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No. 833
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In before the end of this post - TL;DR: useless text, only scarcely relevant to the topic. That's a personal warning.
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I'm not letting go of the bloodthirsty butchers topic just yet!
After having played each album (in my bb playlist) at least >10 times, I feel a certain urge for sharing my feel. You know, that feel when vocalist Yoshimura sings "Øøøøøø~", of which you insist must be his trademark chanting sound for enchanting already enchanted jap indie, punk rock junkies...
Okay favorite albums; cliché as it sounds - an impossible pick, but kocorono really is insta-classic on first listen. Admittedly I do find their initial albums endlessly charming, sporting that dry and gritty post-punk-ish, light screamy vocals - wrapped up by raw, entry-level recording. Like any successful punk bands they do evolve from that point, and neither for the worse nor better. What I find most mesmerizing is that percieved notion of calmness on the vocalist's behalf, while still emititng a significant ammount of strength. In ways it's the opposite of COWPERS, in the respect that the latter seems to go just a little further pro quo pushing out that last drop of intensiveness; while in bb's case the intensity just flows out naturally. Both are to me admirable traits that I enjoy equally on different levels. This phenomenon is especially notable when given some contrast, like in duo live performances. That is my take on bb's vocal characteristics, yet there is still much left to be said there-of.
Moving on; later albums such as Banging the Drum and ギタリストを殺さないで (Don't kill that guitarist) also moves me greatly. "Consistency in quality and creative developement" is my main compliment for bb's discography. This adds extra character in their favor, as far as I'm concerned. I must add, however, that their latest album (NO ALBUM MUDAI, counting out their re-release of kocorono) was the least memorable, as a whole, on my part. I obviously have not followed this group intimately for any time, but I do feel that they've been doing much of the same thing since 2004 - with the addition of Tabuchi from Number Girl. The 3 predecessors of NO ALBUM MUDAI escapes the dreaded label generic, and Kubachi was still "new" at the time of birdy. Again, I'm no expert, but I reckon one can only quality control ones path so far. It might be time to shift quarse to some other, unknown, destination; as they did with kocorono. Did anyone know where bb were heading in 1996? It was possibly anyone's guess; but it turned out great, I say. Given that they intend to keep the rock rolling.
Okay, my top 5 bb albums (chronological order):
debut album /self-titled
i'm standing nowhere
LUKEWARM WIND
kocorono
ギタリストを殺さないで
I've already had a say on the charms of the 3 first albums, but there's just so much more to say. The first 2 of them has a certain dark or deeper vibe to select titles, while overall being played in a surprisingly playful manner. Paradox much? Skill, passion, originality and musical fusion makes it happen. Delicious noodling, random execution, rythmical variation... bb earns big respect from my part. My impression on their third album is that they took a certain element of the two initial albums, and just made music - superb music. It's different, yet so familiar, or at home, one might say. I think I can safely skip praising kocorono, it really is their magnus opus. ギタリストを殺さないで is to me the manifest of what the modern bloodthirsty butchers do best. It's all good music, this I must acknowledge, but, there's a but - as sentimental as I may come off - its sound doesn't quite put me in my cot of enjoyment, passive zen if you will, as is the case with the 4 earlier albums. This is much to ask from a long-going band like bloodthirsty butchers, but I must be honest with my feelings. You'll definately notice when someone is head-banging, tapping their feet or just singing along, but the scene of someone falling in love with music is a bit more complex to picture for an observing part. That is my case with bb's initial 4 albums versus ギタリストを殺さないで, or even ソレダケ, yamane or 荒野ﾆｦｹﾙbloodthirsty butchers for that matter - it's all tight race for me in the scale of favor. I do my best to restrain myself from making pretentious statements on music, so please be aware that I'm writing this on a 100% subjective level.
Favorite songs; I'll just throw out some titles (2-3 per album in my playlist), loosly chronological order - with special ones in bold:
I'm blue, SILENCER, AM6:00; omae ga dai-kirai da, korekara dohshiyo, room; 402, イフ, ロスト・イン・タイム; 2月/February, 7月/July, 10月/October; プールサイド, 僕, 「Δ」サンカク(album version); 襟がゆれてる。, ファウスト (the one featuring 浅野忠信 applies as well), bloodthirsty butchers (/narcissist titles); happy end, nagisanite, wagamama no hotori; dorama, 影を慕いて, real / melodic; JACK NICOLSON, bandwagon, 荒野ニオケルbloodthirsty butchers; B2, サンザン, banging the drum; I'VE BEEN LOST, ゴキゲンイカガ (cover by +/-); yeah#1, ムシズと退屈, イッポ; 散文とブルース, black out, curve. There's also 時は終わる from their first maxi single - 「△」サンカク, missing on this list because of a lacking album version (excluding their two live albums, where-in this greatly extensive song can be found; green on red being the specific live album in question).
I'll finish off by making a comment on why I find those special songs indeed special. I wish I could go deeper into the instrumental techs, but I'm just not there yet in terms of proficiency; however it's cool beans anyway.
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Having written all this bullcrap, I think I'm ready to move on. Time to archive the audio files, and open up to something else. To be honest I could very well be happy listening to this alone for the next month or two. Hell, there's even some maxi singles and various featurings still missing in my playlist, so I'm not done lurking yet. In any case; I'd like to declare myself an official bloodthirsty butchers fan. I'll honor this statement in silence, never to be mentioned again. Just listening to the music is fine, and it's great that music like this exists.
Sorry for posting non-upload posts; this might be better suited in the J-music/general thread, but what the hell - I felt inclined to continue a thought conversation on bb.
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