Sweet Honey

Hey its Miki.

I’ve been rather remiss about posting in this blog for the last few months. Maru and I have been working on a new project, which will be ready shortly, but for now since it is the New Year (!!); I thought I’d post about what’s gone on this year in visual kei.

Well sort of…

There’s been a lot of change in the visual scene this year. Although, you could argue that a great deal of change = no change since there is always so much change. I can’t say its positive, can’t say its negative, but we’ve seen things this year that I’d like to not see again.

This year saw upheaval in the scene: Yoshiki’s back problems, Miyavi getting married and having a baby (good for him!), and the most obvious hardship: Jasmine You’s passing.

We’ve also seen quite a few breakups and lot of member changes, which is more normal (especially as it involves a lot of the youngsters). The attention paid to the more indie bands has gone up again I’d say. This is an interesting development! I never thought I’d be listening to a young band like ALSDEAD so quickly; or even see such a young, promising band come overseas so quickly! Developments like this in the visual kei scene are always exciting, especially for old hands like me. I remember when it was difficult to find information on indie bands, much less music to listen to, or websites to buy from.

We haven’t talked about it yet, but this year saw a great deal of international activity from Cure! And while the U.S. version of Cure magazine seems to be stalled, the media site and the internet radio site both seem to be doing pretty well so far.

The happy news: more than a few bands have gone major label. Ayabie is one of them — apparently SuG is another.

I can’t say I’ve heard anything amazing this year come out of the major label bands, though. For example, I wasn’t overly impressed with SID’s singles this year, and Ayabie’s singles weren’t my favorite either . I liked D’espairsRay’s Final Call the best (if I have to name one).

Speaking of D’espairsRay — Their new live DVD’s price is pretty close to rape of the wallet variety.  D:

Some of what I’ve seen that’s really bad:

-The economy still sucks in the U.S. (and every where else from what I’ve been hearing).

-Said bad economy is causing a problem with tours. *sad face*

- Said bad economy is contributing to downloading. *sad face* x2

- H1N1… D:

We’re in kind of a vicious cycle right now I think, although the con list for next year already looks promising!!

Hopes for 2010:

1) A * real * U.S. tour (that includes more than L.A. and New York). Preferably not in July and not when its fucking cold.

2) That Anime Central (Acen)’s ban on Japanese bands with all male members ends.

3) Awesome release from someone that rocks everyone’s socks (seriously).

4) A fanbase with a better sense of humor.

5) For the fuckery to stop. Now.

Miki

This is something that I’ve been thinking doing for a while now, and should be a continuing series (for a while at least). I will jump around a bit in these little posts and I may confuse you. And please, please keep in mind this is opinion — Don’t be offended.

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It frequently comes to my notice that by limiting myself to that which I can afford to buy, I miss out on some really great music. Of the many albums that many many jrock/visual kei reviewers mentioned as ‘amazing’ or ‘album of the year’ for last year, I have heard one: Dir en grey’s latest.

Partly, this is definitely due to choice. I only buy that which I like. And since the break-up of TINC, and Phantasmagoria; I have to admit that I have my bases covered. I simply do not have the never-ending amounts of money to listen to EVERYTHING that is released. Besides, I often don’t like the part of visual kei scene that many of the reviewers like an awful lot, the part that floats happily into American rock and will one day be completely indistinguishable (MUCC is a good example of this IMO). 

It is also due to my moral objections to downloading. If I didn’t think it was so wrong; I would probably download. But, being a person who intends to work in the music industry (after college), I’ve spent a lot of time researching and thinking about downloading, and its effects. Like that it could effect my job or ability to get a job; or that it is artistic theft. Even as a audio engineer, I will (to a small degree) put my artistic flair onto a musical work. Which led to the realization that:

One day, downloaders will be stealing music that I’ve personally helped to create.

BUT, poor college student ranting aside, I rather like having my own niche taste. I know the quality of music that I listen to, and although I deeply lament the lost chances of Kagrra, (who rock) and D (who are equally awesome) to come into my CD collection; I can also reveal in the fact I am unique in the visual kei fanbase: I buy everything I listen to. I’m going to be contrary here and remind you that many of us buy everything we listen to. This is not meant to be a rant on downloading, or even a remark about the poor economy (which sucks), but just a comment on, well, I guess ourselves.

You see, much of what I like, you like. BUT (that little word just keeps coming back), much of  it all is simply ignored. Like Ayabie’s outstanding single Meltaway released last spring. Maybe it has something to do with Ayabie making softer rock, or that they once (and always?) flirted with the Oshare end of the scene. And it’s not that we don’t all listen to it, but as I was told at an Ayabie concert this past summer by a self-described ‘hard-core jrock fan ‘ “Ayabie is our happy fan music okay?”.

My general response is “well Ayabie rocks my musical world okay?” I don’t get this hard-core thing. Why must music be ‘hard-core’ in order to be good? AND what defines hard core? For example, I think Ayabie is ‘hard-core cute’, and ‘hard-core melodic’, but that seems to defeat the meaning of the phrase.  This really is the meat of what I’m talking about. This idea that music must be ‘hard-core’ to be good. We shouldn’t stand for this. As fans, we are limiting ourselves by buying into this idea that in visual kei, only hard rock, metal, or some combination of the two are the ‘good’ music. 

Afterall, visual kei is full of wide and varied music. It stands to reason that there is good music everywhere we turn. The question is then: Why doesn’t the album of the year listings reflect this?

Miki