpOm The impression is “they made *The Wall* by Pink Floyd using PAIN OF SALVATION” > *BE* >>932 I think I’ve seen Tabito Nanao mentioned in the electronic-music thread, but I don’t know much about him. Some of his song titles seem to have that “a-haa!” kind of vibe.

× Electronic-music thread 〇 Electronic-music board

>>935 So is it a *The Wall* that just gets plainer and more awkward? lol. I imagined something plain throughout, with a hard-to-follow structure. It doesn’t even sound like a prog-metal band. There’s no grandeur at all. With a little tweaking, “Nogareru no Machi” might unexpectedly become pretty proggy, like those more accessible Nordic bands with female vocals. Though a real prog fanatic might react to that by saying, “You really don’t know anything, do you~” lol.

It’s surprising to see people talking about Pain of Salvation here, lol.

I want to hear the school song of Futagaoka Junior High School.

Wait, lol—where is that? lol

Yurippe updated her diary at some point, I see. Now that we know she has a beautiful voice, I hope she’ll sing more steadily at the temple live. GARNET CROW — “Yume Mita Ato de” http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=_IsWgwyFaW0 GARNET CROW — “Crystal Gauge” http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=kbz3BySO0D0 Hyde — “Evergreen” http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=IENZP0Ekijc YUI — “Winding Road” http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=-5lEVGkPnco By the way, would ZARD fans be into these? They were posted on a dedicated fan site. I checked because I was curious about what else they listen to.

Come to think of it, the Gane new-song broadcast and the broadcast of ZARD’s unfinished recording are scheduled for the same time, right? The Conan show’s ratings will probably be unbelievably high at the start that day. Then once the ending theme comes on, hardly anyone will be watching, lol.

Bump.

Since the broadcasts overlap, the trolls are going to make a fuss again. >>941 Even if Gane fans would be into “Evergreen,” I’m not sure ZARD fans would be.

The ZARD thread is really getting heated, lol. Yukio, you’re something else... You managed to get so much momentum going with just one joke, lol.

It’s about time to start the next thread. What should we do about the title and such?

【Yuri】 GARNET CROW part 6 【Nana】 Wouldn’t this be good? This thread hasn’t really gone out of its way to use flashy titles so far, anyway.

Then I guess we can keep the template as it is, too. Oh, add “Wonderful music is here,” too.

I’m fine with that title. But when Yurippe sings on TV, they add that strange echo effect, right? Especially around the chorus. What’s the point of that? It feels really unnatural to me.

Nobody wants to take the 950 post, so I’ll do it, lol. Utada also stands out when she performs on TV. On *Music Station*, besides the vocal harmonies, they add a lot of reverb and layer all kinds of sounds. It’s especially noticeable with Gane. During the chorus, the backing track gets completely buried. It was really obvious last year.

Polippe has huge breasts.

>>950 Utada sounds like that on her CDs, too, so it doesn’t feel that strange to me. But with Gane, it’s more than just noticeable, isn’t it? One of their selling points is their acoustic sound. I’ve watched music shows for a long time, but I’ve never felt such a strong mismatch before. Don’t any of the fans complain? Anyway, I really hope they don’t do that again next time.

Is that a problem with the sound crew on their end? I can understand using backing tracks, or playing something prerecorded with changes to the drum fills or bass phrases, but I don’t really understand that kind of processing.

When we talk about Azuki’s lyrics here, I think we should mix in topics about other artists and discuss things like common threads—that’s probably about right. There’s a separate lyrics thread, too, so I think it’s best to avoid going too deep into interpretations and the sources of Azuki’s lyrics.

>>954 The thread about Nana’s lyrical world is about to sink. Personally, I don’t want another thread. It used to be a place for deep discussions about lyrics, but at some point it started to feel like an isolated thread, and that bothers me. Someone would ask a simple question about a lyric and get a reply like, “You’re annoying.” Even when newcomers are directed there because their question doesn’t fit the thread, I’ve never seen them actually go back to Nana’s lyrics thread and ask again. Whenever I see that happen here, I think maybe it’d be better if that thread just sank. No one wants to ask questions in a dead thread, after all.

◆This is a casual chat thread, but please keep topics related to dedicated threads, such as the lyrics-interpretation thread, a little more limited than other topics. In that case, I’ll remove that line.

Since nobody objected, I went ahead and started it. 【Yuri】 GARNET CROW part 6 【Nana】 http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1191322341/

Thanks for your work.

It just won’t sink, huh.

Sink.

Bury.

Ume (bury).

Look, look~ Shall I bury you now~?

1 > 2 > 5 > 4 > 3

h

Sink.

Isn’t it a bit too early to start the next thread? I don’t think we have to stick to the “start the next one at 950” tradition. It wastes a thread. Let’s use this one up first.

There were fewer posts, so I was thinking I’d just bury the thread, but I guess I’ll keep it around for jokes until the end.

Sorry for bringing up this old, recurring topic, but how did everyone first hear about Gane? I saw a CDTV commercial.

It’s a cliché, but Conan.

I found out about them through the “flying” commercial.

*Music Freak Magazine.*

Ahh... that’s a hard one.

>>963 That has nothing to do with me!!

Th-that’s boring.

>>969 I think it was *Eternia* or Conan. Also, someone who makes music for a certain game said they listened to them, so I borrowed a CD. It didn’t really click with me at the time... Now I’m completely hooked.

Sorry, I forgot to sage the post. My bad.

I impulsively bought the first album because of its cover, though I hadn’t heard of them before. Even now, I think the first album cover is cool and has a real neo-acoustic feel.

That cover could totally pass for gothic metal.

This thread really just won’t sink, lol. Of the album covers, I think the first and second are the best. The fifth is a little questionable. The atmosphere is nice, but you can’t see their faces on the first pressing, lol. Does anyone like the four-panel covers like the third and fourth albums? Personally, I hope they stop doing that.

I like the “flying” cover, lol.

>>981 I like it, too. Where was it taken? At the time I thought it was overseas, but now that I know the story, I realize that couldn’t be right, lol.

>>982 Higobashi, Osaka.

I think so, too.

Even now, whenever I see that music video, I can’t help thinking, “Is my TV broken?” >>979 It feels like there’d be some kind of back-cover version or something. Well, it’s not just gothic metal that does that, lol.

There’s only a week left until the new song comes out. I guess Conan will premiere it first as the ending theme. But surprisingly, not that many people seem to know them through Conan. I’m a little surprised, lol.

I found out about them through “flying,” too. I only became a fan much later, when I happened to buy the third and fourth albums and listened to them, lol. By the way, is anyone going to the Ninna-ji live? My ticket arrived, but what row does it go up to...? Is a seat in the 10-section pretty far forward? I don’t understand the venue’s capacity at all—how many thousand people can get in?

>>987 Here! ノシ Yahoo Auctions listings say there are 68 rows, with up to 50 seats in each. So probably more than 3,400 people. A seat in the 10th section sounds pretty good. I’m not sure about the section numbers since they’re arranged horizontally, though.

Wow, that really does go pretty far back. There are 50 seats across, huh? Then I’m a little off-center toward Nana’s side, lol. Lucky me. Now I’m just worried about the weather.

Gane has a rainy kind of vibe. A light rain, that is. If they turn into a band like Luna Sea that brings a storm, I’ll cry, lol. I’m not from Kansai, lol, and I didn’t come all the way to Kyoto mainly to sightsee, either, lol.

I heard Mochi is a rain bringer.

Then if Mochi doesn’t come, we’re... (ry

I’d known of them since “Mysterious Eyes,” but I only really got into them after hearing “Wasurezaki.” Am I an oddball? I’m honestly so jealous of everyone who can travel from Kanto to go to the live.

This thread really won’t sink, lol. Though it’s almost there now. I bought the first album because of the cover. When I first saw it, its mysterious, nostalgic feel made a really strong impression on me among Japanese releases at the time. And the liner notes even said “neo-acoustic,” so of course I bought it right away. It’s not like I was already a fan of the genre or anything.

Wasn’t that cover modeled after an artist the older guy likes? It’s cool.

Sometimes I think... 【Anime】Pyū to Fuku! Jaguar, Whistle 54【Kaname】 [Weekly Shonen Manga] The two are totally inseparable, hey! lol

*Tales of Eternia* is a popular game in the series, too. I’m one of the people who found them through that. By the way, I was a little disappointed that GARNET didn’t sing the theme for the *Tales of Eternia* OVA.

What is *Pyū to Fuku! Jaguar*? lol What does it have to do with Gane? >>997 Looks like a lot of people found them through *Tales of Eternia*, too. We were just talking about album covers, and now the new single cover has come out, lol. Should we talk about it in the new thread? The design is incredibly good. I’m surprised, lol.

>>998 I recommend 2ch.

Finally, we can move to the new thread.

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