CAT5

Take it down a notch. My post, obnoxious as it was, was still entirely relevant to this thread and perfectly on topic. Spam is quite literally something different. Anyone with an inkling of intelligence can see that I merely expressed my response to the new MERRY samples by posting that video; sarcastically comparing their sound to 9mmpb. If seeing a lighthearted gibe directed at one of your favorite bands on the internet is enough to get you riled up, then I'd highly suggest logging off until you're secure enough in yourself to engage in discourse with others. Because needlessly insulting members and mods won't be tolerated here.

Oh, cool. Sol Ardour's guitarist is a member here!

Me listening to 88kasyo's new album

SHORT ver. PV FROM THE NEW MERRY ALBUM!!!! -__- srsly tho, those samples kinda killed my excitement, and I think I was one of the few ppl here that actually enjoyed MERRY's new direction. ah well, still gonna listen when it's released. Samples can be misleading....sometimes.....right?

This is true...I feel like the Japanese indie fandom is still fragmented and widely dispersed, which I guess is only natural because "Japanese indie" is essentially a huge umbrella term, so it's tough to find one group of ppl that are all familiar with same pools of bands. The advent of sites like bandcamp, the rising popularity of ototoy, the increasing catalogs of itunes/amazon mp3/emusic - this has all made J-indie more visible and accessible than ever. And Even though there's still so much that gets left out of the equation, you're right - this has all made the ranges of taste in J-indie become more apparent. For instance, there are a lot of glorified, major label-backed pop-rock bands getting mixed in and confused for J-indie - a lot of these younger "it" bands like KANA-BOON, indigo la end/gesu-no whatever, creephyp. I'm sure some of these bands started off as indie, so I can understand ppl still considering them as such, but their sounds couldn't be further away from the kind of innovative, DIY, and imo, quality stuff that the older J-indie community I came from used to cherish. If you have FB tho, you should pm so I can add you to this J-indie FB group with a lot of the "old-heads" (the non elitist half, haha) that were already in the scene when I got into it. I think your take is pretty accurate. Most of my J-indie friends would also agree that OYA has gone down the drain, although from what I can tell, OYA still have a lot of clout and respect in the scene in Japan, regardless of their music direction. I could be wrong, but it seems their name precedes them to an extent.

I never actually listened to a girugamesh album until this year (thx sweetholm). I started off with MONSTER, which I thought was pretty great, so I was definitely interested when this came out. It seems like a continuation of that sound and while it was a bit same-y overall, there are some tracks here that I've incorporated into my normal rotation. ;3

^ Would you be willing to make a list of those "accepted styles"? I was actually waiting on you to post though cuz I figured. if anyone, you'd be somewhat of an authority on the issue!

Bless you, saishuu, ahaha. I was about to lose my faith in humanity if no one else commented on this thread. ;P But if anything, I guess it's a testimony to how expansive J-rock really is when bands like this that many would consider staples of J-rock are almost completely unknown in certain J-music communities.

It's funny you say this because I hated the vocalists of both bands when I first heard them. They were both getting a lot of hype in a J-indie community I used to visit, and the vocals just completely killed it for me. I don't think it was until I heard more out of the J-indie scene that I began to kinda "re-calibrate" my perspective on the vocals...cuz honestly, there are so many apathetic-sounding and high-pitched, effeminate vocalists in J-indie lol. But I do agree...TK's is generally the more emotional and emotive vocalist of the two. As for the songwriting...I agree to an extent. 9mm had some really great, quirky songwriting early on...up until about "Termination". I consider that album a classic, but it also kinda marked the beginnings of their shift into more formulaic songwriting. But they were still fresh out of their indie era, so their new sound still had a lot of raw elements that I appreciated. Everything after that was definitely curated for the mainstream I think. Overall, LTS has had more unique songwriting, but they've also recycled a ton over the years. A fan I know recently called LTS a "one trick pony" and while I don't entirely agree with that, their latest singles are especially making that seem like the case - cuz it's like "insert cool riff here" and then the rest of the song ends up being more or less your typical ling fodder. But that's not saying much because typical ling is pretty awesome. Pretty accurate on the pop appeal factor. I thought 9mm always had a knack for catchy, melodic hooks, but Sugawara's vocals haven't always been "pop"-ready. You can tell he's had a lot of training and practice over the years, though. LTS's very nature doesn't mesh well with pop aeshtetics lol, but they've proved that they can tone down their sound enough for it to be palatable; what with all these anime tie-ins. TK's solo stuff definitely brings that Lts sound to a more pop-oriented sphere too.

This a pretty tough one for me. I started listening to both bands in 2007, as they were 2 of the important acts that helped pave my path into Japanese indie. Both bands have some cranked out some outstanding material, but I feel like OYA capped out after their 2nd album "Alphabeta vs. Lambda" and became a bit mediocre ( and this new psychedelic/experimental approach they're going for isn't working for them at all). LOSTAGE did undergo a change in sound after their first album, and even more so when they lost a guitarist. They've played things a lot safer than OYA overall, but the quality of their work has been more consistent. On the otherhand, I feel like OYA has been experiencing a steep decline. So...I gotta give this one to LOSTAGE. OYA has some classic material, but LOSTAGE has classics sitting atop a lot of other great material too.

OGRE YOU ASSHOLE Full Albums: 2005年12月7日 OGRE YOU ASSHOLE 2007年10月3日 アルファベータ vs. ラムダ 2009年10月7日 フォグランプ 2011年8月24日 homely 2012年9月19日 100年後 2014年10月15日 ペーパークラフト VS. LOSTAGE Full Albums: 2006年1月25日 PLAY WITH ISOLATION 2007年7月18日 DRAMA 2009年3月25日 GO 2010年6月02日 LOSTAGE 2012年7月11日 ECHOES 2014年8月06日 GUITAR Ok, the battle is on! 2 bands that formed in 2001 and went on to become revered heavyweights of Japanese indie rock. Both bands also have 6 full albums under their belt. Which band do you think is better AND WHY?

PV sounds like just about what you'd expect from indigo la End, but it's a pleasant song. Enon's vocals aren't even bothersome here ;3

Bumped bucz i can. I also added videos to the op >__>

Thanks for reviewing this! This was a pretty good album, although I'd rate it a bit lower personally. I loved the eps and singles that TK released prior to this, but the full length just didn't do it for me as a whole. Those vulnerable, ballad-y TK tracks really drag the album down imo...I feel like his voice just isn't suited to those kinds of songs. And I know CHARA is pretty iconic, but her being featured on "shinkuro" was unnecessary...her voice is even more shrill than TK's lol. But despite it's faults, this album was better than anything 凛として時雨 released as a band this year. I'm honestly worried that they might disband at this point. XD

Thanks for sharing the trailer! I like the sound of nim's vocalist, just not the Engrrrish lol.

I just changed the thread title from "subgenres of VK" to "styles of VK" since there seems to be some misinterpretation of the word "genre" here. I believe beni used the term "subgenres" in reference to the different "kei"s or "systems/styles" which seem to have more to do with the visuals and aesthetics and less with the music. Although , yeah, I guess some of the noted styles do share various musical nuances, albeit on a level too microscopic for the term "genre" to be applied in it's usual musical sense.

Multiple choice poll. What are your favorite subgenres of Visual Kei? Poll suggested by . To submit a poll, P.M. @CAT5 with your poll question, choices, and state whether it's mutiple choice or not.

I'm down!

^ That's what I thought too....I guess they reformed just to celebrate the 15th anniversary of a band that no longer exists?....which I don't really understand lol, but hey whatever works for them XD

I've listened to very little hip hop this year (still need to try the new RTJ). The new Big K.R.I.T. wasn't bad, but def. not on par with his older work imo - still a refreshing throwback to that pre-trap and pre-crunk southern hip-hop sound that I like. I enjoyed a good bit of Tech N9ne's collabo album...even tho I'm not a fan of all the features, the production was amazing as usual. I would have liked ¡MAYDAY! x MURS more if there were no Murs and Bernz didn't rap at all LOL. For Japanese hip-hop, the latest albums from GAGLE, Uyama Hiroto and WARAJI were nice.

Jpop artist BOMI will release her 2nd album "BORN IN THE U.S.A." on 2015.01.21. More details to folllow! http://bomibomi.com/ https://www.facebook.com/bomi.officialpage https://twitter.com/bomi_

Album trailer!