The Gazette

The Gazette - The Invisible Wall

Genre: metal, visual kei
Song style: a metal-ish ballad

I like the aesthetics of this video, and it's refreshing to hear the heavy guitars. Dunno much about the band though I've been exposed plenty to their guitarist Aoi, who attempted a solo career, and was a big draw for my sister a year ago. They seem pretty solid though and pretty masculine despite the makeup. Not quite in the mood for music at the moment (though gonna go see Miyavi tomorrow!) but thought I should post something since it's been a while.

Kyoto is not all just cheery smiles

Sadie - Grieving The Dead Soul

Genre: metal, visual kei
Song style: frantic and high-paced with a lot of style-switching

So looking at the past two posts, one would think Kyoto is all about happy beautiful reminiscing upon a landscape. But no, Kyoto is a source of a lot of styles of talent, and here is one example. The vocalist of the band Sadie is from Kyoto (definitely met some guys like this while I was there...) and the other band members are from around the Kansai area as well. I like seeing Japanese bands that are willing to become heavy and edgy like this, it really adds some masculinity to the makeup. I'll be in Japan a month from today!!

It is almost the witching hour

Malice Mizer - Beast of Blood

Genre: visual kei, metal elements
Song style: really "goth" - heavy guitars + harpsichord + hissing and singing vocals

I have to say this was one of my first conscious exposures to Japanese rock music (and possibly a stereotypical one). In 2001 for my first time in Japan (I was like 14 years old!) I ran across a magazine ad with these guys and I thought they looked pretty awesome... so I looked into their music and liked what I heard! Combinations of heavy discordant guitars and melodic singing really draws me in. This group is now defunct (sadly happened the same year I discovered them), but it used to have the now-uber-famous Gackt as its lead vocalist. Here, the band is headed by their last singer, Klaha (I wonder what happened to him?) It also has the famous crossdresser Mana pretending to play the violin, who frequently models for goth fashion magazines. I was never really a goth person but can understand why people might like the effect or the music. But don't be fooled into thinking this is all Japanese rock has to offer! It's just an interesting extra facet that we don't too frequently see in America these days (though even saying that, these guys are pretty old news now).

Gather roses

ScReW - Gather Roses

Genre: visual-kei, metal
Song style: catchy, swingy, and heavy

My sister discovered this band when she got into Japanese visual-kei/metal over last winter while visiting me in Japan. I have to say, I don't know ScReW's other songs at all, but this one is really catchy (I love the heavy guitars). Just now while writing this, I'm checking out their other songs on Youtube and I like the groove that they have, the guitars are really exciting. Great way to celebrate finally getting my computer working again! Going to Boston this weekend to see my sister's band play in some battle of the bands. So this goes out as an ode to sisters. Hopefully will be able to update tomorrow but not sure.

New releases EVERYWHERE: Cali≠gari

Of what I know, three bands released new material today (3/17/10)! Here are three blog posts in commemoration of this mid-March material, from "worst" to "best"

cali≠gari - マネキン

Note: Umm... not my style. Silver medal.

Genre: visual kei, hard rock
Song style: a straight-up punk/metal song, with no semblances of melody.

Not a fan of this song, but it's good to see cali≠gari releasing new stuff since their hiatus a while back. This is off of their fresh album of today, "≠". There are three versions: "卑劣盤" (3500円 with tax), which seems to include a DVD collection of music videos and porno videos they made, "姑息盤" (3500円 with tax), which includes a DVD with a documentary and concert features, and "良心盤" (2000円), which is just the album. Umm... collect them all?

I'm not Incanto Shine

Acid Black Cherry - Black Cherry

Genre: pop-rock, light visual-kei
Song style: jazzy turned to rocky, catchy big band

Note: Because the video has a long (and I feel boring) silent intro, I have made the video start from the song. Feel free to rewind and start from the beginning!

Though Yasu's (singer of Janne Da Arc) project "Acid Black Cherry" has been hitting up the mainstream for a while, I find their music very catchy and listenable, with pop-like hooks but catchy heavy riffs. The lyrics for this song are also pretty exciting and scandalous (along with the video)! I feel like this song can really show the power of J-rock - I've shown this video to my American friends, and by the end of it, they ask me to show them more. The past couple of days I've been constantly eating delicious Japanese food out with my family (ahh nice to be home) so it's fitting to put a very "stereotypical" (but fun!) J-rock band in here. These guys have been my wake-up alarm for half a year now.

The beginning of spring break!

cali≠gari - －踏－

Genre: visual kei, electronic punk
Song style: catchy, industrial

I've held out for so long, not putting any visual kei music on this blog! For those who don't know, visual kei is like Japanese glam-rock, where artists usually have crazy hair and makeup, there is an emphasis on androgyny, and there is usually a similar vocal style. Many people seem to think Japanese rock = visual kei, and in my opinion, too many foreigners worship visual kei more than the credit it deserves. With that said, there are still catchy tunes (and bands) within the visual kei sphere that can still be appreciated along with (or in spite of) the wacky visuals. It is also an important part of the Japanese rock music scene, so I can't ignore it completely. A friend sent me cali≠gari about half a year ago and I found their musical style very unique and experimental. This is their first single after a long, six-year hiatus, which came out last summer.