ahhh the cuteness of Japanese culture.... I love it, especially the cuteness of Japanese girls;)

Well, a follow up on the MM vids...... one of them was just a short video single, which was pretty much just shots of the band standing in a graveyard staring at the camera while an organ instrumental played in the background, nothing really special, while the other one was a short documentary on them in Japanese, though I would have liked to see some band interviews, etc.
I never knew how elaborate their stageshows were though..... it`s like a gothic version of Cats!!! The music was totally unexpected though, I thought Visual Kei was more like shock/glam rock, but they sound like a Japanese Lacrimosa at times. A little heavy on the organ, but good!

Actually what I didn`t know about Visual Kei is that it`s not a genre or a scene, merely a look/image many Japanese bands use, characterized by a flamboyant glammy appearance and elaborate hairstyles, while the bands themselves range all over the musical spectrum, from rock to pop to goth to punk to metal. Actually one of the originators of Visual Kei was the 80s power metal band X-Japan.

you read my thoughts...any questions as to why I want to go to japan can be answered by the above B)

That's why I said some of their stuff sounded goth in my first post. :p If you played some of their tracks (like S-Conscious or Beast of Blood) in a goth club it would just blend in with the rest and everyone would think it was another goth band. I like the organs and the whole sound in general. It's great, the mix of classical instruments with modern. What do you think of Gackt? His solo stuff is a little more varied, jumping around from pop to rock to a bit goth.

Have you been on the Lemoned site? They have mp3s, videos and picture galleries of several j-rock bands including Gackt and Dir En Grey. I've just been checking out Miyavi's stuff, he's pretty good.

I was devastated when Malice Mizer split and I still miss them..Mana tried to carry the flame into Moi dix Mois but it's not the same. A lot of the ex-members are doing different things now (Kozi is the guitarist for Eve of Destiny, Klaha embarked on a solo career and got labelled a Gackt clone)..except for Yuki, who disappeared from the face of the earth
I found a site a while ago which catalogued a whole heap of Japanese alternative bands, from mainstream to obscure death and thrash metal. Tried to download a few songs but they're so damn hard to find..don't have the address anymore but I'll try and track it down.

Yes, yes you will, and you will share this fruit from the tree of un life

*slaps solid metal pole into palm a few times to make sure the hint is gotten*

*pokes masamune_forge as a double reminder*

Now go little hobbit.

Ahhhh J-Rock, the wierdest form of rock to ever exsist!
And I absolutely love it!!!

Dir en Grey are by far my fav. J-Rock band

checking out the Lemoned site right now.....

Currently excited about the Kobe Underground festival next month..... a bunch of Japanese AND international bands playing. The French band Mimetic is supposed to be coming to play.

I love the idea of visual kei as far as looks go, however I haven't found many bands whose sounds I like.

Lizz

I love Jrock!! Malice Mizer, Dir en Grey, Miyavi, Schwarz Stein, hide & Gackt are my fav!!! Used to be such a fanatic before!!hmm I'm on the Lemoned site...I'm so sure w-inds is Jpop...*shrugs*

While I've been into a few Japanese bands over the past years (namely Dir en Grey and Pierrot), most Visual-kei bands really come across as having more of a rock and/or metal-ish sound than something that sounds gothic (and as we all know, it's all about the music ). And while Malice Mizer may have had some hints of it during their indies period, they certainly abandoned it rather quickly when Gackt came on board and ended up playing cheese that I'd like to forget.

However, there certainly are a few Japanese post-punk gothy bands I've come across. Apparently, Auto-Mod was an influential post-punk band from the early '80s. Their earlier sound seems to be slightly influenced by ska, and they even use a saxaphone sometimes. Unfortunately, it seems that their earlier stuff is hard to find, and a lot of the newer generations of Japanese goths haven't even heard of them (all this is simply second-hand information from a deathrock board, mind you). It's a bit difficult to get over the singer's vocal style, though. Sounds like his balls are in a clamp or something.

Buck Tick is another band from the '80s. A lot of their earlier material sounds like the standard guitar/bass/percussion post-punk outfit, but their late '90s stuff sounds more like darkwave, like they lost their guitars and discovered sampling. From what I read, they were apparently influenced by the likes of the Banshees, Bauhaus, Danielle Dax, and the Cure.

Hmmm, two bands I`ve heard of by name only..... I should check them out.....

the bands I initially mentioned weren`t in the visual Kei scene at all.

Have heard of eve of estiny before.

I just found this site called Dead At Last. It's a site some guy who lives in Japan has made about the goth scene in Tokyo with info on where to shop and about the clubs. There's even pictures, you should see some of the designs for these clubs especially the one at the Paranoia Cafe. :i Oh and there's video clips too of some live performances of bands like The Cure and Christian Death in there too. This site hasn't been updated since 2004 though so some info maybe out of date.