Rahzel

I can't be sure that I got covid19 but back in February I had just arrived from a trip abroad and also in the city where I work there had been many cases of covid19.  I got extremely ill around that time and found myself taking long breaks laying in the bathroom floor inhaling Vic's VaporRub  cuz I really struggled to breathe. This came and went for about 2 months - I'm fairly healthy and active person but suddenly walking to the train station left me gasping for breath, my sense of taste and smell were turned upside down. Now I'm better, but it feels like my lungs aren't the same as before, it's hard to describe. Thinking that I might have to go through this again or maybe an even worse scenario is terrifying. Do I want narcolepsy or some unknown fucked up side-effect? I don't want that either. 
 
A documentary has just come out on British TV looking at people who ''recovered'' from COVID but have been left with lasting consequences and honestly, I only watched a little because it's just too scary to fathom.
 
Will we ever be able to go clubbing again? Festivals? Cons? Travelling abroad to see family? Thinking about how long lasting the effects of this disease are in our society is so fucking depressing. This is a time where focusing on the now will save your sanity because thinking about the future is just enough to throw you into a deep hole.

I was actually wondering this myself. There are a lot of cliche musical elements in 90's Visual Kei that I can easily point out, but don't know the music theory behind because I'm barely a musician. There are certain drum beats, chord progressions, scales, effects, vocal techniques, and more that have become cliche in Visual Kei.
 
One notable example is what I call "THAT" Visual Kei chorus. It's not really one thing, but a combination of factors that come together. Mainly the drum beat and chord progession.
Compare the chorus of these songs:
These aren't the best examples, but they're the first that comes to my mind. From what I've seen, it seems to be a synthesis of influences from Luna Sea, G-Schmitt, BOOWY, Zi:Kill and whatnot, but I really don't know which artists made it "cool", per-se, probably Luna Sea. They don't all use the same chord progessions or drum beats, but they revolve around similar ones.
 
Then there are the pinch harmonics. (This is where my super basic knowledge in playing guitar comes in). For those who don't know what pinch harmonics are, they're when you lightly touch the guitar string with your thumb joint while picking a note, in order to get a higher pitched sound. In Western Rock, these are referred to as "squealies" because they're often used to make high pitched squeals. In Visual Kei, however, they're used as ornaments to a riff that basically shift around the octaves of the notes.
I would say this started as mainly a glam rock thing, as BOOWY implemented it occasionally in songs, such in the bridge of LIKE A CHILD (which has also influenced Vkei in other ways)
 

My relationship with Seven Deadly Sins is "it's that 1 in 10 shounen I (Almost) Liked". Tried to watch it recently again and... well, again I thought "hey, this is ok!... let's never watch it anymore" again. It's a pity because I love their seiyuu festivals (as my 2 favorite seiyuu happen to co-star there ...) but. Waste.
But honestly, IDK why but the only anime that has really hooked me up in the past 4 years or so has been Netjuu no Susume (ok, I do know - it's because I was a mmo nerd lol.) aside from KyoAni stuff of course ; Tsurune was a bless and I just wish 2019 hadn't happened 😕
 
In Other News, this Youtube channel is great and knowing Pizza Hut never paid enough for their product placement in Code Geass made my day
 
 

This is a bit (really) late but I wanted to share my two cents on it. Please keep in mind my technical knowledge on music is... a bit lacking (could be summed up in: - once I saw 3 vocal classes on Youtube to make my Smule listeners a bit less sad about life - sometimes I watch videos from music critics and students criticizing my favorite artists - well I played Sakura Kiss on the recorder for the school festival when I was 13.) but... Well, I listen to a lot of music in English, Japanese and Korean (and Brazilian Portuguese and whaetevrrs) so I could see what you mean.
 
From what I can judge with my untrained ears indeed Japan puts less emphasis on ~vocal techniquez~ than musical ability/instruments in general. Not to say Japanese music is less "developed" as some people here put as I think it's the opposite: you'll realize genres like "math rock" (however you wanna call it) flourish in Japan as you'll also notice rock/punkish music, in general, still thrives as "pop music" whilst it doesn't anymore in other countries and many popular "anison" bands are rock bands. Also, you're talking a country where people are not allowed to speak on trains and school kids go to music clubs in the afternoon to learn instruments mostly, so it's a different culture than singing in the church choir you know. (In other words, whatever my dad used to say when I played Japanese music on the car, something about "but why do u only listen to weird music". It's just Different Tastes, Man. If I wanted to listen to something like whatever is on the radio I wouldn't go through the trouble of bringing my pendrive anyway.)  
  
If you're talking about "vocal technique" in visual kei I'd say it's definitely not as big (as, say, American pop music - actually, American pop music has so many ballad singers and fewer and fewer instruments... this is an unfair comparision, isn't it?).  I guess the explanation is pretty simple, though: as other people mentioned its roots are (also) metal/punkish so there isn't really an emphasis on vocal technique as much as style, also they do drink and smoke often so it's just... not really worth it to sacrifice their "lifestyles" so to speak for technique I feel and, well, it's sort of a moot point to ask something like "would they play different music if they actually knew how to sing?" because the same stupidity could be said about singers like Beyoncé - "maybe if she actually knew how to play a loud instrument instead of just being in a girl group she wouldn't have to train her vocal technique so much?" It's sort of lousy, isn't it? Of course these artists are just doing what they want. Are they straining their voices? Possibly. But, again, it's not like their "lifestyle" and "culture" in general favors the health of their vocal chords so it's pretty much pointless to ask that, IMHO - and I'm speaking as a fan of Nightmare the famous vk band with TAKE NO BREAK'S (I make a point of saying that name whenever I can...) Yomi so take that lol. Of course I can see why you'd be bothered if you're a trained vocalist with a classical background, but... yeah. This isn't it. 
 
On The Other Hand obviously there are still some rock vocalists that aren't just "emo kids playing in their early 2000s garage band" (which is... what vk usually is lol) and as far as I can tell actually know what they're doing, on an "ok" level. People here mentioned Gackt and Takanori Nishikawa both of whom I like (here. I don't hate Gackt.) so here's them singing a ballad live. 
 
 
As someone who isn't interested in Taka but not in Gerard Way either I guess I can only agree on his sound being "boring" and sort of a copy of whatever some American rock bands do. But please do realize that he started his musical career, uh, as a (rather popular) boy group member (say, Japanese equivalent of SMEntertainment.) at the age of (iirc) 13 perhaps? until he got in some trouble for being a brat and doing drugs and chose to be a rock star. Meaning a) his voice may have been compromised from the beginning and b) he got in it for the trashy anyway - being technically impressive at first was hardly his intention (possibly the opposite). As someone who is perhaps more "trained" in visual arts, makes me think of those kids who go into art school because they enjoy drawing manga and get frustrated because art teachers think it's shit so they study anatomy just to graduate. It's... another standard sorta. Personally Dir en Grey doesn't do it for me not in a "they're unskilled" way just "I don't like it" in which I guess I'm the same as you. It's certainly aesthetically weird and experimental, and the foundation for much of what vk is nowadays so. It's... stylistically relevant, even if I don't personally like it. (actually, I don't even like the style, I like oshare - sue me.)
For Kaya I saw him live and funnily this was exactly what impressed me - the live felt like a club with its bright louds and loud DJ noises and there he was, singing like there's absolutely 0 noise in the background. I thought "well, he's good, even if I don't love his style".
 
Summarizing it, from what I gather IA that vocal skill isn't really the point of Japanese rock music which in turn goes for much of Japanese music in general, the vocalists often become popular for their style/voice tones/charisma/lyrics (and trust me when I say Japan is one of those places where there IS emphasis on lyrics and those of us who don't understand Japanese well end up googling it who knows how many times I cried to Japanese songs lol.)/gimmicks/organic-ish skill or whatever and then (as their music does have an worldwide reach after all) they go on to practice their technique, which is why Gackt or Kyo show slightly better technique than Tatsurou or Kiyoharu who in turn show better technique than (generic vk vocalist number 178178) etc. Not unlike, I should say, American pop-rock. Of course, if you venture into other genres, such as... J-pop hah, you'll see it's a bit more diverse really.  
 
Anyway, really sorry I can't be of much help in here (...because, yeah, there's not an emphasis on it = we don't really notice it. Just googled "best visual kei vocals" out of curiosity and it brought me a list of "hottest vk frontmen" and some "favs" lists with nothing but guys with deeper voices so... lol) but I hope you could at least find something more interesting in this month! 

Right, let's talk Seven Deadly Sins.
 
I like the setting. I like the tone. I like the art style; it's quirky without being ostentatious. The colour palette is vibrant. It's a good concept. The character designs are nice and the characters themselves are cool and fun to watch, for the most part. Now, if only Meliodas and Elizabeth weren't the most annoying fucking characters ever. Like seriously, Meliodas has a fucking awful and downright creepy/off-putting personality and needs a swift kick upside the chin and Elizabeth needs to fucking grow a spine and and a brain, if she even knows what either of those things are. They were made to fit archetypal roles and that's it. Chivalrous pervert hero, damsel in distress princess heroine. They're so damn tropey it hurts.

Actors making memes about how they've been feeling make me calmer bc it's all so relatable. Good to know celebs are getting fucked over just as much as me, I mean it's bad but it's good to know they're ALSO trying to make things work through creativity and just trying to have some fun amidst the mess yknow. Speaking of which, bandomen should do that too. (they won't but those would be... possibly the best.)

No asking reddit will only answer you that they organise with muscle memory 
There was a site where you can copy your playlist to other media 
But its a obv scam 

For an older band: Singer Haine of Luis~Mary, who later became T.M.Revolution, has a very particular type of voice. I would say, as a listener, that he is doing well. Obviously, I am not a vocal coach so I can't comment on his actual technique.
 

"Technique" is  what most VK singers are leaning too heavily on - it's SKILL that very few of them put time into developing. The scene is very derivative, so most of them get the idea of said technique from someone(or everyone) popularizing it's overuse. It's more important to just DO it than to do it right lol.

I have no idea about technique whatsoever, but a vocalist/pianist friend of mine who studied music for 10+ years really praised Kaya for his vocal abilities. He emphasized how hard it probably is (at least from his own experience) for Kaya to keep his voice controlled and stay in tune, because for example most of the verse parts in his songs have very little "background" for the vocals to "fall back upon", i.e. it's usually just a drumbeat and random bass synth and he still pretty much nails all the right notes. Plus his voice is pretty powerful and cool, but that's just my personal preference/observation.  
 
Here's a random cool live clip:
 
 

Punk is in visual kei's DNA and that's why the vocals in vk are often if not always at least in part stylised and the emphasis isn't on technical ability but in the performance. The genre itself is long and storied at this point with fads coming and going, so sometimes when it takes influence from different genres it adapt to its new needs in the way its performed, so some dudes sing "better" like the people trying to do X power ballads or anthemic metalcore choruses, and some sing "worse" like idk the most obvious hardcore punk influenced examples like Piass and ANTI FEMINISM or something. They're trying to do different things. 
 
The reason why guys like Ruki and Kyo* sound, or sounded in Ruki's case, rough and stylised is because they're from a different era when the emphasis on technical ability wasn't what it is and was in metal in the west around that time, while guys from newer metalcore bands from a completely different era like Jiluka, Dexcore, Nokubura that are influenced by different bands are at the very least on par if not better than many of their American colleagues from the bands very successful in their style like BMTH, Of Mice and Men, Chealsea Grin etc. because the emphasis is now on the vocalist's technical ability like it is in the rest of the genre in the west. Basically tl;dr vk does what it wants to do and it performs at the level of an American Idol finalist, Kpop schlager belter or some other circus bear on an unicycle trying to woo the masses to consume more product by jumping through fiery hoops at the crack of the corporate whip when it wants to, but more often than not it doesn't because it's main objective as music isn't to do that. 
 
Then of course there's legions and legions of music from all genres in Japan with exceptionally skilled people involved, but the people still using the Jrock tag pretty much ignore everything that isn't vk and ONE OK ROCK. Even if you go searching for vk as a newbie you'll be encountered by a pretty significant bias for newer bands and especially a bias for the more vaguely metal sounding bands from western vk boom years in favor of bands that are really new like the ones I mentioned prior or the older classics. In the early vk scene more than a few bands have very skilled vocalists like La'Cryma Christi, Luna Sea and even L'arc. 
 
* Personally I'll never forget the time when they were trying to make it in the west and all the paid mainstream reviewers started ooing and aaing about the Japanese Mike Patton. Kyo sounds and always sounded, vk as fuck. 

~working 8-10 hours a day and my fingers and hands are fucked~
Manager: how much of the pain is work related? Cuz I know you do art as well, u sure that isn't the problem
 
ye if I can even manage 15mins of art a day that will definitely fuck me up. 
 
and no, an uber eats voucher isn't gonna motivate me to work an extra 10 hours a week 

... it was supposedly to follow bandomen news but I guess lately I am rambling more than doing that
(/Come to think of it, there was a website ages ago (like... 10 years?) which was a myspace/facebook sort of community like "share your ramblings/secrets"? And there were communities/groups like "depression", "cheating" or whatever? I miss the link to that website )
 
But yes I've had my fair share of bad doctors too sigh. It's always "go to 10 doctors until the 10th finds out something (that should've been really obvious probably) and saves me". Last time I talked about my experiences in an online forum people were so unsettled I picked a fight and left it so I digress but well  ; I am actually a health pro bc I thought somewhere around these lines as a teen lol, but then Everything Went Badly and I gave it up which is another reason I've been so anxious during this COVID-19 frenzy, people are always asking a lot of health professionals and it's unfair and I don't wanna be the "just find a vaxx!!!" person. On The Other Hand, (rambles about how doctors failed to discover an obvious tumor that one time) ... SO YEAH I don't ask a lot But Come On (- title of my autobiography maybe).
Anyway, after a small crisis I am back to "ok... let's just go to ANOTHER doctor". It's expensive and lame to pay 10 doctors so the 10th finds out that one obvious thing you had suggested but I'm not giving up !!! ganbatte (ง'̀-'́)ง hwaiting ヽ(•̀ω•́ ゝ) and shit

アリス九號 (Alice Nine) new mini-album (title not yet finalized) will be released at 2020 spring

Chell I understand reminds me of the time I was in my heart cardiology xray checkups and there's an deformity where the ambilico cord to the baby's heart is not closed and it leaves a distinction in the chest a krater which I have well my family was worried since it was critical for my well being it was luch break for the doctors and they just postponed the evaluation to another 6 months my family was worried they didint know what to do untill a doctor came in he was yelling for the doctors acting like this and he did everything himself he took a tomography xray and samples to be safe and when the xray came in it wasent a problem it closed off my father till that day is still praying for the health and gratitude for that doctor he would say he himself was very happy whenever a doctor or nurse actually gave a crap and asked him hows it going I didint have any career interest so I just wanted to be a doctor not for the relaxed work times or the ridiculous salary I barely ever use it i just thought it would be hopeful that people like them actually cares for them 
 
Chell for you
nobody is perfect I spent my life lonely in search of things that was and will never be mine sometimes I think I'm very greedy although my main involvement in humanity is philanthropic
The only feeling of loneliness I ever feel Is not in daily life or in the city but at my home at night thinking what if I had that friend  I didint have much to look forward so I always looked back the only people I ever care are less then my fingers but I chose a path I could've been what my heart desired  but I chose the truth even as it was tearing me apart as much it bought everyone else in my spot happiness fulfillment peace it bought me chains 
So I ask you what's the true reason you joined this site? 

I think they're opening up a web-shop: https://amaibouryoku.thebase.in/ 
 
and releasing a live DVD on it today:  it got sold out in under an hour lol 
 
I asked them if they ship internationally, and unfortunately they don't, but the message was so nice I ain't even mad~ 
 
   

Huge misfire woops 

This absolute legend just does not know how to disappoint. Hilarious stuff.

Guys, I've done it. I've achieved the weeb dream. I've been asked if I'm Japanese like 2 times this month. I have no clue how I achieved it when I look 0% East Asian but I did it

Wanted to get back to vk... Got stuck with tons of indie music that are associated with vk or ex-vk instead 

God, the "Breeeeathe into me" really got me. 😂
 
 

Takanori Nishikawa, also known as T.M. Revolution, and Golden Bomber's Kiryuin Sho will perform a new arrangement of the anime's opening theme song "1.2.3" under the unit name 西川くんとキリショー (Nishikawa-kun to Kirisho). The new arrangement will debut with the show's 32nd episode on August 9.
 
Another band called After the Rain performed the first version of the song. The last episode featuring their version of the song will be the 31st episode on August 2.

Gratuated college today

Uhhh I have like one whole selfie on my phone that I don't even like that much, so have that lmao

 
I hope to improve my look this year (earrings and hair mainly)

yup, fear of failure is a bitch. Getting things that matter to you out there is hard  but JUST DO IT! Go put the pen to paper now, literally just touch it down on the paper. That's all you gotta do  And whenever you get the urge to work on it, don't ignore it. 2 mins is better than nothing. I struggled with this my whole life which sucks because I plan to work as a full time artist someday and I have soo many ideas for really personal projects but I never get started on them due to fear of failure and commitment and thinking 'who cares about this anyway? Does what I have to say really matter?' . My main goal this year was to just create and finish something. Once I started ignoring the urge to create/put these ideas down things started to flow and I have finished my first project of the year (maybe the first project in 5 years actually), it wasn't easy cuz fighting against yourself is a real struggle 😩. But feels_good_man.jpg
 
TL;DR spontaneously stop putting it off