finally, the heavily anticipated post of the year. i made it sound like alot of ppl have been expecting this, but actl its just me.. :P thats anticipation too, just.. on my part. heh.
so anyway, "visual kei" is a theme that i think many people actually know of, but dont know that the image in their minds correspond to the term
today, i bring about a short introduction into the flamboyant world of visual kei. its quite an interesting modern cultural movement to me.
people might start to think of anime characters, cosplayers, those flashy stuff.
its just one of those mental links. stereotypes. japanese modern cultural movements = anime and cosplay.
something like that..? well, not really, actually.
ill quote wikipedia here. Visual kei (ヴィジュアル系, vijuaru kei?, literally "visual style") refers to a movement among Japanese musicians that is characterized by the use of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics
there. i have highlighted the 4 main parts. make up, hairstyles, costumes, androgynous looks. perhaps those crazy emo band images come to mind.
something like this, maybe.
admittedly, while that may suit a visual kei band [it actually is] but it must be noted that not all visual kei bands go to that extent or extreme.
its just like saying all chinese are fair skinned, while all indians are tanned. generalisations that may apply to society, but not exactly.
with that in mind, one must also venture with an open mind, that not all of such bands actually strive to produce loud jarring (j)metal songs.
with that much theoretical/mental framework set in place, let us examine the musical pieces produced by such visual kei bands.
as is any of my introductions to japanese songs, i bring the mainstream first. not by me, but by the japanese music scene.
bringing to you, alice nine "white prayer"
its acutally jrock, just slightly more jarring & hardcore than the usual rock flavour. some english rock listeners may not find this too extreme.
and the costumes are not as extreme or flashy as one might think of them to be.
next, i bring a relatively new band, which i have been introduced to various times across this year.
called sid, they vary their composition and style quite widely to appeal to a greater audience.
i bring their most popular song that brought them onto the industry radar
sid - uso
interestingly, i dont find them anything visual kei, except for very very mild elements in their appearances.
and the song type happens to.. fall quite nicely on the mainstream anime scale to me. oh an added note, seems like its used for the anime 'Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood'
so for the less receptive listener, i think sid is quite suitable as an entry into the jrock and visual kei.
i will [probably] have another post dedicated to sid since they are supposingly very versatile and i wish to explore.. so wait for my next introductory post, wont ya?
and my last piece today, is for those rare few who are not satisfied by my recommendations.
visual kei should be visual. should be loud. should be more. or perhaps just to satisfy the needs of the extremes.
i bring a fellow friend's introduction, Versailles. [WARNING. not for the feint hearted ^.^]
the following is called "ascendead master"
finally moving away from the standard jrock/metal styles, we have some symphonic and neo-classical metal.
the starting before the verse is interesting.. quite unexpectedly dramatic.
perhaps it is such pieces and videos that popularised the stereotypes around visual kei.
extreme makeup and elaborate costumes. and i mentioned androgenous, did i not?
all members in the group are guys. that includes the one in white, the purple, and the 'lady' in red.
it comes to my understanding that certain genres have messages and scenes that may not be very nice to present, that may in fact prove to be insensitive.
so i hope that no one is repelled to see it with an open mind. a cultural movement, an examination of a part of society in a neutral way, would be the best i could wish for.
that i bring this as a cultural lesson, for myself and for others, and i hope sincerely that nobody is offended.
there we have it. my little window into visual kei. many thanks for following me on this post today (:
