2017.12.14 Recent CD Haul Mini-Reviews

The CDs arrived a bit late this time, so this post is late too.

Furry Party

Latest album from Sugar Bunny*, vocals by まめこ. If you ask me, this one is genuinely insane.

Insane how? Insane in how much the style shifts around.

The album’s called Party, and the tracks mash together fairy-tale, wafuu, electro, denpa, ballad and more — all sung by one person, who also busts out several different vocal modes…

Damn. One minute she’s doing UMB, the next she’s doing 花たん. That’s some skill.

My picks (bolded):

01.Furry Party 02.はむはむでいず 03.不器用ハンティング 04.ALPCPCS 05.闇色チョコレヰトメルト 06.うぱるぱ! 07.狐魅姫ノ花饗宴 (highly recommended)

https://soundcloud.com/munimuni_mameko/furry-party-xfd

ふわらぶあにまる

Also from Sugar Bunny*, but this one’s an older album. Overall it doesn’t hit as hard as Furry Party did later. The themes are all animals, fairy tales, cute stuff — fine as background music, or when you’re in the mood for something nursery-rhyme-ish.

http://music.163.com/#/album?id=35630190

50/50

I’m not a Touhou guy, but I really like ZYTOKINE, no other reason than the arrangements being absurdly good.

The album’s called 50/50, and it’s a 2CD: one disc of new tracks, one of remixes of old ones.

Personally, the new tracks are good but the old-track remixes are even better.

I’m a sucker for that “rich but not greasy, nicely rhythmic” electro sound — that’s what pulls me to ZYTOKINE.

http://music.163.com/#/album?id=36037877

soleil de minuit

I’ve always thought 藍月なくる’s songs were decent, so I previewed this one, thought it was okay, and bought it.

Worst purchase I’ve made. This is, in my book, the album least worth buying. The arrangements are a mess and it’s incredibly sleep-inducing. The preview tracks really were good, but…

Only the preview tracks were good!

I don’t recommend this one, unless you enjoy weird trippy incoherent melodies that sound impressive but mean nothing.

http://music.163.com/#/album?id=36713075

夏恋花火EP

Bought it for 大島はるな’s name, and it’s passable. The songs don’t have much character — standard Japanese J-pop with a slight rock lean. The songwriting is formulaic and the melodies are average, but listening to it more, it’s actually fine. Not catchy, but it holds up.

I’d say give track three a listen: マリーゴールドの夢, it’s got an R&B feel.

http://music.163.com/#/album?id=36705093

つながる

Circle is Lilypha, vocals by 狛茉璃奈. The whole album has a narrative style, a bit of that “emotions from the deep sea” thing — though only some tracks, the rest is standard J-pop. Still, it’s easy to listen to. Play it front to back without skipping; it works well that way.

http://music.163.com/#/album?id=36875587

SnoW/PrunuS

New release from the Japanese slow-jam circle (lol) ALVINE. Yes, the vocal is fucking 冬乃桜 again. Back on the ナツイロココロログ FD OP I was like, okay, the arrangement’s good, but the vocal keeps going off-key, which is why I liked the version without vocals so much.

And then this album drags off-key 冬乃桜 back in again.

Gave it a listen though, and it’s better than expected — maybe she’s improved? Also the style matches ALVINE’s work on 絆きらめく恋いろは really closely. Maybe the circle’s into that sound lately? Or maybe this album is just leftover scraps from working on the game…

Anyway, it’s decent. Her singing’s better, but her English pronunciation is still complete shit. Stop putting English in the lyrics.

https://soundcloud.com/alvine-1/alvn-0022

終わりの先まで

An album I bought for no clear reason. I figured it’d be some soft indie thing, but!

This fucking album has two tracks. The first is a standard chant, and the second is… actual… jazz. Yes, jazz. Insanely rare — first time I’ve seen jazz on a doujin album.

And jazz isn’t usually my thing, but the more I listen to this… it’s starting to hit.

Am I a masochist?

曖昧トリップ

New track from Yunomi and soft-girl 桃箱, a collab beloved by some Shanghai finance bro on G+.

Real talk: can Yunomi not afford new effects? He uses the same handful of sounds every time… swap in something new next time, yeah? Or is that your signature now?

The track’s still good though, especially the title song 曖昧トリップ.

The second track 夢色パレード is solid too — at least the style’s fresher.

https://soundcloud.com/tkrism/aimaitrip https://soundcloud.com/tkrism/yumeiroparade

liberator

New album from PUBG god meis clauson’s circle Primary! As a total meis clauson simp, I bought it without even looking!

After buying: no regrets!

Same familiar flavor, same familiar style, and the track most worth hearing is number five:

01.オレンジ色の決意 02.Keep Changing 03.Sink into… 04.嘘偽リノ世界 05.小さな甘い恋 06.petit bonheur

小さな甘い恋 is the ED for the game 《あなたに恋する恋愛ルセット》. In the game’s liner notes, composer meis clauson wrote that the song was meant to capture that “sweet dizziness of a girl in love” — like the happy sugar-rush headspin after eating cake.

Listen to it with that image in mind. The melody is intoxicating and sweet.

http://music.163.com/#/album?id=36784118

This haul had plenty of wins, but also disappointment — and it’s the first time a CD purchase has let me down. That 藍月なくる album is just awful.

Sometimes I think you shouldn’t follow the singer when buying albums. Follow the arranger.

Like, 藍月なくる’s collab with a certain composer is insane. My favorite is this one: 生命の灯火.

http://music.163.com/#/song?id=477215109

It’s not just the melody — the lyrics mean something too. I’ve got my eye on this composer now, planning to buy his CDs next time.

Speaking of which, winter Comiket’s coming up, so it’s time to start buying CDs again.