Friday, October 31, 2008

»» MiChi - PROMiSE

Tracklist:
01. PROMiSE
02. HEy GirL
03. Sk8er Boi
04. Fuck You And Your Money (ED BANGER ALL STARS remix) remixed by BUSY P & DSL at DSL LAB in Paris

This single was released on October 22nd, 2008.

Who's MiChi? Well, MiChi is new. This is her debut mainstream single. MiChi is not japanese, she is British, but she moved to Japan when she was 2, and then moved back to England when whe was 10. 8 years is a lot of time to learn japanese in. MiChi released an independent album earlier this year, and it was very successful, probably the reason why Sony signed her. PROMiSE, her debut song, is very nice. However, it's also very average. I listen to it and I go like 'many other acts could've done this'. If I didn't know it's a girl called MiChi, I probably would've thought it was a Genki Rockets song or something. Nevertheless, it's a strong song, probably very good for a debut, and it does showcase her vocal talent, which is very good in s debut single, 'cause it draws attention. The single itself was a huge success, it debuted in the Top 10, a feat not achieved by many of Japan's top female singer. To have the debut single debut at Top 10, I mean.

On the other hand, there's the b-side HEy GirL, which is very awesome and stands out. Her voice sounds amazing in this, and it's sooooooooo catchy! The chorus is totally addictive, I was hooked the first time I heard it. Her japanese sounds a bit off in this song, though. But it seems like she is not trying very hard to sound perfect, and somehow that makes it ok not to sound 100% perfect japanese.

Then there's Sk8er Boi, a cover of Avril Lavigne's song. You really can't tell it that Sk8er Boi in the first seconds of the song, 'cause it really doesn't sound like it. But then the initial chords are played and you realize it's Avril's song. The arrangement of MiChi's version is much lighter than the original arrangement, but the melody is exactly the same. I think the lyrics are a little bit different, but maybe I just never really learned the lyrics. I guess I don't need to say that this shows us that her english is perfect. Well, she lived in England for more than 10 years, why wouldn't her English be perfect? Anyway... the ending is also a bit different, she threw in some synthesized vocals which sounded quite good, but didn't blend very well with the rest of the song.

Fuck You And Your Money (ED BANGER ALL STARS remix) remixed by BUSY P & DSL at DSL LAB in Paris has a very long title. It's a good remix, 100% floorfiller stuff, but I can't say much, 'cause I really don't like it to review remixes of songs I don't know.

Overall score: 8.5/10

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by Sairo!


»» Kobukuro - Toki no Ashioto

Tracklist:
01. Toki ni Ashioto
02. Akai Ito
03. Betelgeuse
04. Toki ni Ashioto (Instrumental)
05. Akai Ito (Instrumental)
06. Betelgeuse (Instrumental)

This single was released on October 29th, 2008.

Though I knew who they were, I never had any interest in Kobukuro. But then I saw that Temi really recommended a song that is in this single, so I decided to give them a try.

Toki ni Ashioto, the title track, is very nice. It sounds very peaceful, and their vocals are surprisingly polished. Their voices blend perfectly, that's not easy to do. The melody is also very pretty, but after all, it's not really a song that stands out strongly, though I might listen to it a few more times.

Akai Ito is the song Temi recommended. It also sounds very nice and peaceful, and the vocals are also well blended. I guess that's Kobukuro's style. The melody is a bit common, I feel like I've heard this somewhere else, though I probably have not. It's a very nice song, but I really don't see what makes it stand out so much for Temi. Maybe is I listen to it again I'll see.

I smiled for several minutes when I read the third track's title: Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse is the planet where one of the characters of my favorite book came from: Ford Prefect, from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Ok, he is not exactly from Betelgeuse, he is from a small planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, but still. The song itself is a bit different from the two others: it's a little bit more upbeat, and the melody sounds a bit rockish. It has a very cool bridge too. The chorus is a bit repetitive, but it's nice too. It's a very solid song, but Toki ni Ashioto is a bit better than it.

Overall score: 9/10. Glad I decided to give them a listen :)

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by Sairo!


Wednesday, October 29, 2008

»» Milky Way - Tan Tan Taan!

Tracklist:
01. Tan Tan Taan!
02. Gamusharara
03. Tan Tan Taan! (Instrumental)

This single was released on October 29th, 2008.

Before I start reviewing this single, I'd like to say that even though I really like Milky Way, I absolutely despise Koharu Kusumi. She can't sing to save her life, and she gets way too much attention in H!P, way too many lines in Morning Musume songs, and way too much screen time on their PVs. But incredibly, her solo singles sell more than all the other H!P soloists combined. You really can't understand Japan.

I really like Milky Way. Their first single, Anataboshi, was released right when I was starting to get more into H!P, and it was perfect. Koharu almost sounded decent in it, the song was incredibly fun, and Sansan GOGO, the b-side, is one of my favourite H!P songs to date. So I was very happy when they announced they were going to released another single, 'cause I was thinking it was going to be a one-time thing, like Kira*Pika (which pretty much sucked). So I've been waiting for Tan Tan Taan! for several months. And it was released today. Tan Tan Taan! is no Anataboshi. It's cute, a bit too sugary, but it's H!P, so we already know what to expect. Koharu sounds her worst, but the other girls sound very good in it, and the song is pretty enjoyable. I guess I was expecting too much.

Gamusharara is better than Tan Tan Taan!, but it's no Sansan GOGO. It sounds a bit different from the usual H!P song, it has kind of an angry latin feel to it. No Iroppoi Jirettai, though. Koharu has too many solo lines, and her voice is higher than everyone else's in the chorus, but the sound engineers made it sound quite bearable. It's a decent song :)

Overall score: 8/10. Anataboshi is 12/10, get it if you haven't heard it yet!

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by Sairo!


Sunday, October 26, 2008

»» mihimaru GT - Shiawase ni Narou

Tracklist:
01. Shiawase ni Narou
02. 777 feat. ET-KING
03. Shiawase ni Narou -Instrumental-
04. 777 feat. ET-KING -Instrumental-

This single was released on October 22nd, 2008.

Since I reviewed three singles yesterday, I has decided I shouldn't review another single for some time. But I've finally finished the terribly difficult work I had to do for my Java programming class, and I'm so happy that I decided to relax a bit and review a single.

I really don't know how I feel about mihimaru GT. I started paying attention to them when they released I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY. I totally loved that song. But then they released diverge, and it was so boring that I didn't even care to download the next singles, Girigiri HERO and Naki Natsu. But then Shiawase ni Narou came out, and I downloaded it. Once again, I'm really glad I did. The song is very very good. It starts off with violins playing this sweet melody that totally got me. The rest of the song has a great flow, hiroko sounds great in it, and in the end, you've listened to a great song. This one is going to be replayed a lot.

777 feat. ET-KING is also awesome. I have no idea who ET-KING is, and I don't really want to find out, but he works very well with hiroko and miyake. It's very fun, fresh, has a cool beat, great vocals, a fun chorus, a nice melody, everything!

Overall score: 10/10! This was a absolutely terrific single by mihimaru GT. I might even download the singles I've missed from them :)

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by Sairo!


Saturday, October 25, 2008

»» Shoko Nakagawa - Kirei A La Mode

Tracklist:
01. Kirei A La Mode
02. Kamitsure
03. Yakusoku
04. Kirei A La Mode -Instrumental-

This single was released on October 22nd, 2008.

The first Shoko Nakagawa song I ever heard was Tsuzuku Sekai, her previous single. I totally hated it. I have a friend who really loves it, but I didn't even play it again to see if I'd eventually like it. And I got rid of the files. I didn't delete them, of course, 'cause I never do, they're in my other computer. Well, then why did I download Kirei A La Mode? I have absolutely no idea. But I'm glad I did, that's for sure. The song is absolutely awesome. It's so sweet, so heartfelt, so pretty, and the vocals sound awesome too! This is probably the start of something new for me and Shoko xD It reminds me a little bit of Leah Dizon's album track 'Thank You', but then it changes and becomes something different, like the ending theme of some anime or dorama about love or friendship. The chorus is almost too pretty, with the endearing melody. I'm totally in love with this song!

Kamitsure is another good song. It's a little bit more upbeat, but sweet upbeat, not club upbeat. The melody is also very cute, but it's not as good as Kirei A La Mode (maybe that's why it's the b-side, not the a-side). The vocals sound a bit off at certain times, but they're good overall. It's totally worth a listen, but I don't think I'll spin it too many times.

There are a million songs called Yakusoku. Off the top of my mind I can think of two recording artists who have promised (Yakusoku means promise) in songs: Tohoshinki and Tamaki Hiroshi. Where's Tamaki Hiroshi, anyway? The guy has not been around for quite some time. Anyway, on to Shoko's Yakusoku: it's also a sweet song. It gives me kind of a Christmas feeling, too bad it's not December yet. I think I hear some kind of a sample from a song I heard in that SNES game called Mickey & Donald 3 (though I've never heard of the other two). It's a very decent song, just not very outstanding at all.

Overall score: 9/10. Very entertaining :)

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by Sairo!


»» Hey! Say! JUMP - Mayonaka no Shadow Boy

Tracklist:
01. Mayonaka no Shadow Boy
02. School Kakumei
03. Deep night Kimi Omou
04. Mayonaka no Shadow Boy (Original Karaoke)
05. School Kakumei (Original Karaoke)
06. Deep night Kimi Omou (Original Karaoke)

This single was released on October 22nd, 2008.

Hey! Say! JUMP is a JE group of 10 boys. 10 people in a group is too much. But there is always AKB48 to remind you that in the japanese music industry there is no such thing as too many people in a musical act. Ever since Hey! Say! JUMP released their first single, which was called Ultra Music Power (JUMP stands for Johnny's Ultra Music Power), I stopped paying attention to them. The debut single was very good, but they took too long to release the second single, and when they finally did, it was totally lame. Mayonaka no Shadow Boy is their 4th single. The title song is enjoyable, but it's average. I really don't think they'll outdo Ultra Music Power anytime soon. The song has kiiiiiind of an arab (and also latin, at times) feel to it, and it starts off quite good, but the chorus is simply boring. The vocals are not worth mentioning, since they're the classic JE group, everyone sounds almost the same, chorus is sung in unison, and that's it. I'm probably going to try to find the video for this song, 'cause I've never seen a Hey! Say! JUMP video, not even Ultra Music Power.

School Kakumei is a happy song. It almost sounds like a Kirarin Revolution opening theme to me. There really isn't anything to say about this one song... Very bland.

Deep night Kimi Omou raises the bar a little bit. It sounds kind of mature, and the chorus is quite catchy. The beats in the song are pretty cool, and the vocals sound quite nice. I wish I knew the members' names and voices, 'cause I think this song is almost totally leaded by only one of them. I learned the names of all the Morning Musume girls, I probably can learn the names of these 10 kids.

Overall score: 8/10. Would be higher if School Kakumei wasn't in it.

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by Sairo!


»» Tohoshinki - Jumon -MIROTIC-

Tracklist:
01. Jumon -MIROTIC-
02. Doushite Kimi wo Suki ni Natte Shimattandarou? -THE LEVEL Remix-
03. Jumon -MIROTIC- (Instrumental)

This single was released on October 15th, 2008.

I had already heard the korean version of Jumon -MIROTIC-, so this was nothing new. I'm not fond of the korean version myself, but since I have most of their discography, I decided to listen to this single, thought it would be cool to keep my THSK discography updated. The song is pretty good, the chorus is catchy, but their pronunciation sounds a bit more off than in other of their japanese songs. This song was their comeback song in Korea, their 4th album's title song and all, but I really don't think it's strong enough for that... But hey! At least they didn't make one more version of Rising Sun ('cause that's what 'O' is).

When Doushite Kimi wo Suki ni Natte Shimattandarou?, their previous single, was released, eeeeeeeeeeeeveryone was totally in love with this song. I must have read like a thousand of people talking about how awesome and fresh it was. When I listened to it, I was like 'WTF?'. The song is soooooooo below average for me. I must've listened to the single twice, and not a single time after that. The -THE LEVEL Remix-, however, totally worked! I started listening to it, and I was like 'Holy crap, they finally worked this song out!', and by the end of the song I thought 'They really did :)'. This is by far the best Tohoshinki remix I've ever heard of.

Overall score: 8/10

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by Sairo!


Monday, October 20, 2008

»» NEWS - Happy Birthday

Tracklist:
01. Happy Birthday
02. Ganganganbatte
03. GAME of LOVE (Limited Edition)
03. Push On! (Regular Edition)
04. Happy Birthday (Original Karaoke)

This single was released on October 1st, 2008.

NEWS has gone a bit bad with these two last singles. weeeek was pretty good, and Taiyou no Namida is probably their best song to date, but SUMMER TIME was not quite as good as you'd expect, and Happy Birthday is almost below average. I guess it's a bit catchy, but it's not nearly as good as the previous singles. The video was also pretty boring.

Ganganganbatte sounds a bit silly and kind of rushed. It feels like a song you close your concert with, I can almost see them all walking around the stage, singing badly, tired, yelling 'arigatou gozaimashitaaaa' and waving at the fangirls.

GAME of LOVE is probably the best song off the single. It has a strong early 90's feel to it, and they sing it quite decently. The chorus is very fun, very danceable. Shige sounds quite sexy in his lines, and Masuda sounds a bit out of place. Masuda is definitely better with ballads, silly songs about friendship and more serious songs. Dancey is just not his thing. On the other hand, Tegoshi is like a candy shop, he fits right in no matter what kind of song it is. Where's Yamapi in this, anyway? I can't quite hear his voice anywhere in it. Maybe I'm not paying enough attention xD

Push On! sounds a bit like a Tohoshinki song, I just don't remember which one (no surprise, since they've released like a million singles in three years...). Koyama's voice sounds a bit off here, and the song is totally boring. The chorus doesn't stand out at all. Not a very good song. I'm glad it's a b-side, 'cause NEWS' albums are pretty good, a song like this would totally ruin their album.

By the way, their new album's tracklist is out and they're finally going to release SNOW EXPRESS! It has totally become one of my favorite NEWS songs ever since I saw them perform it live on the pacific tour DVD. Can't wait ^^

Overall score: 7/10. Sorry, guys...

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by Sairo!


Thursday, October 16, 2008

»» Ikimonogakari - Planetarium

Tracklist:
01. Planetarium
02. Happy Smile Again
03. Kaeritakunatta yo (Konnitsuaa!! 2008 LIVE version)
04. Planetarium -Instrumental-

This single was released on October 15th, 2008.

When I first watched Planetarium's PV, I was totally thrilled. The concept was the cutest, and the PV was very well made, even though it didn't seem to be too high-budgeted. The song itself is very Ikimonogakari. Ikimonogakari is a band that has a very distinct sound. I don't know about everyone else, but I can totally tell it's Ikimonogakari when the first 5 seconds of one of their songs are played. That might eventually become a problem, though, since their songs have the tendency to start sounding all the same. Kiyoe Yoshioka's voice is absolutely flawless as usual. I really think she is the best vocalist in the japanese music industry right now. Anyway, the song is very good.

Happy Smile Again is a great b-side. It's not better than Ni Rin Ka or Haruichiban, but it's a great b-side. The chorus is very cute and quite catchy, it gets you singing 'Happy Smile Agaaaain' before you finish listening to the song the first time. It even has kind of a bossa nova feeling to it at times.

Kaeritakunatta yo is one of my favorite Ikimonogakari songs, I was totally in love with it when it came out, and I still listen to it a lot. This live version is absolutely amazing. Kiyoe sings it flawlessly, I almost thought it was the studio version at first, 'cause her voice sounds just perfect, she is really very very talented. I'm totally going to listen to this song a lot in the future.

Overall score: 9.5/10

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by Sairo!


Friday, October 10, 2008

»» Koda Kumi - TABOO

Tracklist:
01. TABOO
02. Always
03. TABOO -HOUSE NATION Sunset In Ibiza Remix-
04. TABOO (Instrumental)
05. Always (Instrumental)

This single was released on October 8th, 2008.

TABOO, the first track, is a club-oriented song, and it is said to be about homosexuality. The song is very catchy, and Koda sounds very good in it, which is remarkably unexpected for me, since I don't really like her voice. The beat is sick, and the chorus is very catchy. It's been stuck in my head for quite some time now, and I've been giving it lots of spins.

Always is the second track. It's a midtempo song, very sweet and mellow. Since I can't speak japanese and don't have enough interest in the song to go out and find out, I have no idea what it's about. Though it's a very nice song, it's quite forgettable. Not bad, I just don't remember what it sounded like once a new song starts.

Everyone seems to love the third track, TABOO -HOUSE NATION Sunset In Ibiza Remix-. I don't think it's that good. But it's a solid remix, probably going to be played heavily in Japanese clubs. Just doesn't work very well for me.

Overall score: 9/10

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by Sairo!