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saiko

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Everything posted by saiko

  1. Thus said, seriously, I think the main reason why VK bandoman usually don't go all the way telling their bangya they are actually married is, aside from the specificities of Japanese artist mangaments, because they are actually non-straight in most cases.
  2. Right? Moreover, I smell this could have to do with the suddenly massive-closing of VK stores. Like VK fandom started to stretch out and managements are doing their best effort to keep their signed artists 'appealing' to the bangya that left in the scene?
  3. So, suddely bandoman are getting pushed by their managements to start covering their own asses pre-announcing they are already married so their bangya won't be delusioned after knowing it by themselves? Takemasa Kujo marked precedent over the subject, I think.
  4. saiko

    Singer is terrible
  5. saiko

    K-Pop is a very broad term. I assume that here we are using it to refer to "gender-band pop" music as much as the common sense does, so I'm going to use it that way, too. I like K-Pop because of two reasons. First, the visual one. K-pop is always eye-candy. I just love watching their high-skilled dancing moves; some of them are nearly acrobatic. Then, I like their looks and tbh they are really beautiful and hot to watch, both guys and girls.I can't deny it, lol. And also they have kinda sophisticated looks in terms of hair and clothes, so it's always pleasant to look at them dance. Then, there is their approach to pop music. I like their music, indeed, and that's because they have 'that' sense of melody and harmony that makes them sound 'South-korean' although you can really hear many arrangements that sometimes are just ripped-off a Rihanna, Ariana Grande or Taylor Swift song. I mean, you really can't expect, in matters of cultural contact and exchange, a product to be the "exact" repliqué or the copy of its inspiration source in other culture. Cultural phenomenons are always objects of "reception" within a discourse that is always different from the discourse of the origin, so a full "copy" can never happen but a re-signification and re-placement of it in a whole new perspective. So, K-pop is 'Ariana Grande', but isn't 'Ariana Grande' at the same time. The same happens with VK; you can definitely hear the Bauhaus or Slipknot influence, yet you know at the same time that you choose Dir en grey or the Gazette because they actually sound not only 'Japanese' but also 'visual kei'. I'd like to explain here what is that thing that I my ears feel like 'South-korean', but I haven't had the time to analyze it as much as I did with VK... Finally, let me be clear over some stuff: Yes, K-pop is mainstream oriented, thus very conformism-inducing, massive-identification oriented, and blablabla everything else you could argue about it pointing out its flaws as a social phenomenon, and probably I couldn't agree more with you. Yes, I'm also aware of their slave-like treatment and deeply reject it... I assume the contradiction and it'll be very interesting to discuss it.
  6. saiko

    Btw, welcome! Enjoy your state here!
  7. saiko

    I've given the same opinion here is MH a few times... BPR is pushing their artist stuff really hard. In the case of Kiryu, their releases after "Akai mi hajiketa" started to got gradually uninteresting; just pieces of their many clichés combined in different ways, like a patch-work. So their visuals. Of course, technical execution and videoand music recording/mixing are always decent, and the composition can be overall-ejoyable, because you are there to listen to Kiryu's unique approach to visual kei themes. But thus it becomes REALLY repetitive and less 'genuine', I lost quickly my interest; I mean they can't become memmorial like 'Kyouka suigetsu', 'Etsu to utsu', 'Amaterasu'. Just fillers. I wonder if this situation could be considered at least a partial influence in the recent wave of VK stores closing (which can be assumed to point out the suddenly lack of interest of people who were recently into VK).
  8. So, I've suddenly remembered some names that totally fell out of my radar and that of every VK community I'm into:

     

    -Doremidan

    -Chemical pictures

    -Jinkaku radio

    -Sex android

     

    Do any of you guys recall anything about any of them? I was never enthusiast about their music tbh, except for one or two tracks by two of them. I was just so busy discovering An cafe and Ayabie, hehe. Now I've just looked up for them in Youtube and got surprised over some live videos with important amounts of crowd, which I suppose means they weren't irrelevant though they surely weren't big acts. 

     

    Btw, 'that' 2006-2009 sound... man, what a strange feeling I'm getting... Tfw some apparently innocuous thing of the past becomes suddenly relevant in the present...

     

    ... then thinking about Yumeleep or 0.1mg no gosan makes everything more confusing and embarrasing... 

    1. Paraph

      Paraph

      second those Doremidan recos. they're the only two i own from the band and imo are their best.

    2. Jigsaw9

      Jigsaw9

      Doremidan were great, just reading their name really takes me back! :D I've never been super into them, but I remember spinning their "Retsujou Lullaby" mini album A LOT back when I was just diving into this whole vk business.

       

      Jinkaku Radio was a really cool group too, very nice moody/melancholic sound. Again, I wasn't a huge fan but one song of theirs that will always remain with me is "Nejimaki dori". ♥ (the live version is amazing too)

       

      I really dug Chemical Pictures when they started out and they were truly in their prime back when Jimi was the bassist (you could tell his fine-tuning went a long way!). After he left I gradually lost interest in them... they were still okay but nowhere near as fun. Solid band overall tho, very creative!

    3. saiko

      saiko

      Thank you guys! I'll check your recos out immediately!

    4. Show next comments  39 more
  9. Kanon was An Cafe's biggest composer, guy's really talented doing that and also a great bass player! Btw, love the otaku motif that his music regularly include! Totally looking forward!
  10. What is "menhera kei"? And how does it 'sound' like?

    1. platy

      platy

      Menhera kei = yumeleep. Look at all the cute in their videos, you'd never think they were singing about dying and being fucked in the head. Also the singer loves giving the middle finger. 

    2. monkeybanana4

      monkeybanana4

      Here is more about the fashion style and culture of menhera kei that @Komorebi mentioned earlier: https://fymenhera.tumblr.com/info

       

      I think the band gozenreiji. fits the theme? The singer tends to talk about wrist cutting.

    3. Peace Heavy mk II

      Peace Heavy mk II

      AvelCain, R-shitei, Amai Bouroku, Savage, Depain, Meary, Zigzag, Gossip (both old and new, to an extent), 0.1g Gosan, Mathilda (kinda), Yumeleep, SHELLMY (probably), and probably 3-dozen other bands would fall somewhere onto that spectrum. It seems to be less of a subgenre, rather than an aesthetic, although bands that fall under it tend to sound like R-shitei or Savage.

       

      I know it's been used within the scene itself, so I don't think it's solely a web-generated term (Meary had an album named "Menheler-ism", and there was a history of vkei video the lead singer of Golden Bomber was in where they discussed how today's vkei uses "mental illness as a subject" or something to that extent). Mental illness and self-harm are definitely not new subjects in vkei, or music in general. The concept has just been more stylized and #branded than it has been in the past. Had time been rearranged, groups like Mucc or Earl Grey probably would have been considered part of that scene just based on lyrical content.

    4. Show next comments  39 more
  11. Within what band has Kyoki came back to the scene?
  12. Has Mamo gotten any better today? I love a lot of R-shitei stuff, but seriously, dude doesn't hit a SINGLE note -totally into Sakito(Due le quartz)-level league! It's painful to listen to! 

     

     

    Since they haven't put out many live videos, maybe someone actually looking forward them in Japan could answer this.

    1. sleepy coffee

      sleepy coffee

      i have to imagine hes probably gotten better since 2013 but idk im always weary of vocalists who scream a bit cause i just assume theyre throat is always destroyed for live performances 

    2. saiko

      saiko

      Right? But since R-shitei became very "pretty-but-edgy-boy pop" oriented, thus catered to people who want to see pretty boys and dance... He is very good-looking indeed, and he does have a good in-character performance, so maybe he or even his managment hasn't considered vocal improving a priority, haha. 

  13. My god, how come I never had an interest for Gotcharoka?! VK guitarist never looked SO skilled and 'showmanshiped' like Jun! Also, just those solo-clips gave me goosebumps about every song in the setlist -chord progressions look gorgeous like no release VK in the last time!-.

     

     

    Totally digging Gotcharoka starting tomorrow!

     

     

    1. Komorebi

      Komorebi

      They are really skilled and it shows. These guys are pretty amazing.

    2. anadentone

      anadentone

      Jun and Jui are hot and awesome . Plus neither looks like they're damn near 40 either.

  14. saiko

    I want you to have a long and awesome debate with @Zeus over the fate of VK in the next ten years.
  15. R-shitei may have some of the most beautiful ballads ever composed within VK. So tragic, yet so sweet and innocent, that I makes the pain induced even worse... 

     

     

  16. saiko

    You know, last week after realizing that I had posted here I returned to them and could confirm that, excluding 'Sakura Trance Destiny', every other track is painful to listen to.
  17. saiko

    I'm curious about what bands have you seen falling after proving they are "good", because this is something I've thinking enough recently. While meritocracy isn't itself more than a fantasy -thus the next I'm going to say could sound a bit pretentious, I know- I 'feel' that in the VK scene, if you prove that you actually have good skills and/or propose something of really 'artistic' value, it won't cost you that much to reach success within your project (when I say "success" I don't aim necessarily at being famous whitin the mainstream market in any way, of course). This isn't something to be just applied to explain every single case of an artist in the scene, but I think we can agree in some generalities. As far as I'm concerned, the 'classics', or even the considered 'famous' bands (which in both cases we can assume are succesful projects for their members, i.e. they can pay bills with it going on), were bands that offered something more-less 'new' and more-less did it pretty well, at least in their beginning- you could say they were 'inspiring' bands. So, in those cases, I find it really difficult for them to 'fall' after that; of course fame can easy come and easy go and one day you fall outside the spotlight, but look at Deluhi, for example: as one member said on their thread, they sold out two venues ten years after disbanding...
  18. I've been wanting to discuss this topic for a long time. Fundamentally since, in the last ten years or so, the ratio of what in this forum has been called "formulaic VK stuff" has increased considerably, which, on the other hand it is closely linked to a phenomenon that has also recently appeared, and that in this forum has been called "idol kei". Of course, as many here quote repeatedly, the abandonment of adolescence does not cease to be a powerful motive in this situation, since it makes the condition of possibility (necessary, though not sufficient) so that one can remove the veils of idealization deposited on certain music or artist (and realize how badly done or executed some productions were; for me an example of it was Ryohei-era ayabie). Finally, in the verge of the end of the decade, another reason is my concern about the fate of the VK in the 2020's, considering that since the second half of the '10 has not thrown some real "quality" or "novelty", something that can be established at the level of "classic", as it actually happened with some releases put out in the period of 2008-2013. It is not easy to discuss all these issues, I imagine, for several issues: perhaps it can hurt the emotions of some users of this forum who, in fact, are very comfortable enjoying the said idealization of certain artists. On the other hand, talking about this with some minimum measure of ownership requires a listening by a broad repertoire of VK, which has at least something from each of its eras (at least the "classics"). And also, it requires some knowledge (at least intuition) about aspects related to composition, instrumental performance, recording, live performance, the dynamics of the consumer market, etc. As, to my pleasant surprise, I have found in this forum people who speak (or at least try) from this knowledge, is that I come to open this thread here in MH. Anyway, I hope that no one is deprived of writing here, contributing from what he/she has and his/her interests. I think that it is best to start on by discussing some basic concepts, instead of directly delving into anything else: 1) What are the indicators that make a song "ghostwritten" for you? And that it is not? 2) What are the indicators that make a band "idol kei"? And that it is not? 3) Where would you put its birth date? 4) Do they qualify as "good music" or not? Do you enjoy them? Do not? 5) Does it seem to you that this certain music goes "against" (to put it somehow) of certain "well-being" of the scene, or of the music itself? 6) Why are you still listening to VK in the 2010s? Are your reasons the same as before? What does it give you that other music does not give you? I read you!
  19. Kujo Takemasa's drama can't get me more triggered! 

     

    Is it the end of Kiryu?

     

    Juicy drama, cooome oooverrr 

     

     

    1. saiko

      saiko

      Also, dislikes on the video keep going up

    2. yomii

      yomii

      well they already announced new single so he won't be kicked out from the band immediately it seems. but if he would, idk, i can't imagine kiryu without him and i'm not even a fan, so i don't think kiryu would last long without him. hope things will just cool down with time

    3. Gesu

      Gesu

      I don't think he'd be kicked out, anyways. If Kiryu ever had to go on without Takemasa, I imagine it'd be because he left of his own accord. I wouldn't blame him, tbh. He doesn't deserve any of this. Whatever he chooses to do is up to him, but no matter what he does, I don't think the Tanuki shitlords would be satisfied. If he stays in Kiryu, they'd get mad because they don't think their idols should have love lives if they're still active. If he left, they'd get mad because their idol left. The only way to please these people is to be single even if you don't want to be and not have a voice, which is pretty terrible, but that's just the way it goes, I'm afraid.

  20. How come Seth made it to reach the TV??? What kind of anime is this? Also, mega regia Miyoshi💜
  21. Btw, many comments on the video seem to be large, so is anyone offering him/herself to translate some of them for us to know the gya's opinion on the subject?
  22. So he married her because her father died... So what? Good lord, Oedipus complex still strikes the life of a human being even in 2019 Japan. Oh Freud, we are not worth a bit of your genius... Btw, man, I can't even listen to a full song without thinking on the cringy Youtuber thing, the more and more shitty realeses they've have been compulsively putting out, Mahiro going blind, this guy having to make a 'serious' public statement about being married trought social media... Poor Kiryu, what have market donde to you?
  23. What can someone that actually were there say about this? To my surprise and sadness, I find the performance very, like VERY boring. The stage is nearly deserted, just their logo flag and no even a minimum light play, everyone looks like wandering on their own, Aoi looks really disconnected of what is happening around him, and the setlist has the same hit songs that I got tired of listening to... I was planning to buy tickets for me and my band buddies, to finally convince them to use some make-up lol. I haven't bought them yet. Do you think it'll be worth doing it?
  24. Someone please write down their setlist here!
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