UNDERCODE

This post here was written by inartistic on Tainted World. It's so true I had to repost it here.

Yeah, because being influenced by KISAKI has really made hundreds of bands suck. Lol.


It's totally cool to hate KISAKI because it's in vogue, because he hurt Kyo's feelings, or because he has big teeth, but you don't even realize what you're saying. KISAKI has managed or produced more bands than you realize, and he's affected many, many more.

You know where D's ASAGI and Ruiza got their starts? KISAKI! DIR EN GREY? KISAKI. That little band the GazettE? Originally with a sublabel of Matina. Members of Dio and emmuree also got their start at Matina because of KISAKI. He's the only reason that harvest (who are terrific) and VAGERKE got any exposure at all overseas.

Assuming you hate those bands, consider the roughly 100 he's produced through Matina and UNDER CODE PRODUCTION. I doubt you've listened to all of those and dislike 90 of them, but, if so, what about the bands formed and directly affected by those bands he produced? If, for each band produced, a little less than one band is formed or directly affected by it, that's another, say, 70 bands. Still don't like any of those? Then consider the bands that have been affected by him just because they liked his style--there's no denying that many bands have been influenced by either the “Matina style” or UNDER CODE's aesthetics. Bergerac rode his dick for the longest time just because they thought he was neat, and bands like Madieduor are practically neo-revivals of Madeth gray'll.

Beyond that, imagine the roadies he's inspired and the musicians he's influenced after meeting them at lives. FOOL'S MATE thought his retirement was a big enough deal to make a book about him. Over 200 individuals cared enough to write official comments about him in the book; and that's bandmen and important people on the scene, not random girls who went to Phantasmagoria shows. (As an aside, if you're one of those people who criticizes his activity after retirement: so what? Activity after retirement is crucial, it's called generativity.)

Even from a purely economical standpoint, he is important. Just imagine all the livehouses he's booked over the years, all of the artists that have been signed to his labels, all of the staff that have worked at his labels, all of the shops that see income from his labels' releases, the PV companies that get repeat business from him, the costume designers that get to do visible work because of him, the sound engineers, the magazine staff (both FOOL'S MATE and SHOXX have done special releases through him), and even designers. One designer in particular, AKI OKAMURA, only has steady work because KISAKI has hired him time and time again, from the days of Matina to now. I'm not saying Japan will collapse when KISAKI is gone, but he has encouraged a ton of money flow over his years.

And speaking of money, still hate him because “he's a money-grubbing asshole?” False. If he was money-hungry, would he have helped cious pi cious release a CD? No, because no one gives a shit about cious pi cious. And yet he did help them, because he enjoyed their music and was friends with the members. So he must be money-hungry because his label releases multiple types of one CD, right? Wrong again! That is just a part of the record industry--look at Gackt, ayumi hamasaki, and even smaller bands like MoNoLith or Kiryu. In English-speaking countries too (they just aren't called “types”): Lady Gaga's new album is out in at least three versions. Still hate him because he's the only one who re-releases stuff? Wrong once more~ The Beatles perfected that long ago. And if you want a really VK-centric example, point your accusing gaze at MICHIRU of L∞p・Ash RECORDS, the guy who is responsible for consistently releasing -OZ- songs one-at-a-time and then releasing a collection of them later. KISAKI's label may try to squeeze more money out of releases, but if he's a bad person for that, so is every other person that works at every other label.

So yeah, maybe chariots sucks dick. Maybe you hate Anjyu' and despise Nega's vocalist. Maybe Sense of Shape was a lame band with a loser name that only existed because Matina was willing to sign lots of people. That's all fine. But just realize that KISAKI has produced a ton of bands beside the 10 that you had bad experiences with, and realize that he has directly affected the sound of many, many more. I can't speak for KISAKI's morals or oral hygiene, but, at the end of the day, whether or not you or anyone else wants to admit it, KISAKI is far reaching in his influence on the visual scene. To say that everything he touches is shit is to say that the scene itself is shit.

D'espairsRay's Immortal Tracklist

1. 檻の中で見る夢
2. MaVERiCK
3. Garnet
4. BORN
5. 闇に降る奇跡
6. 「浮遊した理想」
7. Forbidden
8. アベルとカイン
9. 凍える夜に咲いた花
10. Closer to ideal
11. Squall
12. MIRROR
13. Cocoon
14. Scissors
15. HORIZON

Brothers and sisters, this is one terrible tracklist. Wasn't this supposed to be a compilation of all their best work from 1999-2008? Well what the fuck is 1999 doing there if the earliest track they're giving us is 2003 (Ori no Naka de Miru Yume)? Secondly, what the fuck are Redeemer era tracks doing here? REDEEMER IS 2009 - Get Horizon the FUCK off that shit unless this is some sort of grindcore remix. Cocoon and Scissors are lame as fuck b-sides and Horizon DEFINITELY does not belong there! It's been on their last three releases and everyone hated that track to shit!

I am also not enthused about seeing Kogoeru Yoru ni Saita Hana and Squall on this album either. They aren't as shit as HORIZON but it's still pretty shit considering all of the other tracks they could have done. This goes for Squall more than Kogoeru, because I personally find Squall to be boring. Where are the demo tapes? Where's the Kumo/Genwaku re-recordings? Fucking hell, they didn't even put REDDISH on this album! REDDISH > FUYUU SHITA RISOU GUYS! WHY IS THERE MIRROR HERE? I can BUY MIRROR if I wanted to hear MIRROR songs.

The only song I semi-approve of besides Ori no Naka de Miru Yume is MaVERiCK and that's because it's old and hasn't been re-recorded at all. Then again, SEXUAL BEAST / TERRORS hasn't been re-recorded either and Closer to ideal has already been re-recorded.

This is NOT what I wanted and as a result I will not be buying this album like I originally intended. There was SO MUCH they could have done with this album and instead they shitted all over this prospect to gain back some VK props (I don't give a fuck what you say they haven't shorn VK so they are) and instead they pick the shittiest 13 tracks they could and said "here we go - these are tracks that either DON'T need to be re-recorded or are just plain shit but we're doing it because we like em"

You wanna know what I would have liked?

Ao / Razor / Sakura / [S]yste[M] - these demo tapes are hard to find and are in crap quality. We want to hear them, you can shamelessly make money off of decade old work, who is complaining? NO ONE

Loop ~ Divide Neo Abomination~ / Monokuro ni Natta Saigo no Hi - most people don't even know these tracks exists and both of these together destroy most of that tracklist.

ANIMAL MANIA - YOU DID FUCKING ANIMAL MANIA LAST YEAR! WHY ISN'T THIS HERE >_________>

Kumo / Genwaku / TERRORS / Sexual Beast - all with good songs in crap to sub-par quality that could have been re-recorded. Kumo especially since it featured one of my favorite songs by them and that could have used a good re-recording. Why isn't Kisei, Gensyoku, Fascism or Valentine on that tracklist? ALL GREAT SONGS!

I didn't want anything from COLL:SET but since you went that far why isn't Maze, Pig and DESERT re-recorded either? I don't want poppy shit - I want hard, rough, screamy shit (and you know what? Most of the D'espa fanbase either agrees or won't disagree with me on that one).

You disgust me D'espairsRay - the one time you had to recycle GOOD shit you spend on songs that aren't worth our time. I'll take everything up to track eight - the rest can eat shit.

Fuck you Immortal. Fuck you with a rubber spoon.