Tokyo Bambi
March 7, 2008 at 9:52 pm | In the pillows | Leave a Comment
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Tokyo Bambi
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Go! Go! Jupiter
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Across The Metropolis
Okay, so, weird inclusion but the pillows need more attention in my opinion.
Tokyo Bambi is fast paced and fun. It has great guitar riffs and great brass, and I think the title is beautifully strange.
Track Rating; A
Go! Go! Jupiter is the first B-Side, and it sounds really pop-rock it’s unreal (think early Good Charlotte). There’s a full sound and feel to Go! Go! Jupiter
Track Rating; A-
Across The Metropolis is a lot slower than the first two tracks. It has a very Beatles sounding vocal and it all sounds very laid back and groovy.
Track Rating; A
Overall Rating; A
mihimagic
March 7, 2008 at 9:37 pm | In mihimaru GT | Leave a Comment
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Itsumademo Hibiku Kono melody
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Drum-Line
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Magical Speaker
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Squall
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WAVES ~Interlude~
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Rakuen
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Hello, Pansy!!
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Tsuyoku Tsuyoku
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Over Drive ~feat. SHOGO(175R)~
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Sayonara no Uta
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Doo na no yo? Saikin feat.Kosaka Daimaou
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Heya to Y Shirt to Watashi session with Ooe Senri
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WAVES II ~Postlude~
Itsumademo Hibiku Kono melody is our opening. And what an opening. With a lovely vocal from Hiroko and some fantastic music arrangement, which throws you off very cleverly. Suddenly the slight ballad feeling shifts and in comes the classic jazz piece ‘In the mood’. I love this unusual mix and there is a lot of fun to be had listening to this song.
Track Rating; A
Kibun Jojo is very mihimaru GT. I adore the chorus, and the funky arrangement. It’s awesome! I don’t know what else to say.
Track Rating; A+
Drum-Line, unsurprisingly has a bit of a military feel to begin with and then, in true mihimaru GT, it’s mixed up with sheer pop and great vocals that no-one else would think of putting together. The chorus is full o’ drums, playing unusual rythms, that rock!
Track Rating; A+
I love the title. Here comes Magical Speaker. It begins with Miyake getting his go and then Hiroko joins in. I’m sorry but the song somehow becomes awesomer when they sing ‘magical speaker’ as if it’s something you’d say normally 
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Track Rating; A+
Squall. Now, put your hands up all of you that immediately thought Final Fantasy when you read the title! Well, this isn’t an FF song. It begins with rain and then shifts into some rap parts. I love it when Hiroko raps, she always sounds really cute. Squall shifts around genres so much it’s hard to explain if you’re not listening to it.
Track Rating; A
An 18 second interlude of WAVES, ironically. Kind of pointless.
the opening of Rakuen begins with wave sounds. There’s the link. A fun islandy song, Rakuen had me from ‘hello’. The verses mainly consist of some sort of vocal and an island beat, but then in the chorus the song is given a more complete sound and it just puts the icing on the cake.
Track Rating; A+
Hello, Pansy !! says Hiroko, and I’m sure Pansy’s saying ‘Hi’. This song has so much pace it’s almost stupid… and oozes fun. How do they turn such fantastically strange lyrics into a great pop track? It’s almost superhuman. God! I’m just giving away A’s now!
Track Rating; A+
Tsuyoku Tsuyoku has a more pop-rock feel, due to the guitar used. Again, wonderfully pacey and there’s a lot of diversity contained with three minutes and fifty-two seconds of song.
Track Rating; A
Over Drive ~feat. SHOGO (175R)~ yeah, I’ve got no idea who SHOGO is but at least the song’s good. SHOGO’s inclusion doesn’t change the dynamic at all and they still throw out a great hyper song.
Track Rating; A
Sayonara no Uta, Goodbye Song. Right, well I was expecting this to be more ballady than it is (hello, look at the title!) but I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that it was more peppy than that. As always, Hiroko’s vocal energises the piece and the overall product is fantastic.
Track Rating; A
Doo Nanoyo Saikin ~feat. Furusaka Daimaou~. I have no idea what’s going on. It’s obviously them on a talkshow but as I don’t speak Japanese I don’t know what’s happening.
Heya to Y Shirt to Watashi session with Ooe Senri really shows off Hiroko’s lovely voice in a ballad situation. This really has to be listened to as proof that Hiroko is not just a cheesy pop singer.
Track Rating; A
Now we get 2 minutes of waves, which is absolutely pointless as it is the end of the album… oh well… at least it’s relaxing.
Overall…. mihimagic is all the hyper-pop goodness anyone could ever need.
Overall Rating; A/A+
WISH
March 7, 2008 at 8:38 pm | In Yuna Ito | 2 CommentsTags: 2008, album, Ito Yuna, WISH
- Power of Love
- alone again
- Anata ga Iru Kagiri ~A WORLD TO BELIEVE IN~ (with Céline Dion)
- Urban Mermaid
- HEARTBEAT
- Colorful
- Unite As One
- Mahaloha (with Micro of Def Tech)
- A Long Walk
- Moon Rabbit
- I’m Here
- Wish
- Tokyo Days
- MY HEART WILL GO ON (Bonus Track)
Power of Love begins Ito’s new album. The first thing that hit me about this is that her vocals sound a little deeper and more mature. Which is quite nice. The actual is okay….-ish. Nothing to write home about, it has some nice ideas but the overall execution is a little lacklustre.
Track Rating; B
Track 2 is alone again, a blatantly ballad-y title, but it’s a little more Alicia Keys without the power/soul notes. The chorus is nice and flowing but it’s not as shiny as it could be. Yuna Ito sounds a little bored and it remains unimpressive.
Track Rating; B-
Well, you know what I think about Anata ga Iru Kagiri….
Track Rating; A*
Urban Mermaid is pure cheese. It has to be to even somewhat pull off lyrics such as ‘I’m a beautiful mermaid’. Now, this is a strong pop song with an inspirational chorus, but I still don’t, and have never really, liked Urban Mermaid.
Track Rating; B
HEARTBEAT has an unusual opening. And that all that really sticks out about it. It has some awful English lyrics, which you would think Yuna’d pick up on, and a really weak musical arrangement.
Track Rating; C
Colorful. Now being British I dispute the title… It should be Colourful. But nevermind. This is quite funky but doesn’t go very far. The chorus could be a real focal point, but it kind of falls flat and very short of the mark, but it’s more enjoyable than some of the other songs here.
Track Rating; B-
Unite As One sounds nice. Yuna Ito’s voice is in its’ element, with a slow ballad arrangement but it really should get rid of the click/clapping and veer away from the “R’n'B” ballad thing. Ito has a rich voice and it is wasted on a song of this type; if it’s arrangement was more classical, like that of ENDLESS STORY, we’d all be having fun by now.
Track Rating; C+
Yay! Mahaloha! I’ve always liked how sun-soaked Mahaloha sounds. It’s much more fun and happy, it sounds constant and Ito has quite a big vocal field to play on. Unlike some, I actually like Micro’s voice and I think it goes well with Yuna’s. It’s just a lotta fun.
Track Rating; A
A Long Walk’s next… and I absolutely hate the opening. It’s just grating and the actual song is just….ugh!
Track Rating; C-
Strangest title award goes to Moon Rabbit, a song in which she learnt no lessons from her debut album. Faux disco does not work. It is boring and, besides, Ito’s faux disco songs are never well executed, and I see no way how ‘Moon Rabbit’ applies. Apart from the terrible lyrics, there’s no connection.
Track Rating; C-
I’m Here is not one of Yuna’s better singles. It’s a huge departure from her others and it shows a little in her execution, her vocals are a little strained but are okay. I’m Here is alright though, and it’s a welcome break from the mediocrity of the last two tracks.
Track Rating; A-
I prayed that the opening signalled what was to come in the rest of Wish. And it did…. thank god. Finally a full fledged ballad, not a stupid fake “R’n'B” ballad. Not an epic song, but it’s nice and the album really needed something that could be latched onto as a good non-single album track. It would have been better with an orchestral score rather than a band though.
Track Rating; A-
Tokyo Days is a nice pop song, which could have used some more enthusiastic vocals from Yuna, but it’s sunny enough to get by. The backing singers put in a nice performance. There’s not a huge amount more to say about Tokyo Days.
Track Rating; B+/A-
The bonus track is Yuna Ito’s version of MY HEART WILL GO ON. Now, I haven’t always liked this song, but Yuna’s version is beautiful. Singing in her first language and a ballad at that! Recipe for success. And it doesn’t sound like she’s saying ‘The hot dogs go on’
Track Rating; A+
Overall… less of a dissappointment than HEART but still quite a large disappointment. I was hoping she’d learn a few lessons from HEART but despite some stronger tracks, the singles were the only things particularly worth listening to.
Overall Rating; B-
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