[quote="rockman240"]Did you guys see this awesome recent performance of Toy Doll? He's expanding his comfort zone as a performer.

http://youtu.be/FqLJAyYiKhg[/quote]
By the way, the new song "I RIOT" was written to be performed as a hand mic song, so we'll be seeing more of that. Oh YEAH.

[quote="Mafu"][quote="rockman240"]Did you guys see this awesome recent performance of Toy Doll? He's expanding his comfort zone as a performer.

http://youtu.be/FqLJAyYiKhg[/quote]
By the way, the new song "I RIOT" was written to be performed as a hand mic song, so we'll be seeing more of that. Oh YEAH. [/quote]

Lives are delicious!

hoping for more of yamanaka's hand running seductively down the faces of crowd members cuz that one kills me every time

[quote="Marekenshin"]I feel like the most obvious and easiest explanation that they're just kind of doing their thing and, Sawao being a bit of a weird, that has them moving off into a direction that some people aren't going to continue to enjoy over time.

I mean, think back to songs like 21 Fingers, or Skim Heaven. The complaints leveled against modern tracks (in terms of not being sure what they're "trying" to be and such) could just as easily be directed at any of those - or many other "quirky" - classic pillows tracks. Their stylistic progression in terms of songwriting and whatnot has, overall, been mostly consistent, with a few occasional jumps in style caused by changes in approach of various sorts catalyzing things. I don't see what's surprising or unusual here, really.[/quote]

So are you saying you think their new material is better than their recent live performances of older songs?

[quote="Jomei"]Seems to me they found a comfortable, easy, successful niche and settled into mediocrity.[/quote]

I know we like to joke about their album covers of the past several years, but the whole impact font thing really does strike me as "we have ceased to give a fuck." Really, line the pillows' albums up chronologically and wonder "what the hell happened in 2006 (or really, 2009). You've got this collection of songs you worked hard on and will tour with...and you wanna wrap it all up in another interchangeable 5 minute photoshop job with the same (ubiquitous) font? It just doesn't convey respect for the material.

[quote="Marekenshin"]I feel like the most obvious and easiest explanation that they're just kind of doing their thing and, Sawao being a bit of a weird, that has them moving off into a direction that some people aren't going to continue to enjoy over time.[/quote]

This is probably true and a relevant explanation for the initial style shifts.

[quote]I mean, think back to songs like 21 Fingers, or Skim Heaven. The complaints leveled against modern tracks (in terms of not being sure what they're "trying" to be and such) could just as easily be directed at any of those - or many other "quirky" - classic pillows tracks. Their stylistic progression in terms of songwriting and whatnot has, overall, been mostly consistent, with a few occasional jumps in style caused by changes in approach of various sorts catalyzing things. I don't see what's surprising or unusual here, really.[/quote]

But 21 Fingers and Skim Heaven... kind of kick ass. Isn't the consensus more or less that Smile is an awesome album all around? And think about it--what you're saying is kind of contradictory. We could say these quirky, unusual songs are examples of "not trying"? I think either they're a stylistic jump/new experiment [i]or [/i] examples of not trying. I don't think it can really be both.

Earlier pillows work evidences effort and care for the music in songwriting, experimentation, or quality production. Often all three. Not so for the recent works, in my humble opinion. At best, Sawao writes a decent song still--once in a while. The rest of the equation is absent.

This is all just raw speculation, but I'm wondering that maybe we are getting a lot of this Americana pop blues because Sawao doesn't feel like he's "nailed it" yet, so they aren't moving on until they get a record that they and the audience are fully impressed with? What do the Japanese fans think about the past several albums? If they are loving them, then it's simply sticking with what's working, but maybe if it is the case that Japanese fans are having generally the same feelings that are being expressed here, then it is the artist in him that wants to achieve this goal that he is perceived to not be meeting.

Looking back to Moondust, I can see that it didn't go over too well with some people here, but for me, there is only a couple songs I'd consider skipping. I don't like more than half of both Ooparts and Horn Again. I still don't know what those records were. Unfocused, odd choices, bland mix, experimentation, but only dipping a toe. I'm wondering if Moondust was the third attempt, and that Stroll and Roll is the fourth attempt, with Trial being the "let's try something different, and then we'll try again on the next album".

The feelings I get from Trial are themes of warmth and coldness. It's not just the influence of the Trial PV, so much of that album gives me an impression of fresh, cool air rushing past me on a vista or speeding through the woods (Revival, Rescue, Energia, Trial, Minority Whisper) or fireside, nostalgic and reflecting in peace (Polaris, Mochinushi, Flashback Story, I swear I can hear an accordion in the chorus of Comic Sonic, Trial again for the chorus.) Even the packaging sees them in comfy sweaters, in black and white, out in the woods (in Utah?), a stunt plane flying, fonts washed out, trees bare. It seems that they knew what they were going for top to bottom, and they executed it fairly well. A fairly solid effort. Which leads back to the "what the fuck is this supposed to be" album covers of a cowboy saloon-mobile driving through a diarrhea wasteland, a drab oxen just chilling, purple tigers OH MY!, and now WHOA, RADICAL skydiving dudes (and really, Photoshop Seattle and American 50s while we're at it). What's the theme of those records? I don't know. Ten or eleven pop rock songs that dabble in this or that, mostly interchangeable with each other. Perhaps they are still trying to make a particular record that completely fulfills their own expectations before they can close the book on it?

[quote]But 21 Fingers and Skim Heaven... kind of kick ass. Isn't the consensus more or less that Smile is an awesome album all around? And think about it--what you're saying is kind of contradictory. We could say these quirky, unusual songs are examples of "not trying"? I think either they're a stylistic jump/new experiment [i]or [/i] examples of not trying. I don't think it can really be both.[/quote]

Perhaps, but if the style/nuances the band moves towards are new [i]to them[/] wouldn't that kind of nullify that judgment over "not trying," once again? We're basically judging intention and making empty guesses at the approach taken in the creative process here, at the end of the day.

Sure. It's just my speculation/analysis at that point. Can't prove they're not trying, and maybe the new music sounds great to some people's ears. It's just frustrating to me because we all know they're capable of music that's both rich and catchy, but for me they're not hitting those marks anymore, which makes it feel like they've lost something or aren't giving it what they used to.

But that's old news coming from me, and nobody should give my opinion a second thought if the music sounds good to them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I dunno but I'm listening to "Taiyou wo Matteru" and this shit sounds [i]fresh[/i].

[quote="Jomei"]It's just frustrating to me because we all know they're capable of music that's both rich and catchy, but for me they're not hitting those marks anymore, which makes it feel like they've lost something or aren't giving it what they used to.[/quote]

See: my endless frustration with quiet drums and over-clean vocals on most recent Ajikan releases. I think we tend to be harsher on the bands we care about when they make something that we don't like as much.

Also, I think the fact that so many people agree on Trial being a good album shows that there's still something there, even if the overall direction they've taken feels a bit underwhelming to some people.

(Either way, Jolmes-kun, you are the energy to which I move bb~ )

[quote="Marekenshin"]I think we tend to be harsher on the bands we care about when they make something that we don't like as much.[/quote]

This is certainly true.

Their music means a lot to me, but it just doesn't stir those emotions anymore. To us, their English fans, the appeal has always been about emotion. When you can't understand what the singer is actually singing about, you're losing a critical portion of the song. You can read a transcription of the lyrics but it's not the same. It's the emotion behind the words that carries the song across language barriers and that emotion is something i'm no longer feeling in their modern material. For a while I thought maybe my interests had simply changed, but even after all this time when I go back and listen to their earlier albums that emotion is still there and just as strong as the first time I heard it, I still enjoy those albums for all the same reasons.

Going back to the point about The Pillows' live playing being so much better than their studio sound, I'd say it's really just that they've gotten used to, and indeed probably prefer, extremely clean production values. I'd attribute this change to the move to Avex, because [i]My Foot[/i] sounds quite raw in comparison to [i]Wake Up![/i], and I think it's also symptomatic of a broader change in Yamanaka which has led him to make much more safe, radio-friendly music as the years have gone by. This approach also seems to have robbed the band's newer material of some of the passion and life that came through in their output with King, even on the more mediocre albums like [i]Good Dreams[/i] and [i]Thank You, My Twilight[/i]. Personally, I don't think the change is necessarily [i]bad[/i], because songs like "Happy Birthday" and "Movement" are among my favourites of The Pillows' entire catalogue, but without that sincerity that came with the less polished production and the heavier rock sound, audiences have felt something to be missing. In the live setting, however, the band seems to know that something more is needed than a clean, perfect playthrough of the songs, or at least they get caught up in the moment, so they put a little more into it. Hence I wouldn't say that The Pillows have gotten lazy in the studio as much as that "perfect" studio sound is something they actually aspire to nowadays. That, and they probably aren't into making bangers like "Rock'n'Roll Sinners" anymore.

[quote="dimsim3478"]the more mediocre albums like [i]Good Dreams[/i] and [i]Thank You, My Twilight[/i].[/quote]

Sorry, quick amendment: that change I'm talking about isn't evident on [i]Good Dreams[/i] and [i]Thank You, My Twilight[/i]; they're both fairly passionate albums, although I do still think they're both somewhat mediocre.