Hello, neophytes. This is the first in a several-part series that I'm beginning on this blog, which will be devoted to documenting stand-out underground and indie bands that I've discovered while poking around on the Web. These bands, while primarily rock and metal-oriented, represent a variety of countries around the globe and, for the most part, have yet to be signed to a major record label. And although Fa really should be finishing a novel, doing a project, and studying for a test right now… I think I can risk the deferment, as I've got excess hours stored up in my biological clock from napping too long during the day.

If you like a particular band on this page, don't forget to visit their site/Myspace and perhaps purchase an album — many of them need the support!

Seven bands today. Be warned: this page is behemoth!

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I took a three-hour nap right after school today. That in itself isn't very unusual (I usually average three to four nowadays). However, for the first time in memory, my nap exceeded the length of time I spent sleeping last night… which was two hours.

Nap > sleepy time = not good.

We had an annoying English assignment where we had to develop a character in a two-page piece of fiction. My friends, like the n00bs that they deny they are, spent the entire day asking one another in a tone of atrocious presumption, "So what did you write about in your short story?" And then waited for a response like someone waiting for a butler to serve them breakfast. Which was infinitely irritating. So I rejoined with varying hedges, alternating between the likes of "A hamster that ate a mutation-inducing marshmallow" and "A magical watermelon which endows the bearer with powers of flight." My story really isn't so horrible as to warrant concealment, but to tell the truth, there are a small number of little "problems" I keep finding in the manuscript… like factual inaccuracies, clichéd descriptions, oversimplistic characterizations. I almost want to cover my draft with little snide comments. Like, in the masterfully produced sci-fi action film Ultraviolet (this is relevant… just wait and see), the protagonist lives in a country controlled by a totalitarian government, and in the beginning when she's infiltrating some government facility, she addresses some guy (whose ass she later kicks) as "Comrade Doctor." Even though, as I privately ruminated later, the government is not communist. So when writing that piece of dreamlike shit, I tried to emulate a different, otherworldly setting by having everyone address each other as "Comrade." But the location was based on stuff I've seen in our suburban town in our oh-so-capitalistic nation, so I'm not so sure whether my depiction was valid…

This is the first post I've written since my WordPress 2.5 upgrade, by the way. I really like what they did with the admin interface.

Musical update: We now bid adieu to the aristocratic Versailles and welcome a lesser-known indie band, a visual kei anomaly consisting entirely of females. Say hello to exist†trace and their most recent mini-album, Annunciation -the heretic elegy- (accessible through the "Currently Playing" link above).

Unfortunately, there aren't many high-resolution promotional photos of exist†trace, and the group shot I obtained for this rotation is unpleasantly grainy… although I did my best to touch it up with despeckle filters.

I'm doomed. I told myself I wouldn't take until 5:00 pm at the library, but now it's past 6:30. I have midterm exams tomorrow, and holy shit! I don't think I'll pass either of my Honors English or PDM tests…

On the bright side, get a load of these guys:

Yeah, you can see I'm trying to spruce up my writing here… generate some more interest in my hopelessly desolate blog… Anyway, just who are those corset-clad beauties? They're the Japanese visual kei band Versailles, and the musical genres listed on their Wikipedia page (symphonic metal, power metal, neo-classical metal) are all unanimously to my liking. I think I'll look into them some more… after I study, that is.

Music reviews… for Play, 愛‧歌姬 (Love · Diva), and Jay Chou on the Run…? Those will be arriving soon, after my exams (or while I stall in my usual vain attempt to delay preparing for my chemistry test)…

The title may have prematurely given it away, but… can you identify the people in the below photograph?

They appear to be a Japanese visual kei group, right? Like Malice Mizer or Dir en grey? Right???

Ummmm… no.

他們都是中國人。

Yes… may I have the honor of presenting to you 銀色灰塵, or Silver Ash, the first-ever Chinese visual kei rock band.

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Gackt-sama! This is perhaps the only time I'll ever admit such a thing, but… I'm completely enamored with him!

In case you were wondering, Camui M. S. Gackt is a talented J-rocker from Japan. He sings, plays several different instruments, writes his own lyrics, and I also believe composes his own music. He is currently a popular entertainer and has a vast following from many different parts of the world. And if I remember correctly, he can also speak English and French with varying degrees of fluency… apart from his native Japanese, of course.

I still don't quite know how I've become infatuated with him, since I'm normally not a huge fan of rock, but I suppose some of Gackt-san's appeal (besides his androgynous good looks and his elaborate costumes) comes from his mysterious origins… apparently, Gackt has never disclosed his real name or age and claims to be a vampire born somewhere around 1540. He says he gained psychic powers after a near-fatal accident in his childhood and used to be possessed by spirits, and consequently, does not wish to have children so these paranormal abilities would not be passed to them.

Naturally, my admiration for him increased considerably after hearing this. Long live Lord Gackt!