colorful人生

ouch. give me at least a month after Blu-Billion, guys 😭 LEZARD has been amazing since Sora joined, but I can see how something like this could happen since their concepts were all over the place.

I feel like some of my best moments of exploration (musically) for me are the ones where I get completely thrown out of my element and neurons just fire off trying to hear something familiar. That internet frenzy/journey where you get the "familiar" things piecemeal and have to immerse yourself in new stuff is really stimulating, but that process requires time that I'm constantly having to shift around b/c life. While not trying to sound r/imverysmart here, it's hard to find other people who appreciate the granularity and variability that music has. I'm not just talking about the music theory or "sound quality", but culture and lyricism -which by the way, includes more than just diction (which can be one of those make or break things for some people), but ideas. I find most people paint you as "liberal" (which while accurate by definition, is now packaged with political leftness) or an "oddity" if you show interest at my level. (not saying either term is bad, but it's that snap judgement stuff that is bothersome) Going from "niche" places like certain video game music and visual kei to finding appreciation in the main "bastions" of hip-hop, jazz, bluegrass, folk, etc. (and explore diff. sub-genres/"flavors" w/in them) was the best thing I ever did. Beyond making things more exciting, it has (as I've mentioned in other posts) helped me build connections easier. I just wish that enthusiasm or interest in exploration was reciprocal, but maybe i'm expecting too much.

SLAPP BONUS:

so like how k-netizens spam kpop fancams in irrelevant threads, we just spam embedded vk tiktoks (which is basically just that)...

https://www.tiktok.com/tag/visualkei https://www.tiktok.com/tag/v系 ...

vk's largest active demographic is domestic and centered around live venues and night life (hosts, etc.) any cultural references basically go over foreigners heads, the music has never been meant/directed for a global market. vk's propagation and global interest stemmed from its parallels to emo culture (i'm talking about '06~ish onwards), which in its current form has merged with the hip-hop scene and barely resembles what it once was aesthetically. we're "old" dawg, like the median age here late-20's to 30's. it's natural to see things come and go, musically. preface to reference something that has risen drastically in popularity... mainstream k-pop's popularity was a manufactured process. it was something heavily funded (in the millions) by the government ("soft power") after the asian financial crisis from 97'-98'. the more you put in, the more you get out. japan's counterpart to this hallyu push, c o o l j a p a n , has been noted as a massive failure with money pouring out w/ little-to-no direction. mainstream j-pop evolves at snail's pace, and still pushes the same saccharine, lackadaisical tunes that simply appease the public b/c "stability in sales = best" and they don't like taking risks (ex. the AKB48 group groups.) granted there are indie acts/artists on the rise that show musical evolution japan is starting to embrace music streaming services and more bands are putting music out on spotify and apple music vk is sharply increasing its presence on mainstream SNS platforms with global following (shift from ameba/ameblo to twitter + insta.) utaite and nnd-like stuff is increasingly popular w/ western zoomer e-culture + memes... and *cough* TikTok *cough* what could happen japan needs to take more risks in mainstream jpop promotion for heightened global interest, and instead of trying to emulate the kpop sound, they should try and put money in the right place like korea did. when mainstream stuff gets popular, indie follows suit youtube is a powerful tool that has become increasingly popular in japan. take advantage of the platform. rev up that SEO and tackle that youth insatiability for music discovery by releasing targeted videos. perhaps they could collaborate with the rising utaite on the site w/ global recognition (ex. mafumafu) ex. vambi who was the vocalist of LOG, a band that did pretty meh under B.P, is now a youtuber w/ 1.83 million subscribers and making bank. the "Adore you～キミヲ想フ声～" MV is now at 2 mil+ views, with most coming after the band's disbandment visual kei would have to completely change into something that it's not, palatable enough for global consumption... ...so what's really going to happen nothing. the music industry is doing just fine and japan's "galápagosization" or "island mentality" hasn't really costed them. vk making some sort of western resurgence is a pipe dream, and only future iterations of the genre "might" attract interest again.

lmao, finally found my turntable.fm and last.fm profiles that I screenshotted ages ago...

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I've followed Seika from (discovering) bis to Blu-Billion, so I'm really gutted that he can't perform anymore (reminds me a bit of how Yukimi left the scene.) My interest in the band has tapered off over the years, but they've had some really iconic releases. ;_;

DIMLIM disbands b/c the band is unstable af. Sho will move onto another non-vk deathcore band (probably in the following year) that gets super popular. ACME, contrary to their current "wE aRE VisUaL kEI" messaging, will continue to dip in the BMTH playbook and become less "visual kei" as the year progresses whilst continuing to play random anime-con gigs overseas. After two releases, everything starts to lull out before they go for one really "off brand" concept, they end up disbanding by the end of the year b/c of musical differences. R-Shitei won't get back together for at least 5 years. Mamo becomes a soloist and continues to sell clipped fingernails to gya like traditional chinese medicine. CHOKE chokes. the Raid. and アルルカン release the same song for the 5th year in a row... -and the crowd likes it b/c of stockholm syndrome the songs aren't bad at all tbh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Smileberry disbands b/c using barely edited stock images for album art is a bad sign late-game. Also that last music video, yeesh. Yo_shiT makes a return to visual kei... maybe to do some production stuff for ダウト. As for an actual band, a man can dream. not good enough! Yoshiki collaborates with a K-pop group... or a shitty J-pop group masquerading as a K-pop group. Somehow gets in close proximity of the Pope (as mentioned above) and yeets his hat off to reveal the new X album balancing on top of his bald head like the prospects of a new X album. One band being involved in a car accident or a member getting caught with weed. More visual kei vocal talent is leeched off into the utaite and vlogger world, b/c YouTubebux. SID and Acid Black Cherry return with releases. ... One member leaves the GazettE

So... ...and will be at Coachella... 🤔

self-described as an "electronic rock band that comes from a southern island". very 2020 my dudes. BONUS:

They really need to omit the whole "Peace Be With You" + handshake thing when half the church is coughing their asses off. Immediately came down with a shitty cold the next day, and I'm still having to take Dayquil... Need to replace the holy water with some hand sanitizer.

Akira from F.A.B (Free Aqua Butterfly), who was one of the guitarists of Pengking, tweeted that he was told by police it was only a collapse from a heart attack at the time. Took about half-a-month from the efforts of Hikaru (also Gt.) and a handful of other people to finally get media attention on the incident. Shit sucks, man : ( .

BONUS:

BONUS:

it's a play on Royz' "Kuroageha" in the form of "Kuroageman". Kuro (Black) + Ageman which is a woman who brings good luck to men (?) As for the blackface, it's likely just the 黒ギャル (Kurogyaru) style (I could be stretching and it's probably just for color-sake, like literally the color black), which can be a bit off-putting. It's entirely based on a literal name-pun, and they somehow came up with enough content to make song, lmao.* Honestly, this is more entertaining than Royz' recent offerings o3o . *I feel like they focus entirely on the nameplay/"luck" aspect here, but I'm not recognizing/understanding any actual Royz references (outside the visuals and music), if any exist.

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BONUS:

YO- They finally made CHAO IN SPACE like 20 years later. This warmed the cockles of my heart, enough to where I broke out my old SA2B save file I ripped from my GC memory card many years ago via Wii homebrew. This chao, "Anakin", could possibly be as old as some of the members/lurkers here (got the game in early '03.) I never had pets growing up, so this was the closest thing to them att. Spent many, many hours in the Chao Garden...

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