Ikna

after work I'll try to look if I still have the pics on my computers. Didn't know that dumblr deleted them all (don't even get why)

Also new deathrock band:

So the bands won't see not even a cent of this, right? Bloody Kisaki, when will he stop with his shady businesses, first the fake demotape sales and now this shit to rip off his customers. Even after all that drama he stirred up with his shitty attitude he still continues to be an asshole.

I wish there was more darkwave in modern VK. We seriously lack our SchwarzSteins, Malice Mizers (Moi dix Mois are no replacement and take forever to release anything new, let alone interesting) and Velvet Edens (def a new band with that sound must form, for Dada is an absolute Drama queen and to busy whining on twitter). Also I wish more contemporary bands would be legit dark and gloomy. Not just play uber-br000tal -core and call that "dark". That stuff might come off as angsty and angry at most, but lacks all atmosphere to come off as really sinister or mysterious. Malice Mizer have certainly perfected this in their last era, which makes me even more mad that they are still not back. Also yes, early D'espairsRay's sound was really cool too. Would like to have more of that as well. But probably unlikely, just as VK bands rediscovering goff music. Chances are higher we could get more witchhouse. But somehow VK is extremely out of touch with newer fads, so that might not happen either. Metalcore is already out and old hat. Most people are now either into Djent and yet most VK bands are still stuck imitating Bring me the Horizon and those other -core bands. It laggs really behind. Where's Dark Ambient kei? Witchhouse? Synthwave? Vaporwave? I am surprised no one in VK (except DALLE) have jumped on the hipster "goth" music stuff, considering how they love to ape and appropriate the style (see the Gazette's last look).

tbh, VK has already hit that all time low in the 90s. It's popularity in Japan is debatable. As many others have noted, VK isn't totally obscure there (though I guess it has a bad rep, so many people wouldn't ever admit to like it) but not really as popular as it was. And no, I don't think Visual kei was always as niche as it is now in Japan. Back in the old times when VK wasn't such a widely used label bands of that caliber used to fill stadiums and had regular TV and radio exposure. There's a reason why some describe the early 90s as the band explosion era, particularity in regards to the Nagoya rock music scene. But yeah, those days are long gone. hell, most of us gaijin folks have no real clue about it, since the time we got introduced to Vk it was already old hat in Japan. You had to be there for yourself in the early 90s to really see and feel it – but how many foreigners, save for a few, had the privilege and luck? When bands like Luna Sea started to kick off and Malice Mizer rose to fame I was in friggin' kindergarten. Sure, I like to diss the modern scene a lot (because I simply don't like the type of music the bands are playing now), but even I know that I am not a special snowflake and a "trvuer" fan. But to get back to the core of the thread: it's true that in the west VK has lost attention and Fans. people in this thread have offered enough explanations and hypotheses for it's fade in popularity. I am just here to give my two cents on the extinction of the local VK scene in my country (if you can even call it that way): As with others, it all started in the early 00s with the Manga and Anime boom. I really doubt any one in Austria and Germany could have known about VK without either moving to Japan, getting introduced to it via websites and communities specializing in Glam- or Japanese rock or Anime/Manga. Most of us peeps were too young and too poor to go to Japan and most of us had no internet at home. So that leaves us with Manga and Anime. I remember I used to buy these Anime magazines of which there were plenty on the market and many of these papers tried to market japanese culture to us impressionable youths. So they had lots of articles about japanese food, society and of course music. And some might also remember that Neo Tokyo's (a japanese Manga store in Germany) founded their music publishing label (?) Gan-Shin, which brought to us some of Dir en grey's discography. Only shortly after (or before? I don't remember that well) they started playing in Germany. And as stated before in this thread, due to the Anime fad being so closely related to the J-Pop and VK boom many Manga/Anime Conventions went a great deal to get some bands, including bloody the Gazette, to play at their conventions. And it was a self fullfilling cycle that simply worked: people got to japanese music via Anime and Japan culture based media, they participated in local communities; these were lured to leave their money at the conventions and these in turn invited bands to play to bring in the fans. Then there were online communities like Animexx, where we weebs gathered en masse and talked about our bandomen all day and night, spent all our time drawing and writing shitty slash fanfics and Mangas. It was like paradise. But yeah, around 2009 the German and Austrian scene started to crumble like an old ruin. Suddenly all the people crazy about Moi dix Mois (of which there were MANY here. They even called it a "Manamania") switched from VK to JPop and what they deemed "more sophisticated" music. They also sold all their previously well treasured Moi-Même-Moitié dresses and Sexpot Revenge clothes to go either "normie" or "gyaru". I noticed weblogs of people who loved VK previously popping up with lamentations about how stupid they were for liking it, that it was just a phase and that VK is actually really dumb and shitty. And of course there was also the huge amount of people bickering about how the post 2009s scene wasn't as good. Tbh I can kinda related to it, because in that timespan I also stopped giving shit about newer bands. But I still like to listen to my oldies. Many others for whom it was really just a short fad, stopped caring about it entirely. Indeed, Social media and the way we consume media and music today, compared to ten years ago, factor in this as well. But the once really big German-speaking scenes, which were infamous enough to be featured regularly in sensationalist TV formats and press, already died before all these changes could have affected the decline of interest in VK. The truth is simply that liking Visual kei was a fad and it's success in the western world a short-lived hype. Most people have since moved on or hopped on the newest trendwagon. And if I am honest: I do not miss it. I think it's just fine if VK stays obscure. I have moved on and no longer care about old skewl VK being dead. As already said, many music scenes have died and never came back, and that's a fate you have to accept . Though I disagree with the notion that the current goth revival is so bad. It's not the same as the 80s, sure, but it has some fun and redeeming qualities and it's not mainstream. So, if it comes back, it will probably never reach it's former glory. And that's okay too. A friend of mine also once said that certain eras of VK needed a certain Zeitgeist. And that Zeitgeist is just strongly tied to that specific era. If that era is over than the atmosphere that made it special in the first place is gone too. Hence some of those old music styles no longer work outside the context of so called retromania. Of course, VK has the benefit of being a patchwork genre, it can and has to adapt to survive and it will probably carry on existing in some way (or will influence something else that exists in the future). But it will never be the VK we used to fall in love when we discovered it (and that counts for all eras). I also do not think I ever want the local VK scene being as big again, because I remember that it was mostly a large collection of the most immature, hysterical and downright creepy individuals I have ever seen. Some of these self-called "Visus" looked cool, but were really uncomfortable to surround you with.

Do I like some of the bands? Yes. Do I like the label itself? Nope.

^ haha, me too. I was one of those pesky little mallgoff kids who looked like ugly mansonite emos unable to draw even a straight line with kajal. I listened to whatever my also try hard edgy (and wannabe "satanist") schoolmates listened to: Nightwish, Manson, HIM, Evanescence, Green Day, Nirvana… Unlike my peers who all became "normal" or jocks after a while I sticked to "dark" stuff, but eventually dived deeper down into actual goth and darkwave music. Also around that time I discovered VK, which to me was now waaaay cooler than "those lame european and amurrican bands". Out from all the embarrassing stuff I used to love as a teen I now only occasionally listen to. And that's mostly restricted to Nightwish (rarely), Deathstars (yes, I know…), Moonspell and Paradise Lost (they are actually still kewl in my book). And of course I still listen to my old Veekay, because I am biased.

I got into VK between the fourth and fifth wave, but strangely am not a big fan of the latter nowadays. I mostly like the earlier stuff of the mid 00s. I remember VK started to change a lot from ca. 2007/08 onwards and that was the time when I stopped caring about newer stuff. Nowadays I listen more to the 90s stuff and I am all over the place in this decade. But if I had too choose I'd pick the fourth wave, because I have a very strong affection for all those low budget crap kei bands and obscure "we released one demo, played three lives and had two fans" groups. Also I think the style and look then was really cool (fucking feather boa's everywhere and faux goff make up). Sixth wave doesn't do anything for me. I just simply can't get into it, mostly because I have a distain for metulcore and unz-unz rock (if it was actually good electro and synth rock, sigh). I feel there was a lot of potential that developed in the first half of the 00s wasted as bands hopped on the bandwagons of certain other music trends. But I agree that the current state of VK is a little better. Still don't curr for 80% of bands today, but even I cannot deny that Gallo and Dezert are kewl.

I know, I should probably e-mail you about this. But I want to ask, if you have already sent all the parcels from the last auction streams? I am still waiting for my goods to arrive and I paid already a month ago.

coming late to the party (and with no video or band to offer, because I never listened much to oshare). I skimmed through the thread and found some really good stuff and gems. So thanks for making this thread, it's a really nice comp of decent to awesome stuff (since there was indeed a shitpile of crap in the oshare "scene" back of the day). Made it really easy for me to compile a wishlist of material I want to add to my music collection, ha. I have to admit that because of the influx of rainbow colored, nyappy as hell bands I never gave groups from this corner of VK music a try. Mainly because I was one of those edgy mallgoth tryhards who only liked grimdark, gloomy and depressive shit and Oshare to me was pretty much the antithesis of that. Secondly, I also partake in the fad of hating on the music because that's what all the popular kids in VK "fandom" would do. And when the overall majority found that all oshare to be the absolute dreck, then it must have been true *rolleyes* Obviously there was some atrocious stuff, but apparently also some good bands with great music I simply overlooked at that time due to ignorance. Then there was the thing with the oshare fans, who I always perceived as ape shit crazy. Like, even more annoying and crazy than your average Gazette and Dir en grey fan already were (and are). Their behaviour, noteworty from the an-cafe crowd, was absolutely off-putting. The only exceptions for me however were bands like Aicle. or Dollis Mary. The former may look like an oshare band (still, their style was pretty unique even for oshare standards) and their music is simply amazing (shame emiru doesn't continue Aicle's craziness in Yeti, which I feel are rather boring in comparison). The latter I never really perceived as Oshare. Maybe because they also worked a lot with Metis Gretel i viewed them more as a lighter and softer Kote band. But I guess Shazna could fit the bill, as they are often mentioned to be the main influence, if not forefathers of the oshare style. I have to say because of my inclination towards softer, more upbeat and happier music I never looked much into 90s soft vkei either as of recently. Shaza was probably the first band of this kind I started to listened to and since then (along with the help of recommendations of others) I have eased myself a little more into it. Timeless classic 💕 And I am quite interested into the formation of oshare in the late 90s and early 00s. Which band influenced it or were the innovators? How developed a stream of soft visual into it?

wow, a fellow austrian. You even share my name O__O The coincidence is really spooky. But I am younger, it seems XD I also liked Moi dix Mois a lot. I am currently getting more into Mejibray too (even though I never thought I would like them ever) anyways, welcome mein Freund.

"3. Happy birthday NEW mother fuxxer." lol, how edgy. Hopefully Kyouki doesn't emulate Kyo's "FOOCHA" spelling *cough* Also is it just me thinking they are pumping out releases too fast? Their last single wasn't that good, even though Liar at some point started to grow on me a bit.

new drama starting here? Should I get my popcorn ready?

If you people like female fronted post-punk and goth bands like Belgrado, then this band's also worth to be checked out: Can be bought at their bandcamp: https://deadcult.bandcamp.com/

As much as I am a goffick rawk, Darkwave and industrial fan, I simply cannot get into witchhouse. I think it's because of the Hip-Hop and R'n'b influence, which to me isn't very goth (yes, I am one of those "gothier than thou" biased peeps) and not a music genre I particularly like (at all). And that's not because I have some prejudiced opinion about it, it's just not my cup of tea. Also am I the only one thinking the aesthetic is a bit too over the top, pretentious and try hard? Maybe I'd dig it in 20 years time, once its Hipsterism and trendiness wears off. I know one should never judge a music scene by the way its fans act and look like, but I just cannot erase it from my mind that this music is mainly aimed at 20 year somethings on tumblr, who want to feel edgy and therefore put okkvlt symbols on their pastel colored sweaters bought at urban outfitters. However, Zola Jesus is a musician I enjoy. I wouldn't really call her music withchouse though. Her early releases were straight up classic Noise/industrial. The closest my taste comes in this direction is with In death it ends: Some would say that's just simple Darkwave, but thge project (founded by Porl King, ex vocalist of Goth rock band Rosetta Stone) uses at least the same aesthetics (occult symbols, references to magick, alchemy and paganism/satanism, triangles and other shizzle). Tbh, I would appreciate it if people could suggest witchhouse music in this direction. I know I should check out DALLE, because they seem to be a Visual kei blend with this thing. Sidewalks and Skeletons i tried a few times. It hasn't made click yet, but its synthiness makes it more enjoyable to me.

It's really curious how Yuuga managed to keep up with Yayoi for that long of a time. Yes, Yuuga himself isn't an angel, and according to the reports of some fans he is quite a dick (wasn't there a rumor that he comanded his gya to beat up some foreign fans at Devil Kitty's lives?). But even he is pissed by Yayoi's behaviour. And considering that Yayoi has been doing the same shady crap since always, Yuuga as a "friend" and bandmate of many years should have known that Rockstar Records would not pan out because Yayoi will fuck it up (again). Or maybe Yuuga is a hopeless optimist and thought "maybe this time he'll do it better". It's a shame though, because as many others have already said, RR had the potential to become the new spiritual descendant of Matina/UCP. Instead it turned into a shameful closterfuck. Also is it just me who finds that Avandick are absolutely a forgettable and boring band and meary would have deserved to be promoted instead? They probably only directed all money to the former because Noah had a face that sells lots of cheki, and therefore $$$$

The piass for me. Never cared much about Kenzi and his bands (though I should listen to them more).

Does *he*, who shall not be named, even know how to muzak?

This is such a historic day. I hope we have historians here who chronicle all the dramaz, because this one's the best so far. And then plz make a best of MH dramaz ranking, for an anniversary or some shit.

Has my life being just a LIE? Are you the illuminati? *puts tinfoil hat on* STOP INFLUENCING MY MIND, REPTILIAN!!!

THE DL SECTION IS A LIE

DL section is gone. So no, you can't do anything

I don't know, but I know that now they no longer can get any new favourite albums. So that "DL Forum down" action was a shot into one's own knee, lawl.