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.

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!

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!)

Well dammit

Look what I went and did, you guys.

I told everyone on GK about this blog today.

DAMMIT.

Now I'm going to actually be held accountable for producing content on a regular basis. No excuses anymore. And I don't even know what I'm going to review for tonight.

...

Wish me luck!

I suck, but it's okay

So I didn't post the day after that last post. Or the day after. Or the day after.

Gotcha!

Hahahahahahahaha!

....

Anyway, I do have an excuse. I had been planning to do a review of Sakanaction's single, "Rookie," that was released on 3/16. I even had the thing 95% written! But then I got word from my friends at Gaijin Kanpai that Zer0 will be on hiatus for a little while and I'll be filling in for her next week, and also that our planned single review (move - "Overtakers feat. KAWAMURA RYUICHIxSUGIZO") fell through, so we'll instead be reviewing Sakanaction's "Rookie."

So, woot me! Come listen to me on Wednesday on the uStream if you really want to know what I have to say about "Rookie" and/or you want to hear me trip over my tongue like Gene Simmons with a fleshy jump rope and back-pedal faster than Lance Armstrong moving backwards through time at light speed. If nothing else, I know it'll be amusing.

(UPDATE: Here's the show I was on! It was awesome!

Space Shower TV Music Video Awards Review

I watched all 5 crazy hours of music videos nominated for the Space Shower TV MVAs, then wrote reviews on this! Read about my crazy endeavor on Gaijin Kanpai!

Monkey Majik Interview on GK!

Blaise and tax from Monkey Majik talk about the band's new album, "westview," in this interview with Excite, brilliantly translated by your humble blogger. Check it out over at Gaijin Kanpai!

Interview with flumpool on GK!

Yes, yes, yes. Days and days of fail. I'm working on it!

In the mean time, read my translation of Excite's interview with flumpool on GK!

Interview with Kuroki Meisa on GK!

Hey, in may fail despair, I almost forgot that I have an interview translation up on GK! It's Kuroki Meisa on her new album "Magazine" (which I will probably review tomorrow). Check it out!

Review of STRAIGHTENER's "STOUT" on GK!

I wrote a review of Straightener's new album, "STOUT," for Gaijin Kanpai! You should totally check it out!

Day 20 - JASMINE - GOLD

I'm so much more impressed by the album selections than I was the singles selections! "GOLD" is wonderful, like no other hip hop I've ever heard. In his review of the album, Jaylee says that "'GOLD' really does everything it can to raise the bar not just for J-Urban music but for Japanese music overall." I read that and had a hard time believing it, or that I'd be able to tell. I mean, I'm a pretty plebeian when it comes to music; you've probably noticed that a lot of my reviews are "This is good because I like it!" and "This is bad because I don't like it!" I try to not to be facile about my choices, but I don't really know a lot about how music is created and produced, so my likes and dislikes are all that I have to go on. That said, this is definitely a different kind of hip hop than I'm used to. Good different. JASMINE works in so many different, interesting things - from uncommon instruments to melding in different genres - that the music is far from the boring sugar pop that you get from Nishino Kana or Koda Kumi. Every track has something to recommend it: "L.I.P.S." is a sexy song that doesn't go into the "gross" range like a lot of American music has been doing for two decades, and is a bad habit that Japanese music is picking up recently. "Bad Girl" mixes in a strong rock feeling, even using electric guitars, to give it a much harder sound than bass alone could. "dear my friend" uses all kinds of uncommon instruments like harpsichord and sitar. But even if none of that does anything for you, the vocal quality is unmatched. JASMINE sings so sincerely and passionately that she makes you sit up and listen. Even if you don't like hip hop - hell, especially if you don't like hip hop! - you'll probably love "GOLD."


JASMINE(ジャスミン)　「This Is Not A Game」 [PV]
Uploaded by wonderful-life1989. - Explore more music videos.

Day 19 - ICONIQ - CHANGE MYSELF

Thank god I was wrong yesterday. "CHANGE MYSELF" is a delightful album from track one. My husband and I listened to it literally 5 or 6 times in a row - we heard it come to an end and loop, and decided that we didn't mind listening to it again. We decided this at least 4 times. When I listened to it myself, to take a closer listen to the tracks for this review, I was sure I'd find something about the album that would change my mind - some annoying little bit of instrumentation or some annoying musical trick or just flat boringness. But none of those happened. I could have played it again and been happy.

The essence of what makes this album good is that it sounds fresh. I know that's a word that gets tossed around a lot in the music industry, especially the Japanese music industry, and it seems to have all kinds of meanings: "novel," "interesting," or simply "new." And although those words apply here, that's not the "fresh" I'm talking about. I mean fresh in the same sense as in "a breath of fresh air" or "fresh cut grass." Each song is poppy and electronic and light, and it should sound like every other album of pop out there but it somehow doesn't. It sounds like dew on budding flowers, or dappled sunshine on grass, or falling autumn leaves, or new fallen snow. I don't mean to wax poetic here, but it really is tough for me to use regular words to describe the sound of the album. It's otherworldly. It flows between pop styles, each song light as a bubble, even the ones with strong bass. My favorite is probably "CHANGE MYSELF," but every song has merit. There are no mediocre tracks, and certainly no bad ones. The best thing I can suggest is to listen to it. Just like Noanowa, it might not be your favorite style, but you'd have to be crazy or lying to claim that it's bad.



(Sorry for the partial PV. I can't get a full version from Youku to load on the blog for some reason!)

Day 15 - Noanowa - Magical Circus

When GK reviewed "Magical Circus", I listened to it, but to be honest I only remembered "lalala-uh-uh-yeah!" because it has such a memorable quality. Because I'd been able to ignore the rest of the album, I assumed that I didn't like it and until now had not listened to it again.

I owe Noanowa an apology for not giving them a second change until now. "Magical Circus" is absolutely delightful, and I understand why both Zer0 and Loki put it on their Top 5 lists for 2010. The album features gorgeous music with a cute twist here and unique flair there. They use several different kinds of instruments, including handbells and cellos, and different backup vocal styles including choir and a capella. The main vocals are sung by Yukko, whose childlike voice imbues each song with a delightful sense of wonder. It's hard to pin Noanowa to a genre, so I won't try; instead, I found the inventiveness of the music similar to that of Shiina Ringo, like Noanowa was going for "Ringo lite" (and fully succeeded).

The opening tracks are cute and upbeat, like the opening songs for shojo anime, combining simple cuteness with musical playfulness in terms of both composition and instrumentation that keeps the tracks fresh. Then atmosphere of the album changes with "Tsunaide," which is considerably quieter and calmer than the tracks before it, and the transformation completes with "Squonk no Namida," which is upbeat but more mature than the tracks before it, as though it was written for "Cowboy Bebop" rather than a shojo. From here the album continues with it's more mature feeling, each song musically intense in a way that will make your heart beat faster.

The album is magical all the way through, and no matter what Jaylee says, is something that I could easily listen to any track from without hesitation. Did I like every little bit of this album? No - there were some parts that hit a bit of a pet-peevy nerve (especially those damn synth strings that tried to ruin "Tsunaide" and "Neverland!"), but no song is worth skipping or removing from a playlist. And although it may not be everyone's cup of tea, no one could claim that it's bad music. This one is worthy of the #1 album status that GK gave it, and well worth your time and money.

Day 14 - AAA - Makenai Kokoro

I reviewed the "PARADISE" PV for GK, and based on that I was excited to listen to "Makenai Kokoro." AAA isn't my favorite group in the world, but "PARADISE" was a solid electro-pop song that's just fun to listen to, and I was hoping for more of the same. I was disappointed. Every song on the single is shoddily build, and the title track is the worst offender. "Makenai Kokoro" itself seem to take itself too seriously, with the music dropping back constantly as though to emphasize how important "x" part is in the lyrics, and thereby weakening it significantly at the musical level. "Day by Day" is a bit of a non-sequitur genre-wise after "Makenai Kokoro," and winds up sounding more like an Arashi/AKB48 alliance than a AAA song. "WOW WAR TONIGHT" lies someplace between "Makenai Kokoro" and "Day by Day" with its chill electronic elements and ska-esque beat... Which is only one part of what makes it bizarre to listen to. It suffers from an identity crisis. It starts as a laid-back electro-ska song, then morphs into a hyper electro-ska song, then morphs into just eletro-pop. Add to the identity crisis the annoying and oft-repeated chorus, and it's just no good. The two instrumentals are no better, unless it's to see why the regular versions of "Makenai Kokoro" and "Day by Day" are so broken. As badly as I want to like this single, I just can't to it. Pass.

PV Fight #2

Had so much fun with this that I thought I'd do it again. Second verse same as the first!

Nishino Kana - Distance
From: "Distance" / Release: 2/9
Typical "watch the performer perform the song" PV - boring. Although the visuals are very pretty, they get old really fast. There's only so much sparkle/shine/ribbon CG that I can handle, okay? It has a lot going for it: the color is nice, the "sparkle cage" is different, and Kana looks and sounds great. But without something to tie the video into the song more closely, the video itself is just mediocre. The song, though - wow. Until now I hadn't found anything that I liked - REALLY liked - by Kana, but this is a good, solid song. She's not making the mistakes of her past anymore: if those are synth strings, they're far enough in the back of the music that you can't tell. Her English pronunciation is solid. I'm sure that the video, in its own small way, helped push the song, but it did little to display Kana's creativity or make her seem more interesting as an artist.



MiChi - LOVE is.
From: "LOVE is." / Release: 12/22
Sadly, this is another variation on the "watch the performer perform the song." The entire PV is high speed shots of MiChi as she moves around the set, and as the set is put together around her. The opening scene with MiChi, where she walks into the "bedroom," I thought that it was trying to convey a sense of how love makes you feel like everything is sped up around you. The form of the video, with the high speed shots, also works well with the fast pace of the song. But I was fooled. After she got my hopes up, MiChi dashed them: she spends most of the video sitting, talking, and looking really, really ugly: the lighting on her is terrible and makes her skin look sickly yellow, and she's shot from slightly below rather than straight on or from slightly above, which does bad things to her face shape. Although I love the song, the PV is just sad and yucky and disappointing.


MiChi LOVE is. PV
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Ketsumeishi - Ballad
From: "Ballad/Kimi to Tsukuru Mirai" / Release: 1/26
Finally a truly artistic PV! "Ballad" is a "couple" montage video, but with an alternate ending where the couple breaks up after what should have been a great vacation. I like the twist, but sadly the PV isn't all that it could be. In terms of camerawork, there's a lot of great photography, with mirror shots so that we can see the eyes of the actors. In terms of acting, I haven't seen better - both lovers look genuinely comfortable with one another during the happy scenes, and genuinely uncomfortable during sad scenes; there's a lot of skillful eye contact avoidance and ugly crying during the fight, and their connection at the beginning and pain at the end feel organic. In terms of the action, the PV is very lean: there's nothing there that doesn't work toward to the plot. But in terms of plot it's even more lean than a Japanese novel. They suffer a terrible break-up at the end, and there's no clue as to why. Although there are hints of trouble in paradise, it's nothing you'd think would lead to the (highly subtle and Japanese) blowout at the end. Even if you don't know that all the hand-holding they do would be out of the question for a first or second date in Japanese culture, the acting is good enough that you know these two aren't just getting out of a young relationship. In some ways, I like the not knowing: it almost seems to say that you have to cherish the love that you have, because love can be fragile, making the message more universal. But what does he say to her that makes such a bad breakup? "I have a wife back in Tokyo?" "My work will always be more important than you?" "I took you on this awesome vacation to tell you we should break up?" It must have been earth-shattering, but we never find out, and I can't handle not knowing.


ケツメイシ - バラード [PV]
Uploaded by _meg. - See the latest featured music videos.

Itano Tomomi - Dear J
From: "Dear J" / Release: 1/26
Here's my favorite interpretation of this video: Tomomi Itano is an android - a sex-and-dance-bot, to be specific - who was sent into this world to destroy it. She distracts women and Japanese men with her incredible dancing, and all other races of men with her sexiness. (Japanese men, of course, can't be distracted by sex.) In order to begin her destruction of humanity, she poses as a pop singer then proceeds to burn buildings to the ground using the trappings of human avarice against them. Sweet! Unfortunately, I think a more accurate interpretation is that some music exec decided that all a good PV really needs is dancing and fire, and so that's what he ordered up. Admittedly, you can't take anything away from the dancing: it's flawless as a Korean boyband. But the flat emotional performance from Tomomi leaves something to be desired, and the random, carelessly set fire gets on my nerves.


Tomomi Itano ~ Dear J - MyVideo

Brown Eyed Girls - Sign (Korean Version)
From: "Sign" / Release: 1/17
I'm super impressed with this PV. Although it's not in the "high art" category, it's a very beautifully crafted video with a solid plot. A man is getting the crap beaten out of him by a approximately one million guys in suits. The four members of Brown Eyed Girls appear occasionally, as though to cheer him on, but their faces are strangely lifeless. The shots they're in, it's clear that they're not truly there: the lighting changes, the filter on the camera goes a little misty, and the million bad guys disappear. Also quite strangely, almost all the members have blue eyes. These shots are juxtaposed against shots of the man being mercilessly beaten, and in term mercilessly defeating the guys who have been beating him. After defeating them, he hobbles into a building to find a gentleman who I can only describe as The Final Boss. And Final Boss is a sadistic fuckhead: he has all four of the Brown Eyed Girls in huge tanks of water to struggle and fight until they drown. Our guy stabs Final Boss to death - and Final Boss seems to welcome it - then goes to free the girls, but isn't in time to save even one of them. In the last shot, he looks up, and you see that our brown-eyed hero now has one blue eye. Oh, snap! Is it because he didn't save them and now he's dead inside? Only a few things about this PV bother me (mainly, how fast Final Boss was defeated), but everything else is wonderful. The music is good too, and other than the rapping sections is very fast and fun to listen to.



androp - mirrordance
From: "door" / Release: 2/16
"mirrordance" is a pretty basic PV: a lot of black and white shots, cheap effects, and not a lot of action. But for all that, it's pretty good. The purpose of this PV is clear: to underline that "mirrordance" is a love song. Almost every shot of the PV works towards focusing your attention on the girl, and highlighting her when she seems about to disappear. It's sweet and effective, showing you that, as far as the narrator of the song is concerned, she's the only thing that matters. Unfortunately, there's a certain amount of the video that's just made up of quickly flashing or brightly colored shapes that don't mean anything in particular. Although the effects point clearly to the girl when she's visible, it's easy to check out from this PV when she's not on screen because your brain gets tired trying to process the nonsensical stuff and tries to throw the girlfriend out with the bathwater. It's not bad by any means, and I recommend it. It's just not as good as it could be.



SuG - CRAZY BUNNY COASTER
From: CRAZY BUNNY COASTER / Release: 1/12
A very quirky video, but boring in the end. Takeru finds a weird cute/creepy amusement park where he and the rest of SuG play their instruments and ride the "Crazy Bunny Coaster." It's right on the very of being a "band playing the song" PV, but even the parts that aren't are just designed to be a visual overload in pink/blue/grey with quick cuts and copious use of high speed. The CG is pretty bad, and in the end I found myself comparing the design (though not the content) to Kimura Kaela's "A winter fairy is melting a snowman," and we all know how I feel about that. Also, I know that SuG is visual kei and that VK tends to have really weird outfits, but Takeru's grey spiky dress thing is just too ugly for words. The song is energetic, which is always nice, but it's in the "triple shot, quadruple sugar coffee" kind of way, which is less good. There is a high point to the video, though, and it's the band itself: rather than looking like they're just working their 9-5, they all look super excited to be playing and recording a PV. They're acting more like a new formed or newly signed band than a band that's been around for 6 years and pro-level for 2. It's refreshing and the PV deserves a look if for no other reason than that. (Sadly, the PV was deleted off the usual channels, and I couldn't find it anywhere. I'll keep looking and add back when I can find it again!)

Aqua Timez - Mayonaka no Orchestra
From: "Carpe Diem" / Release: 2/16
A pretty face, with very little behind it. The visuals in "Mayonaka no Orchestra" could easily compete with those in "Distance" in terms of sheer gorgeousness: it's a beautiful CG forest, mountain range, and seascape in a palette of blues, purples, and yellow that appears to be made of carefully cut and arranged paper pieces. (Think "South Park," if it was marketed to 13 year-old girls.) The band plays their instruments and Futoshi wanders through the fictional landscape with a butterfly companion...but a little less gay than that sounds. But that's all there really is to the PV: 6 minutes of pretty visuals, and they aren't enough to carry the PV on their own. There's no plot, no novel aspect that makes it really stand out. The song itself is very pretty, but too long: I found myself expecting it to end at 4 minutes, and instead Aqua Timez went for a late-game key change. Then I found myself expecting the end at 5 minutes and 5 and a half minutes, but instead it went on. Someone needs to teach this band the fine art of not dragging the song out until it's dead.

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THE VERDICT

Died Honorably In Battle:
• Nishino Kana - Distance
• MiChi - LOVE is.
• Tomomi Itano - Dear J
• androp - mirrordance
• SuG - CRAZY BUNNY COASTER
• Aqua Timez - Mayonaka no Orchestra

Lives In Glory To Fight Another Day:
• Ketsumeishi - Ballad
• Brown Eyed Girls - Sign (Korean Version)

Gaijin Kanpai PV Play

Like I've said before, I do a certain amount of work for Gaijin Kanpai. This week it was a PV review! I took a look at:

JASMINE - ONE
Shimizu Shota - You & I
Tohoshinki - Why? (Keep Your Head Down)
NICO Touches The Walls - Diver
Alice Nine - Gemini

Jaylee says this is his favorite PV play so far. All the more reason to check it out!

Day 7 - Superfly - Wildflower

Before I go any further, I need to explain that I'm only reviewing the "Track 1" sections of this single, and will not cover the best-of album or "Track 3" single that's attached to it. That would be almost 20 tracks, and I just don't have that kind of stamina yet.

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I wasn't expecting a lot after the "Superfly" PV that I reviewed for GK awhile back, but I was pleasantly surprised. Every track on this single is upbeat and easy to listen to. There are none that I dislike. They have a good sound, they're all solid rock with good instrumentation and vocals, and they're all toe-tappers. I wouldn't say that these are my favorite songs I've heard so far - I prefer something rock with more complex guitar, or something that's a little more dancy - but all the tracks good. I especially like "Tamashii Revolution," which has both traditional rock guitar with brass. It's a great combination that makes it really stand out from the usual rock faire. It feeds into "Free Planet," which has a similar style to "Tamashii Revolution," just without the brass. Definitely good for a listen.

Day 5 - Day of Fail

So, yesterday I was supposed to listen to something by JYJ, but wouldn't you know it, since there wasn't any specific single listed, I didn't actually listen to them at all. Awesome. Day 5 - my lucky day! - is a day of fail. I'm still going to be listening to Jaylee's JYJ single pick just as soon as I know what it is. And by "just as soon as," I mean as soon as I find out what it is, I'll tack it to the end of the list.

There is one really great thing that's coming out of all this, though: I'm listening to a lot more Japanese music, just like I wanted. You might have noticed the huge stack of PVs I put up in addition to all the music I'm scheduled to listen to. It's because now that I have something to motivate me, I've re-found my love for Japanese music! Woohoo!

I hasn't realized it when I first started this blog, but there are a lot of things that I want to do with Japanese music: I want to see all the PVs that I can, I want to listen to all the music that I can, I want to write reviews, I want to translate interviews... Everything that I'm doing at Gaijin Kanpai (they have a new episode up, btw - "BatFish" - you should check it out!), but on a much wider, grander scale. The only thing keeping me from just doing it for GK is that they need consistent content; that is, it needs to be of consistent quality and maintain a consistent level. I mean, I could produce three articles in a week, but then the next week I can barely eke out one. I have a job. I have a baby. I have a husband. I have a mother that just got out of the hospital and needs help at home. Life gets in the way sometimes, and I don't want GK to suffer.

But you guys? Feh. You guys can suffer my bad writing and my inconsistent level of content. Right?

Guys?

MiChi Interview Translation: "LOVE is."

MiChi speaks about her new single, "LOVE is." Exclusive interview translation on Gaijin Kanpai!

Day 1 - Miura Daichi - The Answer

Before I go further in the post, I'd like to apologize for it (the very first one!) being late.  Although I had some good plans for the night, my son didn't like that they didn't include him.  So I got to go to bed an hour earlier to help him get to sleep.  Hooray.

Now to the music!

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As a whole, I wasn't a huge fan of this single.  I mean, I'm not not a huge fan, either, but....well, it's really just not my style of music.  I really loved the A-side: "The Answer" is a really good song, even for not being my style.  It hits the sweet-spot on the catchiness scale: it's catchy enough that it would make a good dancing song because you can remember it well, but it doesn't turn into a "the winter fairy is melting the snowman" (Kimura Kaela) or "Telephone" (Lady Gaga) when you close your eyes at night.  I can actually see myself listening to this again, which is really a feat for a hip-hop song.

The B-sides on the other hand...meh.  "Gotta Make You Mine" has some pretty annoying electronic elements, but it's another otherwise okay song.  Very catchy.  I caught myself singing it to my son while I was feeding him dinner and right before bedtime.  Ouch.  The third track, "Human Nature," I just find totally annoying.  I'm actually listening to it now as I write, and I just want to get the paragraph over with so that I can turn it off.  ("Why?  Why?  Tell them that it's human nature..."  *barf*)

I think that this might be a good single for someone who likes hip hop, but that's just not me.  "The Answer" has some serious re-play value, but the other two songs fall short.

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Before I go, I have another bit of news.  As I may have mentioned during one of my other posts, I translate and write articles for Gaijin Kanpai.  I like to listen to what the Jaylee, Zer0, and Loki are listening to while I'm writing so that I can actually have an opinion during the uStream broadcast on Tuesdays.  Therefore, I'll be folding that listening into the listening I already do here to give you three reviews on Mondays.  (You can call it "Magical Mondays" if you want - catchy names ftw?)  First up are TESTSUYA's album "COME ON!" and MiChi's "LOVE is."  Which are due for me to write about today.  Hooray!