qotka

oh yeah that's definitely her. the shop is called yellow house and last time i went in the granny told me something along the lines of 'i don't go to yoshiki, he comes to me'. 

oh yeah that's definitely her. the shop is called yellow house and last time i went in the granny told me something along the lines of 'i don't go to yoshiki, he comes to me'. 

oh yeah that's definitely her. the shop is called yellow house and last time i went in the granny told me something along the lines of 'i don't go to yoshiki, he comes to me'. 

oh yeah that's definitely her. the shop is called yellow house and last time i went in the granny told me something along the lines of 'i don't go to yoshiki, he comes to me'. 

I think the comparison with the anime industry reveals one of the reasons why Jrock/vkei is not a thing in the west - Cool Japan has a top-down/soft power/blahblah approach that utilizes pop culture to draw people to Japanese culture and thus make Japanese endeavors outside of Japan (not just in the west) more profitable and attract more business and tourism. The Cool Japan fund will invest in any sort of content/media that will make Japanese culture stand out, but only if it sees the potential, ie organic interest in the content/subject matter, like big anime/cosplay conventions -  quantifiable receipts that I don't think Jrock had even in the height of its hype overseas. 
 
Plus, I think music is more than about understanding lyrics. It's culture, it's being able to relate to ideas and sentiments expressed there and catch cultural cues that you'll miss if you don't spend hours digging around the internet for reference. If it takes a lot of work to actually 'get' a song, less people will wanna do it. This is why Kpop companies train their idols to speak and sing in Japanese and Mandarin, and why the AKB franchise 'translated' itself by forming local units across Asia instead of selling the Japanese content as is. I don't think Jrock can be localized the same way, nor that it should be. 
 
At the end of the day, as was already said here, Jrock had its 15 minutes of being an almost international thing thanks to anime, but it didn't hold because you can't translate and sell it as well as you can with anime. 

てんさい。(tensai.) Vo.カルト (Cult) tweeted on May 29 that his parents were attacked while traveling abroad to Hawaii, according to the translation by JpopAsia (who refers to him as Cult AND Karuto in the same article, gj). He initially stated that he didn't know whether to participate in Tensai's upcoming events to care for his parents.
 
The original twitter thread:
 
As mentioned in the article, Cult has since tweeted that he will participate in the band's live and instore events on June 1 & 2.

Infamous visual kei gossip message board, Tanuki, has been down since May 31, for unknown reasons... Is it dead? Is this the end of the Shit Noodle™? Have the rumors about kusomen/STDs/scat fetishes/etc. finally been put to rest?!
 
We just don't know.
 

 
Whether it's site issues or something worse, it's currently unknown what exactly happened.
 
*For those who don't know anything about tanuki, here's a brilliant post about its history, written by @cvltic

Now is confirmed:
 
 
Now is confirmed, for what i get just to be sold during Hokaido tour, 2 hours before the shows.
 
『自己嫌悪 DEMO 〜Dirty Ver.〜』
MSHN-050 ￥1,000 (tax in)

【収録曲】
01. 自己嫌悪 DEMO 〜Dirty Ver.〜
 
 
As the 4 song single, relased as indies/their own label.
 
 
Hope somebody can share it 

I was in the first row for MUCC's culture center live in Mito last week, and when they switched parts for their first encore Tatsuro played the bass and I could see there was a guy holding a big cardboard sign in the gap between the seats and the stage, running after him as he moved on stage. Then I saw the sign had bass tabs written on it. He was still messing it up and it was very cute. It got even funnier when they used the smoke machine during Ranchuu and he was squinting to look at the tabs through the smoke. I'm a sucker for silly gags like this so it made me really happy.

I think the comparison with the anime industry reveals one of the reasons why Jrock/vkei is not a thing in the west - Cool Japan has a top-down/soft power/blahblah approach that utilizes pop culture to draw people to Japanese culture and thus make Japanese endeavors outside of Japan (not just in the west) more profitable and attract more business and tourism. The Cool Japan fund will invest in any sort of content/media that will make Japanese culture stand out, but only if it sees the potential, ie organic interest in the content/subject matter, like big anime/cosplay conventions -  quantifiable receipts that I don't think Jrock had even in the height of its hype overseas. 
 
Plus, I think music is more than about understanding lyrics. It's culture, it's being able to relate to ideas and sentiments expressed there and catch cultural cues that you'll miss if you don't spend hours digging around the internet for reference. If it takes a lot of work to actually 'get' a song, less people will wanna do it. This is why Kpop companies train their idols to speak and sing in Japanese and Mandarin, and why the AKB franchise 'translated' itself by forming local units across Asia instead of selling the Japanese content as is. I don't think Jrock can be localized the same way, nor that it should be. 
 
At the end of the day, as was already said here, Jrock had its 15 minutes of being an almost international thing thanks to anime, but it didn't hold because you can't translate and sell it as well as you can with anime. 

DIMLIM will release 2 live-limited singles "僕…" and "私…" during their oneman shows in Ikebukuro Black Hole on June 2 and 3 respectively.
 
 
 
http://dimlim-official.com/discography/
 

Addition:
 
 
Miya: We've come up with 自己嫌悪 last minute on the 16th [of May] so we won't be able to include it in the single scheduled to be out in July. But since everyone seemed to like it [during the lives on the 21st and 22nd], we're thinking about releasing it as a limited edition CD for the Hokkaido tour. I wonder if we can do the press and design on time. 
 
I love this approach and how they're flexible, creative and responsive to their audience even though the way they work always seems very systematic. 
 
 
 

Yes! 
 
A while back a friend sent me a couple of videos from a Radiohead concert back home and all I could hear was the audience. The whole thing sounded like a karaoke night at the local pub. Which means fun, but wouldn't pay for it as much as I would pay to see a band I actually care about. 
 
Just a couple of days ago I took a friend of mine to see a band she's been a fan of for nearly a decade, and I thought she'd be excited. She was just confused by the audience participation, the furi seemed 'fake' to her, the stage props and theatricality seemed to really put her off and all she could say by the end of the live was 'well that was... interesting'. Instead of getting defensive it made me think about how this live culture is unique and beautiful and yes, outsiders might just not get it and it's fine. It emphasized for me the dissonance people might feel when they don't just listen to the music, but for the first time experience the visual and 'performative'(?) aspects of the scene, and this is one of the things I love so much about vkei.  
 
 

This, so much this. Most Chileans complain about going to lives in Japan and how everyone is so "boring" and they can't "just run to the front", and they never understand why I don't like going to gigs in my country anymore.

5 Things I Like about VK (or J-music in general), in no particular order
 
1. The community
At least half of the friends I've made in the VK community are my friends for life. Kinda weird that some of your bestest friends would come from laughing about no1curr Japanese band and fan drama as you bond over a good release, but hey life is funny that way.
 
2. The concerts
Concerts in Japan are better, tbh. None of that crappy audience singing drowning out most of the artist's set you paid to hear, and nobody is standing there like a dumbass watching the whole thing through their phone, blocking your view with their phone in the process. I find Japanese concerts are generally more interactive, too, unless you're seeing some really bland or unknown act.
 
3. Release packaging/content
Sure VK releases may cost more than many Western releases, but the packaging is often way nicer. Most VK shoots and photo/lyric booklets put Western artists to shame.
 
4. The goods
With little exception, VK or Japanese artists in general have better goods than Western artists. I feel like overseas you get clothes, stickers, and notebooks, and that's about it, but in Japan the only limit is the band's imagination. Over the years I've seen flavored condoms, sex toy kits, house dishes, food/snack/drink collaborations, mobile battery chargers and other small electronics, car goods, etc.
 
5. The music
Last but not least, eh?  When I first got into VK I was really thrilled by the way artists gave little to no flips about sticking to just one genre or style of music. There are some artists that try a little too hard to mesh sounds that don't agree, but for the most part I've always respected the experimental nature of the genre. I feel like indie music in the West is starting to catch up in that regard, but even now Western fans are still quick to call any artist that steps outside a certain established style or sound a sell out.

Addition:
 
 
Miya: We've come up with 自己嫌悪 last minute on the 16th [of May] so we won't be able to include it in the single scheduled to be out in July. But since everyone seemed to like it [during the lives on the 21st and 22nd], we're thinking about releasing it as a limited edition CD for the Hokkaido tour. I wonder if we can do the press and design on time. 
 
I love this approach and how they're flexible, creative and responsive to their audience even though the way they work always seems very systematic. 
 
 
 

Addition:
 
 
Miya: We've come up with 自己嫌悪 last minute on the 16th [of May] so we won't be able to include it in the single scheduled to be out in July. But since everyone seemed to like it [during the lives on the 21st and 22nd], we're thinking about releasing it as a limited edition CD for the Hokkaido tour. I wonder if we can do the press and design on time. 
 
I love this approach and how they're flexible, creative and responsive to their audience even though the way they work always seems very systematic. 
 
 
 

I only came back to say they look awesome (Tatsuro looks rather unamused but I ain't even mad about that tbh) and I'm extra hype to hear these new songs!! I've had basically zero interest in vk without them, thank god they are back.

I don't know why so many of you youngsters are trashing their look. I see nothing wrong with their latest look/ outfits. It must be a generational gap thing.
 
I'm a middle aged MUCC grandma who is similar in age and music taste to the MUCC boys. They are a few years older than me and have been good guides to my own fashion choices in the past. And just like Yukke and Miya, I expect to be dressed in black (as I do now) but with loads of colourful warning tapes over my jacket and have heavy black bags under my eyes in a few years time to show off how rebellious and relevant I still am in my 40s. This is how all middle aged people should dress

The "singles before albums" thing... OMG, you just put my thoughts into words.
 
Even though I never use youtube, rarely watch PVs (yeah, still haven't seen a Jiluka PV other than Ajna) or DVDs and generally don't even pay attention to what bands look like, I do enjoy the way edgy fashion and music are so closely related in this scene, and the way some bands create incredible music around a visual concept. Visuals are important, whenever I chose to make it so. And I like to have the option to please my eyes with whatever weird aesthetic if I feel like it.
I don't know what is it about the cheesy melodies, bad vocals and whatnot that resonates so much with me. I try other metal bands (Western and Japanese) often and for some reason, music wise, I can NEVER get so hooked on a non-vk band as I do on VK bands. And I really can't put my finger on what it is, since really don't look much at bands unless their music really resonates with me. Maybe I like being able to enjoy songs without thinking 'OMG these lyrics are so cheesy' and feeling some secondhand embarrassment over the words. Maybe. Because I pretty much never look at lyric translations unless it's D's musical novel. Maybe VK uses some kind of special formula. Maybe it's the blend of styles and genres that bands outside of VK don't dare pull off. For some reason I even like shit-kei bands like VRZEL way more than I can bring myself to like bands like Coldrain, for a reason.
 
As for the community I am in a constant love-hate state. I do like the idiosyncrasy and eccentricity that surrounds the scene, even questionable aspects such as cheki trading and multiple-type releases, or having to kiss some Shikiri's ass to get closer to the stage... I still enjoy all that, even though I often say I dislike most fans (FB communities are CRINGE).
I also like that through VK I have made lots of friends, have been able to learn about other countries and have found people with similar ideas and values. I'd say 80% of my social circle is comprised of VK/Jrock fans and I do not regret it nor feel the need to "open up to regular people". VK has also, in a way, given me motivation to achieve many things in life and many of my personal goals are still related to the scene. Is it weird that I build my life around a twisted music scene as this one? Maybe, but whatever, right?
 
VK is a weird, twisted and questionable scene... but one that received us with open arms and constantly invites us to stay. I totally get why people jump ship all the time, but I always find a new appealing reason to stay whenever I start to feel like "ok, I should quit now..." And Shantay, I'll stay, dammit.
 
 

For better or for worse, visual kei is something that's had an impact on my life.  I never thought groups of cross dressing Japanese men playing metal would be something that's stuck with me for so long, but throughout all the surprises, discoveries, disappointments, and developments I've stuck around in some capacity. I may not be as heavy into visual kei or Japanese music as I used to be, but there's a part of me that will always go back to the music I've enjoyed and another part of me that's always looking forward to new bands, activities, and trends. Here are five things I really enjoy about the scene which has kept me coming back again and again since 1999.
 

 

 
 

 
 


 
 
So those are all the things I like about visual kei. I'm sure I missed some. What do you like about visual kei?

1. synchronized spinning at the chorus of a song
2. charmismatic bandmen
3. edgy depressive lyrics and mid-song monologues
4. vocalists that are so bad they're good
5. "wtf were they smoking" genre mashups

To celebrate their 5th anniversary, アルルカン (Arlequin) will perform an one day special live in Shanghai, callled "ARLEQUIN ONEMAN LIVE in SHANGHAI「你好」" The live will be on May 20th at "BANDAI NAMCO SHANGHAI BASE", also goods will be available.

Kaya with Yuhua Hamasaki *__*
And with James Majesty + 1 other queen
 

Not very spring-inspired, but a theme I was thinking about is GOD -
 
How would a god manifest him/herself through music? It can be any god or deity: the monotheistic one of Abrahamic religions, one (or more!) of the many gods of faiths and mythologies around the world, or a fictional one from a book/movie/comic/anime/game. It can be one you believe in, or just fascinated with (or just read about somewhere and thought was really cool). It can also just be your personal perception of god - cosmic energy or anything else you interpret the concept as.The songs can portray anything from the characteristics of said deity, to its story or just how you feel about it or think its soundtrack should sound like.
tl;dr: choose a god or gods and build a soundtrack around them.
 
I think this is general enough because most people have had some sort of contact with religion throughout their lives, weather they're people of faith or atheists. Gods play major role in everything from people's daily lives to major historic events to pop culture, so it could be interesting to see how people perceive them and what they mean for them.