Zeus

Yeah, DST screwed me up and I didn't wake up at the time I set myself to.

Updated the list again!

I guess you can say that their presence within the scene has decreased.

I also just finished up The Prodigy on my iPod. All in all, I found it to be an enjoyable listen. My feelings echo that of Jigsaw's a lot, as in my formative years were rooted deeply in rock and metal. However, I was never exposed to The Prodigy on MTV so this was my very, very first time listening to them. The intro was terrible (it was an intro though, what can you expect haha) but subsequent tracks all had something to offer. Some of them went on for a little too long and got repetitive toward the end but there was no one "bad" track that I just couldn't stand listening to. However, the album was very long.

I don't think that I'll pursue electronic music with the same passion that I do with my rock and metulz, but there was enough here to make me think that I could enjoy it within certain contexts. Great recommendation!

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There is nothing creepy about this what so ever.

Reminds me of when I went to see Exist Trace at Sakuracon, Berryz Kobou was also a guest and holy shit were some of their fans creepy. Mouth breathers from Japan flew in to see them and those guys were creepy as hell. There was one US fan there, I guess at least in his 40s that became very upset with my friend Lisa because she said she wasn't interested in Berryz. All she said was that she didn't like their music and wasn't interested so he wrote this nonsense.

Lisa Feller of Seattle rejects outright the concept of Japanese idol music. “I’ve tried Morning Musume and I just don’t like that kind of music,” Yet, Lisa was one of an army in support of the Japanese heavy-metal band Exist+Trace the night before. “I’m not going to the Berryz Kobo concert tonight. I have panels,” she said. Well, Lisa of Seattle (a real yawner of a city so far from what I’ve seen) has zero imagination, and she’s just probably jealous of how great the idols look and how confident a presence they command. This is typical attitude of many Americans, unfortunately. A spike-haired male colleague of Lisa’s was equally clueless. “People just like different things, man,” he impored, obviously disturbed. The problem is this: I went to Exist+Trace and loved it. Apparently, the opposite is not possible.

It wasn't like she said LOL DEY R GAY UR A FAG to him, she just said that she didn't like that kind of music. I remember he just wouldn't drop it and argued with her but not everyone is going to love Berryz okay?

I'm kinda derailing this but AKB48 jailbait and I don't ever want to meet any of their fans. I already had the displeasure of observing Berryz Kobo fans and can only imagine that AKB48 just how creepy AKB48 fans can be.

I suppose it's also an interesting question to ask why people that used to love visual kei now hate it. I would ask myself that question but I no longer know the answer. I just...don't like the scene anymore. It's sad

I'm listening to The Prodigy now. The intro was weak and at first I didn't feel like this would make any impression on me. Then somewhere halfway into track 2 I started liking it. Go figure that it'd grow fast on me

As for Astrud Gilberto, I really do like the album! I don't have the whole album so if someone would send that to me that'd be great! I only managed to find the album up until track 9. I may not have listened to "the whole album" but it's enough to be able to tell that I like what I hear. I don't know when I'll be in the mood to track down more bossa nova but now I know that it's a musical style that I can enjoy when I need to chill and relax. I'd give it an 8 out of 10 easily.

I don't think CQ has a large following on this board.

Part of the reason why I never check new VK bands out is because they just give up so quickly. I'll come back in a few months and if either of those bands hasn't disbanded I'll check something by them out.

no the scene is dying not because the music isn't good. i believe there are still bands with good music.

the scene is totally dying because they are dropping the visuals and i think it will end up being very underground scene(the heavy visuals),

like is punk for example today. but once upon a time was in fashion.

Haha, the irony of an underground scene going even more underground. Anyway, I think there's some truth in this statement even though I can't pull up numerous examples to support my argument. It just feels like bands ditch the visuals really, really quickly these days. The only one I can even think of is VAJRA - less than 9 months after forming they dropped their visuals and looked less like a hamper attacked them and more like a boy band. Can't really have visual kei without the visuals.

I also happen to think the style of visuals has something to do with it too. A lot of the bands employ the same visual "style". Then again, that's not something new. In the older days the goth look was what was in and almost every single band employed that look. Now the "let's show lots of skin" look is all the rage, but it feels like they all recycle each other's clothing after photoshoots XD.

Well I know that a lot of the bands lose money by going overseas, so maybe they're no longer willing to take that risk?

I had a feeling that he was going to leave the band for a very long time. I just didn't think that it would affect the band so much that they felt that they had to disband without him.

I still don't know how I feel about DELUHI as a band. They have some really good songs but then they have some really shitty ones. The shitty ones stick out more in my mind and that's not fair to them. They could have been great if they slowed it up and gave LEDA time to make some real music. I guess I'm majorly disappointed in that we never got a proper album out of them. I'll get over it whenever LEDA forms his next project.

Also, I'm amused at how quickly they stepped away from their visuals

and not only visual kei scene. everything is dying these days.

sometimes i feel music in general is fucked up the last years

Quoting this for agreement, even though my opinion also lines up with Jigsaw's. The common music really has reached a new low but great music can still be found. You just have to be willing to go look for it. As trite as it sounds, it's all you have to do. My reasoning for why visual kei is dying/dead is a completely different rationale though.

Updating my list once again with only albums/singles/EP's that I enjoyed.

Electric Red - Magical Astronomy

Lantlos - AGAPE

Terra Tenebrosa - The Tunnels

101A - 4

sgt. - BIRTHDAY

A - BLACK ALBUM

Boris with Merzbow - Klatter

Cyclamen - Senjyu

Fugenn & The White Elephants - an4rm

Thousand Leaves - God Forsaken

So far, this year hasn't yielded much for me. I'm still waiting on A's WHITE ALBUM, Onmyo-za's Kishibojin and a few others. If 8-eit releases anything this year in the form of an EP that may also make the list.

The fuck is the current VK scene even

I don't even know anymore man, like nearly everything in it makes me feel like Stan in those Tweenwave south park episodes, even cocklobin doesn't do anything for me :\

Only remotely new things I've enjoyed lately are XA-VAT, GalapagosS, amber gris and Chemical pictures. Feels kind of like the scene is dying overseas too.

I have been wanting to type a dissertation on this for the longest. I especially agree with the cocklobin part too, as I tried to get back into them two weeks ago and couldn't. The only thing I disagree with is the part where you say it's dying. I would venture that it's already dead. A dead scene can still be dying - it just has no hope of bouncing back.

I try not to knock neo visual kei even though I don't follow the scene anymore and have had quite the change of heart...but none of these bands do it for me, sorry. New bands have got to be on the level of A to make me care.

The off-chance that a band just as good as A may pop up here is the only reason why I haven't locked this topic.

If you're asking how you can forget who your bf/gf has been with or what he or she has done, my answer would be that you don't (not that you can't, but that you shouldn't). The experiences and choices that a person has made has turned them into what they are today. Take out one decision or experience from their past and you can completely change who that person turns out to be. Are there some things that you'll wish had never occurred? Most definitely. But who is to say that they gained a learning experience from the outcome of their decisions that turned them into that person that you fell in love with? I wouldn't pick apart what you like and what you don't like. It should be about accepting all of it no matter how painful or foolish it might seem.

If it's so serious that you don't think you can get over it, you shouldn't be with that person.

Also think about it like this: you're just analyzing all of the things in his/ her past and magnifying the imperfections and downplaying all the good parts to him/her. Everyone has flaws. Everyone. The key to falling in love is to just accept those flaws. Maybe not love them, but learn to live with them because someone that is in love with you is also living with yours. Rejecting someone over something that they may not have had control over or even because of a minor mistake or error in judgment is needlessly cruel. I'm not going to play the "imagine if he did it to you" card but...I'm playing that card. Just grow to accept it and then move past it.

Of course, I'm saying this without even knowing what it is that's got you so upset but odds are, this is probably what you need to do.

FWIW, this is also coming from a person that's never been in a relationship. How's that perspective for you?

Real talk, half those girls are jailbait. This takes otakuness is to a new level of creeper.

They'd probably still want to tap that though...even though some of them are legit 14 years old.

^ If you're thinking of "The Girl From Ipanema" it's not.

I started listening to the bossa nova album a few minutes ago. Bossa nova must be a musical style that I need to be in the mood for. I like what I hear but it's not "clicking". Astrud Gilberto has a great voice though!

I got to thinking about this question while I was posting a reply in the Nightwish topic. It's obvious that when it comes to singles, the Japanese do it differently than a lot of other places in the world. Usually you find them releasing one or two singles before they release the album and the gap between the singles and the album can be large. In other places, usually there is a single released a few weeks before the album and then singles are pulled off of the album after it has been released. Which do you prefer/think is better and why?

I can't wait for this single, let alone the whole album. I have a feeling I'm going to like this a lot.

WHY DO THEY NEVER INCLUDE LIVING DEAD ON ANYTHING? >

I agree with what Ito said but I'll just add a few things. Don't tell him that you're not ready to be in a relationship yet or that you need some alone time because when he sees you try to get together with your ex that's going to ruin any chance of a friendship with him because he'll know you lied. Don't tell him that he can do better too because that's the biggest straw man excuse in the book. You might try to say those things to make him feel better but it's just going to make him feel much, much worse when he really pieces together why you broke it off with him.

Also keep in mind that depending on what kind of person he is having a friendship after the fact can prove impossible. He might not be able to quash the feelings that he has for you and that could lead to someone having to make an extreme decision. Hopefully that doesn't happen because it will crush him more but it's worth keeping in mind.

More or less this is what I look like atm, right down to the color of my headphones.