Kuroki Meisa - Magazine
I was pleasantly surprised by this album. I've talked about Kuroki Meisa before, and the one thing about her that I just can't handle are the repetitive choruses. Sure, they don't ruin the song. Not quite. But I just don't want to run around for the rest of the day with an urge to scream "SAY ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE!" at strangers. But in "Magazine" Meisa moves away from her tendency to go over the top with annoyingly catchy choruses, and instead strikes the perfect balance with them. You can listen to these songs, get to know the chorus in about two seconds and sing along, then the song obligingly drifts out of your memory so that you have room for rational thought. Outside the choruses, the music is good: dancey and electronic. She loses her way for a few tracks starting at "SHOCK -unmei-" where the music suddenly becomes disjointed and hard to listen to, but by the time you get to "LOVEHOLIC" it's back on it's way up. I liked a lot of the songs, but I think "CELEBRATE" was probably my favorite. Definitely good for a listen.
9mm Parabellum Bullet - Revolutionary
I love how hard the rock on this album is. I've noticed that it can be hard to find J-rock that's just rock without being too poppy or too emo or too visual. Not that I dislike those genres! Love them. But sometimes, just like I said in my Straightener review you just want no frills rock. "Revolutionary" delivers. Although I don't like it quite as well as I liked "STOUT" (the Straightener album), it's great. The music is fun to listen to, energetic, and keeps up interest through cool background sounds (twisting metal in "Cold Edge"), carefully constructed and deconstructed intensity ("3031"); and effects ("Black Market Blues"). No two songs sound alike - which is a plus over "STOUT" - but I didn't find the bass as strong. Strong bass is my cherry on top, and your song can be great without it, just not awesome. There was great work on the drums and guitar, though, which help close the gap for me. I'll definitely be looking up more 9mm Parabellum Bullet.
CHiAKi KURiYAMA - Cold Finger Girl
Oh my god, you guys, I want to like this single so much. The music is great! There's good work on guitar, drums, and bass, and I like Chiaki's slightly scratchy voice. Jaylee on GK said that she sounds kind of like Shiina Ringo and I totally agree. The music has that quirkiness that makes Ringo's music so much fun to listen to and which is so hard to achieve. Of course, Jaylee gives the caveat that she sounds like Ringo if Ringo didn't know how to control her voice. ... Yeah. Sadly, some poor artistic choices just freaking ruin it. "Cold Finger Girl" itself starts out really well - it's a "groovy" song in that it grooves and makes me want to dance - but on the second verse she brings in a man to sing with her and his voice competes with hers in a very unflattering way. He's leveled louder than she is so that it's like a duet, but their voices are too close in range to make it work. Then, after the hook, she brings in some scratchy, off-tune whistling. Uh.... No. The instrumental is better than the vocal track until the whistling, which is somehow even worse in that track. The "Level E" opening version is the best version of the song: no whistling, and the man's voice is leveled way down, making it so much better, but because it's a show opening it's shorter, which is a fail in itself. "Getsumen Nanchakuriku" is good, though, so that's something. Good try, Chiaki. Just, next time, do me a favor and don't ruin your perfectly good song.
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