ravex – trax April 30, 2009

Track Listing

1. I RAVE YOU (Original)
2. ROCK U feat. Namie Amuro
3. Just the Two of Us feat. Tohoshinki
4. HOUSE NATION feat. LISA
5. Bangalicious feat. Anna Tsuchiya
6. Believe in LOVE feat. BoA
7. NEW Eccentric Girl feat. CHISA (GIRL NEXT DOOR)
8. Golden LUV feat. MAKI GOTO
9. V.I.P.P. (Very Important Party People) feat. TRF&VERBAL (m-flo)
10. 1 more night feat. MONKEY MAJIK
11. Warui ko Mitsuketa feat. Yuko Ando
12. I RAVE YOU feat. DJ OZMA

1. I RAVE YOU (ORIGINAL)

Beginning the album off is the introduction, a very long one.  This is ravex’s take on the song and even moreso an instrumental of their debut single.  I’m noticing the synths have had their volume lifted so it’s more noticeable and important to the song.  I’m thinking all three members have their solo-ish parts within and it’s pretty sweet otherwise.  It’s funny that it’s longer than the vocal track as well.  It makes great dance music otherwise.

2. ROCK U feat. Namie Amuro

So our first new track is from someone who isn’t new to the electronic sound.  I’ll agree the song reminds me of “WILD” but there’s a lot more to the song and sounds like machinery going off in the song which is just crazy.  The little clicky sound does get annoying, but it’s til the later end of the song where it becomes bad.  Namie’s English has also seen improvement as well, which impressed me a lot more than “WILD”.  Definitly a great song though.

3. Just the Two of Us feat. Tohoshinki

What’s up with the ~Tonight~ opening?  I’m not sure why, but the song in the first minute is amazingly repetitive, even though the members sound really good.  It seems like it’s like a chiller house version of “I RAVE YOU”.  If they cut that part out, it would’ve been a great song because the slower parts of the song with (insert member name here) under the auto-tune was nice, but everything else seemed too shallow.

4. HOUSE NATION feat. LISA

The same problem happened with this song’s start-up.  It just wasn’t needed at all and I felt like changing the song going through the song.  I just didn’t the like the beat-breaking happening.  When the chorus appeared though, it was so great because LISA’s English is awesome and it’s so easy to get lost to, especially the whole ~gave birth part~ and the ~expand your mind~ those parts were hilarious, but truthful.

5. Bangalicious feat. Anna Tsuchiya

Did anyone expect Anna to be part of this project?  Didn’t think so.  This song is just dirty especially when I hear ~I’ll jack your body~ over again and again.  Still, this song is ravex perfection right here because it’s so aggressive and the use of electric guitar worked for a benefit on both artists.  Yeah, the chorus is a bit repetitive, but the music wins over eventually.  I seriously think Shinichi did most of the work here though…

6. Believe in LOVE feat. BoA

Our 2nd A-side of the era, Believe in LOVE chills things down quite a bit after “Bangalicious”.  I really loved the thumping beat and the various arpeggios that were going on with the song.  The only problem I had overall was the transitioning from the verses into the chorus, it just seemed a little strange, but how BoA tackled this song in great stride was great.  Even the strings found in the 2nd half of the song was surprising and very tasteful.

7. NEW Eccentric Girl feat. CHISA (GIRL NEXT DOOR)

NEW Eccentric Girl was the last song ravex announced for the album and I thought that was nice to feature CHISA since GND and ravex are 20th anniversary groups.  Now this song to me sounds a bit like gamewave stuff with some awesome synths and CHISA sounds amazing in the song, she’s not screaming her ass off and isn’t with the staleness of the group.  This song has got attitude and style.  I was shocked in a good way.

8. Golden LUV feat. MAKI GOTO

Gocchin’s track pops up next and I still find this song a bit underwhelming than her H!P solo stuff and her SWEET BLACK songs.  It starts off nicely enough with her singing with piano and strings, but when it gets into the chorus it just changes the sound all over and there’s a lot more brass and dance sounds.  It’s still growing on me, and I see why ravex chose her, her voice fits the song.

9. V.I.P.P. (Very Important Party People) feat. TRF&VERBAL (m-flo)

Wow, all of m-flo is on this album, that’s rare…Anyway TRF is our next featured next.  V.I.P.P is a little bit like a celebration song and that doesn’t exactly work on this album.  In that matter, it stands out from the album in a bad way.  Now I don’t hear the leading lady of the group, but I can tell the guy is doing some of the vocoder stuff, possibly doing a little bit of the arrangement.  Honestly, I consider this VERBAL’s track more than TRF’s….

10. 1 more night feat. MONKEY MAJIK

1 more night was actually released as a digital single with “I RAVE YOU” and “HOUSE NATION”.  Anyway the song features half of the band, just only the Canadian brothers.  I’ve loved this song ever since the PV was released.  The synths here are a bit darker sounding and the guy’s English are awesome and gave a perfect meaning.  Even their falsetto works wonders in the song.  I also think this song was more along Shinichi’s work because some of the parts remind me of “SING A SONG” from Eri Nobuchika…still this is their best song, ravex’s I mean…I haven’t heard enough to say if it’s MM’s best.

11. Warui ko Mitsuketa feat. Yuko Ando

What?  first Saori@destiny, and now Yuko tries out reggae and dance together?  In some cases this song is very light in the reggae style and with ravex doing the synth parts it’s kind of hard to tell if it’s really reggae or not.  The only consistent part is the drums lol.  It’s an alright song, but Yuko’s vocals are a bit strange it reminds me of Anna’s half the time, but the song is like retro dance so it’s got points there.

12. I RAVE YOU feat. DJ OZMA

I wasn’t surprised this song ended the album, because it would’ve been an awkward situation within the other tracks.  Now this song is definitly the most random song off the album and especially with DJ OZMA at the reins, you know it couldnt be anything but.  Now the song feature 2 of the 3 members, everyone else was kind of put there (the girls).  Even the weird moment after that (that part of the PV rips of China Discotica).  There’s just so much to this track that you can’t help but enjoy it. 

Tracks Recommended

• 1 more night feat. MONKEY MAJIK
• Bangalicious feat. Anna Tsuchiya
• I RAVE YOU feat. DJ OZMA
• ROCK U feat. Namie Amuro
• NEW Eccentric Girl feat. CHISA

Song of Avoidance

• V.I.P.P. (Very Important Party People) feat. TRF&VERBAL (m-flo)

Well, after that amazingly bad album, “I KILL MY HEART”, I needed a pick-me-up and this album definitly lived up to me.  This album has three of the best dance producers and got them to work with different artists throughout the avex network and got a lot of amazing tracks.  I knew all of the artists except Yuko Ando which isn’t surprising, but yeah if they continue on with this group get some bigger artists like Kuu, Ayu, Ami, m.o.v.e.  I think it’d be amazing if Nakata joined, but he isn’t avex…boy can dream right?

ravex – I RAVE YOU feat. DJ OZMA March 10, 2009

Track Listing

1. I RAVE YOU feat. DJ OZMA
2. HOUSE NATION feat. LISA
3. I RAVE YOU feat. DJ OZMA (Extended Version)
4. I RAVE YOU
5. I RAVE YOU feat. DJ OZMA (Karaoke)

1. I RAVE YOU feat. DJ OZMA

This song has to be the most random song ever.  ravex collaborates with a huge DJ and seriously, this couldn’t have been more hilarious.  I RAVE YOU begins with a repetitive line of “Are you ready?” over and over and again.  DJ OZMA comes in for a bit, but somehow he’s not the only important one because there’s women singing and other guys singing.  It lacks a real purpose, but this song is very good for rave music.  If it wasn’t freaky enough, the PV is even more random and strange…You have to watch the PV for sure.

2. HOUSE NATION feat. LISA

If you don’t know LISA, then let me explain.  LISA was part of m-flo but she left for solo purposes leaving Taku and VERBAL to go on their collab craze.  So here we now and LISA and Taku are together again for a track.  I was so happy HOUSE NATION wasn’t as crazy as the previous track, but the opening was just terrible.  Once LISA comes in she really sounds so good and the synths remind me of “MATERIAL WORLD” just a little bit.  It’s pretty cool that the song is all in English as well.  Definitly a really good track.

3. I RAVE YOU feat. DJ OZMA (Extended Version)

Oh hell no, do we really need to extend the song even longer?  It’s not bad because the song is just a minute longer, so it’s not overly troublesome, but the song is still as random and just funny.  Oh the memories from the PV.

4. I RAVE YOU

Now I’m not sure of the reasoning of this if it’s just DJ OZMA who’s doing this track, but it starts off a lot differently.  Instead of the “Are you ready?” line, they start off with some interesting synths and that’s just it.  There’s no lyrics or anything….I think it’s an instrumental, but then what’s the next track?

 

 

ravex’s debut was out of this world.  I RAVE YOU is such a party song and was energetic and full of surprises.  HOUSE NATION was a lot more easier to follow and LISA has good voice for sure.  Sweet single though

ravex – Believe in LOVE feat. BoA February 19, 2009

Track Listing

1. Believe in LOVE feat. BoA
2. Golden LUV feat. MAKI GOTO
3. MEGA ravex feat. ANNA TSUCHIYA, BoA, DJ OZMA, LISA, MAKI GOTO, MONKEY MAJIK, TOHOSHINKI, TRF, and YOKO ONDO

1. Believe in LOVE feat. BoA

ravex’s 2nd A-side pairs them up with BoA which was a good choice on their part.  There’s a pretty cool beat and synth bleeps and BoA’s vocals are really nice for the most part, especially when they get to the slow part of the song.  She really shows off and it’s love.  There’s even a cello part in it, how awesome is that?  It’s so much better than the acoustic version found on BoA’s “Eien”

2. Golden LUV feat. MAKI GOTO

At least we finally get some Gocchin, “Fly away” was really good, but her 2nd foray as the new avex gal is a collaboration with ravex and I was surprised at how loud this track is.  It does seem like the song is a bit on the messy side, but whenever Maki is singing, it sounds lively and the pulsing beat is sweet.  It still isn’t as great as BoA’s track though.

3. MEGA ravex feat. ANNA TSUCHIYA, BoA, DJ OZMA, LISA, MAKI GOTO, MONKEY MAJIK, TOHOSHINKI, TRF, and YUKO ANDO

• I RAVE YOU (ORIGINAL)
• HOUSE NATION feat. LISA
• V.I.P.P (Very Important Party People feat. TRF
• Just the Two of Us feat. Tohoshinki
• Believe in LOVE feat. BoA
• Warui ko Mitsuketa feat. YUKO ANDO
• Bangalicious feat. ANNA TSUCHIYA
• 1 more night feat. MONKEY MAJIK
• Golden LUV feat. MAKI GOTO
• I RAVE YOU feat. DJ OZMA

I wish there was titles to the new songs.  It’s pretty much a mega-mix of what’s to come on ravex’s debut album.  It first starts out with LISA singing HOUSE NATION which is on the first single.  Things become a bit confusing, because it’s not in the order the title suggests.  TRF maybe is the 2nd to be featured perhaps, then we enter Tohoshinki’s track which sounds a bit monotonous…BoA comes up next with the eponymous track of this single.  I’ve never heard any of Yuko Ando’s music but she has a pretty meh voice here.  Anna Tsuchiya is a surprise to many as an artist to be ravexfied and well, her song is gritty and has a rockish sound to it so it fits well.  MONKEY MAJIK also is a surprise because of how the song sounds against the other tracks.  It’s going to be one to remember.  Maki pops up next with the track that was B-siding the single.  It actually fitted good her.  DJ OZMA though just doesn’t really fit (then again watch the PV).  It’s a good megamix though.

 (EDIT as of 9/24) – Coming back to this megamix there’s a whole lot of differences that were made from the megamix.  Let’s start off that these songs at the time besides the preceding single had no name at the time. Namie’s song and CHISA’s song weren’t featured here which is odd since it’s probably thought that they weren’t going to make it, or last decisions were made.  Warui ko Mitsuketa and Just the Two of Us had little changes to the album version.  VERBAL was added to TRF’s song before hitting the album, but the most drastic change was of Anna’s song.  Album version had a more powerful arrangement.  Odd right?

 

OH this single was so much better than the randomness of “I RAVE YOU”.  BoA’s song was so dreamy and romantic at the same time, it’s hard to express it, but damn this song was good for BoA.  Maki’s song was pretty good too, but I was more entranced with “Fly away”.  Luckily it’ll be on the album.  The preview for the album was interesting and seeing some bizarre artists get the touch was weird.  Still, def better than their debut.