Laurence02

Yes. Also, all packages that aren't sent using the "Small Packet" option can be marked as gifts.

Let me see if I can tackle any of these tomorrow.

Now they have the same singer of this awesome song??
 
Life is full of surprises and I am happy to be shocked in this way!!

Plot twist : It's YOHIO

Some stuff by Real. This wasn't too expensive. All sealed.
 
REAL - Viridian (two copies)
REAL - Radiant Evolution Antique Liberty
REAL - Elegance Law (replica from master)
REAL - 黙示録 (Mokushiroku) (two copies)
+ a CD-r with some misc. stuff.
 
With this I own their discography.

Some stuff by Real. This wasn't too expensive. All sealed.
 
REAL - Viridian (two copies)
REAL - Radiant Evolution Antique Liberty
REAL - Elegance Law (replica from master)
REAL - 黙示録 (Mokushiroku) (two copies)
+ a CD-r with some misc. stuff.
 
With this I own their discography.

Some stuff by Real. This wasn't too expensive. All sealed.
 
REAL - Viridian (two copies)
REAL - Radiant Evolution Antique Liberty
REAL - Elegance Law (replica from master)
REAL - 黙示録 (Mokushiroku) (two copies)
+ a CD-r with some misc. stuff.
 
With this I own their discography.

They way the CDs are made tell a lot about their budget. When a band is low budget ATM they use a thin CD case, or one with not much prints, or a small booklet, or a 8cm, when they have a budget at the moment, it's a thicc well made CD with sometimes a DVD extra.

Hi all! Two questions, inspired by a chat with @cvltic.
 
---
 
First: for visual bands, which statistics indicate popularity? Obvious ones are “ticket sales × release sales,” but what else matters?
 
Capacity of livehouses at which they play? Capacity of livehouses at which they hold oneman lives? Number of sponsored/oneman lives held? Number of CDs released? Number of tanuki threads? Price of releases at second-hand stores? Length of activity period? etc.  
---
 
Second: without raw sales data, how can we approximate popularity?
 
We don't have ticket/release sales, but we do have lots of other data, via visual kei library vkgy available on iTunes. My hope is to compile/weight that data and automatically assign a rank to each band (as we overseas fans are notoriously bad at judging actual popularity). Here's what I have so far:
 
Average capacity of livehouses at which the band plays. (Could be improved by weighting sponsored events/oneman lives, but how?) Number of releases (excluding free releases?). Number of releases which vkgy users own. (Anyone with a vkgy account can add releases to their collection to make this stat more accurate!) Number of releases which vkgy users want.  
Average livehouse capacity is already pretty promising (see Syndrome vs Cell no.7 vs ARLEQUIN), and will become more accurate as more data is added (let me know if you'd like to contribute). But I think those other statistics could be useful if weighted properly; I'm just not sure how to do it yet. Before I make some monstrous algorithm that magically gives all of KISAKI's bands an S rank, I'd love to get some input from you guys!
 

*sits down in rocking chair* 
 
"Piracy: an act of robbery on the high sea-" 
*cough* 
"Piracy: the unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright"
 
The warnings you get that precede DVD contents, plastered on CDs, etc. are constant reminders that piracy is clearly DEFINED .  We've moved the conversation beyond the point of piracy b/c this forum promotes the sharing of copyrighted content.  We can crunch all the numbers we want about vk band revenue streams, but in a legal sense all of us who participate in this are in the "wrong". 
 
The arguments and debates on this forum really stem from our subjective stances on the value of content in its physical and digital form. 
 
In my subjective opinion, I think piracy (in the scope of vk) has been helpful for promotion both overseas and within Japan. While it's dodgy, I would have NEVER gotten into Visual Kei if it weren't for those who uploaded material on streaming and download sites. I would go as far as saying that the sharing of content has been quite helpful in promoting artists & amassing fans who spend $ on them. The largest revenue stream for most vk bands are lives, and , generally, only fans that are really engaged w/ the bands are going to go in the first place. Most people aren't inclined to show up to a live w/o hearing the artists' work (it would be a waste of money). CDs and DVDs are products as well as promotional tools, and making that material available to a larger audience grows that promotional value. Piracy might take away a little revenue,but I believe that there is net growth in the long run.
 
In the context of overseas content consumption:
The delivery methods of piracy have changed a lot in the past few decades, transforming from physical -> digital -> digital + streaming. In our scope, most of us have witnessed the piracy shift from P2P (Peer-to-Peer e.g LimeWire & Torrenting) to DDL (Direct Download e.g. MegaUpload/Mega/Mediafire) to YouTube uploads. As Visual Kei (and Japanese Music) has shifted from niche P2P sharing to largely accessible streaming & social media, the impressionable audience has gotten much larger. Those who discover these bands and this genre are so enticed/entertained that they want to consume, even participate in buying all this content, but then it hits them. Shipping fees, CD prices, live-limited content, and the list goes on. You're too far physically to participate in lives and it's too expensive to keep up (or completely unreasonable for those who don't make their own money, teenagers.)
 
Of course there is going to be pirating.
 
Now here's where I stand. No one is entitled to upload anything, but I've made it my small mission to close the gap for overseas fans w/ my channel & my uploads here and elsewhere. I put a lot of "$" value in substance and promotional value in "content" (if that makes any sense).  I don't like uploading everything I have in FLAC or even 320 b/c of the time & effort it takes to acquire "those" releases in the first place, but I'm willing to share everything on YT  (it's gotten much easier to upload w/o your channel being suddenly taken down). I don't think everyone is entitled to having "pristine" copies just willy-nilly, but I think it would be a mistake for me not to at least share. 
 
From the bottom of my heart, I want people to love VK because is something I've grown to love. It has been a refuge, an eye-opener, and a catalyst for my exploration in music. In addition, if the content I share can get at least one person to love or maybe even invest in VK as much as I have, then I'll be happy to continue being a pirate.
 
(I hope this doesn't sound too scatterbrained. I've been coding most of the day and I'm a little eye-strained. Please ask me to clarify my points if need be.)

NOT THIS TOPIC AGAIN!
 
Relax, it's not what you think.

If you guys remember this topic - and I'm sure most of you do - then you will remember that I made a proposal at the end of it. What I said I wanted to observe was the effect of "our" piracy - our as in Monochrome Heaven - on visual kei sales, using the GazettE's newest album "NINTH" as the benchmark. Some of you really took this suggestion to heart, and others thought I was making a bad joke. I wasn't.
 
There's something to be said for testing even the most obvious of conclusions because sometimes the results can surprise you, but the results of this did not. I knew that this album would leak and make its way here well under the two weeks I specified. Next time someone restarts the discussion of supporting our favorite bands by not pirating their music, point them to this topic and remind them that the Internet is a very large place and that shouting your demands in one corner of it isn't going to change what happens where your voice and influence can't reach. Not even mine.
 
It's good to know that we are not the center of the visual kei universe. We have some influence and we do our part to keep the show going, but if we were to disappear tomorrow, I don't think the show would stop. That is ultimately a good thing. The scene needs to spread if it wants to stay alive. It seems pretty obvious but its worth reiterating. For what it's worth, the album didn't appear here first so it's not like we are the alpha and the omega to all of the woes our favorite bands go through.
 
The conclusion that I can draw from this failed social experiment is that we need a better definition of what "piracy" actually is. There are reasons why the international scene depends on piracy, so to make future discussions more useful we should find as many different reasons as we can and the distribution within the scene. To that end, I've attached an anonymous poll to the top of this post.  If you are interested, vote for the option that fits your situation the best, and if there isn't one (and you don't mind), share your specific reasons below.
 
I'll leave this topic open until the end of the month so you guys can share your thoughts and opinions.

Definitely second live-limited/Fan Club limited releases and multiple type releases.
 
Live limited
I understand selling special live-limited releases to attract more attendees or give them something memorable to remember the live by, but I don't think it should be exclusive music. A good example is Mucc's recent releases for Shin-Tsuuzetsu and Shin-Homurauta because they only differed in artwork from the commercial releases. Sure, there were a couple privelege CDS included with them too but it was demo material and a live recording (I believe). 
 
Web Store release but no international shipping
It's a different slap in the face when a band offers up a special edition of a release exclusive to their webstore or a specific webfront but doesn't ship outside Japan. I'm looking at you sukekiyo. There's no extra work involved and, if they're worried about risk, they can offer insured/signature shipping as the only option.
 
I also ran into this problem when trying to order Charisma.com's "ai ai syndrome" on vinyl directly from the label T-annex. The person who responded was kind enough to point me to a service that would do it for me (and even gave me instructions) but I just don't see why they couldn't do it themselves. Especially since apparently they had gotten multiple requests for this within the past few months.
 
No Vinyl Releases
In general, there's a serious lack of Japanese music on vinyl. There's been some reissues of really popular bands on vinyl in recent years (shiina ringo, hyde, bonnie pink, kyary pamyu pamyu), but these are few and far between. I understand that for the smaller vkei bands that it's not a financially viable option. But for big name bands like the GazettE and Dir en grey, it's not such a risky move. Dir en grey have even done it before twice (more if you count the Gauze and Vulgar promos) but perhaps lack of sales dissuaded them to continue producing them.  Even if I lost interest in Mucc, it was exciting to see that they released their most recent album "Myakuhaku" on vinyl.
 
There's been a resurgence of interest in Japanese oldies on vinyl and labels like WeReleaseWhateverTheFuckWeWant records have taken the reigns on reissuing these to the masses. Someone needs to do the same for vkei artists!
 
Lackluster mixing
I've heard some of the most absolute worst mixing from within vkei bands. A prime example is lynch. (since joining King Records). They're mixing makes their music lack dynamic range so that it fails to deliver any punch. There are always certain frequency ranges missing  from their guitars and it drives me nuts that what could sound full and rich sounds hollow and like its playing through a tube.
 
Generally though, I find mixing in vkei music to be overcompressed and in need of more complex dynamics. Having everything 100% cranked isn't the answer to every song and sometimes you need things to quiet down. It seems this is much more common in bigger bands who you would think would be more concerned with details like this. 
 
Bands like Dezert use compression as a technique to create their harsh and distorted sound, but they also know when to tone it down and let the music breath a little. I'd rather listen to lo-fi but dynamically diverse mixing over clean but one-tone of dynamics any day.

But...the internet. You don't have to sell CDs to sell music anymore. It's a false equivalence in the age of gigabit internet.
 
In my opinion, blaming overseas fans for poor sales is a straw man argument. Plenty of non-visual indie acts from all over the world produce music on a dime and manage to sell it to anyone interested. In fact, most of these bands do the legwork with constant online promotion in order to get the word out, and promotion via word of mouth is free. We do it all the time on their behalf. We have YouTube, we have iTunes, we have SoundCloud, we have OTOTOY, we have Bandcamp, we have official home pages, and we have countless other services which provide instant international exposure for a minimal price. At what point does it transition from "music is expensive to make" to "fuck you foreigners, you don't get to hear these particular songs"? Because honestly, that's what this whole live-distributed music has transformed into from the perspective of someone who is never going to take a trip to Japan.
 
Also, there's a big, BIG difference between a live distributed release that functions as a preview and a live distributed release that functions as a present. One of them might end up on a future release available for international purchase. The other disappears into the sands of time. Limited live-distributed releases in particular are a form of ass cancer that needs to go terminal and die. That's intentionally spending money and limiting your exposure for no appreciable gain.
 
If you have money for wigs and photo shoots but not enough money to record music, you're doing the whole visual kei band thing wrong.

when i saw versailles earlier this year, hizaki forgot his first of like five solos when they played Silent Knight. maybe forgot isn't the right word, but his muscle memory got sort of lost after a phrase or two and his left hand was out of position, and he just kept playing to save face through it, the entire time staring out deeply into the audience, as he tends to do during many of his solos. like it was bad, out of key notes and then a really nervously improvised 'oh shit' recovery part after for fifteen seconds or so. it was the only part of the entire show where the musicianship was less than perfect from any of the members.
 
but anyway, while it was happening and he was staring into the audience, he locked eyes with me for like a second or two as soon as he seemed to start messing up and it was a very profound moment for some reason. it was just like a "oh shit, hizaki's not a god, but hizaki is actually a human being like me that makes mistakes" moment. psychologically as if i  watched an idol die in front of me
 
felt as if i had like successfully walked through a wall or something akin in mental weirdness.

I was in the first row for MUCC's culture center live in Mito last week, and when they switched parts for their first encore Tatsuro played the bass and I could see there was a guy holding a big cardboard sign in the gap between the seats and the stage, running after him as he moved on stage. Then I saw the sign had bass tabs written on it. He was still messing it up and it was very cute. It got even funnier when they used the smoke machine during Ranchuu and he was squinting to look at the tabs through the smoke. I'm a sucker for silly gags like this so it made me really happy.

Disclaimer: I'm talking out of my ass.
 
Remember it's all about rights. Labels make good money off of licensing deals. It's a useful way of avoiding the development costs associated with nurturing artists, and at the same time labels can earn royalties from sales and build catalog. Then there's also publishing deals, which is another fat bag of money. Most record labels have publishing companies that handle the day-to-day administration of publishing, who in turn will take a commission on earnings for services rendered. This is important.
 
This entire web of labels and sub labels are nothing but legal formalities designed to make it difficult to track what is going on. It's all about who owns what. It appears as if Yukika is using each label for a different leg of his operation. One could be a shell company to move funds. Another could focus entirely on the publishing and licensing aspects. A third could handle the legal aspects. It doesn't benefit Yukika to keep AINS a secret if the goal of AINS is to sign as many artists as possible. It makes more sense if AINS is the administrative branch and now Yamikakumei handles the music, even if AINS was the musical branch before and FIREBALL the administrative one.
 
On the other hand, I notice that every time a new band is signed they get their own "label". The first thing I thought is that he is physically separating bands from one another. Maybe this is so it's easier to secure and track funds for individual bands and see who is doing well and who isn't. There is something to this. A few years ago there was an upstart label called "Dear Dolce" that signed eight unheard of visual bands within the span of a few months. A few months later, funds fizzled out and all the bands got dropped like a hot potato. Only one of those bands, RELOAD, went on to do anything noteworthy (and became Grieva). DD had hell to pay when liquidating their assets to handle their bankruptcy. 
 
Yukika dodges this problem completely. Found a new band? Start a new label and front money out of pocket. If they are money makers, sell the rights to the band's recordings to a more successful label you own for 100 yen (or maybe to someone else for a whole lot more). If they aren't, drop them, close the label, transfer enough assets from one label to another to cover debts, wash, rinse, repeat. No matter what, you rake in the money from owning royalties across all the currently active labels (you can still be a shell company that owns rights and takes commission and if both companies take commission he effectively walks away with 2x the yen) These companies/bands don't last long enough to rack up any serious debt, and I'm also sure that they're transferring more than just liquid assets from one label to another to minimize costs (for example they probably use the same building for management offices, the same studios for recording, the same producer or two for all their music needs, etc.). @Uglymouth's note about all the labels sharing the same core personnel strengthens this.
 
There's a distinction between tax evasion and tax fraud. Tax evasion is when there's a difference in the amount of income gained versus the amount of income reported. Tax fraud is a little more general, which is any attempt at not paying taxes that are due. As long as all the companies involved pay their fair share of taxes, I'm not sure if this is tax evasion or clever legal gymnastics. I do know this is fishy as hell because it's a very similar process to hiding money in offshore tax havens by passing cash through so many shell companies it's difficult to trace backwards.

Alright, so I just recieved Kuroyuri to kage's newest single "Uronnna chokoreito" and I'm pretty sure they are still under the ains label in secret.
 
1. As inartistic saw, Brand-X wrote in their new mini-album description that they are still under AINS/Yamikakumei. This was however removed within an hour and it now only says Yamikakumei. A picture of when it said AINS:

 
2. The shipping adress of the new single is almost identical to the one ains uses (meaning their offices are located door-to-door, basically).
 
3. Look at these pictures:
 


 
The first picture is from my copy of the Ankoku sekai wa yami omnibus (the latest AINS-related release I have), and the second one is from Kuroyuri to kage's new single.
 
As you can clearly see for yourself, mixed by, jacket design, artist desk manager and director is exactly the same people. These may or may not be working for both companies obviously, but Uchu (https://twitter.com/UchuAins) is highly related to ains and is as far as I'm aware basically "vice president" of the Ains label. There's obviously no proof that the executive producer (Fujioka Yuichi and Yamisan (or 闇さん if you will) are the same person, and unfortunately I can't find any other situations Yukika has called himself Yami san. But, I'd still say it's pretty safe to say that they are still operating under AINS but in ~*secret*~.
 
Furthermore, I have one mutual friend with Yukika on his personal facebook and it says on his work experience that he is operating their label Yamikakumei.

 

Idk where to put this or how to title it... sorry mods! But I came across an old thread (Wtf is Ains), and thought I'd dump a short history of Yukika/Ains. Only it turned out to be way longer than I expected, and had some crossover with non-Ains labels. So... I thought I'd dump it in the general section. Maybe this can turn into a general discussion of vk labels? (Didn't see anything similar extant when I searched.) Anyway, here:
Yukika (雪花) is a dude who was vocalist of a band called ETCETERA (エトセトラ). They were on their own label, called ● drop cafe, which I think he owned. Later, they joined a bigger label called ● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE.
 
------------------------------------------------------------
Yayoi (弥生) is a dude who was in the bands Vice†risk and La'miss fairy, among many others. Back in the day, he owned a label called ● Eternal, which was in turn a sublabel of KISAKI's ● Matina label.
Eventually, ● Matina closed, and so did ● Eternal. Later―around the same time that KISAKI opened his new label ● UNDER CODE PRODUCTION―Yayoi opened a new label called ● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE.
------------------------------------------------------------
ETCETERA eventually disbands, and ● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE closes, whatever. Afterward, Yukika forms a band called Fils, but they operate without a label and disband pretty quickly. Yukika then forms the band CLUTCH (クラッチ) under his own record label, ● Culminate Screen.
 
------------------------------------------------------------
● Culminate Screen mostly had shitty bands, but there was this one group called CATHELINE (キャサリン)... They got a little popularity, jumped ship to Speed-disk, and became R-18, then R-15, then R Shitei (R指定).
------------------------------------------------------------
CLUTCH disbands, ● Culminate Screen closes, whatever. Yukika keeps at it, forms a new band called Buddy, and starts a new label, ● A heretic sound music.. Here's where it starts getting interesting:
Yukika gets lucky, and signs this band called ALSDEAD to his label. Somehow, they get a little popular, and he's probably making money from his label for the first time ever. Meanwhile, this little band called Valluna (ヴァルナ) starts hanging out around label (without actually joining), so that's pretty cool.
Cut to late 2009. Remember that Yayoi guy, the president of the label that Yukika's band ETCETERA used to be on? Yeah, that guy suddenly has a new label called ● FIREBALL―which has no artists, btw―and Yukika slides ● A heretic sound music. right in there as a sublabel of ● FIREBALL. That's definitely some tax evasion shit, right?
Like 3 minutes later, ALSDEAD mysteriously announces that they're “graduating” from ● A heretic sound music.. The next month, Yukika's like, “Hey guys, ● A heretic sound music. is closing.” (Haq;ch. and Navir, the two unsuccessful bands on the label, are just left to fend for themselves.) But don't worry! Yukika has formed a new label: ● Galaxy, which is also a sublabel of ● FIREBALL. (Yukika even co-sponsors one-day revivals of ● Eternal and ● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE with Yayoi, 'cause they're totes great friends now.)
 
------------------------------------------------------------
Btw, did you catch that? He transforms his label into a sublabel, then immediately closes it and forms a new sublabel under the same company. He keeps the one band who was somewhat successful, and drops off the other two in some barren desert somewhere. That's definitely some tax wizardry, right? Or maybe just a cute way to end those other bands' contracts?
------------------------------------------------------------
So ● Galaxy is here, and they've got the somewhat successful ALSDEAD band. Then, surprise surprise, Valluna (ヴァルナ) joins ● Galaxy.
 
------------------------------------------------------------
ALSDEAD was, like, doing pretty good. But right after their first release through ● Galaxy, they jumped ship to their own label, ● CTA Works ('cause they're assholes?). ● Danger Crue scooped them up after, which is a pretty big deal, 'cause, like... ● Danger Crue isn't major, but it's as close as most visual bands will ever get, and it has major distribution through ● SONY. It seems like they really fell off after that, but maybe that's just in the overseas community.
------------------------------------------------------------
That Valluna (ヴァルナ) band is doing well, like really well. Which, in the VK world, means it's time for a disbandment. So, Valluna (ヴァルナ) disbands, and the important members immediately come back as DIAURA.
DIAURA is doing super well; so much so that their album is distributed by the major label ● CROWN, which is rare for a tiny label like ● Galaxy. So Yukika and Yayaoi must be dragging home small bags of money every day, which is great. But eventually, Yukika gets smart, and is like “fuck this, I want all the bags of money”; so in early 2012, mentions of something called ● Ains start springing up. ● Galaxy is still publishing releases and sponsoring lives, but this ● Ains thing is being mentioned too.
Smash cut to March of 2012, and ● Galaxy has, like, lowkey disappeared, and all of DIAURA's activities are going through ● Ains now. Considering ● FIREBALL seemed to only ever be a shell company for ● Galaxy, I guess it closed too.
------------------------------------------------------------
I wanna talk about Yayoi some more.
Way back in 1979 (supposedly), some dude founded an entertainment company called EXCEL. That dude turns out to be Yayoi's father! In the 90s, ● EXCEL RECORDS released some omnibus CDs featuring Yayoi's then-current band, ANGEL DUST. (KISAKI's band, MIRAGE, was also on those CDs, so I guess that's how KISAKI and Yayoi hooked up, which lead to KISAKI giving Yayoi the ● Eternal sublabel of ● Matina.)
Anyway, around the time when Yukika closed ● Galaxy and formed ● Ains, EXCEL was reorganized into ● EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT, with Yayoi as the new president. The new ● EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT has had several clients―including KISAKI and some people from bands belonging to ● Eternal/● CLIMAX ENTERPRISE―but the company doesn't actually do anything, as far as I can tell. I guess it acts as a talent agency, but all of its clients are already being managed by record labels, so what's the point?
More recently, Yayoi formed the new record label ROCKSTAR RECORDS. (And, of course, all of that label's artists are simultaneously signed with ● EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT.)
------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, ok, it's 2012, ● Ains exists as its own entity, and DIAURA is helping Yukika drag home bags of money, which he gets to keep to himself this time. Now that he's making Trump Checks™, Yukika can afford to sign a new act, so he snipes people from the band RELOAD (リロード) to form Grieva (グリーヴァ). Just for shits and giggles, they're on their own ● Ains sublabel called ● MadWink.. (I truly assumed that ● MadWink. was created just for aesthetic reasons, but maybe it's some weird tax evasion thing too, idk.)
Grieva (グリーヴァ) is literally (literally, kids) a Dir en grey cover band (with other influences thrown in there, but it's mostly Deg), but they're like, killin' it. So Yukika tries to strike lightning twice, and creates a GAZETTE (ガゼット) cover band, Gossip (ゴシップ), also under the ● MadWink. sublabel. At the same time, KUROYURI TO KAGE (黒百合と影) forms under a different ● Ains sublabel called ● yamikakumei (闇革命). (Again, I assume the sublabel is for aesthetic purposes.)
Soon after, Grieva, Gossip, and KUROYURI TO KAGE release a coupling CD which is published by ● UNIVERSAL MUSIC. (This doesn't mean they're major, or that they left ● Ains. I'd assume it's probably some sort of test for ● UNIVERSAL MUSIC to see if they want to deal with ● Ains more in the future.)
Now, here's the most recent weirdness:
Some new band MEDIENA (メディーナ) appears, and they give off major “● Ains vibes”―in the sense that their graphic design is clearly done by the ● Ains graphic designer, and their release schedule is put together in a way that's similar to ● Ains bands. They're also always playing at ● Ains lives, but they clearly state that they're on a label called ● V-eyes RECORDS, which has nothing to do with ● Ains. ...Or does it? When their release was put up on iTunes, the publisher was listed as ● Ains; so I guess that explains that, lol. I personally consider ● V-eyes RECORDS to be a “secret sublabel” of ● Ains, though I have no official statement to back that up, and can't give a reason why they'd do that (tax stuff?).
There's also a new band called MALISEND, whom some people assumed to belong to ● Ains. I actually think that's wrong, at least when they formed.
Early on, MALISEND was clearly not using the ● Ains graphic designer, and their first releases were not announced in the same way that ● Ains releases are (ie. not using the same marketing staff). Also, tbh, their first look was not up to ● Ains quality. And finally, I want to mention that their first releases were completely independent (independent UPC & no label listed). However, their most recent release was through a new label called ● Culminate―and was published by ● Ains, according to Brand X. So, in my opinion, MALISEND did not form under ● Ains (like MEDIENA probably did), but is now signed to another “secret sublabel” of ● Ains. (Might the name ● Culminate be a tribute to Yukika's early label, ● Culminate Screen?)
And here we are
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To recap...
Yukika forms drop cafe
↓
Yukika's band joins CLIMAX ENTERPRISE
↓
Yukika forms Culminate Screen
↓
Yukika forms A heretic sound music.
↓
Yukika meets up with Yayoi, the former president of CLIMAX ENTERPRISE
↓
Yayoi forms FIREBALL, and Yukika transforms A heretic sound music. to a sublabel of FIREBALL
↓
Yukika closes A heretic sound music. and makes a new FIREBALL sublabel called Galaxy
↓
Yukika forms a new, standalone label called Ains
↓
Yukika transfers DIAURA to Ains and closes A heretic sound music., and Yayoi goes to EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT
↓
Yukika makes an Ains sublabel, MadWink., for Grieva
↓
Gossip joins the sublabel MadWink.
↓
KUROYURI TO KAGE joins the new Ains sublabel, yamikakumei
↓
Grieva, Gossip, and KUROYURI TO KAGE release a coupling CD which is published/distributed by UNIVERSAL (but they're not major)
↓
MEDIENA forms under an unofficial/secret Ains sublabel, V-eyes RECORDS
↓
MALISEND forms independently, but joins what might be another unofficial/secret Ains sublabel, Culminate
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Idk, I hope that was enlightening or entertaining to someone! Please let me know if you have any comments or corrections!
I've always found the world of VK record labels to be really fascinating. KISAKI's label history is deliciously convoluted, but I think Yukika actually beats him out, lol.

For as much as I love visual kei, there are plenty of practices I detest. I could go on forever. It wouldn't be fair to celebrate all of the good in the scene without admitting the bad as well. There are so many things that make me sad, make me irate, or make me want to rip my hair out that it was hard to settle on just five. Here's five commonplace practices in visual kei that's a total ball ache for any international fan invested into the scene.
 

 
 


 

 

 
Like I said above, I have way more than five things that annoy me about the scene. Does anyone else want to fill in the gaps with practices that they hate that they've come to accept within the scene? Come share your frustrations and horror stories with me. We have plenty of tea and live-distributed crackers for you.

For better or for worse, visual kei is something that's had an impact on my life.  I never thought groups of cross dressing Japanese men playing metal would be something that's stuck with me for so long, but throughout all the surprises, discoveries, disappointments, and developments I've stuck around in some capacity. I may not be as heavy into visual kei or Japanese music as I used to be, but there's a part of me that will always go back to the music I've enjoyed and another part of me that's always looking forward to new bands, activities, and trends. Here are five things I really enjoy about the scene which has kept me coming back again and again since 1999.
 

 

 
 

 
 


 
 
So those are all the things I like about visual kei. I'm sure I missed some. What do you like about visual kei?

↑
I agree with you that it's somewhat pointless to discover the truth here. And like you, I love the legend of KISAKI and the scene that blossomed around him―whether or not he's a really good person is somewhat irrelevant, as I'll never spend time with him.
But, that being said, I think it's still important to dig into this. When it comes to VK, we're the historians; no one else cares about this shit! So if we find something interesting, I think it's part of our duty to investigate and record it, just for history's sake.
It sucks that digging into KISAKI is often from a witch-hunt point of view, and as a fan, I don't like that... but I think it's important nonetheless .
---
I'm really convinced that the bands are real. Hopefully somebody can figure out the remaining ~tape mysteries~... and maybe when pigs fly, KISAKI will step in and give the *real* truth 8D

A Dramatic Retelling of the Time the Dude from Undeux Went Missing but then Ordered a Pizza With the Band's Line Account
 
by The Reverend
 
 
ACT ONE
FADE IN:
 
EXT. TOKYO ALLEYWAY, ENTRANCE TO IKEBUKURO BLACK HOLE -- EVENING
CUT TO:
 
INT. BACKSTAGE DRESSING ROOM
 
The vanity shelves are filled with various makeup and hair products. Members from various indies VK bands are milling about; applying makeup, styling hair, strumming vacantly on guitars. As we pan to the rear corner the members of Undeux are half in costume chatting while getting dressed.
 
(If writing is visible it is in Japanese. All speech is in English.)
 
AL (GUITAR)
Can you believe this asshole? He was supposed to be here like two hours ago? What if he doesn't show?
 
Luchat turns away from the mirror while affixing feathers to his wig.
 
LUCHAT (DRUMS)
Can any of you guys sing?
 
AL
Riku couldn't sing! Anyone willing to get up there and just kinda shriek occasionally while pointing into the audience and making up some furi?
 
Koji is sitting on the floor applying fake blood to his face.
 
KOJI (BASS)
No can do. You guys are already making me play bass; I've got enough to try and remember.
 
AL
Damnit.
 
Kai walks through the door in full stage makeup buttoning his bloody white shirt.
 
KAI (GUITAR)
Hey has anyone heard from...
 
AL
No.
 
KOJI
No.
 
LUCHAT
Nope.
 
KAI
Damnit.
 
AL
Alright we can't not go on stage now...
 
Al spots a couple of boxes (formerly containing hairspray bottles) near the corner of the room and raises his eyebrows furtively.
 
AL (CONT'D)
I've got an idea!
 
CROSSFADE from Al cutting one of the boxes with a pair of scissors to the band performing on stage with a 3-foot tall cutout of a person taped to a mic stand instead of a vocalist. The cutout has been splattered with fake blood.
 
FADE TO BLACK as the band performs.
 
 
ACT TWO
 
EXT. A NONDESCRIPT APARTMENT COMPLEX IN EDOGAWA. TWO DAYS LATER. -- NIGHT
CUT TO:
 
INT. A SMALL JAPANESE APARTMENT WITH LOTS OF BAND POSTERS ON THE WALL. SOME FLOWERS/CARTOON PLUSHES/PRODUCTS THAT INDICATE IT IS A WOMAN'S ROOM ARE VISIBLE. A 20-SOMETHING GIRL IS LOUNGING ON THE BED MESSING WITH HER CELL PHONE.
 
RIKU is sitting Indian-style on the floor with a laptop on his lap. There is some hard (but not offensively brutal) rock playing on his laptop speakers.
 
RIKU (VOCALS, UNDEUX)
You hungry babe?
 
GIRL on the bed does not look up or to check whether or not her response is heard.
 
GIRL
Hmm?
 
RIKU
Want to go out?
 
GIRL
Ehh.
 
RIKU
Well *I'm* hungry. Let's go grab some food.
 
GIRL
I don't get paid till Friday, I'm kinda broke.
 
RIKU has stood up and is rifling through the small cupboard and refrigerator.
 
RIKU
Damn, me too. I'm sick of instant noodles though, I'm gonna order some pizza. Whatchu want on your half?
 
GIRL
Where you ordering from?
 
RIKU
That Italian place downstairs. You can just hit 'em up on Line to order.
 
GIRL
Corn and mayo!
 
RIKU
Gross, fine.
 
RIKU grabs his laptop and starts typing.
 
SFX: PAN OUT THROUGH WINDOW TO WIDE SHOT OF APARTMENT BUILDING WITH GATHERING THUNDERSTORM IN THE BACKGROUND.
 
MUSIC: DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL HITS.
 
FADE TO BLACK:
 
 
ACT THREE
 
EXT. SAME EDOGAWA APARTMENT COMPLEX. TWO HOURS LATER. -- NIGHT
 
INT. SAME APARTMENT. MOSTLY FINISHED PIZZA/BOX SIT ON THE TABLE. GIRL IS STILL MINDLESSLY PLAYING WITH PHONE BUT LAYING WITH HEAD ON FOOT OF BED.
 
RIKU is finishing a slice of pizza as he sits down at his computer again, looking very satisfied.
 
MUSIC: OMINOUS BUT FAINT
 
RIKU is reading intently on computer when his face drops and grows pale. He instinctively covers his mouth with his hand while continuing to scroll.
 
RIKU
Oh fuck.
 
GIRL
Huh?
 
RIKU
Oh fuck oh fuck.
 
GIRL looks up from phone at RIKU. She is still lying on the bed.
 
GIRL
What's up?
 
RIKU stands and begins pacing on the small apartment floor.
 
RIKU
Oh man this is not good... I was logged into the band's account when I ordered that pizza!
 
GIRL
Didn't you quit that band?
 
RIKU
I did! But I guess I hadn't logged out and into my own Line on my laptop. Shit! I didn't show up to our last show those guys are gonna be so pissed at me!
 
GIRL sits up.
 
GIRL
Why were they expecting you at their show?
 
RIKU
Well, I quit the band... but didn't really tell them it would be *immediately*. They've been texting me non-stop.
 
GIRL
Oh my god, you idiot.
 
RIKU
I was trying to let them down easy!
 
GIRL
Just pay them back.
 
RIKU
I'm not worried about the money!
 
GIRL
Is this really that big a deal?
 
RIKU
Oh my god yes, you don't fuck with Rame and get away with it. I need to call my lawyer.
 
GIRL
*Your* lawyer? Who do you think you are? You definitely don't have some lawyer on retainer.
 
RIKU
I... you know what I mean!
Seriously, I could be in some shit.
 
SFX: PAN OUT THROUGH WINDOW TO WIDE SHOT OF APARTMENT WHILE RIKU IS PACING AND DIALING A NUMBER ON HIS CELL PHONE. IT IS RAINING HARD AND A SINGLE CROW IS CAWING ON SOME POWER LINES BELOW THEIR APARTMENT WINDOW.
 
FADE TO BLACK:
 
 
ACT FOUR
 
EXT. AN UNIDENTIFIED AVERAGE TOKYO STREET. MANY PEOPLE ARE GOING ABOUT THEIR BUSINESS IN STORES ON THE STREETS -- DAY
 
INT. A LUXURIOUSLY APPOINTED OFFICE. THE FOUR NON-VOCALIST MEMBERS OF UNDEUX SIT ON ONE SIDE OF A LARGE WOODEN DESK. A LARGE BALD BODYGUARD-TYPE MAN STANDS NEAR THE DOOR WEARING A SUIT AND SUNGLASSES. THE BAND, IN CASUAL CLOTHES, ARE FACING THE BACK OF A STATELY LEATHER OFFICE CHAIR ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DESK.
 
The chair slowly spins around to reveal RAME of the record label GLKingdom and former bassist of VK band Vidoll. RAME is wearing a charcoal suit and a black tie.
 
RAME
Thank you for meeting me. Let's discuss how we can resolve this unfortunate... 'incident'.
 
KAI
Well...
 
The members of Undeux look at each other nervously.
 
AL
Well, we want to keep going. We were hoping, you know, that maybe you knew a vocalist who would be interested...
 
RAME laughs softly.
 
AL (CONT'D)
...in joining the band.
 
RAME
Yes, yes. That can all be arranged. I was speaking more about what to do with Riku.
 
LUCHAT
Wha...?
 
KOJI
We still haven't heard from him.
 
AL
Well, other than the pizza thing.
 
LUCHAT
Yeah, what a dick.
 
RAME pulls a white envelope from a drawer.
 
RAME
First, he quits the band and no-shows despite promising me he'd keep performing till the summer.
 
RAME (CONT'D)
Then, he hides and doesn't return any of my calls or texts. And finally...
 
RAME opens the letter contained in the envelope.
 
RAME (CONT'D)
...I get a letter from a lawyer claiming that the record deal you all signed was invalid and Riku not showing up was not a breach of contract at all.
 
The members of Undeux are fidgeting in their seats but do not say anything.
 
RAME (CONT'D)
Our friend Riku needs a lesson in respect and honor.
 
KOJI
What do you...?
 
RAME nods at the large man standing by the door. The bodyguard nods back and exits the room.
 
RAME
Let's not worry about Riku any longer.
 
The members of Undeux look slightly afraid but don't move or speak.
 
RAME (CONT'D)
Now, about finding you guys a new vocalist... have you heard of the band QEDDESHET?
 
FADE TO BLACK:
 
 
ACT FIVE
 
EXT. A GRIMEY TOKYO ALLEYWAY. IT IS RAINING LIGHTLY -- EVENING
 
RIKU runs around a corner and places his hands on his knees to try to catch his breath. He is looking from side to side very nervously. RIKU starts walking quickly, while often looking over his shoulder, toward one end of the alley.
 
As RIKU approaches a large man in a dark suit appears at the end of the alley that RIKU is headed toward. RIKU,
panicked, turns and begins running in the opposite direction.
 
RIKU is sprinting and splashing through puddles of the alley. As he nears the corner he appeared from originally another man in a suit emerges holding a black handgun.
 
RIKU
No! Please...
 
The second suited man emotionlessly aims the gun at RIKU and pulls the trigger. The man wipes the gun with his pocket square and lays the gun down beside Riku's body. The suited men walk away quickly but confidently.
 
OVERHEAD SHOT:
Camera slowly pans upward as the blood from RIKU's gunshot mixes with the water his body is lying in. Camera pans upward until it is above the roofline and even the silhouette of RIKU's lifeless body has disappeared from view.
 
CUT TO:
 
INT. UNNAMED TOKYO LIVE HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PERFORMANCE.
 
The band Undeux are walking out onstage to a pulsing techno track. A new, unidentified vocalist comes out last to lots of shouting from the crowd. The intro track ends and a drum fill signals the beginning of Undeux's first song. The new vocalist crouches over and unleashes an imperfect but earnest pig-squeal as the guitars kick in.
 
The camera finds RAME at the rear of the club watching dispassionately. The large suited man from his office approaches and whispers something into his ear that is unheard over the band's performance.
 
One corner of RAME's lips fold upward into a wry smile.
FADE TO BLACK:
TITLE CARD: fin.
 

I noticed some very strange things about Kisaki's bands Levia and LAYBIAL, which were around in 1993 and 1994. For example, this is the tracklisting of the MISS tape by LAYBIAL.

01. Dejavu
02. MISS
03. virginig Plesures
04. Refuse
05. MOTHER
06. One More Love

Official source: http://under-ground-music.com/kisakihppart/english/DiscShosai.php?shohinNo=000009


Also in the mid-90s there was a band called VICE∞RISK. They released the tape Mother and this is the tracklist:

01. Virgining Plesures
02. Refuse
03. Mother
04. One More Love

I saw the lyrics sheet with my own eyes, so I can confirm that it's real.


Now let's look at Levia's KELOID tape:

01. KELOID
02. PRAY

Official source: http://under-ground-music.com/kisakihppart/english/DiscShosai.php?shohinNo=000007


Around the same time there was a band called Nude of J. Their 傷痕 demo looks like this:

01. KELOID
02. 恋に焦がれ愛に埋もれ
03. PRAY

I also saw a sheet of this tape, the tracklist is legit.
I can upload pics of the VICE∞RISK and Nude of J tracklists, if you guys want to see a proof.
 
So.. Can anyone explain this? For me, it doesn't make sense at all.
VICE∞RISK and Nude of J seem to be COMPLETELY unrelated to Kisaki or his bands. I even compared the member names, because sometimes members went into different bands and rerecorded songs they've written for another band, but there's not a single similar name anywhere.
Was Kisaki making things up when he decided to release information about this old bands and just took random songtitles of obscure bands from that time? O:
Or did the bands just covered each other, which is highly unlikely...
 
I know there's a KISAKI history book out there. Maybe someone here owns it, so we could compare the titles? But I'm 99% sure that it will contain the same information as on that UCP site.

DT's
 
CD's
 

I actually got this back when it was released last month, but I never got around posting about it.    Ignore how messy my CD bookcase is at the time being.

 
This is what I got in the mail today. 

Some Gastunk vinyl.
 

Banana Fish album and two Sleep My Dear singles.
 

Girltique flexi-disc and Tokyo Yankees autograph board.
 

This cool special issue of Rockin' f magazine from 1994.  The magazine featured a lot of early 90s VK and late 90s VK groups, so I was super excited to see some less featured early VK groups (like Amphibian and Red Tail Cat) get some attention in this magazine and seeing early versions of Baiser, Shazna, Vasalla, and La'cryma Christi.