Pretsy

My main issue with the visual kei scene isn't really represented in the options here, and it's something you generally get more in touch with once you get to Japan and get to experience the scene.
Firstly, the fact that a large majority of visual kei musicians more or less openly admits they don't have any artistic or personal integrity, they don't care what they produce and they don't care that their sound is exactly like every other band out there, because they know that as long as the members are pretty enough there WILL be fans, and they WILL pay you money for "company" and "favors" so that you can survive comfortably and keep rehashing the same song for a couple of years until you feel like calling it quits and do something more worthwhile with your life, or more likely, go into full time hosting business now that you have a decent circle of clients already.
 
This sort of leads me into my second issue and it's the bangya culture. It's generally really vile, and the way the girls not only talk about the musicians but also each other is quite disgusting. If the bangyas decide that a member has done something they do not approve of, that doesn't live up to their perfect ideals that they hold them all to (because god knows the fangirls don't live up to any of them) they can easily start enough shit to cause a band to break up or force a member out of the band. The issues doesn't end there though, because the few foreign bangya that exists generally adapt to this mentality and lifestyle too. They openly shun other foreigners who dare attend the lives of "their" band and ruin their "specialness", they participate in this completely daft saizen system where a designated person basically decides who gets what spot at a concert so everyone can enjoy playing ten year olds doing the "you're not allowed to play with us"-games... And the obviousness of what really drives people to be fans of these bands become so apparent when they get to this level, and it's certainly not the music.
 
To be honest, in a lot of ways I never realized how bad this was until I got there and could see it all for myself, and that's despite a 13 year stint in the scene by now.

^ A truly damn shame they never released that album :/ Their last singles were interesting (especially Beast of Blood, a classic) and that look was amazing. Now the chance that they will ever come back especially with Klaha on vocals is zero.
 
I guess in the case that its release will be cancelled, X's next album may count. If it gets released, then there is still the Violet UK album he promised to make since ages.

This might interest @beni:
 

Superfly and Salyu covering one of the most known U2 songs (GLAY and Utada Hikaru have covered this song too)
 
Shiina Ringo and Utada Hikaru covering Carpenters' "I Won´t Last a Day Without You"
 

 
original
 
Also, you should never forget the best J-cover ever:
 

(they even did this

to promote the song, notice the reference )

[excited whispering]
 
Yasssss
 
edit: I forgot new Swans too...

For stuff with specific release dates:
 
01.26 새벽 - Division
01.29 Dream Theater - The Astonishing
02.03 Hiromi Uehara - SPARK
02.10 Kie Katagi - Serendipity
03.02 TK from 凛として時雨 - Secret Sensation
 
If we're also including releases that have been announced but don't have release dates yet, then add:
 
Death Grips - Bottomless Pit
유카리 - [TBA]

This is all I got for now
Japanese:
01.06 AYNIW TEPO - FLOWERS
01.20 DEZERT - 『最高の食卓』
01.20 王舟 - PICTURE
01.21 mayuluca - 幸福の花びら
01.30 ATATA - JOY
02.13 alt of the society - -追憶の風景- 発売企画
02.23 agraph - the shader
03.09 bed - via nowhere
Western:
Submotion Orchestra - Colour Theory
Daughter - Not To Disappear
Savages - Adore Life
The Last Shadow Puppets - TBA

The year of naughty, wily monkey has been kickstarted already but are most avid music listeners truly prepared for musical surprises of 2016 yet? Whatever the case may be, this thread serves no other purpose than to awaken curiosity and inform about upcoming goodies.
 
Many outlets are available for further inspections:
RYM-approved list 'til February
albumoftheyear w/ new releases
Oricon's indie/major calendar (Imma let you google that one, it has VK too)
MH calendar
etc.
 
Which albums/releases are you looking forward to in 2016? Feel free to mention TBAs too.
 
 
Regarding myself:
 
- METAFIVE's META (just leak already)
- Togawakaidan 20/01
- Tortoise's comeback (kind of) 22/01
- Ulver's new album 22/01
- The High Llamas 22/01
- New Especia 24/02
- Captain Murphy/Flying Lotus
- 385's future
- New Kanye (lol)
 
to name a few.
 
Edit: my apologies for bad timing (considering the current events...)!

The year of naughty, wily monkey has been kickstarted already but are most avid music listeners truly prepared for musical surprises of 2016 yet? Whatever the case may be, this thread serves no other purpose than to awaken curiosity and inform about upcoming goodies.
 
Many outlets are available for further inspections:
RYM-approved list 'til February
albumoftheyear w/ new releases
Oricon's indie/major calendar (Imma let you google that one, it has VK too)
MH calendar
etc.
 
Which albums/releases are you looking forward to in 2016? Feel free to mention TBAs too.
 
 
Regarding myself:
 
- METAFIVE's META (just leak already)
- Togawakaidan 20/01
- Tortoise's comeback (kind of) 22/01
- Ulver's new album 22/01
- The High Llamas 22/01
- New Especia 24/02
- Captain Murphy/Flying Lotus
- 385's future
- New Kanye (lol)
 
to name a few.
 
Edit: my apologies for bad timing (considering the current events...)!

So far, my list would look something like this:
 
Western:
 
Daughter - Not To Disappear
Savages - Adore Life
Wild Nothing - Life of Pause
Ra Ra Riot - Need Your Light
Jeff Buckley - You And I
Baleia - Volta
The Last Shadow Puppets - TBA
Radiohead -  TBA
 
Japanese
 
sakanaction - TBA
LUNA SEA - TBA
Perfume - TBA
NoGoD - Renovate
ゲスの極み乙女。 - 両成敗
GRAPEVINE - BABEL,BABEL
TK from 凛として時雨 - Secret Sensation
THEラブ人間 - メケメケ
Galileo Galilei - Sea and the Darkness
METAFIVE - META
 
I don't know what else.

thanks for your time!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
also
 
The original not the karaoke obvs. The frantic, saccharine ziyouuvachi we all love.

 
tw: ruffs; striped hotpants; appropriation of sobreros, mer-culture, 70s prog organ.

 
The canon in the last minute is sublime.

 
katy perry but less evil!

 
2015 anthem tbh

 
should've been bigger

 
blood orange x carly, was bound to result in one of the best produced tracks of 2015

 
problematic queen mixed by the best half of thunderpuss

 
king sef

 
french pop revival 2k15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbVnbwCKigo
 
french pop revival 2k15[2]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPjazi4mQSQ
 
And suiyoubi upped the game for everyone 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuuUfP4uJEk

It took a long time for me to like suiyoubi, their early stuff is hit or miss. Wouldn't really recommend exploring unless you're extremely interested. 
 
 
Loved the Sundfor album! It's probably top 3 of the year - it's very hard to pick out a stand out song from it though, the whole thing is an experience. Though the last 2 minutes of accelerate giving the best Lana Del Rey track of the year probably is my fave. 

BatAAr-tier (ir)relevancy right there.
 
And not even VK.

THE NOVEMBERS are a really cool Visual Kei band.

lmao still trying huh

As a small update: they are half-active atm so that might explain it (having this "DEATH MASK" moniker once again and performing older songs once in a while, god knows how long it will last)
 
Regarding me and my reasons for necroing: the fact that I converted our fellow Stallion into this Kuroyume fandom made me realize the beauty behind Romance of Scarlet. Holy motherheck, I feel so bad for my earlier me and my questionable dislike towards that album, so many Shin gems...christ.
 

 
So beautifully eerie, unf

By the way people, in case you're interested in (original) composers of each IMMORTALIS song, here's the interview in ameblo with per-song analysis
 
http://ameblo.jp/712031/entry-11847194786.html
 
so here's the list:
 
Elisabeth Addict - Takumi (he did the original song 5 years ago, apparently) mostly + Kyo and small input by other members (at least according to Barks.jp)
Destrudo - Takumi (around the same period with "Elisabeth"?)
Latour - UTA
Nine Melted Fiction - UTA
Zephyr - Takumi (obviously)
Hidden one - YUCHI (also, Mozart reference in the solo)
Aftermath - YUCHI
Uyuu no Sora - Takumi
The Daemon's Cutlery - YUCHI
Scars Like Velvet - UTA
Mama - Kyo
Vandal - UTA (obviously)
Hemimetabolism - Takumi and Kyo
Kugui - UTA
Madara Ningen - the whole band as far as I understood?
In All Weathers - Takumi and Kyo

Pfffttt "iconic":
 

 
And people say 90s "had no" oshare

Pfffttt "iconic":
 

 
And people say 90s "had no" oshare

OP sounds a lot like me a year or two ago so yeah, this might be it actually. You don't have to always limit yourself to vk-only pleasures if you find current vk scene to be well, totally shit? I can say this from my personal experience: it doesn't hurt! Just start out with "borderline vk" bands and venture further into more casual ones (some bands coming out of my head):
 
- Jikkendai Marmot (perfect "borderline vk" example - genre pool varies from gypsy jazz to swing music and whatnot)
- Kannivalism ("Helios" might be a good fit if you are really interested in post-rock-ish influences a la vk way)
- DIMMDIVISION / Dim My Division (read above)
- Sibilebashir (Nice throwback to "angstier" (think of Kagerou or even Mucc) days of vk but in much more maniac-like way)
 
But yeah, don't be afraid of looking "outside of the box" as well.

Pfffttt "iconic":
 

 
And people say 90s "had no" oshare

I don't see the problem with sharing one of the most iconic moments in musical history here.

I'm trying to figure out how to tell you that:
 
You're burning yourself out by trying to catch up for lost time (I'm assuming you took a break?) You're rushing to conclusions (If you DID take a break) We all agree with you Tough it out You're having a VK mid-life crisis but I'm lazy today

To make "don't delve into personal J-rocker lives pls, you dirty freak" voices quieter, I'd state the main wafflesy purpose of this thread: while the world of vk and JAYRAWK had tons of similar characteristics when compared to its much more grandiose Western counterpart a.k.a glam/makeup-lashing, angst quintets/quartets and god knows what, we've been given way too conservative, perhaps even stereotypical image about how these Japanese rockers have rolled. What the heck?
 
There is just not enough dirt in the world of Japanese distorted earrape music!
 
I can totes bet that your J-favs (and mine) are anything but fandom's little sweet bishonen/bishoujo angels - how come there were no stuff or suspections involving e.g. vk bandomen reaching some severely dazzled extremes while partying or even just gigging around?
 
Not that anyone might be pleased or willing to contribute, but let's try reviving this section anyway:
 
Have you ever heard about possible drug bust cases or just widely spread suspections involving vk or J-rock bandomen being way too "shady"? Feel free to push forward, get amazed or just throw crap at pseudo-tanukists like me, sniff.
 
 
I will start by stating popular drug cases (note: not Johnnys):
 
- Sakura (ex-L'Arc~en~Ciel)
This chap has been the main catalyst AND the final nail in the coffin of L'arc's "definitely vk" career. Why's that? Him getting charged for heroin possession around late 1997 has ended up L'arc spending their necessary "no-public" hiatus in order to get their shit together and come back with more palatable sound. Come to think of it though: he gets very rare (or even none) mentions whenever L'arc has their chronology up on TVs or such, ouch.
 
- Hisashi Imai (BUCK-TICK)
About similar-ish case happened to this legendary vk-related (if we could call him that way) guitar virtuoso /quirky composer except that it was in 1989 and he was sentenced for LSD possession! Frankly speaking this didn't affect band that much sound-wise, phew.
 
also, I am still on the fence whether I should consider 2ch inspections of Kiyoharu (yes, that Kiyoharu) being involved when it comes to drug ventures - just go asking around 2ch and you might actually get rhetoric questions in the vein of "why he ain't caught yet?", lol.
 
 
ps. is TZK is a stoner???

Important question:
 
>Is she Kareki?