monkeybanana4

This is a such an interesting topic, and many of your perspectives bring to light things I definitely agree with!
I guess I entered a frenzy and my message is pretty long, but here's my experience as someone who has kinda left the scene (but never really left, as I explain).
 
 First off, I got into vk when I was pretty young, in middle school. Metal and vk were the first genres of music I started being active in, as in, purchasing CDs, going to concerts, etc. Before that, it was all classical music (I started playing classical piano at 5 years old), and a bit of pop or rock here and there, and Gorillaz, because I always loved animation and well, all of their MVs were animated and I loved seeing them on TV. So when I got into vk, my musical horizons were quite narrow. I was basically a musical baby. I didn't know a lot of music, and my tastes were only starting to develop. As many have said in this thread, it's natural for tastes to change as you grow older, because you want to try new things, etc.
It's also worth pointing that I was really into manga (and still am lol), and branched out like many into "wow, Japanese culture is pretty cool", so it's why I was so drawn to Japanese music in general at first.
 
So at some point in high school, I wanted to broaden my horizons, and I did. I started listening to a lot of electronic music and jazz, and a wide spectrum of different genres. I was starting to figure out that I really loved music, no matter where it came from or what genre it was, and that I was fascinated with music history. But as that was happening, I also became more and more critical of vk, because I started to figure out that many younger bands I was following were pretty much doing the same gimmicks as older bands. I was also starting to learn about idol culture and how it worked. I must admit, idol culture really threw me off the more I learned about it, and it made me pretty much run away from the scene. I didn't feel so comfortable anymore in spending lots of money on merch now that I had a better understanding of the business model behind it.
 
This post really summarizes how I viewed the shift that happened towards K-pop. To me, whether it was K-pop or vk, it was ultimately the same model, but with a different aesthetic.
 
Despite this, I didn't stop listening to vk altogether, and I still loved older bands, who are still active to this day. So I couldn't part with artists like DEG, Plastic Tree, MUCC, BUCK-TICK, etc. I stopped following very actively, but I still listened to them, which is why I don't consider I moved on from vk, but rather just expanded my tastes. Which, in truth, was only natural considering vk and metal were pretty much "my introduction to any music that isn't classical".
I have also since reconcilied with idol culture, as in, I am not really shocked by it anymore. I like to understand how it works, I'm thankful I have left my "the artists I follow are perfect" naive phase, and I can still be critical of many aspects of it (selling 10 versions of the same single is still bogus to me). But let's just say I've come to accept it for what it is lol.
 
But what was the most interesting to me, is that most from my friend group from back in the day did not have the same evolution at all. I definitely do remember that what killed most people's fun was D'espairsRay's disbanding. Basically, everyone that hadn't already moved on from vk, moved on soon after that. I was also on an A9 fanforum at the time, and their releases were starting to slow down. So it all happened over time and organically.
If I look at what those friends are listening to now, it's either: they don't really listen to much music anymore save for what they were listening to at the time (so 2000s vk and other artists), or they have moved on to K-pop.
The only conclusion I can draw from that is the same that was drawn by many people here: you're either in this for the music, or it's just a fandom, and fandoms come and go.
 
From my standpoint, and considering the very small number of small vk bands who caught my attention in the recent years, I can only wonder how the scene will evolve? I kinda have the feeling, like many I suppose, that the golden age of vk is over, much like glam rock is over with its boom. I hope I'm wrong and that we will see interesting developments in the years to come.
 

I've placed my thoughts under a spoiler tag because my fingers got keyboard happy.
 
 
Anyways, a really great topic!

Echoing what a couple of people have gotten at, the turnover of VK fans to K-pop is largely due to the accessibility of the fandom (or lack thereof, in VKs case).
 
The main difference is... the Kpop industry actually wanted the west’s engagement. Even if it’s just “share the fuck out of our music videos, and spam pictures of us on Twitter”. The VK industry’s response to this was “How did you get those music videos!? How did you get those magazine scans!? Region lock everything!!”
 
Eventually, western fans got tired of having to beg for crumbs, spend twice as much as Japanese fans for half the experience, and having any rare overseas lives still be more about flexing to their domestic fanbase than about catering to the foreign fanbase.
 
The irony here is that the “boom” of VK in the west was precisely due to the same promotion methods that Kpop acts use today (though on a smaller scale, as most of the groundwork occurred prior to the popularity of social media). The management of the bands that came over, however, were largely oblivious as to why this happened. So they just assumed they could do exactly as they did in Japan, but half-assed, and their fanbase would continue to grow.
 
This just built up hope that VK would eventually be more accessible, only for the momentum to die down once management realized that it wasn’t as simple as they thought. This discouraged many, and they lost interest after ~2010, even if they had been a fan long before 2007. Most of my friends fall into this category.

I love PVs, it's so great to discover all the ones you guys picked! I just discovered Hysteric Panic and I'm very thankful for that, I love it haha!
 
I absolutely adore all of WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA's PVs. It's hard to pick just one but I guess Ikkyu-san will do, as it was the first one I saw from her and it made me instantly fall in love with her universe:
 
 
Much of the same can be said for MONDO GROSSO but I'll pick Labyrinth:
 
 
... and Charisma.com. But my favorite is moyamoyashite:
 
 
I have a big soft spot for KIRINJI's Jikanga Nai:
 
 
Anyway, as can be seen from all the ones I've mentioned, even though I do enjoy watching simple PVs just centered around the band playing, they usually don't make it to my favorites. It's interesting because it didn't use to be that way. There are many simple PVs from MUCC and Plastic Tree that I love, and they are simply that.
But the nicest "it's just the band playing but in extremely cool lighting" PV I can name is THE NOVEMBERS' Bad Dream. What a great song, too.
 
 
The ultimate PV to me will be, always and forever, MAXIMUM THE HORMONE's eponymous. It's just everything I love about them into one song and one music video hehehe
 
 
It's actually been a while since I've watched visual kei PVs, I guess I gotta get back to it. Which is why most of what I listed is J-pop (aside from the past 2). But what would be this topic without someone mentioning the GazettE's Taion, right?
 
 

I love these VK PVs/MVs for their bright, colorful and somewhat goofy aesthetics.
 
DIV - Taste of Life
 
SuG - Gr8 story
 
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Pon Pon Pon - This one isn't VK, but it's also got colorful, bright, and silly aesthetics. Not to mention it was everywhere at the time, so it's permanently stuck in my head.
 
There's always something very aesthetically beautiful about Moran's PVs that I always admire. My favorite in particular is this one:
 
Moran - 春の夜の、ひと雫 - It uses computer graphics (I believe?), so the scenery isn't shot in real life, but I think the artistry of it perfectly fits the heartfelt ballad.
 
And my nostalgia enjoys the dark aesthetics and random black and white footage in the Reddish PV by Despairs Ray even though it's just them mainly playing in front of the camera.
 
Vidoll - I my aimai - Couldn't find a better quality sadly, but the crazy and chaotic way it is shot is just my cup of tea for early to mid 2000s VK. Props to it being filmed in broad daylight in some random outside areas.
 
Kagrra, - Kotodama - The effects (i.e. water ripples) and aesthetics help add to the overall dark themes contained within the lyrics.
 

I've placed my thoughts under a spoiler tag because my fingers got keyboard happy.
 
 
Anyways, a really great topic!

I love these VK PVs/MVs for their bright, colorful and somewhat goofy aesthetics.
 
DIV - Taste of Life
 
SuG - Gr8 story
 
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Pon Pon Pon - This one isn't VK, but it's also got colorful, bright, and silly aesthetics. Not to mention it was everywhere at the time, so it's permanently stuck in my head.
 
There's always something very aesthetically beautiful about Moran's PVs that I always admire. My favorite in particular is this one:
 
Moran - 春の夜の、ひと雫 - It uses computer graphics (I believe?), so the scenery isn't shot in real life, but I think the artistry of it perfectly fits the heartfelt ballad.
 
And my nostalgia enjoys the dark aesthetics and random black and white footage in the Reddish PV by Despairs Ray even though it's just them mainly playing in front of the camera.
 
Vidoll - I my aimai - Couldn't find a better quality sadly, but the crazy and chaotic way it is shot is just my cup of tea for early to mid 2000s VK. Props to it being filmed in broad daylight in some random outside areas.
 
Kagrra, - Kotodama - The effects (i.e. water ripples) and aesthetics help add to the overall dark themes contained within the lyrics.
 

I love these VK PVs/MVs for their bright, colorful and somewhat goofy aesthetics.
 
DIV - Taste of Life
 
SuG - Gr8 story
 
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Pon Pon Pon - This one isn't VK, but it's also got colorful, bright, and silly aesthetics. Not to mention it was everywhere at the time, so it's permanently stuck in my head.
 
There's always something very aesthetically beautiful about Moran's PVs that I always admire. My favorite in particular is this one:
 
Moran - 春の夜の、ひと雫 - It uses computer graphics (I believe?), so the scenery isn't shot in real life, but I think the artistry of it perfectly fits the heartfelt ballad.
 
And my nostalgia enjoys the dark aesthetics and random black and white footage in the Reddish PV by Despairs Ray even though it's just them mainly playing in front of the camera.
 
Vidoll - I my aimai - Couldn't find a better quality sadly, but the crazy and chaotic way it is shot is just my cup of tea for early to mid 2000s VK. Props to it being filmed in broad daylight in some random outside areas.
 
Kagrra, - Kotodama - The effects (i.e. water ripples) and aesthetics help add to the overall dark themes contained within the lyrics.
 

I've fallen out of the habit of watching PVs, but decided to check out xaa-xaa's latest and it really held my attention. Now I've been on a MV/PV binge.
 
Let's talk PVs! Share your favorites/least favorites/etc. new or old, j-jpop, v-kei, j-rock and k-pop (i guess)
 
I loved the color and style of this MV as well as the song. I don't know how xaa-xaa does it every time. Kazuki is really expressive (well, at least when it comes to showing despair lol)
 
 
 
It reminded me of another one of my favorite mvs by pentagon. I mean the art direction is just  *chef's kiss*
 
 
and speaking of bands who release their best mv just before they disband, SuG's SICK'S is one of my all time favorites
 
 

Just listening to the quintessential vk song of the era of Yaoi Paddles today
 
 
My tastes just keep getting worse and worse lmaooo

Hello! I'm Yuan, in my mid-twenties, an art school dropout trying to make it in this hard ass world :^)
 
I used to be really into vk when I was in high school and up to around 5 years ago. I was on Livejournal (the good old dayssss), owned a ton of merch, and went to as many concerts as I could. I had a lot of fun, but a couple years ago, I did a big vk sale, mainly for the money, but also because there were a lot of bands I didn't listen to anymore, namely Alice Nine, and sold their entire discography, which I had diligently collected til then, and many many issues of Shoxx, Neo Genesis, Fool's Mate, etc. Sometimes I regret selling those magazines, especially considering how they've all stopped running... But thankfully I kept most things from my favorite bands! And one day I'll finally complete my collection from Plastic Tree, DEG and Gazette.
 
What has changed since, is that I've lost interest in indie vk, because I just couldn't keep up, although every once in a while there will be a good band that pops up and that will spark my interest. My favorites are BUCK-TICK, Plastic Tree, MUCC, cali≠gari, the GazettE, DIR EN GREY, Deadman, Pierrot, LUNA-SEA, 9GOATS BLACK OUT, MIYAVI, the studs, D'espairsRay, 12012... I guess that covers at least a good general idea. I also listen to a lot of other J-music, and in general, more music than I can name. Other big favorites (from all horizons) include Nujabes, Flying Lotus, Gorillaz, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Thee Oh Sees, toe, Kikagaku Moyo, Shiina Ringo, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Charles Mingus... I'm a big music nerd in general, I've played the piano since I was 5, and listen to a lot of classical, traditional/folk (from all around the world), and experimental music (including noise). It's a big part of my life haha. I love exploring new sounds and expanding my tastes beyond my zones of comfort.
 
I'm also quite invested in visual arts (illustration & animation) as my studies suggested, fashion, cinema, video games, etc. Basically my interests are very broad and I like passionate ramblings. Which is why I love forums! I haven't been on a forum in many years, and I do miss it a lot. I've been reading this one for a while now, and figured it's time to stop being a lurker haha!
 
If curious, esp about my art and/or eventual OOTDs, my @ on most social media is yuanankh (for instance on Twitter and Instagram). I'd love to make new friends, especially since this pandemic has emphasized how important it is to not hesitate to be active online - which I knew already, as I made most of my long-term friends that way anyway.

Ryo... Again 🤷

Wajow (The Gallo, joppin:cal, m:a.ture)
 

I miss lives so much it hurts :(. This song always reminds me of that energy I would receive after a live, as I was queuing to get that 500 yen drink  sjdjsks not crying no. 
 
https://open.spotify.com/track/7vKdR3VTjNBQQ542z6MGRO?si=VNSHOweTSliFMW24mbtE7Q

This is a bit (really) late but I wanted to share my two cents on it. Please keep in mind my technical knowledge on music is... a bit lacking (could be summed up in: - once I saw 3 vocal classes on Youtube to make my Smule listeners a bit less sad about life - sometimes I watch videos from music critics and students criticizing my favorite artists - well I played Sakura Kiss on the recorder for the school festival when I was 13.) but... Well, I listen to a lot of music in English, Japanese and Korean (and Brazilian Portuguese and whaetevrrs) so I could see what you mean.
 
From what I can judge with my untrained ears indeed Japan puts less emphasis on ~vocal techniquez~ than musical ability/instruments in general. Not to say Japanese music is less "developed" as some people here put as I think it's the opposite: you'll realize genres like "math rock" (however you wanna call it) flourish in Japan as you'll also notice rock/punkish music, in general, still thrives as "pop music" whilst it doesn't anymore in other countries and many popular "anison" bands are rock bands. Also, you're talking a country where people are not allowed to speak on trains and school kids go to music clubs in the afternoon to learn instruments mostly, so it's a different culture than singing in the church choir you know. (In other words, whatever my dad used to say when I played Japanese music on the car, something about "but why do u only listen to weird music". It's just Different Tastes, Man. If I wanted to listen to something like whatever is on the radio I wouldn't go through the trouble of bringing my pendrive anyway.)  
  
If you're talking about "vocal technique" in visual kei I'd say it's definitely not as big (as, say, American pop music - actually, American pop music has so many ballad singers and fewer and fewer instruments... this is an unfair comparision, isn't it?).  I guess the explanation is pretty simple, though: as other people mentioned its roots are (also) metal/punkish so there isn't really an emphasis on vocal technique as much as style, also they do drink and smoke often so it's just... not really worth it to sacrifice their "lifestyles" so to speak for technique I feel and, well, it's sort of a moot point to ask something like "would they play different music if they actually knew how to sing?" because the same stupidity could be said about singers like Beyoncé - "maybe if she actually knew how to play a loud instrument instead of just being in a girl group she wouldn't have to train her vocal technique so much?" It's sort of lousy, isn't it? Of course these artists are just doing what they want. Are they straining their voices? Possibly. But, again, it's not like their "lifestyle" and "culture" in general favors the health of their vocal chords so it's pretty much pointless to ask that, IMHO - and I'm speaking as a fan of Nightmare the famous vk band with TAKE NO BREAK'S (I make a point of saying that name whenever I can...) Yomi so take that lol. Of course I can see why you'd be bothered if you're a trained vocalist with a classical background, but... yeah. This isn't it. 
 
On The Other Hand obviously there are still some rock vocalists that aren't just "emo kids playing in their early 2000s garage band" (which is... what vk usually is lol) and as far as I can tell actually know what they're doing, on an "ok" level. People here mentioned Gackt and Takanori Nishikawa both of whom I like (here. I don't hate Gackt.) so here's them singing a ballad live. 
 
 
As someone who isn't interested in Taka but not in Gerard Way either I guess I can only agree on his sound being "boring" and sort of a copy of whatever some American rock bands do. But please do realize that he started his musical career, uh, as a (rather popular) boy group member (say, Japanese equivalent of SMEntertainment.) at the age of (iirc) 13 perhaps? until he got in some trouble for being a brat and doing drugs and chose to be a rock star. Meaning a) his voice may have been compromised from the beginning and b) he got in it for the trashy anyway - being technically impressive at first was hardly his intention (possibly the opposite). As someone who is perhaps more "trained" in visual arts, makes me think of those kids who go into art school because they enjoy drawing manga and get frustrated because art teachers think it's shit so they study anatomy just to graduate. It's... another standard sorta. Personally Dir en Grey doesn't do it for me not in a "they're unskilled" way just "I don't like it" in which I guess I'm the same as you. It's certainly aesthetically weird and experimental, and the foundation for much of what vk is nowadays so. It's... stylistically relevant, even if I don't personally like it. (actually, I don't even like the style, I like oshare - sue me.)
For Kaya I saw him live and funnily this was exactly what impressed me - the live felt like a club with its bright louds and loud DJ noises and there he was, singing like there's absolutely 0 noise in the background. I thought "well, he's good, even if I don't love his style".
 
Summarizing it, from what I gather IA that vocal skill isn't really the point of Japanese rock music which in turn goes for much of Japanese music in general, the vocalists often become popular for their style/voice tones/charisma/lyrics (and trust me when I say Japan is one of those places where there IS emphasis on lyrics and those of us who don't understand Japanese well end up googling it who knows how many times I cried to Japanese songs lol.)/gimmicks/organic-ish skill or whatever and then (as their music does have an worldwide reach after all) they go on to practice their technique, which is why Gackt or Kyo show slightly better technique than Tatsurou or Kiyoharu who in turn show better technique than (generic vk vocalist number 178178) etc. Not unlike, I should say, American pop-rock. Of course, if you venture into other genres, such as... J-pop hah, you'll see it's a bit more diverse really.  
 
Anyway, really sorry I can't be of much help in here (...because, yeah, there's not an emphasis on it = we don't really notice it. Just googled "best visual kei vocals" out of curiosity and it brought me a list of "hottest vk frontmen" and some "favs" lists with nothing but guys with deeper voices so... lol) but I hope you could at least find something more interesting in this month! 

Send help 

the THIRTEEN  new webshop-limited unplugged single "SILENCE VOLUME ⅡI" will be released at 2020/08/05 (1500yen)
 
[tracklist]
1.Lament
2.BITES THE BLACK
3.白昼夢
 
 

 

 

You asked for it and here it is. 
 
GOTCHAROCKA will release their full album,  "POLYCHROME" on 2020.10.14.
[CD] 1. HYPER NEXT WORLD
2. ASIAN NIGHT
3. HUMAN BOARD GAME
4. CREATORS
5. Baccarat
6.白いDIA
7. MONOCHROME
8. PRAYER
9.グエリラ
10.天秤
11.OUT OF SERVICE
12. Chirality
13. Suddenly
14.1？JJTGR（BONUS TRACK）

New Member - Kiyoshi on Bass (LUXURY, ex.The Honey Beez)
 
In keeping with our theme of cherishing the older aspects of VK while moving forward
we are super happy to have the veteran Kiyoshi join us on bass.
Advanced news for MH:
our first gig will be with STARWAVE at
2020年10月29日(木) 池袋BlackHole
[Dark Ambition Exposed Vol.120～ハロウィンスペシャル～]
出演：Scarlet Valse, 未完成アリス, LIVERCHT, En'Cell~Dis'Dein
 
More cool stuff coming!
 
 

Uhhh I have like one whole selfie on my phone that I don't even like that much, so have that lmao

 
I hope to improve my look this year (earrings and hair mainly)

So uhhhhh I watched an '80s Taiwanese martial arts flick called Drunken Dragon (apparently a.k.a. Exciting Dragon, lol) and it sure was something.  Probably one of the fastest-pace, craziest and goofiest things I've seen... Especially the first half is just punch after punch of non-stop ridiculousness. Not sure what the writers were smoking when they conjured all this up, but I approve!
 
Already eyeing another movie by the same director, Child of Peach, lmao.

God, the "Breeeeathe into me" really got me. 😂