gret

tricot have posted one song from their live perfomance (with no audience).
 
 
On the 13th of April, they'll put on a live online gig which you can buy tickets for 1,000 yen. I'm definitely supporting this.
 
INFO
tricot SARUSHIBAI 7pm
April 13th
Ticket: 1,000 yen https://tricot.zaiko.io/_item/325384

I came back to see if anyone was discussing the subject further and I realized a I got plenty of reactions, and am finding it kind of funny, so maybe I should explain my point a bit further because it all seemed like a big wall of text without a clear point. I really wasn't saying a lot though, I just ended up addressing different replies without quoting.  
 
All I really wanted to say is, from the point of view of someone who really liked j-rock and despised k-pop for the better part of their lives, you can't really deny that there's always (and by always I mean in the last 20-something years of course because K-pop didn't exist before nor had Korea been too influenced by the US) been some degree of cultural overlap or influencing because that's what pop culture worldwide always does, and it's not really fair to compare or put one against the other as if they're Polar Opposites In A War because it's quite out of context, it's just not how it works. I mean, media and cultural industries do run deeper than that.
 
So Japan started embracing Korea and Korean products because of dramas, AFAIK, and games and manhwa kind of found their way as counterparts (almost counterfeits, really) to whatever Japan had been doing ages before, before K-pop music emerged as one more kind of product. No real artistic appeal, but I did listen to Japanese music way back when BoA started becoming really popular. Japan was all over Namie Amuro or Ayumi Hamasaki and all of a sudden there were (the half-American) Utada Hikaru and BoA in the spotlight as well. And SME was pretty keen on exporting their artists since H.O.T. so after BoA kind of managed to Be It they made TVXQ debut alongside with her. And this is where the MV of Tri-Angle which I mentioned before kicks in. I'm no expert but I believe Japan had been exporting a lot of pop culture to SK for years and that was more a reply. Which was... quite a thing. And by thing I mean quite a cultural appropriation as the kids of nowadays would put. (Final Fantasy? Visual kei? You decide.)
 
 
And it worked, lol, because soon enough (the fandom of TVXQ which was quite hugeee in Japan) Cassiopeia was formed, SNSD and SuJu (and Big Bang, etc) were pretty popular overseas as well and that's when the whole Hallyu 2.0 thing kicked in. So basically SK was just trying to export stuff - really, trying hard, because being so closely dominated by US and Japan-originated products Probably Sucks - and that's how we ended up with the most seemingly random but not really mix of cultural influences in k-pop. Because it worked, it sold, and yeah. Cue seemingly out-of-place Pocky/Pepero game levels of fanservice, colorful hairstyles and clear imitations of whatever j-pop boy/girlgroups were doing. And because there's always been this kind of insurgence of j-rock in j-pop music as well, it's thrown in the mix somehow.
 
So when I did that video, it was more as a joke because I ... kind of started digging deeper for j-rock/visual kei music after years of just listening to ONE OK ROCK or whatever was "pop j-rock" at the time, and I was talking to a friend and we were like, oh, ok, it's definitely being influenced the other way around now. Understandably so, especially because since k-pop made successful breakthroughs into the US market and, with it being the biggest music (actually, general pop culture) market/export in the world, of course it's a huge influence to Japan as well. So we were kidding about how even visual kei PVs nowadays sometimes looked less like 2000s or 90s visual kei PVs and more like k-pop MVs, although they're still distinguishable to the non-casual viewer (but yeah, if you go solely by commonplace stereotypes like "k-pop artists don't create songs/play instruments", "k-pop has no Japanese language music", "k-pop has no foreigners", "K-pop is cuter", "but fanservice" "but makeup" etc... you're just prone to go wrong). As I was saying, pop cultures in general do overlap always, regardless of nationality. That's characteristic of, well, pop culture in a globalized world. But that's really as far as my enlightenment goes, lol.
 
And then you have the western fans of Asian music whose preferences seemed to change, not so much because it did change, much more so because of the shift in East Asian music market and accessibility (I remember it was super hard finding subbed Korean videos back in 2008 so I was much more a NEWS fan than a TVXQ one, although I listened to both - but nowadays it's harder to find Johnnys videos because they're all taken down LOL) and promotion, stuff like that.
 
What you subjectively make out of this is just what you make out of this, bro. I literally don't think I can delve any deeper than this.
 

Some of your opinions remind me of this meme 

idk but stan shinee
 
 

https://vk.gy/blog/an-interview-with-clack-inc/
 
 
Big thanks to Kenbo! 
He helped with translating a few questions to Japanese. And surely also that every member answered the interview very nicely! It's an interview everybody enjoys, so please read even if you aren't a fan! ^^
 
 
 
EDIT:
Why did we choose this band for an interview?
CLACK inc. is maybe not the most popular or best band around (for some of us), but if a band changes their members it's always interesting to dig in them a little bit. I'm also glad that Jae_agent33399 helped us with giving a good direction of questions we could ask. 
Looking at the history of this band and members and current members it's a good band to have interviewed too, because hey it's interesting what they have been up to and if they can hit more people hearts!
 
Because this band starts a new area I won't share their music in this topic.
 
Still I hope that people are exited to discover more about their upcoming single. I'm looking forward to it!
So keep tuned okay?
 
 
A really big thanks to Kenbo, without him, this interview maybe wouldn't be possible at all. 

Today we have an exclusive interview with new vkei band Astaroth.
Astaroth is an orthodox visual kei band who revealed themselves at what was advertised as a solo oneman by vocalist MISAKI, on January 16th of this year. The members have a strong connection to the Kansai (関西) scene, and they've drawn favor thanks to their promising first single.
The band talked to us about their inspirations and how their first steps toward activity have been so far.
Astaroth, thank you very much for agreeing to this interview.
 
https://vk.gy/blog/an-interview-with-astaroth/
 

Leetspeak Monsters
 
[STREAM IS NOW AVAILABLE ON MAIN CHANNEL]
 
They go on in about 6 hours from my posting. Since archival is inconsistent among bands, I suggest anyone who is a fan record if they're inclined to. This will occur during my sleeping hours 😴
 
-
 
LMAO. Ok this is the fucking thing that confused me when I thought premium was free:

 
Okay, adding a couple things to finish out the night:
ViSULOG is what's free to premium members for a month.
 
Unfortunately, I seemed to miss out on a oneman and two-man, but they aired in very-early March prior to topic creation:
https://live2.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv324650484
https://live2.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv324587619
 
This is what WILL air:
Benjamin & Fantasy Twenty-Seven has a One-Man Tour Program. I'm not sure if it's Covid related so I won't link it for now ZOMBIE is doing an "emergency broadcast" digest of their new album on 4/4 https://live2.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv325059530 レイヴ (rave) is having a "non-spectator" live + Nagi's (Dr.) Birthday on 4/6 https://live2.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv325078437  
 

https://mega.nz/#F!vlgziSjB!AlswDePmPTklTLketnu3vA
CURRENT FIXES: https://mega.nz/folder/ObAj0abI#QY7fHuHePXSiXevgEui7QQ
PLEASE PM ME IF THERE ARE ANY OTHER VIDEOS WITH STUTTERING/ HLS STITCHING ISSUES.
 
-
 
 
Videos have been updated 🤫

I can't find that Tweet
?? 

theRaid. did a studio live! Sound quality is bad though...

It's a grey area for me. On the one hand, it's way easier to chuck $2.58 at a single on iTunes than it is to spend $30 to have it physically imported from CDJ. But at the same time, sometimes record deals fall through or the band splits and then their material is gone from streaming services. 
 
For example, GE+IM's digital single is now gone, and all of UnsraW's materially used to be streamable, but that got removed a few months ago.
 
Unfortunately, being available digitally comes with an asterisk that says *(for now)

Yes.
 
-
 
https://github.com/Last-Order/Minyami
 
Install Node.js for Windows (which comes w/ npm) then Git.
https://nodejs.org/en/ (LTS is fine)
https://gitforwindows.org/
 
Install the Chrome Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/minyami/cgejkofhdaffiifhcohjdbbheldkiaed
Enter this into the Git Bash Terminal (just once for installation):
npm install minyami -g [If Necessary (?). I'm pretty sure the library is available in the Git installation, but people have come to me w/ issues]
 
Install OpenSSL for Windows:
https://slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html (The Win64 non-Light version)
Guide: https://tecadmin.net/install-openssl-on-windows/
 
With the Chrome Extension you'll see something like this:

 
Change the quality to 3mbps so the extension recognizes the highest quality video
Click the bottom-most button to copy the contents in the text box.
Right-click and paste them into the Bash terminal and hit enter.
You want to have the video running in the background (you can mute) while this process is happening.
 
 I tried doing it in Command Prompt and got a dependency error, so that seems to be the way to go.
 
All this is necessary b/c it's HLS which breaks the data into smaller segments to avoid video downloading. There's also encryption on top of that in some cases. This is the first HLS downloader that I've used to work with NND Live.
 
-
 
Otherwise, you can just pm me your acc. if you're comfortable and I can do it.

Terakoya have uploaded the live on 29th March: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/ksp-live
 
Free video: https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/1585706403
 
 

Terakoya have uploaded the live on 29th March: https://ch.nicovideo.jp/ksp-live
 
Free video: https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/1585706403
 
 

Codomo Dragon have their own channel now:
 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD_b1hVAVMQD9-OfirLUqIw
 
 

He removed the original video, but posted a digest , which's actually better than watching his original boring almost 2 hour long video in which he only played 2 songs
 
 

Clack inc reuploaded their live on 24th March:
 
I managed to get a shitty rip of Ari's Lyoka birthday live: (audio seems ok, video...is what it is)
https://mega.nz/#!iqgjgAZS!H0tdx4KVX5n5-283JjXmrAyzJUy0j9zYcfrxohaEOMQ
 
Ningen isu did an audience-less live at the end of their recent livestream:
 
Terakoya label (Ensoku, gallo, roman kyukou) will have their 29th March livestream available from 1st April to 15th April on niconico:
 
 

As the person who belatedly brought this to the foreign limelight and who as also spent a ridiculous amount of time listening to Ray C, Otoiroha, and ジグザグ, I'll see if I can clarify some of your points. 
 
That being said, I'll prepend my further statements w/ additional fan-research done here: 
https://www.kokusai-singlemama.com/columns/wands-uehara1/
https://sebunoda-goodjob.com/2020/01/04/wandsの上原大史は命様なの！？ていうか、ジグザグ/
 
 
I find them pretty much identical if you put them side by side with Otoiroha pics. The distance from the chin to the lower-lip, jawline, etc. He's put on a little more weight (healthy btw) since Otoiroha (which is why he might appear differently.) I had a good comparison image in my initial status write-up, but it appears to be broken right now. If you want something more definitive, his left lateral incisor tooth is identical (and the rest of his teeth.):
*Also jawline tape is also a possibility. Japanese makeup is a hell of a thing.
He uses a different vocal inflection with WANDS, which is a bit "safer" and more appropriate since it requires him to be more technically accurate. His highs, however, are a dead giveaway.
 
He's not actually "frustrated" but more aloof (in typical Japanese fashion) of the subject. I draw parallels with mafumafu (まふまふ) in my status update because they have similar scenarios. They're both guitarists, constantly conceal part of their face, in extremely popular bands/groups, and for mafumafu's case, he's the vocalist of "神様、僕は気づいてしまった" where all the members of the group are in full costume/masks. They want that separation, and in Mikoto's case, between his indie and WANDS presence, the latter of which is pretty much being a j-idol. 
 
-
 
Trying to piece together what I wrote before, it is rumored in the time between Otoiroha and Zigzag that he was scouted by Daikō Nagato (former Being Group CEO and musician) for his indies-era voice. He's credited on a ZARD tribute album and participated in some music festival in 2018 prior to being inducted into WANDS (also from Being Group.)
 
Also attesting to this, since I've posted a large chunk of Zig Zag's earlier live-limited discography on YT, I'm able to view analytics and comments... There was an absolute flurry of viewership + comments in February indirectly mentioning WANDS which confused tf outta me. Comments ranging from older women who were 90's gya having rekindled interest in vk to how good his vocals are in Zig Zag. Other videos have comments stating how handsome he is and how he should stick with WANDS, etc. 
 
In summation, they're absolutely the same person and he's just creating separation between his two careers.
 
 
 

Did anyone manage to record this? I'd really like to see The Gallo and Roman Kyuukou.

17th Maxi Single「PEST」 2020.04.01
 
LIMITED TYPE A
CD
1.PEST
2.ダークヒーロー (Dark Hero)
DVD
1.PEST (PV+Making)

 
LIMITED TYPE B
CD
1.PEST
2.ダークヒーロー (Dark Hero)
DVD
1.PEST (multiple angles PV)

 
REGULAR TYPE C
CD
1.PEST
2.ダークヒーロー (Dark Hero)
3.くゆられ (Kuyurare)
4.PEST (inst)
5.ダークヒーロー (inst)
6.くゆられ (inst)

 

Let's just say karma... will come back to bite him in the ass for that hat.

More great news from CLACK inc.!!!🙆‍♀️

here ya go
 
https://mega.nz/#F!JYUT1ATY!CD9GhA29uQ0T1UDPAjTWlg
 
if there will be more twitcast lives, I'll put them in the same folder. 
 
scarletvalse of march 10th, somehow went wrong with recording, will do tomorrow again XD
 
Nostradamnz setlist
 
1.It's a small world
2.オモイデ
3.Uupaaruupaa
4.さよならロックスター
-CM-
5.原罪論
6.Lilly
7.ほころびて
8.Skygaze
 -うーん-
9.Smallchange
10.無線衝突
11.サラバ

Kaya CafeNoir livestream!