Donnerstag, 23. Feb 2006, 0:29
The February 1st release week wasn't all that noteworthy. (To me. Those of you who actually read this and care that I leave out heaps of artists - I'm only bothering to get the mainstream basics and my personal favorites. So when I'm talking about the state of release weeks, it's in relation to me.)
Thankfully, the February 8th week made up for it. Barely. 8O
To start off, 倖田來未's two singles for these two weeks - 今すぐ欲しい and KAMEN feat. 石井竜也 on the 1st and 8th respectively (the former being the only one I noted for the 02/01 week).
Apparently 今すぐ欲しい was banned in Korea for explicit lyrics? *laughs* At her LJ fan community, I've been seeing a lot of praise for Kodaku and bashing at 安室奈美恵 because she doesn't receive as much flak for the slut image. Except Amuro's still got the "teen idol" image
This song is, well, mellow. It's not particularly seductive - and neither are Koda's vocals - and unless you understood Japanese, read a translation of the lyrics, or were paying attention to the rap… Quite frankly, you really wouldn't be able to tell this song is explicitly about that particular act. The most intriguing part about this song is probably Koda's rap - the lyrics written by Jewels of Heartsdales, the sound completely reminiscent of 浜崎あゆみ in Paper Doll. It's an interesting sound for Koda, but not one she ought to be sticking with anytime soon.
石井竜也 is probably best known mainstream for having sung one of the outro themes to Kidou Senshi Gundam SEED, River. KAMEN feat. 石井竜也 is even more mellow than the previous song, with the air of an oldies love song. Ishii's got a smooth voice, albeit very wavering, and makes a fairly good combination with Koda - though she ultimately comes out as stronger and clearer between the two vocalists. It's not to my taste, but then again, if I wanted an oldies love song, I'd turn on the radio to the local Lite.FM station.
While we're on the subject of bland, ベスト オブ ヒーロー (BEST OF HERO) was released on the 02/08 week as well. We're not even going to get into the B-side Cuz you'll know that you're right, because I just deleted that one after the first few seconds. So back to BOH.
On the plus side, it's upbeat pop, like 倉木麻衣's earlier single ダンシング. On the downside, it's nothing too striking unless you're a fan of Mai-K. Uplifting, it's a fitting theme for ガチバカ! (Gachibaka!), the drama it's a theme song to. But I prefer the other one (that comes next week).
Okay, let's go to someone with a bigger impact. A much bigger impact. ARE YOU READY? フォー! レイザーラモンHG (Razor Ramon HG), hit Japanese comedian known for his pelvic thrusting, released his first single this particular week (do note that all references from here on out to "this week" means the 02/08 week), a cover of Y.M.C.A. by Village People - YOUNG MAN
Sumitani (HG) has a very powerful voice - while his singing abilities aren't above average, it's got a certain strength that makes it work. Must be all the "FOO"-ing he does. *laughs* At any rate, Y.M.C.A. has always been a fun song, and covers - in any language - are no exception. Sumitani's random interjections of "FOO" rather help cement the song as his cover, along with being highly amusing.
There are two remixes of the song included with the single. YOUNG MAN - VENUS FLY TRAPP HB MIX and YOUNG MAN - ADULT TRANCE MIX. The former puts us through various beats and childish giggling before leading into a synth-mixed version of the song. The latter throws trance at us straight from the beginning, but still keeps the general melody of the original song and adds a bit of additional dialogue from HG (Kimi has the nagging feeling that he rerecorded the whole thing for this particular mix. But who knows?).
Overall it's a fun single, fitting with his image. Not anything special, but if you like Y.M.C.A. or Hard Gay (though for the life of Kimi I can't see how anyone wouldn't), go for it.
Moving on (unfortunately)… Most anticipated singles of the week? Kirakuni, 振り向けば…, and Fantastic.
Crystal Kay is apparently e-mail buddies with 松浦亜弥 (or so Utawara Hot Hit 10 got her to verify, and they both turn 20 this year. O_o Not that it's anything important, but it got mentioned prior to her performance of Kirakuni on the show.
Kuri's latest, in the form of a PV rip, had been running on the Internets for practically a month prior to its release, though not without reason. Her vocals are heavily backed but still sounding beautiful in this R&B song with a dance beat and some ethnic instrumental touches. The lyrics are mostly in English and easy to relate to with a very catchy hook. It's a bit repetitive after too many listens, but how many depends on the listener.
The second A-side, Together starts off slow, then builds up by way of Kuri's vocals into the stronger, upbeat chorus. The music is layered, yet minimalist - I love how the beats, piano, and flute combine to form the melody, though I don't particularly like the synthesized scrolling sound. Kuri's singing is what really makes this song, and while it's not particularly bad, it makes less of a first impression than the above song does.
The B-side here is a remix of Crystal Kay's hit single from last year, 恋におちたら kut Remix. 恋におちたら being the single. It starts off with your basic remix chord and throws in some light synth notes with heavy beats, but it's not particularly danceable or interesting, and Kuri's vocals don't sound as nice with it.
Of course, at the time of this writing, her album's out, so who cares about the single? 8D
Janne Da Arc's last release that truly interested me was easily 月光花. I raved about their JOKER album, yes, but all the same, the only track that stuck with me was 月光花.
振り向けば… is another mournful pop-rock song in the style of Gekkouka, though slightly more upbeat. There's nothing bad that I can say about it - Yasu's vocals work well, the music is a nice blend of rock and classic strings/piano, and the melody's not bad. It's still nothing outstanding. The other A-side, Destination is harder, faster, generally more chaotic, and definitely rock. The music easily overpowers Yasu' vocals, though.
鈴木亜美's latest with avex goes off the ballad route and heads back to the techno-dance. Let's start off by saying that I love the music to Fantastic. The only avex!Amigo track with music and a melody I might like more than this one is AROUND THE WORLD.
Unfortunately, Amigo's vocals seem more than bit strained when reaching the higher notes in this song. It works great when she stays low, but sounds like she has problems with raising the pitch and goes a bit nasal. Great trance piece, mediocre Amigo piece.
スローモーション heads back into the ballad territory, as a slow pop song. Again, the greatest problem is Amigo's vocals - it's not particularly noticable until the chorus thanks to the slow nature of the song, allowing her to buildup. But the jump in pitches is striking in the chorus and not particularly pleasant to the ears. Shame, because the music is, again, great.
Lastly, the two artists Kimi's got an interest in despite the minimal fandom. SOUL'd OUT, who released TOKYO通信~Urbs Communication~, and 北出菜奈, who released SLAVE of KISS. The opening to the former gave me so much hope…
Alas, despite the awesomeness of previous single ALIVE or whatever the synth melody or even Diggy-MO's opening rap may bely… this track's an acquired taste if only because of the chorus feeling forced and unnatural. The hook, a standard selling point with SO-Cru songs, isn't catchy in the least. It's in the typical SO style, but definitely not one I'd highly recommend.
The B-side, Betrayed Tha Sun, isn't any better. At best, it's undecided between being a jazz, rock, or hip-hop song. At worst, it hurts the head far too much to be worth the full 6-and-a-half minutes it runs.
I fear for their upcoming album. At least the singles on To All Tha Dreamers were good. The only good one for ALIVE is its namesake single.
On the other end of the spectrum (female, pop-rock, and in her teens) is 北出菜奈. SLAVE of KISS is apparently a Valentine's tribute, all the songs containing "Kiss" in their titles.
Unfortunately, I'm inclined to think that Kitade (or her producers) may have sacrificed quality for quantity in this 4-song "single". The only noteworthy songs are KISS or KISS (English Version) and Sweet frozen kiss - the former because it's in English from an artist who, as far as we know, isn't especially fluent in English; the latter because it's a slow song that lacks any traces of rock, something that's pretty much gone hand-in-hand with Kitade.
Please don't get me wrong, it's not that the songs suck. Not in the least. They're decent songs coming from Kitade. Decent songs even if one ignores the presence of Kitade. The problem is that Kitade also has a very unique voice that doesn't go well with pop - and all the songs lean heavily towards the pop side.
All-in-all, this week wasn't bad - next week, though, turns out better.