Into the haystack

Japanese rock music is a massive genre. The best way to describe how giant it is would be with scientific classification, I'll actually try to do that..

Kingdom:	Audio
Phylum:	Music
Class:	Japanese
Order:	Rock
Family:	Visual Kei
Genus:	Nagoya Kei
Species:	Lynch.

That's about how complex it is, there are so many subtypes of Japanese music (music in general even) that it could easily make one's head explode. Now I don't presume to know all of them or all of the bands, and this is really my point.

I basically cut ties with music from all other countries, save for very select bands/songs, because it was just way too much to keep track of. I hope at some point to be one of the most knowledgeable people when it comes to Japanese rock, but there are so many bands that intersect with the Rock (order) lol.

Now I started out listening to bands from Visual Kei; Glay, L'arc~en~Ciel, X-Japan, Malice Mizer.. even in that small selection there is a huge amount of explanation required to understand the structure of visual kei. For example all 4 bands started out as visual kei, however X-Japan is also a heavy metal band and Malice Mizer is kind of gothic.. Both Glay and L'arc~en~Ciel have become pop/rock and have lost the Visual kei aspect to their music, but L'arc~en~Ciel when they were a relatively new band started a trend of dressing in white and coining the term "shiro-kei" which bands still use today. On a completely different note, there are many bands that can just be considered Japanese rock without being Visual Kei or being associated with it, Mr. Children and B'z are two that come to mind immediately. Although I'm not sure when they became active.

Honestly I can't listen to every new band that comes out, I just don't care enough and most of it is pretty terrible. But I do follow the trends and pay attention to bands that become major in the rock scene. For the most part I follow specific bands, bands that those bands play with and bands made of former members from bands I enjoyed, that has been the best way for me to find more music that I enjoy.

Anyway, I'd really like to discuss more of this and upload some new music for you guys at a later time. Again, I'll apologize for not updating regularly, I just haven't cared much about the stuff that's been released recently ;p

Talk to you soon internets, keep reading.

Moonies and the moon.

Why hello there my internet neighbors, it's been a while. A few things have happened since the last time I posted here and I will get to all of them in good time. First order of business.. After great deliberation and concentration, I have decided that my favorite band is now Coaltar of the Deepers. MUCC was #1 for as long as I can remember, but they have been putting out music that doesn't mesh well with my tastes (for the past 5 years or so) and have lost the top spot.

So far 2010 has had many Japanese releases.. few of which I feel have been notable. As of right now 9Goats Black Out are on indefinite hiatus, somehow Cali=Gari who revived for (a supposedly short time) is still together and we don't really know what's happening there. Cali=Gari released "≠" which is actually the symbol in their name but rotated 90 degrees. *I'm just too lazy to find that symbol each time I write their name. 9Goats Black Out released their actual first full length album, which I don't like very much.. UnsraW released a mini album called "GUILTY" which is actually really good. There was some other release that underwhelmed me so much that I can't even think of it now.. But the true heroes of 2010 so far have been Munimuni, with their first full album release Magical Moonies.

Completely out of left field Magical Moonies delighted the shit out of me, it's 11 songs, maybe about half of them are re-recordings of their older songs and there might be 1 or 2 songs on the album that are difficult for me to listen to, but overall it's a SUPER solid album that I wasn't expecting to make such an impression on me.

Munimuni is an Angura-kei band, self described as "Sadistical Punk" and I saw someone recently refer to them as "a dirty mix between Lunasea and the Cure" which I think is a fair way to put it. It makes me think of a band full of bat-shit insane people who are extremely musically talented. In fact, it's quite difficult for me to describe their music in any kind of coherent way.. I think you just need to listen to it.

I apologize for not posting much recently, but soon I will get back into the swing of things, and with a new trip to the land of the rising sun on the horizon, I will have some great stories for you, but until then I will continue being extremely lazy.

No song of the day today, I guess you could call Munimuni the band of the day.. but I will have more to say next time we speak, adieu intarwebs~

FINALLY

I have been goddamned waiting for some new UnsraW, it's finally here and it's just what the metal doctor ordered. Honestly I've been getting tired of such weak music coming out.. Don't get me wrong I love the new Cali=Gari, 9Goats and a few other recent releases, they have been pretty good and I will write about them soon, but seriously.. once in a while I need my metal bone scratched nice and deep. AND FUKKEN UNSRAW TO THE RESCUE!

The new single "REBORN" which came out on the 23rd (yesterday) has 3 tracks, which is ideal for a single, and to boot all of the songs are original. Track 1 is called 'Nightmare' when I first heard it, at first I wasn't satisfied that it was heavy enough, but by the end of the track I was begging for more. The 2nd track is the title track called 'REBORN' and it's pretty intense, real classic sounding UnsraW, but it's more melodic than I was expecting.. Nice and heavy though. 3rd track is called 'Switch' it's more on the softer side, but at almost 5 minutes you can really start to get into it. This new single is such a breath of *blisteringly painful metal air* I freakin' want more RIGHT NOW!@!!

I'm super impressed, usually singles don't make much of an impact on me, but leave it to UnsraW to kick some ass and leave me bleeding on the floor. Obviously, today's BAND OF THE DAY is UnsraW with their title track off the 'REBORN' single.

Kagerou

LOL, gotta love that picture.. XD. The word Kagerou, which means 'Mayfly' or what I assume literally translates to something like 'shadow fly' is severely overused in Japanese music. This article is mainly concerning the visual band actually called Kagerou, but when I type the word Kagerou into my iTunes search, a vast ocean of different songs/bands comes up including, but not limited to: Kiyoharu (of Sads and Kuroyume), Laputa, Buck-Tick and T.M. Revolution.. I suppose the ephemeral notion of a mayfly is a very Jrock thing.

Kagerou the band, is a strange topic for me, mainly because I have mixed feelings about them.. Kagerou formed in 1999 by the vocalist Daisuki and the bassist MASAYA, shortly thereafter they would be joined by guitarist Yuana. At the beginning their music was a slightly dirtier sounding version of the popular (dir en grey-ish) visual kei sound at the time, and progressed into something that was fairly unique, heavy and a little jazzy. During their lifespan Kagerou put out a total of 4 studio albums and one best of album and a bunch of singles and maxi singles.. Kagerou ended up disbanding in 2006. [as an aside, I would like to mention that when I met MUCC's vocalist at the Ebisu Liquidroom in 2005, he was with Daisuki]

Now this is where I become conflicted. I can't honestly say that I can sit down and listen to an entire Kagerou album (with perhaps the exception of Gore Shock). However! There are a number of Kagerou songs which I like the hell out of. Something from a single here and an album there, this small pocket of songs, I absolutely adore, like holy crap. I don't know what it is, but a few other bands have a similar trend.. which is, most of the songs are passable, but the songs I like, I REALLY like.

The aftermath of Kagerou is interesting to me, because it meshes with some of my favorite Japanese musicians. After they disbanded, Yuana was part of the formation of boogieman and Daisuki formed a band with some Nagoya band musicians called The Studs. Now there's something to talk about! Musicians from some of my favorite bands, Deadman, Gullet,Blast, and Lynch. The composer of the Studs is Yukino, who is one of my favorite bassists and a fantastic composer, he's worked with Lynch, Deadman, Gullet and (oldschool kein). The drummer from Blast, who I think actually left the band recently, the guitarist from Deadman, and of course the vocalist of Kagerou make up the Studs. (I will do a seperate entry on Nagoya bands in the near future!)

Todays BAND OF THE DAY! is Kagerou, with their song Shibire Gokoro from the 2004 album Rakushu. Here's to a really cracked out, unique and pretty brutal Japanese metal band. Definitely some of the strangest characters I've seen in Jrawk. Hope you all enjoy~

Oldskool

So, tonight I wanted to talk a little bit about Lunasea. Most likely if you are familiar with Japanese music, you are also familiar with Lunasea, they formed in 1989 and kept the same members the entire life of the band, up til they disbanded in 2000. Thats a pretty good run for a Japanese band. Their name is a take off of the word Lunacy, which was what the band was originally called.

In the beginning... Lunasea was scouted by "hide" Hideto Matsumoto of X-JAPAN and signed to their Extasy records. Pretty much everything that LunaSea put out, is important in the history of Japanese rock. I'm pretty sure that Lunasea is one of the most influential Japanese bands ever, next to X-Japan and Dead End.

LunaSea was one of my first Japanese bands actually, I really liked Rosier, Gravity and 1999.. I think those were my first songs. This was also at a time where it was difficult to find full albums as we were using Napster or WinMX so I managed to scrounge up songs here and there. In any case, I really enjoyed their music when I was younger.. now when I listen to it, there is a strange phenomena that occurs: I notice that other bands since have copied sounds from many LunaSea songs! I'm sure it's more of a tribute thing than a failing at being original, but I found it really interesting that I notice it now. I guess my point is that LunaSea was/is HUGELY influential in Visual Kei. ;D

Anyhow, LunaSea was active for a pretty long time, put out seven albums and a bunch of singles, pretty much all of it being good in my oppinion. These days the members of LunaSea are, for the most part still very active. J, the Bassist has his own solo career, just as "J" and has put out a bunch of music. Ryuichi the vocalist has since been in a band called Tourbillon, and puts out solo music. Lead guitarrist Sugizo, who is probably the most active, playing now with Sugizo and the Spank Your Juice (lol), A member in super group S.K.I.N. with Yoshiki, Gackt, Miyavi and Ju-Ken(support), and I believe was recently made an official member of X-JAPAN replacing the deceased hide. Inoran, the rythm guitarrist was also in Tourbillon and a member of Fake? for a while, but also has a solo career (I actually like his solo work). Finally, the Drummer of LunaSea Shinya, was also in a band called Potbelly, which I don't know very well, but I believe Shinya also played support drums for a number of high profile bands, (possibly including Creature Creature?). A note about Shinya is that, the drummer of Dir en Grey, also called Shinya, took his name and his drum style directly from LunaSea's Shinya. This may be of interest as Dir en Grey is hugely popular now.

LunaSea has recently played a few revival shows and at the hide memorial summit, this activity may lead to the band actually reforming! I don't know, but there are a lot of bands doing this recently. Honestly I hope they do, it would be cool to see something new from LunaSea.

Today's BAND OF THE DAY! is... well, Lunasea.. With their song Symptom from 1992 album 'Image', this song is one of the main reasons I think Lunasea is so influential. You can really hear all kinds of visual kei that sounds very similar to this song.

Hope you all enjoy~ TTYLD00D!

Something new!

Ok tonight, I am really drunk and waiting for my friend to drive 8+ hours up to NJ from VA. This may or may not detract from my post. Either way.. this evening my good friend who also lives down south(and may write for this blog in the future), sent me the new Cali=Gari single which he recieved in the mail today! So I will do my best to review, at least the A-sides on these singles!

As you guys know by now, I pretty much think of Cali=Gari as my favoite, or one of my quite favorites( in top 5 at least)!

I have come to the conclusion that, these two singles are for this day and age, with my musical taste, for the most part, perfect. (also, picture unrelated)

---------------------------------------------------------------

Cali=Gari '9-to-hen' and '9-school zone-hen' are an amazing release for 2009 I havent heard music like this released since Cali=Gari broke up, which was in 2003, and since then, I haven't been exceptionally impressed with a whole lot of Japanese rock. (there are a few exceptions of course!)

Anyhow, the A-sides are both very unique songs. The song 'to', written by Ishii Shuuji, has a definite sound of his project, GOATBED, but also has that something extra that can only be found in Cali=Gari, I would go so far as to describe it as unique, a little bit of insanity, added to the fantastic musical composition, and fantastic musicianship. I am truly glad they decided to put this out.

The video isn't a PV, but is one of my favorite examples of Cali=Gari's music ;D

The other A-side, 'School Zone' is composed by AO, the guitarrist and usual composer of most of Cali=Gari's previous music. This single definitely has a sound of his side project, LAB the Basement. However, as he composed much of Cali=Gari's old music, this song sounds much more like traditional Cali=Gari, but definitely has some aspects of his solo music in it. The simple melodies are carried through out the song are definitely recognizable as Ao's style, but again, can't be classified, especially with Shuuji's voice, as anything but Cali=Gari.

The B-sides are really strange, which isn't unexpected, sounding like they were recorded in someone's bedroom (as my friend put it). In any case, they are very entertaining.

Overall I give Cali=Gari's two new '9' singles a 92% on the awesome meter.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Beautiful.

Today doesn't have a band of the day, but as you've already heard To, on the PV I posted earlier, please enjoy the other A-side: School Zone.

Also, I would like to note that both of these singles are offically released today in Japan :]

Another Tool.

One thing, that I feel I haven't talked much about, is Guniw Tools.

Guniw Tools are among my top 5 bands. *Along with MUCC, Cali=Gari, Coaltar of the Deepers and UnsraW (in no particular order)*

Guniw Tools formed, I believe in 1992, and were signed to Buck-Tick's *major* label 'Victor Records' in 1996. Ultimately I think Guniw Tools is fairly unknown as far as really famous or popular Japanese rock, but by the fans who know them, are VERY well respected.

The style of Guniw Tools ranges widely, from very atmospheric ambient music, jazz, full on acoustic rock, to industrial and has hints of inspiration from Nepal, India and other countries around the world. It's really impossible to catagorize Guniw Tools at all. Somehow when I was a freshman or sophomore in highschool (2001?) I started listening to them, and gained a huge respect for their very strange music.

Now thinking about it, any music fan with an open mind would really appreciate their sounds, if I showed Guniw Tools to somebody who was super into a style of music, they wouldn't be able to understand it, somewhat like how many people reacted to Cali=Gari at about that time.

Guniw Tools was composed of FULL, Jake and Asaki, with other notable support members Dinah (who is an extremely unusual character) and Okazaki (who plays with Asaki now in Age of Punk). FULL is an artist.. he does pretty much every kind of visual and performing art you could think of, and makes some of the most unusual and unique art pieces I have ever seen.

Originally about 1989 Guniw was FULL's creative project, where he would do performing and visual art on stage, with home-made props and music, but after Jake approached him about starting a band, Guniw turned into Guniw Tools, and became a musical experience to be reckoned with.

Honestly the best way to learn about Guniw Tools is to experience it.

So todays BAND OF THE DAY is Guniw Tools, with Hush and Cool, which was actually my very first Guniw Tools song. It's definitely a song to relax and enjoy..

Gaze.

Today I would like to bring up a band that has been impressing the hell out of me for a while. Deathgaze. Having been around for a respectable 2003, Deathgaze is one of the heaviest, visual bands that is still active. And no joke, they are heavy, catchy and badass.

Originally formed by Ai, Kanna, Naoki and Hazuki, but has had frequent member changes. Hazuki left after the first single to form Lynch., and Sou replaced him as the vocalist. Sou then vanished off the face of the earth for a few weeks and created somewhat of an uproar in Japanese rock music circles, finally Ai (who had been writing the music and also played bass) got fed up with replacing vocalists all the time and started singing for the band.

Hazuki, Sou and Ai, as vocals go are all very talented and really sound very similar to one another. If someone played any given Deathgaze song, I could pick out which vocalist it was due to the time period the song was released, but that's pretty much the only reason.

I've pretty much been listening to Deathgaze since they formed, maybe a few months after their first release. Honestly? They've done nothing but get better! Their sound has changed a little from more of a darker Nagoya sound to a more standard hardcore metal sound, but I feel their songs have gotten more catchy and distinguishable from one another.

Deathgaze is really a band that stands apart from the Japanese rock crowd, with their amazing vocalists, catchy, super-hard guitars and pretty much one of the best lineups I have seen in J-Music recently.. I hope they continue to put out really sick music ;D

I'm sure you can tell that today's BAND OF THE DAY! is Deathgaze, with their song Miscarriage off the Genocide and Mass Murder album from 2006 (Sou is the singer here).

Enjoy~

Get a brain!

So I've been thinking a lot about the direction that Japanese rock music is going in. I feel that there is, as always, a huge number of disposable rock bands, even ones that get fairly popular. I won't go into detail about it, because everyone has their own personal 'I-hate-that-band'. A few times I've really disliked a band, REALLY disliked.. and ultimately became a fan. A great example of this for me is Plastic Tree.. I don't know if I had never heard them, and still disliked them or I had previously been introduced to them by a scrub, or heard a song I thought was really lame. In any case, I was listening to shuffle on iTunes and I heard this vocal-less track that I really enjoyed, but had NO IDEA what band was playing it. Later I looked and it was Plastic Tree, so naturally I downloaded their discography to see if it was any good, and ended up liking the crap out of their music. (Actually thinking about it, I think I was more responsive to Plastic Tree after I began listening to Coaltar of the Deepers)

Anyway that was off topic. There are many bands putting out music that is thoroughly useless, and this is what turned me off from writing for a while, but as I always somehow do, I dug through the crap and found the shining gems of recent releases. Right now whats really catching my ear, is new bands that have evolved from, or have the band members from older bands. Namely 9GOATS BLACK OUT, Moran, Kain and somewhat less recently Angelo.

For those who aren't familiar with these bands, 9GOATS BLACK OUT is the singer from GULLET with an otherwise brand new lineup. Somewhat more laid back than GULLET and have less of the Nagoya region flavor, they have been active since 2007.

Moran was introduced to me recently by a good friend, he referred to the band as something like 'Fatima light' which I would say is pretty accurate. I find listening to Moran is a lot easier than Fatima, not saying either one is better, but Moran is decidedly less intense. Moran has 2 members who used to be in Fatima and have also been active since 2007.

Kain, *I believe (I can't find the source now..) announced a hiatus a few weeks ago, but basically there are 2 ex-members of JILS and one member of their pre-JILS band D=Sire (not 100% on this either). Kain and JILS sound very similar to me, I do enjoy both bands, but do not claim to be an expert on either of them. Maybe with JILS being slightly more atmospheric and free form, and Kain being a little more on the heavier rock side. Kain also formed in 2007. (trend?)

*I apologize for writing about what I heard as opposed to what is fact, but in this case I wasn't able to find sources to check my facts.

Finally Angelo, is made from 3/5 members of PIERROT, and a support guitarist. This band is in fact more of an evolution of PIERROT, while most of the other bands I have mentioned are not nearly as connected to their members' older projects. Angelo sounds, looks and feels very similar to PIERROT and as such is quite enjoyable, but not quite as filling. Angelo has been active since late 2006. (pretty much since PIERROT disbanded)

Today's BAND OF THE DAY is Moran with their song 'Tonight, at the seaside without the moon' I do believe if you haven't heard either Fatima or Moran, you will quite enjoy it. And if you know Fatima, you will definitely hear some similarities between the two bands :D

Please turn off your cellular phones and enjoy the show.

P.S. Kain is spelled wrong because I don't know how to type the 'alpha' character.

And I probably messed up all the capitalization's on all of the bands, but I really don't care atm.

See you in a day or two<3

J-Punk, D.A and Droogs.

OK, so this is a post that almost has nothing to do with Seikima II. In any case, tonight I discovered that people on certain substances really enjoy songs written by Daisuke Asakura (He is a solo artist, in addition to writing the music for T.M. Revolution and Abingdon Boy's School, in addition to being one of the core members of ICEMAN).

Honestly I am not particularly surprised by this, as it seems like many of his compositions are written either being aimed towards the techno/industrial crowd. I was greatly amused by this however, seeing as I have recieved comments that said 'I would so love to listen to this when I was doing xxxxxx *drug*.'

Since my last post, I haven't experienced anything new that was actually worthwile, except many listenings to that new Cali=Gari pv's song :D

I did have a nice conversation with a youth, earlier this evening, about Japanese punk bands, which honestly.. I have no idea about, aside from Balzac (the Japanese Misfits), a few obscure 90's bands like The Blue Hearts and The Star Club. There are a few bands that I could loosely calssify as punk in the Visual scene, like the Piass for instance, but ultimately the Japanese punks would likely scoff at my taste.

My observation of "real" Japanese punks, of whom I have had plenty of exposure to, is that they listen to many super underground (unpleasantly noisy and underproduced) bands that I have never heard of, and seem to be MUCH cleaner and hygenic than American punk fans. Which is kind of ridiculous because I saw one of my Japanese punk friends lay a police officer the fuck out in Harajuku. (they are pretty hardcore when they're wasted!)

I guess my point is, that I see Japanese and American punk as very similar. I have a feeling that some kind of language barrier exists, keeping the Japanese punks from grasping what the true fundementals of punk music/culture is really like.

Regardless of how awesome these J-Punk bands might be, I cant get into the spirit, or relate to it in the way that I can about some of the old American punk I used to listen to frequently.

Often I find that the Japanese will emulate a foreign trend, and ultimately improve what it is that they are emulating...

Japanes punk is an exception to that rule.

Today's BAND OF THE DAY! is Seikima II (translated to 'end of the century') and their song El Dorado. Seikima II was a Japanese heavy metal band, active december of 1989 and actually broke up on 12/31/99 at minight on new years eve, informing fans that it was the end of the world. That was actually the premise of the entire band. But lead singer Demon Kogure still lives on..

P.S. I would like to apologize in advance for any rambling I may have done this evening :D

Enjoy your weekend, everyone~

I reform, along with Cali=Gari~

OK, so I am officially back.

I was really un-inspired to write about Japanese music for a while. Seemingly nothing new or interesting was coming out.. I ended up creating 2 podcasts and distributed them to people I know personally, ultimately I got positive reviews from everyone, but got lazy and didn't upload it anywhere. I don't think the files exist anymore though.

I don't know for sure if that is still the case, there are a few things from mid-late 2008 that were pretty good, but not in a high enough volume for me to care that much.

HOWEVER!

Freakin' Cali=Gari has reformed.* (a month or two ago officially) They put out 'Cali=Gari no Sekai' (Cali=Gari World) which is a sort of best-of album with an update to Oto-Sex lol. But next month they are putting out a new single, coming in 2 forms '9 - To - Hen' and '9 School Zone Hen' I suppose these singles are a ~sequel~ to the actual '9' (Kyuu) Dvd which was of their "last" live performance.

But the icing on the cake is, they are releasing a full album '10' on August 26th.

*I would like to point out that my last blog entry, over a year ago made this prediction :3

cali≠gari／－踏－【PV】

To make up for my being away for so long, I will be uploading a song every time I post (which should be a few times a week) I will be choosing a BAND OF THE DAY! and sharing whatever song grabs me that day. So please enjoy and if you like it, check the band out more!

Today's BAND OF THE DAY! is Lynch.

They are releasing a new album called Shadows on July 8th.

Beautiful.

The real.

Wow this post is LOADED..

I have a few things I would like to discuss with you, internets. I have recently come to the conclusion that Syu from Galneryus, Aushvitz and Animetal is the best guitarist in Japanese rock music. I don't particularly like Animetal or Galneryus but I respect them both for having great musicians. Aushvitz on the other hand is actually considered a visual band, and I love it.. It's like just as intense as Galneryus but really damn dark and about subsequently much more unhappy subjects (this is a video of Syu playing at a Galneryus gig).

In other news, I mentioned something earlier in this blog (not this post tho) about D would become really big if they went major.. And just a few weeks ago D went major~ HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR!!!

Also Lynch. put out a PV finally, it's called 'Adore' and only watch it in high quality otherwise it looks awful. I really like the song and the PV is freakin cool too. (Sorry I can't find it in higher quality ;_;)

My last order of business is to make a PREDICTION.

I have been informed that both Goatbed and Lab. The basement are disbanding, these bands holding the majority of Cali=Gari's band members. Kenjirou (the bassist) is the only one who is not in a disbanding group.. He's playing support bass for Coaltar of the Deepers XD!!

Anyhow following some kind of logic, all these former Cali=Gari members going back into circulation PROBABLY = reformation of Cali=Gari. Which I would like to see nothing more than. For me this is like a ZOMG thing. <3

Next post you get the first 2 episodes of my Podcast :D

Neo-Visual!?

Well I can't say I have anything to do with the Japanese writing about 'Neo-Visual' bands, but I started using this term about 3 years ago specifically for the bands Girugamesh and Sadie which at the time were very new. While not exactly a genre, its more of a generation of bands. I'd say as a general rule of thumb (though not 100% of the time) Neo-Visual bands were formed after 2001.

If that is a bit vague, I will explain what Neo-Visual is REALLY supposed to mean: A generation of visual band, usually out of Tokyo, directly influenced by visual bands (indie and major) that came directly before them ~1996-1999. One quality many of these bands share is having more substance, full-bodied sound and often more bass driven than their predecessors. My favorite examples are bands like Dio and -Oz- and SKULL, but also refer to bands as far back as Kagerou, the Gazette and even Kagrra. Many people refer to Neo-Visual as 'New School Visual Kei"

For example think of the difference (or similarities) between Dir en grey from Kisou and Sadie. Of course half of the Japanese bands around today roadie'd for Dir en grey.. I think a great many of these bands were also took notes from whatever American hardcore and metal bands, trying to sound much more western than older visual bands.

Sorry I can't give you a simple answer for 'what is NeoVK?' but.. it's a very complex and amorphous place. ;D

Still kicking.

What's up internets? Long time no see.. I don't have a whole lot to say, but there have been some really noteworthy releases appearing from various bands..



Recently these bands have been on my mind and playlists a lot.



The Studs



UnsraW



Sadie



Deadman



BUG



BLAST



Coaltar of the Deepers



CROWS



D



Deathgaze



Sel'm



Meth.



Dio



GULLET (and now 9GOATS BLACK OUT)



and always MUCC



Check these out.. you won't be unhappy. As long as you like it hard ;D



I was recently given the opportunity to do some work on a radio show, playing Jrock and this gave me the idea to make a Podcast weekly so people can check out whats new, whats good and whats hella classic.



I will have more information on this shortly.

Bear with me my lovely readers~

Sexy~

OK! Finally some noteworthy news!

Sex Machineguns is back! With an all new lineup that will be announced on Oct. 26th, a new single which will be available by download only, called Jacky, coming out on Nov. 2nd!

I can't wait to hear this, and I'm always surprised by who Anchang can dig up for his totally rad band. These guys have real life heavy metal power!

Hora is coming out with a 2 disc album this November, I seem to really enjoy his stuff, more than Kaya's anyway I hope it's very industrial XD.

Girugamesh is going to be putting out a self titled album (first REAL album?) with 10 or 13 tracks depending on the version you buy. This one is coming on Dec. 26th. I have come to REALLY enjoy and respect this band so hopefully this album will kick some major ass.

And one of the most exciting things I've seen in a while; MACHINE is putting out a new single called Ooh Yeah, on November 21st! It seems like November is gonna be big this year~

I love MACHINE and I can't wait to see what kind of craziness they are gonna drop next.

I'll keep ya up to date~

What's up?

Holy crikey, I won't even try to excuse myself from NOT posting recently.. Honestly though, I've had pretty much nothing to write about in the Japanese Rock world. A new Buck-Tick album, some new Sadie, UnsraW, leeching older music from friends.. but nothing new has caught my ear.

I do however have something I'd like to discuss; Visual Kei. Sounds intense huh?

Well, Visual Kei is somewhat of a super genre, encompassing every band who wants to have a strong appearance. Can that be a music genre? If it's defined by the appearance and not the music? I don't think it could be, BUT most bands have musical elements in common; most are rock bands, usually on the harder side with a similar set of vocal styles, and chord progression.

But wait! What about bands that are NOTHING like 99% of the other visual bands? Guniw Tools for instance, when I was in Japan last month I asked if the record shop I was at had Coaltar of the Deepers, and he said 'no, they aren't visual kei, but I like them', and when I asked if they had Guniw Tools he said 'no, they ARE visual kei, but it's been out of print for years'. I had NO idea that Guniw Tools was considered visual, I mean it seems obvious to me looking at it now, but I really thought of it more as Full's art project than a 'band'.

TO BE CONTINUED..

A trip.

So I just got back from a successful business trip to my favorite country ;D JAPAN. I kicked all kinds of ass, met lots of people and networked my little ass off.

Not much news on the music front, as apparently even being a few weeks behind on whats really going on in the Jrock scene, I was still way ahead of everyone over there haha.. Towards the end of my trip I went to see a show in Saitama at HEAVENS ROCK, which is a nice little livehouse near one of the Saitama-city stations (not sure exactly which one >_>;) I was speaking to the manager about my endeavors and he was extremely impressed with my knowledge but he also told me I was crazy because I knew more than pretty much anyone he knows.

At this live show, which lasted close to 5 hours, we saw bis, MaveRick, meth., Scar., Sel'm, Like absolute myself, Wednesday and heidi. The only 2 bands I was previously familiar with their music were bis and Sel'm, but I had heard of all of the others except Like absolute myself. It was really full of oldschool visual-kei goodness, which is exactly what the doctor ordered ;D

bis- was pretty crappy live, they sounded like they were trying to be extra punky, but the band members were making all kinds of mistakes, and they only played one song I knew hah.

MaveRick- kicked probably the most ass out of all the performers, they were obviously a very small/new/super indie band that I found out later is from Nagoya <3 But these guys honestly had their act together REALLY well, every band member did their part, none tried to steal the show and it was just really fun and pleasant to listen to, I didnt want it to end ;_;

meth.- we got to the show right as meth. (which was the first band up) was starting their set, and let me tell you, GOOD first impression, if they had fucked up or been crappy, I probably would have enjoyed the entire show much less than I did. meth.'s music is good, hard, fast and no bullshit, just enjoyable VK awesomeness.

Scar. - didnt leave much of an impression on me.. but I can say it was enjoyable, but unfortunately there was nothing that really stuck out for me.

Sel'm - was definitely the most popular band that played at the show, I knew a few of the songs, but again there is nothing about Sel'm that really stands out for me... The drummer looked like he belonged in Girugamesh though.. There was a high amount of talent present from these guys, everyone doing their job well, and a large amount of presence. Both meth. and Like absolute myself came into the venue to watch when Sel'm came on.. but again, I really wasn't that impressed.

Like absolute myself - these guys put on the weakest set in the show.. I really didnt enjoy the music very much. I have a feeling that this was one of their first live events and they are pretty much super indies n00b band, however the band members approached me and we talked about music a little bit, they were really nice so I have nothing bad to say about the band itself, I really hope they continue making music, growing as a band and get a large fanbase :D

Wednesday - This band was so cracked out, I really had no idea what was going on, everyone was dressed up in Psycho le Cemu-esque outfits doing really strange crap and confusing the hell out of me, honestly though, I can say I completely enjoyed it, they were so bizarre and crowd surfing and the drummer looked like a cross between a dog and boy george. Everyone in the band, despite the massive costumes they were wearing, performed very well with music that I enjoyed quite a bit.

heidi. - wow.. heidi. was probably the best performance of the night, with meth., MaveRick and Wednesday just slightly behind, but in no particular order hah. There were more males that came to see heidi. than any of the other bands, besides the band members who were watching Sel'm (it was like 95% girls 5% boys for basically the whole show) Now, I was impressed like hell by heidi.'s guitarrist (Nao) who i would say is on par with Aie from Deadman and Miya from MUCC, which is saying something, I was mesmerized by his playing. heidi. is 2 ex-members from Kalimero (one of them being Nao) But in any case, heidi.'s live was even better than their recorded material, which impresses the hell out of me.


I highly recommend giving heidi., MaveRick, meth., and Wednesday a try if you havent already, in the oldschool visual rock tradition, these bands kicked some MAJOR ass, leaving me with a greater appreciation for the current generation of musicians. <3

Fresh!

OK.. Sorry I haven't been writing much recently, I have been busy getting ready for my trip over to Japan later this month! As a few of you know, I will be (at some point) opening a live house in either Tokyo or Nagoya, and this trip is basically just preliminary scouting, I have a number of contacts that I will be speaking with while I'm over there and meeting with people who might also help my cause ;D

Now for the real stuff..

Recently I have been enjoying BLOOD STAIN CHILD quite a bit, their album IDOLATOR will be released here in the States later this summer, I definitely suggest giving it a listen. BLOOD STAIN CHILD is a fairly old band, they play what they call "Melodic Death Metal" which I suppose isn't too far from the truth, to me it sounds more like Alternative Metal, mixed with some Trance and electronic elements, which honestly fuse to become some of the most enjoyable and unique music I have heard in months.

Even more recently.. I obtained the new COALTAR OF THE DEEPERS album "Yukari Telepath". COALTAR OF THE DEEPERS has been around since 1991 which makes them one of the oldest Japanese rock bands that still exist today, (Buck-Tick has been around since 1987 congrats to them on 20 years!) COALTAR OF THE DEEPERS is classified as Shoegaze, which I had never heard of before I started listening to them, Shoegaze is a type of alternative rock that was started in the 80's by English bands, and was named because of the bands tendency of not moving around during performances and 'gazing at their shoes. Yukari Telepath is EXCELLENT, it's mostly electronic music with distorted guitars and Nackie's cracked out voice, in one song he will sound like a girl and the next song he will be screaming like the vocalist of a grindcore band. The music is very calming, and works very well for me as music I have on while I sleep or while I am doing something else on my computer.. overall it is really a great album!

By the way guys I plan to post more and hopefully I can write some blogs while I'm in Japan too :D

The Worst and Best

A few days ago MUCC released their 'Best' album and a 'Worst' album. I'm pretty amused that a band would put out a 'worst' album, but in any case these are some REALLY nice albums. I usually can't stand MUCC's newer singles but somehow these compilation albums capture everything I don't mind too much and stick it into an album. Tastefully done with some spice to keep people like me happy :D

My only complaint here is about production, now I've had many discussions with people about 'overproduced' music, and if you listen to the original versions of each song, there is an intangible element, being recorded in a cheap studio with the equipment that they already had and progressing musicianship skillz gives the old songs this added creepiness factor, particularly in songs like Yoru, Tsubasa wo kudasai, Ieji and Shoufu. But holy crap. The coolness factor of these albums is through the roof. It's really refreshing to hear old songs getting some love after all this time. Now I can honestly enjoy listening to MUCC's current musics again, even if they are actually old tracks~

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Best of MUCC


The Best of MUCC is mostly a collection of their major record label single releases and happier songs (usually) on the more recent albums. However there are some completely unexpected tracks like Yume no gai (Yume no machi) and Na mo naki yume. The spice that I mentioned earlier is that most of the older songs are re-recorded and some of the more recent stuff is remixed a bit. MUCC really managed to make this album interesting enough for me to seriously enjoy it. I always look forward to what these crazy cats are gonna do next :D

Best of MUCC gets a 72% on the Awesome meter.

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Worst of MUCC

The Worst of MUCC is probably the BEST release MUCC has put out in the past year+, somehow they managed to put all of my favorite songs, save for Nukegara on an album. Zetsubou, Bouzenjishitsu, Hakanakutomo, Tsubasa wo kudasai, Yoru, Suimin, Ieji, Rankyuu, Danzetsu, Dilemma. Holy crap. Again many of the songs are re-recorded, so they gain sound quality in exchange for classic charm but my guess is that some of the songs now sound as they were originally written to sound but unable to because of lack of available recording resources.

I'm not too huge of a 'best of' album fan, but seriously if you're going to put one out, this is absolutely how you do it. They get mad props for this, but if you can remake your old GREAT songs so well, why can't you write new material that's on par? :\

I give Worst of MUCC an 89% on the Awesome meter.

Catastrophe trend!

I just noticed that theres a lot of song titles recently about natural disasters. I wonder why, is this a subconscious message from indie jrock bands telling us that the world is about to end!? D'espairsRay had the Squall single, Gilgamesh had the Volcano single and 12012 had some single about a Cyclone or something. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN!?

The other possibility is that they just think its cool to sing about nature beating the crap out of us.. and come to think of it, that is pretty cool. I think im going to go write a song about a mud slide destroying someones shed.

In unrelated news, there's basically nothing interesting happening in Jrock.. save maybe for Buck-Tick releasing a new single celebrating their 20th anniversary.