visual kei

Where the Men At? : The Boys of Alternative Idol

/ DAEMON / 2 Comments

By Cal and Daemon

The recent completion of the very first WACK Men’s Audition means that we are closer than ever to seeing what may be the first serious attempt to launch an all-male punk idol unit by an A-list, independent agency. While recent years have seen more and more underground idol units welcome men as members, the almost complete lack of male idols or a prominent alternate idol boy band has always been a curious aspect to the genre. It is actually one of our favorite recurring discussion topics both in Team chat and over on the Homicidols Discord Server. So, before WACK (or YOSHIKI) usher in a boy band wave to wash over the alternative idol world and drown us in guys, we figured we had better put down our thoughts for posterity while also making note of the trailblazing men who have already made a mark on the genre.

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Under Beasty Gives a Great Example of How to Show off New Members

/ Homicidol Maniac

When Pure Idol Heart mentioned yesterday that the much-beloved-of-indie-fans Under Beasty was “reborn” (on the perfect weekend for it, natch), a whole mess of thoughts entered my head:

  • New concept?
  • New look?
  • Yua was going to step up to a full-sized fedora?

None of the above! Instead, what we got was something that I’m currently manipulating in order to get you to click the Read More! Continue reading →

Another Disbandment? Sure, Why Not? It’s Phantom Voice

/ Homicidol Maniac

Pretty much as soon as you start to follow idols, you start to make friends with other people who follow idols. I think of you guys as friends, for instance! I’ve also been fortunate to connect with the man behind Pure Idol Heart, and he’s kind enough to throw new songs and videos and idols my way. The trouble is, I do get busy with things besides Homicidols.com, and I’m sometimes not able to follow up all that quickly, and sometimes things get lost in the wash.

For instance, this news from yesterday about Phantom Voice that I skipped right over twice:

Yeah. Another pending disbandment. One-man live in May. Continue reading →

A Deep Mystery: KeePXOUT’s Sudden, Unexplained Demise

/ Homicidol Maniac / 2 Comments

Something or another prompted me to look up KeePXOUT the other day. Maybe it was a reference to visual kei, or a photo, I don’t know. But an amazing thing, something that I was yet to experience, happened instead.

Look at the official Twitter. Or the company’s. Or the staff account. Nothing for well over a month now, and not a single notice as to a farewell live, graduation, spontaneous human combustion, anything. Instagram? Deleted. Website? Doesn’t exist. One of the members has disappeared from Twitter completely (or, rather, that account did), and the other has moved well beyond the group (and loves cats!). It’s like walking through an idol ghost town.

Being the intrepid not-journalist that I am, I decided to look into this. Continue reading →

Mistress. MAWA LOOP. Live.

/ Homicidol Maniac

There doesn’t seem to be all that much video available from MAWA LOOP’s big-ass idol festival over the weekend, but Mistress recorded their entire set, and we can be the lucky ducks to benefit. (Thanks to Pure Idol Heart for the find.)

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Infidelity Is Bad, But These Mistresses Are Good

/ Homicidol Maniac

The fine human behind Pure Idol Heart has been good to us lately, friends, and I can think of no finer way to embrace a little brutal beauty than to come back to one of this week’s best:

The same newcomer hit the Idolmetal group in the same frame — we’re like a hive mind now!

So what’s the story with this Mistress? Continue reading →

I Really Do Love Everything about KeePXOUT

/ Homicidol Maniac

My favorite v-rock idol duo released this pro edit from a show a few weeks ago, and it pretty much sums them up — idol-ed up choruses, mixed harsh and clean vocals, ridiculous visuals.

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I’ll Make You Guys Like KeepXOUT If I Have To

/ Homicidol Maniac

Because we’re making a sandwich out of Death of Death Pop Sunday today here at Homicidols.com, it only makes sense to put something good and positive in the middle, like visual kei idols KeepXOUT:

Here’s a little tip: Somebody on their team can English, so tweet them encouragement and get a nice message back in return!

Happy Friday! Please Allow KeePXOUT to Annihilate Your Soul

/ Homicidol Maniac / 4 Comments

Remember the random discovery of KeePXOUT from a few months ago? I’ve been seeing them on some bills and in Twitter photos lately and thought I’d check in, and they very helpfully just recently uploaded some good live performance video:

It’s kind of amazing that there aren’t more visual kei idols; this stuff goes together like adenine and thymine. Sure, plenty of idols incorporate visual kei elements and philosophy (looking in your direction, Under Beasty), but I can’t think of anybody who’s as deliberate about it as KeepXOUT.

Happy Friday.

When You Wish upon a Deep Girl

/ Homicidol Maniac / 1 Comment

So there’s this thing that happens, totally coincidentally and not at all because of psychic powers, by which idols will come up as topical, in conversation or whatever have you, and all of a sudden they snap-release a new single and video and all feels right with the world.

I was trying that yesterday with Deep Girl, in whom I am very interested as to what they ultimately accomplish, to the point that my non-Maniac alter ego is involved in some extra social networking stuff around them, and I saw this posted yesterday:

Oh, who is this KeePXOUT (Twitter)? Obviously a visual kei unit, which … okay, we’ve come full circle if there are visual kei idol units (it’s kind of like deathcore or Reese’s peanut butter cups). That does carry a certain expectation for the sound, so: Continue reading →