Mai Kuraki – always January 23, 2009

 

Track Listing

1. always
2. All Night
3. Stand Up ~Gomi’s Disco 2001 Mix (Radio Edit)
4. always ~Instrumental~

1. always

Why are we still on this R&B beat?  She’s been utilizing this so many times in her career thus far.  In other words this song is just unoriginal as it gets.  There’s some strings added and the song is a bit more upbeat, but this just does not save the song from being a little bad.

2. All Night

All Night tries to be more Hip-hop, but that as well comes off a bit bad as well.  There’s the usual disc scratching and then we get into the verses where Mai’s just singing which is cool, I guess.  The BKGD vocals support Mai so she won’t oversing.  Maybe the song isn’t as bad as I initially thought, but still it isn’t anything groundbreaking.

 

 

Mai’s final single for her 2nd era seemed to be a little better than some other singles this era, but her overall sound is just running a little dry and I want her to move to new areas of sound.  always even though unoriginal, was an ok A-side and All Night is the same reasoning as well. 

Ai Otsuka – CHU-LIP January 23, 2009

Track Listing

1. CHU-LIP
2. Kimi ni Kaeru.
3. CHU-LIP (Instrumental)
4. Kimi ni Kaeru (Instrumental)

1. CHU-LIP

What an amazing brass track.  There’s a whole bunch of brass moments in here and we haven’t had a fun track in a while which is probably why many people love this song.  To me, this is a less sugar-coated “SMILY” and this song just always puts me in a good mood.  I think everyone will agree that they can’t listen to the song without thinking of the crazy ass PV that went with it, right?

2. Kimi ni Kaeru.

I alway think the tranistion from “CHU-LIP” to the dreamy Kimi ni Kaeru. is so offputting.  Either way the song reminds me of later song, “Hoshi no Tango” which I bet I’m not the only one that thinks it.  It’s got one of the night moods going and even though Ai’s higher range is questionable, this song just give good vibes.  Another good B-side.

 

 

This was about the time I was starting to get into J-pop pretty regularly.  At first I was like jeeze, you’re crazy to be doing choreography in a bathroom as well.  Still CHU-LIP just has a fun charm to it that’ll probably never go away.  Kimi ni Kaeru. came way after and its dreamy state of mind.  Even though the two are wildly different, they did make a nice single overall.

Rina Aiuchi – Dream×Dream January 23, 2009

Track Listing

1. Dream×Dream
2. Sweet Peach Tree
3. Melody Flag
4. Dream×Dream -instrumental-

1. Dream×Dream

I still don’t exactly think ballads are Rina’s thing and this doesn’t change my opinion around much.  There’s some strings and BKGD vocals, but then the mood changes before the chorus where we go from a ballad to a dance/pop song.  This definitly raised the song a few levels which is great.  Song is still a little on the meh side though because she really doesn’t give a strong performance except the chorus. 

2. Sweet Peach Tree

A bit more mellower is Sweet Peach Tree which takes the BoA moment on the single.  There’s a light R&B sound to it which is nice, then add the synths and acoustic guitar and we get this track.  I also felt the song just flew by me without leaving any impression on me.  I do like the guitar solo though, pretty well written out.

3. Melody Flag

It’s pretty funny that our 2nd B-side sounds so lively and oddly cute in some ways.  It start with a very repetitive piano line while Rina’s vocals are filtered out.  Other than that, there’s nothing too spectacular about this track so basically it is B-side material.

 

 

I’m not sure why but this single was overall nothing fantastic.  Dream×Dream and Sweet Peach Tree are pretty much tracks that sound so familiar with her past songs that it isn’t funny.  Melody Flag was probably the worst track, but at least it was a little more of a rock sound that’s present in the era’s album.  Still, bad 1st single of the era.

T.M.Revolution – WILD RUSH January 23, 2009

 

Track Listing

1. WILD RUSH
2. WILD RUSH (Original Backing Track)

1. WILD RUSH

I have to say, WILD RUSH’s guitar riff is just as good as “HOT LIMIT”s maybe even better.  I think this song was a great track because it did sound wild and crazy.  Takanori’s singing also went well here showing his intensity within the song.  The chorus did sound a little bit happy but the rest of the song was amazing.

 

 

The last single for the “the force” era was alright.  Though I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t any other B-sides or even remixes to fill the single up more.  You know what else was cool?  The PV for WILD RUSH, that was awesome right there.

Rie fu – Romantic January 23, 2009

Track Listing

1. Romantic
2. In The Airplane
3. Money Will Love You

1. Romantic

Rie fu usually does folk pop songs right?  Well she throws a wrench into that mindset with Romantic which is produced by Taku of m-flo fame.  The most noticeable change is the the song is quite heavy on the synths and has a pretty chill dance beat.  Honestly, this song reminds me of Eri Nobuchika’s “SING A SONG” by similar arrangement like the beat is similar and how Rie fu gradually gets louder until the chorus happens.  Granted that she has never done a dance track she’s done well here.  I still think that’ll it’ll be a thorn on the album as it won’t sound like anything else.

2. In The Airplane

We finally get back to what Rie fu is more commonly known for and that’s quirky pop tracks.  This one has a synth buzz in the song and Rie fu’s switch between JPN & USA is great and has the nice classic sound to it.  I do question her higher notes as they do come out quite thin, but the attitude of the song is just sweet. 

3. Money Will Love You

Somewhat of the ballad of the single, Money Will Love You is a pretty soft song and is quite folkish.  It’s one of those songs that just sounds really nice listening to it before bed because it’s quite nice and calm.  Even though I really don’t know what the song is exactly about because ~Money Will Love You~ sounds odd in a song like this.

 

 

Rie fu surprised many with this release and most of the people thought this was a nice one at that as well.  Romantic is a great dance track that should be given a worthwhile listen.  In The Airplane is quite an interesting listen as well, but I’m not sure if she has done something like this before, but right now it’s great.  Money Will Love You is typical Rie fu, but that’s not a bad thing at all. 

YMCK – Family Cooking January 23, 2009

Track Listing

1. Omocha no Haitei no Ma-chi
2. Curry Da yo!
3. Salad Shabadaba
4. Mitsuboshi CHEF no Uta
5. Gourmet no Aitsu
6. Fuwafuwa Tamago no Omuraisu
7. kaerimichi, bengohan
8. WON!derful Chocolate
9. Ban Ban Cooking

1. Omocha no Haitei no Ma-chi

The standard opening to the album, it really sounds like Pokemon 8-bit which is quite scary.  That’s basically it, a short tune to begin our album, nothing too special.

2. Curry Da yo!

A pretty heavy sound starts Karee Da yo! and we get our first taste of the vocals which are a surprisingly robotic, but that’s because of how they are distorted.  Midori does get covered by the music sometimes, but it’s oddly enjoyable. especially the fast parts of the song. 

3. Salad Shabadaba

Then we get kind of jazzy for Salad Shabadaba.  Maybe it’s the awkward male sounds that make it seem so Katamari-like and that’s probably why this is one of the funnier tracks.  The 8-bit-ness just oozed cute and Midori sounds really good.  There’s a pretty cool solo section as well.  This is just crazy good.

4. Mitsuboshi CHEF no Uta

Why does the beginning so so damn familiar?  Anyways, Mitsuboshi CHEF no Uta has a cool laidback sound that is rather refreshing, but it continues the whole game sound which is has the kind of rhythm that’s easy to hum to.  I think they could’ve left a few moments out but otherwise this was a nice track.  The solo moment was just so random and funny.

5. Gourmet no Aitsu

Definitly sounds like a pretty epic boss theme that opens up Gurume no Aitsu which is what made me initially call this the best track.  It’s got such a pretty cool groove and the melody of it is just crazy.  There’s just great moments in this song and at the same time if it had brass in it, it would make an awesome Jazz song.  How the song end is just so oddly typical rock songs end, but it’s the icing on the cake.

6. Fuwafuwa Tamago no Omuraisu

Yea…this song is just a little on the forgetful side of things.  I mean there’s already a nice calm song in “Mitsubachi CHEF no Uta” so this isn’t anything I haven’t heard already, but I guess it served its purpose as a filler track.

7. kaerimichi, bengohan

Another one of those meh tracks.  Once again it just felt to be another filler track with not much effort really put into it.  There’s some nice moments like the sound of either wind or rain.  Other than, just another forgetful song.

8. WON!derful Chocolate

We finally get back into the interesting stuff with this one.  There’s quite a cute emotion and it’s just such an enjoyment and Midori was also being really cute as well, but not Momoi disgustingly cute.  Even though I’m getting a little bored with the 8-bit, it’s still enough to make me like it enough.

9. Ban Ban Cooking

Finishing the album, is the song that just sounds like Perfume but with the obvious chiptune stuff.  I have no idea why, but the song sounds somewhat vacant and OMG I remember what the beginning melody sounds like, it sounds like “Inryoku”!  Luckily the rest of the song is different and fun and pretty sweet on Midori’s end.  Just a pretty cool song to end on.

Tracks Recommended

•  Gourmet no Aitsu
• Salad Shabadaba
• Mitsuboshi CHEF no Uta
• Ban Ban Cooking

YMCK’s 4th full album is pretty much 8-bit heaven and is so much more better than Momoi’s “FAMISON” series of albums.  Even though the tracks somewhat do become a little more stale as the album progressed, this is an album not to pass up and should try out.

 

 

 

OMG NEW ARTISTS BLOWOUT!!! January 23, 2009

Yeah, it’ll be pretty quick…I’m adding 3 new artists

Kaori Mochida

Mostly known as the lead singer of Every Little Thing, Kaori announced a solo career and I will review her debut “Ame no Waltz” when it releases next week!

YMCK

So, YMCK is pretty much what you call a chiptune band.  Luckily they are so 8-bit and has some of the quirkiest PV’s out there to match their style.  I’ll start with the newest release that just came out this week.

cosmeticROBOT

There’s so many things that can be said.  Not only are they an indies group like portable, but there’s 3 of them and they are J-tek.  Consisting of Naho, Ayumu, and Ami these 3 are pretty much what I like to call the Perfume wishers because the carry the same overall sound, but means more of a great thing IMO.  Starting with their debut “SERIAL NUMBER 99″