Leaderboard

can they stop changing names and reCORD SOME FUCKING MUSIC

“If you don’t board the ark, I will not board it too. You will be my tranquil haven till the very end”

I like the cover:

I just care about Atsuki's face at this point. I have no hope they're going to make music I like again.

Tracklist: 1. 蟲聲 2. デルタ (Type-A only) 2. 六花の歔欷 (Type-B only) - Love them or hate them; but don't do either based on this single I was able to put into words the biggest reason why I’ve liked 儿 (Jin) ( The Black Swan/ Nega) while attending The Black Swan’s one-man live in June of last year. I realized while Jin was pouring his heart into one of their trademark overwrought, overlong ballads that no one else is able to tread the line between embracing the tropes of Visual Kei and mocking them like Jin has. He doesn’t just tow that line, he and his bands have taken up permanent residence there for some time now. Take 2015’s “I’m Shit Noodle, But…” off The Black Swan’s 失愛と依存、その感触 single as a prime example of this ability to live the VK lifestyle, tongues firmly in cheek. VK is a genre so built on the idolization of characters that it is downright scandalous when it’s publicly revealed that band members have engaged in mostly innocuous activities like having girlfriends or smoking some weed. The Black Swan wrote a banger turning this image of the impossibly virtuous band member on its head by shouting about their enjoyment of sex, drugs and money; a value system that is traditionally accepted in rock’n’roll but rarely espoused by people in the VK community. I enjoy Jin’s nasal warble; I appreciate uniqueness and passion more than a traditionally ‘good’ singing voice…which Jin certainly does not have. I think it’s often unnecessary to have two guitarists playing downtuned/seven+ string guitars and a bassist basically occupying the same sonic space, but all the guitarists are competent. I also thoroughly enjoy that the drummer has achieved a slight amount of separate-from-the-band fame by being a scary looking VK dude who adopted a tiny, stray kitten. With all that being said, I was disappointed when The Black Swan announced recently that they’d be disbanding next May after more than three years together as a band. They have not announced any other releases, though this being VK, I assume we’ll get a best-of release with a new warmed-over B-side or two, so 蟲聲 might be the last gasp of this particular band of VK provocateurs. The title track “蟲聲”--after it gets the acoustic intro from “Chop Suey!” out of the way--is the kind of song that Jin and The Black Swan will be remembered for; a little all-over-the-place compositionally, a riff that sounds like the guitarist would be walking toward the camera in the video, a plethora of vocal styles (some squeals, slightly flat singing, deathcore-inspired growling, some gang shouting), there's slightly haunting piano to highlight the sombre mood, the chorus that Jin uses for about 30% of his songs. All-in-all this is probably the least interesting track on this single. This being a VK single, of course there are multiple versions to buy to get all the songs. The A-Type version of 蟲聲 contains “デルタ (Delta)”. Critics would say this song sounds a lot like someone took a solid Dezert song and sprinkled some fart-sounding drop-A riffs and strained vocals throughout; to which I couldn’t make much of an argument except to say the chorus is deliciously catchy no matter if someone else would’ve done it better or not. I like the gravelly whisper in one channel under the singing that Jin does to end the song too. The B-Type song "六花の歔欷" would seem to be a very lengthy track by VK standards, but Jin fans will be unfazed after epic-length experiments like “虚しき「生」の寓意≒「死」の真意” and “Ousia”. This track pales in comparison to those other 7+ minute songs, mostly by not differentiating itself enough (all the usual ingredients are there: piano, acoustic guitar, etc.), but it does have a pretty stellar falsetto wail right before a smart guitar solo @ 3:50 and it gets points for not trying to scare the listener with unexpected guitar explosions, but rather is simply a solid, longing ballad throughout. The Black Swan will go down as being mostly a logical evolution of Jin’s sound during the latter days of Nega that continued their quest as one of the more polarizing bands in VK. Love him or hate him, Jin will get you to have some reaction. But don’t take my word for any of this, my favorite Jin project is freakin’ Perestroika ;).

A9 will release DVD and Blu-ray of their 13th anniversary live. Audio comments by the members and CD with the same songs are features of the Blu-ray version. They'll also release a single, "F + ix = you" (geniuses), which will be produced by ken (L'arc~en~ciel) and an album on the spring of the next year; details below, in the comments. Details: Title: "13th anniversary live 'Alice in WondeЯland'" Format: live footage + album Release date: 27/12/2017 Price: DVD: 5980 yen Blu-ray: 7980 yen Label: Nine heads records Code: DVD: NINE-0014 Blu-ray: NINE-0015 Songs: 1 - Jewels 2 - Q 3 - "13" 4 - Shadowplay 5 - Le grand bleu 6 - ストロベリー ファズ (Strawberry fuzz) 7 - 蜃気楼 (Shinkirou) 8 - 華 (Hana) 9 - Mirror ball 10 - 月光 浴 (Gekkou yoku) 11 - Jellyfish 12 - Waterfall 13 - Ray 14 - 幾億 の シャンデリア (Ikuoku no chandelier) 15 - 百花 繚乱 (Hyakka ryouran) 16 - 闇 ニ 散ル 桜 (Yami ni chiru sakura) 17 - Rosario 18 - Undead party 19 - 平成 十七年 七月 七日 (Heisei juushichinen shichigatsu nanoka) 20 - Gemini 21 - Re:born 22 - Memento 23 - 春夏秋冬 (Shunkashuutou) 24 - タイム マシン (Time machine)

Everytime this song pops up in my head I curse KISAKI for not writing more stuff like this: this is a 90s V系 classic lost in time in the 21st century.

This might have something to do with Kaguya's departure. Yumeleep issued a statement banning problematic fans who made the members uncomfortable: https://ameblo.jp/makura-nemu/entry-12330794562.html?frm_id=v.jpameblo&device_id=5ec28a500eef484090ca21ac8dab8d2d

Two new dates have been added for Ryutaro's tour! 生形真一 (Shinichi Ubukata) (Nothing's Carved in Stone) will appear as a guest at Ryutaro's live on January 23 (at Chiba LOOK) & 26 (at Daikanyama UNIT).

Taurus Sun, Scorpio Moon & Scorpio Rising. I AM VERY INTENSE ALL THE TIME

minpha is not kawaii jrocker anymore???

so why did they kick out minpha? oh wait

Can't shake the impression gibkiy is holding stereo ck back. Kazu is too active for that band to make any progress. Hope gibkiy makes more progress but it would be great if stereo ck members can move on a little.

“poison excl.” tour ～gibkiy gibkiy gibkiy vs Merry Go Round Respects～ 2018年2月2日(金) 愛知 名古屋 ell.FITS ALL 2018年2月3日(土) 大阪 アメリカ村 DROP 2018年2月9日(金) 東京 下北沢 GARDEN 2018年2月24日(土) 愛知 岡崎 CAM HALL 2018年3月15日(木) 北海道 札幌 COLONY 2018年3月16日(金) 北海道 札幌 COLONY Merry Go Round Respects is a session band for PARTY ZOO 2016 and 2017 consisting of members of gibkiy gibkiy gibkiy + Miya (MUCC). The tour was announced after today's show in Zepp Tokyo.

Congratulations on 10 years! Read through this thread, must have been spicy 10 years ago (forums dying, drama)! I really didn't know about this board until a few months ago, but the glorious shitposting and rarez (along with the history that has been made) keeps me here. As I am a new fan of 90s stuff (and Japanese stuff in general), it seems that I have missed the golden days of LiveJournal and MySpace, but I sincerely believe that the days haven't passed yet (this forum is probably the last stronghold though, so when this forum dies, we die with it!). A special shoutout to @Ikkifor being here and on Jpopsuki. I have thoroughly and obscenely made love listened to your uploads. Also, @robkun, you are a nice person, and you have single-handedly probably uploaded most of the 90s stuff here. Not only that, but you are an excellent historian. I love you for this - therefore please don't stop doing what you do. I, personally, will do my best to upload what I get, and through that keep this boat going as long as it can. Thanks for everything! Here's to another 10 years of madness!

This is fckn amazing. The dark concept, the violin play and the instrumental aswell as Louie's amazing Vocals <3

Chizuru's face kept me holding on but now he tries to look like a ten year old boy on his social media and I am NOT about that.

A n O t H e R o N e I n T h E c A s K e T

2nd & 3rd track are amazing! It's great that their releases are available on ITunes. Now there is accessibility and We don't have to look for water in the Sahara desert xD

I have just finished Made In Abyss. For anyone that was put off watching this series because maybe it has a childish look, don't. This is one of the best series I've watched in the last decade. The story, world building, character development, animation and soundtrack, everything is so well done that I'm now gonna have a hard time watching average anime. It also has a really dark story underneath the cute look, it's made all the worst by the fact that the main characters are children. The last episode left me disturbed in a way I haven't felt in a while. The danger feels real, rather than making me think "oh here's where the protagonist pulls out his ultimate power Zzz" There's no fillers, just meat. The pacing is fantastic for a 13 episodes series. Now I'm gonna go have nightmares about that scene I just watched.

Oh look, it's that room where every 5th band does their photoshoots!

I'm not going to disregard your opinion, but after the eloquent introduction the album review comes across as a thoughtlessly written rant from someone whose expectations weren't met. Did you even listen to it more than once before dismissing it as a disappointment? Case in point: the song with the rain sampling isn't 'Romance Grey', it's 'Ookami Shounen to Doku Ringo'. 'Itoshi teru' isn't even correct Japanese, so you didn't even take the time to check the romanization before complaining about the song. This is just sloppy writing. Yes, I'm a stalwart fan of DDRM, and while I agree that this isn't their best material to date, it isn't fair to write it off as repetitive songwriting just because it isn't as immediately appealing as some of their older work. Some albums take a while to grow on you, and while I was also a little underwhelmed by the third installment of 'dadaism', I gave it a chance and a few more listens and came to appreciate it for what it is. 'MASTURBATION.' is a catchy party rocker that was stuck in my head for days after I first heard it in full at Takashi's birthday live. I was on the side of the split that, rather than horror at this strange, all-English departure from the dramatic lead tracks we've come to expect, embraced Yoshiatsu's crazy side. I'm sure that out of the six tracks on this release, this opener will be the most divisive for long-time fans, but speaking personally I love it. In the same format as the other dadaism's, 'Aishiteru to Itte yo' is a slightly jazzy number that adds to the ever-increasing repertoire of this style that the band is putting out. I'll admit that it's sadly not as memorable as other times when they've done it better (like the raunchy 'Saishuu Densha' and the frankly erotic 'Urei Libido' that somehow still finds time for headbanging among its sensual imagery) but it's not necessarily a bad song. I personally didn't find it weak enough to press the skip button through multiple listens. 'NPD' is another brash synth-backed mover like 'Trend Identity' that is clearly meant to be enjoyed to its full potential in a live setting. (For those who are interested, my best guess at the acronym is 'Narcissistic Personality Disorder', which ironically fits Yoshiatsu's attitude to himself and his relationship with the band's fans pretty well. The lyrics also reference Hans Selye, a pioneer in biological stress, and the DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria). It works well enough for what it is, and I enjoyed the energy even if it only lasted for around 3 minutes. At this point I feel like I'm going to go against the general consensus on 'Romance Grey' by saying that it might be my favourite track on the whole release. I can see why many people might immediately think of it as a bland rock ballad, but looking at DADAROMA's discography, this is not repetitive songwriting but something completely different for them. Going back to the basics with a strong riff, emotional vocals and a simple structure made this song the opposite of forgetful in my opinion - it stands out as a unique style amongst the combination of dramatic masterpieces, brutal headbangers, energetic live rockers and jazzy experiments that make up the rest of their discography. Rather than dismissing 'Romance Grey' as a standard ballad, I say bravo for trying something new. Now we come to the dramatic, fairy-tale piece for this album. 'Ookami Shounen to Doku Ringo' opens with another attempt to take a lens to society, telling the story of a young boy who was poisoned and how the media were far more interested in the perpetrator than the poor victim. It didn't immediately seize me in the same way as 'Oboreru Sakana' or 'Lucid Dream', but perhaps this is the track that has grown on me the most through multiple listens. The structure is a little different to their usual arrangements in this style, because it doesn't really get going until the sudden change into a major key after the oppressive opening for the contrastingly uplifting chorus. In fact, I think this is the first time one of their dramatic works has a lighter chorus, which caught me off guard the first time I listened to it. Unlike the aforementioned tracks too, it ends rather abruptly instead of with a lengthy instrumental fade out. Finally comes the obnoxious 'Watashi, Bangya ja nai wa' which is another song evidently meant to be enjoyed at a concert rather than sitting at home. At first listen this is perhaps the most throwaway track of the whole release, and as such a disappointing way to round off the regular edition, but upon closer inspection it's a surprisingly heavy hitter with some chugging downtuned guitar designed to lead the titular bangya in synchronized headbanging. For me this track treads a fine line between catchy and forgettable; what I mean by this is that it's not a song I would deliberately choose to listen to over any number of other offerings from DADAROMA, but nonetheless when it immediately starts up after the sudden ending of the previous track, I can't help but get caught up in the energy it brings. So that's dadaism number three. This review ended up a little longer than I expected, but I wanted to throw a contrasting opinion out there while it might still be relevant.

So they will releaed 60 singles before their disbandment.