About this Visual Kei stuff...

[Will-O'-The-Wisp]

I thought I would kick start this Sub-forum off with a lovely poll.

So, is it for you?

For those innocent minds that aren't sure what I'm talking about, Wiki it.

Anyway, recently I've come across a few people who are against the whole Visual Kei thing and some were completely put off the music before listening to it. I assume this is because of how the bands dress.

In my opinion, it's all good. Dir en grey looked like the bee's knees in their visual kei era even if they did dress like women, but that's just me.

Your thoughts?

 

[Maltos]

I voted Bad, bad, bad; but it's not that I hate it, it's just not my cup of tea. I like some of the earlier Dir En Grey stuff and Malice Mizer are pretty good (I enjoy the classical/rock crossover).

As far as the dress style is concerned though, no thanks.

 

[Lupus]

Some bands are alright, most of the newer ones are pretty bad though.

Malice Mizer Klaha era was the BEST, hate Gackt's era.

 

[Yagami]

The majority of visual kei I hate. I like an cafe and the old dir en grey. That's it. But, to be honest, I haven't listened to that much of it; It doesn't interest me much. The fashion is cool though, not that I'd personally wear it or anything though.

 

[Lupus]

An Café isn't Visual Kei, bro.

 

[Yagami]

I wasn't sure whether they were visual kei, so I googled it before I posted it.

An Cafe (or Antic Cafe) (アンティック－珈琲店－（カフェ）, Antikku Kafe?) is a Japanese pop/rock band formed in 2003 and signed to the independent label Loop Ash. They have been described as a oshare kei band, a subset of visual kei.

At least I tried ;_;

 

[shira]

An Café isn't Visual Kei, bro.

Yes, they are. lol.

 

[Lupus]

Whatever they are, they were still pretty bad. (ZING!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfllQHakOwQ

Last Visual Kei band I liked before they split up, now I don't even follow the scene anymore.

 

[MaxonTreik]

I'm boring apparently. Not heard of them, so I wouldn't be able to have an opinion if I wanted to.

 

[Will-O'-The-Wisp]

hate Gackt's era.

Can't say I liked his hair when it was in dreads or what ever the hell kind of state it was in.

 

[Rui]

I don't really follow it at all, but I like it in my passive sort of way. I have a lovely Malice Mizer DVD for when I want to watch some mindless prettiness set to music.

And I like Gackt's era too.

Although I don't follow it much I'm glad it exists. Makes a nice change from the standard formula now and again.

R

 

[shira]

I don't really follow it at all, but I like it in my passive sort of way. I have a lovely Malice Mizer DVD for when I want to watch some mindless prettiness set to music.

And I like Gackt's era too.

Although I don't follow it much I'm glad it exists. Makes a nice change from the standard formula now and again.

R

You speak Japanese right? Is it weird being able to understand what the bands sing about sing 90% of the time it has no rhythm in English at all?

I've always wondered.

 

[Rui]

You speak Japanese right? Is it weird being able to understand what the bands sing about sing 90% of the time it has no rhythm in English at all?

I've always wondered.

Hmm not really. People like opera in languages they vaguely understand too

Most of my favourite JP artists focus heavily on lyrics and I love the poetic ones (it's getting to be a lost art in English pop music, but when I find a British/American band with poetic lyrics I tend to latch onto them too). Japanese words and the careful selections they make to fit the song and the meaning can be very beautiful. I hear the Japanese words but the meaning is subliminally attached and processed too.

For a language I know really well, I find that the words often come on top of my English vocabulary. For example, when I listen to Rammstein and the words, "bestrafe mich" are sung, I don't manually work out each word (bestrafe = punish, etc) - I just understand what they mean without thinking about converting. Bestrafe is added to my internal database under "punish", as a German version. Untidy but effective.

Might be something to ask some of the truly multilingual posters here in a general topic in this forum, since I'm sure they have their own ways of interpreting music in languages other than their first.

R

 

[chaos]

You speak Japanese right? Is it weird being able to understand what the bands sing about sing 90% of the time it has no rhythm in English at all?

I've always wondered.

Hmm not really. People like opera in languages they vaguely understand too

Most of my favourite JP artists focus heavily on lyrics and I love the poetic ones (it's getting to be a lost art in English pop music, but when I find a British/American band with poetic lyrics I tend to latch onto them too). Japanese words and the careful selections they make to fit the song and the meaning can be very beautiful. I hear the Japanese words but the meaning is subliminally attached and processed too.

For a language I know really well, I find that the words often come on top of my English vocabulary. For example, when I listen to Rammstein and the words, "bestrafe mich" are sung, I don't manually work out each word (bestrafe = punish, etc) - I just understand what they mean without thinking about converting. Bestrafe is added to my internal database under "punish", as a German version. Untidy but effective.

Might be something to ask some of the truly multilingual posters here in a general topic in this forum, since I'm sure they have their own ways of interpreting music in languages other than their first.

R

Hi Spyro / Rui,

Do you guys know the song Luka from Suzanne Vega?
I've loved this song for ages, even before learning any english. One day I was happily singing this song at the office, after learning a bit of english, and a friend asked me if I trully understand the song.

I started to listen to the lyrics and mentally translating only to realize how sad the lyrics were.

Sometimes, even if you know the language, you don't really register everything. It is absurdly weird to try to translate and sing a song. In latin america, it's not uncommon for people to "translate" songs. The song "Dragostea din tei" (Love of the lindem trees) becomes Festa no apê (Party in the flat).

But in general, we simply won't try to translate.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RZyxYL753w4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RZyxYL753w4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

 

[Rui]

Do you guys know the song Luka from Suzanne Vega?
I've loved this song for ages, even before learning any english. One day I was happily singing this song at the office, after learning a bit of english, and a friend asked me if I trully understand the song.

I was going to say I didn't know the song, then played the video and realised my mum had played it nonstop when I was younger. That's a weird memory stirred. Of course I didn't fully understand the lyrics back then as a kid but I thought it was a sad story.

My mum used to sing along to it happily though, so don't feel weird about that. Some people don't seem to worry too much about lyrics!

I have had some similar experiences with songs even in my first language. A great one is Garbage's Cherry Lips, which I knew I liked the vaguely sinister tone of immediately. I didn't realise what it was about though for a long time after that.

I think the best kind of songs require a lot of interpretation in any language. One of my favourite pop performers is (cliche I know) Ayumi Hamasaki. I find her songs very easy to understand though sometimes do have to consciously think about the metaphors she makes. And almost all of them break my heart :/

R

 

[shira]

You speak Japanese right? Is it weird being able to understand what the bands sing about sing 90% of the time it has no rhythm in English at all?

I've always wondered.

Hmm not really. People like opera in languages they vaguely understand too

Most of my favourite JP artists focus heavily on lyrics and I love the poetic ones (it's getting to be a lost art in English pop music, but when I find a British/American band with poetic lyrics I tend to latch onto them too). Japanese words and the careful selections they make to fit the song and the meaning can be very beautiful. I hear the Japanese words but the meaning is subliminally attached and processed too.

For a language I know really well, I find that the words often come on top of my English vocabulary. For example, when I listen to Rammstein and the words, "bestrafe mich" are sung, I don't manually work out each word (bestrafe = punish, etc) - I just understand what they mean without thinking about converting. Bestrafe is added to my internal database under "punish", as a German version. Untidy but effective.

Might be something to ask some of the truly multilingual posters here in a general topic in this forum, since I'm sure they have their own ways of interpreting music in languages other than their first.

R

Heck dont get me wrong, I love some of the Jrock/Jmetal even though i'm not understanding the lyrics. I was just always curious if someone who spoke Japanese would, in thier head, translate the song. I find that kinda stuff interesting, especially since i'd love to speak another language. (Im not that good at Welsh, only know enough to get by).

 

[Maltos]

(Im not that good at Welsh, only know enough to get by).

That'd be more than me then.
Got a C at it in GCSE. Boom. 8)

 

[shira]

(Im not that good at Welsh, only know enough to get by).

That'd be more than me then.
Got a C at it in GCSE. Boom. 8)

I'm on a D atm. I co uld achieve a C though.

 

[skikes]

it wud have been nice for you to give a small description on what it actually is in ur first post... i went for option 3 as i have no idea what it is.

 

[Lupus]

Just imagine a bunch of Japanese guys dressing up in female clothing and playing instruments in which they barely know how to use.