mini – Electro Hako Banban Picasso May 14, 2012

Track Listing

1. Pray
2. Are U Ready? (Album Mix)
3. Hako Punin Sosu
4. CANDY GIRL 2011 (Album Mix)
5. Take A Feel
6. Fuku Zatsu Joshi
7. Special memory (Album Mix)
8. Two of Us
9. Dear Friend
10. S/GN
11. Lad Style
12. GiRLS SPiRiT

1. Pray

I love that mini’s album kicks off with Pray which was the first song announced to be on the album that wasn’t previously released ^_^.  Pray is definitely true to her style since it’s electro but light (kind of like “Dear Friend” but more focused with the synths).  It’s really awesome and I’m loving the arrangement even with the Nakata-ness in the breakdown…I thought that was kind of a good nod (if that’s true).

2. Are U Ready? (Album Mix)

Sad that quite a few of the songs on the album got new mixes.  Are U Ready? is of course mini’s debut A-side and while it remains untouched, the vocals were resung and a little more emphasis on the lower melody of her vocals too which gave a different experience from the original.  The music changed a little bit, but I think it was to make things more clearer otherwise.  I still love the song as much as before and I like this version a lil bit more.

3. Hako Punin Sosu

As the promotional song for the album, Hako Punin Sosu (a play on Hardcore Princess if you must know).  This song is just ridiculous but it’s so damn good that it’s hard not to love the song itself.  It really has this Japanese feeling to it and add in mini’s whole ~hako, hako, hako, hako punin sosu~ lines and it’s like where the hell did this come from.  I just think it was epic and the other hooks to the song (plus the little dubstep inclusions) really made this song work…AWESOMES!!!

4. CANDY GIRL 2011 (Album Mix)

Released as a digital single last year, CANDY GIRL 2011 is actually a cover of an old hitomi song so it was interesting that mini would go on and cover the song and give it a nice and much needed gloss that seemed to work.  Now I’m not sure of the changes in the song because I don’t have the original mini one.  Maybe there was some things added in the arrangement perhaps.  Now I like the song but not as much as the previous three tracks but it’s definitely catchy in its own way.

5. Take A Feel

We go back to our new songs with Take A Feel which definitely has a certain 80′s new wave feel which instantly caught my attention in full.  A little bit of “Pray” and a little bit of “Dear Friend” and I’m finding myself being addicted to the song for some reason.  This just moves really smoothly and it’s just a great song to listen to…^_^

6. Fuku Zatsu Joshi

Getting into the interlude of the album, Fuku Zatsu Joshi feels like it could’ve been a great song if it was extended and the dubstep parts being majorly toned down here.  The idea is nice but the way it was handled could’ve been more tight I think (or IMO made the beginning part into a full song…).

7. Special memory (Album Mix)

I kind of wished she could’ve chosen “Baby baBy” over this song to be honest since it is my least favorite song through her singles she’s released.  Totally taking a different route by having this as an R&B track rather than her electro-ness…it does come off as weird (unless you have heard it prior).  The album mix did a good job of cleaning up some of the melodic discrepencies found in the original and she resung it as well which also helped out.  I’m still not fond of it because this style doesn’t really speak to me very well but it’s a break from the electro style.

8. Two of Us

Released as a digital single right after “GiRLS SPiRiT”, Two of Us also kind of flew by my head since I didn’t find it worth the listen to at the time.  Coming into it now, I’m not surprised that I did because it’s another R&B song like “Special memory” which isn’t surprising but whatever.  mini’s vocals are pleasant enough though but still the song isn’t kind of my drive and oddly enough isn’t as intriguing as the previous song.  Probably my least favorite of the leading songs (digitally and physically).

9. Dear Friend

I’m still pretty sour at “Baby baBy” not making the cut, but I’m relieved to see Dear Friend appear since it was my second favorite of the B-sides.  Like I said earlier, it’s similar to a couple of the new songs but since this was the first it stands out.  I love the mixture of R&B and electro for some reasons, it just sounds all kinds of fun and it flows really nicely. 

10. S/GN

At least “Dear Friend” did a great job leading us back to some great electronic music!  S/GN’s arrangement does have a similar beat to other songs but it has a rather intricate sounding arrangement with the synths which is AMAZING!  It’s really great to hear some more awesomeness here…gawd….what a nice song!

11. Lad Style

The last new song, Lad Style is kind of like the closest to not be electro but still containing a lot of synths and all that.  When I hear the chorus though, I feel like I’m listening to High Speed Boyz (the producer of most of this album, JIN is the lead of that band).  I like it but there’s something about the song that doesn’t work as well like the other new tracks did…but still passable nonetheless.

12. GiRLS SPiRiT

Interesting that mini closed the album out with GiRLS SPiRiT which was the second A-side released.  I mean it’s a hard song which is AWESOME (and might be the hardest to be quite frank).  It’s a great song and despite the use of Roxanne here, I really loved the energy and aggressive nature of the song.  Plus, I love mini’s voice for some reason here hahaha.

Tracks Recommended

• Hako Punin Sosu
• S/GN
• Are U Ready? (Album Mix)
• Pray
• Dear Friend

Song of Avoidance

• Two of Us

WOW, mini’s debut album (long awaited of course) was a slammer!  Minus the interlude and the R&B tracks, this album was pure gold!  She and JIN seem to fit together like glue and make all these really awesome quality electro songs that fill my ears.  I mean MAA has done that as well.  I think mini’s album is one of my favorite’s of this year so far *RECOMMENDED*

mini – GiRLS SPiRiT September 1, 2010

Track Listing

1. GiRLS SPiRiT
2. Dear Friend
3. Baby baBy

1. GiRLS SPiRiT

Oh JIN, you are fast becoming one of my favorite producers.  GiRLS SPiRiT really throws down that girl power theme that we all have heard time and time again, but I just can’t help but think this was a small not towards High Speed Boyz’ “Kanaetai Yume ga Aru” because of JIN being important to both.  Anywho, the song’s synths isn’t new because it’s a lot of what we’ve heard in “Are U Ready?”.  Even Roxanne makes an appearance which is huh-larious!  Still, it’s a pretty good song, might not be as epic as her debut but it’s a good follow-up.

2. Dear Friend

I was wondering if the first B-side was going to end up like “Special memory” did, but was I wrong because it’s more of an electro R&B track and I thought it was pretty nifty to hear something like this.  Even better is listening to mini’s vocals without the synths and auto-tune going on.  It’s mid-tempo sound is nice to hear as well and it’s catchy for me.  There’s a lot of ad-libbing though so prepare for that XD

3. Baby baBy

Now here’s where I fell in love with the single fully.  Baby baBy is not your usual JIN-ness and I love the fast paced synth lines and with a darker atmosphere.  I love the whole eerie feel going and with the chorus being a boost of sound, it’s just crazy good.  She might be a little too covered by the music, but it’s still so awesome XD

 

 

Alright!  GiRLS SPiRiT is definitely a huge step up from “Are U Ready?”.  GiRLS SPiRiT might not surpass her first A-side, but it’s shows that she’s keeping the electro sound over her R&B-like status which is a good decision IMO.  It shows as well her her two B-sides on the single.  Dear Friend might’ve been an R&B tune before the synths were added, but it came out quite nicely.  Baby baBy though took the cake for best song off the single.  It’s dark, heavy and oh god catchy!  With the amount of tie-ins I can only hope she does well…

mini – Are U Ready? March 5, 2010

Track Listing

1. Are U Ready?
2. Special Memory
3. Are U Ready (Yasutaka Nakata remix)

1. Are U Ready?

Finally avex actually pulls something amazing out of their asses this time.  Produced by JIN from High Speed Boyz, I was surprised at how much I ended up loving the song becuase it’s an electrifying electro tune and has some of the catchiest lyrics so far this year.  While mini’s vocals are under vocoder and auto-tune it doesn’t mean that it’s bad since she kind has a good voice for this style.  With a serious verse and explosive chorus, I definitely am loving this song.

2. Special Memory

Kind of the weird thing to hear after “Are U Ready?, Special Memory sound like every other R&B tune out there right now.  I mean there’s really nothing special to the song.  Add to the fact that her voice kind of reminds me a little of JASMINE’s voice which is probably not a good thing to say.  mini’s vocals are nice, not as strong as said singer and the arrangement is kind of alright despite the whole R&B-ness.

3. Are U Ready? (Yasutaka Nakata remix)

Really Nakata?  You go and release one of your laziest remixes on mini’s debut?  While the song’s use of acoustic guitar does give a nice nod to “Sugarless GiRL” but after the original’s more explosive and overall awesome sound it’s a downgrade to hear this becuase everyone knows that Nakata could’ve done something more amazing with the song.  I don’t know why they even kept the filtered part in either…???

 

 

mini’s debut is alright, I mean besides the ubertastic A-side the B-side kind of is like do we really need another R&B artist who’ll eventually be whored down to Jeff Miyahara (yeah, his productions are great but there’s too many now and some are sounding sameish).  The remix however felt really lazy for Nakata and that was somewhat a big disappointment, but I can’t wait to see more electro from this debutee!