I don't think it'll be possible to reach 50k by St. Valentines Day. :p

sillentdx wrote:Dunno if it was mentioned here but Kitty released a SCANDAL themed record player (limited to 500) to accomodate the release of HELLO WORLD (see HERE)

Yes! I think the record player is the same Satchmi Motorino II (maybe made by Crossley) which is available only in the Philippines. As of today, the SCANDAL record players are already sold out. That indicates that vinyl is really making a comeback in Japan.

Back to the topic, I observed that Scandal has completely departed to the pop punk sound (Avril Lavigne, Paramore, etc.) and started to play variations since STANDARD. However, it is not as deep as I expected. I don't know if they listen to bands like Cheap Trick, Manic Street Preachers and Garbage because of their current sound.

MamiNoodles wrote:

sillentdx wrote:Dunno if it was mentioned here but Kitty released a SCANDAL themed record player (limited to 500) to accomodate the release of HELLO WORLD (see HERE)

Yes! I think the record player is the same Satchmi Motorino II (maybe made by Crossley) which is available only in the Philippines. As of today, the SCANDAL record players are already sold out. That indicates that vinyl is really making a comeback in Japan.

Back to the topic, I observed that Scandal has completely departed to the pop punk sound (Avril Lavigne, Paramore, etc.) and started to play variations since STANDARD. However, it is not as deep as I expected. I don't know if they listen to bands like Cheap Trick, Manic Street Preachers and Garbage because of their current sound.

I don't think they have "completely departed" from those kinds of sound, I mean there's OneNavi, Runners High, Image (not sure if they're pop punk or what, but I think these are the kinds of sounds that you're pertaining to?) Not sure, but I think SCANDAL did mention that they are simply exploring these different sounds (genre ? ) so I kinda saw this coming after STANDARD was released haha (just not Hon wo Yomu, def not expect Mami to be singing high notes ^^ I grew to love it anyways)
But worry not, the girls still rock, they have not 'completely departed' (^^)

Those are sold out, by the way. So quickly, I did not even see those things on sale. Like when I saw it posted one day, it was just 'SOLD OUT' on the site lol. I hope they sell more m(_ _ )m

10th week on Oricon Weekly Album Chart:
#202 with 338 copies! (total: 48,809 copies)

M wrote:I don't think they have "completely departed" from those kinds of sound, I mean there's OneNavi, Runners High, Image (not sure if they're pop punk or what, but I think these are the kinds of sounds that you're pertaining to?) Not sure, but I think SCANDAL did mention that they are simply exploring these different sounds (genre ? ) so I kinda saw this coming after STANDARD was released haha (just not Hon wo Yomu, def not expect Mami to be singing high notes ^^ I grew to love it anyways)

Pop punk, not anymore. I would consider the subgenre of those songs you have mentioned as post-grunge (as many North Americans call it), which is also known as alternative rock to the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, I'm glad that this album is still selling. Let's have faith that it will reach 50k mark.

11st week on Oricon Weekly Album Chart:
#213 with 323 copies! (total: 49,132 copies)

Does anyone know if that T-shirt was Japanese size?

Wily wrote:Does anyone know if that T-shirt was Japanese size?

Yes, it is. It's equivalent to a US men's size small.

Thank you. Now I know I made a Good choice to buy the dvd version. No point in me buying a T-shirt I can't wear. lol

I love how this album gives a different feel in SCANDAL's music, and it's lovely.  .happy.

Their sound has definitely matured on this album and I also noticed the first big step was the Standard album. All successful bands have to move along with the times and sometimes unfortunately, whether the original fan base likes it or not.

My initial reaction was very mixed as it was even more commercial sounding than Standard and like Standard, this album is growing on me more and more.  Is it as "rock" as their earlier stuff - no, but I actually find it better composed and more technical.  The guitar parts are layered better and Mami's guitar work during the non-solo parts are the best yet. It is so good to see that she has improved so much as a player and composer compared to her earlier songs.

Overall, this is another great album and songs that I didn't think I would ever really like, I now can't get out of my head. Still can't get into song 12 (sorry, don't know the name, cd went straight into car cd player which doesn't recognise Japanese). I can get over the processed vocals as it suits the style of the song but the vocal melody never appears to change - like listening to the verse over and over again.  

Favourite was song 7, but image is quickly becoming my new fav.  Anyone else think the intro and verse to song 2 sounds like Green Day's American Idiot?

kFDzero wrote:the vocal melody never appears to change - like listening to the verse over and over again.

According to Rina (who wrote the song) it was intentional and I personaly think it works really well, as there's enough variation throughout the song.

kFDzero wrote:Anyone else think the intro and verse to song 2 sounds like Green Day's American Idiot?

I think pretty much every one agree on that.

flyingwill wrote:

According to Rina (who wrote the song) it was intentional and I personaly think it works really well, as there's enough variation throughout the song.

Interesting to know it was intentional.  I might give it a few more times before I hit skip again. Thanks.

kFDzero wrote:

flyingwill wrote:

According to Rina (who wrote the song) it was intentional and I personaly think it works really well, as there's enough variation throughout the song.

Interesting to know it was intentional.  I might give it a few more times before I hit skip again. Thanks.

Oyasumi has a shoegazer vibe to it, and in the interview on PICK UP (which I think what flyingwill described above) RINA specifically mentioned it too. Go to about 11:00 in this vid:



http://dai.ly/x2dbtkf

Actually I was referring to her blog entry in which she explained a bit of the context of each song: https://www.scandal-heaven.com/t11213-self-liner-notes-2014-12-08-rina

But that video above was really cool, thanks.

Excellent links guys. Some nice light reading/watching before I now get stuck into prepping my tax return lol.