trax [ravex - Debut Album]

Tracklisting
1) I RAVE U (Original)
2) ROCK U feat. Namie Amuro
3) Just The Two Of Us feat. Tohoshinki
4) HOUSE NATION feat. LISA
5) Bangalicious feat. Anna Tsuchiya
6) Believe in LOVE feat. BoA
7) NEWエキセントリックガール feat. CHISA (NEW ECCENTRIC GIRL)
8) Golden LUV feat. Maki Goto
9) V.I.P.P. (Very Important Party People) feat. TRF & VERBAL (m-flo)
10) 1 more night feat. MONKEY MAJIK
11) 悪い子みつけた。 feat. Yuko Ando (Warui ko Mitsuketa)
12) I RAVE U feat. DJ OZMA

trax is the debut album from ravex, the 20th anniversary group formed along with GIRL NEXT DOOR to celebrate the special occasion. Every track features a different popular artist, with their songs receiving a dance/trance twist on top of their usual styles. It was released on the 29th of April, 2009.

Ugh. No. NO. No. I RAVE U is just as annoying as it was back on their first single. It’s basically just a full-on dance song, possibly even bordering on trance. I consider it a full-length interlude since it features no vocals whatsoever. POINTLESS, MOVING RIGHT ALONG.

Oh my god, and already we’re getting one of the best tracks on the album. ROCK U is a particularly hot collaboration with one Namie Amuro, and it’s rather close to her latest material, with an emphasis on WILD, except a bit more upbeat. It’s full of aggressive, gritty synths and alarms creating havock until we get to the surprisingly QUIET chorus, which consists of a simple beat repeating on itself with Namie, of course, singing along. I like how when she ends the chorus with the oh so creatively placed (not) scream of “ROCK YOU” with a much more uncontrolled, natural scream of “ROCK” being placed on top of her normal singing of the title. Adds just a bit more of a fiercely gritty rock style to the song. Unfortunately, most of the song has this one single irritatingly ANNOYING alarm beeping at you on top of the rest of the music, and is the ONLY reason I can’t loop this otherwise masterpiece of a song. A shame, really. Much better than any of her already brilliant material.

Oddly enough, the boys from Tohoshinki are in on this, with their track being titled Just The Two Of Us. This one starts off in a bad manner, with the looping of the word “Tonight” dominating the semi-calm synth arrangement of the song. And it’s still going… It’s not until about 1:20 in that the song gets some vocals and takes a normal turn. There’s some noticable vocodering in this track, which was a bit odd to hear on voices such as these. Okay, soon after, we’re back into the looping. I think this song is a bit too eclectic in how it swaps between calm and slightly more upbeat. The vocodering is just sloppy, too.

Now we come to the b-side from I RAVE U, HOUSE NATION, featuring ex-m-flo vocalist LISA. I don’t like how it starts with that skipping and looping either, but looking past the awfully cheesy lyrics, I can handle this song. I like it, actually. The chorus itself is nice, overall, and sounds a lot more plausible away from I RAVE U. It’s not great, but I’ll take it.

HOLD UP. RING THE ALARM, THIS ALBUM JUST REACHED CRITICAL MASS. Bangalicious, the collaboration with Anna Tsuchiya, has to be the stand-out track on this album. Sexual innuendo aside, this song takes a very similar approach to ROCK U with its sound, and Anna’s singing in complete English here, which was a nice touch as she speaks it fluently. The lyrics are a bit nonsensical, but the synths work on being catchy and aggressive without deafening you like in ROCK U. The chorus is big on repetition here, but it’s all natural, so it doesn’t have that god awful clipping in it. It’s a very simple fare of the line “I don’t care, say what you want” with a few words being repeated here and there, but it works. The verses are DEFINITELY the highlight here, but I can’t help but love every second of this song. GET IT FOR THIS. Should’ve been a single. Love for Anna x 10.

And now we take it down a notch for… What, the first time on the album? Believe in LOVE, BoA’s collaboration track, sounds a bit better here, calming things down a bit instead of standing on its own as an ethereal track against a pop track. BoA’s voice leaves quite a bit to be desired, however, which is a bit unfortunate. I don’t really like how the synthed verses align with the “orchestral” chorus, but this section of the song is actually beautiful. I can see it in a new light here, but it’s still not an OMGWOWFIERCELYFANTASTIC song. That high note is quite impressive though.

Here’s something I was a bit worried about. NEW ECCENTRIC GIRL was a rather scary thought, as it features CHISA, the vocalist from GIRL NEXT DOOR. Thankfully, the opening synths are simple, yet catchy, and nothing like their done-to-death eurodance style in GND. Her voice leads MUCH to be desired, but for all intents and purposes, this is just a fun dance track, so who cares about vocal strength. That weird high-low synth section with a highly vocodered CHISA was actually REALLY catchy though. When they added more beats in and CHISA starts singing about some eccentric chick, it can sound just a BIT too chaotic, but at least it drops down again. I think I can hear a few reused synths in here… But it’s catchy nonetheless. Another highlight!

Well, I guess this album loves b-sides. Golden LUV featuring Maki Goto found its way onto trax as well, and again, it sounds a bit better here against the contrast of BoA’s track. It stands out, and helps differentiate the album tracks a bit. I like how it’s a dance song with an aim instead of more mindless dance tracks, and it actually has a cohesive sound instead of random synths thrown together.

Ah, TRF. I love you for EZ DO DANCE, but how well do we hold up alongside VERBAL from m-flo in V.I.P.P.? It has this disjointed synthed-up sound that sort of has a 90s sound thrown in with it. Those vocals singing over it are SO familiarly cheesy, especially with what they’re singing, but the whole backing vocal and rapping thing we have going on with the lively synth is actually REALLY engaging and interesting. It’s really repetitious, and there isn’t a smidge of presence for whatserface, the female singer from TRF. I can let it slide, because this is an AWESOME song. Not as good as Bangalicious, though. Verbal’s doing all the work, too, where are TRF in this anyway?

OMG, the awesome just keeps coming. 1 more night, the collaboration with MONKEY MAJIK, and the a-side for a digital single before release, is even simpler than the simpler songs, with the verses only consisting of one simple synth loop with the two (Canadian) vocalists singing. As such, it’s in complete English and their vocals sound oddly out of place. That’s part of the charm of the song, and when it gets into the chorus, it sounds even better. It’s not explosive, it’s not completely upbeat, it’s just a simple semi-ballad of sorts. Again, some of these synths start sounding a bit… Similar at this stage in the album, but on its own, it’s an outstanding track.

Warui ko Mitsuketa, however, is a different story. It’s kind of… Like… Reggae?! Mixed with electro-pop, really. Yuko Ando has a really… Strange voice. It’s hard to get used to, but that kind of faux-strain thing she does with her voice at the end of certain notes is interesting to listen to. It’s actually kind of… Boring… For the final track of a dance album.

OH, GOD, TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!!! I completely forgot I RAVE U was coming to close the album after all of this awesome, and DJ OZMA’s inclusion was just as bad. Really, after listening to the whole album… I can KIND of appreciate the song. OZMA himself sounds pretty good here, so I can’t complain. He’s not exactly a talented vocalist, but he works well with trance synths. It’s a LITTLE bit better, but still horrible.

Album Score
A-

Favorite Tracks
1) Bangalicious feat. Anna Tsuchiya
2) NEW ECCENTRIC GIRL feat. CHISA
3) V.I.P.P. feat. TRF and VERBAL
4) Golden LUV feat. Maki Goto
5) ROCK U feat. Namie Amuro

Well, ravex are just full of surprises, aren’t they? trax was full of engaging and interesting songs, and while they did overuse certain synths, the majority of the album was a really great listen. Fun, too. Techno seems to be missing fun, lately, taking cute instead. Hearing such a large number of popular artists get this techno treatment was part of the fun, though, and I’m hoping ravex comes back for me! Quick note though, guys: Ami Suzuki is part of avex. Why isn’t SHE on here?

Believe in LOVE feat. BoA [ravex - 2nd Single]

Tracklisting
1) Believe in LOVE feat. BoA
2) Golden LUV feat. Maki Goto
3) MEGA ravex feat. ANNA TSUCHIYA, BoA, DJ OZMA, LISA, MAKI GOTO, MONKEY MAJIK, TOHOSHINKI, TRF & YUKO ANDO

Believe in LOVE is the second single from the collaboration, 20th anniversary avex group ravex, and was features collaborations with both BoA and Maki Goto, as well as a larger mash-up track. It was released on the 18th of February, 2009.

I’m starting to really distrust ravex by this point. Believe in LOVE is, once again, nothing like ravex’s usual fare. It’s much slower, and a lot less electronic than their other songs. It mainly features a rather melodic backing track with some beeping going on over it, with a louder addition of synth coming in later on. The chorus is actually BoA singing along with nothing more than strings. Strings. That was the huge shocker in this song. BoA sounds pretty good in this song, and that high note she reaches at the end of the chorus is magnificent. However, the way she transitions into some of the higher notes throughout the chorus is rather choppy. The only really perfect one is the last one and its transition. Anyway, it’s a bit dull, I’m not really a huge fan of it.

Unfortunately, Golden LUV, Maki Goto’s track, isn’t much better. It features a rather annoying repeating synth with an even worse connecting synth placed over it. Maki sounds alright here, though, which was nice to hear. That really fast singing section she does sounds like it’s on a bad note, but when the song gets a bit steadier and some heavier beats are brought in, it actually starts sounding a lot better. It does sound a bit too much like a b-side though. The synths aren’t anything special, and they repeat WAY too much. I’m not really feeling it.

And the song that I listed that has many, many, MANY featured artists closes the single. The MEGA ravex mega mix is nothing but previews of upcoming songs put together in one long track. However, it also has both of the real songs from I RAVE U and both of the songs featured on this single. I haven’t got much to say on this. I don’t really go with reviewing such short previews, and the transitions are rather plain, but there are some great songs featured in here. Especially Anna Tsuchiya’s, despite sounding a bit different (read: worse) than it ends up.

Single Score
B-

Favorite Track
Golden LUV feat. Maki Goto

Really, this wasn’t a great single. I’m mainly reviewing it for formalities, because honestly, I got nothing out of this single. Maki’s song sounds like it could eventually grow on me, but at the moment, I’m not loving either track, and I’ve never really been a huge fan of Believe in LOVE. I’m thankful that there are some better collaborations on the album, but the fact that BoA and Maki got such lacklustre tracks wasn’t really a good thing for me, a fan of both artists. GIVE ME THE ALBUM, PLEASE! Plus, I’m getting sick of seeing all of this old anime stuff in their PVs and covers. I know Astro Boy and Kimba and all that are a rather large part of ravex and their schtick, but… Come on. OZMA got an appearance in his PV. MONKEY MAJIK appeared in their PV. Why didn’t BoA? It’s just a little bit unfair, if you ask me.

BoA [BoA - 19th Album]

Tracklisting
1) I Did It For Love feat. Sean Garrett
2) Energetic
3) Did Ya
4) Look Who’s Talking
5) Eat You Up
6) Obsessed
7) Touched
8) Scream
9) Girls On Top
10) Dress Off
11) Hypnotic Dancefloor

BoA is the 19th album overall from Korean singer BoA, and her debut American album. It had only one promotional single before release, Eat You Up, with I Did It For Love being planned as either a recut single or the promotional song for the album. It was released on the 17th of March, 2009 in America, and the 18th of March, 2009 in Japan as the second half of the new package from BoA, BEST&USA, that includes this album and her latest best-of album.

Fittingly, the first track on the album is I Did It For Love, the planned promotional track from the album. It’s a fairly repetitive song, relying on a simple synth line, with a bit of an echo and ethereal beeps in the background for atmosphere. BoA is under the vocoder here, and rather heavily at that, but it fits the song well. It’s not the best song to start with for new BoA fans, but it’s definitely a catchy tune, albeit not what we’re really used to with BoA. I’m not feeling Sean’s rap halfway through the song, but it could be worse.

Energetic follows a similar theme, relying on a dark synth with another rapper, though it isn’t a credited feature this time. However, Sean Garrett produced this song, too, so it’s definitely him here again.BoA’s first line is “report to the dancefloor”, which (when paired with a title like Energetic), should tell you it’s going to be an upbeat dance song. Instead, it’s a rather monotonous synth song. I’m not overly enthusiastic about it, but it isn’t too bad.

Did Ya comes up next and changes things up. It’s got a rather innocent, high-pitched sound to its synth, with a few old-time brass knock-offs here and there, and an acoustic guitar playing along to the whole thing, backed up by clapping. Needless to say, it’s more upbeat than the past two songs, and I’m loving it. BoA’s voice is free of the vocoder, and her accent isn’t nearly as bad as it could be, which is a great sign. I’m loving how the playful sound actually works with the in-your-face, scolding lyrics, when it really shouldn’t. I KNEW this one was going to be good~

Now the original title track comes up, Look Who’s Talking. It starts with a strange, almost beeping synth before the drums and such come in. Now, this song screams Britney Spears, which it should, since she actually worked on the song. This has a real “in your face” sound that fits the lyrics well, since it’s about a break-up as well. The lyrics are rather obnoxious (Again, in classic Britney style), and the song feels a bit… Empty. It’s catchy, but it could have a bit more to it, I think.

Looking at it as a whole, I really wouldn’t have chosen Eat You Up as a promotional single. It’s a deep R&B tune, which really doesn’t fit into the album, at least at this point. It’s still a great song, but it seems a bit misleading now.

Now HERE is a real gem. Obsessed is an aggressive, dark synth-based song that once again mixes synths and instruments to get the proper effect. The lyrics are actually a bit creepy, with BoA sounding quite a bit like a true-to-life stalker, but it fits the dark mood of the song well. The chorus is absolutely brilliant, and it makes the whole song sound a lot better than it already was. If you listen closely, a bit of an 80s influence can be detected in the arrangement, too. Otherwise, the way BoA extends the word Obsessed is a bit grating with the vocoder, but apart from that, I love it!

Erm… Touched is a bit strange, admittedly. It starts off with what sounds like a broken orgel and police sirens before bringing in more synth. It’s… A bit of a mess, and BoA doesn’t even sound like herself in the chorus. It screams Britney… In fact, give it to her, because BoA doesn’t do much for this song, unfortunately.

Now, Scream has a rather interesting history. It was originally a b-side for the German girl group Monrose, and it was then covered and re-written a bit to make the song Daydream for the Korean promotional group AnyBand, which BoA was a part of. Now, BoA’s covered it for her debut. It’s another dark synth song, but this is probably moreso than all of the songs so far, save for Obsessed. I’m not a huge fan of it, because it sounds a bit too simple for my liking. It does have a pretty nice story to its lyrics.

Oh, HERE we go… We finally reach Girls On Top, the remake of BoA’s own title track from her last Korean album thus far. Thankfully, the arrangement is intact, meaning I still love it. Unfortunately, it has a rather corny meaning about BoA wanting to be herself, and the lyrics they wrote kind of… Killed it. It’s not like I won’t listen to it (It’s a great example of BoA’s Korean R&B, and I always loved the song), but I won’t enjoy it as much as the Korean version.

Honestly, I can see why people don’t really like Dress Off. It’s a bit of a mess with its synths, so it does seem a bit unappealing. Especially those loud synth blares in the background during the chorus. I, however, think the song is great. I’m not at all used to BoA singing about having her dress off, but it’s rather hilarious that Asians think American music is all about getting naked and having sex. No offence to any Asian readers.

Closing off the album is another odd song. Hypnotic Dancefloor starts with some surprising blares of synth, with BoA singing a bit of the chorus over it, once again under the vocoder. It’s another “Britney Spears” song (She didn’t work on it, but she could be singing it), and the verses aren’t overly exciting. The chorus is a little better, but… I’m not really impressed. That robotic section three quarters through the song itself almost SOUNDS like Britney Spears under a large amount of vocoders at one stage, so who knows what to think of that.

Album Score
A

Favorite Tracks
1) Obsessed
2) Did Ya
3) Dress Off
4) Girls On Top
5) Look Who’s Talking

Well! After the disappointment that was This Is The One, BoA comes in kicking and screaming, and I’ll say that it sounds ten times better than Utada’s album. I was surprised she took such a (I’ll say it again) “Britney Spears” approach to her sound, but it does suit her. I wish they wouldn’t hide her under the vocoder just because of her accent, but it can’t be helped. Bitch did good, and hopefully she does better on the charts than we all expected.

(All scans, including the cover, made by yours truly, from my very own copy of BoA that was included in my copy of BEST&USA. The 6th one is also a heavily altered version of the back cover, since I took the tracklisting off. If anyone is possessed in any form or way to use these scans, as long as you credit me and link back to this review, I have no issues. They’re crappy, though, so I’d be very surprised.)

BoA vs. Utada – The Big 180

I don’t know about all you other people thinking over whether Utada or BoA will have the bigger impact on the American music world once their albums are relased, but I think that predicting it just got about ten times harder.

I know Utada isn’t exactly new to the American music industry, having already released two albums over there, but let’s be honest. I don’t think anyone actually knew who she was back when she was Cubic U, and Exodus was, despite being a great album, a flop. This and a whole bunch of other horrible warnings in where she’s taking her musical style have made me pretty scared as to what could happen when This Is The One hits.While at least one fear has been knocked up a few notches, I can take solace in the fact that Utada’s forming a true gimmick for herself.

Honestly, the largest problem here is… well, both Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI and Dirty Desire sound the same. The only difference is the latter is faster, really. This isn’t good as well, because it’s all in a similar R&B style. The good part about this, though, is that you can hear little throwbacks to Exodus and her Japanese career in the backing synths for Dirty Desire. And, well… The song itself is basically THE WORKOUT part 2, which I was instantly excited about, just because that song was so amusingly good that it ended up being one of my favorites on the album. This would be the gimmick I mentioned. So, at the moment, my hopes for This Is The One are SLIGHTLY higher… But I still have my doubts.

Unfortunately, my hopes for BoA are taking a different turn, all thanks to the previews on her main site’s discography. Just click on the little Windows Media Player symbol next to the song name, the English album is near the bottom of the page. I know most of you know this, but this is for those who don’t.

BoA is a toss-up of an album. It’s obvious that I already like Eat You Up, I Did It For Love and what I’ve heard of Look Who’s Talking. When it comes to the rest of the album, from the previews it sounds like the real stand-outs are Did Ya and Obsessed. As much as I hate to say it, most of the other songs sound a bit generic. It’s nice to hear her take on that electronic R&B hybrid everyone seems to be trying lately, but some of the songs aren’t really sounding too good, and others sound too similar. There are some stand-outs there too, but they kind of pale in comparison.

I will also say, Girls On Top was the best choice of a Korean song to bring across, but… The translation period has pretty much made it the most unappealing song lyrically. I’m thankful that the music is intact, but otherwise… I don’t really know what to think.

I know it may be a bit unfair to compare two albums like this when we have a full preview of one and just two of another, but a first impression is always important.

And frankly, Utada’s the winner here. BoA sounds like she could do okay with her album, but honestly, I’m just feeling that Utada will come out on top, if she plays her sound up a bit more for a few tracks. She’s relying a bit too much on that Stargate producing unit, so she’d better not let them churn out all of this crap to make a worse album. Amazingly, I think both of BoA’s good tracks were produced by Bloodshy & Avant… So that’s saying something. she should’ve stuck with them.

Of course, I could be completely wrong and the real tracks will blow me away on both albums, but we’ll see.

BoA “I Did It For Love” PV Preview

Let’s just say that this PV is gonna get a good review when it comes out… VERY good.

I just thought people’d be interested in this little tidbit. I expect the full PV (and, in turn, my review of it) will be out soon.

Oh, and yeah, I’ll be featuring BoA starting from her American debut era. I forgot I took her off…