So, 2010's been quite a busy year. Hell, just look at the fucking massive post I did last night on the 48s. 52 videos, best part of 7 hours to write. So, this blog is an "anything else I liked, didn't like, hated" etc type post. This will range from idols, to random personal shit, to top 5 lists and worst stuff, and Awards.
Might be a bit hectic, so to start with...
30/12/2010
A Year In Review Part 3: ○○○48
So, the Aki-P family. This year has seen them transcend the definition of idol and become a public sensation. AKB, the focal point, has decimated just about everyone except Johnny's and EXILE in terms of sales, and even then they're still winning, just not quite decimating.
The review will be, however, everything with a PV and any stage songs I particularly like from this year. As AKB don't do "albums" per se, just stage CDs, I can't really review them as commercially available albums. Likewise, the re-release of SETLIST and Kamikyokutachi are best ofs, not really albums in any sense of the word, so they ain't getting reviewed either.
Due to the sheer amount of subgroups, I'm putting them at the end, after I've reviewed the ***48 groups.
Right then, let's start with "those lot".
The review will be, however, everything with a PV and any stage songs I particularly like from this year. As AKB don't do "albums" per se, just stage CDs, I can't really review them as commercially available albums. Likewise, the re-release of SETLIST and Kamikyokutachi are best ofs, not really albums in any sense of the word, so they ain't getting reviewed either.
Due to the sheer amount of subgroups, I'm putting them at the end, after I've reviewed the ***48 groups.
Right then, let's start with "those lot".
28/12/2010
A Year In Review Part 2: Nice Girl Project!
So, NGP. H!P's sexy, slightly perverted little sister who tries to give you a footjob under the dinner table when your H!P girlfriend's not looking.
Individually, some of the NGP girls have had an interesting year. Groupwise, not so much. But I am here to review, not digress, but I digress, thus I shall review.
Individually, some of the NGP girls have had an interesting year. Groupwise, not so much. But I am here to review, not digress, but I digress, thus I shall review.
01/12/2010
Fantasy!拾壱 review
Well, I did promise...
Cover makes them look like dolls, which isn't too bad, I guess, considering the content of the album.
Preliminary: WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN... If this wasn't Momusu I wouldn't even deign to review this. How can they have fallen so low?
1. 女と男のララバイゲーム. This starts out as something seriously epic. Why couldn't the whole song have been like this? A fully orchestral one would have been delightful and full of win. More win than anything. But NO! Tsunku lures us in with false promises and then just gives us the same damn song as the single. It's like giving candy to a kid, letting them taste it, then stealing it back and running away laughing. My view of the song is the same as before. It's not shit, but I'm pissed off with Tsunku. I gave the single a 6, but because of Tsunku's bait-and-switch with that gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh into the usual shit I'm giving it something pretty evil in return. 3/10. Take that you prick.
2. ブラボー! Awesome intro. Sounds slightly like overproduced early Slayer. Some nice tremolo picked rhythm guitar is cool. On the other hand the vocals are annoying, the shouting gets on my nerves, and the song is overall pretty bland. The chorus gets some marks back for not being horrid. Solo on MIDI guitars is fucking awful. 5/10.
3. Fantasyが始まる. Intro is nice and dancey. Sayu sounds quite nice on this. In fact, for the first verse, prechorus and chorus I'm actually not even minding the vocoder too much. In the second verse it gets slightly more pronounced, then at the end of 2nd verse it becomes full blown pain. Mark loss. Prechorus and chorus is the same. Refrain is quite a cool buildup, mid-8 verse gets away with the vocoder by Aichan's taking the final line. The vocal operatics over the final chorus are intriguing. 5/10
4. 女心となんとやら. What is this, a kids album? The intro is sappy and shit. The verse has no musical merit whatsoever. Bass is pissing me off. Actually, pretty much everything pisses me off. The tuneless vocals. They finally find a tune in the pre-chorus, then just repeat themselves in the chorus with possibly the most overused vocal melodies ever. "Yea yea yea" and "no no no" piss me off to the power of several thousand. Bad harmonies in second verse. Pretty horrid all around. No energy. Speed it up a bit and get rid of the bass, might be better. Guitar solo is horrendous. Final chorus is even more tuneless than usual. Constant twiddly guitars are pointless and distracting. Fade out is a sign of laziness that they didn't know how to stop it. 2/10
5. 愛の炎. Wow. Reina solo. *yawn* Pianos playing some boring intro, then some acoustic guitars join it, and some other shit, then it becomes absolute bog-standard Slow Pop®. Reina's voice might be pretty good, but it can't break away from the fact that she's singing over a leftover Toni Braxton song. Violin solo is atrocious. It's beyond me how this is even released. Surely there's some quality checking in place on these albums? But no, we have to listen to it. And it's a disgrace. The fact that Reina's voice alone at the end of the song is the highlight of the whole damn thing just shows how crap it was. Honestly, would have been better sung a cappella 3/10.
6. I'm Lucky Girl. Decent intro. Builds up nicely, then comes into something which should never be done. VOCODER AS A SYNTH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Vocal lines are okay, nothing special. Call and response is a bit of a cop-out. Pre-chorus is nice though. Chorus ain't bad. This is, frankly, the best song on the album, even with it's obvious issues, just because it doesn't make me cringe or make me rage. I swear Tsunku is trying to piss me off. Solo isn't the worst thing I've ever heard. Would be cooler with the guitars trading between solo and rhythm though, rather than just switching the solo between channels. But yea, not bad if you can get around the FUCKING VOCODER! Passable. 6/10
7. すんごいマイバースディ. EURGH. Sappy, no music content. It's appalling. Back to the kiddy album again. Voices are annoying. Nearly as annoying as anime-Koha. Even Linlin sounds pretty fucking shit on this. Then again, it really doesn't suit her voice. The only ones who could sing this without looking like pricks are Sayu, Koha and Jun, and that's just because their voices are in that range. Sayu's is the only voice that doesn't annoy me in this though, which is odd in itself, considering it's FUCKING SAYU. Is the world coming to an end? Jun sounds like she's saying every damn syllable separately on purpose. The Chulululu is annoying. Music is repetitive, dull, lacking in any creativity. The refrain has a boring lead, then goes straight back into the lacking chorus. At the moment it seems like Tsunku's trying to out-perform himself for utter shite every damn song. 2/10
8. 1から10まで愛してほしい. This is a pretty bad song. But it's so much more interesting than what's come before that it sounds positively orgasmic. The melodies don't suck, either on the brass or the vocals. Vocals are actually pretty decent. Bassline is crap as is usual for Momusu these days. Some syncopated bullshit following the chord prog. What I wouldn't give for a return to oldschool interesting basslines. What happened to the days of Souda!, The Peace, Koko ni Iruzee and Ai no Sono? Nowadays we're given these boring two-tone basslines or basslines in shitty chord progressions that just about everyone has used. I mean, shit. A real bass once in a while would be nice too. Speaking of chord progressions, when's Tsunku gonna use this one? It's only the most overused of all time. Considering everything else he rips off I'm surprised he hasn't managed it yet. Still, even so, this song doesn't plumb the depth of utter shite the rest manage, so 5/10.
9. 愛しく苦しいこの夜に. Only other passable song on this piece of shit. Intro is a shwing buildup. Reminds me of something. Main riff sounds like an anime theme tune. Not bad, but different. Verse is quite cool. Acoustic guitars work. Again with the shitty synth bass. 10 My Me I wanted to delete the pussy synths, now I want to delete Tsunku's synth basses. GET A REAL ONE YOU LAZY SHIT! Vocals are strong. Solo is pretty good. Dunno why he pays people to do guitar solos but can't get a bassist. 6/10.
10. 電話でね. Can I die now please? Another Toni Braxton leftover. Less musical talent was needed to create this song than exists in one of my eyelashes. Unremarkable instrumentation. Unremarkable vocal melodies. Unremarkable vocal performance. One of the few songs in existence that actually made me considering skipping the damn song before I'd finished listening to it for the first time. Usually I listen to every damn song on an album. I won't be listening to this album anyway, but if I did, I would skip this piece of shit. Considering Aichan is supposedly the best vocalist in the group, this is boring as fuck. Lin might have made it better. As it is, this is a piece of shit. 1/10. I would give it 0, but I gave Osaka Umainen 0 and this at least has a tune so yea, 1/10.
11. Seishun Collection. *YAWN*. Boring, lazy, pointless, too happy without a point. Doesn't have its Bside to push up the rating. Might as well just fall asleep, this song does absolutely nothing for me. Gonna sleep. 3/10.
Overall:
Shit. I was originally gonna give this a 4, but upon relistening to do the full review, it hit me how shit it actually is. So, a matter of two weeks gives me a new victor in the WORST H!P ALBUM OF ALL TIME, as well as becoming the worst I've ever reviewed. Average of the songs rating gave me 3.72rr, but because this is the final album for Eri, Jun and Lin, and Tsunku decided that he wasn't gonna give them a solo, wasn't going to even give them generation songs, but instead give solos to the two most overexposed members of the group, I'm knocking it down. This is truly, fucking abysmal.
3.5/10
Comparison ratings:
Morning Musume. - 4th Ikimasshoi - 10
Buono! - We Are Buono! - 9.7
C-ute - 4 Akogare My Star - 8.5
Buono! - Buono! 2 - 7.5
Berryz Koubou - 6th Otakebi Album - 7
Morning Musume. - Platinum 9 Disc - 6.5
Morning Musume. - 10 My Me - 5.5
C-ute - Shocking 5 - 4
Anyway, I'll get around to finishing the year review soon. NiceGirlProject or AKB next, I guess.
Cover makes them look like dolls, which isn't too bad, I guess, considering the content of the album.
Preliminary: WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN... If this wasn't Momusu I wouldn't even deign to review this. How can they have fallen so low?
1. 女と男のララバイゲーム. This starts out as something seriously epic. Why couldn't the whole song have been like this? A fully orchestral one would have been delightful and full of win. More win than anything. But NO! Tsunku lures us in with false promises and then just gives us the same damn song as the single. It's like giving candy to a kid, letting them taste it, then stealing it back and running away laughing. My view of the song is the same as before. It's not shit, but I'm pissed off with Tsunku. I gave the single a 6, but because of Tsunku's bait-and-switch with that gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh into the usual shit I'm giving it something pretty evil in return. 3/10. Take that you prick.
2. ブラボー! Awesome intro. Sounds slightly like overproduced early Slayer. Some nice tremolo picked rhythm guitar is cool. On the other hand the vocals are annoying, the shouting gets on my nerves, and the song is overall pretty bland. The chorus gets some marks back for not being horrid. Solo on MIDI guitars is fucking awful. 5/10.
3. Fantasyが始まる. Intro is nice and dancey. Sayu sounds quite nice on this. In fact, for the first verse, prechorus and chorus I'm actually not even minding the vocoder too much. In the second verse it gets slightly more pronounced, then at the end of 2nd verse it becomes full blown pain. Mark loss. Prechorus and chorus is the same. Refrain is quite a cool buildup, mid-8 verse gets away with the vocoder by Aichan's taking the final line. The vocal operatics over the final chorus are intriguing. 5/10
4. 女心となんとやら. What is this, a kids album? The intro is sappy and shit. The verse has no musical merit whatsoever. Bass is pissing me off. Actually, pretty much everything pisses me off. The tuneless vocals. They finally find a tune in the pre-chorus, then just repeat themselves in the chorus with possibly the most overused vocal melodies ever. "Yea yea yea" and "no no no" piss me off to the power of several thousand. Bad harmonies in second verse. Pretty horrid all around. No energy. Speed it up a bit and get rid of the bass, might be better. Guitar solo is horrendous. Final chorus is even more tuneless than usual. Constant twiddly guitars are pointless and distracting. Fade out is a sign of laziness that they didn't know how to stop it. 2/10
5. 愛の炎. Wow. Reina solo. *yawn* Pianos playing some boring intro, then some acoustic guitars join it, and some other shit, then it becomes absolute bog-standard Slow Pop®. Reina's voice might be pretty good, but it can't break away from the fact that she's singing over a leftover Toni Braxton song. Violin solo is atrocious. It's beyond me how this is even released. Surely there's some quality checking in place on these albums? But no, we have to listen to it. And it's a disgrace. The fact that Reina's voice alone at the end of the song is the highlight of the whole damn thing just shows how crap it was. Honestly, would have been better sung a cappella 3/10.
6. I'm Lucky Girl. Decent intro. Builds up nicely, then comes into something which should never be done. VOCODER AS A SYNTH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Vocal lines are okay, nothing special. Call and response is a bit of a cop-out. Pre-chorus is nice though. Chorus ain't bad. This is, frankly, the best song on the album, even with it's obvious issues, just because it doesn't make me cringe or make me rage. I swear Tsunku is trying to piss me off. Solo isn't the worst thing I've ever heard. Would be cooler with the guitars trading between solo and rhythm though, rather than just switching the solo between channels. But yea, not bad if you can get around the FUCKING VOCODER! Passable. 6/10
7. すんごいマイバースディ. EURGH. Sappy, no music content. It's appalling. Back to the kiddy album again. Voices are annoying. Nearly as annoying as anime-Koha. Even Linlin sounds pretty fucking shit on this. Then again, it really doesn't suit her voice. The only ones who could sing this without looking like pricks are Sayu, Koha and Jun, and that's just because their voices are in that range. Sayu's is the only voice that doesn't annoy me in this though, which is odd in itself, considering it's FUCKING SAYU. Is the world coming to an end? Jun sounds like she's saying every damn syllable separately on purpose. The Chulululu is annoying. Music is repetitive, dull, lacking in any creativity. The refrain has a boring lead, then goes straight back into the lacking chorus. At the moment it seems like Tsunku's trying to out-perform himself for utter shite every damn song. 2/10
8. 1から10まで愛してほしい. This is a pretty bad song. But it's so much more interesting than what's come before that it sounds positively orgasmic. The melodies don't suck, either on the brass or the vocals. Vocals are actually pretty decent. Bassline is crap as is usual for Momusu these days. Some syncopated bullshit following the chord prog. What I wouldn't give for a return to oldschool interesting basslines. What happened to the days of Souda!, The Peace, Koko ni Iruzee and Ai no Sono? Nowadays we're given these boring two-tone basslines or basslines in shitty chord progressions that just about everyone has used. I mean, shit. A real bass once in a while would be nice too. Speaking of chord progressions, when's Tsunku gonna use this one? It's only the most overused of all time. Considering everything else he rips off I'm surprised he hasn't managed it yet. Still, even so, this song doesn't plumb the depth of utter shite the rest manage, so 5/10.
9. 愛しく苦しいこの夜に. Only other passable song on this piece of shit. Intro is a shwing buildup. Reminds me of something. Main riff sounds like an anime theme tune. Not bad, but different. Verse is quite cool. Acoustic guitars work. Again with the shitty synth bass. 10 My Me I wanted to delete the pussy synths, now I want to delete Tsunku's synth basses. GET A REAL ONE YOU LAZY SHIT! Vocals are strong. Solo is pretty good. Dunno why he pays people to do guitar solos but can't get a bassist. 6/10.
10. 電話でね. Can I die now please? Another Toni Braxton leftover. Less musical talent was needed to create this song than exists in one of my eyelashes. Unremarkable instrumentation. Unremarkable vocal melodies. Unremarkable vocal performance. One of the few songs in existence that actually made me considering skipping the damn song before I'd finished listening to it for the first time. Usually I listen to every damn song on an album. I won't be listening to this album anyway, but if I did, I would skip this piece of shit. Considering Aichan is supposedly the best vocalist in the group, this is boring as fuck. Lin might have made it better. As it is, this is a piece of shit. 1/10. I would give it 0, but I gave Osaka Umainen 0 and this at least has a tune so yea, 1/10.
11. Seishun Collection. *YAWN*. Boring, lazy, pointless, too happy without a point. Doesn't have its Bside to push up the rating. Might as well just fall asleep, this song does absolutely nothing for me. Gonna sleep. 3/10.
Overall:
Shit. I was originally gonna give this a 4, but upon relistening to do the full review, it hit me how shit it actually is. So, a matter of two weeks gives me a new victor in the WORST H!P ALBUM OF ALL TIME, as well as becoming the worst I've ever reviewed. Average of the songs rating gave me 3.72rr, but because this is the final album for Eri, Jun and Lin, and Tsunku decided that he wasn't gonna give them a solo, wasn't going to even give them generation songs, but instead give solos to the two most overexposed members of the group, I'm knocking it down. This is truly, fucking abysmal.
3.5/10
Comparison ratings:
Morning Musume. - 4th Ikimasshoi - 10
Buono! - We Are Buono! - 9.7
C-ute - 4 Akogare My Star - 8.5
Buono! - Buono! 2 - 7.5
Berryz Koubou - 6th Otakebi Album - 7
Morning Musume. - Platinum 9 Disc - 6.5
Morning Musume. - 10 My Me - 5.5
C-ute - Shocking 5 - 4
Anyway, I'll get around to finishing the year review soon. NiceGirlProject or AKB next, I guess.
15/11/2010
A Year In Review Part 1 - Hello! Project
I'll just warn you, this post is going to be fucking massive. It's gonna review pretty much everything I've liked or disliked this year, so yea. I'll start with idols though as that's what this blog is about.
Hello!Project
Morning Musume.
So, I'll begin with Momusu. Lots of stuff has happened this year. Lots of PBs. 2 albums. 3 singles. One abomination sort of single thing.
I already reviewed 10 My Me (5.5/10) so I won't do it again. I'll do a review of Fantasy! 11 when it's out.
So, let's start with singles.
Hello!Project
Morning Musume.
So, I'll begin with Momusu. Lots of stuff has happened this year. Lots of PBs. 2 albums. 3 singles. One abomination sort of single thing.
I already reviewed 10 My Me (5.5/10) so I won't do it again. I'll do a review of Fantasy! 11 when it's out.
So, let's start with singles.
08/06/2010
Okada Robin Shouko ♥
Title sums up the contents of this post. Since my top idol list back in January, there have been some notable changes. A certain lady called Mitsushima Hikari popped into my consciousness based on her brilliant performance in a masterpiece full of gore, female masturbation, lesbian action, upskirt photography, religious cults and the secret lives of clergy; called 愛のむきだし (Ai no Mukidashi; Love Exposure). It's also four hours long, so that probably imprinted her onto my consciousness somewhat. Doesn't harm her either that she was also in Folder5 with AKINA.
Anyway, the other notable mover was Robin. I started watching a load of Possible stuff, in which Robin always seemed to catch the eye somehow. The music videos in particular of Happy 15, Love Message and (to a lesser extent) Family ~Tabidachi no Asa~.
I love her rock style vocals, as evidenced by some of her yelling in Love Message and the powerful tone before the choruses in Family; and her monologues in Happy15 are cool too. Also, her little loli-jump (for lack of better description) at the end of Love Message is insanely cute.
Her fake guitar attempt in Genki ni Nare is also quite win.
And then, of course, her DVD and Photo collection were announced. The preview shots were, to say the least, erotic. But I had no fears, as one of my favourite Japanese photographers was doing the shoot, one Herbie Yamaguchi, who'd worked with Boy George. And, as I expected, the shots lived up to it. Unfortunately I lack a scanner, so I've only scanned a couple as I'm on a trial period at a publishers and did them while no one was looking. But some of them are truly stunning. A few:
I must say, I'd like to stick a fork in her buttocks...
Her solo DVD is also extremely sexy. I'll leave it to Shirow to do the screencapping and full assology, because that's what he does best, but I will link to the trailer as it gives an idea...
So yes, do acquire :P
But I shall enjoy seeing more of her, definitely. Just a shame the latest Possible PV with her in latex didn't work out quite as sexily as it should have... I mean, seriously, who writes a song with the lyrics about how to make a hotpot? Unless you're from Lancashire...
Anyway, the other notable mover was Robin. I started watching a load of Possible stuff, in which Robin always seemed to catch the eye somehow. The music videos in particular of Happy 15, Love Message and (to a lesser extent) Family ~Tabidachi no Asa~.
I love her rock style vocals, as evidenced by some of her yelling in Love Message and the powerful tone before the choruses in Family; and her monologues in Happy15 are cool too. Also, her little loli-jump (for lack of better description) at the end of Love Message is insanely cute.
Her fake guitar attempt in Genki ni Nare is also quite win.
And then, of course, her DVD and Photo collection were announced. The preview shots were, to say the least, erotic. But I had no fears, as one of my favourite Japanese photographers was doing the shoot, one Herbie Yamaguchi, who'd worked with Boy George. And, as I expected, the shots lived up to it. Unfortunately I lack a scanner, so I've only scanned a couple as I'm on a trial period at a publishers and did them while no one was looking. But some of them are truly stunning. A few:
I must say, I'd like to stick a fork in her buttocks...
Her solo DVD is also extremely sexy. I'll leave it to Shirow to do the screencapping and full assology, because that's what he does best, but I will link to the trailer as it gives an idea...
So yes, do acquire :P
But I shall enjoy seeing more of her, definitely. Just a shame the latest Possible PV with her in latex didn't work out quite as sexily as it should have... I mean, seriously, who writes a song with the lyrics about how to make a hotpot? Unless you're from Lancashire...
29/05/2010
Hangry & Angry, Camden Underworld, London, 27th May, 2010
I seem, to be using, a lot, of commas, lately :P
Anyway, to the trip!
My journey started at 9:47am on Thursday, caught the bus into Salisbury, met up with my esteemed bandmate Chris (Captain Epic), missed the 10:20 train but saved £5 catching the next one at 10:45. Didn't do much on the train. Got to London about 12:15, got some money out, got underground tickets, then went up to meet peoples at Camden.
Got there and saw Pete (sswishbone) and Mark (oroboras) hanging around outside World's End, so went over to say hello. Also saw Ole (X5-2000), chr0nik and CDevil, before Pete started yelling that we were all going to the pub. So we went into World's End, and a really small girl called Vicky and a huge Japanese guy made of epic win tagged along. Everyone seemed to like my Buono tshirt and my pink skirt.
Anyway, to the trip!
My journey started at 9:47am on Thursday, caught the bus into Salisbury, met up with my esteemed bandmate Chris (Captain Epic), missed the 10:20 train but saved £5 catching the next one at 10:45. Didn't do much on the train. Got to London about 12:15, got some money out, got underground tickets, then went up to meet peoples at Camden.
Got there and saw Pete (sswishbone) and Mark (oroboras) hanging around outside World's End, so went over to say hello. Also saw Ole (X5-2000), chr0nik and CDevil, before Pete started yelling that we were all going to the pub. So we went into World's End, and a really small girl called Vicky and a huge Japanese guy made of epic win tagged along. Everyone seemed to like my Buono tshirt and my pink skirt.
22/04/2010
Berryz Koubou - 6th Otakebi Review
I seem to be doing a catchup on reviews of late. Here's the next. I'll just say before I start: I'm not a big fan of Berryz. I'd place them firmly behind Momusu and C-ute, and way behind Buono. However, of late some of their songs interested me enough to give this album a spin. Bearing in mind this is the first full Berryz album I've heard... here's what I made of it.
The cover is too colourful. Risako is way too far forward on the LE. But bugger all I can do about it.
Preliminary: Surprising. Not quite what I expected. Not as child-centric. Amount of double A-sides saturates the album. Possibly overbearing. Lack of original album songs is cause for demerit. Writing affected by playing Mass Effect. Short, sharp sentences used frequently by one character. Apologies.
1. 雄叫びボーイ WAO! Good start to the album. Vocally strong, especially Risako. Something that she doesn't sound annoying on. Very good line distro for a H!P song, I must say. Musically, this is very good. Strong and emphatic, it certainly is a warcry. The video theme is bizarre, with Risako seemingly making Earth fertile. Dunno how many sex rites that took. Guitar solo is fucking bonkers, makes My Boy and Our Songs sound sane. Also has possibly the most memorable chorus line in recent H!P memory. Have had "SUPAAKU BOY!" stuck in my head for a few days now. 9/10
2. ライバル. Immediate good start, with guitar riff and hammond organ, then goes far too poppy for the verse. The rap-style parts are quite cool. But this song lacks direction. It flits hither and thither touching just about everything and doing them all half-heartedly. It has a distorted guitar that isn't heavy. It has rap parts which are melodic. It's bizarre, if anything. I'm in two minds to whether I like it. One thinks that anything with shitloads of genres is cool, the other thinks that it's only cool if it pulls off all the genres well, which this really doesn't. 6/10
3. 流星ボーイ. "Is that DANCE☆MAN? Holy shit." Was my first thought. Then I realised he had modernised. Using autotune. This is nowhere near as epic as his brilliance achieved in Morning Musume in the early 2000s. In fact it's quite lacklustre. The bass is real, which is a nice touch, but it lacks the all empowering punch of his earlier works, with the exception of the solo. The vocals aren't great either. I seriously want to really like this, but can't. The guitar-toned keyboard solo is odd. 6/10
4. 愛には 愛でしょ. Fuck yes. This is how you mix genres. That string-bending on the guitar is great, and the riff is a mindfucker. Add to that Momo and Miya in full Buono "rock strength", with some dance beats under it. Reminds me of Kanashimi Twilight mixed with Onna ni Sachi Are, in a good way. Tsunku should write like this more often. Solo is okay. However, the epic reverb bit on the guitar straight after is grand. 9/10
5. 青春バスガイド. Not a fan of this. It has some good moments, but overall it's not a good song. Sounds like it was recycled from the scrap pile after being written for 2001-2003 era Momusu, then being tossed away for being too samey. Nothing really stands out. Vocally it's meh. Musically it's meh. About the only thing saving it was the PVC outfits for the PV. And Shirow's epic Pedo La Da vid of them in said costumes. Otherwise... 4/10
6. 君の友達. This is baffling. Seems to be a minimalist song, but with no huge crescendos or diminuendos. The chorus is great, until you realise that the beat is someone tapping ridiculously fast on a keyboard or something. You'd think with the album title as "6th Warcry Album" it'd be a bit more powerful. Could they not afford a drummer? Or were they too lazy to program the drums? That clicking just pisses me off, especially as it seems to only come through the left channel. My left ear is screwed enough thanks. The monologue is fucking epic win though. Marks for that. Fail fadeout is fail. 3/10
7. グランドでも廊下でも目立つ君. Ah, finally some beef in the beat. Music isn't great, but Yurina and Maasa rise so far above the source material (which sounds like a terrible 80s anime theme, if I'm honest) that I like it anyway. This vocal performance is really something if it makes me like this, despite not appreciating it musically at all, especially as neither of the two are exactly "strong" vocalists. C'est une rareté. 7/10
8. 友達は友達なんだ! Really, really cool. Dunno why, but I love this song. Pulls off the "rap" style vocals way better than Rival. Sawtooth bass is a nuisance, but the rest of the music is good enough to gloss over it. Video is awesome, for the simplicity of it yet managing to be more effective than every Momusu video since time immemorial. Piano solo is cool as hell. Vocals are cool as hell. Random "shubidooba" is a hilarious hark back to the 50s, but in context it works. 9/10
9. 希望の夜. A ballad you say!? The piano and high pitched vocals work a treat at the beginning. The chorus is simple yet perfect. More proof (as if Loving You Forever from 10 My Me wasn't enough) that Tsunku doesn't need to overwhelm the listener with three million digital sounds to make a good song. Something this simple ends up being so beautiful, yet some of the terribly overproduced, oversaturated songs like Ryuusei Boy and Seishun Bus Guide are boring and annoying. So, Tunky, get it into your head that this works. 10/10
10. 抱きしめて 抱きしめて. I say that then come to this, which is possibly the coolest H!P dance song since Onna ni Sachi Are. It's oversaturated but it works. Possibly because, despite the large array of sounds, it keeps a consistent pace and tune throughout. You don't have 10 instruments doing 10 different things distracting you, if anything it's one tune and lots of embellishments. The beat is funky as hell, even I want to dance to it. As well as take my guitar and shred the fuck out of it with blastbeats. Dunno why, but I enjoy doing that to dance songs. To hell with it, I'm doing it. 10/10
11. ヤキモチをください! COWBELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shit, that opening line which is then joined by the cowbell cracks me up every time (for the few people who may not understand it). Vocally this is cool. Musically, simplicity again works wonders for the sound. The harmonised guitar riffs are effective. Some of the synths less so, but still a cool sound, and a cool song. 9/10
12. 私の未来のだんな様. I may be alone in finding this song hard to digest. I find the tradition of marriage imperfect, boring and outdated, and utterly useless. Thus, it's a bit unpalatable to me, who finds polyamory a cool idea. Songwise, the weak synths are a bit annoying. The breathy voices are a bit annoying. Beat is a bit mental. The microtonal bits are hard to comprehend when one is basically tutored in the strict Western system of 12 semitones. Odd to find them in pop music after the Beatles, and this is a completely different genre, so dunno if I should even make the comparison. But overall, not a fan. This is another example of too much to digest to be good enough. I guess that's the downfall of being able to track every single damn sound throughout the course of the song individually rather than hearing what I assume most people do: a unified sound. I'm a big fan of progression in music, as long as it's tasteful and has a point. Classical music is a case in point. Loads of different instruments, playing sometimes completely different lines (especially in polyphony), yet it never seems too much. But throwing in another synth track with another sound just for one or two notes is taking the piss. 5/10
Overall: I liked it more than I thought. More than a lot of recent Momusu albums. Not a patch on Buono, however. As a full album, it has hardly any link to itself. Again, doesn't really adhere to a single style. However, less autotune = happy Krv. Possibly will make me look into hearing more of their albums.
7/10
Comparison Rankings:
Morning Musume. - 4th Ikimasshoi - 10
Buono! - We Are Buono! - 9.7
C-ute - 4 Akogare My Star - 8.5
Buono! - Buono! 2 - 7.5
Morning Musume. - Platinum 9 Disc - 6.5
Morning Musume. - 10 My Me - 5.5
The cover is too colourful. Risako is way too far forward on the LE. But bugger all I can do about it.
Preliminary: Surprising. Not quite what I expected. Not as child-centric. Amount of double A-sides saturates the album. Possibly overbearing. Lack of original album songs is cause for demerit. Writing affected by playing Mass Effect. Short, sharp sentences used frequently by one character. Apologies.
1. 雄叫びボーイ WAO! Good start to the album. Vocally strong, especially Risako. Something that she doesn't sound annoying on. Very good line distro for a H!P song, I must say. Musically, this is very good. Strong and emphatic, it certainly is a warcry. The video theme is bizarre, with Risako seemingly making Earth fertile. Dunno how many sex rites that took. Guitar solo is fucking bonkers, makes My Boy and Our Songs sound sane. Also has possibly the most memorable chorus line in recent H!P memory. Have had "SUPAAKU BOY!" stuck in my head for a few days now. 9/10
2. ライバル. Immediate good start, with guitar riff and hammond organ, then goes far too poppy for the verse. The rap-style parts are quite cool. But this song lacks direction. It flits hither and thither touching just about everything and doing them all half-heartedly. It has a distorted guitar that isn't heavy. It has rap parts which are melodic. It's bizarre, if anything. I'm in two minds to whether I like it. One thinks that anything with shitloads of genres is cool, the other thinks that it's only cool if it pulls off all the genres well, which this really doesn't. 6/10
3. 流星ボーイ. "Is that DANCE☆MAN? Holy shit." Was my first thought. Then I realised he had modernised. Using autotune. This is nowhere near as epic as his brilliance achieved in Morning Musume in the early 2000s. In fact it's quite lacklustre. The bass is real, which is a nice touch, but it lacks the all empowering punch of his earlier works, with the exception of the solo. The vocals aren't great either. I seriously want to really like this, but can't. The guitar-toned keyboard solo is odd. 6/10
4. 愛には 愛でしょ. Fuck yes. This is how you mix genres. That string-bending on the guitar is great, and the riff is a mindfucker. Add to that Momo and Miya in full Buono "rock strength", with some dance beats under it. Reminds me of Kanashimi Twilight mixed with Onna ni Sachi Are, in a good way. Tsunku should write like this more often. Solo is okay. However, the epic reverb bit on the guitar straight after is grand. 9/10
5. 青春バスガイド. Not a fan of this. It has some good moments, but overall it's not a good song. Sounds like it was recycled from the scrap pile after being written for 2001-2003 era Momusu, then being tossed away for being too samey. Nothing really stands out. Vocally it's meh. Musically it's meh. About the only thing saving it was the PVC outfits for the PV. And Shirow's epic Pedo La Da vid of them in said costumes. Otherwise... 4/10
6. 君の友達. This is baffling. Seems to be a minimalist song, but with no huge crescendos or diminuendos. The chorus is great, until you realise that the beat is someone tapping ridiculously fast on a keyboard or something. You'd think with the album title as "6th Warcry Album" it'd be a bit more powerful. Could they not afford a drummer? Or were they too lazy to program the drums? That clicking just pisses me off, especially as it seems to only come through the left channel. My left ear is screwed enough thanks. The monologue is fucking epic win though. Marks for that. Fail fadeout is fail. 3/10
7. グランドでも廊下でも目立つ君. Ah, finally some beef in the beat. Music isn't great, but Yurina and Maasa rise so far above the source material (which sounds like a terrible 80s anime theme, if I'm honest) that I like it anyway. This vocal performance is really something if it makes me like this, despite not appreciating it musically at all, especially as neither of the two are exactly "strong" vocalists. C'est une rareté. 7/10
8. 友達は友達なんだ! Really, really cool. Dunno why, but I love this song. Pulls off the "rap" style vocals way better than Rival. Sawtooth bass is a nuisance, but the rest of the music is good enough to gloss over it. Video is awesome, for the simplicity of it yet managing to be more effective than every Momusu video since time immemorial. Piano solo is cool as hell. Vocals are cool as hell. Random "shubidooba" is a hilarious hark back to the 50s, but in context it works. 9/10
9. 希望の夜. A ballad you say!? The piano and high pitched vocals work a treat at the beginning. The chorus is simple yet perfect. More proof (as if Loving You Forever from 10 My Me wasn't enough) that Tsunku doesn't need to overwhelm the listener with three million digital sounds to make a good song. Something this simple ends up being so beautiful, yet some of the terribly overproduced, oversaturated songs like Ryuusei Boy and Seishun Bus Guide are boring and annoying. So, Tunky, get it into your head that this works. 10/10
10. 抱きしめて 抱きしめて. I say that then come to this, which is possibly the coolest H!P dance song since Onna ni Sachi Are. It's oversaturated but it works. Possibly because, despite the large array of sounds, it keeps a consistent pace and tune throughout. You don't have 10 instruments doing 10 different things distracting you, if anything it's one tune and lots of embellishments. The beat is funky as hell, even I want to dance to it. As well as take my guitar and shred the fuck out of it with blastbeats. Dunno why, but I enjoy doing that to dance songs. To hell with it, I'm doing it. 10/10
11. ヤキモチをください! COWBELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shit, that opening line which is then joined by the cowbell cracks me up every time (for the few people who may not understand it). Vocally this is cool. Musically, simplicity again works wonders for the sound. The harmonised guitar riffs are effective. Some of the synths less so, but still a cool sound, and a cool song. 9/10
12. 私の未来のだんな様. I may be alone in finding this song hard to digest. I find the tradition of marriage imperfect, boring and outdated, and utterly useless. Thus, it's a bit unpalatable to me, who finds polyamory a cool idea. Songwise, the weak synths are a bit annoying. The breathy voices are a bit annoying. Beat is a bit mental. The microtonal bits are hard to comprehend when one is basically tutored in the strict Western system of 12 semitones. Odd to find them in pop music after the Beatles, and this is a completely different genre, so dunno if I should even make the comparison. But overall, not a fan. This is another example of too much to digest to be good enough. I guess that's the downfall of being able to track every single damn sound throughout the course of the song individually rather than hearing what I assume most people do: a unified sound. I'm a big fan of progression in music, as long as it's tasteful and has a point. Classical music is a case in point. Loads of different instruments, playing sometimes completely different lines (especially in polyphony), yet it never seems too much. But throwing in another synth track with another sound just for one or two notes is taking the piss. 5/10
Overall: I liked it more than I thought. More than a lot of recent Momusu albums. Not a patch on Buono, however. As a full album, it has hardly any link to itself. Again, doesn't really adhere to a single style. However, less autotune = happy Krv. Possibly will make me look into hearing more of their albums.
7/10
Comparison Rankings:
Morning Musume. - 4th Ikimasshoi - 10
Buono! - We Are Buono! - 9.7
C-ute - 4 Akogare My Star - 8.5
Buono! - Buono! 2 - 7.5
Morning Musume. - Platinum 9 Disc - 6.5
Morning Musume. - 10 My Me - 5.5
30/03/2010
Morning Musume - 10 My Me review
So, time for yet another review. Morning Musume's 10 My Me. Can it stand up to the nigh unbeatable We Are Buono? Is it as good as any of its predecessors? We shall see...
So, firstly, the cover. Do they look sexy or slutty? I haven't actually decided yet. Aika looks like a cockatiel. Gaki looks frumpy and in her late 30s. Reina's standing on a box. The others don't look too bad, but yea. Odd. The other cover's not much better.
Anyway, let's get down to the review of what's important, the music.
Preliminary: wtf. Not what I was expecting. Not what I wanted. Not anything. A case of... huh?
1. Moonlight Night ～月夜の晩だよ～. Well... the first three words of the album sum it up. "Electro Convulsive Therapy" indeed. The synth in this is... amusing. Not annoying though, which is just as well. The random operatic bit is brilliant. However it's not repeated and this just gets samey very quickly. It's not great, but not bad. Needs something extra, but I'm buggered if I can figure out what it is. Vocally everyone seems to be decent. Then Autotune gets used and marks quickly fall away. I can't forgive its usage. Ever. 5/10
2. 気まぐれプリンセス. This is an amusing as hell single. The lyrics are screwed up to all hell, apparently the inspiration came from Tsunku looking at his daughter's ass. Not sure why he wanted to do that when he has 2 harems of nubile young women to satisfy him, but oh well. Maybe he's into incest. Anyway, the song. It's not bad. It's odd. The guitar parts are interesting, the strings are interesting. The bassline is a nuisance, I wish they'd use real basses again, instead of this bloody sawtooth. The chipmunking doesn't affect me. It's not a brilliant single, but it's by no means the worst ever. 6/10
3. 元気ピカッピカッ! I'm not a fan of this. The "weak" synth kills it. I can't stand the high pitched "breathy" stuff on synths. It just lacks any power and gets on my nerves. Only time it's been pulled off well is on Buono's My Boy, and that had the added win of being metal as fuck. This doesn't have that, so it's tame. I want to go to their studio and delete all these pussy-synths from the memory of their DAWs. Other than the synth, it would be a perfectly good song, but... dammit. It's irritating and gets in the way. Vocally, it's good. Even musically, it's good. The violin break is much, much win. If that synth hadn't been there, 8 or 9, easily. As it is... 5/10
4. 涙ッチ. Fuck yea. This is what I want. Musically, perfect. Vocally, very good. Rock elements lift it nicely. The rap is genius, fuck Nanchatte Renai's, this is where it's at. Piano usage is as it should be, to support and be win. Overall, probably one of the best on here. 9/10
5. 女が目立って なぜイケナイ. Oh fuck make it stop! Another pussy-synth. The acoustic guitars, great. But get rid of the fucking synths! I heard a metal arrangement of this and it was great. This song has potential, but, it's not exploited, at all. The vocals are okay. The violin is cool, but under-utilised. Overall, this is the weakest Momusu single since Aruiteru. Even beats Resonant Blue, which I hate. 2/10
6. 大きい瞳. Ah, much nicer on the ears. Synths that work towards something. Digitised guitar works. Some cool riffs. Vocally, Reina is driving this song along. Then autotune gets used again. Based on Shuffle Date, Sayu doesn't need it. Plus it takes away all her personality. Automatic mark loss. Anyone who puts autotune into a song deserves to be shot. Repeatedly. In the balls. The refrain is nice. Non-annoying breathy synth. So they do know how to do it, just choose to make people's ears bleed. Bastards. 5/10
7. あの日に戻りたい. With Ai and Gaki, the two strongest vocalists in Momusu (not so much a statement of opinion, but fact. Reina may be a 'better' vocalist, but Gaki's voice is deeper, more mature, and thus stronger :P ), I'd expect this to be very good. Starts nicely, like a mid-90's pop song. Pretty much continues in this vein, and, annoyingly, doesn't utilise either Aichan or Gaki to their full potential. Gets a bit boring after a while. Refrain is a nice change of timbre, but other than that throws up nothing special. 6/10
8. なんちゃって恋愛. Momusu's best single since Mikan... which ain't saying much. Had strong sales, but how much of that was promotion, how much was because it was the big 40, and how much because of it being a good song? If we can discount the first 35,000 copies as wota, it's still a decent improvement. Songwise, it's not brilliant, but good enough. Vocally, everyone's good except Sayu and Koharu. It's almost like after singing Kirarin for so long, Koharu forgot how to sing properly. It's my biggest nag. The rap part is pretty decent. Has better line distro than a lot of recent singles, so that's an improvement. 8/10
9. 大阪 美味いねん. I won't digress. I love the 8th gen. But what the fuck is this piece of shit? Tsunku needs to be disemboweled for this. Basically a blues song, with synths. Even the guitar parts can't save it. Osaka-ben lyrics which aren't a patch on Osaka Koi no Uta. The vocals are annoying and patchy. It's a waste of Lin's vocal talents, and I even feel sorry for Aika having to butcher her native accent so... robotically. Junjun sounds bored. Not a single hook to be heard. Lin's constant "yea yea's" are painful. This isn't even a song, just a pasted together pile of crap. 0/10
10. Loving you forever. Now this is how pop should sound. A good, mid-tempo song, minimalistic vocals, good tune. It works, like hardly anything else on this album manages. Sayu's voice is as annoying as always, but at least they didn't autotune the bloody thing this time. Would completely ruin any value this song had. Which is a lot. Overall, one of the better Momusu songs in recent years, and this could have been a perfect single. But no, Tsunku wants to focus on his synth heavy crap. Oh well, not much I can do about it. But this is a proper song. Need more of this kind of thing plz, Tunky. 10/10
11. しょうがない 夢追い人. Another of the wasted potential songs. However, this is better in its current configuration than the other piece of shit, and at least doesn't have annoying synths. The lead guitar saves the hell out of it, and the violin in the refrain does good things. Other than that... lacklustre. Could have been so much more, with a more powerful arrangement. Some more guitars, orchestral hits... would have been epic as fuck. But no, soft pop was the dish of the day, so... 7/10
12. 雨の降らない星では愛せないだろう? (中国語Ver.). Of course, I have to mark this down for laziness. As a song, it's the greatest thing Momusu have done in years, but I still prefer the Peipei leak over the P9D version, this and the ICM version. As a song, it ranks 10/10, but with the same arrangement, with just the addition of an acoustic guitar, I have to take shitloads of marks off for some of the most epic laziness ever. Even uses the same Chinese lyrics as the ICM version. Jun and Lin win vocally, but yea, language change isn't enough to get high marks. 6/10 for laziness.
Overall: Well, this album is weak as an album. Average of the song scores would give this 6.9/10, but considering the broad range of songs from 0 to 10, I have to give it overall less, because it has about as much "flow" as a Now That's What I Call Music album. So, I'll give it my lowest H!P official score yet (though not overall, considering I've only reviewed a few albums :P )...
5.5/10
Comparison Rankings:
Morning Musume. - 4th Ikimasshoi - 10
Buono! - We Are Buono! - 9.7
C-ute - 4 Akogare My Star - 8.5
Buono! - Buono! 2 - 7.5
Morning Musume. - Platinum 9 Disc - 6.5
So, firstly, the cover. Do they look sexy or slutty? I haven't actually decided yet. Aika looks like a cockatiel. Gaki looks frumpy and in her late 30s. Reina's standing on a box. The others don't look too bad, but yea. Odd. The other cover's not much better.
Anyway, let's get down to the review of what's important, the music.
Preliminary: wtf. Not what I was expecting. Not what I wanted. Not anything. A case of... huh?
1. Moonlight Night ～月夜の晩だよ～. Well... the first three words of the album sum it up. "Electro Convulsive Therapy" indeed. The synth in this is... amusing. Not annoying though, which is just as well. The random operatic bit is brilliant. However it's not repeated and this just gets samey very quickly. It's not great, but not bad. Needs something extra, but I'm buggered if I can figure out what it is. Vocally everyone seems to be decent. Then Autotune gets used and marks quickly fall away. I can't forgive its usage. Ever. 5/10
2. 気まぐれプリンセス. This is an amusing as hell single. The lyrics are screwed up to all hell, apparently the inspiration came from Tsunku looking at his daughter's ass. Not sure why he wanted to do that when he has 2 harems of nubile young women to satisfy him, but oh well. Maybe he's into incest. Anyway, the song. It's not bad. It's odd. The guitar parts are interesting, the strings are interesting. The bassline is a nuisance, I wish they'd use real basses again, instead of this bloody sawtooth. The chipmunking doesn't affect me. It's not a brilliant single, but it's by no means the worst ever. 6/10
3. 元気ピカッピカッ! I'm not a fan of this. The "weak" synth kills it. I can't stand the high pitched "breathy" stuff on synths. It just lacks any power and gets on my nerves. Only time it's been pulled off well is on Buono's My Boy, and that had the added win of being metal as fuck. This doesn't have that, so it's tame. I want to go to their studio and delete all these pussy-synths from the memory of their DAWs. Other than the synth, it would be a perfectly good song, but... dammit. It's irritating and gets in the way. Vocally, it's good. Even musically, it's good. The violin break is much, much win. If that synth hadn't been there, 8 or 9, easily. As it is... 5/10
4. 涙ッチ. Fuck yea. This is what I want. Musically, perfect. Vocally, very good. Rock elements lift it nicely. The rap is genius, fuck Nanchatte Renai's, this is where it's at. Piano usage is as it should be, to support and be win. Overall, probably one of the best on here. 9/10
5. 女が目立って なぜイケナイ. Oh fuck make it stop! Another pussy-synth. The acoustic guitars, great. But get rid of the fucking synths! I heard a metal arrangement of this and it was great. This song has potential, but, it's not exploited, at all. The vocals are okay. The violin is cool, but under-utilised. Overall, this is the weakest Momusu single since Aruiteru. Even beats Resonant Blue, which I hate. 2/10
6. 大きい瞳. Ah, much nicer on the ears. Synths that work towards something. Digitised guitar works. Some cool riffs. Vocally, Reina is driving this song along. Then autotune gets used again. Based on Shuffle Date, Sayu doesn't need it. Plus it takes away all her personality. Automatic mark loss. Anyone who puts autotune into a song deserves to be shot. Repeatedly. In the balls. The refrain is nice. Non-annoying breathy synth. So they do know how to do it, just choose to make people's ears bleed. Bastards. 5/10
7. あの日に戻りたい. With Ai and Gaki, the two strongest vocalists in Momusu (not so much a statement of opinion, but fact. Reina may be a 'better' vocalist, but Gaki's voice is deeper, more mature, and thus stronger :P ), I'd expect this to be very good. Starts nicely, like a mid-90's pop song. Pretty much continues in this vein, and, annoyingly, doesn't utilise either Aichan or Gaki to their full potential. Gets a bit boring after a while. Refrain is a nice change of timbre, but other than that throws up nothing special. 6/10
8. なんちゃって恋愛. Momusu's best single since Mikan... which ain't saying much. Had strong sales, but how much of that was promotion, how much was because it was the big 40, and how much because of it being a good song? If we can discount the first 35,000 copies as wota, it's still a decent improvement. Songwise, it's not brilliant, but good enough. Vocally, everyone's good except Sayu and Koharu. It's almost like after singing Kirarin for so long, Koharu forgot how to sing properly. It's my biggest nag. The rap part is pretty decent. Has better line distro than a lot of recent singles, so that's an improvement. 8/10
9. 大阪 美味いねん. I won't digress. I love the 8th gen. But what the fuck is this piece of shit? Tsunku needs to be disemboweled for this. Basically a blues song, with synths. Even the guitar parts can't save it. Osaka-ben lyrics which aren't a patch on Osaka Koi no Uta. The vocals are annoying and patchy. It's a waste of Lin's vocal talents, and I even feel sorry for Aika having to butcher her native accent so... robotically. Junjun sounds bored. Not a single hook to be heard. Lin's constant "yea yea's" are painful. This isn't even a song, just a pasted together pile of crap. 0/10
10. Loving you forever. Now this is how pop should sound. A good, mid-tempo song, minimalistic vocals, good tune. It works, like hardly anything else on this album manages. Sayu's voice is as annoying as always, but at least they didn't autotune the bloody thing this time. Would completely ruin any value this song had. Which is a lot. Overall, one of the better Momusu songs in recent years, and this could have been a perfect single. But no, Tsunku wants to focus on his synth heavy crap. Oh well, not much I can do about it. But this is a proper song. Need more of this kind of thing plz, Tunky. 10/10
11. しょうがない 夢追い人. Another of the wasted potential songs. However, this is better in its current configuration than the other piece of shit, and at least doesn't have annoying synths. The lead guitar saves the hell out of it, and the violin in the refrain does good things. Other than that... lacklustre. Could have been so much more, with a more powerful arrangement. Some more guitars, orchestral hits... would have been epic as fuck. But no, soft pop was the dish of the day, so... 7/10
12. 雨の降らない星では愛せないだろう? (中国語Ver.). Of course, I have to mark this down for laziness. As a song, it's the greatest thing Momusu have done in years, but I still prefer the Peipei leak over the P9D version, this and the ICM version. As a song, it ranks 10/10, but with the same arrangement, with just the addition of an acoustic guitar, I have to take shitloads of marks off for some of the most epic laziness ever. Even uses the same Chinese lyrics as the ICM version. Jun and Lin win vocally, but yea, language change isn't enough to get high marks. 6/10 for laziness.
Overall: Well, this album is weak as an album. Average of the song scores would give this 6.9/10, but considering the broad range of songs from 0 to 10, I have to give it overall less, because it has about as much "flow" as a Now That's What I Call Music album. So, I'll give it my lowest H!P official score yet (though not overall, considering I've only reviewed a few albums :P )...
5.5/10
Comparison Rankings:
Morning Musume. - 4th Ikimasshoi - 10
Buono! - We Are Buono! - 9.7
C-ute - 4 Akogare My Star - 8.5
Buono! - Buono! 2 - 7.5
Morning Musume. - Platinum 9 Disc - 6.5
15/02/2010
We Are Buono! review
So, first album review in a while. Last one was P9D. So, Buono's new album.
Preliminary: It's kickass. I'll go a bit more indepth later. But yea. Kickass. Pretty much full-on rock. And wonderfulness. Gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh. Oh yes.
1. One Way=My Way. Upbeat pop punk, not a bad way to start I guess. Good music, good vocals, and the lyrics are pretty fun. Nice solo, nice general feel. Sets the tone for the album wonderfully. 9/10
2. Our Songs. Already said this is my second favourite Buono single, so yea. The whole song just works. The heavy as fuck guitars, the spastic hit-everything-possible drum fills, the light-guitar verse, the vocals. The solo (which sounds just as spastic as the drums and very similar to what I produce when I try soloing...), the pointless key change at the end, it's just... brilliant. Even though I can't help myself at the end of the first verse, and I have to do Momo's poke-cheek gesture from the ShugoChara short PV version. 10/10
3. Independent Girl ~ 独立女子であるために. Heavily reminds me of an Aya Hirano song, not that that's a bad thing. Heavy in the right places, soft in the right places. And damn, their voices get stronger each song. The Vocal FX are a slight moan, but don't impact overly (it's not like they use autotune all the fucking time like KAT-TUN nowadays). The solo is a weak one, but still cool, especially into the end chorus. 9/10
4. My Boy. Favourite Buono! single. It's... mental. It's metal, basically. The only reason I had tshirts printed depicting them as Black Metallers. The whole song is just wtfpwn. Even the silly synths, the silly syncopation, and triggered drums. They're a big no-no in metal, but who cares. This wins. It's like, what would happen if you mixed Devin Townsend with Techno and 3 cute Japanese girls? Well... this. It's even got (dare I say it) difficult riffs. And is heavy as fuck. I could praise this thing all day. But for now I'll just say that the solo is so wtf awesome and leave it there. 10/10
5. うらはら. This is where the album slows down a notch. But it's not a bad thing, more a respite. If every song carried on the kickass heaviness from the first four, I think people would lose their heads in explosions. This song is a nice, relaxing song, and has an awesome chorus. Sort of, uplifting rock. Pretty much nails what the grunge bands were going for when they got all soppy and romantic, so awesome for that reason alone. The solo is... odd. Chromatic and different, but it works. 8/10
6. Take it Easy! Now, this is hard for me to say. I hated this song when it came out. It's still my least favourite Buono single. It's just not single quality. However, as an album track it's perfect. It comes after うらはら perfectly, with it's Southern Rock and relaxation theme. Musically, the banjo killed it on the single, but whether it was terrible quality mp3, or a better mix on the album, here it doesn't annoy me so much. The bass is pounding, and the solo recalls Lynyrd Skynyrd at the height of their powers. Sucks to have to eat my words, but yea. It's a good song. 8/10
7. Bravo☆Bravo. The theme of this song is... well... retarded. Hand clapping, basically. However, it has an awesome beat, an awesome riff, and the vocals are decent. Makes me wish the bass sometimes did something more interesting though. That's just a gripe I have with a lot of Buono songs though. The single nearly killed me, due to Airi's wink, but luckily on the album I can listen to it without dying. Introduction of Hammond organ in second verse is a brief spurt of awesome for a prog nerd like me. All the girls do great on their solos. The guitar solo is... amusing, to say the least. Good song though. 8/10
8. カタオモイ。 Not really your usual Buono! lyrical theme, unrequited love... Starts great, and has the one of the most powerful choruses in a Buono song yet. Drums are a bit... uninspired, but oh well. Hammond again makes an appearance, making me get a bit hard. Really, this is a song that falls on it's chorus. Luckily it's a good one. First guitar solo is short and not great. Second is awesome, and I like the mixing they did on it, having it overpower everything else. Third solo is short and the interruption end works a treat. 10/10
9. Blue-Sky-Blue. Really bass heavy, really cool. Back to the "nice" theme though. Reminds me of U2 a bit, even if that probably will earn me a punch from some quarters. PreChorus is good, Chorus not so much, but still a good listen. Random lead guitar parts are always a nice distraction, as is the flange on the rhythm guitars. Vocally, this is... good, but not great. Way too much reverb on their voices for my liking. On the other hand, I like long songs, so more 5 minutes plus songs would go down a treat for me. End solo is great. 8/10
10. 紅茶の美味しい店. This is really the one song that stands in the way of this album getting 10/10. It's... not really Buono. Sounds more like a C-ute song, if I had to say. It's not a bad song, it just doesn't fit with the rest of the album. The other songs all have strong Rock influence. This just... doesn't. Even the "non-rock" songs on Café Buono and Buono2 had random rock phrases here and there. As a song in it's own right, I'd give it 8/10. However, on the album... 6/10
11. タビダチの歌. Now THIS is what I call awesome. Blatant homage to The Beatles at the beginning. Airi singing over an acoustic guitar, and Momo taking over before the rest of the instruments come in... it's like the build up of a dream. Seems to have a feeling of melancholy, but an uplifting spirit. This is, in my opinion, the best Buono song ever. The string quartet push the guitars forward, the girls sing wonderfully, and even the bass does something. Drums aren't much, but they work in the context of the song. The refrain, with the string and guitar solo, is great, as is the vocal solo after. There aren't many songs which can make me feel the urge to cry, but under the right circumstances this might. It's one of them songs that just blows you away. 6 minutes plus, this is what music is all about. The "Lalalala's" add the to Beatles flavour, and the tiny but noticable quote of Pachelbel's Canon in D on the strings at 5:27 makes my classical nerd go apeshit of happiness. 11/10 (if that's possible)
12. We are Buono! ~ Buono!のテーマ. Well, guess what this song's about... But, good, upbeat, pop punk. And heavy. And rather amusing. The lyrics are good, the music's good, it's basically Buono in a nutshell. A very small nutshell. After the epicness of Tabidachi no Uta, this is a return to simplicity. And fun. The self-introduction is great (Miya's fwoooo! is lol, as is the "BUONO!!" at the end). Pretty much a good song, if not mixed nicely. Bassdrums are buried. Hammonds are buried. Other than that, it's cool. 9/10
So... yea. When one has twelve songs and all but one over 8, it's obvious it's a good album. Basically, the damn thing blew me away when I first heard it. Usually it takes a lot for me to rate an album highly. This time, no such luck. This is easily the second best H!P release of all time (4th Ikimasshoi is pretty much unassailable though). With the sole exception of 紅茶の美味しい店, every song fit. Everything was in place. The album was album arranged perfectly. Started off with 4 aggressive numbers, calmed you down with the next two, sped up with Bravo, gave a mix of both hard and soft in カタオモイ。, the next 3 were sad, but powerful, ending in the huge epicness of Tabidachi, and then the lighthearted Buono Theme at the end cools you off. Really fucking brilliant.
9.7/10
Platinum 9 Disc Review
Comparison rankings:
Morning Musume. - 4th Ikimasshoi - 10
C-ute - 4 Akogare My Star - 8.5
Buono! - Buono! 2 - 7.5
Morning Musume. - Platinum 9 Disc - 6.5
Preliminary: It's kickass. I'll go a bit more indepth later. But yea. Kickass. Pretty much full-on rock. And wonderfulness. Gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh. Oh yes.
1. One Way=My Way. Upbeat pop punk, not a bad way to start I guess. Good music, good vocals, and the lyrics are pretty fun. Nice solo, nice general feel. Sets the tone for the album wonderfully. 9/10
2. Our Songs. Already said this is my second favourite Buono single, so yea. The whole song just works. The heavy as fuck guitars, the spastic hit-everything-possible drum fills, the light-guitar verse, the vocals. The solo (which sounds just as spastic as the drums and very similar to what I produce when I try soloing...), the pointless key change at the end, it's just... brilliant. Even though I can't help myself at the end of the first verse, and I have to do Momo's poke-cheek gesture from the ShugoChara short PV version. 10/10
3. Independent Girl ~ 独立女子であるために. Heavily reminds me of an Aya Hirano song, not that that's a bad thing. Heavy in the right places, soft in the right places. And damn, their voices get stronger each song. The Vocal FX are a slight moan, but don't impact overly (it's not like they use autotune all the fucking time like KAT-TUN nowadays). The solo is a weak one, but still cool, especially into the end chorus. 9/10
4. My Boy. Favourite Buono! single. It's... mental. It's metal, basically. The only reason I had tshirts printed depicting them as Black Metallers. The whole song is just wtfpwn. Even the silly synths, the silly syncopation, and triggered drums. They're a big no-no in metal, but who cares. This wins. It's like, what would happen if you mixed Devin Townsend with Techno and 3 cute Japanese girls? Well... this. It's even got (dare I say it) difficult riffs. And is heavy as fuck. I could praise this thing all day. But for now I'll just say that the solo is so wtf awesome and leave it there. 10/10
5. うらはら. This is where the album slows down a notch. But it's not a bad thing, more a respite. If every song carried on the kickass heaviness from the first four, I think people would lose their heads in explosions. This song is a nice, relaxing song, and has an awesome chorus. Sort of, uplifting rock. Pretty much nails what the grunge bands were going for when they got all soppy and romantic, so awesome for that reason alone. The solo is... odd. Chromatic and different, but it works. 8/10
6. Take it Easy! Now, this is hard for me to say. I hated this song when it came out. It's still my least favourite Buono single. It's just not single quality. However, as an album track it's perfect. It comes after うらはら perfectly, with it's Southern Rock and relaxation theme. Musically, the banjo killed it on the single, but whether it was terrible quality mp3, or a better mix on the album, here it doesn't annoy me so much. The bass is pounding, and the solo recalls Lynyrd Skynyrd at the height of their powers. Sucks to have to eat my words, but yea. It's a good song. 8/10
7. Bravo☆Bravo. The theme of this song is... well... retarded. Hand clapping, basically. However, it has an awesome beat, an awesome riff, and the vocals are decent. Makes me wish the bass sometimes did something more interesting though. That's just a gripe I have with a lot of Buono songs though. The single nearly killed me, due to Airi's wink, but luckily on the album I can listen to it without dying. Introduction of Hammond organ in second verse is a brief spurt of awesome for a prog nerd like me. All the girls do great on their solos. The guitar solo is... amusing, to say the least. Good song though. 8/10
8. カタオモイ。 Not really your usual Buono! lyrical theme, unrequited love... Starts great, and has the one of the most powerful choruses in a Buono song yet. Drums are a bit... uninspired, but oh well. Hammond again makes an appearance, making me get a bit hard. Really, this is a song that falls on it's chorus. Luckily it's a good one. First guitar solo is short and not great. Second is awesome, and I like the mixing they did on it, having it overpower everything else. Third solo is short and the interruption end works a treat. 10/10
9. Blue-Sky-Blue. Really bass heavy, really cool. Back to the "nice" theme though. Reminds me of U2 a bit, even if that probably will earn me a punch from some quarters. PreChorus is good, Chorus not so much, but still a good listen. Random lead guitar parts are always a nice distraction, as is the flange on the rhythm guitars. Vocally, this is... good, but not great. Way too much reverb on their voices for my liking. On the other hand, I like long songs, so more 5 minutes plus songs would go down a treat for me. End solo is great. 8/10
10. 紅茶の美味しい店. This is really the one song that stands in the way of this album getting 10/10. It's... not really Buono. Sounds more like a C-ute song, if I had to say. It's not a bad song, it just doesn't fit with the rest of the album. The other songs all have strong Rock influence. This just... doesn't. Even the "non-rock" songs on Café Buono and Buono2 had random rock phrases here and there. As a song in it's own right, I'd give it 8/10. However, on the album... 6/10
11. タビダチの歌. Now THIS is what I call awesome. Blatant homage to The Beatles at the beginning. Airi singing over an acoustic guitar, and Momo taking over before the rest of the instruments come in... it's like the build up of a dream. Seems to have a feeling of melancholy, but an uplifting spirit. This is, in my opinion, the best Buono song ever. The string quartet push the guitars forward, the girls sing wonderfully, and even the bass does something. Drums aren't much, but they work in the context of the song. The refrain, with the string and guitar solo, is great, as is the vocal solo after. There aren't many songs which can make me feel the urge to cry, but under the right circumstances this might. It's one of them songs that just blows you away. 6 minutes plus, this is what music is all about. The "Lalalala's" add the to Beatles flavour, and the tiny but noticable quote of Pachelbel's Canon in D on the strings at 5:27 makes my classical nerd go apeshit of happiness. 11/10 (if that's possible)
12. We are Buono! ~ Buono!のテーマ. Well, guess what this song's about... But, good, upbeat, pop punk. And heavy. And rather amusing. The lyrics are good, the music's good, it's basically Buono in a nutshell. A very small nutshell. After the epicness of Tabidachi no Uta, this is a return to simplicity. And fun. The self-introduction is great (Miya's fwoooo! is lol, as is the "BUONO!!" at the end). Pretty much a good song, if not mixed nicely. Bassdrums are buried. Hammonds are buried. Other than that, it's cool. 9/10
So... yea. When one has twelve songs and all but one over 8, it's obvious it's a good album. Basically, the damn thing blew me away when I first heard it. Usually it takes a lot for me to rate an album highly. This time, no such luck. This is easily the second best H!P release of all time (4th Ikimasshoi is pretty much unassailable though). With the sole exception of 紅茶の美味しい店, every song fit. Everything was in place. The album was album arranged perfectly. Started off with 4 aggressive numbers, calmed you down with the next two, sped up with Bravo, gave a mix of both hard and soft in カタオモイ。, the next 3 were sad, but powerful, ending in the huge epicness of Tabidachi, and then the lighthearted Buono Theme at the end cools you off. Really fucking brilliant.
9.7/10
Platinum 9 Disc Review
Comparison rankings:
Morning Musume. - 4th Ikimasshoi - 10
C-ute - 4 Akogare My Star - 8.5
Buono! - Buono! 2 - 7.5
Morning Musume. - Platinum 9 Disc - 6.5
29/01/2010
Buono! - Our Songs
Yay, the first single-related blog since a long time ago. Anyway.
Basically the gist of this PV is that they're floating, moving too fast and being silly. But who cares, it's Buono! They're all sexy, they're all funny, and they're all cute.
Also, the song is the strongest since My Boy, and my second favourite Buono! a-side thus far. The tune is awesome. The lyrics are much better than the handclap crap of Bravo. And Momo's tshirt is worth extra points.
Thus I'd give this single a steady 9/10. Easily the best H!P single since My Boy. Buono! are now the class act to beat. C-ute have drastically gone downhill, Berryz are as meh as always, and Momusu's new single = wtf???
So yes. Buono! for the win.
Basically the gist of this PV is that they're floating, moving too fast and being silly. But who cares, it's Buono! They're all sexy, they're all funny, and they're all cute.
Also, the song is the strongest since My Boy, and my second favourite Buono! a-side thus far. The tune is awesome. The lyrics are much better than the handclap crap of Bravo. And Momo's tshirt is worth extra points.
Thus I'd give this single a steady 9/10. Easily the best H!P single since My Boy. Buono! are now the class act to beat. C-ute have drastically gone downhill, Berryz are as meh as always, and Momusu's new single = wtf???
So yes. Buono! for the win.
16/01/2010
Top 20 Favourite Idols - 10-1
So, here is part two of my favourite idol list.
10 - Tsugunaga Momoko
Momoko is basically insane. If you were to put her in a room she would bounce off the walls, if you tied her down she'd probably enjoy it, and if you asked her to do something insane, she'd probably do it for the hell of it. All of this plus Momo's terrible drumming skills, terrible cooking skills, 100% wonderful buttocks and friendly mammaries make her worth a lot of time. My life's ambition is to get her a solo project, produced and aided by Devin Townsend, Kawashima Mirai and Dr. Mikannibal from Sigh, and Boris.
10 - Tsugunaga Momoko
Momoko is basically insane. If you were to put her in a room she would bounce off the walls, if you tied her down she'd probably enjoy it, and if you asked her to do something insane, she'd probably do it for the hell of it. All of this plus Momo's terrible drumming skills, terrible cooking skills, 100% wonderful buttocks and friendly mammaries make her worth a lot of time. My life's ambition is to get her a solo project, produced and aided by Devin Townsend, Kawashima Mirai and Dr. Mikannibal from Sigh, and Boris.
Top 20 Favourite Idols - 20-11
Because I didn't have a definitive list. And also, every now and then I see something which makes me think "She's awesome" and will go straight to near the top of my list.
So... I doubt this list will last very long. It's a bit ephermeral. Not all the girls are H!P. But oh well, here goes...
So... I doubt this list will last very long. It's a bit ephermeral. Not all the girls are H!P. But oh well, here goes...
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