JimHarper

I did actually check out some KA.F.KA, mainly because of the Issay/Morioka connections. I've always been as sucker for a new wave/post-punk sound (away from the Japanese scene, I'm a huge fan of Killing Joke, Bauhaus, Public Image, Magazine, Japan, Indochine etc etc). Bizarrely enough it was actually the recommendation of KJ's Paul Raven that got me listening to Zilch, then hide, then X-Japan etc. He had some really nice stories about hide and obviously had a lot of love for him. If I was recommended places to start re-discovering DZ, I'd go for the albums Garden and Carnival. My favourite tracks would definitely be 'Blue Blue', 'Only "You", Only "Love''', 'Lonely Dance' (which features some great Killing joke-style tribal drumming), 'Gypsy', 'Perfect Kiss', 'Victoria' and 'Swing in Heaven', which could almost be an outtake from a Bauhaus album (which is just fine by me!). I've spoken to many older Japanese VK devotees who always speak of Der Zibet as a legendary band in the genre, but I think they were simply not visually flamboyant enough to attract the attention of a media that was heavily focussed on bands like X-Japan that were completely over-the-top. DZ favoured black clothing and makeup in a punk/rock/goth style that just wasn't outrageous enough for the media, despite the fact they were writing bloody good songs.

Alongside music, films are both my primary love and my work. I'm always interested to find out what out people are watching, so I've started this thread asking people to give their Top Twenty Favourite Movies. Finding just 20 is something of a challenge for me, so if anyone wants to extend it to 25 or drop it to 10-15, I quite understand. I hope we can spark off some discussion of people's favourite choices too. Thanks for participating! Here's my Top Twenty:, in alphabetical order. I've tried to limit it to one film per director, or I'd just end up with a list full of John Carpenter, Kinji Fukasaku and Jaume Balaguero. BattleRoyale (Kinji Fukasaku, 2000) The Beyond (Lucio Fulci, 1981) Cypher (Vincenzo Natali, 2002) Day of the Dead (George Romero, 1985) The Discarnates (Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1988) Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001) DasExperiment (Oliver Hirschbeigel, 2001) Hellish Love (Chusei Sone, 1972) Hellraiser (Clive Barker, 1986) Immortal Beloved (Bernard Rose, 1994) The Nameless (Jaume Balaguero, 1998) The Night Train Murders (Aldo Lado, 1974) Open Your Eyes (Alejandro Amenabar, 1997) Prince of Darkness (John Carpenter, 1987) Quatermass and the Pit (Roy Ward Baker, 1967) Ring (Hideo Nakata, 1998) Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977) Terrifying Girls Highschool: Lynch Law Classroom (Norifumi Suzuki, 1973) The Warriors (Walter Hill, 1979) Who Can Kill A Child? (Narcisco Ibanez Serrador, 1976)

For me, Girugamesh were not only one of the best Japanese bands out there, but one of the best bands in total. The only album of theirs I really don't get along with with is Go, which is far too poppy for my tastes. But thankfully they came back with the bloody excellent Monster and the two amazing EPs Gravitation and Chimera. I'm really glad I was able to see them twice before they called it quits. Seeing their encore performance of 'Kowarete iku sekai' is one of the great memories of my gigging career. With both Girugamesh and D'espairsRay gone, the music world is a lesser place.

THere are several J-rock albums I haven't heard yet, but the best ones I have heard are: 1. Vamps: Underworld. Transitioned into an industrial rock band they sound pretty magnificent. 'BYOB' and 'Rise or Die' are both bloody fantastic. 2. D'erlanger: J'aime la vie. An improvement over their last couple of albums this is pretty solid stuff, even if the album is barely 35 minutes long! 3. Granrodeo: Pierrot Dancin'. Granrodeo are pretty consistent when it comes to albums and this one has everything you'd expect from a few few forgettable pop numbers to some decent rock and metal tunes.

I listed mine in my introduction but here they are again Buck-Tick Dead End (incl. Creature Creature) D'erlanger D'espairsRay The Gazette Girugamesh LM.C MUCC Vamps X-Japan (incl. hide solo and Zilch). Other firm favourites include Chu Ishikawa, Soft Ballet, Schwein, Schaft, Suilen, Der Zibet, Gackt, Granrodeo, The Sad Mile.

For me, Indochine's 13 was absolutely the album of the year, I've loved their previous four albums,, especially the incredible Black City Parade, but 13 just blew me away. A handful of weaker tracks (for me, that applies to 99% of all great albums though), but a lot of stone cold goddamn masterpieces that are still in heavy rotation with me today I doubt I will ever get tired of the incredible 'Station 13' or the majestic 'Cartagene'. Simply a magnificent album. As for non-Japanese music, the other favourite has been the latest album from legendary German punks Die Toten Hosen, Laune dur Natur. And it comes with a second disc full of classic punk covers too Top stuff. After that, it's all about the new albums from Granrodeo, D;erlanger and Vamps' fantastic Underworld.

I notice there is no dedicated thread for Der Zibet (if there already is one that I've missed, I apologise, and please delete this one). They're contemporaries and frequent associates of Buck-Tick, with Atsushi guesting on DZ tracks and DZ singer Issay providing backing vocals on BT's Six/Nine album. Although they're essentially a fusion of fock and post-punk and goth, they've released some first-rate albums, particularly during the early years of their career. I haven't been quite so impressed with their later period albums, but they remain one of my favourte Japanese bands. I'd love to hear from other fans and swap details of favourite songs and finest moments. Thanks for your time!

Thank you! And I share your sadness over the death of Chu Ishikawa. Losing both Ishikawa and Ken Morioka in 18 months was a very hard blow.

I was heartbroken by this news. Ishikawa was one of the most talented and original industrial artists of his generation, and his soundstracks have been on constant heavy rotation with me. A great loss.

Hello all! My name is Jim Harper. I'm in the UK right now but will be relocating to Japan later this year. I've been a fan of various visual kei bands for a while now. My 'gateway drug' was actually Zilch; I knew an English bass player who told me he'd recorded a great album with a fantastic Japanese guitarist and said I should check it out. I did, and I loved it, so I checked out hide's 'day job' and discovered I liked X-Japan too, and it all went from there. If I had to list a top ten VK bands, it would consist of (no particular order): X-Japan (plus hide solo and Zilch), Buck-Tick, D'erlanger, Dead End, The Gazette, D'espairsRay, Girugamesh, LM.C, Mucc and Vamps. I've been able to see six of them live, which has been a wonderful experience (just got X-Japan, Dead End, D'erlanger and The Gazette to go!). There's also a lot of Japanese goth/industrial etc that I love too. Anyway, I look forward to chatting with you all and discovering some new music! All the best, Jim.