[quote="MyFoot"]Totally irrelevant, but let me just join this Rugrats nostalgia-fest by saying that I still to this day say "It's not my house, it's MY house." a la the episode where Tommy stays at Chuckie's and tries to make him do things his way.[/quote]

Haha oh my gosh I forgot about that one. And yes, rockman, that's the one! ... ...I hope I haven't derailed this thread. Maybe we should make a Rugrats thread in moving pictures, if there isn't one already.

And of course I should have known that I would be able to find the jingle on the internet. It's really not similar, but SOMEHOW it still reminds me of Hibi no uta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk2hg7O2X4s

.

We're all forgetting the pillows' best song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg-kzGnZJAE

Eh, Flame is overrated. Always preferred Rever's Edge myself.

[quote="Marekenshin"]Eh, Flame is overrated. Always preferred Rever's Edge myself.[/quote]
And to say nothing of Manabe's playing on Yorii Gallop

Glad to see you back around the forums, SL.

[quote="Marekenshin"]:wub: Glad to see you back around the forums, SL.[/quote]
Thanks Mare

I fell off the wagon around the time of Pied Piper and Rock Stock, because the stylistic directions they were taking (and the shitty production) felt like they were giving up and just going through the motions. I occasionally looked on here but didn't listen to any of the newer stuff until I took a chance on Moondust. I'm glad I came back, because Horn Again and Trial were totally worth the wait.

I feel like the songwriting itself has remained strong, and Manabe's guitar is constantly worth listening to, but the production took a definite dip there and still hasn't really recovered (though there are aspects that have improved since the initial switch over to Avex). The loss of dynamics definitely doesn't help things at all, but I feel like when you see the songs live it helps make up for that a lot. I know seeing Comic Sonic played live changed my opinion about that one.

I don't see the music industry pulling its head out of its ass any time soon, and a lot of the Japanese rock scene has been suffering from this bullshit modern "production" (Ajikan is probably the biggest victim I've seen in terms of song dynamics and rock badassery getting defanged by production). I guess at least there's still crunch and growl to the guitars on the recent pillows stuff to some degree, even if it's that silly "clean" crunch all these fuckers love to try and make (it's not a goddamn sound you capture unless your guitar tone is terrible ffs).

There's definitely been some great songwriting throughout, but some of it has definitely lost me. Some songs are consistently solid, others have worthwhile ideas here and there but could've benefited from another writing pass or, at the very least, some scissors. Of course, which ones are which can be pretty subjective, but speaking for my ears, there have been several rather weak releases in the past 8 years.

I've got some ideas tumbling around in my head for a fan-edited album of the 2008/2009 material, with radically different sequencing and pacing built around contrasts between shorter songs. I'm not making any promises that it'll materialize or be any good, but it gives me something to play around with

[quote="Marekenshin"] (Ajikan is probably the biggest victim I've seen in terms of song dynamics and rock badassery getting defanged by production).[/quote]

not to go off topic but have you heard their newest single, I thought it was pretty badass actually.

http://en.musicplayon.com/play?v=910737

Yeah dude, new single was good, but Ajikan never fails to write solid music. My issue is with the general trend in rock music production (and I guess music production/mastering in general) these days.

[quote="Marekenshin"]Yeah dude, new single was good, but Ajikan never fails to write solid music. My issue is with the general trend in rock music production (and I guess music production/mastering in general) these days.[/quote]

True dat, I'd have to agree. Anything remotely mainstream or trying to get airplay (not to use a buzzword), is just overproduced to crap. So many disappointing new albums this year. I gotta say, while it may also be true overseas, I've found a ton of new Japanese artists recently that have revitalized my appreciation for amazing music.

Impossible to pick only ten tracks, but here's a random attempt (in no particular order):

Strange Chameleon
Blues Drive Monster
Funny Bunny
Swanky Street
Bokura Halley no Susei
Spiky Goose
One Life
Vain Dog (In Rain Drop)
Frontiers
Please Mr. Lostman

And so, so many others left out...

[quote="Revol"]And so, so many others left out...[/quote]

The core problem with this. For the pillows, a top 20 or top 25 would be almost easier.

Here is how things look like now:

[b]#1[/b]
One Life

[b]#2[/b]
Bokura no Hare suisee

[b]#3[/b]
Swanky Street

[b]#4[/b]
Funny Bunny
Strange Chameleon
Trip Dancer

[b]#5[/b]
Daydream Wonder
Fool On The Planet
Midnight Down

[b]#6[/b]
Blues Drive Monster
Crazy Sunshine
Hybrid Rainbow
Kanojo wa Kyou
Let's See If That's True Or Not
No Self Control
Tiny Boat
White Summer and Green Bicycle, Red Hair with Black Guitar

[b]#7[/b]
Ano Hito Onaji Sora no Shita De
Another Morning
Last Dinosaur
Moon Marguerite
Patricia
Skeleton Liar
Spiky Goose
The Third Eye

[b]#8[/b]
1989
Akanai Tobira no Mae De
Back Seat Dog
Beautiful Morning With You
Beautiful Picture
Borderline Case
Carnival
Happy Birthday
Ice Pick
I Think I Can
Kono Yo No Hate Made
Ladybird girl
Liberty
Like a Lovesong
Monochrome Lovers
Nowhere
Please Mr. Lostman
Ride on Shooting Star
Rush
Scarecrow
Smile
Something Like a Romance
Sunday
Thank You My Twilight
Trial
[b](25 songs)[/b]

[b]#9[/b]
Ame Ni Utaeba (If You Sing in the Rain)
Angel Fish
Babylon Verses of Angel
Blue March
Boku Wa Kakera
Come On, Ghost
ENERUGIA
Everyday Songs
Freebee Honey
Frontiers
Future
Girls Don’t Cry
Good Dreams
Good Morning, Good News
Hello Girl
I Don’t Cry
I Know You
I Want To Be Sullivan
Ki ni Shitenaiyo
Kim Deal
Lesser Hamster no Yuutsu
Little Busters
Mochinushi no Nai Guitar
My Foot
Ninny
Nobody Knows What Blooms
Okujyo Ni Nobotte
Over Amp
Paper Triangle
Razorlike Blue
Runners High
Sayounara Tansai Wakusei
Sitting On a Paper Moon
Sleepy Head
Something Like a Romance
Stalker Goes to Babylon
Stand up and go
Subhuman
Sunday
That House
Tonight
Toy Dolls
Vain Dog (In Rain Drop)
[b](43 songs) [/b]



For the record: these are 93 songs. Up to now, 21 people have posted their list.
One Life is in 10/21 lists. Bokura no Hare suisee in 9/21, Swanky Street in 7/21 and from there on it is 6/21, 5/21, 4/21..... 1/21. So yeah, if you haven't posted your top 10 yet, I invite you to do so...(Mafu, ThomasJames, Dewith, h2orowe, Orochi) and if you want to review and change your old top 10 you are very welcome to do so (it's been two years now since...).

Well if you're just going by how many lists a song appears on and not number of votes, I should change my other 9.

1. Strange Chameleon

No particular order thereafter (alphabetical):

Beautiful Morning with You
Hybrid Rainbow
Kim Deal
Ladybird girl
Midnight Down
Moon Margaret
Nobody knows what blooms
Swanky Street
Trial

Basically mostly I love me the cheesiest pillows songs possible. My real list is just every cute or tragic love song Sawao has written.