hiroki

For the purposes of this discussion, I guess we're mainly interested in visual kei and j-rock, but feel free to bring in other kinds of music if you like. So, the main topic here is: How important are lyrics to you? Do you feel that lyrics are essential to your appreciation of a song? Or are they completely peripheral and you can fully "connect" with the music despite not understanding its lyrics? Have you ever felt that the language barrier interferes with your experience? And if you're someone who understands Japanese, do you find that lyrics add another dimension to your experience, or is it at best ornamental? The above are simply some clusters of sub-questions that might be of interest (of course you don't have to respond to everything). I really look forward to everyone's opinions!

SINCREA-esque ballads plz....

Why do you say that "visual kei in and of itself is very conformist"? I'm genuinely intrigued by this and not trying to be an ass The reason I asked is because you've been saying that visual kei resists definition (which I agree). My own take is quite similar to yours actually - that visual kei is kind of a negative definition, that can only be defined over and against the "other". But in saying that visual kei is conformist - does that not suggest that there's some kind of essential "core" (presumably some basic principles to which every or at least most bands conform) that can be incontestably pinned down and labelled "visual kei"?

The last listenable single for me was Deus ex machina. I won't want them to disband, but for goodness' sake, plz make less forgettable music ><

Judging by the price, it's the Limited Edition (3990 yen). Just to be doubly sure, I've also checked the serial number for it and it's indeed the LE ^^

There's also Mnemosyne if you want some tech-noir, but I haven't watched it so I can't tell you whether it's worth the time (maybe someone else here can). I only know it as the anime for which Galneryus did OP and ED, lol.

Doubt it's disbandment lol, given how many activities they have lined up for their 10th anniversary It's prob an official announcement of some special tour, release and/or event for their 10th year..

Seems like the one on CDJapan is limited edition ver.: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=NNCR-77

1. UVERworld 2. Aqua Timez 3. Galileo Galilei 4. NICO Touches the Walls 5. Kids Alive 6. Galneryus 7. flumpool 8. UNISON SQUARE GARDEN 9. TMR 10. SPYAIR

so sad.. i liked their first single ;_; hopefully they will return as a stronger unit.

★NOハウス and "90s visual"? lol, something doesn't square here, but I'm still excited to see what they can come up with!

Tribute to vistlip 1. Night Parade - ギルド One of the most technical vistlip songs in terms of overall dynamic range. Sounds like something Ryuichi will be able to pull off with his fantastic execution, but Umi's harsh vocals might be a problem though.. XD 2. 影鬼 - 摩天楼オペラ This song requires tremendous emotional depth to invoke the psychological condition of the schizophrenic "oni". Matenrou Opera gets my pick here. 3. 零 - baroque There's quite literally no second choice to be had here. This song almost sounds like it's written and tailored for baroque, particularly Ryo's vocals. 4. OBLATE SCREEM - Plastic Tree Surreal, dreamy, and atmospheric. Totally Pura. 5. STRAWBERRY BUTTERFLY - Dolly Thematically speaking, there's no better band to do this song than Dolly. I can see them transporting us right into the fable-ish setting of how a young innocent child registers the world. 6. 深海魚の夢は所詮、 - ALSDEAD Regardless of which band I pick to cover this it's always going to turn out significantly different from the original, but I'm very interested in how an ALSDEAD rendition will sound like. 7. SINDRA - girugamesh In my dreams, I KNOW. One of vistlip's heavier songs, and I'll prob die from ecstasy even before Satoshi starts singing this. I also suspect that the electro backed instrumentals that giru loves so much will sound amazing if incorporated in this song. 8. CHIMERA - the LEM Very difficult "run-on" song with hardly any break for the vocalist. Rikuto will be perfect here with how he transits between chest voice and his incredibly effortless falsettos. 9. July VIIth - SINCREA I was very torn as to whether I should include this. On one hand, this is pretty much the iconic song of vistlip and the one that has most symbolic significance for them (7/7 being their anniversary) so it would be scandalous if it's missing from a tribute album. But precisely because of this I find it hard to imagine anyone else other than vistlip singing it XD Still, I'm confident SINCREA will do justice to this masterpiece

hahaha Reno and his hawt thighs XD but yeah, they need to look like this again: Out of the covers I didn't like LE A the most; it looks like a less cheesy version of Jupiter's Classical Element Deluxe edition (the one with 5 decapitated heads put around in a circle). Just my opinion though. Still I'm looking forward to how there are a lot more new tracks this time around - some of them have to be good, right?!

My fave Royz songs are 星に願いを (the re-recorded version in eve:r) and 蒼蓮花 (from Revolution to New AGE)!

Pretty much sums up my own position. I also agree with Zess that it's at best an interim stopgap measure. At the end of the day, the invisible hand of the industry will work its magic - bands that are good enough to be successful will be successful, and bands that are crappy enough won't have enough people giving a shit about them regardless of what stunts they try to pull. Bands can resort to whatever they want to do if the members think (rightly or wrongly) it's going to help them keep their jobs. I don't really see it as "guilt-tripping" precisely because if I don't care about the band, I'm still not going to care. Fans have more individual agency than some seem to think.

what the fuck... off to cry under my blanket ;_;

Well, I must respectfully disagree on a couple of points. These "small bands" you've described comprise people who are passionate about music and taking it up as a hobby. I don't think it's fair to compare them to people whose very livelihood depends on music. Obviously, if someone simply wants to write music as a hobby, there's always youtube (or niconico in the Japanese context). On the other hand, I would say it's more than justifiable for someone who's in a band full-time to care about money. I mean, it's their job that's at stake: why would they not care? Whether they are good enough - and, in the case that they aren't, aware of that fact - is a separate issue. You've also suggested that we ought to do things for the "right" reason, and I assume you're alluding to following one's passion/interest. What you've envisioned might be true in an ideal world, in which everyone does what he/she wants to do and any monetary concern is inconsequential. If this were actually the case in reality, no one around us would be working, and parents today won't be pressurizing their children into doing law or medicine over, say, philosophy. The very fact that these things happen all the time points to how we (consciously or otherwise) realize that even if we ought not prioritize money over everything else, money nevertheless remains the condition of the possibility of doing anything at all. For this reason, I feel there aren't any "right" or "wrong" reasons to be in the scene. If we take this model of value judgment too seriously, I'm afraid an overwhelming majority of musicians with any sort of staying power are in it for the "wrong" reason. Clearly I'll be deeply relieved if I were to find that vistlip isn't making music "just for money"; still, the fact of the matter is that ultimately the band's success or failure is not going to be contingent on the reasons that have initially motivated someone to be in a band, or how moral these motivations might be, but how good/attractive (and lucky) the band is. If taking up a job (which is what these people are actually doing) for money is "wrong," I don't even know what's "right" anymore. (And as a final aside, there's of course a great deal of stoicism to be in an indies vk band and making a loss everyday, which in most cases triggers a gush of pride in the outside observer looking in at these people. The hypocrisy, of course, is that the outsider probably won't want to be in the shoes of the very people he's mythologizing.)

Album art... Type A: Type B: Regular edition:

These days, when bands disband, all you get is this: the official message from a pretty much copy+paste template telling the fans to keep supporting the band until the end, followed by individual members who ritually lament the disband in a roundabout way, or long cryptic messages that effectively tell us nothing much at all. I probably don't just speak for myself when I say that I get annoyed when, exceptional cases notwithstanding, bands don't really disclose the reasons for disbandment anymore. There is a difference between the officially published reason (if you even get one) and the real reason. For instance, the "differences in music direction" reason in 90% of the cases is nothing more than a smokescreen, especially when you find the members doing the same style of music in a later band. Chances are that most disbands are reducible to much more practical/unglamorous reasons such as running out of money or the members got bored. Of course, there are also personal reasons e.g. pressure from family and peers, etc., as anakuro has rightly pointed out.

Well it's generally a case of: 1) no more money 2) no more ideas; euphemistically, the band "grew out of it" Usually it's some combination of 1+2. I doubt any band that takes their music and fans seriously will disband simply over a disagreement with their label.

They sound great! Will keep an eye on them.

Truth be told, my heart always skips a beat when any of my fave bands releases a best album ><;