But enough! Less chatter! More music!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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