REVIEWS: Review time again! As it gets closer and closer to Xmas, I'm running out of winter ballads. I'm still haven't found one that totally knocks my socks off... maybe next year. This week none of the tracks are especially wintery, well except for Shuuchishin newie but ... well read the review. I also review new tracks from Porno Graffitti, RSP, Tommy heavenly6 and H!P's newest unit Shugo Chara Egg!

Koyoi, Tsuki ga Miezutomo Porno Graffitti

Porno Graffitti are sort of entering a new chapter of their singing career, coming off their successful BEST ACE/JOKER albums released last month. They kick off this phase with Koyoi, Tsuki ga Meizutomo which is the ending theme for the third BLEACH anime film (Bleach: Fade to Black –Kimi no Na wo Yobu-).
The song has a great sound to it throughout; it’s an upbeat, energetic song with some rock and synth elements. It really is very high energy from start to finish … It must be a bitch to perform lol so all credit to Okano who does really well vocally. The song is really going for that exciting, upbeat sound, but for me I would have liked a little more variety in the instrumental. It tends to maintain pretty much the same energy throughout, there’s no highs or lows, it’s much of the same all the way through. It’s still a pumping track though and a great start for this new chapter for Porno Graffitti.

Rating: 8/10

LA.LA.LA LOVE SONG ~Koko kara Hajimaru Koi Monogatari~ RSP

LA LA LA LOVE SONG ~blah blah~ (lol) is RSP’s first single since their debut album DICE which was released a little earlier this year. The track sees the girls (+dancers) team up with DA BUBBLE GUM BROTHERS and is a cover of a Toshinobu Kubota song.
One thing I love about RSP are the edgy vocals of Saki and Ai. They both sound very unique and give RSP their own unique vocal sound. Unfortunately we’re bombarded by DA BUBBLE GUM BROTHERS who are some old dudes who rap. I’m not really sure why the girls just couldn’t rap themselves, we all know they can… urgh wateva. In regards to the song, it’s a great track. Very catchy with a bit of a disco beat but still maintaining that street feel that RSP have. Maybe on their next album they’ll have an RSP only ver of this track? I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Rating:7.5/10

Minna no Tamago Shugo Chara Egg!

Ah~! ‘tis a debut single from a new H!P group! Shugo Chara Egg!’s Minna no Tamago is the opening for the new season of Shugo Chara (Doki!!) and is very much inspired by the colourful anime.
I always love when new groups debut and this one has one of my fav eggs Wada Ayaka in it! Unfortunately pretty much my whole fandom of DAWA was based on her cute performances where I hadn’t really heard her sing solo. This song sort of crashes my pure image of her. Everytime she opens her mouth I feel like sticking a gun in mine -_-; Oh well, I still love ya DAWA! (even if you can’t sing) -_- The other girls are all very cute and it’s generally just a fun, childish song. It’s not the most terrific song to ever grace H!P but for its purpose it does well.

Rating:7/10

PAPERMOON Tommy heavenly6

PAPERMOON is Tomoko Kawase’s new single and her first since release as Tommy heavenly6 since Heavy Starry Heavenly back in early ’07. It’s good to have heavenly back!
To be honest, the track is a pretty conventional Tommy rock track but I still really enjoy it. For me the song is very upbeat and catchy, the chorus in particular has a great sound to it – but I do really like the whole track. Tommy’s vocals go a long way – she is a pleasure to listen to, especially when she really goes for it. The rock instrumental is pretty good, if not totally original, and it works well with the track.
Perhaps one of the very exciting things about this release is IW’s fav gaijin rocker Elec (LAVERITE) appears in the Wizard of Oz themed PV, rockin’ out as the scarecrow. It’s a pretty nifty PV so check it out:

Rating: 8.5/10

Yowamushi SANTA Shuuchishin

Everyone’s favourite Shuuchishin has a Christmas track which is almost certain to rocket to no.1 … yay! (-_-; ) … lol I don’t watch Hexagon so I don’t really ‘get’ the appeal of these dudes but each to their own I guess.
Yowamushi SANTA is pretty dodgy. I’m sorry lol, but it just is. Firstly the guys can’t really sing very well, which I can look past if the song is good (hell, I’m a H!P fan) … but the song just isn’t anything special either. It’s like a mid tempo sway session song … what a bore. The chorus is kind of catchy I guess, I’ll give it that. It might work on the whole retro tv song level – I can totally picture this being sung on their show. It’s not bad, I mean I can listen to it, but it’s just a very average song – so I’m giving it a very average rating.

Rating:5/10

ORICON ROUNDUP

Porno Graffitti ruled the Album Charts this week with their joint release BEST ACE and BEST JOKER scoring sales of over 100K each to take the top 2 positions. Coming off their single Love, Too Death, Too, which placed no.2 on the Oricon Charts, the album is their first no.1 album since 2005's THUMP x.
Last week's no.1 WE LOVE HEXAGON, fell to no.4 but still managed sales over 50K. The album fell down on the daily charts due to the new releases, but saw itself reclaim the top spot over the weekend and going into its 3rd week on the charts.

Kanjani8 unsurprisingly hit the top of the Singles Chart for their 5th consecutive no.1 single. What might be a surprise is the huge sales of 347K, up over 150K from their last single Wahaha's debut sales. Musekinin Hero's incredible sales just firmly cements Kanjani8's growing popularity in the Japanese single's market.
Hey! Say! JUMP drops to 7th spot from last week's no.1, with sales of 23K, pretty much on par with their previous singles' 2nd weeks.

MilkyWay's TanTanTaan had a bit of a disappointing debut, only managing to sell 16.6K and charting at no.8 on the Singles Chart. This is down 11K from their debut Anataboshi however it is up 4K from Koharu Kusumi's Papancake's dismal sales.

CHARTS:

Singles:

01 Musekinin Hero Kanjani8 347,735
02 Toki no Ashioto Kobukuro 136,111
03 Nihon no Mikata -Nevada Kara Kimashita- Yajima Biyoushitsu 38,844
04 Monochrome no Kiss SID 36,982
05 36ºC WaT 33,389
06 Sou ~new love new world~ Fukuyama Masaharu 24,425
07 Mayonaka no Shadow Boy Hey! Say! JUMP 23,499
08 Tan Tan Taan! MilkyWay 16,667
09 Ame ga Furu Sakamoto Maaya 13,825
10 motto☆Hadenine! Tomatsu Haruka 11,505

Albums:

01 PORNO GRAFFITTI BEST ACE Porno Graffitti 104,747
02 PORNO GRAFFITTI BEST JOKER Porno Graffitti 102,931
03 Kaze no Chroma Remioromen 55,229
04 WE LOVE HEXAGON Hexagon All Stars 54,978
05 DJ KAORI'S JMIX II (Various Artists) 44,207

REVIEWS: This week I'm reviewing 3 pretty good singles: GIRL NEXT DOOR's Drive Away / Shiawase no Jouken; Porno Graffitti's Love,too Death,too; and Koda Kumi's Taboo.

Drive Away / Shiawase no Jouken GIRL NEXT DOOR

GIRL NEXT DOOR's second single is a double A-side, both songs being upbeat, pop numbers.


Drive Away is the standout track on this single for me, pretty much because both songs sound very similar and Drive Away is just a lot more catchier. The chorus really makes Drive Away stand out from Shiawase no Jouken. It is very catchy, especially the "drive away" bit and the song in general just has a really uplifting feeling. I had a problem with their debut single not quite being able to distinguish itself between rock and pop/dance. This single clears that all up, both songs are very up tempo, dancey ... very pop.


My issue with this single is that the second A-side, Shiawase no Jouken, is very similar to the first track. It's almost an extension of Drive Away - If you did a nice transitioning, they could be the same song. The problem with this is that neither track really distinguishes itself enough. I personally had trouble remembering what each song specifically sounded like shortly after listening, despite being able to recall the general sound of the single. It's all one big mush of dance/pop.

I do like this pop style GIRL NEXT DOOR is going with but some variation between the two songs would have been nice. Perhaps a rockier tune for the second to compliment Drive Away's pop style? Why have a double a-side if both songs offer you exactly the same thing? Still both songs are fun and reasonably decent tracks.

Rating: Drive Away 7.5/10 - Shiwase no Jouken 6.5/10

Love,too Death,too Porno Graffitti

Porno Graffitti's 26th single adopts a jazz/rock kind of style ... whatever it is, I really enjoy it!


Love, too Death too is just an undeniably catchy, fun tune. It has a really interesting arrangement with inspirations from jazz styles plus their typical rock sounds and even some orchestral strings. I'm not really a regular listener of Porno Graffitti's stuff so at first I found Okano's vocals slightly off putting (he has a unique voice) but I got over that pretty quickly and actually really enjoy them now (the same thing happened when I reviewed Gift lol). The chorus is obviously the highlight in this song, the "Love, too Death too" line is the song's hook and it's repeated a lot but never gets tiring. The verses have a great style to them and the instrumental sections are a joy to listen to. The bridge towards the end of the song is also another highlight for me, it has a great melody and sets up for a cool guitar instrumental.

All in all, just a really refreshingly unique track from Porno Graffitti. The boys have 2 BEST albums released in a couple of weeks BEST ACE and BEST JOKER ... I'll have to check them out.

Rating: 8.5/10

Taboo Koda Kumi

This single has been a LONG time coming but it was definitely worth the wait. Koda's Taboo sees her return to the funky, dance tracks that she has been so popular with in the past.


I've loved this song ever since the previews and I'm a fan of Kuu-chan's stuff in general, especially her past two albums. Despite hearing this song, probably a month or so ago and listening to it over and over (and over) again, I still haven't got sick of it. It's such a great song; The chorus is catchy, the verses are catchy, the beat is infectious... What more can I say? I definitely prefer this style for Koda, her voice suits and excells in this genre. The random English throughout is a nice touch, even though a lot of it is hard to decipher without lyrics (ahh Engrish^_^ ~!)

Taboo is everything that a Koda song should be (more of this, please!) and it's already in the mail, heading to me right this moment.

Rating: 9.5/10

GET ALONG TOGETHER sg WANNA BE+

sg WANNE BE+ is a Korean trio who have been active since 2004 and (I believe) are making their Japanese debut with this single. GET ALONG TOGETHER is a piano ballad with very impressive vocals. All three of the group's members sound really fantastic with very smooth, emotional voices. The song itself isn't too impressive unfortunately. It's a typical ballad and not something that I would think you would want to kick your career off with in Japan. It isn't overly catchy or unique at all. Just when you think it is lifting it drops back. It's a bit of a teaser to be honest. Lots of potential in this group but this single isn't a winner for me.

Rating: B-

Gift Porno Graffitti

Gift is Porno Graffitti's 25th single and the theme song for Flying Rabbits which unfortunately is not about flying rabbits at all but about basketballer air hostesses instead. What a shame! Now to the song: It has that indy-rock feel which everyone just seems to love in Japan. I'm really liking Okano-kun's vocals, they're nice and unique and obviously fit the genre well (they'd have to by now, eh?) The song has a nice layed back feeling to it without being boring. It reminds me very much of a school/university drama theme, not so much basketballer air hostesses. That doesn't matter much though, I still like it.

Rating: B

Life Goes On CHEMISTRY

CHEMISTRY's newest single is a double A-side with Life Goes On ~Side K~ and ~Side D~.I have absolutely no idea what side K or side D represents and I have no desire to start throwing random guesses about.
Life Goes On ~Side K~ is sort of a techno beat dance track, not so dissimilar from the likes of Perfume. I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the genre and this track doesn't stand out to me that much. The chorus was pretty good and it was better towards the end. It really isn't my genre though, I've tried to like groups like Perfume and I just can't. sorry.
From the ecclectic ~Side K~, Life Goes On ~Side D~ is very laid-back and sombre in comparison. The vocals are quite nice in this song, albeit soft. It's like an acoustic version of the previous track with some strings inserted here and there. I wouldn't say it is any better than the other track, it's different. I guess whichever genre you prefer will be the side you prefer.

Rating: B- for both.

Lion May'n / Nakashima Megumi

Oh yay! An Anime track. I love my Anime openings, they're usually surprisingly good. Lion is a collaboration between May'n (Nakabayashi May) and Nakajima Megumi. It is the Opening theme for Macross Frontier, an anime (well duh!).
Lion is a synth driven upbeat track with some light rock and orchestral elements. The song itself is good for what it is, which is a mindless anime tune. It doesn't bring much that hasn't been heard before (over and over and over). The biggest disappointment is that they haven't really utilised both girls. If I didn't know better I would have just assumed it was a single artist with backing vocals. This may be because both artists sound similar, I don't know, but I don't see the point of doing a duet if you can't even tell. The song is catchy, despite its downfalls and is one of those songs that you find yourself humming without even thinking.

Rating: B

Single of the Week

Truth / Kaze no Mukou he ARASHI

Despite scouring the new release charts in a desperate bid to not have a Johnny's song as my Single of the Week, I could not find a better single this week than ARASHI's newest double A-side Truth / Kaze no Mukou he. Coming off the lovey-dovey, sickeningly sweet albeit highly successful One Love, Truth / Kaze no Mukou he is a great change of pace for the boys.

Truth



The song starts off with some dramatic strings and the whole instrumental is very orchestrally inspired which is an automatic winner in my books. The guy's vocals aren't overly impressive (in fact they're surprisingly bad in some bits, especially the lower registry), but they are idols so that can be forgiven. I know I blab on and on about songs needing to be catchy and this one fits the bill in almost all aspects of catchy..ness. It has the infectious "I take your life forever, you take my life forever" lines in the verses; the undeniably brilliant backing vocals in the bridge and a very decent chorus. The second verse and bridge mix it up enough to remain fresh throughout and the instrumental is great. I don't know much about ARASHI but I like this song.

Rating: A-

Kaze no Mukou he



The second single on the track is a mid-tempo Summerish song and it ticks the boxes a Summer song should. Laid back? Tick. Summer influenced instrumental? Tick. Rapping? Tick. Catchy? Tick. Uplifting? Tick. It's another really good song. The vocals on this song are better than the previous, though the range seems much less on this song which may be the reason. The song is a touch repetitive but the chorus is good enough to make up for it and it doesn't even take a full listen for you to already be singing along "Kaze no Mukou he!" whilst bobbing around like an idiot. A top rate Summer track.

Rating: A-

I really enjoy the antithesis of light and shade in these two tracks. From the dramatically moody Truth to the upbeat Kaze no Mukou he. The contrast is wonderful. I'm not sold on the group yet but I do enjoy this single very much. Tracks are on the media player at the top of the blog so have a listen and see if you agree.