CAT5

srsly tho, HZM was one of my inspirations for learning jazz piano, especially rakujitsu and 5+2=11

HZM is pretty rad. How's that been going for you btw?

A few more to add, though I doubt all of this could be classified as strictly hardcore...

kamomekamome

deepslauter

REALIZED

AT ONE STROKE

MUGA (無我)

ENSLAVE

BURNING SIGN

Arbus

The North End

ALL FOR MEAL

THERE IS A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT

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CYBERNE

Misled Balds

TIALA

theSun

I find this hilarious now, but I wanted to learn guitar after getting into D'espairsRay....somewhere back in 06 lol. No clue what I could've been thinking because Karyu's guitar playing is pretty...unremarkable. I was also still extremely sheltered musically at that time. ^^;

Country is more culturally-exclusive to The US, so that's probably why you don't see much of it anywhere else. The very few groups that show up in Japan, are just mere imitations.

I wouldn't quite call them imitations. By that logic, anyone who isn't African American is merely imitating hip hop, rock&roll, and jazz lol...

Though the scene is growing, I do not hear much Japanese Hardcore. They are starting to get a straight edge scene (which is funny), and there are a few bands such as Versus the Night that were getting some good publicity, but that's really all I've heard of aside from a few others here and there.

Indeed..there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of pure hardcore in Japan, but it's def. out there. The few that I know of are waddling in obscurity, though. =/

There aren't a whole lot of straight-up Japanese funk bands around either. Tons of funk-influenced bands out there, but few that strictly play funk.

Someone link me to a Japanese song that uses steel drums.

I know I've heard steel drums in various Japanese songs, but none that I can think of off top. I'll have to consult my music collection, so I'll get back to you on that...

I'm not very well versed in Japanese metal, but I know their extreme metal scene is lacking to other European and American countries.

Not at all. THe japanese Metal scene is good, and have been like that for years now. Especially the Extreme Metal scene. The Punk scene is also amazing in Japan, and especially the more extreme forms of Punk.

Well, I didn't say it was bad. What I mean by "lacking" is that it just doesn't seem as prevalent compared to other European countries...the more extreme forms of metal anyways. For instance, It would probably be easier to find more technical death metal from some European country than from Japan. Basically, I know this stuff exists, I'm just questioning the quantity of it...

I've come across a good amount extreme punk/punk-ish bands from Japan, so I don't doubt that!

@sume7 - there are plenty of Japanese r&B acts out there....whether they do it well or not is another story...

@Chianti - that's a good one. brutal-VK...as hard/heavy as a lot of VK bands try to be, you'd think that some bands would push it to that extent...but then again, isn't the number of VK bands that even play "real" metal pretty low?

As diverse and expansive as Japan's music scene is, there are still some things that you rarely (or never) hear coming out of Japan. For instance, country music is something you really don't hear coming out o Japan. Off the top of my head, I can only think of 2 Japanese acts that make country music (??ン??ート ??ン??ート and 中????り).

I'm not very well versed in Japanese metal, but I know their extreme metal scene is lacking compared to the European and American scenes.

Anyhow, what are some things you all don't hear in Japanese music that often (or ever)? Doesn't necessarily have to be genres - it can be anything music related (instruments, vocal styles, whatever).

Not an avid fan, but new DEG stuff is usually worth checking out. Will give it a shot when it's released ;3

The Rose God Gave Me....their best imo.

Nice! Sounding good. They've shown a lot of maturation in a fairly short time I think. Shame they aren't appreciated more...

^ heh, I stand corrected. "blatently uninspired" was a poor choice of words on my part. I didn't specify this in my post, but I was mostly referring to the title tracks when I said that. So I'm opting to call the singles (title tracks) "uninteresting" instead, since they are indeed revisiting previous styles (stuff that we've more or less heard before) and/or appealing to the mainstream.

After DIM, I was happy to hear that the gazette was releasing more music so soon, but after hearing PLEDGE, I'm convinced that these guys should take a break. These last 3 singles have been so blatantly uninspired that I have little to no hope for the next album being as good as DIM. As redundant as this new material has been, they're better off releasing a "BEST OF" album. =/

I think one of the biggest examples of this for me was 凛??????時雨. I was still fairly closed-off musically at the time I'd first heard them (late 06 or early 07), as I remember people drooling over them in the indie thread of some Jpop forum. I'm pretty sure I heard TK's voice and quickly went about my way in fright. It wasn't until the release of "Inspiration is DEAD" that I decided to give them another go.

The album seemed to receive nothing but praise (and by people whose taste I respected), so I felt obligated to check it out. I still hated TK's whiny, ear-gratingly high-pitched vocals, but the musicianship of the band was undeniable. I found myself playing songs, and replaying them, simply to hear some of TK's cool guitar riffs. It eventually got to the point where I could tolerate the vocals, if only to enjoy the music. Though, with the exception of "am3:45" which was sung solely by Miyoko (who I considered the more tolerable vocalist of the two), the band still did not get heavy rotation from me.

It actually wasn't until last year, after the release of "just A moment" that I REALLY started to dig the vocals. Simply tolerating them transformed into an appreciation for them. High-pitched vocals are nothing new in Japan, but TK's vocals are actually distinguished enough that they add to 凛??????時雨's sound methinks.

This topic is retarded

It wouldn't be visual kei without some kind of visual gimmick.

No shit, sherlock. I'd say your comment is retarded, since we all pretty much know that already.

I'm just curious to know how much value other people place on those visual elements.

Sorry. I meant that I don't care about the visuals in VK (or music in general). That's all!

ah, I see. No prob man. Your wording just threw me off a bit. Although I did expect you to say that. I suspect many others will feel the same

Well, I'd say that visuals and "image" are unavoidable in music. Simply put, most people have eyes and most people can see. So any band/artist will have an image regardless of if they're actively trying to control it or not. Personally, I appreciate it when musicians put some effort into the visual things - whether it's their attire, their album art, PVs, promotional photos, etc...I've always had a love for the relationship between image and sound, audio and visual.

So the visual aspect of VK is somewhat important to me. Of course, the music always comes first, but I'm sure I'm not the only person here who's been guilty of checking out a VK band simply because they looked "cool". In my opinion, music is undoubtedly the most significant factor, but image should not be neglected.

I do have problems, however, when a band focuses more on the visuals than the actual music, or when a band bad tries to substitute sub-par music with appealing visuals. Unfortunately, VK (all music really) is riddled with bands that indulge in the latter.

Conversely, I think that good visuals can do magic when paired with good music. I'll take the Gazette for example. When they released DIM, I considered them to be the epitome of what a VK band should be. Their appearance was tasteful, and not too over-the-top or eccentric. The PVs for DIM, boring as they might've been, were the most highly stylized PVs they'd made (and still are). Even the artwork for DIM was extremely fitting. They'd completely nailed the aesthetic they were going for and had attained a perfect harmony visually and musically. Sure, DIM still would have been great even if the Gazette dressed like An Café and pranced around through daisies in their PVs, but I think the visual choices they made actually served to enhance the album. Even if on a very subtle or subconscious level.

At any rate, visuals aren't important enough to make me like or dislike a band, but if used correctly, they can definitely add "something".

I mean...what exactly are you saying?

"I don't care at all. Awesome, yes." is what you wrote

Are you saying that you don't care about the Visuals in VK? or are you saying "I don't care, I think the visuals are awesome".?

jeezus, I guess I should have typed my opinions first =s

I don't care at all. Awesome, yes.

?

care to elaborate?

I have my own thoughts on this, but rather than set the tone of this thread with my opinions, I'd rather see what you all I have to say first.

^ lol maybe I should have elaborated...of course, I meant streaming lol. And naturally, you'll need internet access to stream stuff.

With mp3 players, it wouldn't be inconceivable to make them with net access. Since this is all hypothetical lol, maybe the streaming service would offer their own mp3 players (well I guess they wouldn't be mp3 players in this case) that could connect to the service. xD

Streaming is just too bothersome. What if your internet connection is not availible? What if you want to put stuff on your portable mp3 player?

Well, as I mentioned...hypothetically, you'd be able to receive the streaming service from anywhere...even on mp3 players lol. xD

The advantage to something like this is that it would save both money and megabytes haha...

But....I still couldn't see myself using a such a service. Even if it's music library was infinite xD

Good to see your opinions, though...my friend said that he'd be ALL FOR a such a service if it existed. It's funny because he buys a shitload of music, yet he considers physical CDs more bothersome. lol...

still buy or download music? Of course I'm being hypothetical here since this is impossible, but a friend recently asked me a question similar to this and I'm curious to know what you all think.

Just imagine that EVERYTHING was available for streaming online...even all the underground and indie stuff you could think of. Let's just say that this streaming service is free of charge, available everywhere (car, ipod, mobile phone, game console, etc..), and can be accessed at your leisure.

Would you still bother downloading and buying music?

My answer to my friend was - yes. I think humans feel the need to "own" stuff...and personally I'm quite fond of the concept of owning a physical album. For me, it gives a bit more depth to the music experience...I know CDs are a dying format, though. But hell, even mp3s are tangible in a sense.

What do you all think?

Yes, this thread is really as shallow as the title says. But don't worry. It's ok to drool here. We won't look down on you.

Plus, there used to be a thread like this on a previous incarnation of TW...

?

A little off topic, and a rather stupid question. But do any of you know exactly why they want to sing in English when they can't do it for shit? Is it because they want to reach out to a wider audience and they think that singing in English will help them doing that? I've always had the impression the memebers of bands cuah as Dir en grey, Gazette, D'espairsRay, Versailles and so on are fucking dumb and retarded and al that. But am I mistaken when I say that even they should be able to hear that it actually sounds fucking horrible? Or what?

So anyone know why they "try" to sing in English?

I asked pretty much the same question to a Japanese friend, and he replied "most Japanese people think, if it's English, it's awesome" XD

^ Kyo is indeed pretty horrible...he sounds like scoobie do in CLEVER SLEAZOID lol, but oddly enough it makes that song fun to listen to haha...

I dunno, there's a lot of Japanese singers with bad English...can't think of any off top, though...

Does this guy count as visual kei? Looks pretty brutal to me....