Not Today

It's been freezing for what feels like weeks now lmao. I think it's only days, but it feels like weeks whew. Lately, I'm not sure if i want 12012 to come back or if I just want Wataru to do his own thing. I was always discussing the levels of good singing or lack thereof in VK back then, but I honestly didn't give Wataru enough credit. And he only got stronger as a singer too. I found his YT channel the other day and saw that he'd posted a cover of Mother by LUNA SEA. Now, if you know me, you know I was always a huge fan of Ryuichi's voice, like he was an insanely good singer, presumably still is lol. Anyway, wow Wataru's cover was super good. In some parts, he actually sounded almost exactly like Ryuichi. I was super impressed.

I should listen to whatever else he has up since they're all only a few years old. The thing is too, he's shown himself capable of singing in a variety of different styles. I didn't appreciate his Kyo copying, but I'll say that he was better at it than Kyo lmao. Meanwhile, tryna get the rest of 12012's DVD collection through proxy shopping. I wasn't gonna bother with their last live, mostly bc i thought it would be filled with crap from the self-titled and those EPs, but actually, it only has the songs from XII, which was actually good compared to the other two EPs that i can't really remember the names of but they were terrible. Icb those are the only albums on Spotify. Total fail.

Anyway, was bored the other day and decided to rank their albums, which is my main reason for posting hahah.

1. Diamond - like fucking omg this album is just heads and tails above every other album. There are really no skips, and almost every song is just perfect. I literally fave'd most of the album on Last FM. Mr. Liar, The Moon, Shine, 24HOURS, Cyclone, Dispute, Secret Festival, it's ridiculous. Wataru finds the perfect balance of singing, screaming, and his various awesome vocal effects. Production is clear and compositions are clean.

2. Play Dolls - kind of a hard chocie between this and Not Obtain, but it's a little less rough since it's mostly all new songs and not a compilation of earlier singles. Highlights include Cheeky Doll, Hermit, Icy Cold City, The Swim, My Room Agony. But there's really no skips on this one either. Contains some of my all time faves.

3. Mar Maroon - had the most annoying production quality, but there are some seriously cool songs on here that i have to put it in their top three. Generation, System 0 Down, DNA, I Deal, As, and mostly Psycho Virus except for Wataru's kinda fail scatting. The rest of the songs are admittedly pretty poppy, but it's still an enjoyable listen for anyone who likes Wataru's singing lmao me obviously.

4. Not Obtain - so this is just mostly their indies stuff gathered in one album, but presumably they thought it was their best stuff from then so... Incur, Swallow, Sick, Knife, Shower are all pretty good tracks. I don't find that compared to a lot of VK bands, 12012 was particularly rough early on.

5. Seven - the beginning of the end lol. This was their first album after the departure of the cool guitarist who maybe had a big say in their sound??? This album is an obvious transition in sounds. So it has some good stuff like Usobeni to Ame, One Step, Tattoo, and the super long song name that translates to "Play the cards you're dealt, whatever that means" lol. But there's also a lot of forgettable shouty sludgy songs.

6. 12012 - and this one made everything worse. There's a disc 2 with reprises of some of their most famous early songs like Vomit, My Room Agony, and 6 Party, but the main album is forgettable as fuck. There is honestly not a single good song. Not to say that they're /bad/ but they're not good either. I'm glad i never bought it lmao.

With regards to their EPs, Only XII is worth mentioning bc the other two are more of the same suckitude from teh self-titiled. XII was actually very good. Only The Red was a bit dodgy, but the rest nicely showcased Wataru's strong vocals and the music wasn't bad either.

Oh rich text is working for me today.  So as I'm obsessively listening to TGADS and heading for 1k plays in only about 2 months, i was wondering why Deadman and the Studs never ended up being super tops on my list.  I've had three LFM accounts over the years, since the site started pretty much. One is deleted, the other two are still up, and I'm only actively using one. I think i had one of them between 2006 and 2008 and then between 2008 and 2012. During that time, I really only amassed 1650 plays combined of Deadman and the Studs. Though, based on the previous account, it /might/ have been closer to 3k between the two. Now, the Studs and Deadman had about 40 and 45 songs each. But I watched the last Deadman live a TON, but there was no UniScrob back then so it never made it to my LFM. ALso, LFM used to lose plays a lot lol. 

In any case, despite all that, i think the real reason for them never having sky high plays like say, MUCC and Hilcrhyme, is partially bc of their relatively small discos, but also bc it wasn't yet Aie at his very best. Sure, I loved his guitaring and composing, but he wasn't SINGING and i didn't particularly care for either vocalist in those bands. NOt only that, but he's very clearly improved even more in the last ten years or so, and changed his perspective on doing awesome guitar solos. He does quite a lot now kekeke i'm pleased. Also, i fucking LOVE his voice. AND now that we're here, TGADS has 77 songs, which is quite a bit more than either Deadman or the Studs. 

Meanwhile, i'm tryna get the Studs albums limited DVDs bc what i bought back then was obviously the CD versions with the extra songs LE SIGH.  They're at JPS but no seeders. Worse case scenario ill just fucking buy them hahah. Well, tbh, i think i have one of them on an old harddrive, but if it's not the external, then getting it off is gonna be a pain and a half. I still occasionally want to listen to the Studs and Deadman bc i legitimately like their music and what Aie was doing, but i'm NGL, him doing 3 out of 3 with TGADS is where it's at. Back when i first started stanning him, that's what i wanted MOST OF ALL lmao. It was so hard to be an Aie fan back then when he was highkey invisible and the entire fandom ALWAYS fixated on Daisuke and Mako as the focal point of the bands. Completely ignoring the fact that it was Aie's composing and insanely awesome guitaring that held up the band's sound. 

OFc he also never seemed to want to be the center of attention or have a huge following of ifans either and tbh i'm not sure he does now even. That's why literally nothing of his is on Spotify except Deadman and Keel, and I'm betting neither one was his decision.  But he posts on Twitter and has a fairly good amount of stuff on his record label's YT account, so it's better than it used to be lol. And there's a bunch of interviews on Barks, which I read the other day and they were quite enlightening on how his brain works hahah. 

It's just still so surreal to me to look back and realize that I've stanned this guy for 15 years. FIFTEEN. Most everything i liked back then has long fallen by the wayside. Except for him.