Bands / Artists with unique sounds

[Tokage 5930]

I wanted to make a topic dedicated to the bands and artists in the Japanese music industry with a truly 'unique' sound of their own (within the sphere of the Japanese music industry anyway), ones that as of yet haven't been heavily imitated, homaged or whatever. This isn't just about the VK scene specifically, non-VK bands and artists are more than welcome as well. Still, I think it'd be interesting to first of all look at some VK acts that can be called relatively unique within the scene as well - so many people write off VK as a whole because of its supposedly homogeneous sound, but I feel like there's quite a few bands out there that definitely did do their own thing. Note that 'unique' doesn't necessarily have to equal 'good', so extremely bizarre examples of shit kei are also more than welcome

 

I'll start off with a couple of  examples of my own:

 

cali≠gari: I honestly don't think I've ever stumbled upon all that many bands in the VK scene with a sound similar to these guys, at least none that weren't side-projects connected to any of the cali≠gari boys anyway. Although the 90s VK scene especially was pretty strongly influenced by music from both the Western and Eastern post-punk and goth scenes, I don't think all that many groups in the VK world ever did blend influences of post-punk, noise rock and synthpop quite the way they did. There's also this particular guitar tone Ao uses in quite many of their songs (I don't know exactly how to explain it, but this kind of 'scratchy' sound like in Hakkyou Channel) that I haven't really heard much in other VK bands.

 

Schwarz Stein: Pretty clearly a bunch of odd ducks when you look at them within the context of their other goth-y peers. While they definitely still feel like they could be just your typical symphonic metal-influenced VK act if you just take their aesthetic at face value, their sound is something I've never really heard any other VK bands try to attempt, especially in that early '00s period before their hiatus, when quite a lot of  bands were gradually starting to adapt to this more nu-metal / alt metal-influenced sound. Even nowadays in 2018 I think you can probably count the number of well-known acts with a sound like theirs on one hand.

[BrenGun 2261]

You can call up so many bands to that, mostly bands which music isn't the standard vkei type. 

 

for example these bands. 

 

 

Calmando Qual/SARRMATH

Still don't know any band who poured at that kind of amazing sound. 
Also Hibiki's voice isn't a voice you standard hear. 

 

 

Acid Black Cherry/Janne Da Arc

Yes, unique and not accepted liked by everyone.

Yasu's voice is high and just amazing which makes the sound somehow also nice.

 

THE NOSTRADAMNZ

Why don't more vkei bands play like them?

But I know, not many people do like their sound, well they don't sound typical vkeiish at all.

 

Damijaw/Solid beat

Janne Da Arc Bass solo project,

Also something you don't always encounter, and totally underrated. 

 

ADAMS

Somehow they where unique.

Shota, why did you had to die, damn f*CK**.

 

DEVIZE/MERRY BADEND

Unique voice and just perfectly written melody. 

I'm still kinda upset that both bands disbanded. 

And of course, disliked by many people, because it's not the typical VKEI sound we know. 

 

REIREI

Somehow, I don't really encounter bands who are even similar to them. 

 

 

NEiN

Pretty much how a VKei band should sound these days.

Which make them unique.

However, also... somehow people here don't dig them.

 

Quite Rain

More people here need to check them out.

Even live, it's wonderful. 

Would like more visual bands with this kind of sound. 

Edited October 23, 2018 by BrenGun

[Sickle 903]

Lab. / Lab the basement: is pure gold for me, since Ao is a beast of a composser, they sound like a more post-punk version of cali≠gari, and I don't want to compare both because they are in different games, but yeah both bands are awesome (I'm not comparing because @Tokage already speak of c≠g)

 

Kagerou/蜉蝣: they were a HUGE game changer in the scene, they weren't the first doing awesome things in VK, but they do it very well, in one album you were going from pop to rock, from folk to metal, they were so awesome, a unique voice, an AWESOME work in the melody of the compossisions, one of a kind

L'arc~en~ciel: maybe I'm just being nostalgic, but I think no one sound like them, even in the western, they are just unique, and like cali≠gari the side projects of the members aren't as good as their main band

KYOKUTOU GIRL FRIEND: another one of a kind band, they weren't doing something new but like a lot of unique bands the blend of the musicians were awesome and they sound unique in a style that existed

Kagrra,: the blend of traditional japanese music and rock, the voice of Isshi (R.I.P) for that reason they were huge in western audiences, something I haven't found in newer bands

MERRY/メリー: again, the blend of the voice and the composition make a unique sound, making them the first band I really dig in, the guitar work (when first listened them I was learning guitar) is flawless, never heard something like that

And pretty much any angura kei bands cof cof グルグル映畫館

[Tokage 5930]

Another one from my end:

 

Oto-Oni: Over the years there have been quite many VK bands going for the whole 'traditional' aesthetic. Prominent examples include bands like the aforementioned Kaggra, but also more recent acts like Kiryu, Memento Mori and many, many others. Still, among that particular crowd, I think Oto-Oni definitely stands out as one of the more unique bands going for such a sound and aesthetic. While their music does feature the kind of weird artificial, synthy takes on traditional instruments (at least i THINK they're not real ones) on some occasions that can be found in the sound of bands like Kiryu, Oto-Oni's sound has less of this.. 'samurai'-type of vibe to it and more a sort of 'nomads wandering through the wilderness'-feel to it, something tribal. Many of their heavier songs have these pounding drum beats to them that can kinda make you imagine people dressed in rags dancing around a fire. The only other example of a song with a vaguely similar sound I can think of off the top of my head is '913' by Coaltar of the Deepers, but even that one has a totally different vibe

[Aferni 2381]

llll-ligro-: this band has always had a unique sound, from their crazy compositions to Hinata's beautiful voice. I'll always be salty over their disbanding because of much of a breath of fresh air they were, most vocalists are just tolerable.. And thats where Hinata comes in, he's actually more than just tolerable. Lots of vk bands try not to get tiresome and i feel that llll-ligro- did that effortlessly. I sincerely hope that hinata and kazari return one day, they are honestly talented.

[monkeybanana4 1732]

D'espairsRays: They created a certain dark, depressive rock sound that is unique. There are some VK bands that borrow elements from their music, but it isn't quite the same as the songs D'espairsRays created. Furthermore, Hizumi's vocals were quite distinct and his voice was able to bring out that heavy music from D'espairsRays. Sadly, for obvious reasons, they won't be coming back, but they made some great stuff.

 

[PIZAZ 238]

Guniw tools sound wasn't always incredibly unique(plagiarism accusations), but certainly unusual and experimental  for vk. Full's voice is an acquired taste and the songs range from folk inspired pop to industrial, so I've noticed that they tend to be pretty polarizing when I try to introduce people to them.

[Traxan 148]

Maximum the Hormone, hands down. They defy all categorization. People compare them to System of a Down but even that falls short.

 

Ain't no one who sounds like Sigh, either.

 

Gacharic Spin are their own mad creation, too.

Edited October 27, 2018 by Traxan

[saiko 429]

It would be interesting if any of the users above can tell why they think the band they are bringing on can be considered "unique".

 

From my experience of almost a decade listening to vk, I think the bands with the most unique sound (and overall concept) are the ones that stay in the fandom as the big ones, because they were the bands that contributed to define the estructures of the look, sound, lyrics, performance, etc. that make of vk a stablished and recognizable scene/genre. Sometimes I think it's not that hard to stand out with a creative proposal in this scene, since one of its core atributes since the early times was being vastly plagued of cheap copy-cats (what nowadays it went to the extreme of the parody, and made a genuine subgenre from itself: what in this lands they call "homage-kei").

 

In this direction, it would be really interesting to trace the different genealogies of sound, visuals, etc. within the scene. For example: the lines of power-metal bands from X; the goth lines of D'erlenger and Kuroyume (then hardcore-punk); the neoclassical line (Malice Mizer, Lareine, Raphael) etc.

Edited October 27, 2018 by saiko