Bandscore: ガゼット (the GazettE) / REGRET / Filth in the beauty

I'm on a roll with magazines and Gazette today, aren't I?

A wonderful moderator of the gazette_daily LJ community posted up Gazette's REGRET and Filth in the beauty bandscores that were featured in the "glare" magazine. I'm reposting the scans here for any musicians out there who're interested (and don't have a LJ account or simply don't want to join a community).

REGRET bandscore zip: www.megaupload.com/?d=SEYIH07H

Filth in the beauty bandscore zip: www.megaupload.com/?d=QGVVGH2O

Enjoy. I might actually try out the vocals melody on my violin when I feel like it. It's pretty simple stuff. And if the megaupload links ever expire, please don't ask me to reupload the files because by then, they most likely won't be on my computer anymore.

And by the way, the Gazette photos featured in this magazine are awesome in that they also include beautiful closeups of the band's instruments (I spent a long time staring at Aoi's ESP Proto-type model). Definitely go take a look.

Misspellings and Another Money Grubbing Scheme

My copy of SHOXX bis vol. 11 arrived today. As I flipped through the pages, one thing, one glaring thing, jumped out at me.

God damn it, the word "interview" is misspelled on the heading of every single Gazette member interview page.

The "inrterview" heading is large and extremely conspicuous. I can't believe it's spelled wrong 5 times (one for every member). The funny thing is: in the subheading, the spelling is actually correct. Guess no one at SHOXX noticed the difference.

As I gazed at the 3 double-sided posters that came with the magazine (one Gazette member on one side of a poster, plus a group shot), I realized one thing: this "generous" inclusion of 3 posters is actually another marketing scheme to cheat more money out of fans. You see, if you buy only one copy of the magazine, there's no way to hang the posters so that all 5 Gazette members are shown. I'm peeved that Aoi and Uruha are on the front and back of the same poster, so I had to choose between either displaying Aoi or Uruha on my wall (Aoi won, since he's my favorite of the 2 guitarists). The only solution to this type of dilemma is to buy 2 copies of the magazine. And there lies the genius.

This just confirms that yes, the visual kei industry is a pack of manipulative, money sucking jackals.

Gazette on HEY!HEY!HEY! Music Champ

November 13 came and went. The footage of Gazette on HEY!x3 finally surfaced.

There must have been some Gazette fangirls in the audience. Uruha definitely got the loudest cheer when he introduced himself. Damn him for being so pretty and getting all the fangirls' attention.

Hamada Masatoshi (the host with the checkered shirt) kept on messing with Reita. When asking the individual band members questions, he skipped Reita twice. To everyone's amusement, Reita jumped out of his seat to get Hamada's attention every time.

Uruha: "Blah, blah, blah."

Hamada: "All right, moving on..."

Reita jumps up and pokes Hamada.

*laughter in the studio*

Reita actually looked a bit upset when he got skipped over. Poor thing. :D

Unrelated: RURUTIA's Chorion album is so beautiful. Get it!

News: ガゼット (the GazettE) / Hyena [2007.02.07]

Gazette will delight us with another single release early next year. What surprises will they have in store for us?

Artist: ガゼット (Gazette)
Release: Hyena
Label: PS Company
Date: 2007.02.07

Optical Impression
2 tracks + DVD
1.Hyena
2.千鶴
Catalog Number: KICM-91192
Price: 1,680 yen (tax in)

Auditory Impression
3 tracks
1.Hyena
2.千鶴
3.Defective Tragedy
Catalog Number: KICM-1192
Price: 1,260 yen (tax in)

Look forward to it!

News: Gazette to Appear on HEY!x3 Music Champ

Imagine my delight when I saw the following message in my e-mail inbox this morning:

the GazettEフジテレビ「HEY!HEY!HEY!」

“RANK IN”コーナートークゲスト出演決定！
11/13（月）20：00-20：54
http://www.fujitv.co.jp/HEY/

Wohoo! Gazette will make their appearance in HEY!HEY!HEY! Music Champ TV show as the "RANK IN" Corner Talk Guests on November 13. Tune in if you can.

First Nightmare, now Gazette, it's awesome to see my favorite J-Rock bands getting recognition on major national music shows. I'll be on the lookout for footage of this airing.

Music Review: ガゼット(the GazettE) / Filth in the beauty

1. Filth in the beauty [watch]
2. Rich Excrement
3. Crucify Sorrow

CDJapan (Optical / Auditory) / HMV (Optical / Auditory) / YesAsia (Optical / Auditory)

1. Filth in the beauty / I've already goshed over this song so much back when the PV first came out that now I'm at a loss as to what to say. Yes, the brilliant fusion of R&B and hard rock kicks ass from Thailand and back (actually, it's probably from Japan and back). The female vocal enhances the song and gives it that extra "omph". Ruki sings in English throughout most of the track, but of course, no one can even tell what he's saying. :D Nevertheless, Filth in the beauty rocks hard and has become one of my favorite Gazette songs of all time. (Someone had suggested that this song is about incest between father and daughter. All I can say to that is: f**king hell!) ♥

2. Rich Excrement / I've already made fun of the song title in a previous post, so let's just skip that part. A street-punk rock song in which Ruki raps through the entire track, Rich Excrement reminds me of previous works like Maximum impulse and Maggots. The track features the same type of call-and-response found in Gazette power songs: Ruki growls out lyrics and the rest of the band roars back in answer. This is a phenomenonal headbanger and will be another hit live song, I can already see it.

3. Crucify Sorrow / I really looked forward to hearing this song in full after listening to the preview. I'm glad to say, it doesn't disappoint. This track is designed to showcase Ruki's rich, dynamic voice. Ruki finally sings instead of screaming and yelling into his microphone and I applaud. For some reason, the bridge section tends to be my favorite part when it comes to Gazette, and this is another one of those songs. Ruki sounds simply exceptional. ♥

Rating: Fantastic

News: ガゼット (Gazette) / European Edition「Nameless Liberty.Six Guns…」[2006.11.03]

I am SO bloody jealous of Germans right now.

The German company CLJ Records will be releasing the European edition of Gazette's Nameless Liberty.Six Guns live DVD set. This release will consist of the two concert discs and include both German and English subtitles. The booklet will also contain English lyrics.

Price: 24.99 EUR (about $32)

A special fan edition with DVDs and a T-shirt is also planned. Details will be announced soon.

I'm disappointed, however, that the European edition doesn't include the third disc from the Japanese limited edition. The third disc is the one that contains backstage and interview footages, and kicks absolute ass. Guess the company's too lazy to translate and subtitle it. Because the third CD's not included, I hesitate in buying this...

Bah. We Americans are so neglected. *kicks Free-Will America* Why can't you do the same for us?! PS Company is a sub-label of Free-Will, for god's sake! The euro-dollar exchange rate sucks.

Stupid English Song Titles

Take one look at the song titles of Gazette's two upcoming singles.

REGRET -Auditory Impression-
1. REGRET
2. Phychedelic Heroine
3. Worthless War

Filth in the beauty -Auditory Impression-
1. Filth in the beauty
2. Rich Excrement
3. Crucify Sorrow

Phychedelic Heroine?! Don't you mean, "psychedelic heroin"? And, Rich EXCREMENT?!! First of all, why in the world would you use the word "excrement" in a song title of all things? And second, why the hell is the excrement "rich"?

What the fuck is wrong with these Japanese bands? They need to hire an English song title consultant.

Dir en grey: "So, what do you think of 'Agitated Screams of Maggots'?"

Consultant: "..."

Dir en grey: "Well?"

Consultant: "This is the most stupid ass song title I've ever heard."

Maggots: X__x "You hurt our feelings! Maggots have a right to feel agitation, too!"

A Declaration of Love

I have a new favorite song that I shall play on repeat for the entire next week (and the week after that, then another week after that, then...).

Words fail me when it comes to describing Gazette's sheer brilliance at transcending genres. Which of the band members composed this song? Who decided to add the R&B element? Whoever it is, I'd like to offer Gazette my soul. And my firstborn child. And oh, would you like me to be your personal servant for the next 10 years? Anything else I can give you so that you can keep on producing fantastic works like this?

You guys are a gem, a treasure to be kept close to our hearts. I'm so, so glad that I had the fortune to discover you in the first place. Your dedication and sincerity have won me over completely.

Tears welled in my eyes as I saw you guys collapse onto the ground after lives because you had wore yourselves out so thoroughly that you had no strength left. You had given your all to your fans and had nearly driven yourselves to expiration. My heart went out to you when you were so moved at Budokan that you cried on the stage. All of you, men, rock stars, cried. I loved you even more when at a tour location, the venue was so tiny and claustrophobia-inducing that the entire band had no room to move on the stage and was pressed right against the crowd, but you still played. When power went out in the middle of the performance, you kept on going....

You did all this for the fans. You love us. And we fell in love with you.

My beloved Gazette, I wish you all the best. Keep true to yourselves and know that you have our support and love, forever.

What Makes a Good Live Report

I've read quite a number of live reports. I'm sure all of you have found also that while some reports are powerful, intense, and gripping, others are simply... bland and mediocre. What separate the fantastic reports from the so-so ones?

I present two case studies. These are two reports that floored me with their passion and earnesty, the best I've read in a long time.

One, Gazette's Nameless Liberty Tour at Fukuoka on April 11, 2006, written by shirann of LJ. Some parts that really stood out to me:

Sometime during this song, I think Ruki's ring or maybe the mic cut his face open just beside his nose, but he didn't even seem to notice. He seriously looked delerious with... something... as he sang the slow part, and then he exploded into madness again for the chorus! I don't think I've ever seen anyone get that much into a song. I didn't really watch the others a lot during this, mostly because I couldn't tear my eyes away from Ruki. He just... I fell in love with his raw power. His emotion is right there, swirling in giant currents around him and over everyone else.

...

During the bridge, I think there was more orchestrated hand movement, but by this time I was seriously too lost in the experience to notice the crowd much anymore. Uruha was smiling at the crowd a lot during this song. At one time I looked at him, and I think he spotted my FUCK wristband, cause he smiled at me again! One thing stands out very prominently in my mind for this song, though. At one point, Reita was relatively close to the edge of the stage, playing to the crowd and looking over us a few times, so... I flipped him off. OMFG, I GAVE REITA THE FINGER! I don't know what made me do it, but it just kind of... happened. Anyway, he definitely saw it, because he kind of blinked, then looked down my arm and paused for a second on my face. And I'm sure I must have had this "OMFG PLEASE LET ME JUST DISAPPEAR" look on my face because he smirked slightly, and went back to backstage. I feel so bad! But maybe he was amused by it. I felt like facepalming, but I couldn't because I seriously couldn't get my hand to my face at that point, it was so crammed.

Take a deep breath and sit back. Here's the second live report. alice nine.'s 2nd Oneman Tour (Zekkeishoku) at Fukuoka on May 20, 2006, written by direngrey_ of LJ.

This was the only song of the night where 将 [note: Shou] was off a bit. The beginning `Shishiza wa ~` was clearly off key, and I saw him look to the side after he sung it and grimace, like "Get yourself together, 将!!"

The rest of the opening was a better, but still a little off...

After the opening, he nailed every note.

But, I`ll never forget that look on his face. A while back on his journal, 将 wrote about how painfully embarassing it is for him when he can`t perform perfectly as a vocalist. He`s come such a long way, but I still feel 将 often doubts his ability. I touched on this in my letter to him, as well...

I hope 将 can completely believe in himself one day, and embrace his unbelievable talents without doubting himself. He deserves that...

...

沙我 [note: Saga] did something totally random during 暁 [note: Akatsuki]. I had my hands out, and so did the 2 girls to my left. 沙我 walked a little closer, licked his finger... and then drew it accross my left hand.
I was dumbstruck.

That got a total `Wow, YAY!!!` in my head, but I was also like `沙我, you`re SO RANDOM!!`.

And yes, I`ve washed my hands MANY times since then, so no one ask me to clone him XD I REFUSE!

Reading these leave a huge smile on my face. What is it about these two reports that I absolutely love? I find that I really enjoy details on band-audience interactions. The interactions, I believe, are the heart and soul of all lives. This is why we pay to see our favorite bands in concert. Nothing else can capture the magic of attending an actual live. The DVD recordings completely pale in comparison to being a member of the fired-up crowd, headbanging, moshing to the music. When a band member actually makes eye-contact and/or smile or wave at you, you feel your heart stop and all blood rush to your face. That moment of intensity simply cannot be found anywhere else.

Another factor that really weighs in is that these two writors of the reports obviously love, love the bands whose lives they attended. They worship the bands and they're not afraid to bare their souls and put their love into passionate words. They're sincere and earnest. On a certain level, the readers are able to attend the concerts vicariously because they can so easily relate to the writors. It was a pleasure, a true pleasure and honor, for me to share their experiences. shirann and direngrey_ will probably never see what I have written here, but still, I want to thank them.

Thank you sincerely for bringing the concerts alive to us readers and allowing us to experience those magical moments with you. You guys are the best.

Music Review: ガゼット (the GazettE) / NIL

1. THE END
2. Nausea & Shudder
3. Bath Room
4. Maggots
5. 生暖かい雨とざらついた情熱 (Namaatatakai Ame Tozaratsuita Jounetsu)
6. D.L.N
7. SHADOW VI II I [watch]
8. バレッタ (Beretta)
9. Cassis [watch]
10. SILLY GOD DISCO [watch]
11. DISCHARGE
12. 体温 (Taion) [watch]

CDJapan (Limited / Normal) / HMV (Normal: Germany / Japan) / YesAsia (Limited / Normal)

1. THE END / The first track of the album, and it's named "the end"? How interesting. This is more of an instrumental piece that sets the mood for the album (I wouldn't call what Ruki and the rest of the band do singing, in the strictest sense). Dark, mysterious, and very catchy.

2. Nausea & Shudder / This is a heavy song with pretty hard instrumentals yet a great melody. Here, you get the first taste of Ruki's vocal improvement since Gazette's last album, Disorder. If you haven't been following their 2005 singles releases, you might be caught off guard by the vast difference of Ruki's singing. His voice is richer, more powerful, and more dynamic. In this song, he sounds so passionate and has beyond met my expectations. ♥

3. Bath Room / Ahh, this song has an awesome beginning. Once again, it's a relatively heavy piece. I think my favorite part is right after the guitar solo. Ruki restrains his vocals most of time during this track but breaks into intense full voice singing that truly enhances the climax of the song. Solid work.

4. Maggots / Wah, a head banging heavy metal song! I think metal fans can probably appreciate this track better than I can. This song is so very masculine, which reminds me once again that despite the band's beautiful appearance, these are men. Heavy instrumentals, heavy chanting, very hardcore.

5. 生暖かい雨とざらついた情熱 / I think my jaw dropped when I first heard this track. It... sounds like... SWING?! Had I been a better swing dancer (or at least more agile on my feet, because trust me, this song requires serious footwork), I'd break out into a dance to this song. I am so pleasantly surprised by this new style. It really showcases the fun side of the band and shows its willingness to experiment. Bloody cool!

6. D.L.N / Oooh, a ballad! My gosh, the chorus part is absolutely beautiful. The children's voices really complement and enhance Ruki's singing. He puts so much passion, so much fire into his performance. This is a song that tugs on my heartstrings and really makes me feel. Simply fantastic. ♥

7. SHADOW VI II I / Holy crap, this song has an awesome bass line, wow! I normally don't pay as much attention to bass lines because they often don't stand out, but man, it's hard to ignore this one! Reita does amazing work on his bass and really makes this track unique. This is once again a swing-like, completely danceable song. But this suddenly changes about 2/3 through the track (the bridge), the tempo shifts and what the... this song is now funk?! Then just as quickly, it returns to the original swing beat and left me sitting there blinking. This is some serious experimentation. I love it! ♥

8. バレッタ / This is a semi-ballad song, semi, because I think the beat is too fast throughout for it to be a true ballad. This particular track doesn't really stand out for me. It's very nice and might work better had it been a single or even the B-side to a single. But in an album, it gets overshadowed (probably because it's sandwiched between two of my favorite tracks). Meh.

9. Cassis / Nice, another beautiful ballad. The guitar solos featuring Uruha and Aoi freaking kick ass. After seeing the PV, I realized that Ruki plays the guitar too in this song. He even gets a mini guitar solo right after Uruha's solo (well, kind of)! This song once again characterizes my favorite aspect of Ruki's vocals, the rich timbre and the impassioned singing. ♥

10. SILLY GOD DISCO / I really should have seen this coming, since clues have been dropping with 生暖かい雨とざらついた情熱 and SHADOW VI II I, but I was still caught off guard when this track came on. I think I must have jumped off my chair and started leaping about the room. *sweatdrop* Gazette + funky disco = holy crap, this song is too awesome for words. This is such a fun, wacky, wicked piece! Very very sexy, it's just... argh! Too bloody brilliant. Ruki's English is awful and I can't understand a word, but who cares?! ♥

11. DISCHARGE / Hehe, another heavy metal track. This would be a great piece to play during lives because it'd really get the crowd worked up. I can already imagine the headbanging and roaring. The fangirls are going to go wild.

12. 体温 / This is such a dark and harsh song. By harsh, I'm not just talking about the heavy instrumentals, but really mean the emotion conveyed through this piece. It feels so naked and raw, liking stripping away the outer layer and finding what's underneath bleeding and screaming for release. This song really really moves and resonates within me. This is probably the most emotionally powerful song and a wonderful end to this masterpiece album. ♥

Yes, I think this is Gazette's best work so far. Ruki's amazing vocal improvement truly stands out. It's worth every yen of the ¥3600 (actually, it's more than that since I have to pay for shipping).

Rating: Fantastic

Gazette Rocks & Rolls

Wohooo, I just got a Gazette T-shirt while shopping today!

Okay, it isn't an official Gazette shirt, but when I saw this black shirt with a skull design and the words "Rock or Roll" on it, I knew I just HAD to get it because it'd be a perfect Gazette shirt (Gazette the band's logo is also a skull). Since I can't get the official shirt (you can only get those at their lives), I'm making do with this.

This was the last skull rock and roll T-shirt the store had and it's a size L. It's a bit big on me, but still perfectly wearable. ^_^ This is so my favorite T-shirt right now. Hahaha!

ガゼット (the GazettE) / THE $OCIAL RIOT MACHINE$ (PSC Tour 2005)

Jesus Christ, I can't stop watching this amazing performance. The explosive energy, the wild crowd, THIS is what lives should be like. Gazette kicks so much ass!