SakuraFox512

Welcome~

Mmm hmm, we are gonna get along just fine hehe.
 
Welcome to the forum!
It's great to hear that you've come out of lurking. Fans of the scene are always welcome, especially 90's Visual Kei Oficionados such as ourselves (we're starting to thrive again it seems lol). I can't wait to hear all the kinds of wisdom/knowledge you have to offer here on MH.
Oh and also,  it's never too late to say hi.
Just message any of the Admins/Mods on the website (Red/Blue) when you have any questions.
 
Talk to you soon!
 
 

Hello everybody,

Been lurking this place for a couple years before I finally decided to make an account, and I've already made a couple posts here, but realized I never made an introduction post, probably because I'm bad at them.

But moving past that...I'm 22 years old and been listening to jpop and rock since late grade school (visual kei since early middle school, I would guess). Most of my preferred bands hail from the 80s and 90s (Kuroyume, BUCK-TICK, D'ERLANGER, Plastic Tree, PIERROT, Janne Da Arc...), but I'm not averse to musicians after the turn of the millennia, either (The GazettE, MERRY, and, recently, AIOLIN, are a few I like).

I listen to music pretty much 24/7, and also like reading and (trying to) make games. I want to be a musician someday, so I'm interested in writing lyrics and composing (<-- also a 'trying to').

I have some anxiety troubles, so if I get slow on my responses while I'm here, please don't take it personally.  ._.

Paraphrase of a comment I've seen on several vids. of his: 'I don't understand shit, but this man sure knows his.'

Hi, my name’s Katie. I’ve been listening to VK and some other J-rock bands since 2000, but I took a long break from searching up new bands and keeping up with discographies around 2011. I’ve recently been diving in again, and eager to catch up on the scene.
 
I had a pod-o-matic podcast a decade ago called J-rock North, and I was thinking of creating a YouTube channel to discuss bands. I was inspired by the MUCC discography review thread to take that similar concept across several bands. I’ve started cataloguing with the “A’s”, and it’s put me in a position to seriously re-evaluate some bands that I initially dismissed or never really followed.
 
I’ll be super swamped with working 70 hr weeks pretty soon, but I hope to release my first video sometime in June.
 
I’m also taking the plunge this year of attending my first J-rock live by flying to Toronto to see Miyavi.
 
Hope to have fun talking with everyone here.

I want to imagine that those are car lights behind them and they're going to be doing Initial D-esque eurobeat.

Most beautiful look of 2018 so far

it was announced at their oneman live [祝！11周年記念特別公演！「東京ドーム総会」] at 2018/04/07 at TOKYO DOME CITY HALL that ダウト (D=OUT) new maxi-single "閃光花火" (Senkouhanabi) will be released at 2018/05/23 (2 types)
 
Limited edition (1944yen) will include CD (2 songs) and DVD including "閃光花火" (Senkouhanabi) (PV+MAKING)
Regular edition (1296yen) will include CD (2 songs) only
 
[tracklist]
01. 閃光花火 (Senkouhanabi)
02. 自虐の詩 (Jigyaku no Uta)
 
they will hold their oneman live tour "御礼参リクエストAWARD～投票亡き者は鬼畜セトリの刑に処す～" since 2018/06/02 at Nagoya ell.FITS ALL to 2018/06/30 at Sapporo BESSIE HALL.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi, I'm new here. 
Brief intro, my nick derive from always using the 3rd stall in the restroom. 

Here's my list:
Message - Nightmare
Neotenii - Nightmare
BEAMS - Kuroyume 
FAKE STAR - Kuroyume
Nakigahara - The Gazette
$ocial Riot Machine$ - The Gazette
Illuminati - Malice Mizer
Brise - Malice Mizer
Au Revoir - Malice Mizer
Asrun Dream - Gackt
Emily - Kiyoharu
Note - Kiyoharu
Law's - Kiyoharu (that 8 min acoustic from elegy)
Masquerade - SADS
Boukyaku no sora - SADS 
Tsumetai taiyou - MIZTAVLA 
 
That's about it, I think!
 

Trying to hire an hitman in the dark webz and accidentally hiring Yomi as Chiba thrusting his crotch against every vulunerable part of the victim's body while Izumi from Shibilebashir seduces him/her 
o m g 
The true power of those hookers is finally revealed!

imagine some shady-ass weirdo trying to look for a hitman online and accidentally stumbling upon a bunch of of MY DRAGON pvs

"Is anyone else getting tired of VK? I've been listening to it for the past six months and two days, so I've been into the scene for awhile, and all these bands just sound the same now. Thoughts?" 

I suppose I have a bit of a different perspective on this than most. I rarely ever download any music, and I buy the vast majority of my music via CDs (with some occasional digital purchases on Bandcamp). When I first started getting really into music in general, I did pirate a few things but even in those early days I mostly stayed straight. In high school I started collecting CDs, and I still do to this day. I can honestly say that piracy had very little to do with my taste in visual kei, Japanese music, or just music  in general. For me, it was just grabbing a few albums here and there based off of a clip I heard on youtube (could be an official one or not). Over time I got very good at judging albums based off of a song or a trailer and I rarely get any misses. Hell sometimes I buy stuff blind just based off of the members in it.
 
There are a handful of exceptions like when a band I like releases something that's just flat out impossible to get because it's live only, out of print for insane prices, or something like that. In those cases, I might grab a rip because I'm not going to just drop $100+ on a CD to some scalper on Yahoo Auctions (although I've done this before). In my case, I do have a pretty strong desire for a physical CD + booklet,  so I'm extra appreciative of Japanese bands generally taking the time and effort to make sure their CD releases are really nice (a lot of western bands are hackjobs in comparison).
 
Now, I understand that not everyone is necessarily in a position to drop hundreds of dollars on this stuff. My position is pretty fortunate since I have basically zero hobbies that cost money besides music and my expenses are very low. I won't pretend to be on a moral high ground either since I've got terabytes of anime rips on my hard drive right now. Hell talking to some other people around the world, the US actually has it pretty easy since we don't have to deal with ludicrous VATs/duty on imports which most of Europe seems to have. Those taxes drive the cost way up and make it even more unfeasible for some people.
 
However, I think that if you are able to afford it, you should support the bands you really like. It could be buying CDs, merch or whatever you want. If you truly value what an artist puts out, then I think you should support them if you can. These days there are plenty of online retailers (Amazon, HMV, CDJapan, etc.) that are pretty easy to use and you can get decent deals (by Japan's standards anyway) if you know what you're doing. Hell, sometimes I end up paying more money going after western CDs simply because I usually can't buy those all from one seller and have to split shipping across a bunch of different people (that adds up).
 
If a band's release is in print and easily available, I will absolutely buy it if I want it. I won't even "download a copy in advance" while I wait for the CD to arrive (I know someone who does this sometimes). Even if something is out of print and not exactly easy to find, 99% of the time I won't download it either. I'll generally put that album on the backburner and wait for a good time to lurk Yahoo Auctions or something.
 
I suppose I also will differ from most people on streaming. I personally can't stand the idea of streaming in any shape or form. Even if there was the magical perfect streaming service that had every artist I wanted, I still wouldn't use it. Streaming isn't truly ownership to me because you don't have any real control over the files. You just get whatever the host serves you. Just on principle I dislike it. This also extends somewhat to digital purchases. I will not purchase any digital downloads unless they offer lossless (so Bandcamp basically). Not because I'm dumb enough to think FLAC sounds better (it doesn't against decent lossy encodes). But I don't like not having the freedom to use the codecs and/or transcodes I want (since lossy downloads basically lock you into that format). And yes, I have actually re-encoded my portable library before (switched to Opus from Ogg Vorbis a while ago). I don't feel I have the real deal if I don't have a 1-1 copy of what's on the CD.
 
As for Japan's music industry, they're in the unique position where their music industry (for now) is still dominated by physical sales. This is rapidly shifting though. They never really got into downloads over there, but they're rapidly getting on the streaming bandwagon. Is this a good or bad thing for the quality of music? I'm tempted to think it will mostly end up being a bad thing overall if music gets driven by a more streaming-like market instead of a core base of dedicated fans. But maybe I'll be wrong. Japan has magically avoided a ton of trends that the West has gone through, so it's hard to predict what will happen.

sitting in a train without headphones but desperately want to hear it.. sorrynotsorry lets listen to this loud dear fellow passangers 

(I haven't seen another thread about the album, so I assume this one is still fine)

Update about Kiyoharu's upcoming album "夜、カルメンの詩集" -- the release date has been postponed. It's now due out on February 28, instead of on Valentine's Day.

Also, cover art has now been released for it:

Limited edition (2CD + DVD)



Standard edition


The cover is by collage artist Kosuke Kawamura


The traclist has also been released:

DISC 01 (Same contents in both the limited and standard releases)
01.) Hika (悲歌)
02.) Aka no Towa (赤の永遠)*   [yes, the kanji are for "Eien", but the Colombia site specified the reading was "Towa"]
03.) Yoru wo, Omou (Album ver.)   (夜を、想う)
04.) Amore (アモーレ)
05.) Charade (Album ver.)   (シャレード)
06.) Nemureru Tenshi (眠れる天使)
07.) TWILIGHT
08.) Mikazuki (三日月)
09.) Bigaku (美学)
10.) Anata ni Natte (貴方になって)

DISC 02 (Limited only) -- Poetry readings of 01.) through 10.) above, plus an additional track
11.) Tsumihorobashi Nobara (罪滅ぼし野ばら)

DISC 03 (Limited only) -- Music videos for a few songs
01.) Aka no Towa (PV)
02.) Nemureru Tenshi (PV)
03.) Yoru wo, Omou (PV)

Finally, in regards to the album, there's a new artist pic:




I'm including this here, since I don't really think it's the type of thing to warrant its own topic, but Kiyoharu also has a live-exclusive single to first be available on Feb. 9; the double A-side single "Aka no Towa / Tsumihorobashi Nobara"

(I haven't seen another thread about the album, so I assume this one is still fine)

Update about Kiyoharu's upcoming album "夜、カルメンの詩集" -- the release date has been postponed. It's now due out on February 28, instead of on Valentine's Day.

Also, cover art has now been released for it:

Limited edition (2CD + DVD)



Standard edition


The cover is by collage artist Kosuke Kawamura


The traclist has also been released:

DISC 01 (Same contents in both the limited and standard releases)
01.) Hika (悲歌)
02.) Aka no Towa (赤の永遠)*   [yes, the kanji are for "Eien", but the Colombia site specified the reading was "Towa"]
03.) Yoru wo, Omou (Album ver.)   (夜を、想う)
04.) Amore (アモーレ)
05.) Charade (Album ver.)   (シャレード)
06.) Nemureru Tenshi (眠れる天使)
07.) TWILIGHT
08.) Mikazuki (三日月)
09.) Bigaku (美学)
10.) Anata ni Natte (貴方になって)

DISC 02 (Limited only) -- Poetry readings of 01.) through 10.) above, plus an additional track
11.) Tsumihorobashi Nobara (罪滅ぼし野ばら)

DISC 03 (Limited only) -- Music videos for a few songs
01.) Aka no Towa (PV)
02.) Nemureru Tenshi (PV)
03.) Yoru wo, Omou (PV)

Finally, in regards to the album, there's a new artist pic:




I'm including this here, since I don't really think it's the type of thing to warrant its own topic, but Kiyoharu also has a live-exclusive single to first be available on Feb. 9; the double A-side single "Aka no Towa / Tsumihorobashi Nobara"

(I haven't seen another thread about the album, so I assume this one is still fine)

Update about Kiyoharu's upcoming album "夜、カルメンの詩集" -- the release date has been postponed. It's now due out on February 28, instead of on Valentine's Day.

Also, cover art has now been released for it:

Limited edition (2CD + DVD)



Standard edition


The cover is by collage artist Kosuke Kawamura


The traclist has also been released:

DISC 01 (Same contents in both the limited and standard releases)
01.) Hika (悲歌)
02.) Aka no Towa (赤の永遠)*   [yes, the kanji are for "Eien", but the Colombia site specified the reading was "Towa"]
03.) Yoru wo, Omou (Album ver.)   (夜を、想う)
04.) Amore (アモーレ)
05.) Charade (Album ver.)   (シャレード)
06.) Nemureru Tenshi (眠れる天使)
07.) TWILIGHT
08.) Mikazuki (三日月)
09.) Bigaku (美学)
10.) Anata ni Natte (貴方になって)

DISC 02 (Limited only) -- Poetry readings of 01.) through 10.) above, plus an additional track
11.) Tsumihorobashi Nobara (罪滅ぼし野ばら)

DISC 03 (Limited only) -- Music videos for a few songs
01.) Aka no Towa (PV)
02.) Nemureru Tenshi (PV)
03.) Yoru wo, Omou (PV)

Finally, in regards to the album, there's a new artist pic:




I'm including this here, since I don't really think it's the type of thing to warrant its own topic, but Kiyoharu also has a live-exclusive single to first be available on Feb. 9; the double A-side single "Aka no Towa / Tsumihorobashi Nobara"

(I haven't seen another thread about the album, so I assume this one is still fine)

Update about Kiyoharu's upcoming album "夜、カルメンの詩集" -- the release date has been postponed. It's now due out on February 28, instead of on Valentine's Day.

Also, cover art has now been released for it:

Limited edition (2CD + DVD)



Standard edition


The cover is by collage artist Kosuke Kawamura


The traclist has also been released:

DISC 01 (Same contents in both the limited and standard releases)
01.) Hika (悲歌)
02.) Aka no Towa (赤の永遠)*   [yes, the kanji are for "Eien", but the Colombia site specified the reading was "Towa"]
03.) Yoru wo, Omou (Album ver.)   (夜を、想う)
04.) Amore (アモーレ)
05.) Charade (Album ver.)   (シャレード)
06.) Nemureru Tenshi (眠れる天使)
07.) TWILIGHT
08.) Mikazuki (三日月)
09.) Bigaku (美学)
10.) Anata ni Natte (貴方になって)

DISC 02 (Limited only) -- Poetry readings of 01.) through 10.) above, plus an additional track
11.) Tsumihorobashi Nobara (罪滅ぼし野ばら)

DISC 03 (Limited only) -- Music videos for a few songs
01.) Aka no Towa (PV)
02.) Nemureru Tenshi (PV)
03.) Yoru wo, Omou (PV)

Finally, in regards to the album, there's a new artist pic:




I'm including this here, since I don't really think it's the type of thing to warrant its own topic, but Kiyoharu also has a live-exclusive single to first be available on Feb. 9; the double A-side single "Aka no Towa / Tsumihorobashi Nobara"