Music Review: Kagrra, / うたかた (Utakata)

1. うたかた (Utakata) [listen] [watch]
2. 「叫び」 (Sakebi) [watch]
3. あの坂を登れば (Ano Saka wo Noboreba)

CDJapan (Limited A / Limited B / Normal) / YesAsia (Limited A / Limited B / Normal)

1. うたかた / Oh, wow. I will say this right now, this is Kagrra,'s best song ever. If I ever have to introduce a potential new fan to Kagrra, and am only allowed one song, Utakata will be the one I pick. I'm convinced that if this track alone can't move you, nothing else Kagrra, produces ever will, for Utakata is the penultimate representation of the band's neo japanesque repertoire. This stunning piece of work entrances and delights the ears and enraptures the heart. It touches that deepest part of my soul and makes me weep at the song's sheer beauty. Really, it's rare for a song to move me to tears like this. Maybe this is what paradise is like. Izumi had written in his diary entry a while ago that this song embodies the beauty, tradition, mystery, and exoticism of Japan from foreigners' eyes. Is Japan paradise? ♥♥♥

2. 「叫び」 / 3. あの坂を登れば / I feel bad lumping the rest of the tracks together. But after Utakata, I don't think I can enjoy any other song to the same degree for a while (I must be bewitched!). Everything else pales and seems unimportant in comparison. If I hadn't been exposed to Utakata, I would still have ranked these two tracks near, if not at the top of my all time favorites list. These are marvelous, solid works in their own right. They're classic Kagrra, songs characterized by pleasing melody, soothing vocals, and that touch of sparkle. Ano Saka wo Noboreba (track 3) is a lighthearted and delightful piece that brightens any day, while Sakebi (track 2) is heavier, rockier, but still upbeat and cheerful. Great, great songs, both of them. ♥

For the first time ever, I'm seriously considering buying all 3 versions of a single. Even if I end up paying almost $50 for only 3 songs and 2 PVs, this really seems worth it. Oh, beloved Kagrra,, look what you make me do.

Rating: Fantastic+

PV Review: Dir en grey / Agitated Screams of Maggots

I fucking hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate! THIS! P! V!!!!

If you thought the single's CD cover was bad, this PV is many times worse. It was like some alien horror movie and just as disgustingly appalling. Two maggot denizens of a dead fish breed like the abominable maggots they are and take over a family. It's got plenty of gore, exploding flesh, and Kyo's screams don't help matters a bit. Oh yes, did you know a line of the lyrics says, "I'll rape your daughter on your grave"?

I'm not even going to embed the YouTube video here. This PV should be stamped out and buried in the deepest recess of earth and never see daylight again. I don't even give a damn about the symbolism contained. This PV is sick, sick, SICK!

Though I do applaud this PV for evoking such a violently repulsed response in me. If this had been Dir en grey's intention, it worked, congrats.

Rating: Awful--

Music Review: ガゼット(the GazettE) / Filth in the beauty

1. Filth in the beauty [watch]
2. Rich Excrement
3. Crucify Sorrow

CDJapan (Optical / Auditory) / HMV (Optical / Auditory) / YesAsia (Optical / Auditory)

1. Filth in the beauty / I've already goshed over this song so much back when the PV first came out that now I'm at a loss as to what to say. Yes, the brilliant fusion of R&B and hard rock kicks ass from Thailand and back (actually, it's probably from Japan and back). The female vocal enhances the song and gives it that extra "omph". Ruki sings in English throughout most of the track, but of course, no one can even tell what he's saying. :D Nevertheless, Filth in the beauty rocks hard and has become one of my favorite Gazette songs of all time. (Someone had suggested that this song is about incest between father and daughter. All I can say to that is: f**king hell!) ♥

2. Rich Excrement / I've already made fun of the song title in a previous post, so let's just skip that part. A street-punk rock song in which Ruki raps through the entire track, Rich Excrement reminds me of previous works like Maximum impulse and Maggots. The track features the same type of call-and-response found in Gazette power songs: Ruki growls out lyrics and the rest of the band roars back in answer. This is a phenomenonal headbanger and will be another hit live song, I can already see it.

3. Crucify Sorrow / I really looked forward to hearing this song in full after listening to the preview. I'm glad to say, it doesn't disappoint. This track is designed to showcase Ruki's rich, dynamic voice. Ruki finally sings instead of screaming and yelling into his microphone and I applaud. For some reason, the bridge section tends to be my favorite part when it comes to Gazette, and this is another one of those songs. Ruki sounds simply exceptional. ♥

Rating: Fantastic

Music Review: アリス九號. / ブループラネット (alice nine. / Blue Planet)

Either due to the bad quality of the original mp3 (128kbps at iTunes Japan), or Shou sounding like he forgot his vocal training over the past year, I can't say I love this song. I dislike the synthesized vocal effect and feel that it just cheapens the production. Honestly, what happened to the magic of alice nine.'s Zekkeishoku album? The two post-Zekkeishoku singles NUMBER SIX. and Blue Planet are mediocre compared to a lot of songs on their full-length album released earlier this year. While this song is quite decent, it can't hold a candle to their early 2006 releases. I think I've begun to hold alice nine. to higher standards. I feel let down.

Rating: Tolerable-Good

PV Review: 宇多田ヒカル / ぼくはくま (Utada Hikaru / Boku wa Kuma)

A day in the life of Utada Hikaru's stuffed bear.

Bear-chan wakes up and falls out of bed. Bear-chan reads. Bear-chan skateboards in his room. Bear-chan waters a plant. Bear-chan plays the guitar. Bear-chan draws. Bear-chan plays with buttons. Bear-chan goes to bed at night.

Bear-chan is too cute for words. Bear-chan must be hugged and loved. Bear-chan gets a...

Rating: Fantastic

Because I can't resist enjoying a music video featuring the story of a lovable, squeezable stuffed bear. <3

Service Review: YesAsia / Play-Asia / J-XYZ

When it comes to shopping for Japanese music, I use YesAsia, Play-Asia, and J-XYZ. Why these 3 services? Because these accept PayPal as payment. Due to my credit card having a really high limit, I avoid using it for online shopping whenever possible. Due to this limitation, sites like CD Japan, HMV, and Amazon.jp aren't included.

Below, I detail my experiences using the 3 services mentioned above. The reviews vary in length and detail because I haven't used some services as much as others.

YesAsia

This is probably the biggest and most popular shopping site for Asian media out there. It is the primary service I use because of the huge selection and reasonable prices. In addition, taking advantage of their Super Saver shipping method (read: discounted shipping, even though they call it "free shipping") really saves me a lot of bucks over time. I receive my items in about a week (I live in the United States).

However, what I like the most about this site is the customer service. Due to bad luck and carelessness on my part, I had to e-mail YesAsia customer service quite a few times about various issues surrounding my orders. Their consistent prompt responses really win me over. They've always gotten back to me within a few hours and usually get my problems resolved in about 2 days.

Because I follow a lot of Japanese indie bands, I sometimes find that YesAsia doesn't have certain future releases online when pre-order periods begin. When I e-mailed customer service and requested for the items though, YesAsia always got back to me in a day or two and made my requested items available.

When one of my recent purchases got delayed for 2 weeks due to the items getting held-up in US Customs, YesAsia actually upgraded my shipping for free to speed up the domestic transport and gave me a coupon as apology even though this wasn't even their fault ($5 off on order above $30, I used it to pre-order D's Tafel Anatomie limited edition album). Now that's good customer service.

Though, there are two things that other people often complain about when it comes to YesAsia. First, if you pre-order Japanese music merchandises before a certain date, freebie goods often accompany your items. However, YesAsia actually takes those freebies off your items and sell those separately, despite the fact that bonus goods are marked not for re-sale. It's one more channel for YesAsia to make money, but this bugs a lot of people. Though, I personally don't care.

Second, when your orders are canceled or payments are refunded for whatever reason, the refund takes the form of store credit. Since I order from YesAsia so often, this usually isn't a problem. The principle of it turns some people off though.

Despite the issue with a few of their practices, I've had really good experiences with YesAsia so far. So, I give it...

Rating: Fantastic

Play-Asia

I use Play-Asia as backup when certain releases aren't available at YesAsia. Its Japanese music goods are usually a bit more expensive than YesAsia and it doesn't offer free shipping. However, Play-Asia offers more shipping options in that you can actually choose the packaging. I always pay a few dollars more for a boxed Airmail packaging, instead of the traditional envelop packaging just to ensure my purchases arrive safely.

With every single one of my orders so far, Play-Asia has sent a coupon. $5 off on orders above $50, not bad.

When Play-Asia wasn't able to source one of my items after a month, they agreed to cancel my order and give me a refund. At first I wasn't happy that they offered store credit and e-mailed them back insisting that I prefer direct PayPal refund. They gave a PayPal refund the very next day. This incident was the only time I contacted Play-Asia's customer service and consisted of 3 e-mail exchanges. I got very prompt replies and my problem was resolved in about 3 days. Very nice.

One thing I don't like about Play-Asia is that they don't seem to update their product listing when items go out of stock permanently due to the fact that they're not longer being printed. This can be misleading and is what caused the incident I described above.

Also, Play-Asia takes longer time to ship items out. There's usually a week delay after you make the payment. So, it takes about 2.5 weeks for items to reach me on average.

Rating: Good

J-XYZ

J-XYZ is my very last resort when neither YesAsia nor Play-Asia has what I want. It specializes in band goods not carried by the other shopping sites because they offer tour goods (T-shirts, pamphlets, wristbands, guitar picks, etc.), posters, photo books, flyers, magazines, in addition to good old music CDs. This is the place I can usually count on for still carrying out of print CDs.

Price-wise, however, J-XYZ is often more expensive than YesAsia and Play-Asia (but not excessively so). Because most of their goods are of the rare-to-find variety, I'm perfectly willing to pay a premium for them.

J-XYZ's online shopping interface isn't very advanced. Much of the transaction is handled by a real person instead of automatically by the computer system like other sites and you can't check your order status. Once your order's submitted, it takes a few days for a confirmation e-mail to arrive detailing payment. Once you pay, it again takes a while for them to inform you that your item's been shipped. The site will register your parcel unless you specifically request them not to do so.

Basically, I'm not a big fan of J-XYZ's customer service because it really takes its sweet time to get back to you on everything. When I bought alice nine.'s Zekkeishoku limited edition album from them. It took them 3 days to confirm my order. Then after hearing nothing for a week, I e-mailed them asking about the order status and was informed the CD was shipped out about 5 days before. Geez, would it have killed them to e-mail me when the item was first shipped? Then, almost a week later, I got another e-mail telling me the CD was shipped and apologizing for not keeping me up to date. What the... do they not keep track of their e-mails? Anyway, it took me about 2.5 weeks to receive the album, but the lack of communication was frustrating. -_-;

Based on my one shopping experience, if it hadn't been the fact that J-XYZ carries out of print CDs, I'd never shop there. I just ordered another item from them because I can't find it anywhere else. The confirmation e-mail, this time, came in a few hours instead of 3 days, and the shipping notification e-mail arrived within a day, maybe there's hope for J-XYZ after all.

Rating: Tolerable

PV Review: アリス九號. (alice nine.) / NUMBER SIX.

Supposedly, the NUMBER SIX. PV continues the story told in 春夏秋冬 (Shunkashuutou). The alice nine. members are all high school buddies and they have a startup band. They run into conflicts, have shove fights, get broody, then make up and have group hugs. Awww... we're all friends again!

Does this sound like a cheesy high school drama to you?

Because it sure does to me. I lose count how many times I have facepalmed because the PV is literally dripping with syrupy sap. Guys, even though you have a youthful image, most of you are in the mid-twenties. Dear god, if you must pretend to be high school band kids, you should at least tone down the mushiness. Not to mention, this kind of plot is pretty damn trite. We see it in dramas all the time; must you also inflict it upon us in your PV, too?

Had I been say... 12 years old, I'd have found this love-dovey-ness cute and endearing. alice nine. group hug, yay! But sadly, I'm not. So this PV gets a...

Rating: Tolerable

Update:

I heard rumors that Tora was the one who directed wrote the storyline for this PV. If this is true... well, I apologize to him for not liking his work. It really isn't to my taste. I'm only talking about the PV, not the music here. I know for a fact that he composed the song. However, I still haven't formed an opinion about the song yet. I'll have to digest it some more.

Music Review: Ken / Speed

1. Speed [watch]
2. Empty Rooms
3. The Shadow Of Your Smile
4. Speed(karaoke)

CDJapan (w. DVD / CD) / HMV (w. DVD / CD) / YesAsia (w. DVD / CD)

1. Speed / I cannot get over how jarring Ken's singing is in this track. No matter how many times I listen to the song, I just can't adjust to his voice. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, but he sounds off key in many places. As a result, the melody is so unfortunately damaged that I honestly cannot like the song. It's a shame.

2. Empty Rooms / I believe most (if not all) of this song is sung in English, though I can't really understand the lyrics due to Ken's pronunciation. Whenever he sang "empty rooms", I thought he had said "Aunty Ruth" instead. O_o But other than the heavily accented English, this is a great mellow song. It's melodious, soothing and reminds me of smooth jazz music (I love smooth jazz), but is synthetic. This time, I have nothing to complain about Ken's singing. His voice is appropriately fitting. ♥

3. The Shadow Of Your Smile / 4. Speed(karaoke) / Track 3 is a short instrumental piece and features a trancy, New Age-like guitar sound. It is strangely hypnotizing. Track 4 is the karaoke version of Speed. I like it a lot better than the vocal version. I'm sorry Ken, you really sounded awful in that song.

Other than that strangely off key song, Speed, this is a quite nice single. Ken isn't as good as the other L'Arc~en~Ciel individual projects such as HYDE or Creature Creature (yet). But there's definitely great potential.

Rating: Good

Music Review: ガゼット (the GazettE) / NIL

1. THE END
2. Nausea & Shudder
3. Bath Room
4. Maggots
5. 生暖かい雨とざらついた情熱 (Namaatatakai Ame Tozaratsuita Jounetsu)
6. D.L.N
7. SHADOW VI II I [watch]
8. バレッタ (Beretta)
9. Cassis [watch]
10. SILLY GOD DISCO [watch]
11. DISCHARGE
12. 体温 (Taion) [watch]

CDJapan (Limited / Normal) / HMV (Normal: Germany / Japan) / YesAsia (Limited / Normal)

1. THE END / The first track of the album, and it's named "the end"? How interesting. This is more of an instrumental piece that sets the mood for the album (I wouldn't call what Ruki and the rest of the band do singing, in the strictest sense). Dark, mysterious, and very catchy.

2. Nausea & Shudder / This is a heavy song with pretty hard instrumentals yet a great melody. Here, you get the first taste of Ruki's vocal improvement since Gazette's last album, Disorder. If you haven't been following their 2005 singles releases, you might be caught off guard by the vast difference of Ruki's singing. His voice is richer, more powerful, and more dynamic. In this song, he sounds so passionate and has beyond met my expectations. ♥

3. Bath Room / Ahh, this song has an awesome beginning. Once again, it's a relatively heavy piece. I think my favorite part is right after the guitar solo. Ruki restrains his vocals most of time during this track but breaks into intense full voice singing that truly enhances the climax of the song. Solid work.

4. Maggots / Wah, a head banging heavy metal song! I think metal fans can probably appreciate this track better than I can. This song is so very masculine, which reminds me once again that despite the band's beautiful appearance, these are men. Heavy instrumentals, heavy chanting, very hardcore.

5. 生暖かい雨とざらついた情熱 / I think my jaw dropped when I first heard this track. It... sounds like... SWING?! Had I been a better swing dancer (or at least more agile on my feet, because trust me, this song requires serious footwork), I'd break out into a dance to this song. I am so pleasantly surprised by this new style. It really showcases the fun side of the band and shows its willingness to experiment. Bloody cool!

6. D.L.N / Oooh, a ballad! My gosh, the chorus part is absolutely beautiful. The children's voices really complement and enhance Ruki's singing. He puts so much passion, so much fire into his performance. This is a song that tugs on my heartstrings and really makes me feel. Simply fantastic. ♥

7. SHADOW VI II I / Holy crap, this song has an awesome bass line, wow! I normally don't pay as much attention to bass lines because they often don't stand out, but man, it's hard to ignore this one! Reita does amazing work on his bass and really makes this track unique. This is once again a swing-like, completely danceable song. But this suddenly changes about 2/3 through the track (the bridge), the tempo shifts and what the... this song is now funk?! Then just as quickly, it returns to the original swing beat and left me sitting there blinking. This is some serious experimentation. I love it! ♥

8. バレッタ / This is a semi-ballad song, semi, because I think the beat is too fast throughout for it to be a true ballad. This particular track doesn't really stand out for me. It's very nice and might work better had it been a single or even the B-side to a single. But in an album, it gets overshadowed (probably because it's sandwiched between two of my favorite tracks). Meh.

9. Cassis / Nice, another beautiful ballad. The guitar solos featuring Uruha and Aoi freaking kick ass. After seeing the PV, I realized that Ruki plays the guitar too in this song. He even gets a mini guitar solo right after Uruha's solo (well, kind of)! This song once again characterizes my favorite aspect of Ruki's vocals, the rich timbre and the impassioned singing. ♥

10. SILLY GOD DISCO / I really should have seen this coming, since clues have been dropping with 生暖かい雨とざらついた情熱 and SHADOW VI II I, but I was still caught off guard when this track came on. I think I must have jumped off my chair and started leaping about the room. *sweatdrop* Gazette + funky disco = holy crap, this song is too awesome for words. This is such a fun, wacky, wicked piece! Very very sexy, it's just... argh! Too bloody brilliant. Ruki's English is awful and I can't understand a word, but who cares?! ♥

11. DISCHARGE / Hehe, another heavy metal track. This would be a great piece to play during lives because it'd really get the crowd worked up. I can already imagine the headbanging and roaring. The fangirls are going to go wild.

12. 体温 / This is such a dark and harsh song. By harsh, I'm not just talking about the heavy instrumentals, but really mean the emotion conveyed through this piece. It feels so naked and raw, liking stripping away the outer layer and finding what's underneath bleeding and screaming for release. This song really really moves and resonates within me. This is probably the most emotionally powerful song and a wonderful end to this masterpiece album. ♥

Yes, I think this is Gazette's best work so far. Ruki's amazing vocal improvement truly stands out. It's worth every yen of the ¥3600 (actually, it's more than that since I have to pay for shipping).

Rating: Fantastic

Music Review: Kra / 星空列車の汽笛を聞きながら (Hoshizora Ressha no Kiteki wo Kikinagara)

1. 時の列車 (Toki no Ressha) [watch]

2. 街の灯 (Machi no Hi)
3. ﾀﾞｲｱﾘｰ (Diary)
4. 行方知れぬ時 (Yukue Shirenu Toki)
5. 天の川逃避行 (Ama no Gawa Touhikou)

CDJapan / HMV / YesAsia

1. 時の列車 / The melody is absolutely beautiful. The arrangement sounds simple, yet perfectly suitable. Just as I was getting into the track, however, Keiyuu started singing. Keiyuu's voice is dull. It also lacks the finesse and clarity of tone needed to pull this one off. I'm not saying his vocals is bad, just entirely average and therefore uninteresting. This song might have become one of my all-time favorites if only it was done by a better vocalist. Though, I'd like to see Toki no Ressha arranged into an orchestral piece. I'm certain it'd sound freaking amazing. ♥

2. 街の灯 / This is a quite pretty jazz-influenced track. Yet once again, I'm not taken with Keiyuu's vocals. It's entirely too restrained. He needs to sing with a fuller voice and not hold back.

3. ﾀﾞｲｱﾘｰ / 4. 行方知れぬ時 / 5. 天の川逃避行 / See my comments above about the vocals. All of these songs suffer from the same problem. I'm not going to bother typing it out again. I also feel that these songs lack harmonic complexity, as if the band's cutting corners when putting the music together. While it was okay with Toki no Ressha because the gorgeous melody made up for the arrangement simplicity, this simplicity is a defect in these songs.

It's a shame. This otherwise promising mini album is held back by the mediocre vocals. There's a lot of room for arrangement improvement, too. I'm considering not touching Kra's releases again until either Keiyuu improves his singing or the group gets a new vocalist. However, that wouldn't be fair. So instead, I'll give them more chances in the future.

Rating: Tolerable

PV Review: シド / 御手紙 (SID / Otegami)

The setting for this PV is a brothel! My god, scandalous! (Just kidding!)

First of all, let's talk about the music. This is the first time I've heard "Otegami" (the single comes out on the 16th) and I have to say, I'm impressed. The fusion of traditional Japanese melody and Western rock delivery successfully lends the song an aura of exoticism and it sounds even, shall we say... alluring? The music is sweet, coaxing, and seductive. Mao's caressing voice pleasures the ears and touches the inner heart. Definitely another of my SID favorites, I'm very pleased with "Otegami".

The video itself is almost perfect. The red-on-black color scheme and lighting are oh-so-gorgeous. The band members' wardrobe in this PV is tasteful and stylish (okay, maybe except for Mao's pants). [fangirling] Aki, especially, looks amazing. I nearly expired when he licked his finger near the end. Ahh, how you tempt me. [/fangirling]

What's not good in this video, however, is the courtesan (aka that girl with opaque eyes in the kimono). I don't in fact mind her presence, but when she sticks out her tongue, her eyes become mere slits. The image momentarily reminds me of a suicide victim who hanged herself. She'd look a lot more seductive if she'd just sit still and look delicate and NOT make her eyes into slits while sticking out her tongue and/or taking off her kimono.

Rating: Fantastic