【由利】GARNET CROW part14【七】

This is a thread for chatting mainly about GARNET CROW. Let’s all talk about them broadly and have fun. ◆ﾏﾀｰﾘ recommended. A too-hostile atmosphere is (・A・)ｲｸﾅｲ ◆Trolls, fixed-name bashing, etc. are forbidden—ignore them. ◆Newbies, old-timers, and fixed-name posters are all welcome. ◆Don’t bother or bash other artists or threads. ◆And finally…There will still be “lovely music” in this world. Previous thread 【由利】GARNET CROW part13【七】 http://anchorage.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1235049082/

Previous threads 【由利】　　ガーネットクロウ　　【七】 http://music2.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1050524388 【由利】　　ガーネットクロウ �U　　【七】 http://music2.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1050524388/ 【由利】GARNET CROW 03【七】 http://music5.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1122031082/ 【由利】GARNET CROW 03 part2【七】（実質part4） http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1166779350/ 【由利】GARNET CROW part5【七】 http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1176893626/ 【由利】GARNET CROW part6【七】 http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1191322341/ 【由利】GARNET CROW part"７"【七】 http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1200241988/ 【由利】GARNET CROW part8【七】 http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1203660376/ 【由利】GARNET CROW part9【七】 http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1205851574/ 【由利】GARNET CROW part十【七】 http://music8.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1206516774/ 【由利】GARNET CROW part11【七】 http://mamono.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1206992098/ 【由利】GARNET CROW part12【七】 http://mamono.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1220156951/

Artists recommended for Gane fans. (This list was put together after discussion among the thread regulars. Obviously everyone has different tastes, so please understand that.) PAATOS/Kallocain 鬼束ちひろ/インソムニア hyde/ROENTGEN the brilliant green/the brilliant green Pain　Of　salvation/The　Perfect　Element　Part　�T GRAPEVINE/From　a　small　town ACIDMAN/equal Nick Drake/ピンク・ムーン Sean　North/Story Neverend 柴田淳/ひとり Do As Infinity/BREAK OF DOWN rumania montevideo/rumaniamania the cranberries/everybody else is doing it,so why can't we? スピッツ/ハチミツ 熊木杏里/殺風景 椎名林檎/無罪モラトリアム Radiohead/OK コンピューター THEBACKHORN/人間プログラム Cloudberry Jam/雰囲気づくり Bjork/Vespertine Evanescence/フォールン The Cardigans/グランツーリスモ new! OLIVIA/The Lost Lolli　new! Corrections, additions, and all sorts of opinions are very welcome. Let’s discuss it with the thread regulars and keep adding to the list.

>1 Otsu once again. The live tour is finally here. It’s getting exciting~ I’m looking forward to it.

>1 たとえば12乙の夜に

>1 A乙UKI七

Ah, >2-3 are otsu too!

>1, otsu desu kara—Oi, yeah!

>1 >2-3 Boom-boom-clap! Boom-boom-clap! We will We will Otsu you!!

>1-3 Otsu・ka・ma・ta〜♪ See・you・a・gain〜♪

>1 A future just for otsu.

>1 Otsu-sentimental mood.

The Yurippe with her hair down on the “call my name” jacket looks nice.

>1 Sky-Colored Otsu.

>1 Like I can do nothing but say “otsu.” >13 Agreed! I like Yurippe with her hair down better because she’s cuter that way. It feels like there were more early PVs and jackets with her hair down, and she tried all kinds of hairstyles (twin tails, panda hair, half-up? plus that style tied high on both sides…), but lately it feels like it’s almost always a ponytail. It’s like she’s only just started changing her hairstyle again recently.

>1 Otsu to the far side.

>15 My Japanese was a little weird just now. What I meant was that she has more ponytails now than she did early on, but around the “Doing~” jacket and the STAY album, it felt like she’d started changing her hairstyle again.

Now that you mention it, Yurippe had her hair down in the “Hana wa Saite” PV too.

>9 It wasn’t “Doing~”ｗ

This tour has Yurippe with her hair down, like in the “Hana wa Saite” PV.

This is late, but the alternate version of “Hyakunen no Kodoku” is really good. It’s a shame the transition around 3:14 sounds unnatural, though.

I wonder if they’ll solicit songs people want them to play on next year’s best-of tour.

I wonder what’s popular in this thread.

“Against my will, re-release ‘CALL MY NAME’ as a mysterious group with a tie-in → huge breakout” “CALL MY NAME” is so amazing that it makes me fantasize about that much.

“Last Love Song” and “CALL MY NAME” are great songs that are easy to enjoy at first listen, even if you aren’t a fan. When I first started listening to Gane, “CALL MY NAME” was my favorite.

>22-23 The top of the rankings will probably be packed with B-sides. Personally, I’d like to request “Kimi no Ie ni Tsuku Made Zutto Hashitte Yuku.”

For me: 1. Rythem 2. A Crown 3. Picture of World That’s my top three.

I wonder how many people actually want to hear the B-sides. Looking at 2ch, it feels like everyone listens to the B-sides too, but when they actually play a B-side at a live, it feels like the atmosphere becomes, “I don’t know this song…”

A Crown is great（´Д｀） Lots of the early songs have percussion in them, so let’s get Kurutani-san to come play.

Sometimes hold me in a trance, make me feel needed, because it soothes me. Nana-san is amazing.

I made a playlist following the setlist from the last live and have been listening to it on my iPod, and damn! Now I want to go to another live again~（・ω・｀；)

“Rhythm” is a difficult word to spell, huh?

>13 >15 >17 >18 >20 Yokohama Live had Yurippe with her hair down (though you probably know thatｗ). It’s gotten so much longer, and it’s prettier than it used to beｗ When she twirled around during a song and her hair floated out, it looked really great. You’ve become beautiful, Yurippe.

>33 Thanks. I’m looking forward to itｗ

Sorry for the newbie question. Why is her name AZUKI Nana?

Because it’s a stage name.

Google it, scum.

>35 She chose it out of respect for Azuki-arai.

>28 I think there are really very few GARNET CROW fans who don’t know the B-sides(´･ω･｀) Even if they don’t know them, there aren’t that many songs you can get that hyped to, so I don’t think that kind of atmosphere would happen.

You bunch of losers.

>28 I wonder how the audience reacted when they did “Go For It” on this tour. What did the people who went to the live think?

>41 Everyone was probably listening intently, don’t you think? It wasn’t introduced from the MC, and there was no reaction like “Ooh~”＠Nagoya Live. After the live, people were saying things like, “That was unexpected.”

They played “Go For It”?! I want to hear it live, as long as Kurose’s drums weren’t obnoxiously bouncing all over the place at the crucial parts. If his drumming was less rhythmic and more introspective, I’d try to get a ticket even now just to hear that.

Putting the drums aside, I was happy about “Go For It.” Just the fact that they played it made me happy.

>42 I’m the one from 41—thanks for the reply!

Kurose has the skills, so it’d be nice if he could play in a more jazzy style.

Kurose still gives me the image of a B’z support musician, and his playing feels pretty monotonous and not very versatile. I think Shane’s drums would suit them better. I think Shane is technically better too.

He’s all hard rock, all the time.

>47 Exactlyｗ I like Shane’s drumming, and his character tooｗ I’d love to hear Gane with Shane on drums. It doesn’t seem like he’d be as loud as Kuroseｗ

Come to think of it, what happened to David-san? When did they switch to Kurose, anyway? I wasn’t paying any attention, so I have no idea. Maybe I’ll rewatch the DVDs.

It was starting with the Towa Bare tour. Apparently David-san went back to America. He also played in Kuraki’s backing band, though.

So he isn’t playing in Kuraki’s backing band anymore? In that case, it feels like there won’t be another chance ever again.

Did everyone hear the arranged version of “Rainy Soul”? I think it’s good enough to be released as a single… I guess not doing that is exactly the GARNET quality.

>53 I haven’t heard it… Was it really that good? Is there anywhere I can listen to it…?

>53 Yeah, the fact that they don’t do that is probably proof that GARNET quality is being preserved.

I don’t dislike it, but it’s not that amazing… At least, it’s far from the kind of sound GARNET usually releases as singles.

>53 I thought the arrangement of “Rainy Soul” was pretty good, but not that good, was it? Personally, I wanted to hear an arrangement that made “Rainy Soul” purely bright. The lyrics aren’t bright, thoughｗ Also, apparently “Fall in Life” was originally a ballad, so I would’ve liked to hear that too.

Oh, really! Did the ballad version sing “ぶっとんじゃって”?

>58 I don’t know, but doesn’t that probably mean “at the demo-tape stage”?

Apparently the arrangement and lyrics can change too. I heard “Namida no Yesterday” was originally a ballad as well, and the lyrics were maybe about a goldfishｗ

>56 Exactly. That’s precisely because it’s so far removed. Those are the very songs I want everyone to hear. There are way too many masterpieces buried away.

[sage] >59-60 Oh, I see! Exactly! Thanks!

>62 Sorry. I’ve been seeing posts like that every now and then lately, but why do you write [sage] in a place like that?（´・ω・｀）

People are talking about disbanding in the main thread—is it for real? Isn’t switching labels an option?

>64 Well, it’s just a rumor. I happened to find a 2001 thread from around when “Last Love Song” was released, and people were already making a huge fuss about “disbanding, disbanding” back thenｗｗ Let’s believe everything will be okay.

This company is always being hit by some crisis like this. The disbanding talk didn’t just start now. Lately, though, the brutal treatment has really stood out: they keep finding and promoting new artists, then quickly issue them dismissal notices and make them disappear.

>65-66 That’s right. All we can do is believe and watch over them（｀・ω・´）ｷﾘｯ

Ever since the news about Saegusa disbanding got around, the main thread has been going nuts. At Yokohama, did Nana-san tell the members that “I won’t do this anywhere else,” meaning she has no intention of switching labels…? GARNET CROW is only GARNET CROW when all four of them are together…

“May Gane someday be wrapped in gentle light…” It’s such a hypocrite-like wish to say out loud, but I really hope it changes for the better.

Looking at the recent situation with Being/GIZA, it’d be weird not to consider disbanding or switching labels. If anything, it’d be weird to only start thinking about it now. Whether it actually happens in reality is a separate matter, though.

Is Saegusa disbanding? …Though that’s a weird way to put it. Is it db that’s disbanding?

Kurutani and the other backing members can get work elsewhere, so they’ll probably be called up again and have another band cobbled together with whatever members are available. Well, maybe from now on they won’t pour money into things wastefully like they used to. Being is gradually turning into a jazz label, though.

Kurutani is a really good drummer. He’s more skilled than someone like Kurose. He has plenty of fills, can play tight drums, and has great facial expressions as a drummerｗ

“He has a face like he’s about to ejaculate.” It’s a vulgar post, but I thought that description captured Kurose perfectly.

>74 Nice self-report.

Kurutani is small, but it’s amazing how he can play such powerful drums.

I want to know what Yurippe was wearing after the encore at the Yokohama show. Can someone tell me?

So the cleavage came all the way out here tooｗ

>76 I snortedｗ

Sorry, I meant >77.

Dave went back… So Experience itself disbanded, huh.

Is Gane getting dangerous too? This is unrelated, but I guess I’m the only one who wished they’d become a band like Portishead.

Yeah. You’re the only one who needs to.

If you think you’re the only one who needs that, then don’t post it, okay?

Bandwagon fans ruined Gane.

They set up a fan club, appear on TV, and do lives—what are they, an idol band?

>85 kwsk.

Gane is an idol band, isn’t it?

A band that has produced so many amazing songs that it’s broken out of the idol-band framework.

The main thread used to have some more decent people in it. Now it feels like a thread for some other band.

( ^ω^)「Yurippe is the idol of the universe~♪」

Why does it already feel like everything’s over and they’re going to disbandｗ They’ll smash the death flags for us. Let’s ditch everyone except Gane, Aiuchi, Kuraki, doa, and the small number of other support members, and move to Tokyo.

…This is a bit off-topic, but CDs have been in a slump lately, while live tickets and DVDs seem to be selling relatively well. I saw someone write somewhere, “We’ve entered an age where music is watched.” So I just wondered if that might be why Gane has been putting more effort into lives lately. Sorry for the interruption.

So they’re not evaluating music as music anymore? The world really is coming to an end.

>94 【The End of the World】The Japanese music industry is finally collapsing 3 http://anchorage.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/mjsaloon/1255780909/

It’s a little late to say this, but with online distribution, ripping things from video sites, chaku-uta, and so on, it’s become this atmosphere where buying CDs is for idiots. It feels kind of empty, you know~

>96 Agreed. I hate chaku-uta and stuff. CDs are still the best.

>96 >97 Agreed.

There’s a Kurose thread nowｗ http://anchorage.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicjg/1256296846/

>82 Either carrying on Joy Division’s will—or being Nico reincarnated.

I want Gane to continue even if they have to go indie. Is going indie realistically impossible? Someone tell me.

If they go indie, who’s going to pay for it? Being’s indie labels only exist to add prestige. They could transfer to another company instead of going that route, though it’d be nice if some indie label bought them.

Switching to some major label is obviously much more likely than going indieｗ

>102 True.

>100 I’d like them to cover “Femme Fatale.” But Nana is better suited to that kind of thing.

Lately I’ve been so hooked on “Hyakunen no Kodoku” that I can’t get it out of my head. It sounds like a dark song at first, but if you listen closely, it’s full of hope and really deep. Nana and Yurippe are beautiful, and Mochi and the old guy are cool too. Looking at how the public seems to rate things, “Natsu no Maboroshi” and songs like that seem to be highly regarded, but personally, “Hyakunen no Kodoku” doesn’t move me at all, just like “Namida no Yesterday.”

You could just talk about what you like.

>106 How dare you say that about the masterpiece “Namida no Yesterday”(ﾉД｀) I love both “Hyakunen no Kodoku” and “Natsu no Maboroshi.”

>107 Hard agree. That one extra comment was unnecessaryｗ Sorry for the double post.

>106 I agree that “Namida no Yesterday” is kind of meh. I also rank “Natsu no Maboroshi” below “Hyakunen no Kodoku,” but it’s not like “Natsu no Maboroshi” does absolutely nothing for me.

>109 Sorry for double-posting, but personally, I think bringing up songs you dislike can lead to a wider exchange of opinions.

An exchange of opinions that just says “I hate this” or “this is meh” only makes people feel bad and has no productive value.

You don’t need to put other things down in order to praise one thing.

>112-113 Yeah, exactly. Saying something isn’t your thing is one thing, but when people call it “bad” or “meh”— especially when they say it doesn’t move them at all like >106 did… it makes the people who love it feel awful. The way you phrase things makes a huge difference too. If you just list the songs you like, nobody gets upset.

Personal opinion: “Namida no Yesterday” might not be very popular with hardcore fans, but at least to someone who doesn’t know GARNET, it sounds like a god-tier song. I bet quite a few new fans were drawn in by this song too. Even with upbeat, bright songs, they always maintain a certain level of quality.

We don’t need reviews of every song’s popularity.

Calling it a god-tier song is an exaggerationｗ Yurippe’s voice floats above the song, doesn’t it? It’s weird how it doesn’t sound brightｗ Also, the synth strings and lead are a little old-fashioned, and the programmed drums sound light.

It’s getting a little heatedｗ

>115 I became a fan because of “Namida no Yesterday” too. Before that, I’d watched Conan and thought GARNET had lots of good songs, but hearing this song shocked me—it made me realize, “Oh, GARNET can make songs like this too.” If “Namida no Yesterday” didn’t exist, I wouldn’t have become a fan. It’s still my favorite GARNET song even now. Sorry for the long post.

>119 Actually, I got into them through “Namida no Yesterday” tooｗ After learning that there were lots of other masterpieces, my personal ranking changed, but when I first heard it, I thought it was an incredibly good song (and I still think it really is good).

There are surprisingly a lot of people who got into them through “Namida no Yesterday.” I became a fan around when it was released too, but I got into them through their older songs. I used to think “Namida no Yesterday” was only really listenable once you’d listened to Gane regularly and developed “Gane ears” (which is a bit rude to say). I like the expression “pulling summer closer,” and those leaps in pitch that sound so hard to sing. Also, the chorus in “aru you ni~”ｗ I prefer the album version to the single.

I feel like “Namida no Yesterday,” “Go For It,” and “Ichiban Suteki Datta Hi” are songs you enjoy as a set. I’ve thought this for a while, but GARNET is good at passing songs along—or rather, connecting them in a way that brings out their strengths. They also know how to close out an album properly: “Sky~Rearrange Ver~” → “Kimi Tsure Saru Toki no Otozure o” “Haru Matsu Hana no Yō ni” → “WEEKEND” “The first cry” → “Love is a Bird” “Rainy Soul” → “Koi no Aima ni” I love all of these combinations. They’re on the level of Iwase → Gallardo or Mori → Toyoda.

Ehh, “Natsu no Maboroshi” is way better, it is.

Huh? Compared to which song, Korosuke?

“Namida no Yesterday” is important in GARNET history because they got involved with Downtown too. The PV is cute as well.

But honestly, I don’t want Gane to sing cheap-sounding songs like Ikimonogakari or Yuzu.

>126 Hey, don’t badmouth other artists. Posts like this are the worst. Even if you think that, keep it to yourself.

Speaking of other artists, Yurippe seems to have pretty eclectic tastes, but I wonder if she listens to Radiohead or anything… If she likes dark stuff, she must listen to them.

They’re a pretty mainstream band, so she’s probably at least sampled them, right? There were quite a few Radiohead fans in this thread, weren’t there?

Radiohead’s darkness feels inorganic and mechanical overall. They create an incredibly fantastical world with electronica and post-rock, and in a good way, it feels like the music isn’t emotionally charged. Even though they’re a hugely mainstream band, there’s still something difficult to approach about them. Like Haruki Murakami in book form (wasn’t the Radiohead vocalist a huge fan of Murakami?). That feels a little different from Yurippe’s favorites and the darkness GARNET has. I wonder if she even likes that kind of genre. Still, I think it’s a road anyone involved in music has to go down, so she’s obviously heard them.

She sang “Mō Ichido Kiss Shitakatta” at the fan-club event, and the subtitle of the new album is “Yoake no Soul”—Yurippe is definitely a B’z fan (or an Inaba fan)（´･ω･`）

This is kind of a change of subject again, but I’ve always thought Chiaki Ishikawa has a GARNET-like atmosphere.

I guess even “dark” can mean a lot of different things. Liking Björk doesn’t necessarily mean you like Portishead too… But I’d like them to incorporate some electronica and post-rock. Personally, I’d also like some new age. Since the third album, they haven’t changed much—or rather, they’ve become more and more mainstream. I guess that’s unavoidable when you have all kinds of fans, but it still feels like something’s missing. Are they holding back because they’re afraid of losing fans if they put out something too avant-garde? If they suddenly did gothic metal, everyone might back awayｗ Still, I believe Yurippe will make a song that surpasses Radiohead’s “There There” someday. >132 Is “Uninstall” Chiaki Ishikawa’s signature song? That’s the only one I’ve properly listened to, but it’s really good. I wish GARNET would make something like that too. Her partner Yuki Kajiura’s music is great as well.

I got hooked on “Kimi n’chi” (single version) around last autumn, but I started listening to Gane through a rented best-of, so it took me a while to get hookedｗ There were a lot of songs I liked on the first best-of, and I wanted to start with the older stuff, so I bought the first album first. But I didn’t really like the indie version of “Kimi n’chi” on the best-of, so I skipped it without listening, thinking the versions were the sameｗ I also listened to the other songs that weren’t on the best-of once, thought they were meh, and left them untouchedｗｗ A few months later, I pulled them out for some reason and listened all the way through “Kimi n’chi,” and finally realized how good it was. The songs I’d thought were meh were all god-tier! “Kimi n’chi” is so goodｗｗ You really have to listen carefully. Sorry for the long post.

>133 >Maybe they’re holding back because they’re afraid of losing fans if they put out something too avant-garde? The need to get tie-ins is a major factor.

>135 Do tie-ins matter for album tracks too?

>133 If you tweaked something like “Nogare no Machi,” it could probably become gothic metal. At the very least, it could end up sounding like Evanescence. Evanescence incorporates gothic elements in a catchy way, and GARNET could probably do something like that too. It’s a fairly recent song, but could “Uninstall” become her signature song? From the very first chorus, I get the feeling she has no intention of going in a commercial directionｗ That distinctive floating quality is really great, though, and her unique vocals are every bit as good as Yurippe’s. I think her lyrical worldview is similar to Nana’s too.

>137 Evanescence is good too, but I also like bands like Flyleaf. I wonder if Yurippe could do death vocalsｗ There’s also a band called unsun that nobody probably knows, but they’re pop-oriented and easy to listen to. “Nogare no Machi” really shocked me, but after that it’s been kind of flat. There are songs with potential, like “Rainy Soul,” though… I agree that the lyrics of “Uninstall” feel close to Nana’s style. I seriously wish she would cover itｗ

>138 First of all, their sound is so heavily programmed that you can’t really expect proper gothic metal or a massive, weighty sound. I like Flyleaf too. There are bands without bass or without drums, though. Maybe one of the themes for artists signed to Being is how much individuality they can bring to pop music within limited arrangements. Even though they use live instruments played by studio musicians here and there, they’re still fundamentally built around programmed sounds. Rather than “Uninstall” specifically, I think it’d be better to hope for music closer to Ishikawa’s overall sound. There’s nothing strange about GARNET releasing a song like “Uninstall” at any time.

>139 Well, thinking about it, with that singing style, anything they do would probably be difficultｗ Some people say the seventh album brought back the darkness, but personally I don’t really feel that way, which is frustrating. The early days were better after all, even if Yurippe didn’t have much vocal power. Since next year is their tenth anniversary, I hope they can return to their roots… I wonder if Yurippe even knows Chiaki Ishikawa. There are other artists like GARNET, but they’re all incredibly obscureｗ

>I still think the early days were better, even if she didn’t have much vocal power. I totally agree. Her current voice is definitely stronger, but I liked the slightly wistful quality of her old voice better. People point this out a lot, but lately it feels like she’s projecting too hard.

That’s ego.

It does feel like she’s projecting a little too hard. I think “Sekai wa Mawaru to Iu Keredo” could’ve been sung with a little more of that vague, elusive quality.

>143 Totally agree. It’s such a shame when it’s such a good song.

This thread really is soothing~ 2ch has all kinds of threads and boards, but you don’t find many like this. >140 Everyone wants different things from an artist, but it feels like a waste to look at Gane only through its “dark” side. There are stylish R&B-ish songs like “Holding you~,” fantastical ballads like “Seichi,” and classic J-pop songs like “Wasurezaki.” That variety is an irreplaceable part of their appeal.

Don’t say things like “the old days were better.”

I’m not looking for anything super niche or difficult, so I like Gane as it is now. I think her growth as a vocalist is what led to her current vocal style.

Maybe it’s that sadness of “you’ve grown up now.” Of course, the present has its own good points too. I don’t think “dreaming of love,” “Towa ni Nemure,” “Meguri Kuru Haru ni,” or “HAPPY DAYS?” suit her current singing style. “Mizu no Nai Hareta Umi e” and “flying” feel like they suit her current voice. Conversely, among the recent songs, I’d like her to sing “Nora” and “Koi no Aima ni” in her old style.

>145 >147 I agree with all of it!

Well, at least the change in her voice isn’t a technical decline. >139 Chiaki Ishikawa’s appearance is also one of the things she has in common with Gane. I like that androgynous, fragile-sounding voice too.

They sang that way early on so their lack of skill wouldn’t show, right? Asking current Yurippe to sing like that is nonsensical, I think.

The second album has so much originality that everything else fades into the background. It’s understated, but I’ve hardly heard rock like “PLEASE~” anywhere else—it’s too stylish. I don’t think they could handle something as out-there as metal or Radiohead, but the old guy’s synth sounds and programmed arrangements remind me of ancient progressive-rock bands. “Saigo no Ritō” sounds like Genesis.

>152 The others haven’t faded into the background. They’re a collection of wonderful albums. That kind of thing is all down to personal taste.

>151 The arrangements did feel incredibly detailed in exchange. The first album had that closed-off, sealed-room feeling of “we’re totally a studio band,” while the second album’s songs captured the excitement—and a little loneliness—of working up the courage to leap outside. They’re truly one of a kind, a miracle that was possible precisely because they were a GIZA group. Now that they play live, the scale of the sound has gotten bigger, but Nana’s lyrics have stayed consistent, so I’ll forgive it. You can feel the sincerity.

>153 When I thought about which album wouldn’t look inferior even compared with the various Western music mentioned above, I figured it was probably the second one. I’m a fan, so I think they’re all the best, though.

>155 It’s your preference, so that’s totally fine. But you could’ve stopped at “it has too much originality.” Why add that unnecessary “everything else fades into the background”? Everyone has different tastes, so that kind of thing is what starts arguments.

>150 She’s around forty, right? Amazing. GARNET is basically fine as it is now, but sometimes I wonder what they’d be like if they’d kept evolving properly from their early style. The second album is a masterpiece. If I had to pick one, I’d probably pick the second too. It has a lot of songs tied to memories. Gane back then had this shining image（sorry, nostalgia nerd）.

>156 You’re worrying too much about the details.

>158 Those details are what it all grows out of.

Early on, the instability in the vocals was charming in its own way, but that charm only really comes through when you hear it on CD. Personally, I think the indie version of “sky” is the perfect example of that instability fitting just right. But when I rewatch the live DVD from that period, I still feel like something is missing. Which is better, now or then, is completely a matter of taste. I’m a captive of Yurippe’s vocal tone, so I love bothｗ

>159 You call it an unnecessary extra comment, but I really do love the second album that much, so what can I do? Does talking about songs or albums you don’t like automatically mean people will say you’re starting a fight? I don’t really get what’s good about the third album. I like each song individually, but as an album it feels scattered. The fourth album seems to have a grand concept hidden behind it and is well put together, but it also seems hard for non-fans to get into. I think the latest album is one where even first-time listeners can clearly feel the appeal.

>161 If that’s what you mean, why not just talk about how great the second album is without putting the others down? Well, maybe I was overthinking it too. I love the cozy atmosphere of this thread, so I feel like my own posts are just dirtying it. I’ll stop here.

>163 But ratings are relative, so I don’t think you can properly explain how good something is without comparing it to other things. Basically, you’re saying opinions different from yours are annoying to look at, right? It’s just a personal opinion and doesn’t mean that much, so don’t overreact.

>163 → 162 I think the second album is a perfect work. That’s all I wanted to say. I’m out.

You could say Gane’s first form was completed between the first and second albums. I think Yurippe’s restrained singing and the old guy’s simple arrangements matched each other that well. That’s right, Gane has already reached completion once. There’s no going back to the past now.

>160 Personally, I prefer the early DVDs. I’ve watched the first one way more times than the others. You can feel how hard the members (or Yurippe in particular?) were trying because they weren’t used to live shows yet, and it’s somehow fun to watch. These days they seem more comfortable, and it makes me a little lonely. Of course, Yurippe’s singing is easier to listen to these days, but she still projects too much and everything becomes one-note… Like with the CDs, each song is fine on its own, but halfway through I’m full. And this is a very personal opinion, but I wish there weren’t any group singing or dancingｗ With Gane, I’d rather hear one more song than all get rowdy together.

Sorry, just one last thing. >163 >Basically, you’re saying opinions different from yours are annoying to look at, right? No, that’s not it. I think opinions different from mine are really interesting to read, and I think they broaden my perspective and teach me things.

The whole thing started with >106. I couldn’t accept how it dismissed things with one phrase like “it doesn’t move me” or “everything else fades into the background.” If you’re going to criticize something, criticize it thoroughly; if you’re going to praise it, praise it thoroughly. That’s what I think.

>168 Rather than putting the others down, I was just trying to hype the second album up as being “so amazing that everything else fades into the background.” Why did it turn into this? I didn’t want to ignore the flow of the conversation and just dump what I wanted to say, like “The second album has overwhelmingly more originality than the others! Here’s why!”, so that’s why I phrased it that way. I didn’t mean anything by it. Compared with all the classic Western albums, I think the second album’s music and worldview are by far the most individualistic within GARNET CROW.

I listen to progressive, New Wave, Black Metal, and stuff like that all the time as a hobby, so I know pretty well where Gane’s originality lies. There was a discussion about their musical style up above, and I just felt like jumping in. That’s all.

I understand that saying “everything else fades into the background” wasn’t meant as a denial or put-down, but in the context of the posts starting with >106, it ends up being taken as an unnecessary put-down. All I can say is that I posted at a bad timeｗ

>169 Is the second album really that amazing? Do you mean it’s on the same level as a classic Western album like Radiohead’s “The Bends,” which was mentioned above? I didn’t realize it was that incredible. If you don’t mind, could you explain it in a little more detail?

“Half of this thread is made of consideration for others.” I think that’s what >167 was getting at.

>138 Did you know that because “Uninstall” sounds like an anime song, it’s become an anime-song theme for anime otaku? A-ni-song. A-ni-song.

>172 It’s an album that conveys the atmosphere of their breakout period. You can listen to the anxieties and hesitations in the songs as they overlap exactly with the band’s journey at the time (I personally only got into them from the third album onward). I thought the title was lame, but it resonates with the worldview of every song on it, which gives it real significance. (I feel the same way about the latest album.) After the paired songs “LAST LOVE~” and “CALL MY NAME,” there’s “TIMELESS~,” about leaving the room to go see the horizon, followed by “Yume Mita Ato de,” which marked a turning point. Even the consistency of the singles’ release order is amazing. On top of that, “NACKED STORY” and “HOLY GROUND” try to sum up the scenes and themes that had been told in fragments into one story, song by song. Their existence is almost miraculous. They express places and times intersecting in completely opposite ways. (It’s hard to explain.) The music, especially the vocals, feels like it’s both riling the listener up and admonishing them. I can sense something like a will in it. Even though they were a manufactured idol unit, an album where each member’s unspoken determination to weave some kind of story (even if it was a lie) happened to take the form of songs through their collaboration. I can picture AZUKI-san sneaking glances at Yurippe while she sings and grinning. In reality, people only started seeing them that way after this album. I don’t feel the same inevitability in the lyrics and songs of Radiohead’s “The Bends.” It’s certainly an exceptionally cool guitar-rock album, though. I like how commercial limitations kept the individual members from having completely free rein—it gives the album more conviction. The lyrics feel like they had already given up from the very beginning.

What’s great is how the cramped feeling from before their breakout coexists with the sense of openness that comes after they leap out into the world. They’ve only just begun, yet AZUKI’s lyrics are so naturally and honestly tied to the music and vocals that they make you vaguely imagine what comes after the end, and where they’ll arrive. This one album is self-contained. Even without considering the albums before and after it or their origins, the work is perfect on its own. I feel like the fourth album might be a concept album depicting the cycle of the four seasons (and encounters) in thirteen songs, but I don’t really get it. Can someone explain what’s good about it?

Is discussing things on an album-by-album basis really that important? I think it’s enough to appreciate what’s good about each song individually.

GARNET especially doesn’t make songs by deciding on an album concept first. Their style is to choose a balanced selection from a pool of songs that’s already built up, starting with the core songs. So I don’t think there’s any need to place that much importance on what’s good about each album or the flow between its songs. Sorry for the double post.

But with the fourth album, it feels like they decided on the concept first and then made it, cutting singles from it afterward~ With the latest album, listening to the whole thing made me realize the depth of those four seemingly simple songs, and I can feel how much effort went into the PVs. There are practically no artists these days who can make you listen to an album as an album. Most albums are just collections of songs made around the same time, no more and no less.

The posts by ID:WzsUR3ZIO are at a level where it wouldn’t be surprising if someone told them to write in a diary instead.

But not getting into a fight is the Yuri/Nana quality.

>181 The cozy atmosphere of this thread is seriously abnormalｗ If you only looked at the posts, you wouldn’t know whether this was 2chｗ

I like seeing people talk things through like ID:WzsUR3ZIO does.

>175 I found it useful and interesting too. The second album’s level of completion really is incredible. I guess Gane really did reach completion once at that point. The appeal of the fourth album? Maybe its vaguely spiritual quality. When I listen to it, I always feel like I’m in the dark. Then light shines through the darkness in the final line of “Kimi Tsure Saru Toki no Otozure o”—that’s the image I get.

The second album peaks with “Naked Story,” and the other tracks are all great too. On the third, “Eien o~” and “Koi Suru Koto Shika~” are both incredible when considered as individual songs. From the fourth album onward, her voice became a low, sticky groan like bubbles rising from sludge on the sea floor. The ballad-like songs sound like songs of resentment.

>185 >Bubbles Wouldn’t you say “blub blub,” though?

>184 Once they set out, it feels like they travel through all kinds of seasons and places, then come back again, maybe. Darkness, huh~ There really are a lot of heavy songs. >185 As individual songs, the third album might be my favorite. Those two are way too good. The fourth has a higher proportion of ballads.

>185 Speaking of sludgeｗ What do you think of the fifth? I think her singing improved by leaps and bounds.

I feel like I saw the depths of darkness in the fourth and fifth albums.

>189 Agreed. Both the fourth and fifth feel heavy and deep.

The fourth is the darkness right beside everyday life. The fifth feels like a deep darkness carried alone.

The fifth is an album where the vocals came to the front, but it feels like the range of expression became narrower in exchange.

>191 Ah, that makes sense. The fourth is heavy, but it has an approachable side too.

It’s a little disappointing that the first through third albums have their rearrangements tacked on at the end like bonus tracks. I like how the fourth incorporates “sky~Rearrange Ver~” into the album’s overall flow. I do like the songs individually, though. Even setting that aside, the second album is a collection of masterpieces whether you listen song by song or straight through. I’m way too emotionally attached to it, which is a problem. I listened to it for the first time in ages yesterday and cried my eyes out.

The second album has the strongest lineup of singles, plus album tracks like “pray” and “Seichi”… The individual songs are so distinctive that the album’s overall unity isn’t anything especially noteworthy, I guess. But every song is god-tier, no question.

Sorry to cut across the conversation, but I’m asking here because posting it elsewhere got called off-topic. It’s established that the motif of “in little time” is *The Hairdresser’s Husband*, but could it be Dante’s *Divine Comedy* instead? In the *Divine Comedy*, Matilda is immersed in the river headfirst, right?

If that’s what you think, then maybe that’s what it is. I also think “Hyakunen no Kodoku” and the like use Sleeping Beauty (the image of Yuria) as a motif.

>197 In *The Hairdresser’s Husband*, Matilda jumps into the river herself, but in the *Divine Comedy*, Matilda is put into the river by someone else. The interpretations are completely opposite, so I wanted to hear other people’s takes. Am I being a nuisance?

>198 This is going to be long. I didn’t know about Dante’s version, so I’d always assumed it was based on *The Hairdresser’s Husband*, but… In *The Hairdresser’s Husband*, Matilda throws herself into the river despite being at the height of happiness because she wants to make her current happiness eternal. I’d always understood the line in “in little time,” “live forever in the river where I threw myself,” as meaning that Matilda lives forever in the happiness she wished for, inside the river she threw herself into. The lyrics are saying that she didn’t choose death out of despair over life, which is exactly why they have that meaning, I think… “in little time” = the happy days when the two loved each other. For Matilda, this “in little time” is something she wished to make eternal. For the protagonist Antoine, it’s now a painful thing of the past. He wants to live strongly while remembering the Matilda he loved…something like that. That’s my interpretation. Sorry it’s not very organized〜orz

Yeah, I agree. Until now, I’d also interpreted it as Matilda living forever, still beautiful, in Antoine’s heart. But the other day I went to an exhibition of Belgian fantasy art, and saw an explanation saying, “In the *Divine Comedy*, Matilda is immersed in the river headfirst” (you can find it with a Google search too). There were also lots of flowers in the painting, and it suddenly made me wonder if that interpretation might be possible. “It is a place that seems exactly like an earthly paradise, where flowers bloom, the grassland is surrounded by forest, and the fairy Matilda is picking flowers”—from Dante’s *Divine Comedy*. The lyrics: >It’s just like heaven. >So it never withers~ >Live forever. They seem to line up with Dante’s fairy Matilda, who lives forever after parting with Dante. But I just realized that director Leconte may also have been influenced by Dante’s *Divine Comedy*. If so, it becomes a chicken-and-egg question.

Wasn’t it written in a magazine or something that the motif was *The Hairdresser’s Husband*? I vaguely remember that… Maybe it was in the best-of booklet.

( ^ω^)「Time to practice dissecting Yurippe!」

>202 Wrong thread?ｗ

>202 I posted that in the wrong thread… Sorry. The conversation was going so nicely too…

>203 Don’t sweat it(;^ω^)ヾ(･ω･｀) These things happen!

I messed up the anchor myselfｗ >203→>204

It’s cozy in here again todayｗ

The fans and members of GARNET CROW both live by the cozy-life philosophy.

In livescope 2005, did Yurippe (during “Yume Mita”) and Nana (during “Kimi Tsure Saru”) both cry from emotion? Sorry if that’s old news.

>209 Weren’t her eyes already getting watery during “Wasurezaki”?

I think Yurippe’s punch☆! motion during “Eden” on last year’s live DVD is cute.

Sorry to interrupt the conversation. http://anchorage.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/mjsaloon/1255886290/ There’s a discussion in this thread saying GARNET copied Everything but the Girl. Is this a rumor that’s been around for a long time?

Nice trolling.

No, sorry, I’m not trolling(´・ω・｀)

>212 EBTG is the band that created the neo-acoustic genre. As you know, Gane used to be neo-acoustic too. EBTG comes up in this thread and the main thread all the time. Even so, Gane doesn’t have any songs copied from EBTG. It’s obvious they were influenced by them, though. They’re probably calling it copying because the first album cover looks so similar. There are lots of homages like the Beatles’ crosswalk album cover, right? I think it’s the same kind of thing.

>215 Thanks! So it was about the album cover. I listened through EBTG’s songs before and didn’t think they sounded similar at all, so I was wondering why that thread called it copying.

203 名無しのエリー sage 2009/11/03 (Tue) 23:26:56 ID:0aoIXvY10 Why does everyone choose Avex-trash over Being? Are you idiots? Are you going to die?

>217 (ﾟДﾟ≡ﾟДﾟ)?

Yurippe dreams of appearing in a TSUBAKI commercial. (´･ω･)「Welcome~ Welcome to Japan~♪」

>219 Sorry, wrong thread!

>220 Don’t worry about it! There have been a lot of wrong-thread posts latelyｗ

Whenever there’s even a slightly critical post, people keep anchoring it and slowly dogpiling on the poster. Is that what you call a cozy atmosphere?ｗ If people were really broad-minded, they’d just say, “Oh, so some people feel that way,” and, “But I still like that song.” Instead, it feels like we’re being watched and having our speech controlled like North Korea, while pretending this is a cozy thread.

Posts that only say whether you like or dislike something don’t even rise to the level of an impression. Even if you don’t call it criticism, at least give some reasons.

It’s not like this thread is bustling, so stop trying to manage every little thing. Unlike a fan site, one of the good things about 2ch is that you can plainly say you dislike something if you dislike it. You don’t have to give reasons. The weird micromanaging is what makes the thread lose traffic.

The lack of traffic has nothing to do with thatｗ This isn’t the main thread, and it’s unavoidable that it’s quiet.

>215 I’ve been a fan since the indie days, but this is all completely new to me! I looked at the cover just now and burst out laughing—it’s identical. There are exactly four chairs too. Whose idea was it, I wonder?

In the main thread, maybe, but in the Yuri/Nana thread, I’d like people to give at least some reasons.

>227 Yeah, true.

It’s not about whether anyone’s managing the thread—the kind of conversation that only says “I like this” or “I hate that” is boring. If that’s all you’re going to say, it ends there and all anyone can reply is, “So what?” Let’s talk about something constructive. This is a message board, after all, so we might as well make use of it.

Well, it’s still absurdly mellow hereｗ

tesu

Sendai was so much fun I nearly died laughing. I’d been thinking that getting used to live shows had made me a little lonely lately, but I was completely wrong. Everyone was running around in every direction and looked like they were having an amazing time. Mochi said this around 2005 too, but Gane really is a band when all is said and done. It’s amazing how much the venue changes things—whether it’s a temple or a live house. Personally, being able to feel a sense of unity with Gane, a band I think is dozens of steps ahead of us, feels like a dream. I know I’m being a blind otaku, but Gane is the best and strongest. Sorry for rambling.

I want them to keep becoming more and more like a proper live band, so I want them to cut loose, but like someone said before, glow sticks and choreographed moves just aren’t my thing. Mosh pits and stage-diving are even more unnecessaryｗ

GARNET CROW really is always growing.

Looking back, I kind of miss the unreliable, fragile GARNET CROW too.

They’re still plenty unreliable and fragile now. If you made just the four of them do a radio show even today, it’d probably be one disaster after another.

They’re unbelievably sloppy even on Gane Radioｗ Since only fans listen, Mochi doesn’t really try to control things either.

Personally, my favorite period was around “timeless sleep” and “call my name.” There’s something…wistful about the singing and the atmosphere of the songs, and it’s really nice.

>238 I think the key to that atmosphere was the chorus arrangements. Nakamura-san’s voice has changed from boy → girl → gorilla → lady, but she must have been experimenting and trying things out to develop her own originality.

Yurippe’s appearance in the PVs is more beautiful than anything.

>236-237 The talk shows and the Namba live were pretty gdgd. Especially Nana-san. She had so many lines you’d never expect from a lyricist. The net radio shows are probably the more manageable side of things.

I trusted you guys and borrowed Radiohead’s “OK COMPUTER,” but now you’re talking about different songsｗ I also borrowed Evanescence and Björk, which you recommended. I’ve listened to almost nothing but Gane until now, so I want to use the artists the four members like as a starting point and explore all kinds of music. You probably won’t know, but I really want to learn about Furui-san’s roots. I actually like the loose, rambling feeling of their talk rather than calling it gdgd. It’s plenty good enough if they’re just having fun among the otaku, but I get nervous when they appear in the mediaｗ

If you’re young, try listening to Flipper’s Guitar.

AZUKI-san is just extreme. Everyone has things they’re good and bad at.

I prefer Radiohead’s work from “OK Computer” onward. “The Bends” is also incredible as guitar rock. Linkin Park might be good too, even though they’re a little different from Radiohead genre-wise. They’re dark, and like Radiohead, they sell despite having a kind of weird musical style. The standard recommendation would probably be Muse, though.

Did Muse’s rise start with them being treated as obvious Radiohead followers, or was it because their fans are kind of…well, you know? Either way, they often get treated as a “try-hard band.” Is that follower image really that strong? “Absolution” and “Black Holes And Revelations” are easy-to-listen-to works that convey their dramatic sound directly. They’re even farther from Gane than Radiohead is, image-wise, but I don’t think they’re bad.

Changing the subject again, but NIN and Smashing Pumpkins are pretty good too.

>242 Furui-san’s roots are David Foster’s Airplay, TOTO, and stuff like that. AOR.

Everything mentioned in this conversation is very rock-band-like, so maybe some calm, sophisticated AOR would be good too.

I’m the one from >242. I listened to everything once, but it felt pretty strange, probably because my ears aren’t used to it. Anyway, I realized that Yurippe’s melodies and voice hit my sweet spot much more than I expected. I don’t personally think Gane is dark, but are a lot of the regulars here into dark music? Thanks for the Furui-san info. I’m young, so I’ll listen to Ozawa Kenji tooﾉｼ

I’d also recommend Ozawa Kenji’s solo work after Flipper’s Guitar broke up. “Tenshi-tachi no Shiin” is something everyone should listen to at least once in their life. There’s no other way to put it—it’s a god-tier song. The lyrics are truly wonderful and have been carved into my life. Though I haven’t lived long enough to talk grandly about lifeｗ

Including his Flipper’s Guitar days, I think Ozawa is a truly incredible person. I totally panicked when Yurippe listed him among her favoritesｗ

Whether it’s a bright, dark, intense, or mellow song by GARNET CROW, whether it’s from the early days or recent years, I love them all. But Gane is the only artist I like.

>252 Yurippe and I are the same age, and lots of people in my high-school class, including me, liked Ozawa Kenji (and Flipper’s Guitar), so there’s a good chance she listened to him naturally too.

>253 How many tens of thousands of musicians have you listened to before you can say that? Or have you listened to thousands and found not a single one worth following, so you mean it doesn’t exist statistically? If not, I want you to understand that there’s a lot of wonderful music in the world. I’m saying this as another GARNET fan. But how to find it is the problem. I record music-video programs on SkyPerfect TV and watch them, but even then I can only learn about a tiny fraction. Even so, I’ve found several artists whose music I think is better than GARNET’s. (Liking something isn’t a matter of logic—GARNET is still number one.) So there’s already plenty of possibility, both among music that already exists and music that will come out in the future, that you might find something you like more than GARNET.

Search online by genre, watch music programs including terrestrial TV, check both Western and Japanese Oricon charts, read music magazines, dig deeper through the favorites of artists you like, and explore anime songs and character songs. Even after doing all that, it’s still only a tiny fraction. But the joy of finding something that clicks with you like this is incredible.

>255 What happenedｗ I don’t think music has a hierarchy of better and worse, separate from personal likes and dislikes. I don’t really go out of my way to search for music. I just happen to come across music I like, and Gane is one of those discoveries. Well, that kind of thing is different for everyone.

>253 I totally understand “Gane is the only artist I like.” There are tons of songs I like, whether Western music or other genres, but I wouldn’t call the artists themselves favorites—they’re more like “favorite” and that’s it. GARNET CROW is the only artist I’ve joined a fan club for.

“Sen Ijō no Kotoba o Narabete mo…”—apparently it’s out of print according to the wiki. Should I buy it while I can?

If you like “blue bird,” you should buy it. http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm751233

Joining the fan club really is something special. Unless you have feelings for them beyond simply liking their music, I don’t think you’d even consider joining. Well, this may be a harsh way to put it, but it’s also seen as a somewhat blind and closed-off space.

Sorry for the late reply. >255 >253 only said, “Gane is the only artist I like.” I’m sure they understand that there’s lots of wonderful music in the world.

Gane is such a well-made idol band that there’s no need to go looking for anything else.

As someone mentioned above, EBTG’s first album, *Eden*, is essential listening. A neo-acoustic masterpiece. I personally think Gane’s first album is its legitimate evolution. Unlike Shibuya-kei acts like Flipper’s Guitar, it doesn’t have that showy, “look how much I know” feeling. I like how it keeps a comfortable distance from its roots.

There’s lots of wonderful music in the world, but it’s rare to find something you can call wholly good, including the character of the people who made it. Especially songs. They say your writing reflects who you are, and I like Nana-san’s lyrics almost as much as I like Nana-san herself.

But lately, AZUKI-san’s lyrics do seem kind of similar to each other. The way she chooses words from that sense of impermanence—things changing, the fragility of human memory, that sort of thing—feels like it’s becoming a template( ・∀・)y─┛~~ It feels like the content has started to follow a fixed, formulaic equation, like the old Ayumi Hamasaki lyric-writing guidelines: “Do this and it becomes AZUKI Nana.”

That’s true. But precisely because she defined those words over and over in the past, when Yurippe sings simple phrases about love, dawn, confusion, and so on, it feels like scenes and emotions sung about in other songs come back to life. It’s interesting, and powerful. I think all the songs on the latest album, STAY, are connected in parallel too.

>266 Yeah, I know what you mean. Saying everything is just running dry would be a bit much, so maybe she’s simply settled down a little. There are lyricists who get praised in various places, like Shikao Suga or GRAPEVINE’s Tanaka, who still write with a “let’s aim for something that sells,” “make it easy to understand,” or “consider the listener demographic” kind of mindset. Maybe she’s simply a little contrary and is actually agonizing over her concepts for ages. There are plenty of times when I think, “You say that, but you still write such good lyrics~”

Haven’t seen Yukio in a while.

Personal story, but the girl who sits next to me in class has something of Nana-san about her. The way she takes notes looks like Nana-san playing the keyboard to me. I get healed by it every day. Thank you.

>270 Go tell herｗ

How do you interpret the lyrics of “Mizu no Nai Hareta Umi e”?

>272 I get an image of a pure-white world where dreams and something like the virtual are intertwined, rather than reality. The word “pure white” comes to mind. Something like “I’ll keep loving you”—that’s my clumsy interpretation.

>270 I get it. I see traces of Nana-san in women I spot reading books on the train. Sometimes you see someone with an incredibly captivating gaze. They’re just reading a book, though.

Nana isn’t merely pretty or beautiful—she has a motherly warmth that gently embraces you. Watching her play the keyboard somehow makes you happy.

Nana-sama really is like a goddess.

>270 It’d be such a waste for it to just end there.

>272 Isn’t it the story of the Little Mermaid?

An old, familiar topic.

M Station having Chisato Moritaka on is such a nostalgic bit of news. But come to think of it, GARNET hasn’t appeared for three years now, right? I guess Being’s slot isn’t exactly blessed, after all.

I love “Last Love Song,” so I want to hear a new song in that style soon.

I’m thinking of borrowing an EBTG album next time. The first album really is the one to get, right? Really?(;ﾟДﾟ≡ﾟДﾟ;) I’ve borrowed the best-of before.

>275 Agreed. Personally, I prefer Yurippe in passionate stuff like “Yume Hanabi” and “Kaze to Rainbow.” I’m only talking about looks, though.

I also like the cute Yurippe who looks like Ai-chan from *Mezamashi* on the fifth-anniversary DVD. She’s become so much more mature now.

>284 Maybe I’m overreacting, but…that’s kind of creepy… Take it to the main thread.

>285 WOOOOAH('д`) WOOOOAH You’re overreactingｗｗ Way too exclusionaryｗ She really is cute, so let me say itｗ Anyway, listening to the new album and everything, the choice of tones for these programmed drums really does drag the arrangements down. For a catchy, immediately appealing melody like “Fall in Life~Hallelujah~,” that kind of programmed drumming can match the lightness well, but it’s such a shame on “Rainy Soul” and “STAY.” The snare sounds pathetic. The piano backing and guitar textures create such a jazzy, sophisticated atmosphere, but that plasticky sound ruins it so badly. People have said GIZA’s sound is weak for years, and this programmed drumming is the reason.

>282 Yeah, the one called *Eden*. You can enjoy that chorus-treated guitar tone throughout the whole album, like the sound in “Eien o Kakenukeru~.” The jazzier songs are good too. >283 The “Kaze to Rainbow” PV is way too cool. Yurippe really can do anything.

Does “Eien o Kakenukeru” actually use chorus on the guitar? I feel like I haven’t heard that kind of tone since “Eien ni Nemure.” Sorry if I’m wrong.

>287 Thanks. I’ll go borrow it.

Not the sparkling kind of chorus from the early days, but a slightly muffled chorus. The choice of tones in the arpeggio you hear in the outro is pure neo-acoustic. Maybe it’s one endpoint of the path they’d been following since the first album. This song is what made me a fan.

This is late, but I’ve gotten hooked on the disco arrangement of “Rainy Soul.” At first I skipped it because I couldn’t get the greatness of the original out of my head, but listening to it mixed in with similar songs made it transformｗ

>290 Oh, I see. I still have a lot more listening to do. I’ll go listen to it later. When I hear “chorus,” I tend to imagine a sparkling, synth-like tone and a chorus guitar with a sense of spatial breadth. Listening to sound with the scale and floatiness of post-rock makes me feel that way even more. Embarrassingly, I haven’t really listened to much guitar pop…＾＾

>286 It really is discouraging when cheap sounds are used on delicate songs. One of the appeals of Furui’s arrangements is the contrast between the warmth of acoustic instruments and that digital, futuristic quality—but on this blatantly bluesy song, it just… “Kaze to~” and “Eien o~” feel very much like him. (The song themes fit too.) Even on this album, I think the rhythm on “Hyakunen no Kodoku” is pretty ambitious.

>292 Actually, arrangements where synth and chorus guitar blend together are pretty common too (the floaty kind). I like the guitar on the fifth album best~ Was it called “LASTY RAIL”? The solo is unbelievably strong. I can see the sunset.

>294 I see a full moon floating in the night sky. That solo makes me feel like I’m going to die.

>295 I know what you mean. The way it returns to the main song is fun! The solo in “Marginal Man” has some weird effect on the guitar too, which makes it memorable.

>296 Exactly! The way it returns to the main song is so cool! We’re on the same wavelength. The guitar in “Marginal” has an unusual effect on it too.

Sorry, I got carried away(´・ω・｀)

>298 The way Yurippe belts it out at the end really gets me too. I’ve never heard another song that feels so passionate and noble?…and it’s still so simple. Furui-san, of course, but Mochi really understands the lyrics too. The magic in old songs like “CALL MY NAME” and “NACKED” is incredible.

Anyway, you’ve been spelling things wrong nonstopｗ It’s Rusty and Naked. The solo in “Rusty Rail” and its plain, simple arpeggio are outstanding. What is that tone used on the “Marginal Man” solo, I wonder?

>300 S-sorry. Sorry for dirtying the thread.

I can’t remember the guitar solos in “Rusty” or “Marginal Man”ｗ I’ll go listen to them again. You guys are seriously hardcoreｗ

I can’t sing the English part of “His Voyage.” It’s not as simple as “nonsense.”

I love discussions like thisｗ It’s all stuff I’d never noticed myself. I want to get home and listen to the songs to check it out already~

Come to think of it, who makes the guitar-solo sections in the songs? The old guy? Yurippe? Mochi?

>305 Probably the old guy and Mochi together? Though I think it’s mostly the old guy.

>305 They said the live-instrument parts get replaced after the arrangement is finished, so probably the old guy. They might discuss changes with Mochi and the staff during the guitar recording, though.

>306-307 I see—thanks for the reply!

So in the truest sense, Mochi only does guitar. Setting the phrases aside, he probably handles all the tone creation himself, though.

Well, he is a guitarist, after all. Personally, I like that he sticks to the guitar position and has that craftsman-like quality as a player.

Speaking of the English parts, are the lyrics of the chorus in “Mizu no Nai Hareta Umi e” still a mystery?

Speaking of English parts, are they never going to fix the grammatically incorrect bit in “Rocket”? × “for we” ○ “for us”

But “for we~ aaah~ us” sounds kind of goofy.

>313 Yeah, exactlyｗｗｗ It’s lyrics, so grammar doesn’t really bother me that much.

It’s fine as long as you get the nuance. The way the lyrics fit the melody matters too, and the flow of the sounds is important.

I’m the one from 312. >312-313 Exactly. I also think “fo~r we~ we~ we~” sounds goofy. I’ve been recommending GARNET CROW to several friends, and for this part I’ve had to ask them to convert it in their heads since, well, it’s lyrics.

>316 “we” and “read” rhyme, right? So maybe it was intentional. Besides, if your friends are just listening normally, they probably won’t notice it~

It’s probably for the rhyme. Apparently “read” can also mean “foresee” or “judge,” but NASA and space agencies don’t actually use “read” to mean reading where a rocket is headed, do they?

I see! Thanks! If some Brit who’s just come back from the UK says something, I’ll casually bring these points up!

Could it be “for we” + a verb? The subject of “I can’t read,” “I,” compares the course of my relationship with my boyfriend/girlfriend to an uncertain rocket: “Look~ it’s swaying.” If that’s the case, then it’s “for we” + a verb, and the omitted verb could include everything from the video mentioned in the lyrics to all the little things in the couple’s daily life that aren’t mentioned in the lyrics. Maybe it was deliberately left out for that reason.

But not for We.

Is Nana Mizuki appearing on Kōhaku this year? I might watch just for that. She’s the last shred of conscience Kōhaku hasｗ The Nana connection, you know. >316 You probably wouldn’t notice it that much. Actually, Nana casually works rhymes into things. If you look for alliteration and end rhymes, you’ll surprisingly find them here and there. “Rusty Rail,” which we talked about earlier, and “Itsuka Mata~” are examples too４

“Argentina” is incredible. The “tame” in a sigh of admiration isn’t necessarily “tame” for praise— it can also be “tame” for hiding disappointment. That’s the idea.

>323 I get it.

Dammit, I forgot to sage…

The rhymes in “Nora” gave me goosebumps. They made the sense of sadness twice as strong… Talking with you Leaning my shoulder against yours Wrapping up your cheek, chilled by the night If I could do that, could I have stayed there? If only we could’ve stayed together, even closer than before(´;ω;｀)ﾌﾞﾜｯ

I wonder if NHK will broadcast something from behind the scenes at the NHK Hall show at the end of the year…

>327 Someone said that in the main thread too, but no wayｗ

>322 Having the only voice actor there would definitely stand out, but it does sound fun. From now on, if trendy acts and talent keep appearing one after another through company slots, the quality will just keep getting worse. I really hope she does something shocking enough to freeze everyone in front of their TVsｗ

>322 You don’t see many female lyricists these days who think about rhymes and other wordplay.

I’ve always wondered about the artists Nana-san is listed as being influenced by on the wiki: Iggy Pop Kula Shaker The Cure Jesus Jones John Zorn Sonic Youth Peter Gabriel I don’t know any of them except Iggy Pop… Does this mean they influenced her lyrics?

Nana-san has great taste and isn’t biased at all~ But somehow they’re all pretty intense. Especially John Zorn…that’s way too chaotic. They’re mostly unrelated to Gane directly, but I feel like they surprisingly have things in common. I think her lyrics were mostly influenced by literature.

Sonic Youth and Kula Shaker feel very Nana-san too. Does she dislike normal music?

Aztec Camera is among Nana-san’s favorites. They were a band that helped drive the neo-acoustic movement along with EBTG. Apparently Flipper’s Guitar was hugely influenced by them (according to Wikipedia). Yurippe’s favorite is Flipper’s Guitar. I think that’s one of the reasons GARNET CROW went in a neo-acoustic direction.

The old guy says he didn’t specifically set out to make neo-acoustic music, but what they made ended up sounding neo-acoustic from the very beginning. Mochi said, “For Western music from the ’80s (especially the UK, probably), ask Furui-san.” New Wave, which came after the punk movement of the ’70s— the young genius Roddy Frame. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM3mB6WrhJ4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dbNUKy6QXM

Sticking with this topic, do you guys plan to watch Kōhaku this year? >331 You don’t know Peter Gabriel, The Cure, or Jesus Jones…? Peter Gabriel was the vocalist of Genesis, for crying out loud. It’s not just their musical styles—their atmospheres are flashy too. Normally, people don’t list favorites because of lyric-writing influences. It’s simply musical taste. I don’t think there are any artists who publicly say they were influenced in their lyric writing in the first place.

When artists under Being, or GIZA especially, list Western music as favorites, it can feel like they’re trying too hard, and there are some I don’t quite believeｗ But with Gane, I genuinely think, “Ah, yeah, that makes sense.” >333 By “normal music,” do you mean popular J-pop and stuff? They mentioned Yellow Monkey before too, right? Another flashy oneｗ I probably wouldn’t go as far as Kazuya Yoshii’s solo work, though.

>336 I probably won’t watch Kōhaku. >People don’t publicly say they were influenced in their lyric writing. I mean, aren’t favorites supposed to include artists who influenced you not only musically, but also in your lyrics and other areas? Especially for Japanese artists. Maybe Western artists have less influence on the lyrical side simply because of the language barrier. I think Nana-sama was influenced by literature, though. What influences people varies from person to person. >337 But I’d like them to list some Japanese artists they like too—well-known ones. Nana-sama mentioned Yellow Monkey, which made me want to listen to themｗ Personally, I’m not good with Western music, so it feels hard to get into~

>334 Seriously? She even mentioned Aztec Camera? Since the Gane members don’t usually talk about other music, that’s pretty interesting~ You could even say Yuri avoids mentioning it… >337 Yellow Monkey, huh…wow. So she likes things that feel detached from the everyday world. The Cure has that gloominess, Gabriel has that muffled? vocal tone, Jesus Jones has digital rock, Sonic Youth has the male/female combination, John Zorn is up for anything regardless of genre, Kula Shaker is…wah guitar? Iggy Pop is…I don’t really know. There’s a common thread among them. Of the three members, Mochi’s taste is the most ordinary, or maybe the least interesting.

The guitar-solo feel in songs like “CALL MY NAME” and “TIMELESS SLEEP” reminds me of The Cure. The soundscape is monochrome, Yurippe’s voice is fragile, and this period has an atmosphere like ’80s New Wave bands (Joy Division and others).

>339 >You could even say Yuri avoids mentioning it… That’s not true. She answers when asked. I think she just doesn’t bring up Western music herself because she’s conscious of being GC’s PR manager.

Oh, is that so? When someone asked her on the radio something like, “What music do you recommend listening to when sleeping?” she gave this kind of unenthusiastic answer like, “Hmm… Enya, maybe?” So I figured she probably didn’t really want to talk about it.

>342 I heard that too, but I think she worded it modestly because if she put her own tastes front and center and they differed from the other members’ opinions, that’d be awkward. It’s a pretty common Kyoto-person thing.

>339 Yurippe isn’t avoiding mentioning them. She’s said she likes Madonna, and just the other day she reported in the fan club newsletter that she’d gone to a Bon Jovi concert. If you have the newsletter, the GARNET TIME writeups, or the MFM Special that just came out, try reading page 26. the cranberries/everybody else is doing it,so why can’t we? (It’s also one of the template recommendations.) >“After listening to this band and others like them, I wanted to try making something with an ethnic melodic line, so I wrote a song called ‘pray,’ which is included on GARNET CROW’s second album.”

I see~ Nana-san has that side to her too. I like it.

>344 Sorry, looks like I was mistaken. She actually talks about it pretty openly, huh? Now I’m curious about the newsletter. So PRAY was influenced by the Cranberries?

Kiyopy-san said she ran into Yurippe at a Mr. Children concert. Honestly, people in that industry probably listen to all kinds of stuff. I don’t know about GIZA, but apparently some companies even cover their employees’ CD purchases. You’d be missing out if you didn’t listen to everything you couldｗ

>346 Apparently Yurippe’s latest favorite is Wagner Love, some German version of Maroon 5 that she listens to a lot. vol. 26 Incidentally, there’s a photo report from the Bon Jovi concert in vol. 21 where she managed to get a blanket!!

Does she like Mr. Children?

>347 BEING may look like that, but they seem to have more respect for old Western music than other companies. Does Yurippe listen to blues and stuff? The way she sings songs like STAY feels kind of bluesy.

This is unrelated, but ON THE WAY, the latest release, sounds like it was made with ZARD, who has passed away, in mind. Is there anything along those lines written in the newsletter or somewhere? When I first heard DOING~, it made me nostalgic for good old ’90s J-pop more than it reminded me of Gane.

>351 >ZARD, who has passed away Sorry to nitpick, but isn’t the group ZARD still technically around?

>352 That’s ridiculously nitpickyｗｗｗ

>351 I totally agree. Speaking as a fan who came over from ZARD. It feels like, “Oh, there are fellow fans here.” (lol)

>349 Looking at Mr. Children, which sells so well with the general public, they can seem like just a band for casual trend-followers, but they’ve also put out highly artistic, message-heavy albums like “深海”, you know. No matter what, they’re respected by all kinds of artists too.

>355 Shinkai is a concept album with a really strong message. It’s highly regarded by the fans, and I love it too, but that album came together under the guidance of producer Kobayashi, so~ If you want the album that shows Mr. Children most as a band, it’s Q, which is also highly regarded by the fans and one of my favorites.

>354 The chorus, the piano, the guitar solos…they all reminded me of ZARD. It’s wonderful that you can express your respect through a song~ >356 Mr. Children from their breakthrough through the post-comeback Q era were incredibly cool, with arrangements and fashion inspired by old and new Western music, changing their look to match their state of mind each time. Personally, once they started making music freely, I kind of cooled off. They need to be tied down by something.

I think Atomic Heart and DISCOVERY are great albums too. They were experimental, and had a rich band sound as well. You could never imagine a song like “シーラカンス” (Coelacanth) from Shinkai coming from the Mr. Children of today. You could even call it prog, couldn’t you? Though there’s always Tahara’s guitar (ry These days they give me the impression of a formulaic ballad band that relies on strings and piano to pad out the arrangement, but “Hana no Nioi” is a masterpiece.

Same with Remioromen, though I can’t help feeling they’re being dragged along to indulge Kobatake’s musical masturbation.

AtHa is really an album that sounds like it was made solely by Kobatake and Sakurai. Apparently the instrumental parts, guitars, bass, drums and all, were mostly sampled from live recordingsｗ Lord Tahara’s guitar has so much character, though. I love it. He’s gotten seriously good lately. It just never gets a chance to shine because of the shitty arrangements. I don’t think Remioromen is produced by Kobatake anymore. Looks like they split because the band wasn’t sellingｗ Poor guys, they had to put up with Kobatake’s musical masturbation for so long. I wish he’d leave Mr. Children too, but the members are okay with it, so…orz He even tags along to their live shows. It’s seriously annoying. Sorry for the rant.

The Cranberries have that temperature gap between “Linger,” “Dreams,” and “Zombie,” which feels kind of like Gane. The idea that the CALL MY NAME era has a Joy Division atmosphere was a real eye-opener, though I can somehow see Nana-san liking them too. Yurippe has mentioned Cloudberry Jam, and there are songs of hers that resemble one of Lene Marlin’s debut songs, so she seems pretty knowledgeable about Nordic music too. She probably doesn’t mention Sonic Youth or Radiohead because they’re too obvious. Some people say Mr. Children sounds like Radiohead, but they really are a good band. Still, Aztec Camera and Yellow Monkey…that’s a pretty wide range. Sorry for writing like I know what I’m talking about when I’m not really knowledgeable about music.

>360 I’m not a Mr. Children fan, but I like Lord Tahara. With Gane, I’m Team Nana-sama rather than Yurippe.

>361 Mr. Children also gets compared to U2 and Costello. Well, with Costello, they went as far as basically doing it in a music videoｗ It’s fine, it’s fineｗ I’m writing like a know-it-all tooｗｗｗ >362 Whoaｗ We’re exactly the sameｗ I was drawn to Nana-sama from the moment I first started getting interested in Gane. I love both her lyrics and her personality.

>360 I don’t know Lene Marlin, which song does she have that sounds similar?? CALL MY NAME has this charm where the intro makes me instinctively think of the monochrome, dim (and cheap-sounding) sonic world of early The Cure, JD, and that whole crowd. The people involved probably weren’t conscious of it at all, but I think it gives off an aura that unique. >360 During their breakthrough period, Sakurai’s urge to express himself and Kobayashi’s desire to make certain arrangements lined up really well musically. DISCOVERY was also fresh, combining cutting-edge digital rock with vintage sounds. After that, I might not be as interested. I think “Kuchibue” is their best song.

>363 Apparently Lord Tahara is a musical absolutist. I heard that when recording “Machine Gun o Buppanase” from Shinkai in New York, he couldn’t accept the guitar part no matter what, so he went back and rerecorded it alone in Tokyo. I tried listening with that in mind, but…an ordinary person can’t possibly understand it. Like Nana-sama, he’s a mysterious person who somehow makes you curious because there’s almost no information about him despite being in such a major band.

>365 Exactlyｗ That’s so like Lord Taharaｗ I think his riffs and lines have a real sense of style~ Not just Nana-sama, there’s basically no information about any of the Gane members. There’s nothing about Yurippe or the old guy, of course, and even Mochi has no information besides what he says himselfｗ Mysterious.

>364 Her debut song, “Unforgivable Sinner” (Japanese title: “Like an Angel…”). The A-melody sounds exactly like “Cried a little.” Also, parts of the arrangement and chorus sound similar to “Only stay”…

>367 Thanks. Is she someone who uses falsetto a lot or something? I’ll listen again. >366 If you think of them as GIZA employees… When asked about their school days on the radio, Mochi babbled on and on, while Yurippe said, “I was in no clubs. That’s it!” and tried to shut the conversation down. It was hilarious.

I think Lene Marlin would work for people who like Gane. But Yurippe was in no clubs? Really? Since she became a musician, I figured she’d be more active, like someone who was in the light music club or something.

>366 With Mochi, people know everything from his family structure and education to what he eats at homeｗ

>369 Apparently she only went to help out in the chorus club when they were short on people. Seems like she preferred listening to music and composing at home to hanging out with a club. Also, according to someone claiming to have been her former high school classmate, Nakamura-san was “plain.” It’s just a 2ch post, so there’s no way to know if it’s true, but there didn’t seem to be any sign of fabrication, so I feel like it might be okay to believe it.

>372 Nakamura-san really does seem like the kind of person every class has one of~ I can’t even imagine what AZUKI-san was like as a student. She feels like someone who was incomprehensible from the very beginning.

>371 But it does feel pretty believable. She seems like the type who’d hole up at home composingｗｗ I’ve never heard anything about Nana-sama’s school days… Apparently she used to appear on a local TV show called “Deep Kitsch” under the name Rie Sugaya (I don’t know the kanji). She was dressed as an elementary school student, which shocked me. Her face hasn’t changed that much, either, so I’m pretty sure it was really her.

>373 AZUKI-san’s face hasn’t changed much, but her personality hasn’t either~ It’s still pretty astonishing, though. ...

>373 Nana-sama’s old stage name was “Rie Sugaya.” Apparently her real name is “Rie Sugaya,” with different kanji. >374 >AZUKI-san’s face hasn’t changed much, but her personality hasn’t either~ Come onｗ Compared to the “Deep Kitsch” days, I think her personality has gained a lot more depth.

>376 She basically hasn’t changed, so it’s not like my image of her was shattered or anything~ Actually, the shock of seeing Nana-san moving for the first time was so intense. Huh? She’s making everything sparkle, but her eyes look kind of dead. And she keeps staring at the camera…is she a weirdo? Then I saw her talking on GARNET TIME, and my preconceived image of her as cool, beautiful, and hard to approach fell apart. (＾ω^)←So I understood that she’s this kind of person. But her many strange words and actions are still a mystery.

×376→>375 “まんまり”→“あんまり” The footage uploaded to YOUTUBE is way too stingy. Nana wearing a crab on her head is so damn funny.

>376 >(＾ω^)←So I understood that she’s this kind of person. That cracked me upｗｗｗ I totally get itｗ

>376 >Her eyes look dead. You insolent wretch! How dare you say that about Nana-sama! Those are what you call deep eyes.

>371 Which high school did Yurippe go to?

>380 Kyoto Prefectural Raku○ High School.

>376 LOLｗｗｗ that emoticonｗｗｗ

>376 That was so damn accurate, I laughedｗ If anyone gets invited backstage, ask her for us.

>381 That’s misinformation.

>384 Then where is it?

Nobody knows the truth. Their security is insanely tight.

Well, that’s BEING for you. They really keep all kinds of things tightly restricted.

>385 One thing’s for sure: it isn’t the one in >381. Since she hasn’t made it public herself, I wish people would leave it alone.

I saw it listed among the graduates of Otemae High School. And I saw the claim that she went Otemae → Kyoto University’s Faculty of Letters on an educational-background thread.

>389 If she hasn’t made it public herself, you don’t need to announce it here either… She didn’t go to Kyoto University.

>389 A lot of sources say she’s from Kyoto, though. ttp://oshiete1.goo.ne.jp/kotaeru.php3?q=1575785 ttp://www.idol-dvd.info/data/nakamurayuri28310.html ttp://hotate-s.hp.infoseek.co.jp/GC/profile/yuri.htm ttp://x68.peps.jp/neyuna/prof/?cn=38&cn=39 ttp://www.d4.dion.ne.jp/~warapon/data00/birth-0704.htm ttp://members.at.infoseek.co.jp/GARNET_CROW_2ch/etc.html Could the Osaka theory be due to confusion with the actress Yuri Nakamura?

Additional link: ttp://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/京都府出身の人物一覧#.E6.AD.8C.E6.89.8B

Yurippe went to a vocational school for vocal studies, right? I don’t know whether she went to university or not, though.

All of this information is just rumor. Her name might even be a stage name. When Nana talked about her phone contacts on the radio, she immediately came out with “Nakamura…Yuri,” but couldn’t remember the first name right away. Maybe she’s actually called Nakamura Christel or something.

>394 Why would it be Christelｗｗｗｗ

>394 Come to think of it, Mochi’s name is technically a stage name too. Could be.

>393 She originally wanted to be a composer, so maybe she took a course like this one. ttp://www.giza-cs.com/creator/sound.html (Apparently the school was called “Kansai Creators School” back then.)

>397 No, Yurippe was in the vocal course. Apparently she was featured in the pamphlet as a graduate.

What year’s pamphlet? Does it have a photo? Does anyone own a copy? I’m curious…(;ω;`) Sorry.

I’m late to the conversation, but I can’t believe AzCam came up in this thread!

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8946544 AZUKI’s Q&A lol

>401 It wasn’t what I imagined, but I got to see the same old AZUKI-sanｗ

AZUKI-san is freaking awesome.

AZUKI-san’s expressions are way too subtle. The brief flashes of confusion are adorable.

Please upload it to YouTube too! Plz and thankies!

Yurippe has become a “I see” alien lately.

What’s an “I see” alien?

Probably someone who lives in “Naruhodo! The World,” right?

>407 Listen to the recent Gane Radio episodes where Yurippe was a guest. She keeps saying things like, “I see, I see, I seeee,” so she’s been saying “I see” a lot.

>407-408 I happened to catch a moment of it, and that show is pretty lameｗ

>409 Could it be her boyfriend’s verbal tic or something? Those things spread so easily. Well, I doubt it.

>411 (´･ω･) “I see~”

>412 LOLｗｗｗ

>412 When did this emoticon become her thing?

The best-of has a lot of B-sides on it. Nice.

>415 It’s a shame “Mawarimichi” isn’t included. (Not that I don’t own it.) It’s a song I wish more people could hear.

I personally don’t think “Mawarimichi” is all that great. Just my personal opinion, though.

>417 True. I think it’s a perfectly good song, but not to that extent… I don’t understand why it’s so popular. I genuinely want to know what people like so much about it. I’m just asking out of curiosity, no hidden agenda. Could asking this start a flame war…?

Personally, I liked “Kimi no Ie ni…” better in the non-indies version.

I’m not a fan of “Mawarimichi” either. For B-sides, I like downer songs like “flower.” But listening back to their older work, I really think they’re an alternative band. I still can’t believe something like this came out of J-pop. Actually, I’d love to hear what kind of music they’d make without the constraint of J-pop. Even if Being disappeared, they could just release their work online. Ideally, they’d make it available for whatever price people wanted to pay, like Radiohead.

Kimi no Ie is another indie version… I don’t really get what’s so good about the indie version, and I got hooked after hearing the single, so I preferred the single version.

I was wondering what “another” meant, then realized they’re already putting out another best-of. Is the indie version of Kimi no Ie more popular? Still, this tracklist for the third one is kind of questionable… I’ll give them credit for including “Koi no Aima ni” and “Ushinawareta Monogatari,” but is there really any demand for “Go for it” or “Jewel fish”…?

>418 It’s a song that speaks to the hearts of people walking a “Mawarimichi” kind of life.

I like the indie version of Kimi no Ie better, but since it was on the previous best-of, I would’ve preferred the single version this time.

Does GARNET feel more attached to the indie version? It’s still rough on the people collecting the singles. They should’ve included at least two or three new songs. I bought the previous best-of because it had “Sorairo no Neko” and “Sayonara” to Tatta Hitokoto de… too. >422 I’m the demand for “Go For It.”

>423 I seeｗ >424 Hard agree. I heard the single version of Kimi no Ie first and didn’t like it much, but after hearing the indie version, I came to like it quite a bit. Still, since it was on the previous best-of too, and this one is supposed to cover every single, I wish they’d included the single versions of all the songs, not just Kimi no Ie. Anyway, I’ll accept it as long as “Namida no Yesterday” is the single version.

Could it be that they can’t use the single version because of something involving permission from Mr. Miguel?

I like the occasional guitar noise? you can hear in the single version of Kimi no Ie.

“Natsu no Maboroshi” is an arranged version too… Even though the guitar in the intro is godly…

>422 I’m the demand for “Jewel fish.”

Me too, me too~('A`)ﾉ

The indie version of Kimi no Ie is extra good because the sound quality is bad too. That cheapness is what makes it great. The programmed percussion, the slack-sounding guitar tone…it’s such a genuinely simple arrangement.

>420 Since they write and perform their own music, they could just move to another company like DEEN did. I think the constraints are what give their work its consistency. Alternative, huh~ I’m in awe of the subtle messages worked into the lyrics of CALL MY NAME and LAST LOVE SONG. Gane is meta-J-pop.

The indie and single versions of Kimi no Ie are honestly completely different things.

Looking at >420, I have to ask: >the constraint of J-pop What does that mean?

>435 I was thinking the same thing, but I deliberately didn’t say anythingｗ

Maybe they mean they want them to work overseas?(´・ω・｀)

>437 Even though the lyrics are one of Gane’s biggest appeals? Besides, I think it’s good precisely because it’s J-pop.

Sorry, I was joking('A`;) I’m not 420, so I don’t know('A`;)

>439 No worriesｗ I knew thatｗ Sorry for wording it in such a confusing way.

>440 No. I also think J-pop is fine. (J-pop itself is a pretty vague term, though.) I like Gane because every song has at least some pop appeal. I don’t want them making music that feels like pure self-indulgence.

I think it’s amazing how they take worn-out, ordinary sounds and words and painstakingly weave expression into them. No matter how much care goes into the arrangements, they never go beyond what GIZA expects. The lyrics often don’t sound any different from ordinary J-pop at first listen either. I remember when “Yume Mita Ato de” became a hit, I initially ignored it, thinking, “Here comes another calculated one.” But I was pulled in by Yurippe’s distinctive voice, then overwhelmed by Nana-san’s lyrics, with their many layers and expansive language. Once that happened, even the seemingly standard instrumentation started to sound inevitable…and before I knew it, I was hooked. They’re doing things that serious-minded or experimental music can’t do. You can call them a band, and you could probably call them idols too. Like ZARD, they put words and songs above all else, and this is what came out of that. In that sense, I think eighty percent of Gane’s music is made up of Nana-sama.

Apparently, on “Yume Hanabi,” Nana-sama originally wanted to have someone recite something like a Buddhist sutra, but the company rejected it. The first album apparently went through a lot of editing too. It feels like that kind of balancing act is what maintains a certain standard quality. Still, I’d be curious to see what would happen if they were allowed to do whatever they wanted.

>443 I really wish they’d done that sutra arrangementｗ Nana has always been the only one with an alternative streak, or at least an avant-garde feel. What Japanese woman in her twenties back then would normally listen to Sonic Youth…?

>441 >I don’t want them making music that feels like pure self-indulgence. I agree completely. Personally, I think you can’t make a good song without wanting people to think it’s good, and wanting it to sell so as many people as possible can hear it. >444 They probably couldn’t do it because the song was chosen as a singleｗ If it had been an album track or a B-side, there might have been a chance…

>443 I’d heard that Yurippe was against putting the sutra in, but so that’s what really happened.

>444 Sorry to bring up something ancient, but “Kaette Kita Yopparai” by The Folk Crusaders (1968) ends with a Buddhist sutra. Wouldn’t putting one into “Yume Hanabi” have felt perfectly natural too?

>444 I can understand Sonic Youth since they have a vaguely stylish image, but John Zorn made me laugh. >447 Huh, that song ends with a sutra… “Yume Hanabi” is already experimental enough just with the a cappella part at the end. It was so sudden that it startled me.

Also, the most avant-garde—or maybe the most shocking—Gane song for me was “Yume Mita Ato de.” “After dreaming such a long dream, as though everything were breaking apart…” Up to that point, my impression was just, “These are pretty ordinary, generic J-pop lyrics,” but that one line, “and yet… There will still be love in this world,” changed everything. It sent me flying into another dimension. Yurippe’s voice is ridiculously powerful.

They absorb all kinds of genres, but they don’t turn them into something popular in a half-assed way. They make something genuinely substantial out of them. And yet in the end, it still feels very J-pop. They seem ordinary without being ordinary, and unordinary while still being ordinary. I think they’re a rare band. If they added overt experimentation in a weird way, they might stop being Gane. Going down the experimental route can itself be a kind of loss of individuality.

“Yume Mita Ato de” is a ballad if you call it an ordinary ballad, but when you listen closely, you realize how carefully the arrangement was worked out. Those wistful, weathered guitar riffs are really tasteful. They don’t overdo the strings, and the most interesting thing is that they’re synth strings rather than live strings. There’s piano running throughout, but they made a simple, listenable arrangement built around that and the vocals. It’s the kind of arrangement you’d expect to find in modern J-pop, but somehow never actually did.

>450 That’s exactly right! …Though I don’t really understand what the first five lines mean. I agree, the fact that the strings aren’t live is great. CALL MY NAME is distinctive in that way too. “Yume Mita Ato de” reminds me of “Let It Be,” so it naturally gives off a nostalgic atmosphere~

Ah, I get it now. “Bokura Dake no Mirai” sounds kind of lame at first, but if you listen closely, you can hear influences from all sorts of music (Latin, maybe?). They digested it so well that it became a sound you don’t hear anywhere else. It’s rock, and it really works. It’s easy to throw in some flamenco guitar in a half-assed attempt, but doing it like this is actually harder.

GARNET CROW is exactly the kind of J-pop adults can listen to too.

I finally ordered Miss Ai’s single from Amazon because I wanted “Timing.”(´・ω・｀)

I bought it for the B-side too.

They’re not trying to be deliberately quirky. You could say that being a commercial band signed to GIZA is exactly why they’re like this…or maybe you couldn’t. By the way, maybe it’s just me, but even now “flying” doesn’t feel like a Garnet song. It feels like an outlier. Of course I love it and think it’s an amazing song, but “flying” alone makes me feel like I’m listening to a different artist. Is it just because that was the song I started with? Someone please clear up this nagging feeling for me~

How do you interpret the lyrics of “Ichiban Suteki Datta Hi”? Lines like “What a wonderful night” and “body against body” make me think they’re kind of erotic…

>458 >They’re kind of erotic… That’s Nana-sama for you.

Which is more popular, the single version or the best-of version of “timeless sleep”?

>460 I prefer the best-of version. Maybe it’s because I heard the best-of version first, but when I heard the single version on the second album, it felt really strange. Personally, I think that song shines specifically because of the voice she had around the best-of era.

Yeah.

>461 Same here. On the second album, she sounds like a different person…

>460 I prefer the single version. But I’d like to hear what it would sound like with her current voice too.

I’m more used to the single version, so I like it too. Contrary to >461, I personally think that voice is what creates the atmosphere of “Timeless Sleep.” I also kind of like the call sky version~

I like the tone of her voice around when the second album came out best, so I guess I prefer the single version. That slightly unsure quality actually adds something, making me picture something sparkling and fragile.

On the Hiroshima radio show, she had twin tails, huh.

I think you’re missing out if the single version feels strange to you.

>466 Exactly! Unsure, sparkling, fragile—that’s precisely what her voice sounded like back then. Songs from that period really do shine more with the voice she had at the time. These days people often talk about wistfulness and transience, but back then the songs were wistful and Yurippe herself was ephemeral.

>468 People are allowed to like what they likeｗ Leave me alone.

When I heard “Kurige,” I thought Nakamura Yuri’s composing and AZUKI Nana’s lyrics were extraordinary. Am I realizing this too late? I don’t think an ordinary person could come up with that melodic line, and it must be hard to fit lyrics onto it too.

Actually, I only recently realized how good Nana-san is at fitting lyrics to a melodyｗ I tried listening to ZARD’s “Tomatteita~” and honestly thought, “What the hell is this…?” I wonder what kind of lyrics Nana-san would have written for it.

It’s not just the voice that differs in “timeless sleep.” The sound itself is different too. I like the best-of version’s drums better—the hi-hat comes through more and the tone feels sharper. Also, Mochi’s riff is so cool in this song. That inorganic, chilly feeling is irresistible.

>472 Nana being good at it is part of the reason, but Sakai is also less skilled than average. It’s not so much the content of the lyrics as the unfortunate way Sakai chooses words for a melody. Still, I like that unpolished, amateurish way of choosing words too.

>472 ZARD has plenty of songs where the lyrics feel awkwardly forced in…but that’s exactly what I love about them.

Apparently Tetsuro Oda felt something was off about the “na” in “no matter how far apart” from “Makenaide.” Like, “You’re breaking the phrase there?” But I think that part is what makes it feel like ZARD, and I like it.

I wonder what exactly felt strange about it.

You can sing it if you sing it the way Yurippe did on the tribute program, but it’s pretty hard to sing otherwise, isn’t it?

I understand what they mean by “strange.” But that’s also what’s good about Sakai, and I love it. It’s less a matter of being good or bad at singing and more a matter of individuality.

She was someone who used unusual phrasing, that’s all. Regardless of whether she was good or bad at singing, fitting lyrics onto “Tomatteita~” seems difficult for anyone, not just her~ It has such a complicated progression, one that’s neither Ohno nor Oda.

“Yudachi no Niwa” is pretty close to that feeling.

Can you only get the calendar if you’re a fan club member?

Can’t tell you that.

>482 As long as there are copies left, you can buy one at live venues.

>473 >Mochi’s riff Furui-san is the one who made it, thoughｗ

DAKARA?

The solo in “timeless sleep” is excellent too. Honestly, though, the old guy’s synth strings are the truly godlike part. It’d be a letdown if they replaced them with live strings. That unique, expansive, transparent synth-string sound is what makes it good.

I’d fall in love if someone suddenly sang “timeless sleep” at karaoke.

We don’t get stylish, desolate riffs like the one in “timeless sleep” anymore, do we? Mixed with the synth strings, it made for such a cool arrangement. It was delicate, but had a little bit of rock in it too. That’s what made it good.

“lose feeling” is the best. I can’t believe it’s a B-side.

>490 It’s a good song, but it feels like it got hidden in the shadow of “Float World.”

“Float World” is well-made too, so I guess it can’t be helped, but I wish this song got a little more appreciation. It feels like this is what Gane’s music is all about. (As an aside, if you compared it to Oasis, I guess it occupies a position like “Rockin’ Chair.”) Also, it makes me a little sad that there seem to be fewer songs lately that sing about loss like this one.

I want to hear songs like “Sky” that find comfort in feelings of emptiness and ennui. Not something that’s simply “dark, heavy, or bright.” It feels like there are fewer and fewer songs that bring out all kinds of emotions.

I was seriously moved the first time I heard “sky.”

“sky” is great, isn’t it? The recent songs have outlines that are too sharply defined, or something. There are good songs like that too, but part of me feels like Gane doesn’t have to be the one making them.

Desires can’t be satisfied, after all(´･ω･｀) Your standards just keep getting higher.

>493 Really? I don’t feel that way. >456 I think it’s good precisely because Gane is the one doing it. By “sharply defined,” do you mean the songs are catchy? If so, I personally prefer that. It’s just a difference in taste.

Sorry, wrong quote. >496→>495

Once you become an adult, you can’t write songs like “sky” anymore.

I’m a fan of the old stuff too, so I guess there are actually quite a few of us nostalgic types. Not that I dislike the recent stuff, of course. I really like things like “Hyaku-nen no Kodoku.” What’s different between then and now? For starters, the change in Yurippe’s voice is huge.

The style of the songs is different. I don’t know whether that’s a change in Nakamura-san, a change in Furui-san, both of them, or everyone’s intentions, though.

Still, I think the “the old stuff was better” attitude is a little premature. If they kept doing the same thing forever, people would’ve criticized them for being repetitive. I think Gane is always trying something new.

>502 Exactly. If they were still the way they used to be, I definitely wouldn’t have become a fan. Anyway, please take care of Gane again this year! Please keep bringing us wonderful music. And take care of you guys too!

Happy 2010! Keep up the good work this year too, Gane. I think they handled the changeover well. The third album got quite a bit of criticism, but it’s one of my favorites.

The new year is here( ・∀・)y─┛~~ Looking forward to another leap forward~ How was the countdown live? Did it finish safely? I went to the Rockin’ On festival instead~ I’m sure Gane will keep taking on experimental projects this year too. Take care, everyone. Now that I think about it, the 2000s were their own distinct era, and that era has ended just like this~ Whenever we looked back before, we always talked about the ’90s, so it feels kind of strange.

>505 Yeah, it ended safely. Though there were some not-so-safe moments, like when Yurippe forgot to sing and kept kicking the giant balloon that came onto the stage right after midnight, or when she knocked the old guy off the stage again near the end.

>506 She barely sang “Futari” at allｗ I’d only been to the Nagoya show before, so I was impressed by Furui-san’s keytarｗ I didn’t get to high-five him when he came down from the stage, though.

I heard she was having trouble with the high notes and wasn’t in great shape. How was it actually? And how was the sound system?

>506 He kept resisting Yurippe right to the end, but ended up coming down againｗ The old guy running through the audience while resisting the staff, then getting completely mobbed, was hilariousｗ

Anyway, I can accept Sakurai being a C.

>510 What are you talking about?

>508 What do you mean by “cut through”? The sound system was good—or maybe too good. The high-volume sound waves reflected everywhere and kept pounding my ears. It was a shame that the drums were too loud again, so you could barely hear Nana-sama’s piano.

She seemed to have trouble reaching the high notes, and I was a little nervous listening to it. There were also a few spots where she was off-key and made me go, “Huh?”

>513 She was pretty unstable, right? It made me feel like, “Come on, Yuri-san, you can do it~”

>512 Maybe “projection” isn’t quite the word—it was more about the edge to her voice. It was probably about as unstable as the second night of the previous album tour. Since it was a somewhat special live, maybe how emotionally invested they were affected it. If an artist you like came out at a huge event like Kōhaku (though I don’t particularly want them on today’s Kōhaku), and was in absolutely terrible shape, both the artist and the fans would probably break out in a cold sweat~

A small discovery: The back cover of the first album (not the box) says OLD PASADENA. Could that be related to Yurippe covering THE LITTLE OLD RADY FROM PASADENA?ｗ

Whoaｗ That’s an incredibly specific discovery.

There are some old songs where the guitar in the instrumental break is strangely quiet. Could they turn it up when they remaster them for the best-of?(´ω`)

Back in the first-album days, I feel like they also got away with a lot because of that kind of sound quality. The vocals and the live instruments like guitar too. As for the guitar solos, the playing itself was even more questionable than now. The only solos that were really cool were probably “Eien ni Houre” and “Eimin.”

>519 “Even more questionable than now”? So they’re questionable now tooｗ

Mochi has gotten better—or maybe he’s simply been given more room in the arrangements. His technique has probably improved too. I think he’s a well-rounded guitarist, good at things like tone production and picking. He’s not the kind of player who makes guitar kids’ eyes light up like Tagawa from DEEN or Shibasaki from WANDS did back in the old Being days. Still, “seasoned” or “mellow” is probably the right way to describe him.

What other songs have a vibe like “Kōfuku na Pet”?

>522 Maybe “Futari”?

>522 “hi-speed special oneday” “Blue no Mori de” How about those?

>521 If you’re looking for someone to learn from instrumentally, the old guy might be a better choice. His organ tones and string tones are fantastic. The programmed drum arrangements are a little questionable, though. Not to mention how he uses crash cymbals and hi-hats—the snare tone is disappointing too.

>525 >The programmed drum arrangements are a little questionable. The crash cymbals and hi-hats are one thing, but even the snare tone is disappointing. I want you to tell me why you listen to GARNET CROW… Is it that even when you notice negative aspects like these, the other parts are still better?(´･ω･｀)

Yurippe isn’t technically amazing, but she has individuality, which is why she’s good. Nana’s keyboard playing is questionable, but I like her lyrics. Even with a group you like, not every single thing about them is going to suit you, right? You become a fan by acknowledging the flaws and finding the good parts for yourself.

Yurippe’s vocals have enough power to blow away any cheapness in the arrangements.

>526 I think a lot of people like Yurippe’s melodies and voice, and Nana’s lyrics, more than the arrangements. There are probably people who became fans just because of the two women’s looks too.

>523-524 I only have “Yume Mita Ato de,” so I’ll look up which albums those songs are on and buy them next time. Thanks!

>530 “Futari” is on the sixth album, LOCKS. “hi-speed special oneday” is a single called “Natsu no Maboroshi.” “Blue no Mori de” is on the fourth album, I’m waiting 4 you. Those songs aren’t on it, but I also recommend the best-of coming out on February 10.

>527 I see. I don’t know anything about music, so I was just wondering what people who can tell these things think(´･ω･｀) >529 Don’t forget Mochi either＞＜

>531 Sorry for making you go to all that trouble. Thanks. Judging from the lyrics of “Kōfuku na Pet,” the person who wrote them seems to be from Kansai.

>532 No, are there really fans who got into them because of Mochiｗ He doesn’t have anything to do with making the songs, so maybe only people who heard Passpara and became fans that way…ｗ

>534 >He doesn’t have anything to do with making the songs. Huh? Mochi plays the guitar on the CDs, right?ｗ And there are people who love Mochi to deathｗ There probably aren’t any people who got into Gane because of him, though←

>533 Nana-sama is from Kansai.

Something with the same kind of feel as “Kōfuku na Pet” might be “Mr. holiday” more than “Futari.” It feels like the “joy” in joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure is turned all the way up.

( ^ω^)←joy

>538 Were you the one posting in that other thread?w

>539 No, that wasn’t meｗ I do read it too, but I wasn’t the one who posted thatｗ

>533 Which part of the lyrics sounds Kansai?

>536 So the lyricist really was from the Kansai area. >541 In “gaido bukku hirakete no,” the “hirakete” reading of 開けて would be “hiraite” in Kanto, I think.

So it was Kansai dialect(´・ω・｀)

>542 I never really understood what “hirakete” meant, but it was Kansai dialect! Thx!

So people outside Kansai didn’t even understand what it meantｗ

I don’t think it’s that extreme. The expression “a hiraketa place” is used in Kanto too. Ah, but maybe “hirakete” and “hiraketa” are similar but actually different things. If there are any students here, could you ask your professor?

So that was Kansai dialect. I had no idea.

>534 Can I, as someone who got into GARNET CROW because of the guitar solo in “Himawari no Iro,” come through…? The way it jumps up to that high B really hits me in the chest.

>527 I remember Nana-sama being pretty good on keys at the Ninnaji show and the fan event. She plays carefully, but the notes come in with a slightly languid timing, and that fits Gane’s image perfectly.

Gane’s guitar solos and intros really are godlike(´ω｀) I can cry just listening to the instrumental part of “Natsu no Maboroshi.” Seriously.

“Himawari no Iro” is like that too. Towa Bare is absolutely a collection of songs with awesome guitars.

>551 Definitelyｗ

The guitar solos and phrases the old guy makes are practically divine. He could probably compose too if he wanted to.

>549 As expected, you notice things differently. You put exactly what I was thinking into words perfectly.

>553 He’s composed for other artists too.

I think “Natsu no Maboroshi” is the song where Yurippe’s early singing style comes off at its worstｗ

I’m weirdly happy whenever this thread gets new posts(´･ω･｀)

I’ll keep talking to myself, then.

“Yume Mita Ato de,” the Ninnaji performance. It’s great seeing Nana-san and Ōga-san getting drawn in by Yurippe’s singing voice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5OIGtK3OCI

I’m a little late to the conversation, but “hirakete” was Kansai dialect after all. I thought it was a typo for “hiraite” or “akete,” but Yurippe sings “hirakete” too, so I kept wondering what was going on.

>559 Ōga is totally lost in his own world. Why has it been Karita instead of Ōga lately? And why is Kurose on drums?

There sure are a lot of metal fans here.

As a guitarist who plays with the kind of blissful, masturbatory pleasure, there was Tagawa from DEEN after he left Being. >562 What makes you think that? I listen to gothic metal, but I wonder if there are metalheads who’d say, “Gothic metal is my staple diet.” Unlike other metal subgenres, even if someone happens to discover gothic metal, I don’t think they necessarily go running headfirst into the whole metal genre.

>561 After David went back to his country and disappeared, db and Tamba were still around at the time, so Kurumatani and Kamei didn’t work out, and I think they ended up choosing Kurose as the alternative to Pon.

Kurumatani-san is better both as a person and technically. In the “Hare Tokei” video he practically looks like a real memberｗ

What do you hate about Kurose?

The drumming, obviously.

>566 The pink Bermuda shorts he wore at the countdown.

How long that drum-solo-like thing at the end of the songs goes on.

Kamei may be disappointing from a technical standpoint, but his drumming might suit Gane better. Playing in a textbook style is more useful for the arrangements. He was playing cajón, but Kamei did good work at the 2007 fan event.

Isn’t it hard to tell whether a drummer’s technique is good or bad? How are you supposed to judge it?

At the end of the lyrics to “Timeless Sleep,” is the speaker becoming more positive? Or is it some kind of escape from reality?

>571 For simple things, you can look at their sense of rhythm and timing, and how they work in fills. For subtler things, there’s the texture and variation in the sound. You can also judge their techniques, like closed rimshots. Kurose might be a good drummer for B’z-san, but in Gane he just becomes a burden. It’s natural for someone to have a genre they’re good at, but the way he always plays such monotonous drums is the height of self-indulgence. He doesn’t try to match anyone at all. With Kamei, I’m basing this on old live shows, so maybe it’s no longer accurate, but he was terribly sluggish. His sense of stability was awfulｗｗ On top of that, he played straight out of the textbook, so even a layperson could easily guess what he was going to play next. His drumming was so flat that it had no individuality.

>572 I think it’s from the perspective of “you,” who is sleeping peacefully in heaven, rather than the perspective of “I” from the beginning.

>574 But the first-person pronoun is still “I” in the second half.

>575 But unless you switch to another perspective, the mood of the lyrics doesn’t line up with “I.” Though now that I think about it, “you” doesn’t have to be a lover or anything. It could be a precious child, for example. If you think of it that way, the ending makes sense too.

Rather than “I” changing, it feels like the “you” in the first half and the “you” in the second half are different people. “If you, whom I may meet someday, are sad, I’ll hold you tight.” Quite a few years have passed since losing the “you” who used to be important. It feels less like becoming positive, or forcing yourself to be positive, and more like accepting reality and simply living earnestly…

>573 So David really was the best, then. (I’ve only seen Pon-san on DVD, but he wasn’t bad at all.)

>How long that drum-solo-like thing at the end of the songs goes on. >The way he always plays monotonous drums is the height of self-indulgence. He doesn’t try to match anyone at all. Those two things really irritate me when I listen. Even when Yuri-san ends a song beautifully, Kurose ruins it(´･ω･｀) >578 mentioned him too, but what about Pon-san? How would someone who knows drums judge him?

Pon-san is probably one of the good ones. I haven’t seen him much, though, and I definitely prefer Kurumatani to Kamei. Kurumatani is probably the best in the visual-kei scene. Powerful drumming and all kinds of varied fills—pretty amazing that he can play like that with such a small frame. Still, no matter what you think of Kamei, I’d like him to play on the CD recordings. Like on “Futari no Rocket.” It’d obviously be better than the old guy’s programmed drums. When it comes to drums, the low-cost approach only creates negatives.

Pon-chan played on Inaba’s solo tour, right? I think he’s good, but if you ask whether he’s interesting…

te

As long as they don’t unnecessarily intrude on the other parts, they don’t really need a drummer with incredible technical skill. Kamei or whoever is fine in that respect. The bassist is Ōhashi, so there’s no problem there.

>583 I completely agree, but could you sage the thread?

Ōhashi comes from the metal scene, right? He was in Daria’s band, wasn’t he?

Every year, I find myself wondering how bald Ōhashi-san has gotten.

>457 This is just a guess, but I think “flying” probably took inspiration from U2’s “Pride.”

I prefer the Tales version to the CD version, whose intro continues with those single bass notes. They didn’t really need to change that arrangement. The best-of is coming out, but I’m not sure whether to buy it~ Honestly.

>588 The “bwn bwn bwn” bass is the whole point, though.

As someone who got into GARNET CROW through TOE, I guess it’s partly sentimental attachment. I prefer the TOE version. When I first heard the single version, I was shocked by how different it was.

test

Tales otaku, get lost. “flying” is single version only.

The single version’s intro gets me hyped with that “flying is here!” feeling.

How about we stop with the pointless gatekeeping?

The gatekeeping itself is pointless too…

What does “You are the only stay” mean?

>596 “You alone stay by my side…” That’s probably the rough meaning, I guess? I’m terrible at English, so please bear with meｗ

This is 596. I took it to mean something like, “Even though you’re just there.” >597 Thanks a lot! I thought it had a negative meaning, so that was helpful. I also don’t really understand what “honto wa” means in “the gatekeeping itself is pointless,” so I’d like to hear everyone’s interpretations.

So what are they singing in the chorus of “flying”?

“Only Stay.” It’s a depiction of the feelings at the moment of parting from someone whose heart has already changed (someone who only stays there). There’s no doubt that Nana’s sixth sense running at full power is formidable.

>600 I thought it meant she’d met someone new too—that’s how I understood the chorus.

The lyrics to “Kimi to Iu Hikari” are basically a happy ending, or at least not a bad ending, right?

>602 Yeah, I think so too.

>603 Thanks. The tune sounded kind of dark, so I figured the lyrics might be dark too.

How is this tone-deaf person still surviving?

My vote goes to Yurippe in the “Kimi to Iu Hikari” PV.

She survives because she can really sing well. The songs and her looks are factors too, of course.

She doesn’t have much volume, but she has a lot of expressive power.

It’s not like she has no volume. Her voice can be unstable, and the drop in power is noticeable, though. Even so, I feel like she’s improved a lot compared with the past. There are plenty of bands and solo artists reaching their tenth anniversary, but even when they decline, very few vocalists keep improving technically little by little.

>608 She has plenty of volume. At the countdown, it was practically ringing in my ears.

No, that was definitely a sound-system/PA problemｗ I thought the way the vocals were reverberating sounded strange. Also, the synth and piano were way too quiet. Though that’s always the case.

“Tell me” is the best. “Watashi wa Kaze” is the best too.

dreaming of love holding you,and swinging I love it even though the vocals don’t quite bring out the groove. The rhythm too.

The new song has a pretty jazzy, mature atmosphere, and it’s great( ・∀・)y─┛~~ The piano and guitar-riff arrangement is excellent. Even the usual programmed parts are somehow forgivable because they’re so light and nimble. She’s gained experience as an artist, and the vocalist has polished her skills too. I think this kind of musical direction is interesting at this point. It feels like a continuation of the album’s overall flow. This is a good direction.

>613 I think that languid vocal style is great. Every song has this overall hazy, indistinct quality, and it suits them perfectly. The bass lines and drums give it that pleasantly gloomy atmosphere too.

Yukio has appeared━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━!!

Agreed, it’s a good direction. There’s something deeply moving about supporting the same artist for ten years. And the four Gane members, who have approached music-making so sincerely all this time, are amazing.

I think it’s a good direction too. I think Mochi is going to show us more and more jazzy, funky picking. I’d love for them to try genuinely black R&B like “holding you,and swinging” too, and show off some grown-up appeal. Still, I thought the programmed drums in the new song were questionable. I think it would’ve been better with live drums. I wish the drums would come further to the front.

“As the Dew” is great.

>613 I agree. That kind of languid feeling really adds a nice flavor.

They should release songs like this as singles too instead of only putting out standard ballads.

Standard songs are nice too, but it feels like they’ve run out of melodies and arrangements. Compared with the synth oboe and strings in “Yume Mita Ato de” and “Wasurezaki,” “Yume no Hitotsu” just feels like they slapped some strings on it. The melody also feels like a ballad with an obviously calculated big climax.

What’s wrong with making it calculated?

They mean it doesn’t have much of a twist.

After doing this for so long, it’s only natural for them to feel like they’ve run out of ideas. Even so, taken as a whole, their style is varied enough. I like the B-melody section of “Yume no Hitotsu.”

“Yume Mita Ato de” and “Wasurezaki” are both pretty formulaic, thoroughly J-pop standard ballads, but I think they work because there are no forced key changes, dramatic jolts, or awkwardly connected melodies. They build gently and beautifully, and they’re catchy.

“Sekai” and “Yume no Hitotsu” are actually more intricate, if you look closely, but the overall impression they leave as ballads is kind of underwhelming because of that. I do like the lyrics, though. But the nostalgic feeling created by the piano intro of “Wasurezaki” is practically cheating. Nothing can beat it.

“Yume no Hitotsu” is good on its own, and the balance between it and the C/W songs “Mijikai Natsu” and “Love Lone star” is fantastic too.

“Wasurezaki” is perfect. I really want people who aren’t fans to hear it too.

>629 I played it for someone once, and they said the voice sounded gross.

Someone who wasn’t a fan once told me, “The guitarist has a better voice.”

>628 Exactly, that’s what I mean. I like all three of those songs. >632 I hear non-fans say that pretty often. Personally, I’m not fond of Mochi’s voice as a lead vocalist. It’s fine as a chorus voice, though. Also, AS THE DEW is ridiculously good. The piano and bass line are incredible. What do you call this kind of sound? I love jazzy piano like this~ The way the pitch drops near the end of the chorus, with the lyric “the sun falls,” is great too.

I think Mochi has a nice vocal tone. He’s a little lacking in power on up-tempo songs, but that soft quality adds a nice flavor to mellow ballads. I’ve never thought about whether he’s better than Yurippe or anything like that, though.

>630 Well, once someone says that, there’s not much you can do. If an ordinary singer performed it, it would only be an ordinary ballad. I think Yurippe’s slightly muffled, melancholy quality brings out its nostalgic, delicate feeling, which in turn highlights the strength of the arrangement.

Even just the lyrics of “Wasurezaki” are outstanding. But Yurippe’s voice suits it so perfectly that other people singing it feels unsatisfying.

The lyrics really are great(´ー｀) “Wasurezaki.”

“Wasurezaki” has such incredible music and lyrics that I’d be fine with Yurippe singing it a cappella. The arrangement brings out its strengths even further. The craftsmanship is too good.

“Wasurezaki” might be my favorite.

In AS THE DEW, “the color of the sky” is apparently read as “ao,” meaning blue. Also, the phrase “because we’re human” made me think of Mitsuo Aida, and I accidentally laughedｗ

>639 Same hereｗ I’m glad they read it as “hito da mono”ｗｗｗ

The A-melody of “As the Dew” feels like a cooler version of Cloudberry Jam’s “Summerbreeze.” I’m not trying to say it’s a rip-off or anything. They’ve been active for ten years and must have gone through all kinds of changes, but it made me realize they still make music with that loose—or maybe sluggish—yet comfortable atmosphere, like the stuff around their first album. Sorry for writing something that probably makes no senseorz

Jazz/fusion at this point in their career… Maybe Furui-san wanted to make this kind of music all along. Thanks to Yurippe’s improved expressiveness, it doesn’t sound like a half-assed imitation anymore. STAY felt like a culmination, so I hope they make more cool songs like this from now on.

Mochi-mocchi has been looking pretty cool lately.

【Saitama】Seven rearrested for using stimulants, being dumped in the mountains, robbery resulting in death, and more http://tsushima.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/news/1265827293/

The new song would give me chills if the rhythm section were played live. It feels like Gane puts a limiter on itself with programmed drums every time it releases a song. Anyway, Yurippe at the fifth-anniversary premium live was adorableｗ When it comes to outfits, I think she’s unbeatable.

There isn’t a rhythm section among the members, so I guess it’s fine. Even if they brought in a drummer for live shows, they probably wouldn’t play with that much bite anyway. I think the deliberately cheap-sounding finish is intentional. Still, the four of them look really cool standing together.

The four of them have such good visual balance. Especially considering who they areｗ

When you think about this lineup again, it’s incredibly groundbreaking. Unlike a duo, the usual three-person male/female unit, or a three-to-five-piece band, the balance of power between the members is equal and each person’s individuality shines. It isn’t a “we’re all united” kind of thing, but it isn’t cluttered either. Lately I’ve been thinking they’re kind of like a family. Two keyboards, guitar, and vocals—this lineup could never have existed without the idea of making a dedicated lyricist like Nana-sama a member. Nobody else would have thought of it. Gane is a miraculous unit that inherited the best parts of ’90s J-pop. Who would’ve thought the thorough division of labor born from Being’s commercial needs would bloom like this…

Yurippe composes and sings, so at first glance she looks like the sole leader, but Furui has the musical authority, and she doesn’t decide the lyrics. In song-based music, the impression created by the words is hugely important, so Nana’s role is just as important as the arrangements. On top of that, Mochi has been given the position a guitarist would normally occupy alongside the vocalist in a band, but he mostly devotes himself to being a craftsman. That makes the four of them balanced from every angle, and it shows directly in both the music and how cool they look performing. That’s the best part!

I’ve seen more vocalist-guitar-bass-drums bands than I can count, so I know what they’re like. They’re honestly boring to watch. The way the performers interact is always the same. I listen to jazz and techno too. The songs and sounds might be good, and any one of the performers might be a genius, but those scenes are already full of geniuses, so the result becomes impossible to make sense of. They improvise, and the members keep changing. Each person tries to express something through one song in the same setting, cooperating while using their own method and feeling something different. GARNET CROW’s music really is like a kaleidoscope. It changes shape depending on who’s listening, and magic happens in places the performers themselves never intended. Nana-sama’s presence really is huge. The power of words is incredible~

>648-650 Three posts in a row. You’re really fired up. I agree that GARNET is like a kaleidoscope. They even titled albums “kaleid scope” and “sound scope,” after all. There are songs with all kinds of qualities, so anyone can find an entry point no matter what kind of songs they like. Though that does sometimes create friction. By the way, looking at the Best of HISTORY booklet, I thought: Yuri-san: red Nana-san: blue Mochi: yellow Furui-san: black.

Sorry. I was listening to the best-of and my feelings for GARNET CROW—or rather, Nana-san—burst past the threshold. I’m reflecting on it. What’s going to happen from here? Part of me thinks it would be better for them to fade out like this than have a messy breakup and drag things out, but I also strongly want to keep watching these four. As they do more and more live shows and promotions, I worry that the cracks in the power balance I mentioned above will become visible. Yurippe has grown more forceful, making Nana’s position a little ambiguous. If they keep pushing forward in the style of the new song and present a new image of Gane, there may still be room for a comeback. If they go on for another five or ten years, I think the hardships will be impossible to measure. Even Mr. Children felt like they were over around HOME. I want GARNET CROW to remain GARNET CROW forever, even while changing.

>Yuri-san: red >Nana-san: blue >Mochi: yellow >Furui-san: black Oh, that’s funny. Yurippe and Furui-san probably won’t change their positions much. Lately the switch between Nana-san and Mochi has become obvious. Even if their relative weight changes, Mochi and Nana can both be explained by their character roles, I guess. Mochi is the one who gets teased, while Nana can just go off traveling somewhere far away and that’s fine. Also, it’s nice that there’s no pink.

>652 You were in the yuri thread too, weren’t youｗ As for Mr. Children, HOME is still good. I don’t particularly like the individual songs, but the album’s consistent concept works well. I just don’t like the concept being “HOME.” The really awful one is the latest album, Supermarket Fantasy. What even is that? Personally, I thought it was so terrible I only listened to it about three times.

Yeah, I was there. I couldn’t sleep at all. HOME came full circle back to an early-song kind of style, and that made me feel like they were completely finished. On the latest album, the singles and “Esora” are good, but everything else feels like regression, and it made me feel like there was no future left. Still, people who keep making albums with a clear concept each time, rather than adding one afterward, are extremely rare. Whether by coincidence or necessity, Gane seems to carry some grand story? Their album titles are great. They’ve been consistent since the beginning.

Oh, so you do include HOME. But if people call it early-era-like, I’m not sure I agree. Leaving the musical style aside, Sakurai’s ideas in the lyrics have completely changed. As for the latest album, Esora aside, I think the singles are the truly awful part. What were “GIFT” and “HANABI” supposed to be? For GARNET, I listen to Crystalize as a concept album. The unity of the whole album is just incredible. I can’t explain it well, but the whole thing feels exactly like “Kimi to Iu Hikari.”

HOME has that early-era feeling of the band going, “Let’s all have fun together.” HANABI, which extends from that, has synth sounds like the ones from the VERSUS period. They feel nostalgic while singing about the pain of change? Maybe a band with such a long history is the only one that can make it convincing. But after that, all that remains is Sakurai’s changed-beyond-recognition, vacant-sounding lyrics. I listened to the album’s deflated atmosphere and thought they were finished. The individual singles are probably still good, as usual, though. So Crystalize is your favorite? I like a lot of the songs on it, but for some reason it left little impression on me. I wonder why. Looking back, was that the period when Yuri and Nana seemed closest?? The fourth album is the opposite: the songs are so-so, but the concept feels grand, so I often find myself listening to it casually. Nana-san’s creative attitude has stayed consistent and unwavering since the beginning, so from the first album to the latest, you can listen with any album at the center, ignoring chronology, and it never feels out of place. It’s all connected. Different people must get completely different impressions from it~ Personally, I’m curious what was going on behind the lyrics and musical style around the LOCKS period, when things like “The World Turns~” started appearing.

Ah~ I see. Though if we’re being specific, it’s really “Sakurai, shitty Kobayashi, and the rest of the merry crew,” isn’t itorz Both the early period and HOME. I’d always thought HANABI was just a degraded version of “名もなき詩,” but I guess you can look at it that way too. Yeah, Sakurai’s recent lyrics really surprise me in a bad wayorz Anyway, enough about Mr. Children. I like albums 3, 5, and 6, so I can’t choose a favorite, but the third is far and away the best in terms of overall cohesion. The weak impression might be partly because of that. Sorry for looking at this through a yuri lens, but it really feels like finding Yurippe as a light made Nana-sama’s lyrics shine much more brightly. They’re practically sparklingｗ LOCKS has all kinds of songs, so it’s an album I like. “The World Turns~” feels like a sudden emptiness that arrives out of nowhere.

I feel like we’ve talked before. I can’t help expecting Sakurai’s apocalyptic coolness from the period between their breakthrough and hiatus/comeback, especially around BOLERO. So when some lame lyrics show up, I get disillusioned and think maybe it was only ever temporary. Change is inevitable, but even the PVs have gotten kind of mediocre. Gane is different. As you’d expect from Being, they’re careful with the image listeners have of them. While the people called “artists” are all doing whatever they want, it’s amazing that Gane has quietly kept working all this time. Ah, I kind of get it. I think Nana-san recommended “Koi suru Koto Shika~.” Yurippe’s singing is so wonderful that I can understand Nana-san’s urge to grin. The thing that made me a Gane fan was the phrase “refreshing, deep blue” in “Eien o~.” Do you have a song that got you into them? Studio Band → the beginning of the journey and the story → meeting you → the four seasons, the four members, and the listeners → the seasons → live activity → return and summation. Just recalling the titles makes the path they’ve traveled clear. The songs and albums are constructed so each one can be reinterpreted as an individual scene. Between “Meguri Kuru Haru ni” and “Sekai wa Mawaru,” there were all kinds of encounters and changes, and the scale and expressiveness of the music grew, yet what they were fundamentally saying barely changed. That thorough consistency is almost chilling. The intro evokes CALL MY NAME, whether intentionally or not. Anyway, they always make you feel some kind of fantasy—or impression—you can’t quite tell is there or not. Nana-san herself is also someone who seems graspable but isn’t, an impossible-to-understand person. Everything changes depending on how you interpret it.

Yeahｗ I think you’ve listened to me complain before tooｗ Thanks every time. I keep thinking I should stop expecting anything, but I end up expecting something anyway. It just keeps repeatingorz As for the PVs, blame that guy Tange. I like that part too! There’s something nice about having a song like that be the thing that gets you into them~ I think I mentioned my own entry point before, but it was “Namida no Yesterday.” It took me a while to become as obsessed as I am now, thoughｗ

I heard the new song, and my reaction was basically, “What the hell happened?” Gane with a real groove feels strange, but it’s fresh and good. They really are an amazing band.

For Mr. Children, I feel like “Fake” is good lately. Though I guess it isn’t that recentｗ And “Hana no Nioi.” They’re a band you can’t really ask for anything more from.

>602 “Fake” was still pretty good, yeah. Though it’s a degraded version of “Nishi e Higashi e”…ｗ

For a second I thought I’d wandered into the wrong threadｗｗｗ I almost gave up on them around Twilight Valley and LOCKS, but I like the feeling they’ve had since STAY. “Hello Sadness,” the new song, that kind of atmosphere. They feel like upgraded versions of whiteout or “For South.”

>604 Sorry, I got carried away. Twilight Valley and LOCKS are good, though(´･ω･`) They’re not very popularorz I like both “Haro Sado” and “As The Dew,” but it feels like they’ve been making more songs like this lately. I want a refreshing, catchy song once in a while.

Wrong quote. ×>604 → ○>664

>665 There are quite a few songs on Twilight Valley that I like individually, but as an album, it didn’t really work for me. LOCKS is the opposite: I can see the concept as an album, but my impression was that it didn’t have any standout songs. Still, the fact that I’m listening to it even now means I like it after allｗ

>661 I thought “What the hell happened?” was going to be a negative review. It would be interesting if Yurippe kept getting stronger and cooler. Personally, I think the “Kaze” and “RAINBOW” PVs and “Mirror Ball” are the peak, but they still seem capable of surprising us. Also, it’s great seeing everyone, especially Furui-san, actually playing hard for once.

Until literally just now, I thought Twilight Valley was Twilight Berry…

>667 Oh~ I see. It makes me happy to think that you’re putting so much thought into listening to an album you don’t really likeｗ With Gane, even if there are songs or albums I’m not fond of, there aren’t any songs or albums I actually hate~

>668 I don’t listen to much pop like this, so I’m not really sure, but for Gane it feels unusually stylish, or maybe light and lively. If pop songs sounded like this, I’d be fine with it. Nana even looks like she’s having a blast in the PV, which made me laughｗ

>670 >With Gane, even if there are songs or albums I’m not fond of, there aren’t any songs or albums I actually hate. Exactly. LOCKS was the first album I heard, so I got into it naturally, but I guess it’s unpopular? “Futari” → “Mr. Holiday” → “The first cry” → “Love is a bird.” Personally, I think those final four tracks are remarkably high quality, even by GARNET standards…

I don’t listen to LOCKS much because there aren’t any songs I especially like. I listen to my favorite Gane songs, more than fifty of themｗ, on shuffle. The only albums I listen to all the way through are the fourth and STAY.

>672 I really like the final four tracks, but there are a lot of singles before them, so the album gets a little tiring. I like the transition from “Love is a bird” to “Saigo no Ritō” when it’s played on repeat. Those two songs feel like a pair.

I like every Gane song, so I listen to all of them shuffled together.

Mr. Children’s “HANABI” is a god-tier song!!

My favorite song on LOCKS is “doubt.” There’s something about that almost spat-out singing style and the sadness of a gray family life.

I bought BACK HORN’s “Life and Death and Lyrics,” and it made me wonder whether Gane will ever release a lyric collection like that. At first you think, “The lyrics are already in all their previous works, so why bother?” But getting a chance to look at the lyrics on their own is really nice too. Taking away the music and experiencing the world they create feels like seeing a different world.

>678 つ80'0

>679 How do you buy it?

>677 I like “doubt” too. I think it’s Gane’s coolest song. Musically it’s a little different, but it has the same kind of coolness as melodic hard rock or post-grunge. The lyrics are heavy, and the gap between the song and the singing style is surreal in a good way. LOCKS is worth listening to for this one song alone. The other songs are good too, of course. People say LOCKS is unpopular, but I think it’s their best album. “Saigo no Ritō” has a post-rock feel too, and it’s great. The flow of the second half is wonderful as well. Personally, I think this album deserves more credit.

>680 You can probably buy it at a live venue. Sorry if I’m wrong.

Wasn’t it sold on places like gizagiza.com and through mobile mail-order? I remember gizagiza.com being slow, while the mobile mail-order arrived faster, but my current phone can’t access mobile sites, so I don’t know if they still sell it.

Compared with the others, LOCKS maybe doesn’t have much of a “hook.” It just kind of flows smoothly all the way to the end.

>684 Twilight Valley is the opposite. It has too many hooks, so it’s tiring to listen to. I like both albums, though.

>682 They didn’t have it at the Osaka venue for “Yoake no Soul,” or at the countdown live venue. >683 It wasn’t on gizagiza.com. I’ve never seen the mobile site, but I doubt there’s much hope.

Since it’s an album, the feeling of listening to all the tracks matters. >680 Why not order it at a bookstore?

Maybe it’s already out of print?

I don’t think it’s in general distribution. I bought mine through M-Free mail-order last October. Incidentally, the copy is currently listed as the second edition, fourth printing, published February 1, 2006. The publisher is J-Rock, so I think it’s probably out of print. Used copies show up at auction from time to time, though.

Can’t you buy it on Amazon?

>690 You might be able to find a used copy. Check for yourself whether it’s currently available.

Wasn’t there a Nana-sama-only thread?

>692 AZUKI is as great a poemer as ever lived http://anchorage.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1219156711/ † The poetic world of AZUKI Nana 3 † http://love6.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/poem/1192025158/

I haven’t read Nana-sama’s poetry collection lately~ Maybe I’ll give it a read for the first time in a while.

I finally got Forum tickets through Pia, and ended up with row 16 on the second floor. I’m just glad I can go. I’ll get drunk on the music and lyrics.

Please play “As the Dew,” damn it.

>695 Everyone!! When you get to the venue, make sure to keep an eye out for the creepy otaku in row 16 on the second floor!!!

It doesn’t have a great reputation on the anime boards. As a Gane song, or just as a song in general, it’s okay, but it really is kind of questionable as a Conan opening. By the way, what’s the deal with Yuri-san’s red hat?

That place always turns everything into a jokeｗ Gane has never exactly been praised over there (ry

By the way, there used to be a tendency in Gane’s main thread to reject Conan fans: “If they keep doing Conan tie-ins, the fanbase will turn into nothing but creepy anime otaku. Make them do a drama instead.” So it goes both ways.

I bought Nana-sama’s poetry collection. I’d never read a poetry collection before, so I was a little nervous, but her Nana-sama style is in full force, which was reassuring. I’m reading it while wondering whether this poem is the root of that song, or that poem the root of this one. The photos are great too.

>700 There are plenty of people who like Conan without being anime otaku. Actually, the people who make comments like that are the creepy ones.

The theatrical movie tie-in is finally here.

I hate to say it again, but is this another Conan tie-in?

Could “As the Dew” not be getting a single release?

Still, are the best-of sales really that low?

#恋のあいまに

The reviews from people who’ve heard the new song seem pretty lukewarm.

It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t bad.

I said it twice because it’s important.

For me, Gane songs come in two categories: “That was good” and “It wasn’t bad.”

>711 Hard agreeｗ

“I love it,” “I like it,” or “I don’t like it yet, but I’ll probably come to like it eventually.” Those are the three categories.

So basically, there are no songs they hate~

Nakamura Yuri-san has an incredibly tough throat. She doesn’t lower the key (probably), and she doesn’t use falsetto either. I’ve decided to collect all their B-sides.

The main thread is awful~ This place is getting a little quiet, so let’s liven it up. Though in the end, everyone just flows over to the main thread anyway.

>715 No, she obviously lowers the key, duh. She lowers it on the new release too. Even the classic “Yume Mita Ato de” is down a semitone. That one was already difficult for her in the original key back then, though.

That’s why they probably won’t perform songs like “Nogareru no Machi.” I’d love to hear them play it, even transposed down. It probably isn’t very popular, though.

Even if I initially think, “What kind of song is thisｗｗ,” I usually end up liking it. Things like “Eden” and “Holiday.”

Isn’t it just a catchy song?

What happened to the main thread? Can’t you see it?

It’s fixedｗ

I can see it.

Speaking of catchy songs, “Yume Mita Ato de” and “Kimi to Iu Hikari.”

I got into Gane through the obvious choice, “Yume Mita Ato de,” but it never gets old. I can keep coming back for more. I guess I like them because they have so many songs like that.

Sorry to change the subject, but what are they saying in the English at the end of “Yudachi no Niwa”?

>706 It probably means the contents weren’t what people who already owned all the songs wanted.

>727 Agreed. I was basically only buying it for the mini photo book anyway. Here’s a question: Which part of any GARNET CROW song has Yurippe singing the highest? I think it’s the latter half of “Eden.”

“Kuraga” or “Kyō no Kimi~” sounds higher to me.

Probably “Kuraga,” “Kyō no Kimi~,” or “Ukiyo.”

The “yeee-yeah-yee-yeee” falsetto in “wish★” sounds like the highest part of any song to me. Could it be hiE to hiG? I’m not confident in my sense of pitch, so I can’t say for sure, but I think it reaches the highest note in her chest voice. After that would be the falsetto in “Kuraga,” then probably the falsetto in “wonder land,” the falsetto in “holding~,” the falsetto in “Mario,” and the chest-voice and falsetto parts of “Nogareru no Machi.”

No, that one reaches hiG after all. “Kuraga” might hit the same key too. Other than that, I think they’re around hiF. There are quite a few candidates at the “Kyō to Kimi” level, I guess.

What about “Holy ground”?

Maybe “Kuraga” or “Ukiyo” really are higher after all.

・“Eden”……hiD# ・“Kyō Ashita”……falsetto hiD#, chest voice hiC ・“Kuraga”……falsetto hiG, chest voice hiD ・“Float World”……mixed voice? hiG, chest voice hiD ・“Wish★”……hiG ・“Holding~”……falsetto hiF#, chest voice G# ・“Marionette”……falsetto hiE, chest voice hiA ・“Nogareru no Machi”……hiE ・“Seichi”……falsetto hiF, chest voice hiC ・“Wonder Land”……falsetto hiG, chest voice hiD# These are just the songs mentioned above… I think they’re probably right, but I only worked them out by ear, so sorry if I’m wrong. Man, “Wish★” is high(ﾟДﾟ)

Just looking at chest voice, “Mō Chotto Sagashite Mimashō” seems pretty high too.

>736 “Sagashite” tops out at hiD#, but the high notes keep going, so it must be exhausting to sing.

Lately I’ve been working hard to tune Megurine Luka to sound more like a synthetic Yurippe. >737 “Seichi” feels like hiD# to me. The chest-voice and falsetto keys in “Wonder Land” also seem about a semitone lower. Does she still do the falsetto in “Wish★” these days? I tend to let this song wash over me without noticing it.

>738 I checked with a keyboard just to be sure. “Seichi” really is hiF. In the second chorus (the final chorus), the note on “te” in “namini notte~” is hiF. The very next “e” drops to hiD#. For reference, the high parts of “jōnetsu wa” in the first chorus and “kokoro wa” in the second are hiD#. The falsetto in “Wonder Land” really is hiG (before the key change, it’s a semitone lower at hiF#), and the chest voice is hiD, as you said. Damn(ﾟДﾟ) What was I thinking… Or has my sense of pitch gotten rusty…orz

>738 I checked with a keyboard just to be sure. “Seichi” really is hiF. In the second chorus (the final chorus), the note on “te” in “namini notte~” is hiF. The very next “e” drops to hiD#. For reference, the high parts of “jōnetsu wa” in the first chorus and “kokoro wa” in the second are hiD#. The falsetto in “Wonder Land” really is hiG (before the key change, it’s a semitone lower at hiF#), and the chest voice is hiD, as you said. Damn(ﾟДﾟ) What was I thinking… Or has my sense of pitch gotten rusty…orz

>729-740 Thanks for the answers. I only use the Nana parts even when I use a keyboard.

>740 Ah, you’re right. Even though it’s only one note, this is the level of mistake you really shouldn’t make for “Seichi.” Sorry for calling you out and then acting all superior. So the key change raises it by a semitone. I was wrong about that too. Maybe relying on a keyboard or that kind of software really does dull your ear.

http://society6.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/soc/1267630669/12n-14

>743 Wrong board.

Tan-tan-tan-tan-tan~ Yuri: “Thanks.” Audience: “Kyaa!”

Man: “Yurippeee!!”

They’ve added “Bokura Dake,” “Yume Hanabi,” and “Kaze to Rainbow” to their Latin-pop repertoire. They’re totally my thing, so I hope they keep doing songs like that. Apparently the original version of “Bokura Dake no Mirai” was much more Latin and laid-back. I wish I could hear that one. They should release it as a B-side!

Speaking of “Bokura Dake no Mirai,” the excessive harmony vocals embarrassed me a little at first. Now I find them pleasant. Human perception is strange.

Looking back, I can accept that Latin-flavored, very GIZA-style half-assed stuff too.

There’s no one around me who likes GARNET CROW. Do any of you have people like that around you? I want to tell someone how wonderful the best-of is.

Nope. I don’t think they fit into the GIZA-type or Being-type category people talk about online anymore. They need to promote themselvesｗ if they want to shake off that closed-off underground-idol atmosphere.

Everyone is lost in their own world. “Yume Mita Ato de” at JCB. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOhxayRzybU

>752 Yurippe has a faint bit of fuzz on her chin…ww

Her voice is coming out insanely wellｗｗ She’s in peak form, Jamaicaｗ

>752 Furui-san is cool.

I want to drink Yurippe’s piss.

>752 Am I the only one who’s started seeing Furui-san as Steve Vai lately…? Probably not.

I want to have sex with Yurippe without a condom.

I couldn’t post on the actual tenth anniversary because of a restriction, so excuse me for posting this now. GARNET CROW, happy 10th anniversary!! ＼＼☆＼＼／￣￣￣＼　 ／￣￣￣.＼　／／／／☆／ ＼＼＼＼＼|　/￣￣＼__|　|　/￣￣＼___|／／／／／ ＼☆＼＼＼|　|　　 i---┐ .|　|　　　　　__ ／／／／／ ＼＼＼＼＼|　＼＿フ　 .|　.|　＼_____／　|／☆／／／ ＼＼∧∧∧＼＿___＿／　　＼＿___＿／∧∧∧∧∧∧ ＼　　　 　　.'⌒⌒丶　　◎⌒⌒丶　 　 .'⌒⌒丶 　　　　＞ ＼　　　 　／）从 从》　　i||/从 从） 　 （从 从（＼ 　　　　＞ ＜　　　　 |　|▼_▼］　 ／）　´∀｀）つ　（´ー｀ﾉ|　| 　　　　＞ ＜　　 　 （　　　　）　　 ＼　　　 ／ 　　　（　　 　　）　 .'⌒＞ ＜　　　／ ／>　>　　　　 |⌒I　│　　　　く　く＼ ＼ （/从＞ ＜　　<_＿ﾌ〈_＿フ　　　 （＿） ノ 　　　　<＿_,,〉<_＿〉(￣ _＞ ／∨ ＿_＿_＿　　　　　　レ　　　　＿|￣|＿＿＿_∨∨＼＼ ／／|＿＿_　 　|　|￣| 　 ／￣|　|＿　　＿＿　　| ＿＿＿ ／／ |＼_／ 　/　 ￣　／　／　　　 |　 |　　/__／ |＿＿＿| ☆／ ＼　　／　|￣|／　／　☆ ｜ .|　 |＿＿|　| ＼＼＼＼＼ ／／／ ＼|　／ ＼＿／｜｜｜｜ .|＿＿＿＿.| ＼＼☆＼＼＼＼

The restriction is over.

So Nagato Daikō and Tatsuro Yamashita are connected through the same network of people.

No wayｗ The new song does feel kind of stripped of its bite in the commercial, which makes it forgettable. Still, Yurippe’s voice alone can carry even a song like that. Listening to Gane really makes me think that the vocalist can make a song bland, or leave it bland, but the vocalist can also turn a song into something individual.

I read a blog by someone who seemed to be an engineer from OSM, and it said something about being encouraged by Yurippe’s hard work and current success. It really moved me.

I feel like her vocal style has become more established, and Yurippe has gotten better.

>“I want to create a GARNET sound. That’s my ultimate goal. I want to establish music called ‘GARNET CROW’ as a genre.” Maybe that distinctive vocal style, which some people call creepy, was one of the things they arrived at while searching for that goal. So that the moment you hear the voice, you know it’s Gane.

>763 Details?

It’s not just the vocals. The arrangements are keeping up too, and the way they’re shaping the sound now is simply fun. That jazzy, adult direction people keep mentioning was really good.

>765 B’z does that tooｗ Yurippe seems like she’d be an Inaba fanｗ

The GARNET sound, huh. Personally, I wish they’d go back to the sound from their early days. The current songs and singing style feel fresh and good too, but honestly, they don’t seem to fit Nana’s worldview. The early days really were godlike…

But with this Over Drive, it felt like only Yurippe’s vocals were pushed to the front, while the song itself felt thin. Rather than Yurippe carrying the song, it felt like there was nothing else to stand out. Without Yurippe singing, I think it would have been a terribly ordinary song. It’s just clear synth strings over the top. Isn’t that a little slapdash?

Is that so? I was impressed on the first listen by the almost shameless sparkle of the synths and everything. Maybe they were aiming for a simple, three-dimensional arrangement. It really would be too ordinary without Yurippe…

Even if it isn’t polished to the extreme, they unfortunately failed to find a real peak or a moment worth listening for. The guitar solo and strings just feel refreshing, but leave no afterimage. The rhythm track also feels like it’s simply rolling along. It almost feels like they’re using transparency and freshness to dodge the fact that the song leaves no impression. Even to an amateur, it feels close to recent J-pop.

It is the theme song for a Conan movie that draws a lot of viewers, so it’s unavoidable that it ended up appealing to the general public to some extent. There were probably business considerations too. I thought Yurippe’s vocals were really good, but I also felt that they were the only real highlight.

>768 I can hear Steven Tyler’s influence in Inaba’s style, but Yurippe’s style is different in that it’s original. …Or so I thought. Maybe Yurippe is actually influenced by someone too?

She has publicly said that Dolores O’Riordan of the Cranberries influenced her, both vocally and musically.

>773 Over Drive doesn’t exactly appeal to the general public either. What’s with that chorus… I wish they’d made it catchier.

>775 Yeah, the atmosphere is pretty similar.

It has the feel of a B-side. But it’s iffy even as a B-side.

It’s certainly not bad. But apparently there were a lot of demands, so I wonder if they weren’t able to make it freely.

Apparently they didn’t have much time either. But saying that would just be making excuses. (Who said that?) So let’s humbly assume it was simply a lack of technical skill. (Who’s assuming that?)

But tie-ins and whatnot have existed from the beginning.

I wanna have sex with Yurippe...

The musicality overlaps a bit with Ikimono-gakari, huh. It’s only the singer and vocal timbre that are different.

Never thought of that. For better or worse, Ikimono is very J-pop-like, you know.

>781 But apparently there were way more demands than usual this time. I heard they only got the OK on the fifth song. So the first song must be a god-tier track. Personally, I like Obadora too, though.

I wanna have anal sex with Yurippe.

Ahhh, “123” feels incredibly half-finished.

I love it, though.

I love it too. For once in a while, just a few days after release, it’s single > B-side for me.

>789 Then shouldn’t the inequality sign be the other way around?

>790 I mistakenly thought you were talking about Over Drive. My bad.

>787 I know what you meanｗ It’s the kind of melody that makes you go, “It drops there!?”ｗ

“lalala” is good, right? Though AZUKI is probably going, “Where’s the chorus?”

I like “Lalala” too. With Over Drive being such a personal disappointment, I rate it pretty highly. The song is good, of course, but the lyrics are great too. Ahh, Nana-sama is the best.

It’s AOR-ish, which is nice, but somehow...

I wanna lick Yurippe’s clitoris all over.

This is a ridiculously cool song. But what part of it is supposed to be “Private Eyes”?

I wanna have kinky sex with Yurippe.

If they’d put some serious overdrive on the song, it would’ve been a good track. When I listened to it later, I barely remembered what kind of song it was. From now on, they should make AOR their main direction. Strings are nice, but add more brass too.

There’s only so far you can go with those limp programmed drums.

The rhythm section—or rather, the crappy drums—are why they can’t escape that GIZA sound. They should bring in someone like Iena or Kurumatani to handle the support parts on the recordings. It’s such a waste. Those muddy drums have become this company’s weird trademark.

Even though they’re rehearsing, suddenly Okamoto and Furui’s sound cuts out, or Nakamura has to go backstage to swap equipment because of some technical problem. Can they stop this already? What the hell are the sound staff doing? Don’t tell me they’re all GIZA music-school graduates.

I wanna cum inside Yurippe.

Everything about GIZA—the company strategy, the performances, the artists—is hopelessly out of touch. Apparently they’re mass-producing jazz-ish artists at random to ride some little boom that’s supposedly happening.

Before any of that, do something about Yurippe’s misguided singing style.

What do you mean, “misguided”?

You mean how she pronounces everything too clearly or something?

Well, including that, the early days really were better after all. The songs have changed completely too, like they’re being written to fit her singing style. That said, “lalala” doesn’t sound like a song Yurippe would’ve written at all. It’s well-made, though.

What feels off about Yurippe’s singing is probably that, on upbeat songs or uptempo parts, she doesn’t add any dynamics or put emotion into it. That might be what drives away people who aren’t fans. You can really hear how stiff it is. Even when Nana’s lyrics ride on a bright song, their message isn’t necessarily just cheerful and positive. I think Yurippe’s singing does a good job conveying that nuance, though. The gap with the upbeat songs also gives it a unique floaty feeling.

They can win on vocals alone, so I guess the songs and lyrics have become simpler. You can still hear the old songs live, so I don’t think it’s a problem at all. Besides, you can tell her expressiveness has improved by leaps and bounds.

When bands play their old songs, the nuances from back then usually fade and they just become nostalgia songs, but Gane doesn’t feel like that at all. That’s what’s amazing.

It’s amazing that Yurippe’s vocals alone can carry everything. It’s not like when someone covers a song and dyes it in their own colors. Honestly, I think she has an overwhelming presence that turns anything she sings into a Gane song. That’s why there are times when the song gets dragged along by her too forcefully. In the early days, it felt like the arrangements and compositions were supporting the vocals.

It sounds like Gane even without relying on the intricate developments and elaborate lyrics from the early days. At first glance it’s just an ordinary J-pop song, but the vocals and the way the synth sounds are used are distinctive and grab your ear〜

I can’t believe Yurippe was on a local Hokkaido TV show... Good thing I didn’t change the channel.

>811 Even on stuff like “Yume mita,” lowering the key didn’t make her sound weaker at all— she sounded more powerful, and way too cool. Those soft ballads turn into straight-up rock ballads liveｗ

『Over Drive』発売記念イベント http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcjpOKTXt9s&feature=channel　1/4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G939lYm-uO8&feature=channel　2/4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V9LJD9x8yg&feature=channel　3/4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLOIaVPfmrc&feature=channel　4/4 Nana-san is so cute.

I wanna have anal sex with Yurippe〜

What do people think of “世界はまわりゅと言うけれど”?

>818 It’s pretty good, I guess. They play it live pretty often too.

Plagiarism incoming lol 風とRAINBOW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1v59yjViq8 Those were the days http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNVit7cesj8 Quit plagiarizing, you fucking loser.

>820 Get blown away by a Javelin.

風とRAINBOW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1v59yjViq8 0:49〜 Those were the days http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNVit7cesj8 0:27〜 Wha〜 lolllll They’re identical lolllll Latest single’s first-week sales: 13,823 copies ← lolllll

風とRAINBOW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1v59yjViq8 0:49〜 Those were the days http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNVit7cesj8 0:27〜 Wha〜 lolllll They’re identical lolllll Latest single with a god-tier tie-in: first-week sales 13,823 copies ← lolllll

That level of similarity doesn’t qualify as plagiarism, you total amateur. More importantly, do something about those two keyboards. It’s bizarre. Just give AZUKI a shaker or something.

The atmosphere of “この手を伸ばせば” is seriously something else.

The song and lyrics are way too mediocre to have anything worth mentioning, IMO > “この手を伸ばせば” I do think it’s good at that easy-to-understand Being-style appeal, though, like the parts where the strings, bass drum, and tom-toms start building things up.

>820 Normally I’d want to ignore it, but this is such a rare anti that I almost want to welcome him, seriously. Going out of your way to find similar songs by such an obscure artist and come here just to bash them—talk about trying too hard, jk.

>824 Have Nana-sama play the flute instead. She mostly just sits there during the songs anyway, but her simply being there is enoughｗ

You can’t fake playing the flute. If no sound comes out, you’ll be found out.

風とRAINBOW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1v59yjViq8 0:49〜 Those were the days http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNVit7cesj8 0:27〜 Wha〜 lolllll They’re identical lolllll Latest single with a god-tier tie-in: first-week sales 13,823 copies ← lolllll

The keyboard performance while she shows that Madonna-like, all-embracing smile is wonderful, you see. Technical skill is beside the point there. It doesn’t matter if her touch seems shaky or the timing is a little off.

God-tier tie-in (lol)

But coming in at number four for the week—if anything, I have mixed feelings that it actually managed that.

>833 I don’t honestly like Obadora that much, but I’m simply really happy that it made number four for the week.

Over Drive... it was a song with absolutely not enough distortion. Like dried squid or gum, some little snack you casually nibble on, so bland you can’t remember the taste afterward. This is just my personal opinion, but I also think number four for the week is a pretty ironic result. Honestly, I don’t care about the Oricon ranking itself anymore.

>835 I can tell you’re actually really concerned about the ranking.

I wanna have kinky sex with Yurippe.

So the distortion wasn’t enough, huh? Got it, got it. Well, the B-side being better is business as usual. Before I knew it, they’d become one of the acts supporting female artists on the Oricon charts. Well, only this timeｗ

The “Talking with you, leaning shoulder to shoulder, wrapping up your cheek chilled by the night” part in “Nora” is godlike. I get goosebumps no matter how many times I listen to it.

Every time I listen to “Nora,” I feel like petting a cat... Am I the only one?

MJ was way too quick, lol. The transition between “Saito” and “Real ni Gomen” is awfulｗ The song itself is a little forgettable, so it ended on a pretty meh note...

>840 I generally don’t like cats—or mammals, for that matter—but I agreeｗ Ever since I listened to NORA, I’ve started liking cats more than before, and now I think they’re cute. The power of Nana-samaｗ

>838 Even just doing it this once is impressive. In this day and age, CDs don’t sell unless you’re a Johnny’s-type act (these days, most of the people buying CDs are schoolgirls). Honestly, I never thought they’d beat Angela.

I don’t think Obadora is bad... It’s certainly a little different from the GARNET sound, but it feels like Gane’s first proper mainstream pop song. Even as the ending song for My Neighbor Totoro, I think it would be a very solid, polished track.

It feels like the intro makes you go “Oh!” and then the chorus lets you down. I think it flows in a good direction up until the chorus. The spacious strings feel really nice, and I think Yurippe’s vocals ride them beautifully along with the melody.

Over Drive really is JUDY AND MARY-style, huh...

Obadora feels like early-1990s J-pop.

I felt that too. Seriously, do something about that cheap, pat-pat programmed beat when the drums come in. That also gives it a really old-fashioned feel.

I think that nostalgic quality, rather than being old-fashioned, is one of Gane’s strengths.

I feel like nostalgia is just one way of dodging the issue. Honestly, there’s a lot more they could do to fix that programmed beat, but it just feels like it ruins the whole design. “Maboroshi” is another one. That sound is straight out of a fighting game punchｗ

>850 Can you explain what “design” means in the context of music?

Well, even if the bass is a synth bass, it honestly isn’t very noticeable, but the drums are rough. They’re at a level you can’t just ignore.

Yurippe keeps saying that “la-la-la” is supposed to make you feel like going out, but isn’t it actually pretty dark in terms of sound?

Maybe it isn’t actually under a blue sky.

I like Nana’s negative-but-positive worldview > “la-la-la”. It’s a sound that makes you want to give up resisting and cut loose, and go out somewhere.

I wanna have sex with Yurippe〜

While cleaning my room, I found Cocco’s “Rapunzel,” and listened to “Jukai no Ito” from it for the first time in ages. I really felt something that connected it to Gane. I want that kind of deep, mysterious sound again. It’s been so long.

Cocco seems like the kind of intense, emotionally obsessed artist Chii-chan (Onitsuka) is, someone who depicts the darkness in the heart with blunt, heavy messages, whereas Gane feels like it depicts the haze in the heart.

>858 Why do you call her “the kind of intense artist Chii-chan (Onitsuka) is”? I think you should say Chii-chan is the kind of intense artist Atsu-chan is. So with that “Ikimono-gakari overlaps with GARNET CROW” thing from >783, even if that were true, you should say Ikimono-gakari overlaps with GARNET CROW. You have to make it clear who came first.

Who the hell is Atsu-chan? I have no idea.

>860 They mean Cocco.

Listening to “doubt” made me think: Gane and rock—or drums, anyway—don’t really mesh, do they? Dance music might suit them better.

It’s programmed, so bringing that up now is a little lateｗ If they went all the way with live instruments, it would work just fine too. I wish they’d change the programmed parts in “Nogareru no Machi” and “Anywhere” right away. Wasn’t the sixth album the one that just barely turned into a fake band sound? If they’d switched both the bass and drums to live playing, I think we could’ve felt a much better groove.

I don’t really understand why Gane insists on programmed music. They say it’s cheaper, but for an act on Gane’s level, they could use live instruments if they wanted to, right?

Speaking of live instruments, I mean the band’s sound too, but even though they sometimes use them live, they haven’t used real strings even once. That would be one thing if they were a band that never used string sounds in the first place, but they properly arrange string sounds with synths in the background of their ballads.

So there’d be nothing strange about using real instruments for at least the strings. The solo section in “Maboroshi” is blatantly using synth strings, after all. Gane isn’t only making slow, mellow ballads or soothing sounds either, so aside from being low-cost, programmed music feels more like a handicap...

>783 >859 So in the end, Ikimono-gakari is copying GARNET—or at least overlapping with them, right? Though there’s no need to compare them in terms of either skill or experience.

I don’t think they’re copying themｗ I feel the same nostalgia, but Ikimono doesn’t have that shadow to it, and both the arrangements and melodies are totally unquirky, very J-pop and catchy. Personally, I think Ikimono’s strength is that having no individuality is their individuality. I don’t like them, though.

Bashing other artists is strictly forbidden, but of all people, saying Gane is similar to the Ikimono I hate most... I couldn’t just keep quiet about that... Sorry.

Well, honestly, just being compared to them is humiliating for me too (ｒｙ

If Nakamura-san’s vocals are truly one-of-a-kind and impossible to imitate, then Ikimono’s vocals are probably the kind that seem imitable but actually aren’t ( ・∀・)y─┛~~ I do like the straightforward way they sing. >866 The intro to “恋することしか出来ないみたい” is amazing. It’s synth brass—you could call it a lead too—but wow, they really insist on programmed musicｗ They’ve brought in a sax player, Ohga supports them on guitar, and they’ve even used Cybersound. Setting the rhythm section aside, I think it’s fine to use real strings by now. If programmed music is something they refuse to compromise on in their sound-making, that’s fine, but if they’re stuck with it because of money, that’s kind of sadｗ

The interplay between the synth and guitar in the instrumental break of “恋することしか出来ないみたい” is godlike.

I thought the thin, cheap synth strings in “Wasurezaki” and “Yume mita” gave them a strangely retro atmosphere, which worked well, but “Maboroshi” is a no-go. That solo is way too cheap, no matter how you look at it. Do they just refuse to use properly arranged strings? It feels like the pride of a rock band or something. No budget, huh? I see.

>872 The interplay between Yurippe and Nana-sama in the PV for “恋することしか出来ないみたい” is godlike too.

>874 Yeah, that’s the best.

That one is the best in every way. “恋することしか〜” and “Miss Holi” feel like songs Aiko or someone could write and sing without it seeming strange. Still, the arrangement on “恋する” is pretty weak. That very weakness is what makes it moving, though.

Lmaoｗ

Is there any site where I can watch the full PV for “恋する”?

They probably didn’t make a full version.

風とRAINBOW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1v59yjViq8 0:49〜 Those were the days http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNVit7cesj8 0:27〜 Wha〜 lolllll They’re identical lolllll Latest single with a god-tier tie-in: first-week sales 13,823 copies ← lolllll

I feel like there have been more recent songs where the cymbals go clang-clang annoyingly. Like “Saigo no Ritou,” “Himitsu no Komichi,” and “Eien no Nemuri - new recording ver.” I used to hate “Hyaku-nen no Kodoku,” but the rearranged version on the bonus CD made me start liking it.

I had no idea what you were talking about for a secondｗ I think Furui isn’t very good at arranging cymbals and stuff. Even to a layperson, the way he uses crash cymbals is painfully clichéd > “Saigo no Ritou.” But I thought the original programmed drums on “Eien no Nemuri” were pretty weak, and the new recording gave it a slightly edgy, rock-like sound, so I like it.

I think it’s fine for cymbals to be clichéd.

Clichéd or bizarrely complicated, either is fine, but I wish the cymbals wouldn’t hog the spotlight...

Attacking with crash cymbals going bash-bash is as clichéd as it gets. It’s experimental that the rhythm section has come forward even though it’s programmed, but doing that on a song like “Saigo no Ritou,” which isn’t even uptempo...

It goes from “Hyaku-nen no Kodoku” to “Tokei Roudou” to “Himitsu no Komichi,” right?

Still, they’re better at making rhythm tracks than that Ohga guy.

>873 Hmm〜, it’s a shame because I like “Maboroshi.” I’m not particularly knowledgeable about music, so I don’t understand the technical stuff... Yuri-san and Nana-san both look great, but there aren’t many close-ups of their faces or upper bodies in commercials and stuff, are there? Well, maybe that’s part of Gane’s style. Gane’s songs are good too, but I think they could sell the two of them on their looks a little more.

They’ve promoted them plenty already, haven’t they? What are you talking about nowｗｗ

I wish MINIQLO would release another CD. They’re on track to conquer the entire discography.

If anything, they’ve pushed the jacket photos and their looks so much that people get the wrong idea about them.

If anything, Yuri-Nana’s looks are their main asset.

>888 “Doing” is nothing but close-ups of Yurippe’s face.

Ah〜 You got the wrong idea? I mean the commercials shown on TV, not PVs. With all those commercials where ugly people keep singing in close-up, I was saying Gane shows the whole band...

>894 Isn’t it mostly Yurippe → Nana → the male members for a split second? They show their faces perfectly clearly.

Um, I can’t tell whether this is an anti-Gane hater skillfully steering the conversation, or a fan’s honest opinion... With those bands fronted by a monotone female vocalist, there’s no shot of the other members at all; it’s just that person’s face, or rather upper body, the whole time...

>896 Why isn’t it Yurippe → Nana, Mochi, and the old guys for a split second? I understand the vocalist Yurippe getting more screen time, but why does Nana, who’s just a keyboard player, get more than Mochi and the old guy?

The absurd number of Nana close-ups in live footage and PVs, you mean.

From a band perspective, Nana is unnecessary. You don’t need two keyboard players either.

No, you need them. Are you saying the old guy should play the synth and piano sounds at the same time? Even if he has god hands, that’d be impossible.

I don’t think so. Nana is in that position for convenience; whether she’s there or not doesn’t affect the sound-making. Being wanted the artistic side of a professional lyricist who could also provide lyrics to other acts, and the visual side of a beautiful older girl, as status symbols for selling the band. After that, they just had to make her play some instrument. Fortunately, Nana had piano experience, so they could split up the parts and put her in as the keyboardist. Rather than bands that use keyboards, even in the J-pop around us, synth and piano parts are often both worked into the arrangement without being split between keyboard players. Gane doesn’t have the skills of some progressive rock band or anything; it just gives the impression that they divided what one person could do between two people.

>900 was talking about playing live.

>901 Well〜, that’s certainly true. If Nana-sama disappeared from Gane, they’d just become some kind of ELT, I guess. Being was probably looking for a different type, since they’re full of pretty vocalists who write their own lyrics. I think Nana-sama’s presence was the point that let them occupy their own niche within Being. Though, considering the former president’s tastes, it kind of feels like the group was created to promote Nana-sama...

Live performance is the same. One person can play strings, pads, leads, and piano at the same time. Keyboards should have split and layer functions, letting you divide the keys into a strings part and a piano part and play both simultaneously with both hands.

Gane is the storyteller of Nana-shi. Nana-sama’s contribution to Nana-shi is so great that it wouldn’t exist without her. So saying Nana-sama isn’t necessarily needed for the live sound-making may be technically correct, but that statement is complete nonsense.

>903 Since she’d already been providing lyrics to WANDS, Ohguro, and DEEN, they must have started promoting her as a professional lyricist around then, regardless of her actual skill as a lyricist. Maybe they’d already been planning a unit marketed as a fully divided, professional group from that point on.

>905 Well, I’d hate for that to be misunderstood, but I don’t think for a second that Nana is unnecessary. As you said, her lyric writing has been heading in a good direction, and that contributes to the unit’s reputation. And even if she makes a mistake or plays clumsily, seeing that smile makes me feel saved. Just for that, she’s a truly wonderful keyboardist in my book(´・ω・`)

By the way, does anyone know around when the members of Gane started working for Being? GARNET CROW formed in 2000, right? But I heard the leader had been there for quite a while... So Yurippe is the newest one...?

>907 Then what exactly are you trying to say?(´・ω・`)

>907 Basically, I put it too harshly, but what I wanted to say was that you don’t necessarily need both of them to build Gane’s sound as a band; Furui alone could handle the keyboard position if he had to(´・ω・`) Nana could just provide the lyrics, while the three Gane members perform. It would still count as the Gane sound. >908 You can find that by Googling the wiki, though. They formed in 1999. Furui had already worked on DEEN’s early songs, and Okamoto had live experience with ZARD before the group formed. Nakamura alone was an amateur.

>904 Really? I don’t know much about keyboards, but I thought that if the piano part also contained a bass line, you’d need both hands just to play the piano part. Or wait, the bassist plays the bass line, so you don’t need to worry about that?

Don’t Nana and Furui both play with both hands?

>903 I wonder why Nana was never allowed to sing. Is she unbelievably tone-deaf or something?

It’s a group that only works because Yuri-san sings, so what are you talking about? This isn’t a school talent show.

>914 I’m not saying she should sing at GARNET CROW live shows. I’m saying that despite looking good and being able to write lyrics, why wasn’t she allowed to debut as a solo singer or the vocalist of another band, and instead made her debut as GARNET CROW’s keyboardist? All I can think is that she must be terrible at singing.

>915 That may be part of it, but I think the concept demanded that they market her as “the beautiful lyricist in the professional group GARNET CROW.” As I wrote above, Nana, Furui, and Okamoto weren’t rookies who suddenly appeared and debuted like the current GIZA girls; they were marketed as veterans who had already been active for years. GARNET CROW’s debut was built around the concept of high-level in-house production ability and high-level looks, so I think it was a project they’d been carefully refining for a long time. In other words, I think Nana was trained from the start to be a member of Gane. Being really had sharp instincts back thenｗ If it were Being now, they might have pushed Nana as some random band’s vocalist instead.

>915 I think AZUKI-san is bad at singing. Putting aside her pitch and vocal quality, she’s bad at producing her voice. Even her speaking tone gets unstable sometimes, right?

Nana is such a mysterious presence. I can’t even imagine how Sugaya Rie ended up becoming AZUKI Nana and Gane’s keyboardist.

I’ve heard about the lyricist audition, but her existence within Being is completely mysterious, isn’t it? Though if you put it that way, Yurippe is too. Being, the secretive company mass-producing underground idols.

If you compare them to a sentai team, Nana-san is the blue ranger. Yuri-san is obviously red. Mochi is yellow. God Hand is black, maybe.

Mochi is greenｗ

Even if Mochi is metabolically challenged, calling him yellow is too cruel!

>919 Her singing is so bad you couldn’t possibly make her sing. Her looks are too good to waste on behind-the-scenes work. Maybe they couldn’t figure out how to use her, so that’s how things turned out. I assume Yurippe just auditioned and got in normally.

Nana-sama’s singing ability really is completely hopeless, huh? If she were even remotely usable, they would’ve had her sing backup vocals, or in some bonus segment like Mochi does. Maybe in a quiet, gentle song that wouldn’t ruin her image. If she’s never been given even that, she must be at a level where singing in front of people is impossible. Then again, the GIZA girls’ backgrounds are all pretty unclear to begin with. Izumin from ZARD, Nana-sama, and Saegusa are probably the ones whose backgrounds are relatively known.

>924 I wanna hear Nana sing. Yurippe really is a mystery. It seems she did absolutely nothing in show business before becoming GARNET CROW’s vocalist.

In “Futari,” the “いいよね？” part of “同化してく♪（いいよね？）” sounds exactly like Nana. Has anyone mentioned this before?

>925 Before becoming a vocalist, she was a GIZA engineer.

>927 The claim that she wanted to work behind the scenes sounds made up.

>928 I agree. Rather, I think she originally came in as a vocalist, but there was no opportunity or slot for her, so the company had her work behind the scenes. Otherwise, Yurippe being that cute and able to sing, yet working behind the scenes??? That would be weird.

>929 Maybe she didn’t think of herself as cute or anything and simply wanted to do technical work in the music industry?

That’s just Being’s way of doing things. The “I wanted to work behind the scenes” story is also promotion for them as a creator collective. It gives off a much stronger sense of professionalism than simply marketing her as the vocalist of one band.

>929 Maybe she wasn’t working behind the scenes, but simply doing vocal and composition training or something. She probably had no real experience singing before her debut. Then after debuting, she heard her own voice and was shockedｗ

>932 This agency has so many beautiful people working behind the scenes that it would surprise you. I got a chance to look around the office a little during the ZARD memorial event. It felt like the people working as office staff were probably all pre-debut candidates. Honestly, it doesn’t have to be Yurippe or Nana-sama. One of those behind-the-scenes people would be enough for me. Give me one.

>933 Here, have a mirror.

>933 I wonder if Yurippe used to answer phones too. (´･ω･)d「Hello, this is Yurippe, deputy chief phone operator at GIZA studio.」

Come to think of it, the women who sang backup on the old tours were all beautiful too. Hey, has >926 already been mentioned? I’m curious.

>937 Oohira-san, Nakadaira-san, and Sumiya-san? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-ihONE6cs0

That was a weird way to phrase itｗ >937 Yeah, thoseｗ

>936 This is the first I’ve heard of it.

>929 Yurippe was in the vocal department at a vocational school, so she must’ve wanted to be a vocalist. Though maybe she discovered an interest in composing while she was a student.

>940 I’m >929. She obviously wanted to be a vocalist. Otherwise she wouldn’t have settled into the vocalist role so smoothly. But graduating from a vocal department and not realizing what was distinctive about her own voice is... (lol)

>940 She was already composing as a hobby in high school.

>941 If she had realized it, she might’ve given up on becoming a singer.

Who knows how much of those vocational-school brochures is actually true, though. Maybe it’s just a story they made up afterward to make everything fit?

>944 Maybe she originally wanted to be a comedian.

>926 It really is Nanaｗｗ

Nana’s chorus is damn good.

Yurippe’s lack of polish in “kaleidscope” is unreal. Mochi’s hairstyle is unreal too. The old guy’s bare face is unreal. Nana-sama... hasn’t changed, though.

There’s no way Nana can do chorus.

If Nana-sama debuted as a backing vocalist, they’d promote it like crazy. Probably Yurippe or someone would do the promoting.

Sparkle really was their peak, just like the name suggests. The jacket and the song are both great.

That’s Yurippe’s voice no matter how you listen to it.

>951 Gane’s peak was 2002–2004. After that, it was nothing but downhill.

The gap between “ミスアイ” and “Wasurezaki,” and everything after “集メル,” is huge. I wish a god-tier song on the level of “call my name” would show up soon.

>954 No way, no way. Gane doesn’t have that kind of power left.

Nobody asked you.

My impression is that they have plenty of good songs, but not many masterpieces. Still, their range has broadened, so now you can enjoy more variety than before: jazzy, calm, adult sounds, or band sounds with a solid bottom end.

>954 “Wasurezaki” is a good work, but rather than being good specifically as a Gane song, it feels like it was elevated into a high-quality mainstream J-pop ballad. So putting Gane’s individuality aside, it’s simply a well-made song. The arrangement and melody both have that classic mainstream appeal.

The funeral-band era was better.

They’ve never exactly been a funeral band. >958 I think I get what you mean. “Yume mita” fits into that category too. An orthodox song’s merits, a catchy J-pop-style ballad pursued all the way through with total purity. Stuff like “この冬の白さに,” “Eien no Nemuri,” and “聖地” feels more like a Gane ballad.

If Yurippe hadn’t sung “Wasurezaki” and “Yume mita,” they’d basically just be ordinary ballads, ballads in the most generic sense.

>961 They’re the kind of ordinary, commercially aimed songs that seem totally average at first glance, but when Yurippe sings them, they sink right into your heart. That really shows how amazing Yurippe is.

The melodies do hit all the right spots, though, and I think both “Yume mita” and “Wasurezaki” are quality J-pop ballads. Sure, Yurippe’s vocals are what make them feel like Gane music, but personally I think they’re different from those mediocre songs where you can just build things up with strings or piano.

“聖地” and “marionette fantasia” feel like the absolute pinnacle of the Gane style.

I feel like the recent songs are underrated. Their direction has only changed a little from the early days, and I think there are plenty of masterpieces and god-tier songs among them.

Go ahead, tell us about them.

Disc 1 of the best-of released in 2005 is seriously great. Not a weak spot anywhere.

>965 What does everyone actually understand “the early days” to mean here? “Early days” literally refers to the beginning; it doesn’t refer to a musical genre or style. Chronologically, “Yume mita” is right in that early period, but does it really share anything with the languid, shadowy guitar pop of the first album? Well, there are some connections, but musically the relationship is pretty weak. The same goes for other second-album songs like “聖地” and “Eien no Nemuri.” Calling it all “the early days” is too vague to say anything about their direction. It’s really just people saying they liked the beginning better.

Nowadays I can’t really feel the melodic sense they used to have, and it feels like the songs only work because of the balance with the backing—old guy’s arrangements and so on〜 Though I’m still amazed by the usual forced key changes in “Yume Hanabi” and “世界〜.”

b

I don’t really understand the idea that the first album is guitar pop.

So when people say the direction changed, they basically mean the vocal timbre changed, right? I don’t know whether writing songs with live shows in mind caused it, but it changed around the third album.

Well, I don’t really understand the finer points either, but my impression is that they gradually went from “masterpieces only GARNET could make” to “good songs other people could make too.”

They got Being-ified, in the bad sense of the word. The arrangements, the melodic lines... Neo-neo-acoustic just doesn’t work with their current musical style anymore.

>971 The first album isn’t guitar pop, right? Maybe because of “水のない〜,” I associate it more with programmed sounds and keyboards. The indie-era material does feel like guitar pop, though.

I wonder if hiring Cybersound to arrange a song costs quite a lot. It’s a shame there were no Miguel arrangements on the sixth or seventh albums.

>973 No, that’s taking it too far. Other people still couldn’t make them.

>969 I actually kind of like the forced key changesｗ

>975 Your “Kiminochi” indie stuff is seriously guitar-pop-ish, but “Sky” and “Dorimin” don’t sound like that to me. “Natsu no Maboroshi,” “Wonder land,” and the arrangements on “Kiminochi” have that fibrous, nostalgic guitar-pop smell to them. Guitar pop can use programmed sounds and keyboards too. I wonder if “水の無い〜” was influenced by Björk, their favorite. “Holding〜” is jazzy R&B.

I absolutely love the intro to “Wonder land.” Not that it matters.

You can’t clap along during “水のない晴れた海へ.”

That was... honestly annoying.

Honestly, this kind of thing happens all the time, not just with Gane. You often see it with rock bands too—people singing along to ballads, that completely tone-deaf enthusiasm. Sure, everyone’s free to enjoy music however they want, but use your judgment and read the room.

Personally, I think “Maboroshi” is the greatest song ever, but am I the only one?ｗ It’s perfect in every way〜 Yurippe’s voice is great, the lyrics are great, and I especially love the lyrics. Though listening to it when I’m depressed only makes me more depressedｗ Does nobody ever talk about this song? (#`ω´)=3

It’s been discussed so much you almost want to say, “We’ve heard this a million times already.” Both in this thread and in the main thread.

I don’t hate the fighting-game punch sound. I really don’t hate it. The cheapness of the arrangement gets blown away by the GARNET sound—Yuri’s voice—so no problem!

The problem with that is the drums. I think the strings and nylon-string guitar have plenty of taste. I was expecting a Miguel arrangement, but it ended up being kind of underwhelming. And again, it’s the drums. I realized that songs with that nostalgic feeling don’t really suit Miguel or Cyber’s style.

I’m not a big fan of the recent arrangements being so overworked. With stuff like “hello sadness,” they didn’t need to build the atmosphere up that dramatically〜

Yeah〜 A slightly more natural intro would be fine too.

That intro was way too grandiose. I thought so too. Old guy, you don’t have to make RPG instrumentals, you know. Ever since Yurippe’s vocals started coming to the front, it feels like the arrangements got more elaborate at the same time. There are an absurd number of notes now. Before, it felt like they’d decide “this part goes like this,” narrow down the sounds, and fill things in. Recently, it feels like they’re cramming way too much into everything.

Huh? The recent arrangements are good too. It’s just the drum sounds... I couldn’t post for ages because of the posting restrictions, but this place is full of nostalgia nuts. Everyone acts like the old songs are masterpieces and the recent songs are garbage. At least to me, the recent songs are the best too. Anyway, I know it’s late, but don’t criticize or slander other artists...

I don’t think they’re garbage. I just mean that, comparatively, if you put the old songs and recent songs side by side, there were probably more outstanding songs in the old days, that’s all.

>992 It’s just that the recent flow of conversation has been nothing but, “The old songs were good, but compared to them, the recent songs...” It’s a little sad for me because I’m someone who was drawn to those recent songs, admired them, and became a fan because of them.

>993 I see. This thread does seem to have especially many people who became fans because of the old songs. And wow Σ(ﾟДﾟ), we’re almost at the next thread!

I tried making the next thread while I was at it, but I couldn’t. Can someone please do it? Here’s the template for now↓ 【由利】GARNET CROW part15【七】 This is a thread for chatting broadly and having fun, centered on GARNET CROW topics. Let’s all keep talking about all kinds of things, and enjoy ourselves. ◆A relaxed ﾏﾀｰﾘ atmosphere is recommended. Too hostile an atmosphere is (・A・)ｲｸﾅｲ ◆Trolls, attacking fixed-name users, and so on are prohibited—just ignore them. ◆Newbies, old-timers, and fixed-name users are all welcome. ◆Don’t cause trouble for other artists or this thread, and don’t bash them. ◆Finally... There will still be “lovely music” in this world. Previous thread 【由利】GARNET CROW part14【七】 http://anchorage.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1255254504/

>995 I’ll give it a try.

Next thread 【由利】GARNET CROW part15【七】 http://anchorage.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/musicj/1275494026/ It’s my first time doing this. Did I get it right?ｗ

>994 Yeah, I’m well aware of that. If anything, that’s the normal way things are... >996-997 Nice work! Thanks!

Bury.

1000