qotka

I recommend Bamboo House in Nippori (Fujimi). It's in a quiet alley but close to Nippori station (Yamanote Line~!). I lived there for two months before I "officially" moved to Japan and have a friend who lives there now.

I can't vouch for all the people who live there because many of them don't stay for a long time, but noisy/annoying neighbors can be found aplenty anywhere.

21 hours ago, Ro plz said:

Too much negative WTF's in this thread and not enough positives.

 

THIS takes the cake.
I remember coming across this vid during my beginner days as a J-Rock fan and shat myself in disbelief. 

I used to watch this on repeat. So much good.

My wtf moments:

- People losing their shit over some nude cheki.

- That time MUCC and Sid were touring together and Mao tried to sing Ranchuu. Growlord. 

This thread is amazing.

My first v-kei lives were at Visual Japan Summit last year. I went to the 3rd day and managed to catch:

ぞんび - super cute! Love their concept and they are beautifully produced.

Versailles - their set was 3 songs but they gave their all!

Diaura - haven't heard of them until that day so that was a fun surprise! And their bangyas are awesome.

MUCC - I was a casual listener until then but I completely fell in love that day. They sound x10000 time better live and are so energetic on stage it's ridiculous.

Golden Bomber - they were hilarious, their X Japan cosplay and digs at v-kei were on spot, and they let Yoshiki troll them which was very cute.

Luna Sea - flawless.

X Japan - 2 hours of basically Yoshiki masturbating and crying but I drank the kool aid so I enjoyed every moment of it.

And then everything started going downhill

2016.10.30 - VAMPS Halloween Party. I'm not a big fan of VAMPS but it was really cool. Plus Momoclo were there too and they're totally my fav aidoru. Wagakki Band were pretty awesome too!

2016.11.25 - COMMUNE Vol.2 - DEZERT were fun, Plastic Tree were cool (they mostly have nostalgic value for me), MUCC stole my heart yet again. lynch. were supposed to be on the lineup as well but Akinori just had to go and get arrested a couple of days before.

2016.12.22 - Aldious - I'm not the biggest fan of Re:NO but she was surprisingly good that night (I think she sounds a bit anemic on their studio stuff).

2017.01.06 - te' - not v-kei but I guess talking about Japanese bands in general is cool? I was floored. They're just electrifying live.

2017.01.08 - Luminous101 - another 'not-v-kei'. They are a super cute indie band and they sometimes kinda sound like Weezer.

2017.01.23 - Arimura Ryutaro - I love his solo album, it really reminds me of old Plastic Tree stuff. The concert was really good. I wrote some stuff about it.

2017.01.29 - This is the FACT - a livehouse headlined by DEZERT, with A9, Nocturnal Bloodlust, LM.C, アルルカン and MUCC. It was an exhausting yet incredible experience.

2017.02.04 - MUCC - I saw them twice that day and lived to tell the tale.

2017.02.18 - Wagakki Band - I got tickets after seeing them at the Halloween party and thinking they were really cool. I grew kinda bored with them as the initial wow factor wore off, but live they were still kicking ass and it was an incredibly entertaining show.

8 hours ago, fieldsgrow said:

- Dezert: Most of the stuff they have released has been good. They've become pretty big now and as many people on this forum has said they will probably get worse. Their sound is quirky nostalgia fulled alternative metal in a modern style. 

These guys are totally in my current top 10, too. I think that while they don't always sound at the top of their game, there are many ways in which they could grow and surprise us. I'm not sure why, but I have really high hopes for them.

On 2017/2/18 at 2:03 AM, CAT5 said:

First heard Rentrer en Soi's single for "Wither" in either late 2004 or early 2005, and fell in love. Funnily enough, I had no idea what Visual Kei was and hadn't even seen a picture of the band at the time. The title track is still one of my favorite VK songs ever.

 

  Hide contents

 

 

Holy hell!! This was on my playlist for YEARS and I had no idea what it was because for some reason the file name and tags were all in gibberish.  

Funny story: it was Plastic Tree, but I had no idea they were even considered v-kei and had no idea what the band looked like until a year ago. A friend recommended them to me and I've been listening to them on and off since 2004. I didn't have an internet connection at home back then and relied on copying friends' music folders whenever I had the chance. Shirochronicle got me through a shitty military service, I'll always have a place in my heart for this album.

By the way, I found out what they looked like when I came to Japan and started looking into tour dates. It was a pleasant surprise! Love Ryutaro's emoboi hair and Moroccan grandma getup.

3 hours ago, emmny said:

crowdmitsu

This could become the hottest thing in 2017. Or maybe not. Either way shitfest report is much appreciated!

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Not VK, but I've recently had the privilege to witness crowdfunding done right by Japanese post rock/math rock band te' for their China/Taiwan tour DVD. They invited all funders and the general public (funders got to enter first) to a free gig at Shibuya's Kinoto in addition to the rewards people got by donating. It surprised me how well it worked (they got 102% of the sum!). So yeah, in Doguramagura's case it's a world of... difference, but I'm glad to see it can be done.

7 minutes ago, kisumi kinbaku said:

 

Thanks for the warm welcome!  And wow, a fellow GB fan! <3 

Ah, Dakishimete Schwarz is one of my favs too and they need to reveal the truth more often LOL!

LOL I think I've watched the version someone uploaded on YouTube like a hundred times!

Do you play twister... I mean use twitter?

I also think the Yokubou no Uta video is the best tribute to v-kei anyone has ever done, and their performance at VJS knocked me off my feet. Have you seen it?  

Hello and welcome!

I had no idea Kyan sometimes actually plays the guitar for real, that's cool. I love Golden Bomber, they are hilarious and Dakishimete Schwarz is my favorite karaoke jam.

On 2017/1/9 at 3:35 PM, plastic_rainbow said:

With the transition to tumblr, like most people mentioned already, it's only reblogs and it feels a lot less interactive, making it hard to find/talk to new friends. (thankfully there's still MH though :>)

Yes! I also almost feel frowned upon when I try to communicate with people by adding comments when I reblog or adding my own thoughts on content I post. It's ridiculous how shallow the communication there can get.

On 2017/1/9 at 3:35 PM, plastic_rainbow said:

It wasn't until I went to Japan when I attended my very first vk live, which was AvelCain, that I regained all that vk-ness back in me. After seeing such an amazing and fun performance I realized how much I still loved vk, and that was pretty much how I woke up (and here I am now). It's probably different for everyone, but I feel like those who say that it was a fad might just a need a little something to make it all come back again, as it did for me.

I can totally relate to this. VK for me was a nostalgia until I went to Visual Japan Summit a couple of months ago and everything just resurfaced. Damn was it glorious.

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I'm really glad I've read this thread even though I don't have much of substance to add. My friends who were into VK back in the day think I'm going to some weird mid-life crisis (I'm not old enough for that!) and keep slagging me off and asking where I got machine to go back to 2005. I totally understand them though, for many it was a fad and something we did as edgy teenagers who loved the aesthetics and wanted to feel speshul.

But it's a great scene and I'm glad to be back. Granted, about 95% is crud, but there are too many gems out there for me to give up.

Also IDK if dead or not -- I think that really depends on where you're looking. I've seen enough indie bands (not just v-kei) that barely have an audience of 10 (and sometimes you realise most of the people sitting around you at the club are the other bands playing that night), but then again you still have bands like MUCC who have almost sold out their current zenkoku tour and are doing two Budokan days this June (I'll have to wait for the general sale to see if they manage to sell it out though, though I bet they will). They're the only 'major' band I'm closely following at the moment but I'm sure there are more examples to this. Sure, the underground is where you wanna look for the future of a scene/genre,  but as long as bands keep forming and bangya keep... doing their thing, I'm not worried.

PS. @desparejo86 LEAVE YOSHIKI ALONE he's just a human being and it's OK to express yourself through taking 100 selfies a day!!1111 Also the new X album is totally happening. (sadface)

@fitear1590 thank you for mentioning Ailiph Doepa! This is some hilarious (and good) stuff!

Hi and welcome!

I'm new myself, joined a couple of weeks back and pretty much in the same situation - never really had online pals from the VK community and trying to reach out to people with the same interests.

Hope you have a great time here!

Most of the albums Plastic Tree had released after Cell are kinda lost on me. I really dig everything they did before that, but somehow the magic disappeared at some point save for very few songs that still keep me interested in checking out everything they put out in hopes it might be good.

Most of the stuff MUCC did on The End of the World is major, cringe-worthy meh. I mean Ender Ender is a great live song and the title track is fairly decent. But after those two the album goes to shit. And this is coming from someone who liked Karma in a non-ironic way.

BUCK-TICK's Arui wa Anarchy was just plain boring.

The only songs that save Shiina Ringo's Hi Izuru Tokoro are Kodoku no Akatsuki and Nippon.

Nokubura are fun! But I also like shitty emo/screamo, metalcore and nu-metal that totally kills my hipster-indie cred.

But yeah, I think it's a mixture of not having listened to enough music in general and some sort of superiority/inferiority (depends on how you look at it) complex with your own culture. Coming from a non English-speaking country, I had the same approach towards western music as a kid, thinking everything in my native language sucked and American/British bands were superior even though they did exactly the same genres as the bands I was refusing to listen to.

Akasaka Blitz to see Kisida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets and two other acts I don't remember, but it was a cute live. It was in 2014.

In the past couple of months I started going to v-kei livehouses because the vibe is fun (and MUCC were playing, and I'm hooked and didn't mind getting to know more bands).

2 minutes ago, CAT5 said:

Hello and welcome to the forum!

 

I followed you on twitter btw - I like that you seem to be into various styles and genres, and I was also surprised to see that Steve/NMFT follows you there as well, so - automatic cool points! 

 

I hope you enjoy it here!

Hey, thank you very much! I'm already listening to some of the stuff you've shared on twitter, always glad to find people with a cool taste in music.

And NMFT is super cool, I'm kinda surprised they followed me back!

Oooh this looks like fun!

Qotka's 2017 list:

Pre-ordered MUCC's Myakuhaku. Please don't suck! *fingers crossed*

+1 on the Old Pla vibes. You can hear he actually wrote some of the songs back in the day. Totally didn't expect this. Some of the videos seem forced (like, 'OK guys we need a PV for every single one of these kinda thing), but music-wise it's pure gold if you're a fan of their old stuff.

I think it's been a good 10 years since I last posted on a BBS, but I've been looking for a J-rock/V-kei community for a while now and I was glad to find this one (figured that if I can't shut up about the music I love listening to I should probably join!).

I'm really into MUCC these days (can't wait for their new album! Just a couple more days!), and really love the big classic geezers (X Japan, Luna Sea, Buck-Tick, Kuroyume). I also love going to gigs and finding new bands to listen to. Thought the scene was dead until a year ago, but nope, still alive and kicking. DEZERT are currently my favorite fairly-new v-kei act. They're unpolished (sometimes in a good way) but give good vibes and have an interesting interaction with their audience.

I'm here to learn (so many bands I've never heard of just from skimming through the site, yay!) and meet new people. So, um, hi!