Ayaka Ikio – GOSSIP July 13, 2009

Track Listing

1. Get Out
2. Plastic Baby
3. Cat’s Free
4. ANARCHY IN THE UK
5. Spider Web
6. Scream
7. Groove is Mine

1. Get Out

Right from the start we get into some electronica/disco music. At first the start of the song reminded me of something ravex would’ve done…Sounds like the Tohoshinki track.  Luckily the song goes back into some sort of cool feeling and Ayaka is showing better vocals this time around, thank god.  I just love the synth parts of the song.  Good first track…

2. Plastic Baby

We get into something that brings back Ayaka’s bad attitude and it actually works.  The synth is on major overload in the song which freaks me out to no end and I love every minute.  She’s using a lot of English here, if not the entire track to a hard beat.  The chorus is a bit monotonous, but besides that, the rest of the track is like a mix of electronica, club, and maybe a little bit of reggaeton for kicks (last genre might be pushing it, but w/e).  Strange song, but a good one.

3. Cat’s Free

Sound a bit more futuristic, Cat’s Free brings out the sexy side of Ayaka Ikio and it’s another surprise off the album.  It’s the closest thing to her big song “Spin Me Round” from her last mini-album.  The club sound definitely catered to the mood and wow, it’s quite cool and easy to dance with.

4. ANARCHY IN THE UK

The only other artist I remembered that covered this Sex Pistols song is Anna Tsuchiya and that turned out pretty well as a rock track.  Ayaka’s turned the rock song basically into a trance song and even there’s more instrumental parts (no surprise) it’s actually on of the best tracks off the mini-album.  It’s got a more aggressive nature behind it and seriously besides Ayaka’s slight problems in the accent, it’s not terrible and amazing.

5. Spider Web

Anything that deals with spiders are always amazing andthis is no exception.  The feel does remind me of “Spin Me Round”, but Ayaka’s vocals weren’t tampered with and she sounds more together and deeper, how awesome is that.  Compared to the last track, this is a bit more chill and laidback.  The break-down in the middle, did throw me off, but still a good track overall.

6. Scream

Scream brought back dance fever in the song, but the song is a bit freaky as she talks about killing and such.  I do love me the darker dance tracks and Ayaka’s attitude drive in the song works in its advantage here and I once again fall in love with it.  Damn, where did she get all awesome all of sudden?  This song is shweet.

7. Groove is Mine

The last track actually goes back into her previous era where she’s under vocoder and the auto-tune.  The beginning is a bit weird as Ayaka’s vocals are all over the place and cut n’ pasted everywhere.  Once the synths calm down it does fix itself, but Ayaka’s vocals are still a bit all over the place.  Seems like it’s more of a remix than anything…but there’s a lot of good chords played around with in the vocals and synths

 

 

Ayaka’s sophomore effort trumps her debut by a big shot.  I was not disappointed with any song on this mini-album unlike “Re: ACID QUEEN where I only liked one track (which BTW is still better than a good portion of the tracks here).  I was one of those listeners that did question how good she’d be, but what I got was more than enough.  All the tracks showed a more cleaner Ayaka Ikio, which to me was a painful blow….I like that she incorporated that in her songs, because it did make her a badass J-tek artist.  She did keep the attitude though which is a plus.  It’s such an upgrade though. *RECOMMENDED*

Ayaka Ikio – RE: ACID QUEEN February 3, 2009

Track Listing

1. RE:
2. Spin Me Round
3. Mess Up My Body
4. LoLLyPoP
5. Pain Killer
6. Spiral Storage
7. Spin Me Round (cargo REMIX)

1. RE:

I think she could’ve pulled some potential out of the opening.  There’s some pretty cool effects as hard driving synths are buzzing through.  Ayaka does say things, but c’mon I wish it wasn’t an opening track. 

2. Spin Me Round

Everyone who knows Ayaka Ikio now will probably blame this song.  It’s got such a hot drive to it and Ayaka under the vocoder which made this song also the best from this mini-album.  The best parts was the verse (which there’s only one) and the middle section where the song smoothes out.  Another thing worth mentioning is that she kind of mentions the Dead or Alive track by saying the ~spin me right round~ part which was a nice nod.  I wish there was another verse though, because the song seemed a little short and depended on the later parts to pass it to the end.

3. Mess Up My Body

The beat has a bit more of a punch right from the start.  This would be the first time hearing a J-tek artist actually say ~fucking~ in it which is downright surprising to me.  I do feel the song to be a little on the boring side as it does sound a little familiar to “Spin Me Round” but in a different sound. 

4. LoLLyPoP

LoLLyPoP has a pretty cool beat which is kind of chaotic and offbeat.  She even starts singing with the “f” bomb and she says it a bunch of other times.  The chorus really puts Ayaka in a rough spot of singing.  I’m pretty sure this song is actually all in English, but heavily accented.  Other than the pretty slick beat, the song isn’t much to listen to.

5. Pain Killer

Another chaotic opening, Pain Killer doesn’t seem to really stand out until the main beat actually comes in.  It has a great sense of bounce and togetherness that the last song didn’t have and used a lot of lively synths as well.  There’s also a nice quiet synth part that sound well executed and is 2nd best on this mini.

6. Spiral Storage

Stock Vocals?  I really don’t enjoy listening to them and well the worst is that it’s a repetitious one.  The music is quite catchy and full of life, but Ayaka just seemed in a attitude moment until the chorus.  The chorus is actually quite cool, even though Ayaka is singing/yelling.  It’s a matter of whether you’ll like the verses though. 

7. Spin Me Round (cargo REMIX)

Do you really need to remix a track that’s already in a dance mood already?  It seem so because a remix finished this mini-album up and what an odd remix it is.  It has a piano line that repeats until the verse starts and nothing has really changed.  I guess they were trying to give it a more house sound, but this just came out a little bland.

 

 

Ayaka Ikio’s debut isn’t as strong as some of the bigger hitters of the year, actually might be the lowest of the debuters.  I mean if they give her more of a chance, I think she could’ve done really well as with Spin Me Round.  Her cussing does make her stand out, which is good, but she’ll need some help in the music department.