monkeybanana4

Yeah, I remember seeing it around on places like LiveJournal and Tumblr (especially on member-centered communities/pages - i.e. "[insert bandomen's name]_a_day_community) I don't think anything is wrong with the communities itself, but that kind of behavior doesn't make sense because each fan in said communities like the same bands/people, right...? Some things I will never understand ^^;

Outside of Tanuki, I'm pretty sure "LiveJournal" is a pretty solid blanket answer to the initial question 👀

Bruh, Imma keep it real with you. Cuz most ppl simply ain't gonna tell you this shit. You feel guilty for a reason. That girl developed feelings for a reason. You're not oversensitive. And there's nothing wrong with you. If anything, you're just sensible.
 
Fuck what this world tries to tell you about having "friends with benefits" and "casual" sex. You know why that girl developed feelings? Cuz ain't shit casual about having a WHOLE 'nother human being inside of you! Fuckin' a chick and expecting her not to catch feelings is like putting your hand in a fire and expecting not to get burnt. It's that inane.
 
Bruh, i mean...sex is a POWERFUL force - it's literally the reason why we're all even here in the first place. It's THAT central to our very existence...and depending on how you approach it, it can either be destructive or regenerative....functional or dysfunctional...good or bad.
 
And from what I can tell, when you take something as foundational and deeply ingrained in our existence as sex and try to detach it from emotion, from love, from responsibility, from respect, from family, from children....and you basically turn it into a cheap drug, well then...you're practically inviting dysfunction at that point.
 
Now obviously, I would not presume to give you advice on this issue, and you have the free will to do whatever you want, but do keep in mind that freedom of choice does not equal freedom from consequences, and your own experience testifies to that.
 
But anyways, bruh...don't get down about that shit. If you can, just learn from it and keep it movin'. I hope all goes well for you from here on out! 
 

Wanted to write this up sooner, but better late than never!
 
Spent the end of April/beginning of May in Japan - during this time I got to attend two live events, this was the first of those. I've been a die-hard Aie fan since deadman so I absolutely couldn't pass up an opportunity to see him (and Kazu, too!!) play live.  I quite enjoy most of the god and death stars output and had heard many good things about eStrial so I ventured out to Ikebukuro on a rainy evening to see them do their thing.
 
It was one of my first nights in Tokyo and I am a bit, uh, directionally challenged without the aid of a map in larger city settings, so despite leaving quite early I missed my first train changeover and ended up turning a 15 minute trek into a 45 minute anxious train ride, landing me at the show 15 minutes late and a few songs into eStrial's set.
 
I descended the staircase into RUIDO K3 and emerged into the long, narrow live hall, quickly moving to the back of the rather full crowd. eStrial played a set of jazzy, upbeat tunes that had half the crowd participating in some light furi. Vocalist/guitarist Yumeji slid effortlessly through every manner of funky lick, matched in skill and precision by bassist Mina Takahara and drummer Atsuto (who was looking a fair bit more casual here than his time in Sugar - ten years ago at this point???). 
 
I wish I knew more of their songs as I found them to be a ton of fun, bassist Mina being a particular standout as she really knew how to keep energy levels high. She was sporting a huge grin almost the entire set and kept the entire crowd engaged. Much of the band banter made me wish I had a far better grasp of Japanese than I do (read: somewhere between almost none and not being a total know-nothing ass 😶) as Atsuto had the crowd chuckling quite a bit between songs. 
 
Being that this was one of a few two-man dates these bands had booked, it seemed clear that there was a really strong camaraderie between everyone in both bands! There was a lot of commentary that I picked up regarding Aie himself and the crowd no doubt seemed excited by his presence and the god and death stars' forthcoming set.
 
eStrial played for maybe a total of 45 minutes before the curtains closed, sending the crowd back to the bar in the corner to turn in their drink tickets. After a few moments passed, dedicated fans lined up right against the stage and I took this opportunity to grab a more ideal spot closer to the middle of the crowd. 
 
We could see band members shuffling past the entryway and behind the stage curtain and surely enough it wasn't long until a dramatic, orchestral track started playing over the PA. The crowd directed their full attention to the stage and as soon as the curtains were drawn, we were greeted by the god and death stars + Yumeji of eStrial! I found myself wondering if we were going to see Yumeji providing some secondary guitar for their set, but the ensemble jumped into a track that I didn't recognize at all, a poppy number that had Aie and Yumeji vocalizing in a goofy sort of way. The song lasted only a few minutes before the curtains closed once again, the audience left chuckling and eager. 
 
Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long, as the god and death stars proper were revealed as the curtains drew back again. Aie looked just as "cool casual" as I could have anticipated, wearing a thin t-shirt and fedora (perhaps the only person this hat looks properly good on in this day and age?) Kazu was dressed in black from head to toe, sporting a blazer that gave him a sort of "funereal" look alongside his long, slick hair. I must say, Kazu is a rather...imposing looking fellow on stage. Maybe it's because he is next to Aie, who is quite small in stature, but I found him to be quite striking in person in an almost intimidating way. Guest drummer Seiji Matsumoto (of the telephones and a number of bands that I need to take the time to check out) rounded out the trio, taking place of Otaka Jun who is away for health-related reasons (get well soon!!)
 
I will interject here and state that I can't recall their exact set due to time passing and just being...way too enamored with everything to take the time to write the songs down, so I apologize in advance for not being able to post that!
 
The band wasted no time getting into their set. Aie's signature guitar tone pulled me in immediately - that special twang reminded me of where I was and who I was watching. They played a selection of tracks from their newest album, funky ghost hollywood (most of the set was pulled from this album, understandably), to start things off. Watching them was a treat not only from the standpoint of someone who has loved their respective individual discographies (from one iconic band to the next), but simply as very clearly experienced musicians. That should go without saying, but these guys really, really know their stuff. They played each song effortlessly (my god, they really are a wonder at their instruments - I mean seriously, they're so stylistically committed and developed that it's a spectacle seeing them play the way they do).
 
Their set was fun and entirely un-theatric, perhaps the antithesis of the visual kei bands they came up in. Being that they were playing with a guest drummer, it was quite endearing to see them give him visual cues as the songs progressed (he was knocking it out of the park, no doubt, but it was nice seeing them interact in that "power trio" sort of way) The crowd was clearly having fun as they blasted through song after song and, more importantly, the guys in the band looked like they were having a ton of fun themselves. The air over the entire night felt casual and friendly, as if they were "just some guys getting together to play songs." 
 
There was some fun banter with the crowd near the middle of the set which really maintained that same "casual air" and in the end, they were done before I knew it. They got quite a few songs in (I wasn't kidding when I said they were just "blasting through them") for only playing maybe an hour-long set. I can't comment on the exact order, but the songs below are the ones I remember them playing off the top of my head. Nothing older than after the addle apple as far as I can recall. I was really pleased to hear "elephant in the room," "Good Night My Love," and "ママイズジャム" as those are some of my recent favorites.
 
薄荷
サニーゴーサニー
Good Night My Love
ママイズジャム
Life Is Beautiful
cannabis
damned
夜を歩く葡萄
濾過
elephant in the room
 
I hung around the venue for a little while since it was still very early (and there was a little part of me hoping I could shake Aie's hand, but that was wishful thinking, haha). As I watched the crowd wander back out into the rain little by little, it was obvious how varied their fanbase is, from age to personal style. Just a testament to these guys and their time/experience in the scene. 
 
Thanks for reading! Don't miss an opportunity to catch either of these bands if you can - it was a really special evening that I won't soon forget.
 
I'll have one more live report up soon for the event I attended at 高田馬場AREA on 5/6! (DIMLIM, gulu gulu, more)

"My absurdly high IQ, essentially, prevents me from enjoying music as the commonfolk do, so I choose rather to pontificate on the inadequacies of the prevailing tastes in the community and rationalize my own empirically superior preferences (by which I was informed were empirically superior by other empirically superior individuals via the most prestigious of subreddits), thereby falsely elevating my own sense of self-worth and triumphantly masking my insecurities in my own music taste."
 
also
 
"Chorus deficits"
 

The vocalist, muku, has developed vocal chord polyps and will need to have an operation on 4th June. Thus, the band will not be able to perform in June.

Vintersorg
Borknagar
Батюшка
Cult of Fire
Burzum
Rammstein
System of a Down
Tool
Drab Majesty
Choir Boy
Eiffel 65/Bloom 06
Frou Frou
Depeche Mode
Him
 
used to be:
My Chemical Romance
30 Seconds to Mars
Three Days Grace
Korn
Slipknot
Dimmu Borgir
Cinema Bizarre
Tokio Hotel
(don't @ me)

"You only listen to post 2010 VK? I, an intellectual individual, avid connoisseur of the Visual Kei scene with peak music taste know that only obscure 90s bands with unpronounceable names count as true VK" 

"[insert band here] is totally copying [insert other band here] and you should be mad about it!"

i have some super ultra rarez but I'm not going to share them because I'm an asshole 

Aw, Ohana looks so cute in the MV~ And the single sounds promising! Can't wait to hear the full version 

急激に老化してあまりにも多くの化粧を着ている男性女装

http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/~huberty/math5337/groupe/digits.html
 
Pronounced "Pi"

アルルカン (Arlequin) will release a live DVD titled "「2018.12.08 アルルカン 5th ANNIVERSARY ONEMAN TOUR Quint「」Zepp Tokyo」" on 2019.06.26. It will cost 5,800 yen (+taxes).
 
 

I don't care really to be honest, haha. Just happy to help spread it to those who haven't got it. The whole live only thing is a bit of a rip off and there's only the most miniscule chances of people outside of Japan even being able to buy it at all (though if you can it's second hand for a ridiculous amount of money) so yeah, happy to send it to other people if they want it. + Other users here have uploaded plenty of other stuff for everyone to download which I've taken advantage of, so would be shit of me to not share anything if people want it and I can offer it.
 
But yeah here is the link, only active for 7 days apparently so don't hang around too long.  

https://we.tl/t-5N1DJ70LBs

Aw, Ohana looks so cute in the MV~ And the single sounds promising! Can't wait to hear the full version 

While I'm still in the basic process of forming stuff, I do have some ideas for Visual Kei music projects I want to do.
狐憑キ (Kitsunetsuki) - Means "Fox Possession" in Japanese, it's my main project that combines traditional Japanese music with early 2000's Kote Kei.
La'Kyumi:ko - From 九尾狐, using the Kan-on reading for the Chinese word for 9 Tailed Fox, it's my idea for a band that mixes Traditional Chinese (not to get too into detail, but specifically the kind of Ming and Qing dynasty music played by Chinese immigrants in Nagasaki during the Edo period) with Kote Kei.
FAERiE KiTTY - My Devil Kitty parody project I'm also working on. I named this after my cat, Faerie lol. 

Aw, Ohana looks so cute in the MV~ And the single sounds promising! Can't wait to hear the full version 

A bit of FF14 while i wait for WoW Classic to come out...at the end of summer.

Was going to say Kisaki, Phantasmagoria was great, Matina and Undercode were cornerstones of the industry as far as labels go; gotta give the devil his due.

They will release a new single titled "6月のゴキブリ" (Rokugatsu no Gokiburi) on 2019.06.25. It will cost 1,500 yen (+taxes).

i think Artistical Glint is Megaromania's best album.