Random thoughts thread

General Discussion
2493

Here’s one from my dome piece; mind you im stoned as hell, but i gotta share it, because…

…man, I feel like this is the last real Dir en grey album we will ever get…

In a lot of the materials I read, I saw that everyone was recording remotely, only communicating through email, and zoom chats.

I think of the end of Supertramp in this regard; Breakfast in America being the focal point of dissent. Members of Dir en grey have long been in contempt with one another, stemming back as far as 2004 KEEN UNDER THE SUN Tour, as well as the well documented TOUR 05 THE MANIPULATED LIFE. Members of the band, notably Toshiya/Shinya, couldn’t handle their rhythmic dynamic, which boiled over into sessions from Withering to Death. Dir en grey has always been incredible, but at the sake of the five persons who continue to give their 150% all. It’s not weird though, the relationship is sour; it’s been happening around us for years.

Going back to present day: DeG is in a completely different place, than when they were performing The Insulated World. Interviews from Barks suggest that they were reeling from one disaster to another. [Author’s note: it’s interesting that Dir always makes an album after an international/local cataclysmic event…) You can hear the individual members, for sure…but it seems very very distant. It’s incredible musicianship, it’s incredible arrangement, and it’s impeccable as far as a Dir en grey album is concerned…but there-in lies the problem.

To expand on my earlier Supertramp comment, is a bit of a doozy; the members were at such odds with one another, that they ended up being completely separated for the entire, THE ENTIRE duration of the recording process. It’s been noted that the vocalists could each come in to do their takes, then leave, so as not to interact with one another until the live performances. That ultimately led to the band effectively disbanding, amongst critical acclaim.

My final point being simply this; having seen the turnabout for this tour thus far has been interesting. Just like Supertramp, DeG has been very tight live, yet I cannot help but feel internal strife when listening to this LP. It’s known that Kyo dictates the way that songs flow, and that’s been very unfair to the other four people who are in the band.

I fear a disbanding event soon; but for now, I will sit here, enjoy the album, and remember the times I saw them live.

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2494

I love this take and I can’t even disagree. Here are my thoughts on your thoughts.

I bought PHALARIS and didn’t listen to it for a week because the album box felt heavier after unwrapping the package. I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me, but try as I might I could not bring myself to listen to this album. I was stressed around that time, but the thought of listening to this album was just too sad to bear. I managed to sit through the whole thing on turntable.fm with a friend who I was introducing to Dir en grey, so I did hear it. Reading your thoughts makes me feel like I’m not alone.

There is one important difference between Supertramp and Dir en grey that I have to point out, which I hope will make you feel a bit better. Supertramp imploded because the members didn’t like each other, so that’s why they went out of their way to avoid interaction. I think Dir en grey had no choice due to COVID restrictions. When I went to the Underoath concert back in March, the vocalist of Stray from the Path thanked the crowd and said this was their first few real shows since 2019 because music was the first industry to shut down and one of the last to come back. I’m sure that applies everywhere.

I don’t think Dir en grey will disband as much as follow the trajectory of L’arc~en~ciel. Spurts of activity from the main band followed by activities from side projects, and these are cycled in and out every few years. We already have the set up with DECAYS, Petit Brabancon, sukekiyo, and Seraph. Kaoru’s the only one with no side project. It already takes the band several years to put together a new album. It’s been taking them a bit longer to release the next album each time. The timing works. Besides, the band and brand is too popular to give up. Tom Araya from Slayer laments that the band gave up before hitting 30 years because so many bands don’t have what it takes to last that long, and Slayer did. So does Dir en grey and they proved it.

If they hated each other that much, then they would have disbanded back then. Maybe they’re not best of friends, but they know they work well together and they’re better off together than apart. For all of Kyo’s side projects and hustle attitude, Dir en grey is the only one that makes waves internationally. They know where the money is. Case in point, my friends visited Sunday and I showed them my vinyl collection. The two who are somewhat familiar with Dir en grey recognized the UROBOROS LP instantly, but neither knew who Petit Brabancon was or that they even existed!

It’s also for the same reason that I don’t think the GazettE will disband any time soon, even though I feel a similar restlessness coming from MASS. I’m sure that band has had drama and internal strife before and that certain members have thought of walking, but they know they’re better off together than apart. They’re the last real visual kei band to have “made it” - they have nothing to gain from disintegrating. So even if members are not completely satisfied with the arrangement, they’ve got it good and it’s so easy to fall off that horse and never get back up there.

I have no idea for how much longer either group will be together, but I’m here for the ride regardless.

4 Likes
2495

I can’t believe I’m not 15 but two days neck pain after aggressive head banging is too much… I wish I was born much earlier to visit EVERY hardcore gig in Tokyo in mid 80’s. I mean. We’re living in 2022 where you have to choose between the Willard and sodom in the same day, but…

1 Like
2496

I just wasted and hour and a half trying to clarify something with a project manager I’m working with. Knew what my team needed to work on, so we went ahead and got started. She keeps asking questions about this or that and I tried clarifying that I think what the team is currently doing is what she’s asking about. Took another 15 minute meeting to confirm, yes I should have been doing what I’ve been doing since this morning. Like, rrrrgggggh it’s one thing if you’re not good at your job, but please don’t keep me from doing mine.

/rant over

2497

I have to work at least 5 hours, but all I can think is tomorrow’s event. Mwahhhhh.

2498

The yen seems to be taking a hard hit from inflation and is depreciating pretty badly. It’ll be interesting to see where the Japanese economy goes since we’re in an all but named recession, one said to be the worst since 2008. The dollar is worth 136 yen right now so buying power from Japan is great at the moment until prices go up in Japan to offset the depreciation of the yen as a global currency. Ooof, economics.

2499

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-10/why-the-yen-is-so-weak-and-what-that-means-for-japan-quicktake

2500

This guy at work is literally out of control.

I was trying to leave it alone, just chalking it up to him being an overconfident narcissistic asshole. But now he’s threatening kids half his age (he’s like 50) and everytime he blows up and we try to deescalate the situation he turns it into “Everyone acting like I’m an angry black man” when none of us brought that up.

The kid rightfully is reporting him to HR, so he comes up to me like “He want to play like that now I’m reporting HIM to HR.”

Like he didn’t just threaten to jump this kid. (Mind you this guy is big, and the kid is small so ?)

So I went to our boss and had a talk with him. And his response? “I was hoping he grew out of that…”

He only acted nice as to not lose his job, which is why he transferred to our plant. And now he’s picking on everyone at this place. We’re told to ignore him, but how long do we ignore him before he goes after everyone?

This kid can be annoying at times, but no one deserves to be threatened at work or off work regardless of how immature he is.

Edit: There’s other issues too. He’s trying to contact me now too, well all he said was ‘yo’ but I refuse to answer him. I feel like it’s a trap to get into a messy conversation that’s best left said in front of HR. :l

2501

I really think that JILUKA have become my favorite band which really surprises me since I had their music off and on over the years, but now I’m really getting it, and the four piece really makes it easy to keep up with as opposed to a band with five or six for no discernible reason. The only thing I hate about JILUKA is their merch. Their artwork is amazing, and yet they’ve come out with the worst shirts I’ve ever seen which never use the art and are pretty much completely minimal and just have a few random letters. I mean I’m a minimalist and it’s too little for me even. I mean what the hell is HBZ2022 and ZD? I mean this is fucking adorable, but still. JILUKAHBS2021 Tシャツ『Sena Cat』 - SHINKO MUSIC RECORDS SHOP Where’s the band tees? JILUKA’s compatriots have it figured out, minus キズ, but yeah. I had to rant here since there’s yet to be a JILUKA artist page. Maybe I’ll make one today.

2502

The day Kermit is banned from Twitter is the day I leave, thus I’ve deleted Twitter. It’s all bullshit under for me and trending is even worse and I stop following anyone and made a list of bands, but the ads and promoted shit is annoying so fuck it altogether. That was a good excuse to finally get rid of it.

2503

There was supposed to be a protest at the court house today and literally everyone flaked. :man_facepalming:t2:

2504

Your reasoning sounds a lot like mine. It’s been five months since I deactivated my Facebook early in the morning on a hunch that this site that I’m addicted to browsing because my brain is convinced it will make me happier only served to sour my mood further. I couldn’t have been more on the money. I don’t use Instagram or Twitter and at this rate I never will, because I see the same issues echoed there. Ads, promoted shit, tracking all over the internet, ghost profiles that they aggregate from data they buy from wherever and use it to market ads to you, them basically deciding what it is that you can and cannot see without any transparency behind it, etc. It’s all bullshit and it has been for a while. I even took the step of uninstalling the Reddit app from my phone and logging out of my account on my PC, because that shit isn’t any better either.

I’m finding that I’m more agitated by the state of events now more than ever, but that’s because I’m not steeped in it 24/7. I have time to breathe, so while I seem to be tanking these consistent onslaughts worse, the pace is much slower. I needed the pace to slow down for myself and I’m interested to see if you notice something similar happening for you now that you use one less Social Media Titan.

I find there’s nowhere I can go to avoid the hot button topic of the day, but I can at least choose to disengage instead of pretending like the thought isn’t bouncing around in my head as I scroll down past the next few statuses in a blur. That option to step back and say “yeah, I don’t really care about this topic, my input is not required and further knowledge does not enhance my position in life” and then go off to do something else is necessary in order to maintain balance - and I feel like people are always off balance because some psychos figured out that critical thinking becomes hampered if you poke the fear response of the amygdala enough.

Subsume people in outrage, fear, and despair and then watch as they turn on each other because they have no idea where the stimulus is coming from. Hop online, articulate a few words into the void and pretend like it’s cathartic, then scroll down and get triggered all over again. Wash, rinse, repeat. It doesn’t take long for people to lose the plot and then there’s a subset of the population where nihilism takes over and they treat it as entertainment, maybe even step in the ring themselves all over again just to stir the pot. There’s no point where people just stop, take a breath, and then wonder why they engage with these tools that they claim help but really only stress them out.

That’s cheeks to me.

4 Likes
2505

Sometimes I come on JRO just to check if Gackt’s got any new penis training game to share or if Yoshiki’s been spotted with some A-list celebrity and when the answer is “no” I leave, disappointed

7 Likes
2506

Sweet Jesus I love sodom so much. Yesterday’s liveshow was so damn hot!!!

2507

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#savesyria

2508

What the hell I’ve never expected to see dancing cats in the universe in a music video on the tv… time to flip back to mtv…

2509

Yall should help us settle the score by casting your vote :eyes:

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2510

not after everyone left me to die on the Sustain the Untruth poll

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2511

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Happy fourth of july :sparkles: the mountain is on fire

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2512

I get walled with a signup request everytime I try to view a social media site nowadays. Why are they like this smh