Much Ado About Everything ~ D=OUT

Ok, so it's been a little while...and a lot has come about. Four new CDs which I am currently listening to and LOVING- Tokyo Muzical Hotel (by SuG), Wonderful Wonderholic (by LM.C, get it on Itunes!!!), Jubilee (by Versailles), and Carnival Ukiyo (By D=OUT). A nice little mix of some fairly new releases. I've been skimming them all pretty evenly, but I'd like to start with a little impression on D=OUT (thanks Youtube!)




The melodies are democratic and I'd recommend them to your average j-rock/pop lover, sitting on a similar sound scale to Alice Nine, SID, Vidoll, and An Cafe, to name a few. I quickly caught onto this band since I heard them about a year ago, and they sure have an awesome sense of style to match their music. Though not as visually in-your-face as, let's say, a Dir en Grey ensemble from back in the day, or a thoroughly costumed Mixed Speaker's Inc. getup, they do know how to put a good VK look together. This is the type of thing that can easily be overdone and just look horrible, but here all of the elements are in perfect balance.

I kind of want close ups to see all the details! I mean, you know there's more going on than just suits and studded belts. And there's definitely some glitter and/or shimmery fabrics going on there, shining out from the canvas of basic black. They have what I like to call a "classic VK" look, because it's a visual kei-ers raison d'etre, but has to be done well in order to stand out. The suit, lots of belts, lots of jewelry, lots of hair product, lots of dangling elements...as Tim Gunn would say "That's a lot of look." (Because he's really democratic about his fashion advise, I would LOVE to see him really critiquing some classic looks from the pages of Shoxx!) I have to say Kouki's hair is my favorite bit of standout style from this video; I always wanted bright red tips on my hair!

And the energy this band has is just infectious. They have this same type on enthusiasm in their other videos, with the clothes to match. (Flashback, Shangri La, to name just two more...) Just makes you want to get up and dance to the music. I'm sure your can feel it.

As for procuring this for yourself, if you like this video, get the Type-A version of the CD, it comes with this and extra footage, so worth it! You can get Zipang (their first album) from Itunes for some earlier favorites to see where they started.