[New Songs] Namie Amuro - Contrail, Can You Feel This Love

As Haruto is becoming as old as ayumi hamasaki's career (I mean it literally btw), Namie Amuro has decided to teach everyone letters of the alphabet with the power of her music while she still has it. Unfortunately she missed out the letter A. Fortunately though she knows C comes after B, which explains why after Big Boys Cry and Beautiful comes Contrail and Can You Feel This Love.

[Singles Review] March Singles Highlight: Namie Amuro, KyaryPamyuPamyu

Big Boys Cry / Beautiful

Namie Amuro does what she wants, does what she likes, and still does it better than ayumi hamasaki. Force PINK KEY from PLAY to have sex with WoWa from Queen of Hip-Pop and have its resultant child go to Disneyland and what you'll get is Big Boys Cry. This is some good shit, and I will be more than happy for Namie to go back to her hip-pop sound anytime even if it's just a little bit. And that climax? Make them big boys CRRRRRRAAAAAA AH AAAAAAAAAI!!! Your fave can never, especially if your fave is ayumi hamasaki. Beautiful is exactly as it is - Beautiful. ebibabi spend tanai feering like a stranjur. ebibabi wurs to know hao tu be strowngur. Putting the Engrish aside, and the fact that Namie isn't a vocal powerhouse therefore making this song beyond her calibre, it's actually fucking amazing. I would have never expected Beautiful to sound like this after hearing the snippet in that ESPRIQUE CM last year. Is no suppliiiiies, is no suppliiiiiiies... istu! Browing in da win! I will be playing this single till the end of time tbh.

8/10

Ninjari Ban Ban

I don't mean to compare KyaryPamyuPamyu with Perfume (ok maybe I do) but Ninjari Ban Ban shits explosive diarrhea ALL over Mirai no Shitseum. I'm not gonna lie. This is cutesy done right, so there is a huge pile of shit that needs to get together here. Tbh I almost wish this song was given to Perfume instead. Unite Unite is average and very lukewarm which I'm not a huge fan of. Minna no Uta is just meh. KPP has been a hit or miss for me since Moshi Moshi Harajuku but she does have occasional gems like Tsukema Tsukeru and Furisodeshon. Other than that her music to me makes me can't help but feel like it's Nakata Yasukata's inner 5-year-old girl at play which is highly disturbing.

 

6/10

[Album Review] Koda Kumi - Color the Cover

Koda Kumi steals ayumi hamasaki's Sparkle PV set for the cover 

I think Koda Cum-i's reason for titling her first ever cover album ETERNITY ~Love & Songs~ was because she covered the songs and completely transformed them to sound timeless - hence the use of "eternity". I'm just assuming though - she probably explained her own reason in one of the 9000 magazines she's featured on. This time, gurl ain't gon' do that shit anymore. This time, she covers a shitload more songs for Color the Cover, and this album is pretty much the aural equivalent to the entire color palette of her wig collection - SHITLOADS OF COLORS Y'ALL. Either that or she probably just forgot that she released ETERNITY.

[CD Packaging] Namie Amuro - Big Boys Cry / Beautiful

They sure know how to go hard or go home - not only does the cover of the single reek of 90s Namie, but they even packaged it back into what was once her usual slimline jewel cases. They should've just gone the extra mile to make this an 8cm single release.

[CD Packaging] Koda Kumi - Color the Cover (CD+DVD Limited Edition)

Got my copy of the CD+DVD limited edition of Koda Cum-i's Kuuler the Kuuuverrr.

The front and back comes in a matte finishing which is awesomeeee cuz I thought it'd be printed in those grainy thick recycled paper-like shit lmao

[Singles Review] February Singles Highlight: ayaka, Perfume, Crystal Kay

beautiful / Chiisana no Ashiato

There aren't really many surprises when it comes to ayaka. Even based on the single's cover art alone you can pretty much tell that this shit is gonna be good, and damn right it is. beautiful is more or less the usual ballad affair from ayaka with gospel elements added in as well. This is when the unavoidable pun comes in - it's beautiful! There is a consistent build-up throughout the song and the instrumental bridge is what makes this song especially amazing imo. Chiisana no Ashiato brings about something different for ayaka to try out. It's an uplifting song with a rather playful arrangement combining military drums, the flute, violins that work really well for her, so this is something unexpected coming from ayaka. Hajimari no Toki English ver. is a nice addition to the single, but nothing really impressive. It uses a piano instrumental instead of the original which I don't really like but I guess I appreciate her effort in trying out Engrish lol

7/10

Mirai no Museum

I'm not gonna lie - I'm not here for Mirai no Shitseum. I understand that it's a tie-in for a Doraemon movie, but they should've just released this as a digital single or something. This literally gave me goosebumps and it's not because it's good. It's terrible. I hope the producers of Doraemon delete Perfume's numbers and never contact them again. Daijo Banai saves the single, but barely. It's a watered down version of Nee without any climax whatsoever. I do like it, but given its repetitiveness, like Communication, I will probably tire of it in 3 hours. The area in which I give fucks about this release is so empty, I didn't even realise the single was already released!

4/10

My Heart Beat

Trust Crystal that sneaky bitch to release a digital single without any announcements or information or whatsoever (either that or I'm just blind) except for one puny CM which even I didn't watch. Universal ran out of budget for Crystal Kay so they couldn't afford to manufacture physical editions, do promo, or even hire anybody to do the single's cover art. The cover doesn't even have the single title on it. Nonetheless, My Heart Beat is still amazing - although I'm almost positive it's a leftover from VIVID, I'm glad this has a chance to see the light of day - it's a really funky, electronic, light number with some really orgasmic bass guitar noodling. Kaze no Kanata, on the other hand, is an R&B ballad with a really moving feel somewhere along the lines of Come Back To Me / Rising Sun from VIVID. Somehow I get a really Utada Hikaru feel off the melody and I love it. How more Japanese bought Perfume's latest single than this, I have no idea.

8/10

[New Release] Koda Kumi - Driving Hit's 5

Koda Kums loves to keep the party locking till the end of time, resulting in yet again another remix album that, let's face it, we all knew was coming out. And let's face it, we also knew that it was going to be misspelled as Hit's again. Iconic.

The cover art is, as always, awesome shizznit though. Kuu shows them bitches how to properly werk a close-up shot. Her Driving Hit's covers (except the first one) are enough to obliviate ayumi hamasaki's A BEST 3 covers, and that shit ain't even out yet. Due to "stellar" sales of the entire series, avex decided to pump in more budget for it to have an introduction of its own as well. Not only that, but also a best mega-mix shoved in the middle of the party. I wanted more songs off JAPONESQUE to be remixed for this though, and how many TAKE BACK remixes do we already have exactly?

Driving Hit's 5 will be released on 20 March 2013.

Tracklist

1. Introduction for DH5
2. Go to the top [DJAKi ASY Remix]
3. No Man's Land [4 Skips D'n'B Remix]
4. Ningyo-hime [N15H vs. HEAVENS WiRE D'n'B Remix] (人鱼姫)
5. real Emotion [KOZM(R) Remix]
6. Someday [Big Boy Remix]
7. show girl [DJ E-Man Big Show Remix]
8. TAKE BACK [E-Man "106" Remix]
9. "Driving Hit's Best" Mega Mix
1. Moon Crying [GTS SH Club Mix]
2. TABOO [HOUSE NATION Sunset In Ibiza Remix]
3. Cutie Honey [MITOMI TOKOTO Big Room Remix] (キューティーハニー)
4. Driving [GROOVE HACKER$ Remix]
5. Lady Go!
6. POP DIVA [HOUSE NATION Sunset In Ibiza Remix]
7. Teaser [Caramel Pod Dubstep Remix] feat. Clench&Blistah
8. Poppin' love cocktail [TeddyLoid Remix] feat. TEEDA
10. Shake Hip! [John Fontein (RE:LABEL(R)) Remix]
11. AT THE WEEKEND [Big Boy LA Weekend Remix]
12. Let's Party [KOZM(R) Remix]
13. Koishikute [Dirt $outh (RE:LABEL(R)) Remix] (恋しくて)
14. Alone [Prog5 Classic Remix]
15. One more time, One more chance [Shohei Matsumoto & Junichi Matsuda Remix]
16. Ai no Kotoba [AILI's Warmy Remix] (愛のことば)

[Music Video] Namie Amuro - Big Boys Cry

Is this a dream? Is this a miracle? No, it's Namie Amuro finally showing some effort put into a music video. Sure it's your usual dance dance sit and smile sit and smile kind of music video, but hey - there are white kids gasping at her at the beginning. For Namie's standards that's a shit ton of effort right there.

[CD Packaging] MISIA - Super Best Records -15th Celebration- (3CD+DVD)

Got this in the mail some time last week. Comes in a very sexy packaging oooOoooOOo