Post by molotov889 on Apr 2, 2006 17:22:03 GMT -5
Clazziquai Project- Instant Pig[/u]
This album is simply amazing, especially for a first release. All of the songs on this album are so easy to get into and so memorable. My significant other and I simply couldn’t stop listening to this album as soon as I received it. Overall, Clazziquai has built an album of tracks with an electro-pop feel and others with a bossanova style. I found this combination particularly interesting, but it lends a definite lounge-esque feel to the album, and mixes things up so that you never tire of the songs. This is one of those albums that you can listen to hundreds of times and never grow tired of it. Besides the music, I was also pretty impressed with the singing itself. Alex has a nice, smooth, voice, and Horan is very good at harmonizing and being very melodious. Christina has some surprisingly good English, and her voice certainly commands attention. If you want something that’s very fresh, and very well-executed, I highly recommend this album. Favorites were You Never Know, Come To Me, Sweety, Tattoo, Gentle Rain, Flower, and Play Girl. Also, the final track, Cat Bossa, is a pretty funny song, since it’s supposed to be sung from the point of view of a pretty pretentious cat. The lyrics book even includes only part of the lyrics then says “bLa bLa bLa bLa…. <bonus track you know?>. Nice touch of humor.
Clazziquai Project- ZBAM[/u]
This is Clazziquai’s first remix album, which is mainly composed of remixes from Instant Pig, though there are also some new songs on this album. Even if you do not get this entire album, you have to find some way to check out the mellotron remix of Come To Me (it’s the version in the MV for this song). It is amazing and so soothing. Again, a song you can loop through forever and not grow tired of it. As a remix album, I was pleasantly surprised by not only the diversity of the songs, but the quality. A lot of these sound like originals, and are just as memorable. I’ve said this before about Suite Chic’s When Pop Hits The Lab, and I think it’s even more applicable here: this doesn’t really feel like a remix album, it feels more like just a second version of Instant Pig. The best remixes were Futuristic- House Remix, of course Come To Me- Mellotron Remix, and Stepping Out- Step Remix.
Hitomi Shimatani- Crossover[/u]
This was a blind purchase for me since I’ve never heard any of Shimatani’s music before. All I knew was that this has been featured on Takashi Kimura’s (Move) weblog for a really long time, so it got me interested. Hitomi has a really nice voice with a lot of emotive expression. To me a lot of her music almost sounds theatrical, it has that much emotion in it. I also like the use of background vocals on this album; they don’t feel compulsory; instead, they’re all unique and add their own touches to the songs. They’re not She’s also very effective at singing over a surprisingly wide range of pitches. On songs like Soushun, she sings in a pretty high tone, and yet on Shanty, she delivers quite a smoky performance at points. This album seems to feature two styles: ballads and dance songs. I prefer her dance tracks, but that may just be because they’re more catchy. Overall, I’d definitely recommend this album if you pay attention to a singer’s actual talent and want something that’s going to involve you more than the typical pop. Favorite tracks were Perseus, I Will, Z!Z!Z!, and Shanty.
Attack All Around (AAA)- Attack[/u]
Ok, I never, EVER thought I would like one of these massive teen-pop groups. I had heard AAA’s rendition of Crazy Gonna Crazy on TRF’s Life E-Motions bonus disc, and decided I had to at least check them out. Well, of course, I was wrong about that Never EVER thing. I love AAA. Like Nami Tamaki, they’re keeping up a pretty strong Eurobeat feel, though theirs is more towards the rock/euro than techno/euro style of Nami. Of course, being a teen pop band, most of their songs are irresistibly catchy and do make you want to move. The one thing they don’t really do well in my opinion, though, is the slower almost-ballad songs. They really do sound like every other teen pop band on these tracks, whereas their more upbeat songs are more unique and individual. I was surprised to find that the track Saikyou Babe, a sort of latin-inspired dance track featuring the guys, was actually written by MOTSU of Move. Pretty cool to me, personally. Anyway, favorites on this album were Blood on Fire, Dragon Fire, and Saikyou Babe. I also recommend checking out the Dragon Fire vid, it’s pretty funny.
Max- Jewel of Jewels[/u]
I’ve been waiting for this release for a long time. I discovered Max from their Precious Collection album, and have been wanting more ever since. On this album, the girls sound more mature stylistically. I was surprised by the variety on this album; I was expecting more monotony from a unit such as this, but that wasn’t the case. They still have some songs on here that have their characteristic smooth diva feel to them, but there are quite a few upbeat tracks as well. Some that you could really get dancing to, in my opinion. I’m not sure I would be able to say the same of their past works. I was also pretty surprised by the rapping on What’s Going On, and at first thought it might be Heartsdales, but the lyrics book credits no one, so Max definitely pulled something new out of their bag of tricks for this song. It was a nice new aspect for their music. Their English, of course, sounds like it’s actually improved a bit in the meantime, too. Always a plus for Western listeners like me. There are some real gems (no pun intended =P) on this album, like Love Screw (love Arab-inspired instrumental that shows up every now and then), Kirakirai, Naughty Boy, and Melty Love.
Fantastic Plastic Machine- Imaginations[/u]
This latest release from FPM is almost completely a collaboration album. Although he’s chosen to work with some pretty big names on some songs (Clazziquai and Bonnie Pink, for example), there are also a few tracks with lesser-knowns (like Tahiti80 and Ugly Duckling). Because of this collaboration aspect, every song is largely different from the other tracks on the album. Whereas previous albums had a definite lounge or bossa presence, that style was pretty much nowehere to be found on this album. Instead, there’s more of a pop song to some of the songs, especially Don’t You Know? feat. Clazzuquai Project, while others have more of a general electronica sound. Even without this lounge feel, though, I don’t think any fan would have trouble identifying this work as FPM’s pretty quickly. It still has some of the funky touches and almost silly extras he likes to add in. I did find that the lyrics for a lot of these songs are a good deal more depressing than past albums, and sometimes the songs themselves cover this up with their melodies that sound more upbeat. Again, Don’t You Know? is a good example of this. Favorites were Don’t You Know? feat. Clazziquai Project, Paparuwa, French Kiss, and Obsession. I highly recommend checking out the video for Don’t You Know?; it’s a really cool video, especially design-wise, and it has a pretty crazy ending.
Move- Fly Me So High[/u]
I have to admit, I mainly bought this single not for the title track, but for one of the remixes. I remembered loving the Mushroom Huntin’ remix of Super Sonic Dance, and just had to have it in my collection. As for the main A and B side tracks, I’ve always liked Fly Me So High a lot; it has a great trance feel that reminds me a bit of Wanna Fly To Be Wild, and Sunday Funday is a pretty fun song in the same vein, though it’s a bit less electronica-heavy. I was kind of hoping that the version of the A-side on this single would be different from the album version, but no such luck. I’d only get this one if you really want to have ALL the Move songs or really love one of the remixes.
Clazziquai Project- Color Your Soul[/u]
From the very first track on this album, Clazziquai sets up a slight shift in style emphasis for their sophomore album. Instead of the electro-pop/bossanova combo they delivered on Instant Pig, Clazziquai has instead combined their electro-pop with a disco/funk style. There are still a couple of bossa-inspired tracks on this album, but they’re not nearly as prevalent. Compared to their first album, I don’t think this one was as instantly likeable. However, now that I have given it time, I think I may like it overall more than Instant Pig. My favorite Clazziquai songs may still be ones from Instant Pig, but this album, as a whole, sounds better and more polished. As it should, since it’s a second release. Plus, I really like the disco/funk sound for them. Horan, in particular, seems to sound very good in this style. My favorite tracks were Fill This Night, Cry Out Loud, Be My Love, Dance, and Color Your Soul. Be My Love is a slightly corny track as the guest singer (Yi Sung Yoi) definitely sounds like he’s trying to be Tom Jones, but he manages to pull it off pretty well, in spite of however silly the concept may seem.
Lisa- God Sista[/u]
I have to admit, I don’t think this is a particularly strong showing from Lisa. Although I do enjoy a few of the songs like It’s On, God Sista, and Bootylectric overall, I don’t like this heavy R&B feel for Lisa. Or at least not for an entire album. I’ve always loved that Lisa likes to mix it up on her albums, and that obviously, was not the case for this album. There are certain songs where I even think Lisa’s voice just doesn’t belong, like in the Raggeaton remix of I, Rhythm. Lisa is WAY too melodious and harmonizing for Raggeaton. And why were I Promise, GET REAL, and Remember Me on this album when they were on previous Lisa albums? I feel a little ripped off since these were basically useless filler. The DJ Watarai remix of Switch, one of my favorite Lisa tracks, was interesting but not nearly as good as the original. In a way, this album is very similar to what Namie did under the Suite Chic name, but this isn’t the way I prefer to hear Lisa.
Koda Kumi- Best ~Second Session~[/u]
I was very relieved when I heard this album. I haven’t really liked any of KK’s albums that much since Grow Into One, but this one is finally one that I can say I really did enjoy. I would say that this is because KK has returned on this album to more of the sound that made her great when she first started- pop with just a little bit of hip/hop attitude. Just enough to make it interesting. On Secret, I think she tried to add too much of that and it just didn’t work for me. She still hasn’t gone back to making songs like Pearl Moon, Maze, and Ranhansha, but I still like the sound she’s chosen to accentuate this time around. I really felt that the middle of this album, from track 5 to about 11 was the strongest showing for this endeavor. Towards the end, there are a few slower ballads, that, though they’re pretty well-sung, I kind of lost interest in. Especially the whole Peabo Bryson duet of A Whole New World. I’m sorry, but that just didn’t impress me. All in all, though, this was a very good album and am glad to see this style and quality from KK once again.
Globe- Maniac[/u]
Given Globe’s previous release habits, I was REALLY surprised to find out that this album was going to be released so soon after Globe 2. After listening to it, though, it kind of makes sense. In a way, this album is to Globe 2 what Lights 2 was to Lights. But then, you can’t really name the album Globe 2…2 =P. What I mean by that is the songs on here sound very much like they’re in the same vein as the ones on Globe 2, just that they’re, for the most part, toned down a bit. They’re not quite as dreamlike as the ones on Lights 2, but they’re quieter, more contemplative. You can also feel TK’s work a lot more on this album, especially on Please Don’t Give Up. With the exception of a gew songs, though, it seems like Globe also went even more into their original sound than they did on Globe 2, which I enjoyed a lot. One thing that bothered me, though, was that the preview MV for Soldier posted on their website must have been for a single version or something, because the part of the song that was posted isn’t on this version at all. I was also taken back a little bit by Appreciate, a sort of beat-nick meets techno track that was all in English. When I saw the English in the lyrics book, I assumed Marc would be singing it, but it’s Keiko. And even Keiko knows she’s not the best at English; I would have preferred Marc on this track. As for the second disc, I LOVE the band versions of Judgment and Lost. If Globe decided to pursue that sound on future works, I certainly wouldn’t complain. To me, these versions are even better than their originals. The rest of the second disc was sort of a toss-up for me since I had 4 of the songs already from Cyber X, KCO, and Experience. For those without these albums, though, they certainly picked great songs to feature. I kind of wish they would have put the full version of Cosmic Dream on, but that’s ok. The TK tracks on here are particularly dream-like in quality, especially To Solid Snake and it kind of caught me off guard. Favorites (from the original album) were Please Don’t Give Up (in this song, TK does an interesting thing by providing the background instruments in the first chorus as orchestral instruments, then changing to electric guitar the second time around), Why Why Tell Me Why, Orbit, Tokyo, and Simplove.
Joujouka- Never Look Back[/u]
This one’s a bit different from the recent Joujouka works. There’s still an electronica influence, but they concentrated a lot on rock riffs and including a lot of electric guitar work here. A lot of the songs, in fact, sound sort of like punk set to a dance beat. The artists they used to do the singing this time around aren’t exactly the best, but you get the sense that they wanted more of an “indie” feel than a polished sound for this album. I was really surprised when I heard the title track and realized “hey, I know that tune.” Turns out Joujouka used the background music from their remix of World’s End ~Rebirth~ as the background for this song as well. I liked the live version of Elektric Sucker a lot even though it wasn’t too different from the original. I also liked Don’t Touch Me (I’m Electric)- it has a cool kind of mod feel to it.
This album is simply amazing, especially for a first release. All of the songs on this album are so easy to get into and so memorable. My significant other and I simply couldn’t stop listening to this album as soon as I received it. Overall, Clazziquai has built an album of tracks with an electro-pop feel and others with a bossanova style. I found this combination particularly interesting, but it lends a definite lounge-esque feel to the album, and mixes things up so that you never tire of the songs. This is one of those albums that you can listen to hundreds of times and never grow tired of it. Besides the music, I was also pretty impressed with the singing itself. Alex has a nice, smooth, voice, and Horan is very good at harmonizing and being very melodious. Christina has some surprisingly good English, and her voice certainly commands attention. If you want something that’s very fresh, and very well-executed, I highly recommend this album. Favorites were You Never Know, Come To Me, Sweety, Tattoo, Gentle Rain, Flower, and Play Girl. Also, the final track, Cat Bossa, is a pretty funny song, since it’s supposed to be sung from the point of view of a pretty pretentious cat. The lyrics book even includes only part of the lyrics then says “bLa bLa bLa bLa…. <bonus track you know?>. Nice touch of humor.
Clazziquai Project- ZBAM[/u]
This is Clazziquai’s first remix album, which is mainly composed of remixes from Instant Pig, though there are also some new songs on this album. Even if you do not get this entire album, you have to find some way to check out the mellotron remix of Come To Me (it’s the version in the MV for this song). It is amazing and so soothing. Again, a song you can loop through forever and not grow tired of it. As a remix album, I was pleasantly surprised by not only the diversity of the songs, but the quality. A lot of these sound like originals, and are just as memorable. I’ve said this before about Suite Chic’s When Pop Hits The Lab, and I think it’s even more applicable here: this doesn’t really feel like a remix album, it feels more like just a second version of Instant Pig. The best remixes were Futuristic- House Remix, of course Come To Me- Mellotron Remix, and Stepping Out- Step Remix.
Hitomi Shimatani- Crossover[/u]
This was a blind purchase for me since I’ve never heard any of Shimatani’s music before. All I knew was that this has been featured on Takashi Kimura’s (Move) weblog for a really long time, so it got me interested. Hitomi has a really nice voice with a lot of emotive expression. To me a lot of her music almost sounds theatrical, it has that much emotion in it. I also like the use of background vocals on this album; they don’t feel compulsory; instead, they’re all unique and add their own touches to the songs. They’re not She’s also very effective at singing over a surprisingly wide range of pitches. On songs like Soushun, she sings in a pretty high tone, and yet on Shanty, she delivers quite a smoky performance at points. This album seems to feature two styles: ballads and dance songs. I prefer her dance tracks, but that may just be because they’re more catchy. Overall, I’d definitely recommend this album if you pay attention to a singer’s actual talent and want something that’s going to involve you more than the typical pop. Favorite tracks were Perseus, I Will, Z!Z!Z!, and Shanty.
Attack All Around (AAA)- Attack[/u]
Ok, I never, EVER thought I would like one of these massive teen-pop groups. I had heard AAA’s rendition of Crazy Gonna Crazy on TRF’s Life E-Motions bonus disc, and decided I had to at least check them out. Well, of course, I was wrong about that Never EVER thing. I love AAA. Like Nami Tamaki, they’re keeping up a pretty strong Eurobeat feel, though theirs is more towards the rock/euro than techno/euro style of Nami. Of course, being a teen pop band, most of their songs are irresistibly catchy and do make you want to move. The one thing they don’t really do well in my opinion, though, is the slower almost-ballad songs. They really do sound like every other teen pop band on these tracks, whereas their more upbeat songs are more unique and individual. I was surprised to find that the track Saikyou Babe, a sort of latin-inspired dance track featuring the guys, was actually written by MOTSU of Move. Pretty cool to me, personally. Anyway, favorites on this album were Blood on Fire, Dragon Fire, and Saikyou Babe. I also recommend checking out the Dragon Fire vid, it’s pretty funny.
Max- Jewel of Jewels[/u]
I’ve been waiting for this release for a long time. I discovered Max from their Precious Collection album, and have been wanting more ever since. On this album, the girls sound more mature stylistically. I was surprised by the variety on this album; I was expecting more monotony from a unit such as this, but that wasn’t the case. They still have some songs on here that have their characteristic smooth diva feel to them, but there are quite a few upbeat tracks as well. Some that you could really get dancing to, in my opinion. I’m not sure I would be able to say the same of their past works. I was also pretty surprised by the rapping on What’s Going On, and at first thought it might be Heartsdales, but the lyrics book credits no one, so Max definitely pulled something new out of their bag of tricks for this song. It was a nice new aspect for their music. Their English, of course, sounds like it’s actually improved a bit in the meantime, too. Always a plus for Western listeners like me. There are some real gems (no pun intended =P) on this album, like Love Screw (love Arab-inspired instrumental that shows up every now and then), Kirakirai, Naughty Boy, and Melty Love.
Fantastic Plastic Machine- Imaginations[/u]
This latest release from FPM is almost completely a collaboration album. Although he’s chosen to work with some pretty big names on some songs (Clazziquai and Bonnie Pink, for example), there are also a few tracks with lesser-knowns (like Tahiti80 and Ugly Duckling). Because of this collaboration aspect, every song is largely different from the other tracks on the album. Whereas previous albums had a definite lounge or bossa presence, that style was pretty much nowehere to be found on this album. Instead, there’s more of a pop song to some of the songs, especially Don’t You Know? feat. Clazzuquai Project, while others have more of a general electronica sound. Even without this lounge feel, though, I don’t think any fan would have trouble identifying this work as FPM’s pretty quickly. It still has some of the funky touches and almost silly extras he likes to add in. I did find that the lyrics for a lot of these songs are a good deal more depressing than past albums, and sometimes the songs themselves cover this up with their melodies that sound more upbeat. Again, Don’t You Know? is a good example of this. Favorites were Don’t You Know? feat. Clazziquai Project, Paparuwa, French Kiss, and Obsession. I highly recommend checking out the video for Don’t You Know?; it’s a really cool video, especially design-wise, and it has a pretty crazy ending.
Move- Fly Me So High[/u]
I have to admit, I mainly bought this single not for the title track, but for one of the remixes. I remembered loving the Mushroom Huntin’ remix of Super Sonic Dance, and just had to have it in my collection. As for the main A and B side tracks, I’ve always liked Fly Me So High a lot; it has a great trance feel that reminds me a bit of Wanna Fly To Be Wild, and Sunday Funday is a pretty fun song in the same vein, though it’s a bit less electronica-heavy. I was kind of hoping that the version of the A-side on this single would be different from the album version, but no such luck. I’d only get this one if you really want to have ALL the Move songs or really love one of the remixes.
Clazziquai Project- Color Your Soul[/u]
From the very first track on this album, Clazziquai sets up a slight shift in style emphasis for their sophomore album. Instead of the electro-pop/bossanova combo they delivered on Instant Pig, Clazziquai has instead combined their electro-pop with a disco/funk style. There are still a couple of bossa-inspired tracks on this album, but they’re not nearly as prevalent. Compared to their first album, I don’t think this one was as instantly likeable. However, now that I have given it time, I think I may like it overall more than Instant Pig. My favorite Clazziquai songs may still be ones from Instant Pig, but this album, as a whole, sounds better and more polished. As it should, since it’s a second release. Plus, I really like the disco/funk sound for them. Horan, in particular, seems to sound very good in this style. My favorite tracks were Fill This Night, Cry Out Loud, Be My Love, Dance, and Color Your Soul. Be My Love is a slightly corny track as the guest singer (Yi Sung Yoi) definitely sounds like he’s trying to be Tom Jones, but he manages to pull it off pretty well, in spite of however silly the concept may seem.
Lisa- God Sista[/u]
I have to admit, I don’t think this is a particularly strong showing from Lisa. Although I do enjoy a few of the songs like It’s On, God Sista, and Bootylectric overall, I don’t like this heavy R&B feel for Lisa. Or at least not for an entire album. I’ve always loved that Lisa likes to mix it up on her albums, and that obviously, was not the case for this album. There are certain songs where I even think Lisa’s voice just doesn’t belong, like in the Raggeaton remix of I, Rhythm. Lisa is WAY too melodious and harmonizing for Raggeaton. And why were I Promise, GET REAL, and Remember Me on this album when they were on previous Lisa albums? I feel a little ripped off since these were basically useless filler. The DJ Watarai remix of Switch, one of my favorite Lisa tracks, was interesting but not nearly as good as the original. In a way, this album is very similar to what Namie did under the Suite Chic name, but this isn’t the way I prefer to hear Lisa.
Koda Kumi- Best ~Second Session~[/u]
I was very relieved when I heard this album. I haven’t really liked any of KK’s albums that much since Grow Into One, but this one is finally one that I can say I really did enjoy. I would say that this is because KK has returned on this album to more of the sound that made her great when she first started- pop with just a little bit of hip/hop attitude. Just enough to make it interesting. On Secret, I think she tried to add too much of that and it just didn’t work for me. She still hasn’t gone back to making songs like Pearl Moon, Maze, and Ranhansha, but I still like the sound she’s chosen to accentuate this time around. I really felt that the middle of this album, from track 5 to about 11 was the strongest showing for this endeavor. Towards the end, there are a few slower ballads, that, though they’re pretty well-sung, I kind of lost interest in. Especially the whole Peabo Bryson duet of A Whole New World. I’m sorry, but that just didn’t impress me. All in all, though, this was a very good album and am glad to see this style and quality from KK once again.
Globe- Maniac[/u]
Given Globe’s previous release habits, I was REALLY surprised to find out that this album was going to be released so soon after Globe 2. After listening to it, though, it kind of makes sense. In a way, this album is to Globe 2 what Lights 2 was to Lights. But then, you can’t really name the album Globe 2…2 =P. What I mean by that is the songs on here sound very much like they’re in the same vein as the ones on Globe 2, just that they’re, for the most part, toned down a bit. They’re not quite as dreamlike as the ones on Lights 2, but they’re quieter, more contemplative. You can also feel TK’s work a lot more on this album, especially on Please Don’t Give Up. With the exception of a gew songs, though, it seems like Globe also went even more into their original sound than they did on Globe 2, which I enjoyed a lot. One thing that bothered me, though, was that the preview MV for Soldier posted on their website must have been for a single version or something, because the part of the song that was posted isn’t on this version at all. I was also taken back a little bit by Appreciate, a sort of beat-nick meets techno track that was all in English. When I saw the English in the lyrics book, I assumed Marc would be singing it, but it’s Keiko. And even Keiko knows she’s not the best at English; I would have preferred Marc on this track. As for the second disc, I LOVE the band versions of Judgment and Lost. If Globe decided to pursue that sound on future works, I certainly wouldn’t complain. To me, these versions are even better than their originals. The rest of the second disc was sort of a toss-up for me since I had 4 of the songs already from Cyber X, KCO, and Experience. For those without these albums, though, they certainly picked great songs to feature. I kind of wish they would have put the full version of Cosmic Dream on, but that’s ok. The TK tracks on here are particularly dream-like in quality, especially To Solid Snake and it kind of caught me off guard. Favorites (from the original album) were Please Don’t Give Up (in this song, TK does an interesting thing by providing the background instruments in the first chorus as orchestral instruments, then changing to electric guitar the second time around), Why Why Tell Me Why, Orbit, Tokyo, and Simplove.
Joujouka- Never Look Back[/u]
This one’s a bit different from the recent Joujouka works. There’s still an electronica influence, but they concentrated a lot on rock riffs and including a lot of electric guitar work here. A lot of the songs, in fact, sound sort of like punk set to a dance beat. The artists they used to do the singing this time around aren’t exactly the best, but you get the sense that they wanted more of an “indie” feel than a polished sound for this album. I was really surprised when I heard the title track and realized “hey, I know that tune.” Turns out Joujouka used the background music from their remix of World’s End ~Rebirth~ as the background for this song as well. I liked the live version of Elektric Sucker a lot even though it wasn’t too different from the original. I also liked Don’t Touch Me (I’m Electric)- it has a cool kind of mod feel to it.
