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So I'm new~ Hello! I've been into VK for about 3 years and listen to just about everything. Lately my favorites reside in early 80s/90s jrock/metal. I'm not too picky so feel free to chat old or new bands with me~

Just like the title says this is an attempt to bring back the m-h jrock awards for the year 2017 which last took place way back in 2012 and apparently ended do to lack of participation. Awards were given for best album, single, new band, etc. And all of this was decided by user votes. So I asked about reviving this and here's what @Zeussaid, Judging by all of the yearly best album/single reviews I would hope there's still some interest in something like this. So if you want to see the "Monochrome heaven J-Rock Awards 2017" then help me get this topic 50 likes and/or 50 comments by the end of the month.

It may be a small contribution, but watching their music videos on official channels rather than xoxVisualHeadRushBRxox's reuploads so they can at least get some ad revenue to offset production costs.

Hey Guys so last night I saw Virge live for the first time and they were amazing! So I thought I would come here and talk about their live on their Artist post but they didn't have one So I thought I would start one and talk about the live I went to last night! For starters here is their new Look and list of their current discography! 遼-ryo- 紫月-sizuki- 沁-shin- 或-aru- Discography 1st Mini Album ~ UTOPIA [2017.05.03] 1.琥珀 (Kohaku) 2.恨ミ言 (Uramigoto) 3.夜明け、灰色の呼吸 (Yoake、haiiro no kokyuu) 4.ボクノ悪イ癖 (Boku no warui kuse) 5.蓮華 (Renge) 6.ユートピア (UTOPIA) Like an Edison: Bonus CD 「暁」(Akatsuki) 1.暁 (Akatsuki) Live-limited and Like an Edison CD ~ 不透明な雨 (Futoumeina ame) [2017.07.26] 1. 止マヌ雨 (Tomanu Ame) 2. 凶夢 (Kyoumu) 3. 二枚舌 (Bonus Track) (Nimaijita) Ikebukuro Black Hole Live-limited CD ~ 紅いドレス [2017.10.21] 1. 紅いドレス (Akai Dress) 1st Single ~ 夜想 [2017.11.01] CD 1.夜想 (Yasou) 2.お人形遊び (Oningyou Asobi) 3.泡沫 (Utakata) 4.凱歌 (Gaika) DVD 1.夜想 (Yasou) Music Video Like an Edison Version Bonus CD: 「fated」

らせん (Rasen) (the La'Veil MizeriA x Crucifixion continuous side project) will be selling their new "winter single" "想失 (Soushitsu)" on December 1st. On that day, they will be performing at Oosaka FANJtwice. They have not yet provided a track list nor any pricing information.

You know what. It can be difficult, but the only advice that I can give to that is to stop thinking about it. People love to categorise themselves, I know, but when you seem to fit multiple lockers or none at all, stressing about it is just not beneficial. I've often wondered myself whether I'm bi or pan or whatever, even being told by gay people that I'm gay (which is not true, being that I'm married to a member of the opposite sex), but I get most happiness out of just not trying do define it and go along with what feels alright. Sure this can strip you off of any community you might want to be part of (especially LGBTQ+ community can be so fucking toxic within itself and discriminate against people they don't feel are queer enough to fit with their little niche), but it's better than fitting yourself into a group and constantly being aware that you aren't truly a part of it.

Find their secret yahoo auctions!/mbok account and buy all their tereko/cheki/bootlegs/2nd hand cds.

buying merchandise is the best way to support a band. Still if the band is under a label you don't know how much they receive themselves. But it's the no.1 money income. And they get most money from selling "cheki" (10 cheki cost them only about 700~800yen) However, even if the money goes to the label, I think you still need to support the artist. How more a label get, how more they support their artists. And for disbanded bands, it's hard to tell how much they get from the royalties, it really depends on the contract they signed. Also for visual bands it's very important that they sell their CD's and merchandise good, if they wanna stay alive. with or without a label. If the selling won't go well enough, a band also disbands (often). Just check the DL part of this forum to check if you find anything you look for. Otherwise you always can request what you are looking for and maybe someone is willing to share the love with you. So, just support the artist you like. It's never a waste of money.

DVD Tracklist: 01.4 minutes for you　 02.The Screamers　 03.asymMETRY　 04.赤いマフラーを巻いた女の子 05.Good morning Tokyo!　 06.V_V GIRL　 07.JapanesQ　 08.懺劇　 09.Marry me,’cause I hate U 10.恐想ロワイヤル　 11.アカネとアイ　 12.レインフォール　 13.DramaQueeN　 14.SHE LUVS “POP STAR”　 15.Director's cut　 16.撃愛　 17.Brilliant days　 18.Samurai dreeeeeam breaker　 19.JUSTICE　 20.遺書　 21.Qtie　 22.Gotcha6ka　 23.The Lyrical Jet Sky　 24.Diary　 25.Ash　 26.Hydrag

you could take advice from this guy:

Their new single will be released on 2018.02.07. Limited edition : 2200 yen + taxes CD : 2 songs DVD : MUSIC CLIP +撮影密着オフショット(off-shot) +2017.11.22 ペンタゴン 47都道府県 JAPAN TOUR「WONDER:LAST」 TOUR FINAL&眠花バースデー日本青年館公演より3曲収録 Regular edition : 1500 yen + taxes CD : 3 songs A tour called 「GA-CHA HEAD-CHA-LA」 will begin on 2018.02.11 and will end on 2018.04.25

Their new single 「Ray」 will be released on 2018.01.24.

They tweeted the cover art for ANIMA.

This single is now their best selling single. It's also charted longer than any of their previous singles. Although the opinions here are lukewarm on the single content itself, let's put that aside for now... They haven't been able to top MIRRORS in sales for 6 years, and they've done it with a release whose premium edition was essentially a full-length live blu-ray with a bonus single attached -- this is pretty impressive because DVD/BD sales are usually harder to push. With their top single being their most recent and their top 4 selling albums all being from their return to their more visual kei roots in 2014 onward (AVANTGARDE, GALLOWS, D.A.R.K., SINNER-EP) they've really made a comeback after their slight downturn in 2012/2013.

^ 上京物語 definitely counts in my book. I know it's just a MIDI + vocal track, but I still really enjoy it.

Back in 2010, they went major and did a couple 'anisongs' for the 'Kaichou wa Maid-sama' anime. Both singles were on 'Senkou Mellow' album. Despite this being their most popular period, I think this (and the album that came after it, 'Alpha') was actually their weakest sounding era as a band, and they were demoted to indie status from what I recall from talking with fans at the time. As for popularity, I mean, they've played in the US at least 4 times and even did a European tour, but their fanbase always seems to stay relatively the same size (even in Japan, from what I can tell). At one time, they were popular enough to be doing the Hide Memorial Summit and headlining on VA albums, etc. It's really quite sad, because you can tell the guys really love what they do and have a really unique sound – Like you said, they haven't even had any member changes after 11 years playing together. I think they're honestly together because they know they have something special, not for any monetary reason (that's for sure) Since then though, I really think they've been focused on the quality of their releases. Ignoring the last single (which was a little generic IMO), 'Human' and 'Kaikou' (their latest albums) have some really good, solid material and rival their first 2 albums as far as replay-ability goes, for me personally anyway. And I LOVE those first 2 albums. I would say so. They play with other VK bands, and while they have a toned-down look, Nao is always the most angura out of the four of them.

Have you guys listened to MERRY's version of 家路 yet? And if you did, did you like it? Personally, I really liked it. It's one of the highlights of the MUCC tribute album for me. That got me thinking that with all the stuff MERRY released in 2017, we finally have enough material for an entire MERRY album of covers from other artists. (chronologically) 2002 - Strength Beyond Strength 2007 - PRECIOUS... 2009 - 伊勢佐木町ブルース 2009 - 学生街の喫茶店 2010 - 皆殺しのメロディ 2010 - 新宿ナナ 2010 - オデッセイ・1985・SEX 2011 - Schweinの椅子 2012 - 悪の華 2017 - SO... 2017 - 家路 That's quite a lot! I think only MUCC got them beat for "official" studio version covers. At least as far as V系 bands go. There's also the debatable inclusion of シャ乱Q's 上・京・物・語, but that one doesn't count, right? Anyway, which one is your favorite cover version? Which ones do you dislike? Personally, I think it's reallyyyy hard to beat 伊勢佐木町ブルース, but I love 新宿ナナ and オデッセイ・1985・SEX. The ones I'm not really hot about are Strength Beyond Strength and Schweinの椅子, and I think that's about it. MERRY usually does really well performing other people's songs. I kinda wish they did even more covers, MERRY almost always leave their personal mark and that's pretty cool. The next single could use a brand new b-side and another old-school cover.

in order: 1- buying official merchandise 2- going to the concerts as much as possible] 3- buying CDs 4- listening stuff legally on streaming plataforms OR something similar 5- spreading the word. if you can't help your favorite artists using the first 4 options, then try recommending them to as much friends as possible. the more people know and get into them, the more people might be able to help support their craft. and that includes sharing .mp3s/videos, etc..

Kinda wish a few more VK dudes were out and about, if only to satisfy my irrational curiosity. I have this vision of peak VK being like '80s UK synthpop, where like 90% of anyone good was gay/bi.

CDJapan is a just a retailer. So they would just take a typical cut that any store would take and then it goes to the distributor/label and all that business. I'm sure whatever the percentage is varies a bit from store to store, but it probably wouldn't be much different than any other shop (physical or not). It's safe to assume that a band with an official webshop would get a much higher cut from sales, but then again they could still have a lot of middlemen if the band is notable enough to require extra people to handle shipping.

Whichever you are, it's normal and you should not feel pressured to be anything else. You can also be asexual and straight, meaning that you just feel very little sexual attraction to the opposite sex, or the attraction requires a lot. If you feel like finding out is too taxing, you do you. It's perfectly normal to be happy without "that special someone" everyone keeps ushering you to find asap. This, I feel, should be normal where it's not. I think a relationship is your business and whether you wanna disclose it with family members or relatives is up to you. I certainly hated it whenever my family had some sort of fucking massive gathering and all half-relatives and whatnots were asking: "So do you have a boyfriend yet? Are you interested in anyone?" No, great aunt or who the fuck ever you are, none of your fucking beeswax. Not to mention I absolutely disliked the fact that they were expecting me to like guys instead of girls, but that's beside the point. I never liked fitting into a mould. That's a lot of swearing. Sorry about that.

Bands on major labels usually get a salary, so buying CDs from them helps keep the labels afloat and helps keep bands employed. The absolute best way is definitely going to shows and buying merch, but obviously that's not terribly feasible. But besides that, your best bet is probably just buying CDs and merch (new of course). It might not go directly to them, but in theory it helps keep the label afloat which in turn helps the band out.

If their label still owns the rights to their songs then yes, it would go to the label. Usually a contract runs out at some point though (but I'm not an expert in Japanese recording contracts tbh) and after that the song royalties would go straight to the artist themselves. But like mentioned above, if you can buy it direct from his website that would benefit them the most.

Jealous of you dude. D:

I think you pretty much answered it yourself! Supporting the artists by buying their merch directly off their site or (in the case of music) any music sites they link to for purchase would probably be the ones giving them the most royalties. Like you said, it may have to be through a third party if they don't ship overseas and/or you're not confident enough in your Japanese to order by yourself. If that isn't an option, may I recommend ordering from a VK/j-rock CD supplier? Even if it's a secondhand purchase of something out of print that the band may not benefit from themselves, the monetary profit these stores make help support and keep the scene alive within Japan, providing talk/event opportunities, promotional opportunities, and more. I don't think there's any kind one answer fits all regarding whether artists receive royalties for old releases, short-lived bands, etc. and how much... I would assume most of them do since that seems pretty standard, but how much would depend on their contracts with whatever label it was released under. However, it is pretty safe to say that if it was released on a band's own personal/independent label, they would still receive a good chunk of profit from any music sales or new music pressings. If there's something you're particularly looking for, you can always request it on the upload request thread. In that regard, the forum seems to take the "try before you buy" or "might as well upload it if it's out of print so more fans can enjoy it" approach to uploading VK/j-rock music, so I don't think you have to really worry about getting reported over piracy. I'm not sure of another website database of mp3 like that myself... Maybe another poster can help.

this is the DILFs thread tho

heidi, was really good and popular at their peak. I don't really know exactly what happened; even in Japan their popularity seems to have stagnated (not to say decreased) for a while now. They were growing ridiculously fast back when they started and all of sudden it just stopped. I'm always surprised to see a new release by them as well lol but it's cool that they're still going, even though I don't check out their stuff anymore.

I agree up to a point but thought their last album was actually a real return to form, beautifully produced and sounded much harder and heavier than their other stuff.

except SIXTH SENSE though, that was pure gold.

Y e s! Same (Also, aye, I'm new here and stumbled across this thread xD Loona is my current bias group so I had to comment~)

My skit starts at 29:40, I hope you enjoy even though I sucked ass!

Better than the original 👌

Hello. Just joined a little while ago. I've actually been seeing/browsing this site for years but just joined XD I've been into VK for almost 10 years now and my favorite bands are Symphonic/"Tanbi" bands. (Versailles, Lareine, Chanton L'amour, Lacroix Despheres, VAMPIRE ROSE, La fleur de l'ange, Ambrosia -Neo Gothic Opera-, Anti-Alice, Merveille Magique, etc.) and also old school bands (Arege, As'REAL, En:nesia, Baiser, Gu:Laymu, M E L U S I N E, Radifia, Variable Messiah, etc.) errrrrr, don't know what else to say but.... hi XD

Who is Yukika?

the only thing they boycotT is take-the-initial'L sales fr

LOONA just dropped their 9th member and whoa. Love it. The video and the song.

okay but can u imagine the GAG of this unclockable NIHONJIN QUEEN walking into the werk room w/ a "ご機嫌よう～” & a twirl in some alice & the pirates 80,000 yen custom made FANTASY rupaul would be SHOOK the house down BOOTS BITCH YAAAAAAaAaaAAAASS

That crisp mountain air.

user awards are more fun but this is ok too

i want to have a kid just so i can abandon it at a mall

I think that what he means to say is that while they mainly cater to a female audience, maybe there's some photos that would subconsciously appeal to the straight male audience and OP is asking if that would be something bands would exploit to gain more fans. I'm also pretty sure OP wasn't being offensive towards the LGBT community in any way.

There was Arakawa-san from zoisite taking photos. She's already posted some of them on twitter and hopefully will publish some more soon. But I doubt there'll be a video. I saw no other cameras.

Tracklist: 1. 蟲聲 2. デルタ (Type-A only) 2. 六花の歔欷 (Type-B only) - Love them or hate them; but don't do either based on this single I was able to put into words the biggest reason why I’ve liked 儿 (Jin) ( The Black Swan/ Nega) while attending The Black Swan’s one-man live in June of last year. I realized while Jin was pouring his heart into one of their trademark overwrought, overlong ballads that no one else is able to tread the line between embracing the tropes of Visual Kei and mocking them like Jin has. He doesn’t just tow that line, he and his bands have taken up permanent residence there for some time now. Take 2015’s “I’m Shit Noodle, But…” off The Black Swan’s 失愛と依存、その感触 single as a prime example of this ability to live the VK lifestyle, tongues firmly in cheek. VK is a genre so built on the idolization of characters that it is downright scandalous when it’s publicly revealed that band members have engaged in mostly innocuous activities like having girlfriends or smoking some weed. The Black Swan wrote a banger turning this image of the impossibly virtuous band member on its head by shouting about their enjoyment of sex, drugs and money; a value system that is traditionally accepted in rock’n’roll but rarely espoused by people in the VK community. I enjoy Jin’s nasal warble; I appreciate uniqueness and passion more than a traditionally ‘good’ singing voice…which Jin certainly does not have. I think it’s often unnecessary to have two guitarists playing downtuned/seven+ string guitars and a bassist basically occupying the same sonic space, but all the guitarists are competent. I also thoroughly enjoy that the drummer has achieved a slight amount of separate-from-the-band fame by being a scary looking VK dude who adopted a tiny, stray kitten. With all that being said, I was disappointed when The Black Swan announced recently that they’d be disbanding next May after more than three years together as a band. They have not announced any other releases, though this being VK, I assume we’ll get a best-of release with a new warmed-over B-side or two, so 蟲聲 might be the last gasp of this particular band of VK provocateurs. The title track “蟲聲”--after it gets the acoustic intro from “Chop Suey!” out of the way--is the kind of song that Jin and The Black Swan will be remembered for; a little all-over-the-place compositionally, a riff that sounds like the guitarist would be walking toward the camera in the video, a plethora of vocal styles (some squeals, slightly flat singing, deathcore-inspired growling, some gang shouting), there's slightly haunting piano to highlight the sombre mood, the chorus that Jin uses for about 30% of his songs. All-in-all this is probably the least interesting track on this single. This being a VK single, of course there are multiple versions to buy to get all the songs. The A-Type version of 蟲聲 contains “デルタ (Delta)”. Critics would say this song sounds a lot like someone took a solid Dezert song and sprinkled some fart-sounding drop-A riffs and strained vocals throughout; to which I couldn’t make much of an argument except to say the chorus is deliciously catchy no matter if someone else would’ve done it better or not. I like the gravelly whisper in one channel under the singing that Jin does to end the song too. The B-Type song "六花の歔欷" would seem to be a very lengthy track by VK standards, but Jin fans will be unfazed after epic-length experiments like “虚しき「生」の寓意≒「死」の真意” and “Ousia”. This track pales in comparison to those other 7+ minute songs, mostly by not differentiating itself enough (all the usual ingredients are there: piano, acoustic guitar, etc.), but it does have a pretty stellar falsetto wail right before a smart guitar solo @ 3:50 and it gets points for not trying to scare the listener with unexpected guitar explosions, but rather is simply a solid, longing ballad throughout. The Black Swan will go down as being mostly a logical evolution of Jin’s sound during the latter days of Nega that continued their quest as one of the more polarizing bands in VK. Love him or hate him, Jin will get you to have some reaction. But don’t take my word for any of this, my favorite Jin project is freakin’ Perestroika ;).

It isn't rock but the last concert I went to was to see SZA.

Another one from 甲府。首吊りロンド！

UGH So biased but my favorite bandmen is Aru! God I was just in love when he came out to the stage haha but he's so far in the back so I couldn't really see him just all Ryo haha. Anywho Ikebukuro Black Hole Live - [2017.10.21] So I have been to a few lives but not so many, I mean I've only seen the Gazette twice, once here and in America and now Virge and I would have to say Virge did it better. I don't know if it was because it was such a small live and everything felt so intimate but like the ambiance from start to finish was just spectacular. I guess the only thing that my friend and I did notice was that the songs seemed to run into each other and more often then not we thought to ourselves like wait are they replaying that one song from before or is this different.... But with all the dancing and headbanging there was really no time for talking haha. They started it off with the full New PV of 夜想 (Yasou) where everyone bent down so everyone could see the screen and we watched the full PV which had to be about 5 mins long if I remember it correctly and it was really goooooooood. The new look and the scenery was just amazing and I was nodding my head from start to finish, obviously the only one besides one other guy because the girls only take part in hand gestures and so forth and don't seem like they are really feeling the music? is what I was thinking because swaying for me is really feeling it and not being able to control your body.... ) Anywho side rant over. The PV was amazing and my friend and I was in awe and right after that the Live started and we stood up and went for it. I'm not going to give a play by play of what was done in each different song but more the things that surprised me about going to my first small live, probably ever. Starting off I mean the headbanging and so forth is probably the easiest thing you can probably get right without messing up only being to someones live once but the hand movements I had to just watch and every once in a while the fist pump came up and I could easily do that so I did haha. There was parts where we moshed to the left and right ( I swear their was a different name for it but yeah) That was pretty fun and we did it for a long time during 二枚舌 (Nimaijita) where Ryo got off stage to have people sing in his mic and to move with us. He was right behind me for sometime so I don't know what he was doing because I was trying not to pay him to much mind but I saw the everyone looking right behind me so who knows if he was riding my backpack or not lol. Then he tried to get back on stage but Sizuki kicked him back in the crowd so he stayed for a bit longer and then got back on stage to end the song. I really think the highlight of the night was Akai Dress it stood out a lot more than the other songs to me and with the red light blazing behind them I was really feeling it, probably my new favorite by them , I think. They they ended the night after their last song and told us thank you for coming and to follow them. All in all it was a great night and it got my friend and I excited to go take on another live soon so who knows where will be next but yeah. If you guys haven't listened to them yet I would check them out they are good and want to say even better live! Live Set list

Their first live will be on 2017.09.17 at 高田馬場AREA. A first single called 『安藤のおセンチ(秘)』(Andoô no o-senshi (hi) will be distributed at this date. Members : Singer : 裏喰-リク-(Riku) Guitarist : アル(Alu)　@UNDEUX_ALu Guitarist : Mr.X　@UNDEUX_Mr_X Bassist : コウジ(Koji)　@UNDEUX_Koji Drummer :ルシャ(Luchat)　@UNDEUX_Luchat Website : http://undeux-official.com/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/UNDEUX_OFFICIAL?lang=fr