shiroihana

How ma:ture.

Whoever uses $10 ipod buds can't call themselves audiophiles. That's like saying you're a computer expert when you only know how to open up a browser lol

me @ me

what do you mean? what download section?

do you have the right website??

i will NEVER stop believing that flac is just a meme extension people placebo themselves into believing makes a real difference tbqh

Cool kids take photos in black and white these days, right?

 
Plus a bonus from when I straightened my hair

~Like every year the combination of images and videos is assaulting your web browser. Just give it a minute~
 
2016 was an ... interesting year. I came to grips with my status as a visual kei fan of shit turn of the century disbanded bands and ojisan rock, but found new comers convincing enough to keep me around. Albums I had been waiting on forever finally released and invigorated my passion for music halfway through the year like it always does. A few surprises were sprinkled throughout the year and while I felt that the year was lacking in great music looking back it's not so bad. This year certainly left a better impression on me musically than any year since 2011 - and that's saying a lot for me since that's the year that I started doing these lists.
 

 
Aphex Twin - Cheetah EP
 
 
 

 
THE BLACK SWAN - OUSIA
 
 
 
 

 
BUCK-TICK - アトム 未来派 No.9
 
 
 

 
The Dear Hunter - Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional
 
 
 

 
decays - baby who wanders
 
 
 
 

 
downy - 第六作品集『無題』
 
 
 


Flatbush Zombies: 3001 A Laced Odyssey
 
 
 

 
HIZAKI - Rosario
 
 
 

 
IX -NINE- - NIRDVANDVA
 
 
 

 
 
KEEL - Raison de etre et de sang
 
 
 

 
陰陽座 - 迦陵頻伽
 
 
 

 
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 3
 
 
 

 
Russian Circles - Guidance
 
 
 

 
有村 竜太朗 (Ryutaro Arimura) - 「デも／demo」
 
 
 

 
siraph - siraph
 
 


 
Vektor - Terminal Redux
 
 
 

 
Versailles - The Greatest Hits 2007-2016
 
 
 

 
ザアザア (Xaa-Xaa) - 中毒症状
 
 
 
 
Thanks for reading!

This ! ;~; I think it's so overdone  
 

Seeing this kinda made me realize how much I don't appreciate the sixth and seventh waves as much as everything that came before. I just think that's when things started getting really homogenized and it's not that I don't still enjoy a good number of bands, but I don't find them as irreplaceable. Maybe I got used to so many bands breaking up and I'm jaded or there just isn't as much variation in musical styles as there used to be. Probably both. Things change, so I'm not really bitter, and a lot of the older bands are still releasing music so I can't complain. It's just seeing it all laid out like this made it pretty clear where I'm at these days. 

Her humor makes me feel uncomfortable. lol

bangs are life.

itsukoii and hiroki both super cute

itsukoii and hiroki both super cute

took this before i cut my hair (which i immediately regretted orz)
 
 

hello, it is your favourite 5 year old (with a new hair colour & weeb filter to boot)

Yeah I'm a man. Many people here know who I am but have never seen a full face photo of me so yeah.
 
 

This is my view from the decade of being involved in the J-rock /vk scene.
 
I think the current slowdown of VK over the last few years has a number of factors behind it.
    
The first is the over saturation of bands in the scene. Not only did there seem to be more bands than ever in the VK scene but they more or less all sounded the same. It kinda makes sense that following the rise in the number of VK bands, there would be a huge number of disbandment's with the competition being so stiff, and very few bands actually innovating or at the very least making decent music. A vast increase of bands with the same cookie cutter sound and low quality output is a brickwall for any genre. This also has the effect of making labels and even fans, tired of VK bands, thus further ensuring a downward trend. 
 
Another reason is that VK is usually horribly promoted either by the labels or the bands themselves. They make such dumb decisions that end up costing them a ton of money, either by squandering it on ventures with very little to no returns, or over looking untapped but very potentially rich opportunities. This has always been a problem with the scene, but it becomes magnified on an even greater scale when you have a whole bunch of vk bands rise up and almost simultaneously implode back to back, month after month, year after year.
 
A big part of what I believe plays a major role for those outside of Japan is the accessibility to VK, and music in general. To an extent this has always been a problem with VK, but with a ton of file sharing sites, music blogs, and forums getting axed in the last couple of years, it is harder to find access to VK or Japanese music in general. There used to be a time where you could literally google some obscure Japanese band and get your hands on their releases without much effort. Today that’s rarely the case. Not only is the quantity of releases down, but it’s a lot harder to actually access them.  And while there has been good strides for Japanese music to be obtained legally for foreigners, it still leaves a lot to be desired.
 
As others have pointed out, the erosion of the VK community is another contributing factor for the decline of VK. I’m specifically talking about the online community outside of japan. I believe the online VK community is what kept the scene invigorated with interest and a steady supply of new bands. As to why the community has been drastically reduced I’ll point to the first reason I made and the one written above. This along with the fact that many listeners probably either outgrew the scene, and those that remained retreated to refugees like MH. So you’ve gone from a widespread but scattered ardent community, to a centralized but much smaller passionate community.  
 
VK was always a niche market, and I don’t think that will change anytime soon. I do think it has reached it’s critical mass and what we’re seeing now is the implosion of the scene. It’s not it’s death, but a remission after being over saturated, and with no new bands pushing forward, it’s established bands retiring and it’s community mostly gone and unable to keep it relevant and interesting as it once was. I don’t believe  EDM, or K-pop or whatever killed VK, or even affected it. I believe this was the inevitable direction VK was always heading in, and those genres just happened to coincide with it’s downfall. 
 
I do think there are less people getting into rock and metal but that has to do with an age difference. I believe the majority of us here grew up and were exposed to some sort of rock, metal or genre that used actual instruments. While most of the newer generation today is primarily exposed to electronica or mainstream pop and thus they end up heading down that route and have less of a chance of discovering rock, or something like VK. This wouldn’t be so bad if the electronica or pop they listened to weren’t soulless vapid unoriginal turds. It’s not impossible, but a lot harder for younger generations to get exposed to rock music in general.
 
I don’t think VK is dead or that it ever will be. Yes genres and styles fade into obscurity, some much more than others, but I think VK will definitely always stick around. Part of the reason is because bands like Luna Sea , and X  Japan, among a few others,  have made enough of a significant impact on the Japanese music scene to remain relevant and inspire younger generations, either directly, or indirectly.  The other part is that VK is super diverse in terms of  aesthetic appearance and in terms of genres, so it allows a ton of creative freedom, and makes it more likely and appealing for musicians to take part in it.
 
Another benefit from that genre diversity is that it keeps the door open for VK to enter different realms. While a strictly metal band would only have certain paths or opportunities in which to grow, just like pop would only have certain paths, VK has the advantage of covering a wide base of opportunities. Of course you still need a band that can actually makes good music and can play.  
 
On a side note I do think EDM and electronica get’s a bad rep. Like everything else there’s a lot of good and bad  in every genre and electronica is no exception. There’ s a ton of mainstream crap, but a lot of amazing stuff that has come in recent years too. And although it may be a different skillset , it still takes lots of skill and talent. You’ve got to synthesize lead synths, and sound design elements,  select or create your drum tones, know about music theory since everything is still based on chords, notes, and rhythms, be good with programming and on top of that do your own mixing and mastering. Kinda dislike this idea that electronica is just pushing one button, or that it requires no music theory or talent at all.   
 
Then again there's always those exceptions.
 
 

NEWCOMER BAND: THE NOSTRADAMNZ

 
 
 
NEWCOMER BAND: NEiN

 
 
 
 
RE-START BAND: NEXTRADE

 
 
 
 
スゥイート×ホォム( Sweet x Home)

 
 

NEWCOMER BAND: DEVIZE 
メリーバッドエン (MERRY BADEND)
 

 
 
 
 
RE-START BAND: 麗麗-Reirei

 
 
 

シュヴァルツカイン (Schwarzkain)

 
 
 
 
THE DOGGY PADDLE

 

"Reborn - Journals & Notebooks 1947 - 1963" by Susan Sontag. A marvellous find from an English bookshop in Poland. The price incredibly enough was less than 10 euros, which is unfathomable for anything this trendy in Finland. The customer service in this country is really cold, but with these boons I'm not complaining.

Bump. Ain't that the truth. Do I fucking ever. 
 
I live in a breathe visual kei, it's ingrained into every inch of cell and particle of my being. It's the sole framework of my thinking and being, to the point where it's a constant state of misery and a daily assault of grief on the senses that all I see in myself is a starving cereal crop farmer in destitute, begging for bark bread by the savonian wayside. I couldn't give a toss about Japan, its culture or being Japanese per se, but being this agendered creature of the night, drinking and porking fangirls left and right, constantly alludes me by racial design. The asian hair is evolution's greatest creation; I however am most certainly doom'd to the premature balding and eventual disappearance of my shitty garbage of a wavy hair type.  
 
All I'm amiss was the fortune of being born there with the features and all that comes with it, so I could gather the courage to live the way I wish to. It is for this reason that I sort of lowkey admire yohio, because he went out and did it, despite his receding hairline and lack of discernable talent. Whether or not his music is utter shite ( it is ) is secondary, because that's not what vk is about anyway 
Wouldn't mind mastering language 2. It's already enough trouble as it is to keep the two I'm cursed with in shape.

incoming bad puns... 
 
so heres one
 
I have faith they wont last more than 6 months
 
 

Check this shit... like literally everything
https://www.youtube.com/user/hikaritoofficial/videos