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Honestly, I would still say it was a predominantly female crowd. Maybe more of an 85/15 split than 95/5, really. Did notice quite a few more guys near the front row than expected, though, which seems pretty out of the ordinary based on my understanding.

Will probably post more here as they come to mind, but I love this song/video so much.

me, reading this thread first thing in the morning

Playing a lot of catch-up with my post-Japan related stuff -- just got my CD haul organized/cataloged/etc. Haven't purchased/collected any VK CDs in quite some time, but now that I'm no longer in the confines of a tiny Chicago apartment I can finally feed the beast a bit more. All below was purchased between Pure Sound/Tower Records/BOOK-OFF -- didn't even get the proper chance to hit Like an Edison, Closet Child, or Jishuban Club. Made out alright either way, though, I think!! baroque - Chaplin (2003, SCL-007) baroque - ガリロン (2004, SFCD-0028) cali≠gari - 10 (2009, VICB-60049) D - Paradox (2004, DNB-003, signed) D - Neo culture ~Beyond the world~ (w/DVD, 2007, XQBZ-91002) DIMLIM - VARIOUS (w/DVD, 2017, DMLM-0001) The GazettE - 斑蠡～Madara～ (2006, KICS-40022) The GazettE - STACKED RUBBISH (2007, KICS-1311) The GazettE - STACKED RUBBISH (w/DVD, missing slipcover, KICS-91311) gibkiy gibkiy gibkiy - In incontinence (2017, PMGG-004) the god and death stars - Funky Ghost Hollywood (2018, DSGD-017) Kagrra, - 鵺 (2000, PSTA-0008) Kagrra, - 桜 (2001, PSTA-0011) Kagrra, - 彩 (2001, PSTA-0015) Kagrra, - [gozen] (2002, PSTA-0030) Kagrra, - Core (2008, KICS-1348) キズ - 「0」 - (2018, DMGD-005) Madeth Gray'll ‎– 十字架の結末 ～第二の悲劇～ (1999, MTR-003) Malice Mizer - memoire DX (1994, M:N-001DX) Malice Mizer - Voyage ~sans retour~ (1996, M:N-003N) Malice Mizer - merveilles (1998, COCA-14866) Moi dix Mois - Nocturnal Opera (2004 - MMCD-037) Pierrot - FINALE (1999, TOCT-24150) Plastic Tree - Hide and Seek (2010, WPCL-10849) Plastic Tree - Puppet Show (1998, WPCV-7425) Plastic Tree - Parade (2010, WPCL-10851) Plastic Tree -トロイメライ (2002, AECR-1005) ヴィドール ‎- If...レボトミン（Y LV25）475mg (2003, UCCD-001)

Thank you! It was my first proper live in Japan and it was great. The intimacy of the atmosphere really made the experience what it was. And I absolutely get that! I feel like I usually leave early for everywhere I'm trying to go, especially leading up to an event and I somehow usually end up late. Oh well, it's all...experience or something? Haha. WOW I am so jealous!! That sounds absolutely surreal, couldn't imagine being in that setting overall and then finishing it off with the autograph, that's too much. Thanks for reading, all - will hope to have the other report posted this week. 🤗

Outside of Tanuki, I'm pretty sure "LiveJournal" is a pretty solid blanket answer to the initial question 👀

god thisthisTHISTHIS the culture of "give me an EQUALLY RARE mp3/PV/etc. if you want this intangible file" has always been so bizarre to me. Also, so many people in the scene give off this vibe of band/artist fandom ownership, like they're more entitled to be a fan than someone else. Seems kind of esoteric, but I can't be the only one who notices this?

Wanted to write this up sooner, but better late than never! Spent the end of April/beginning of May in Japan - during this time I got to attend two live events, this was the first of those. I've been a die-hard Aie fan since deadman so I absolutely couldn't pass up an opportunity to see him (and Kazu, too!!) play live. I quite enjoy most of the god and death stars output and had heard many good things about eStrial so I ventured out to Ikebukuro on a rainy evening to see them do their thing. It was one of my first nights in Tokyo and I am a bit, uh, directionally challenged without the aid of a map in larger city settings, so despite leaving quite early I missed my first train changeover and ended up turning a 15 minute trek into a 45 minute anxious train ride, landing me at the show 15 minutes late and a few songs into eStrial's set. I descended the staircase into RUIDO K3 and emerged into the long, narrow live hall, quickly moving to the back of the rather full crowd. eStrial played a set of jazzy, upbeat tunes that had half the crowd participating in some light furi. Vocalist/guitarist Yumeji slid effortlessly through every manner of funky lick, matched in skill and precision by bassist Mina Takahara and drummer Atsuto (who was looking a fair bit more casual here than his time in Sugar - ten years ago at this point???). I wish I knew more of their songs as I found them to be a ton of fun, bassist Mina being a particular standout as she really knew how to keep energy levels high. She was sporting a huge grin almost the entire set and kept the entire crowd engaged. Much of the band banter made me wish I had a far better grasp of Japanese than I do (read: somewhere between almost none and not being a total know-nothing ass 😶) as Atsuto had the crowd chuckling quite a bit between songs. Being that this was one of a few two-man dates these bands had booked, it seemed clear that there was a really strong camaraderie between everyone in both bands! There was a lot of commentary that I picked up regarding Aie himself and the crowd no doubt seemed excited by his presence and the god and death stars' forthcoming set. eStrial played for maybe a total of 45 minutes before the curtains closed, sending the crowd back to the bar in the corner to turn in their drink tickets. After a few moments passed, dedicated fans lined up right against the stage and I took this opportunity to grab a more ideal spot closer to the middle of the crowd. We could see band members shuffling past the entryway and behind the stage curtain and surely enough it wasn't long until a dramatic, orchestral track started playing over the PA. The crowd directed their full attention to the stage and as soon as the curtains were drawn, we were greeted by the god and death stars + Yumeji of eStrial! I found myself wondering if we were going to see Yumeji providing some secondary guitar for their set, but the ensemble jumped into a track that I didn't recognize at all, a poppy number that had Aie and Yumeji vocalizing in a goofy sort of way. The song lasted only a few minutes before the curtains closed once again, the audience left chuckling and eager. Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long, as the god and death stars proper were revealed as the curtains drew back again. Aie looked just as "cool casual" as I could have anticipated, wearing a thin t-shirt and fedora (perhaps the only person this hat looks properly good on in this day and age?) Kazu was dressed in black from head to toe, sporting a blazer that gave him a sort of "funereal" look alongside his long, slick hair. I must say, Kazu is a rather...imposing looking fellow on stage. Maybe it's because he is next to Aie, who is quite small in stature, but I found him to be quite striking in person in an almost intimidating way. Guest drummer Seiji Matsumoto (of the telephones and a number of bands that I need to take the time to check out) rounded out the trio, taking place of Otaka Jun who is away for health-related reasons (get well soon!!) I will interject here and state that I can't recall their exact set due to time passing and just being...way too enamored with everything to take the time to write the songs down, so I apologize in advance for not being able to post that! The band wasted no time getting into their set. Aie's signature guitar tone pulled me in immediately - that special twang reminded me of where I was and who I was watching. They played a selection of tracks from their newest album, funky ghost hollywood (most of the set was pulled from this album, understandably), to start things off. Watching them was a treat not only from the standpoint of someone who has loved their respective individual discographies (from one iconic band to the next), but simply as very clearly experienced musicians. That should go without saying, but these guys really, really know their stuff. They played each song effortlessly (my god, they really are a wonder at their instruments - I mean seriously, they're so stylistically committed and developed that it's a spectacle seeing them play the way they do). Their set was fun and entirely un-theatric, perhaps the antithesis of the visual kei bands they came up in. Being that they were playing with a guest drummer, it was quite endearing to see them give him visual cues as the songs progressed (he was knocking it out of the park, no doubt, but it was nice seeing them interact in that "power trio" sort of way) The crowd was clearly having fun as they blasted through song after song and, more importantly, the guys in the band looked like they were having a ton of fun themselves. The air over the entire night felt casual and friendly, as if they were "just some guys getting together to play songs." There was some fun banter with the crowd near the middle of the set which really maintained that same "casual air" and in the end, they were done before I knew it. They got quite a few songs in (I wasn't kidding when I said they were just "blasting through them") for only playing maybe an hour-long set. I can't comment on the exact order, but the songs below are the ones I remember them playing off the top of my head. Nothing older than after the addle apple as far as I can recall. I was really pleased to hear "elephant in the room," "Good Night My Love," and "ママイズジャム" as those are some of my recent favorites. 薄荷 サニーゴーサニー Good Night My Love ママイズジャム Life Is Beautiful cannabis damned 夜を歩く葡萄 濾過 elephant in the room I hung around the venue for a little while since it was still very early (and there was a little part of me hoping I could shake Aie's hand, but that was wishful thinking, haha). As I watched the crowd wander back out into the rain little by little, it was obvious how varied their fanbase is, from age to personal style. Just a testament to these guys and their time/experience in the scene. Thanks for reading! Don't miss an opportunity to catch either of these bands if you can - it was a really special evening that I won't soon forget. I'll have one more live report up soon for the event I attended at 高田馬場AREA on 5/6! (DIMLIM, gulu gulu, more)

Glad to see Hizumi at it again, but I'm gonna set the ol' expectations bar to "very, very low" 😶

yes, stream it on Crunchyroll starting Summer 2019 😼

Thought that band pic was an anime promo for a sec 😶

Well, this is quite good. Surprised by these La'Mule vibes 😱

Took me a bit for it to click, but I'm on board with a good bit of K-pop these days. BTS, TWICE, BLACKPINK, LOONA, and any number of other ALL CAPS artists (lol). Catchy tunes, sleek visuals, dedicated concepts. It's much of why I like VK, just packaged very differently.

This is something I've been thinking about the past few days. There are so many iconic bands in the scene, many who are no longer active (or perhaps just much different from their best-remembered eras), but we often discuss offhandedly bands or musicians who feel heavily inspired by or give a "similar feeling" as another band or musician. I'm not talking about "homage-kei," (this isn't a thread about グリーヴァ's GAUZE-era Diru covers) rather bands that seem to fill a certain niche within the context of the modern scene that perhaps another band did in their heyday. I guess the best way to say it is...which bands do you think have the "same energy?" (keep in mind this is just for fun, really - not trying to say any singular band is the same as, as good as, as profound as, etc. as any other band) _______________________ I'll start with one of the most obvious... DIMLIM and Dir en grey It's rare to hear mention of DIMLIM without mention of vocalist Sho's many "Kyo-isms," though I rarely feel those statements are made in a negative way. I mean, it's true -- he is the rare VK vocalist who manages to mimic not just the mannerisms of Kyo, but much of the range, tone, melody, and "noise" that Kyo has become known for. Maybe not with the same level of finesse or control, of course, but for a young musician in a new band, it's pretty impressive. With that being said, I think DIMLIM as a whole fills a certain particular niche in the scene that Vulgar/WTD-era Dir en grey did, taking heavy and chaotic song structures and injecting them with flourishes of melody. There is a certain atmosphere on both CHEDOARA and Vulgar/WTD (most specifically) that feels unlike other bands that may be doing something similar at face value. I know a ton of people who have been fans of Dir en grey for at least a period of time and I always recommend DIMLIM as "Dir en grey with their proggy nu-metal elements replaced with proggy metalcore elements." I don't think that's perfectly accurate, but at least a decent way to get new fans through the door. Both bands also have a ton of crossover potential, Dir en grey's already realized as they've become more and more well-known in western and European metal scenes, DIMLIM's found in the fact that they appear to be one of relatively few VK acts that play strictly VK shows as well as non-VK shows. For an audible example of why I feel this way, I'd personally put "...物狂ひ...なりて" and "朔-saku" side-by-side. Both tracks, in my opinion, manage to transition from fury to melody seamlessly without ever really sacrificing the "edge" of the song itself. The listener gets just enough "relief" from the chaos to get them ready to get tossed right back into it. The whole "heavy verse, poppy chorus" thing is done to death in modern metal, especially with many of the more popular metalcore bands of the early-mid 2010s, but the way it's handled here is notably different in that the mood of the song never feels lost to me - the atmosphere remains the same from beginning to end, it's just that the way it's expressed has changed. Place this all in the context of modern VK and I feel DIMLIM is "carrying the torch" in a way. Their style, at base level, is quite unlike that of Dir en grey (even now), but the threads that connect their sounds and the type of presence they have feels very similar to me. Hardly the same band, but much of the same energy. _______________________ That ended up much longer than anticipated, so I'll hold my other thoughts for a later post, but I'd really like to see what others think on this topic. I'm excited to see some fun comparisons.

I love it! It's the first DEG album I ever purchased and I think it's a really interesting follow-up to GAUZE. GAUZE is a fairly straightforward album that's chock full of classics and they could have repeated that formula, but instead put out something that I feel "pushed the envelope" a bit at the time. Hardly experimental, but very tonally different and I think a more defining album when put in the context of the band they became. Les soiree is sitting right on the edge of my list and the Madeth Gray'll compilation only stayed away because I have a weird thing about "compilations" but damn if they aren't both absolute undeniable classics. I mean really, Les soiree itself is so completely unmatched in style and atmosphere.

I feel like my answer to this is quite consistently changing, but my "constants" are probably... deadman - in the direction of sunrise and night light Dir en grey - MACABRE Plastic Tree - toroimerai MALICE MIZER - merveilles PIERROT - HEAVEN ~the customized landscape~ I kind of confined myself to everything I consider to be a "classic" as delving into newer stuff might shake up my list a bit. All of these probably swap places with other albums in their respective discographies, too.

No kidding - I've been checking CDJapan for the past few weeks and NOTHING ugh

Sometime circa 2002 someone posted Gackt's "Another World" on an anime forum. I thought it was catchy and realized I had never really looked into Japanese music outside of anime OPs. Followed that trail to a message board called Jpopmusic, where I found everyone in the Jrock subforum was obsessed with something called "visual kei." I saw the pictures and ironically, my sheltered, preteen, hyper conservative self backed off immediately and started requesting "not visual" music. Was recommended GLAY, jammed "Global Communication," but got some well-deserved side eyes from half the community, basically insisting I just "give it a chance." Random personal anecdote, I did think the aesthetic was "really neat," but I was raised in super religious environment and had never seen anything like this before, so my brain thought it was some kind of devil nonsense or something, I don't know. Deciding to give it a proper shot, I found Dir en grey's "Cage" and that was pretty much the beginning of the end (the end of the beginning?) Went totally crazy from that point, downloaded everything I could find, started trying to trade for PVs with random people on Soulseek and IRC, the whole nine yards. Good times.

I'm so on board. Have had one hell of a week, so I needed this today!! I am so hyped!!

Eesh. Losing a lot of the big names this year, huh. Big bummer.

I agree with this from top to bottom and it's why I felt hesitation in my frustration with her from day one, but she just pushes more and more of my buttons as the show progresses and it's just so difficult to root for her in any capacity at this point. I feel like every time she shows a glimmer of hope she upsets it in ten other ways in my opinion. And yeah - I was so shocked she was the keep after that lipsync. Who doesn't know the words to No Scrubs???

Yeah, this entire series has had so many moments where I'm like "CONSPIRACY!!" Silky has got to go. She seems to showcase the emotional complexity and maturity of a brick wall. That aside, she simply isn't on the same level as everyone else. It was either Scarlet or Yvie who said she's not judged to the same level as everyone else and I wholly agree. One of the sloppiest contestants on the show in a while, in my opinion. And that lipsync...oof. One of the worst overall in show history.

made sure to go buy beer on the way back from drinking beer 😬