Ikna

Seems that now without Rui they have calmed down with popping up new releases too fast. But still great to see a few new songs. I hope we can still expect a few releases in 2015.

I am surprised no one has posted any Minimal Wave or retro Darkwave yet. Or maybe I am misunderstanding this "retrowave" thing and it's more like a revival of more mainstream or typical 80s synth pop and electro, than being a revival of actual (New) Wave? Anyway, I think this artist might still fit here: It def has the characteristic 80s wave sound. This has been a trend for a while and I mostly "blame" it on the hipsters having rediscovered old retro music.

Seikun has said "Very much like old school Visual Kei." They for sure don't sound very oldschool. Neither do AvelCain for example (despite Seikun too always commenting on how they would). I can see why people are comparing them to DEZERT though (both music and styling wise. Their vocalist also has a similiar look as Chiaki). But to be honest… I personally am not hooked by any preview. I guess I'll have to wait and see once the album is out if I like it (but so far I prefer the other Ains bands, gossip and grieva).

^in VK it happens so every often that two totally different bands go on tour or share venues. It surely is strange, but better than pairing sadiesmarry with other bands. (though Vampire Rose would have been a good choice). But yeah, great news. Would be even cooler if they would revive for longer

^ sinister doesn't always just equal Metal either… I can only assume that seikun may be referring to some of the musical elements in old VK which are derived from Post-Punk, Goth or maybe Deathrock. There weren't really as many VK bands playing straight Black Metal (and Thrash isn't that gloomy). I still don't understand the drama. Sure, it's sad that most VK bands have ditched this sound, but it's nothing you can do about it. This scene has always been about adapting to trends. The old bands sounded a certain way because it worked or sold. I agree to sai. You either cherish what the past is giving you or you move on. For me it works to listen to the old stuff and trying out familiar genres (although western). There aren't non-japanese bands who really sound exactly like oldschool Visual kei, but you can get fairly close by checking out all the bands and music which had a major influence on it (New Wave, Punk, Glam, Hardrock, Goth, etc). And I am only saying that there are modern VK bands with a drastic style. You may, however, percieve them not as "drastic", because you base your definition off of how VK used to look like 10 years ago. I would agree that the Visual scene had a mass of rather boygroup looking bands just few years ago, but now I see a wave of new groups wearing a shitton of make up, costumes and having flashy hair colours. I don't have the time to dig in the news section to list all the new bands who sport this style, but I think the ones I mentioned should be enough of an indicator for this trend. I have never stated that you would or should grow out of it and neither have I. I just accepted that whining about how great the past was won't change the present. You either accept that the world will move on or you will stay stuck in your fantasy world where it is always 1999 for ever. I for one have become happy enough to have found access to a lot of great music of said era. It makes me happy if a band tries to revive this style, but I don't see why they have to.

I thought it was becoming boring to me between 2006 and 2008 and stopped listening to new releases. But then I realized that I still like the old stuff and that there is even more old music I haven't heard yet. I think even if the new bands are becoming more repetitive you can still listen to the oldies. Or you realize that you no longer like it, move on and listen to something else. What I don't understand are people who stop liking VK and then try to diss it, probably to show how much more mature they now are for having "grown out of it." In the vein of "I used to be such a Visual kei weaboo, but now I listen to real muzic. How could I ever like this? Only little kids listen to it, bcuz VK is silly and sucks!!" I found a whole blog with people like this on livejournal once. They tried so hard to look cool, it's funny and sad at the same time.

My future: CRAZY CAT LADY 5EVAH

Didn't we already have this topic covered in other threads? I am sure this will too end again in a dumb "new skewl vs. old skewl" debate. First define "drastic style". At the moment there are actually a lot of very visual looking bands active, such as Grieva, Crimson Shiva, Mejibray, Lycaon, AvelCain, The Gallo, Dezert and more. However none of these, except maybe Grieva, are simiiar in style to those from the 90s. The other may come close to what bands looked like in the mid 00s. I feel many people confuse drastic, visual styling with the old school look. They can be the same, but don't have too; not every band in the 90s used to dress like your average Matina group. And not every band that sports leather, spooky make up and neon hair is old school. Even though I don't like the current way of visual kei styling, there are still many groups who pull it off as well as the old bands did, they just happen to look very different. As others have already said: VK isn't really a genre per se and it has to adapt to current fashion trends in order to stay somewhat relevant. The fact that so many groups look like Hosts is because this look is popular. In the 90s you had Soft Visual, in the 00s Oshare and now them. I know I may contradict myself a bit in what I have said on this forum some years ago. But the more older I get the less fucks I can give about how VK bands look today. Surely, I still love and miss the old "Kote kei" style, but it's nothing that will ever come back and I have accepted it. I am not expecting all VK bands to dress like this and make music like in the 90s when it's not even trendy, fashionable or contemprary anymore. The good thing is that the old times had a large output of material, audio and visual. You can always go back to enjoy the music and look at old photos. Sure, it would be nice to see a renaissance of this style and a few bands are doing it (La'veil Mizeria for example). But I doubt it will ever get popular again. I think I develop a different outlook at this thanks to all the discussions we had here. It's really a topic that pops up every now and then. I am sure we will lament over how much newer VK sucks in 40 years. I am of course biased and say "90s Veekay for da win!".

Circa 2004 thanks to Moi dix Mois' european release of their Nocturnal Opera album. Followed by D'espairsRay and Dir en grey (in 2004 and 2005)

So when I get back to MH there is lotz of DRAMA. Seriously, what happened to MH? Since when did people here start to play the "I am such a poor victim" and special snowflake card? And lol at that autism post. Nobody said anything about mental problems (I am sure most of us don't care) and it makes you look like those 13 year olds crying that neurotypical (=not autistic) people are always assholes and you always have it much worse which then means you think with that argument you can get away with saying rude shit to others.

So after thinking about starting this topic for a while I finally did it. I will update it randomly, whenever I feel like it. Most of my drawings are made digitally in photoshop. I mainly draw my stupid angsty OCs from my story, but posting them only on DeviantArt. Here I plan to show some fine weaboo and goffick shit. So prepare yourselves for some old skewl crap and spooky kids! drawings are under the spoiler :>

I am impressed! I never manage to put so many details on an image. Hell, I can't even draw two characters interacting with each other >_< Cool videos. I like how easy it seems for him to come up with good poses and composition.

So good to see them back. I really love them, Gilly has a really cool voice and their music is the kind of deathrock/Goth I enjoy (and it's done right).

It would be cool if they both have a comeback. As long as it doesn't end up being a mess like Ruellia's.

Thanks for the suggestions. I am making myself crazy at the moment by comparing so many phones D: I am definitely getting an unlocked phone, as I don't have the budget or motivation for a contract. I don't want to get an Iphone – too expensive and I dislike that it doesn't have slots for extra storage. I was thinking about getting a samsung s4 mini (but it's full with apps you can't deinstall). I am having the moto g on my list as well. How good is it audio wise and will apps such as Lastfm scrobbler and spotify run on it without problems? Sadly all other phones I'd fancy are too espensive. I tried to search for shops carrying cheaper sony models, but there are none in Austria. You can only get the Z or M series.

^ I bet some people will yell "blackface!" when seeing this. To me it looks as if he was a chimney sweeper.

There is potential in this band, but I am not really liking the clean vocals. They need some work.

Looks interesting. Hopefully we can hear more soon.

Oh dear, the infamous "VK genre/style" thing. One of the main problems with it is that it is highly disputable if VK itself is a genre. Quite a lot of people have made good points in the past why it isn't and how it's merely an umbrella term for rock or pop bands from japan putting make up on their face. On the other side there are arguments that proof that there is somewhat of a consistency or pattern in VK music. Does it mean that it's a music genre after all? I personally can't answer it. The old, 90s VK music I mainly listen to does have a certain sound, even if it's as huge and diverse as VK is today (on one side you had the glam metal and hardrock groups; on the other you've got the goth and post-punk influenced ones. And then there were the soft, light and poppy bands too). I end up labeling Matina bands and similiar Kote kei though, even if it's not a legit "genre" and even if it's image has been mostly formed by the fans rather than the bands. It just helps a bit for finding some of that typical "old school" flair. I think most of us can agree though, that despite the direct line age, 00s VK isn't entirely the same as 90s VK. One could even say that 00s bands were different in both look and sound than the 10s bands. of course it seems silly to make a new label or tag for every era so I can understand the reasoning. Going purely by the looks of VK groups is silly; one should at least consider to analyze the full package (especially the music) to decide whether or not something belongs to a new type of genre or style. The way a VK group can express themselves are endless, yet there are certain trends. That doesn't justify the creation of a new style or otherwise we'd have silly things such as "Vampire kei", "Princess kei", "Clown kei" or "Cosplay kei". I remember when some "I know more shit about VK than you"-weaboo posted a list of invented VK genres on a German forum and the number of people who started to use the terms, including "debiru kei", "goochikku kei" (lol, seriously?), "porno kei" and more. I guess that's where most of these imaginary genres, including eroguro kei, are coming from. Oshare kei is probably a legit description, even if it just describes the visuals. But Oshare bands have their own sound and also often their own fanbase. Nagoya kei is surely a complicated case, but I have seen it being used by japanese people, though mainly referring to bands such as Silver~Rose, ROUAGE or With Sexy. Nagoya kei had a huge influence on VK in general and a lot of bands who weren't from the location, adopted the sound. So it's difficult to say how much Nagoya kei really is a style or not. Soft visual is another canditate. I have seen it very often on japanese sites and as title of music playlists on NicoNico. I guess it could be a legit term. Angura kei, as far as I know, isn't even directly connected to VK. It just means "underground style". Eroguro kei sounds strange too. Eroguro is, if I am not telling shit, a type of horror related art style. At least it was at the beginning, when it was used to describe the stories created by Maruo Suehiro. His works had a huge influence on VK, especially in the 90s. If eroguro kei would be a thing, about 80% of the dark indie VK bands of the 90s would be eroguro kei. That just doesn't make much sense. Mejibray are probably not eroguro either. Tsuzuku is known to like some old VK clichés, even if his band's musical style is "modern". But he made several hommages to the old manga Kissxxxx, which was heavily connected to early 90s VK. Also horror elements and Suehiro references are cool in VK every once in a while. About DIAURA: I wouldn't say they are oshare kei or kote kei or even any kind of kei except just Visual kei. They are using elements from here and there, both in their music and visuals, but they never end up sounding completely like their sources. Kote kei is still a rather disputable term, but DIAURA are 100% not oldschool. I'd say even Grieva are more oldschoolish. I think it's an interesting subject to talk about, but probably not suited for this thread, so I am sorry if I am off topic. I belive it's fairly well known by now what kind of VK music I like. I definitely have a preference towards the late 80s, 90s to early 00s. I am using to describe it as "oldschool" because it's easier that way (for me). I dig some new bands as well, but I rather go for appeal, musical style, image/visuals, concept and so on rather than "style". As long as it's not too poppy, no 0815 metal- or deathcore, techno or the like it has potential fo me to be likeable. I am heading mostly towards anything related to post-punk, punk rock, glam, goth or alternative. I feel these genre terms are more useful, as VK bands can really play any kind of music.

a few of their releases are on CDJapan. But yeah, their stuff is not as accessible and early releases hard to find. That Gallo x AvelCain coupling single hasn't surfaced here or anywhere else either. About the album: I really dig the previews. I just love Jojo's maniacal, unique and dramatic singing. The Gallo are definitely one of the best (or better) VK bands around these days.

Great that they have found someone so fast. Now I hope we'll see a new album soon. (Maybe I can rekindle my love for this band, who knows)

Reviving this old thread because I am planning to get my first smartphone maybe for Christmas. I was a casual user of cellphones before, but I rarely used them because I actually dislike telephone conversations. My current Nokia cellphone is getting 5 years old and the battery is bad. Also I think it's impossible tobe abstinent from the current smartphone trend as soon everyone will have one and you just can't find many cellphones. Now I am thinking what I should get and it's difficult since I have no clue about them. I am not really someone who talks often on the phone. What's important for me is maybe a decent camera, a good size (not too big or too small), enough memory and space for some small apps and especially images and music (I probably end up using the phone mainly for playing music). I don't necessarily need a HD screen as I don't plan to play games or watch tv. Oh and it shouldn't be too expensive (100-250€ price range are okay) I've thought about getting a Samsung phone, but I am not sure and there so many diferent models in the budget class section… @.@

I buy only CDs. I bought a photoset once, maybe I'd get some more. But I can't afford it and I'd rather spend my money for other things.

I know a girl who went to the same art school as me ad she studied japanese. It's true that the job prospects are really bad and she has no clue what she is going to do with her degree. But she started to study it because she's interested in learning the language and not because she is a weeb or expects to be able to live in Japan. But then, in my country, studying is still affordable and given your parents can financially support you, you can finsih your studies without having debts as a student loan isn't required, unless you are piss poor or are studying much longer than you need. I myself have tried to learn a bit japanese, but I am generally very bad at learning new languages, so i gave up. Maybe one day I'd try it again, but I am not that motivated either.