Anyone else getting over VK recently?

[dannemannen 69]

I am still a big fan of Japanese music and I keep checking new releases for the classic bands like Mucc, Dir en Grey, Merry, Matenrou Opera, nogod etc, but new stuff?

I just watched a top 100 video for the "best" vk songs of 2016, which I guess covered most relevant releases, and man everything was just horrible. 

Is this me just getting over VK, or is the quality lower than ever? Anyone else feeling the same?

Edited January 24, 2017 by dannemannen

[itsukoii 1300]

hmm... nope

[emmny 4139]

u know we can't go without at least two of these topics per year...enjoy ladies n gentlemen!

[len 67]

I thought I was, I was searching for a lot of different bands but they all sounded kind of generic and didn't have much to make me hooked, so I decided to look more into genres i didn't know yet, but I missed vk, since I came back to Monochrome Heaven I found many good ones, some of them are: deviloof, keel, xaa-xaa, archemi, purple stone, otomekokka, avanchick, rave, jiluka, fixer, zigzag, and so on...

[suji 8317]

I'm gonna admit, I hate most of the new bands coming up these days, yet I stan the hell out of older bands like MERRY, Megaromania, etc. However, this year, I've checked out some recent stuff like Moran and Crucifixion, and older stuff like Deadman, and I really liked it. For the rest of the year, I'm making it my goal to check out other bigger bands that I haven't listened to yet and broaden up my vk horizons a bit more, since I feel like I'm totally missing out at the moment.

[Yutaproid1 72]

Cant wait for 10 more topics like that in 2017.

[vanivani 558]

No, I've been finding visual kei music I love. Sorry you haven't :/

[reminiscing2004 617]

I fell out of the Visual Kei scene in 2010 because all of my favorite present bands were disbanding or going to shit. I fell back into Visual Kei in the last two years because of a discovery/re-appreciation for all of the gold in the late 90s and early 2000s.

 

While I don't have anything present or new to look forward to, I keep finding new things I love from the past. All of my favorite bands I discovered in 2016 were ones that disbanded 15 years ago! And despite that, they make me feel like I've really gotten into VK again.

[Chi 2624]

i'm here for the memes but rarely check vk bands i don't already know these days

[Original Saku 1593]

I got over VK around 2010 or so, but recently I've been discovering bands that have interested me... such as Dezert, Grieva, Kuroyuri to Kage, KEEL, IX -nine-,  and most recently DECAYS. now I'm sorta enjoying the scene again

 

It just happens man, being too over saturated in one scene or genre will burn you out, try to mix other kinds of music into your listening tendencies.

[Elazmus 1873]

A top 100 list for just last year...?! Christ, vk doesn't need THAT much help looking bad...

[The Moon 989]

No.

[togz 2004]

I wouldn't say I've gotten out of VK it's just my musical interests have changed so the majority of what I listen to is not VK. But VK still has good artists and I check them out from time to time.

[Biopanda 2675]

Never. VK 'till the day I die. 

[Biopanda 2675]

Hopefully due to VK-related causes, of course.

[dannemannen 69]

I understand that this is a returning topic, sorry.
 

I just don't see how an adult can enjoy this stuff: 

This comes from an old hardcore fan, maybe its just growing up?
Well, cheers. 

[Gaz 1097]

ye bai mate, go listen to ur machurr music ;-*

[freesia 714]

I used to be a hardcore vk fan until most of the bands I liked(DEATHGAZE, Girugamesh, D'espairsRay, 9GBO, etc.) disbanded.

[aetarna 69]

Yes. And no.  I first got "over VK" in 2007 or was it 2008? But then a year or two later I returned. Then I got bored again. And thus begun the cycle.

 

Now I'm just having years when I'm "less interested what's going on in VK, but still checking out from time to time" and years when "gotta work with that backlog of stuff".

 

I might not be as enthusiastic fan as I used to be when I was younger, but I can't really just drop the scene like it never existed either. Especially since I still can find listenable new stuff, and few old favourites (Buck-Tick, L'arc en Ciel, Dir en Grey) are still around and kicking.

 

Oh well, joys of getting old.

[nekkichi 6043]

2 hours ago, dannemannen said:

I just don't see how an adult can enjoy this stuff: 

I mean... it's meant for the edgy azien teenager consumption; we, adult people, had ayabie same time ten years ago ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

that being said, either that person has a very narrow taste in VK, or the scene in general tends to replicate the same formula, sucking stemming off a certain trend, but I couldn't even make it through ten minutes of that video straight tbh.

I liked the rides in revellion sample, but not enough to check their other stuff asap; also apparently mejibray is not as awful as my former perception of them, pentagon is not the musical cancer I expected - more like terminal aggressive tuberculosis, and matenrou opera song is neat, I need to catch up on them.

 

everything else is very derivative, I just don't see any appeal in that.

 

getting back on the subject, bands/core members I used to like have either disbanded or are on break so far, but I'm happy with the ~temporal projects~ and a small handful of scene newcomers; this will likely change for better by middle of this year already with new bands/new releases getting announced for the autumn.

if everything else fails, I'll just ironically stan zicross until they get kaisan'd due to creative differences tbh.

 

1 hour ago, aetarna said:

Yes. And no.  I first got "over VK" in 2007 or was it 2008? But then a year or two later I returned. Then I got bored again. And thus begun the cycle.

I can relate to this too. there was a certain moment around 2007 when lots of established indie acts got signed to universal and immediately started chugging out literally shittest-tier records they could've come up

 

(I think avex took universal's crown later, once the former gave up on vk in favor of reselling kpop.)

 

 

oh and btw

9 hours ago, dannemannen said:

I just watched a top 100 video for the "best" vk songs of 2016, which guess covered most relevant releases, and man everything was just horrible. 

 

if that's the video you're talking about, it's slightly more diverse than the one you've actually posted here.

I liked the vexent sample, but the fact they included nokubura, A9 and probably every PV diaura had out this year is quite indicative of their questionable taste.

Edited January 24, 2017 by nekkichi

[Tokage 5930]

1 hour ago, dannemannen said:

 

 

 

Damn, watching this made me realize just how out of touch I've gotten with the VK scene lately, I only really like Liphlich and The Gallo out of all of the bands in here.  Most of this stuff feels incredibly derivative, like at least half the bands sound like they're covering the same song with swapped-out vocalists. Is this really what's popular nowadays? If that's the case,  I'm kind of glad I started exploring sounds from other countries lmao..

 

There's still a handful of active bands/musicians whose projects I follow, and there's a pretty large number of inactive groups whose music I still really enjoy. Unfortunately, the types of sounds I'm looking for these days are just simply not well-represented in the VK scene. I'm not sure if this is a case of """"muh maturity""" or not, but I feel like this is something that may eventually happen to anyone who chooses to keep exploring different avenues instead of remaining down w/ their musical oneitis

 

Also, if I had €5 for every time someone opened a thread like this, I'd have enough money to singlehandedly revive the VK scene by now : ^ )

 

[platy 3018]

2 hours ago, dannemannen said:

I just don't see how an adult can enjoy this stuff: 

 

LOL i'm not surprised you're put off. The first 2 bands being My Dragon and Smileberry, that sets the tone for that playlist.

 

oshare-wise there's nothing good going in VK now, so I'm completely out of touch with that. I had a break from VK at about 2013 to 2015 -  Now I'm back to full force, spending hours on it like I used to in my ''prime time'' 2009.

I discovered a lot of good stuff (and I'm really picky with what I listen, my taste is weird) and I think I'll stick around for a while yet.

 

Maybe you just need a break, go explore other stuff.

[Zeus 7997]

1 hour ago, Tokage said:

 

Damn, watching this made me realize just how out of touch I've gotten with the VK scene lately, I only really like Liphlich and The Gallo out of all of the bands in here.  Most of this stuff feels incredibly derivative, like at least half the bands sound like they're covering the same song with swapped-out vocalists. Is this really what's popular nowadays? If that's the case,  I'm kind of glad I started exploring sounds from other countries lmao..

 

I would love to jump on the bandwagon...but to be fair growing up in visual kei we had a similar phenomenon, except the flavor of the decade back then was bland metalcore and bubbly oshare. The scene cares not for yesterday's interchangeable acts such as GHOSE, BIOSPHIA, DELACROIX, Crest of Aleist, DILIAL, Xepher, Re:dis, DIO -distraught overlord-, SHEDIA, DEPAIN, WERKMARE, THE RUDIE SATAN PARK, ichigo69, Diavro, GAUZES, GremlinS, トーマス, SCAPEGOAT, Since1889, Annabyss Coast, Gossip-ゴシップ-, Gimmick, DI3SIRAE, Deflina Ma'riage, Lustknot, JyuLie, 2the DISCOLAND, VIRGENOW, 2nd dyz, Heartless, Crazy shampoo, Golbeza, Dragonwapppppper, PIECElang, 東京指定., V-last., REALies, Zip.er, お遊戯ゎが魔々団×【PaRADEiS】, ZUCK, CANZEL, Called≠Plan, Zelktage, DIS★Marionette, Ap(r)il, 御主人様専用奇才楽団Virgil, xTRIPx, v[NEU] or 0801弐209336 -ゼロハチゼロイチニーニーゼロキュウサンサンロク-. Great bands, good bands, shit bands all forgotten to the sands of time. Half these bands are why people left the scene in the first place. Never forget the massive amount of shit we had to wade through when the scene was at its lowest.

As for me, I think it's obvious I stopped really paying attention to certain sections of visual kei a while ago. Really indie bands get no burn from me unless they establish themselves since I'm over getting into bands that disband in two to three years. The crossover between visual kei and indie/alt rock is what has my attention these days.

 

[Euthanasia 333]

Sorry, but no. But I don't compare new bands to old bands either. If we compare bands all the time I don't think we'll ever find newer bands to like c: 

[aetarna 69]

The thing is, it's okay to get bored with music genre or scene, and search for something new and exciting elsewhere. Styles changes, tastes change. The little vkeaboo me from 13 years ago would love current scene with how brootal and black latex with black lipstick it is. Meanwhile my current self, wouldn't mind to find an oshare band carrying the tradition of Shazna with similar skill.

 

And speaking of brutality, that Golden Bomber as Malice Mizer was the most brootal thing ever

 

It's not just visual kei scene, I had a surprise when I wanted to relieve the music of my childhood only to find that in recent decade only two or three bands surfaced that are listenable and not forgettable to me... and I use the word "surfaced" on purpose, instead of formed, because they "formed" a lot earlier. Fortunately around half of the old fossils are still there and making new material, but still