I've said it before and I'll say it again, all Sawao & co. need to do is take some time off and get their shit together. That and try a different approach in style, for a change. Some experimenting would be nice.

Rodeo Star Mate is better than a lot of Ooparts, in my opinion. It still suffers from the "let's end this song, quick!" problem, though.

Sad Fad Love is forgettable though. I agree they need to take a break, especially after all the new stuff for the 20th anniversary.

Personally, I just tend to not take the new pillows releases that seriously. I mean, honestly, compared to stuff like Something Like a Romance or Ice Pick (to randomly name a couple of kickass pillows songs), I don't think their recent material really holds up at all. But on its own, most of the newer stuff is rather fun and catchy. (In general, that's how I feel about a good deal of My Foot, WUx3, and Pied Piper.)

Even with that in mind, I didn't really care for Ooparts at all. But Rodeo Star Mate fits more in line with the "fun little ditty" mindset I approach new pillows material with. In the grand scheme of things, it's a "meh" song at best, but I say it's good for what it is.

Thing is, Wake Up! or Pied Piper are very decent alt-rock albums if you take them per se, but when you compare them to stuff like Happy Bivouac or Little Busters, you realize they're really nothing special.

[quote="Orochi"]Personally, I just tend to not take the new pillows releases that seriously. I mean, honestly, compared to stuff like Something Like a Romance or Ice Pick (to randomly name a couple of kickass pillows songs), I don't think their recent material really holds up at all. But on its own, most of the newer stuff is rather fun and catchy. (In general, that's how I feel about a good deal of My Foot, WUx3, and Pied Piper.)

Even with that in mind, I didn't really care for Ooparts at all. But Rodeo Star Mate fits more in line with the "fun little ditty" mindset I approach new pillows material with. In the grand scheme of things, it's a "meh" song at best, but I say it's good for what it is.[/quote]

Hm, I guess this is the same philosophy I employ when I look at new pillows material.

I agree with Orochi's post except that it only applies when the songs are reasonably good (see: Nonfiction, New Animal, etc.). I would dismiss Rodeo Star Mate as "good for what it is" if it were a filler track on an otherwise-tight album, but this is the [i]single.[/i] Never mind the glorified 90s era pillows, what happened to the awesomeness of the singles of 2005?

I know I made this point before, but it bears repeating.

[quote="Jomei"]but this is the [i]single.[/i] Never mind the glorified 90s era pillows, what happened to the awesomeness of the singles of 2005?[/quote]

Yeah. I mean look at this. [url]http://twitpic.com/zz34o[/url]

This is their huge push now. The big single. On the Shibuya intersection screen. Rodeo Star Mate. The most positive views on IM seem to be "Eh, it's not BAD - in fact, it's actually pretty catchy!" - DUDE, THIS IS A SINGLE BY YOUR FAVORITE BAND IN THE WORLD. I AM WEEPING.

Frankly, there are far worse things that have happened to me this year already. And like I said, I fucking love Sad Fad Love. So there.

[quote="Marekenshin"] And like I said, I fucking love Sad Fad Love. So there.[/quote]

I fucking love Sad Fad Love too. It's almost as if they're taking the better songs and making them B-Sides, because the quick and catchy pop tunes will bring in the money. This could be all Avex's fault after all, but who knows.

Even on the Ladybird Girl single, I thought And Hello! was a better song than Ladybird Girl. I still like the title track, though.

[quote="GoldenRhino"]DUDE, THIS IS A SINGLE BY YOUR FAVORITE BAND IN THE WORLD. I AM WEEPING.[/quote]

[quote="Jomei"]I agree with Orochi's post except that it only applies when the songs are reasonably good (see: Nonfiction, New Animal, etc.). I would dismiss Rodeo Star Mate as "good for what it is" if it were a filler track on an otherwise-tight album, but this is the [i]single.[/i] Never mind the glorified 90s era pillows, what happened to the awesomeness of the singles of 2005?

I know I made this point before, but it bears repeating.[/quote]

Yeah. It's no 'Sono mirai wa ima' or 'The Third Eye'.

But, I was underwhelmed by 'Shiroi natsu...' when it came out, because I had wanted something more energetic, and now I think it's one of their best songs - who knows what we'll think later about these songs.

[quote="GoldenRhino"]DUDE, THIS IS A SINGLE BY YOUR FAVORITE BAND IN THE WORLD. I AM WEEPING.[/quote]


It's almost like you [i]want[/i] us to hate this.

Am I the only one that ~didn't~ like Sad Fad Love? I need to listen to it more to draw a final opinion, but I'm not really digging it

I love Rodeo Star Mate, srsly

[quote="Raid"]Am I the only one that ~didn't~ like Sad Fad Love? [/quote]

No.

I'm not usually super critical of their works, either. Basically, it works like this: If I can feel [i]something positive[/i] in the song, I like it. Rodeo Star Mate does this for me because of it's lightheartedness and also the solo, which I think is fantastic. I'm actually surprised nobody else said anything about it.

[quote="Raid"]Am I the only one that ~didn't~ like Sad Fad Love? I need to listen to it more to draw a final opinion, but I'm not really digging it[/quote]

Nope, I'm with you.

IMO all music should be viewed independently and without comparison to other works because that's just not a functional mindset of expression.

I've never heard a band who wrote songs in comparison to other bands that ever wrote anything remotely memorable. Because all of their music sounded like it was competing with preexisting material and in the end no music that tries to rise to or above the level of preexisting music ever succeeds at doing so.

applying a mentality of relativity to music on any level is limiting, ends up creating an air of inbred ideology around music, and directly interferes with the application of inspiration. Relativity is a rational approach to music, and rationality has no place in the act of expression.

when the consumers of music have that kind of ideology the effect trickles down to the artist through the label. as demand for redundant/relative music increases the label will stress the artists to create redundant/relative music.

one reason I like OOPARTS is because it feels like the pillows doing what they want despite what people want. And it shows, Johnny Strobe, YOUR ORDER, Lemon Drops, Dance with god, melody, and Ameagari are all very memorable songs. Primer Beat, life sized life, and Foxes fill in well. and that only leaves Beyond the moon, which isn't THAT bad.

While what you say is true, it I think it's simply a matter of people listening to the songs and not liking them. It's true, when explaining why they often look back on past material, but the core reason for their dislike is rooted in preference, not in how it compares to past material. That's what I think you fail to understand.

It's not like I'm listening to every pillows song and going "not as good as Happy Bivouac... instant fail". Sometimes when I describe my reasons for disliking a song I point to past material, but that by no means is the reason I dislike the songs... I just don't like some of the newer ones as much as others (you) do.

And as I've stated, I think OOParts is alright. (for the record, I prefer Beyond the Moon to almost everything else on OOParts, except maybe Dance with God and Ameagari, but that's a simple matter of preference. )