but why am I posting so much

 Actually I didn't think I had anything to say here today, but I've started to notice a strange trend in Jmusic and maybe it's bc I haven't been paying attention and it's actually been going on for awhile.  Very possible.  But there's these girl idol groups doing various flavors of indie-sounding rock or electro-rock stuff.  Specifically Maison book girl and Gang Parade.  Like, if I hadn't seen them and Tumblr'd them, I'd have no idea they were idol groups.  But the music is kinda good??  I'm not sure what to think lol.  

And then, it seems like a lot of Japanese boygroups are popping up again all of a sudden.  I'm doing my Idk, bi-weekly scan of PSCK, listening to anything that looks interesting, and I came across SOLIDEMO.  At first I was like, nah, this is boring, but then it wasn't.  I can only assume it's an answer to the Kpop thing since it seems Japan and China both have kinda flushed their "Hallyu Wave" lol.  The differences are stark though.  There's no attempt at much of a hip-hop or dance sound and the emphasis is more on harmony than individual oversinging lol.  It makes the ballads tolerable tbh and even listenable, much wow.  

I guess Myungsoo is in some kinda upcoming movie or drama or something and I saw this pic on Tumblr:



My first thought was, is that a young Stephen Chow?  Then I was like, is there a chicken in that bag?  Ahah, poor L.

Japan wei

 In my PSCK roamings today I ended up listening to FTISLAND's new Japanese album, or at least the first few songs, which were really good.  Wtf they have a huge disco between Japanese and Korean releases.  Idk I've always been biased against some of these "pretty boy" Korean rock bands bc they seem manufactured, like Kpop rock bands or something, but I guess they're not all that bad after all lol, albeit not doing anything super unique compared to the indie bands. ANYWAY, point being, I'm not overly impressed with them or anything, but they seemed enjoyable enough.  So I went to Spotify.  Ok so their Korean albums are available, but their Japanese ones are restricted.  I've encountered this before with other groups and it's like what the hell Japan?  Why are you ACTIVELY trying to limit who listens to your music?  How does this make sense at all?

I guess I sort of understand now fans who complained about Japan's lack of accessibility.  They definitely don't make it easy.  It's not even about knowing the language anymore either, it's about not LIVING there.  You're restricted from buying mp3s on iTunes or even Amazon and now listening to certain stuff on Spotify.  Oh and plus they block stuff on Youtube besides!  It's honestly really fucking stupid and I wish someone would explain to me what exactly they're trying to achieve.  Because I don't understand how more listeners and fans and customers is a bad thing??

Sadly I found a few other new bands on my PSCK adventure.  It's just neverending lol.  I should probably try CNBLUE next since I've already capitulated on FTISLAND.  I was previously into N.FLYING, but I thought I heard they were disbanding and their Japanese releases weren't that great anyway.


ETA - and other than the new Japanese one, FTISLAND's Japanese discography is completely underwhelming lol. In fact, I would even call it generic.  The Korean albums were better, if not exactly groundbreaking.