Rina Aiuchi – STORY/SUMMER LIGHT July 22, 2009

Track Listing

1. STORY
2. SUMMER LIGHT
3. marble
4. STORY -instrumental-
5. SUMMER LIGHT -instrumental-

1. STORY

After the meh-fest of “THANX”, Rina took small break and came back in a different kind of way.  Fans of hers will immediatly notice the change so fast.  Instead of a normal eurobeat, rock, or even whatever that was on “THANX” she goes acoustic pop on us, which is a welcome change of course.  It’s oddly calm and comfortable and compliments her voice way better than anything in the last era.  I know she was wanting to reinvent herself and in this case it worked.  Song is a little long past 5 minutes, but it’s nothing too terrible.

2. SUMMER LIGHT

SUMMER LIGHT is also dependent on the acoustic guitar and I was pleasantly surprised with the other A-side.  SUMMER LIGHT is more of that summer tune she’s been wanting to release for a while and it’s easy to follow arrangement and bouncy piano line makes this another good track.  I’m not sure that if it’s better than “STORY”, but damn she’s releasing good tracks so far.

3. marble

marble turns out to be the mellow track off the single.  There’s actually strings in this song as well to make the song maybe pop out moreso than “STORY”.  I did think the acoustic pop sound fits more with Rina’s vocals and with marble it solidified that thought because she doesn’t sound like stressing so much and she’s done enough of that on her last album.

 

 

HOLY SHIT.  Who knew Rina was going to go all acoustic pop on us this time?  I for sure didn’t and this experimentation worked out for her in a very good way.  Her vocals were spot-on and while STORY and marble were slow and smooth, SUMMER LIGHT was the more upbeat track here and the best as well…hehe giddy track.  Great way to start out a new era.

Kaya – Ophelia July 22, 2009

Track Listing

1. Ophelia
2. Rose Kingdom
3. Ophelia -Kayaless ver.-

1. Ophelia

After the odd mini-album, Kaya finally returns to what he does best and that’s darkwave tracks with HORA.  I’ll have to say, Kaya mixed in with a organ driven dance track is always a good thing and he hasn’t done one of those kind of songs yet.  It’s a bit safe as HORA songs go, but the mystic feeling and scary movements in the song worked it well.  So happy to see Kaya back to normality.

2. Rose Kingdom

Rose Kingdom also is a bit like “Ophelia” that there’s organ and a dance beat, but since it isn’t HORA’s work…it’s KALM’s work so there’s a big difference right there.  There’s also a heavier beat as well and a lot more synths which worked the song over so well.  Kaya is also filtered in various parts of the song which is sweet.  What really made the song was the march-like drums that are present through most of the song.  I gotta say, another strong B-side.

 

 

After “Bonjour! Chanson”, I wasn’t sure which direction he was going to go, but Ophelia is a great single from him.  Both tracks are good dance tracks and mixed in with his vocals, he definitely surpassed my expectations this time around.  By now he should be somewhat close into releasing a new album…unless “Last Snow” doesn’t count. *RECOMMENDED*