Visual Kei is Japanese term meaning "Visual Style". It originated in the early 1980s with the band X Japan. X Japan looked very punk-rockish in their day, but they're music was metal. However, X Japan was one of the first bands in Japan to really have focused on visuals moreso than other traditional music where groups would dress up in normal attire or kimonos.
X Japan - 1987
Later on, more and more bands began to incorporate visuals into their music. Bands such as Penicillin, L'arc~en~Ciel, and Dir en Grey. During the nineties Visual Kei peaked in Japan. Being the equivalent to boy-bands most concerts consisted of a female audience. The female crowd adores the way the members are dressed up.
It would seem, that a band could rely on looks and not have to worry exactly about playing good music. Plenty of more recent bands have played on this with basically the same kinds of chords, gargling Japanese growling amongst other things.
One facet of Visual Kei is the androgynous behaviour and the frequent cross-dressing. Somewhat shocking to most people, this can easily be explained as one could argue that Visual Kei has its influences from the Edo period. A period in which males would dress up as women because the women were not allowed to. They would dress up a women only to portray the female character in their shows. This is just another aspect of the visual "show", the pleasure-to-the-eyes "music" that these VK bands produce.
As I've said before, Visual Kei mainly has a female audience. This being the case groups who wish to step beyond this demographic often drop the visual kei image and concentrate more on their music. Bands such as Pierrot and Dir en Grey have done exactly that.
I've talked about how Visual Kei "looks", but I've only treaded water concerning the subject of how Visual Kei sounds. Most people assume that Visual Kei is the same as J-Rock (Japanese Rock), but this is not true. Visual Kei bands come in an array of different styles and has two subgenres itself. First I shall discuss the three styles of normal VK.
Normal Visual Kei bands will most likely sound like either plain Rock, Goth Rock, or Industrial. Some bands have added french pop and classical twists on their songs (Most notably Malice Mizer, Klein Klaiser, and Moi Dix Mois). You may see some hardcore, deathmetal, metalcore Japanese bands dressed up closely vk but it is highly unlikely.
The two subgenres are eroguro nonsense and Angura kei. Firstly, Angura Kei is basically indie-VK. Bands that experiment with their sounds, with their looks, with everything. Inugami Circus-dan who has lyrics of cannibalism and dresses like something from an old movie can still rock hard regardless of what they sing about or what they look like. Noir Fleurir is a great example of Angura Kei because they incorporate folk-spanish tunes into their music and their cheerful vocalists have that flamenco rhythm melded together to make dark, melodic, but happy and catchy songs. Angura Kei comes sort of derives itself from the English word "underground"
Eroguro Nonsense is short for Erotic Grotesque Nonsense. Bands such as Mucc, Merry, or cali≠gari are good examples of this subgenre. True, they inject a great amount of time and effort into their visuals, but they're visuals reflect the subject matter. So far "out there" and mind-bending. cali≠gari can be psychadelic and can be just plain random. Hence, the "nonsense". Often times a dark, but humorous take on things. Eroguro Nonsense is a respectful nod towards the cultural movement of Japan in the 1920s -1930s when they were having censorship dillemas. Some of these bands have been obfuscated as simply Angura Kei, when they are not.
Visual Indies refers to all kinds of Visual Kei. However most Visual Indies bands are short lived as they are often performing and going separate ways. Often times fragments of former bands will join with something else and slowly emerge out of the erratic Visual Indies scene.
There are plenty more variations on Visual Kei such as Oshare Kei which is basically fashion-conscious bands.
Below are some pictures of visual kei groups, and some mp3s. I'll even throw in a music video.
Images:
Luci'fer Luscious Violenoue - This is actually a girl. Yes there are girl VK groups sometimes. This particular act is very ambient and gothic.
Ayabie Often times just another generic band, but sometimes they'll have cool keyboards and unique sounds.
+D'espairsRay+ This band actually has some good riffs and reasonably attractive vocals.
Panic*Ch
Rentrer en Soi Interesting group.
if you go to my rotation page
http://blackflowermusic.com/influence.html you can find many good j rock and vk bands.