1. DEMONDICE - Take The Bait
2. DEMONDICE - Wanting, Getting, Wanting
3. DEMONDICE - Dark Hour
4. DEMONDICE - Fake Ass Gold
5. DEMONDICE - Strange Fiction
6. DEMONDICE - Alkatraz
7. DEMONDICE - Gang Gang Kawaii
8. DEMONDICE - Suckerz
9. DEMONDICE - Wannabe
10. DEMONDICE - Ragin' Ray & Jin
11. DEMONDICE - Hazy Skyscraper
12. DEMONDICE - Dice Of A Generation
13. DEMONDICE - Speak Of Devil
14. DEMONDICE - Necessary Evil
15. DEMONDICE - Appasayo
16. DEMONDICE - Sick Outta Fashion
17. DEMONDICE - Rumor!
18. DEMONDICE - Devil's Barfight
19. DEMONDICE - Wanted!
20. DEMONDICE - Hellbento

>listen to demondice rant about the realistic aspects of making it to past demondice fun songs all is demondice nothing else exists there is JUST DEMONDICE
(top 4 songs are her newest EP, the others are some selected great tracks of hers from past albums/EPs)

>explanation:


>for the unfamiliar, wiki entry here (header image is from last night's stream where she joked around with her fans):

>start here (first and shortest track on the new EP):


>this is kinda a 'last week' chart rather than a 'last month'. as ever this probably won't be regular, I always like to have a REASON to do a chart and one of my favourite artists releasing a new EP and a sudden stanning of her entire back catalogue and not wanting to listen to anybody else is the sort of thing that counts. Well, outside of checking out what Diablo Swing Orchestra have been up to lately because I like my devil-associated THEMES (it's good stuff, but the joke is more important). However if I do want to do another chart I'll bump this thread throughout the rest of the year rather than making a new thread - and edit the title, that's just a joke to play up the stanning.

>mori calliope feat. gawr gura - Q comes out tomorrow and that is possibly the one upcoming release that may make its way in among the satansquares MASS, also perhaps a good Eurovision or National Final song if I let one in, 'terra', 'ay mama' and 'hurricane' (Spain, Finland) as well as basically the top 10 of my BJSC votes this month and some of the club bizarre tracks would have stood a chance if I was being NORMAL but alas

Okay so a REAL chart

 

I thought that every 2 months this year I could do a reordering of my favourite songs over the past 8 weeks, sometimes including old songs if they've had a resurgence, including some comments about the tracks themselves that I want to get out of me (so I have a greater resource for my EOY thoughts), and casually contribute in a more regular way to this forum again that I will be able to normally manage - of course monthly posting listening stats in the Lounge thread kinda also does that but playcounts aren't always the last word in song love.

 

featuring primarily my two devilish stanning targets this year thus far:

 

 

1. DEMONDICE - Take The Bait

-unquestionably my #1 of the year so far, DEMONDICE has dropped some of her best ever flows in this fiery pointed track against hate online as she talks about her desire to respond to mean anonymous comments in the manner that they deserve, were it not for the fact that getting a response is undoubtedly part of their aims in doing so.

 

For further context, I've avoided directly saying this before on here because it will never be officially confirmed and it's common courtesy in most places that discuss related matters not to, but to fully understand this song you have to know that

DEMONDICE is the persona of Mori Calliope before she joined Hololive and now functions as the outlet for what she, Karen, wishes to do and say outside of corporate confines. Most Hololive members are not so open about their other accounts, past or present and the company doesn't allow them to say it directly, but Mori/Karen shows a desire for both to be active and going off her recent streams as DDK, appreciates that a large number of her fans clearly like her for her and not just the hot anime figure that she vtubes behind most of the time

. Given that, the comments DEMONDICEKaren sees online; there's a lot of them - and it's a huge increase from the amount of fans she had when she released her last album Alkatraz. 'Take The Bait' has lines like 'I am not your daughter, your wife or your role model', directly targeting parasociality where people go a little too far with their immersion, challenging false assumptions that people read about her with the excellent stanza that begins '"this bitch hate her own fans", but I never said that' and in between that channeling her desire to rip these people a verbal new one even as she understands she can't.

 

It's something I think that shows strength of character - these are completely normal feelings to have in this very unusual situation, and yet there's not much precedent for how to act and it'd be heartless to say that she shouldn't be feeling how she does in this song. Shut Up Get Happy is an EP about the price of fame and being an internet celebrity and this embodies that most, it's not a whine, it's a release of frustration. And yet, the EP's message does come through in this song as well, the refrain 'life is good' acknowledges that this is just a minor part of her life now and for the most part she is in a good place.

 

It's a vent track, basically. And a glorious one at that, that I've looped over and over and over again.

 

2. Diablo Swing Orchestra - Celebremos Lo Inevitable

- One of the revelations of my year so far has been looping all of Diablo Swing Orchestra's albums. 'Justice For Saint Mary' was great and all, but EVERY track is like that, an unusual and always surprising mix of metal and whatever else the eclectic members of DSO choose, with 'Celebremos Lo Inevitable' no exception. It's my favourite track off their new album, which was released in November, their first Spanish song, and an excellent one at that. Themed around the Day of the Dead celebration in Mexican culture, the song has some absolutely huge rock crashes and chords that complement the originally slow but ever faster and faster Hispanic singing that accompany it.

 

vote for it in BJSC

 

3. DEMONDICE - Dark Hour

- The most emotional track on the Shut Up, Get Happy EP. Dark Hour is a song about the thoughts one has after going to sleep, where sleep is one of the few refuges she has from the world that she now lives in. DEMONDICE has really improved her singing in the last couple of years and this is the track that shows it off the most, she sounds beautiful here against the haunting production. Jumping between her improved singing and her breathy talk-rapping style that she does so well when she wants to (feels a bit Billie Eilish in places), this really makes me cry when I focus in on the lyrics and feel the emotions she's coming across. It's relatable, sometimes sleep is the only escape one can get it and the track is so well constructed around that single lyrical theme.

 

4. aamourocean - Parmi Les Mortals

- this trance beauty is from 2020 but has really stuck with me after winning the first BJSC this year, its French lyrics waxing about mortality against the backdrop of the build, this is a really perfect song. I thought trance had nothing left to surprise me with, but this has proved otherwise.

 

5. Mori Calliope & Gawr Gura - Q

- A collaboration between the two biggest Hololive vtubers that follows up their inventive and huge cover of KANARIA'S 'King' last year, Q (meaning 'Queen'), is the first original song collab between Mori and Gura, who have a really close friendship in Hololive. It's also produced by DECO*27, a veteran vocaloid producer. It's a short but very catchy song that is accompanied with a fantastic full animated video of Mori, Gura and representations of their fans, skeletons and shrimps respectively, fighting it out for domination over... the vtubing scene I guess. HYPE DISTILLED INTO A SONG... is one way to describe it.

 

6. Diablo Swing Orchestra - Speed Dating An Arsonist

- Diablo Swing Orchestra actually do electro-swing is how I'd sell this song, and it really works, fast-paced lyrics and a slightly lighter touch (though not without reminders that they are a rock band). They're often at their best when doing rock but this is so unique within their discography that I'd sell it to anyone who likes the idea of them but finds them too hard - while trying to avoid the trope of only liking a band for 'that one soft song they did one time'.

 

7. DEMONDICE - Wanting, Getting, Wanting

- Opening up Shut Up, Get Happy with an energetic but short burst of energy, 'Wanting, Getting Wanting' is a short track about DEMONDICE's need for an outlet when she often can't really talk about what she's experiencing. By her own admission it was written a long time ago, but hits just as hard on release because she was still feeling the need for a vent space behind the scenes. It's short so there's not much else to say on it but it features a great reference to 'No Church In The Wild''s classic lyric by continuing 'what is a god to a devil putting up a facade' that launches the EP directly into DEMONDICE's struggles with expressing herself since her newfound fame.

 

8. DEMONDICE - Fake Ass Gold

- The positive end to Shut Up, Get Happy, 'Fake Ass Gold' feels like it owes more than a little to early Kanye, with the high-pitched choir behind DEMONDICE singing the chorus and into the verses. To contrast against her struggles on the rest of the EP, this ends off the EP on a positive note with a few fun references (like a reference to a sheriff) that she's more known for. It lyrically acknowledges that chasing something better will always leave a feeling that it's not enough, there's some great wordplay with her 'pyrite skies' (pyrite being the technical name for fool's gold) and elsewhere in the song. And it ends the whole EP off that no matter what you do, no matter how successful you are, there will be some times when you are down, or having a bad day, but surviving those moments, looking forward to tomorrow and all the good times that success brings, is more important.

 

there, there's a first draft for my Shut Up Get Happy review in 2022's EOY.

 

9. t+pazolite - Oshama Scramble (uncut edition)

- a first BJSC entry of the year, a great hardcore track that I adore for the hype it gives with its repeated 'let's do this' and 'atashi wo' in readiness to launch into instrumental hype, in current rotation it's off a bit after overplaying it during the contest but I'm sure it'll be back to normal very soon

 

10. Cyan Kicks - Hurricane

- a pop-rock storm from Finland's National Final, I made my peace with it not winning a while ago but I'm very happy it came second, Cyan Kicks give off an image of a young Amaranthe without the harsh vocals, and with this and the rest of their material that I've been listening to, they've been a great addition to my playlists as a result of their UMK participation.

 

11. Rigoberta Bandini - Ay Mama

- beautiful Spanish national final song, should have been their entry

 

12. ichigo from Kisidakyoudan & the Akebosi rockets - STONE OCEAN

- the opening to the first part of Jojo - Part 6, it's very powerful in its depiction of Jolyne as the badass female beauty that she is (I love her so much).

 

13. Monika Liu - Sentimentai

- early favourite among Eurovision selected songs, beautiful Lithuanian retro-pop

 

14. Alina Pash - Shadows Of Forgotten Ancestors

- rejected Ukrainian favourite, but in the long run, Kalush might be a better entry

 

15. Black Country, New Road - Concorde

- most emotional of all of the very good BC,NR tracks, especially so since the departure of Isaac from the band.

 

16. Kalush Orchestra - Stefania

- I am so ready to see this on the stage in May, it's a great rap track that really shows off authentic Ukrainian culture

 

17. Jamala - 1944

- look just try listening to this again after following the Ukraine war for a similar amount of time as I have and see where it gets you re: waterworks

 

18. Ruslana - Wild Dances

- see above

 

19. Lady Gaga - Shallow

- also in here for a specific 2022 reason, Mori did a stunning cover of it in an unarchived acoustic karaoke that resonated with me throughout a rather rough late January-early February I watched her have

 

20. Highasakite - Autopsy

- plus most of Mother, this is at the pinnacle of pop albums right now, grown on me since BJSC, all hail Highasakite

 

21. Blackbriar - Fairy Of The Bog

 

22. Diablo Swing Orchestra - War Painted Valentine

 

23. Mori Calliope - Dawn Blue

 

24. Diablo Swing Orchestra - Sightseeing in the Apocalypse

 

25. Tanxuguieras - Terra

 

26. Eskimo Callboy - Pump It

 

27. Jin Hashimoto - Stand Proud

 

28. The Midnight - Los Angeles

-normally won't include 'old tracks I just felt like playing a lot for no specific reason' but I really did feel like playing this one a lot and it gave me extra chills this year so I guess...

 

29. DEMONDICE - Strange Fiction

-same for all of the DEMONDICE spam that is mostly demonstrated in the meme chart above (but it is a relatively accurate ranking of DEMONDICE songs before these new ones settle down a little) but I did gain a new appreciation for this one in particular as it was the first track that'd play after I finished a play of Shut Up Get Happy as it leads off DEMONDICE's album of the same name - and is a bop

 

30. The Weeknd - Out Of Time

 

31. La rappresente di lista - Ciao Ciao

 

32. Lets Eat Grandma - Happy New Year

 

33. Bon Entendeur - Alba

 

34. Loli in early 20s - Deprocessed

 

35. Hoang Thuy Linh - Tu Phu

 

36. Dave - Heart Attack

 

37. KEiiNO - Unbreakable

 

38. Dave - We're All Alone

 

39. Black Country, New Road - Snow Globes

 

40. Black Country, New Road - The Place Where He Inserted The Blade

 

I love music

 

all these tracks are brilliant I recommend any you have not heard though in part I know I am attached due to following these artists specifically but deep emotional investment >>>>>> objectively consuming music dispassionately

march-april update

 

of course some songs can appear twice

 

1. Mori Calliope - Dead On Arrival

- the best UnAlive track, a perfect electro-swing song

 

2. Midnight Grand Orchestra - SOS

- the best drop ever produced by a Hololive-adjacent song

 

3. Moona Hoshinova - High Tide

- a powerful storm of a pop song

 

4. Mori Calliope - Lose Lose Days

- very sweet

 

5. Mori Calliope - UnAlive

- very epic

 

6. EGOIST - Bang!!!

 

7. Dave - Starlight

 

8. Konstrakta - In Corpore Sano

 

9. Monika Liu - Sentimentai

 

10. Mori Calliope - Resting Power

 

11. Mori Calliope - Ouroboros

 

12. DEMONDICE - Dark Hour

 

13. Cornelia Jakobs - Hold Me Closer

 

14. Mori Calliope - CapSule (feat. Hoshimachi Suisei)

 

15. Hoshimachi Suisei - Template

 

16. Hoshimachi Suisei - Wicked (feat. Mori Calliope)

 

17. Mori Calliope - Scuffed Up Age

 

18. LUM!X - Halo (feat. Pia Maria)

 

19. Mori Calliope - Q

 

20. DEMONDICE - Take The Bait

 

21. Sam Ryder - Space Man

 

22. ROSALIÁ - CUUUUUUUUUUTE

 

23. Ikimonogakari - Baku

 

24. Helene Bøksle - Vegvisir

 

25. Sabaton - The Unkillable Soldier

 

26. Amanda Tenfjord - Die Together

 

27. 80kidz - Miss Mars

 

28. Beach House - Pink Funeral

 

29. Beach House - Once Twice Melody

 

30. ROSALÍA - Hentai

 

don't have too much in me to write right now but maybe next time