Early 00's Japanese Gothic Scene: Scissors Garden and Pineal

heutre

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Since I've started being interested in the Gothic scene that Japan has with bands like Velvet Eden and Art Marju Duchain, i've always tried to find more artists that were relatively unknown but that were part of that subculture. I know that Scissors Garden (which is still active from time to time) and Pineal (which ended around 2006 I believe) were part of the scene and for the past years i've tried to find some songs/footage/pictures but it has been in vain. These are the websites of both artists :
http://homepage2.nifty.com/jigokue/scissors.htm
http://web.archive.org/web/20050308080557/http://jesus-i.am/pineal/. So if any of you have more information or anything it would be appreciated ^^ Also if someone else knows any band of that genre that they have been searching information about as well it could be interesting to read. (I am aware that there are some few songs on the Scissors Garden myspace but I was looking for more) I've been looking for releases on auction websites for the past months but I haven't seen anything.

Scissors Garden:
trick.jpg

Pineal:
live1_01.jpg
 

akiramariage

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Auto-mod , Madame Edwarda , Speed-id , Species ,Kuroyume , Silver-Rose - Zi:kill , Virus .
 

heutre

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I think there is enough information on the bands you just mentioned. I don't know about Virus and Silver-Rose, but except Speecies (who is a New Wave band) those other bands are pretty well known. Thanks anyways
 

akiramariage

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Silver-Rose together to Dead end was pioneer in Visual kei post punk of first generation , maybe dead end more heavy metal post punk not visual kei , but them influence to a lot of bands influence that more later in end of first generation of Vk Kuroyume used but with a raw sound .
 

Priss

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I used to know quite a few of these bands, and had some correspondence with a couple of the artists. I was very much in to that scene. I'm familiar with Pineal, they weren't really around for that long, and when their site was active, they had some sound samples. Good luck finding them, though. This kind of a music isn't very popular, and not really shared online.

I vaguely remember what Pineal sounded like, and it leaned more towards the Industrial-Gothic rather than Goth Rock that I prefer. If you'd list off a few non-Japanese bands that you like, I can certainly recommend a few J-bands that you'd enjoy.
 

otterley

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Although their songs and image, neither VELVET EDEN or Art Marju were really active on the "Goth Scene", they were in visual kei and that is the reason they got "popular" in the west.

An acquitance has created this facebook page about Japanese Goth, post-punk, etc, It is a nice place to find some information about the real goth scene.
 

heutre

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Yes, I was aware of the samples, sadly the people that had listened to them on Last.fm had accounts that were inactive for years and the other person had lost all of his data on his Hard Drive. :/

Thank you very much for the offer, however I can't really provide you with bandnames of other gothic bands I enjoy outside Japan, what actually interested me is the twist that they brought. I am no connoisseur, but I never really found bands similar to the ones I listened to from Japan... It's not really all about the appearance at all, it's just the sound really. I guess I could try to summarize the bands I usually like with this "formula": No or almost no guitar (I do have some exceptions though), Singer with a relatively unique voice (Mikael from Suppurate System, Kai, Dada, Klaha, Tatsuya, Pietoro, Sadie Pink Galaxy, Vordb (in Moëvot),Yuki from Jelsomena, Kami:lu in Trance Art Lizard etc ... I just like singers when they have their special touch, I really enjoy when they vocalise in a weird way or when they are off tone), I really enjoy electronic instruments, so if there is a lot of synthesizer the most likely i'll like it, and yeah that's pretty much it. I can't really describe what i'm into sorry... my last.fm is the most accurate thing i've got. I like industrial goth much more than Goth rock (I did enjoy Jubilee and Sadie Pink Galaxy though)...

I have seen the page before, but thank you for the link. I know Velvet Eden or Art Marju Duchain can't really classify as goth except for their image or their atmosphere.. Actually Kai described Art Marju Duchain's concept as : Psychedelic Ambient Darkness. I don't know, most bands on this page bore me, they aren't bad or something, but I'm just usually turned off by the usual rock band lineup, guitarist with singer with drummer with bassist.. I was never really into those bands. If you do have a suggestion I would take it though. I don't think I'm close minded music wise
 
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Priss

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If you're in to industrial more than Goth Rock I can give you a few bands that you may be interested in. Have you heard of Junk Children? It's an event in Japan that hosts these sorts of bands. You may want to look in to that to discover a few new artists.

One of the older artists in that genre would be Sadie Sads. They've been around forever, and they're sound is very similar to what the the earlier industrial noise in the UK and US, bands like Alien Sex Fiend and Virgin Prunes come to mind. They have an album called Little Doll in Box, or something like that - I'd recommend that one. If you can't find it, I can dig through my stuff and upload it for you. This band, while old, still performs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pK1kPzPtvU This is my favorite from that record.

Demonoid13 is a newer band. I believe they formed around 2006 or so, I really can't remember. I don't think they're around anymore, but I could be wrong. While I enjoyed the band, I never really followed their career like I did with others. They still have a MySpace page will quite a few songs available for your listening pleasure. https://myspace.com/demonoid13/music/songs

2Bullet is a fun. They're a bit more melodic than Demonoid13, and they're also a bit more electronic. They've been around since 2004 or so, and they still perform. A friend of mine actually remixed one of their songs from back then. I thought it was pretty cool. Their look is also interesting. Like D13, they've got a MySpace page with a bunch of music. https://myspace.com/2bullet/music/songs

BAAL can give me a headache. This is the kind of industrial that I enjoy, but only in small doses. Haha! They've been playing since 2005, and have created a small fanbase in Europe. They even have (had?) a drummer that was not from Japan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6weoubdFPI This video is from a few years ago.

I looked through your Last.FM page and I saw that a lot of the music you listen to is a bit dancier, so I'll recommend a few bands in the goth side of EBM and darkwave.

The first band would be Phantasmagoria, who later changed their to The Royal Dead.. Their music didn't really change, though. During their Phantasmagoria to Royal Dead switch I became friends with their singer, Haru, and managed to snag a copy of their first release as The Royal Dead, so if you like what you hear from them, I can certainly upload that for you, too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61rawRU2Esk

Gothika is the last band I want to talk about for now. They used to be called Euthansie, and their singer used to wear purple patent leather pants. They got together in 2005-ish and changed their name to Gothika a few years later. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcT87xnJCRw Also, it may be worth knowing that there are 2 bands with the name Gothika, tread cautiously!

If you like any of the bands I mentioned, let me know and I can give a few more names and links to music.
 

heutre

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Seriously, you are awesome. I couldn't thank you enough, i'm always searching for new bands to listen to. If you want i'll tell you when I get to listen to all of the bands which ones I liked. (It usually takes me 2 weeks per album, I really like to know the songs in detail before judging)

No I actually ever heard of the Junk Children event, i'll be following in detail for new bands :).

I downloaded the Demonoid13 albums before you sent it to me (But I haven't listened to them yet), and I also knew Gothika by name (And also because I adored their Rink cover, even more than the original Blam Honey song) and I really enjoyed the song you sent me. I was at work when I first read your post, so I didn't have time to check out all the songs you posted, but I really enjoyed BAAL's song as well. So I appreciate very much the time you took to answer. Again, thank you very much ^^
 

Priss

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You're quite welcome! I'd have listed a few more, but to be honest, it was late and I was tired. That also explains missing words and such! :P

If I have some time today, I'll suggest a few more artists.

Yeah, Gothika is good, but their sound kind of changed a bit when they changed their name from Euthanasie. YouTube had a surprising amount of music from them. The first song they released under the new name was called, "Angel's Trumpet," I'd suggest you listen to that one if you liked the first one I sent.

I'll try to get back this evening with a few more bands! Glad you're enjoying it.
 
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