anakuro

Duwang - man if you are back by then we gotta go.

Messenger84 - see you there \o/

Everyone else - I am like 99% sure heartless is not coming back for good.

Omg I am just gonna sit here and cry because I can't go ffffff. Bbs.

Come with me.

I have to go. 

クレイドル - ラブ☆ドキ～LINE既読でほっとかないでよ～

...lol

Junko looks a promise member lol

Does she takes chekis too?

I said that was scary, now I think it's funny xD

I would give a necklace to Junko, since earrings are not usable to her

exactly, she's just kind of funny now! I think we gave her a hair clip and a hair brush (her hair is a mess). also a coke zero with her name on it and a bottle of whiskey. I'm sure someone appreciated the whiskey for her.

Jeezus, that's quite an active discography section considering they just started in December!

(I realize that some(/most?) are probably singles, but still!)

Usotsuki is a single (3 songs). na mo naki sora e and lalalala are one song each. Kowai kurai and doshaburi are mini albums and shinitai will be a mini-album (5 songs each).

This band's method has been "hit the ground running and never stop"

Lol poor Roji the unwanted. XD I don't have a favorite member really, I know so little of their personalities. So maybe Junko should be my favorite member. Haha. Kowai Kurai is still my favorite song and release so far. I haven't heard a song I genuinely dislike yet, though. So it's only ahead by a small margin.

He really is. Maybe it's a mix of being a drummer, being sarcastic and covered in tattoos. Also one of the older members...

My friend actually can't decide either so she calls herself a Junko gya. Sometimes we give Junko gifts and wonder who gets them.

Kazuki is the type to go "Oh, she's doing well" when asked how Junko is doing while Reiya is the type to go "J...Junko??" 

Haru lets me cheat when pulling cheki; Roji does not but he will say "See you~" in English... and then stare like a deer in headlights when anything is said back in English.

Yeah, like I love all the songs on Doshaburi but I think it's how they ordered it + Yuuyake is a little generic to me ? for why Kowai Kurai pulls ahead. 

just gave them a listen, pleasantly suprised considering they're such a young band but with an interesting and vaguely *gasp* original sound

Glad to hear it! It was even more impressive at the 1st oneman where they played 12 songs after only 2 months or so of session activity and only 3 months since Belmosaic broke up. This band is insane.

Oh nice! Roji's super talented. It's like pulling teeth getting him to talk sometimes though... lol Incidentally, he's the least popular. Like super unpopular. Though apparently recently more popular?? But I still have at least 5 girls coming up to me every live with Roji cheki trying to sell them to me (actually the last live I was at I was given like 7 as presents it was insane).

Their CDs are super cheap! Usotsuki is sold out, Kowai Kurai is close to being sold out if it isn't already (I believe what's at stores is all that is left?), but there should be plenty of Doshaburi no Kanojo left. The mini-albums have been ￥1,500 up to this point though!

I kind of love Junko (the mannequin). I think it has to do with going to the first oneman and the curtains opened and there she was...everywhere and we all couldn't help but laugh. She's just so ridiculous. I once asked Kazuki what her name was and in Kowai Kurai she was suddenly given credit as a member of the band, lmao.

Yes! I'm in Japan. The problem with the missing Belmosaic stuff is it is suuuper rare. And Belmosaic was so unpopular no one would really think to even try and sell it, I think. And one song you only got at the last oneman so people are probably holding onto that one... Any time I've looked it up at puresound it only has the normal CDs and not the free distributes I'm missing.

So.. fav song? release? member (lol)?

For me...

• Fav release: コワイクライ with 子守唄, コワイクライ and 冷たい being my favorite songs off of the release
• Fav song: either ララララ or 花占い I think?
• Fav member: Roji

Kowai Kurai was the most cohesive release they've put out and when it comes to lives the song that gets me most excited is Kowai Kurai itself, but my favorite songs are from other releases.

Incidentally... while I'm proud of my CD collection I am slightly ashamed of my Belmosaic/XAA-XAA cheki collection:

As an educated guesstimate, 90% of the ~120 cheki is Roji cheki.

Also I didn't mention it specifically before but I've always loved their staging:

1st oneman:

 

 

random live? possibly including their sponsored event for Kowai Kurai?:

 

3rd oneman:

 

They always have their mannequin, Junko's torso hanging from the ceiling, one of her legs is normally somewhere off to the right, Kazuki often has her head with him up front and center.

 

At the first oneman there was caution tape everywhere, to a less extent they had caution tape up at the sponsored live. They almost always have it somewhere on stage.

 

At the sponsored live all around they had flyers of their warning + their eye everywhere.

I mean everywhere:

 

At the 2nd oneman I didn't take pictures of what they had up and didn't get to take any home with me so I kind of forgot what they had up. I think it was their eye + warning on the same sheet rather than separate flyers?

I highly recommend XAA-XAA!! But I must admit I'm super biased. There are some songs that are rather Belmosaic-esque but for the most part it's a lot darker than Belmosaic ever was. 

It was such a pain getting a hold of physical copies of Belmosaic CDs too (I'm still missing リツコさん and ピリオド)

So this is one of my collections of CDs I'm most proud of

I saw Belmosaic 2 times and I've seen XAA-XAA 7 times?

It's a really fun atmosphere and I love the band's attention to detail--live, in the artwork for their releases, etc.

They're currently the most interesting band for me personally.

Definitely hoping they aren't overworking themselves either! But I also love having so much music from them right from the start...!

Left to right, top to bottom: Haru (gt).; Roji (dr.); Reiya (ba.); Junko (in charge of whatever mannequins do); Kazuki (vo.)

History
(OHP 2014-2015 history)

• October~November 2014: Session activity under the name SAA-SAA Session (サアサアセッション)
• 2014.12.03: 1st Oneman/first official live as XAA-XAA 『感覚セカイ』(“Kankaku Seikai”)
• 2015.07.01: 2nd Oneman 【どしゃ降りの彼女】リリース記念ワンマンライヴ【どしゃ降りの心斎橋】 (Oneman to celebrate the release of Doshaburi no Kanojo "Doshaburi no Shinsaibashi")
• 2015.12.03: 3rd Oneman ザアザア１周年記念ワンマンライヴ「ソォルドアウト」(1st Anniversary Oneman "Sold Out")
• 2016.03~2016.04: ザアザア主催イベント ベストアルヴァム & シングル発売記念ツアー「みんなとしたいだけ」 (XAA-XAA best album & single release commemorative sponsored tour “minna to shitai dake”)
• 2016.04.23: 追加公演ワンマン！ ベストアルヴァム & シングル発売記念ツアー「みんなとしたいだけ」 (Additional oneman! Best album & single release commemorative tour “minna to shitai dake”)
• 2016.06.04: ミニアルヴァム「雨に殺される」発売記念ワンマンライヴ東京の雨に殺される (ame ni korosareru mini-album release commemorative oneman live “Tokyo no ame ni korosareru”)
• 2016.06.11: ミニアルヴァム「雨に殺される」発売記念ワンマンライヴ大阪の雨に殺される (ame ni korosareru mini-album release commemorative oneman live “Osaka no ame ni korosareru”)
• 2016.07-2016.08: ザアザア夏ツアー2016 「幽霊より怖い人間達」 (XAA-XAA natsu tour 2016 "yuurei yori kowai ningentachi")
• 2016.09: 「かずきとよしあつ」ツーマンツアー (kazuki to yoshiatsu 2man tour)
• 2016.12-2017.01: 「血祭」 ワンマンツアー (chimatsuri oneman tour) -- this is also their two year anniversary tour

Releases

• 2014.12.01 - 「うそつき」 ("Usotsuki")
• 2014.12.03 - 名も無き空へ (na mo naki sora e) live house one day only free distribute
• 2015.03.01 - コワイクライ (kowai kurai)
• 2015.4.23 - ララララ (lalalala) live house one day only free distribute
• 2015.06.01 - どしゃ降りの彼女 (doshaburi no kanojo)
• 2015.07.01 - 感電、けがのおそれがあります。 LIVE DVD  (LIVE DVD of the song kanden, kega no osore ga arimasu.)  live house one day only free distribute
• 2015.08.20 - 鬱くしき雨音 (utsukushiki ame oto) - live house one day only split-single, limited to 200 copies (XAA-XAA's track is 今宵は鬱くしい)
• 2015.09.01 - 死にたい (shinitai)
• 2015.11.01 -  雪時計 (yuki tokei)
• 2015.12.03 - 「うそつき」  ("Usotsuki") - re-recorded, to be sold at the oneman live that day
• 2016.03.23 -  したいだけでしょ？ (shitai dake desho?)
• 2016.03.23 - 中毒症状 (chuudoku shoujou)
• 2016.05.25 - 雨に殺される (ame ni korosareru)
• 2016.07.20 - 妖幻鏡 -west- Vol.3  Survive as an Innovator (yougenkyou -west- Vol.3 Survive as an Innovator) - omnibus (XAA-XAA's track is 情けない男のテーマ)
• 2016.09.07 - カミソリ (kamisori)
• 2016.10.05 - どす黒い (dosuguroi)
• 2016.11.02 - 余命 (yomei)

OHP, YouTube (full PVs and trial listening)

agreed. but at this point I kind of wish serial number could just be laid to rest. There's like what 13 former members...?

i was looking at this year's venue lineups for kansai rock summit some time ago and there were certainly a lot more darker bands than last year's. i wonder how much local variation there is though? cuz i don't really see the proportion shifting so dramatically in e.g. Fukuoka and Hokkaido as it has in Osaka (especially). i can only assume that the feedback effect is pretty strong in osaka (band becomes darker -> gets more popular -> attracts next batch of dark bands), while the big 'brighter' bands like those under Resistar Records and Zany Zap are more than holding their own in Tokyo. i'll also note the irony that PCM's 'main' bands in Osaka are faring a lot worse than their subsidiary Dream Agent in Tokyo (thanks primarily to RoNo☆Cro's popularity).

that said, i'm not complaining since there are way more than enough new bands to interest me (ok i'm repeating myself here). if i'm to enumerate all the new bands my list would be twice as long as Tetora's, so i'll refrain from doing that. as of now i'm totally addicted to My Fairytale, CLØWD, アンフィル, Lig, just to name a few. they aren't exactly kirakira in the 'classic' sense (which arguably has already been dead and buried for a while) but maybe in the 'gaijin-vk-forum' sense of being antithetical to any dark vk band (e.g. Oneness, Ecthelion, ALIVE, etc. - the list can be extended indefinitely). it's interesting that i rarely hear my japanese friends speak of kirakira, and when they do, what they mean in each instance is usually quite different. (one of them uses it to refer to dance-y bands with ridiculously elitist furi hahah.) but this just goes to reinforce what i was saying about the scene being a lot more diverse than some people think.

That's true, I am mostly exposed to Osaka and Hiroshima bands at this point. Still, kansai rock summit isn't just kansai bands. And there are plenty of darker Tokyo bands that floated to the surface and get a lot more attention--METEOROID swithced to MeteoroiD, AvelCain is super popular, DADAROMA formed and is doing so well, etc. Every time I saw any kirakira band in Tokyo it was at hole in the walls like REX. 

side note: Lig was quite good! I'd like to see them again.

To be fair kirakira≠osare/oshare kei. Osare kei is pretty much dead and the ~kei terminology is quite outdated, lol. But kirakira is quite commonly used as a term. I can't count how many times I've heard it used or if I've been asked "is ~ kirakira?" or told "I can't stand kirakira" because my friends all assume that all of my bands are kirakira for some reason. Kirakira and abare (暴れ/暴れ盤) are the two terms I hear the most often but that doesn't necessarily mean they are exclusive of each other. And as you mentioned, the terms more describe the live experience than anything now!

*gives you 100 kirakira bands* unfortunately we're all losing faves. It sucks.

thanks There's no live experience quite like kirakira bands. But yeah the Japanese girls are even talking about the 解散ラッシュ or "rush to break up" recently and I don't normally hear the Japanese fans talking about it as much as foreign fans ? 

...unfortunately with kirakira (for me, at least) there aren't really new kirakira ones coming in right now. It's all ~dark~~ bands that are being made. 

I'll still take a nu-metal band over most kirakira bands any day. Lol. They were so annoying.

You can give the kirakira bands to me. The two I follow are breaking up (Oneness and Cradle).

ahh i'm waiting for my copy (little hearts is unbelievably slow..). yes i've heard the preview and it's certainly closer to Belmosaic than the last mini album! still not really a fan of the aesthetics i've gotta say ._. i'll wait till i hear the whole thing before i can say what i think XD

 

anyway here's the thing about Xaa-Xaa: i might not be able to get into the stuff they're doing right now but i'm elated to see the attention they're getting. one thing i can't really understand is how often you hear people say of a band they used to like 'oh shit the band just went in a direction i hate - i hope they disband soon' - as if the raison detre of a band is to create music for that one individual. if you like them, great; if not, move on to something else. there's too much music out there to be listened to and too little time to waste on useless complaining.

I wasn't sure if you'd bother getting it this time since kowai kurai wasn't your thing and I wouldn't blame you for not pouring money into them (even though they're super cheap) when it's just not your thing... I keep hoping they'll grow on you but their image isn't going to change any time soon, I think so I don't have high hopes. So, I didn't ask about grabbing you the CD, sorry man. They're actually one of the most popular kansai bands in their size range (you know, the do-minor sphere)! Lately a lot of bands can't even sell out a VARON-sized live house and they managed it for their second oneman It's weird seeing how big they've gotten so quickly, but I'm really happy for them too of course lol

But that's exactly how I feel about Shounenki. It's really not my thing anymore but they are doing well and I wish them the best. There's just nothing left in them for me, personally. I wonder if you'd enjoy them more if you saw them live? It's not ~crazy~ live like we don't even have proper gyakudive (I guess I wouldn't really expect it from ex-Belmosaic gya anyway) so it doesn't quite reflect the dark image but it's really fun in my opinion. But then again I don't know what kind of a live experience you like, haha. And your boy Kazuki always ends up wandering around the crowd at some point.

Also Anokuro, seems like you stopped being into shounenki when I started getting into them, life is strange, haha.

lol yeah I fell out of them right when they started getting an influx of fans it seems and I'm happy they're doing well but it's just not for me anymore. I think it's only me that's really not into the style change they've had that I'd say started around GAZELLEBABEL...? It's is a shame because that's only when I was able to start going to see them lolol But they play with bands I like so I still see them occasionally.

Lol, I have to say from IN THE SUNLIGHT and on I've been super not into Shounenki 

I can't stand how cheesy it is now. What is it? ザ・リーク? That sounds like the opening to some 80s sitcom man...

I'd put them in the "what happened to them??" category except they're doing pretty well from what I can tell? So it seems to be just me. But I definitely jumped ship with them--sold everything except my CDs and one Eiki cheki. 

If I'm talking about the past three years then hell yeah it's been awesome in general. Fall 2014~2015 just hasn't been particularly impressive for me with anything new. But the live experience hasn't failed to disappoint me yet... 

Also, I've had a few bands go on hiatus/break up as well which is probably part of the reason why I'm a bit bored rn

edit: btw Hiroki did you try Doshaburi? I mean besides 君の心臓を食べてしまいたい it's way less heavy than コワイクライ is and some songs are a lot more Belmosaic-esque...

A lot of bands are breaking up and we haven't had a proper influx of bands that are particularly interesting, in my opinion. It's generally a pretty boring year for me.

Unfortunately Develop One's Faculties and The Benjamin failed to hold my interest.

Bands I'm still in VK for:

• XAA-XAA is the main thing holding my interest right now. Their attention to detail is wonderful too. Glad to see they were mentioned before too. They are the only new band that's really kept me interested.
• Minus Jin-Say Orchestra is always phenomenal but the pitfall with them is their recording quality is pretty shit. I think most people that I know who got into them saw them first--it was the same with me. Their release this year has some great songs on it but... the recording quality ruins some of it.
• Ensoku is also great and consistent. But that's also the thing like you know exactly what to expect with Ensoku--and while it will be done well I don't think Ensoku would keep me interested if I didn't have the other two bands I listed above.

Bands that I'm interested in

• Reirei was surprisingly fun live
• Hiz was also a lot better live than recorded
• Shellmy is also a lot better live than recorded
• BLESSCODE ..also, a lot better live than recorded
• GAGA also has me mildly interested
• ViV oh my god RayJi is the best bassist he blows my mind

but you see a pattern? For me at least this is an era of bands that you need to see live rather than listen to recorded.

Bands that have gone down in quality heavily imo

• GIGAMOUS -- what happened? ??? ????
• Souiumono -- what happened???????? Everything is so generic and boring now and what's with the autotune. They've lost a lot of fans (including their jouren--the girls who went to EVERYTHING and were basically the ones paying their salary due to how much money they poured into the band). I've been waiting for a break up announcement since Christmas. 
• RUVISH -- from last year there was a marked drop in quality and live is so forced now too

A lot of Osaka (and Shikoku and Hiroshima) bands are bands you just need to see live, rather than listen to recorded, to be honest. XAA-XAA is one of the few that I enjoy listening to recorded as much as seeing live.. On the other hand Tokyo bands, in general, are really stale for me. 

Also kirakira bands (what you guys would label as "oshare kei" but that's another topic) are dying out. Personally, I need like at least one kirakira band in my life because the live experience is almost always just so fun (unless it's Sick2). 

Anyway, 2015 has been a lot of fun for me in seeing bands live, but as far as releases/new bands goes it's pretty meh (besides XAA-XAA).

oh good I'm glad they're recording USJ

Looking forward to this release--particularly interested in the song they're collabing on~

Selfie with XAA-XAA's Roji at their oneman on Wednesday.

We did better this time at the taking a picture together thing.

I should note that I pulled atari cheki so this was my ~prize~

Ordered a bunch of old things.

 

baroque - Clip Collection

Black:List - MELANCHOLY

Homura - 儚クモ底ヘ

SCISSOR - Number Cut #3

tosinn - Undesirable Guest

tosinn - 問う心

ZODIA - IN THE DARK

ZODIA - 慟哭

ZODIA - 果て無き絶望、朽ち果てる太陽

 

might order more things soon...Dx

ahh, wish i had my copy of baroque's Clip Collection here.

I wonder if it's on my external HD...

okay so I want to preface this with

7 of these were straight up given to me and 2 were half price

1 i traded old cheki for

Ok and then yes the rest were bought.

my favorite of the bunch:

I need to ask roji when the 67th month is and possibly buy him a calendar. 

Ahhh I'm so excited for the new minialbum.

The two new songs they did were fun!!

I hope I can go to the twoman(*-* ) and oneman(*-* )

And for the threeman tour they also announced yesterday--I wonder what the other two bands will be...

Idk I haven't been happy with them for nearly a year. I heard the new song (bomb x bomb x bomb or whatever) is in the same vein as un-deadhouse which I hated. 

I guess I'll go to an in store for old times sake (also because they will be blue in the one I'm considering going to and while I prefer old blue times... lol I gotta see this) but I don't have high hopes for the CD. 

The CD made by GIGAMOUS and Oneness for the twoman they had.

The theme song for Syuma and Rai is hilarious and adorable I love it. 

The sticker was free and we got it by going.

Can you tell I'm a Rai and Syuma fan...? 

I had hoped Minus would do Antennaman and they are so I'm pretty stoked for that

No problem! They have a pretty clear pattern for release: Dec. 1st, March 1st, June 1st... So I'm guessing it'll be a release on September 1st.