Up Up Girls – Next Stage/Ano Saka no Ue Made, May 5, 2013

Track Listing

1. Next Stage
2. Ano Saka no Ue Made,
3. Next Stage (Instrumental)
4. Ano Saka no Ue Made, (Instrumental)

1. Next Stage

After the last couple of strange singles, UUG returns a month later with Next Stage and it starts really nice with strings and some lines from the girls.  Then after that intro, the song jumps to a bouncier nature and it just has a lot better things going on than in “SAKURA DRIVE” or “Respectokyo”.  This is probably my favorite primary A-side yet!

2. Ano Saka no Ue Made,

The other A-side is actually got a lot going for it.  Most of it is a ballad though so it really sticks out in the ladies’ discography (plus it’s nice to see Akari lead once again).  Some of the arrangement though goes into this quick electro beat but then it calms down once again.  I have to say that I kind of liked the song a lot!

This is probably the group’s best single ever since they switched to T-PALETTE.  It’s actually kind of safe, but it’s done quite well!  Next Stage started off slowly, but picked up quickly and became quite sweet.  Ano Saka no Ue Made, is actually quite sentimental and they sounded much better here as well.  With another single on the way, I wonder if they’re gonna pull more single like they did in the first era.

Chiaki Kuriyama – Toyosu☆Luciferin

Track Listing

1. Toyosu☆Luciferin
2. Hodokenai, Bokura wa Zettai.
3. Roulette de Kuchizuke wo

1. Toyosu☆Luciferin

It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen something from Chiaki and she returned with Toyosu☆Luciferin which is a bit of more of what we got ever since Chiaki changed her stylization of her name after her debut.  I’m happy that Chiaki sounds like she has gotten some vocal training between this and “Tsukiyo no Shouzou”.  Her voice doesn’t sound as strained and she’s throwing some good vibrato.  I kind of enjoyed this track for sure!

2. Hodokenai, Bokura wa Zettai.

The B-side of the single, is just like the leading track, but a little more toned down and it also shows with the way Chiaki is singing.  I have to admit the song might not strike as much of a chord as “Toyosu☆Luciferin” did, but there’s something about this that actually works here.  I think it’s the energy Chiaki is putting in the song, but the arrangement is also kind of tight and sweet (especially the guitar solo!).

3. Roulette de Kuchizuke wo

Since this single is produced by 9mm Parabellum Bullet, it was an obvious choice to include this song originally Chiaki’s debut album, “CIRCUS”.  Retreading back to this song, it actually sounds like the previous tracks so it shows that it flows well through the whole single.  I said back on the album review that this song is energetic, but her vocals are not totally amazing.

I’m happy that Chiaki returned to the music scene after an almost-year break!  Toyosu☆Luciferin isn’t a bad single and it was consistent because she worked with only one producer on this single (and band).  All the songs do sound like they flow into one another in any direction so that being said the song do sound too similar…but she gave a much better vocal performance (minus the recut track) but still overall good!