鏡花水月

This blog is mostly about two inseparable things: music and me!  It basically consists of my thoughts, new music I'm listening to, and whatever other interesting (or not) things I'm up to at the moment. ^_^ 

I listen to a lot of indie/alternative music (mostly from the U.K.) and Japanese visual rock (I've been listening since 2004), but I have very wide-ranging tastes.
 
In fact, to be honest I'm a complete music addict...I'm constantly on the prowl for new artists, and my day just isn't complete without music, so I'm always plugged into my black 80GB iPod classic...(it's my baby, I take it everywhere with me) :D
Though I'm now passionate about music in general, what sparked my interest in the first place was visual kei, and it remains my primary focus to this day, so Japanese music will be featured most prominently here.  I could write about music forever, and tend to get carried away once I start talking about it, but I'll try to restrain myself and not write any obscenely long posts so I won't bore people. 
By the way, rather than formal reviews, what I write is more of a commentary on the music; things I've noticed in terms of trends within artists'/bands' work, the genre, some comparisons, etc.  There are plenty of great song by song reviews being written out there right now (check out the J-rock Fans group or Reviews group for those), so what I try to do is provide my general impressions and attempt to put the music in context within the band's history, progression, and the scene as a whole.　　

I'm currently studying Japanese with the hope of become fluent one day.  Over the years I've finally gotten to a point where I can actually manage to translate material on my own without feeling awful about the results, so I've been doing more and more of it these days.  I find it really fun and wanted to combine it with my love for music, so I also run a lyrics translation site called アンタレス that can be accessed via the link on the top left side of the page.

The name of my blog comes from the Plastic Tree song, 'Andrometamorphose' from the album 'Nega to Poji'.  Plastic Tree is one of my favourite bands and one of the first v-kei groups I got into, and I think this song is among their best...the emotions and lyrics in it are so beautiful and powerful.

By the way, if you're wondering what 鏡花水月 (kyoukasuigetsu) means, here's a general definition: (n) flowers reflected on a mirror and the moon reflected on the water's surface; something that is visible but having no substance; the subtle and profound beauty of poems that cannot be described in words.

Languages I speak: Japanese [2 years self-study + 2 years of college courses　+ 1 year study abroad in Japan], Spanish [about 6 years study from middle-high school, but I only have one-way competence...meaning I can understand speech and writing, but can't speak or compose well], English [native language]

Artists/Bands I've seen live: Regina Spektor, Kagrra,, girugamesh, Sugar, 9GOATS BLACK OUT, Plastic Tree, Duel Jewel, cocklobin, boogieman, the GazettE, Merry, D'espairsRay

*Credit for my member/profile photos goes to Aoshima Chiho, one of my favourite superflat artists.
The photo used in the banner at the top of the page was taken by me, so please do not take it and use it elsewhere without permission.  [Also, this should go without saying, but please don't claim credit for or use any of my other photos without asking either. お願いします！]