School starts in a few days for both Tsuki and I. Needless to say, both of us will be busy and I’ll probably put LW on a sort of hiatus, with occasional reviews (KIND OF LIKE LAST YEAR, BUT POSSIBLY LESS OFTEN).

10/21: Tsuki has technical difficulties and won’t be reviewing for awhile :( – Meg
11/14: Sorry guys, we’ve been busy. Just a note that we aren’t dead XD – Meg
12/15: With Megumi’s assistance, my technical difficulties have been about 75% solved, which is not bad. :) We’re still pretty busy though, but who knows, maybe Megz and I will give you viewers a holiday surprise. – Tsuki

Any new posts will appear under this one!

KOKIA – AKIKO∞KOKIA ~balance~ March 18, 2009
	1. Wasure Mono (忘れ物) 2. Ooki na Senaka (大きな背中) 3. Obaa-chan (おばあちゃん) 4. Crape-myrtle no Yureru Koro (サルスベリの揺れる頃) 5. HOME 6. vintage love 7. bridge 8. Hajimari (はじまり) 9. infinity 10. Sekai no Owari ni (世界の終わりに) 11. Tsumihoroboshi no Uta (罪滅ぼしの歌)

AKIKO∞KOKIA ~balance~ is the indies half of KOKIA’s two-part album Balance releases which were both released on the same day. This album is the more ballad-intensive of the two albums.

忘れ物 is the opening track of this album and is an atmospheric, calming little piece. The background is mostly ethereal little synth sounds in the background. The melody of the track mostly consists of long notes held and holds occasional quick movements through the melodic progressions. Despite the faster-moving notes, the song remains really calm, and about almost halfway through the track, I feel like falling asleep. The whole song just kind of repeats like this for the entire 7 minutes of the first track. It’s a rather pretty track if you plan on falling asleep but you can’t because of insomnia, and there’s nothing particularly wrong with it musically but it’s just really sleep-inducing. At the very least, KOKIA’s vocals are outstanding as usual and her voice floats through the track with ease.

I did warn you, because there’s another ballad: 大きな背中. This has a lovely piano and acoustic guitar arrangement in the background, and the movement in the melodic progression is a bit livelier this time around. The tone of the song is a bit spring-like and the song shows a bit more variety than the last track. About a minute and a half into the track, the tone of the song changes and changes to a piano and string arrangement, so the guitar part disappears. The tempo slows down considerably before going back into the guitar sections. The sections are different, but not so much that they don’t transition nicely into each other. Are we surprised that KOKIA sounds wonderful on this track? I’m not.

Oh god, it’s KOKIA’s kid voice. *hiss* *growl* If there’s any voice I don’t like from KOKIA, it’s this one. At the very least, her attempt this time isn’t entirely out of tune all the time; it’s just very airy. おばあちゃん makes use of a simple piano accompaniment. I can’t help but be irritated by voice every single time she decides to use it, even if she has a reason to do it. In any case, this is a simple, child-like song. I’m not too fond of it, especially because of her singing but it’s not a bad track. It kind of feels like KOKIA was trying for one of those “first song a kid writes” kind of deal.

KOKIA is back to her natural voice for サルスベリの揺れる頃, and it’s another soft acoustic track. Acoustic guitar is the only instrument that accompanies KOKIA, and it works stunningly well for this track. KOKIA’s voice has a bit of an echo, which makes her voice ring beautifully on the track. Her voice complements the guitar nicely with the soft tones of her voices over the simple guitar accompaniment. I still don’t see why KOKIA has to make these songs 6 minutes in length. Any typical person would be bored by the first half of this track. I can only stand the full 6 minutes because I enjoy simplistic acoustic tracks generally. In any case, this is still a pretty track, although a bit too long for the nature of its sound.

We get a bit of pan flute for this track, which adds a bit of variety to the sound of this album for a slight decree. Too bad HOME is really boring. The melody really goes nowhere and KOKIA’s performance from the get go is bland, lacking in any life and she’s flat and not supporting her voice here. She already lost me from the first few lines she sang on the track, so the rest of the song drones on and on without being calming, pretty or inspiring. It’s just dull and six minutes in length. Uhhh… the pan flute is kind of pretty at times? Otherwise, going to go sleep now.

Raindrops and piano. vintage love definitely has a bit of a raw sound to the opening passages with the simplistic piano playing over the sound of raindrops in the background. Unlike the last track, this is actually beautifully simplistic and calming. The piano playing isn’t outstanding, but it’s nicely done so that melody line is enjoyable despite its repetitiveness. Of course, what I wasn’t expecting was KOKIA throwing in her kid voice again after 2 minutes of pretty piano introduction. This is especially painful when she reaches the high notes in the melody and she’s entirely out of tune. Thanks for ruining a perfectly good introduction, KOKIA.

This is why one can sing softly but still be in tune, KOKIA. Sheesh. bridge is entirely in English, and as usual her pronunciation is impeccably good. The arrangement for this song is a bit fuller-sounding than most of the tracks so far on the album, mostly because of the lower strings at the beginning of the track. Most of hte accompaniment otherwise is some guitar and some higher strings. This is an improvement over the melodies of the last few tracks, definitely; however, as a whole song, there’s something a bit choppy about how the song is composed in general, and the guitar seems a bit too accented at points of the track and kind of obstructs the flow of the song in the verses. However, this is still quite a nice song, but not my favourite off this album.

はじまり reintroduces us to some simplistic piano and voice arrangements. This is much like サルスベリの揺れる頃 but with piano instead of the guitar. Again, there’s an echo on her voice, and the piano and her voice work together perfectly in this track. Her voice is very well-supported and she delivers the ballad perfectly with a lot of control and beautiful phrasing. The piano plays a bit more of a role on this track as it gets a bit of a solo at parts of the track rather than just playing a supporting part. I really like how the track pulls into the key change as the piano starts playing in chords to pull a slightly stronger dynamic for the ending of the track.

More simplistic music with infinity. This time, KOKIA goes back to acoustic guitar to support her. Same old, same old for the beginning: pretty melody, pretty singing. The song changes a bit as the strings come into the track and adds a bit of variety to the sound of the track as KOKIA adlibs over the violin solo. The song goes back to the beginning structure, but this time with the strings supporting the main melody in the background. Pretty song with some really nice harmonies from the violin and I enjoy the subtle build-up in this track to the ending of the song.

Can you guess what kind of song the next track is? Yup, another ballad. 世界の終わりに sounds pretty much like a lot of KOKIA’s other ballads. The track is supported by piano and has a bit of bass supporting the track so that it’s not the only thing accompanying KOKIA’s singing. Again, pretty melody, nice singing. I’m starting not to have anything creative to say about these tracks other than they’re nice ballads and KOKIA’s singing is solid throughout the track. Oh, this song has a jazzy saxophone solo in the bridge full of grace notes. There’s your defining quality of this track on this album. But yeah, this is another solid ballad.

FINAL SONG. BALLAD. WHAT A SURPRISE. 罪滅ぼしの歌 starts with soft piano and KOKIA whispering her vocals. So yeah, another simplistic piano ballad and KOKIA stops whispering the melody but keeps her voice supported and soft through the track. Which is good because I don’t have to deal with her trying to sound like a kid once again. Good riddance. Anyways, solid ballad, nice singing, blah blah blah. I’m getting bored of hearing so many KOKIA ballads in a row. I digress, the song is nice. I have nothing else creative to say about this.

I can definitely see why this album isn’t for most people. As someone who really likes ballads when they’re done by competent singers, KOKIA doesn’t quite pull off this album effectively. A lot of the tracks end up sounding very similar in melodic structure and arrangement. Even with KOKIA’s mostly stellar singing throughout this album, it’s really hard to stay awake throughout this album. Individually, the songs aren’t bad compositions and are nice to listen to occasionally. However, as a collection of 11 ballads, this album can be really tiresome to listen through. Not even the addition of the saxophone or the pan flute can save KOKIA’s arrangements on this album. Some of the individual songs aren’t too bad to listen to individually, but as a collection of works, this is seriously lacking in variety.

Favourites:
はじまり

A Fine Frenzy – Bomb in a Birdcage August 28, 2009
	1. What I Wouldn’t Do 2. New Heights 3. Electric Twist 4. Blow Away 5. Happier 6. Swan Song 7. Elements 8. The World Without 9. Bird of the Summer 10. Stood Up 11. The Beacon

A Fine Frenzy, which many have mistaken for a solo act (even wiki has!), has come back once again for another album to follow up their very beautiful debut album back in 2007. If the cover is any indication, we’re probably in for a slightly more upbeat time because of the lack of landscape in the image; this concept was prominent in both covers of One Cell in the Sea. Oh, and that’s not a very flattering picture of Ms. Sudol. But yeah, even Sudol calls A Fine Frenzy a band, not a solo act contrary to wikipedia.

What I Wouldn’t Do introduces us to the familiar: a simple, acoustic track with the usual ambient sounds from the first album. The melody is simplistic, just like the acoustic accompaniment and Sudol’s lovely voice is charming and energetic. The song picks up after the first time around and adds in some clapping in the background. This addition makes the song a lot brighter rather than just mellow. It’s a cute little opening track which I really enjoy listening to. Sudol sounds beautiful as usual and the little arrangement is cute and soothing at the same time.

A Fine Frenzy continues with their atmospheric, ambient sounds with the next track, New Heights, which again could have been from their last album. The only thing different is the guy counting in the band at the beginning. However, as usual, their arrangements are lush and very dreamy. I love what they did with Sudol’s voice and kind of doubled it with the arrangement. The melody is actually quite simple again, but it’s a very soothing simple melody. Sudol’s voice works very well with the dreamy atmosphere of this track, and almost gets buried under all the piano, guitars and whatever other effects there are. As usual, a really beautiful work with the arrangement and Sudol’s singing fits the atmosphere of the track very well.

Electric Twist is our first introduction to the most upbeat side of A Fine Frenzy. The groove of this song is fun by the addictive bass line and percussion at the beginning. Sudol’s voice rings clear over these minimalistic accompaniments and she adds a lot of personality to her singing. Her singing as usual is lively. Eventually we get some more instruments that kind of creep into the track as the accompaniment becomes fuller. My favourite part is the section at around 2:30. I love the little thing she does with the word “Twist” as she accents it at a higher pitch. The rest of the song is a bit too linear for my liking at times as the chorus section isn’t quite as clearly put out to contrast the rest of the song (and the bridge ends up being the section that stands out in the song), but it’s a cute song which I enjoy.

Following is yet another upbeat song that was chosen as the lead single for this album. Blow Away relies strongly on a basic staccato beat to push the song forward, while the melody is really disjointed. In comparison, the legato melody of the chorus is really pretty although really quite short. The song itself is really “bouncy” to listen to, despite the accompaniment not having much other than the staccato beats and some small guitar lines in the background that are barely audible over the basic beat of the song.

This next track is one of my favourites off this track. Happier starts off with a beautiful introduction before transitioning to the slightly bouncy melody of the verse which goes in and out of legato and the more accented parts of the melody. The arrangement is more typical of the band with their ambient sounds in the background and a prominent piano presence. The melody is really pretty and probably one of the most memorable melody lines off this album that I remember off the first few listens of this album.

I’ve always really liked the opening for Swan Song. It’s a really beautiful piano opneing that sets the mood for this track perfectly. While the last track was a bit of a happy track, this is a soft, calming track with Sudol singing is hushed tones over soft, delicate sounds in the accompaniment. These are one of those songs that might bore a lot of people at the beginning because not a lot happens but I find it absolutely soothing. I really like the little bridge around 2:40 where Sudol sings out a lot more and her voice is exquisite and highly emotional as she reaches slightly higher notes.

A little bit of snare marches us into Elements, where Sudol’s voice whispers us into more dreamy pieces off this song. The snare is probably one of my favourite elements of this track as it adds a bit of a punch to this track, which like a lot of the band’s songs are just really pretty. While a lot of the previous tracks stayed in a certain little “cage” of dynamics, this particular piece has no limits as it gets progressively louder its accompaniment and the pure, raw emotion Sudol emits in her vocals. Seriously stunning.

We stray from the balladry to something more upbeat with The World Without. As usual, their arrangements are beautiful (what a surprise). I’m not too fond of the burst of sound that comes in and out of the verses at times, especially when it almost buries Sudol’s voice a bit too much, but it’s interesting to listen to, especially since it comes in right when everything accents the particular note of entry. Nice melody, nice vocals, and a bit too typical of A Fine Frenzy, but it’s a nice track.

It amuses me that Bird of the Summer begins with some little flute notes that sound like birds fluttering. Anyways, yes. Lovely piano opening and more soft Sudol singing. This particular arrangement is very spring and nature-like. The simple melody emphasizes the beautiful piano and flute arrangement in the background and I personally love it. The flute is especially fabulous and played very well to add to the atmosphere of the track. It has a beautiful tone through all the trills it’s playing in the background. Beautiful.

A Fine Frenzy attempts something a bit different at the beginning of Stood Up because the sound becomes a lot darker-sounding from the guitars and bass. At the same time, they keep the slightly dreamy feel in their music, especially with the effects put on Sudol’s voice. I’m particularly fascinated by some of the beats on this track, especially when there’s this one point of the melody where it seems like the rhythms are a bit off at first (this can be heard when Sudol first comes in with the melody) where the strong beat is put on a really unconventional place. The echoes at the end are a bit distracting, and I’m not too fond of that particular section of the song, but otherwise, it’s a strong track. This is probably one of the few times we hear Sudol belt for a section of the track, although she’s under a lot of effects.

It seems fitting to end an A Fine Frenzy album with a soft track. The Beacon is like the opening — simple, with a strong focus on Sudol’s emotive and strong vocals. I’m not particularly fond of the long notes in the accompaniment, but the melody has a lovely hook, which is true for many of AFF’s tracks. Not one of my favourites off the album as the accompaniment sounds rather bland under Sudol’s voice, though.

Bomb in a Birdcage is a more upbeat version of A Fine Frenzy’s debut album, One Cell in the Sea and features a very strong performance from their lead singer-songwriter (and only known member of the band), Alison Sudol. Her voice is beautiful and fits her music perfectly and generally has a more consistent performance on this album than she did in the first album. The music, as usual, is beautiful all the way through and is very enchanting to listen through all the way through. Sudol performance with ease all through the tracks, and it’s something very refreshing to hear. I’m not 100% fond of her more beat-oriented upbeat tracks as they feel a bit too linear at times, but they’re catchy enough for me to enjoy in any case and are unique enough that they stand out on the album. All in all, I loved this album. It features strong songwriting and strong singing from Sudol and is overall like walking through some kind of fairytale.

Favourites:
Elements

alan – my life November 25, 2009
	1. reflection ~overture~ 2. Swear 3. One 4. Mitsumeteitai (見つめていたい) 5. Namida (Smooth Jam Mix) (涙) 6. Lost Child 7. Butterflies 8. Essence of me 9. Call my name 10. Shiroi Tsubasa (白い翼) 11. Nobody knows but me 12. BALLAD ~Namonaki Koi no Uta~ (BALLAD ～名もなき恋のうた～) 13. Kuon no Kawa (久遠の河) 14. my life

I think the majority of people who were fans of alan prior to this album will agree that this album was one of most disappointing products of 2009, but this isn’t always the case for everyone. Straying away from the more mature ethnic music from Voice of EARTH, Avex attempts to produce a pure pop idol with this next album, with mixed results.

The opening of reflection ~overture is really quite stunning, and probably something one would expect to find on her last album. It has an ethereal harp and piano work going on here that is really beautiful and played with a lot of delicacy but also a lot of energy at the same time. It’s all really beautiful until they decide to add alan in with a lot of voice distortions and trying to sing in tune, but failing miserably before the song attempts to transition into a more electronic mode. I suppose if you were to overanalyze this track, this is Avex trying to introduce alan’s “transition from her Tibertan wailing persona into a more mainstream artist”. Too bad the latter half of the introduction is utter garbage.

I still haven’t decided whether or not I like Swear. It’s cute, but it’s so average and uninteresting at the same time. It probably does not help that alan’s singing is sometimes I really bit hard to bear, especially in the way she ends some of her phrases with the little note trill (which isn’t particularly done well) and she tends to be a little sharp and the tone of her voice is really tight and unopened on these notes. She does this way too much throughout the track, to the point where it’s just annoying. One either likes or dislikes the lightness of alan’s tone on this song — I’m particularly impartial to it as I sometimes it sounds nice and other times it just sounds half-assed. It’s a cute song, though?

For some reason, alan’s starting to do R&B-flavoured mid-tempo tracks. Huh. Anyways, we’re talking about One, the next track on the album. The track starts off fair enough: standard beat with a bit of nice piano opening. It’s nice, and alan’s adlibbing isn’t bad — it’s when she actually starts singing the melody when I start questioning who on earth decided to make alan sing the melody this way. She’s basically pushing her voice on the last note, then letting her pitch fall substantially on the note, and it sounds absolutely terrible for her. Her voice is almost toneless throughout the track and when she does have tone it’s usually a really forced sound that lacks any sense of flow in terms of the overall feel of the track. When did alan become such a terrible technical singer? I’m crying in pain on the inside.

The repetitive echoey piano at the beginning is kind of nice — for like the first 15 seconds. Again, alan sings this song in the exactly type of tone as the previous track, but her singing is slightly improved as the notes are much more cleanly done throughout the melody. Although she still has a tendency to push single notes out a bit too much, so we get a random forte note in the middle of a really soft melody, which results in poor flow of the melody. Otherwise, this ballad is done decently and can be quite nice to listen to.

I don’t even remember the original version of 涙, but now we get a “Smooth Jam Mix” version of it. Okay then. And alan basically sounds the same as the previous track, as it’s performed in the exact same manner, which I guess okay for the track, but not okay for increasing the interest in this album. I’m practically falling asleep here because alan has close to no vocal presence in this or the previous track. It’s nice, but nothing more than that. I can say the same about the mix of this track: it’s nice and pleasant but really alan’s performance does absolutely nothing for me as I don’t find it in any way convincing.

Is this album done yet? Finally we get to something a bit more upbeat, because alan is boring me with her generic slow-tempo tracks. Lost Child goes back into something mid-tempo with a more frequent beat. It attempts to do something edgier but still keeping a bit of the chill quality of the past few track, and composition-wise I enjoy it a bit more. It has a more memorable melody, especially in the chorus. alan’s still half awake though. Girl still sounds bored out of her mind, kind of like how I am right now. Wake up, girl!

Butterflies is next, and I’m still bored and so is alan. Again, the introduction is nice wit hthe harp and all, but the accompaniment and alan’s singing is so bland. They try to change things up a bit by having a chorus (as in a group of people) do some background vocals at points of the song, and that’s probably one of more interesting moments in this song, other than alan singing that note that moves around before the chorus (Which isn’t particularly sung spectacularly as she still sounds like she’s struggling to support her own singing). Next please.

Everyone knows by now that Essence of me is an electronic track, and it’s probably one of the more interesting tracks on the album, partially because we can barely hear alan half-ass her singing once again. She spends most of her time sounding like she’s singing underwater and hidden under a multitude of synths. I pretty much ignore her because she’s been mostly boring so far on this album. Then whoever mixed this track suddenly decides to up the volume on her vocal track about halfway through for some reason and look, she’s still flat. The synth accompaniment is vaguely interesting? Oh, Ayu makes a “guest appearance” ;D.

Call my name is the second attempt at electronic music, but this time we can actually hear alan over the track. What was alan on when she sang the introduction of this track? The ending of it is absolutely terrible and something I would expect from someone who doesn’t know how to sing and is absolutely tone deaf. It’s realllyyy bad, poorly supported and really out of tune. Thankfully, alan recovers for the main melody and sings in tune for the rest of the track and, gasp, sounds interested in the actual melody of the track. The repetitiveness of the track makes me a bit sleepy, but overall I like the track.

We quickly leave the electronic back into the generic ballads with 白い翼 and immediately on the first few notes, alan sounds much more interested in what she’s singin and adding a bit of vibrato and more attention to general details of how she’s singing the track. Among all of the generic ballads on this album, this is probably one of the better ones simply because alan sings a little better on this track and she doesn’t sound so bored and her tone is slightly better on this track. The track is still a bit boring because the instrumentalists are still really stiff, but alan’s singing makes this track a bit more bearable.

I quite like the haunting piano line in Nobody knows but me despite its performance being really bland. The track would have done really well with a much better pianist — this one is just dull. Again, alan’s singing sounds more expressive on this track, partly because the melody covers a bit more of a wider range and the chorus allows her to belt out a bit more. alan’s Engrish is really hilarious and her wail was a bit shaky on the first few notes but her tone improves as she goes on. Oh, I like the flute — what a beautiful, full tone, even though it wasn’t even much to play.

It’s funny how one of the singles I completely ignored is actually one of the better ballads off this album. BALLAD ~名もなき恋のうた~, which is a ballad with a name saying that it has not name (*eye roll*) is one of alan’s stronger ballad performances on this album. The melody starts off with a lower range and she doesn’t sound as thin this time around, rejoice! The melody builds up well, and I especially like the gradual crescendo throughout the verse towards the dramatic chorus. Vocally, alan sings well on this track (unlike the majority of tracks on this album). However, the composition of the track isn’t particularly interesting and is generic and a bit bland in terms of alan’s accompaniment.

Like Tsuki, I do prefer the higher key of the Chinese version of 久遠の河 (partially because it shows off her higher tones), but the Japanese version is still equally as good. This is another track that shows off alan’s ability to sing really well if she puts her mind to it and is probably one of my favourite tracks off of alan’s discography. Vocally, alan pretty much as it down and her voice sounds a lot fuller and lively despite the melody mostly holding smooth, long notes throughout. I still would have done without the Tibetan wailing near the end as it really serves no purpose in the overall song other than appease those who insist that they must hear her wail for the sake of wailing. What I really enjoy in this track, other than alan’s singing is the arrangement of the song. Simply said, it’s absolutely beautiful and really capitalizes on the louder moments on the track and the softer moments. I especially love the little oboe solo after the orchestral interlude at around 2:42.

After the drama of 久遠の河, we actually end off with the title track of this album (which is, of course, entitled my life) and after listening to the first few seconds, it’s pretty clear to me why it was the title track (when compared to the rest of the album-only tracks). It’s a simplistic little piano ballad, but this time, it actually works for alan. Her tone is much less forced and has a very natural flow to it on this track, plus she actually attempts to support the ends of her phrases this time around, which results is a really pretty ballad as the final track of this album. She still ends up sharp on some of the long notes, which isn’t particularly pleasant but I enjoy the track overall.

It makes me sad when an artist manages to become worse between albums. Not only does the production and composition work on this album feel rushed, so does alan’s singing for most of the tracks. The style itself isn’t necessarily a problem as one can make a generic album but still make it interesting and fun; it is the lack of effort Avex put into this rushed album, which can be also heard in how similar and uninterested alan sounds like for most of the album tracks and how poorly she sounds as compared to her first album. alan can be a talented vocalist given the right circumstances, but really I couldn’t care less for most of the material on this album.

Favourites:
久遠の河

2009, like any other year, has its share of really good and really terrible albums. I’ve tried to narrow this down to around 5 albums, like I did last year, but as always, I didn’t end up with 5 albums. All albums on this list I would not hesitate to buy despite the ludicrous prices for CDs in Japan. For the non-Japanese albums on this list, I’m basically saying I’d pay $30 for the album even though standard prices are a lot lower.

Albums are sorted alphabetically by artist name, not by preference.

A Fine Frenzy – Bomb in a Birdcage

This band (of which only the main vocalist, Alison Sudol, is known) is one of my recent favourites. Their debut album was pretty, but lacked quite a bit of variety. This album brings in a poppier, more upbeat side to the band while including some of their more signature sounds from their first album.

Samples: Blow Away| Happier | Electric Twist

G.E.M. – 18…

It’s been awhile since I’ve actually liked an artist from Hong Kong (although G.E.M. is technically from Shanghai… but her music is focused mainly in the Hong Kong area). G.E.M. gives the HK pop scene a long-needed revival last year from her EP, which made my 2008 list and her song “Where did u go”. Her music isn’t particularly super original in the overal world music scene, but she boy does she have a voice. While I find a lot of Hong Kong singers really boring, G.E.M. not only has soul, she writes her own lyrics. Her debut album continues her streak of addictive music and lovely ballads. While looking for videos for this post, I just realized I missed her coming to Toronto. :(

Samples: All About U | Game Over | A.I.N.Y. (愛你) | 想講你知

Kalafina – Seventh Heaven

Unlike FictionJunction’s earlier self-cover release, which was a bit of a mixed bag for me, Kalafina’s debut album features a more solid vocal performance from all the members of the group and probably one of the strongest group vocal work from a Japanese group for awhile. Kajiura Yuki plays on the strengths of all three of the girls’ distinctive voices. As usual from Kajiura, we get her distinctive style of songwriting. It’s been awhile since I was THIS excited for a Kajiura release.

Samples: SPRINTER | oblivious (Live) | 夏の林檎

KOKIA – KOKIA∞AKIKO ～balance～

KOKIA makes the list again with another mini-album. Granted, I haven’t listened to this as much as I would have liked, but every time I put it on for background music, I’m always in awe at just how beautiful KOKIA’s voice and compositions are. In my mind, there is no doubt that KOKIA has one of the most versatile voices in Japanese music. There’s really not a song that I can think of at the moment on this release that I do not like.

Samples: 花宴 | Infinity (Live) | 道化 (Live)

Rie fu – URBAN ROMANTIC

Even though my reaction to this album was a little less enthusiastic than her past three albums, I really do love the direction she’s heading in despite needing a little bit of fine-tuning (IMO). Nevertheless, Rie fu still has her usual charm, beautiful music with a bit more drastic experimentation this time around. The result is a lovely mix of her acoustic charm with an electronic feel.

Samples: Romantic | Something in my Head | Money Will Love You (English Version)

Vienna Teng – Inland Territory

Vienna Teng’s fourth album is very unlike her first three (but then again, so was her third album). Part of this is because of Alex Wong’s production. The result is an excellent package of unique songs with Teng’s usual soothing voice and excellent writing.

Samples: Antebellum (Live) | Stray Italian Greyhound (Live) | Grandmother’s Song (Live)

Notable Mentions:
4minute – For Muzik
BENI – Bitter & Sweet
Davichi – Davichi in Wonderland
Dew – Present
LOVE – Confetti Love Songs
MiChi – UP TO YOU
Onitsuka Chihiro – DOROTHY

alan – 心的東方 July 22, 2009
	1. 天女 2. 愛看得見 3. 飛行誌 4. 細節 5. 加油! 你有ME! feat. Wei Chen 6. 三生世 三生路 7. 明日讚歌 8. 心•战 ~RED CLIFF~ 9. 赤壁 ～大江東去～ 10. Sign 11. 愛就是手

I was eagerly waiting for alan’s first Mandarin studio album after her major debut with Avex, thinking it would be epic and beyond my imagination. I was half correct about that, as it was definitely not what I could imagine. I thought any release in Chinese for alan would be infinitely better than her Japanese material because she could max out her potential musicality in a language she is familiar with. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that it was not meant to be… This album features mostly Chinese versions of her original Japanese releases, and I will be making references to them throughout.

The album starts off with 天女, which is exactly how Voice of Earth began. It was evident that they tried to minimize the Tibetan wailing technique that is a characteristic of alan’s voice with her previous release, so I’m quite happy with the fact that they decided to include this in its original form, as one of alan’s best wails is featured in this song. I particularly enjoy the way each part weaves into one section to the other, and it makes for a nice introduction to the album.

The first full vocal song off of this album is the powerful 愛看得見 (a.k.a. Gunjou no Tani). I have always loved this song for its arrangement and composition. It’s an incredibly moving song, with a continuous driving percussion, sweeping strings and a melody that builds (or maintains) intensity from start to finish. Now anybody who knows me knows that as much as I love this song, I hate the way alan performed it. I found her vocal technique absolutely sloppy throughout, despite the suitable nature of this song to alan’s voice type. I believe this song was written for her specifically (correct me if I’m wrong), but she has all these opportunities to play with the phrasing and colours of her voice to really bring out the character of the song. Instead, she opts to belt as much as she can with her chest voice, which isn’t very successful, and proceeds to fall off every single phrase beyond the first part of the song. She started off very strong, and just spirals downhill from there.

飛行誌 (Sora Uta) turned out so much better than the previous track, and it pleases me. I actually didn’t quite like this song overall when it was first released, but the Chinese version turned out well. alan’s tone of voice is a little heavier than the original and is missing that light lilt that really caught my attention the first time, however, she is very much in control throughout this upbeat number. I thought she did a great job with the interpretation of this song, demonstrating some great musicality.

I’m surprised she alan recorded a Chinese version to more of her B-sides, such as “Kimi omou sora”, or ??. Honestly, the Japanese version is pretty dull and not particularly notable. alan definitely turned that song around for this release, and this is more of what I was expecting from her. She effectively delivers a sweet, musical performance here and convinces me that this song is worth my time.

The first original Chinese song off of this album is a duet with Wei Chen called 加油! 你有ME!. You can expect more typical Cpop music from this track, and true to the title, it’s as much cheese as one should be exposed at a time. It is still enjoyable to some extent, but only in small doses. Wei Chen doesn’t really do anything for me, and in fact, is underwhelming next to alan. alan carries tune with good tone throughout. The song doesn’t really do much to convince me that alan can be a pop star though. She sounds almost bored and unchallenged singing this.

When Voice of Earth left “Sakura MODERN” off the album, I was incredibly disappointed. I thought that song would have fit in perfectly, but that makes me even more appreciative of the presence of its Chinese counterpart, 三生世 三生路. I’ve previously mentioned that alan did a wonderful job with this song. She has superb phrasing the minute she begins to sing and sings with a lot of heart (and not so much chest). She has a beautiful head voice, and uses it to the best of her ability here. Gorgeous song paired with alan’s gorgeous voice – this is how track two should have turned out.

I think everybody anticipated that “Ashita e no sanka” would be one of the first major label Chinese songs alan would release. I have been anticipating this release from early on in alan’s career. alan finally presents us with 明日讚歌, and I have to express my disappointment yet again. I have every reason to believe that this Mandarin version was to be more epic than the Japanese, but alan’s vocals is the exact reason why I cannot stand this song. She struggles with tuning throughout, including being ridiculously flat in the verses and fails to impress me with her lack of control in the choruses where the wails are prominent. alan’s tone is horrible in this version, and it sounds like she’s pushing too hard with her “chest” voice, therefore screwing up the beautiful tone she usually carries in her head voice. An ear piercing rendition of her own song, I suggest all listeners to stay far away from this.

There are so many reasons to skip past the previous track, and one of them being a good Chinese song by our featured vocalist. 心•战 ~RED CLIFF~ is a beautiful, powerful ballad. alan really brought out nuances of this song through the melody. I love the way she builds each phrase and structures them with lovely dynamic contrast. There are moments where it sounds like she’s about to turn out flat again, but she quickly fixes them as she’s singing. The way alan performs the verses is so musical and gorgeous. I could have used just a little bit more from her in the lines leading up to, and including, the chorus. Other than those two minor things, there isn’t much to say about alan’s vocal performance here though. She really mastered this song and I definitely prefer this version of the Japanese because the removal of the wail really put emphasis on the beautiful string interlude towards the end of the song.

I don’t know about anybody else, but I’ve never really liked the intro of 赤壁 ～大江東去～ song for some reason, at least not the fast part. It sounds detached from the rest of the song. It is something I do look over whenever I listen to this though. I personally love the theme to RED CLIFF Pt. II more than the first, particularly this version. (I am one of the people that thought it was dumb that they decided to transpose the song to a lower key for the Japanese release in an attempt to have alan sound more diva.) Back to this song though, alan does a remarkable job with this song. There is no doubt about alan’s strengths as a vocalist, and she really showcases it here. She really shows that she doesn’t need to be singing folk-like Chinese songs to sound amazing. I’m absolutely blown away by her performance here and believe that it is her best to date.

Sign is sung in Tibetan, and is the same track from her Japanese “hitotsu” single. I’m not really sure I like the inclusion of this song for this album and as the second last track to the album. The song feels like it’s more of an interlude, intro or outro due to the repetition. I like the track itself as it is quite unique and has an enigmatic feel to it. The circumstances under which it was used however, doesn’t evoke much emotion from me, and its purpose to this album seems rather pointless.

愛就是手 is one of my favourite songs by alan overall. It doesn’t have her defining vocal wail, it is simply a ballad. That being said, it is one gem that should not be overlooked. I love the composition of this song, and it has one of the sweetest melodies I’ve ever heard. I really think this ballad is truly heartfelt, despite alan sounding a little congested in the recording. Yes, even though I love this ballad, I have a bit of beef with alan’s vocal performance in this version. I’m actually surprised that she delivered the Mandarin version with less musicality in comparison to the Japanese versions. She doesn’t really seem to grasp the moment with this ballad, though I have no doubt in my mind that she’s more than capable of doing so.

I’m really surprised by alan’s debut Chinese album. I was definitely expecting much more from her. Some of the minor issues with Voice of Earth could be passed off as potential language barriers and unfamiliarity, but I don’t think alan really had any excuse as to why this album did not meet expectations. She had basically the same material from her Japanese discography, so quality of songs should not have been a factor. I still alan is an immensely talented musician, she just needs to learn how to translate that talent into good performances and recordings. Avex also needs to stop making her sound like a pop diva because it is not working.

Favourites:
赤壁 ～大江東去～

BENI – Bitter & Sweet September 2, 2009
	1. Bitter & Sweet Intro 2. Kiss Kiss Kiss 3. Zutto Futari de (ずっと二人で) 4. Koi Kogarete (恋焦がれて) 5. Dakishimete feat. Dohzi-T (抱きしめて) 6. Anything Goes!! 7. stardust 8. KIRA☆KIRA☆ 9. GO ON 10. Shinjisasete (信じさせて) 11. STAY 12. nice & slow 13. Beautiful World 14. Mou Nido to… (もう二度と…) 15. Kiss Kiss Kiss (DJ HASEBE REMIX)

This is originally supposed to be reviewed by Tsuki because she won a coin flip. I am stealing it. Hi Tsuki! That said, most of BENI’s Avex material was horrible. I could barely sit through her first two albums, while the third one was passable but mostly boring. Ever since she’s moved to Universal, I immediately noted her big improvement from what I heard from the debut and gradual improvement from the third album. This fourth album finally places BENI in a position where she’s actually worth listening to, despite still needing improvements musically and vocally.

The intro to Bitter & Sweet is a nice one and not totally useless when it comes to introducing the album to the midtempo R&B style of the album. It’s nice, and is done around some kind of stormy sounds going on in the background while BENI sings over the background vocals. It’s nice and it does its job.

I’m still a rather big fan of Kiss Kiss Kiss. Despite numerous comments about how this track sounds like whatever other R&B track (which can be said about a lot of the songs on this album), I personally find it a rather addictive midtempo song. It’s pleasant with a kind of smooth melody and a nice piano accompaniment over a heavy beat and snapping in the background. BENI’s tone is quite gorgeous on this track, despite it not being a particularly challenging track melodically for her. Nevertheless, she pulls off the song very well and she inserts quite a bit of energy and emotion to what she sings on this track. Her phrasing in the verses is nice and consistent and this smooth phrasing contrasts well with the choppier rhythms of the chorus. Her singing is quite fitting for this song.

I’m not quite as fond of ずっと二人で since it was the single that appeared after a slew of midtempos and ballads for ballads. It really doesn’t stand out as a song on the album, and I still wonder why it was even a single to begin with. That said, it’s not a terrible song either; it just doesn’t stand out very much. The first thing I thought when I listened to this track was that it was total song to show off her “tone”. This track is even less challenging than the previous track. The range is pretty limited and the tempo of the track is pretty slow. Nevertheless, BENI shows off her improved tone and improved control on this track. Musically, this isn’t the most interesting track, but it does show that BENI has improved technically and emotionally on her vocals. She pulls it off beautifully, despite how bland the actual song is.

Universal really went all out when they decided to stack three of BENI’s singles together at the beginning. Seriously. In any case, 恋焦がれて is yet another midtempo track. This one has a stronger usage of the acoustic guitar and a more frequent beat in the background. It’s nice track like the rest of the bunch. This one has a bit of a dreamy quality, especially with the added background vocals in the chorus. I wasn’t really a big fan of this track when it first came out, but I enjoy it enough to listen to it all the way through.

抱きしめて Feat. 童子-T is the first new track off the album, and it’s more of a laid-back midtempo track with a nice bass beat that keeps the song going forward. Again, BENI sings well and bit more in a lighter manner for this particular song. I find the melody quite catchy despite the track being rather laid-back. I also find it amusing that Dohzi-T randomly interjects throughout the song with random grunts. Seriously, what. And his rapping is terrible and monotone. He sounds like he’s half awake and adds absolutely nothing to the track. He could be replaced by a grunting monkey and I wouldn’t know the difference (err assuming the monkey can speak Japanese).

What is this? An upbeat track? Anything Goes!! uses heavy synthesizer beats over a more emphatic melody for this next track. This track is a less smooth and exercises BENI’s ability to accent consecutive short notes, which she does quite well in the chorus. She still has a bit of a habit of making the melody a bit too smooth at points where it could really use a bit more punch. However, she handles this track well vocally. The melody is pretty addictive, although she does get a bit drowned out by the accompanying music and the random chanting in the background. Who is this guy who keeps yelling?

Hello to second upbeat track in a row. stardust is the track that everyone seems to love. I’m a little less enthusiastic, but I still like it. It has a nice mix of electronic elements and R&B elements. I find that BENI’s voice can be a little bit too light at points of this song where she could have sounded a whole like enthusiastic if she didn’t sound like she was avoiding any prospect of belting. Nevertheless she sounds nice, although her voice can feel really thin at times and some of the effects put on her voice really don’t help her in this case. The song itself is really quite catchy, and I like the little answer and reply before the chorus kicks in. She does a good job with the rhythms in the chorus, although again, her voice is a little too light for the beat-oriented track.

Why was KIRA☆KIRA☆ a recut track again? This is another example of her midtempo tracks off this album. Rinse and repeat formula with slight variations. In any case, it’s still a nice song but not very memorable. She has that same kind of light voice (and effects, sheesh) as she did on stardust, which suits this track a bit more, but it makes her voice a little thin in the chorus. She does sing this track well and she sounds nice despite the song being really repetitive. The melody is pleasant and enjoyable and she does a good job not making the song absolutely dull, which seems to be the case for the majority of the tracks on this album.

You know what’s next? Another midtempo R&B track. Like just about very other midtempo R&B track, it’s a pleasant song. It has more of a focus on a heavy electronic backing with a soft piano and acoustic guitar backing. A constant beat occurs under BENI’s nice vocals. Again, the verses are smooth while the chorus brings in a slight more frantic melody as BENI repeats the title of the track over and over again.

What on earth is that sound at the beginning of 信じさせて? And I don’t mean the piano. Anyway, the sound is kind of annoying, but we get another smooth ballad for her. The sound is really, really distracting though. However, again, BENI’s voice sounds nice, although her performance here is a little more bland and linear than I would have liked from her at this stage. Her voice sounds nice, but a little more variety would be nice. I do hear her trying to add a bit more emotion on this track although in how she does some of the ends of her phrasing and there is some hint of a flow in how she does these phrases. Still, not a very interesting song.

The title of nice & slow pretty much sums up this track. It’s nice. And it’s slow. Obviously the title isn’t talking about the nature of the song, but rather BENI’s attempt at sexing it up on the album without being skanky and it works well enough. There’s a whole bunch of electronic stuff running around in the song. It’s a nice track (oh wait, I already said that) but really not one of my favourite tracks off the album nor is it one that stands out that much for me despite it being her ~sexy~ track on the album and it sometimes puts me to sleep. Ho hum, next.

STAY is next, and it’s another midtempo. Yup. It’s pretty catchy though, and it was one of my early favourites off her singles. Not even the random dude yelling “HEYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!” in the background can distract me to liking this track. BENI’s vocals are nice and the melody “stays” in my mind (Oh hur hur).

I pretty much agree with everyone that Beautiful World is the best track off the album. For one, it actually sounds different from the rest of the songs off the album with some random dude singing. Next, it’s absolutely beautiful and pulls out a bit more belting from BENI. I adore the atmosphere of this track as it has a bit more of a ethereal, dreamy quality to it, while BENI’s singing sounds really nice with the echoes and the male background vocalist. This is one of those moments where even though BENI doesn’t have a strong belting voice, her belting actually works for the song to add a bit more of a dramatic effect to the song. Beautiful track.

もう二度と… is still my favourite ballad out of her first era. It brings out BENI’s improved singing and really shows how much she’s improved since she’s started off. Her tone is beautifully supported and she displays emotion really well through her light voice at the beginning and nice vibrato. Her voice is controlled and soars through the track almost effortlessly. Granted, she’s still improved vocally since this track, she still sounds really nice on this simple ballad, which demonstrates her ability to emote on a simple melody.

I really don’t mind BENI’s remixes. The final track, Kiss Kiss Kiss (DJ HASEBE REMIX) is a cheery remix of the single with acoustic guitar and an addictive bass line. The drums are far more frequent, although the melody itself hasn’t changed, the song sounds a lot more upbeat for this version. It’s a nice remix, though, and I really don’t see a lot of problems with it.

Bitter & Sweet demonstrates BENI’s consistent performance on all the material given to her. Despite a bit of the nitpicking I had with her voice at times, I must really say that she’s really improved from her earlier days. The album itself is nowhere close to being groundbreaking in any way and lacks variety in the overall sound of her music; however, it is a solid, consistent piece of work both musically and vocally. Unfortunately, this may cause her not to stand out that much because her music doesn’t really pop out, but her work is pleasant to listen to and the tone of her voice is quite pretty. Her ability to emote has improved and this ability is displayed through the simplicity of a lot of these tracks. Although the music isn’t complex and doesn’t change much, her singing is what keeps a lot of these tracks interesting and as a result, the album is enjoyable.

Favourites:
Beautiful World

Lady GaGa – The Fame Monster November 18, 2009
	1. Bad Romance 2. Alejandro 3. Monster 4. Speechless 5. Dance in the Dark 6. Telephone (featuring Beyoncé) 7. So Happy I Could Die 8. Teeth

I have a love-hate relationship with Lady GaGa. Sometimes her music is addictive; sometimes she’s absolutely boring. This particular relationship seems to be a theme for this new disc on this rereleased version of The Fame. In many ways, this is a stronger, more concise release from this diva. In other ways, it can be more underwhelming than her first full album release. Difference? She’s now a free bitch, apparently.

We begin, of course, with the lead single for the disc, Bad Romance, which is probably one of the more lively tracks on the album, but also one of the most horrendous overuse of nasal tones from Ms. Germanotta. Every time she goes into the “Rah Rah” nonsense, I feel like puking because of just how terrible she sounds and just how absolutely cheesy the line is. It’s almost as bad as her “Cherry cherry boom boom” from her first album. Of course, she insists on singing this entire verse through her nose, emphasizing as much as she can every possible nasal tone she can muster. This is obviously done on purpose, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying or puke-inducing. THAT aside, the contents of the song (aside from the previously mentioned nonsense of the “Rah-Rah-ing”) the song is actually quite catchy and the melodic contents of the song just barely make up for the singing. Unlike some of the other tracks on this disc, this song is actually fun and has quite a good use of synthesizers, especially regarding the introduction of the song and the synthesizer beats on the offbeats of the verses. Her singing is much more bearable in the chorus, of course. In fact, the chorus is one of the reasons why I do enjoy this track — I’ve spent hours having it in my head. One of the more amusing parts of the song is definitely when she does a type of auditory catwalk in the bridge. She seriously makes it work in the song and she does it with attitude. Too bad the arrangement can be quite bland (aside from the offbeat electronic beats in the verses) and it really doesn’t nothing for me. I still have a love-hate relationship with this track because there’s stuff I like in it, and there’s stuff I really dislike about it.

Alejandro fares a lot better for me in comparison. It’s a more laid-back track with a beautiful violin solo at the beginning and Lady GaGa trying to fake a foreign accent. That part’s pretty embarassing because her fake accent is pretty terrible (but really quite hilarious), but ignore that and you have a gorgeous violin part. I quite like the atmosphere of this track. It has a bit of a dreamy quality in the timbre of the background sounds. Lady Gaga’s voice works with this track so that it doesn’t stand out too much for the nature of the track but her performance is solid here and pretty straightforward. I can’t help but feel like swaying along with this little piece. Unlike the opening track, I actually appreciate the song as a whole. It’s a bit dreamy in quality but the drums add a nice heavier quality to a song that could have easily have been really dreary if it wasn’t done adequately. Lady Gaga not only pulls it off in the atmosphere of the track, the melody itself is memorable and the singing is decent.

I’m not too fond of the full electronic songs on this album at all. I wouldn’t be able to tell you what stands out about Monster even if I wanted to. The track is bland and cold and it still hasn’t stuck in my mind after a few listens of the EP. It’s a pretty heavy on the voice effects as Lady Gaga’s voice is autotuned so that she sounds almost soulless and uninteresting. This track is four minutes and a half and I personally really don’t care at all throughout the whole song. It has a dreamy quality like Alejandro but it’s nowhere as memorable and the singing is bland and uninterested into what’s happening in the track. Lady Gaga doesn’t seem to care at all about this track because not only does this track sound half-hearted, the elements of the track repeat themselves over and over again without really bringing anything for me to latch onto as a something I actually like about the track. This is entirely a disappointment after listening to “Alejandro” especially since some parts of the track is actually quite catchy (especially the bit before she goes into the whole whomever is a monster parts — I really like the amount of emphasis she actually puts on those rhythms, especially in comparison to the almost disinterestedness of the rest of the chorus). This track bores me, unfortunately.

Speechless is Lady Gaga’s attempt at a kind of piano ballad. There’s something a bit artificial and a bit overly Broadway-esque about her presentation (showy for the sake of being showy), but that’s not entirely bad. The vocals seem a little dishonest and unsincere considering the lyrics, but I can attribute this with the fact that she’s mostly worked with “showy” venues early in her career. It’s probably the first track on the EP where Lady Gaga sings out a bit more and the results are pretty good. This track shows that she’s really quite a solid singer because she really doesn’t have much problem with the tune of the track and she adds a bit of variety at small moments of the melody (although she mostly sings the track in the same kind of way). It’s a strong song and a bit of a surprise from the usual meaningless danceable tracks she focuses on.

Dance in the Dark is a slightly improved version (read: slightly more interesting) of the electronic sounds in “Monster” although in a much more upbeat way. It has that kind of same echoed quality to it, and the “free bitch” bit comes back again. It starts off well enough with the grungey sounds mixed with Gaga mumbling and moaning and some dude stuttering in the background. The electronic elements and the beat is actually quite catchy at the beginning, but I really start to care a little less as the verse comes in and I really can’t get myself to like it that much aside from the little bit before the chorus comes in. Then the chorus comes in and I wonder what kind of terrible transition just happening in between the verse and the chorus. The melody really does nothing for me. Unlike “Monster”, I do like some elements of the arrangement because I do find some of it potentially enjoyable. I really couldn’t care less about whatever Lady Gaga is singing on this track though. I still don’t care about this track, but I still find it more enjoyable than the title track of this EP.

I’ve been hearing Telephone so much on the radio for the past song. It’s actually one of the track I do like somewhat on this track. It’s an amusing mix of electronic with a R&B flavour to it, and unlike a few of the melodies on this album so far, this one makes some kind of linear sense and contains something for me to latch onto (aside from the obvious Beyoncé influences in the track). Lady Gaga performs this track really quite well actually despite it not because difficult rangewise. This track is more like the tracks on The Fame in that is relies a lot more on shorter rhythms in the melody, which brings a lot of energy into Lady Gaga’s singing because she actually pays attention to accents when it comes to these kinds of melodies. The two girls work together pretty well, which supports the fact that Lady Gaga is really quite a good overall singer with a few bad tendencies. I don’t know what’s with Beyoncé and having the ability to sound really obnoxious when she sing-talks (see around 1:30) but I always find it irritating when she does that and the “stuttered” effect is a little bit overdone at times in this track. However, this is an addictive, well-performed and fun track.

I’m not a big fan of So Happy I Could Die either. This is another attempt at a kind of eletronic midtempo track with the same kind of effects “Monster” and “Dance in the Dark” had with the same lack of conviction from Lady Gaga. This is another point in the album where I immediately go and fall asleep. The “Eh” parts that repeat themselves in the track really don’t help at all and despite the track being thick of a lot of sounds and whatever, it doesn’t really have much substance in the track aside from a pleasant melody. How bland of you, Lady Gaga. This track never fails to make me want to fall asleep and go and not care for the next four minutes. The repetitions get more and more irritating and pointless as the song goes on.

Teeth is probably the strangest song on the EP, and I like it because it’s weird, interesting and really quite fun to listen to. It’s a dark track with a pounding beat full of chanting and simple focus on a basic beat. Lady Gaga sings this track far more attitude than I’ve heard her do for most of this album and this is probably what I missed the most from her debut album. Her performance is convincing and the little chorus-singing in the background really add to the track. This is probably my favourite track vocally off this album. In addition, although the track seems pretty straightforward, Lady Gaga adds and takes out some elements in the background, including some trumpet blasts that come in and out of the track. It’s quite a strong ending track and ridiculously addictive to boot.

My reaction to The Fame Monster pretty much defines my ambivalence of Lady Gaga: she can sometimes be a fantastic artist and she can sometimes be really bland and irritating. Lady Gaga’s singing isn’t quite as solid as her debut album as she can be really bland and unconvincing as a vocalist for most of them album, partially because she’s hidden herself under a multitude of effects on a lot of the tracks on the EP. I was not nearly as interested in her vocally here. Conversely, The Fame Monster demonstrates a much stronger appeal to herself as a songwriter as this EP contains material that is much more daring than her debut album and lyrics that aren’t nearly as thoroughly cringeworthy (although she still has her moments). I’m a little troubled with some of the overproducing making some of the tracks sound a bit too “noisy”, especially when it begins to mask any emotion, energy and sincerity from her singing in some of these tracks. I’m not too sure if the bland singing is a result from the original recording of her vocals or the aftereffect of the production. In any case, the results of this EP are either rather addictive or rather bland.

Favourites:
Alejandro

I’m procrastinating from studying taking a break from studying to write my first LW post in months. Not only that, I’m excited to write for LW for the first time in ages, so please be kind to what may be evidence of my poor and deteriorated writing skills (more than it usually is I mean). I’ve said for years that I wanted to do something like this, but I was never able to throw one together in time before the new year rolled around, so the solution is to do it early for 2009 (and I don’t really care for anything else that’s going to be released in the next two weeks).

Highlights
1. You may steal her night, but you can’t steal her crown. (Namie Amuro)
How is it possible that this woman released 1 single and 1 album, and still commands without faltering? Once again, this year was all about Namie (well last year was a big EXILE year, but when is it ever not?). Highly successful tour, DVD, single, album, she’s still riding a very strong wave when she came back into full-fledged prominence back in 2007. I’m not complaining though, I’m still waiting for Amuro to hit another musical rut, but she continuously proves me wrong by producing entertaining music and always with style and character.

2. It may not be heaven, but pretty close. (Kalafina)
Wakana, Hikaru and Keiko work in such beautiful harmony, I can never get enough of them. I was so ecstatic that they continued with their career after their big Kara no Kyoudai tie-in, most recently releasing a single with no tie-in, “progressive” (seriously, they deserve tie-ins for every single they release). It’s like getting presents everytime they announce a new release. Always a great group to look forward to.

3. From this point on, there’s no turning back (BENI)
Nothing made me happier (except Amuro) than to see BENI enjoy mainstream success this year. All “boring mid-tempo R&B songs” comments aside, she was solid. So she hasn’t exactly explored multiple genres, she’s only been with UMJ for about a year, and this style is new for her at the least. BENI established a fanbase and support by being consistent. She now has a promising career where she can grow and explore as an artist. Definitely keeping my eye on her for next year.

Lowlights
1. “GIVE ME UP”? Grant requested. (Tamaki Nami)
That may be a bit harsh, considering I still occassionally listen to her (and I still keep up), but that doesn’t mean most of her material has done much for me this year. In contrast to BENI, Tamaki has been all over the place with the type of music she’s releasing, leading me to wonder where she plans on going with her career. She does look like she’s having a lot more fun with this new label of hers, and though I don’t completely hate her new songs (I kind of liked “Friends!” – it was cute), she just wasn’t very memorable, even more of a disaster than anything else this year.

2. You said it, That Ain’t Cool. (Koda Kumi)
Yes, yes, I know “TRICK” wasn’t this horrible album, and I agree. However, it was a bland, run-of-the-mill Kuu album. Token ballad, token hit-it-hard hiphop/R&B track, cutesy pop stuff, cheesy ballad, it’s nothing I haven’t heard before. What was “3 splash” again? I barely noticed she was about to release a single with some kinky-looking video that was supposed to be cute? How about the sisterly disaster of “It’s all Love!”, and the collab/remix album combo? I admit, DRIVING HIT’S (I still laugh at that) wasn’t as bad as I thought it was, but I still wouldn’t listen to it. Seems like a typical year for Kuu, except she failed to secure any truly attention grabbing releases (I used to like one release by Kuu per year, despite not really liking her as an artist).

3. It’s a bit premature to be viewing her as “history” (ayaka)
I mean this with all due respect. It’s a shame that she is putting her recording career on hold indefinitely, and the Jpop scene will really miss a talent singer-songwriter such as herself. I wish ayaka all the best in her future and hope she regains her health during her time off.

Quick Best of 2009
Artist of the Year: Amuro Namie
Album of the Year: Kalafina: Seventh Heaven
Single of the Year: YUI: again
PV of the Year: 1. Sakamoto Maaya: Magic Number; 2. Kalafina: Seventh Heaven; 3. Amuro Namie: FAST CAR
Best Dance in a Music Video: BoA: Energetic (she basically competed with herself)

鬼束ちひろ – DOROTHY October 28, 2009
	1. A WHITE WHALE IN MY QUIET DREAM 2. Kagerou (陽炎) 3. X 4. Storyteller (ストーリーテラー) 5. STEAL THIS HEART 6. I Pass By 7. Kaerimichi wo Nakushite (帰り路をなくして) 8. Losing a distance 9. Last Melody (ラストメロディー) 10. Hotaru (蛍) 11. VENUS

After the disaster that was LAS VEGAS, I was praying and hoping that I would actually like her next album — hoping that LAS VEGAS was just Onitsuka recovering from her surgery and just a slight misstep from her older musical works. Let’s face it: I love Onitsuka to bits, but I was so disappointed with her last album. The singles worried me a bit since most of them didn’t really stand out to me (partially because I lost interest after listening to her last album) and quite frankly, the pig on the cover is horrifying. I was concerned. That was, until I actually started listening to the album.

The introduction, A WHITE WHALE IN MY QUIET DREAM reminds me so much of Native American music. It’s simply Onitsuka’s voice over some hand-hit drums. It’s haunting from the beginning and the lyrics of the song are actually quite poetic and beautiful. I was worried that Onitsuka lost her touch from musicality in the last album, but it’s entirely back on this track. She works with the melody with her voice really well with the softer parts of the song and the crescendos into some of the slightly louder parts. The last note of the introduction is done really well with the plosive (the [t]) being pronounced at the very end of the long note.

陽炎 seriously revives my faith that Onitsuka’s voice is recovering slowly and surely. It’s a beautiful, dreamy ballad. The song has a slight little echo put on both Onitsuka’s voice and the accompaniment and feels quite a bit like a journey on calm waters. The melody is absolutely gorgeous and the accompaniment adds a nice ethereal quality to the song. Onitsuka’s singing is controlled and well-supported and I love slight wave-like push she makes with the nuances of the dynamics and articulation of her presentation. She sings in a legato manner, but the song still pushes forward through emphasis.

I have a bit of a love-hate for X, I’ll admit. I love the music and composition; I’m not too fond of Onitsuka’s singing in the track. To be blunt: Onitsuka’s singing here is weak and her pitch goes all over the place, especially when she tries to sing stronger in the chorus and you can hear her voice start to waver on the higher, forte notes. Her singing is nowhere where it should be in terms of power on this track and she’s mostly buried by the rest of the accompaniment of the song. What Onitsuka lacks in vocal power here, she makes it up barely by her compositions skills on this track. Seriously, the song itself is fantastic. I love the haunting piano at the beginning and how she builds up to the chorus. When the electric guitars come in, the melody and the accompaniment takes a bit to adjust to each other (the rhythms aren’t quite entirely together), but it fixes itself quickly. The strings add a stronger dramatic feel to the song, especially when it first comes in with the staccato notes when it comes in and the flurry of notes during the chorus. The horrifying singing in the bridge does not help the song at all. If I wanted to listen to dying, airy vocals, I would have gone elsewhere.

ストーリーテラー (Storyteller) is one of my personal favourite new tracks on this album. It drops into the folk realm and Onitsuka does it perfectly. It’s such a great difference between this and how she sang in X. She does this track with confidence and a lot more support for her voice. She has quite a bit of attitude and style with how she starts off the song where she kind of slurs most of her phrasing. The acoustic guitar is calming but again adds quite a bit of style into the track, especially in its solo lines after the chorus. The “Hey” in the chorus is a little thin but otherwise, I enjoy this track quite a bit.

I always get a good laugh out of the STEAL THIS HEART PV every time I listen and watch it. I’m a bit of a fan of retro rock (I reference my liking of “Superfly” as proof here), but STEAL THIS HEART doesn’t quite do it for me, mostly because the vocal filter is really annoying and really quite alienating. Otherwise, the song is actually fun and I don’t really see much problem about it aside from whatever the hell they did to Onitsuka’s voice — she sounds like she’s swimming in water, seriously. On a side note beyond the filter, Onitsuka’s singing is enthusiastic and well-supported and the song itself is fine. Not my favourite, but I would like to see Onitsuka try something like this again, without the stupid filter.

I adore this new version of I Pass By, despite how terrible the Darksmoke Version was. It sounds so much better upbeat and full of fun, upbeat guitars supporting Onitsuka’s singing. Her performance is really quite good, especially with how she accents every note effectively and gives a rather lively performance of this song. I’m so glad the original version of this song is so much better — it adds an entire personality to the track, which was lacking in the initial version she released on her single. It’s fun, it’s addictive and Onitsuka pulls it off entirely. This definitely competes for my favourite new track off the album.

The instrumentation at the beginning of 帰り路をなくして is possibly her best introduction yet. It begins with a lower strings playing long notes with a higher string playing descending and ascending notes at the beginning. Both of these together create a fantastic, dreamy quality to the track. Onitsuka’s entrance into the track is delicate and sombre to match the mood of the track and it’s done perfectly. Again, her voice has the echo filter to it, and it’s rather fitting for this track. Some of the phrasing on the track could be a bit more interesting, especially around halfway where she starts to sing similar notes for the melodic line, it doesn’t really sound like she’s going anywhere with them dynamically before the chorus. It just sounds like she’s sitting there, waiting for the chorus to kick in before not doing anything with the chorus melody. Too bad she dabbles in and out of mechanical phrasing because some of the delivery on the verses is really excellent. The key change does add a nice dimension to the track by making it more dramatic, although Onitsuka starts to strain herself a tiny bit with the notes in that last bit. However, Onitsuka is definitely improving from the singing from her last album at the very least.

At first I couldn’t remember what Losing a distance sounded like from looking at the title, then I listened to it and remembered this track as that soft ballad with the interesting key changes in the progression of the piano chords at certain parts of the song. Although it’s a delicate little ballad, it has its interesting compositional moments from the little bar or two of a different key. This is actually done really well as it blends into the rest of the song perfectly, especially since those piano chords, without the key change occur during the song quite a bit. This little compositional quirk is what brings this simple song from sounding too simple, and I like it. The song is rather light otherwise, and I don’t even really remember the melody of this song that well but it’s a nice, soothing track.

Amusingly, ラストメロディー is actually my favourite single track prior to this album (along with 陽炎). We’re back into the ambient sound and most of my love for this song is from the piano lines that open this track. It’s similar to 陽炎 but much brighter and upbeat in tone. This is a total ambient song in the accompaniment, and it all adds a rather “magical” sound to the accompaniment while Onitsuka sings a rather assertive-sounding melody. This is a much more melody-driven song and Onitsuka presents it perfectly with a bit of a hurt in the softer sections of the song and a stronger delivery in the chorus. I personally really like the little a capella part near the end of the track.

I always forget about 蛍. I in fact always forgot she released it, probably because it was the single that came right after LAS VEGAS (AKA when I really didn’t care to listen to her as much). This is probably the closest song to her older ballad style. It has the ongoing piano chord, and surprisingly, Onitsuka doesn’t sound too bad on it. It’s much more simplistic in accompaniment with the constant piano chord, and some soft string and acoustic guitar lines accompanying her. Onitsuka’s voice sings beautifully throughout the track and with plenty of assertiveness in the track. The melody is delivered very well, even considering that this was released just after LAS VEGAS. It’s simple and it’s done well.

The final track is also the longest track on the album. VENUS is a ballad which opens with gorgeous harp and piano lines over some more strings playing long notes in the background. It’s a bit noisy in comparison to when Onitsuka comes in, but that’s a small thing. I even hear a little bit of traditional instruments in the background of the track. The track isn’t quite as interesting as I hoped it would be though. Onitsuka’s performance is a little bland. The arrangement is definitely stunning though and really quite well put together as it has so many elements that just come together really well. The melody is nice, but again, I’m not too convinced with Onitsuka’s performance here. It’s like she crawled back into LAS VEGAS-land and decided not to emote again. I guess it’s a good thing that the arrangement for this track is ridiculously stunning because it definitely gives me something else to focus on. You gotta admit that the arrangement is really, really excellent.

Onitsuka Chihiro’s latest effort, DOROTHY is definitely an improvement over LAS VEGAS. Onitsuka’s singing is definitely a lot better on this album and she’s regaining her ability to emote, although some of the track still go back into some bad habits from her last album. Is she back vocally? Not quite, but she’s definitely getting there. Even if I really don’t expect her to regain her old vocal prowess entirely, it’s nice to actually hear improvement from her. One thing that her break from Toshiba-Emi did to her music is that it’s actually letting experiment a bit more with different styles instead of being forced to sit comfortably in ballads. Quite frankly, it’s a good thing because her compositional skills definitely show that she’s capable; I actually like the composition of all of these tracks. While I don’t enjoy her vocal performance all the time on the album, I do like all the songs on this album.

Favourites:
ストーリーテラー

Ani DiFranco – Dilate May 21, 1996
	1. Untouchable Face 2. Outta Me, Onto You 3. Superhero 4. Dilate 5. Amazing Grace 6. Napoleon 7. Shameless 8. Done Wrong 9. Going Down 10. Adam and Eve 11. Joyful Girl

Ani DiFranco is one of those singer-songwriters I’ve always wanted to listen to since I’ve had a few of her albums sitting around my albums, but never really got an opportunity to do so. I only remembered “Untouchable Face” for obvious reasons, but I never went further because I always ended up listening to it on speakers, which isn’t a good idea around parentals. When I actually got through it, I was surprised as to how much I actually liked this album. Yes, I am aware that I am more than ten years behind on this album (since it was released in 1996).

DiFranco is an ridiculously angry person throughout this album and Untouchable Face sets the tone of this album perfectly with this soft piece, which she sings with a rather soft voice. The melody is actually quite nice, and there’s plenty of nice ethereal sounds happening throughout this album. Of course, none of us expect the chorus unless one has actually listened to the album prior to this. There’s plenty of F-bomb throwing throughout the chorus — think every other line. And yet the song still remains calm and quite pretty. It never fails to set the tone for the rest of the album as an emotional, unhappy album.

We leave the nice-sounding anger of the first track to a grittier sound for this next track, Outta Me, Onto You, which begins with DiFranco screaming “No” multiple times. I adore the guitar line she uses throughout this song; it is ridiculously addictive, although very repetitive. She does a good job keeping the guitar interesting despite its repetitive nature. Her vocal performance is really convincing and she sings with a lot of ferocity — the emotional, raw vocals combined with the addictive guitar line really work well together on this track.

My personal favourite, Superhero, starts off with some gorgeous guitar line mixed with DiFranco softer tones at the beginning. It has a bit of a mysterious tone to it at the beginning, and the song crescendos gradually to the more powerful chorus. DiFranco handles herself perfectly as the chorus isn’t overwhelmingly loud, but at the same time, it’s memorable and powerful. This is a much softer song in comparison to “Outta Me, Onto You”, but it’s equally as emotionally charged. I love her variations in dynamics in how she performs the lyrics throughout the track.

Dilate takes a little getting used to. Unlike the last few tracks, it has a bit less of a flowing nature in its composition and doesn’t naturally come together as well. DiFranco performs as if she can barely utter a sound in this track at the beginning. The instrumentation is mostly guitar playing softly, while occasionally having two strong strums at times. It works a bit better when DiFranco starts to sing a with more support and the accompaniment becomes more fleshed out with a bit more layering in sound; however, the crescendo into section this is quite nice. I’m still not overly fond of this track, personally; however, I can appreciate the accompaniment. As usual, though, DiFranco’s singing is emotionally charged, and she performs well throughout.

DiFranco’s cover of Amazing Grace is probably one of the weakest tracks on this album. I appreciate her interesting take on it and it surely sounds interestingly different from many of the Amazing Grace covers I’ve heard in the past. It’s definitely quite an interesting arrangement — it’s much more beat orientated and it’s quite nicely composed. However, this is probably one of the longest overwrought versions I have every heard. She pauses every few seconds in between the lyrics, so basically it goes on forever. It’s seven minutes, meaning it’s the longest track on the album. Yes, DiFranco sings nicely throughout but it’s almost soulless because of all the pauses. The speaking from whoever is also one of the unnecessary things in the track. This doesn’t sound like a song of redemption; it’s now a song full of hesitation and is only interesting for the first minute.

Electric guitar makes its appearance in the opening for Napolean. DiFranco takes a more hesitant approach to the opening of this track as her singing is soft and the guitar line is rather disjointed. The playing and singing becomes slightly smoother when she reaches the second verse. Again, DiFranco makes good use of dynamics throughout this track with the gradual crescendo in the track, especially in her vocals, where she gradually gets back to her grittier rock voice (see “Outta Me, Onto You”) and switches back to her more melodic sound. The arrangement of this song is rather minimal with mostly the electric guitar and drums being the center of attention in the track. The song seems to drag on after awhile, but the melody is enjoyable.

I’ve never been so confused when a song starts off with incoherent, but rhythmic screaming. Seriously. That aside, Shameless is absolutely addictive. There are no words that better describe this track. Even the little pause at the beginning at the utterance of frustration at the beginning adds to the track for some reason I do not understand. Again, with the repetitive but addictive guitar and a constant drum beat. DiFranco does her edgier voice at the beginning, and quickly smoothes out the song with a very melody chorus before going back to the addictive verses. This track, and “Outta Me, Onto You” are in competition for the most addictive track on this album.

I don’t actually remember much of the tracks beyond this point — they’re not as immediately memorable as the other tracks on the album, but they’re still good tracks. Done Wrong is a more sombre track, which might explain the lack of memorability on a passive listen. The melody doesn’t stand out much in the verse as it’s mostly hidden underneath the acoustic guitar lines; however the chorus stands-out much more as DiFranco starts to sing out more, and her display of emotion is much more evident. It’s not the most interesting track on the album, especially when one listens to the verse, but the chorus is quite powerful by itself.

Going Down is another track that doesn’t stand out to me as much, but I really do like its focus on the bass line from the beginning. The “vocal” (it’s actually speaking) doesn’t start until a minute in, so you know you’re in for a track that’s a bit stretched out for its own good. It continues the sombre sound of the previous track, and has some interesting instrumentations going on with some of the percussion. However, as a track by itself, it probably won’t appeal to a lot of people and surely won’t be memorable to a lot of people because it doesn’t have much of a melody. For me, I lost interest about halfway through the song. The track simply doesn’t have much emotional appeal to it’s although vaguely interesting in arrangement.

The last two soft tracks were mostly a miss for me. Adam and Eve appeals to be a bit more, although DiFranco is probably the only thing that vaguely interests me at the beginning since after the past few songs, the acoustic guitar doesn’t seem like much of a change. However, DiFranco’s voice is really what saves this track, simply because she still instils a emotion onto the track, especially when the chorus kicks in. It’s not until then that the track actually begins to become interesting and less like the track is going to drag on and on. DiFranco’s performance is consistently convincing on this track through the softer parts of the song to the more heart wrenching chorus of the track. It’s a powerful track simply from DiFranco’s performance of this track.

The final track, Joyful Girl, is definitely a good ending track for the album. It’s a minimalistic track and I like how the song itself was mixed as DiFranco’s voice seems a lot closer than in some of the other tracks on the album, making it a bit more intimate-sounding simply because of proximity. I like the little choir sounds in the chorus as well; it seems to be the only other thing added to the other than the simply guitar and DiFranco’s voice. Simple and effective ending to the album.

Ani DiFranco’s album, Dilate is generally a strong collection of works from this singer-songwriter. I’m a bit more sceptical of some of her slower songs on this album, but the upbeat works are really excellent and full of emotion and energy. It amuses me a bit to compare the rather angry opening of this track to the subdued ending of the album. In any case, DiFranco is a seasoned performer and vocalist throughout this album from her softer tones of her voice to the angrier, edgier tones. She knows how to emote well in these tracks and it shows in her performances. The only point in her vocals where I was a bit more sceptical was when she dabbled into whispering, which usually ended up as a miss for me. She does pull out an emotion-filled album from start to finish, but not without a few poor tracks. However, the strength of some of the other tracks definitely does make up for tracks like “Amazing Grace”.

Favourites:
Superhero