This week we have several big titles – Ayumi Hamasaki, Itano Tomomi, miwa, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, moumoon and Kimura Kaela. Just thought I’d briefly review some of these.
Ayu‘s Colours (I don’t want to make such a big fuss about it here but everybody else did so) again…let’s see if you notice the title. Colours with a ‘u’. Since I’m from a country which was under the British, I grew up spelling colours the same way. But the Americans noticed this immediately when the title was announced. Title aside, this album only consists of 10 tracks. It reminds me of Do As Infinity’s 10th album which also had 10 tracks – so short!! Since Ayu hasn’t been under my radar for ages, I came in with low expectation, which is probably for the best because I’m not deeply disappointed. Ayu sings in a lot of Engrish this time and with the heavily EDM influence as well as US producers, she’s definitely steering into a different direction. But is it for the better or worse? I won’t say it’s bad, I think I’m indifferent about it overall. It’s got some good tracks, while a few which I feel could’ve been better if properly executed. For example, ballad Pray started out great but it dragged for far too long which took the feels away in the end. Angel is a bit too try-hard, not to mention that awful PV. Merry-Go-Round is forgettable even though it is nice to hear it after a while. The album does come with several good-to-go club songs – XOXO, Terminal, even Lelio where she lazily pronounced ‘radio’ is quite entertaining. NOW & 4EVA is probably the closest thing to her previous style/work, so that’s a good thing. Overall, I appreciate this new direction but I don’t see it having a lasting effect. To be honest, I really don’t mind if she produces songs such as those in Rainbow or I am… or basically just go back to the early 2000s sound. I think those suit her best. The nostalgia should work well with the public too because I seriously do not know where she is heading now. Even with this direction, it feels like she just came into the studio one day and thought “let’s give EDM a try” and she hired these US producers to create a bunch of club tracks randomly. There’s no clear vision. Colours is not cohesive, it’s if I were to describe in Japanese, ‘bara-bara’ or ばらばら.
Shishido Kavka‘s Dame Kashira? is probably one of the best singles from this week aside from Up Up Girls‘ double A-side Zenryouku! Pump Up!!/ Kono Melody wo Kimi to. I love how she fused pop/rock into such a fun summer bop. The chorus is really catchy! UUG‘s single is the most pleasant surprise out of the lot. Now that’s the EDM style I’m still hoping to hear from Morning Musume ’14. While MM ’14 has embraced EDM a lot in the past year, they haven’t produced this kind of house music yet. Kono Melody may sound generic but it’s sweet and that’s all that matters. A pretty solid release.
miwa‘s summer single Kimi ni Deaetakara is a bit of a letdown personally. It’s probably only me who feels the A-side is lacking. I very much prefer the coupling song – Let Me Go, which is heavier. The orchestra version of Kimi is so much better than the actual song, I don’t know why either.
Moving on to the compilation albums. AKFG‘s Nano-Mugen is alright with a few memorable tracks but otherwise, not astounding. Even their own song, Standard isn’t memorable enough to make me go for seconds. Kimura Kaela returns to the music scene after a short hiatus (busy with her marriage with Eita and giving births to children). It’s hard to imagine she has been in the music industry for 10 years already. But the 19-track compilation is proof. I haven’t heard most of her earlier works so this is a nice listen. It also reminds me of how much enjoyable songs she has produced over the decade. I think this is a good collection for fans and non-fans alike. Some of her best works in an album. moumoon‘s Ice Candy is a summer best album. So expect sugary songs with high glucose level in it. Dreaming Driving was hard to swallow though. Couldn’t even finish that song. I felt this release was a bit redundant and well, the summer can do without this imo.
I wasn’t planning to listen to Itano Tomomi‘s debut album but I heard people said it was interesting so I decided to give it a shot. To be honest, I am quite surprised. It is actually quite diverse and the overall sound reminds me of the early 2000s Jpop (always a good thing in my book). Fuini (ふいに) is probably my favorite track. If I were to gripe though, it’s her vocals I have problem acclimating to. In some tracks, she sounds fine but in others, it’s grating to my ears. If only they lowered the autotune in Crush. She just doesn’t have the strong vocals a solo singer should possess. Also, what’s with the title and covers really? Still, this turned out better than I expected.
Kyary‘s album, Pikapika Fantajin leaked a week earlier. I’m not very familiar with her past works so I can’t judge in detail. Overall, the singles are strong and very fun to listen to such as Mottai Night Land and Yume no Hajima Ring Ring. The album tracks though are pale in comparison. Maybe it’s just me, they sound lazy to me. The closing track reminds me of Studio Ghibli song (mainly, My Neighbour Totoro song with the drumming xD). In short, I think she’s more of a single’s singer.
Ritsu no Jpop Land 