Nagoya Kei

Nagoya kei (名古屋系, nagoya-

Nagoya kei (名古屋系, nagoya-kei; -kei "type," "style"^?) is a term that refers to a subdivision of the visual kei music scene centered in and around the city of Nagoya, Japan as well as other parts of the Aichi Prefecture. Compared with the music of the visual kei scene as a whole, the Nagoya kei sound is generally notably darker and defined by influence from more specific and mainly underground western sources, including British punk and goth/deathrock music of the late 1970's and early 80's including post-punk, and later, grunge and modern death metal. The first bands which were later labeled as "Nagoya kei" formed in the late 1980's and were active in the local livehouse scene, creating the first generation of a family of bands that defined the style that this scene came to be known for. Nagoya kei may be broken down into two distinct "generations". one existing between the late 1980's and the mid 90's, and another active from around 1996. Generally, when the term "Nagoya kei" is used, it distinctly refers to one or the other of these generations. Compared with music scenes surrounding other major cities in Japan, the Nagoya kei scene has been particularly influential on visual kei as a whole, and has thus been given its distinct title retrospectively.

Nagoya kei bands are often noted for being influenced by styles not incorporated by visual kei bands previously, and are often seen as innovators because of this. The early Nagoya kei sound, though varied, was mainly strongly influenced by western post-punk and deathrock of the late 1970's and early 80's. As the Japanese approach to music often concentrates more on melody than rhythm and music is generally composed with lyrics only being added afterwards, there are many notable differences between the Nagoya kei style and the styles from which it evolved. The bands were obviously influenced by these styles, but generally used more complex rhythms and melodies and often used faster drumming and bass or guitar rhythms to fill space with sound even when vocal and lead guitar melodies were slower. Later bands did much the same with different influences such as grunge rock and modern death metal.