CCXXVIII

totally psychedelic jelly hahaha
 
oh and this xD
 

I'm surprised that this album is evoking such polarizing reactions! For me, 不幸な迷路 totally brought 2017 in with a bang. I mentioned in my review it reminds me a lot of 2001-2003 indie visual kei, especially with tracks like 落とし穴 (Otochiana), 寄り道 (Yorimichi) and 交尾をしてよ (Koubi o Shiteyo). I could slide any of these next to an early the GazettE track or a turn of the century Aliene Ma'riage track and it wouldn't sound too out of place. Then, in certain places it strays into 2004-2007 era like ラストダンス (Last Dance) and 排水口 (Hasui Guchi), and then makes an awkward leap to 2015 to the present with the rest. Do either of you feel the same way?

For me, there were certainly good tracks such as ラストダンス (Last Dance) and ぐちゃぐちゃ (Gucha Gucha), which till now I'm still listening to. However, most of the tracks on the album, particularly 落とし穴 (Otochiana), 寄り道 (Yorimichi) and 交尾をしてよ (Koubi o Shiteyo), lacked the replay factor for me and I found myself skipping over these tracks all the time.
 
On my first listen of this album, most, if not all tracks didn't attract my attention at all, particularly the above 3 tracks mentioned. However, some did gradually pique my interest the more I listened, particularly ラストダンス (Last Dance), ぐちゃぐちゃ (Gucha Gucha), 恋人ごっこ (Koibito Gokko) and 人殺し (Hitogoroshi). But sadly, the last 2 tracks have been getting quite boring for me as of late.
 
Having been listening to their songs all this time still, I can't say I'm not disappointed that none of these tracks on the new album managed to be on par with some of their best tracks - for me - such as 死にたい (Shinitai), 青いレインコート (Aoi Raincoat) and どす黒い (Dosuguroi). Kazuki really knows how to convey his emotions well in their songs, which is the reason why I find even slower, but pretty good tracks like 雪時計 (Yukitokei) and 余命 (Yomei) enjoyable up till now. Unfortunately, he wasn't exactly living up to his full potential in this album, for many of the tracks were flat and repetitive.
 
I may be biased for I am quite a xaa-xaa lover (lol), but at least their tracks manage to maintain a standard that many generic Visual Kei bands nowadays lack. They seem to be gaining quite a bit of popularity recently too, so I'm definitely expecting the next album to be a lot better than 不幸な迷路  

@anakuroThank you so so much! <3 

I didn't buy the CD and haven't been going to VK lives so I honestly don't have anything to contribute right now
 
as for in stores...
a lot of people leave buying the CD for the in store until last might so generally you don't have to worry about it... just if you do that you'll probably get a shit number and have to stand at the back. 
A lot of these places don't ship overseas and even if they have the option for letting you pick it up in stores AND reserve an in store ticket at the same time they'll only hold it for you for like a week. Like an Edison holds CDs for one month.
Unless the CD isn't out yet you shouldn't even have to fill out anything to get an in store ticket. 
The CD order forms that you are given you just have to fill out 1. your name 2. your address 3. your phone number and then the CD info but tbh the shop staff normally fills out the CD info for me. 
If the CD is out you just go buy it and say you want to participate in the in store and they just give you the ticket right then and there.
I'm not as up to date on stores in Tokyo or internet mail order forms since I live in Osaka and can just go to the stores myself these days but all the stores methods are just variations on a theme

not digging this song yet but i guess i'll give it a few more replays and see how it goes lol

not digging this song yet but i guess i'll give it a few more replays and see how it goes lol

will share xaa-xaa tomorrow!～

Nasakenai Otoko no Thema's lyrics can be found here

Hello!
 
I'm requesting lyrics for xaa-xaa's Nasakenai Otoko no Theme (from 妖幻鏡(yougenkyou) -west- Vol.3 Survive as an Innovator album), as well as the Raid's Kurobara no Rondo!
Kanji or Romaji is fine with me, thank you!

ame ni korosareru was a pretty good album, especially with songs like ooame keihou hatsurei and aoi raincoat (i still can't stop listening to this after months lmao).
wasn't very impressed with kamisori and izon sadly, they didn't have the replay factor that the above songs had :<
 
however, dosuguroi sounds really good from the pv spot already, and i've been replaying it so much ever since they released that video >.>
damn it reiya

ame ni korosareru was a pretty good album, especially with songs like ooame keihou hatsurei and aoi raincoat (i still can't stop listening to this after months lmao).
wasn't very impressed with kamisori and izon sadly, they didn't have the replay factor that the above songs had :<
 
however, dosuguroi sounds really good from the pv spot already, and i've been replaying it so much ever since they released that video >.>
damn it reiya

Idk where to put this or how to title it... sorry mods! But I came across an old thread (Wtf is Ains), and thought I'd dump a short history of Yukika/Ains. Only it turned out to be way longer than I expected, and had some crossover with non-Ains labels. So... I thought I'd dump it in the general section. Maybe this can turn into a general discussion of vk labels? (Didn't see anything similar extant when I searched.) Anyway, here:
Yukika (雪花) is a dude who was vocalist of a band called ETCETERA (エトセトラ). They were on their own label, called ● drop cafe, which I think he owned. Later, they joined a bigger label called ● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE.
 
------------------------------------------------------------
Yayoi (弥生) is a dude who was in the bands Vice†risk and La'miss fairy, among many others. Back in the day, he owned a label called ● Eternal, which was in turn a sublabel of KISAKI's ● Matina label.
Eventually, ● Matina closed, and so did ● Eternal. Later―around the same time that KISAKI opened his new label ● UNDER CODE PRODUCTION―Yayoi opened a new label called ● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE.
------------------------------------------------------------
ETCETERA eventually disbands, and ● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE closes, whatever. Afterward, Yukika forms a band called Fils, but they operate without a label and disband pretty quickly. Yukika then forms the band CLUTCH (クラッチ) under his own record label, ● Culminate Screen.
 
------------------------------------------------------------
● Culminate Screen mostly had shitty bands, but there was this one group called CATHELINE (キャサリン)... They got a little popularity, jumped ship to Speed-disk, and became R-18, then R-15, then R Shitei (R指定).
------------------------------------------------------------
CLUTCH disbands, ● Culminate Screen closes, whatever. Yukika keeps at it, forms a new band called Buddy, and starts a new label, ● A heretic sound music.. Here's where it starts getting interesting:
Yukika gets lucky, and signs this band called ALSDEAD to his label. Somehow, they get a little popular, and he's probably making money from his label for the first time ever. Meanwhile, this little band called Valluna (ヴァルナ) starts hanging out around label (without actually joining), so that's pretty cool.
Cut to late 2009. Remember that Yayoi guy, the president of the label that Yukika's band ETCETERA used to be on? Yeah, that guy suddenly has a new label called ● FIREBALL―which has no artists, btw―and Yukika slides ● A heretic sound music. right in there as a sublabel of ● FIREBALL. That's definitely some tax evasion shit, right?
Like 3 minutes later, ALSDEAD mysteriously announces that they're “graduating” from ● A heretic sound music.. The next month, Yukika's like, “Hey guys, ● A heretic sound music. is closing.” (Haq;ch. and Navir, the two unsuccessful bands on the label, are just left to fend for themselves.) But don't worry! Yukika has formed a new label: ● Galaxy, which is also a sublabel of ● FIREBALL. (Yukika even co-sponsors one-day revivals of ● Eternal and ● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE with Yayoi, 'cause they're totes great friends now.)
 
------------------------------------------------------------
Btw, did you catch that? He transforms his label into a sublabel, then immediately closes it and forms a new sublabel under the same company. He keeps the one band who was somewhat successful, and drops off the other two in some barren desert somewhere. That's definitely some tax wizardry, right? Or maybe just a cute way to end those other bands' contracts?
------------------------------------------------------------
So ● Galaxy is here, and they've got the somewhat successful ALSDEAD band. Then, surprise surprise, Valluna (ヴァルナ) joins ● Galaxy.
 
------------------------------------------------------------
ALSDEAD was, like, doing pretty good. But right after their first release through ● Galaxy, they jumped ship to their own label, ● CTA Works ('cause they're assholes?). ● Danger Crue scooped them up after, which is a pretty big deal, 'cause, like... ● Danger Crue isn't major, but it's as close as most visual bands will ever get, and it has major distribution through ● SONY. It seems like they really fell off after that, but maybe that's just in the overseas community.
------------------------------------------------------------
That Valluna (ヴァルナ) band is doing well, like really well. Which, in the VK world, means it's time for a disbandment. So, Valluna (ヴァルナ) disbands, and the important members immediately come back as DIAURA.
DIAURA is doing super well; so much so that their album is distributed by the major label ● CROWN, which is rare for a tiny label like ● Galaxy. So Yukika and Yayaoi must be dragging home small bags of money every day, which is great. But eventually, Yukika gets smart, and is like “fuck this, I want all the bags of money”; so in early 2012, mentions of something called ● Ains start springing up. ● Galaxy is still publishing releases and sponsoring lives, but this ● Ains thing is being mentioned too.
Smash cut to March of 2012, and ● Galaxy has, like, lowkey disappeared, and all of DIAURA's activities are going through ● Ains now. Considering ● FIREBALL seemed to only ever be a shell company for ● Galaxy, I guess it closed too.
------------------------------------------------------------
I wanna talk about Yayoi some more.
Way back in 1979 (supposedly), some dude founded an entertainment company called EXCEL. That dude turns out to be Yayoi's father! In the 90s, ● EXCEL RECORDS released some omnibus CDs featuring Yayoi's then-current band, ANGEL DUST. (KISAKI's band, MIRAGE, was also on those CDs, so I guess that's how KISAKI and Yayoi hooked up, which lead to KISAKI giving Yayoi the ● Eternal sublabel of ● Matina.)
Anyway, around the time when Yukika closed ● Galaxy and formed ● Ains, EXCEL was reorganized into ● EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT, with Yayoi as the new president. The new ● EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT has had several clients―including KISAKI and some people from bands belonging to ● Eternal/● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE―but the company doesn't actually do anything, as far as I can tell. I guess it acts as a talent agency, but all of its clients are already being managed by record labels, so what's the point?
More recently, Yayoi formed the new record label ROCKSTAR RECORDS. (And, of course, all of that label's artists are simultaneously signed with ● EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT.)
------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, ok, it's 2012, ● Ains exists as its own entity, and DIAURA is helping Yukika drag home bags of money, which he gets to keep to himself this time. Now that he's making Trump Checks™, Yukika can afford to sign a new act, so he snipes people from the band RELOAD (リロード) to form Grieva (グリーヴァ). Just for shits and giggles, they're on their own ● Ains sublabel called ● MadWink.. (I truly assumed that ● MadWink. was created just for aesthetic reasons, but maybe it's some weird tax evasion thing too, idk.)
Grieva (グリーヴァ) is literally (literally, kids) a Dir en grey cover band (with other influences thrown in there, but it's mostly Deg), but they're like, killin' it. So Yukika tries to strike lightning twice, and creates a GAZETTE (ガゼット) cover band, Gossip (ゴシップ), also under the ● MadWink. sublabel. At the same time, KUROYURI TO KAGE (黒百合と影) forms under a different ● Ains sublabel called ● yamikakumei (闇革命). (Again, I assume the sublabel is for aesthetic purposes.)
Soon after, Grieva, Gossip, and KUROYURI TO KAGE release a coupling CD which is published by ● UNIVERSAL MUSIC. (This doesn't mean they're major, or that they left ● Ains. I'd assume it's probably some sort of test for ● UNIVERSAL MUSIC to see if they want to deal with ● Ains more in the future.)
Now, here's the most recent weirdness:
Some new band MEDIENA (メディーナ) appears, and they give off major “● Ains vibes”―in the sense that their graphic design is clearly done by the ● Ains graphic designer, and their release schedule is put together in a way that's similar to ● Ains bands. They're also always playing at ● Ains lives, but they clearly state that they're on a label called ● V-eyes RECORDS, which has nothing to do with ● Ains. ...Or does it? When their release was put up on iTunes, the publisher was listed as ● Ains; so I guess that explains that, lol. I personally consider ● V-eyes RECORDS to be a “secret sublabel” of ● Ains, though I have no official statement to back that up, and can't give a reason why they'd do that (tax stuff?).
There's also a new band called MALISEND, whom some people assumed to belong to ● Ains. I actually think that's wrong, at least when they formed.
Early on, MALISEND was clearly not using the ● Ains graphic designer, and their first releases were not announced in the same way that ● Ains releases are (ie. not using the same marketing staff). Also, tbh, their first look was not up to ● Ains quality. And finally, I want to mention that their first releases were completely independent (independent UPC & no label listed). However, their most recent release was through a new label called ● Culminate―and was published by ● Ains, according to Brand X. So, in my opinion, MALISEND did not form under ● Ains (like MEDIENA probably did), but is now signed to another “secret sublabel” of ● Ains. (Might the name ● Culminate be a tribute to Yukika's early label, ● Culminate Screen?)
And here we are
------------------------------------------------------------
To recap...
Yukika forms drop cafe
↓
Yukika's band joins CLIMAX ENTERPRISE
↓
Yukika forms Culminate Screen
↓
Yukika forms A heretic sound music.
↓
Yukika meets up with Yayoi, the former president of CLIMAX ENTERPRISE
↓
Yayoi forms FIREBALL, and Yukika transforms A heretic sound music. to a sublabel of FIREBALL
↓
Yukika closes A heretic sound music. and makes a new FIREBALL sublabel called Galaxy
↓
Yukika forms a new, standalone label called Ains
↓
Yukika transfers DIAURA to Ains and closes A heretic sound music., and Yayoi goes to EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT
↓
Yukika makes an Ains sublabel, MadWink., for Grieva
↓
Gossip joins the sublabel MadWink.
↓
KUROYURI TO KAGE joins the new Ains sublabel, yamikakumei
↓
Grieva, Gossip, and KUROYURI TO KAGE release a coupling CD which is published/distributed by UNIVERSAL (but they're not major)
↓
MEDIENA forms under an unofficial/secret Ains sublabel, V-eyes RECORDS
↓
MALISEND forms independently, but joins what might be another unofficial/secret Ains sublabel, Culminate
------------------------------------------------------------
Idk, I hope that was enlightening or entertaining to someone! Please let me know if you have any comments or corrections!
I've always found the world of VK record labels to be really fascinating. KISAKI's label history is deliciously convoluted, but I think Yukika actually beats him out, lol.

when i first saw those photos i was thinking 'i wish the whole band had done this look, i want to see this koichi awww'. but then i remembered how tsuzuku would look like that.

they totally remind me of when i wasn't into visual kei - everyone terrified me so much LOL
it's kind of weird thinking back of then when now, no band's concepts or videos is too much for you to handle anymore xD

@PlatyGlad to hear you had a great time! Yeah I was actually shocked how fucking awesome they were that day despite the short setlist. 
xaa-xaa's fans are always crazy but 7/24 was A LOT louder than the other times I've seen them so far,  probably since they played at a bigger venue with a larger crowd than usual, also the fact that quite a lot of non-fans were also getting into them.  A lot of the girls behind me at the front who were meh about them at first were like ザアザアいいね～ after their set. Based on the instore attendance and how much of the crowd was into them that day, they're definitely gonna get popular which I have mixed feelings about....
As for merch, I'll think about it so no promises but I could possibly help you out depending on what you want.
 
lololol at Yoshiatsu. Dadaroma isn't my thing but I would've paid to see that ngl :') 
 
Kazuki is hilarious in that interview. I translated my favorite parts for my Tumblr so my friends and followers could laugh about it but if you'd like I can do the whole thing. It's pretty short.
 
Speaking of Kazuki, at the last instore I went to he actually spoke to me in English. It was hilarious and sooo bad. lmfao.
He tried so hard so I felt bad telling him Japanese is ok in fear of breaking his kokoro but it was all good.

here's the images for their upcoming singles
 



 
on a side note, reiya is absolutely killing me with his abs these days uGH WHY AM I NOT THERE FOR THEIR INSTORES
 
* and if anyone decides to sell their recent reiya cheki or any of xaa-xaa's merch (i'm dying to get their t-shirts, hoodies and stuff lmao), i'd love it if you could pm me or something