indies

[gedatsu]

Curious to know if any of the people here listen to many indies label bands? A few bands have recently gone major label (nightmare, kagrra), but there is still some much tallent waiting to be realised!

Some of my more recent favs:
12012
Vidoll
Berry
Vanilla

Anyone know these bands?

 

[Twisted]

I've heard of Vidoll. They're a bunch of Dir en Grey rip-offs if you ask me (and so are Nightmare and Kaggra). Most Visual Kei indies bands are these days.

I personally think non-Visual Kei indies are more interesting to listen to.

 

[gedatsu]

I find them different enough to be interesting in their own right. I cant see any similarity in Kaggra and Dir en grey musical styles really. And I prefer Nightmare and Vidoll earlier releases to their more recent, but they still produce some decent material in my opinion.

There are plenty of non-VK indies i also enjoy. My favourite probally being The Back Horn. Fantastic band!

 

[Twisted]

Well, i must admit that i have no idea what these bands are currently doing. The VK-indies scene has always been a domain of copycats. When X-Japan went big halfway the 80's, there were suddenly lots of VK metalbands. When Luna Sea went major in the early 90's, all indies bands suddenly tried to sound like them and that lasted until the end of the decade. That's when one band that did things a little different suddenly went major: Dir en Grey. And so every other band wants to sound like them. Last time i listened those bands you mentioned were all roaming in the same pool (and that's also the reason why they're all on the same label). I currently steer clear of the VK indies-scene until something totally different emerges.

There's bound to be bands that set a new tone though, but most don't last long enough to go major.

The Back Horn in indeed a great band, although i'm not sure they're still indies. I'm currently listening to Jude, which is the latest band of Kenichi Asai. He was the frontman of Blankey Jet City (which was a major-band until they broke up).

 

[apunno]

BJC members are very talented. Jude and everything Kenichi Asai gets involved is worth checking out. The other members projects are also worth a listen: Nakamura, Losalios and Terui, Raven.

There are so many great bands to listen to that are indies, none of these are VK.

fuji fabric, フジファブリックOfficial Website
analog fish, Analogfish
anatakikou, ANATAKIKOU
lostage http://lostage.hp.infoseek.co.jp/
chiki sounds, http://www.chikisounds.net/
clingon, http://www.psychling.tv/clingon/index_f.html
pineapple freeway http://www.ismusic.ne.jp/pfw/
syrup 16g http://www.nextftp.com/syrup16g/
60 watts, 東京60WATTS
tsubaki つばき offcial web site
some small hope http://www.somesmallhope.com/

Just a small list.

 

[Winter]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say right now, the vk scene plain sucks.

Eventally someone will crop up to change the system; only to give birth to more clones.

 

[gedatsu]

I dont agree, i think there is still enough diverse tallent to make it interesting. I mean sure, there IS a lot of copy-cat bands, but some bands are putting a good spin on an old formula and making their own unique music.

Of course there a going to be similarities as a lot of these current run of bands are influenced by earlier bands like Luna Sea, X-Japan, etc like Peter said. As much as i love Diru, they also leaned heavily on those earlier VK bands (specifically Kuroyume), but have now carved their own path.




edit: Thanks for that list apunno, i'll be sure to check some of those out!

 

[apunno]

Your welcome. The thread is a good idea and I don't see where it stipulated only VK bands? Sampling of Indies of any genre may expand everyone's playlist. I rarely see a band before I sample them so the VK label doesn't enter into it. I do like 12012's song 'high style paradox', though they don't have much of a song base to really get me interested.

Indies in any genre is hit or miss at best. I prefer the unknown to the same old stuff anytime. Some other bands:

bonobos
Fruity
downy
Aprils
head phones president, hpp-official.com
Traveling Panda, http://panda.oops.jp/
82-Box, http://www.82-box.net/
one track mind, http://www.bakabonz.com/NG/onetrack.html
tetrapletrap, http://tetrapletrap.com/
tornado tatsumaki, トッード竜巻 - ホーãƒ
win a sheep free, http://wasf.org/
zanzou cafe, http://homepage3.nifty.com/zanzow-cafe/
zazen boys窶? 向井秀徳情報

 

[audrey]

not listening so much indies label bands, but i noticed the talk about 'domain of copycats'. very much right :> no matter is it looks or sounds, many of those bands remain each other. little bit sad.. anyway, i dunno is there any good indie bands left. have they all gone to major? i don't have idea anymore. are deadman, merry, earl grey or dead pop stars still indies or what? however, they soun good to me. ( i should read more news about this, maybe i would know then.. :F )

 

[Twisted]

It's all a bit of a contradiction really. The indies domain is full of copy cats, but at the same time it's also the source of many great new bands, so you can't totally ignore the scene.

 

[gedatsu]

are deadman, merry, earl grey or dead pop stars still indies or what? however, they soun good to me.

Yep, all those bands are still indies. I especially like Earl Grey, they have some good releases.