JERO – Umiyuki January 19, 2009

Track Listing

1. Umiyuki
2. Touzainanboku Hitoritabi
3. Umiyuki (instrumental)
4. Touzainanboku Hitoritabi (instrumental)

1. Umiyuki

You know what Umiyuki sounds like something I would hear in Kill Bill.  JERO sounds just like Gackt in a very odd way.  So the music, yes it’s an enka track but given a modern touch and kind of has a groove to it that I just love.  The traditional enka instrumentals are just as prominent and it’s quite a nice touch.  I don’t know what else I can say, but you just have to listen to this.

2. Touzainanboku Hitoritabi

We get another one, but this just isn’t as emotionally driven as “Umiyuki” is.  JERO hits some of these odd notes, but he does sing the title really good and the music (still enka) is pretty cool and refreshing.   I think people well like this track because it’s more upbeat.

 

 

Jeeze…I would have never guessed he would be singing enka, right?  More or less singing in Japanese.  Anyway, Umiyuki was a pretty straightforward single showing of his skills and the music he’s singing.  I did like Umiyuki more than Touzainanboku Hitoritabi just because Umiyuki is just that epic.

Shion Tsuji – Candy kicks January 19, 2009

Track Listing

1. Candy kicks
2. 17
3. Take me home
4. Candy kicks (Instrumental)

1. Candy kicks

Iono, but the acoustic pop sound really stood out for me.  It’s got such a happy fun vibe to go along with it.  Now this is Shion’s first A-side and to be honest her voice kind of annoys me for some reason.  Like she’s honky and kind of weird to me.   She’s way better singing in a lower tone IMO and her English is pretty good otherwise.  The chorus is like just ~baby, baby, babyyyy~ I mean maybe she could’ve added more to it, but this is an alright start.

2. 17

I think she did a lot better singing with this track actually.  It sounds pretty cool and this would be where to YUI comparison’s start with her.  I got to say this song is crazy good, but her high notes are thin and not in a good way.  The chorus too is pushing her limits to the brink of just not sounding right.  Luckily, the rest of the song is amazing.

3. Take me home

We finish the single off with an acoustic ballad.  We also hear the sore sound of Shion’s vocals sadly.  She sometimes misses notes that she’s trying to pull off, and her English is failing badly here as well.  She could’ve tried a little harder to make this a better track, but I do love the atmosphere of the song.  Pretty cool.

 

 

Shion Tsuji’s debut was pretty interesting.  We got a poppy track, a more harder track, and an acoustic ballad.  She’s got some potential to actually be pretty big.  As for the YUI comparison’s, yes I can see them, but there’s a lot more differences than similarities.  I can’t wait for the next single

Buono! – co・no・mi・chi January 19, 2009

Track Listing

1. co・no・mi・chi
2. Muteki no ∞Power
3. co・no・mi・chi (Instrumental)
4. Muteki no ∞Power (Instrumental)

1. co・no・mi・chi

I think I like this song a lot more without watching the weird PV that went with it.  It’s a little different from your normal H!P track because of its more rock elementation and catchy chorus.  Even the high notes sound pretty good given the situation.  Even though it’s not as memorable as “Rottara Rottara” was, but this is definitly close enough.

2. Muteki no ∞Power

Not much difference between this and the previous.  They still have a heacy rock instrumentation, but actually a lot more girlier, which for me is a pretty bad excuse for why this song is bad.  The vocals also take a hit, since they sounded a little lifeless and the chorus is a little too repetitive and Momoko fails in this track as well…Yeesh, typical H!P b-side…

 

 

I actually liked co・no・mi・chi but as a whole this single was a little on the bad side of things.  There wasn’t much effort put into the single.  I mean you can hear their lack of interest in both songs actually.  I’m sorry but this is the worst single of the “Buono!x2″ era.