7/20/11 Releases (Part 2): MAA, Kimaguren, Milky Bunny, Sakanaction, One Ok Rock

Time for more reviews! LET'S DO THIS.

MAA, "Okay"
Single, Dance

Although the releases from last week (and several weeks previous) don't really show it, I'm a sucker for dance music. Even so, this single is so weird for me, because "Okay" would normally fall into my "Meh, it's dance music" pile that I listen to but don't feel like promoting. But despite all my attempts to chuck this single into that pile, it seems to climb back out of it's own damn volition. Although the music itself is fine, the thing about this single that really catches my attention is MAA's voice. It's much lower than most female singers in Japan, and it has this lazy quality that makes it seem as though she's saying "Yeah, I'm a good singer. Whatever." Normally that would cause me to fly to Japan and chuck things at people's heads, but I find it infectious with "Okay." The title track is good, but I really prefer "F.B" out of the two. (Although it has this barfing sound at the end that always ruins the song for me. If I can skip past that, though, I'm solid.) The final track, "Tomorrow @ Your Kingdom," is very minimalistic and starts to approach techno, which is really great for me. Overall, the music is solid, but the most standout part of this single is MAA's voice and I'm interested to hear more.

Kimaguren, Hotarubi
Single, Pop/Reggae

I found this album very refreshing. Although I really love the laid back, easy style that I heard all last week, I was starting to get bored of "laid back." Okay, okay, okay. "Hotarubi" is laid back. But it also has plenty of energy, and there's such minimal instrumentation on each song that it brightens the laid back feel like a squeeze of lemon in your water. The light reggae feeling (and I emphasize the word "light") gives the music a Carribean feeling without making you want to smoke a joint and shoot your brains out because you're listening to island music. Both "Hotarubi" and "Bucket List" and very easy to listen to, and I just can't pick which I like better. The instrumental of "Hotarubi" is even more minimalistic, but good. It's hard to say what the world is coming to when I say something like that, but I can only assume that it's a generally positive direction. Worth a listen if you want a little lemon in your water after last week's picks.

Milky Bunny, "Bunny Days"
Single, Pop

I. Cannot. Believe. That. I. Am. Writing. About. This. Single. I saw it on the list and thought, "Well, there's a waste of bandwidth. At least I'll be able to skip it after one track." I mean, it has a girl on the front in a Playboy bunny outfit. The group name is Milky Bunny. It's the epitome of what I don't want to like in Japanese music: over-Westernized and grasping at a cuteness that it will never achieve because it has no idea what the hell it's doing. But the music was actually...pretty good. Unlike AKB48, there's no trace of "over-voice" (i.e., 6,000 tiny Japanese girls singing together), and the singer has a surprisingly good voice. Although the title track is a little strained in places, it's essentially a classic rock-feeling piece that's fun and upbeat. The better song is "Song For..." which is really pretty and simple, despite it's horribly cliched name. Even the instrumentals are good! Although this isn't my favorite single of the pack, and the songs aren't necessarily all that memorable or amazing, I feel that I needed to relate my surprise and shock at finding my preconceptions challenged. Try this single out. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Sakanaction, "Bach no Senritsu wo Yoru ni Kiita Sei Desu"
Single, Electronic Rock

Ah, Sakanaction. The makers of "Aruku Around." I love these guys. When I saw them on my list this week I was happy and relieved because I knew there would be at least one good CD. As always this is a disc full of electronic rock that just blows the mind. The title track, with it's title so long that I usually just reduce it to "Bach," is energetic and desperate sounding. There's a great use of chorals, and it's interesting to hear the piano against the strongly electronic sound that Sakanaction has. (I find it jarring, but it makes sense in the context of the PV, which you should watch if you have any interest in being my friend.) "Years" is slow and intense, with great use of a stuttering sound in the electronic elements. "Right Dance" (single remix isn't linked, but you'll get the idea) has awesome opening drums and an interesting vibe that plays back to the 80s but still sounds fresh and updated. My favorite part about Sakanaction is how they keep the synth interesting so that it contributes to the priece raher than simply adding it to the back of the music like so many other bands. I know, I know - they're electro rock and that's their M.O. Well some genres should get credit just for being smart about how they make music, okay?

ONE OK ROCK, "Re:Make/NO SCARED"
Single, Rock

This is a good single, but I was somehow expecting more from it. I was really taken back by how good "SELECTION" was, and this single just seems weak in comparison. Don't get me wrong: "Re:Make" is good (and I love the PV, which you need to check out via their Facebook page; just trust me) and it's sort of Panic At The Disco vocals is really interesting to hear out of a Japanese band. "NO SCARED" is far and away the harder of the two A-sides, and also a great song with more screamed vocals. But when you hold these songs up to "Kanzen Kanaku Dreamer" and "Answer Is Near," there's just no comparison. I wish that I could pin down the reason for you, but I'm not sure what it is myself. Maybe it's that "Re:Make" and "NO SCARED" feel less polished? I don't know that it's that, either. All I know is that I would listen to "Kanzen" and "Answer" until they evaporated from exhaustion, but "Re:Make" and "NO SCARED" just don't get that kind of commitment from me. Don't get me wrong: this is a really great single (except for "Rock,Scissors,Paper" - blugh amatuerish blugh), but it's just not where I was expecting ONE OK ROCK to be.

7/20/11 Releases (Part 1) and Update

What with the continual Robot War skirmishes at my house, I've been getting so behind on listening to music that I'm afraid there won't be a Part 2 for the 7/13 releases. There was a lot of good music that I did get to listen to (which I'll list below so you can check it out) and a lot that I suspected would be good but didn't have time to listen to (which I'll also list), but that's precisely why I can't post on them; there's too much, and I started too late on that week. So: my apologies.

As for the week of 7/20, so far I've listened to Buono ("Natsu Dakara!"), Ikimonogakari ("Warattetainda/NEW WORLD MUSIC"), and NMB48 ("Zetsumetsu Kurokami Shoujo") and it's all boring and lame. I'll be getting more music from this release week today, and I'll (hopefully) have some good music for you on Saturday!


GOOD STUFF FROM 7/13
ViViD, "BLUE" -- VK, single
NIKIIE, "*(NOTES)" -- Pop rock, album
School Food Punishment, "Prog-Roid" -- Rock, album
Fear, And Lothing in Las Vegas, "NEXTREME" -- Rock, EP
Naomi & Goro & Naruyoshi, "Calendula" -- alternative, album

HEARD IT'S GOOD, BUT DIDN'T GET TO HEAR
Arukara, "Kocchi wo Miteiru" -- Rock, album
Straightener, "YOU & I/Hitsu no Muro ha Oku wo Noboru" -- Rock, single

7/13/11 Releases (Part 1): Kato Miliyah x Shimizu Shota, Negoto, Miyano Mamoru, JUJU

Well, my JMusic-loving friends, the Robot War continues at my house. It seems that one of the droids reassigned our static IP address so that we were totally without our home internet for awhile. I tried leaching internet in the area to get around it, but you know how leaching goes - sometimes a pleasant surprise, sometimes unpleasant. In this case, not as pleasant.

But enough! Less chatter! More music!

Kato Miliyah x Shimizu Shota - "BELIEVE"
Single, Pop

Anyone who's reads this blog or listens to me on GK will know that I'm not a big pop fan. Pop is fine and all, but it just doesn't usually get my blood pumping. So the fact that I think this is a pretty decent pop single probably means something like "THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST POP SINGLES OF ALL TIME! OF ALL TIME!!!" The title track is catchy, pretty, and beautifully performed by both Miliyah and Shota. Their voices really compliment each other, and the song is very strongly composed. That also goes for "My love goes on," which has a more relaxed feel and some light synth and piano going on in the background. As a dance music fan I also really loved "Love Forever (DAISHI DANCE REMIX)." It takes the relaxed vibe from "My love goes on" and moves it forward, but it still ripples with energy to carry the single along. It has more of a trance feeling, so a lot of people will probably hate it, but that's exactly what I like about it. The "BELIEVE" instrumental is surprisingly strong; I usually find instrumentals are a waste of time, energy, space, money, life, etc. But when they work, they're good. (If only the industry would learn to pick and choose what they turn into instrumentals, rather than throwing an instrumental version at every song that comes out of the factory.) Overall, this was a very satisfying single that I'd be happy to listen to over and over.

Negoto - exNegoto
Album, Alternative Rock

Damn this is a good album. Although lacking in the "weird" that I love so much, Negoto does a great job balancing the relaxed feeling and tempo of their music with energy that carries the album along and doesn't let it languish. "Cider no Umi" starts the album out in a relaxed way, while also pumping the listener up for the music to come; "Loop" opens with the bass and drum to get the album moving; "Charon" (one of my favorites) has lots of synth at the beginning and a really catchy hook. "Week...end" has a little harder feeling than the other songs, while "Kisetsu" (another favorite), and takes is back down just a tad but adds in a lot of great piano for a slightly different feeling. "AO" calms the album further and is the first truly slow song, sleepy and relaxing. The album ends with "Instrumental," which is not actually an instrumental, but is cool and quiet and slow. Careful mixing and delicate guitar work give the music a spacial quality, while the bass and drums keep everything grounded so that the music doesn't just float away. I'm a bass whore, but it's a rare day when you'll hear me comment on drums; in general I feel that they don't add much more to the music than a beat. On "exNegoto," however, I immediately noticed the drums and the way that they subtly effect the atmosphere of each song. Along with strong drumming, the guitar work is very subtle and beautiful, the vocals are strong and sincere, and the paino and synth add just the right classical and jazzy flavor to make this album stand out.

Miyano Mamoru - Orpheus
Single, Rock

This single really grated on me, because it should have been good. It's a rock single, it uses synth, it's high energy. True, Miyano Mamoru has that almost-too-high Hyde-voice, but I can usually overlook that if there's good music to listen to. I was so excited when I heard the title track: it's fast, it's energetic, it uses a lot of piano alongside the electric guitar, there's a bit of synth to spice things up a little. But then we go into "MOONLIGHT," and the single heads deep into bad R&B territory: crappy clap tracks, copious use of chimes. Synth strings. The "woosh." It's like he wrote it with the express purpose of pissing me off as much as possible. Finally "MOONLIGHT" ends, and "STAND UP SOUL" starts. I think "Okay, good! Rock again!" But it doesn't even take 30 seconds for me to realize that, as much as I thought that "MOONLIGHT" was meant to piss me off, the coup de grace is "STAND UP SOUL." It's a song with good bones: good energy, good vocal performance, good beat. But those good bones have been covered up with muscle and flesh of annoying anime-opening-style synth, lackluster guitar performance, chimes, and a freaking organ, to create a brain-eating musical zombie. This single makes me want to fly to Japan and punch Miyano Mamoru in the face for being so deceptive, and for associating this piece of crap with Orpheus.

JUJU - YOU
Album, Pop

I shouldn't be surprised that I don't really like this album. If you forced me to choose the number one thing I hate about Japanese music, I wouldn't choose at all because it's a tie between two very different things. But of those two, the thing that pertains to this album is the OVER-FOCUS ON BALLADS. I hate ballads, and it's all J-music's fault. When I first started listening to J-music I liked them okay; they weren't my favorite, but listening to them didn't make me wish my eardrums would burst and put me out of my misery. Over time I heard more and more and more of them because they're ubiquitous on the J-music scene, and I found that the quality is almost never good. There are a few exceptions ("Gibs" by Shiina Ringo being the most notable), but 99% of ballads are crappy filler that the record labels force artists to include because Japanese people are insane and can't get enough of ballads since X-Japan made them a thing in the 80s. So, what with JUJU being voted the #1 ballad singer, you'd think I'd know that I wouldn't really like this album. And yet it came as a surprise. It's not that the songs are bad, because they aren't. It's because they're all ballads, and I can only take so many of them. I liked "Sayonara no Kawari Ni" (the only good ballad of the group), "If" because of it's jazzy vibe, and "Voice" because of it's more upbeat feel and fun use of strings. "Tsunagari" wasn't too bad, either. But if you hate ballads the way I do, avoid this album at all costs.

7/6/11 Releases (Part 2): SHERBETS, Nega, Higashida Tomohiro, LITE, Noanowa

When I wrote my first review for the week, I'd only been able to listen to about half the music on my list, and I thought that it was more than a little depressing that only two pieces stood out from the crowd. To be honest, I wasn't much looking forward to listening to the second half of my list, because it just seemed like it would be a boring, painful trial.

I won't lie - some of the music wasn't a walk in the park, and there were a couple of albums that I wound up skipping because, after 4 straight tracks of bad music, I wasn't willing to listen to the other 6-8. However, quite a lot of it surprised me with how good it is. Most of this set is what I would call "Michi Music," after the ex-boyfriend that had the best taste in relaxed alternative music, and I was happy to take a mini vacation from rock and let my mind wander.

Noanowa, "Hi! How Are You?"
Single, Alternative

This single is small and fun and different as you'd expect from Noanowa. It opens with the fun and happy "Have a Good Day!" then moves into the synthy "Namida Porori" that has a bit of a "Galaxy Express" anime feeling. "Peek-a-Boo" is more bouncy and fun again. "Everynight" soars with long notes on the keyboard and quick picks on the guitar to keep it moving. "Calling" is more calm, with delicate violin and cello counterbalanced with strong vocals. As good as the music is, though, my favorite part about this single is the lack of instrumentals, karaoke versions, and all the rest of that ridiculous filler that's on so many other singles. (I'm looking at you, Itano Tomomi!) I find myself wishing that there was more variety of sound, like there was on "Magical Circus," but other than that one nit-picky point, this single is wonderful.

SHERBETS, "FREE"
Album, Alternative

This is one of the most chill albums that I've ever heard, with soft acoustic guitar, pretty piano and keyboard touches, and sinple drum lines that keep the beat clean and lean. I'm particularly in love with the gentle "Lydia and David," but the whole album has a lot to offer: "Kore Ijou Itte ha Ikenai" is jazzy and upbeat, but quiet; "LOVE BEAN" has a beautiful interplay between the keyboard and the cerebral, echoing guitar; "Aoi Sunglass" feels almost too quiet, shimmering with subterfuge. There are a few tracks that pet peeve me - "Motor Blitz Breakers" has more of a rock flavor that interrupts the atmosphere of the album, and "Nothing For All" uses horrible synthed strings - but there's more good than bad. This is my go-to relaxation album right now - a great album to listen to while looking at the stars and drinking scotch on the rocks.

Higashida Tomohiro, "AROUND THE WORLD"
Album, Alternative

If "FREE" is a stare-at-the-stars-and-drink-scotch album, "AROUND THE WORLD" is an after-party-with-close-friends-and-bourbon album. It's a little more upbeat and "fast," but is still remains firmly in the chill music department. The title track gets the album off on a good foot with a steady, head-nod-able beat. There are a few more of those faster songs - "ROCK N' ROLL" (a little classic rock for my taste, but not bad), "Still Crazy," and "HEY MY BROTHER" are several of the best - but the album is mostly slower songs with minimal drum, finger-picked acoustic guitar, and the occasional synthesizer ("LAST SONG," "Cafe," "Nomad") or cello ("Tasogare no Waltz"). Overall, there's not a lot to complain about with this album but the length: it's only 9 tracks long with an average track length under 5 minutes, and two tracks fully under 4 minutes. Although I prefer to see closer to an hour of music on an album, "AROUND THE WORLD" at least has the quality to get make up for it.

LITE, "For all the innocence"
Album, Alternative/Instrumental

"For all the innocence" has the same length problem that "AROUND THE WORLD" does, but it also makes up for it with quality. Here we're out of the "chill" music; instead, the entire album is energetic instrumental electronic music. I'm in love! This is obviously not everyone's tasty cup of sencha, but it's worth a listen if you think you can handle not having lyrics. The opening, "Another World," shines with electronic instruments playing together with more traditional instruments (including some kick-ass bass) and nature sounds, then moves into "Red Horse in Blue," which soars with energy, carried along by electric guitar. Unfortunately, the album falls a little in the middle for being a bit too repetitious, but there's still some interesting stuff going on musically. It regains its footing toward the end with "Duck Follows an Eccentric," "7day Cicada," and "Mute Wale." If this were any other genre of music I probably wouldn't have given it a spot when several of the tracks were less strong than the others, but "For all the innocence" has such a different style compared with everything else out there and it's all so well-executed that I had to include it. I'm really looking forward to hearing more from LITE.

7/6/11 Releases (Part 1) - ONE OK ROCK, SuiseiNoboAz

ONE OK ROCK - "One Ok Rock Selection"
Single, Rock

Damn this is an ass-kicking single. Although One Ok Rock (pronounced "One Oke Rock," like "one o'clock" with a Japanese accent) is one of those bands that I've had a feeling I would really like, I haven't had a lot of experience with them to confirm that feeling. Sure, I watched the "Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer" PV (below), but one song isn't enough to know for sure whether you like a band. Now four songs - that would be plenty! If only I had four songs... Well would you look at that! "Selection" has four songs! And I'm convinced: these guys are amazing. Each of the songs is energetic and powerful, including "Answer Is Near," the "slow song." (I mean that in the sense that it's slower than the others, but it's really not that slow. I don't know if One Ok Rock knows the meaning of "slow song," and I hope they never learn.) If you want music that will make you dance in your seat and headbang a little, this is the single for you.



SuiseiNoboAz - "THE (OVERUSED) END OF THE WORLD and I MISS YOU MUH-FUH"
Album, Rock
The music on this album is so weird, and if you know me, then you know that's a good thing. The style that SuiseiNoboAz has juxtaposes very chill guitar and bass work with intense drums, backup guitar, and vocals. Unlike One Ok Rock, none of these songs is really fast or intense, but they do give that feeling because of one or two parts that are. This makes the songs really easy to listen to but keeps them well out of the soft rock genre. Each part is very skillfully played, and there are a lot of fun little stylistic treats throughout the album to keep your interest up: bubbly sounding bass in "ultra," rolling guitar in "shoegazer," a sort of jazzy cadence in "a song about camping," and others for each track. One annoying point is that the singer is always yelling, which wore on my ears after a whole album, but he uses a lot of very cutely poor Engrish pronunciation that redeems him. My favorite line is "I HATE YOU, MAH-ZUH-FAH-KAH!" in "64." Near-literal lolz occurred when I heard that. Overall, this album is weird enough to keep your interest, but normal enough to be approachable. More great balance on SuiseiNoboAz's part.

Hiatus is OVER

Damn if that didn't take long enough!

My apologies. You'd never believe everything that's happened to me since the beginning of June. Let's just say that we had a mini Robot War at my house, and we'll call it close enough.

Anyway, the hiatus is over! And I'd like to take this opportunity to announce a change in format for the blog. Previously I would assign myself one or two new releases to listen to and review each day, but I found that my assignments were usually not music I was terribly interested in. Occasionally I'd see something that I was determined to listen to and would plug it into the calendar, but for the most part the process of assigning myself music was very hit and miss. (Mostly miss.) I was starting to dread listening to my assignments, because I knew that I probably wouldn't like what I was hearing. In the mean time, I started listening to everything that was released in the week in order to pick out music for GKAA. I noticed that there was good music coming out, and that I was just missing it when I chose my reviews because only one or two CDs out of twenty or more were the good ones.

That got me wondering how I could review the good music instead of the lame music. Finally I decided that I'd just keep listening to all the new releases, then post about what I felt strongly about (either good or bad). That would keep me from writing a ton of posts saying "Well, this wasn't really that great, but I guess it wasn't that bad...." and help me look forward to listening to the music again.

So that's the new format. Right now I think I'll be posting once a week, but that will probably move up to two or three times a week soon. (Trying to compile all that information and music and save up all that passion for a week is actually a pretty tough task.) I'll be starting tonight, and will do my best to keep on a weekly schedule. Can't wait to get started!