StriderSubzero

^ Interesting mix of stuff. I like D, Versailles, Ellegarden, and Noir Fleurir. I don't think I've ever heard of the other bands. "Sabbat" was the first song I ever heard by Noir Fleurir actually; it's got a pretty cool guitar intro I think. 1. Stephen Lynch - "Whittlin' Man" 2. Gazette - "Psychedelic Heroine" 3. Al-Namrood - "Al Quam, Hakem Al Huroob" 4. Acid Bath - "Dope Fiend" 5. Megaherz - "Weiter" 6. Rammstein - "Vergiss Uns Nicht" 7. Acid Bath - "Paegan Love Song" 8. Avenged Sevenfold - "Walk" 9. AnCafe - "Maple Gunman" 10. 9Goats Black Out - "Lestat"

Although sai mentioned why people transcode, it should be noted that there is never a good reason to transcode, and people should never do that. Mostly, you shouldn't do it because it's annoying to people that actually care about sound quality, and it's also deceitful if you know better. For anyone that, for some reason, cannot tell whether their music has been transcoded, there are programs like Spek that will display the frequencies on a spectrum for you to analyze visually. Lower bitrates subtract higher and lower sound frequencies, so a 128kbps .mp3 file will display as a narrow band on the chart.

That second one had some cool parts, but that band name... Pathetic Poupée? I know it's French but it sounds so ridiculous. Kind of like "Pathetic Toupee." The guitars in the Invidie song are so out of control. That shredding needs some work...

I think you are right, but most people don't form bands because they are directly trying to appeal to anyone in particular. Most people form bands based on their influences, and because they are inspired by the bands they like. Trying to appeal to an audience is usually an afterthought. Western visual kei fans hating western visual kei bands seems to be a situation that is unique to the visual kei scene. No Americans, that I've known at least, hate on Lady Gaga for her gratuitous (and undoubtedly poor) French, for instance. She probably just thinks that it sounds cool or exotic, which is the same reason an American visual kei band would attempt to sing in a language they don't speak (Japanese).

I like rough vocals as well, but there is a threshold as to what I would consider tolerable. Personality and quirkiness will only get one so far. For instance, Kyouka sings off-key most of the time, but it seems intentional and is part of Aliene Ma'riage's sound. Most people wouldn't call him a "good singer" but he has an interesting technique and makes the band what it is. Syndrome's first vocalist sings off-key quite a bit, but it seems accidental and uncontrolled. The band sounded much better to my ears once they replaced him with Asagi, and while he doesn't have perfect pitch, he has a pleasant tone, powerful voice, and unique sound. Unless you are just trying to be a contrarian (which I think you are), there is no reason to think that being able to sing on-key and being able to convey emotion are two mutually exclusive things.

@Disposable Clearly there's some kind of breakdown in communication here. You're saying I don't understand you, and then you repeat the same thing. In regards to the example, I see that the band is from Finland—I think part of the reason that the lyrics sound awkward is for that reason. Obviously there is some influence from bands like Gazette, but I would bet the pronunciation sounds similar because of the singer's accent. I'm trying very hard to derive any meaning at all from this. What is your point here and how is it relevant? You were previously saying that singing on-key is not relevant to whether or not a vocalist is considered "good." No, a vocalist doesn't have to possess perfect pitch, but generally speaking, a vocalist that sings off-key consistently is not pleasant to listen to. The only exception I can think of would be someone like Chino Moreno from Deftones, that purposefully sings melodies that are not necessarily in the key of the song, in order to create intentional dissonance. And of course people should be given breaks for a lack of experience. Yes, there are individuals that are "naturally gifted" and learn very quickly... but the majority of people do not fit that description. The reason there are 16 year olds that are excellent musicians is because they either started learning early or they are naturally gifted. Again, most people do not fit this description, and it doesn't make sense to hold most people to that standard.

^ I'm not familiar with much on that list, but Garbage is pretty cool. 9Goats Black Out is awesome, but I don't know that song. "Enjoy the Unknown" by And One is fantastic, too... I love their Frontfeuer album as well. 1. Gilles de Rais - "Lie" 2. Schweisser - "Ärger" 3. Deathgaze - "The Fist" (original version) 4. Koichi Sugiyama (E.V.O. Soundtrack) - "Dinosaurs' Land 2" 5. Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage 2/Bare Knuckle 2 Soundtrack) - "Go Straight 1-1" 6. CORE THE CHILD - "Maria" 7. Dir en grey - "Embryo" (album version) 8. Nega - "Soul Cry" 9. I Am Ghost - "Dark Carnival of the Immaculate" 10. Madsen - "Im Dunkeln"

I could see that trying to translate a song and sing it in another language with the same rhythm and melody would be difficult, but I can think of quite a few , . Again, there is no method of singing that is unique to visual kei, so there is nothing to imitate in the first place. Well, I think most people would recognize that a singer that is unable to sing in-key is not a "good vocalist." Whether or not you can "hit the notes" is part of singing, believe it or not. The reason many "gaijin-kei vocalists" sound like they are singing for their webcams with no confidence is because that's exactly what they are doing. Most visual kei fans are young, and thus inexperienced in singing and playing instruments. The reason they are "bad" is because they lack experience, not because they aren't Japanese.

One project has sprung from this thread so far, between me and AltermaliceNero. Hypothetically we could stand to bring in new members, but we probably don't need someone to do only screaming at this point.

Your distinctions seem very arbitrary to me. There really is no method of singing that applies only to visual kei and can only be sung by someone who is Japanese. I mean, I guess there are physiological factors that determine the sound of a person's voice, but it's pretty silly to think that only one race/nationality of people can sing a certain way—and it's definitely a mistake to think that a person has to be an extraordinarily proficient singer to sing visual kei. Many visual kei vocalists absolutely struggle to sing on key and do any number of other things that make up a traditionally pleasant-sounding vocalist. Yes, it may be ill-advised to attempt to sing in languages that you are not proficient in, but people have been using "exotic" languages in this decorative way for all of human history. Japanese is not somehow too sacred to be used in this way, either.

I think a lot depends on whether you consider the "look" of a band to be relevant to their genre. I don't at all. A lot of stuff like old Kuroyume I just tag as "Gothic Rock" because even though the drumming is more Darkthrone than Joy Division, in general it sounds like gothic rock to me. Bands like Merry Go Round sound similar, but use a lot of blues scales in their composition... but calling them "Blues Rock" would be insane, so they are tagged as "Gothic Rock" as well. When you get to newer stuff like NoGod, Gazette, and Rentrer en Soi, "Hard Rock" or "Alternative Metal" is probably the most appropriate. The weird shuffling, pseudo-bluesy, rockabilly style that Gazette do occasionally is harder to classify; honestly in their earlier days they sounded much more punk, and occasionally even a little ska. Cali≠Gari occasionally delve into surf rock like "Maguro" but they also sound like a post-punk band sometimes—maybe something like The Birthday Party. Pierrot started playing some sort of gothic rock/New Wave fusion, but songs like "Psychedelic Lover" are totally pop-punk. Dir en grey have been fluctuating between melodic death metal, sludge metal, metalcore, and various other genres as of late, so "Alternative Metal" is just an easier description. Versailles sound like a power metal throwback band to me—I could see them being tagged as either "Power Metal" or "Speed Metal." The vocals are different, but otherwise they sound like an offshoot of X Japan with a little Judas Priest thrown in... and maybe more keyboards. If you want to just listen to Japanese stuff in iTunes, why not make a playlist...?

I started that Old-school VK thread in the Musician's Forum and I agree with a lot of what you said here. It's natural for cultures to influence each other. A band made of non-Japanese people may be inspired by certain Japanese bands, but their own cultural peculiarities are bound to creep in as well. There's nothing wrong with this at all—it's actually very interesting, if you ask me. The majority of the artists/bands in this thread do not sound exceptionally poor to me; most of them simply sound like inexperienced musicians that are attempting to emulate their favorite bands. This is definitely not unique to visual kei. My interest in the "kote kei" stuff is primarily because I like the music and not because I feel it's inherently superior, or because I am obsessed with everything that is Japanese. There is artistic merit to many visual kei bands, and I feel like that many bands, particularly 90s bands, have a unique sound that fuses many genres. The fact that many of these musicians were not particularly experienced makes much of the music quite interesting to listen to. A person that is new to an instrument has a fresh perspective, and their compositions will likely show many of these perceived inadequacies. Productions that are low-budget generally have an appeal to me, whether it is film, music, etc. Simply from a sociological standpoint, much of the material from bands like those that were on record labels like Matina and Soleil is fascinating. I do think it's worth noting that the idea that only "gifted" people should be allowed to perform is a Western concept. Many cultures recognize that every person has a unique perspective and voice and should be allowed to contribute. I think we all can learn a lot from this.

http://youtu.be/tWt2Zl3UXRI There's another one

We may have a job for you yet! Do you have any samples? I like your voice, you can go much deeper than I can and it doesn't sound forced at all. I'm definitely interested! Not being able to sing in Japanese is certainly not a deal-breaker for me. I'll PM you some better ways to contact me.

Good description! Yes, that's pretty much what I'm wanting to do. Do you play any instruments, or, better yet, sing?

Hi guys and gals, I really want to start an online project that sounds like an oldschool VK band. I'm thinking something like an old Matina band or similar—bands like Madeth Gray'll, Shiver, L'yse:nore, La:Sadie's, early Kuroyume, early Dir en grey, La Feérie, Aliene Ma'riage, Noir Fleurir, etc. I can play guitar, bass, drums, and/or keyboard, and I can sing, although I'd really like to find someone else to do vocals—preferably in Japanese if at all possible. Is anyone interested?

I can do guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, and vocals. I'm a decent songwriter, but I don't have any experience composing oshare stuff so that could be an issue that I would have to do more research on.

I'm interested, what instruments do you need?

Sounds like Delay with maybe a hint of Chorus. The sound comes more from what he's actually playing than the effects he's using.

Nice! I really like it! What instruments do you play? And who all is playing what instruments for this project? I really like this idea, it's something I've wanted to do for awhile now. Here's a more old-school VK style thing I was working on recently: http://www.mediafire.com/download/fpcj6fmuehu5tfu/vk-ish.m4a

Oh is there room for me? Here's what I can do: • Drums (live and programmed) • Bass • Programming Keyboards • Guitar • Singing (I don't speak Japanese but I could try to sing it phoenetically) • Screaming/Growling Here are some short samples (I played all the instruments & did the vocals): http://www.mediafire.com/download/s16ebkyplslc461/Stridersubzero_music_samples.zip

Hi everyone, I am selling some CDs on eBay, but if you want to PM me an offer I will sell directly to you. Everything is clean and in great shape; they've only been kept in storage since I bought them and ripped them to my computer. Here is my eBay page: http://www.ebay.com/sch/cma2032/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

Hm.. メイク? Is that romanized as Make or Meiku? I can't find anything about this band, even on vkdb.jp...

Hey all, I found this song in my collection as I've been going through and cleaning my ID tags and getting higher resolution album art, and I can't figure out what it is. I have it listed as "XXX" by Plastic Tree, from the album Strange Fruit, and my research tells me something is probably wrong in those tags. I'm guessing it probably came from an mp3 rotation site a long time ago. http://soundcloud.com/stridersubzero/xxx