Kimono Edge Boy

AAA - Heart and Soul

2010-01-28T09:42:00.000-08:00

01 Heart and Soul
02 Namida no Kizuna
03 TWO ROADS
04 Heart and Soul (ArmySlick's bavtronic mix)
05 Heart and Soul (Instrumental)
06 Namida no Kizuna (Instrumental)

It's finally out! I had never anticipated an AAA release as much as I did for this one. Following their latest trend, they stick to eurobeat with Heart and Soul. And, let's be honest, AAA can't do wrong when they decide to go eurobeat. Just listen to BLOOD on FIRE, Let it Beat!, Champagne Gold (holy crap, Champagne Gold... wow), Red Soul... Anyway, any eurobeat AAA song, they're all awesome. Heart and Soul features Nissy, Naoya, Misako and Chiaki as leads, and they all own it. I'm really happy for Chiaki, she's my favourite member, and she's been getting a crapload of lines in the latest singles (none in Break Down, but there was Summer Revolution, and it got very popular), but I'm a bit sad for Shuta and Shinjiro. They're great too, but even though both Break Down and Hide-away had guys-only songs, they didn't get any lines in them. Basically, the last time they actually sang in an AAA release was in Hajimaru no Kiseki, an album track in depArture. Not fair.

Namida no Kizuna is a girls-only song, and is probably going to be featured in their 5th album, which comes out next month. It's a very pretty ballad, with key changes, and a beautiful melody. This shows very well how much Chiaki has improved as a vocalist. Since the debut, Chiaki is the member that has improved the most out of all of them. I wonder how far Yukari would have gotten hadn't she left the group.

TWO ROADS is a Hidaka solo song. It's a reggaeish song, and he sings is quite well. I don't like how he makes his voice sound a bit too nasal at times, though. Not bad for a b-side. I sincerely hope they don't put this in the album.

The Heart and Soul remix is surprisingly good! The whole arrangement is different, it gives me kind of a BEP's I Gotta Feeling sort of feeling, with the "dreamy" sounds and stuff. I'm not making any sense here, am I? It's really a terrific remix. AAA has never been too big on remixes, but this one is definitely a great one.

My Top 10 Albums of the Decade

2009-12-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

Since 2009 is coming to an end, I decided to put some thought into what are the best asian albums from this decade. I started listening to asian music in 2004, but have checked out some older stuff, so I think I have a good view of the decade overall. Of course this is a personal list, so the reviewing isn't by any means professional, and I probably left a lot of good stuff out, and will later remember other albums I loved and should have made the list, but right now, this is the top 10. Out of 10 albums, 4 of them were released in 2008, so the fact that they were released just last year might have influenced my decision a little bit, but oddly enough, no albums from 2009 made the list. The albums are listed on alphabetical order. There's no way I could pick a favourite out of these. Let's get started :)

Buono! - Café Buono!

Released in 2008, this was Buono!'s debut album. Buono! is the most successful Hello!Project unit right now, and this album might just be the perfect explanation. Hello!Project acts are usually bashed and people are always saying they aren't actually talented and all, but those people certainly have not given them a chance. If you're one of them, try Buono!. This album showcases Momoko's, Miyabi's and Airi's talent very well, and they're three of the most talented girls in Hello!Project. The vocals are terrific, and all songs are very enjoyable. The peaceful Hoshi no Hitsuji Tachi was the song that got me hooked at first and it's still one of my favourite ones, but it surely doesn't top Kimi ga Ireba as my favourite song. The lyrics are beautiful and it's one of their best vocal performances. Other highlights of the album are Baketsu no Mizu and the title track.

Utada Hikaru - HEART STATION

Utada's talent is undeniable. She holds the record of the best selling album ever in Japan for a reason: her music is beautiful, 'cause she always puts so much emotion into it. Therefore, it always sounds like she's actually connected to each song, and that gives her an egde, 'cause that way people can relate more to the songs. This album contains Flavor Of Life, which is one of her biggest hits ever and a great song. My personal favourite is Fight The Blues, the first track, 'cause it always cheers me up. Other noteworthy tracks are Take 5 and Stay Gold.

YUI - I LOVED YESTERDAY

After two highly praised albums, YUI released I LOVED YESTERDAY and most people said it was boring and simply more of the same stuff she's always done. As if that was a bad thing. I love this album because it single-handedly got me into YUI. No, I never cared about YUI 'til 2008. I fell so hard for this album that I downloaded the rest of her discography and listened to it, but it's still my favourite release from her. Singles Namidairo and LOVE & TRUTH are definitely two of the strongest tracks off the album, but the chaotic Daydreamer and the dreamy Am I wrong? are definitely my favourite ones. There are no filler songs in this album, though, so I really like every track.

Ai Otsuka - LOVE JAM

Ai Otsuka's voice kind of haunts me at times. Back in mid-2008 I had a really huge Ai Otsuka addiction for a few months, and I would listen to all of her albums and singles and b-sides a million times, which is why she's ranked so high in my last.fm account. This album, however, was always my favourite. Don't get me wrong, Ai Otsuka has yet to put out a bad album, but this one is really a great one, and it was released like 9 months after the previous one, which means she put this together in no time, and that's really something. My favourite track is Daisuki da yo, but Futatsu Boshi Kinenbi, Friends (the album version is MUCH better than the one included in the Daisuki da yo single) and Kingyo Hanabi are also really really awesome. And Superman is superfunny xD

BoA - My Name

I've been listening to K-Pop ever since I started listening to J-Pop. In fact, the first asian song I ever heard was the korean version of BoA's Rock With You. Boy, did that blow my mind... However, as my love for J-Pop progressed, not many K-Pop acts managed to win me over. BoA's My Name is one of the few K-Pop albums that, 5 years after its release, still makes me go like 'wow, this sounds really great and fresh'. This is BoA's korean masterpice, mostly due to its heart-throbbing ballads. Feeling too happy? Try listening to My Prayer, Good-Bye and Stay In Love.

Ayumi Hamasaki - MY STORY

Ayumi Hamasaki is probably one of the most consistent musical acts I have ever followed. For me, MY STORY is her masterpiece, and most definitely one of my all-time favourite albums. I couldn't possibly name my favourite song, 'cause even the interludes, especially Catcher In The Light, are awesome. Then there's About You, one of Ayu's strongest rock songs, the absolutely perfect ballad streak with Liar, HOPE or PAIN, HAPPY ENDING, Moments, walking proud and CAROLS, the heart-warming HONEY... And the album's jacket is also probably the coolest one I've ever seen. There isn't a single song I feel like skipping when I listen to this album, and it was also one of the first asian albums I actually bought, so it's really close to my heart. Whenever I try to get someone into asian pop, this is one of the albums I tell them to listen.

Namie Amuro - PLAY

I must confess, this is a shallow entry. The only reason why this album is here is because I'm a sucker for beats and gay divas.

Ikimonogakari - Sakura Saku Machi Monogatari

This was the first thing I ever heard from Ikimono, and it totally blew my mind. Their fourth album was quite a surprise, and totally made me rethink all those things I said on my Nakumonka review, but they have yet to outdo this one. The emotion in SAKURA, Koisuru Otome and Tayumu Koto na Kinagare no Naka de is simply overwhelming, and so is the joy in all the upbeat numbers. Their new album, Hajimaru no Uta, brings back some of this emotion and joy, and is worth a serious listen.

Nell - Separation Anxiety

Most people won't even know this one. Nell is a korean band and I know absolutely nothing about them. However, when they released this album I was going through a rough time and felt kind of sad, so when I read the album's description on z-degrees, I decided to download it. Now that's what I call a blessing in disguise. Separation Anxiety is quite the experimental album, but has a few generic, fun songs too. The lead promo song, 기억을 걷는 시간, is awesome, the guy's vocals are probably how I think an angel's voice would sound like if angels existed. I can't really say what are the best songs in the album, I love all of them, so just listen to all of it, 'cause it's really a effin' awesome album.

BoA - VALENTI

Oh, BoA, the way you do me. Once again, BoA is by far the most important J-Pop act in my book. She got me into asian music. VALENTI was the first album J-Pop album I have ever listened to, and while it might no longer be my favourite album of all time, it's certainly still one of the favourites. Everyone went crazy when she released LOVE & HONESTY, her third album, and yes, it's an awesome album, but for me it lacks some of the innocence (?) that made me like VALENTI so much. My favourite track has got to be Sekai no Katasumi de, with its gorgeous lyrics, closely followed by Moon & Sunrise and BESIDE YOU.

So there you have it. Right now, these are the 10 albums from the 00's I like the most. I realize most people will think most of them are crap, but hey, if you're one of those people... go fuck yourself. And have a Merry Christmas.

Heart and Soul Covers

2009-12-20T06:06:00.000-08:00

AAA's new single's covers! Heart and Soul is out on Jan 27th and I think I'm going to pre-order it :) These are, hands down, the best AAA covers ever. And I mean it. Except a new Kimono Edge Boy layout soon.

Yuna Ito - Let it Go

2009-11-13T13:27:00.001-08:00

01 Let it Go
02 Happy Days
03 Let it Go (Instrumental)
04 Happy Days (Instrumental)

New Yuna Ito single, let's give it a listen. I have not been following her, so I don-- wait. It's Yuna Ito, right? Ok, this is a Younha song. Are you sure it's Yuna Ito? OK, it's official: Yuna Ito is ripping off a Younha song. Seriously, it sounds like Younha and THYME decided to collaborate. And that's actually a great thing! This is quite good! It's no ENDLESS STORY, it's no I'm Here, but it's definitely a very enjoyable tune, something trust you was not. Don't Let it Go (heh, see what I did there?), Yuna, keep this going!!

Whenever I think of the words Happy Days I can't help but think of the Ai Otsuka song. It's so fun... And so is this one :) Definitely a great track, though it kind of loses a bit of its greatness when it hits the chorus, which shouldn't happen in any song at all, but still, it's quite enjoyable. For a Yuna Ito b-side :)

Anyway, the single isn't the best thing since sliced bread, but the a-side is definitely worth it. It's something Yuna hasn't done before, and it sounds great. The last Yuna Ito single I downloaded and actually enjoyed was Koi wa groovyx2 which was both awesome and a huge flop. She released trust you (which sucked and sold 45k copies, go figure), and an album, but I totally missed it. Maybe I'll check it out now :)

school food punishment - sea-through communication

2009-11-13T13:13:00.000-08:00

01 sea-through communication
02 fiction nonfiction
03 butterfly swimmer-Q;indivi-Yusike Tanaka Remix-

On to a happier review: school food punishment's newest single! sea-through communication is their 3rd single on a major label, and it's all kinds of awesome. futuristic imagination didn't blow my mind, and butterfly swimmer made me go 'Ok, it's good...' but this one is tr00 school food punishment awesomeness. To start things, it reminds me a lot of Flow. Flow is my absolute favourite school food punishment song, though set low,fine is right there with it. Anyway, the song is just amazing. From the vocals to the instrumental with all those dangling and distracting sounds, it's simply as catchy as a true upbeat school food punishment song must be. Bullseye, guys!

fiction nonfiction, the b-side, walks hand in hand with the a-side. Actually, I think it walks a few steps ahead of the a-side. The drums and the fast-paced vocals just keep you focused on the song and you just can't help but love it. The bridge kind of makes you think it's going to get boring, but I'm almost positive that they simply thought that it would be too overwhelming to go from the awesome verses to the absolutely wet dream that is the chorus of this song. It has to be heard to be believed. I don't even know how to describe it. Think the happiness and fun of Go Girl ~Koi no Victory~ and make it 10 times faster. Now forget that, that doesn't even come close to it.

As usual, I'll ignore the remix. But it's quite great, really.

All in all, GREAT single. I can't wait to hear more from them, they probably have a full album coming out some time soon, and I hope they keep moving in this direction, 'cause this single was absolute perfection.

Ikimonogakari - Nakumonka

2009-11-13T12:59:00.000-08:00

01 Nakumonka
02 Orion
03 Nakumonka (Instrumental)

So Ikimonogakari has a new single out. Does anyone even remember the two previous singles? Well, I don't. I'm exaggerating, of course, I know it's Hotaru no Hikari and YELL/Joyful. My point is: Ikimonogakari is getting boring. They were doing fine 'til they released their third album not even a year after the second one. When something like that happens, I usually smell something bad: a label who's rushing releases. Don't get me wrong, I still love Kiyoe's voice and their overall sound, but right now their music just doesn't feel the same. The melodies are still pretty, the instrumental tracks are still absolutely awesome, but the feeling in the whole thing is kind of gone. Listen to Kaeritakunatta yo. Now listen to Koisuru Otome. That's feeling. Ok, now listen to Nakumonka or Orion. There's nothing there. Tecnically, Kiyoe has never sounded better, but the soul is gone. And it's killing me to be writing these words, 'cause Ikimonogakari is one of my favourite bands, and I have been following them since the release of Natsuzora Grafitti/Seishun Line, and that's a lot of time. I watched them get popular, and now I'm watching them go to the crapper. I just hope they make it out of it.

Kimono Edge Boy's 1st Anniversary

2009-10-09T03:29:00.000-07:00

Hello y'all! For the first time in my entire life, I managed to keep a blog going for a whole year! And it's all in English, which isn't my first language. That's pretty amazing, right? Kimono Edge Boy is turning 1 year old tomorrow, but I'm not sure if I'm going to have access to the internet tomorrow due to some personal things, so I decided to just come out and post this today. And there's not much to say, I guess xD As far as my blogging goes, this one year was pretty much as uneventful as it gets. But hey, at least I got written up on International Wota three times, which is quite amazing for me, since I really don't think this is a noteworthy blog at all.

Rounding Out the Koha commentary, Pt.5
[Blogs] Buono!’s 2nd Album Is Getting 2 Thumbs Up
[Blogs] Kimono Edge Boy is a New Jmusic Blog

Ya-yay! ^^
Anyway, I've got nothing else to say, I just didn't want this to go unnoticed. If you're reading this, thank you for coming here and taking the time to read my stuff. Arigatou Gozaimashita :)

AAA's 4th Anniersary Live

2009-09-29T06:53:00.001-07:00

Now that is what I call a huge venue.

LOVE the outfits!

Is it me, or is that a shirtless Shinjiro right there?

They finally let Chiaki have a decent hairdo again.

The knowledge that the DVD isn't coming out anytime soon is killing me right now.

Kimagure Princess Profile Pics

2009-09-29T03:19:00.000-07:00

A new Morning Musume single is in the works, and that means new profile pictures for the group and all the members. Nothing new there, right? Wrong! This time, they really worked it out! I mean, these are easily the best profile pictures I've seen from MM since I started following them. Just check these out:

It's almost flawless! I think Eri and Risa could have done without the hat, but really, everyone else looks absolutely beautiful. The biggest surprises here are JunLin, hands down.

Hair, outfits, everything is working here. LinLin reminds me so much of Chiaki from AAA in this picture. Way to go, UFA! And then there's the pure awesomeness of my favourite MM members, which is more than expected. Here are the profile pics of Aika and Sayu:

I was kind of afraid they were using that concept from the Nine Smile Tour for this single, since Aika's look wasn't really working, but they didn't let me down: she has never looked so amazing (ok, she looked even better in Shouganai, but this is still pretty awesome)! The hat is totally working for her, and I love how she is kind of letting her hair grow long again (or wearing some kind of wig, or extensions, or whatever that is). Sayu, as usual, looks the best. She amazes me so much... How can someone be this perfect? No wonder she's so confident about her looks! She sure is kawaii. I really love what she's wearing, and that thing on her hair is just perfect, real Sayu cuteness there.

You can check everyone else's pictures on Hello!SayuNii, which is where I got these. Koharu's and Ai's pictures are also really nice, but these 4 are the ones I think are the best. I can't wait to see the Kimagure Princess PV, and I hope it's not anything like Nanchatte Renai, 'cause with them wearing these outfits, it would look like the Close-Up Version WHITE of Nanchatte xD

Morning Musume breaks the news

2009-09-19T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hello y'all! Long time no see! Nothing noteworthy happened, so I decided to not post for a while. There was also a lot of work to do at the university, so... But now, please read my thoughts on the last MM news.

First of all, here's the setlist of the new tour:

Morning Musume Concert Tour 2009 ~Nine Smile~ Setlist
Countdown VTR
01. 3,2,1 BREAKIN’OUT
02. How Do You Like Japan? ~Nippon wa Donna Kanji Dekka?~
Member’s Introduction VTR
03. Kimagure Princess
MC 1
04. Nanchatte Renai
05. Genki+
06. Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou? (Chinese Version) All Members
07. Sukiyaki (Niigaki Risa and Kusumi Koharu)
MC 2 (Niigaki Risa, Kamei Eri, Junjun and Linlin)
08. Haru Beautiful Everyday (Kamei Eri and Mitsui Aika)
09. Kioku no Miero (Takahashi Ai and Tanaka Reina)
10. Aruiteru (Michishige Sayumi → Morning Musume joins in halfway)
11. Aki Urara
12. Shouganai Yume Oibito
MC 3 (Michishige Sayumi and Tanaka Reina)
13. Sakura Mankai (Takahashi Ai, Niigaki Risa, Kamei Eri, Mitsui Aika and Linlin)
14. Yuujou ~Kokoro no Busu ni Naranee!~ (Michishige Sayumi, Tanaka Reina, Kusumi Koharu and Junjun)
15. Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru
MC 4
(Start of Coupling/with medley)
16. Bonkyu Bonkyu BOMB Girl
17. Please! Jiyuu no Tobira
18. Handmade CITY
19. Odore! Morning Curry
(Coupling/with medley ended with Bonkyu! Bonkyu! BOMB Girl again)
MC 5
20. Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari (Full version, Junjun → Linlin → Mitsui Aika → Kusumi Koharu → Michishige Sayumi → Kamei Eri → Tanaka Reina → Niigaki Risa → Takahashi Ai)
21. Naichau Kamo
22. Roman ~MY DEAR BOY~
23. Resonant Blue

ENCORE
24. SONGS
25. Love Machine
MC 6

Now if someone doesn't think this is awesome, I don't know what they will. They're going to sing many of my favorite songs, so I think this is going to be an awesome concert. Haru Beautiful Everyday is probably on my Top 10 MM songs, and I also like Genki+ a lot. We're finally getting a 8th Gen version of Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari, they're singing all of the most recent singles (I kinda wish they sang Mikan, though), there's a fabulous High-King song (I kinda wish they sang other songs by other artists, like The Bikagu in the last tour), Sayu gets a solo, they sing two of the Gumi songs (and I like the way they split the group)... The stars kind of aligned for this tour. But wait... there are some bad things too... There's no JunLin song this time, the c/ws they chose for the c/w medley aren't exactly the best ones they've got (where the fuck is Yowamushi? Jun Lover? Chotto Ikashita PURE BOY? Koi wa Hassou DO THE HUSTLE, anyone?) and they don't sing many old classics, just LOVE Machine. It's still going to be an amazing concert. However, the biggest news about this tour came this morning when I, as usual, got up and went straight to my laptop, check what people at wotachat were on to. And the first thing I read was unsettling.

[10:07] <~maiZe> i'm in shock... but i can't wait for this graduation concert
[10:07] <~maiZe> not because I'm dying for koha to leave

Koharu is graduating from Morning Musume to pursue a career as a model. You'd think I would be happy to read this, and so would I if someone asked me yesterday. But I was not and am not happy about this at all. My Morning Musume fandom started very late. I've been listening to asian music since 2003, but wasn't in love with Morning Musume until the release of Resonand Blue, which is what pushed me down the H!P road. Before that, I knew some of their songs, like Iroppoi Jirettai, Renai Revolution 21, Do it! Now... but didn't take them seriously at all. But then came Resonant Blue and it blew me away. I became so addicted to Morning Musume that they even pushed AAA to No.2 in my list of favourite musical acts, taking the top spot by surprise. I have gone on to buy 21 of their singles, something I have never done for any other musical act, not even BoA.

From the release of Resonant Blue, I continued to follow Morning Musume, and to fall even deeper in love with them. And I became very fond of the current line-up. I must admit that at first Koharu was one of my favourite members, but that was only until I heard her sing by herself. I was shocked at how awful she sounded and began to hate her. However, for some reason, I started to download and watch Kirarin Revolution, the anime series whose theme character she voiced. I slowly began to understand why she was so popular and so important to Morning Musume. And I just wouldn't stop loving the group more and more.

I have read many people saying that this line-up is the worst Morning Musume has ever had. I may be biased, since it's kind of the only line-up I ever really knew, but I think it's the best line-up ever. I like each and every member, and think they have grown a lot as a group, and have great chemistry on stage. And that line-up is going to come to an end with Koharu's graduation. Just as I was starting to like her a lot, with the good vocals on Nanchatte Renai and all. She was lively and full of energy, and their concerts and videos surely won't be the same without her. I'm very, very sad, and will miss Koharu very much.

Credits: Hello!SayuNii

Nanchatte Renai goes #2!

2009-08-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

Nanchatte Renai went #2 on the Weekly Charts, outselling B'z by a thousand copies, and was outsolf by Ayumi by 20k. It sold 54,973 copies, which is kind of awesome, they hadn't sold this many copies in debut week since Iroppoi Jirettai. There are still some handshake events and other stuff they're doing to promote the single, so hopefully it will sell some more copies. Another thousand copies and it'll outsell Resonant Blue. Let's hope the third single also sells a lot, and helps Morning Musume and Hello!Project regain some popularity :)

Morning Musume - Nanchatte Renai

2009-08-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

01 Nanchatte Renai
02 Aki Urara [Regular Edition]
02 Subete wa Ai no Chikara [40th Anniversary Edition]
03 Nanchatte Renai (Instrumental)

And here it is, the 40th Morning Musume single. This time we get 4 different versions, and 2 different b-sides. I've already expressed my feelings towards Nanchatte Renai: it's absolutely awesome. Aside from the fact that Aika, JunJun and LinLin have close to no lines, it's a great song, nearly everyone gets some attention, some screen time on the video and all... It's a great a-side, and even though everyone seems to think it sounds a bit too much like Shouganai Yume Oibito, I don't agree. And even if it it did sound similar, I don't think that would be a bad thing, since Shouganai Yume Oibito is a terribly awesome and was a #1 single. Another thing I should mention is Koharu. I never thought I'd say this, but her vocals sounds good in it. There, I said it. Koharu sounded good during her solo lines. Hell can now freeze over.

Aki Urara, the b-side included in all versions but the commemorative one, is quite a treat. I like how the beginning sounds kind of sounds like it's going to rock, but then it doesn't. The song reminds me a bit of old-time MM, especially during JunJun's and LinLin's lines, and it also reminds me of Yowamushi, which is probably my favourite MM b-side ever. The chorus is very catchy and everyone sounds very good in it. Sayu really surprised me by sounding particularly awesome. But you really can't expect anything but awesomeness from Sayu, ne?

Subete wa Ai no Chikara is really up-beat, and is going to be an awesome concert song. For some unknown reason, I can't understand why JunJun and LinLin are the first ones to have solo lines in this song. They never have solo lines on a-sides, it makes me think it's physically painful for Tsunku to give them lines, so when they get any, I kinda feel overwhelmed. Hell, they are give so little lines that I still wonder 'is this JunJun? or is it LinLin?' when I hear them in a song. Anyway... the rest of the song is really b-sideish, but not bad or mediocre in any way. If it wasn't for Aki Urara being so fucking awesome, I would be totally loving this.

AAA Break Down Single Review

2009-08-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

01. Break Down
02. Break your name (Saihuun)
03. Summer Revolution
04. Break Down -Break Deep Mix-
05. Break Down -TOKIMA TOKIO Summer Of Love Mix-
06. Break your name -Break the limit Mix- (Saihuun)
07. Break your name -YUKSEK Mix- (Saihuun)
08. Summer Revolution -Summer Splash Mix-
09. Break Down -Instrumental-
10. Break your name -Instrumental- (Saihuun)
11. Summer Revolution -Instrumental-

After a long 4-month period without any releases, AAA is back with a triple a-side single. It was released in 4 versions, one being a CD Only, and the 3 others, CD+DVD packages. Each DVD contained a music video and either an off-shot video or a live performance.

Break Down, as you might have guessed, is performed by Misako, Naoya and Nissy only. It is a fast song that emulates previous AAA eurobeat songs like Red Soul, Let it beat! and BLOOD on FIRE. It's got kind of a house feel to it and I really like how the same small bit of Misako's voice singing 'Break Down' is repeated a hundred times before the thing actually starts. I must admit that when the video first came out, I wasn't in love with this song, but it has totally won me over by now.

The video is quite good. Though it was fully recorded in front of a green screen (blue in this case, as you can see in the off-shot video), it looks really expensive and professional. The members got kind of new looks. Chiaki and Naoya are looking particularly awesome, and Hidaka shows surprisingly hot abs. I keep repeating that scene every time I watch the video. Shinjiro's belly also makes a brief appearance, but it's not really note-worthy. Look out for Chiaki's amazing sexy blink.

Break your name is performed by the AAA boys, though they're credited as Saihuun. Saihuun is a secret project that features 15 males, and none of them were revealed 'til this came out. As it turns out, the 5 AAA guys are in it. The song is really awesome. It's kind of a 90's melody inside a 2009 arrangement. It's really kind of techno, and features some Hidaka rapping. Unfortunately, Shuta and Shinjiro are nowhere to be heard in this song. No surprise there. Once again, when I first listened to it, I wasn't crazy about it, but now I really like it. I wish it was oficially an AAA song.

The Break your name video was also made in front of a green screen, but it seems like avex decided to give them a great budget, 'cause it looks spectacular. The concept it a bit old, it's a futuristic city, and the guys dance on top of a building and on top of moving cars. Towards the end of the video a big cool screen appears (carried by a helicopter wtf?) and stands behind the 15 guys and it makes quite a cool effect on the floor where they're standing, which reflects the images displayed on the screen. The dancing is really impressive, by the way. Hidaka's hair looks waaaaay better than it looked in the Break Down video, and Naoya looks really gorgeous. They all look great in black, really.

Summer Revolution, my favourite song in the single, is a girls-only song. As usual, Chiaki gets a fair amount of lines, and really owns them all. It's also kind of a 90's flavoured song, which mixes a bit of TRF, GIRL NEXT DOOR and AAA together, and sounds awesome in the end. I really love the bridge and the vocals are absolutely awesome. Best song in the single.

The video features all 7 AAA members dancing in the desert. This desert is also created by a green screen. Which is actually blue. Chiaki's haircut makes her look absolutely gorgegous, and Misako's outfit is really cool. The boys dance in a circle with the girls just standing there in the center, singing. Something that is really cool about this video is that the boys do a lot of dancing. Like the old days, when they performed those crazy BLOOD on FIRE and Kirei na Sora choreographies, which were absolutely impressive. When the song hits the bridge, we get some images of the girls wearing white wigs and lying down on this silver sheet. They look really awesome, but the whole thing is completely disconnected from the rest of the video. I guess they couldn't get away with just the desert thing. It's a great video too, really.

The remixes in the single are pretty good, the best one being the TOKIMA TOKIO Summer Of Love Mix of Break Down. The rest of them are just listenable. Even though they're not particularly great, I think it's a great idea to put this many remixes on singles, makes me feel more inclined to buy them.

Overall, this was a great single. AAA put out three great songs, and according to Oricon, they're selling quite well, though I think that is actually thanks to the whole Saihuun thing. They have already announced they're going to release a new single in 2 months, and I'm really excited about it, it's just awesome when AAA starts to work like crazy, releasing awesome single after awesome single xD This single is really good, and I hope they keep up the good work.

Nanchatte Renai

2009-07-08T15:01:00.001-07:00

Today, a full preview of Nanchatte Renai, the 40th Morning Musume single came out. Here it is:

As you can see... IT IS AWESOME!!!!! I must admit I didn't totally love it at first, but I was totally hooked by the second listen. For me it's like a Iroppoi Jirettai meets Do it! now meets Naichau Kamo meets Furusato meets Shouganai Yume Oibito kind of song. Hello!Project is getting better and better with each release. A new Golden Age is starting, people!

Something's changed

2009-07-06T16:20:00.000-07:00

As it turns out, the line-ups of the revived units announced before aren't quite right! Here are the official line-ups:

Aa! - Natsuyaki Miyabi, Saho Akari and Suzuki Airi
Shin Minimoni - LinLin, Fukuda Kanon, Takeuchi Akari and Miyamoto Karin
Pucchimoni V - Nakajima Saki, Hagiwara Mai and Mano Erina (man, the vocals on this one...)
ZYX-α - Niigaki Risa, Kusumi Koharu, Tsugunaga Momoko, Tokunaga Chinami, Sudou Maasa, Umeda Erika , Wada Ayaka and Ogawa Saki (Chinami is in a unit!! Hell has frozen over!!)
Zoku v-u-den - Michishige Sayumi, Sugaya Risako and Junjun
Tanpopo# - Kumai Yurina, Kamei Eri, Mitsui Aika and Okai Chisato

I must say I like Pucchimoni V better like this, but even though I really like Saho Akari and don't really like Reina, I was kinda hoping the new Aa! would feature the original line-up. I'm happy to see that they're finally giving the Eggs some work and can't wait to know them better. Another thing I noticed is: where the fuck is Yuu Kikkawa? She's got an amazing voice, can dance, is really beautiful and now that MilkyWay is over, she's nowhere to be seen! This was a great opportunity to finally put her to real use. Being part of a Koharu-fronted unit isn't really decent work in my book. Anyway... let's wait and see what future holds for her and Sayaka Kitahara, who's also quite good. Rumour has it the first singles of new Minimoni, Pucchimoni and Tanpopo come out on September 9th.

Look What I Just Bought!!

2009-07-03T14:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Summer Wedding, Go Girl! ~Koi no Victory~, Koko ni Iruzee! and Morning Musume no Hyokkori Hyoutanjima. Koko ni Iruzee! and Hyokkori Hyoutanjima have limited edition stickers, I totally love them! They bring the MM singles count to 11. I have a Koi no Dance Site coming in the mail and just bid on Kanashimi Twilight :) Hopefully I'll have at least 20 by the end of the year (I was thinking 25, but I don't think I'll make it).

The new H!P units!

2009-07-02T17:41:00.000-07:00

As we all know by now, there is a H!P album coming out in a few days. It consists of a bunch of old wedding songs sung by all 49 members of H!P. I thought the idea was weird at first, and a bit lame, but I like the way things happened. Right after that announcement, we found out Tsunku was going to recreate a bunch of old H!P units to sing in it. Minimoni, Pucchimoni, ZYX, Biyuuden and Tanpopo, they'd all be back. People started wondering who would be in the groups, and we slowly started to learn some of the members. First of all, it was announced that Fukuda Kanon and LinLin would be in Minimoni. Awesome, right? A few days later, Mano Erina kind of let us know she was going to be in the new Pucchimoni. Okay. So today, the line-ups were announced. Here they are:

Shin Minimoni: LinLin, Fukuda Kanon, Miyamoto Karin and Takeuchi Akari

Well, LinLin and Fukuda Kanon are sure awesome, but I know nothing about the other eggs, so I don't know what to think, really. I guess I'll know when I listen to their song.

Pucchimoni V: Nakajima Saki, Mano Erina, Saho Akari, Takeuchi Akari and Miyamoto Karin

Ok, this kinda sucks. I love NakaSaki, and Mano is certainly growing on me, but what's with putting the same eggs on two groups?! This group is probably going to be very weak, vocally.

ZYX-α: Niigaki Risa and three eggs who have yet to be specified

It's got Risa, so it's got to be awesome. Someone's legs are going to get broken if Takeuchi Akari and Miyamoto Karin are in it.

Zoku・Biyuuden: Michishige Sayumi, JunJun and Sugaya Risako

To hell with vocals, this is going to be awesome!!! Out of all the new line-ups, this one shows the most improvement over the original ones. I was never too fond of the original Biyuuden, but this is quite awesome! Sayu and JunJun are two of my favourite members of H!P, and I've got nothing against Risako. I'm afraid JunJun is going to have to carry this unit all by herself (vocally), and I'm also afraid they're not going to let her. Sayu and Risako are far more popular than her, so... But fuck that, it's just one song! I just it's a slutty song and that they perform it with minuscule outfits in the next H!P concert.

# Tanpopo: Kamei Eri, Mitsui Aika, Kumai Yurina, Okai Chisato

Now this one is totally full of win. I really love everyone in this unit. Eri and Yurina are totally awesome, and Aika and Chisato are my favourite members from their respective groups. I really think they were well chosen and will represent the Tanpopo concept really well. The vocals are also going to be quite good.

Other than those groups, Aa! and High-King are also going to be back, but the line-ups have not changed. I'm pretty excited, 'cause Aa!'s only single was really great, and so was High-King's. The album comes out on July 15th.

Ayaya Immersion

2009-06-12T19:04:00.000-07:00

Just recently, I decided I should get to know Aya Matsuura more. Though I've been a H!P fan for quite some time, I had never gotten to know the soloists and old groups well (except for Maki Goto and MiniMoni), and I eventually started feeling bad about it, since most people often say they are immensely more talented than the current groups. I kinda felt like a noob. So I decided to download Ayaya's discography, just to get started. I then proceeded to download the second Country Musume album, almost all of Melon Kinenbi's singles, most Yuko singles, lots of one-shot units singles, and some other stuff. I also downloaded many H!P concerts, though I have not had time to watch all of them just yet.

I must say that it saddens me to realize that I could have seen many awesome things happen in H!P if I had gotten into it when I had first contact with japanese pop music, back in 2004. I know the golden era had already come and gone by then, but still. Listening to Ayaya's discography opened my eyes to so many things. First of all, I realize that the amount of fans and supporters she has is absolutly justified. She deserves to be up there with Utada, Ayumi and all of J-Pop royalty. The fact that her popularity faded away with time is almost unbearable. She improved consistently, and though I don't really enjoy her new style much, and wish she would go back to her idol days, she has evolved into an amazing singer, and no one can tell her what to sing and what not to sing, so if she's happy singing more serious stuff, so be it.

Her first single, Dokki Doki! LOVE Mail is probably one of the best debut singles I've ever heard of. She was just 15 when it was released, but she already could sing very well. The video was very funny, since she was still a bit fresh, and probably didn't know how to act in front of the cameras. Back then, you could still see they'd put some thought into PVs in H!P, so they were mostly fun. Seeing her so young after seeing her in the Elder Club Graduation concert felt kind of weird. Getting to know her work after she graduated from H!P. I feel kind of silly. But Melon Kinenbi is releasing 5 singles, aren't they? Let's hope Ayaya has something in the works too.

Tropica~l Koishite~ru was her second single, and it's a very popular one. It's constantly sung in H!P concerts, so I guess it's a fan favourite. It's one of my favourite, that's for sure. The video is by far one of the coolest H!P PVs I've ever seen. Ayaya against herself in a tennis match. Does it get better than this? At this point she had already gotten a bit better with the camera, so she wasn't awkward at all.

She had yet to release another two singles before her first album, but I'd like to talk about that first. As of now, her first album is probably my favourite H!P album of all-time. Tied with Café Buono!, of course. The singles are great, but some of the album tracks really stand out for me. My favourite, maybe my favourite Ayaya song overall, is Hajimete Kuchibiru wo Kasaneta Yoru. This song was sung by LinLin, Suzuki Airi and Ogawa Saki at the 2008 Winter Wonderful Hearts concert. When I watched it, I totally loved the song, but, as usual, didn't know who it was by. When I downloaded Ayaya's discography, and finally got to the first album, it was a nice surprise to see that this song was an Ayaya song. LinLin, Airi and Saki did it justice, but nothing is quite like the original. Ayaya managed to sound truly heartfelt in the song, and when that happens, no matter who is singing, the song really shines. That's probably the reason why I like it so much.

I could go on, and talk about the amazing Get Up! Rapper, DEF. DIVA (Suki Sugite Baka Mitai is almost too awesome), Nochiura Natsumi and other Ayaya works, but her career is far too long to talk about in only one post. I'm probably going to make more Ayaya Immersion posts, so please check back, and if you don't know Ayaya, please watch the videos :)

S/mileage - aMa no Jaku

2009-06-10T03:02:00.001-07:00

01 aMa no Jaku
02 aMa no Jaku (Instrumental)

The new Egg unit kicks in with their first indies single! This H!P unit consists of Eggs Maeda Yuuka, Ogawa Saki, Wada Ayaka, and Fukuda Kanon. Fukuda Kanon, Maeda Yuuka and Wada Ayaka were in Shugo Chara Egg!, and Ogawa Saki is the Egg that sang Hajimete Kuchibiru wo Kasaneta Yoru with LinLin and Airi at the 2008 Summer Wonderful Hearts Concert. aMa no Jaku is quite interesting: it start off with a funky Shugo Chara Egg!-like beat, and a cute melody comes in. It sounds a lot like a Shugo Chara! opening, but I'm probably just thinking that because most of the girls were in Shugo Chara Egg! The chorus is a bit different, it doesn't really connect with the song. It starts differently, and when it ends, the song rolls back into what it was before the chorus began. It's still very pleasant, though. All the girls sound quite good in the song, so I guess they chose them well. I hope they make them work like C-ute, and release a indie single every month 'til their major debut xD

Some important info you should already know

2009-06-09T03:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, this might seem weird coming from me, but these...

...are really something else.

MONKEY MAJIK - Aishiteru

2009-06-05T03:24:00.000-07:00

01. Aishiteru
02. robots inc.
03. Aishiteru -DJ Mitsu the Beats remix-

I love MONKEY MAJIK ballads. So when I heard this was going to be a ballad, I was pretty excited. However, when I started listening to Aishiteru, I didn't like it much. It felt a bit too normal, and not very heart-felt. However, there guys never fail to impress me. When it gets to the bridge, you really fall in love with it. The song gets really pretty and just so damn catchy, and the parts with lyrics in english are also pretty nice, though I felt they sounded a bit out of place here. I must admit it's no Akari, but it's still a very solid, very enjoyable ballad.

robots inc. is a faster song. It starts with a cool beat and this catchy electronic sound. The verses are sung in a lower voice than usual, but the chorus is the classic MONKEY MAJIK sound. It's an awesome song, but it kind of screams 'B-SIDE!!!!'. That's not a bad thing at all, I guess, since it is a b-side.

Aishiteru -DJ Mitsu the Beats remix- is a interesting remix. It takes kind of a lounge sound and matches it to the song. It sounds a bit jazzy to me. As usual, I like the original song better, but as far as single remixes go, this is a very good one.

Aishiteru is one more solid effort from MONKEY MAJIK. It'd been almost 10 months since their last release, I was starting to really miss them. I listened to TIME, their last album, like crazy, and I hope they do it again.

school food punishment - futuristic imagination

2009-06-05T03:05:00.000-07:00

01. futuristic imagination
02. flat
03. you may crawl -Takku Ishino Remix-

I was just recently introduced to school food punishment by pengie from unchained. I remember I heard a song from them in one of her podcasts, though I'm not 100% about this, but I do remember that wherever it was that I heard a SFP song, I really liked it. I proceeded to download their three indie albums and it was definitely surprise. I'm not much of an indies band listener, but this really caught me off guard. school food punishment sounded so fresh and true that I couldn't help but listen to them nonstop for days. They have now signed with a major label, and released their first single, futuristic imagination.

When I started listening to them, they were already signed, but hadn't released any songs just yet. I listened to the indie albums and thought 'it would be a shame if they lost their sound now that they're signed'. Thankfully, they didn't. futuristic imagination is a school food punishment song, not a song they were told to play by their label. The freshness is there, the crazy instrumental is there, the catchy drums are there. It wouldn't feel out of place at all if it was in Riff-rain, their third (and most amazing) indie album.

flat, the b-side, is much calmer. It doesn't stand out much at first, but the bridge really caught my ear, and the chorus is very original. The instrumental sets a well-defined rhythm(?) and I guess that's a good thing. Right now this is not as good as futuristic imagination, but I can totally see it growing on me very soon.

you may crawl -Takku Ishino Remix- is a repetitive remix of their 2nd indie album's main song. The original song is terribly awesome, but this remix is not. I violently dislike dub mixes, sorry. They should've just included the instrumental version of futuristic imagination instead.

school food punishment's first major single is a very solid effort. They already have a large following, so I guess it won't be much of a problem that their first major single wasn't as ground-breaking as some as their previous songs, like Flow. They're releasing their second major single, butterfly swimmer, on July 22nd. I can't wait to know what it sounds like.

Chihiro Onitsuka - X / Last Melody

2009-05-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

01. X
02. Last Melody

To be perfectly honest, I had never heard of Chihiro Onitsuka until she released this single. I'm glad to say that I've become a fan of this lady.

What struck me most about Chihiro is how similar to Utada's voice her voice is. It really shows in Last Melody. X starts of like a slow ballad, but then it turns into a pop/rock ballads. Chihiro has a very unique way of singing that makes you think of no one else when she's singing a rock track. Well, at least that's what I got from this one song. I love the guitars and the chorus is quite catchy, while keeping a very dark atmosphere. It's almost like they mixed Ai Otsuka's Cherish with Ayumi Hamasaki's talkin' 2 myself. Very good stuff.

Last Melody, as the title might have given away, is also a ballad. And boy, what an amazing ballad it is... I must admit I didn't like it too much the first time I listened to it. But then I didn't feel like putting something else on either, so I just let it play on repeat along with X. A few listens later, I realized I liked this better than X. Her voice reminds me of Utada Hikaru's voice in this song, especially in the bridge, when she hits some higher notes. The song is absolutely beautiful, and for a song whose title includes the word 'Melody', it has quite a well-thought one.

X / Last Melody is a great single by Chihiro Onitsuka, and I'm definitely going to follow her careeer closely from now on, and probably going to check some of her previous works.

Shouganai Yume Oibito is #1!!

2009-05-20T06:08:00.000-07:00

Yay!! They did it! Morning Musume is #1 on the Weekly Charts!!
Congratulations for your first #1 single, Aika, JunJun and LinLin!!
I'm so happy ^^

Look What I Just Bought!!

2009-05-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

Shabondama and Iroppoi Jirettai (Limited Edition)! Yay! As of now, I own 7 MM singles. Hopefully, I'll have at least 25 by the end of the year :)

Ikimonogakari is back!

2009-05-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, this might be old news to everyone else, but unfortunately I just don't know where to look for Ikimonogakari info. I find out they're releasing new stuff when I see the torrent up on jpopsuki. Today, I saw their new music video, Futari, on jpopsuki, so I immediately downloaded it. The video itself isn't too great, and it doesn't even feature Hotaka and Yoshiki, it's just Kiyoe all the time, lots of way too long shots and she doesn't even sing. She stays there waiting for a train, and that's the video. I'm not saying it's not good or anything, but if you're not very much into the band, or doesn't get the point, or some words in the song, you'll find it immensely boring.

The song itself, is exactly what you expect from an Ikimonogakari ballad: pure awesomess. Kiyoe's vocals are as great as usual, the song is very heartfelt, like a new Kaeritakunatta yo, and the chorus is catchy. The song is the theme song of the TBS drama 'Boku no Imouto', and the single comes out on May 27th. Here are the cover and the tracklisting:

01 Futari
02 Blue Bird （LIVE ver.）
03 Kokoro no Hana wo Sakaseyou （LIVE ver.）
04 Futari -Instrumental-

Ikimonogakari is also providing the music for the new Naruto Shippuden opening, it's a new song called 'Hotaru no Hikari', which I thought would be featured in this single. Maybe it's the next single? It's probably a mistake to not release a Naruto Shippuden opening song as a single, 'cause it'd sell a lot.

NEW AAA SINGLE ANNOUNCED!!

2009-04-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

o1.Break Down
o2.?????????
o3.Break Down(Instrmental)
o4.??????????(Instrmental)

Out on June 26th!!!

To hell with disbanding rumours!!!!

It's a double a-side, so I'm hoping for big awesome songs! It's going to be released in 4 versions: 2CD+DVD versions and 2CD Only versions. The second song's title is probably coming out soon.

I'm guessing this is going to be another Get CHU!/SHE no Jijitsu or MUSIC!!!/ZERO kind of thing. I don't even care if they're the most generic songs ever, I'm just so happy they're back!

AAA FTW!!!

I can't help but love Morning Musume

2009-04-17T03:14:00.001-07:00

As everyone probably already knows by now, the new Morning Musume PV and song kind of leaked yesterday. The new song is called Shouganai Yume Oibito (People can't help but chase dreams). Here's the cover:

I feel bad for LinLin and JunJun, 'cause while everyone else looks absolutely stunning, they look weird and kind of left out. Man, just look at Aika. Her fake hair is really working well for her. Ai looks amazing with her hair behind her ear, Risa looks like a hot mom, Eri looks cute, Sayu always looks good, and Koharu looks a bit old-fashioned, but awesome. LinLin, however, looks like she's 32, and JunJun's nose is all over the place, probably because of these bangs.

I can't say I don't like the cover, I think it's very good, and that they're really trying with this. But just wait 'til you listen to the song! Here's a preview, in case you haven't heard it yet.

Shouganai Yume Oibito sounds like they put some serious thinking into making it. The instrumental is not the best thing since sliced bread, but it's definitely very fresh with all the guitar and violin solos. The melody is really catchy, you can't help but sing along. It's definitely a very strong vocal track, everyone is sounding good, and the harmonizing is very well done. Also, everyone sings in it (though there isn't enough Aika. Very far from enough.), which is always good. The song alone would have made this an awesome single. But just wait 'til you watch the video! No links yet.

Get ready for some serious pic spamming.

Apparently, the main concept is 'Morning Musume reading books'

JunLin always have so much fun when it's just the two of them :)

Sayu looking as beautiful as usual.

Aika's acting has gotten better.

JunJun looking amazing.

What's upsetting you, darlin'?

Reina also looked gorgeous. She didn't really stand out, though.

LinLin looks good. They really owed her this, after that Naichau Kamo outfit.

Morning Musume after class. Maybe this is why they were reading. They had a school test.

Koharu grabs her crotch.

Aika looks so gorgeous her head hurts.

Risa looks a lot like Frida from ABBA.

Aika studies a bit more.

JunJun finally got it. It was so simple she started laughing.

These bangs win.

Ai wonders how many copies this is going to sell.

Koharu is also in it. Looking gorgeous, I must admit.

Ok, one thing I know, she has never looked prettier than this.

Now that is the face you should have pulled in Naichau Kamo!

As you can see, they all look amazing. The PV is simple, yet effective, really catching your eye. The Dance Shot features the same outfits they're wearing in the cover, which is nice.

I don't know if you've seen the new Buono! PV, MY BOY, but it is also awesome. I think that now that the Elders are gone, UFA is really trying to get things right with H!P. The Buono! PV was absolutely awesome, seemed to have quite a decent budget, and this new MM PV is very well done, and is really going to catch the eye of the Japanese public. Maybe it's time for H!P to rise from their ashes? Let's wait and see. The single comes out on May 13th. Everyone should order one.

She's back!

2009-04-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

YUI FTW!!! I fucking hate it when artists go on hiatus. YUI had one, and I thought she'd be gone for at least a year, but she's already back! Yay! Her new song is called again, and it's the opening of the new Full Metal Alchemist anime series, which I have never seen, therefore can't recommend. again, however, is absolutely cracktastic, as Raid would say. Though it's got that same old YUI feel, it's a bit different from all she's done before, with a bit more key changes and all. Though I don't really see enough difference to justify the "re-energizing break" she took. But I'm too happy for her comeback to care too much about that. The single is out on June 3rd (now this is what I call a leak), so make sure you all buy one on YesAsia, or CDJapan or wherever. Welcome back, YUI! We all missed you!

Look What I Just Bought!!

2009-04-02T03:29:00.000-07:00

Yay yay!! Souda! We're ALIVE, and limited editions of Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari and Osaka Koi no Uta! I bought these over a month ago but they arrived here just yesterday. I'm happy ^^

NEW H!P UNIT

2009-03-27T03:10:00.000-07:00

Everyone who checks Hello!Online on a regular basis probably already knows this, but I have got to talk about it. There is a new H!P unit in the works! I've been longing for a new unit for some time now, so I'm loving this. Especially because some of my favourite H!P members are in it!

It's Aika, NakaSaki and Yurina in the same unit! The reason why I'm not fainting right now is beyond me. My favourite MM member, my favourite C-ute member and one of my favourite BK members (though I don't really have a favourite BK member, I love many of them). I'm guessing H!P owns Aika and NakaSaki something, 'cause it's their second unit. They were both in Athena & Robikerottsu, which was absolutely awesome too. Omakase! Guardian, the first single, isn't going to be released 'til May 27th, so there's still some time left to wait. I'm just thinking of how many good units this Shugo Chara anime has produced. Buono!, Shugo Chara Egg! and now 4 Guardians. I hope this one will be as successful as Buono! and will stay around for very long. There is no such thing as too much Aika or NakaSaki.

SO full of win.

BoA - BoA

2009-03-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

01. I Did It for Love ft. Sean Garrett
02. Energetic
03. Did Ya
04. Look Who's Talking
05. Eat You Up
06. Obsessed
07. Touched
08. Scream
09. Girls On Top
10. Dress Off
11. Hypnotic Dancefloor

The girl did it! BoA's debut english album is out, and it's absolutely on fire!

First track is second single, I Did It for Love ft. Sean Garrett. The song, just like all other songs in this album, is very catchy and full of synth. The lyrics are great (it's fun to understand what she's singing for once) and the chorus is the catchiest thing ever! I totally loved it when I first listened to it, and I have yet to grow tired of it. Sean Garrett's vocals are good, though they don't match his image at all xD

Energetic is absolutely awesome, very catchy, I looooooooove the male voice that keep saying 'I feel so energetic don't think I can ever get it' and the beat is totally insane! This is too good!

Did Ya slows down things a bit. It's very bubbly and fun, and her voice isn't so synthed, which is good. Though her english isn't perfect, maybe they should've included a ballad in this album, so people can see she can actually sing. Anyway, back to Did Ya: the chorus is very fun, and the lyrics are also cool. Though I can't really understand everything she's singing.

Look Who's Talking was going to be the album's title song and second single before they switched it to a self-titled album and made I Did It for Love the second single. Honestly, I'm glad they did. This song is ridiculous xD The lyrics are a bit too over the top, I don't think she can really pull this off. As for the song itself, it's ok. The beat is strong and all. Not the best song in the album, definitely.

Everyone already knows Eat You Up, it's been out for quite some time, and it's been loved by many. It failed to make an impact in the US, but it's really good.

Now fasten your seat belts, 'cause Obsessed is next. Man, how am I supposed to review this? This song is perfect! The lyrics are the coolest thing ever, her vocals are perfect, the beats are killing me right now, and whoever produced this deserves a producing Nobel prize.

Touched is weird. It doesn't sound like BoA! And I don't mean the music, 'cause none of these sound particularly like her previous works. It's the vocals! It's not BoA's voice!! I can't really enjoy this song.

Scream is a cover of the Monrose song by the same name. BoA had already covered this in the Anyband project, but it was called Daydream back then. I'm not really used to it yet, 'cause I really love Daydream, but the song is great. I love it when she sings 'It's only you and me and all of your fears'. Juicy.

The english version of Girls On Top doesn't even come close to the original korean version. I think maybe she shouldn't have done it, but maybe it will make new fans go check her previous work. It simply sounds weird to listen to this in english. It's probably awesome to everyone else who didn't know it yet, though.

Dress Off had a great bridge and a great chorus, but in comparison to all the other awesome tracks, it doesn't really stand out.

Hypnotic Dancefloor is pure greatness. This is how you end an album. This song is going to make it big in US clubs, I'm sure. The chorus is crazy, you can't help but dance to it, and her voice sounds quite clear in it. Her pronunciation is also much better than some other moments in the album. Awesome, awesome song.

After this, everyone must have already realized BoA is serious about this American career thing. She totally let go of her usual sound and turned into a dance artist who isn't kidding about making it big in the US. I'm sure that if SM stops screwing around and promotes this album right, it will make quite an impact in the US market.

Morning Musume - Platinum 9 DISC

2009-03-17T09:18:00.000-07:00

01. SONGS
02. Resonant Blue
03. Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou
04. Take off is now!
05. Naichau Kamo
06. Watashi no Miryoku ni Kizukanai Donkan na Hito
07. Guruguru Jump
08. Mikan
09. Jounetsu no Kiss wo Hitotsu
10. It's You
11. Onna ni Sachi Are
12. Kataomoi no Owari ni
13. Kanashimi Twilight

SONGS starts off very slowly, but then picks up with a little funny instrumental and becomes some kind of funky R'nB song with synth vocals and lines sung in unison. Morning Musume has had quite a few awesome album openers over the years, and this one is really just as awesome as HOW DO YOU LIKE JAPAN, Genki+ and Nagisa no Sinbad.

Resonant Blue. Period.

Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou is a beautiful ballad. At first I was like 'too bad it's all sung in unison, but now I think that works well with the instrumental and the melody. JunJun and LinLin sing a little bit in chinese in the end, and it's absolutely amazing. LinLin's high note in the end was not breath-taking, but it was sure pretty.

Take off is now! is the song where Ai can be 22 for a minute or two. The song sounds really grown-up and is catchy as hell. I'm definitely burnin' this to a CD and givin' it to my friends, everyone is going to love it. Great vocals, too.

Naichau Kamo is the latest single, and probably the second best off this era. I'm not sure if I should count Kanashimi Twilight as part of this era, since it was released so long ago and was in the 10th Anniversary album, but if you don't count it, Naichau Kamo and Resonant Blue are the two most amazing singles they released in this era.

Watashi no Miryoku ni Kizukanai Donkan na Hito is Mittsi's solo song. You see, I had high hopes for this one. Aika is my favourite member of Morning Musume right now, and I just loved to know she was getting a solo song. However, the song isn't all that good... It's fun and all, but not too enjoyable, and has almost no replay value. Aika can carry the tune, but doesn't give it much of her own character. Nice try, Aika, but try again some time soon.

Guruguru Jump is definitely a very fun song. LinLin is the funniest MM in the group right now, and Koharu can sound quite interesting when she tries. JunJun also sounds good, but it's a bit awkward to have a 21-year-old singing this kind of song. The song is very catchy, very fun, and doesn't really qualify as a filler track. :)

Mikan is the bad single. But it's awesome. It sold very poorly, but I think it's a greaaaaat single. The melody, the instrumental, the vocals, everything is very endearing about it. It's really a shame it didn't sell well, so probably they aren't going to make a similar song anytime soon.

Jounetsu no Kiss wo Hitotsu is kind of a filler track. I don't really like it. Once again, it's Ai, Reina and Risa.

You see, I love Sayumi Michishige. I absolutely adore her. But I gotta say this, her song is no good. Her voice sounds OK in It's You, which is unexpected (though she did sound good in Yowamushi), but the song itself is absolutely boring. I was really happy when I heard she was going to have a solo song, but this was going to be it, they could have left it out.

Onna ni Sachi Are was the pandas' debut, and it's so fucking awesome. They all sound good, the beat is awesome, and I love the title (Good Luck, Girls). There isn't much to say about it, since it's been around for so long already, so everyone already knows it.

Kataomoi no Owari ni is Eri's solo song. This is probably the best solo song off this album. But it isn't all that awesome either. Eri has proven everyone she is really good, and will carry Morning Musume when the time comes for Ai and Risa to graduate (let's hope that's not very soon). The song sounds a lot like 90's songs, and Eri sounds it in a way that reminds me of Haru Beautiful Everyday, one of my favourite MM songs. The melody is endearing, and Eri seems to have gotten rid of some of her vocal flaws, which is great. Still, it's a bit bland and doesn't stand out much. It's the only solo song I don't skip, though. I'm immensely sorry for Aika.

I don't think I even have to talk about Kanashimi Twilight. Everyone knows it's Yossy's graduation single, and that just couldn't have been bad. The song kicks ass, Aika's solo lines are awesome, the guitar riffs are awesome, the video was awesome, and Yossy is the personification of awesome. We all miss her, that's for sure. There's also Miki, who is great, and is also missed.

I want to say Platinum 9 DISC is a great album, but I'm not so sure. I think it outshines SEXY 8 BEAT, but it relies more on the single tracks than that album. It had 5 absolutely terrific singles, and that might have made me think they'd reaaally raise the bar here, specially after SEXY 8 BEAT had Genki+ and Haru Beautiful Everyday, which are two of the most greatest album tracks MM has ever put out IMO. Platinum 9 DISC has SONGS, Ame no Furanai... and Take of is now!, but they kind of pale in comparison to the singles, which didn't happen in SEXY 8 BEAT, which had Aruiteru to ruin it for everyone. I still think it's a good album, though, and I intend on buying it soon.

Boys, Boys, Boys, and then some...

2009-03-11T11:36:00.000-07:00

Lots of news, lots of new stuff. The new Tohoshinki single, Survivor, just came out. The new Super Junior song, Sorry Sorry, came out. BoA's english album is about to come out. The new AAA tour just started. Lots of news.

The new Tohoshinki song, Survivor, has had a demo (in english) out in the net for quite some time. While their last single, Bolero, was absolutely awesome, this sounds a bit rushed. In fact, I prefer the english demo over their version. The PV is no MIROTIC, but is ok. They're on a high right now, so I'm guessing avex wants to release as many singles as possible and profit all they can from them. Their new album is coming out later this month, and it's going to be called The Secret Code. If it's anything like their previous japanese albums, I'm sure I'll like it.

I'm not a SuJu fan at all. In fact, I actually dislike them. 13 people is too much for 1 group and some of them are simply not talented. However, I can't deny the fact that they've produced some damn catchy songs over the years. The M unit was also pretty great. Now their new song, Sorry Sorry, is probably going to set the Korean charts on fire, 'cause it's absolutely awesome. if features a lot of synth, synth vocals, electronic beats, a catchy chorus, and I can almost see them performing a killer choreography on the MV. SM knows how to do things, no one can deny that.

Another example of SM greatness is BoA's english album. Ok, they messed up by not promoting Eat You Up very well, but they certainly did things better then Se7en's and Rain's labels, who have been there for 2 years and they're nowhere to be seen. BoA's album comes out on the 17th, and I can tell from the previews that it is going to be E-P-I-C. First of all, and kind of a downer thing about it, there are no ballads. It's pure dance music with heavy synthed vocals and beats. BoA doesn't need that, everyone knows she can sing like hell, but they're obviously doing it to cover up her english speaking flaws. All I can say is that I hope she doesn't get better anytime soom, 'cause the songs are sounding absolutely fantastic so far. Another 6 days and we'll know for sure.

The new AAA tour has just started. It's called A depAture pArty, and here's the setlist:

01. SAVE YOUR SOUL
02. Red Soul
03. Samurai Heart
04. BEYOND～ｶﾗﾀﾞﾉｶﾅﾀ (karada no kanata)
05. 始まりのキセキ (hajimari no kiseki)

06. Getﾁｭｰ！
07. Wonderful Girls
08. a piece of my word
09. 唇からロマンチカ (kuchibiru kara romanchika)

10. 夢ノカケラ (yume no kakera)
11. 出逢いのチカラ (deai no chikara)
12. HORIZON
13. Mosaic
14. ﾊﾘｹｰﾝ･ﾘﾘ,ﾎﾞｽﾄﾝ･ﾏﾘ

15. ZERO
16. Let it beat!
17. "Q"
18. ハレルヤ (Hallejuah)

-ENCORE-
19. Jamboree!!
20. Winter Lander
21. 旅ダチノウタ (Tabidachi no Uta)
22. MUSIC!!!

I like the fact that it features almost all songs from depArture, but I'm beyond tired of Hurricane Riri, Boston Mari, and Winter lander!! isn't their best song. Other than that, I think it's going to be a nice DVD xD The pictures are looking good, the outfits are cool, and Chiaki's new hair is actually quite cute.

Not that many news, maybe?

Hold me, Hold me

2009-03-09T04:23:00.000-07:00

Berryz Koubou!!! The new Berryz single is out (the day after tomorrow, one would say) and I just can't hold back on this one. Ever since the video was out, I've been longing to talk about this, but I find it weird to talk about songs who aren't out yet.

You see, the video for Dakishimete Dakishimete was quite epic. Its budget wasn't much higher than the average recent Berryz video. In fact, MADAYADE probably costed a lot more. But, you see, you don't get to see them act this fierce all the time. Some girls had it bad, but Risako, Captain, and most importantly, Chinami, totally owned this PV. Let me get you some caps.

Chinami looking absolutely hot.

Risako looking absolutely hot.

Has she ever looked this hot?

Captain is always fierce.

Miyabi, Maasa and Yurina also looked fine. Love Yurina's hair.

Risako's chest...

...has an important role in this PV.

As you can obviously see, this PV is absolutely full of win. I don't think BK has had a PV with this much win since... ever? Jiriri Kiteru was nice, but the song sucked. I have not mentioned the song yet, have I? I was saving the best for last! Dakishimete Dakishimete reminds me of the amazing Nanchuu Koi wo Yatteru YOU KNOW? which was my favourite BK song for quite some time and features the most amazing H!P girl ever: Ishimura Maiha!! <3333 Dakishimete Dakishimete is kind of a clubbing song, and I hope BK is going down that road (though it's unlikely they'll ever go down any road, since they're so experimental). The b-side, Sonosubete no ai ni is slow and mellow, sounds like the kind of song groups do when they're going to split. BK isn't going to split, so they thought it'd be a good b-side. It is, sort of.

Long story short, this is an awesome release by the Berryz Koubou girls. Buy this if you can, support H!P!!

This week in singles

2009-03-03T02:52:00.000-08:00

So far, I've downloaded 3 singles that are going to be released tomorrow: AKB48's 10nen Sakura, Yuna Ito's trust you, and ARASHI's Believe / Kumori Nochi, Kaisei. I'm not a huge fan of any of those three acts, so I think I can be fairly impartial about these releases.

First off, AKB48. I'm not familiar with them at all. I always knew they existed, but had never tried any of their music. I must say 10nen Sakura didn't dissapoint me at all. The song is very happy and fun, and I love the pitch changes in it. The girls sound decent (though I have no idea who's singing this. There are 48 of them, and I don't know a single one.) and the chorus is a real explosion of fun! The bridge is absolutely catchy. I might check their previous works very soon, really. The b-side, Sakura Ito no Sora no Shita de continues the sakura concept, and is very sweet, with a nice and well-thought melody, though a bit generic.

Now, on to Yuna Ito. Yuna Ito has many awesome ballads under her belt. ENDLESS STORY, Precious, Faith, Truth, you name it. They're all terrific. That's exactly why trust you doesn't stand out. If if was released by any other singer, it would be an epic ballad. But Yuna Ito has the brightest background when it comes to ballads. She is made of epic ballads. trust you isn't one. On the bright side, if you try to forget about all those other amazing songs, or if you're a new fan, this works very well, it's still pretty good. Brand New World, the b-side, is a bit lackluster. She's been trying this new "groovy" sound since her preview single Koi wa groovy x2 (which was great), and it worked pretty well back then, but this time it feels like trying a bit too hard. It's quite generic and sounds like everything that's been done before. The Koi wa groovy x2 remix in the single is very cool and really gives the song a new feeling, kind of a little samba thing or something. I like it :) The single is consistent, and I really wish her the best of luck. Her sales are dropping reaaaaaaaaaally fast. Koi wa groovy x2, for example, was a great song and sold 5k. Really sad. I really hope she can pick it back up.

I'm not a big fan of ARASHI. In fact, I think they're terribly overrated. They've been around for 10 years, and the only decent song from them I've ever heard is truth. Still, they sell like crazy. Believe is the second decent song from them I've ever heard. It's a great pop song, very catchy, fast chorus, and somehow stands out. It's formulaic, but at the same time it's not. This is really a great effort. Vocals are as good as JE goes. One of them sounds a bit off, but I have absolutely no idea which one. I don't even know their names, really xD Kumori Nochi, Kaisei is the second a-side song. It's got a feel-good feeling, with little piano riffs (not played on a real piano, but still), and a "friendly" melody. This is the kind of song you sing in the end of your concert, right after the encore emotional ballad. It's pretty fun, but doesn't really stand out. Is it sung by only one member of the group, or do they all sound similar? Tobira is the b-side song. It's another happy song. It's a huge filler, so many singers have sung this exact same song in the past. It's still enjoyable if you're not paying too much attention to it, though.

BoA - Eien

2009-02-24T10:06:00.000-08:00

Tracklist:
01. Eien
02. UNIVERSE feat. Crystal Kay & VERBAL (m-flo)
03. Believe in LOVE (Acoustic Version)
04. BEST HIT MEGA BLEND
05. Eien (Instrumental)
06. UNIVERSE feat. Crystal Kay & VERBAL (m-flo) (Instrumental)

Eien was released in order to promote BoA's new BEST album, BEST&USA, which is going to be released on March 18th. BoA is by far the most important J-Pop artist in my book. She's the one who got me into japanese music in the first place, pulling me up from the dark hole of terrible meaningless ocidental music. Along with her, came some of my best friends ever, and a lot of stories to tell. A lot of stuff has happened in my life because of this talented lady ever since I first saw her perform Rock With You back in 2003.

Eien is a great pop song that reminds me of her first 3 albums. As my friend Shiman cleverly pointed out, it's a very commercial song, made to promote her new BEST album. It's very fun and catchy, and BoA sings it in a way that makes you unable to imagine the song being sung by anyone else. The chorus is also one of her best choruses in a long, long time. I can safely say that, IMO, this is her best single since Winter Love (which was reaaally epic).

UNIVERSE feat. Crystal Kay & VERBAL (m-flo) is also a great pop song. These three could definitely start a new Suite Chic kind of thing, 'cause BoA's voice matches Crystal's voice very well, and VERBAL is also great with both of them. The chorus is very catchy, and the beat is quite infectious.

Believe in LOVE (Acoustic Version) is very peaceful and pretty. I have no idea if this is what actually happens, but it sounds like a real studio live performance. But I guess they would point that out in the title if it was. Man, you gotta love this girl's voice...

BEST HIT MEGA BLEND is a huge fun mess xD It starts off with a remixed version of Sweet Impact, and I wish I could have a full version of this. Sweet Impact doesn't last long, it quickly becomes some kind of jazz remix of Dakishimeru, though it only features the chorus. Winter Love kicks in right away with lots of beats and background sounds, and turns into a nearly acapella version of Eien. LOVE LETTER is next with fast beats and high-pitch sounds. Then there's Nanairo no Ashita's chorus. And DO THE MOTION, her first and only single to hit #1 on the Weekly Charts. Eien makes a fast second appearance, and the remix ends. I'm sure everyone who knows BoA's recent works will enjoy this remix of remixes xD.

This was a great single from BoA, a huge step up from her last single Vivid, which sounded a bit rushed. Unfortunately, it didn't sell a lot, so I'm worried about BEST&USA. BoA's albums have always debuted at #1, and if this one doesn't, it's going to be a real shame.

Ayumi Hamasaki - Rule / Sparkle

2009-02-24T09:13:00.000-08:00

Tracklist:
01. Rule (Original mix)
02. Sparkle (Original mix)
03. Days (8-bits of tears YMCK remix) (Versão A)
03. GREEN (CMJK Spring Storm mix) (Versão B)
04. Days (Acoustic Orchestra version) (Versão A)
04. GREEN (Acoustic Orchestra version) (Versão B)
05. Rule (80kidz's "No More Rule" mix)
06. Rule (Remo-con "tech dance" remix)
07. Rule (Original mix -Instrumental-)
08. Sparkle (Original mix -Instrumental-)

Ayumi's new single is out! Yay! I've been a fan of Ayu for quite a long time now, but I've loved her a lot more in the past. Now she's more like... another artist I follow. She's the artist whose releases I own the most hard copies of, though. Or is it BoA? I should recount.

This new single had previews and PVs out a long time ago, but I didn't care to check them out. I guess I preferred to wait 'til HQ versions were out, so I could have create an opinion based on fine quality work.

Rule is a rock song. However, it's different from almost all other rock songs Ayumi has put out. It sounds like it has cushions all over it. Older songs like talkin' 2 myself and About You were heavy and fierce, and not afraid of being a rock song. This one sounds like she's still deciding whether she wants it to be a rock song or a pop song, and that can't be good.

Sparkle, on the other hand, is kind of an electropop song. It's not J-Tek, but it's a bit far from J-Pop, and that was a smart choice. The song sounds different from everything else we've been hearing these days, staying strong as an electronic song, but also getting a bit rockish on the chorus. Very good, Ayu, very good...

Ever since Free & Easy, Ayu had never put this many remixes in a single. Before that, they used to be packed with lots of remixes. I own a copy of vogue, and it has like 7 remixes and an unreleased track. It's quite nice to have so many tracks on a single, though many of the remixes are crap. Days (8-bits of tears YMCK remix) sounds like an 8-bit video game song. As the title suggested. Days is a great song, and this remix does it justice. It's quite good and sounds very cute. I love the 8-bits version of the main riff.

Days (Acoustic Orchestra version), as anyone would've guessed, it an orchestral version os Days. Now, the original Days was absolutely awesome, can you imagine how awesome would an orchestral version of that be? Wait, you don't have to! It's right here! It's beautiful, you gotta love the violins...

GREEN (CMJK Spring Storm mix) deserves to be called a remix. GREEN sounds as different from the original song as it can possibly get, and still manages to be very enjoyable. I'm not very good at describing remixes, but this one is electronic, with lot of... electronic noises, and gets a bit faster on the chorus.

GREEN (Acoustic Orchestra version) is a beautiful orchestral version of GREEN. It doesn't go very far from the original, but is much more mellow and sounds a lot more epic. I think I'd have liked GREEN better if I had listened to this version before I listened to the original song. You gotta love the violins.

Rule (80kidz's "No More Rule" mix) is a great electronic remix. Her vocals are a very drowned by the crazy electronic instrumental through the whole song, but I think that's what they were going for anyway.

Rule (Remo-con "tech dance" remix) takes forever to really begin. Almost 2 minutes into the song, the vocals kick in, she sings 2 lines and it starts repeating the same sound over and over again for a long time. I think they call this kind of remix a 'Dub' remix. Those totally suck. Oh, a change of pace, and clean vocals. This is unexpected. New instrumental pattern... interesting. Ok, it's enjoyable, but the other 80kids remix is much better.

Ok, it's a great single. However, it's been a while since Ayu released a truly ground-breaking single. She hasn't lost any of her consistency, and this is probably going to sell a lot, and extend her #1 strike a bit further, but has she lost her hability to really make us wow? She has just announced a new album a few days ago, it's called NEXT LEVEL, and it's going to be released on March 25th. Let's wait and see how that goes.

Platinum 9 Disc Covers

2009-02-23T16:15:00.000-08:00

On March 18th, Morning Musume is finally releasing their 9th album, Platinum 9 Disc. It's going to be the first album to feature JunJun and LinLin (the compilation doesn't count, and COVER YOU... well...), and SEXY 8 BEAT was released quite some time ago, so it's kind of a big deal. Here's the tracklisting:

1.SONGS
2.Resonant Blue
3.Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou
4.Take off is Now
5.NaiChau Kamo
6.Watashi no Miryoku ni Kizukanai Donkan na Hito
7.Guru Guru JUMP
8.Mikan
9.Jounetsu no Kiss o Hitotsu
10.It's you!
11.Onna Ni Sachi Are
12.Kataomoi no Owari ni
13.Kanashimi Twilight

Some of the songs were already performed on their latest DVD released, and they're pretty great. Watashi no Miryoku ni Kizukanai Donkan na Hito is a solo Aika song, It's you! is a solo Sayumi song, and Kataomoi no Owari ni is a Eri song, so I'm hoping for something big. I was also hoping for a JunJun + LinLin song, but instead we get a JunJun+LinLin+Koharu song (Guru Guru JUMP). It was performed on the DVD, and it's pretty good. I just wish the Pandas could have the spotlight on them for a whole song. Maybe next time. I was also not too happy to see Onna ni Sachi Are and Kanashimi Twilight in there, since they were on the compilation, but... those are good songs, and it's not like I can do anything about it anyway.

Now, on to the main point of this post: the covers. When they came out last week, I wasn't sure whether I liked them. They were such LQ versions, so I couldn't really tell. Today, however, I finally got to see HQ versions of them, and unfortunately what I was afraid of seeing is exactly what I'm staring at right now: the covers suck.

First or all, the background. Anyone who doesn't think this is cheap, needs professional help. I'm pretty sure I have seen a similar background in sweet 16 pictures somewhere, and that's really not a good thing.

Those bright spots and those strings all over them are definitely not helping, and definitely make the whole thing look exceptionally tacky, though they probably wouldn't if it wasn't for the amazingly tacky outfits they put the girls in. I mean, I can take some awful outfits in concerts, 'cause that's standard procedure in H!P, but on album covers, it's just a bit too much. They're too bright, too short, and those things on their heads are not helping at all.

While we're at it, let's talk about the most important thing about their heads here: the hair. Who the hell came up with the idea of getting everyone these curls? That person seriously needs to get a seat or something. Koharu, Reina and Eri had already successfully worn curly hair before, so it was a safe choice for them, but JunJun, Risa and Sayumi paid high, very high prices. JunJun is seriously pretty, but curly hair just doesn't suit her at all. She looks absolutely awkward in both covers, like she was like stuck in traffic, came in terribly late, got her hair and make-up done in a tremendous rush and went on to take the pictures.

Sayumi, one of the cutest members of Morning Musume, looks like she's 15 years older than she really is. That might be caused by poor make-up, though. Risa usually looks great with curls, but this time someone screwed her up by dying her hair in such a light shade of blonde. She looks like a hooker.

Ai's case is quite different. She doesn't look bad with curls, and the dress isn't too bad for her, but she looks absolutely out of her element. I don't know if it's just me, but I kind of feel like she's getting a bit too old to pull this off with everyone else. She looks really mature, and that's probably part of the concept, but when she looks this mature while standing next to the other girls, and most of them are a few years younger than her, she stands out. Maybe her image no longer fits Morning Musume?

On the bright side (no pun intended), Aika and LinLin look pretty good with their new hairdos. Aika's smirk looks cute on the regular edition's cover, and her hair really goes well with her face. LinLin doesn't look that different on the regular edition, but looks super sexy on the limited one.

I just hope it looks better when you're holding a hard copy of it (as I've seen happen millions of times before), 'cause otherwise, these covers are going to help them sell this album at all.

New domain, new layout

2009-02-22T15:20:00.000-08:00

Yay! I just bought a .com domain for Kimono Edge Boy, so now you should all (who?) type www.kimonoedgeboy.com instead of kimonoedgeboy.blogspot.com when you want to come read my latest bad post.

I also made a new layout, and the top picture no longer changes. I know it looks tacky, but I think I'm getting bettet at this, and some day I'll make a decent layout. I promise.

Resonant LIVE

2009-02-15T15:15:00.000-08:00

I just finished watching Morning Musume's new tour yesterday, and decided that it's time to let my love for Mittsi and JunJun show. They were the best ones in this concert, and everyone probably agrees with me. Or not. For one thing, Aika's dancing has improved a lot. Everytime she danced, her moves were absolutely sharp and she looked like she was having a great time doing them. Her smile is still the brightest, and she looks absolutely unpretensious and innocent, making her by far the cutest member of Morning Musume. I just want to hug her and smell her hair. I mean, seriously. I know a lot of people who hate her, and think she shouldn't be in Morning Musume, but I can see great things in her future if she keeps getting better like this. She is getting a solo song on the new album, and it was performed in the concert. I can't say it's the catchiest song I've ever heard, but it's still a solo song, which probably means UFA wants to boost her popularity, or maybe even prepare her for a solo career when she graduates from Morning Musume.

Another thing that surprised me in this concert, was Koharu. As everyone knows, I dislike her a lot. However, I can really see her making some improvement here. She actually sounded good singing her line in Mikan, and was really funny to watch during the MC in which she talked with Aika, JunJun and LinLin.

In fact, that MC was one of the highlights of the whole concert. JunJun's japanese speaking skills blew me away. I thought she still didn't know much japanese, but she totally took control of the whole conversation, and it was soooooooooooooo much fun. I wish I knew what the hell they were talking about. All I know is that at one point JunJun lists the singles they released ever since she joined the group, and I also think she talked about seeing themselves in posters or something like that. Another thing that struck me was how her and LinLin are becoming important in the group. They keep getting lines in concerts, and getting to show off their personalities a lot more than they usually do. That's a very good thing, 'cause JunJun's voice is only topped by Ai's and Risa's in Morning Musume, and she should get to use it more in songs. LinLin, on the other hand, isn't all that awesome as a singer, but is still pretty good, and is probably the most fun Morning Musume member right now. I loved the way she pointed at herself while singing 'RinRinRinRin...' in Koi no Dial 6700.

They're putting a new single out on wednesday, and it's called Naichau Kamo. The video has been out for a few weeks, and it's awesome. It has a really cool choreography, and the girls are all wet, crying in the rain. Koharu and JunJun look absolutely amazing in it. The song is also great, but the only members with solo lines are Ai, Risa, Eri and Sayumi. I hope it sells well :)

Please don't leave

2009-02-11T10:13:00.000-08:00

AAA's new album depArture is out! Yay!

The album starts off with a little silly introduction that works quite well.

Next is single track MUSIC!!!, which is very fun, had a awesome PV, and Chiaki has solo lines in it. She's really becoming a lead!

New track SAVE YOUR SOUL is awesome. Chiaki has solo lines. She's really becoming a lead! The only thing that bugged me about it was the extremely low ad-libbing by Naoya and Nissy towards the end. I would have missed them if I wasn't paying such focused attention.

Promotional track Jamboree!! is very happy-go-lucky, very fun, Chiaki also gets solo lines. She's really becoming a lead! I loved the song from the minute I saw the PV, it's just so much fun and innocent sounding... I miss old eurobeat AAA tracks, but this is also a great one!

Wonderful Girls is the boys-only song. It sounds a lot like Hello! Project stuff. For the first time in a boys-only song, Shinjiro and Shuta have a significant amount of lines. They each had 1 in Saikyou Babe (ATTACK), none in Soul Edge Boy (ALL) and 1 each in No end summer (AROUND). They both get plenty of lines in this, which is really great. Hidaka's rap is pretty great as usual. Gosh, this album really feels like an album by a 7 people group, and not a 3 people group who ocasionally features a rapper, like all others sounded like.

I wasn't too happy when I heard there was going to be a Deai no Chikara III in this album. I love the first Deai no Chikara, it's one of my favourite AAA songs, but the second one wasn't so good. This one, though, is reaaaaaally great. Nissy and Misako are great, but they're even better when they're together. The chorus is heart-melting and Misako's vocals are at its best. The song starts as a piano-ballad, but other instruments join as it progresses, which was kind of a disappointment for me, I'm a huge fan of piano ballads, and this sounded perfect so far. Now it feels a bit R'nB-ish... Still epic, though. Probably the best new track so far.

I have already reviewed piece of my word, so...

ZERØ is next, and though I didn't like it very much when it was released, it has grown to become one of my favourite songs by them. It's almost all Nissy/Naoya, with a Misako bridge, which is a bummer, 'cause Shinjiro's voice would have worked very well with the whole dark concept.

HORIZON sounds very peaceful and features a very pretty melody, though the bridge kind of swings away from the whole cuteness. The chorus is cool, but a bit generic. This one goes old-school and is a Nissy/Naoya/Misako-only track with a Hidaka rap. Wow, did it just end? I guess it's a great track, 'cause I really didn't feel time passing xD

BEYOND~Karada no Kanata was the first single for this album, and it features vocals from all 7 members of AAA, first single ever to do so. It's quite a different track, which mixes pop with a bit of rock and creates something really fresh for AAA. I liked it when it was released, but not too much. Its b-side track, One Night Animal is one of my favorite AAA tracks, and I think it should've been the a-side, but I guess it's good that they're taking risks and releasing different stuff from what they usually do.

Mosaic was in their latest single, which I already reviewed :)

Hajimaru no KISEKI is very very happy. Oddly enough, Shuta and Shinjiro are lead vocals for this song. Hell has frozen over! They both sound great, and they definitely deserve this! The chorus is very fun, and the whole "dandadeeya" thing they all keep singing throughout the song is quite catchy. I have to be honest, Shuta and Shinjiro are great singers and performers and all, but it's clear that they don't quite compare to Nissy and Naoya. But then again, most JE singers and even some solo singers (did someone say Tamaki Hiroshi?) wouldn't sound this good if their lives depended on it. Nissy and Naoya are simply amazingly talented, and tend to overshadow others. That never stopped Shinjiro from being my favourite male member of AAA or sounding awesome every time he got a line or a song (yes, I love Crying Freeman).

Album ends with Tabidachi no Uta, which means Song of Departure.

This album was a total WIN. I wasn't expecting much, since I read some reviews saying it wasn't so good, but I was blown away. First of all, it finally feels like all 7 members are equally as important to the group, which is something I always craved for. Chiaki getting extensive lines in so many songs was a pleasant surprise, and she's really getting close to Misako's level of singing awesomeness. Shinjiro and Shuta had their own song, which is something I never saw coming, even after Shinjiro got a solo song and Shuta got a semi-solo song in CHOICE IS YOURS. I can't wait to see them perform this at the 'A depArture tour 2009'.

I have not bought a copy of this album yet, but I'll do everything I can to buy one ASAP. I have only listened to it once (as I wrote the review), so I'm probably just impressed or something, but right now I feel like this is their best album so far. I don't know how I'll feel about it later, but that's how I feel right now. I just hope this isn't their last album, 'cause it would really be a shame to stop now. Let's just wait and see :)

Buono! 2

2009-02-09T04:54:00.000-08:00

Everyone loves Buono!. Their first album, Café Buono! was a masterpiece, it achieved a level of greatness we hadn't seen in H!P for years, and made Buono! one of the most important recent H!P groups. Their next 4 singles were all great, so their 2nd album was highly anticipated. And the day before yesterday, Buono! 2 leaked. Everyone went nuts over it. For me, though, and I say this based solely on first impressions, since I've only listened to it twice, it didn't top Café Buono! My favourite tracks from Café Buono! are Café Buono!, Baketsu no Mizu and Kimi ga Ireba and unfortunately, I don't think any of them were topped by the new tracks on Buono! 2.

However, I absolutely love Buono! 2. It's a very consistent album, and their vocals have improved a lot, especially Momoko's. They really take risks with songs like I NEED YOU, which is as un-Buono! as it gets, and the amazing Goal, that sounds a lot like... Coldplay! When I first listened to it, I was so speechless I had no idea what hit me. I've been listening to it like crazy ever since. Another new track worth of notice is Shoushitsuten -Vanishing Point-, which is like a soft almost-a-ballad that reminds me a little bit of Baketsu no Mizu.

Early Bird and You're My Friend are probably the least inspired new tracks off the album. Early Bird is a bit like Café Buono!, with background cute shouting, but isn't quite as good as Café Buono!. You're My Friend is simply forgettable.

But Goal, as I've mentioned before, makes it up for all the boring songs. The instrumental totally blew my mind, and the girls sound quite serious about it. The chorus reminds me a lot of Viva la Vida by Coldplay, and the melody is sweet. This tops many Café Buono! songs, but not Kimi ga Ireba as an album closure song. Kimi ga Ireba is golden. Still, Goal has now entered the Hall of the Best Buono! songs.

Another thing I think could be better, was the b-side the album included. Instead of My Love or Muteki no ∞ Power, Minna Daisuki was the only b-side included. It's not bad, but there are better b-sides. However, we kind of had it coming, since Minna Daisuki was an anime opening song.

If they hadn't released Café Buono! before this album, I'd probably give it a 10/10, but since they didn't raise the bar very much, I think it's a 9/10. I'd definitely buy it. But first, I'll buy Café Buono!

New singles and some hallyu love

2009-01-31T13:34:00.000-08:00

2 new singles that were released not long ago, impressed me a lot: Buono!'s co.no.mi.chi and Tohoshinki's Bolero.

While Buono! and I go way back, I was never too fond of Tohoshinki 'til a few months ago, though I knew them ever since they debuted. I had a lot of stuff from them, all of their korean and japanese albums, and always downloaded their singles, but was never a fan, though I always liked a few songs from them. However, one of these days, I decided to play their second Japanese album, Five in the Black, and before I knew, I found myself liking it very much! I've been playing Begin like crazy ever since.

I ended up downloading their last japanese tour, and though their japanese skills seem to be rather weak, they put on an amazing show, with perfect vocals, amazing choreography and barely any lipsynching. It was also good to find out about some great songs who were hidden in singles and not released in any albums, like NO PAIN NO GAIN and Day Moon ～ハルダル～, which are both highlu recommended.

I also got to see how well YunHo dances. Boy, was I blown away by his dancing... He has probably the weakest vocals out of the five, but is by far the best dancer. They're very aware of that, so he has plenty of dance solos. I was also impressed with ChangMin's high notes and cute baby face. xD! Right now I'm listening to all the stuff I had from them and never actually listened to, and I just keep finding new hidden gems.

Back to their new single: Bolero is epic. That's the word. Epic. It starts off very slow and peaceful, with beautiul Junsu vocals, and kind of reminds me of The Wizard of Oz. Random, I know. YooChun kicks in with good vocals, and YunHo joins him creating great harmony. The chorus comes and it's pure JaeJoong + ChangMin greatness. The whole song is beautiful, and it's definitely not the average avex ballad song. No wonder they got their 5th Weekly #1 with this single. It's definitely recommended!

Other songs I recommend from Tohoshinki:
Rising Sun, My Destiny and One from their first japanese album Heart, Mind and Soul, their entire second japanese album Five in the Black, Purple Line, DARKNESS EYES (OMFG WTF IS GOING ON WITH THIS SONG?), Rainbow, SHINE, LAST ANGEL and Love In The Ice from their third album T, recent singles Beautiful you, If...!? and Jumon -MIROTIC-, and b-sides NO PAIN NO GAIN and Day Moon ～ハルダル～ from their Sky and Forever Love singles, respectively.

A problem

2009-01-30T20:47:00.000-08:00

I got big problem: posting here is no longer fun for me... I always liked bloggers who reviewed singles and albums track-by-track, but I have kind of discovered that it's not that fun to do it yourself.

So I think I'll just use this to blog about J-Pop-related stuff in general, not only reviews, and see where it goes. Nobody reads this anyway xD Maybe someone will when I finally find out what I should write about.

I've been learning some JavaScript by myself these days, and I decided to include this new thing called '2009 so far'. It loads covers of releases I like and will load a new one everytime you click the picture. Right now, there are only 3 covers, but hey, 2009 has just started, right?

AAA - Tabidachi no Uta

2009-01-13T15:17:00.001-08:00

Tracklist:
01. Tabidachi no Uta
02. Mosaic
03. a piece of my word
04. Tabidachi no Uta (TW Departure Mix)
05. Tabidachi no Uta (Instrumental)
06. Mosaic (Instrumental)
07. a piece of my word (Instrumental)

AAA's new single! Yay! I have not mentioned it here before, but AAA is my favorite J-Pop act overall. Though they're quite the manufactured group, they're all very talented, good singers, amazing dancers and awesome overall entertainers. And their new single is called Tabidachi no Uta :)

AAA has always had a crazy releases schedule. When they first started, they released 4 singles in 4 months, and then an album. It flopped a little bit. Then they started releasing singles like crazy, which caused their second album to have 10 single songs and only 3 new songs. For this album, which is their 4th, they only released three singles, and only one of them was a double a-side, and I think it's better this way.

Tabidachi no Uta is a slow song with a catchy chorus. Everyone sings in it but, as usual, Misako, Naoya and Nissy take the lead. It sounds very peaceful, they harmonize well, and there is a rap bit performed by Hidaka, which felt completely out of place in such a slow song. It's really not generic but still manages to be quite catchy, so I guess it's a good a-side.

Mosaic, on the other hand, is very generic. Nissy and Naoya sing almost all of it. It has kind of a disco feel to it, and sounds very cool and enjoyable. But it's very very generic.

a piece of my word is another ballad, but this one is sung by the girls only. Misako's voice sounds really different on this one, but I'm getting used to it. Chiaki's voice sounds awesome, so natural and peaceful. It's really a shame that she gets so little solo lines, she's a great singer. The songs' melody is nice, but not ground-breaking. The chorus is very good.

For me, this single was highly anticipated, since their last single was released back in September. I don't think AAA had ever gone this long without a single release. It was worth the wait, but there is a rumour that they're going to split. Their 4th album's title is 'depArture' and their 2009 tour is called 'A depArture pArty'. They're also releasing a remix album a few weeks after the 4th album. Doesn't is feel like they're about to announce their splitting? I'm starting to get worried...

Overall score: 10/10

Ikimonogakari - My song Your Song

2008-12-27T18:46:00.000-08:00

Tracklist:
01. PLANETARIUM (プラネタリウム)
02. Kimagure ROMANTIC (気まぐれロマンティック)
03. BLUE BIRD (ブルーバード)
04. SPICE MAGIC (スパイス・マジック)
05. Kage Boshi (かげぼうし)
06. Kaeritaku Natta Yo (帰りたくなったよ)
07. message
08. Happy Smile Again
09. Kuchizuke (くちづけ)
10. Boku wa Koko ni Iru (僕はここにいる)
11. Pugi Ugi (プギウギ)
12. Maboroshi (幻)
13. Kokoro no Hana wo Sakaseyou (心の花を咲かせよう)
14. Kaeritaku Natta Yo (帰りたくなったよ) -acoustic version- [bonus track]

This album was released on December 24th, 2008.

3rd major album release from Ikimonogakari. I actually didn't know this was coming out at all, so when I saw it on Jpopsuki, I was really surprised. The album, as all things Ikimonogakari, is very very good. It starts off with the three latest singles, Planetarium, Kimagure Romantic, which is still hot from the oven, and Blue Bird. All awesome, I'm sure you've all heard it. Then there's SPICE MAGIC, which could have been a single, 'cause it's totally amazing, a new song, and then the first single Kaeritakunatta yo, and two previously released songs from their singles. Kuchizuke was released in their third indies album, and is pretty amazing. Sounds very mysterious and all, and a lot like the original indies version. Pugi Ugi is a fun, playful song, but the actual hidden gems are Maboroshi and Kokoro no Hana wo Sakaseyou. Those two songs have been heavily played here. Totally love them. Maboroshi is an amazing heart-felt ballad. It's also this album's 6-minute song. There's always a 6-minute song in all Ikimonogakari albums, and they're always awesome. The first one was Tayumu Koto na Kinagare no Naka de, which I still play every now and then, it's totally amazing. But anyway, it's awesome and that's it. Kokoro no Hana wo Sakaseyou is a real album closure song. It is not very fast, and not too slow either, and that's the kind of song Ikimonogakari does best. The melody is well-thought, and it manages to close the album very well. There's still the acoustic version of Kaeritakunatta yo, but it's a bonus track, so I guess it doesn't count as part of the album. As all other acoustic Ikimono songs, it's very good. Well, it's an amazing album, but they have not outdone their 1st yet.

Should listen:
01. Planetarium
02. Kimagure Romantic
03. Blue Bird
04. SPICE MAGIC
05. Kage Boshi
06. Kaeritakunatta yo (ALWAYS!!)
09. Kuchizuke
12. Maboroshi
13. Kokoro no Hana wo Sakaseyou

Overall score: 10/10

This didn't feel like a review at all, did it? I really need to get better at this thing xD

GIRL NEXT DOOR - GIRL NEXT DOOR

2008-12-27T18:43:00.001-08:00

Tracklist:
01. Winter Game
02. Drive away
03. Power of love
04. Shiawase no Jouken (幸福の条件)
05. WINTER MIRAGE
06. Jounetsu no Daishou (情熱の代償)
07. Fine after rain
08. Breath
09. Day's...
10. ESCAPE (Album Edit)
11. Winter Garden
12. Climber's high
13. NEXT DOOR
14. Guuzen no Kakuritsu (偶然の確率) (Album Edit)

This album was released on December 24th, 2008.
I've been trying to review albums for some time now. For some reason, I haven't been able to finish reviewing any album. I just get really tired by the middle of it. So this is how it's going to work: I won't review every song on the album individually, I'll review the whole thing, and point out a few songs.

Anyway... these last months, GIRL NEXT DOOR has been everywhere. Every blog, every forum, lots of people just love this band. I had never tried any of their singles, but when the album came out, I thought 'Why not?'. Let's see...

Their debut self-titled album is solid. It's a good album. Winter Game is very catchy, very good song, and a PV was made for it in order to promote the album. However, the whole thing sounds very manufactured. Some of the songs are really generic, and I include the single Drive away in that group. Most of the songs are really, really enjoyable, but the whole thing kind of falls flat.

Shoul listen:
01. Winter Game
05. WINTER MIRAGE
07. Fine after rain
14. Guuzen no Kakuritsu

Overall score: 8/10

Response to Merry Go Round's Poll

2008-12-27T12:43:00.000-08:00

Bests
Best Group Single -> Buono! - Rottara Rottara
Best Soloist Single -> I don't really listen to H!P soloists
Best Group Album -> Buono! - Café Buono!
Best Soloist Album -> Once again...
Best PV -> High-King - C\C (Cinderella Complex)
Group With Best Overall Releases -> Berryz Koubou
Best New Group -> MilkyWay
Best New Soloist -> ...
Best Established Group -> Berryz Koubou
Best Established Soloist -> ...
Best Photobook -> 6gatsu no Kajitsu, I guess xD
Hottest Idol of 2008 -> Maasa Sudou

Worsts
Worst Group Single -> Buono! - Gachinko de Ikou!
Worst Soloist Single -> Koharu Kusumi - Papancake
Worst PV -> Morning Musume - Pepper Keibu
Worst Vocalist of 2008 -> Koharu Kusumi
Least Attactive Girl of 2008 -> Erika Umeda

There you go :)

HANGRY & ANGRY - Kill me Kiss me

2008-12-19T05:30:00.001-08:00

Tracklist:
01. Kill me Kiss me
02. Angelia
03. GIZA GIZA
04. Romantic ni Violence
05. WALL FLOWER

This mini-album was released on November 19th, 2008.

HANGRY & ANGRY are actually Hitomi Yoshizawa and Rika Ishikawa from Hello!Project. I was quite shocked when the first pictures of this unit came out. Even more shocking is how good their mini-album is.

Kill me Kiss me is very rockish. The line 'Can you hear me now, can you see the bottom of hell?' is very cool. They both sound good in the song, but I guess that's probably because Yossie sings most of it, since Rika isn't the best singer in Hello!Project. While the verses are too catchy, the bridge and the chorus are very good and they really get stuck in your head for some time. The music video for this song was a bit funny, with Rika trying to look like she was playing a guitar, and Yossie trying to look really angry.

Angelia is still rock, but a bit more upbeat than Kill me Kiss me. It reminds me a looooot of t.A.T.u. songs. They could totally sing this. Rika opens the song with ok vocals, then Yossie kicks in with great vocals. The chorus isn't as ground-breaking as you'd expect it to be, but it's good. The rest of the song is kind of predictable, since it doesn't have a bridge or different verses, just the same melody and same chorus. There is a sound of bells and a instrumental bridge that sounds quite cool and fierce. It's amazing how they almost sound like actual rockers.

GIZA GIZA also sounds like t.A.T.u. with those synths and all, but it's not as memorable as Angelia. The melody is very interesting, and the vocals are very good, even Rika sounds good in it. The chorus is very good, but it could be better if they sang it with some more strength. This one does have a bridge, but it's not a good one. The bridge kills the song, actually. Really bad bridge. Oh my god, what a terrible bridge. I'm glad the chorus kicked in again.

Romantic ni Violence starts off a bit slower than all other songs, but when it picks up the pace, it's the fastest one of the bunch. The verses are cool, but the bridge and the chorus are the best. I can feel some H!P influence in the chorus. It sounds awesome :)

WALL FLOWER is the least rock sounding song of the album. It's actually pop, just not H!P pop. It's not very memorable, but it's good. It sounds a bit like Avril Lavigne. It's not memorable at all, not much to say about it...

Overall score: 8/10

Ayumi Hamasaki - GREEN / Days / GREEN

2008-12-19T05:10:00.000-08:00

Tracklist:
01. GREEN
02. Days
03. TO BE (10th Anniversary Version)
04. LOVE ~Destiny~ (10th Anniversary Version)
The instrumentals :)

I'm back, and so is Ayu. 8 months after the release of Mirrorcle World, Ayumi is back with one of her most impressive singles to date.

GREEN is an odd odd song. It reminds me of her Duty and I am... eras, so it's kind of nostalgic. Since it's Ayu, it's needless to say that the vocals are awesome. The music video has a chinese feel to it (probably 'cause that's the concept) and that gives me a chinese feeling about the song too. And the chorus simply yells 'Duty!!!'. I wasn't too fond of the song at first, but now it's grown on me a lot.

Days, on the other hand, didn't take me more than a spin to fall in love with. It's simply amazing. This is probably this year's Ayumi ballad. There was CAROLS in 2004, then HEAVEN in 2005, JEWEL in 2006, Together When... in 2007, and Days is 2008. I was starting to think we wouldn't get a beautiful ballad from Ayu this year. The melody is endearing, and probably one of the sweetest ones I've ever heard. The vocals are top notch and the instrumental is also very sweet. I can't wait to see her perform this one on the Countdown Live.

TO BE (10th Anniversary Version) was a very nice surprice. While it stays true to the original song, it's also a bit different and absolutely awesome. The vocals are much smoother, and she sounds very emotional. TO BE is probably one of the best melodies Ayu has ever sung and that really shows in this new version of the song. The part of the song where she sings kinda fast makes this song one of my favorite Ayu songs ever.

I'm not sure, but I think LOVE ~Destiny~ was Ayu's first #1 single. The 10th Anniversary Version stays true to the original song a bit too much, and that makes it a bit boring. But it's still an amazing song, and you can totally tell why it went #1 on Oricon: the melody is beautiful, the instrumental is amazing, and the bridge is ground-breaking. It's an amazing song :)

Overall score: 9/10

Hiatus

2008-12-14T08:40:00.000-08:00

I haven't been around, but I'll be back shortly. University is a bitch, isn't it? So much to do, so little time do it in...

Buono! - Rottara Rottara

2008-11-11T08:22:00.001-08:00

Tracklist:
01. Rottara Rottara
02. My Love
03. Rottara Rottara (Instrumental)
04. My Love (Instrumental)

This single was(?) released on November 12th, 2008.

After the amazing Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! and the awful Gachinko de Ikou, Buono! is back with Rottara Rottara. And they're back to greaaatness! Rottara Rottara is veeeery catchy, the chorus is awesome, the melody is top H!P stuff, everything is in it! Even Momoko's vocals aren't as annoyingly childish as they usually are in Buono! songs! After Gachinko de Ikou I thought they'd go downhill, but they really picked it back up, and I just can't wait to listen to their new album (which hasn't been annouced yet, but anyway...).

My Love is well placed as the b-side. It's a good b-side though. The chorus sounds naive(?) and happy, most of the song is sung in unison, and they sound pretty good at harmonizing. There really isn't much to say about this song.

Overall score: 9/10

WaT - 36ºC

2008-11-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

Tracklist:
01. 36ºC
02. Seishun no Kagayaki
03. 36ºC (Instrumental)
04. Seishun no Kagayaki (Instrumental)
05. Shiosai no Gogo

This single was released on October 29, 2008.

WaT's biggest problem is that their songs are average. You don't really feel like listening to the whole song, most of the times. The only songs by them I actually enjoy a lot are Lucky de Happy, Awaking Emotion 8/5 and TOKIMEKI☆DooBeeDoo. But with 36ºC, that totally changed. As usual, their vocals in the song are very good, though their voices are a bit annoying at times. The chorus is beautifully sung, and the melody is very very pretty. My favourite part of the song has got to be the bridge, 'cause the harmonizing and the melodies are absolutely beautiful, they really give me a feeling of peace and happiness. The song is so nice to listen that it's 5:45 minutes long but you really don't even feel that time passing. I have a feeling the song might be about friendship, 'cause the PV really gives you that feeling.

Seishun no Kagayaki is a little more upbeat that 36ºC and features some synthesized vocals. The melody is somewhat common, but still very pretty. In comparison to 36ºC, this is pretty average, but it's waaaaaay better than most of their singles. The chorus is simple and features nice harmonizing from Wents and Teppei. It's a very enjoyable song.

Shiosai no Gogo was oddly positioned after the Instrumental tracks, and that made me go like 'Oh, it's probably some filler song...'. Oh, have I ever been this wrong about something? The song is absolutely amazing! Totally a-side material, and I really mean it. The melody is probably the catchiest I have ever heard in a WaT song, and it keeps getting better. The verses are beautiful and the chorus is even better. They sing most of the song in unison, which is a good thing, since their strong point is the harmonizing. WaT really gained my interest with this one song.

This single sold a lot more than their last singe, Toki wo Koete ~Fantastic World~, which was released back in April. I guess 6 months is what they needed to come up with some new amazing tunes and release this kiiiiillleeeer single.

Overall score: 9.5/10

Berryz Koubou - MADAYADE

2008-11-04T02:31:00.001-08:00

Tracklist:
01. MADAYADE
02. Furare Pattern
03. MADAYADE (Instrumental)

This single was (?) released on November 5th, 2008.

First of all, I'd like to say that I don't think it's fair that Miyabi Natsuyaki is still in Berryz Koubou. She was caught dating a kid from Hey! Say! JUMP a few months ago, and Mari Yaguchi and Miki Fujimoto were thrown out of Morning Musume for pretty much the same thing. And then there was also Ai Kago, we all know how she ended after the stupid scandal. Why were things different with Miyabi? Yeah, it's a stupid rule, but let's at least be impartial.

Anyway... when I first saw the video they did for MADAYADE, I was quite pleased. The video is pretty different of other H!P videos (holy shit, have you seen Pepper Keibu?), it has kind of a story and everything else. And the song is also very good. I'm not sure, but I think it's a cover. Risako sounds pretty good in it (which is not something you expect), Momoko doesn't sound like a 3-year-old child, and Miyabi gets very little lines. And the best: everyone gets a line. I just love it when all girls in a H!P group get a line in a song. When was the last time that happened in Morning Musume, for example? Morning Coffee?

Furare Pattern was a surprise. I really didn't see this coming. H!P's b-side songs are always crappy. And I do mean always. But Furare Pattern certainly broke the spell, the song is soooo cool! The chorus is playful (though is reminds me of some other song, I can't figure out which song that is), the melody is fun, and the vocals are as good as vocals go in H!P. Not better than MADAYADE, but 300% more enjoyable than virtually all other H!P b-sides.

Overall score: 9/10

MiChi - PROMiSE

2008-10-31T03:37:00.001-07:00

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

Kobukuro - Toki no Ashioto

2008-10-31T03:07:00.000-07:00

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 :)

Milky Way - Tan Tan Taan!

2008-10-29T06:03:00.000-07:00

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!

mihimaru GT - Shiawase ni Narou

2008-10-26T14:50:00.001-07:00

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 :)

Shoko Nakagawa - Kirei A La Mode

2008-10-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

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 :)

Hey! Say! JUMP - Mayonaka no Shadow Boy

2008-10-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

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.

Tohoshinki - Jumon -MIROTIC-

2008-10-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

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

NEWS - Happy Birthday

2008-10-20T09:07:00.000-07:00

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...

Ikimonogakari - Planetarium

2008-10-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

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

Koda Kumi - TABOO

2008-10-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

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