Do you guys still try out all new j-rock releases?

[dannemannen 69]

When i first found out the J-rock scene i tried everything "Holy shit this is so cool", but now as time has passed i've realized that most of it actually sucks. Especially the indie stuff. So recently i only go for the "safe cards", so to say, I don't have all the time in the world anymore either. How about you guys?

[Mei 276]

same, now, i just listen to the bands that i own their cd's

[miyuu 40]

this exactly me !! i used to listen to everything and know everyone and now i don't care anymore.

i still love jrock but i only go for the ones i know i like.which end up to be very few.

and the irony is i used to not get people who only listen to few bands

(also i used to have an image of them not real. they looked like anime or something.i wanted to know everyone who was.

with ameba i realised they are real and just stupid pretty guys that why should i fucking care about if

they don't have awesome music i like. i kinda realized i don't give a shit)

[toshii9245 0]

The answer would be, mostly, no. If this is specifically concerning Visual Kei.

I only keep tracks of some bands I still, somehow, attach my faith into. And the amount's quite a few. Let's say, NightingeiL, cocklobin, 9GOATS BLACK OUT, Tokyo Heroes, Cat fisT, Thomas. But the first mentioned is about to be disbanded and cocklobin's recent materials were weaker than their first two releases.. 9GBO and Tokyo Heroes so far never really disappoint, but I guess I'm just getting tired. The scene has gotten staler over the years.

[fitear1590 2414]

Well, I was never one who downloaded everything anyway... But now, I certainly don't have the time/patience to sift through too much crap, haha.

Of course, I try out the releases of bands I already know/like, or new bands featuring some members that I know.

Plus stuff that's recommended to me, that gets a good review, or anything else that "catches my interest" somehow.

[Nyasagi 259]

I used to, but not anymore. I try a new band if I get interested in them for some reason, for example when people are excited about them or they look interesting or I like the preview. Except these cases, I try the releases of the bands I like.

[Asakusa 95]

I used to, but not anymore. I try a new band if I get interested in them for some reason, for example when people are excited about them or they look interesting or I like the preview. Except these cases, I try the releases of the bands I like.

this.

[The Libertine 2]

I of course listen to all my long-term favorites. I still flip a shit for my favorites. But I've even stopped listening to some bands that I thought were mildly good but just never went anywhere in terms of inspiration or originality (see Sadie, -OZ-, gazette, etc.). And honestly could not be bothered to check out new indie bands unless I hear a rave review from a lot of people/from people whose opinions I respect.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

I find that I try less and less newer bands unless I really like a preview, but I do actively follow quite a few bands who are still active.

As for random trying, I do pick old-school vk bands to try at random because I'm shallow and like how all of them look / their music is pretty much the same as all the other ones that look similar.

[CAT5 9075]

There's ALWAYS something new worth checking out

[Zeus 7997]

If this question pertains to visual kei only, then my answer is "no".

The reasons for this are simple: I'm not that much into the scene anymore and there aren't many bands that I follow closely. I've gotten over the "sound" associated with visual kei and every other band that pops up these days sound interchangeable with the next one to me, so unless a band does something to stand out immediately within the first 10 seconds of a sample they have I just move on past them. I also can't rely on general consensus to weed out things I would like from things I wouldn't, because I find that there are just way too many people that say everything is "epic" and "good". When it comes to up and coming new visual bands, there are a few people here who know my tastes better than I know them and have musical tastes that I respect a lot and when they recommend me bands to listen to (infrequently, but it happens), it's usually something that I would enjoy. That's mainly the only way I find new visual bands.

Bands outside the visual kei scene I am a little more receptive to, and I probably can say I do try out all the new releases I hear of. I can only do that because my pool of artists outside the scene are very small and I do not know of places like Monochrome Heaven for those scenes, so I'm not exposed to a torrent of new material like our download section. If I were, I'd probably be in the same boat as a lot of the people here as I too don't have all the time in the world to listen to new music like I used to.

[Licio123 181]

Just when people are receiving these new bands well (like A, for example). If not, very rarely.

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

No, but I'm not even like that with other genres.

The era of Visual Kei I like is dead anyway and the problem with Visual Kei specifically is that bands value quantity over quality and with so many mediocre releases being forced out every few weeks it's hard to keep up.

If my peers and by peers a handful of E-friends that generally have good and common tastes in music like a band I will make an effort to try out since I trust their opinions more than the general consensus of fans.

[ronluna 17]

i bought a japanese cd from japan through an office mate of my dad for the first time.

i usually only download mp3s and dvds here and from the internet. when there is no one that will upload some of my favorite bands' latest releases i usually ask help from other people who is an acquintance of me or my dad on how to buy it depending on the time they will visit Japan.

[sai 868]

I used to, but not anymore. I try a new band if I get interested in them for some reason, for example when people are excited about them or they look interesting or I like the preview. Except these cases, I try the releases of the bands I like.

this.

This also, but that's only when it comes to Visual Kei. Other non-VK bands in the J-Rock scene I am not too familiar with (so far I only listen to some pop-rock groups along with Boris) so I'm still trying new bands and releases there. For VK it has mostly stopped unless the previews are interesting, like Nyasagi quoted. Recent example of this is A.

[Slsr 207]

No way I check every release really but at least for now I still find interest trying out new bands, not like giving 1-2 songs a listen from single or something takes much of your time anyway, but I'd say I've been less in this scene anyway than most people so that might have some affect to my thinking here... Of course most releases by completely or almost unknown bands turnout not to be anything special or even pure crap which makes you think whether even that few minutes wasted to this was too much... But sometimes there is cool new bands too, though I've noticed I more than often hear about them other ways than randomly checking them out myself...

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

Hell no. I tend to not think of myself as a fan of a any certain sound, so I don't follow any scenes to grab all the artless hobbyist releases, then listen to them a couple of times and forget about them.

When I did follow the black/death metal scene, I tended to make the mistake of judging music by individual aspects ( guitar, bass etc.) or how "pleasing" it sounds, thus usually missing the point and I instead focused on getting something "cool" sounding on the background while I attended to my daily routine, so I checked out everything new ( and old, all those "hidden gems" they so highly speak of. Those album were forgotten for a reason in their time because they suck, but seem good today because metal in general totally sucks now ) that had appealing surface qualities. But when I started making efforts to become musically literate, I basically ditched all the cannon fodder that I don't view top tier in terms of musical expression and so far it hasn't failed me. I can get more out of listening to a great work 10 to 20 more times than spending my time to hoard more and more crap that everyone with standards already forgot about.

[iSin-Sama 4]

Only for the bands I really love like DEATHGAZE.

[Aion 184]

It depends

There are times I rarely get to discover new bands, while at other moments I collect a large heap of stuff I can get and listen to it to discover things...

But most of the time it's just bands I'm familiar with, liked from youtube clips or get recommendations =)

But I most say, that I also buy a lot without really knowing the band besides from their soundcloud/myspace or youtube clips...

[madygrain 515]

I used to, but not anymore. I try a new band if I get interested in them for some reason, for example when people are excited about them or they look interesting or I like the preview. Except these cases, I try the releases of the bands I like.

This goes for me as well.

A couple years ago the scene got some pretty good newcomers, but they banished. I really want to find a new VK band (as I don't care for regular J-rock bands as much) that I really like. But everthing sounds and looks the same for me lately. I've been only interested just in Hakuei/Chisato stuff, Nightmare, Boogieman, anything Sharaku or Ao and amber gris for the most part.

[LIDL 692]

NO.

No time + space. Thank you.

Could always download and delete afterward, i know.

Been there done that, just cannot be arsed anymore now.

Especially when some of this new releases are kinda not so out there/rare.

I am enough with begging to people, asking them to share.

Some people just doesn't have enough credibility as a person to even reply your message

when they can't or won't share it with you or something has happened tbh. Very rude indeed.

So i better safe myself from trouble now.

My flawless upbringing won't let me deal with this kind of people.

[Number Girl 48]

If it is from a favorite band that has always brought me a decent amount of satisfaction or if the description of the band/release sounds like it fits me, of course I almost always at least try out their new stuff.

I think the only new stuff I'm not willing to try out are from bands that have been on an extensive sucky streak or any of the new era VK fad bands. The former for obvious reasons, the second because there seems to be zero amount of improvement or change in the scene for quite a while now and bothering to go through a list of them and listening to each one to see if they are any good has only proven to be a waste of my time.

[ginHigure 22]

Not at all unless it's a band i know that is still around who still make decent music.

VK sucks now. Back then it used to be amazing and more creative. Now it's all the same and boring. Everyone wants to be the nyappiest that can be or the heaviest it can be. :/

[Yasupon 18]

Depends what you mean by "all new j-rock releases", because if I were literally to try all of them I'd have to download practically 20 releases a day, and that's only dealing with the visual spectrum of the term. I pay attention to some new bands that catch my attention but at this point not many do. I also prefer bands from around the mid 2000's mark, which means that few releases of the last year or so are memorable to me.

So my opinion is pretty similar to most of the opinions in this thread.

[Dead;Stam;Alive 0]

Yeah same here. Used to check almost everything got released. But now only the ones i m interested. Matenrou opera, (i was happy with latest release), Awoi (last release was so-so), Sadie and OZ (was meh). Only new band i tried (it was suggested to me from a friend) and liked was Nocturnal Bloodlust. I m more open to new japanese metalcore bands though.