enyx

All link's are time-stamped straight to the solo. Note that I don't rate solo's based on how difficult they are to play, but how they fit the song.

 

I'm amazed that Dir en grey has only been mentioned twice in this thread, and even then one time was only for their older music despite solos becoming increasingly prevalent in their music in recent years. Some of the most notable ones in recent times (in my opinion) are in 

,  , the new version of  , and the new version of .

 

the GazettE are an interesting case, every now and then they throw out an incredible solo such as the one in 影踏み & the solo bonanza in

, and then at other times their solos can feel incredibly dull & uninspired.

 

凛として時雨 have some ridiculously awesome solos too, such as this one from this is is this?

Secret can now be bought on the iTunes store in Japan. Also contains previews & track lengths.

https://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/miyavi/id649989596

HaKU's new song is stupendously awesome 

 

People on tumblr are reporting that Kyo was hospitalized after yesterday's show for tonsillitis and a really high temp. 

Why break up sfp to start a new band that sounds exactly like sfp...

 

This is entirely my opinion and I don't really have anything to substantiate it with other than gut-feeling, but I don't think sfp or Yumi in particular had a good relationship with their label after they went major. Look at how many singles (especially anime crossovers) they made after going major and how samey they all sounded (I swear half of amp-reflection sounds like the same song being looped over and over). Now compare that with everything they did while they were independent when every song sounded unique and different in its own way. 

 

When they announced their disbandment Yumi said that she wanted SFP to stop making music "while it was still beautiful", I kinda think she was referring to label interference and wanting to get back to being free to write what she wanted to again, rather than having to throw out another generic anime opening every few months. Once again that's just my opinion and I don't have any proof to back any of it up, so take it with a grain of salt.

For fans of school food punishment, Yumi Uchimura's new band just put out their newest demo. It's pretty awesome.

 

http://youtu.be/7kEZYnqOIc8

I think the combination of leaving PS Company, joining EMI, getting married and becoming a father has really helped MIYAVI mature a lot. Since WHAT'S MY NAME? came out it feels like he's been on a roll and he seems to be really enjoying himself, which is being reflected in his music.

 

I'm glad to see DAY 1 is being redone for this album, I feel like that song had so much more potential that wasn't fully realized. I remember reading a comment by YUKSEK around the time that SAMURAI SESSIONS was released where he stated that he and MIYAVI only had (correct me if I'm wrong) 2 days to write the single, and I think that is reflected a little in the song itself.

 

Justice sounds hella cool, I can't wait to hear how it sounds in the album with all the EDM stuff thrown in. Hell No doesn't do anything for me just yet though.

I second that recommendation for HaKU, great band. They have a new mini-album coming out in June too.

 

I assume you're already aware of TK from 凛として時雨's

? If not, I definitely suggest giving that a try too.

 

Since you listed school food punishment, have you heard about Yumi Uchimura's new band,

? They only have one demo out atm, they sound very similar to sfp.

 

toe are also a fantastic band. A lot of their work is instrumental, but they occasionally use vocals on a few tracks. They also have one of the most beautiful PV's ever:

This is really awesome news. JPU did a great job with DIVISION (getting it into HMV, magazine covers, etc) so I'm really glad that they're going to bring us Ling's stuff now too. I love the fact that they seem like actual music fans themselves rather than just a business that's only in it for the money. I'll definitely support this release since I wasn't able to import the Japanese one.

Very excited for this. MIYAVI is one of those musicians that just oozes creativity and I think he's matured a lot since getting married, becoming a father, joining EMI, etc. SAMURAI SESSIONS vol.1 was slightly disappointing in terms of it's length (I mean it was promoted as an album rather than an EP, which is weird) but the quality of the songs themselves was fantastic. 

 

If this album focuses more on the electronic stuff that he's been flirting with lately then I'd be pretty happy. AHEAD OF THE LIGHT was an awesome single and FUTURISTIC LOVE is one of my favourite tracks of his in recent years.

I never understood the level of hate for REDEEMER. Sure it has some of their weakest tracks such as HORIZON and 夜空, but I also thought it had some of their best like PARADOX 5 and R.E.M-冬の幻聴-. It's definitely their most inconsistent album and overall I'd consider it a step down compared to their previous work but that doesn't change the fact that there are some fantastic individual tracks on it, it definitely has higher points than MONSTERS at least.

HaKU posted another live PV teaser from their upcoming mini-album「wonderland」

 

 

For those that missed the first live PV teaser they put up (for a different song, no less) you can watch/listen here /watch?v=EUfYWpqmQjI

Thanks for the welcomes guys. I checked out LAGITAGIDA and they remind me a lot of Liquid Tension Experiment, pretty cool. 

 

Hi and welcome! also like HaKU Myself .

Then you, my friend, are awesome. 

Newbie here. I've been looking for a place to discover and keep up to date with new music for a while and this place seems pretty decent. I've already posted in a couple of threads but I guess I might as well "officially" introduce myself.

 

So yeah, name's Pho3nyx (since somebody else already took Phoenix >_>) and I first got introduced to the Japanese music scene around the beginning of 2009 when I stumbled upon DIR EN GREY, who I instantly fell in love with and who has remained one of my favourite bands since. I started off listening mostly to bands associated with the Visual Kei scene, such as the GazettE and D'espairsRay, but over the last year or so I've drifted more towards the indie scene, including bands like HaKU, toe, Prague and 雅-MIYAVI-'s recent material. I just discovered School Food Punishment and absolutely love what I'm hearing... it just sucks that they disbanded already, anybody know any similar sounding bands that are still active?

 

Aside from Japanese music I like a lot of other stuff, I guess some favourite bands include Metallica, Opeth and Enter Shikari as well as a few EDM artists such as Gemini or Xilent.

 

So yeah, that's me! I guess I'll see you guys around.

I'm a little sad that

and have only been mentioned once each in this thread, check the links if you haven't heard them before!

 

Anyway, I've been definitely enjoying indie bands more than Visual Kei lately. A lot of VK bands seem to be recycling the same material over and over, even the ones that I feel used to be innovators in the genre (the GazettE spring to mind). Maybe it's just my tastes developing over time.

 

I recently discovered School Food Punishment and Tokyo Jihen but it's kinda disheartening knowing that neither of them are likely to produce any new material going forward. Can anyone think of any other female-fronted bands with a similar sort of sound/style to these two bands? Preferably ones that are active and have easily-obtainable music (i.e. their music is available on iTunes or uploaded on an official Youtube channel, etc)?

Ashamed to say that I only listen to Kagrra, and L'Arc from that list. Probably should give some of those bands a listen.

 

Imagine the new (supposedly 16 minutes long) MACABRE with this level of quality, both musically and in terms of the production values (I think this is Tue Madsen's best mix with them so far). 

Well that sounded awesome. 

I'm very interested to see what happens here, Hizumi has one of the strongest voices in the Japanese Rock scene IMO. Even if he doesn't have a full band alongside him, I.E. making music along the lines of Screen (single version) and Yami ni Furu Kiseki (Classical White version), I'd be happy.

The preview is too short to make a proper judgement, but it sounds decent enough to keep me excited. I'm not sure what to make of Kaoru claiming that the songs haven't been changed too much. I love these remakes mostly because of how different they sound, some of them are more like "re-imaginations" than remakes, per se. Even if I don't like a remake as much as the original, it's always interested to see how they change.