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CaRaN

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  1. ASDFGHJKLAJGLKAG!!!!!
    CaRaN got a reaction from suji in Truly crappy Western "visual kei" inspired music   
    I had already seen this xDDD it's bad xDDD
     
     
    God I remember the laugh we had talking about this band at the chat xDDDDDDDDDDDD
     
     
    Oh my god xDDDDDDDDD I don't know what to say about this xDDDD I think they are from Argentina by their accent though, but who knows xDDDD
     
    I'm leaving this PV from a Spanish VK band. I don't think they are that bad but I thought I should contribute xDD
     

  2. Like
    CaRaN got a reaction from efuru in Gay guys, roles?   
    I'm vers. (Not that I get laid too much though )
  3. Like
    CaRaN reacted to hiroki in hiroki's favorites of 2016   
    Since everyone's waiting for someone else to kick things off, I'll do it lol. My list is divided into 3 categories, each with 10 of my favorite releases, max 1 per band per section. The categories are (a) singles; (b) albums and mini-albums; (c) non-regular releases, which include live-limited/distributed CDs, digital releases, CDs of session bands, units, shuffle bands, and so on.
     
    As before, a caveat: I listen exclusively to visual kei and my list reflects that. Also, this list is called “hiroki’s favorites”, which is to say, music that speaks most intimately to me on various levels and has the kind of sound I'm attracted to. I make no pretense of this being the best that the scene has to offer anyone, since that's something only he/she can seek out on their own.
     
    For me--and saying this will no doubt induce significant eye-rolling--2016 was by some distance the best year of visual kei in terms of music released (disbands are a separate matter). It took me incredibly long to assemble a list of 10 per category because in each case I could easily have cited 50 that would ordinarily waltz into my top 10 list any other year. The competition this time was unreal. I considered appending an honorable mention section to each category but I thought better of making an already lengthy list even more unwieldy.
     
    Lastly: even though I made this list more as a cathartic exercise than a serious attempt to make others fall in love with my bands, I'll be delighted if you decide to leave a comment. So please feel free to let me know what you think! ^^
     
    Since it's apparently no longer possible to embed the mp3 directly I've uploaded snippets on Youtube (already a couple of copyright warnings so far). I'll keep my thoughts as short as possible; it's quite pointless to repeat 'I LOVE THIS SO MUCH' 30 times...
     
    Here we go!
     
     
    TOP 10 SINGLES
     
     
     
     
    #10

     
    Blu-BiLLioN / S.O.S.
     
    BB leads the way among kira vk bands that have made it relatively big - a tough ask these days. They aren't even in my top tier of bands, but can I just say how proud I am of them?? Please make it to Budokan one day
     
     
    #9

     
    ビバラッシュ / Merry-Merry-Merry-Go!!-Round☆
     
    I'm glad to see the Vivarush guys expanding their repertoire from the signature Fukuoka electro-rock sound that characterized their previous band. 透明な影 is an example of something you wouldn't have heard in A≠ris (Ruimaru spoke of the difficulty he encountered writing lyrics to this song). It seems Osaka is currently experiencing a mini-revival for this style of vk so hopefully that works in their favor.
     
     
    #8

     
    vistip / CONTRAST
     
    Probably the closest post-CHIMERA vistlip has come to giving me that feeling which made me fall in love so hard with them when they started out. The chorus of CONTRAST is classic vistlip; just listen to how Tomo duplicates the same 2-bar phrase over the IV-V-iii-vi progression. But theory-speak  is unnecessary; their sound + Tomo's lyrics pull me into their world like no other band can and that's all the matters. I demand more of this magic for your 10th anniversary this year please.
     
     
    #7

     
    Purple Stone / 歌舞伎町バタフライ
     
    If you've been around MH for more than 3 days you'd probably have realized that I kinda love Purple Stone. I have no freaking clue why they are only #7, but that just attests to how crowded the field is. Anyway, it's nearly impossible to choose between 歌舞伎町バタフライ and パニックパニック!. The latter definitely kills at lives, but 歌舞伎町バタフライ probably has the edge on record so I've gone for that here. The B-side "RIVER" is Purple Stone's grandest song, and "Paradise Dance" a fantastic live track that I've enjoyed every single time.
     
     
    #6

     
    グラムヘイズ / 妄想スパイス
     
    There's only one reason why I’ve picked this single over ラストシーン for glamhaze: its B-side 優しい街 kills me every time I hear it. Satoru's dreamy love letter to a Tokyo that has mercilessly turned its back on him continues to tear at my heart. Musically this song fuses a sparkly cascading soundscape reminiscent of DOF with a controlled intensity to produce an experience at once subtle and epic. It's very difficult for fans to accept glamhaze's imminent disbandment, but at least we have Satoru's solo project to look forward to.
     
     
    #5

     
    弾丸 NO LIMIT / ソノ嘘ホント
     
    I can't believe how much Dangan has grown in such a short period of time. They write memorable melodies with unbelievable ease and Miyuu sounds ridiculously good every single time. I'm also kinda obsessed with Yusuke at this point (oops). Everything about this single is perfect except its album art (what?).
     
     
    #4

     
    Lydiar / the Elpis
     
    I wasn't too into Lydiar's first single, however a friend of mine loved it so much I told myself to stick with them a little longer. It turns out that it wouldn't be long before they decided to disband anyway, which was a real shame because their 2nd single was really everything I love. For that alone I'll always remember them <3 I suspect coyomi's almost-out-of-control vocals would be unbearable to some, but they work for me!
     
     
    #3

     
    Ank lily. / 解けた糸
     
    Every year a band emerges from nowhere and snags one of the top spots in my singles list and along with it a permanent place in my heart. Last year was DiCE and this year it's Ank lily. I've been a great admirer of Rui since Emu. and buccal cone but this single excels on a whole new level. Hopefully Rui comes out of his semi-retirement mode soon...
     
     
    #2

     
    アンフィル / Step by step
     
    Definitely the hardest decision I've had to make on this list. Not with regard to the position, but which Anfiel release? It's almost scandalous that a release like ラヴァ doesn't make it, but a band can only blame themselves for releasing 1 very very good single and 3 very very very good singles in a single year, right? On a more serious note, the split second Shogo's vocals enter this song after the guitar intro has got to be one of my all-time favorite moments in visual kei. The very first sounds he makes shift the mood so dramatically that I’m still blown away each time I go back to the track. Have I told you that I love Shogo??
     
     
    #1

     
    BLESSCODE / Imperial City
     
    If #2 was the hardest decision, this was the easiest. Hyperbole alert: I feel rather strongly that Imperial City is the best visual kei song I've ever heard. SORRY NOT SORRY. Surprisingly I'm not the only one who feels this way *winks* Witnessing this single drop in April was the equivalent of watching a soccer match where one team has scored 20 goals by half-time. It isn’t even close. At this point I don't even feel like describing what is it specifically about this song that I like. I still get goosebumps when I hear the chorus. It has become trite to claim that one "loves everything" about a song, except that's literally true in this case. I simply cannot imagine a song in this style that's done better. 99.9/100, 0.1 penalty for their decision to disband.
     
  4. Like
    CaRaN reacted to helcchi in (This is really belated, but I've been meaning to write one since forever and I want to know everyone better so please don't hate me…)   
    (Before that, I’m so sorry the length of this introduction reads like an essay but please bear with me ><)
     
    I have many interests, but let’s talk about visual kei as this is the one constant that has taken up most of my life.
     
    2009 was a time of change for me and visual kei. Ameba launched its virtual community Pigg, which instantly sucked the life out of me and as it turned out, so many vk bandmen had no life as well.
     
    t's embarassing to talk about it now, but as teenagers with nothing better to do with our time, my friends and I would send as many friend requests as we could to band members and ‘stalk’ them whenever they logged online. Suddenly vk had become so much more intimate as we could interact with vk bandmen in real-time like never before.
     
    But pigg was more than that. Some of my fondest memories have been the designated VK showroom where you could stream youtube videos to a crowd, meeting new people in the club rooms who share a common interest and of course having to witness the silly antics of some of those bandmen. I got to know a lot of bands that I would otherwise never had found out about, had conversations, learning about their personalities and interests. I also got to learn that some of the musicians in the darkest and heaviest bands have the cutest personalities behind the keyboard, fawning over the colourful array of virtual fashion items pigg had to offer. 
     
    (Asanao from lynch. case in point)
     
    It was a fun and unique experience. And at the same time, information was not only more accessible than ever before, but more abundant as well, and keeping up with blogs, news, forums, and playing pigg consumed every moment of my every day which back then, I had the time and youth to do so.
     
    But eventually, I burnt out.
     
    I attributed my losing touch with vk to information overload. It’s been more than 4 years since I stopped going on pigg and ameblo for good, but those few years of intense dedication, even today, felt like an aeon. 
     
    I used to make a lot of parodies of bandmen, and loved deduction and connecting the dots - which bands had photoshoots at which set and making 6-degrees of separation connections between members of different bands and loved hearing stories from the past.
     
    I also had a enthusiasm for drawing, having drawn over a ton bands over the course of 2 years between 2011 and 2012, but suddenly it’s 2016 and all I have are 3-year-old drafts and unfinished sketches. 
     
    Everything had been halted because life kinda got in the way… shattered-tranquility had long stopped being my home page and my internet’s search history doesn’t remember vkdb.jp anymore.
     
    Hmm.
     
    So in that gap between about 2012 and now, I had the mother of existential crises, questioning whether I was really going to follow vk for life.
     
    But my passion in the music is genuine and still alive.
     
    I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ve been disconnected from the community that I love for far too long, and I don’t want that. I don’t want to forget the memories I’ve made, the bands that I’ve followed, the stories I’ve heard and the things I’ve learned along the way - be they good or bad. I don’t want my interest of VK to die, and I don’t want to stop making funny content about VK forever.  
     
    (And most importantly, I don’t want to be the only VK fan in Australia that I know. So if you’re from Sydney, please hit me up so I don’t feel lonely :3)
     
    I want this to be the place where I can share my knowledge about vk so ask me anything and I hope to relearn what I’ve lost these past few years. And once again, I’m astronomically sorry about the length of this introduction (I hope it was bearable).
     
    Merry Xmas btw
  5. Like
    CaRaN reacted to fitear1590 in UNiTE. 3-month consecutive new digital singles release   
    "mugen pixel" (and most of UNiTE.'s discography) is available on US Spotify. Check if it's available in your country!
  6. Like
    CaRaN reacted to Zeus in How I lost my best friend (semi-rant)   
    You need to change your title to "How I Found My Best Friend". Your girlfriend is a champ. She has a good nose for crazy girls, let you work out your personal and emotional issues, and is still there for you regardless even 5 months later. Don't let her go.

    If I were you, I would not be friends with this Sara person. You've mentioned several other people that don't like this person? And pressure, emotional manipulation, extreme possessiveness, and black mail? And your friends told you she was talking shit behind your back? This girl is a nightmare and the best thing she ever did for you was to refuse to date you. You do not need this kind of person in your life. Don't just ignore her; make it your prime directive to not talk to this person at all. Cut her off, lose her number, block her on social media...this kind of person will only ruin your life, your relationships and your self-esteem. But I think you know this already.
     
    Congrats on making it out of your quagmire of confusing feelings.
  7. Like
    CaRaN got a reaction from SethItari in BABYMETAL   
    The fact is that these bitches are killing it, so we should forget all the haters and enjoy our fake music produced by sellout businessmen and performed by fame whore puppets
     
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSCRT7sDyWA 
  8. Like
    CaRaN got a reaction from -NOVA- in vistlip LIVE DVD release   
    Thank you very much guys!!!! <3 <3 <3
  9. Like
    CaRaN reacted to -NOVA- in vistlip LIVE DVD release   
    Its called  "Idea" track 6 from the album LAYOUT 
  10. Like
    CaRaN reacted to hiroki in vistlip LIVE DVD release   
    sorry for late reply XD yup @-NOVA- is right, it's "Idea"
  11. Like
    CaRaN got a reaction from hiroki in vistlip LIVE DVD release   
    I summon @hiroki to tell me which song is it at 1:20 hahaha somehow I can't recognize it
  12. Like
    CaRaN reacted to -NOVA- in vistlip LIVE DVD release   
  13. Like
    CaRaN reacted to The Reverend in [Review] The Gazette - Cassis   
    Was driving around listening to Cassis getting excited for Gazette's NYC show in a couple weekends.... thought I'd record some thoughts. Let me know what you think of this (old) Gazette single!
     
    (shoutout to Jrocknyc shoutboxer Ken who made a few videos like this about old school Nagoya Kei that were fun... I couldn't find any of them anymore though.)
  14. Like
    CaRaN reacted to Seimeisen in the GazettE new single "UNDYING" (2016.04.27)   
    Did a high-res stitch-up of the three covers. Tried my best to make it seamless, three exact squares (1534px each), and all that junk.

  15. Like
    CaRaN reacted to beni in Official Happy Birthday Topic   
    'appy 'appy birthday to @CaRaN for today and @jduv86 for yesterday~
  16. Like
    CaRaN reacted to Shir0 in Show Yourself (again)   
    love hate nimbly~
    love hate nimbly~
    the fortune flower told me that I should care about you - one-sided love
  17. Like
    CaRaN got a reaction from Tetora in ユナイト(UNiTE.) new maxi single "ジュピタ(jupiter)" release   
    Oh my fucking god I love it!!!!!!!!
  18. Like
    CaRaN reacted to Tetora in 少年記 (Shounenki) will disband and Ba. Rei will retire   
    Strong rumour mill churning.
    Sales peaked at Rank 82 in the charts, lasting one week on the charts; their last three single being their most popular.
    Not high enough to be a moderately successful Indie band by chart measure alone, but not a disaster for bands in that stage of their lifecycle. There are many bands who have lasted longer with similar or even lower sales, and have been on a bigger label. They also had no major work to act as their defining moment in early career, you have to sort through shorter releases and receive a mixed bag sound wise.
    Though the label has been pushing them producion and promotion wise to gain an audience, and their last PV is not location heavy but has better production than bands in the top ten of Oricon, so I would say there was a lot of expectation for them similar to the expectation that me and other fans had for a band that was so skilled in blending pop hooks into rock music.
    They definitely could have gained traction, and been more successful, in my opinion.
    First, they had an unpopular release approach, no album and single after single, meaning lower output of songs compared to other bands, also meaning live shows had a redundancy to them since you were always seeing a very similar performance.
    Second, hard to pin down Shounenki sound signature, since their releases changed quite a bit, most new acts develop a distinct callingcard first then branch out, developing their demographic then pushing the boundary. Harder to pin down Shounenki sound and attract the market for it, even if there is one.
    Then you have the style of vocals and style of band possibly clashing. Differing songs including drastic changes in some B-sides, there is a possibility that not all members always agreed or wanted to focus on making that kind of music. And again, may be hard for some fans to follow,or choose Shounenki as 'their band' when you never know what you're going to get. Most creators with a business plan develop a base first.
    After that, they are all young and you never know what is going to happen, we don't know the labels plans, what kind of pressure they were under, if the label can afford all their bands at the moment, if the members can afford it, if there was a strong leader in the band, or if they had differing personalities or some major issue arise, if all members can handle the not-so-easy task of writing songs in great number to meet a schedule, etc...
    Anyway, just my speculation, don't know why I wrote this. Great band, hope to hear of a new group forming soon, they could have went places, if the vocalist especially forms a new group, he especially can go places, etc...
  19. Like
    CaRaN reacted to saishuu in Show Yourself (again)   
    Decided to shave my head for whatever reason.
  20. Like
    CaRaN reacted to Tokage in the GazettE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR   
    European wing of the tour organized by B7klan is announced and also pre-emptively canceled within the same hour
  21. Like
    CaRaN reacted to saishuu in Official Happy Birthday Topic   
    Thank you, CaRaN!
  22. Like
    CaRaN got a reaction from saishuu in Official Happy Birthday Topic   
    Happy birthday @saishuu!!
  23. Like
    CaRaN reacted to Furik in Show Yourself (again)   
  24. Like
    CaRaN reacted to saishuu in Show Yourself (again)   
    I'm a douchebag.
     

     
  25. Like
    CaRaN reacted to Trombe in special band "Yo-shiT with SPEED DISK All Time Stars" will perform   
    special band "Yo-shiT with SPEED DISK All Time Stars" will perform at event "KKB35" at TSUTAYA O-East at 2016/01/29
     
    "Yo-shiT with SPEED DISK All Time Stars" members:
    Vo.Yo-shiT (ex-xTRiPx)
    Gt.衍龍(kouryuu) (ex-My BACTERIA HEAT IsLAND)
    Gt.優一(yu-ichi) (ex-AUBE)
    Ba.リツ(ritsu) (ex-Glam Grammar)
    Dr.哲也(tetsuya) (ex-My BACTERIA HEAT IsLAND)
     
     
    [other live participating artists]
    R指定(R-shitei)
    SCAPEGOAT
    ダウト(D=OUT)
    ベル(belle)
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