The first song, the instrumental “Don’t Be Long”, yes. The story was that they got the contract to write Different for the Anine over a year before it would come out but they had to write and record it in a short period of time and submit it about a year before the anime release. So as Kanami was writing Different so decided it needed more complex and faster rhythm guitar parts than Miku had learned up to that point. As Kanami plays all the parts during the recording process, there were no issues making the record. Then she’s thinking that in about a years time, when the anime is released they’ll need to perform Different live so Miku will have to play those parts live. But just teaching her these new chords and faster chord changes during her lessons isn’t enough to perform them flawlessly live. So she decided to write “Don’t Be Long” instrumental as a song with an interim level of increased difficulty that Miku could learn, rehearse endlessly and perform live over the subsequent year to hone her skills with these more complex and faster parts. By the time the anime was released at the end of the year period and they were then allowed to play Different, Miku had raised her skill level to where she could play it live as needed. Seriously, isn’t that incredible! The song is an learning exercise for Miku!! I just think that’s genius. Kanami is the ultimate Sensai! 😀👩🏻✌🏼
Band-Maid does hit different. At least they have more of those songs that do than most other artists. The thing is, not everyone has the ability or maturity to sense what they’re serving up. 🎉Great reaction as always!
I agree with your statement at the end. Genre doesn't mean that much. It isn't about how loud or distorted, how heavy, or how many notes or technical skills - all those things are really just tools in the toolbag. What matters is the emotions music evokes in your soul. In my opinion, Band-Maid is outstanding at that. By the way, since you've listened to a few songs from "Just Bring It," have you noticed the cover art? Do you think it's just a picture of two ladies sharing tea?
Don't be Long is the closest they come to a surfer song! lol. I love that beginning. They have many many good beginnings. I think it's one of their greatest things. They get you from the start and take you for a ride until the end.
I get exactly what you said at the end about bands filling certain niches, but then finding a band that writes in a way that hits emotional chords that keep you coming back to them. For example, I gravitate to extreme metal as a genre, but don't often hang with any single band for very long. If you'd told me five years ago that I'd still be listening to Band-Maid, I wouldn't have believed you. And yet...
I got into metal at the beginning of the speed/thrash/death era, early eighties - as a young teen back then the metal genre was the be all n end all. Today as an older adult, i still love metal but genre doesnt matter so much any more, like u said, its about what hits u...like rick rubin says, i know what speaks to me. So yeh i can enjoy band maid, archspire and atarashii gakko in different ways but appreciate em all just the same😊 so i hear u man 👍
If you get the chance, listen to Awkward live from the Studio Coast 2017 concert, brilliant, but then the whole 1 hour of that concert that is available is. Watching that concert, one of the main things that struck me was that I thought 'yeah Miku has cracked this rhythm guitar thing'. You could still see that when her right hand was 'still' that she was still nervous as it was shaking a bit but overall she was looking confident in her playing. In Awkward in particular she impressed me, through the song she switches between locking in with Misa, filling space and matching Kanami. In interviews Miku undersells her playing, saying she just fills space but she does way more than that and she does it damn well.
There's a great close-up fancam video of B-M performing Don't Be Long ua-cam.com/video/wnO3NAc0vLw/v-deo.html in NY a couple of years ago, with Miku going full-on Rock star. Then there's the incredible MV of From Now On - ua-cam.com/video/a6ZSvmnkS00/v-deo.html , another instrumental. There is also Dawn Winery Theme and Without Holding Back but I can't post their links here and you've experienced ONSET so that's all the instrumentals generally available. On a DVD of theirs, there are numerous instrumental play throughs of songs that normally have vocals too but you'll have to buy the DVD! I bought their DVD of their January Garden Theatre Tokyo concert a couple of months ago and play some somgs from it every day - they perform FROM NOW ON and ONSET on it!
@@DeanF_MIDI The video is in Gramercy Theatre New York City. It literally says that in the video title! Click on the link and you can see for yourself. Not sure why you think otherwise or felt the need to tell me but the link I gave takes you to the NYC video.
@@DeanF_MIDI No, that's why I referred to it as the NY show! 🙂 By the way, I like your dedication in converting B-M songs to midi. Very original. I've played around a little with their music on my videos and once took Saiki's vocals and laid them over Alexej's cello cover of Daydreaming but most of my work is adding English subtitles to their MV's that don't have them. I've finished 6 (on a page I made on FB) and am working on the acoustic Anemone now.
Absolutely agree about Awkward and Akasimahen. They evoke different feelings and moods to each. Some of the other Maiko tracks less so, but those two definitely do.
How people feel about the mixes often confuses me, I'm with you that to my ear they always sound really good and consistent as far as the studio recordings are concerned. Live is a slightly mixed bag, Shinbuya 2020 in particular is often criticised for the guitars sounding a bit low and muddy which I agree with but it still doesn't sound 'bad, just not ideal, I've also heard some say the bass is too low but I don't get that at all. One reactor seems to have abandoned Band Maid altogether as on everything he listened to he described the mixes as appalling basically, personally I think he needs to get both his equipment and his hearing checked lol. The amount of audio compression used on the records is I think the main criticism, but there again it doesn't sound bad to me at all except when I listen to the YT videos/audios when the added YT compression is very noticible and definitely degrades the sound. Just my impression but the main critics of the mixes seem to be musicians, people with sound engineering experience and audiophiles and they all seem to hear everything totally different to normal people and from each other and they all have their own individual ideas of how something should sound. I'll probably get hammered for this but I have broad shoulders, I can take it
I understand the criticisms of the guitars a bit low for Shibuya, but tbh, I liked the mixing for that over TGT where the crowd is mixed out of the show. Really kills the audience vibes if you can't hear them. I know it may not have been the loudest audience bc of restriction being lifted, etc. but it definitely feels like they simply didn't record any audience sounds. That's why for No God I prefer some fancams over the official live videos. That said, at TGT the big screen being split to show all five rocking out was awesome.
@@Parker-- Audience noise certainly adds to it, but I do love TGT nonetheless. Eggman if you have been able to watch it is awesome, Saiki was on fire and the small audience was lowkey there too
@@edwardallen4051 Yeah, Eggman was also under full restrictions so I didn't mind as much. That concert was awesome. I really did enjoy the very small, underground vibe to the whole show. I have it saved as well as TGT live (I of course bought the special edition of TGT as well with the behind the scenes US tour). I hope they record more live shows for streaming as well.
@@Parker-- me too re saving the live shows and getting the blu-ray as well. I would be shocked if the Yokohama show isn't streamed, it's certain I'm sure and hopefully released.
Shows that human hearing is mostly subjective.Sound is interpreted in the brain. I have 3 of their CD's and 4 of their Blu-rays. All the CD's sound highly compressed to me. They seem to be restricted left to right sound stage and a high noise floor. Everything starts out loud. The Blu-rays are much better, albeit all mixed differently.
Awkward is one of those very rare instances where I wish they had extended the outro and done a studio fadeout. I just want to stay in that space longer, instead of being dropped off at the curb :) Still a top 10 song, easily.
I hear you JD regarding the Notes. Kanami hits that high sustained note at the chorus section of FROM NOW ON yet during the lives she doesn't play that sustained note. Not sure the reason but I feel a little disappointed. That note brings the song to the highest level. But of course Mincho is ALWAYS forgiven no matter what. Peace. 7.17
And the Ladies themselves have been doing most of the arranging and producing of their music since their "Just Bring It" album. They have been involved in the arrangements of ALL of their music since they started. And Saiki's voice is almost aethereal, (YES SPELL CHECK THAT "A" IS INTENTIONAL), and Akane used her railroad iron cymbal for this song. And this is probably the first song of the Ladies where they include not one, not two but three different solos. Two by Kanami and one from MISA, they did it again in Blooming. And keep going through the Ladies playlists for songs that don't have videos, if they get enough interest maybe the Ladies will make videos for them.
The second song- Awkward, is in my top 5 Band-Maid songs, mostly on the arrangement alone- three major movements. Genius.
Love the way that song keeps building, really want to see it in a large live show.
Fun fact: this song was composed by Kanami, the lead guitar for Miku, the rythm guitar as practice for a song, Different
Yes, it was to teach Miku the Diminished 7th chord.
The first song, the instrumental “Don’t Be Long”, yes. The story was that they got the contract to write Different for the Anine over a year before it would come out but they had to write and record it in a short period of time and submit it about a year before the anime release. So as Kanami was writing Different so decided it needed more complex and faster rhythm guitar parts than Miku had learned up to that point. As Kanami plays all the parts during the recording process, there were no issues making the record.
Then she’s thinking that in about a years time, when the anime is released they’ll need to perform Different live so Miku will have to play those parts live. But just teaching her these new chords and faster chord changes during her lessons isn’t enough to perform them flawlessly live. So she decided to write “Don’t Be Long” instrumental as a song with an interim level of increased difficulty that Miku could learn, rehearse endlessly and perform live over the subsequent year to hone her skills with these more complex and faster parts. By the time the anime was released at the end of the year period and they were then allowed to play Different, Miku had raised her skill level to where she could play it live as needed.
Seriously, isn’t that incredible! The song is an learning exercise for Miku!! I just think that’s genius. Kanami is the ultimate Sensai! 😀👩🏻✌🏼
Band-Maid does hit different. At least they have more of those songs that do than most other artists.
The thing is, not everyone has the ability or maturity to sense what they’re serving up.
🎉Great reaction as always!
I agree with your statement at the end. Genre doesn't mean that much. It isn't about how loud or distorted, how heavy, or how many notes or technical skills - all those things are really just tools in the toolbag. What matters is the emotions music evokes in your soul. In my opinion, Band-Maid is outstanding at that.
By the way, since you've listened to a few songs from "Just Bring It," have you noticed the cover art? Do you think it's just a picture of two ladies sharing tea?
Awkward (2nd Song) has an amazing lead guitar outro… (those notes!) I tend to stop breathing during the final 15 seconds.. literally breathtaking!
That outro seems like crying to me, Kanami's guitar seems alive.
Freezer is one of my favorites from their older songs
Yeah, mine as well. It's very unique because of how the song's vocals are arranged. Plus that guitar solo is awesome.
It's super catchy. Top 10 Band-Maid song imo.
Don't be Long is the closest they come to a surfer song! lol. I love that beginning. They have many many good beginnings. I think it's one of their greatest things. They get you from the start and take you for a ride until the end.
🤙🏽
Really reminded me of something Gary Hoey would compose. Right on.
@@Running-withscissors true
I get exactly what you said at the end about bands filling certain niches, but then finding a band that writes in a way that hits emotional chords that keep you coming back to them. For example, I gravitate to extreme metal as a genre, but don't often hang with any single band for very long. If you'd told me five years ago that I'd still be listening to Band-Maid, I wouldn't have believed you. And yet...
Bandmaid IMHO writes without regard to genre; they write to reach the audience; the heart and soul.
I got into metal at the beginning of the speed/thrash/death era, early eighties - as a young teen back then the metal genre was the be all n end all. Today as an older adult, i still love metal but genre doesnt matter so much any more, like u said, its about what hits u...like rick rubin says, i know what speaks to me. So yeh i can enjoy band maid, archspire and atarashii gakko in different ways but appreciate em all just the same😊 so i hear u man 👍
If you get the chance, listen to Awkward live from the Studio Coast 2017 concert, brilliant, but then the whole 1 hour of that concert that is available is. Watching that concert, one of the main things that struck me was that I thought 'yeah Miku has cracked this rhythm guitar thing'. You could still see that when her right hand was 'still' that she was still nervous as it was shaking a bit but overall she was looking confident in her playing. In Awkward in particular she impressed me, through the song she switches between locking in with Misa, filling space and matching Kanami. In interviews Miku undersells her playing, saying she just fills space but she does way more than that and she does it damn well.
Awkward -- a song somewhere between unexpected and masterful. Thx, JD!
There's a great close-up fancam video of B-M performing Don't Be Long ua-cam.com/video/wnO3NAc0vLw/v-deo.html in NY a couple of years ago, with Miku going full-on Rock star. Then there's the incredible MV of From Now On - ua-cam.com/video/a6ZSvmnkS00/v-deo.html , another instrumental. There is also Dawn Winery Theme and Without Holding Back but I can't post their links here and you've experienced ONSET so that's all the instrumentals generally available. On a DVD of theirs, there are numerous instrumental play throughs of songs that normally have vocals too but you'll have to buy the DVD! I bought their DVD of their January Garden Theatre Tokyo concert a couple of months ago and play some somgs from it every day - they perform FROM NOW ON and ONSET on it!
The video you are thinking of is from Dallas, not NYC, in 2019.
@@DeanF_MIDI The video is in Gramercy Theatre New York City. It literally says that in the video title! Click on the link and you can see for yourself. Not sure why you think otherwise or felt the need to tell me but the link I gave takes you to the NYC video.
@@tonygriffin_ i didn't click on the link. Sorry, I thought you were referring to the even better video of Don't Be Long from Dallas that year. :-)
@@DeanF_MIDI No, that's why I referred to it as the NY show! 🙂 By the way, I like your dedication in converting B-M songs to midi. Very original. I've played around a little with their music on my videos and once took Saiki's vocals and laid them over Alexej's cello cover of Daydreaming but most of my work is adding English subtitles to their MV's that don't have them. I've finished 6 (on a page I made on FB) and am working on the acoustic Anemone now.
🤘🏽LOVEBITES RULES🤘🏽
MISA!!! MISA!!! MISA!!!
I love to see ASTERISM cover their instrumental songs :)
MISA MISA MISA!!!!! MISA MISA MISA!!!!!
Absolutely agree about Awkward and Akasimahen. They evoke different feelings and moods to each. Some of the other Maiko tracks less so, but those two definitely do.
One makes me sad yet hopeful the latter makes me just wonder at it's beauty.
@@bartyslattfast I like that. Well said.
How people feel about the mixes often confuses me, I'm with you that to my ear they always sound really good and consistent as far as the studio recordings are concerned. Live is a slightly mixed bag, Shinbuya 2020 in particular is often criticised for the guitars sounding a bit low and muddy which I agree with but it still doesn't sound 'bad, just not ideal, I've also heard some say the bass is too low but I don't get that at all. One reactor seems to have abandoned Band Maid altogether as on everything he listened to he described the mixes as appalling basically, personally I think he needs to get both his equipment and his hearing checked lol. The amount of audio compression used on the records is I think the main criticism, but there again it doesn't sound bad to me at all except when I listen to the YT videos/audios when the added YT compression is very noticible and definitely degrades the sound. Just my impression but the main critics of the mixes seem to be musicians, people with sound engineering experience and audiophiles and they all seem to hear everything totally different to normal people and from each other and they all have their own individual ideas of how something should sound. I'll probably get hammered for this but I have broad shoulders, I can take it
I understand the criticisms of the guitars a bit low for Shibuya, but tbh, I liked the mixing for that over TGT where the crowd is mixed out of the show. Really kills the audience vibes if you can't hear them. I know it may not have been the loudest audience bc of restriction being lifted, etc. but it definitely feels like they simply didn't record any audience sounds. That's why for No God I prefer some fancams over the official live videos. That said, at TGT the big screen being split to show all five rocking out was awesome.
@@Parker-- Audience noise certainly adds to it, but I do love TGT nonetheless. Eggman if you have been able to watch it is awesome, Saiki was on fire and the small audience was lowkey there too
@@edwardallen4051 Yeah, Eggman was also under full restrictions so I didn't mind as much. That concert was awesome. I really did enjoy the very small, underground vibe to the whole show. I have it saved as well as TGT live (I of course bought the special edition of TGT as well with the behind the scenes US tour). I hope they record more live shows for streaming as well.
@@Parker-- me too re saving the live shows and getting the blu-ray as well. I would be shocked if the Yokohama show isn't streamed, it's certain I'm sure and hopefully released.
Shows that human hearing is mostly subjective.Sound is interpreted in the brain. I have 3 of their CD's and 4 of their Blu-rays. All the CD's sound highly compressed to me. They seem to be restricted left to right sound stage and a high noise floor. Everything starts out loud. The Blu-rays are much better, albeit all mixed differently.
Found a link to their Dawn Winery Theme MV, an instrumental! Enjoy - ua-cam.com/video/-M2EYvqeTdI/v-deo.html
Awkward is one of those very rare instances where I wish they had extended the outro and done a studio fadeout. I just want to stay in that space longer, instead of being dropped off at the curb :) Still a top 10 song, easily.
But the drop is intentional; they are masters of making us want more😊
Those are notes that resonate speak directly to your soul... Miyako and Kanami's guitars sing in thst special way.
I hear you JD regarding the Notes. Kanami hits that high sustained note at the chorus section of FROM NOW ON yet during the lives she doesn't play that sustained note. Not sure the reason but I feel a little disappointed. That note brings the song to the highest level. But of course Mincho is ALWAYS forgiven no matter what. Peace. 7.17
🤙🏽
Oooooo, Just Bring the instrumental! Po!
And the Ladies themselves have been doing most of the arranging and producing of their music since their "Just Bring It" album. They have been involved in the arrangements of ALL of their music since they started.
And Saiki's voice is almost aethereal, (YES SPELL CHECK THAT "A" IS INTENTIONAL), and Akane used her railroad iron cymbal for this song. And this is probably the first song of the Ladies where they include not one, not two but three different solos. Two by Kanami and one from MISA, they did it again in Blooming.
And keep going through the Ladies playlists for songs that don't have videos, if they get enough interest maybe the Ladies will make videos for them.