saltofstones

Kalimero these days. I don't miss them per se, wasn't even around back then, but I wish they would have released more music before their untimely dissolution. heidi. really doesn't cut it (anymore). I'm mostly ok with prolific bands ending activities whenever they feel they're done, but it's always the short-lived but ultra-talented bands that sting a bit; of course, there are no guarantees of quality if they were to last past their demise, but you know, I wish I had more of their stuff to binge on.

That's a downer, they've been at it together since their previous band. They're a favorite obscure-ish project of mine, so I hope new material is on the horizon at some point maybe.

[tracklist] 1.『beginning』 2.『パラドクス』 3.『薄紅は舞い散り寂光に消える』 4.『sign…』 5.『undelete』 6.『躁狂の踊り子～山紫水明の宴～』 7.『刹那を駆ける命の一行に』

That live collage of Wrist Cutter was my introduction to VK as a 15yo. I wish I could have seen my face then. I do vividly remember this pervading feeling of cognitive dissonance born from the pairing of this bizarre and manic alt-metal concoction with an aesthetic I could only describe at the time as a gothed-up version of a local middle-aged dads' showband. I couldn't get into them back then & soon after I got dissuaded by the discovery of DEG and D'espa and never got to properly sink my teeth into Kagerou's discography. Somehow they've slipped through the cracks till today - I've only heard Rakushu and selected cuts from the rest of their discography, and ended up listening to ''the studs'' more. This impassioned essay makes me feel like I've missed out on the Holy Grail of Visual Kei. Time to do my long overdue homework.

Corny start, but builds into something quite ear pleasing. Nice to get a breather from all the metalcore/"insert token random growls" this scene tends to regurgitate.

Their music has always been hit-or-miss for me, especially as of late, but sibilebatshitcrazy were always uncompromising in their wild and oddball antics (more so Izumi), which is smth I've come to respect. It's a pity their music couldn't always match up in quality(imo) and I was never completely sold on them.

if you can't organize your life, at least organize your music

Damn, I haven't heard any of their music post-2014, so I don't know what to expect (other than this most likely not being shared anywhere). Not so much to catch up to either since I could only dig up their mini from last year.

Probably still a lot of the stuff I'm into now outside the j-music spectrum. Definitely more electro-industrial, EBM, synthpop, synthrock than I currently do (time constraints and all), since I got into those scenes and VK roughly at the same time. And most likely I would have explored more Western rock bands. J-bands were my gateway into general shoegaze and post-punk, but I like to think I would have found my way to those regardless. I can't say the same about Korean/Chinese rock and electronica, where the interest was clearly a byproduct of my developing appreciation for the J-music scene. One thing is for sure, VK and J-indie have completely redesigned my rather rigid old perspective on what types of vocals I considered palatable. Now I understand the appeal of nasally, whiny, strained, husky, cracking-all-over-the-place and even slightly out-of-tune singing and I can enjoy a lot more music than before. But I reckon the real influence of j-music on my tastes is even greater than this exercise in imagination could ever suggest.

nüe - 憂鬱な悪魔 I need professional help to stop replaying this. No Youtube because Starwave Records.

I think my general approach to music listening has enabled my interest in VK to never wane completely. Whatever I do, I am unable to stop scouring the Internet for new artists to listen to, even as my downloads folder is bursting at the seams. I suppose I am trying to make sure I'm not missing out on good music, which obviously will always be a work in progress. That's not to say I never experience fatigue with VK. But when that happens, I simply listen to whatever other styles of music I'm into, or go give a listen to something from the myriad of old school VK acts I haven't heard yet. The spectrum of VK is pretty wide and it helps that I enjoy a great deal of it. This forum makes it rather easy for me to select the newer bands that are worth a shot. I don't feel like I have a duty to listen to VK all the time and it's perfectly fine, like in every other music scene, if sometimes there's nothing much to catch my attention or I happen to not be in the mood for it. All the years in the scene have desensitized me to the whirlwind of disbandments, so I can no longer despair over a band calling it quits. Something else will come along eventually. Welp this has turned into a "why I haven't gotten over VK" argument, sorry for digressing. I concur with others that there's value in discussing this topic , more so since I've always wanted to know where the fuck my fellow Romanian VK fans have all disappeared to and a more introspective and elaborate reason why.

A lot of my early major musical discoveries are tied to this site, so it holds great sentimental value for me. I'll probably use it for as long as it exists, as it's the sole witness so to say of my musical interests over the years. It's too bad it's missing all the nu metal/ alternative rock of my early teens and the app won't scrobble from my phone so all of those plays sadly get lost. Other than stats, I play my library or write bios when I'm bored at work. I don't really use it to discover new artists anymore. The new design is the pits tho, so sterile and lifeless.

Too bad. There was always something to like on each of their releases. Especially "Shinshoku Sareta Tsuki etc." was the best, I hope they'll live to see another day and maybe top that.

Some years ago, I used to go on Sparkplugged and Jrockexplosion and discover a nauseating amount of bands I liked, now that seldom happens anymore, not to mention I lost interest in many of the bands I used to enjoy. I can't tell if I've become more selective after the initial overindulgent excitement of discovering something new or it's the scene failing to produce any refreshing sounds. It's probably a bit of both. I haven't checked out a lot of new bands lately and I hope for that to change. I guess I should share some recent-ish discoveries to keep up with the theme of the topic. This new track by Yorunitokeru heavily reminds me of the unknown forecast's awesome second mini (they have since gone downhill for me). I really dig the plaintive melody and hauntingly pained vocals and of course the song wouldn't be complete without some visceral screaming to dispel all the pent-up tension. phyxmoment are a shoegazey indie rock band. They don't do anything too extraordinary or interesting & the vocals need work, but it's pleasant enough for what it is. They make me miss sugardrop (what are they doing these days...). Also what feels like Kankaku Piero's millionth video is for a pretty solid rock tune. That Emerald track that was posted was super cute, I need to check them out. Also antihoney, they sound a lot like a female version of Danish one-man-band Sleep Party People.

The diametrically opposed AvelCain and DIV were the only ones to make a dent in my usual apathy towards all these disbandment news in recent years. ZERO ONE was such a stunner of an album, and while they waxed and waned quality-wise after that and then lost me completely with EDR Tokyo and Ikenai Kiss, it was still a bit sad to see them go. At least we're getting some semblance of the band back with ACME, complete with the classic DIV sound I was a fan of. With AvelCain jury's still out on what they'll be doing, but at their best they mastered and delivered the zetsubou like no other at the time and no one else came close to filling their shoes yet.

I never expected them to last this long to begin with. And in light of their best of announcement and the state of their music for a good while now, I can't say this is terribly surprising. I still enjoyed their stuff now and then even while being painfully aware of their stagnation, courtesy of simply having a soft spot for that kind of sound. And there was always a faint hope that they'll maybe aim higher. I even managed to find some enjoyment in their last album eventually, but some of those tracks indeed sound like they couldn't be bothered with them, so they just phoned them in and called it a day. It's sad to see one of the pillars of old school revival go, but it does make sense. Thanks for the fun time! [2]

Only good news today.

I reckon this will be a great resource center for those like me, who tend to like a lot of the acts mentioned but still have a lot of catching up to do, both in terms of their respective discographies and in checking out some of the old school greats. I like mostly everything Eiji and Sharaku-related (altho I too failed to listen to any GalapagosS post-Run Like Fury which just didn't live up to their first 3 releases). Benizemi are probably the weirdest bunch in the scene I've heard so far, not quite sure what to make of them, but they do feature my favorite tone-deaf-drunk-from-the-local-pub type of vocals, so bonus points for that. I am still far from being in the know, so I wonder if Azafuse count too? -atO- seems to have resuscitated the project after an extended hiatus, albeit I am not sure if it's the full band or it has morphed into more of a solo venture.

^ Since yazzmad kicked the bucket, I believe it's just them now and this Dolly dude's solo project. So that pretty much makes them the label's main breadwinner.

Didn't even realize Hebi de are etc. also came out at the beginning of last year. Totally no. 1 workaholic kei band.

They're churning them albums and singles out as if they're an assembly line. I've been feeling a bit disenchanted with their music for the past few years, but thought their album from last year marked a return to form for them. Hope they can keep up the momentum.

Oh man, when I saw Manson in 2007, I definitely did not think I got my money's worth (the trip to and from Bucharest and a festival ticket for his performance only). It seemed like he didn't even try and would have preferred being anywhere else but there. Word got out afterwards that he was actually pissed because the organizers wouldn't get him any drugs. I'm not sure if showing his ass was his way of making it up to us, but that happened, wasn't expecting he'd "grace" us with such classic stage antics, but that too felt jarring amidst such a lackluster performance. No one realized the last song was the last song because he just left. No oomph at the end or anything, he was gone before we even realized it, but it's just a funny memory now. Sounds like you had a much better experience so now I'll definitely go see him again if I get the chance.

Stunned beyond words. LP was my first major musical obsession and pretty much opened the gates for me to alternative music which eventually snowballed into an exploration of everything other than what was served on TV. It was also the first time I seriously admired the frontman of a band and was so taken with someone's vocals and lyrics. So many memories of overplaying sprees, singing and dancing to them at rock parties, re-watching the Meteora making-of as if it was the most magical thing ever, coming up with dumb parodies of their songs during boring classes, I pretty much can't dissociate my childhood from them and I wouldn't write such corny discourse other than for them. It also makes me very bitter that I missed their concert here some years ago because I was caught up in stuff that was ultimately not that important in retrospect. Now I'll never get another chance. His poor family tho, I just read he had 6 children. Just painful.

Not really up there with DIV's most memorable earlier numbers, but niceI I didn't jive with the EDR Tokyo sound, so I'm glad they moved away from that. DIV was one of the few poppy VK bands I enjoyed, so it's nice to sort of have that back.

Occasionally I'll have a passage of music playing in my mind on a loop and it won't go away until I figure out where it's from. Usually I'll have an "Aha!" moment within the day or the next couple of days tops and that'll be it. But I'd been trying to figure out this one snippet for years already and couldn't for the life of me. Tried browsing through all the bands that would be inclined to play something like that and came up with nothing. From time to time it would pop up in my brain and I'd be helpless and exasperated. But tonight I finally got it while revisiting NightingeiL. It was the very beginning of 吊り下げの恋. The curse has finally been lifted damn it.