Lack of updates (again)

EDIT: I’m so sorry to any of my readers, but right now, I really do not have a definite schedule posting reviews here, and for the time being, they’ll be few and far in between. When I can start posting regularly again (i.e. get internet to work again), I’ll let you know.

You can still follow me on my Twitter page.

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I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything recently, my internet is going crazy at the moment, so I might not post anything for long periods of time (for the time being, at least).

On a side-note, Aira Mitsuki’s COPY has grown on me, so I think I’ll feature her here next. I fucking love the ~plastic fantastic~ song and GALAXY BOY. She didn’t interest me before but I think I’m starting to like her. And no, I haven’t forgotten that list of features to be posted; I’ll tackle those next.

Also, look forward to the invasion of Korean artists on this blog soon! 2NE1 is <3.

⊿

「⊿」　・　Perfume

01. Take off｜02. love the world｜03. Dream Fighter｜04. edge (⊿-mix)｜05. NIGHT FLIGHT｜06. Kiss and Music｜07. Zero Gravity｜08. I still love U｜09. The best thing｜10. Speed of Sound｜11. ワンルーム・ディスコ｜12. 願い (Album-mix)

⊿ is the official second studio album (third album overall) by techno-pop group Perfume, released in Japan on 7/8/2009. The album took all “cute” elements out and went for a more mature, darker sound than their previous attempt. It reached #1 on the Oricon Daily Charts.

. . .

Cute doesn’t always work. Okay…so maybe it does. But unless you’re some type of band with a bunch of heavily underage talentless girls who have eyes bigger than basketballs and lyrics and music worse than the worst songs on Barney…(coughhelloprojectcough)…then it doesn’t. So when something doesn’t work, when the last bit of “OMGKAWAIIDESU” energy wears off, what the hell do you do? Un-cute yourself, of course. And…granted, for the most part that works. And if this album provides any supplementary evidence, then the most viable and valid conclusion is well…it most definitely works. I mean, seriously. ⊿ is, if I had to describe it in one word…eclectic. While, admittedly, these techno-pop tracks are more mainstream than other Nakata performers such as MEG or even Nakata’s own duo capsule, there’s something not quite ordinary about the songs on here. Maybe it’s the more resonant appearance of maturity. To be completely honest, I can’t quite figure it out. Either way, eclectic is a great direction, from listening to this album.

Not only does this album sound amazing, so does the singer’s ranges (A-chan in particular really sounds great here). The three girls seem to be putting more effort into the way they present the vocal harmonies, which is never a bad thing. Add that to much more creative lyrical content (in particular, this would apply to tracks like Kiss and Music and it’s sexually teasing nature, or the absolutely polarizing NIGHT FLIGHT, which manages to fantastically combine the concept of making night flights and and hopping on them with an 80s style sophistication I haven’t seen before with Nakata’s work), and you have an amazing combination that, without a doubt, blows GAME and Complete Best out the fucking water. Saying that this has been their best collection of songs since…forever is a  severe understatement. The musical production on each track is unforgivably complex, which not only throws out Perfume’s previous stance on consistency (and being incredibly dull), but adds to the interestingly varied charisma of the girls themselves. The themes of this album are uncharted waters for them, but thankfully they manage to survive the storm and land full-blast on shore.~

So just how independently chaotic are these tracks? Well, the introduction Take off certainly introduces the album in an unsettling way, and paves the way for more destruction with songs like the funk synths of I still love U (which I have no idea why they couldn’t have made it I still love You, because this bitches are no where near acting street/hood/rap), or the ~buh-bump, buh-bump~ rhythm of The best thing, or even the Ami-esque Speed of Sound (which is literally Ami-esque, it sounds like Climb Up To The Top). The first half of the album are mainly the more mainstream tracks, the songs that everyone loves and likes to listen to on repeat. Then Kiss and Music serves as the intermediate track, bridging the gap to the more experimental (well, for Perfume anyway) tracks. To be honest, I couldn’t have thought of a better organization of tracks for this album. Each track flows smoothly from one to the next, which wholly completes the ⊿ listening experience in the most kick-ass way imaginable. (which I have no idea why they couldn’t have made it

I feel incredibly shameless for going along with this statement…but what the fuck, I LOVE THIS ALBUM AND EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. It’s true, I haven’t been this interested in Perfume in a long time….maybe it’s because they were too overrated imo. But now…this album officially proved just how far an artist or band you dislike can go to impress you. And considering the gap of rating from the last album to this one…

Let’s just say I’m impressed.

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PERFECT

Best Song: More than half of the album

Best Medley: Any of the album

Moving day is approaching…

Get ready and brace yourselves… ^-^

lollipop+

「lollipop+」　・　marino

01. clear beats｜02. フレイバー｜03. tic tac｜04. strawberry｜05. ララリル｜06. lollipop｜07. pot marjoram｜08. パン・ダ　marinopp｜09. てんとう虫とチューリップ

lollipop+ is a re-release of an mini-album called lollipop by indie picopop artist marino, released in Japan on 4/22/2009. The album basically served as a reprint with updated mastering in the sound and was made because of the original being out of print. Having nearly non-existent promotion, it failed to chart on the Oricon Top 200 albums chart.

. . .

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to reviewing this. marino is known for her grating voice, and the last thing I needed to hear was another Nakata reject. But I put aside my own vanity, and for the sake of this blog, I sat down and listened to it.
I was actually kind of surprised. I thought I would hate this album, but truth be told, I actually really like it. The entire setlist of this album is like one gigantic, beautiful, breezy wind, slowly sweeping away in a vastness of raindrops and paradise…okay, sorry to interrupt that nice thought. Moving on…

lollipop is an extraordinary album of sorts, in that it pushes the boundaries of what our perception of “music” is.  To be precise, many people who listen to this album don’t really look past the cute exterior – but once you do, you never go back. Under the guise of a cute Japanese girl, marino is secretly some sort of musical prodigy of her own right. She manipulates Nakata’s shibuya-style beats in favor of her own twisted vocals, breaking the barrier between cute girl and sporadic genius. The line here is very fine, indeed, because the breaking point is so faint, so very delicately hidden, that it’s hard to comprehend what exactly I mean when I say that marino shows the mark of a musical genius. Some may scoff at her quirky, unique voice, or the overtly cute (but oh so crafty Nakata-esque) production. That’s not to say Nakata completely had his work cut out for him on this collection of sounds – the other guys here (Tomonori Hayashibe [of Plus-Tech Squeeze Box; an amazing band being featured here soon] and co.) do a great job as well, and if anything, Nakata is outdone by the tracks he didn’t produce. That’s right, his tracks on here are subpar as hell.

So just which tracks show off marino’s amazing prowess? Well, I’d have to say all of them (even the interludes; shocking, I know) because each song is factory pressed to perfection especially for marino. While there are so similarities, it’s hard to see anyone but this girl singing these tunes. From the wailing, operatic Flavor, with it’s charmingly beatnik tones, or even the Panda cover song (which, by the way, totally kicks anyone’s ass with it’s male vocals and marino rapping), all of these songs sound delightfully off-kilter from your usual techno fare, with Super Mario Bros. rhythm and slot machine fan fare. The interludes, such as the dreamy, ringing clear beats provide much needed transitions from one coaster to the next. Other stand-out beat-its like strawberry or the loungey, contemplating atmosphere of title track lollipop add versatility.

Taking multiple listens, this album is a patient waiting game. You may not enjoy it on the first listen, or even the second, or third. If you aren’t the kind of person to try listening over and over you may not like this album. But if you’re like me, and give it a chance, you’ll fall hard for this one. Just watch.

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AMAZING

Best Song: tic tac｜ララリル

Best Medley: clear beats~フレイバー~tic tac~strawberry

ORDINARY VENUS

「ORDINARY VENUS」　・　Ordinary Venus

01. I Don’t Know!｜02. 赤道小町　ドキッ｜03. 白いパラソル｜04. 慟哭｜05. 愛が止まらない｜06. はいからさんが通る｜07. CHA-CHA-CHA｜08. スローモーション｜09. DREAM RUSH｜10. 夏色のナンシー

ORDINARY VENUS is the eponymous debut studio album by indie electro unit Ordinary Venus, released in Japan on 12/17/2008. The album officially marked a change in sound for Sayaka Nishiwaki (known as “Cha-pon”), who had been in the idol group 9nine before. Having nearly non-existent promotion, it failed to chart on the Oricon Top 200 albums chart.

. . .

Imagine this: you’re in a magical virtual reality, surrounding by translucent bubbles, swirling inside your own dreamscape of imagination. Nothing can touch you, and you don’t touch anything. Just you and the limit of nothing-ness…in a bright field of digital flowers, and everything seems at peace…then suddenly a massive explosion of incredibly cute (and do I mean cute) synth bursts out of nowhere and leaves you both confused, excited, and curious. ORDINARY VENUS is a lot like that.

Originally, I suppose I was behind everyone else in not knowing A-chan (of Perfume, duh)’s sister Sayaka sang. So I searched her all over the net, and what I found was Ordinary Venus, a two-part technopop unit that had Nishiwaki on vocals and famed underground electronica producer Shuji Ishii in charge of music and production. Naturally, I was curious. I mean, after all, the band’s name and look was eye-catching enough (or the fact that she was A-chan’s sister…/cough). So then I set out on the task of finding their album on the net for a quick listen. And I found nothing. It took me forever to find anything, so eventually I went through every Google page until I found them. After it was finished downloading, I quickly threw my headphones on, eager to sample the new artist I found. Let’s just say, I was very surprised at what came up.

In many respects, Sayaka is in every way a watered-down clone of Ayaka: she sounds practically the same since they both use over-vocoding, if not cuter. She has the same cutesy charm that makes Perfume so appealing. And the music could easily be Perfume demos. But, ignoring all of that, Ordinary Venus can very well be the anti-thesis of Perfume. While it’s evident in many of the Perfume hits we’ve come to love that Nocchi and the gang like to “fight” against the music, in a metaphorical sense, with their voices pushing against the synths and with the high ups and low downs, times three… Sayaka, when paired for a dance with Ishii’s upbeat, sonic style of electro, seems to do the exact opposite. Instead, her voice seems to embrace the music instead of pushing it away, becoming a musical instrument in the pulse. Most electronic artists are like that, many would argue, including Perfume. But what’s different with Sayaka is that her voice is…literally an oxymoron: an amiable, fun, interesting instrument, easy to manipulate; a chaotic, sharp-turning voice that’s fully aware it’s being manipulated but controls in a sadistic sort of sense. On paper (or in this case, blog post), this sounds incredibly strange. But I believe this is one of those rare instances when the music truly speaks for itself. 

The strongest point of the album is definitely the melody. Almost every track on here (except the instrumental) is a delectable, near-bubblegum state of song; a perfectly crafted dance-pop techno confection. This is most apparent in none other than the club-rotated opening track, I Don’t Know!, which literally sounds like Saori@destiny on steroids and a good, high dose of helium. The songs here are guilty-pleasures, with Sayaka’s squeaky-clean high pitch making you not want to enjoy it, but you end up enjoying it anyway. Other songs like 慟哭 show off a sadder tone for a change, but crank up the sound effects meter and show how well monotony works in technopop. Then there are the more deviant tracks, like 夏色のナンシー, which sounds like a kaleidoscopic mess, with the yelps in the background and the sparkling synths mixed in like a cocktail. The lyrical content here really isn’t important, as I said, the melody is the strongest point. By letting the music take control, Sayaka takes the oppurtunity to focus on making her vocals as energetic as possible. Ishii’s smartly-made compositions here are really surprising; many may feel it’s a step-down from his solo work – but I felt that he really shone here with his versatility. Not only did he sensationalize an otherwise too bubblegum style, he also made Sayaka aware of her musical surroundings, further solidifying her place within the electro world. This album not only savored my taste buds, it left me wanting another bite. This is a group to look out for in the future. Check them out!

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PRETTY GREAT

Best Song: I Don’t Know!｜慟哭

Best Medley: I Don’t Know!~赤道小町　ドキッ~白いパラソル~慟哭