spacecadet wrote:
Well anyway, it's done and out there and the music's good. I did notice too that they didn't shoot any photos or anything for any kind of digital booklet or even cover art, so it also seems like it's an experiment in going minimalist to save on costs. But I feel like I always do with them - I want to give them my money! I want big deluxe physical packages that cost a lot of money but are so worth it

Lol hold your horses. They'll prob do something big for their next album, and that's the big money maker right there. So lets save our mola before then  .upwalk.  That is if their next release is an album
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I recently listen to the single on spotify, and its great! All the songs, even the live ones, are really good.
Koisuru Universe is a really catchy and fun song, I was expecting something along the lines of FREEDOM FIGHTERS but this is good too. Still a cool rock song, and the guitars and bass are my fave part of the whole song, especially during the bridge...woof!

Futari is an awesome song, very Jrock. Same with Koisuru Universe; great instrumentation still from all the members, and Rina's use of those dbl pedals. Just wish there was a guitar solo thrown in there.

Koe and Kimi to Yoru to Namida sounds really good, haven't heard Kimi to Yoru in a while and this live compare to the Best Scandal live one tells how much Scandal has grown as musicians. And of course Koe acoustic is spectacular.

I'm very satisfied with this single, two great rocking songs that i love, and two live versions of some of my fave songs, can't get any better than that. Scandal's instrumentals skills has risen tremendously and can't wait to hear their next album.

The single seems to be doing very well on charts, keep it up, Scandal

(I come direct to the last page)

Digital single is up on Google Play too!
https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Scandal_Koisuru_Universe?id=Bvvvpqb66vdueiikefo3mogrisi&hl=pt-BR
.rich.

Here's my take on both the digital single and the music video:

Koisuru Universe and Futari are fun-to-listen j-rock songs with nice post grunge riffs of with complex rhythm section, but not as powerful as their previous single Take Me Out and the single release-worthy Freedom Fighters. I can easily compare both songs to the musical structure of Bloc Party's Silent Alarm album. I believe that SCANDAL is going towards the progressive rock spectrum which is nice.

I find the music video cheaply-made. Despite of its remarkable cinematography, it still suffers from inexpensive production values, no other actors in the cast, and having too much shock value. The kiss between Tomomi and Mami was pretty cute. The food scenes seem rather forced and distracting than erotic.

Obviously, the director intended to further boost the band's record sales. I'm sorry but that's just my observation after watching the music video.

MamiNoodles wrote:Here's my take on both the digital single and the music video:

I find the music video cheaply-made. Despite of its remarkable cinematography, it still suffers from inexpensive production values, no other actors in the cast, and having too much shock value.

Lol, whats wrong with having just the girls in music videos?

After ordering the single through Rinkya last Sunday they are now saying that it will be very unlikely that they can actually buy this for me...having had all sorts of difficulties previously with trying to buy digital music for other international customers. So I just cancelled the order...and downloaded the 4 songs illegally. And the record companies/copyright owners etc wonder why there is so much piracy,Australia is apparently the worst offender! Haha,and this is why!
The problem is actually not the record co.'s,it's the pathetic licensing laws in this country...long story...but basically at this stage there is only one way to legally get this single here...it was eventually added to iTunes here a couple of days after it was released. They have a 100% monopoly on it. I hate iTunes so much that I can't be bothered installing it,setting up that stupid Apple ID etc etc again...I did it once before and it was a ridiculous joke. Trying to delete the thing when I sold that iPad and didn't need or want it anymore was weird,you actually have to ask them nicely [on the phone!] to be allowed to delete it...and often they just say no apparently.
There are no SCANDAL songs on Google Play here in Australia,or on any of the other digital platforms.
I also asked several other Japanese proxy shopping sites but none of them can do this they say. Whatever,c'est la vie...at least now I have the songs

Have listened to the single in its entirety twice now... and it’s better than my initial “radio-rip” impressions were, that’s for sure : )
KOISURU UNIVERSE is pretty good. Haru’s “new voice” is still something I’m coming to terms with, hence my comment about sounding sped up or something. Not sure I’m ready to watch the video.
FUTARI - very silent siren-esque for me, but with a better vocalist  I love it, though I’m glad SCANDAL don’t sound like this in general.

The two live songs were really nice, and MAMI singing live, plus Koe is always the best.

Im really dying for a full album from them though, but I guess it’s allowed me to branch out and buy other J-Rock in the meantime... (the acoustic rock DVD of Frederic is freakin awesome)


EDIT: OK, I finally watched it. A lot of it comes across to me as kinda cringe-worthy, like a b-yuri-anime... It also seems really weird to not have Haruna involved in any of those scenes, almost like she wanted no part in it. It's not really as "shock-factor" as if I had gone into it blind, but it all just seems... bizarre.

Hey :3

It's been quite a time since I didn't listen to Scandal's songs so I went on Youtube to find their last videos and I saw the MV of Koisuru Universe ^^ 

I was wondering what you guys think about it, especially the message. Tell me if I'm wrong but I thought that showing scenes like the kiss scene isn't a common thing in Japan, adding to that a to girls kiss.
I mean what do you think is the idea behind this? Is it a scene made to create a big buzz to promote the mv by giving a strong message and they are just acting or not?

I mean if it would be a message, I think they'd rather take actors, right? So why? 

I don't know if my english is clear enough but to me it seems like a really strong message to carry coming from one of the most influent band in Japan with a lot of influence overseas too. 
I mean there are Music Videos about this subject, but to me it's really a thing for a japanese band, because of customs and the way japanese people act in society. 

Maybe I don't know enough about the subject but to me japanese people don't talk or show a lot love in public.

I'm curious about message behind this, because no matter the reasons it's a strong message and it's not in this mv just to satisfy fanfics fans ^^

And I apologize if this is in the wrong topic but I didn't find where to put it ^^'

Thank you for answering to my curiosity (:

By the way, the song is quite catchy and the instrumental parts of their last songs are pretty interesting ^^ I miss a little Haruna's voice in their older songs but that's another style  They always do an interesting and pretty unique work and that's what I like about this band, one of the only japanese band I have listened to ^w^

One thing I find funny is that it's such a simple kiss, no open mouths, no tongue or anything. In pretty much any other part of the world no one would react to it, but since it's Japan...

Tuba wrote:One thing I find funny is that it's such a simple kiss, no open mouths, no tongue or anything. In pretty much any other part of the world no one would react to it, but since it's Japan...

Oddly enough, a lot of people in Japan do NOT mind/care much about that scene. A lot of people in other countries, however, do seem to mind it.................

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Just for reference, here are the iTunes Stores that Koisuru Universe has made it to ＃1 on:

World Charts:
US
Canada
Australia

J-Pop Charts:
Hong Kong
Thailand
Malaysia
Singapore
New Zealand
Philippines
Mexico

https://twitter.com/scandal_band/status/922294513191628801
https://twitter.com/scandal_band/status/922359190441431041
https://twitter.com/scandal_band/status/924538608945577984

From what I've read or seen about Japan, public displays of affection are not very common and can be a little shocking for Japanese people (maybe older generations).

Almost every kiss I've seen on Japanese television (tv drama especially) is similar to the one from the MV, i.e. pretty timid.

So I think the kiss from the MV is not that innocent for a Japanese audience. But I'm not familiar with recent MVs on Japanese tv and from what I've seen from Korean MVs, they've become quite explicit. So maybe I'm wrong.
@tacoyakinouta17 if you're interested to know more about the LGBT communities in Japan, you can watch the episode of the VICE documentary series Gaycation that focuses on Japan. Here's a link (non official) that works in France: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3vzauc
(I'm sorry if this is too off-topic or against the forum rules, I will edit my post and remove the link if necessary)

Well, one interpretation is that they're just recreating things from the lyrics. Since the band members are the only actors in the video, they had to do it themselves.

IMO the ice cream scene is more "explicit" than the kiss.

Anyway, being it the intended message or not, the kiss end up passing a message of acceptance, which is great.

Have to say something about the digital single (really EP). The studio cuts seem above average but the live recordings of 'Kimi to Yoru' and 'Koe' are really impressive. The TV sound you hear with the video is fine, but on the digital EP it's like you're right there at the live. These cuts have a live depth that I never heard on a SCANDAL release before. You can simulate that depth by engineering echo in studio (pioneered by Sun studio way back in the 1950s) but don't think SCANDAL's ever done that. Yet another new departure for them!

thoseguiltyeyes wrote:

Tuba wrote:One thing I find funny is that it's such a simple kiss, no open mouths, no tongue or anything. In pretty much any other part of the world no one would react to it, but since it's Japan...

Oddly enough, a lot of people in Japan do NOT mind/care much about that scene. A lot of people in other countries, however, do seem to mind it.................

---

Just for reference, here are the iTunes Stores that Koisuru Universe has made it to ＃1 on:

World Charts:
US
Canada
Australia

J-Pop Charts:
Hong Kong
Thailand
Malaysia
Singapore
New Zealand
Philippines
Mexico

https://twitter.com/scandal_band/status/922294513191628801
https://twitter.com/scandal_band/status/922359190441431041
https://twitter.com/scandal_band/status/924538608945577984

I can't find/see Japanese music articles from the U.S. (or I'm not looking in the right places). Does anyone know how the new music is being reviewed? I think the new songs are great, and hope for a full album soon.

mbowie4321 wrote:I can't find/see Japanese music articles from the U.S. (or I'm not looking in the right places). Does anyone know how the new music is being reviewed? I think the new songs are great, and hope for a full album soon.

If you mean reviews like how, say, Rolling Stone reviews a new single, I get the feeling the local Japanese print media would usually feature a new-released piece of music by giving a brief description of what the song is, and how you can buy it, and add on bits like where you can catch the band live next - as opposed to a critique of the work. There is one here you could read, translated right here on SH:

https://www.scandal-heaven.com/t13951-natalie-scandal-s-koisuru-universe-interview

As a non-Japanese fan, I could only read reviews from the likes of Western webportals like this JaME World ( http://www.jame-world.com/uk/articles-review.html ) but SCANDAL has been off their radar since HELLO WORLD for some reason or other.

Not that I pay critics any attention as these days you can judge for yourself what a song sounds like before buying it!

@kudo_maharizu

I agree 100%, if I like a song I buy it, I dont care what anyone else thinks.

I don't get why even some longtime Scandal fans have come to dislike Scandal's new music. From what I've read, there are people who criticized Yellow for not sounding " Scandal" as they would have expect. Like what's that? Good music is GOOD MUSIC regardless of what genre it belongs to. And it is with this reason that I love Scandal so much. Their talent as an artist is not limited to just one genre of music. They're not afraid to try new things. They're trying their best to to please the fans but at the same time, they're doing what they want and not what people want them to. It's sad (at least for me) that Yellow got the least love out of all their albums. As much as I love them rocking, the song Chiisana Honoo and Love from Yellow were two of my most Favorite Scandal song. 

Just keep on listening to what you want. Don't let things like " review" and "comments" affect what you like.

Osakashnaide wrote:I don't get why even some longtime Scandal fans have come to dislike Scandal's new music. From what I've read, there are people who criticized Yellow for not sounding " Scandal" as they would have expect. Like what's that? Good music is GOOD MUSIC regardless of what genre it belongs to. And it is with this reason that I love Scandal so much. Their talent as an artist is not limited to just one genre of music. They're not afraid to try new things. They're trying their best to to please the fans but at the same time, they're doing what they want and not what people want them to. It's sad (at least for me) that Yellow got the least love out of all their albums. As much as I love them rocking, the song Chiisana Honoo and Love from Yellow were two of my most Favorite Scandal song. 

Just keep on listening to what you want. Don't let things like " review" and "comments" affect what you like.

I would agree, and I like their later music even more than the early stuff, as I'd rather hear songs they've written. I like it all, just like later better.

My earlier note about reviews was more because, in the U.S. at least, rock criticism is a good way to get the word out about a band that some people might not know about. If stuff gets reviewed it might interest new fans and grow their audience, which is good! I never let a review keep me from trying stuff I like, but sometimes I've found good stuff that way I'd never heard of before.

Departure would always be my number one Scandal song. After all, it's through this song that I discovered my favorite band of all time. I thought Green Day would always be my all time fave but then Scandal came along. BTW, is Scandal popular in the US? I think Babymetal and One Ok Rock is way bigger than Scandal in the US right? 

And oh, Koisuru made it to number 1 in the Philippines JPOP itunes? Makes me sad that Scandal is yet to perform there. We've all been waiting.

Osakashnaide wrote:BTW, is Scandal popular in the US? I think Babymetal and One Ok Rock is way bigger than Scandal in the US right?

Let's not get too off-topic here, but yeah, SCANDAL is practically unknown here compared to OOR or BABYMETAL. Those two are mildly well-known here due to touring constantly with well-known American artists, for one.

Also,

Spoiler:

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Anyway, let's bring this back around to "Koisuru Universe," shall we?

It hasn't been posted in this thread yet, but the KoiUni PV was uploaded to their VEVO around when the single came out.

Hmm. Sorry 'bout that. I already have their KoisuruU PV saved on my Vimeo right when they released it. 

And sorry if I'll be off topic (again) but, just want to say "Thank you" Guilty eyes. As someone who's been watching Scandal videos and articles and reading their lyrics on the internet, I've seen your name a lot of the times. Thank you for all your efforts.

Tuba wrote:That's a pretty awesome way of alternating between a pick and your fingers.

Any bassist here to explain the difference? I've knew some bassists that would look down to people that used picks...

First, sorry for answering this late.

Second, i'm a bass player and since I use both fingers and pick (depend on the song I play), here's my answer (if you want more informations, just ask)

Third, as someone else said, the decision of playing with picks or fingers depends on personal choices, but not only. The sound changes from pick to fingers. Also, using fingers gives the player a greater control on the strings than the pick, which can be useful playing a slow tempo.

Fourth, I know some bassists look down to who plays with picks, but the world is full of imbecils, isn't it? 

Hey gang,

I'm sure everybody here is familiar with the Koisuru Universe music video.

I've always been bothered about how washed out the video looks in the official version and wonder if this is intentional.

Its not uncommon, especially in material originating from Japan, for video to be incorrectly mastered in the wrong colour space. Without getting too technical, there's separate colour standards for videos and PCs and if you don't get it right, you'll end up with brightened black levels that'll give your video a smokey look. You can see this in effect on a few of Scandal's live blu rays.

Well, Koisuru Universe goes beyond this simple error. Its black levels are about 2.5 times brighter than the usual misadjustment. In fact, when I first showed it to some friends, one commented "why is it SO bright?".

So what I've done is bring the darkest portions of the picture back down to true black and I find the picture to be much more appealing. The MV no longer looks like Tomomi has dribbled her milk all over the camera lens and the coloured gel lighting really pops:







If you're curious, you can take a look at the full video here:

drive.google.com/file/d/1c6k8DqQ4haFyf2F5GOQEn0k1s92rXmtR/view

You'll have to copy and paste that since I'm a new member and can't post links yet.

Cheers.

Haruna's Ears wrote:Hey gang,

That kinda bothered me too at first! I got used to it but your version is more appealing hehe
Nice nickname  

joameba wrote:Nice nickname  

Ha ha. Thanks. What can I say? I find her little wingnut ears adorable.

Haruna's Ears wrote:
I've always been bothered about how washed out the video looks in the official version and wonder if this is intentional.

I think it is. I sometimes take that low contrast approach when I edit my videos. I once saw someone refer to it as "hipstervision"... can't remember where, though.