Ai Otsuka – Kingyo Hanabi July 12, 2008

Track Listing

1. Kingyo Hanabi
2. Coco Natsu Vacation
3. Kingyo Hanabi (Instrumental)
4. Coco Natsu Vacation (Instrumental)

1. Kingyo Hanabi

How refreshing to hear this song.  It’s a nice and smooth sung by yours truly, Ai Otsuka.  I’ve said this so many times, but, Ai is the queen of ballads.  It does create a feeling of like being in water, with the water droplets and hollow instrumentation minus the piano.  Ai in this song does show concern of her voice, because I notice sometimes she gets kind of nasally in her sound.  But her emotions stick out very well here.  The frantic ending was a surprise but it leads back to the sweet finishing sounds.  LOVE THIS SONG.

2. Coco Natsu Vacation

Hehehe, like a mood swinger this Caribbean influenced track is a surprise.  Ai’s voice is filtered to make it sound like she’s underwater which was a tad strange.  In the background you hear waves crashing upon a shore which was understandable.  The chorus adds in a steel drum, DAMN she’ll surprise anyone with this track.  It’s too catchy, I get so entranced in this song that I start putting my hands in the air LOL.  Anyway, an awesome B-side.

 

 

OMG Ai, this single is probably the best released so far.  Kingyo Hanabi was the beautiful ballad of the single and made me think of my loved one.  On the other hand Coco Natsu Vacation made me jus wanna go to the beach and sway to the great song.  It’s sad that Coco Natsu Vacation doesn’t make it on “LOVE JAM”. 

 

 

dream – Private wars July 12, 2008

Track Listing

1. Private wars
2. Start me up
3. Private wars (Dub’s Hyper Club Remix)
4. Private wars (EURO MIX)
5. Start me up (landscape mix)
6. Private wars (SEA BREEZE 2000 Mix)
7. Private wars (Instrumental)
8. Start me up (Instrumental)

1. Private wars

Ahhhh, I love Private wars, The beginning has a very strong force to it, then the synths and guitar together sounds great.  Still carries on the euro sounds but right now this song owns the previous singles hands down.  The 3 ladies are very signiicant to their sound and this time sounds great, sounding all important nd in your face.  They do get a bit off tune but thats ok.  The interlude in the middle of the song goes ethereal before striking back like the beginning of the song. SUPER SONG!

2. Start me up

A little bit softer but continuing again with the Euro shtick, Start me up has a bit of a different arrangement and overall sound to it.  Not as powerful as “Private wars” this song is a bit more calmer in the saying.  The ladies are also showing of a quieter tone.  The interlude before the 2nd chorus is a bit more in your face but goes back to being softer.  It’s a good B-side overall.

 

 

Private wars this time was a great single.  Private wars showed the aggressiveness in the ladies and in fact was a great thing to do.  Start me up is your pop song and was a kind of a sweet song to hear.  Both song appear on “Dear…” so it’s a useless single unless you want the remixes of course.

day after tomorrow – My faith July 12, 2008

 

Track Listing

1. My faith
2. My faith -instrumental-

1. My faith

When I hear this, I think of “gift” the previous christmas song.  Once again, I feel really bored and not in any mood to listen to the song all the way through.  The chorus sounds a bit unusual at the start but gets somewhat better.  The use of the synth was pretty nice, but it really didn’t make the song any better than it was.

 

 

So, My faith, IMO was a huge disappointment.  The song was a holiday tune and failed to make an impression on me.  Even worse, there was no B-side, just the instrumental, so it fails on all levels.