L'arc~en~Ciel is a
Japanese rock band, perhaps
categorizable in that genre unique to
Japan, "
Visual Rock". I would argue, however, that rather than the pure
pretty boy shock value that
Visual Kei is known for, "Laruku" (as they've been
nicknamed through the
magic of
Japanese phonetics) has more
artistic drive and
heart, if you will, to recommend it.
Their music is full of passionate emotion, evoked wonderfully by the lead vocalist, Hyde. Ken, the (smart) guitarist, writes much of the music, with Tetsu, the (brilliant) bassist, and Yukihiro, the drummer (who does many electronica remixes for the band) along for the ride.
The group has a very clean modern rock sound, with soulful ballads, poppy chart-rock hits, and brilliantly dark, epic pieces that really have no business coming out of a four-piece band.
Songs by them I recommend:
- Snow Drop
- Heaven's Drive
- Honey
- Blurry Eyes (the DNA2 opening theme, for you anime fans)
- Forbidden Lover
- Finale
- And many more! If you act now, you'll also receive. . . uh, sorry.
Also we believe
Hyde is the most beautiful
male ever to exist, and probably a
vampire, in the
Anne Rice sense. A true
bishounen, in a very
literal sense.
L'Arc-en-Ciel has a best-of compilation called Clicked Singles Best 13 that is available in the United States through Sony Music Imports; its contents were decided by a Yahoo! Japan web poll. It's a good introduction to the group's sound.