j1m0ne’s blog

So this entry comes hideously late and missing loads of stuff, but hey. I was shivering through the wind, rain and snow during my week’s vacation in Paris/Cologne and return to the UK amidst bright sunshine. Annoying. Still managed to keep up with some releases thanks to a nice wireless connection in Siegburg. Not that I missed a lot, mind you; I’ve heard quite a lot of mindless rubbish this week (NEWS, The Back Horn etc) - I still have a pretty sizeable backlog of anime to plough through though.

Singles
Mune ippai. GOING UNDER GROUND

One of the more under-rated mainstream J-rock bands around. Melodic, almost Britpop-like rock band. Love ‘em.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Tsubomi. Kobukuro

I really wanted to like Tsubomi but I couldn’t stop yawning through the plodding 6-minute ballad. Thankfully the c/w songs are much better, especially the gentle Kazamidori - really lovely song.
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Kimi to tsuki no hikari. SOPHIA

Probably sound a little too much like B’z for their own good, but SOPHIA (there must be at least half a dozen acts with that name, lol) consistently produce catchy singles and Kimi to tsuki no hikari is another one of them.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Namida. Ishikawa Chiaki

Kajiura Yuki seems to be perpetually busy with all her FictionJunction projects leaving fans waiting (in vain) for the next release from See-Saw, but in the meantime Chiaki fills the void nicely. Namida is an insert song from Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto which I’m so far behind now - the amount of energy expended into watching the raws tired my brain out. Anyway, this is a great single - just as good as See-Saw if not better. Chiaki will be doing the theme songs for the upcoming Bokurano, an anime I’ve got my eye on.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Wheel of fortune. Goth Loli Shoujo Tanteidan

I would’ve rated this higher if they’d packaged the hilariously bad PV with the single (it’ll be on DVD1 instead). Watching three adults (well…2 anyway, since Kataoka is still 19) prancing about in cosplay mode is just…..vomit-inducing. The songs are turgid, like the anime it comes from (Saint October). Doesn’t help that the singing is about as bad as hearing the grunting in a Sharapova vs Williams match. So ready the earplugs eh?
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Seioh Gakuen Kouka Band. Horie Yui & Chihara Minori

Gag. This rock version of the school song is bleh. Loved Minorin’s short appearance as the band leader in ep11 though. In fact, Manabi Straight! is full of little cameos and I had fun spotting Ueda Kana, Nazuka Kaori and Kaneda Tomoko (amongst others).
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Albums
Nagasarete Airantou - Koishite MAGIC SOUL PARTY etc. Various

I had the feeling this was going to be pants the first time I heard Takaramono on Tentama. And yes, it’s bad. Awful. Annoying. Irritating. Blah. I get more joy from listening to Holly Dolly. It’s really a bit of a shame, given the stellar cast of seiyuu they’ve assembled for the series. I sure hope the Hayate no Gotoku! chara CDs are better than this.
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

30minutes night flight. Sakamoto Maaya

I’ve heard and read a lot of complaints about Maaya’s music since her ’split’ with Kanno Yoko - how boring and bland she sounds etc. I think the exact opposite however - freed from the shackles of her famous producer Maaya’s able to develop a sound that’s reflects hers and not just Kanno’s. I guess people need to divorce the two of them in their minds. As diverse and experimental as Kanno’s music is, I find most of it barely listenable and frankly, boring. There, I said it. Let the pelting of rotten eggs commence.

The list of collaborators on 30minutes night flight interested me greatly; Gomes The Hitman’s Yamada Toshiaki collaborates on two tracks - the brilliant title track and the upbeat Setsuna. Nona Reeves’ Okuda Kensuke contributes the laid-back coffee-table pop of Dreaming, frequent collaborator Suzuki Shoko on ballads Kioku and Universe, plus all the tracks are arranged by Mori Toshiyuki (he’s worked with the likes of Suga Shikao, Okuda Tamio and Chemistry)

I really liked this mini-album, a little bit more than I liked Yuunagi Loop and about 5 times more than Grapefruits or Lucy. To me, her current sound is much more coherent and flows more like a proper Jpop(!) album; her earlier works which were littered with songs written for anime and typically weird Kanno compositions which was pretty jarring. I guess it’s probably a little different for me in the sense that I was into mainstream Japanese music long before I got into anime music so my view on Maaya may be slightly different than most people’s. There’s no point in moaning about how her music with Kanno Yoko was oh so much better - Maaya’s moved on and if you like it, great. If you don’t, maybe it’s time for you to move on.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Venus Versus Virus: Character Vocal Album. Takagaki Ayahi, Chihara Minori etc

I’d already had high hopes for this album (sounding like a geek again), the list of people working on it (Hata Aki, Kikuya Tomoko and Harada Katsuyuki) looked promising. Plus the fact that I knew that the seiyuu were all able to hold a tune (though I knew little of Takagaki before this). It ended up being rather quite good, much better than I expected.
Rating: ★★★★☆

The Piano It’s Me. SUEMITSU & THE SUEMITH

Piano pop at its best. I reckon it’s on par with Ikimonogakari’s album as one of the best pop releases of the year so far. Great stuff.
Rating: ★★★★☆

Bitter Sweet. Gotou Saori

She’s always had a voice like a leaking helium balloon so I’m more or less accustomed to that by now. Not impressed by this new album though…..Saori’s team of songwriters seems to change with every release and cheesy bubblegum pop is really not my cup of tea. Bring back Sakura, HAL and Maezawa Hidenori (the writers of f) please.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

And that’s all I’m gonna cover cos I’m too lazy, and the weather’s really nice and warm, ahhh. The next installment should be due in the next few days (hopefully) though it’ll probably be delayed by me watching football (Go Andorra). And congrats Ando Miki \[^o^]/

Posted on March 27th, 2007 under music, this week in japan • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback