Venerdì 25 Ago 2006, 13:33
(copying and pasting japanese titles sucks - I'm gonna have to reinstall some sort of IME, I think)
I don't know why I've never bought any Mika Nakashima stuff before now, because I'm seriously loving this album. I could listen to Ms. Nakashima sing ballads like 桜色舞うころ and 火の鳥 all day, and when I hear the intro to 蜘蛛の糸 I am completely transfixed. There are a couple of songs, like LEGEND and ひとり that don't really grab me, but MUSIC overall is enough to guarantee I'll be following Mika in the future.
Alright, so I bought this on a whim, but it's turned out to be a lot better than I expected. I love SLAP THAT NAUGHTY BODY to an embarrassing degree, of course, but there are other gems in the tracklist like Grooving beating, Change your life, and a surprisingly good cover of Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" (although I bet I'm the only one that likes it). Best of all, 3/4 of the album's lyrics are in English, so you can almost sing along (although Anna's accent makes it difficult). A well-rounded rock album to add to the collection.
This one's taking some time to get used to. I've adored Hikki's recent singles, especially Be My Last and Passion, but the album tracks are taking longer to grow on me. The chorus of BLUE is borderline-cringeworthy, 日曜の朝 is just bland, and I still don't know what to think about One Night Magic. And what is COLORS doing on this album?! Sure, it came out after Deep River, but it's still four(?) years old at this point. Well, in any case I'm happy to have her recent singles all in one place, and I'm sure I'll warm up to the rest of the tracks in due time. Hopefully.
Alright, it's official: m-flo WAS better with LISA. Have a listen to chronopsychology, been so long, or Deep Within - this is just top-quality stuff. It's interesting to hear how different VERBAL sounds here (and to a lesser extent on EXPO EXPO) from his current style: he's rougher and faster with his flows, sometimes cramming so much into a line that I have a hard time deciphering even his English raps. LISA, meanwhile, just sounds gorgeous, and she's not half bad on the spoken-word side of things either. This is classic m-flo that any new fan ought to check out; I'm glad I did.
The Replacement Percussionists
エキスポ防衛ロボット「GRAN SONIK」
ASTROMANTIC CHARM SCHOOL
DOPE SPACE NINE
AUUUGHH so many remix albums. Of these four, my favorites are probably GRAN SONIK and ASTROMANTIC CHARM SCHOOL; every disc has its standout tracks, but these two are the most consistently good, at least from my standpoint. They've also got the best in-between-track narratives: GRAN SONIK tells a story about rampaging Loridroids and "Expo Defense Systems," while CHARM SCHOOL aims to groom you into an "astromantic" gentleman or lady (complete with helpful English translations in the liner notes). Curiously, DOPE SPACE NINE is the only one to have no interludes at all; it's easily my least favorite disc out of the bunch, although it does have a great remix of "Tripod Baby" (see, LISA again).