RADWIMPS - Zettai Zetsumei - Better Than a Stalemate

First off, sorry for the Day of Fail yesterday. Let's hope it's the last for awhile.

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"Zettai Zetsumei" is the new album by RADWIMPS, a band that is quickly becoming my new favorite. They were founded in 2001, but only just began to gain ground on the charts around 2008. Their music is solid rock with odd touches here and there that make each song totally unique in both the discography and the rock world at large. Although I haven't listened to their music extensively, I've begun to get a sense for it and I already have a few favorite songs.

Knowing what little I do of RADWIMPS, I can't say whether "Zettai Zetsumei" is a good representation of their work. But I can say that I feel conflicted about it. On the one hand there are great songs peppered all through this album: "DADA," "Kimi to Hitsuji to Ao," "Gakugeikai," "Kyoushinshou," "G Koui," "DUGOUT." All of these are great songs that I'd replay a hundred times. But then there are the weird songs: "Daidarabocchi" and its dragging melody, "Ground Zero" opening with the laughter of small children, "Keitai Denwa" and it's rock-country fusion, and the fully unnecessary bonus track. These aren't bad songs either, but I can't really say that I enjoyed them. A good illustration of how odd the songs can get is in the vocal quality: Noda's voice sounds a lot like Fujiwara's (from Bump of Chicken) during ballads, which isn't so much bad as it is odd; and then in "G Koui" he turns around and sounds exactly like Eminem. And in the rest of the songs he sounds like Noda, his unique voice perfectly suited to the music. A lot of the songs start out really weird and get better, making for a disjointed experience through the entire album. As weird as RADWIMPS is as a band, I can see them making the album disjointed on purpose to keep it from getting boring. But I can't help but have the sneaking suspicion that they aren't intending for the album to be quite as weird and disjointed as it feels to me.

But even though it's disjointed, I do like it. Most of the music is good without question, and most of what's left if good once you see where they're going with it. And, just as important as these other two considerations, none of the songs are actually bad.

I listened in on today's UStream broadcast for GK, and I heard MellowB from JPop Suki mention that albums 3 and 4 ("RADWIMPS 3" and "RADWIMPS 4," incidentally) are the best in their discography. And although "Zettai Zetsumei" isn't ideal for me all the way through, I'm encouraged by how good the really good songs were and plan on listening to those albums as well. Although "Zettai Zetsumei" has introduced me to parts of RADWIMPS I'm not as sure about, I've come out more convinced than ever that I really am in love. (So wish me luck on albums 3 and 4!)