Favorite Lo-Fi Demos

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

One of the things I like most of visual-kei is the lack of professional quality of anything for many many bands--artwork, costume design, marketing, and recording quality. I love trying out bands' super early work that only came in tape form; some of my favorite works have never been re-recorded and shall forever live on in a muddled, hissing, tape.

 

So, what are your favorites? I'll try to post videos, but a lot of them I'm going to have to upload myself eventually since Youtube doesn't have everything. Oh, and feel free to not be restricted to just Japanese music.

 

+Crack Brain- 砂時計: love the melody of this one, and the poor quality adds an extra layer of creepy to it that I really enjoy. Unfortunately, this was never rerecorded (as far as I know).

 

+Luna Sea- Shade: I liked the demo version of this song more than the 1991 rerecording. Haven't heard the 2011 version yet, but I don't think it'll really do the same for me.

 

+Werkmare - Psychopass: Messy metal demo-tapes are fun. This one also has some Bach thrown in as well, which is always an added bonus. I'm actually reallly disappointed that this one wasn't rerecorded for real.

 

+Malice Mizer- Sans Logique: This tape is great. I really love their 2nd attempt at 'Speed of Desperate' and '終幕への扉' is pretty magical. Had this not be lo-fi, I probably would not have liked it as much.

 

 

+Madeth Gray'll- 狂死楽園: Ooky-spooky demos at their best. The recent version uploaded here also has some warping in the tape that make it sound so so much better, like an old horror movie. They also had like 100000 other demo tapes of similar quality that were all eventually re-recorded (multiple times, actually). This video isn't as warped as I had mentioned, but you'll get the point.

 

[Champ213 1858]

Mercurius' "Variant" is the first thing that comes to my mind!

 

They didn't live long enough to have re-recordings in proper quality, so I couldn't say if I would have liked them more. But I like the crappy quality versions all the same. XD

 

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

LUNA SEA's first demo tape "LUNACY" including 1. KILL ME 2. SEXUAL PERVERSION 3. NIGHTMARE is so great, and was never re-recorded, unfortunately (except for SEXUAL PERVERSION which became TIME IS DEAD).

 

When it comes to more unknown bands, I really enjoy the demo tapes by Sense of Shape more than their only album.

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

 

 

覇叉羅!!!!

 

YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

 

Except this is a CD rip but it's basically just the demo on CD they sold as a live only :V

[Bear 1817]

Paysage d'Hiver are the masters of lo-fi in my eyes. A lot of people consider lo-fi productions a wekness, but I beg to differ. Lo-fi productions can sound just as good as "good" (in lack of a better word) productions, it's all about the context. What the band sounds like, what they are trying to create and all that. And in Paysage d'Hiver's case the production is just as important, if not more important, than the music itself. And because of that I don't think Paysage d'Hiver will ever go past the demo phase, something I find very interesting. Ten demos and two splits are where he's at right now. But I tend to call them demo albums, though, because unlike most demos these aren't a preview sent to record companies to get a good deal or anything. These are their actual albums, just in demo form. I think he will keep on released demo albums with a lo-fi sound until he quits. Paysage d'Hiver is all about the atmosphere, and the lo-fo production helps creating the atmosphere Wintherr's looking for. It's a massive and cruel winter blizzard in the form of music. And every release, both the black metal and ambient, are top, top notch! It's not lo-fi for the sake of being lo-fi and cult or anything, but because it adds a lot to the actual atmosphere he's looking for.

 

This song is from Paysage d'Hiver's fourth demo album, Paysage d'Hiver.

 

 

But to keep it a bit on topic:

 

Sabbat - Bloody Countess

Bloody Countess were Sabbat's second release, but their first demo and has got a worse sound than their debut EP, Sabbat. Fast, thrashing black metal with Gezol's trademark vocals and a great, raw guitar tone. As for the production, I think it's badass. It's honest and are filled with plenty of charm. It's just easy to like. But that guitar tone's amazing. I love it!

 

[Wonrei 108]

Not many old vk demos come to my mind right now, but this one is a big favorite:

 

Noisy Crowds -  水色の太陽/サ・ン・ダ・ル

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7SuCw9HY_s

Mostly because of this song. This one features almost everything I liked about old school visual kei, too bad their later sound would really stray from this. What a shame.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

Oh, you don't have to stick to VKei. I just don't know of any outside of vkei at the moment (partly why I started this thread~), so any genre / scene is fine.

[lichtlune 915]

Ｍｉｓｅｒｙ - 切り傷～スカリフィケーション～デモンストレーション

 

Or basically everything from misery is good also larm madul'e's stuff is good.

[Ikna 1225]

Agree with everything said before. Old school VK demo tapes kick ass ;D I often prefer the demo versions over the proper studio recordings (if there any), because I like the low-fi and "raw" sound of tapes. The studio re-recoarding often lacks this charisma and tends to be too clean for my taste.
 
Best example: Deep Sky and Sexual by Syndrome. I don't like the Sexual Remix on their Remix Single as much as the original tape version (and the re-recoarded version on the de-light taoe is fine too). Deep Sky on Sosei sounds a bit different (also lacks a whole part which was in the tape version) and it's too clean.

I love most of the Matina band tapes, especially the song 夢又夢... by Das:Vasser from the 青玉-サファイア- tape.
 
Other favs:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuwxZbikhGU

 

 

(anything by Ruellia actually! Oh and does anyone have that tape here? XD)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui19pDjXeok

(so deliciously low budget)

 

 

I have to say that the low fi aesthetic is not only limited to tapes. Quite a lot of vinyl recordings have that charme as well, especially in certain genres like Gothic Rock, Punk Rock, Post Punk, Minimal (Electro), Noise and Shoegaze.
This industrial piece by Cabaret Voltaire for example fully embraces it.

[hyura 465]

While it may not fit my personal prefferences in music I must admit that I'd prefer good quality recordings over lo-fi demos any day.

Quite often of course the rerecorded version lacks the original energy of the demo and is therefore uncomparable or (even more often) there is none at all, so I got used to it.

And I appreciate the excitement of holding old tapes in my hands or reparing them when they are broken upon revival.

 

Still. Whenever I hear a nice song in demo-quality I wonder what it would have turned out like if the band could have afforded to record in a studio.

That's also why I can't quite understand why some of todays vk acts try to emulate 90s demo quality for their stuff while the standard is so much higher now.

[Bear 1817]

That's also why I can't quite understand why some of todays vk acts try to emulate 90s demo quality for their stuff while the standard is so much higher now.

 

And by this you mean the use of triggers, autotune and overproduced music that sounds as if it was all programmed on a computer without anyone actually playing the music, or? Yes, I am exegerating to some degree now, but people/band often emulate the sound of others because they like that certain sound and feel that it fits their music. And some does it for cred, but I'm sure that's the minority.

[hyura 465]

^Haha no. By standard I didn't refer to the current 'vk standard sound' but more to the 'digital era standard' where you can create a pretty decent demo sound quality with little money playing whatever style you like, including 90s vk. For example: I like the La'veil Mizeria tapes. I like that they are nostalgic. I like that they are tapes released in 2013 But still- they are impractical and I don't think it would have hurt to put quality before nostalgia in their case because the band would still be Matina as hell on cd.

What you described does nothing for me.

[Bear 1817]

But they are demos, dear you. Demos are made to give labels and people a little taste of what you're like, and it's cheap. Like, really, really cheap and also easy to fix. And unlike CDs, they're also charming. Demos aren't supossed to be high standard shit. There's no need for it either.

 

As for sound it all comes down to personal taste.

[hyura 465]

dear you.

 

?

I never claimed anything different. Demos are exactly that. The cheapest and easiest way to show your stuff to people. A couple years ago the typical medium for that would be a tape, yes.

Today the typical medium would be a digital file, either homeburned to a cd or uploaded on the internet.

 

So a band to record a typical 90s vk demo today doesn't do it because it's the easiest way (like their idols did), they do it out of nostalgia even though a digital version would have been easier to edit and easier to spread. It's basically classicism.

 

----

I actually couldn't find any of my favorites on youtube unfortunately, but this video is dubbed with Syndromes 'vogue' demo which is one of their best songs. (imho)

 

[Champ213 1858]

I recently listened to some Metis Gretel stuff and remembered that their early demos were really sweet too. Crappy production and cringeworthy off-key vocals included. XD But again those are songs they never re-recorded, so it's impossible to say if I had preferred them in higher quality. I normally do, and in this day and age I don't see much point to intentionally record something in bad quality.

[Reiko 75]

Does anyone here actually own Sans Logique? Do they ever show up for sale?