Zeus

5 minutes ago, Tokage said:

when will you finally write about that time Klaha ripped off Michael Jackson?????

 I'm gonna need sources

"セックスと嘘" by cali≠gari

stems from "I Would Die 4 U" by Prince

Homage or Copy: Both. Can it be both? I'll go with both.

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I'll level with you guys; I'm not one to bemoan visual kei and their lack of diverse inspiration, but the day @Carmelzors and @Disposable uncovered this gem is a good one. It is an uncommon occurrence for visual kei artists to take inspiration from 70's American pop and R&B artists, but the reach of the Prince of Motown even reaches Japan! Ten seconds is all you need to know where this song comes from and if you play both tracks at the same time they line up almost perfectly! Had vocalist Ao Sakurai not admitted in an interview that this was intentional, Walmart might be hosting a discount pitchfork sale right now. But honestly, it's so obvious it wraps around the continuum of copy and turns into one of visual kei's best homages.

"BELIAL" by SILENT DIFFERENCE

stems from "ピンクキラー" (Pink Killer) by Dir en grey

Homage or Copy: Leaning towards Copy

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The line gets a little blurrier here. For those not in the know, SILENT DIFFERENCE is a doujin band. Doujin bands take established themes and melodies from video games, anime, or even other artists, and then remix it in their own style. One popular video game franchise that many artists use as the basis for their compositions is Project Shrine Maiden, but you can find many popular and even some uncommon rearrangements. Since copying is the name of the game here, the similarity to ZUN's 平安のエイリアン (Heian Alien, Nue Houjuu's Theme From Touhou 12: Undefined Fantastic Object) is intentional. However, I wouldn't blame you for only hearing Dir en grey's ピンクキラー surgically attached to half of a Skindred's song. I don't know how I feel about it. This is the earliest example I have of a doujin artist trying to cross into visual kei territory. Every man and only band member しるへい proudly wears his influences on his sleeves - this entire album is a collage of musical bits ripped from different artists and plastered together with cum and passion - and he actually turns an almost unbearable song into one that's slightly less unbearable. On the other hand, there are doujin groups that compose original compositions around doujin themes and in comparison, しるへい takes the easy way out. Even though copying is the name of the game, this is a little too blatant for me to let slide.

"パラサイトイヴ" by ヴァルナ (Valluna)

stems from "「タトエバ」キミ...ガ...シンダ...ラ" by D'espairsRay

Homage or Copy: Homage

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Now for one of the more egregious examples of blatant stealing in recent memory. I have made peace with becoming part of an older generation of visual kei, but in my day any indie visual kei head worth their weight in yen could identify the main riff and vocal melody of D'espairsRay's "「タトエバ」キミ...ガ...シンダ...ラ" in a heartbeat. So when a nascent visual kei band by the name of ヴァルナ (Valluna) shows up next to ALSDEAD on an omnibus designed to "bring together old and new in the scene", I didn't expect them to take it so literal. Once upon a time, depending on who you talk do, Valluna was poised to become "the next big thing" before this song came along. I believe it's a homage to their heroes in D'espairsRay as it's only the harsh vocal melody after the chorus that was sampled, but it sullies the song all the same for me. This was a common sentiment among many who sampled this omni when it came out, disappointment magnified by the fact that we expected more from them.  I listen to パラサイトイヴ and immediately wonder why I'm listening to a budget version of D'espairsRay when I could just listen to the real thing. I'll chalk up their disbandment shortly after the release of this song to unrelated circumstances.
 

"Psychedelic Jelly" by Lycaon

stems from "GET READY FOR THIS" by 2 UNLIMITED

Homage or Copy: Neither!

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This entire series is devoted to musicians who take ideas from other musicians, sometimes rather liberally, and run with it. I've covered some of the most egregious examples and even some more obscure examples. But Lycaon's "Psychedelic Jelly" is the poster child for tweaking inspiration just enough to avoid infringement. It's synth line is oddly reminiscent of 2 UNLIMITED's "Get ready for this", but it's not easy to spot outside of an A/B comparison. That's an accomplishment, considering "Get Ready for This" is one of the most recognizable dance songs of the modern era. I lack the proper musical terminology to express this, but it sounds as if they chopped the synth line into four equal measures of two beats, and then switched the even-numbered sections around. I remember reviewing "Masochistic Red Circus" and lamenting on one or more facet's of Lycaon's performance that I wasn't too fond of, but I didn't catch this the first time around. And apparently, no one else did until 2016, so in all good conscience I can't say they copied it.

"蒼白の底に沈む孤独と空しき疎外感" by VAJRA

stems from "冷血なりせば" by Dir en grey

Homage or Copy: Total copy.

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It's become a tongue in cheek insult to label a new band as a Dir en grey clone, but make no mistake: these guys really wanted to be Dir en grey. VAJRA's career can be summed up as wearing paper-mâché face masks while playing self-interpretations of late 2008 Dir en grey while vocalist Nobro masturbates on the crowd. It would be one thing if they had lifted inspiration from multiple bands and rolled it up into one collage of modern visual metalcore, but Uroboros had dropped the year earlier and made massive waves. Instead we got an eighteen month biopsy into the most low-effort section of the scene, lending more ammunition to jaded fans claiming everything sounds the same. Fierce debates aside about whether the band was talented in their own right (hint: no), this is their interpretation of "冷血なりせば". They copied everything, even the interlude! What a shame, considering that VAJRA is a dope name for a band and it will be forevermore tied to this failed attempt at riding the wave.
 

46 minutes ago, Kawaii_Minpha said:

I'm surprised i never replied to this topic <__< If it's obvious i love kawaii Jrockers, saying what sexual orientation i have may be unknown to some people. I think there's more than only ""hetero/homosexuality/bi"", so it's nice to see "Other" as a possiblity of answer. I am not any of these 3 orientations.

 

Not gay because: OK, i can't deny, kawaii Jrockers ARE guys, that being said, if i was going to say to any random strangers in the street that i'm gay, he would assume i'm attracted by your typical masculine guy that you see everywhere if you go outside of your home sometime, so i would have to add:: "but wait, i'm not really attracted by male, i mean i never found any male attractive in my whole country, i'm only attracted by a few Japanese extremely feminine guys that you would believe they are cute girls if you see them". Because that's true, most people not aware they are guys would actually believe these Jrockers are girls, to a point that my mom told me she would feel lesbian if she had to kiss one of them. If ALL guys were looking like kawaii Jrockers, like if it was the norm, and that masculine guys were as rare as kawaii Jrockers currently are, then i could say i'm gay, but it's not the case, and so, it makes me feel not gay. I can't identify or recognize myself as a gay male due to  all of this, it's not how i feel inside. I think it would be easier to be gay though, because gay is more "well-known" orientation in the society, than kawaii Jrockers where i have to explain everytime to people i meet. Open minded people usually understand, because they can't deny how feminine these guys are. Closed minded people, i don't care of them so....

 

Not hetero, simply because i don't deny that these kawaii Jrockers are not completely female (despite i think they actually look more feminine than most girls from my country). I am very attracted by their feminine side, but i still want them to not be a "real girl". But if someone say i'm hetero, i will not say anything against it, because some people don't understand the notion of "different sexual orientation than the 3 others they already know". I think if i had to be considered as hetero or gay or bi, it is more similar to hetero, but it's still not 100% this, so i personally consider me as "other" due to this.

 

Bi is for those who are attracted to man and woman, both, and i actually doesn't feel attracted by neither, but i'm attracted by people who have mostly attributes of woman, with some attributes of man, so it's like being attracted by a 3rd gender.

 

I'll say what my mom already told me: "a man is not just a penis, and a woman is not just boobs. There's attitude, appearance, and many other things". And that's why she consider kawaii Jrockers are not male, because they are more female. When you see a guy in the street, you know he's a guy, but you still haven't seen in his pants to actually prove he's a man, so there's attitude, appearance, and many other things...

 

Like others said before, my sexual orientation doesn't define who i am. But it clearly define who i would love to be with: Kawaii Jrockers ^o^. One that would be permanently kawaii, not like Ishiki who decided to stop being kawaii <__< To simplify, for heterosexual man, it's like if your sexy girlfriend suddenly decided to crossdress to be as much masculine as possible, even to a point she would have a realistic fake beard, well if she looks like Obama, i don't think you would still be attracted by "her" physically, even if you know she's a girl. Some people could always say i'm gay, or other things, but in the end, what matters is that I know what i am and what i'm not, because there will always be people to judge you, whatever you are, and whatever you do, they think they know better than yourself what you are. That's why everyone should not matter of what others think of your orientation.

 

It's true that when someone is asking what is your sexual orientation, it should be something ordinary as asking "do you prefer strawberry or chocolate?", or "what is your favorite color?", and adding to these questions "what is your sexual orientation?". Because it is something that is personal to each individual. It's called: personal preferences, and i don't know why it's such a big deal. But i'll make a drama and say that unfortunately the world is too much judgemental to end being full of acceptation like this, drama or not, it's still how things are.

So...you're into traps & crossdressers then?

4 hours ago, Pho said:

Occasionally you find that if a profitable enterprise goes down because the parent company couldn't manage to stay afloat for whatever reason, another company swoops in to buy that particular part of the business and keeps it going. I have no idea if that's even remotely likely or even technically possible in this particular case but, eh, who knows.

The way the market is looking there are no buyers.

@blackdoll you're slipping

y'all got some peeps for me to smite? my thunderbolt's getting a bit rusty

1 hour ago, Pho said:

downy is just on a whole different level to pretty much everyone else these days. Their first four albums were already really solid releases and more than enough to secure their place in the history of Japanese post-rock folklore, but their two albums post-return have cemented them as one of the best of all time in my books. They're completely on their own wavelength, and no matter how many times I relisten to their stuff it always seems to throw something new at me time and time again. I don't even care to try to rank their 6th compared to the 5th (or even the rest of their discography, to be honest), they're all consistently brilliant and this one is no exception.

 

(not entirely sure where the 88kasyo/Ling comparisons come from but oh well :P)

When I think of mainstream J-Rock bands that have developed a style and sound of music all their own that cannot be copied, only three come to mind. That would be 88Kasyo, Ling, and downy. I didn't mean to imply they sound similar.

@itsukoii you are adding to my next list

@ghost i haven't forgotten to send you a mix i'm still deciding which one

| One of the finest rock albums of 2016. downy do it again!

downy's decision to return to making music after a very long lull in activity is one of the best things to ever happen to Japanese rock music. They've occupied the three way musical intersection between melancholic shoegaze, experimental post-rock, and musical perfection since their formation in 2000. Oft mentioned in the same breath as 八十八ヶ所巡礼 (88-Kasyo Junrei) or 凛として時雨 (Ling Tosite Sigure), there's a very good reason why all eyes are on downy whenever they announce a new release. 第六作品集『無題』  (dai roku sakuhin shuu 『mudai』) is the album I've been waiting all year to listen to and I didn't even know it. I can't remember the last time an album opener such as "凍る花 (Kooru Hana)" enamored me within seconds. Before I knew it I was four or five tracks in, completely lost in downy's world. Shuffle beats and 9/8 rhythms backed by spacious production give rise to a pulsating musical juggernaut which demands your attention, and it's hard to find a reason to press pause.

I'm impressed with the focus and clarity of downy's vision. Transitions between tracks as well as between different segments within tracks flow like water. They elude genre classification of even the loosest standards, breaking all sorts of rules about how rock is "supposed to sound" and opting instead for a hybrid audio/visual experience at live events. The second track "檸檬 (Jukujijun)" is a great example of this: fusing palettes of rock with a healthy does of electronic perturbation among mathy transitions, frantic guitar, and uncommon time signatures would crush lesser bands, but downy nails it without a second thought. What impresses me more is how well it stitches the first and the third tracks together; the former has an almost industrial post-rock vibe to it while the latter has a stronger focus on the rhythm with brass embellishments. 第六作品集『無題』 is so cohesive track names are almost a convenience, and a solid argument can be made that the album should be listened to as a whole.

There are a few constants which tie the album together; the cerebral rhythm section, band leader Aoki Robin's breathy vocals, a wall of layered sounds which fills any and all the empty space in the mix, and a tendency to suddenly change gears and throw something new at the listener. All roads point towards the climax in "乱反射 (Ranhansha)", but it's the journey rather than the destination which makes the trip worth it. In an interview with Yoshi from Brown Noise Unit, noted "We aimed to create original stuff, but we take a lot of care in how it is expressed, so if you found gentleness in the sound, I think that's just coming through from the love we have for music. We've always known we had to choose music, so maybe that's what you're feeling.". This is an incredibly bold and powerful statement for a musician to make, and yet when the album ends I immediately want more.

This is one of the best albums of 2016. Get on it.

Support the band!

CDJapan | iTunes (Japan)

Nice find! This sounds like Kiyoharu put the trademark to Kuroyume's backlog up for bidding. As in the rights to owning the band's music are up for sale. This is what I gathered:

• Public auction opened September 9th, bidding time starts September 13th at 1pm, ends October 9th. 
• estimated value of  "Kuroyume" is 200,000 yen, bidding starts at 50,000 yen.
• Rights were originally owned by Kiyoharu, who could not be reached for comment.
• He is selling the rights because of owed taxes and foreclosure (of properties?)
• The four different "Kuroyume" being sold would be inclusive of all the different ways the band has stylized their names on releases and promotions, which means Kiyoharu is truly selling everything.
• Rights to "Kuroyume" were seized by the government.

All I can say is HOLY SHIT.

Below is @chemicalpictures explanation on the 3 types of auctions in Japan, to shed more light on how serious this is.

3 hours ago, chemicalpictures said:

 

Generally, there are 3 types of auction of this kind:

 

Something valuable (physical or intelectual, which is the case), is given as guarantee of a loan, leasing or financial operation. If the deal is not honored, the loaner (usually bank institutions) seize that something valuable and auction to reduce their losses. I believe this is the American mortgage model, right? - does not seems to be the case;

 

The owner (let's say Kyoharu) of something valuable has several taxes/loans debts related/attached to this valuable thing. Trying to get rid of this debt, he sells this possession waaaaay below its market value to compensate the debts the new owner will be assuming - also does not seems to be the case, since this kind of auction is generally done by the owner before he is seized;

 

The government ALREADY seized the something valuable that is chock-full of taxes debts, and its auctioning to get some of this money and because it does not have any use to it. It may or may not come clear of past taxes to be paid, that depends. The value is low because that's how govern departments operates, you can check your local DMV for seized cars being auctioned at 60%, 65% below market cost - This seems to be the case, since its already a financial govern department hosting the auction...

 

In any way, Kyoharu is probably fucked, and some major label will probably buy those rights and shell out at least one best album for year till eternity, from now on

 

3 hours ago, ghost said:

 

*ahem*, If I may ask, has God already made engagements to share them with any particular individual(s)? If not, I would fervently request that I be among the selected to receive a quantity of one or more of aforementioned "awesome mixtapes"! I will of course gather and offer up a sacrifice of my own.

I made them with no particular individuals in mind. At least one of them I intended to share during a Trade-Off but I have no themes to fit with them. If you want to preview one then sure! I just need to figure out which one to give lol.

This is worth it for the re-recording of LFDO alone. Everything else is just icing on the cake. I'd take a Lyrical Sympathy re-recording in it's entirety any day.

Glad to have you back boiz. I prefer late-era Versailles to Jupiter any day of the week.

I made three awesome mixtapes and I can't wait to share them with someone

well then there's already something for next year to look forward to

This is the full text provided by shattered tranquility. Link below as always (also pro-tip S-T admins: disabling right click does not stop me from diving into the page source and copying your HTML you might want to fix that )

http://shattered-tranquility.net/index.php/08/28/yohio-declared-ambassador-for-new-visual-kei-app/


 

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The way you enjoy visual kei is about to change.

 

VisUnite is an app–yes, an app that you can download on your phone or other mobile device– created in Japan that aims to modernize the promotion of and participation in the visual kei scene. Through special in-app features that allow you to show support for your favorite artists, you and the artists can earn rewards. On the band’s side, this can include opportunities to participate in events, magazine coverage, ads, and more.

 

This app will also become available to overseas users in an attempt to re-strengthen visual kei’s popularity and development overseas. That’s why YOHIO (DISREIGN, ex. Seremedy) has been declared an official ambassador for the app. His official statement regarding the title is:

 

“I am convinced that VisUnite will bring a new revolution to the Visual-kei world. I also hope to do my best to boost the Visual-kei industry.” -YOHIO

While VisUnite hasn’t been released yet, pre-order requests are currently being accepted. You can check out more information on their official site (currently available in English and Japanese). S-T will also be updating you as we learn more!

 

Source: VisUnite, press release

 
 

• Who declared YOHIO the ambassador for this app? I understand the rationale behind why him (to be frank there isn't anyone better) and I think it's pretty cool that someone remembers international fans exist, but everything from the creation and marketing of this app sounds vague.
  • No but seriously what company is writing this app? Usually when building a phone app you mention the company at least once at the beginning, even briefly.
• "pre-order requests"
  • sounds like this is a paid app.
• "show support for your favorite artists"
  • I have a really hard time interpreting this as either a veiled attempt at donating funds to bands or some type of page where you click a button, look at pretty previews, and then go do something else
• "Modernizing the promotion and participation in the visual kei scene"
  • sounds...promising actually. Will bands use this to promote exclusive PVs, secret lives, or previews of songs ahead of release dates? Would you be able to buy tickets to a show through the app and give the band a cut? Or will lives and tour finals actually be streamed through the app? There's lot of potential here to be honest.
• "this can include opportunities [for the band] to participate in events, magazine coverage, ads, and more"
  • sounds dangerous to be honest. any sort of "rewards for rewards" system will incentivize people to cheat the system.
  • unless they mean this as another avenue of exposure for bands and that the app creators themselves aren't promising anything...which seems kind of stupid. why market your app as being able to cause events you can't guarantee?
• "earn rewards"
  • So do we get cool rewards like CDs or trash rewards like cheki which probably cost more to ship than they're worth? Or do we get useless rewards like tickets that none of us can cash in? And will these rewards actually be shipped overseas? Rewards needs to be carefully thought out if you want international fans to participate.

5 hours ago, saishuu said:

update: I haven't found Jesus in my life yet so I'm still gay as hell

But you found Zeus and he doesn't mind so much.

58 minutes ago, JukaForever said:

what's a time stamp?

A date and time value used to mark when a message was posted.

http://jorzine.com/page.php?menu6&P=viewArticles.php&id=73

There's a lot going on, even more than this blog post can capture. But from what I can gather, Middle Eastern countries frown on the metal genre for a multitude of reasons. This makes it hard for local metal bands to be heard, as well as difficult for bands from other countries to tour there.

 

It had a lot of potential, a lot of passionate musicians with goals, but most of them either shifted to the alternative Arabic rock music where our society accepted it, or they just either leave the country or have left the scene completely.

 

We had a lot of issues with the Jordanian government, a lot of bands went to jail just because they played a genre of music that they couldn’t accept or understand, and for that we couldn’t bring any international bands to perform in Jordan even though we received a lot offers.

 

 

Our event for Vader on the 6th of March 2015, the CID received a complaint from a competitor.

 

[...]

 

The reason they do this, is that they are sadly not on our same level of professionalism and would rather ruin it for everyone instead of trying to raise their level and help make it better for the entire scene.

 

Sadly many fans and bands from all over the world came to Dubai, excited to meet those bands but failed to see them perform and instead just maybe hanged around them and took a photo or two.

 

Still a good outcome, yet it’s not the satisfaction we promised to deliver, and we are sorry for this but it’s out of hands at the moment.

 

Yet we like to thank those bands by name, for actually accepting our invitation and coming although they weren’t allowed to play.

 

 

 

Swallow the Sun came on Feb, 2016 even though it caused problems and they weren’t able to perform live for us.

 

The members of STS were amazingly great people that even when they came to Dubai and knew about what happened they refused to take their fees. 

 

Although it didn’t happen, but there were still fees, because that was the deal, mainly because the issue was from our side not theirs, but anyhow they were great enough to come support the Even organisers  and didn’t take any money.

 

Thank you Swallow The sun For being professional and completely nice to to us.

 

Instead of having them on stage, we had them as guests, playing couple of songs for us while having some drinks and chatting with them, it wasn’t what they/we were expecting, but we enjoyed it a lot!

 

[..]

 

After couple of months, Mikko vocalist of (Swallow The Sun) And I were talking and we agreed on trying again! 

 

I wanted them to perform in Dubai really bad and wanted to make it up to them for what happened last time, and they wanted to do the same!

 

We tried again and the date of the event were set on 30th of August, 2016. 

 

All got accepted except 4 members, who got rejected.

 

Why? 

We don’t know!

 

Have we tried to talk to someone to know the reason? 

 

Yes we tried, no one is listening. 

 

I even printed some pictures of STS while they were in Egypt, and translated some of their lyrics just to show the authorities that there is nothing wrong with this band! 

 

But it was useless! 

 

This effected not only The UAE but also effected The MENA region in general!

 

Now when you speak with a band about coming to MENA region they hesitate, and we do not blame them for it, especially if they cannot afford coming without being paid.

 

Sounds really sad.

Just now, Original Saku said:

 

 

that's pretty much it, I don't think there's any real reason why they are named after them, maybe because the creator like those authors?

Jumping on this post but out of the ~5 episodes I watched of it there didn't seem to be a deeper meaning behind it.

holy fuck lol

6 minutes ago, Carmelzors said:

I will revamp this exact similarity/definitely likely case of plagiarism because there's something very LedZeppish in terms of credits (ha!):

 

This exact enka (?) piece by Ichiro Fujiyama (?) from many decades back has been actually HEAVILY SAMPLED/IMPLEMENTED as an overall theme to one of Dir en grey's "remixes" - WITHOUT any credits nor specific royalties aimed towards Fujiyama family - and this is way too obvious I tell you.

 

 

@Zeuswould definitely love to take this into account in case he decides to work on the next edition of "six similar..."-thread along with that very funny but cute Prince reference/tribute on one of the "latest" Carrygarry tracks (Thanks @Disposable for that btw)

You already know this in the works right @Carmelzors?

How long before visual kei bands start seriously using these samples?

On 8/11/2016 at 9:57 PM, emmny said:

holy hell one of the girls flung you so hard that you broke 3 ribs? bangya dont play...she was probably the hulk or some shit

i warned y'all in my list

4 minutes ago, pawzord said:

 
it doesn't sound like gazettes vortex at all 

I'm sure if I tried hard enough I could pull together a list of Sadie. Just Sadie. Enough likes and I might think about it i dunno.

Damn two great bands coming together to release a split single? I'll check this out.