Meet the Japanese Queen

Fake Out / Japanese Queen / Game In Rio

I’m not a dancehall or baile funk expert. I’m not even sure I know what exactly dancehall is besides something Sean Paul seems to do very well. Furthermore, I don’t even really like dancehall. I guess I’m just not sophisticated enough to appreciate the inner workings of a Jamaican accent. Or any foreign accent. Because when M.I.A. or Sean Paul open their mouths, I’m aware somewhere in the back of my mind that this is English, but as information travels along the nerve endings my brain just short circuits and fails to descramble what it is they’re saying. “Oh ahn the way they dance come on wanna be keepin’ you on, I got the right temperature hot fish you from the start awwww lawd, gonna be the papa you can be the mom uh-oh, fight me lenin faught me naughty! Hey! All mah girls! All mah girls! Baby girl!“

Which is why, perhaps, it’s so strange that I am really digging Tigarah. Once a political science major in her native Japan, she decided to take some time off to visit South America, where she perfected the style of, um…her particular style. Which is dancehall. Ish. Well, all that matters is that it’s good, nay, exceptionally good.

The first song I heard was the French remix of “Japanese Queen” and it immediately struck me as ridiculously catchy and radio-friendly. And unlike Sean Paul’s garble, my ears are perfectly capable of handling something when I know it’s not a language I understand. Except the French. I took four years of it in high school and I refuse to submit until I translate every single word they rap. And believe it or not, the original “Japanese Queen” is even better. It’s loud, in your face, funk-tastic music.

So far, she’s only released a short EP of songs, but you’re free to sample the disc on her official web site, along with dozens of remixes just as catchy as the originals. It’s not to be taken seriously and I think that’s what drew me to her music in the first place. I suggest you have fun with this one.

♫ Official Site

DJ Takado’s “CONNECTION ‘06″

DJ Takado / CONNECTION ‘06 / July 03, 2006
04. Candy ~egytian reggaeton mix~
08. BLUE BIRD ft. DJ Takado (Silicone Soul Club Mix)

This CD is remixed and compiled by DJ Takado and features prominent Japanese pop figures Ayumi Hamasaki, Koda Kumi, Namie Amuro, Mika Nakashima and Hikaru Utada, which is just about as huge as it gets. However, despite the alarming cast of characters, the bill falls short of coming up with a dramatic enough play to capture your attention. The introduction is an immediate blatant steal of Hamasaki’s “connected,” which serves absolutely no purpose as it neither reflects what the rest of the disc will sound like, nor does it merge into the second track as some sort of non-stop megamix.

The second song is a slow, club remix of Kumi’s “Candy,” which falls short of the later remix of the same song, which at least has some flair. The third track is Hamasaki’s “SEASONS,” which has absolutely no business being on this disc. It’s a slow song to begin with and the remix makes it seem as if the vocals have actually been slow-moed. So basically, I’m three tracks in and I’m disappointed already. As I mentioned before, the fourth track, “Candy ~egytian reggaeton mix~,” picks things up a bit, though the blatant advertisement of reggaeton initially turned me off; I don’t do anything remotely resembling Daddy Yankee. The remainder of the disc is just as slow and substance free. The remixes attempt to grab hold of some sort of breezy, summerish, carefree vibe, alternating between ambient tones and funk beats, which comes up sounding a lot like really bad club music they play in huge record stores to attract hipsters and appear new school.

I realize some people are into this sort of thing; but in this case, some people aren’t me. The thing that really did it was the sort of twist in plot line with the closing song, another blatant rip-off of Hamasaki’s “alterna.” Stop the madness! The CD’s only popularity basically lies in the names attached to them…and DJ Takado isn’t one of them. Which is why I am of the camp who believe one should have a license to remix. And a license to title compilation CDs because this jumbled mess is basically the opposite of any connection I’ve ever seen.

♫ Official Site

NANO-MUGEN COMPILATION 2006

NANO-MUGEN COMPILATION 2006 / July 05, 2006
01. Jyuni Shinhou no Yukei / 07. Have you ever Seen the Stars?
11. I am for you

Every summer NANO-MUGEN compilations are released as ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION go on tour with a few other bands (I say every year like this has been going on for decades; this is only the second one). I don’t remember how it worked last year, but this year a few well-known American bands are featured.

The first song of interest to me was the new original song by AK-FG…which sounds exactly like every other one of their songs. I know I said I sort of liked this because I like their sound and a few more in minimal varying degrees is alright with me, but I’ve decided to change my mind. They are in serious danger here if this continues.

A lot of the songs on the compilation sound much like this first song; upbeat pop rock, with a few harder exceptions. I liked the songs by Beat Crusaders, Dream State, Mo’osome Tonebender, and Waking Ashland (I am such a sucker for piano). But other than that, even this disc is expendable, though more welcome than CONNECTION ‘06. Which just goes to show: mix CDs are always best done first-hand.

♫ Buy NANO-MUGEN COMPILATION 2006

Friday night shuffle VI

Wherein I put the ol’ iRiver on shuffle and post the first five songs that come up.

Lee Jung Hyun – Q: Lee Jung Hyun is a phenomenally huge East Asian singer. Mostly dabbling in techno, she first amassed popularity in Korea with “Bakkwah” and “Wa” which were both showcased in mixes for Dance Dance Revolution. After releasing six full length albums, she finally took it upon herself to conquer Japan, where she released Japanese versions of already popular Korean songs. She failed to gain the attention she was accustomed to, but continues releasing new material in both languages with plans for a new album coming this summer. This song is insanely catchy and does a good job of pigeon-holing her typical style of fast paced techno laced with her alarmingly high-pitched vocals.

Michael Jackson – Dirty Diana: I’m not really sure why I have this song in my iRiver, but it’s only one of two Michael Jackson songs I have in here. All hail the King of Pop pre-Jesus Juice era. I think this is a song he did with Slash from Guns N’ Roses?

Nelly Furtado – Do It: Off of Furtado’s latest CD, Loose, comes this poppy, 80s synth funk debacle of loveliness; easily one of my favorite songs off the entire CD. Many are quick to point out her “selling out” by collaborating so ribaldly with Timbaland and changing her homey, wholesome style in favor of heavy hip hop beats and brain dead lyrics about promiscuous girls, but I’m sorry, the new CD is one of the best American pop albums I’ve heard since Love Angel Music Baby. The slower songs are all worth skipping over, leaving about eight actual foot stomping numbers, but it’s worth it anyway. Eight out of fifteen on an American pop album? That’s a bulls-eye if I ever saw one.

Sex Pistols – No Feelings: It’s the Sex Pistols. You either like them or hate them…must I continue?

The Beatles – Yellow Submarine in Pepperland: If there’s anything I love more than the original “Yellow Submarine,” it’s this orchestral version by George Martin. Huzzah!

Puffy’s “Splurge”

Puffy / Splurge / June 28, 2006
08. missing you baby / 13. Security Blanket

It’s hard to believe that I actually met Puffy during their first US tour in 2002. Before that, they had been a band since 1996, hosted their own television show, and virtually gained enormous popularity in their native Japan. After that, they created their own television show in the US which airs on Cartoon Network, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, which is sort of a semi-biographical exageration of their musical lives, and changed their international name to Puffy AmiYumi (due to that one rapper guy). Who knew they would get so popular in the United States? Certainly not me. In fact, when they autographed a CD for me, all I pretty much knew about them was that one of them had been married to Takanori Nishikawa from T.M.Revolution, who I was really into at the time, and that their compilation CD released in the United States was pretty horrible. In fact, the only song I really liked was “Kore ga Watashi no Ikiru Michi” and the rest left me bored. I was still heavily into X Japan and hide at that time, and the ABBA/Beatles/punk references did nothing but annoy me because I didn’t remember the Beatles ever being that bad.

In fact, it was only listening to this new CD that I can see where all of these references might stem from. But if we’re going with the Beatles comparisons, I would say early Beatles, but less catchy and more poppy. The sounds used to produce the album are all soft, using minimal electric guitars. The biggest instrument that stands out to me is the drums and the synth sounds created on the keyboard (as in the 50’s prom song “Koi no Echuudo”). If you’re looking for something more Camera Obscura this summer, I guess this CD would be for you. Many of the songs have a late 50s, early 60s pop sound with a perhaps slightly vintage early 90s anime sound evidenced in “missing you baby.” There’s even traces of 80s alternative, if I dare say. On the plus side, it’s certainly a change. For everything reminiscent, the CD plays fairly well.

Four years ago, songs like “Radio Tokyo” and “MOGURA LIKE” would have fallen on completely deaf ears, but today, though the CD still seems somewhat flavorless to me, I do enjoy it. It’s innocent, enjoyable, and upbeat. A fluffy marshmallow, if you will. There’s even a cover of Green Day’s “Basket Case”…but I’d rather forget that’s on there, if only because their vocals are way too thin for the song and prove the stereotype of Japanese rocker chicks (light, high-pitched vocals against sounds way too harsh to mesh with their tones).

This CD continues to grow on me today, which is the sign of a longtime keeper. I just wish I had appreciated them as much as I do now when I had met them.

♫ Official Site
♫ Buy Splurge

Tiziano Ferro’s “Nessuno è solo”

Tiziano Ferro / Nessuno è solo / July 29, 2006
03. Ed ero contentissimo / 04. Stop! Dimentica
08. La paura che…

As far as hip hop goes, Tiziano Ferro is one of the few exceptions in my life. It’s not that I go out of my way not to listen to hip hop music, but it only makes sense that since radio stations are already permeated with enough rap and R&B to last two lifetimes that I don’t even turn it on anymore. As far as Top 40 is considered, there is no soft side to hip hop; it’s all cuss words and “lifestyle” endorsement. In fact, there is not one inch of hip hop in my bones. Just 1/2 an inch, which is where Ferro comes in.

Catchy hip pop is his forte and flavoring it with his incredibly sultry, deep Italian does it no harm. The songs are catchy and even if you don’t speak a lick of Italian, you will be singing along in no time. On the flip side, for every good song he sings, there are always two or three really bad ones, usually drippy R&B ballads that have less flavor than salt free rice cakes. His new album is no exception. I’d say roughly 1/2 of the album is feel-good, radio-friendly songs, not excluding the single “Stop! Dimentica,” which samples Linda Perry’s “Fade To Grey,” better popularized by Ms. Kelly Osbourne in “One Word.” Except that it’s a lot better and while Osbourne’s version is like the chorus repeating itself ad nauseum, Ferro’s packs a melodic sucker punch.

In the end however, it’s this song alone that attempts to carry the disc through, but fails because it’s the rare synth pop gem on the entire disc. Songs like “E Raffaella è mia” and “Baciano le donne” constitute the other two great tracks on the album, which leaves the rest of the CD to fill up its minutes with ballads nothing like the sexy “Alucinado” and some pop…or something. I don’t know. I cheated and started skipping ahead every time I heard opening strains of acoustic guitar and piano. I suppose that’s only because I’m just not into it and if you are one of those people who like those types of songs, than by George, this CD was packaged for you. But for the likes of me who are looking for something a bit impressionable this summer…I’ll stick to blasting “Stop!” on the highway.

As a final note, as usual, there’s both a Spanish and Italian version. I reviewed the Italian version just because I prefer listening to him singing in his native language.

♫ Official Site
♫ Buy Nessuno è solo

Kill Hannah’s “Until There’s Nothing Left Of Us”

Kill Hannah / Until There’s Nothing Left Of Us / August 01, 2006
02. Believer / 04. Black Poison Blood / 11. Scream

Kill Hannah has managed to finagle a rather popular sprint across the media after being signed with Atlantic Records, but they have still managed to elude me every time I turn on the radio. Being a local Chicago band, I’ve had the pleasure of hearing much of their music before their major record label signing, and I will dare say that signing with Atlantic was one of the best things they could have done. The first song I was introduced to was by a friend of my sister’s, “I Wanna Be a Kennedy.” It was a catchy tune that lacked instrumentation and the power it needed to drive home the somewhat lackluster lyrics. But then I heard “Don’t Die Wondering” and I was pretty much sold. That song, with its rather drole lyrics repeating over and over again just worked in that wonderful way only music can against the backing of the surreal, stoner rock vibe. It remains one of the theme songs to my youth, urging adolescents not to regret a single decision, or maybe just to seize the moment; go ahead, tell her she’s so breathtaking.

When I bought For Never & Ever, the CD repeatedly took spins in my radio. It was the constant humdrum background to many of my late night pondering, employing rock with ambient, dreamy synthscapes. I couldn’t wait to hear what else they had to offer, and needless to say, Until There’s Nothing Left Of Us exceeded every bit of my expectations.

The album begins with an intro that at once grabs your attention, soothing you with a lullaby that instantly turns dangerous and altogether creepy when the subtle richness of guitars eludes to the rest of the disc’s contents. The second song, “Believer,” screams radio hit as the delicate synth melody works hand in hand with standard rock instruments. Mat Devine’s glossy, somewhat girlish vocals, are just as powerful as always, if not more so. The flourishing sounds coming through the speakers showcase the band’s maturation, and on closer inspection, betray any semblance of a single filler track as the crisp tracks permeate every stereotype of an upbeat, whiny, post-rock band…in a good way.

Yes, it’s apparent how much influence the label must had have over this band, but I think that sentiment lies more so in the production than the actual compositions. Somber, yet hopeful, the album is catchy and provoking at the same time. Not so much acoustic, save for “Under The Milky Way,” the album sort of reminds me of Three Days Grace, not in genre or even sound, but in passionate dedication to a single cause that runs throughout each song, a sort of unifying theme, with minute exceptions. However, Kill Hannah still manages to make each song sound unique, presenting something new to the table at each spin. In fact, one of the most surprising tracks is “Scream,” with a solemn, yet beautiful piano beginning I never would have dreamed would be present on one of their songs, but is, and yes please, thank you, come again.

I could have done without the outro, though. Nevertheless, the band speaks for itself on this album and with it, I hope to see plenty of more airplay from the band.

♫ Official Site
♫ Buy Until There’s Nothing Left Of Us

Friday night shuffle I

Wherein I put the ol’ iRiver on shuffle and post the first five songs that come up.

30 Seconds to Mars – The Kill: My friend suggested I listen to this song because she recently discovered 30 Seconds from her brother. I knew Jared Leto had a band from recent articles I’ve read about his upcoming film with Lindsay Lohan about the assassination of John Lennon where he plays Mark Chapman, but I never actually ventured to listen to his music due to lack of interest. After hearing this song, my lack of interest continued; to me, this is paint-by-numbers rock. ‘Nough said.

Alice DeeJay – Better Off Alone: This is an old club track I first heard on a Top 40 radio station a while back. It’s upbeat, catchy, fun, and an overall nice summer song.

Ayumi Hamasaki – Connected (Talla 2XLC Radio Edit): Talla 2XLC has made quite a famous name for himself remixing tracks from famous singers. Although he is mostly regarded as dabbling heavily into the techno scene, most of his remixes give off a distinctive trance vibe. Utilizing the genre’s two most famous components (synth and length), his remixes offer down to the letter club tracks fit for nothing less than dancing. “Connected” was already a trance song which Ayumi co-wrote with the insanely famous trance DJ Ferry Corsten, so Talla 2XLC’s doesn’t detract too greatly from the original. Still a great version of the song, though.

John Lennon – Stand By Me: This song needs no introduction. Enjoy.

Klaus Badelt – Will and Elizabeth: The original Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack was a journey epic in proportion that fit the script and action to an almost absurd tee. At once discernible, it translates beyond the film itself to exist solely on its own as a beautiful musical score. The second soundtrack was composed by Hans Zimmer, and because I haven’t heard it (nor seen the movie yet), it scares me. Not because Zimmer can’t compose (au contraire, I think he’s number two on my orchestral composer list behind Nobuo Uematsu), but because Badelt’s music just felt so right and I would have liked to see more of his work. Until I hear what Zimmer has to offer the pirates, I’ll just enjoy this rough and tumble fight-scene musical illustration.

Tommy heavenly6’s “Pray”

 

Tommy heavenly6 / Pray / July 05, 2006
01. Pray / 02. ABOUT U
03. Lost my pieces (Melancholic Guitar Version)

Just one short month after Tomoko Kawase released I’m Gonna SCREAM+, she’s back with another catchy pop rock tune, set as the theme to the new anime series Gintama. Nothing about this single cries original to me and I’m barely finished with the grrl rocking on I’m Gonna SCREAM+, but any Tommy release is always welcome. “Pray” is a standard pop rock track, that employs a lot of tin can vocals set behind rhythm guitars and fast drum beats. It has a catchy melody but lacks tune sufficient enough to carry through.

The second original song, “ABOUT U,”" picks up where “Pray” leaves off. It has a slower, grungier vibe with a lazy beat. The song drags its feet in tempo and the melody leaves much to be desired, but for some reason, I am not all together put off from the song. If anything, the two song slump only makes “Lost my pieces (Melancholic Guitar Version)” that much better, though I’m still unsure if this is due to comparison or its own unique spin on the original, upbeat album version. Either way, like its Melancholic predecessor on the previous single, it surpasses the original beyond imagination. The haunting opening strains make way for a soothing drumbeat and…tambourine? I’m pretty sure this was a guitar version and all of the extra instruments are tarnishing the “Guitar” part of the title, but I’m not complaining because it works. And also because this song is beautifully serene in a way that the only applicable word is melancholic, in a pensive kind of way as Tomoko broods, “Where are my pieces?“

The single is once again mediocre and follows closely in I’m Gonna SCREAM+’s footsteps. However, though it does harbor one brilliant gem among the coals, I forfeit my plea for another. Tommy february6’s last single was released November 2005 so…more february please?

♫ Official Site
♫ Buy Pray