Kobukuro - Blue Bird - Fly away....please

"Blue Bird" has proven to essentially be just as ugly as the Yuzu album. Blugh. The title track is so sweet it seems to drip with molasses, but lacks any kind of feeling or emotion (like Korean music!). (I hate Korean music.) It also uses cheap production tricks that make it seems even more flat: the "meaningful closing echo," the "repeat the same music with different words" string....Yuck. The instrumental isn't any better - it sounds like the ending theme to a late-90s drama. Then there's "Kimi he no Shudaika," which has this combination of harp, strings, and electric guitar that sounds like it belongs in an 80's Fourth of July celebration. The song itself isn't too bad, but when those guitars come in I just want to listen to anything else - even "Blue Bird" is better than those guitars! Even Yuzu is better than those guitars! "Love Letter" is the only thing on the single that's passable: it has an interesting combination of slightly scratchy audio, acoustic, and whistling that is pretty chill. Unless you're listening to "Love Letter," PASS, PASS, PASS.

Last day for survey

Last day to respond to the survey!

I know....I got it out late this week.

I know....I was very bad last week about writing the reviews. (Though I'm getting them done now - did you see how many I got done last night?)

But I've only gotten 2 responses. Let me know what you want to hear about!

YUZU - 2-NI- - I love my readers

Do you guys know how much I love you?

I don't think you do.

Let me tell you just how much I love you in the only terms that truly express the depth of that love:

I LISTENED TO THIS WHOLE SHITTY ALBUM FOR YOU. FOR YOU.

This album is flat. It's ugly. The guys sing like crap and I think there's literally at least one place on each song where they or the music is off-key. They have a tendency to use stringed instruments in a way that makes them sound like cheezy-ass "Chinese" music from a B-movie. In "Daikan-yama Refrain" they mix this gross "Chinese" sound with a country vibe. GROSS. Even when their music isn't ill-matched or off-key, it's just uninteresting. They take every boring "Japanese music" trick and use it, without doing anything new. It's like all of AKB48 was suddenly changed into two middle-aged men. Or like the members of Arashi grew up and kept singing their music without realizing that at least 75% of their appeal is sex appeal.

A few weeks ago, I was talking to Jaylee from Gaijin Kanpai, and I told him that the reason I think I like Japanese music more than Western music is that it's simply better: it's better constructed, has better production, and seems more thought-out.

This album takes all the compliments I gave Japanese music and burns them with acid.

I wanted to stop listening after track five, when I realized that it really was never going to hit it's stride. But I kept listening. For you. So you could get a complete review.

I love you guys. Don't you ever doubt it!

Rie Fu - For You - Hey, thanks!

It's funny - I never thought I'd find a single by Rie Fu where I like the B-sides better than the A-side. Although "For You" is a perfectly serviceable song, it's nothing that I want to listen to over and over - it's slightly saccharine, and...folky, perhaps? I have trouble pinning down what about it bothers me, but I don't like it when it gets stuck in my head. "Come on Come" and "One-Bite," though, are both lovely; just what I expect from Rie Fu. "Come on Come on" is easy-going and upbeat, very chill and easy to listen to; it sounds like hot sun and cool grass. "One-Bite" has a sadder vibe, and reminds me a lot of those country songs from my childhood. (Again? I know, right?) Don't let the "country" assessment throw you off, though - it's beautiful. And in all three tracks, Rie's voice is lovely as always. The "For You" instrumental is alright, but nothing special - not something I'm happy to have on the album. Overall, if I were you I'd go for the B-sides.

Aqua Timez - Carpe Diem - Needs a little more "carpe"

I was happy with this album. The sound Aqua Timez has is something like Yellowcard, especially when the get the real live violin in on the action. The songs are catchy, they move you, and they're upbeat. I really liked "Memento Mori," which had a much harder rock sound and better bass than everything else on the album, but all the songs are pretty good. The band does seem to suffer a bit for having a very high opinion of their own music: often I thought that songs went on longer than they needed to, like the band just wanted you to realized how goddamn awesome their songs are. Eh. My other problem was that I found the music on this album rather typical. The music is good...I just feel like I've heard similar things before. The addition of the violin is novel, but the music itself doesn't strike me as being all that unique.