Miku70

Is it weird to say that I'm slowly growing used to it by now? Like, in his last looks it was fine, Watashi Mamire just looked weird as fuck. Tamaki, Kachou and this one, Hotaru, do not really look weird??
Ofc it's still not really the same as before, but it's like another version of Mahiro I guess?
Idk how to explain, but I think you get me?

Very pretty ! I'm tired of their over the top messy compositions so a ballad is a nice change for once. Btw Mahiro's nose... if he likes it that's great and I'm happy for him but I really dislike the way he looks now

They're releasing a digital single on July 5th.
 
 

When singers have vocal technique, it simply means that they know how to sing correctly; usually, you have to undergo some vocal training in order to acquire that. Singers that have vocal technique can be more or less "skilled", but they should be able to sing in a correct and healthy manner (stuff like support, breathing, pitch, switching between registers, lack of strain etc.) 

Hi, my name is hiko.
 
I’ve been a fan of Visual Kei for a really long time now, many years, but I have always listened to Jrock anyway
 
I am from Japan, though Japanese is not my first language as I’ve always been bilingual with English and Japanese
 
I am a big fan of X JAPAN, and for X I’d say I idolise Yoshiki and Taiji the most.
 
I also like L’Arc~en~Ciel, I have been their fan ever since I was a child.
 
I have been to various Jrock concerts, though I can’t go to many since I live on an Island in south Japan (Awaji Island) and am unable to travel
 
But some of the Jrock concerts I have been to are:
HYDE x5
VAMPS x2 
Dir en grey x1 
the GazettE x1
L’Arc~en~Ciel x3
Plastic Tree x4 
 
My actual name is Hideko (it sounds like a grandma name so hiko is cooler) 

You can send me a message whenever you want!
 

For example, vibrato is a common vocal technique in VK at this point because everyone who is able to use it consistently does so as much as they can without developing much skill with it (think of how much forced vibrato we've been exposed to over the years) lol
 
I disagree that technique = skill, based on the definitions of these terms used in that example and I don't really see style as a good descriptive term in this case but you're right it's certainly a semantic argument! Most of my appreciation of singers doesn't come from this anyway, it's all personal on some level at least lol!

I think he's a good vocalist, but yeah never found him to be outstanding. He's good at what he does, but he's no vocal virtuoso.

Kyo's technical abilities are really amazing, if you are actually a pro musician it is easy to recognize that he does some things that not really anyone else can in the scene. 
 
You have mostly people who do not really try to learn technique and those few who actually make the effort, same with most positions. 
 
Kagrra's Ishi was someone I know who actively studied theory, Jui from vidoll also. 
Ryuichi from Luna Sea really studied hard, hide once made a comment about how he was amazed how much he progressed. Hide also made a big effort with the same Vocal trainer Toshi used. Toshi still trains with international and japan based vocal teachers. 

I wouldn’t rank Ruki among the best vocalists, he has the same vocal tone and range than half of the scene. 

Japanese vocal talent is not subpar, but there does seem to be a preference for artists who don't really have outstanding characteristics. For example, DAOKO's popularity when all she does is cry on the microphone, etc. (I still listen to her sometimes)
 
Does technique matter within visual kei? I wouldn't think so. The focus is style and charisma in some cases. There are a lot of unmemorable or subpar vocalist that get carried by the band. 
 
For every other j-music movement/genre I'd say it's different, apart from idol groups. Anyone who can make noises gets accepted even if they can't sing to save their lives.
 
The reason Kyo and Ruki get brought up is because Kyo, especially nowadays, does a lot of vocal acrobatics that others fail to replicate. Try his band sukekiyo. As for Ruki, he was one of the most memorable vk vocalist level-ups. There was one point in Gazette's career where everyone just went 'Yup, Ruki is spending good coin on singing lessons'. You can clearly divide gazette's discography as pre-vocal-coaching Ruki and post-vocal-coaching Ruki.
 
Don't forget to check out DIMLIM for another memorable vocalist
 
 
 
 
I would also recommend 9GOATS BLACK OUT. 

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. 

It's a very mixed bag. In my opinion, the only way to find out about the real ability of a vocalist is live. Often, some guys that are really great on record can't deliver live: often out of tune and/or don't have enough vocal tecnique to last throughout a whole live. Sometimes sound can also affect the performance, e.g: obviously bigger bands have better sound, so they're gonna sound better live. Sometimes with smaller bands I find if the instruments are not balanced in sound, they can barely hear themselves, leading to issues with their pitch etc. But I think there are some really great live vocalists, and those who are most definitely have had vocal lessons: I know Yuu, one of CLACK inc.'s guitarist, works as a  vocal coach with other vk singers as well, and obviously he's a very skilled singer with his own project Ultimate Sonic as well as the previous bands he's been singing in. Takeru, the vocalist of CLACK inc., has also great tecnique and he's been improving a lot live as well, so I assume he's been working with Yuu recently. This is just an example, I'm sure there's plenty vk vocalists that have singing tecnique and have underwent vocal training.

Gratuated college today

"Due to the influence of the new coronavirus, we have a large amount of debt and our future activities are in a difficult situation. However, I would like to fulfill the promise to all the people I met on this tour by finishing the "47 prefectures x 2 laps tour" which is a long-cherished desire of all members and fans to FINAL. Therefore, we would like to ask for your urgent support."
 
https://camp-fire.jp/projects/view/298204
 
 

after buying music I prefer to play via spotify anyway, because of playing also gives an artist little money.... even if it takes 1000 of plays.. takes hours but well. o.o 
 
but selling via tunecore isn't cheap too... you gotta need some good sales to earn the cost money back 😅
however sometimes they have cheaper or free offers for a limited period. 

yah if it is actual big big money have heard about problems with them. >.<;;;
Spotify is the biggest streamer but the cheapest when it comes to paying the artist T_T;;;
That said still super happy when people listen to even my stuff on spotify,
play a song 1000 times so I can eat some pizza.

beside that it can take 2 years until they received the money from spotify plays 🤣

The bands/labels can set the limitations not spotify themselves.
 
and for reason wise, spotify is convenient but some bands/labels would rather you buy the cd or itunes etc. version.
basically for an artist to make just 10yen/10cents they need 25 plays, so it is not really good for money. so there is that train of thought too.

The only Kpop group worth stanning 😤😤😤
 

vkgy latest interview, with a famous vkei writer! 
Also I worked hard on this one so it's a cross post with JROCKNROLL
 
Nagasawa Tomonori (長澤智典) is a music journalist of note, having written for most major visual kei magazines and bands. We had the chance to ask him questions over several weeks, and so we explore his career, and his decades-long view of visual kei from the inside.
 
 
 
Choose your favorite platform
 
vkgy
or
jrocknroll
 
If there are people who still have any questions about the "visual kei" history, we can do another round  
So if you do have any questions, throw them to me and I'll will ask them!
 

未完成アリス (Mikansei Alice) new CD "故ニ恋セヨ乙女唄/指切り" (Ko ni Koiseyo Otome-uta/Yubikiri) release ?
 
 

[tracklist]
01. アノニマス
02. 棘
03. Can't stop MAD teens.
04. クロトアカ
05. naked
06. FOX-7
07. TETRA
08. パラダイムシフト
09. アスファルトに聞け
10. BONEHEAD
11. サイレン
12. シリアルキラー
13. DIRTY×DIRTY
14. 亜種
15. 無脳bot
16. DOUBT
EN01. RIGHT EVIL
EN02. ISOLATION
EN03. ゼロ・アイデンティティー
EN04. WARUAGAKI
 

DEAD END Gu.YOU has passed away from sepsis at 2020/6/16.