YuyoDrift

My favorite thing is that the first comment I read when I opened the Instagram post was a laconic "mentiroso".
And suddenly we were all in a south american telenovelas.

Shit, now I’m thinking he was waiting for VK to get to the lowest point it ever could (bands disbanding in droves, live houses in shambles, the rich and powerful getting more exposure to the Yoshiki business model) before releasing it since nothing else would come out for weeks and promotion would be easy.
 
Probably thinks he will save VK with it 😂. If he does, wow.....and now that I think of it, I expect donations to Japan’s most affected musical areas to be his targets, but for a musician to care about the places that made them big is rare.

Shit, now I’m thinking he was waiting for VK to get to the lowest point it ever could (bands disbanding in droves, live houses in shambles, the rich and powerful getting more exposure to the Yoshiki business model) before releasing it since nothing else would come out for weeks and promotion would be easy.
 
Probably thinks he will save VK with it 😂. If he does, wow.....and now that I think of it, I expect donations to Japan’s most affected musical areas to be his targets, but for a musician to care about the places that made them big is rare.

Shit, now I’m thinking he was waiting for VK to get to the lowest point it ever could (bands disbanding in droves, live houses in shambles, the rich and powerful getting more exposure to the Yoshiki business model) before releasing it since nothing else would come out for weeks and promotion would be easy.
 
Probably thinks he will save VK with it 😂. If he does, wow.....and now that I think of it, I expect donations to Japan’s most affected musical areas to be his targets, but for a musician to care about the places that made them big is rare.

Release: 1997年06月25日
Label: Toshiba EMI
 
Tracklist:
1. ALKALOID
2. LOWSPIRITED
3. MONOCHROME
4. REINCARNATION MORNING
5. MOVE ON DARKNESS
6. S.C.
7. MARK MARS
8. OVER MIND
9. EVE
10. STAY
11. FREESIA
 
 
Let me know what you think of the album!

Release: 1997年06月25日
Label: Toshiba EMI
 
Tracklist:
1. ALKALOID
2. LOWSPIRITED
3. MONOCHROME
4. REINCARNATION MORNING
5. MOVE ON DARKNESS
6. S.C.
7. MARK MARS
8. OVER MIND
9. EVE
10. STAY
11. FREESIA
 
 
Let me know what you think of the album!

Release: 1997年06月25日
Label: Toshiba EMI
 
Tracklist:
1. ALKALOID
2. LOWSPIRITED
3. MONOCHROME
4. REINCARNATION MORNING
5. MOVE ON DARKNESS
6. S.C.
7. MARK MARS
8. OVER MIND
9. EVE
10. STAY
11. FREESIA
 
 
Let me know what you think of the album!

[..kissing in the cosmos, Face to Face ..]
 
My absolute favorite Luna Sea song, on my absolute favorite album. I feel the album was a step up in not only in musical quality and production, but in that it provided something more. It provided a narrative akin to a space opera. When I hear Ryuichi go into the chorus with the words "Face to face..", I picture scenes from.. not quite Blade Runner, but something close, yet more abstract and spiritual. I feel like I'm on a journey through space that is both sad and lonely, yet hopeful and fulfulling.
 
It's weird. Not many albums make me picture scenes so vivid as MOTHER does. Then again, I'm a total scifi romantikku freak so that might play in as well of course. Still, I feel that it represents them wanting to step up their game and present something more than just an album. It's a journey to the future, while still being absolutely grounded in both time and place with it's very stylized 90's pop-rock, and I fucking absolutely love it.

You're getting claps?!?!?
 
I would rather have that than 50+ idiots howling like maniacs EVERY EVENING in an attempt to do the same thing, like ok?? How the fuck did this become a thing.
 
On the topic of stupidity, I don't find it comforting that I'm earning WAY more from unemployment checks than I had with a fulltime job........and so considering that I don't have to work for another month or so, it makes sitting on my couch drinking beer and playing video games surreal enough that it's hard not to see how broken the income system here in the USA is.

You're getting claps?!?!?
 
I would rather have that than 50+ idiots howling like maniacs EVERY EVENING in an attempt to do the same thing, like ok?? How the fuck did this become a thing.
 
On the topic of stupidity, I don't find it comforting that I'm earning WAY more from unemployment checks than I had with a fulltime job........and so considering that I don't have to work for another month or so, it makes sitting on my couch drinking beer and playing video games surreal enough that it's hard not to see how broken the income system here in the USA is.

https://twitter.com/satoshi_grgm/status/1249268531918602241

Satoshi (girugamesh) has released a clip of himself singing a new song today, Apr 12, 2020 on his personal Twitter account

You run out of things to do after 25+ years.
 
Anyways, this is some shit I would expect out of children lol but no one ever says they grow out of things like that.
Some people are like that with their animals (I'm the messenger, relax) where they goof off with eachother like fratboys (hence the child-like comparison), it's a weird level of comfort with your animal that I can't understand cuz I don't find that stuff funny in most context.
 
That said, this is probably not something you share publicly cuz yeah, just because you find it funny, doesn't mean others are going to or worse.

Ryuichi always will be one of the best, most charismatic and versatile vocalist of all time, he is a living legend and I'm so happy that he beat this cancer.
We should just get used to the way he sings now.

Oh, this is a nice change of pace.
 
The experience that is Mother gets much of my praise musically for its incredible arrangements that paint a vivid depiction of Luna Sea's initial career and the era it was birthed in.
 
What's also worth noting is that many songs you think will end up a flop, gradually and surprisingly, get amazingly better as the track progresses. Once you hear that shift in direction after the buildup, you'll understand what I mean, it's something I've rarely experienced. Personally I think the break-periods with calmer songs in-between made the listening experience that much more enjoyable, and even those songs give you that same overall album feeling to keep things vivid. "Genesis of Mind", without a doubt, pulled a fucking David Bowie on my ass, continuing to prove that it is the "long-song"-ers that end up being worth the entire listen, and it's my favorite song on this album, hands-down. "Mother" is one of the best "last songs" I've heard thus far, you wouldn't even think it was last song in that album. 
 
By just Mother alone, I'd be convinced that these were some majorly  dedicated musicians with so much potential and creativity that was blossoming for its time. If other fans are saying that this is Luna Sea at their best, then that is a pretty fucking convincing argument. This is a pretty high point to be at, I'll admit, it's unreal. I wish I was there in person to witness this album being created in the studio, I like this album that much.
 
Really, I know this saying gets overused but, this is a release that you deserve to listen to if you consider yourself a VK fan.
There are a lot of great tracks that make the listen worth it, but the overall achievement I feel having listened to it is my takeaway.

1. Well, I agree with @yomii's point of not accusing a song of ghostwriting until I know for sure that it is. Better to let a guilty person go than to condemn an innocent person (in my eyes, at least).
2. I guess "idol kei" is a somewhat broad and debatable term, but when I first saw this term used, I assumed it meant simply generic and mass-produced instead of created from individual passion, so I'll go with that. To me, the indicators of an idol kei band would be nowt more than bland looks and music, possibly accompanied by some quickly overused gimmick (*cough cough* face reveals *cough cough cough*) and a relatively short, forgettable career.
3. Difficult for me to say, as I wasn't active in the community again until about last year. I took a bit of a break and I didn't really find out anything that was going on at the time. As much as I'd like to try, it'd be pretty much impossible for me to pin a date on this.
4. By definition, no. If it's bland, I won't care for it. Everyone's definitions of "bland" are different from each other, so if I personally find something that fits my description of the word, then I won't like it. There are, of course, bands forming today that I do like. For example, SHiSHi are pretty much one of my favourites already. Also, whatever happened to Blue Blood Boa? That one song I heard from them was fantastic. Please tell me I didn't simply miss anything from them. But I digress...
5. For me, personally? Somewhat. Just because something doesn't adhere to my tastes, that doesn't mean for sure that it's hurting the music scene, however I do have a very low opinion of ghostwriting, so if that is indeed the case and I see cold, hard proof of that fact, then it's a cold, hard yes.
6. Because I'm a young'un who didn't discover it until the 2010s! To answer the last point of "what does it give me", that's actually quite difficult to say. Obviously, the visual aspect caught twelve-year-old me's attention because the arse-end of England doesn't exactly have an abundance of middle-aged men with animoo hairstyles who look prettier than women in their twenties, but it's the musical aspect that's more important to me, and as long as there are existing/disbanded bands who formed some time ago that I love (e.g. Moran, Sugar, DIAURA, etc) and the odd band forming every now and again that can really hold my attention (SHiSHi probably being the best example of this), I'm going to stay. I guess you could say I came for the hot guys and I stayed for the great music, so if the music does indeed turn completely stale (which, tbh, probably won't happen because I don't think there's ever a 100% terrible music genre), I'll go somewhere else... although I can't think where. I genuinely cannot imagine what kind of music I could get properly into like I have J-rock, and I am not going back to my emo phase. People see my hair and they think I'm still in it sometimes, but they shoulda seen me back then 😮 hoo, boy.
 
Anyways, I've spent longer typing this than I probably should have and now my dinner's likely getting cold.

ok, i think i grasped the concept more or less but i can't remember any other examples of so-called idol kei bands. maybe it's because i don't pay any attention to such bands? i really couldn't care less about both a9 in their current state and golden bomber.
thank you for thorough explanation! and what bands openly don't play their own music? i've heard only smth about arlequin and some other goemon label.
 
been thinking about this some time ago too, i'm concerned about if we have bands who will be able to replace big shots such as gazette, mucc and so on? but i think it's too early to draw conclusions. also i don't agree that there were no classics released after 2013, the same chedoara drew so much attention i don't think it would be forgotten so easily.
 
now the questions
1) if there's no proof i won't say the music was ghostwritten
2) since i didn't knew a thing about idol kei until an hour ago maybe i shouldn't talk too much about it w i find nekkichi's definition very reasonable though, since that's kinda what idol phenomenon is about. 
3) idk cause i've only heard about hiring composers for arlequin and some other goemon band.
4) aaand since i've heard about arlequin having ghostwriters i was pretty much salty about them. i wasn't impressed by their music before that either, so i decided just not to fuck with them at all., but then i had to give them a listen during a trade-off and it was a solid song, not the one i would go crazy about but it was okay. and the thing i liked most in it was vocal, and i hope it was the voice of the actual vocalist ww so i'm not too hard on them now, but i'd still prefer that rock bands wrote music themselves.
5) like i said before, i don't like ghostwriting in rock music. for me rock of any kind still means some kind of rebel, and there's no rebel in playing what someone other wrote for you. not all vk bands are rock bands though, so my explanation isn't very accurate, but i hope you get what i mean.
6) i've had a break from vk for a couple of years, and still here i am, so i can say vk means really a lot for me. the reason i've returned to this mess is it resonates with me . like, i think it's pretty obvious what vk can give me what other music can't. i'm speaking not only about the visual aspect, but like have you heard something like lolita23q, nightmare, 9gbo and so on? i know vk is inspired by other genres but the final product is unique. but of course visuals are important too, not because these boys are cute but because people create a certain image, a fantasy, and i love how people are making themselves pieces of living art.
 

Great initiative, there's definitely not enough LUNA SEA discussion on the board.
 
This is such a classic that it's difficult to even begin to talk about it. For me this is the epitome of LUNA SEA. A perfect mix of their early rawness and the soft/poppy sound they did from EDEN up until STYLE. Not to mention their timeless classic ROSIER is on this album. 
 
It is to me, their best album and probably one of the best visual kei albums ever to be released. Every song on this album is way too good. The ones that stand out a bit from the rest to me are: Genesis of mind, Loveless, In future, Face to face and Rosier. 

they actually have improved following the departure (-s?).
their prev album was neat compared to like a five year long creative slump they've been searing through before that.

Since many users of MH are living under quarintine control since at least a month ago, I thought many of you would have the time to write down here your thoughts in a more elaborated way. So, I wanted to ask anyone here interested: why do you like visual kei?
 
The most common way of aboarding an answer to it should be 'because I like metal/punk/goth/post-punk music, etc.', 'because I like make-up', 'because I like X member'. Say, answering by remarking the presence there of the feature you like. 
 
Although this isn't a wrong answer at all, I would like you to elaborate on why you,  for example, when looking for metal music that satisfies your ears, would choose this kind of metal music that is VK (among many other features).  Say, what means those VK metal or make-up for you, what's its value in contrast with other metal of make-up artists?
 
I know this questions could look odd, considering the majority here moved from that high-school phase of "Oh, you like VK??? Me 2!!1, i thought i was the only weirdo in the freaking world!!!" at least ten years ago. But I was interested into asking it directly because, considering that when we talk here we do it leaving implicit what we like and what not, sometimes I wonder which are some users' interests after reading the post they make periodically. Perhaps there are some folks here who would like to take the chance to speak more words over their love for VK!  
 
I'll be reading you!
 
 

That's an interesting point. I've seen the fact promoted that VK especially is slowly dying from natural extinction because the shock value that it once had is becoming "normal" and hence not very interesting anymore.

Oh, the Richard Wagner dilemma.
 
Guilty am I to have sinful ears that can still appreciate the work of monsters.

GLAY announced on their official website on Tuesday that on top of their previously announced donation of 10 million yen, they will also donate 5,000 masks to medical institutions for COVID-19 relief.
"The number of cases in Tokyo is rising by the day, and now it's reached a state of emergency. Some are saying that our health care is nearing breakdown. We hope that we can offer at least some support to those who are working tirelessly at the frontlines in order to contain the situation," they wrote. "We pray for everyone's health and hope that the situation can be stabilized soon."
Glay announced last Friday that they would cancel their latest tour in Nagoya and Tokyo originally scheduled for May due to ongoing concerns regarding the spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19). The band's leader Takuro announced in a video posted on his official website that the group will be donating 10 million yen for relief efforts.
The Glay Dome Tour 2020 Democracy 25th "Hotel Glay Grand Finale" tour is still scheduled for the Sapporo Dome in Hokkaido for December 12.
 
source

MH is so sensitive lol

Maybe add in “I like one more than the other” cuz that may be some people.