digi

Hello, and welcome here!
Nice to see you made an introduction post finally ;o;

Hello, and welcome here.
Make sure to have lots of fun and visit chat sometime ;o;

My brother got me started on the scene as a whole at a young age, introducing me to X Japan, loudness, and even bands like The Piass and Werkmare. I guess since then...my interest for it grew immensely. Of course anime influenced it a lot too, which around that time, I started getting into bands such as Nightmare, Alice Nine, The Gazette etc..
 
To this day, I'm still not even sure how I got into angura and nagoya bands. It's been about 4 years now since I've been interested in it, at least. It's all probably due to me just clicking around on various youtube suggestions. I'm pretty sure it started out with me finding Codomo A, and what not, and then it grew from there. 
 
To be honest, I wouldn't even say I'm apart of the "fandom" (assuming that being in the fandom usually means you actually contribute to it). I just enjoy the music, that's all. 

My eyebrow game was really strong today so have this vile image of my face.
 

My eyebrow game was really strong today so have this vile image of my face.
 

Number one for me would probably have to be Arimura Ryutaro. I adore the child-like vibe his voice gives off when he sings. It's very much fitting to the type of music Plastic Tree play, and it's rather distinctive as well.
 
Number two would be Atsushi Sakurai because I mean....it's Atsushi. You can't not love his voice, haha ;_;
His vocal range is amazing. Sensual, passionate, etc..all that good stuff. Even after all these years, his singing capabilities still astound me every time.
 
Number three...I guess Shuuji Ishii could go in that spot. His voice is quirky, yet smooth. Very fitting to all of his projects. Needless to say, he has a great sense of style to go along with all of his great singing qualities.
 
Honorable mentions include, Yu-dai from SEX-ANDROID, and eiji from codomo A/sanpun/etc etc...They both have great voices. Not to mention, unique as well. Especially Yu-dai. I haven't been too fond of his more raspy vocals here lately, but when he's not doing that, his voice is really melodic and I love it. 

me and my corgi
 

 
aaaaand I have a thing for vk hair so... #yolo
 

 
 

1: Do you buy multiple versions of releases, or buy at all? 

 

Being a jobless teenager sure has it's downsides, so at the moment I buy nothing. As for buying in the future, I highly doubt I'd buy multiple versions. I guess it also depends on the artist, though, but most releases are way too expensive for me to do that.

 

2: Do you collect cheki or other non-music related items from bands?

 

Not as of yet, but I'd like to have band t-shirts in the future. Collecting picks and drumsticks is also that something interests me, but I think cheki is rather pointless. I might collect a few chekis of my favorite artists, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get them all the time.

 

3: Follow them on Ameblo, Twitter?

 

I don't have an ameblo, but I like to check certain artists blogs sometimes. Mainly just for the purpose of looking at some cute pictures of theirs. I follow most of my favorite artists on twitter, simply because I like to read the little bits of information they post. It's a lot better than trying to read through a long blog post on ameblo.

 

4: Would you follow them on the street?

 

I might ask for an autograph, if the time seemed right, but as for following them around...no. I thought that was harassment anyway ;_;

They deserve to be able to walk through the street without being bombarded by fans.

 

5: Dig through their trash? 

 

I didn't even know people did this. Uh, not something I'd do.

 

6: Does Visual Kei or other forms of your musical taste influence your style or personal life?

 

I mean, I studied Japanese for a few years because of Visual Kei making me interested in it. It has of course, made me more interested in fashion, hair, and make up, but other than that...I wouldn't say it's "influenced" anything for me.

 

7: Desire to move or visit Japan influenced by music

 

I'll admit that the idea of moving there is pretty tempting, but I highly doubt I'd be comfortable living there. I'd absolutely love to visit though, and hope to be able to do it one day.

 

8: Do you read dirt-sheets of bands, like rumours, gossip, etc...?

 

 Music is my main priority, of course, but when I need a good laugh I'll read them. 

 

9: Ever fantasize about being friends with band members? 

 

Maybe not fantasize, but I think it'd be kind of neat to hang out with a band member here and there. I doubt I would actually go out of my way to be friends with one, though. It's just something that comes naturally.

 

10: Do you want to be in a Visual Kei band (or any other kind of band)?

 

I would hate to be in an actual poppy-glitzy-sparkly visual band, but I would certainly love to be in some sort of shoegaze or post-punk unit, like G-SCHMITT or nookicky (or maybe even something gothy like velvet eden). Sadly enough, I'm not skilled enough in the instruments I play to do that, so I'll continue staying a fan.

It is done. My greatest life work is complete.
 

Well.... there's DEEP RAVE, who are clearly jumping on the LUNA SEA train.
 

 
I guess their current look is still somewhat oldschool-ish, but a band like that could make pretty much any sort of music nowadays. I wouldn't necessarily expect a LUNA SEA worship band behind that look.
 

 
And there's still the question if and how much the departure of Rumina has changed their sound. I guess we will know soon, they will release a new mini-album next month. (Oddly enough, the new mini-album is self-titled, after their first mini-album having been self-titled as well.... can you get any more confusing? )
 
 
And I recently came across this band (Yes, they have a long-ass number in their name). They have no band photo on their homepage, but the music gives me a strong oldschool vk vibe.
 

I punched the computer monitor 

Haven't visited this thread for a while! It's time to change that;
 

In no particular order.
 
1. PIERROT
2. Noir fleurir
3. Aliene Ma'riage
4. Due'le quartz
5. Malice Mizer
6. Baiser
7. Missalina Rei
8. Kagrra
9. Dir en grey (old school times)
10. Verfe~gorl
 
I am not a die-hard fan of any bands although there are bands I like more than others, but it is the sound (old school VK) that I am more attracted to and that I search for everytime I come across a new band. However, these are the bands the I like the most and listen to the most. Although there are some other bands left behind because it is only ten we can list.

It's really hard to pick JUST ten, but I suppose I'll try. Here goes nothing:
 
Cali Gari - What's not to love about them, really. Older Cali Gari was especially my favorite. Funky, yet catchy all at the same time.
 
guniw tools - I don't even think they count as visual kei, but still. I adore all of FULL's projects ;_;
 
deadman - Mako's voice is incredibly soothing, and so is the instrumentals as well. Really gloomy, just like Jigsaw said, but still great.
 
SEX-ANDROID - May or may not be classified as vk, but whatever they are, they are simply amazing.
 
BUCK-TICK - Ah, Buck Tick. I don't think I need to explain this one, haha.
 
Sandwich de 120 pun? - Eiji projects never fail to amaze me, seriously. Really creepy lyrics, but the music itself is very misleading. I guess beep boops have that certain power ;<
 
guruguru eigakan - Love them to bits and pieces. Quirky as hell, but so great.
 
yazzmad - I wasn't all too fond of them at first, but they've really grown on me since then. Absolutely adore them now
 
Plastic Tree - Really nice, melancholic/shoegaze-y music, that usually puts me into a good mood. Ryutaro has an outstanding voice that lulls me to sleep very easily (in a good way of course). Needless to say, Tadashi's a very talented bassist.
 
HOLLOWGRAM - Yeah, they're pretty new, but the recent release they put out has got me hooked. Flawless. 
 
But yeah, this is just my list. I'd definitely recommend trying out all of these bands if you haven't already~
All of them are really great, and in no particular order.

I wouldn't have expected any less, haha. They seem incredibly friendly.
I'd love to go see them live one day ;_;
(they better play banana when I go!!)

I'd probably die if something even vaguely resembling this ever happened...
 
PLASTIC TREE TRIBUTE
01. Mucc - Melancholic
02. Shilfee & Tulipcorobockles - Zetsubou No Oka (I remember hearing Full cover this song before during his webstream lives, soooo....)
03. Coaltar of the Deepers - Cell (I think Narasaki already contributed to this song)
04. cali≠gari - consent. (Ishii's goatbed influences would fit this song hella well)
05. the god and death stars - Wareta mado
06. LIPHLICH - Tremolo (They'd probably totally change it into something unique)
07. Moran - Utsusemi
08. DOPPEL - Sink
09. DIMMDIVISION - 13th friday
10. Hollowgram - Kuchuu Buranko

Rather surprised I didn't respond to this topic before.
 
Old vk to me, would be anything from '90 to '05, which is certainly a broad range. In that case, I'd most definitely prefer old vk to new any day. New visual kei doesn't do anything for me, to be quite honest. But of course there are some exceptions. 
 
There's something about those old matina/soleil bands losing their shit in a song, and dressing in the gaudiest of artificial leathers, that simply do not compare to the sparkly, glittered-up, boyband-esque bands of today. Needless to say, the music was just as awful then as it is now, but old vk had this certain charm about it that makes it a whole lot more enjoyable as a whole, for me. But then again, maybe I'm just biased towards flour-faced men in PVC attire, recording shitty (yet lovely) music to satisfy my ears.
 
With all that goff matina stuff aside, I also find that the older angura or nagoya bands such as cali gari, mucc, kalimero, or deadman, also stood out to me more than any new vk band ever has. Once again, I find that these two particular subgenres have quite the charm to them. Certainly gives you a sense of nostalgia and immense emotion to listen to artists like these, which is something I like.
 
The musicianship from the older era of things seemed to be of a more excellent quality, in general. In most cases, you can surely sense when there's a lot of feeling and thought put into a song, and I cannot sense that with most things I've heard from the newer spectrum of vk. Not to say the musicianship is horrid here, but it doesn't quite feel the same.
 
This is just my two cents though, and should probably be taken with a grain of salt. I'd to conclude that I'm also very surprised at how many others here prefer the older era.

after departure of Ba.根本コウヘイ(nemoto kouhei) and being on hiatus at 2013/12/01, DISH will resume activities at their live at Imaike CLUB 3STAR at 2014/02/27

Welcomee~
Enjoy your stay, and have fun over here~

lol'd
fag line 2.0

Die Kusse is pretty rad. I liked tsuzuku's outfit in that one :'D
But Shuuei itself, is really unique. And not just the song either. The actual video isn't nearly as boring as some of their others imo

Die Kusse is pretty rad. I liked tsuzuku's outfit in that one :'D
But Shuuei itself, is really unique. And not just the song either. The actual video isn't nearly as boring as some of their others imo

I found my old albums, so I think it was my best hllwn look ever.
2012. 
why no one want to show hllwn looks today? :c

No matter how much we love our favourite artists, there is always that one (or more releases, depending on personal opinions) release which we just can't enjoy, isn't up to par with the rest of their material or is just so plain bad that we wished it had never been printed to disc, mainly because it just stains their entire discography. This is not limited to VK by the way, all Japanese rock counts! This also isn't limited to releases that you considered 'bad'. Mediocre or just general underwhelming releases count too.
 
This can be a whole release, like a single/mini/album, or if you can't think of those, just individual songs that ruined otherwise great releases (that one song that kept you from giving it five stars).
 
I'll start with BUCK-TICK's Yumemiru Uchuu. Even though this album isn't BAD, it's certainly their weakest album yet and apart from a few catchy tracks there is nothing particularly interesting going on, as in most of the previous albums. I find it a bit of a stain on their otherwise fantastic album discography.
 
Next up, lynch.' INFERIORITY COMPLEX. I liked a total of 2 tracks off this album, of which one was a single. The EXODUS EP excluded, I've digged every lynch. release so far, but INFERIORITY COMPLEX was just a really weak album imo that just put me off for quite a bit of time. It felt like it wasn't ready yet, if you know what I mean.
 
Anyway, let loose!
 
NOTE: THE "EVERYTHING RELEASED SINCE..."-THING IS NOT MEANT FOR THIS THREAD, BUT FOR THE "BANDS THAT WENT DOWNHILL"-THREAD. THIS IS SPECIFIED TO ONE OR SEVERAL RELEASES SPREAD OUT THROUGH A BAND'S DISCOGRAPHY THAT YOU STILL CONSIDER AMONG YOUR FAVOURITES.

i know right :'D
He's too cute to have such a powerful voice...
it catches you off guard.