Category: Music Reviews

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J Pop Music Reviews

Yui Aragaki (新垣結衣) – Sora (そら) – Girlie Voice, Good Song Choice, But Doubtful Vocal Skill

Yui Aragaki (新垣結衣) - Sora (そら)

My potential borderline fetish to girls with girlie voice aside, if you intend to watch or have already watched “Sky of Love” and have 20 bucks to spare, there is no harm in getting the main actress’s debut album.  You may get to like the show a little bit better and who knows?  Perhaps you may even like this album a little bit better.

To be fair, there are quite a number of accomplished artists who have a pure and feather-like girlie (or child-like) voice.  Top of my mind, the Swedish jazz singer Lisa Ekdahl is one of my favorites.  Her interpretation of “Cry Me a River” bleeds hearts.  French singer Vanessa Paradis is another good example.  Her voice doesn’t change much since the “Joe le Taxi” days back when she was 14.  I am a huge fan of the Japanese singer songwriter YUI and she too has this characteristic voice of purity and innocence.

So, how does Yui Aragaki’s ‘cute and lively voice’ match up?  The song choice for her debut “Sora” I must say is pretty good.  The songs are melodically memorable.  Yui Aragaki has contributed in the writing of the lyrics for two songs.  One of which – “Heavenly Days” – is featured in her movie “Sky of Love”.  If you like that song (see below), there is a high chance that you will like the entire album as the songs are pretty consistent.  And there is a high chance that you will repeatedly listen to the album like I do.

Song choice aside, the first comment from Cynthia was that Yui Aragaki is “pitchy”.  Perhaps my ears are pretty damaged by the years of exposure to the high pitch Japanese female voice or the sound of the heavy metal or both, it is hardly noticeable to me.  But I trust Cynthia’s ears more than mine.  On the brighter side, she did not complain that Yui Aragaki is too high pitch (like she always does whenever I put the J-pop music on).

“Sora” opened at number 3 in Oricon’s weekly ranking with moderate (or perhaps disappointing) sales of just over 100,000 within three weeks of debut.  I suspect the movie “Sky of Love” may help the album sales in some ways.  After all, there is no rationale when it comes to fan-based affection.

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Music Reviews Pop Rock & Alternative

Belle & Sebastian – Push Barman To Open Old Wounds

Belle And Sebastian’s Push Bar To Open

I woke up this morning.  The sky was grayish, the air was cool.  Feeling a tad melancholy, I stared at my music collection like I do every working morning scanning for something appropriate for the day.  Since I have been so Juno-overdosed (first the movie, then the Oscar), I picked “Belle & Sebastian” – something I have hardly listened to – all because two of their songs are featured in the soundtrack of “Juno”.

A much celebrated Indie band from Scotland loved by the critics and fans but only enjoys limited commercial success.  I can certainly relate to that.  It is not everyday I am in the mood of “Juno” or “Kill Bill” (both have great soundtracks).  Today I am Juno’lized, so “Push Barman to Open Old Wounds” it is.

Fans hail “Push Barman to Open Old Wounds” as the best collection from “Belle & Sebastian” ever as well as the right place where new listeners should begin their journey from.  This 2-CD collection with a total of 25 songs is a compilation of their out-of-print hard-to-find singles and EPs from 1997 to 2001 – a period some fans see the band at the pinnacle of emotion, naïve, and charm.  I personally find the memorable oldie-feel melody and the genuine part-humor-part-ironic lyrics a remembrance of my youth (though I am not that old, I must say!).  It brings me back to the time when I could just say-out-loud on my views of the current society (“there are people going hungry everyday, they’ve got nothing on their plates, and you’re filling your fat face with every kind of cake” – taken from “A Century of Fakers”).  It brings me back to the time when love is still innocent and the essence of a heartache is still something new (“she was the one love of my life, she showed me the road, I loved her dog, her steady gaze, the chapter is closed … my anger turns to pity and to love, the season has arrived” – taken from “I’m Waking Up to Us”).  As we get older, we simply accept the way of the world as what it is and stop to care in the most innocent way.  We become pragmatic.

There is something about “Belle & Sebastian” that I simply can’t find elsewhere.  It does fill up a hole in my emotional world that unfortunately – or fortunately – does not appear often.  Below is a live video of the song “I’m Waking Up to Us”.

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Music Reviews Pop Rock & Alternative

A Fine Frenzy – One Cell In The Sea, A Rare Gem With Potential

A Fine Frenzy’s One Cell In The Sea

Alison Sudol, the songwriter singer and self-taught pianist of A Fine Frenzy, has a lot to go for.  She is young and beautiful and her indie music style is genuine, personal, and is indeed a breath of fresh air in today’s commercial music scene.  It is rare to find an artist who sounds as good in demos with just the vocal track and the piano too.  Alison Sudol’s style reminds me of Jewel’s debut “Pieces of Me” though “One Cell in the Sea” is a more polished and well produced version but with similar singing style and the same melancholic feel as Jewel’s “Pieces of Me”.

Being influenced by famous writers such as CS Lewis, EB White, Lewis Carroll and Charles Dickens from young, it is no doubt that there is a poetic quality to her lyrics.  And her interest in classical music and some of the classic bands and singers exist before her time could possibly explain the maturity level she has in “One Cell in the Sea”.  For those who enjoy listening to the detail recording of the vocal track such as the breathing of a singer, this album may delight you.  Alison Sudol does have decent control to her voice from the whispering verse to the soaring chorus, from an emotional loudness to a fine falsetto that floats the audience in the thin air of anticipation for the next bit to come.

I do find the band compliments Alison Sudol’s vocal and piano tracks well, which is nice because it takes much creativity to make the overall melancholic set of songs to sound sufficiently different and interesting to listen to.  My personal favorite tracks are “Almost Lover”, “Near to You”, and “Borrowed Time” and mind you, it may take you more than a quick scan and a few listen to appreciate her music.  Quite a few times, I find the gems of the songs hidden towards the end in forms of an unusual bridge or a variation of melody.

If you do own “One Cell in the Sea”, don’t miss the bonus materials offered in her official site.  All you need to do is to insert your audio CD into your computer to activate the download process.  Bonus materials include 5 demo songs and 5 exclusive videos.  Below is one of her singles and my favorite track “Almost Lover”.  It is hard not to fall in love with this song, trust me.

PS. Some fans observed that the stage name “A Fine Frenzy” is derived from one of Shakespeare’s works.  As for the album name, it comes from the song “The Minnow & The Trout”.  The extract of the lyrics as follows:

please, I know that we’re different
but we were one cell in the sea in the beginning
and what we’re made of was all the same once
we’re not that different after all

Categories
Music Reviews Pop Rock & Alternative World Music

Vanessa Paradis’s Divinidylle – Creatively Classy … Sexy

Vanessa Paradis’s Divinidylle

Most non-French speaking people may recognize Vanessa Paradis as the partner of the American actor Johnny Depp and the mother of their daughter and son. Some of you may remember her as the girl who promoted Chanel’s fragrant Coco back in 1991. I certain remember her by her single “Joe le taxi” (1987) when she was 14. Despite having 20 years of music career, she has only released 5 studio albums. “Divinidylle” is 7 years in the making.

I like French music because it brings something fresh into my English music collection. There is something about French music that is hard to explain, something that doesn’t quite follow the usual formula of the English music scene. The melody sounds fresh, the way of singing sounds fresh, even the music arrangement sounds fresh. Especially “Divinidylle”, if you pay attention to each individual music track, there are full of little bits of creative moments scattered along the tracks. The entire album is consistent with memorable hooks. Vanessa Paradis took part in the writing of some of the songs and she sings well throughout “Divinidylle” – from her low range to light whispering to falsetto.  Need not to say, I found her voice pretty sexy.

“Divinidylle” seems a bit short (35 minutes). But it is a perfect album to listen to in the evening on the couch surrounded by candle lights with a glass of wine – on your own or with your partner.  Check out the song below called “Dès Que Je Te Vois”.  If you like it, you may wish to try the single “Divinidylle”

Categories
J Pop Music Reviews

Ayumi Hamasaki’s Guilty – It’s Near Perfect In My Book

Ayumi Hamasaki’s Guilty CD DVD

Year 2000 was when Ayu released “Duty” – my favorite album before “Guilty”. Year 2000 was also the year when she started to realize that she has problem with her hearing that ultimately leads to her losing all hearing in her left ear by the time “Guilty” is released. At times I can’t help but wonder: is it because she knows she has an “end date” and therefore she works really hard to achieve as much as she physically can? As she wrote to her fans when she found that her left ear is inoperable: “I won’t stop. I won’t make excuses. As a professional, I would like to deliver the best performance for everyone”. In less than 10 years, she has released 10 studio albums and 4 compilation albums. 12 of which were debuted at number 1 in the Japanese weekly chart while the other two at number 2.

Ayumi Hamasaki has always been an inspiration to me. In year 2002, TIME did an interview with her (you can search the interview materials in YouTube when she conversed in English). I learned that Ayu’s success ingredient is to get involved in all aspects of her career and persona and she is so full of energy and determination to get to where she wants to be. She has raised the bar high as a total package – including music, concerts, and fashion – that I doubt any artist from Japan will come close to what she has achieved in the near future. She has certainly dominated my CD and DVD collection in terms of number of artwork per artist. You really should watch some of the recording of her concerts. Grandiose is the word to describe the quality of delivery.

I cannot find any song that I do not enjoy listening to in “Guilty”. The first track of a minute and a half makes a bold statement: “Guilty” is going to be one hell of a rock album. In fact, the next three songs are all rock oriented and I love them immensely. The fifth song titled “Guilty” brings down the pace and the next two songs are the most notable moderate to slow songs of the album. Then comes an instrumental, theatrical track that leads to “Marionette” – a slow song that contains a fair bit of electronic sound to it. The electronic sound intensified as the album progresses and she throws in another instrument song that leads to two more songs that are more traditional with a more J-pop feel.  Finally yet another instrument track that leads to the conclusion of a deeply emotional slow ballad “untitled ~for her~”. I cannot think of a better song to end the album.

Not sure if you will notice every single song from the “Guilty” album has a beginning, a middle, and an end – a proper song ending with no fading of music (in fact a major criteria for Cynthia to assess how good the songs are). Each song is sung with full emotion and with the right amount of accentuation (that contributes to the “middle” part). All the lyrics are written by Ayu herself. Her album comes with a DVD that contains 6 videos from “Guilty” and the making of all these 6 albums that make up to one hour of visual entertainment. I enjoy watching her music videos. More so for the making of clips as we fans get to gain an insight on what Ayu is like behind the camera.

At times I wonder why bad things happen to beautiful people like Ayu who has contributed so much. Only God knows. Now that she is determined to continue the tours, I hope and pray that her right ear can last her a lifetime.

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Music Reviews Pop Rock & Alternative

Duran Duran’s Red Carpet Massacre – An 80’s Band With A Modern Sound

These days, I always get a bit apprehensive when dinosaur band out of nowhere comes out with a new album. Countless disappointment and I was about to give Duran Duran’s “Red Carpet Massacre” a miss. But still, I sampled the album and right from the first track, I was gripped by the new modern sound. Yes, I recognise the remarkably sexy voice of Simon Le Bon. Yes, I also recognise the unique melody. But the overall sound of the new album? That is from a different world of Duran Duran.

I can see why some Duran Duran hardcore fans raise their fists in anger. To make it clear to you all, I am not a true fan of Duran Duran. The only one album I love – and not many true fans do – is their second self-titled album a.k.a. “The Wedding Album” (1993). Remember “Ordinary World” and “Come Undone”? Back then, they made a breakthrough from their 80’s image and have that contemporary kind of sound. Today, Duran Duran does just that with the help of Timbaland and Justin Timberlake. Hardcore fans are displeased with that association. But to be fair, this duo only has a hand in 3 out of 12 songs. The influence is there. But to say that “Red Carpet Massacre” betrays the Duran Duran’s original sound by the Timbaland and Timberlake duo is grossly misleading.

Right from the strong opening track of “The Valley” (where is the chorus by the way?! … yet it is so cool!) to the 5th track of the rather slow and memorable ballad of “Box Full O’ Honey”, and my favorite instrument track “Tricked Out” to the ending tracks of “She’s Too Much” and “Last Man Standing”, Duran Duran’s new album never fails to charm with such a diversity, memorable tunes, and depth. I found myself keep repeating certain tracks, keep repeating the entire album. I have a hard time to decide if I like “The Wedding Album” better or this one.

Granted that it is disappointing to the true fans that the guitarist Andy Taylor has once again left the band. Coincidentally, he was not in “The Wedding Album” either so that doesn’t matter to me much. “Red Carpet Massacre” is filled with electric and synthetic sound. I personally don’t miss the guitar sound at all simply because of the setting of the modern pop music background. To me, the sparsely layered guitar sound is just nice.

You may find their new video “Falling Down” in YouTube. I have no idea why the video is so long. Must be the trend of MTV nowadays to make music video like a mini film. Fast forward 2 minutes and 40 seconds if you wish.

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Music Reviews Pop Rock & Alternative

PJ Harvey’s White Chalk – Courageously Ethereal Effort That Triumphed

At times we see artists who dare to deviate from their forte but fail to deliver. Most of the time, we see countless of artists producing the same stuff again and again and because some of them are so good at it, we fans keep buying into that. The queen of indie’s new production “White Chalk” moves away from the electric guitar sound and the signature guitar riffs into an album of piano ballads. In her words, “great thing about learning a new instrument from scratch is that it…liberates your imagination”. Not only that, she has also done away with the intense and at times screaming singing that sometimes coupled with the characteristic vocal effect. In “White Chalk”, She sings with a higher register. No wonder “White Chalk” sounds light and ethereal. The mood and sound of the piano and the singing gel well together. Many times when artists make such a switch, I have this haunting feeling of the good old sound when listening to the new album. To the extend that I could almost hear the missing guitar riffs that should have been there, the kind of screaming that should have been there. I have none for “Walk Chalk”. It sounds great on its own. This is not just my view. “White Chalk” has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from the reputed sources.

From the theme perspective, it is still dark and abstract. First, let me take you back to the year 1995. The song “To Bring You My Love” from the album with the same title is perhaps my favorite track out of all her songs. The lyrics is simple, but dark.

Climbed over mountains – Travelled the sea – Cast down off heaven – Cast down on my knees – I’ve laid with the devil – Cursed god above – Forsaken heaven – To bring you my love

Compare that to the excerpt of “The Devil”, the opening track of “White Chalk”.

As soon as I’m left alone – The devil wanders into my soul – – And I pretend to myself – And I pretend to myself – I go out – To the old milestone – Insanely expecting – You to come there – Knowing that I wait for you there – That I wait for you there

And the album closes off with with “The Mountain” that musically resembles the opening track “The Devil”. It is just genius.

By the mountain – I feel nothing – For in my own heart – Every tree is broken – The first tree will not blossom – The second will not grow – The third is almost fallen – Since you betrayed me so

Below is a video of three of her songs from the new album – “When Under Ether”, “The Piano”, and “The Mountain” – together with a short interview thereafter. Don’t miss it.

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Country Folk & Jazz Music Reviews

Carrie Underwood’s Carnival Ride – Award Winning Albums Are Made Of This?

To qualify the title of this review, I did not watch that particular season of American Idol when Carrie won the competition, nor her new album “Carnival Ride” has won any awards yet – which can just be an eventuality. I do like her debut pop country album “Some Hearts” and that has won her a number of awards from Billboard to Grammy. Question is: is she getting better in this album?

I think it is a yes. The songs are all well crafted and it is hard to find a song that I do not like. All the songs stand out on their own and if I have to pick one that I like most, that would be “I Know You Won’t” or the title song “Wheel Of The World” perhaps (“Carnival Ride” appears in the lyrics of the last song). The video featured below is from her single “So Small” and it does convey an emotional story of a young girl and her parents beautifully well. In this album, you may notice that Carrie’s voice has grown stronger (through training I read) and the sustain of the ending notes is amazing just to listen to. Though some may not like this change in her technique, I do see where it may come from knowing that her favorite country singer is Martina McBride. Hopefully in her next album, she will be able to balance the lightness and strength of her voice better. If you are open to pop country music (such as Faith Hill), you may want to give this album a try.

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Music Reviews Pop Rock & Alternative

What Happens When “The Donnas” Bitchin’? Girl Band Doesn’t Get Better Than This

From my limited music exposure, I would say that it is a novelty to see an all-female English rock band out there playing all the instruments of the songs they compose. I often think that female voice is a natural choice for hard rock music because of the higher pitch that floats above the guitar and drum tracks. Guys often have to scream through their lungs to attain the same effect.

And because it is a novelty to see girl rockers, I am usually less critical on the technicality but rather amazed at the fact that they make it in the International scene. My favourite girl rockers? In the following categories …

  • My favourite Girl Rock Vocalist – Courtney Love of Hole because of her character. Hole is such a great band. Too bad it is disbanded on 2002 after 3 years of music career leaving us 3 great albums and the feeling of wanting more.
  • My favourite Girl Rock Guitarist – Not just any guitarist but one that can play the guitar solo. From the pure raw energy and wild perspective, the winner goes to Brody Armstrong of The Distillers. When The Distillers first emerged from the rock scene back in 2000, it was compared to Hole. Again, too bad it is disbanded and Brody formed Spinnerette in 2007. I am eager to find out what comes out of the new line up. Meanwhile, from the all-rounded perspective of a balance of rhythm and melodic guitar leads, Allison Robertson of The Donnas has a special place in my heart. It’s a tie I guess.
  • My favourite Girl Rock Bassist – I have been thinking really hard who are the distinguished female bassists in the International scene. There just ain’t many. Somehow the image of Ginger Sling stuck onto my mind after seeing her performed in Live Earth concert as the new bassist of The Smashing Pumpkins.
  • My favourite Girl Rock Drummer – That has to be Meg White of The White Stripes. Some doubts her ability to play drum. But think about this, The White Stripes can’t be that famous without Meg White, right?
  • My favourite Girl Band – I first started listening to The Donnas back in 2004 with their album “Gold Medal”. All the members of the band are born in the year of 1979 and they have been best friends playing music together since the eighth grade. That explains the chemistry of the band.

After leaving their major record label Atlantic Records and formed their own, The Donnas has managed to release an album that the fans have been waiting for. The entire album has this arena old school rock vibe that works wonder. There is no one single slow song and all aim to make you want to get out of your seat and dance. The melody is infectious and the music is tight and interestingly varied. I think Brett Anderson sings better in this album compares to the previous one – more emotion involved and more loosen up. Torry Castellano’s drum track is relentlessly energized, though not as fast pace as other rock bands. There are moments when Maya Ford’s bass line shines. However I must say, it is rather subdued in “Bitchin'”, same goes to the guitar solo that I would have expected from Allison Robertson. In this album, Allison Robertson’s emphasis I think is more onto the ambient of the overall sound (as she is the only guitarist in the band). And from that angle, the guitar riffs are memorable. Check out the video below for “Don’t Wait Up For Me”.

Categories
Hard Rock & Metal Music Reviews

Velvet Revolver’s Libertad – A Sleek Rock Album By The Ex-Members Of Guns ‘N Roses and STP

In case if you wonder what on earth is Velvet Revolver (VR), it is a super-group formed by the ex-gunners Slash (guitar), Duff McKagan (bass), and Matt Sorum (drummer), the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots (Scott Weiland), and Dave Kushner (guitar) of the 80s punk band Wasted Youth. At first listen, “Libertad” can be a little bit too “fibrous” – a borrowed term from Cynthia for albums that take a long time to digest – but I would say, “Libertad” has outdone VR’s debut “Contraband”. It is lean and it is a mean rock album. The patterns within each song are memorable and each instrument takes turn to shine in various parts of the song. There is no one member who dominates the album.

When VR first released “Contraband”, I could not help but to compare VR to the good old Guns ‘N Roses albums. After all, it is in essence Guns ‘N Roses minus Axl Rose. Time after time I would jump out of my seat and imagine how the song would sound with Axl instead. It is hauntingly scary I am telling you and it is frustrating.

Though it is hard to accept, VR is indeed a new band. A band that has moved forward with time and to be frank, the sound of VR is relevant to today’s rock scene without sounding too much of an old school. In their second album, VR has brought in Brendan O’Brien – a music producer who has worked with many renown bands including Stone Temple Pilots (STP) – and the result speaks loud and clear: “Libertad” convinced me to listen to VR as a new entity, and not just ghosts of Guns ‘N Roses nor STP.

If you like rock music, do give “Libertad” a try. The CD does suppose to contain videos of the making of the album. Unfortunately the media content cannot be played in my computer (duh!). Good thing though, it links me to the Sony BMG Musicbox. Do check out that site. It is like a mini YouTube with legal music videos in wide screen format. My only complain is the streaming speed. YouTube is much better.

PS. Is it just me to think that the name “Velvet Revolver” has a strong association to “Guns ‘N Roses”?

PS2. Oh I forgot to mention. I love the bonus track a lot. VR did a country music and when the singer kept going on and on towards the end, one of the members (Slash I suppose) said: whatever. And the song ends. Man, I am a sucker for all these extras.