#I HAVE. A LOT OF THOTS. HAVE TO DISTILL THEM DOWN.

[automatayaoi]

For the Valentine’s Day asks: be mine, bouquet, crush, darling and sweets for G’raha Tia if that’s okay :3

be mine — how would they react to you flirting with them, do they get flustered? flirt back?

oh Raha gets SO flustered when i flirt with him, no fucking doubt. he gets flustered when i say something vaguely nice to him, an actual pick up line or innuendo sends him reeling. once the smoke stops coming out of his ears, he manages to dig up some of that wit and start flirting back. takes a bit tho hehe

bouquet — what’s their favorite flower and why?

did this question send me down a rabbit hole of ffxiv flowers? maybe. was it ultimately useless bc i ended up choosing a regular ass clower? mayhaps. BUT!! i think Raha's favorite flower would be sunflowers !! i like to imagine that some botanical students in sharlayan were cultivating them for research, and he thought they were just lovely. notably sunflowers can symbolize loyalty and adoration~

crush — when did your f/o realize their feelings for you? how did they deal with those feelings?

hmm i think it would take a while for Raha to realize his feelings. it's all tied up with how he idolizes the Warrior of Light, esp during his time as crystal exarch (now whos creating a parasocial relationship with their hero??) and i don't think he'd notice when his admiration started turning into something more. he only "realizes" when someone else points it out to him, probably one of the other scions. as for how he deals with it...well, mostly just tries to keep things under wraps. he can be surprisingly insecure when it comes to things like this, not to mention i have more than a few, uh...admirers. but now he's even more jumpy and flustered around me than he was before, which is a feat

darling — what outfits would you both wear on a date? feel free to show pics!

DATE NIGHT OUTFITS DATE NIGHT OUTFITS!!! i think g'raha would wear more comfy casual clothes for date night, like the adventuring sweater, just,,,smth very cute 🥺 while i dress up a lil more (usually goth lol) just bc i spend a lot of time in grimy armor and leathers and i don't get a lot of chances to look nice hehe (stole these pics from eorzea collection--one two)

sweets — what’s their favourite valentines-esque food? (think anything you’d get in that seasonal aisle at the grocery store!)

ooo this was harder to answer than i expected!! Raha seems like he'd have a sweet tooth, so i think he'd like those cute little heart shaped cinnamon rolls !!

[titleleaf]

Ska, what perfume do you associate with Lee and Eugene from Queer?

I have 1000% been thinking about this already which is a testament to how this book (and film) are eating my brain!

On a very flat Watsonian level they’re both living such starkly utilitarian lives as alienated expats that it’s hard to imagine them having anything so extraneous in their lives. (Eugene’s relatively closer to normalcy and a settled life — before he meets Lee, at least — and I’d tentatively link him with one of the era’s fragranced aftershaves like Skin Bracer.) But for vibes we have so much to go on!

Lee’s fragrance profile should be big, virile, and strange — there are a lot of wonderful perfumes with narcotic notes (and arguably intoxicating notes are a foundation of the modern perfume genre with tobacco notes and the same aromatic botanicals that have a strong presence in distilled liquors like gin) but his experience of the whole kaleidoscopic world of dope is less sweetly seductive and more sweaty and obsessive. I could see him with a smoky, dirty vintage animalic like Knize Ten. Elegant and not cheap, fitting his well to do upbringing and European experience, but leathery and birch-tarry and unmistakable. It seems to strike some people as genteel in an old school kind of way but will always have skanky vibes for me. Male thot cologne and overwhelmingly masculine, except…

Or ELdO Secretions Magnifiques maybe? Raunchy and weird and an acquired taste given the stated goal:

The famous “4S”: Sueur, Salive, Sang et Sperme (Sweat, Saliva, Blood and Sperm)

Sex, stress, and the triumph of desire over reason. Cummy and marine.

For Eugene I think of DS & Durga Burning Barbershop:

“This is the scent of a fougere that’s been through fire. I imagine the bottle was full, cooking in the extreme heat of the blaze until the glass was black and cracked. After the embers had cooled, it was dug out underneath the rubble. Inside, stuck to the glass was the cooked resin of all that was fresh and inviting from the cologne. So you have the brightness of limes, cleanliness of lavender, joy of roses, zing of mint, and the sweetness of vanilla all cooked down into a rectified solid mass.”

Something that’s been radically transformed by its proximity to a raging force of nature, but not overtaken.

Or something very very close in sillage, barely noticeable, hanging close on the skin so you’re not sure if you’re just smelling the body itself. Guiltily anxiously yet hornily huffing your sleeping lover until he shifts away from you.

I would love it if Strangers Parfumerie did a scent inspired by this film — they’re a really wonderful experimental indie house with a lot of scents inspired by queer art and queer eroticism. It’ll all depend on whether the solo perfumer behind it vibes with the novel and its adaptation but it would be cool.

[kuiilandtorch]

Fanfic writer ask game + 21!

Is there an idea you’ve always wanted to write, but haven’t yet?

(sorry it's taken me this long to answer, shortly after this I got fucking steamrolled by some sort of cursed bug that wasn't COVID but sure as hell flattened me almost as badly; I was bedridden for 3 days and I've just started feeling human again today so HHHHHHH I LIVE)

I feel like I have to cheat a little because I think at this point even my most out-there ideas have gotten a least a little coverage in a Google doc somewhere, but then again, that means they're all still just in DrawerFicLand, which continues experiencing explosive population growth haha ♪~ ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ ಠ_ಠ so I guess I can narrow this down to technically 2 answers?

My one white whale, which you'd figure out rapidly by examining said population of DrawerFicLand, is really the desire to combine the vast majority of those WIPs into one singular thesis story that would be my personal dinluke magnum opus, the one fic to rule them all, the one fic that just gets my vision exactly the way I want to convey it. Because most of my WIPs are just barely a notch to the side of another doc I've written, which are all still extremely canon-adjacent, just tweaking another detail or two to try something slightly different/better. I just want my damn vision for them crystalized and I don't know how to distill it like a fine vodka. There's too many other ideas competing with each other that I'm trying to force to exist in the same story somehow. I'll likely never reach that ideal point.

The other is finding an excuse to put my extremely unhinged headcanon lore about The Whills and the Tho Yor and the Force into a fic somewhere. I actually do have a specific WIP for this, but it's, uh...yeah, it's languishing in DrawerFicLand lol. I have a lot of psychedelic eldritch thots I'd love to just fling at people like water balloons lol. If y'all want me to go off on that junk on a separate post like Charlie from Always Sunny just hmu (☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞

[bonvoyagenoona]

Recently started following you and have seen your thots. I love them 🤤 I was wondering what you thought the members would order for mix drinks? I feel like their drink order would say a lot about them.

Sex on the beach? Bonus points if they wink when they say it 😉

Pina colada?

Jack and coke?

Hmmm....

THOTS 🤣 oh HELL yes, why didn't we call them that ugh that's great. Thanks so much for following, and so glad you enjoy them! Always fun to play around with them, and this one was super fun! Hope you like!

Namjoon: Green Beast

A drink is an experience. Namjoon is reflective and intentional with every move he makes. He likes to distill things down to their essence. He likes to put his own stamp on things. He likes to connect with nature. And, most of all, he likes to expand his mind. That’s why he likes the absinthe-based Green Beast, a newer cocktail that’s unique, yet simple, and fresh. He likes that you haven’t heard of it. C’mon. Try it. You’ll be convinced of his trailblazer status as soon as you take a sip.

Jin: Sazerac

A drink is a statement. Anything going down that gorgeous gullet better be vetted. He'd prefer a no-nonsense whiskey neat, but if we're talking mixed drinks, he'll get a Sazerac, which is really just a quirkier Old Fashioned. Classy, and spicy, but without making a big deal about it all. Fine, cue the jokes about Jin being an old man. But with age comes wisdom, and Jin knows exactly what he's doing when he sends you that wink as he takes a sip.

Yoongi: Negroni or Black Russian

A drink is a mere moment. But a moment that needs to be enjoyed and relished, nonetheless. Yoongi is all about balance, but that doesn’t mean he’ll show all his cards. He appreciates the Negroni's balance of bitter and sweet, sophistication and zest. He likes that the Black Russian makes him seem mysterious, while giving him caffeine to fuel late-night work on his next secret track. Like him, classic, secure, respected, and don't need to impress (though they always do).

Hobi: Vodka Sprite or Lemon Drop

A drink is a refreshment. Hobi loves himself some Sprite, so it makes sense that his drinks will have that lemon/lime flavor profile. He'll get a vodka Sprite when he's at the club. He'll get a lemon drop when he's somewhere that isn't a club, and it's up to him to make it a club. He likes that he doesn't just pass out after drinking them. They feed his optimism, his fun, his shine. So what if lemon drops get a bad rap? Hobi has more than enough good raps (and those sweet dance moves) to change the conversation.

Jimin: Champagne cocktails

A drink is a performance. If anybody in the group wins the award for Most Likely to Order a Sex on the Beach, it's definitely Jimin. But have you seen him down champagne? His cocktail obviously has to have champagne. He likes that cocktails let him show off. The classic Champagne cocktail gives him a maraschino cherry to tongue while he locks onto your gaze. Obviously, he's Jimin-ing tomorrow, so at late brunch, he'll get a mimiosa, or even better, a bellini (love that peach!), or even better, a French 75. Fancy, sweet, and bubbly, just like our Mochi.

Taehyung: Whiskey Sour

A drink is... oof, a lot. Tae doesn't drink much, but Blood, Sweat, and Tears has the word "whiskey" in it, so he'll go with it. He can't drink it straight; his sensitive palate isn't refined enough yet, so this is probably as far as he'll go. He likes how people smile fondly and gush at him when he orders them. They always double-check his ID, too. Sometimes they even laugh and ask, "Aww, really? That's precious." How nice! He likes being precious.

Jungkook: Pina Colada

A drink is a treat! Sweet, creamy, cute, and fun. This drink describes Jungkook in a nutshell. (I'll let you decide what I mean by "creamy".) Not only does he enjoy this fruity favorite, but he'll rip the pineapple apart with his bare hands to make it.

He doesn't sweat the small stuff (like needing a knife to cut that pineapple), and he inspires smiles and joy in everything that he does. The golden maknae can enjoy this while watching that golden sunset at the end of the day.

More Important Questions

[touchlotsofbutts]

Tay’s fav new artists, songs, albums of 2019; decade favs too <3

Hello friends. I have listened to 20,000 songs this year (#brag). Some of them I have listened to more than once, and some of them are all together on one really good album I like. Here's some lists of the songs, albums, and people who make them that I liked a lot.

For your listening convenience: a Spotify playlist with the artists, songs, and albums in question. One song from each artist, one song from each album: checka me out

5 new artists from (roughly) this year (unordered)

Slayyyter

Slayyyter is the logical conclusion of the early 2000's pop wave, absolutely bubble gum but no longer pulling and punches with its sexual desire. "He wanna get in my guts" indeed.

100 Gecs

I love high energy, I love noise, and I love catchy. Synthesize major electronic musical movements of the last 10 years and then kick that in the dick and you get 100 Gecs.

Stef Chura

A consistent AF album, with great single songs and a slow procession as well, I'm very hyped for more!

Glass Beach

This band is cutting edge, they know a shitton about music, their hour long album feels like it's only 30 minutes, it teleports you away.

Nilüfer Yanya

Clearly someone who is making music with a succinct style and aesthetic, I find it great to see a full album form around (relatively) simple concepts like an imaginary mental health spa.

10 Songs from this year (ordered)

10. "Good News (Ya-Ya Song)" by MUNA

Unexpectedly a smash hit for me, this is such a simple song but something in the melody stirs a deep and warming feeling within me.

9. "Falling Down The Stairs Of Your Smile" by The New Pornographers

New Pornographers always have great singles. Their albums never quite capture the same feeling, and it breaks my heart every time. Still love the band.

8. "Can't Believe The Way We Flow" by James Blake

A many month throwback, this song was a go-to for the whole year. Seemingly forgotten by many (surely not Dave tho), this album and song really showed additional depth for Blake in my eyes.

7. "24" by IDK

Should to DJ Big Fan. This song is fun as fuck and has so many good one-liners. "She says she not a THOT she a nymphooo"

6. "Clarity" by Kim Petras

This song is a guilty pleasure, not because I am ashamed of its content or sound, but because Kim consistently works with Dr. Luke, the fuckhead who absolutely abused Ke$ha. This song absolutely bops though. Oof.

5. "All I Do is Lie" by Stef Chura

A very small sleeper hit for me, and a big regret when I missed Stef playing nearby, but I love the winding and twisting of this song and the simple mantras bouncing back and forth between meanings.

4. "Lark" by Angel Olsen

This song encapsulates all of Angel's album. It's the lead-in to the album, and it truly matches the scope and grandeur.

3. "Stupid Horse" by 100 Gecs

A song so strong I also want to beat the shit out of a jockey. Distill 100 gecs and for me, this song is at the center. High energy, nonsense, and just total fun. I don't feel bad saying I kind of wish all music sounded like this (sometimes).

2. "Jelmore" by Bon Iver

14,115 feet above sea level, I look out to the sweeping arc of the horizon, a cloudy sky blankets the landscape I left behind. Play this song on your rental car speakers when you choose to conquer fear and ascend a towering mountain.

1. "Gretel" by (Sandy) Alex G

I adore the slow fade in, the garbled vocals, the familiar guitar. The garbled mix slowly devolves into a clear message. Alex G has said he never looks up lyrics, that there is an ambiguity to all words in songs. Is that why he sings this with such clear conviction? There's no misinterpretation here: "good people got something to lose."

20 Albums from this year (ordered)

The first ten are great, but I didn't want to blurb for them all!

20. Clarity by Kim Petras

19. MAGDALENE by FKA Twigs

18. Midnight by Stef Chura

17. Miss Universe by Nilüfer Yanya

16. Dedicated by Carly Rae Jepsen

15. Two Hands by Big Thief

14. Assume Form by James Blake

13. basking in the glow by oso oso

12. Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? by Deerhunter

11. Pang by Caroline Polachek

10. Animated Violence Mild by Blanck Mass

I became stuck in place while listening to Blanck Mass on a plane this summer. One of the only albums I downloaded, it was all I had at 30,000 feet, thrumming engines piercing all the other music I had handy. The cacophony only added to this album, noise layered on noise but turning into melodies and stretching into songs.

9. Father of the Bride by Vampire Weekend

I don't know a ton about jam bands, but I definitely feel it when everyone else says this album was made in hopes of becoming one. This long ass album has some great highs, some charming lows, and honestly a really good chunk of Danielle Haim. Really a soundtrack to 2019 in a lot of ways. But it's really fuckin' long.

8. IGOR by Tyler, the Creator

Tyler's career has had the craziest arc. Rapping about killing women and progressing all the way to IGOR, which, is it even a rap album? The album contains such clear direction and vision, and far less of the reckless anger that Tyler became known for. The energy and sound has been honed down to a fine point, and there's a conciseness that sticks with you for hours after listening.

7. House of Sugar by (Sandy) Alex G

Alex G has always done so much for me. Bedroom music that has transformed each time into bigger and more detailed versions of itself. House of Sugar is no exception. While maybe a little less thrilling for me than Rocket, it's another evolution of this stripped down style, still laid bare but richer all the same.

6. U.F.O.F. by Big Thief

A lot of lists are going to feature some Big Thief. Big Thief is good, their music pierces you through the flesh and hits you in the bones. It stirs the spirit of a time now lost, sidelong glances through thickets of woodsy pines, listening to a friend play a simple song on their new guitar. It's great to celebrate a band and an album that puts a lot of pretense to bed and creates a simple, pleasing experience.

5. Charli by Charli XCX

Charli delivers an album after years of PC Music collaborated mix tapes and psuedo-album releases. Charli isn't some sort of second coming, but is the pinnacle of her expertise: fantastic collaborations, cutting edge beats, and familiar tales of her love and loss.

4. All Mirrors by Angel Olsen

Angel wasn't really known for her grandeur. Her songs and albums were dynamic, sure, with strong emotions, but All Mirrors dives into the direction of a grand pool, crystal clear and vast. "Lark" is a sweeping masterpiece, while "All Mirrors" has a methodical build and release. Angel is fully putting her voice and composition to work with an album this magnificent.

3. the first glass beach album by Glass Beach

My favorite description for this band is "post-emo." Many of my compatriots are not fond of band genres in generally, but for me this really nails it. It's a combination of an emotional, DIY scene with an online mentality, which I feel is representing the pace of the world. Also the music absolutely blasts, grand and epic and quiet and pensive, meandering as it wants.

2. Ghosteen by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Until about two months ago, I wasn't even a huge Nick Cave fan. Serendipitously, I happened to look into his backlog a couple weeks before this surpirse release. I spent a small amount of time looking into his older style, but when Ghosteen popped up, it floored me. That tangible loss, the grief that winds around you and grips you from within, it's on this album in full force. It's an album I know I will listen to sparingly, but lovingly, for ages and ages.

1. 1000 Gecs by 100 Gecs

I typically do not measure these kinds of lists by the number of listens. Usually albums with emotional weight or impact are not so accessible or listenable. This album is an absolute exception, it is crystalline and pure, it is powerful and subtle, its energy infectious. For me, it's a clear message describing the future of music I love.

Honorable menties, not conclusive or ordered, from this year:

Albums:

IDK's Is He Real?

Holly Herndon's PROTO

JPEGMAFIA's All My Heroes Are Cornballs

Battles's Juice B Crypts

Bon Iver's i,i

American Football's American Football (LP3)

DIIV's Deceiver

Anamanguchi's [USA]

Sir Babygirl's Crush on Me

Sharon Van Etten's Remind Me Tomorrow

Hemlock Ernst & Kenny Segal's Back At The House

Jay Som's Anak Ko

Florist's Emily Alone

Songs:

"Harmony Hall" by Vampire Weekend

"Superbike" by Jay Som

"Aute Cuture" by ROSALÍA

Many many others!

Roughly 10 of 2010-2019's best albums (unordered)

Halcyon Digest by Deerhunter

Encapsulate all of the indie rock I listened to and make it so dramatic it oozes lackadaisical energy.

The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do by Fiona Apple

The title is as long as the album is great. I am chomping at the bit for Fiona to follow this up with literally anything.

Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens

Many feel Sufjan could do no wrong, but it's not that he's unimpeachable, it's that he is able to shift his sound in pivotal ways at pivotal moments.

Cerulean Salt by Waxahatchee

Waxahatchee captured the post college ennui I was so suddenly thrust into, and continues to kick ass even after I got over the dread.

Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

This album kicks ass, but also I have an undying emotional connection to it since I listened to it on repeat the months after pops died! "We Drift Like Worried Fire" is entwined in my soul.

Good Kid, M.A.A.D City by Kendrick Lamar

There is a lot of great Kendrick to choose from, but the one absolutely stacked with bangers will remain my favorite (but I totally acknowledge the artistic merit and beyond of Damn. and TPAB).

The Monitor by Titus Andronicus

I only got into this album like four years after the fact, but it scratched the civil-war-concept-album-actually-about-the-Northeast I didn't know I had! Pumped it also taught me a cool Abe Lincoln speech.

E•MO•TION by Carly Rae Jepsen

This album guided me from toeing around pop music to going all in and finally have a good time in life.

Song of the summer:

"Steal My Sunshine" by Len

Remarkably, for the 20th year in a row, the song of the summer is Len's "Steal My Sunshine." What a powerhouse.

[sneek-m]

Listening 2017: June 6–15

The last entry brought older albums to the queue, and this one has even more. Though it put me pretty behind on new releases, I’m glad I’m more eager to turn to older records because I’m the worst when it comes to listening to albums made before the ’90s. I cover four of them here, which for me is a good amount than usual.

Here’s what caught my ear these couple weeks:

Sing Sing Death House

The Distillers Hellcat, 2002

Only a year sets apart Sing Sing Death House from Coral Fang, the punk band’s second and third release, respectively, out of their three-album run. The completeness of the latter compared to the former, though, astonishes me. Such a result most likely has to do with Coral Fang being a release on a major label, where an ability to write songs with a sharp sense of form and structure is a given as much as it is a sign of artistic growth. Sing Sing Death House, meanwhile, is a tight release in its own way. While Brody Dalle here may care less about providing full songs than a hook to shout, she still hands in a succinct half-hour rundown of the most gut-punching punk bursts. They’re proudly messy, which makes me curious to how they were received when they decided to clean up their act.

[7]

Conspiracy

Junior M.A.F.I.A. Undeas/Big Beat, 1995

How two legit hits can come out of a band of amateurs trying on the suits of their New York gangsta-rap heroes only speaks to the business mind of Christopher Wallace, who I assume learned a thing or two working with Sean Combs: that notorious scene of Puff Daddy pushing a Mtume-sampling record as the single to hardcore rapper Biggie’s debut comes to mind. Because most, if not all of the appeal behind both “Player’s Anthem” and “Get Money” — especially the latter’s — is the hook, not to mention its rather flashy loops. Same goes for the third, the Faith Evans-assisted “I Need You Tonight.” Rapping for rapping sake takes them only so far.

The rappers involved do fine world building that lives up to its title of Conspiracy with raps covering paranoia and double-crossing, Biggie’s favorite themes. But again, it’s the things extraneous from the actual rapping that make the non-singles to be more memorable. Straight-up rap track “Realms of Junior M.A.F.I.A.” shines less from the lyrics than the trusted sample of ESG’s “UFO.” “White Chalk” is a rather peculiar one with its stylistic focus nearing horrorcore, evoking more of Southern acts of the time. When they commit squarely to their mafioso role, it sounds exactly like a product by a gang of lesser goons under their bosses wing.

[6]

Possibility / Bitter and Sweet

Akina Nakamori Reprise, 1984; 1985

Per recommendation, Akina Nakamori’s Best I and II served as a fine introduction to the Japanese ’80s pop royalty. A definite shift in the singer can be heard from the first to the second compilation, her work from 1986 to 1988; four years after her first single, her voice has finally grown to that of a proper ballad powerhouse. But even in Best I, her hits from 1982 to 1985, you can pick up a gradual growth by the way her voice pairs with more flamboyant accents.

I’m in no way an expert to Nakamori’s work, but personally, I pin the point in time in which she began to hit her stride around 1984 and 1985 with, respectively, Possibility and Bitter and Sweet. She sounds more comfortable to swing her voice around in both. While she showcases just how she can deliver in traditional modes through a series of ballads in the former, she tries on more playful get-ups in the latter; Bitter and Sweet works more contemporary pop productions with drum machines, funk bass lines, starry synths and such. Her 1985 record worked much better for me especially because I’ve gone to associate Nakamori as a diva figure, and the glamorous sounds from that album befits that title.

[6] / [7]

The Pleasure Principle / Freedom of Choice

Gary Numan / Devo Beggars Banquet, 1979; Warner Bros., 1980

I don’t know what this says about me during these trying times, but I’ve lately grown a strong fondness for pop exploring humanness — and more so the lack thereof. For others, both Numan and Devo’s work in these albums perhaps feel too disconnected, but the impersonal mode these records assume from the deliberate machine-like rendering of pop is the very voice they strive to hit upon.

The deconstruction of their beloved formats — more singer-songwriter pop for Numan while Devo takes apart the romanticism of rock ’n’ roll — show admiration for the form as well as an eye to critique, mainly what pop tells us (sells us?) about our source of pleasure. And though the present-day has countless improved tools and smoother techniques to get a similar point across, the limitation of the available technology of their era brings an inimitable voice to the records. These prototypes of the man-machine hit a more poignant note than the later versions they inspire.

[8] / [7]

Payface

Payroll Giovanni & Helluv no label, 2017

Hundreds of rap albums have sold us the cool of a Scarface poster on a bedroom wall. When it comes down to it, though, pretending to be Tony Montana on a record is still kind of a geeky form of play, isn’t it? I thought this while Payroll Giovanni referenced DC Comics superheroes in his song about neighborhood heroes, which during this time full of comic-book movies hits me extra nerdy. While his icon instead rocks chains while in the drug trade, he drives a coupe which he likens to a Batmobile — sleek and extravagant of a metaphor, sure, but a bit kitsch. (“Fuck a Wonder Woman,” if you also want a diss that’s timely.) Payroll also re-works Montell Jordan’s eternal ’90s anthem to fit his drug business in Detroit so it reads, yes, “This Is How We Move It.” These underlining cheesiness about the day in the life of pusher, told otherwise with a brute composure tailored for a gangsta rapper, just about sums up this tape, I think.

[5]

Z

Zone Sony, 2002

Zone apparently once got stuck with the crude category “ban-dol” because the public could not decide whether the four piece is an idol group or a band. Had they stuck with the exuberant mode of their major-label debut “Good Day” for their debut album, the latter would befit them a lot better. But the power-pop hit was a one off for Z — personally a bit disappointed because it drew me to this album expecting more. They instead stick closer to the earnestness of “Secret Base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~,” a staple ballad out of the group’s catalog still to this day.

The album’s sappy mood also calls to mind the dozens of other solo J-pop singer-songwriters who later in the mid-2000s got popular by selling wholesomeness and sentimentality — many of them, acoustic clad. Perhaps it’s a trend, at the very least a micro one? It’s a curious observation I’d investigate further, but even for a sentimentalist like myself, the catalog of some of those artists can be dour to get through.

[6]

Others albums that caught my interest…

Agent Bla: Agent Bla

Bleachers: Gone Now

Chief Keef: Thot Breaker

Day6: Sunrise

Gang Parade: Barely Last

Haruomi Hosono: S-F-X

Mondo Grosso: Nando demo Atarashiku Umareru

Mozzy & Gunplay: Dreadlocks & Headshots

My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Beauty

Sayonara Ponytail: Yume Miru Wakusei

Sugababes: Angels with Dirty Faces

Sister Sledge: We Are Family

T-ARA: What’s My Name?