Reviews: 8/27 New Releases

Bambino Bambina Tamura Yukari

Bambino Bambina is Tamura Yukari's 15th single and the theme song for Friday TV Lab which may or may not be Perfume's TV Show (Is it different to Friday TV Lab HAPPY? *is confused*) Either way I have the song and I'm reviewing it ^_^
This song is sugar coated lollipops in marshmallow land aka all things sweet. Unfortunately too many sweets tend to leave an upset stomach and this is the case here. Yukari-chan's voice is beyond high and it's not even very good high. The song has some slight merits. It's a nice little tune, sugary sweet as I mentioned but the chorus has some nice layers to it and an electric guitar instrumental is welcomed. It's a nice tune but it's hard to get past Yukari's cute voice. If you don't mind high (high high) voices then this might be a song for you.

Rating: C+

MUSIC!!! / ZERO AAA

I'm a casual fan of AAA, really enjoying a few of their tracks so it's always nice to see a new AAA single and this time we get a double A-side to keep us all happy! MUSIC / ZERO is AAA's 19th single with ZERO being the opening theme for the anime World Destruction.
MUSIC!!! is a very enthusiastic (!!!) summer song with some nice rapping and a happy, upbeat chorus. I have to admit the opening of this song just kills me, purely because I've been unsuspectingly scared out of my wits (numerous times) when visiting Raid's blog within the last month. The song begins blaring through my speakers and it always catches me by surprise! *lol* It brings back awful flashbacks... Despite this, the song is pretty good. I expressed my distaste of some of the songs this Summer but this is a nice indication of a cool, fun Summer song. The rapping is particularly nice and the chorus is good too.
ZERO on the other hand is a dark electro/rock type song which is a nice contrast in styles for this single. I love my j-pop rock style songs but this one doesn't hook me straight away. The verses are done well and have a slightly haunting element with the synth. The chorus doesn't feel much like a chorus at all and isn't very catchy and the rap doesn't seem to fit in with the song style. It's a song built around a nice verse.

Rating: B for MUSIC!!! ... B- for ZERO

NEXUS 4 / SHINE L'Arc~en~Ciel

NEXUS 4 / SHINE is L'Arc~en~Ciel's 35th single. NEXUS 4 is the SUBARY Legacy CM song while SHINE is the opening for the anime Seirei no Moribito.
NEXUS 4 is a rocky song (surprise, surprise) but is a slightly more upbeat from what I've heard of L'Arc~en~Ciel in the past. I guess you could call it a Summery rock song. It doesn't do TOO much for me though, I think I prefer their darker style. It's not necessarily bad and I think it would work well in commercials. Hyde's vocals surprisingly work well in the more upbeat style (like I said I don't listen to them much), I'm used to him being much more dark and depressing. It's a refreshing change.
SHINE is a mid-tempo rock/pop song which is even further from what I've heard from L'Arc~en~Ciel before. I definitely prefer this track to NEXUS 4. It has some really lovely tempo changes and has that style that makes you feel as if you are floating. Hyde once again sounds really good and the song is a really nice addition to the single. I think it compliments NEXUS 4's rockier style well.

Rating: B- for NEXUS 4 ... B for SHINE

Secret Code KinKi Kids

Kinki Kids churn out another sure-fire hit with Secret Code, their 27th single. It is the theme song for 33pun Tantei and has a nice big band sound. I haven't heard TOO much of this lately so it's a good change of pace from the Summer styled songs. It's always great when a big band song is done well and Kinki Kids gives it a nice shot. My only slight reservation is that this may not be BIG enough. It is almost on the verge of a lounge style song with *some* big band elements. The pre-chorus build is a nice change of tempo and the vocals are as always lovely. The chorus should have a little bit more punch to really push it from good to great. The instrumental is a high point with a lengthy medley of horns. Very nice. It will no doubt continue their streak of no.1 hits.

Rating: B

SINGLE OF THE WEEK

20+∞ Century Boys Acid Black Cherry

My single of the week this time around is Acid Black Cherry's newie 20+∞ Century Boys. Acid Black Cherry is the solo project of Janne De Arc's Yasu and 20+∞ Century Boys is his 5th single as a soloist.

20+∞ Century Boys

20+∞ Century Boys has a great rock beat straight from the start and an interesting arrangement. The song almost feels like an end of Summer track, reminiscent of some sort of college drama.
The verses aren't overly special but have a nice catch towards the end of the repetition and then slip into a really nice build. The build has an awesome arrangement to it and does exactly what any good pre-chorus build should, transitioning between the verse and the chorus. This is done perfectly and the rockin' chorus follows, no doubt encouraging anyone to sing along. The "20th Century Boys!" line is the true catch of this track that you can easily pick up before the song is over and continue singing along to. Towards the end of the song there is a small instrumental followed by another nice tempo change with the bridge which slows the pace down a little.
Yasu has a great pop/rock voice and shines in this song. He is able to sing the up-tempo chorus as effortlessly as the smooth bridge and verses.
I have to admit that before the end of the song I moved from humming, to bobbing around in my chair to singing some lines in the chorus! It's very a catchy song that I really enjoyed. I find that this genre of male pop/rock can be VERY repetitive and a lot of it sounds the same but Yasu has a song which stands out with its own style and uniqueness. He has a very nice single on his hands here.

Rating: B+