WhirlingBlack

From the list I choose D'espairsRay although if there were a MUCC (1997-2004) option i would've had a hard time choosing. 
 
My dream is a vk band that can fuse the raw despair and occasional quirks of the old MUCC sound with the refined somewhat frail darkness of emmuree combined with the atmosphere of old burzum or other mid-tempo Black Metal. Throw in some shoegazing reverb for good measure. Please give me that for 2017.

From the list I choose D'espairsRay although if there were a MUCC (1997-2004) option i would've had a hard time choosing. 
 
My dream is a vk band that can fuse the raw despair and occasional quirks of the old MUCC sound with the refined somewhat frail darkness of emmuree combined with the atmosphere of old burzum or other mid-tempo Black Metal. Throw in some shoegazing reverb for good measure. Please give me that for 2017.

But what if a spent counterculture is actually more subversive than an active one?
 
For me, there are two very different ways of thinking about countercultures and the transgressive work they are performing. The first is where you try to build rapport, get more people interested in the subculture, then flag it up as some kind of collective protest. In practice, this has always been the mode by which identity politics operated in the public domain--through aggregation, coalition-building, and ramping up the numbers. There are good reasons for this, but there are problems with it, especially for its cultural parallel. Some of us here might be familiar with a book published some decades ago by Dick Hebdige on British youth subcultures (punks, mods, etc.), in which he observed that every subculture that has historically evolved in ostensible protest against popular/mainstream culture cannot elude the inevitable fate of commodification by social and cultural institutions. This spells the death of that subculture either because the ‘transgressive’ force has by that point been entirely neutralized through its absorption into mass culture, or because the “angry young men” who are in them just to make a deafening aesthetic/political statement about themselves have migrated to another fledging subculture en masse before that could happen. I have a hunch that the "scene culture" today that Disposable alluded to might be linked to precisely this. Just look at how cultural scenes have become increasingly dispersed, and interest groups increasingly fragmented (and alienated from one other) since the last decades of the 20th century.
 
The other way of thinking about transgression, I think, is to simply not concern oneself with it. This might sound somewhat counterintuitive but I’ve always been struck by how it’s actually incredibly difficult in this day and age to be totally useless. Think of NEETs who are sitting around at home relishing how they aren't contributing to society; but by being held up in the mass media as exemplary negative "case studies" that parents ought to dutifully warn their children about, they are nevertheless serving an important social function. All of this is a very laborious way of saying that even as we admit to ourselves that it's no longer possible to be radically transgressive in the way most of us had hoped to be at some point in our lives, at least the Wildean decadent who doesn’t give a damn whether the subculture he’s participating in is still relevant or subversive wouldn’t rehearse the problematic we encountered in the first case--where, by reacting violently against the mass culture we absolutely detest we’re in some sense being held hostage to it and playing by its terms. Which reminds me of something Slavoj Zizek said: sometimes, doing nothing is the most violent thing to do. He isn’t taken very seriously by most of his colleagues within academic circles, but I think there’s at least a grain of truth in what he said there.
 
In any case...
 
If nothing else, people who stick by visual kei even after it’s no longer the fad are usually those I enjoy talking to the most. I had an uncannily similar experience in classical music: over there, the same handwringing we’re having now in this thread had taken place approximately half a century ago and by this point everyone I know has basically given up trying to ‘make it relevant’. Thankfully, it’s always more fun associating with people who consume a cultural product because they genuinely enjoy it, and not because they want to appropriate it (consciously or not) as a proxy to make a conspicuous statement about themselves.
 

Dies name surprisingly isn't Daisuke, so you might want to edit that. Great review otherwise, I'm interested in trying this myself as well once I get some time.

I'm surprised that 2009 was the peak. It was already around that time I was complainin' how there's no good shows to attend lol. With that said, those shows that we did have sold very well and a few bands could even venture to have gigs in the second largest city of the country as well. 
I reckon the pop culture peak of visual kei in Finland was in 2007-2008 when the odd few bands made the telly and got gifted some magazine space. Shows were packed, the fashion was wild, no koreans gnawing in on the real estate, events that were associated with visual kei could actually be held at relatively low risk.
 
 
What's up for debate though, is how the new fanbase of the peak years wasn't able to recover from the crucial wave of hiatus', disbandments and stylistic changes that the most popular bands went through around the turn of the 2010's. Everyone should recall how often one heard people lamenting on the state of the scene with ambiguous claims of a lack of X, Y and Z, setting the scene for the gradual petering out either to the clutches of the koreans or just general normalcy. This is the way of the flesh for a fad certainly, and nobody is able to sustain creative output nor popularity for an extended period of time, but that's not all that there is to it. I suppose among great many other things, it's not unjust to consider public merely as fickle if their visual kei habit was dependent on the existence of Dio and Unsraw. Visual kei on the internet had good enough infrastructure to allow these people to discover new and old bands with relative ease, but one should still never underestimate the stupidity and the incapability of the rank and file to utilize such tools perfectly well in their disposal. There are still people who'll waltz into a conversation, feigning willful ignorance, saying "OH THESE BANDS OF TODAY AREN'T LIKE THE GIRUGAMESH OF YORE. SO WHAT HAPPENED WITH THAT VISUAL KEI?". This means that relative interest is there; they haven't forgotten about it, so what gives? 
 
A certain contributing factor that I don't think gets brought up enough is the bush league organising and the sheer ineptitude of the promoters. The fad really blew its wad during the two years it was at its peak, and it wasn't sustainable. Absurdly dumb, dead certainly set for failure, shows got booked even as late as 2015: and anyone with a lick of sense ought to know that in the long term a no-show is always better than a small-shit show. When you're flopping the proper course of action is never to keep on flopping until you can flop no more, but to change the approach. Rest assured a lot of money and contacts have been squandered by idiots already one foot out the door. Unsraw's European tour is a classic example, and Merry's a more recent one. If you're not able to project that there's no demand, and that by booking this there'll be no demand in the future, then you're simply not helping.  
 
The networking on the local level wasn't great and at its worst there were even open divisions between the fanbase of privileged rich blogger cunts and those who took the train to shows from their shit provincial towns who could barely afford the mcdonald's and second hand converse ( I confess my dislike of the former, but I'm not merely projecting it. I heard many other people voice it also, completely unprovoked by yours truly. ) When enough shows and events are abjectly booked to fail with a lack of camaraderie to match, the rot is aggravated to spread into the brain, and eventually even the life support in form of a Gazette european tour won't do you no good. Their 2016 show in Helsinki did not sell out. That's equal to the sky falling out in visual kei terms.
 
A curious example of grassroots level organising seemingly done correct: take a look at the pictures of SANA's recent solo tour from from the backarse of eastern europe. Going through all those pictures you'll notice that while the central and western European crowds are only a handful at best, the Russian and Ukrainian shows pull a kind of a crowd that man of SANA's stature has no right of pulling. I'm terribly interested to find out how they've managed to do this. The only reason I can manage to come up with by speculation alone is that the fans of "Japanese stuff" are so organised, if not rabid, that when something is organised, enough effort is done that it'll pull enough solidarity to maintain the scene's health. I swear to God one of those Sana crowds has equal heads to what EAT YOU ALIVE or heidi had here in the past three years. It can't be that there's more fans of this shit there than in here just by sheer chance, luck and coincidence. 

I think it kinda depends. Everyone seem to have different opinions on what nagoya kei actually is. Most people would probably say it's simply visual kei bands hailing from Nagoya. The Japanese wiki states that it is simply what the western fanbase would consider "1st generation nagoya kei" that is categorised as nagoya kei (with exception for like... Arlequin who openly have categorised themselves as "New generation nagoya kei".
 
Here's a quick summary of the japanese wiki on nagoya kei for anyone interested:
 
"Nagoya kei is a sub-genre of japanese rock music. It is also used in the visual kei scene for bands in the 1990's who were hailing from the Nagoya area (at the time these bands were called "keshou-kei" "back combed hair-kei" and they drew inspiration from punk, post-punk and gothic music. 
 
Bands who giged at the fujigaoka live house "Nagoya MUSIC FARM" were often called Nagoya kei bands. The difference between this and regular visual kei is that their lyrics often had lyrics about depression, dark themes, violent songs and in general darker looks."
 
Some bands that the wiki mention as Nagoya kei bands are: CLowley, Sniper, Tilt, Laputa, Lucifer Luscious Violenoue, Sleep my dear, Kuroyume, Silver-Rose, Merry go round etc.
 
They also mention bands like deadman, blast, gullet, lamiel, phobia, the studs, lynch. etc, but because they were formed after the 90's they are usually not called Nagoya kei bands, but simply "Visual kei". 

i feel like a broken record at times like these....
 
Oshare kei is a mistake by whoever tried to write it at first. It's osare kei. 
 
Secondly, the global community is the only community who still has a deathgrip on the "~~~kei" description. In +4 years and ~200 vk concerts I've almost never heard anyone use these classifications. which is why you cant really put the label on most of the bands these days. Not to mention the terms the global community itself came up with.
 
also as an ensoku fan I've gotta point out--you used the band name for everything else but when it came to ensoku you wrote the song name this is a pen. 
 
When describing bands these days we describe the atmosphere because very few bands are strictly one way or the other. "abare" "kirakira" (I've never said or heard kirakira kei) are the two main ways to describe bands besides "futsuu." Sometimes, we do say "kote/kotekote."
 
you're looking at modern vk through a very dated system 

Avel Cain and deathgaze are not nagoya kei. 

I support this idea and I propose that we take it one step further by imposing strict eugenics on all bands, since there might be members of not 100% pure Japanese descent who mask themselves as members of the purported master race.
 
It's time we start a fund to send one of the fine gentlemen who are an expert in this field to Japan in order to meticulously measure the skulls and ensure the racial purity of our Japanese musicians. Perhaps we can make various sub-forums for degrees of Japanese-ness in order to let people decide on their own tolerance for racial deviation? Maybe they're fine with bands who have members who show slightly Caucasoid/Negroid facial traits but not so much as it shows in their skin tone for example?
 
...Or we just don't care. I'm the last person to think swede-kei and the various other weeaboo scenes are anything to listen to, but honestly, if a band is based in Japan, sings in Japanese, has it's social circles in the Japanese Visual scene, the only thing separating them is race. Kind of silly to make a deal out of, in my opinion.

Okay, I've gathered my thoughts about the new song.
 
It's roughly five minutes long, It features an electronic and piano intro which leads into a heavy rhythmic strumming section which then gives way to another softer section which utilizes strong echo effects on the guitar. Kyo starts singing the verse. It's clean singing throughout the whole song. It builds up pretty fast into a powerful chorus which strikes decisively positive tone (musically) while Kyo sings away in the expected falsetto style. Back to the verse. leads into a piano section with Kyo singing (again) gentle falsetto. Then a short drum fill which leads into the chorus again. Kyo strained at some shows to reach the high notes while it was utterly effortless at some other. The piano reappears during the end of the chorus which leads into a short piano interlude which then launches back into the heavy rhythmic strumming from the intro and ends the song.
 
I wouldn't say it's anything akin to Jessica or things like that, and while it has a hopeful tinge to it, it doesn't really have the upbeat feel of a track like that. It's a much more mature effort and I would liken it more to a ballad in the vein of LOTUS for example than anything else.

Okay, I've gathered my thoughts about the new song.
 
It's roughly five minutes long, It features an electronic and piano intro which leads into a heavy rhythmic strumming section which then gives way to another softer section which utilizes strong echo effects on the guitar. Kyo starts singing the verse. It's clean singing throughout the whole song. It builds up pretty fast into a powerful chorus which strikes decisively positive tone (musically) while Kyo sings away in the expected falsetto style. Back to the verse. leads into a piano section with Kyo singing (again) gentle falsetto. Then a short drum fill which leads into the chorus again. Kyo strained at some shows to reach the high notes while it was utterly effortless at some other. The piano reappears during the end of the chorus which leads into a short piano interlude which then launches back into the heavy rhythmic strumming from the intro and ends the song.
 
I wouldn't say it's anything akin to Jessica or things like that, and while it has a hopeful tinge to it, it doesn't really have the upbeat feel of a track like that. It's a much more mature effort and I would liken it more to a ballad in the vein of LOTUS for example than anything else.

raison detre was performed in October 1997 - released July 1999. 
Probably the most extreme example. The early build of ZAN which existed since the band formed and was released in January 1999 has a similar time frame too.
Tsumi to Batsu was performed in Feb/March 1998 and released in July 1999.
Fukai was performed in October 2002, released in April 2003.
Itoshisa and GARBAGE was performed in July 2004 and released March 2005.
And then the famous MARROW songs from the Budokan performance in August 2006 which was released the follow year in Feb.
GLASS SKIN and STUCK MAN in 2008 being performed in May and being released in September and November respectively. 
Gaika and Toguro were performed some weeks before release but it's not long enough to be relevant.
Same with LOTUS, DIFFERENT SENSE and Utafumi.
 
So based on this we can draw the conclusions that with very few exceptions songs were released in less than a year after it was first performed, and without exception since the early days of the band. I think we can safely assume there will be some kind of release featuring new music in 2017. And that will be my prediction of the year for now. I'll come back with some more loose speculations later.
 
 

Okay, I've gathered my thoughts about the new song.
 
It's roughly five minutes long, It features an electronic and piano intro which leads into a heavy rhythmic strumming section which then gives way to another softer section which utilizes strong echo effects on the guitar. Kyo starts singing the verse. It's clean singing throughout the whole song. It builds up pretty fast into a powerful chorus which strikes decisively positive tone (musically) while Kyo sings away in the expected falsetto style. Back to the verse. leads into a piano section with Kyo singing (again) gentle falsetto. Then a short drum fill which leads into the chorus again. Kyo strained at some shows to reach the high notes while it was utterly effortless at some other. The piano reappears during the end of the chorus which leads into a short piano interlude which then launches back into the heavy rhythmic strumming from the intro and ends the song.
 
I wouldn't say it's anything akin to Jessica or things like that, and while it has a hopeful tinge to it, it doesn't really have the upbeat feel of a track like that. It's a much more mature effort and I would liken it more to a ballad in the vein of LOTUS for example than anything else.

Okay, I've gathered my thoughts about the new song.
 
It's roughly five minutes long, It features an electronic and piano intro which leads into a heavy rhythmic strumming section which then gives way to another softer section which utilizes strong echo effects on the guitar. Kyo starts singing the verse. It's clean singing throughout the whole song. It builds up pretty fast into a powerful chorus which strikes decisively positive tone (musically) while Kyo sings away in the expected falsetto style. Back to the verse. leads into a piano section with Kyo singing (again) gentle falsetto. Then a short drum fill which leads into the chorus again. Kyo strained at some shows to reach the high notes while it was utterly effortless at some other. The piano reappears during the end of the chorus which leads into a short piano interlude which then launches back into the heavy rhythmic strumming from the intro and ends the song.
 
I wouldn't say it's anything akin to Jessica or things like that, and while it has a hopeful tinge to it, it doesn't really have the upbeat feel of a track like that. It's a much more mature effort and I would liken it more to a ballad in the vein of LOTUS for example than anything else.

X Japan finally releases the album. It comes packaged with three unreleased songs only, and at the end of the day, it's still three new X Japan songs too many.[2] 
 
Anfiel disbands amid a bangya debacle; band claims that the vocalists aunt is sick. That's not the end of it however, and every other band Hiroki likes is soon to follow. 
 
A new DADAROMA single gets released sometime in 2017. It gets uploaded on MH six months later but only as a youtube rip. The thread is not locked because everyone is desperate. 
 
The world is torn in fiery debate whether blackdoll's ban ending or Lycaon's continuing activity is the greatest tragedy the international community will face in 2017. 

Okay, I've gathered my thoughts about the new song.
 
It's roughly five minutes long, It features an electronic and piano intro which leads into a heavy rhythmic strumming section which then gives way to another softer section which utilizes strong echo effects on the guitar. Kyo starts singing the verse. It's clean singing throughout the whole song. It builds up pretty fast into a powerful chorus which strikes decisively positive tone (musically) while Kyo sings away in the expected falsetto style. Back to the verse. leads into a piano section with Kyo singing (again) gentle falsetto. Then a short drum fill which leads into the chorus again. Kyo strained at some shows to reach the high notes while it was utterly effortless at some other. The piano reappears during the end of the chorus which leads into a short piano interlude which then launches back into the heavy rhythmic strumming from the intro and ends the song.
 
I wouldn't say it's anything akin to Jessica or things like that, and while it has a hopeful tinge to it, it doesn't really have the upbeat feel of a track like that. It's a much more mature effort and I would liken it more to a ballad in the vein of LOTUS for example than anything else.

Okay, I've gathered my thoughts about the new song.
 
It's roughly five minutes long, It features an electronic and piano intro which leads into a heavy rhythmic strumming section which then gives way to another softer section which utilizes strong echo effects on the guitar. Kyo starts singing the verse. It's clean singing throughout the whole song. It builds up pretty fast into a powerful chorus which strikes decisively positive tone (musically) while Kyo sings away in the expected falsetto style. Back to the verse. leads into a piano section with Kyo singing (again) gentle falsetto. Then a short drum fill which leads into the chorus again. Kyo strained at some shows to reach the high notes while it was utterly effortless at some other. The piano reappears during the end of the chorus which leads into a short piano interlude which then launches back into the heavy rhythmic strumming from the intro and ends the song.
 
I wouldn't say it's anything akin to Jessica or things like that, and while it has a hopeful tinge to it, it doesn't really have the upbeat feel of a track like that. It's a much more mature effort and I would liken it more to a ballad in the vein of LOTUS for example than anything else.

Okay, I've gathered my thoughts about the new song.
 
It's roughly five minutes long, It features an electronic and piano intro which leads into a heavy rhythmic strumming section which then gives way to another softer section which utilizes strong echo effects on the guitar. Kyo starts singing the verse. It's clean singing throughout the whole song. It builds up pretty fast into a powerful chorus which strikes decisively positive tone (musically) while Kyo sings away in the expected falsetto style. Back to the verse. leads into a piano section with Kyo singing (again) gentle falsetto. Then a short drum fill which leads into the chorus again. Kyo strained at some shows to reach the high notes while it was utterly effortless at some other. The piano reappears during the end of the chorus which leads into a short piano interlude which then launches back into the heavy rhythmic strumming from the intro and ends the song.
 
I wouldn't say it's anything akin to Jessica or things like that, and while it has a hopeful tinge to it, it doesn't really have the upbeat feel of a track like that. It's a much more mature effort and I would liken it more to a ballad in the vein of LOTUS for example than anything else.

MODE of MISSA when????????????????????

Or they're trying to keep the band together by allowing all the members creative outlets outside of the realm of the band? Personally I feel like the band chemistry have gotten a lot better ever since sukekiyo started, for example. 
 
And, the band haven't looked happier together in years than they did on this tour, playing pranks on each other and having real fun while on stage. If this was 2005 I'd be worried about disbandment but right now things are looking bright, at least from an outside perspective.

Or they're trying to keep the band together by allowing all the members creative outlets outside of the realm of the band? Personally I feel like the band chemistry have gotten a lot better ever since sukekiyo started, for example. 
 
And, the band haven't looked happier together in years than they did on this tour, playing pranks on each other and having real fun while on stage. If this was 2005 I'd be worried about disbandment but right now things are looking bright, at least from an outside perspective.

Or they're trying to keep the band together by allowing all the members creative outlets outside of the realm of the band? Personally I feel like the band chemistry have gotten a lot better ever since sukekiyo started, for example. 
 
And, the band haven't looked happier together in years than they did on this tour, playing pranks on each other and having real fun while on stage. If this was 2005 I'd be worried about disbandment but right now things are looking bright, at least from an outside perspective.

Or they're trying to keep the band together by allowing all the members creative outlets outside of the realm of the band? Personally I feel like the band chemistry have gotten a lot better ever since sukekiyo started, for example. 
 
And, the band haven't looked happier together in years than they did on this tour, playing pranks on each other and having real fun while on stage. If this was 2005 I'd be worried about disbandment but right now things are looking bright, at least from an outside perspective.

Or they're trying to keep the band together by allowing all the members creative outlets outside of the realm of the band? Personally I feel like the band chemistry have gotten a lot better ever since sukekiyo started, for example. 
 
And, the band haven't looked happier together in years than they did on this tour, playing pranks on each other and having real fun while on stage. If this was 2005 I'd be worried about disbandment but right now things are looking bright, at least from an outside perspective.

Or they're trying to keep the band together by allowing all the members creative outlets outside of the realm of the band? Personally I feel like the band chemistry have gotten a lot better ever since sukekiyo started, for example. 
 
And, the band haven't looked happier together in years than they did on this tour, playing pranks on each other and having real fun while on stage. If this was 2005 I'd be worried about disbandment but right now things are looking bright, at least from an outside perspective.