Reviews: 10/15 New Releases

REVIEWS: 4 songs up for review this week and 3 of them are 6 minutes or longer in length so it'll take some listening time if you wish to check them all out: Yui Aragaki's Akai Ito; TOHOSHINKI's Jumon -MIROTIC-; Planetarium from rock trio Ikimono Gakari; and finally alan's RED CLIFF ~Shin.Sen~.

Akai Ito Aragaki Yui

Akai Ito is Yui Aragaki’s second single and is a cover of an old Kobukuro tune. While Gakki’s first single, Make My Day, was pretty popular, I have to say it didn’t warm to me and this one isn’t much different. The song itself is pleasant but on the bland side. Gakki’s vocals are void of much emotion and let’s be honest, she isn’t a very good singer. All in all, it’s a pretty boring release that will likely sell well, purely because of Aragaki’s popularity.

Rating: 6/10

Jumon -Mirotic- TOHOSHINKI

Jumon -Mirotic- is the Japanese version of TOHOSHINKI's title track off their newest Korean album Vol.4 – MIROTIC so I’m pretty familiar with the track already. I’m really used to the Korean vocals so this Japanese version sounds a bit odd to me. The Korean vocals provide more punch to the song imo, which is something missing in the Japanese edition. The chorus in particular loses the edge of the Korean version. I’m not sure if my opinion would of changed had I not heard the song earlier, but I guess now we’ll never know >.< Mirotic, I’ll stick with their album ver.

Rating: 7.5/10

Planetarium Ikimono Gakari

Planetarium is a charming, yet typical pop/light rock song for me. It really is quite a sweet, little tune with a nice instrumental and is uplifting. Kiyoe’s vocals fit nicely with the style and the whole thing is very pleasing to listen to. It’s a style of song you can just play in the background as you go about your daily activities, a nice easy listen. That being said it is very typical, you hear a lot of this style. Fortunately Ikimo Gakari do it well but they don’t offer much of anything new to the table. This doesn’t seem to matter much though when the song is as enjoyable as it is.

Rating: 8/10

RED CLIFF ~Shin.Sen~ alan

I was so ready to just give up on alan; She’s obviously not very popular, Avex is churning out singles for her like there is no tomorrow and the last song did nothing at all for me … then she brings out RED CLIFF. RED CLIFF is another Japanese remake, with the Chinese version of the song released earlier this year in conjunction with the Chinese and Japanese releases of the film, Red Cliff. I hadn’t heard the other version so this song is very new to me and I absolutely love it. The pre-chorus gives me chills up my spine, like seriously, alan is an incredible vocalist. alan’s characteristic wailing makes an appearance and all round it’s just a beautiful song.

Rating: 9/10