Jaylie Piatt She's one of the best bass players I've ever heard, and I've listened to a lot of them. I grew up on Paul McCartney, Geddy Lee, Steve Harris, Joey DeMaio ... I've been playing bass for 30+ years, and Koga kicks my ass.
how is this 10 years old, and we're just now finding out about it? The Japanese ladies have been killing it for a decade and us dudes in the west are still thinking Babymetal is as deep as it goes. I love me the Fox Gods, but there's so much more going on over there.
J-ROCK has been around for a while but I think the moment has passed. I hope I'm wrong but I think the peak moment was around 8 years ago. A lot of these bands have started breaking up and reorganizing and retiring and not a lot of new groups are coming on the scene.
@@coleman707 They're just coming into their own. Band Maid has been creatingt success after success. I've not looked recently but I think DOLL$BOXX have a relatively recent new album and Gacharic Spin as well? (Been out of it for a while with some heavy personal stress but revisiting and taking the time)
I can listen to this album non stop. Any one of these girls could carry an entire band on their talent alone but all five together is pure awesome. Now, PLEASE do another album!
I found out about DOLL $ BOXX two days ago. After reading up on them, I'm pissed I'll never see these girls in concert...because holy shit they are all amazing. Every last one of them.
After watching the full suite of videos for this album, in the correct order, multiple times, it became pretty obvious that these ladies were trying to tell a story and make a point via the videos. (I can't really speak for the lyrics, as I don't speak Japanese, and reading English translations of the lyrics doesn't make the lyrics match up very well with most of the videos). I've had some fun "interpreting" the "story", via watching the videos. Of course, musical interpretation can be a very personal thing, and everybody is going to interpret things in their own way. But here is my interpretation, how I see the "story". Based solely on the content of the videos, and the packaging of the CD (which I own), I have come to the conclusion that the band is making a satirical criticism of the way women and girls are portrayed and treated in the media/entertainment business. i.e. as sex objects whose only purpose is to generate money. They do this by showing a band going through various stages of its existence, and how the record company/the media manipulates everything into "more money" at the expense of the actual people who are making that money. Since I am commenting on this particular video, I'll forgo presenting my entire interpretation and focus on this single chapter in the larger story. "Monopoly" (incidentally my favorite song in the collection) depicts that point in a band's career where the singer's ego gets a little too big, and the "artistic differences" start to kick in. In the context of the larger story, I suspect that the singer's ego has been stroked by the record company. (I remember watching the "The Doors" movie years ago, and a scene where a record company rep pulled Jim Morrison aside and tried to convince him to dump the band and go solo.) While I mentioned above that the lyrics (at least in English translation) don't really match up with the videos, this particular song is the exception. The lyrics are about pure selfishness and ego. This video is a depiction of the lead singer clashing with her bandmates over "artistic differences" and deciding to "go solo". The video shows this by the four instrumentalists displaying "King" playing cards - they're all equally important members of the group. The singer pulls out and proudly displays a "Queen" ... and the end of the video show her alone and removing her Queen card from the pile of cards on the table.
I'm actually glad that you described the theme of this album, Rik. I was never really clear on all the continuation notices between the videos. Some were fairly apparent, such as Fuki bringing the band together on the 5th track. A song and video that I didn't fully appreciate at first until I really took notice of Fuki's amazing vocals. My favorite track, Karakuri Town, obviously shows the girls under control of some power that they eventually attack with Tomo-Zo's guitar. Not really sure how Fragrance fits into the whole theme. Seems to be about either a lost love, or a girl very sad that her perfume is running out. Wish I had a translation for the whole album.
I have to say.... I'm an American Male, and this is the second song I've ever heard of them and was absolutely blown away by the first one I watched (take my chance), and now here I am again, blown away by their voices again, so good!
Fuki (lead vocals) is amazing. Hana (drums) is beautiful and a great drummer/singer, But I'm totally in love with Michiko "F chopper" Koga. Not only an incredible, versatile, bass player but also drop dead gorgeous!
