sakuran

I love it! I've had it on repeat for a good part of the past few days. This whole era has kicked ass and I'm happy with it.

Nightwish, after Tarja left. I couldn't stand Anette's style. They might as well have reformed as a new band instead of continuing as "Nightwish". Also, Morrigan. They started off really great with their first two minis, and then my interest totally took a nosedive with Underworld. I hope they can impress me again in the near future, otherwise I don't know how much longer they'll keep my attention.

Sure. ゴシップ

*SCREAMS* I need this on DVD ???? *throws wallet*

I was about to sit down and make a Gossip thread, but I thought to check if there already is one. These boys need more love! I need someplace to vent all of my impatience for the new singles.

Okay, cool. It definitely is thin enough. I just wasn't sure because the CD itself is so rigid.

I think a padded envelope counts as "large envelope" and not a package (someone else can correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a while since I mailed things), and in that case, shipping should be $5.30, to either Germany or Netherlands.

You can also vote for it on Twitter.

Hah, the VHS intro is glorious. Leave it to Grieva to do something like that.

Seriously though, look at these beauties.

They look so beautiful, I'm gonna cry... I need all of this.

This new look, omg. PV looks awesome.

I have four extra copies of this. Please help. Tokyo Scandal by Gossip/ゴシップ Brand new, sealed. $10 each (+ shipping/PP fee) Shipping from US Paypal only

First off, I just want to clarify that I'm not going to try and make any claims about which era of vk is objectively "better." I got into it in the early 2000's, so for me, that time period will always be rosy and nostalgic and I have an attachment for it that I will probably never have for anything else. Due le quartz was my first love and has stayed with me stronger than anyone else, not because I think other bands' music isn't comparable in quality, but because I fell for them before others. So with that disclaimer aside, I definitely don't feel the same way (on average) about modern vk. I'm not saying there aren't good bands - there are some brilliant ones out there - but if I look at the fraction of popular 2000's bands I was a fairly strong fan of, vs the fraction of today's bands that I'm a strong fan of, the latter is definitely smaller. Whether that's because there are more shitty bands, or just fewer bands whose style appeals to me personally, I don't know. The overall spirit and mood has certainly changed somewhat, and if you like it, that's totally great for you! But I'm not obligated to feel the same way. My interest definitely plummeted around the end of the last decade when a lot of the active bands that were closest to my heart disbanded (like D'espairsRay and Rentrer en Soi), and after that happened, I always felt like I had a hard time finding other bands that I felt were anywhere close to their level. There were popular rising stars like Lycaon that everybody else seemed to love, and I just thought they were okay and didn't feel the same hype about them that others did. I also think it's telling that most of my favorite modern bands are revival/cover bands like Gossip and Grieva, bands comprised of older musicians like Lin, or at least bands whose music I find in some way reminiscent of a decade ago. I'm not doing this on purpose; it's not like I say to myself "I'm only going to like old sounding bands!", but those end up being the ones I'm most attracted to. If they weren't here, I'd still be listening to vk in general (there are bands like Mejibray and Codomo Dragon that aren't old-school at all that I also really like), but probably not with the same overall enthusiasm. tl;dr the scene changes, my tastes don't change so much, and I'm grateful there are still bands around that play music that's up my alley.

MiA may look the same as always, but at least his new look is the only one I don't hate...

I love these covers, especially the type A. Now to keep waiting for a preview...

These are great! I know Japanese bands can be very uptight about wanting control over their image, but hopefully with great photographers like you working in the scene they will gradually warm up more to live photography.

^^^ Sounds promising!

Hizumi (D'espairsRay) - I've always loved everything about his vocals. I especially enjoyed watching them live, both in person and recorded, since I was always impressed with how well Hizumi conveyed such atmosphere and emotions on stage as well (not all vocalists sound so good live as they do in the studio...). To this day it still hurts me a bit about what happened to D'espairsRay; it's a real shame about his throat condition. Satsuki (Rentrer en Soi) - Angel voice. I wish his solo stuff didn't bore me to tears, as I would've liked to keep following his new material after ReS disbanded. Riku (Phantasmagoria, etc) - I've never been able to properly put my finger on what exactly it is I like so much about Riku's voice, but I like it. Phantasmagoria and Lin were my favorite projects involving him, I think his vocals really suited the music.

Ains. I actually really like every single band on this label (and sub-labels, side-labels, secret-labels, whatever). Keep it up, Yukika.

Sad to hear this. But at least they'll continue, and I hope their new drummer can do good work for them. lol @ Ains drummer conspiracy

No way That's really unfortunate.

It's "black sheep under the shallow sleep," the new track included on INCOMPLETE. I didn't know there was a PV though, so I don't know if/where it's available.