1. Start to 0 (Love)
2. Real voice
3. Sha la la
4. Blue Days
5. I believe
6. Stay with me
7. melody
8. Kimi no Power to Otona no Furi
9. Eien no Monogatari
10. Toki wo Modoshite
11. 1・2・3・4
12. Story
13. Rairarai
14. Mikadzuki
15. message

Seeing so I’m gonna review the second album might as well start with the first. Here is the review for Ayaka’s first message, released on 2006.11.01. It brought Ayaka huge success, even reaching number one on the world charts and being the 13th best (selling) album of the year 2007.

The album opens with Start to 0 (love), a very upbeat and catchy opening tune with gospel influences. Ayaka puts alot into her vocal performance, sounding good singing low but reaching higher notes easy- also note how she accents certain notes. It’s a very catchy tune, very up-tempo and nice to listen to. The lyrics carry a message of hope and new beginnings, fitting for the opening of a debut album. I love the guitar part too.

The second track is Real voice, another fast and upbeat tune with a very funky little piano part this time. Gone is the gospel infleunce, and instead the song sounds darker with guitar part and an edge to Ayaka’s vocals- which are stunning of course. Some nice ad-libbing too. The lyrics are slightly angry, but continue to be hopeful.

Next up is Sha la la. The song starts pretty dark and gritty with disjointed piano, deep and gritty vocals from Ayaka. The song picks up in the chorus, with Ayaka using the higher notes perfectly- sounding very beautiful. The disjointed piano carries through the song, as well as a strong electric guitar part. The song sounds slightly forlorn, but again despite the dark meaning of the lyrics they present a picture of hope. Of moving forward, getting over the wounds of the past: “I just smiled to try and get rid of/The sad regrets etched into my heart/ The future I can’t see, the dark past/ Gotta purge it all from my head”.  The bridge is definitly the best, carrying alot of emotion and being very beatiful with the “sha la la”’s. It’s a very beautiful, laid back and relaxing song. Ayaka sounds stunning when she uses the higher notes, very pure.

Fourth is Blue days, a very soft and mid-tempo ballad. Ayaka puts alot of emotion into it, her voice even cracking at times as if holding back tears. The song begins to pick up at the chorus, introducing the beat to the instrumentation and becoming louder, crescendo-ing into the full song. This one features accoustic guitar, giving it very laid back feel. It’s quite sad, with the overall message seeming to be about breaking up. It’s a sad and beautiful ballad, however it does get repetetive, even the bridge only livens things up a little. Give points to Ayaka for putting so much emotion into it.

After Blue days comes her first single, the ballad I believe. The first song I heard from her. It’s a very impressive ballad. Ayaka uses the alto part of her voice, sliding up to higher notes quite easy. Her vocal performance in this song is gorgeous- as is the intrumentation relying on piano and string (violin!!!) alot. The lyrics are the most hopeful so far, almost like ayaka reassuring herself that everything is fine now.  Love how it builds up, and the string part which doesn’t sound “woe as me”- very few songs use the violin as a solo in this way It’s a beautiful, simple sounding ballad.

Track 6 is stay with me, which goes away from the ballads to an upbeat tune, again tinged with gospel influence (i think). What to say that’s not been said before: good emotion and powerful vocals with good instrumentation. Nothing more to say.

Number 7 is melody another little upbeat number, again a nice electric guitar part. It’s very fast paced, and the lyric seem to be about Ayaka appreciating music and being proud of her music. Aww. The repetetion of melody is a little irritating in many ways, espceially since it’s pronounced wrong. But it’s not bad at all.

After melody is Kimi no Power to Otona no Furi (Your Power and an Adult’s Inseparability)another upbeat one, which starts with the piano key slide thing before bursting out into the full track. It’s very lively and Ayaka sounds good as usual. Very poppy, and I like the use of backing vocals too.

Track number 9 is Eternal Story- and it’s back to ballads. It starts with Ayaka just over guitar, and it actually sounds like she is straining her voice -alteast it takes on a strange tone. Kinda offputting.

Next is Turning Back time, starting off very laid back before introducing the brass (?) and gospel like organ (?). Ayaka sounds very beautiful, especially when she draws out the higher notes in the beginning of the verses. The song builds up the chorus which is pretty fast, almost angry sounding-  like the “heys”. It’s a pretty regretful song in many ways, and Ayaka conveys this bitterness well. Although, the blaring brass is a little irritating.

Then it’s 1.2.3.4. It starts off and builds up the chorus, very fast and upbeat- poppy. It’s nice, nothing outwardly annoying about it, and Ayaka gives a great vocal performance.

Track 12 is story, it starts off sounding very typical with the instrumentation and slowly builds up the first verse, toning down the instrumentation to introduce Ayaka. Again, good vocals. The rythmn of the chorus is irritating though.

Next up is Rairarai- a very nice tune, tinged with gospel again. It’s upbeat with powerful vocals. I love the “rairarai” bits to it. The song carries on the message of hope with it’s happy lyrics- “We can’t lose our chance, move forward!”. the variotions in the song are good and keep it interesting. It’s good, really good.

Second to last is the very well known Mikadzuki (crescent moon). A  piano and string driven ballad to finish the album off. It’s very sad, and unlike alot of the album there isn’t much hope- rather hopelessness. Of loneliness and longing. Ayaka conveys this with stunning vocals, especially the chorus starting with the “ah”. This song has fantastic composition, and alot of emotion. I love it when ayaka sings high, and she does alot here. Beautiful song, very relaxing to finish the album off.  Love how it builds up then quietens down.

But that’s not all! Lastly it’s message. It’s basically Ayaka speaking over soft instrumentals (well that’s what I remember, I deleted it long ago. No use to me!) The message Ayaka gives is cute though: “I want to sing for you/I want to sing for the people listening/If I can tell people about something I feel/That’s all it takes to make me happy” Kinda like something from a manga where the girl wants to be a big singer for various reasons but nvm.

Overall this is a very strong debut album, and it’s actually quite amazing. Her voice is very powerful. For a young girl this is admirable. I also like that she never shows off with her vocals, the high notes slide in perfectly as do the low. She’s not just using her higher notes for the sake of it- if that makes sense? Nothing worse than that. I also love the emotion she always puts into it, makes the songs really powerful.  I also think she wrote alot of the lyrics, if not all, which is definitly admirable. The album is either upbeat pop (often with gospel influence I note), or meloncholic ballad. The overall sense is of hope, lots and lots of hope and new beginnings- fitting to a debut and her acheiving her dream of being a singer. Some of the tracks have weakness’, and sometimes it does drag- meaning it’s best for background music usually.  I’m giving it a eight because it’s good, but to me personally it is not the best thing- and everything which gets a 10 is really really super good, anything above and it’s awesomeness itself.

Lyrics source: Kiwi Musume

I’ll admit to putting this off. I really don’t like Junjou Terriost. It annoys me so damn much. But in order to get to more Usami and Misaki I’ll endure. Or maybe I’ll be lucky and this won’t be Junjou Terrioist- but I doubt that. So- better get this over and done with. Here is Junjou Romantica episode 11. Read the rest of this entry »

Spent the past few days reading insane amounts of BL and doujinshi. Now I think I’m gonna start on the new shows out this season, well the ones I’m interested in. First up is Antique bakery. This show intrigues me because aparently it’s non smutty BL, and because it won a prestigious award. Naturally, not every manga which wins an award I like (guru pon chan thing comes to mind) but… I’ll give it a try. Slice of life usually ain’t my thing either. Haha. This might be the only episode I watch. I’ll be surprised if this interests me. Oh and this is the first time I’ve watched this so if I mess up the summary or names- forgive me. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is Itazura na Kiss episode five, and we’re already dealing with them going to university! Read the rest of this entry »

It’s finally out!! I’m so happy. Released on  this is Suzuki Ami’s  29th single, her 14th on Avex and her second produced by that awesome dude from capsule.  Then again I only like his Suzuki Ami productions, as well as perfume’s secret secret. Otherwise both meg and perfume are rubbish. Suzuki Ami though really suits the genre- and she can actually sing.  And she looks really hot on the single covers, somehow not sl^tty at all.

Tracklisting:
1: ONE
2: A token of love
3: ONE (instrumental)
4: A token of love (FM88 mix)

ONE kicks off with the distorted vocal part before coming in with the electronic instrumentation. Ami’s voice is distorted, especially on the longer notes, but it don’t sound bad. The song builds up the very catchy chorus. Again her voice is distorted but it works really well in the context of the song.  For sure it meets the specification of “upbeat” and “sparkly”. It’s an amazing song, comparable to the awesome FREE FREE. It’s got great electronic instrumentation, effects and variation. I love Suzuki Ami’s voice, emotionless or distorted or just as she is. I love the repetetion of “number one” and also the meaning of the song, which is I think about “the one” and “only one in this world”. It’s cute. But it’s also quite sexy, especially with the whispering voices and stuff.

The PV for ONE is also very sexy, with bad dance moves but cute outfits and pretty face makeup. Suzuki ami looks great  and though the lights are blinding, it fits the song well.

ONE is cute and sparkly with a sexy edge. It is AWESOME.

The single takes a slight downfall with A token of love as the B-side. It’s still great, but it’s very very long. Like ONE it’s all very electronic, and it’s great with lots of varioations and effects. This one has a much more spacey feel though. Suzuki ami comes in with her “oh” and she sounds really good. It’s all very techy and quite nice. She sounds a bit robotic in the verse though- like she’s trying to be cute but the distortion means she sounds like some sort of alien. The pre chorus continues to be irritatiing, before the plain and dragged out chorus. The  you and me is like some creepy alien coming after a human… “hehehe. You and me~~~~~”

Can you imagine that? XD sorry… bad joke…

There are good parts of the song, and they are very good, sprinkled with some bad parts of the song, and they are pretty irritating. It’s all very cutesy  (more creepy) and techy. Not bad but it may have to grow on me.

Overall? ONE is so awesome, and A token of love despite my taking the mick out of it is also quite good. I do think that Yasutaka brings out the best in Suzuki Ami, and I’m glad that there’s also gonna be a full album of this standard. It’s not a bad single, on the contrary it’s pretty damn good. ONE is up there with my favourite electronic songs. A token of love will continue to make me giggle, but will probably still linger on my playlist.

I wonder if FREE FREE will be remixed and put on the new album?? Seems appropriate. It’d fit well on it for sure.

1: Introduction
2: Fly high
3: Trauma
4: And Then
5: immature (album version)
6: Boys & Girls
7: TO BE
8: End roll
9: P.S II
10: WHATEVER “Dub’s 1999 Club Remix”
11: too late
12: appears (album version)
13: monochrome
14: Interlude
15: LOVE ~refrain~
16: Who…
17: Kanariya (hidden bonus track)

LOVEppears (love appears) is Hamasaki Ayumi’s second full length album on avex, released way back on 1999.11.10. The album has a very trance (dance music) feel to it, and though Ayu’s vocals are far from matured- they sound alot more polished than the often squeaky-ness of song for xx.  Here is some information taken from wiki.ppn: The album is a double album where the first disc is a collection of new tracks and the second disc is a mini-compilation from Ayumi’s other releases. The album reached #1 on the Oricon charts and stayed on the charts for a total of sixty-four weeks, selling a total of 2,562,130 copies. The album is the #38 best selling album in Japan. The singles off the album all came out to be quite successful. The album’s single “LOVE ~Destiny~” was her first #1 single, and “Boys & Girls” was her first single to sell over a million copies. The single “A” featured four a-side tracks and the single holds the record for the longest Japanese CD single. The tracks “Fly high” and “kanariya” were re-released a few months later as singles. kanariya is the first re-cut single in Oricon history to hold the top position.

Warning: this will be long. I want to review lots and lots of Ayu’s albums. Alas, 17 tracks.. .it’s gonna be long.

The album opens with the appropratly dubbed introduction. This is a heavy dance song with very dark and urgent feel to it. It’s very fast, with lots of variations. I love it when Ayu comes in, her voice layered and distorted. This introduction is quite amazing, and definitly sets the scene for the awesomeness to follow.

After the intro comes Fly high. The song opens with a soaring part- then ayu raps and it’s goes downhill. Me no like. Everything but the rap is excellent though. fast and energetic. A hopeful feeling with an edge supported by the  lyrics. Great rythmns and great feel- the distorted paino abnd other sounds giving it a quirky edge. Unfortunatly , the rap…the rap…

Track three is Trauma. The song opens with what sounds like distorted guitar part before intodcuing a very poppy sounding little chorus. It’s just as poppy and upbeat as fly high before it, but it’s not bad not bad at all. Much the same as fly high though- minus the rap.

Next up is And then. This is favourite of mine. The song has a dark feel, and spacey synth to it. It’s quite fast paced with the expected dance beat to it. Ayu’s vocals sound good, she’s not stretching them too much. I love how the song builds up and the whole feel to it. A fantastic song with lots of emotion and great instrumentation. Ayu definitly makes the song though, her vocals sound pretty good and she puts alot of emotion into it.A very dark, almost angry song. simply put, it’s amazing.

Track 5 continues the high standard of And then and is the album version of immature. The song like so many others has heavy dance feel. It’s a great song, with a pop feel to it too.  The song is almost deceiving with dark lyrics but such light feel. The instrumentation is great (the highlight of the song almost if the great instrumentation), the verses are great, however I’m not a fan of the chorus for some reason.It’s quite catchy though so you end up listening anyway ^_^  Ayu puts alot of emotion into it anyway and it’s really not all that bad.

After immature comes Boys & Girls. A very happy little song with the old dance beat. Having never been a fan of Ayu’s hyper pop, I’m not a fan of this song. Despite the dance beat, this is equivelent to the hyper pop songs like angels song, fairyland and bluebird. Great track if you’re a fan of “white” ayu.

Track 7 is  TO BE. This is a trademark Ayu song, we can all recognize the opening instrumentation with the piano and the guitar right? It’s  a nice song, more a ballad. It’s quite sad sounding, but more bittersweet. Ayu sounds  quite beautiful and emotional. A very pretty song with dark lyrics and a sad feel. Stunning, more like. Very sad though...just check the lyrics…

Track 8 is not the end but is called End roll. The song opens quietly, slowly building up. There’s a very pretty instrumentation, and it’s just as sad as TO BE.  However it is also hopeful, a sad reflection on the unevitable and moving on. It’s very beautiful, starting quietly before building up the chorus and the rest of the song. Ayu sounds real good and like always, puts all the right emotion into it.Another amazing ballad.

Next is P.S II (powder snow two). Powder snow was one of the good tracks on Song for xx, and P.S II is just as good- presenting Ayu’s thoughts on Powder snow and her reflecting on “Time has passed” since that time. The song opens with a heavy, distorted beat before introducing a chiming and other synth affects Ayu sounds beautiful singing in the lower register, though her voice still cracks slighlty on the higher notes. Still, it retains the rythmns and feel of the old powder snow with new lyrics and a good dance beat- and It sounds pretty good.

Track 10 is another version of the amazing WHATEVER. I’ve listened to the single versions, but I still prefer this album version.  It opens with fast since and a clapping beat before introducing the heavy club beat and the rest of the synth in the familiar rythmn of WHATEVER. This is a pure dance song, with large instrumental sections and lots of voice affects/distortion. The lyrics are hopeful  and I adore the “wows”. It’s a beautiful song, not to mention catchy.   Oh and you have to see the performances of this.At 7 minutes youd think it was boring, but the constant variation keeps the song strong. The very ending does get a little repetetive though.

The album continues with too late. The song is nice and fast, opening with a strange sound before coming in the whole dance arrangement. Ayu’s voice is electronic sounding, but not in the bad way. The transistion from electronic Ayu to real Ayu gives the song nice detail. I love the rythmns and the chorus is so cool. The song is fast but there’s a definite edge to it, presented in Ayu’s voice mostly.A very very good song.

After too late comes appears (album version). I am not a fan of this song. It opens with the distorted warped instrumentation, slowly building up to the very familiar song. It’s a classic Ayu song, and it’s not too bad. It’s got nice instrumentation and vocals.It gets a little repetetive, and I’m not a fan of the opening isntrumentation or the other warped sounds in the song.

Then it’s monochrome. I remember this song having a theme of death though I cannot remember if I’ve got the right song. Either way it opens with distortion, then introduces the whole dance instrumentation thing. Ayu sounds sad in the verses, building up the chorus whereshe reaches up to the high notes, and pulls it off. I think this would be a hard song to sing so I’ll give her points for that. I love the instrumentation for this, and the use of distortion. The whole song has a nice feel, sad and longing building to urgency in the instrumental section and ayu’s “la’s” before cutting itself off. It is definitly one of the strong tracks of the album.

14 is an interlude. At just 55 seconds it is a simple dance  tune, with a sense of urgency for sure. It is fitting after monochrome and leads the album onwards nicely.

15 is love ~refrain~. the song opens with very sexy (more sleazy but nvm) instrumentation before introducing sweet and sincere vocals from Ayu. This is the re-recorded version of the amazing Love ~destiny~ and definitly lives up to it’s pre–cessor.  It’s a sweet and slow ballad, tinged with the dance music infulence of the whole album. the lyrics are cute, with Ayu hesitating and saying “um”:

“Just having met you, just having loved you,
having shared my thoughts with you,
from now until forever… thank you.”

The instrumentation is nothing special, but Ayu sings this with alot of emotion and her vocals and the lyrics make the song. Her vocals still crack at times in a painful way but it’s not as bad as it could be and it isn’t too excruciating you want to skip the song.

Second to last is Who… a very pretty little ballad. It has a nice piano part but still relies alot on twinkling synth and a distorted guitar bit. Ayu sounds beautiful in the ad-libbing, giving it a very light feel. The way her voice is distorted to sound slightly echoey backs the ethereal feel. Oh and the lyrics are extremly romantic. It’s a wonderful little ballad to “finish” the album off. Very laid back and ethereal sounding. Nothing special but packed with emotion, and pleasant to listen to. It also fits nicely from Love ~refrain~ - but Ayu’s albums always flow nicely.

Lastly, hidden amongst Who… is Kanariya. I love this ones lyrics but alas the only version I can take is the trance remix. This version is pretty bad. Ayu sounds squeaky and there’s some American dude singing “there’s something in your eyes” which is totally unrelated to the song and the meaning of the song! It had potential but it’s all so random…and Ayu sounds BAD. Well, in the chorus. The verses are Ok, with nice emotion, actually- until the dude comes in and then the chorus… Listen to the trance remix, that truly brings out this song (for the song is beautiful with a dark feel and stunning lyrics)

This is an amazing album from Hamasaki Ayumi. I love the dance feel to alot of the tracks for one, for two her vocals aren’t that good but neither are they bad, and for three the lyrics are still outstanding. Hamasaku Ayumi always presents something new and unique in her albums, and though she’s never made anything else like this (apart from connected sorta) that’s fine. This really shows her emotions at the time, and how much she has perhaps matured from her first album- or atleast she was beginning to  mature. Oh and her vocals at this time really suit the song. It’s an amazing album with a variety of tracks, that present something new even while relying heavily on synth and or dance beat. One of my favourite’s from Ayu.

This is a digital single from Gummy, released on 2008.06.26. It’s a cover of an old song from 1969. Judging by the cover it’s being used for that upcoming film about the women who becomes a sexy singer during wartime in order to find her husband. Technically, this review is me cheating since it’s only one song but nvm.

Nimeun meon goseh (in a distant place) is a beautiful meloncholic ballad. It starts quietly with only gummy then introduces a repetetetive piano part. It’s very beautiful and haunting- and Gummy’s voice suits it totally, as well as the amount of emotion she puts into it. Slowly the song builds up, getting louder and instroducing more instruments. There’s a wonderful use of piano and string, alongside modern isntruments (theres a good guitar solo somewhere). The chorus is repetetetive but full of emotion and beautifully sung, with lots ad libbing. Gummy reaches the high notes perfectly. It’s a beautiful song that builds up then fades away- packed with lots of emotion, fantastic instrumentals and amazing singing from Gummy.

This is a beautiful beautiful song. I cannot copare to the original, but I’d ay that Gummy did it justice. I’ve had it on repeat for a little while now- and it’s not yet gotten old.