Glamour

Anyone been to a ZiZ live lately? Are they decent? They sucked at Ikebukuro Chop last year.

Thanks for those. By distortions, I meant the song will sound like it is breaking. As if the CD is skipping, or there is an error, or it degenerates.

Interested in hearing which songs people have found that contain distortions. By this, I mean examples such as: DEVI+TEC - ヴィデオドローム CELL - 殺意の前 Neue Ziel - 世界消失 Also, from a band that doesn't specialize in cool sounds like that like FLOPPY or メトロノーム (but E'm～grief～ is good). Also, tracks that contain SFX of varieties like: Metis Gretel - †Metamorphose† KISAKI PROJECT - 飼い主は犬 Atmos*note - 眠れない仔猫／The ethereal image お遊戯ゎが魔々団×【PaRADEiS】 - 幼き双子の秘密 Dué le quartz - Monochrome E'm～grief～ - In paradism ～淡い色彩～ Also, tracks in a release that link together. For instance, a song on track 1 doesn't end, and instead sort of continues into track 2. Examples include: 陰陽座 - 焔之鳥 → 鳳翼天翔 SKULL - karma → voice Vanish - Glad Eye → 極彩色 カメレオ - マジカルドリンク → 「バカ・・・バカ・・・バカ・・・」 Chaos†System - Hallucination → Needle Play～鉄の処女 Episode 2～ (Could also include songs that have very different sounds within one track i.e. Mix Speaker's,Inc. - Friday Night Party!!! ～Digital Romance, 凸凹珍道中, MASK DE NIGHT～) I wasn't able to provide many examples (or perhaps, not even the best), but I hope you understand the type of things I'm looking for. The examples I've provided were the only songs I could think of at the top of my head. But, I know I've listened to many others. You may notice many of these are V系 examples, so those are encouraged. Thanks!

Wanted to somewhat make a random comment about transcodes without making a new thread or updating one from years ago. Personally, I found myself to believe that transcodes were something that should be avoided at all costs. However, lately, I've come to the conclusion that they're just fine. While I'd prefer something ripped in higher quality, the quality can sometimes be quite discernible. This is comparing transcodes to 256/320Kbps rips through Bose heaphones as well as a decent car sound system. I've even found certain 320Kbps rips that double rainbow across Spek sound much worse than even 192Kbps rips. Considering ripping can be made so customizable, I'm sure many people are just not configuring the rip settings correctly, adding balance to the volume when it's not needed and such. Originally, I thought this term meant something that was ripped through Youtube. Now, that's something I don't want. Though, even HQ rips through Youtube are proving to sound better than all of that old VK mess many of us have ranging from the late 80s to late 90s; you know, the tape rips and other rips done when quality wasn't as prominent (many are 128Kbps). Anyway, it's not an important subject; just wanted to comment on it. We're lucky to be able to listen to the songs at all provided they are no where else to be heard. I missed touching on several other subjects regarding the matter (filetypes: wma, flac, etc.), but I'm not looking for a response or anything. I'll just leave it as that for now. (And if you do feel the need to respond, I'll gladly hit any points or arguments you have to make.)

Band too good. Must disband immediately.

コテコテなV系、 古いか新しい、 真V系へ向かう方法。 意図から

Visual kei is all you need. NO VISUAL KEI, NO LIFE.

Feels like a big loss, but it's not so bad. I did like the website design. Too bad it's going.

What I learned about Visual Kei when I went to my first live show around a decade ago: The fan base (that attend live shows at least) consists of over 99% female.

Interesting line-up. KANZAKI real potential, though. Especially liked MARRY+AN+BLOOD and the "TOKYO" and "HEART". 極東の恋人 feels like something a band should finish with. This may hint at the style the band will be. Still glad this song is still being performed, though. From RIBBON, to ANUBIS, to this. I was hoping for 真夜中ノ黒イ太陽 as well, though. My favorite RIBBON song.

Hope Shaura will find a new 2 year band soon.

I find lyrics to be not so important versus the actually melody. I've heard good lyrics, bad, and lyrics that are confusing to understand and can be interpreted in more than one way (See: Rocket Man). Regardless of the lyrics, I will usually like the song if it's got a good melody. I don't believe there is any song that holds a good melody that I won't listen to because it goes against one of my views or something (I'm pretty lenient). Likewise, a song with good lyrics that holds a bad melody will be forgotten most likely.

I'm scared, honestly.

Well, most things have been said already, so I'll just add my two cents. When I mention I'm a fan of VK to Japanese friends, they usually tell me they enjoy Janne de Arc, Gackt and stuff. And they don't know what Acid Black Cherry is. Again, most of these things have been mentioned already. I've been to many live shows, and if there is a male in the crowd, it's either just me, or one other. That male was either taken there by their female friends, or is not straight. I'll take one recent example of a indie live show I attended at Shibuya o-nest. The indie show included around 8 bands; I went to see 8-eit personally. None of the bands were anything close to being visual, 8-eit being the closest, but I was expecting a generally varied crowd by the time they appeared. But, they were the last band to play and by this time, the many men that had attended the show had left the room and I was the only guy in the room. Anyway, I enjoyed the live performance thoroughly and I think you'll find many more males online that enjoy VK then you'd find in Japan. Because the genre (or sub-genre, if you want) is unique and the closest thing we have to it is glam rock. I do find it a bit surprising the VK scene is not more familiar to anyone generally interested in rock music, though the genres of course vary. Reason being is that a VK band is seemingly formed every week. But, the amount of disbands somehow are more common. Anyway, the venues of the VK bands are always small. Unless it's a major band such as the GazettE, the band will be playing in one of the common tiny livehouses like Ruido K3, Holiday Shinjuku, and so on. Takadanobaba AREA is actually quite large compared to these, but you'll still be shoulder to shoulder with other people. That's the only thing not good about these tiny venues. Often you'll be limited to standing in a single spot and if you're to move, someone is going to fall over. Personally, VK has been a large part of my musical past. One reason (of many) that I also enjoy it, is because it's indie and the fan bases for some of these extremely obscure bands can be very small, but the music performed can be priceless. They're like hidden gems. Perhaps this is going on for too long, but I'm just typing what is coming to mind. Perhaps I'll add more later.