Cupitron – Robot Boy Robot Girl September 22, 2015

Track Listing

1. Robot Boy Robot Girl
2. We Are Cupitron (Regular A only)
3. π (Regular B only)
4. Uchuu de Milk Cocoa (Limited only)
5. Robot Boy Robot Girl TECHNO JUMBO Remix (Regular A only)
6. Summer Kaijuu Akufen Remix (Regular B only)
7. Robot Boy Robot Girl (Instrumental)
8. We Are Cupitron (Instrumental)
9. π (Instrumnetal)
10. Uchuu de Milk Cocoa (Instrumental)

1. Robot Boy Robot Girl

Beginning their 3rd single, Robot Boy Robot Girl starts almost in a grand way with such a strong emphasis on bass drum, but as soon as the opening lyrics go by, the electropop sound starts to filter out through my headphones.  I feel like with each A-side, their producer also gets a bit more risky with the arrangement and I’m enjoying this one quite a bit!  It’s an adventurous piece of work and definitely their best yet!

2. We Are Cupitron

Strange it took them to their 3rd single to get a kind of theme song for the group.  I’m surprised that while it is slower than “Robot Boy Robot Girl”, the EDM here is a bit more gritty and heavy.  Though I can’t say that the vocal melody is very memorable as they kind of stay the same a good portion of the time and the chorus kind of bugs me…not their best work sadly.

3. π

Simply known as “Pi”, this song picks up after the disappointing previous track.  It reminds me of their more space-esque songs from previous single (especially from “Unicorn Parade”) and this one is futuristic but in a good way.  The vocoder and filtering is quite fitting and the chorus is strangely catchy (despite it just them repeating ~pi~ over and over again).  Still this is a really neat song from them!

4. Uchuu de Milk Cocoa

On the limited editions we get Uchuu de Milk Cocoa and it’s well similar to the previous songs (sans “We Are Cupitron”) with its cool EDM-sound.  I’m liking the progressive feel of the song and it’s got some interesting dubstep-y parts to make the tune pop out more.  It is the most straightforward song off the single and I think that’s why it might just be my favorite from the single!

5. Robot Boy Robot Girl TECHNO JUMBO Remix

So we get two remixes on this single strangely enough and the first is of the A-side.  Taking out the Perfume-esque twinkles, the tune turns into more like “Uchuu de Milk Cocoa” with the kind of 80’s-like feel to it with a lot of pounding bass through the song (mostly the chorus).  It’s different, I’ll give it that…but the original is still better.

6. Summer Kaijuu Akufen Remix

Finally we have a remix for their debut song, Summer Kaijuu!  I wasn’t expecting it to be the long song it was at 7 minutes, but considering it’s a remix I’m fine with that.  It starts off slow, but it has some disco elements thrown in which is pretty cool and matches with the ethereal keyboard playing.  Sadly once the group comes in to sing their lines, they’re overly filtered and computerized to the point where I can barely make out what they’re saying.  Sadly the bongo melody and light beats don’t really change it up and the horns and random quips are few and between.  It’s ok for background music, but it didn’t do Summer Kaijuu any justice.

 

 

Cupitron’s 3rd single and honestly it’s their best yet.  Disregarding the remixes, which were mostly disappointing, the 4 main songs are mainly really good tracks for them.  Robot Boy Robot Girl is very familiar, but really nice overall.  π and Uchuu de Milk Cocoa while similar in styles really captured the trio’s essence and definitely worked its way up their alongside the tunes I enjoyed from “Battery”.  Sadly, We Are Cupitron was pretty unfortunate leading to a rather monotone-sounding tune that got covered up by the other main songs.  Is there an album soon???

Aya Hirano – Promise

Track Listing

1. Promise
2. Takaramono
3. Up To Date
4. Promise -instrumental-
5. Takaramono -instrumental-

1. Promise

So like the cover and title put in my mind, Promise is a ballad from Aya and we’ve haven’t had one in a long time.  Though I can’t help but feel as if this song is just overly white and generic all over the place.  It’s not Aya’s fault though as she has very pretty vocals for tackling a ballad, but the arrangement is rather trite and lacks any strong footing for me.  Rather unfortunate though this couldn’t have had a more dynamic arrangement.

2. Takaramono

At least things get a little more interesting with Takaramono, add a nice soft dance beat alongside piano and you essentially get this song.  I mean it’s nothing special either though.  Sadly like “Promise”, the song doesn’t really grow much and stays at the same pace (though Aya gets some backup vocals).  Still, the song is kind of playing it rather too safe.

3. Up To Date

Then to somehow wake me up from the slumber I was beginning to have, Up To Date changes things up and ends up sounding something nice and familiar to stuff from her albums.  I’m enjoying the pop/punk sound here and Aya’s vocals sound really solid and stronger than in the previous tracks too!  Suffice to say this is my favorite of the single.

I know I’m rather late for the single, but good lord this is a weak single.  Something about Promise and Takaramono just didn’t work and felt so lazy and generic that it really didn’t work together.  It wasn’t until Up To Date came where there was some light at the end of the tunnel, but even then this could’ve been album fodder for her albums previous.  Considering that she released this in 2013 and releasing her 3rd album “vivid” in 2014…I really wonder if her scandals had basically destroyed her career…

Zwei – Heading For Tomorrow

Track Listing

1. Heading For Tomorrow
2. infinite wish
3. Heading For Tomorrow (off Vocal)
4. infinite wish (off Vocal)

1. Heading For Tomorrow

For such a title, I was definitely not surprised it was another anison song from the duo.  Though I do love the light intro with the low-lying synths and piano before Megu and the more aggressive rock kick in which is pretty cool.  Actually as the song continues on, I was more surprised at how slow-moving the tune really was.  I kind of dug this mid-tempo track and it didn’t really sound too anison once the guitars and bass kicked in so it’s a nice change of pace of stuff from their last album.

2. infinite wish

As for the B-side, I was confused by Ayumu’s opening dialogue…that Engrish is pretty bizarre hahaha.  infinite wish quite something else, but has a lot of similarities to “Heading For Tomorrow”, but this one hit stronger and the changes between the light verses and powerful chorus is strong!  I enjoy Ayumu here as her vocals have more color and emotion behind too!  Great B-side overall!

Starting a new era, Heading For Tomorrow is actually a pretty decent single and much better than what they gave us during the “Re:Set” days.  Both tracks are hard-hitting and didn’t feel like anison songs which is a godsend!  Though I prefer infinite wish over the leading song due to it’s much broader sound and strong vocals.  Can’t wait to see what the rest of the “NEO MASQUE” era has to offer.