[quote="Marekenshin"]Props to luis for isolating the audio:

[url]http://www.sendspace.com/file/6977fd[/url][/quote]

Awesome, thank you

I really like the song. What you have to consider si that even though its simular to One Life, One Life was a kick ass song. Also, I would reather them revisit that sort of style instead of doing things like Good Dreams.

[quote="thejedipunk"][quote="sheerheartattack"]Agreed with Mare. It may seem cool to say how crappy a certain band is on their own fansite, but guys, I'll let you in on something: It's not.

On a side note, I'd like to hear far less fappage of other obscure bands like Number Girl. Yes, I've heard them. They're [i]not bad[/i]. I would even say they're [i]good[/i]. But they are not even ten percent as good as you guys make them out to be. They have a mediocre female guitarist. [b]OMG girl![/b] No. That doesn't make them so good you have to spend all your time talking about them and not the pillows on a [i]pillows fansite[/i].

Maybe the two songs sound similar because, [i][b]HOLY FUCK[/b][/i], it's the [i][b]SAME BAND![/b][/i][/quote]

Despite my semi spam posts referencing NG, NG hasn't invaded the pillows section of the forum. Or even the website itself. I don't see what your argument is. All the praise for NG has been left to it's little thread in the Music section and widely expanded to Distortional Addict. No one here, except perhaps Mare, has ever said that NG is several times better than the pillows just because their guitarist has boobs and a vagina.

The point here is that Sawao, being the one in complete creative control of the band, is or has run out of ideas.[/quote]

I have heard several references in various threads praising bands like NG. I was only using NG as an example. As far as I'm concerned, none of those obscure, semi-talented bands are nearly as good as the pillows, and if they were, get the hell on their forums instead. On a final note, you don't understand what my argument is because I wasn't making an argument. I merely stated what I would like. An argument requires...hell, just use a dictionary.

On point, duplicating prior success (if that even is the case, which it isn't) is not a sign of running out of ideas. You can't tell the musical direction of a band from one single that is featured in some crappy cartoon.

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Thiinline, if you seriously think there is anything outstanding about Tabuchi in the slightest, well, I wouldn't say you're an idiot - just maybe tone deaf. I said mediocre - as in not fantastic. While good, she is nothing to write home about. Perhaps you were just saying she isn't bad. I agree. But if you're saying she's amazing...well, you should probably listen to more guitar work.

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And on a final note - keyboards don't make a song bad. You people are ridiculous. Somebody said they should have gotten an orchestra or something to record it. Yeah fuckin' right. Worst idea ever. It's like buying a $100 Parker pen to write with when a God damn $0.49 Bic pen would do the same exact thing.

Even a band like Queen - a band who [b]absolutely prided[/b] themselves on not using synthesizers - finally succumbed to the greater flexibility and creative control a keyboard can offer by the time they released [i]The Game[/i] in 1980.

No. She IS an excellent guitarist. What are you doing, comparing her to Yngwie or something? That's stupid. Like the rest of the Number Girl hating fanclub, it's fairly obvious that you haven't listened to them very much. She's far, far more skilled than Manabe (though I still prefer the notes Manabe plays up to 1999 or so), and yet I don't see you criticizing him for being "mediocre".

It's also evident that you lack discernment from comments like, "No obscure other Japanese band could be as good as the pillows!" Yes, of course, they will always be the best band ever no matter what they do. Guess what? NO band is invulnerable, and it's obvious that you're biased and completely closed to the possibility of another band being better. You also seem to make the mistake of assuming that myself and others listen to these indie bands because they're obscure. This is ridiculous; I couldn't care less about how popular a band is. Sambomaster and Tokyo Jihen are popular, and yet, for some reason, I insist on listening to them. What a shock.

Keyboards don't make a song bad, but stupid cheesy synth strings hurt - a lot. I don't care if I'm hearing real strings or not, it makes every freakin' song sound like Don't Wanna Miss A Thing by Aerosmith. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence by Dream Theater is just about the only rock song I've ever heard that actually does a decent job of incorporating classical instruments into the mix, but hey, that's prog for you.

I've stirred up enough trouble lately, and I'm going to be lampooned for what I write here, so I'll keep this brief and to the point. My opinion on Number Girl (decent band if rather overrated) has already been explained, so I'll let that be.

As for the pillows, I'm going to have to agree with Marekenshin. This thread now stinks of Panda bandwagon. To me, based on what I've heard in this outro version of the song, I hear a similarity to One Life only in the rhythm, ending, and in the note he ends the first phrase. That amounts to little similarity.

As for quality, it sounds just okay. As always, I'll reserve final judgment for when I hear the whole song. The rest of you should do the same and also learn not to take completely to heart the opinions of ska fans. ;]

[quote="Thinliine"]She's far, far more skilled than Manabe (though I still prefer the notes Manabe plays up to 1999 or so), and yet I don't see you criticizing him for being "mediocre". [/quote]

I'm gonna disagree with you here. Vehemently. I'm pretty sure Tabuchi is not only less skilled technically, but in her writing as well (You may want to make a reference to a video/recording that showcases what you're talking about). The two have different styles, so it's pretty hard to compare them...but really. Very little of what she plays is overly difficult...most stays in the same Number Girl/Toddle/bloodthirsty butchers style sound. Yeah, she can fucking "tear it up", like in the end of Tatoo Ari, or Num-Ami-Dabutz...but as far as I'm concerned, she has no equivalent to Manabe's work in Swanky Street, Happy Slave, Naked Shuffle, Crazy Sunshine, the end-solo of Good Morning Good News, or anything like that.

Tabuchi's cool, definitely. But Manabe outclasses her in pretty much all ways besides "guitar freakouts". Neither are overly fantastic in the technical sense...but if we're not talking about that, then...yeah. Thiinline - no. And I'm sorry to continue the discussion about Number Girl in a non-NG thread.

So about Scarecrow! I don't like it at all. I don't care about it sounding, or not sounding like One Life (I realize that Last Dinosaur and Sono Mirai are similar sound-wise, but I love them both). The clip of Scarecrow that we've heard...to me, it's dull, uninspired, and way too safe. The guitar doesn't stand out, neither does Sawao's voice. I can just imagine that Shin is bored as hell.

Understand this is actually somewhat difficult for me to say this. I've never bashed PL, GD, or MF. I don't think they're fantastic, but I've never been one to outright bash the pillows.

The main thing is that I'm disappointed. Disappointed at the fact that the pillows are definitely not what they once were. It's like new SNL.. We can usually agree that, yeah, the majority of of the pillows best work occurred in the late 90's. We don't hate the new stuff, but it's not hard to see that it's just not up to par. That's hard to say! This band means so much to me, and it's really sad to see them not at the top of their game, no matter where that may be.

But let's not bullshit ourselves. I don't care HOW much Tabuchi kicks ass. I'm not going to say she's better than Manabe. I don't care HOW much I love the pillows -- I'm not going to half-heartedly say that "Yeah...Scarecrow's pretty good."

Evaluate this stuff fairly! I'm not saying your opinion's wrong if you like it...but...I'd definitely disagree with you if you think Scarecrow shows just as much inspiration as previous work.

There are truly great bands like the pillows where we show our admiration by saying things like: "Sawao and Manabe are so good, they could write songs in their sleep!!" Hah. The problem exists when the songs actually SOUND like they were written while they were asleep. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Scarecrow. But it seems like Sawao has become complacent with his skills as a songwriter: "I can put a bit of effort into it, and I'll probably turn out alright."

It's just not good enough, and it saddens me.

[quote="sheerheartattack"]I have heard several references in various threads praising bands like NG. I was only using NG as an example. As far as I'm concerned, none of those obscure, semi-talented bands are nearly as good as the pillows, and if they were, get the hell on their forums instead.

On point, duplicating prior success (if that even is the case, which it isn't) is not a sign of running out of ideas. You can't tell the musical direction of a band from one single that is featured in some crappy cartoon.

And on a final note - keyboards don't make a song bad. You people are ridiculous. Somebody said they should have gotten an orchestra or something to record it. Yeah fuckin' right. Worst idea ever. It's like buying a $100 Parker pen to write with when a God damn $0.49 Bic pen would do the same exact thing.

Even a band like Queen - a band who [b]absolutely prided[/b] themselves on not using synthesizers - finally succumbed to the greater flexibility and creative control a keyboard can offer by the time they released [i]The Game[/i] in 1980.[/quote]

Last I checked, this wasn't a Queen forum. Unless I got cataracts in the last 4 hours.

So you don't want people like myself on this forum just because I'm critiquing your idol's works? It's a fucking discussion forum. If you don't like reading the negative remarks of the pillows, then I guess you should just post exclusively on [url=http://com4.runboard.com/bswankystreet]Swanky Street[/url]. I still don't understand why you would bring NG or any other band that has been mentioned in the MUSIC SECTION of this forum into this thread. It's as if you want me to get hurt just because you think NG is worthless compared to the musical gods you call the pillows.

Listening to the song again, I am fairly certain they ripped several of the notes from One Life. This just further leads me to think that they really are running out of ideas.

[quote="thejedipunk"]

Listening to the song again, I am fairly certain they ripped several of the notes from One Life. This just further leads me to think that they really are running out of ideas.[/quote]

Yeah, Sawao. Invent more notes. Haven't you used C and A enough? We've got 26 fucking letters in the alphabet, bitch. And if I hear D one more time...


Sorry guys, but if he were ripping off One Life, the song would be better.

Mukai would be disappointed in youz.

I know [i]my[/i] knees are shaking.

[quote="Jomei"]Yeah, Sawao. Invent more notes. Haven't you used C and A enough? We've got 26 fucking letters in the alphabet, bitch. And if I hear D one more time...


Sorry guys, but if he were ripping off One Life, the song would be better.[/quote]

I admit that I'm not Thrice or even paid attention during the theory lectures in my guitar class, but I still think it sounds too close to One Life.

I've just listened to scarecrow and I don't what to make of it (maybe it's the quality) but I think that I might have to listen to it again to make a bette evaluation.

[quote="thejedipunk"][quote="Jomei"]Yeah, Sawao. Invent more notes. Haven't you used C and A enough? We've got 26 fucking letters in the alphabet, bitch. And if I hear D one more time...


Sorry guys, but if he were ripping off One Life, the song would be better.[/quote]

I admit that I'm not Thrice or even paid attention during the theory lectures in my guitar class, but I still think it sounds too close to One Life.[/quote]

There are a few similarities, but I certainly don't think it is a "carbon copy" or even similar enough to merit any real protest. Fuck, this song sounds just [i]okay[/i] to me so far, but I think it insults One Life to compare them so much.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention what Jedi brought up.

Yeah, it's a pillows forum. But that doesn't mean we have to love everything they put out.

People who hate the pillows: ignore, and listen to other music.
People who like the pillows: listen to the pillows and provide valid contributions.
People who love the pillows: listen to the pillows a lot, and are capable of judging their works fairly and rationally in comparison with their older work.
People who love the pillows even if a new release is mediocre: Aren't capable of giving reasonable and fair critique. It's just a waste of space. They're BSing themselves, and everyone here.

Again. FAIR CRITIQUE, positive or negative, of the pillows is sometimes what is most valuable in a discussion about them.

[quote="Jomei"]-snip-[/quote]

I agree, 100%.