lichtlune

This reminded me that when I first got into Japanese music, I'd (we'd?) look up the defunct classic bands and see which members were involved with which band, then that band would get popular among the fanbase. Are upcoming og members training anyone anymore? Like I got into Joker/Screw and I'd open the pamphlet to make sure Thanks to Kagerou was on there. Baiser->Rentrer en Soi comes to mind as well.
 
As for me, I was already into late night electronic & alt rock on the radio so it was very easy to transition to most VK bands in HS. I mellowed out a bit in college and I still like like my old homie bay area 106 kmel ghetto beats. Koop is too poppy and their alt rock is... too alt?  But better than the kpop-- but I only listen to Korean music I associate with my stay there. In general, that stuffs not "dark" enough for me lol so I guess you have to already have a taste for it. I do question how someone could jump so easily from Older VK to Kpop but maybe we were listening to dif things or the new VK scene is just That boybandy.
 
I don't think I'll phase out of VK until there stop being Connections. This is the only genre where for some reason I care what members are doing sometimes. I think it's silly but they made it easier with social media!
Actually, maybe I'm already phased out. I don't know the new folks, Screw was the last one I think. Now I just surprise myself with oldies or an album from a band I used to listen to but never got around to X release. I can't justify geeking out about something bran spanking new on the music scene anymore. Or I'm lazy. Or I'm done dealing with new-er stuff. I'm just freaking old already, ok?

Depends on why you were drawn to certain bands in the first place. I was into indie rock, alt rock, and death/black metal before I was a vk fan, so that coloured my taste in bands (nagoya kei + DEG), once [most] of those bands became inactive, I went back to the indie and alt rock I liked before. I'm sure if someone got into the scene with DIV or some cute oshare shit, that Kpop wouldn't be too far off from that sound. Kinda depends on ideology too--if you're an oshare fan BUT you're a weeb--you'll stay into that; whereas if you were into vk for the cute boys, kpop is the next logical step lol.

This question has been bouncing around in my head lately. As a small and very dedicated fanbase in an inherently alternative counter-culture, it’s natural that people aren’t particularly drawn into VK as much as say Kpop or Alternative [Western] Rock. That being said, I’m curious about one thing that all fandoms experience: turnover rates. A while back, I stumbled on a Last.fm profile that said we were super compatible, but all their top artists in the last year were Kpop and [Western] Metal so I was really confused. That is until I went to all-time and noticed that our charts and top artists were so identical we might’ve been the same person. So then I wondered; when will that happen? That is, my turnover. When will I stop loving VK and go for the next best thing (whatever that may be to me)? 
 
So that leads me to wonder what you guys think the fan turnover rate is. If you want my two cents, it seems pretty high to me judging by the amount of Last.fm profiles that’ve moved on from VK to Goth, Metal, or Kpop. Something like 60%-70%. The time span, to me, is trickier to tell. I guess it depends on the person, though. I’ve seen some people (mostly on Instagram) go from being VK fans to Kpop Stans in real time, the process took about 6 months-ish? I’ve also seen some people who leave after 5-7 full years of dedication to different western alt genres.
 
Also, do you think there are any warning signs that your taste is changing/ways of knowing that you’re just not as interested into it as much as you used to be? They might be individual to each person, though. One of my biggest signs is when I don’t want to watch live performances or interviews anymore. I used to into funk/disco/hip-hop before VK and right before I fell out I stopped watching lives of my favourite groups because I had no interest in seeing something I’ve heard before but irl. Then I stumbled upon VK and the rest is history. I get the feeling like this is my endgame but I can’t say for certain that I’ll ride or die for life in regards to being a VK fan. I do know for certain that I’m good for now [next year or so]… One last question for those reading, if they wanna answer it: how about you, though?

I really don't know about how many because I don't care about others. It's up to them what they like and if that changes I'm fine with it.
 
For me I can't imagine to ever stop.
I've been listening to almost VK bands exclusively for the past 14 years. Maybe it's because I've already been 25 when I got into VK. I've been going through a lot of stuff during my youth and that was pretty different. I've been evolving from mostly anything being on German charts in the mid 90s, moved through a three year long very addicitve time loving The Kelly Family (they've been very popular in China back then as far as I remember) and then moved on to rock music. Starting with bands like Silverchair, Bush, but also No Doubt, Alanis Morrissette, Foo Fighters and so on. I also got to Linkin Park and partly System of a down before I got to know MUCC as the first Japanese band, followed by Dir en grey and then lots more all the time (bands played in Germany and even Berlin a lot back then so I also had the chance to see quite some of them easily and I guess that also helped).
I never felt like getting back. Not really. A bit like listening to stuff from "my past" every other year but I've always been getting back to VK bands very soon.
I don't know what's to come some day but from how things have been throughout the past years I can't imagine to ever let go of this.
 
I won't get into Kpop anyway I guess, I'm really not fond of pop music in general. There's not a single bit of interest in me to even try them out.

Yohio is not just some dude like the guys from Emmuree or like Aie who do visual kei as a lifestyle for the love of the sport. He is a sunglasses-indoors-wearing blowhard who's portraying himself as a living legend hot shit CEO. For him to not reach a certain level he aspires to would be devastating. It's make it or break it for him to get there right now with the vision he had envisaged years ago with KEIOS, Desaiha, Lovelipop etc. 
 
And I actually have to disagree, I don't think he is that productive. Right now is the only time he has been consistent since the melodifestivalen hype when he put out two albums in short order, which ended after they forgot about him in Sweden and his second attempt at Eurovision flopped. His release schedule right now is making me so angry, like why does he put out single songs constantly without even really promoting them before he moves on to promoting the next one! The only good rollout he has done recently was for his previous solo track. It'd do better to have put out all the english DISREIGN tracks as a EP because they're already super mediocre so at least you could put 4 or 5 in one package with a PV and a ballad and promote it for weeks and not move on from one to the next without anyone caring.  No one has a relationship with the English DISREIGN and I've seen even his fans being confused and unenthusiastic. Right now there's a new DISREIGN track coming up with almost no warning and he already has three DISREIGN releases in the bag without a PV, and those PVs are his most popular content. He should've put out the DISREIGN tracks as an EP as well that he really actually promoted, and done the legwork in Japan if possible. I just don't think he can stomach playing second fiddle at a multi-man event where only 3 people came to see him, because unlike what his socials would tell you I don't think he can even draw a decent crowd in Stockholm, let alone in Japan. 
 
My armchair booking for him would be releasing YOHIO solo tracks as stand-alone and build up for the album like he's doing, then DISREIGN and english DISREIGN tracks as either 2 track singles or minis with PVs. And it's better for him to put out one release a year that he'd promote right, instead of shitting out tracks without promoting any of them. Less is more etc.  And while I'm sure he is busy playing CEO right now with dad's cash, he could even take a video of him recording something and post it as a daily Vlog because his ( small ) fanbase loves that. The way he abandoned his Patreon too just lowers the value of his brand and decreases the trust between him and the people dumb enough to pay for this trash. 
 
And this thread is great because after all, I think all this western stuff does deserve attention. For one, it's an outgrowth from vk culture so it is interesting in like a scholarly sense, and second the ones that are doing this are the ones who are brave and stupid enough to realise the dreams that more than a few members of this board have had myself included; and as an extension of that it's our duty to savagely tear down their hopes and dreams if necessary. If I was doing music I wouldn't have it any other way.

I feel like this deserves to be mentioned here: on 2020/04/25, the 1-year anniversary of Michirou's death, some of his fellow musicians got together for an epic livestream performance celebrating his work. Thankfully the footage is still online in the YT archives of livehouse APIA40. It's a pretty long live so I haven't watched all of it yet, but it seems to be pretty outstanding.
 
The musicians involved and their connection to Michirou (where applicable):
中村達也 (Nakamura Tatsuya) - played in THE STALIN and TOUCH-ME
山本久土 (Yamamoto Hisato) - played in M.J.Q and Shidamyoujin
クハラカズユキ (Kuhara Kazuyuki) - played in M.J.Q
スガダイロー (Suga Dairou) - pianist, I don't know how he's connected but he is associated with Tatsuya for sure
西村雄介 (Nishimura Yuusuke) - played in STALIN, THE END and on some Michirou solo works
 
(The craziest thing out of all of this is that I didn't realize until now that Tatsuya used to be one of THE STALIN's drummers, haha.)
 
 

Concerning Lareine, I also had some wishful thinking (what has become of Kayas and Kamijos split anyway) but turns out, the next round is actually Femme Fatale ❤️
 

This is proably the least favorite of mine out of Kaya's projects, but once again he killlllled it!

Despite google translate, that English wasn't so bad. Better than his music.

I don't think Toshiki has worn a shirt since like 4 years. 

Also just found out that the "corona disinfectant" my mom sprays on our clothes, groceries, and packages that come into the house is literally just holy water with essential oils so feel free to nominate our family for the Darwin Awards 😤

deadman has opened their official Youtube channel and uploaded some of their old music videos.
 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz8fNFPBoGxQdVmlfsMEp-g
 
Another cool thing: the band will livestream their iconic last-live DVD "endroll" on 2020/05/23 at 18:00 (Japan time):
 
 

#StopYoshiki2020

Too manufactured and I don't respect the industry. I prefer an industry where the artists have creative freedom it has nothing to do with whether I like or dislike pop or rap music or anything of the sort. I can respect artists in any genre if I feel like what they're doing is genuine and heart felt. 
 

Too manufactured and I don't respect the industry. I prefer an industry where the artists have creative freedom it has nothing to do with whether I like or dislike pop or rap music or anything of the sort. I can respect artists in any genre if I feel like what they're doing is genuine and heart felt. 
 

Wtf. I was going to post something heartwarming + insightful about the disease and all of a sudden my laptops internet connection is not working anymore. It's wireless so it's really beyond me why, but wireless connections simply vanished ; Refreshing and nothing, restarted it already aaand nothing. Guess I only have my mobile connection now lol. 
 
Anyway. Where was I ... 
 
Myself. Things are hectic. Guess since herd immunity failed us the gv now goin for natural selection. Auths barely think for themselves so we are going back to work bc other countries are too. But our winters happening now 
 
I work in child care too so. More than anything I've always worried for those kids who have nothing in life but their grandparents; they are NOT few and they are going to shelters if anything happens 😕 more than money which has always failed me/us it's worrying me since day one of these bs happenings. 
 
I'm quarantined alone (as an essential worker I was asked to return to working locally.) missing my loved 1s ; mental health, never really had it but its worsening ; everything sucks basically. Anyway. Am I healthy in any way right now? Probably not. Will it get better? Hmm, doubt it...? 
 
So sorry to bring up the elephant but. What dyall think about the entertainment industry, particularly bands etc? Those events got me rethinking certain things which happened in Nov-Feb ... Seeing these in another light. For one. The boy in my pic is a Chinese guy in a k-pop group. He was in a hiatus supposedly bc of mental health issues since Apr/May and it seems he asked to return to SK in Nov/Dec but was refused. At first every fan was mad worried (he's in the company known for ... Expelling Hyunah lol) but now thinking about it, maybe the industry had known beforehand? Not unlikely seeing as lives are ... Absolute nonos in a pandemic (crowds, touching, spitting...) . Kinda makes me see those world tours re/scheduled completely out of nowhere between Nov-Feb in another light too. 

La'miss†fairy
 
no fucking contest

More's 5th anniversary live has been cancelled. However, they still plan on continuing activities once everything calms down.
 
They've also released their new song, "Singin' in the Rain" on digital platforms as of 5/9!
 
 
They've also revealed a new look!
 

 

 

 

 

 

That video is a gem lol

He still seems sort of limited as a vocalist but interested nonetheless. 

Kaya would be great but I wish juka could come back just briefly... I guess if he's truly retired then so be it. 

he can't, too busy to drink wine and do livecam

Yuuki has released 2 new songs on his youtube 

This type of shit infuriates me so much no one truly gives a shit though when it comes down to it.