Morning Musume Concert Tour 2008 Spring ~Single Daizenshuu~

I watched this earlier today… after waiting two hours for it to go from 97% to 100% because my internet kept cutting out, but it was totally worth it. One thing I’ve gleaned from watching this and Bon Kyu! BOMB is that Morning Musume concerts are pretty hard going in comparison to Wonderful Hearts/Elder Club gigs and the Battle Concert.

Anywho…

1. Opening

Another avex BEST?

Okay, so it’s ever so technically not a “Best Album”, but Hamasaki Ayumi is celebrating her tenth anniversary of being in the music biz with many and various things.

First things first - Mirrorcle World is probably my favourite single of the year so far. My sister actually bought it for me randomly along with the Secret Tour and I could do nought but marvel at how powerful the song is. In every way. I’m actually not amazingly familiar with her earlier work, but I’m a right sight more familiar with that than any of Namie’s early work.

Second comes after first - She/Avex is releasing a compilation album of ALL her singles. ABSOLUTELY ALL OF THEM. I’M TALKING 3 CDS WORTH OF SONGS. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I WANT IT? It’s not coming out until the 10th of September, according to CDJapan and there’s a DVD edition with various a-nation performances. CDJapan has stupid shipping prices so I don’t hold out hope for getting it for only £21 but YesAsia.com doesn’t have it listed yet. YA.com tends to be a little more expensive but it has free shipping when you spend over a certain amount, which is awesome.

The cover art hasn’t been released yet as far as I’m aware but if it can match Mirrorcle World in terms of prettyness then I’m happy.

I’m currently listening to Ayu’s Duty and Audience has made me all nostalgic. It was one of the first Ayu tracks I ever listened to, and as such one of the first J-pop tracks I ever listened to, and I remember being really annoyed because I couldn’t sing along. At the time I was really struggling with the vocabulary and just couldn’t get the words out.

How times change.

So, Is Namie Amuro’s Best Fiction?

If you are fan of avex artists or just Amuro Namie you’ll know that her new best album is out on the 30th. Best Fiction contains 15 singles, from Wishing on The Same Star all the way up to one of my favourite singles of hers, 60s70s80s as well as two new tracks.

When someone we know went out to Japan I asked if they could buy me some CDs. They said yes and I asked for Hamasaki Ayumi’s (miss)understood, Koda Kumi’s Black Cherry and Amuro Namie’s PLAY. (At the time I didn’t realise they were all avex releases. ) I knew I’d love Ayu’s album and Koda Kumi I was just getting off on the right foot with. But PLAY was a huge surprise, I loved every track on it and I couldn’t wait to hear more plus it was the DVD edition!

A little off topic but it centres around the fact that I know NONE of her previous to 2007 work. Which makes buying BEST FICTION a risk for me. I never buy something if I’m unsure I’ll like it.

As for the two new tracks, which bring the total track count to 17, Do Me More and Sexy Girl also had PVs released and, being as slow as I am, I only just downloaded and watched them.

It was almost immediately decided that I like Sexy Girl a lot more than Do Me More. The song is just way more catchy and interesting to me. Do Me More will almost definitely grow on me because it’s Namie, it’s just after a first listen it has made a shallow impression on me.

Sexy Girl (POINTS OF PRAISE)

• More up-tempo song
• Memorable Chorus
• Nice use of English
• which sounds like English
• Great dance
• Suitable setting
• Namie’s hair
• Way catchier

Do Me More

• Obviously quite a big budget
• COLOUR
• Alice in Wonderland
• Namie’s hair
• and costumes

But Do Me More has some “What the hell!?” Moments.

• Alice in Wonderland is awesome but how does it relate to the song? It relates to the Best Fiction idea though.
• Ummmm…… ‘Scantily-clad’ unicorn-headed dancers?
• The dance should have been a bit better.
• General costuming of the dancers apart from the suits which are slightly less ‘WTH?’

But at the end of the day it’s still Namie and it’s still awesome!

Handball…?

Can I just take a moment to say I’m really tired, have a headache and really weak. So my typing’s gone out of the window and my thoughts aren’t flowing that well. This probably won’t be my best post and I’ll most likely end up deleting it and putting up a new one tomorrow.

Didn’t have the best first impression of this single due to the covers… In which the outfits are fugly. Not in a ‘Oh it’s Hello!Project we can let it slide’ but actually ‘My God Tsunku what have you done!?!?’  even though he probably doesn’t really have a hand in styling the girls. Tartan’s okay. In smaller measures and plus it doesn’t even match the theme, style of music and they don’t wear the outfits in the PV.

Which then brings me to the PV.

In terms of costume Maimi got the shortest end of the stick. Chisa has Namek shoulders though. I think the winner is either Airi, Saki or Erika. They look the least poofy and have some style to them. Airi’s in pink, Saki in yellow and Erika gets black and white which shouldn’t work with the song/set but she looks rather elegant in it and with the itty-bitty hat and the curtain of hair - She looks so pretty.

After dancing like monkeys this dance is very tame. And very traditionally styled. For the first time in quite a while I find myself actually motivated to stand up and learn some parts of it. The only bit I don’t like it the leg/knee flappy bit at the end of the chorus, but that’s okay ’cause it’s followed by a very flamenco looking move.

I loveloveadore the set… if it didn’t have the neon lights in it. I’m fine with them in the solo shots but not so much in the dance shots because they don’t quite fit with the rest of it.

THE SONG.

Not even three minutes long, Edo no Temari Uta II was not thrilling to me when I heard the preview. In fact I couldn’t have cared less about it, Even more in fact, I couldn’t have cared less about C-ute. That was probably just before I watched the battle concert cause now I love C-ute and EnTUII. Isn’t it funny?

Everyone gets solo lines. In general I don’t like slower songs, let alone slower H!P songs, but this is certainly an exception. Most likely due to the chorus which is ever so slightly awesome.

Well that’s my commentary. I’m off to find out whether the world and his brother feel the same.

This Could Possibly Be Controversial… but…

Destiny Line CD Only

I cannot wait for Leah Dizon’s second album to come out. Communication!!! is a bit of a hyper title. Too many !s to be taken as sane.

According to YesAsia there’s twelve tracks which includes Love Paradox, LOVE SWEET CANDY, Vanilla and Under The Same Sky and it releases on August 20th, so it comes out a month before my birthday and two days after we get back from Egypt which means I might be able to get the first press limited . Love Paradox is almost definitely going to be my favourite unless some genious producing takes place and another song out-awesomes it. I still haven’t listened to the Vanilla single yet, even thought I’ve heard the title track… but it’s downloading as I speak.

I was a bit disappointed by Vanilla when I ripped it from the video but the 320kbps single rip makes it sound a lot better.

DVD-wise this is what YA has listed;

DVD
13. Under the Same Sky (Video Clip)
14. Under the Same Sky (Tokyo Prom Queen Version) (Video Clip)
15. Under the Same Sky (Making Video)
16. Vanilla (Video Clip)
17. Sweet Vanilla shot!
18. Love Paradox (Video Clip)
19. Hong Kong Tour Live & Off Leah’s Cut

I love Under The Same Sky and when I heard about it getting a video I was rather happy. I still haven’t seen it but will when I can be bothered to find it. Tokyo Prom Queen Version? I liked the Vanilla video and love the Love Paradox video. I’m assuming Sweet Vanilla Shot! is some form of making of. And there’s some live footage, which may not be such a good idea unless she’s improved remarkably since one of her Koi Shiyou lives… That said her performance of Love Paradox was vocally good, but some of her songs are quite high and I’m not too sure about how well she’ll perform them, but then again it doesn’t even what songs or how many of them are featured. But I still want it!!!

I’m actually surprised by how much I do actually want to get Communication!!!. When I first heard Leah Dizon was with Koi Shiyou and I liked it but didn’t care a jot for her debut album. But now I like Destiny Line so I have a lot of hope for enjoying her second attempt.

 

Okay Vanilla is a lot better than I gave it credit for and I’m glad LOVE SWEET CANDY is on the album. It’s funky and unusual, in a good way.

Wonder Girls ~ ~ Keroro Fighter

 

How cute is this?

Seriously.

I had to download the song I’m so addicted to it. I wish I could talk about the Wonder Girls more, but at the moment all they’re doing is pedalling So Hot wherever they can and all I can do is feel sorry for the fact they have to perform that and Tell Me so much.

Don’t get me wrong the songs are fantastic you just have to draw the line somewhere. It’s like the amount of times TaeYang has performed the songs off his solo mini-album. It borders on ridiculous.

YooBin even had to take a break from rapping and lip-synch because she damaged her throat. She’s back up and running now but I think that maybe she should have taken a bit longer off.

Well I got rather distracted there…  back to Keroro Fighter. The song is addictive, the dance is cute with a semblance of Tell Me and how can you not love SunYe? I mean seriously. She’s so smily and…… in the front of the CF the entire time. The fact that they’re interacting with the characters rather convincingly rocks too.

To be really honest… I REALLY WANT TO PLAY KERORO FIGHTER NOW.

It’s my kind of game, which would never have come to my attention had I not been a fan of the Wonder Girls. I think the advertising people for KF are patting themselves on the back for their stroke of genious. But then again, anything advertised by the Wonder Girls will probably make people explode with want of the product.

I wish I was at all good at Korean, but I just can’t pronounce half the words. But I am getting better thanks to mastering the chorus of Son Dam Bi’s Bad Boy.

Anyway,

♥SHINNAGO DDO SHINNANEUN KERORO FIGHTER♥

Am I Insane?

 

Please tell me I’m not the only one who sees this…

~~Propaganda~~ Vol.2 Lee Hyori

Lee Hyori’s Comeback Video “U-Go-Girl”

It took me forever to find her Dark Angel album!

I love Hyori’s music, even though sometimes she plays it a little too sexy for my liking. Toc Toc Toc was the first song I heard by her (and that came out a year ago) and randomly it was just the tiny bit that was played during the SBS Music Drama with most of Big Bang and the Wonder Girls that got me interested in finding the track.

Finding the single took ages for no apparent reason. She’s really famous and popular but for some reason it gets hard to find stuff by her… or is that just me.

Anyway, I’ll be grabbing my copy of It’s Hyorish as soon as possible.

Toc Toc Toc

 Toc Toc Toc hasn’t got the best music video, admittedly. It’s live footage of Hyori and her dancers but it’s a great dance to watch. If you look in the Related Videos there’s a video of five girls doing the choreography and I suggest you watch that too.

 

Shall We Dance

Shall We Dance is my favourite song of her Dark Angel album. It has an odd sound but it’s addictive and highly energetic and entertaining. The video is monochrome and, while there isn’t a whole routine being followed, the dancing that Hyori does is great.

U-Go-Girl

 

Hyori’s comeback video!!! U-Go-Girl is beautifully addictive and the video is bright, colourful and cheery and as usual Hyori looks amazing. There’s a subbed version and before you watch it you don’t quite think that what it actually means is what it should mean. Did that make any sense? Anyway, I love this song.

Scolded

The ballad… Scolded. I’ve linked the subbed version because I really like the lyrics. I never have much to say about ballads so just go watch it.

~Berryz Kamen vs Cutie Ranger~ Who Will Win? Pt 1

I gave you a quick summary of where I was at in a previous post, but I thought I might as well do a proper write-up. I’ll add pictures later and I want to do a separate post for the VTR just because it warrants it. So, in-keeping with the ‘VS’ theme I shall be ranking aspects of the performance and judging who wins what. It’s great fun being a critic… seriously. 10 points a song.

1. Opening

COSTUMES FOR THIS SECTION; 10/10

2. Darling I LOVE YOU

• When I heard Darling I LOVE on both the Dschinghis Khan and Namida no Iro singles I really didn’t like it, but I appreciate it more now. The dance is simplistic and kinda boring but it makes a decent opening number.
• VOCALS; 9/10
• DANCE; 7/10
• OVERALL; 16/20
• WINNERS; Berryz/C-ute

3. Special Generation

• I’ve never liked this song much. They’ve got some really great formations going on, especially after the beginning even though I’ve never particularly liked the dance. I mean, the leg hoppy thing? Not my cup o’ tea and unfortunately the editing makes it look really bitty in places. Risako starts the song of with a kinda all over the place vocal, but it’s over soon enough. This is really when you appreciate the ♥ that is Chisato and Cap’n’s hats.
• VOCALS; 8/10
• DANCE; 6/10
•  
• OVERALL; 14/20
• WINNERS; Berryz/C-ute

4. Ooki na Ai de Motenashite

• I love this song. The first non-Musume H!P song I ever heard. As much as it pains me to say this Airi AND Maimi sound absolutely awful in their opening lines. This is when they split and go back to their own stages as they’d come together at the end of Darling I LOVE YOU so that cuts down on how much of the dance they actually do. And when they’re doing the dance, there’s not a huge amount of moves anyway. They don’t perform the whole song either… which is a bit of a shame. Chisato is textbook charisma in every shot that you see of her.
• VOCALS; 6/10
• DANCE; 5/10
•  
• OVERALL; 11/20
• WINNERS; Berryz/C-ute

5. VTR

COSTUMES FOR THIS SECTION; 10/10

6. Namida no Iro

• This is my favourite performance. Their dancing is fierce and every move is tight. But I do have one main issue with this… How The F*** is Mai only 12 years old!? She hits each move like a pro and doesn’t put a foot wrong. If Maimi wasn’t my favourite C-ute member, it would be Mai instead. There’s absolutely everything perfect in this performance.
• VOCALS; 10/10
• DANCE; 10/10 (Possibly 20)
•  
• OVERALL; 20/20

7. Munsawagi Scarlet

• Now we go to the opposite side for Berryz performing Munsawagi. Which, unfortunately pales in comparison to Namida no Iro. The choreography just doesn’t work very well on the stage and half the time the leads just don’t look like they’re putting much effort into it at all. Especially Risako. Saki is awesome in this one though because of the way she’s smiling throughout the entire thing. Can I just say that, while the costumes (I say costumes, I mean clothes) are awesome they make the “Scarletto” move totally redundant as they are not wearing skirts. Vocals are good, just let down by everything else.
• VOCALS; 8(1/2)/10 Risako’s a bit off in her solo
• DANCE; 7/10
•  
• OVERALL; 15(1/2)/20

8. LALALA Shiawase no Uta

• Kill me. I actually like this song. It’s a stupidly happy song and it’s grown on me significantly in a very short space of time. The dark/dull/moody outfits don’t quite match the overly shiny/crazy/scary happiness of the song. But their facial expressions and overall demeanor match the song really well. The dance routine is very simplistic but gives the wota a chance to join in and the energy is astounding. Randomly, they have great co-ordination… the dancing arouns in a diagonal line.
• VOCALS; 8/10
• DANCE; 8/10
•  
• OVERALL; /20

9. Dschinghis Khan

• I really like the beginning with C-ute when they’re all running round in a circle doing the Uh-ahs. I’ve gotten used to this choreography since the release of the single, so I like it now but I don’t think it translates very well to such a big stage. Dschinghis Khan is an awkward song for them to sing anyway and the fact that they’re rather worn out isn’t helping. But they give it a good shot. Risako looks bored again. Running and doing the hand movements to the chorus looks sloppy and really not good - Should have just run.
• VOCALS; 6/10
• DANCE; 6/10
•  
• OVERALL; 12/20

10. Tokaikko Junjou

• I honestly did not like this song until I watched this concert. I just didn’t like the general arrangement of the song. After this I became a little obssessed with the song, I even made a Stepmania chart - but then my Stepmania game crashed and won’t work again. I still don’t like a couple of the moves but I love most of the dance and would learn it were there some form of tutorial. Basically this performance is on par with Namida no Iro.
• VOCALS; 10/10
• DANCE; 9/10
•  
• OVERALL; 19/20

~~Propaganda~~ Vol. 1 Elva Hsiao

Elva Hsiao's 2006 Album "1087"

Sometimes not having much to do is a good thing. I spent most of today on YouTube watching the most random things ever (Pocky Adverts FTW!). Then, for some reason, I decided to oggle at things I can’t afford at YesAsia.

I came across one very interesting item.

Elva Hsiao - 3 Faced (With 3 previously released albums)

Never heard of the woman, but the fact you get four albums for £11.53 certainly piqued my interest. But I’ll never buy music that I’m not sure about, I’m diverse, sure, but I don’t like everything I hear. My main experience with Chinese artists has been the balladiers… and I’m not a big ballad fan. Which you’ll know if you’ve read some of my posts at KeysToEverything. But the fact that YesAsia had said “3 Faced comes packed with the high-energy dance tracks and soulful ballads that Elva is known for” was enough for me to do some research. So I went back to YouTube

LoVe

 What you see is what you get, L-O-V-E with respect

 Without a shadow of doubt LoVe is my favourite Elva track. It’s a dance song that is so catchy it’s almost unbelievable. Brilliant opening lines and the dance is awesome and I want to learn it. I believe this is from 1087… Yep, track 3 on 1087. If you don’t want to give anything else a try, at least give this one a quick listen. In my opinion it’s totally worth it.

 

表白 Biao Bai (Confession)

 

Biao Bai is second favourite after LoVe. It sounds like a Chinese version of some Britney Spears song. One of the good ones. And Britney did have some good songs. There’s English here too, and it’s completely understandable. Unfortunately the video has big, white Chinese characters strewn across it so you can sing along or whatever. If you can read them, good for you… I just find them a bit annoying

 

Impulse

 

If you prefer slower songs, or aren’t inclined towards the other two here’s one of her ballads. Impulse demonstrates how good her voice actually is. And wow! a ballad that held my attention all the way to the end. The video’s really nice as well. It’s one of those storytelling ones and Elva looks gorgeous throughout.

 

I'll Be There

 

And finally, a grower. I’ll Be There has yet to really strike any chord within me, but it has potential to grow on me. It sounds a bit Eurovision, it’s a really heavy club track with random traditional instruments thrown in. I’m most interested hearing your opinion on this and LoVe. Her hair’s really weird in the MV though.

 

This was fun… I’ll do this again.