chemicalpictures

Develop One's Faculties new maxi single "My World" will be released at 2017/07/05
 
btw they will hold their one-man live "Welcome to My Music" at TSUTAYA O-East at 2017/12/20

The one suggestion I thought of now would be to avoid sticking to a schedule of any sort. Something I've learned from running ORZ is that schedules impose pressure and pressure removes the love from the labor. Feeling pressured to keep up with the newest releases or the most popular songs is a fast way to burn out. If anyone decides to go ahead and take a stab at it, do it on your own time when you can or want. Like maybe the "Band Battles" threads that come up every so often.
 
This will take the otherwise underused Lyrics sub forum by storm, so topics there will have a longer half-life and will remain more visible as well. Link to them in your signatures too if you want some free, mod-supported advertisement.

merrygoround is dead by Merry Go Round

1. 同化 (Doka)
  2. 失楽 (Shitsuraku)
  3. 液状 (Ekijou)
  4. 造形 (Zokei)
  5. NARCISSE
  6. 君は蜜よりも甘く(Kimi wa mitsu yori mo amaku)
  7. 赤い絲 (Akai ito)
  8. 切断TV (Setsudan TV)
  9. ザクロ色の月と狂った恋の旋律 (Zakurairo no tsuki to kurutta koi no senritsu)
  10. Beast
  11. CHEMICAL CANDY SHOW CASE
  12. FISH
  13. XX体質 (xxTaitshitsu)
  14. 毒蟲 (Dokumushi)
  15. 桜の満開の木下で (Sakura no mankita no shita de)
  16. SUICIDE DANCE
Ladies gentlemen and gays, I present to you the most underrated band of the indies (and major, believe it or not) scene in the 90's: Merry Go Round (otherwise stylized as Merry Go Round, Merrygoround,  メリーゴーランド, affectionally refered to as メリーゴ/merigo by japanese fans). I'm sure the rarez queens on here would beg to differ and probably offer up some other band with a bunch of apostrophes and misspent words in their title because Merry Go Round are too popular but NO. They have a point, as anyone worth their weight in Nagoya kei history knows the impact of Merry Go Round on the local scene at the time, but the lasting influence of Merry Go Round isn't as widely known. Here I've come, along with the aid of this thread to help decode the mystery that is Merry Go Round through their swan song best-of release from 2003, merry go round is dead. There's no better time to go into this, as gibkiy gibkiy gibkiy marked the return of Kazuma to the scene, and they are hot off the heels of a fairly large country-wide tour and now a 3man series of lives with DALLE and 101A. Gibkiy continue onward with merigo's legacy of avantgarde experimentation, pushing the boundaries of not only the visual kei scene, but the underground alt-rock scene. Merry Go Round's cult following continues onward long after their eventual demise, over 20 years after they had started in '91—they even have a fan-run “memorial site” in their honour, still updated to this day. At the party zoo event lives, there's been merigo respect sessions, with MUCC members playing in them. Their releases catch a decent value on the secondary market, with their best-of albums easily catching upwards of 8000 yen.
 
Something's in the water with these guys, and I don't think its any coincidence they are still mentioned in the same breath with the major label successes of the Nagoya scene despite their relative obscurity outside of the scene: Laputa, ROUAGE, Merry Go Round. The short answer is that they were legendary in every sense of the word; everything merigo did was fucking iconic. There was a sense of genuine darkness about the band, no one was flashing around their goth clothes for the chicks only to switch it up afterward when they got bored. The twitter thread was quite helpful, as they pinned a lot of influence to Merry Go Round that I didn't otherwise know. They claim that Kyo (DEG) and Daisuke (Kagerou) were quite influenced by Kazuma, and while I don't have anything to back this up, I totally believe it. Kiyoharu and his very obvious influence on like...99% of visual kei aside, Kazuma's edgy antics have clearly played a role on Kyo. He was the first person to rock the metal face piercings-all-over look, which Kyo later donned in the 2000's, coming to a fever pitch in the 2010's with band guys literally filling their faces with as many piercings as possible. Of more importance is the inheritance of an independent and unique being that merigo embodied; they were so unique that even the japanese source had to struggle from talking in hyperbole. Honestly, I'd argue that Kyo's closest comparison point is Kazuma, in terms of avantgarde leanings and their individualist persona that was cultivated through their almost outsider leaning art. They also pin Merry Go Round as the prototype for menhera love songs, whatever the fuck that means; my understanding of Kazuma's lyrics are limited but there's a lot of sex...s&m...sex...S&M! Of equal importance was this new influence of a darker perspective--taking into consideration the misfortunes of the world and informing one's art, which encapsulated a lot of themes which would later pop up in kotekei and the boom of menhera in the 2010s. Kazuma alone is not to credit for this, but along with the early Nagoya's kei scene's influence in ushering in this new era of ~yami~, he made a decent impact on the darker bands that would follow in later years.
 
Throughout their history, even through lineup changes, their brooding energy stayed constant and so did their experimental, post-punk edge. While firmly rooted in the history of the scene, they sounded equally distant and removed from the scene. Whereas other bands mixed in sharp melody and pop sensibilities to the doom and gloom of the time, Merry Go Round nixed conventional song structure altogether. They had the melancholy down pat, but they added an almost relentless sense of repetition. Songs wouldn't move much as compositions, focusing on a guitar motif or rhythm and pushing it to the desired running length. It's a sound that is hard to describe without listening to their songs, but also a sound that varies with time. Notable is a 1997 cover of Bauhaus's “Hair of The Dog”, in which the spacey guitar lead of the original is turned into a fast-flicking, treble-y riff; the rhythm replaced with a syncopated drum beat. Kazuma sings coldly, screaming and cackles hysterically, pushing the frantic energy of the song into maniacal heights. The end result is so fucking merigo that I'd have a hard time believing this wasn't the band's own composition. This speaks to the quality of the re-arrangement of the cover but also their brilliance, in turning the frantic yet restrained energy of the original into a fully realized, uniquely dark visual kei song. The guitar tone and technique are a definite echo of the indies sound at the time, but the chord progressions dubbed over the melody of the original are totally post-punk, dour and dire. It all makes a lot more sense when hearing "Ame to muchi", which is an original composition yet it manages to sound quite close to “Hair of The Dog”. This is a perfect representation of merigo's traditional sound, equally visual and goth. Besides, when was the last time you heard a visual band cover fucking Bauhaus? These two tracks are part of their old sound before '99, which was more typical of mid 90's gloomy-kei and Nagoya bands, but as they went on things got weirder and weirder, peaking with their 2000 full length. Past then, things got a bit more sober and streamlined, with a more rock sound but were still quite distant from the third generation of Nagoya kei, which included the more goth-inclined Lamiel, kein and later Blast and deadman.
 
Merry Go Round - "HAIR OF THE DOG"
 
Bauhaus - "Hair of the Dog"
 
Merry Go Round - "Ame to Muchi"
 
Speaking of all this history, lets get into the band's tea. merigo is messy to say the least, and there's not much I have to add that isn't already on the net, so I'll offer the interesting points. Merry Go Round's history is marked with stuff that doesn't happen at all anymore, including massive lineup changes, being together for 10+ years (believe it or not), falling in and out of major label contracts and a weird discography, with only 1 full length album and a scattering of minis and singles to count for the fajillion years Merry Go Round was a thing. Vocalist Kazuma and ex-Laputa guitarist Hideno were pretty much the only constant in the band's recording history, excluding their pre-demo years. Before '95 was probably a whirlwind, they cycled through 2 guitarists, 2 bassists and a drummer over the course of 4 or so years, with only recorded 1 demo (before their official demo) to show for their early years. None of the members at that time went onto any other bands after their time in merigo and so what went on in those years is entirely unknown, but totally interesting. I'd like to think the band was a volatile group of goths going around Nagoya with violence (a-la X-Japan), crappy music, drugs and S&M orgies but we might never know. The reality of the situation is likely a lot more boring, with Kazuma refusing to let go of his little project despite the financial and personal difficulties that come with trying to get a band going, especially considering it was before visual kei's mainstream popularity in Japan. They found stability after 1995, with their first main lineup's output stretching from '95-'98 before losing their only other composer, the now deceased Junna and drummer Kyo. Hideno then became the sole composer of the band's music, and whether for his personal taste or just overall circumstances, shit got very dark, very quickly. Song lengths could be brief, with weird minute-long voice solos or drag on for seven, eight minutes at a time with their typically minimal instrumentation, leaving Kazuma's croon to fill in the spaces. This was hinted at in their earlier days, as S featured the 12 minute monster “Dokumushi”, one the creepiest songs ever put to tape, which was composed by none other than Hideno. Catchy choruses became even more sparse, as songs were more about mood than melody. The jazz and industrial influence became stronger, with an alt-rock vibe creeping up on them in the later years, replacing the remnants of their old school style.
 
Basically, as an album, merry go round is dead is not much more than an afterthought. There's actual little reason to purchase the album, as its limited 1200 press has ascended it to god rare status and it doesn't show up often or for anything remotely cheap and all the tracks have been released before. That said, most of the stuff from their marder suitcase/Fuji days are impossible to find now. Nothing was done with purpose in terms of arrangement, inclusion of tracks, etc. The track list is mostly chunked from the original releases, with little integration. The first chunk was their new stuff from 2003, then most of the tracks from the 1999 singles, with only 2 other b-sides that went to their 1999 best-of REDDISH COLLECTORS NO DEAD ARTIST. There's a lot of overlap between these compilations, and REDDISH... is a weird enough album that it deserves its own article. There's a lot of repetition in their discography, but also a lot of remixes/re-recordings and little tracks thrown in as interludes. Their first full length is also entirely absent absent here, as well as pretty much anything during their second lineup. The only song unique to merry go round is dead was "NARCISSE", which was later thrown into a marder suitcase V.A comp. The last chunk was a throwback to their older days, with the whole IMPERIAL DRUGS single and “xxTaishitsu” thrown in for whatever reason, as it is the only track solely composed by Junna. The classic “Sakura no mankita no shita de” appears as well, with “Dokumushi” cut down to a slightly more palatable 4 minutes. “SUICIDE DANCE” is the only song composed by Kazuma and ends the album as a throwback to their eaaaaarly days, as the song has been around in some way since their first unofficial demo in the early 90's. In terms of the tracklist contribution, I'd chalk it to who owned the rights for the tracks as well as aesthetic representation. Even if the band wanted to include their stuff from the semi-major days, my guess is that they didn't have the rights to those songs, which were conveniently mostly Junna compositions. So whether by design or coincidentally, it's mostly Hideno composed, reflecting the musical design of the band from 1999-2004.
 
On to the music itself, it is spectacular to say the least. No matter how much you prime yourself to hear something of comparative style to other artists, or rather the inverse—expecting to hear something completely alien, the experience itself is neither. Tracks 1-6 were their post-2001 output, a mix of melancholy ballads and crunching alternative rock numbers. The sense of theatrics is mostly toned down for a primal rock energy. “Shitsuraku” is straight up aie chords played for seven minutes on end with what sounds like Kazuma on xanax. He takes the track towards a lullaby, threatening to pierce that threshold and roar yet it never approaches those heights. “Zokei” is among the best of the new material, with a percussive rhythm accented by dissonant guitar chords and Kazuma totally riding the track with vocals oozing sensuality. These tracks are a perfect example of merigo's penchant for repetition, as there are few diversions from the introductory chords and melodies. Hideno overlays a new motif or two to keep the songs from being mind numbingly repetitive, and it works to keep interest but otherwise keep the tracks hypnotic. “Narcisse” and “Kimi wa mitsu yori mo amaku” are shocking in that they're almost—joyful—ballads, not creepy or brooding (spare the intro to “Kimi...”) and a departure from anything they had done in the past. These were a look into merigo's possible future, a fascinating look at what could have been. I'm not sure it would have been a future we'd have wanted, but thankfully gibkiy gibkiy gibkiy came up 10 years later and swooped up the remnants of Merry Go Round's old craziness instead of letting this acoustic cheese bloom. That said, I like them in the context of the album's melange of mess.
 
Merry Go Round - "Zokei"
 
Then begins the older output (this album goes in reverse chronological order, basically, LOL), the more essential or classic Merry Go Round songs. “Akai ito” is the song that more or less got me hooked on art kei (I was already a Diaura stan, #sorrynotsorry), as the song was so...un-visual. It is a naked and haunting ballad, and it struck me as visual kei style vocals over a sped up Low or Codeine song. The guitar line had the dissonant feel of a darkened post-rock or midwest emo track, and I'm a huge fan of all of that so its safe so say I was shaking in my boots. To this day, it is my favourite Merry Go Round track and I literally melt the second I hear those opening chords. This haunting sound is echoed by “Zakuroiro no tsuki to kurutta koi”, which is in the same stylistic vein but a more drudgy, spacey number. Kazuma kills both with his vocals, dipping in and out of vocal acrobatics, occasionally pushing the border between fascinating and gratuitous but never overstepping his bounds. The template for these ballads is toward the closing of the album, with Merry Go Round's classic “Sakura no mankita no shita de”, which more or less birthed true emo balladry. It is covered in sessions to this day, and from merigo, it is the one track that is remembered from non-fans and fans alike as an iconic bit of Nagoya kei history. “Setsudan TV”, “Beast” and “FISH” are the flipside to the traditional melancholy rock balladry, as the band step into dub, industrial and jazz sounds. “Setsudan TV” is absolutely insane, with a thumping, urgent instrumental, not too far off from a cyberpunk anime soundtrack. Kazuma's vocals are...[redacted]. It's the peak of madness for the album and a track so bizarre it warrants a listen, just for the shock experience. “CHEMICAL CANDY SHOWCASE” is a look into merigo's traditional sound, as its a straightforward, punky rock piece.
 
Merry Go Round - "Akai ito"
 
From the traditional sound to the straight up old school, “xxTaishitsu” brings the vintage heat, as it is one of the older tracks. The looping/glitching vocals from “Setsudan TV” are here in a lower dosage, contributing to the intensely psychedelic vibe of the track. The track comes to a climax with a bizarrely spaced and composed solo, in a much higher pitched voicing than the rest of the track; it's orgasmic to say the least. If you're not air guitar-ing to it, then what kind of a wannabe guitar player are you? From then on comes “Dokumushi”, unfairly cut down from its originally wonderfully messy glory. In fact, the horrific and disturbing effect of the original is almost entirely lost in this 5 minute edit, as the song is made all the more creepy for how long it goes on for. The album ends with “SUICIDE DANCE”, an otherwise unremarkable song for how much it resembles other, better merigo hit songs; however, credit is due as this was the template for pretty much all of Merry Go Round.
 
Merry Go Round - "Dokumushi" (Live)
 
And so the snake swallows its tail, merry go round is dead. Hideno has pretty much fallen off the face of the earth, and that's a real shame. Otherwise, Kazuma's contribution in gibkiy gibkiy gibkiy keep the spirit of the old school alive, and that is testament to the strength of the Nagoya scene. There is nowhere else in vk, aside from the legends of the late 80's-early 90's that musicians have remained active for so long. Peers play with up and coming musicians along with their influences, producing new and dark sounds, equally indebted to the past as they are to the future. Here's to our darkened future, and the merry go round which will spin eternally.
 
gibkiy gibkiy gibkiy trailer
 
References:
please note that this is mostly limited to english sources, the gaps in my knowledge could possibly be filled by japanese sources or defunct english pages. please let me know of other additions and translations if possible, do it for the oldies!!! 1.) this awesome nagoya kei intro thread (JP)
2.) western news sources:
jame (s/o to the girl who upped the band bio in 2010, it was of great help) vk wikia junna memorial blogs compiled on shattered tranquility 3.) memorial site
4.) yunisan (song credits, lineup information, press numbers)
 
 

I really like this idea! Since I translate lyrics myself, I always like to see what others make of the lyrics, rather than just me making my own interpretations. I think this will help others gain interest in discussing more about them, even if only a little. But as @Zeus mentioned, having someone fluent in Japanese is essential for doing something like this as there's so much to discuss about how it's written in the original language before getting into the translation. But of course, that depends on how poetic the lyrics are. I think it's even better to have two people fluent in Japanese, or at least know a decent amount of Japanese, in analyzing lyrics just because there can be so many different interpretations. I think that'll help bring up interesting discussions.
 
I am honestly interested in starting up something like this, but am afraid that I can't offer too much time as I have so many other things currently going on in my life. Bi-weekly or monthly might be manageable though. Another thing is that I'm not SUPER fluent in Japanese (but i think i know a decent enough amount), which is why I think it's a good idea to have another person take part who's also knowledgeable in Japanese. Getting access to lyrics will certainly be an issue as not everybody will be interested in the lyrics I have in hand. And not everybody who DOES have access to them is willing to share them, etc. But we can still start somewhere with what we have.
 
Thinking more about this, I can also see how a lyric analysis can go hand in hand with a PV analysis, if the song has one, which might be really interesting as well~

Hello people!
 
I've always thought japanese lyrics are under explored by us western fans. So I thought of a  little fun way of incentivizing the community on giving their 2 cents and analysis on a weekly chosen song, like:
 
The week song + lyric is posted;
people give their analysis/thoughts on its meanings and intricacies;
other people like the comments they think are more accurate, or what they think is the best interpretation;
the person with the most well received analysis gets to choose the song for the next week;
 
Of course what is described above can be changed to better fit the board or the mods, which I believe would be ideal to handle the thread creation and such (maybe the ORZ could take turns on, or smh like that)
 
one barrier I can see is that, if the song does not have a translation available, could be hard for non speakers to be part of it... what do you guys think? any thoughts?

Please do this. I love this idea.

I like this idea. The language barrier is something we all face, ignore, and accept because that comes with the territory of listening to Japanese music, but that doesn't mean lyrics aren't important. There's a wealth of discussion locked behind this barrier waiting to happen and I can't wait to gain added appreciation for an artist's lyrical capabilities. One potential issue I see is how touchy some artists are over proliferation of lyrics. Some don't care and others treat them like prized jewels and don't want them spread everywhere. I never understood it but it is what it is, and for some artists finding lyrics may be more difficult.

This could possibly be a cool project for ORZ to take up but I wouldn't want to take it here for 2 reasons. One is that our skill sets don't nicely overlap with what is required to make this a repeated thing - if anyone is fluent in Japanese, has access to lyrics, and wants to join and do it with us that would be great! The other reason is that this is a topic where discussion is vital - and ORZ topics have a reputation of "look but don't touch" that I'm still trying to move away from. Community participation in this is required to really make it take off and thus I'd rather leave it to the community to start it up whenever they feel the inspiration to.

Hello people!
 
I've always thought japanese lyrics are under explored by us western fans. So I thought of a  little fun way of incentivizing the community on giving their 2 cents and analysis on a weekly chosen song, like:
 
The week song + lyric is posted;
people give their analysis/thoughts on its meanings and intricacies;
other people like the comments they think are more accurate, or what they think is the best interpretation;
the person with the most well received analysis gets to choose the song for the next week;
 
Of course what is described above can be changed to better fit the board or the mods, which I believe would be ideal to handle the thread creation and such (maybe the ORZ could take turns on, or smh like that)
 
one barrier I can see is that, if the song does not have a translation available, could be hard for non speakers to be part of it... what do you guys think? any thoughts?

Hello people!
 
I've always thought japanese lyrics are under explored by us western fans. So I thought of a  little fun way of incentivizing the community on giving their 2 cents and analysis on a weekly chosen song, like:
 
The week song + lyric is posted;
people give their analysis/thoughts on its meanings and intricacies;
other people like the comments they think are more accurate, or what they think is the best interpretation;
the person with the most well received analysis gets to choose the song for the next week;
 
Of course what is described above can be changed to better fit the board or the mods, which I believe would be ideal to handle the thread creation and such (maybe the ORZ could take turns on, or smh like that)
 
one barrier I can see is that, if the song does not have a translation available, could be hard for non speakers to be part of it... what do you guys think? any thoughts?

Hello people!
 
I've always thought japanese lyrics are under explored by us western fans. So I thought of a  little fun way of incentivizing the community on giving their 2 cents and analysis on a weekly chosen song, like:
 
The week song + lyric is posted;
people give their analysis/thoughts on its meanings and intricacies;
other people like the comments they think are more accurate, or what they think is the best interpretation;
the person with the most well received analysis gets to choose the song for the next week;
 
Of course what is described above can be changed to better fit the board or the mods, which I believe would be ideal to handle the thread creation and such (maybe the ORZ could take turns on, or smh like that)
 
one barrier I can see is that, if the song does not have a translation available, could be hard for non speakers to be part of it... what do you guys think? any thoughts?

Hello people!
 
I've always thought japanese lyrics are under explored by us western fans. So I thought of a  little fun way of incentivizing the community on giving their 2 cents and analysis on a weekly chosen song, like:
 
The week song + lyric is posted;
people give their analysis/thoughts on its meanings and intricacies;
other people like the comments they think are more accurate, or what they think is the best interpretation;
the person with the most well received analysis gets to choose the song for the next week;
 
Of course what is described above can be changed to better fit the board or the mods, which I believe would be ideal to handle the thread creation and such (maybe the ORZ could take turns on, or smh like that)
 
one barrier I can see is that, if the song does not have a translation available, could be hard for non speakers to be part of it... what do you guys think? any thoughts?

It's a good song, but I kinda expect more from them. Sounds like an album filler, don't know if it really deserved a PV

that's some really interesting preview!
 
 
 
 

"I'm gentle. Do you love this?" <the nature of every refrain from this band

This karma obsession has to seriously stop. The dude isn't even a good vo.

their 1st single (and only officially released song so far) is here
 
they started off as the session band "Code:「L」" which has released two songs that they're still performing at their lives now  

The scene is KNOWN for having too many underage fans;
The fans are KNOWN for being crazy and doing creepy shit for their favorite musicians;
Japanese enforcers are KNOWN for taking this seriously;
There has been SEVERAL cases of colleages being fucked by this;
There is SEVERE consequences for the careers of those who are arrested;
 
When you see people making the same mistake for the 14098742109812th time, it stops being something to argue over, the stupidity on that level speaks for itself. If you really wanna bang that suspiciously young-looking girl that bad, ask for some ids and take pictures of it, for god's sake
 
 

Now this looks like some kind of damage control, and probably the best decision he could've made imho. If the blogs are true, then he probably wasn't aware that the girl was underage (fake ids or not), and when he saw the shit was about to hit the fan, he went for spilling the beans upfront. Maybe there were dick pics or words that sounded like he was enticing minors and such. Going to the police not only ensures he is not avoiding responsibility, but shows he is willing to make himself available for questioning and follow up. it goes a long way on making the authorities trusting your story

Now this looks like some kind of damage control, and probably the best decision he could've made imho. If the blogs are true, then he probably wasn't aware that the girl was underage (fake ids or not), and when he saw the shit was about to hit the fan, he went for spilling the beans upfront. Maybe there were dick pics or words that sounded like he was enticing minors and such. Going to the police not only ensures he is not avoiding responsibility, but shows he is willing to make himself available for questioning and follow up. it goes a long way on making the authorities trusting your story

^ There were 2 blog posts, one by Rio and one by the band's official account. The contents of both are similar (half of Rio's post was an extended apology) - except in Rio's post he mentioned the girl was circulating photos of them, and in the other one it mentioned she was disclosing the contents of their LINE conversations and letters.
 
As for the whole fake ID thing, I'm not sure if that's merely "Rio's version" of the story since (i) you'd think the official account would have verified it from a more reliable source than someone who's an alleged suspect in the case to avoid further embarrassment; and (ii) if there had been substantial discrepancies and/or reasonable doubt in Rio's account (it's a quite a bold claim after all) I doubt he would have been released so quickly. 

Until he is caught lying you have to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he is caught lying, either the police or the girl in question will dispute his version of the events with undeniable facts very shortly. I still see no proof that he intended any harm to this girl with his penis, and instead thought he could leverage his position as a band member to get easy pussy. It's creepy as fuck, shady, and very suspect, and it probably happens a lot more than we care to admit, but it doesn't automatically make him guilty. It just makes him stupid, horny, and desperate. And none of what he did absolved the girl of any blame either - I just have even less details on her so I can't say anything yet. None of us can, so there's no point getting emotionally invested in this.
 
The real detail I want to know is what they were questioning RIO about for him to willingly divulge information about this girl and that this kind of slip up could even occur. There is a lot more to this story than the media is willing to let on. 

HAHAHAHAHAHHA o que era a voz daquele fera, bicho

HAHAHAHAHAHHA o que era a voz daquele fera, bicho

Pq que o video comeca alto com a voz do satanas? Puta susto.

Yes, it is about being desperate and/or just plain stupid. There's no excuse. In 2017, you cannot use "few people are able to ignore animal instinct" as an argument. I don't know where you live,  but here there's a name for people who can't control their ding-dongs, and it's not a pretty one
 
He's probably just stupid, tho. Looks like the classic case of someone thinking it won't happen to him, until it does