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.

Artist Blow-Out~

Okay, so I know I’ve got quite a bit to go through already, but doing the same stuff in a continuous streak could get pretty boring for all parties involved.

So, I’ll be adding a few more artists~

Sowelu isn’t exactly new to the music industry. What she IS new to is the electronic club scene. She recently teamed up with Taku from m-flo, like one Ami Suzuki did. I don’t know whether it’s permanent or not, but what I will say is that MATERIAL WORLD is absolutely HOT! Apart from a few flaws. Anyway, I will be reviewing her, starting from this single, once it comes out. Or, if it is out, when my internet actually allows me to get it, so you’ll be able to find out what exactly these flaws are then. OR, I could go one better and review the PV, which I have easy access to, bad internet or not. So, expect that either later tonight or as an update for the blog within the next few days. Not too far off, though, unless something really bad ends up happening.

Soni, however, is pretty much new to the music industry as a whole. Entertainment, however, is another story, as she used to be a model before she started her singing career. She isn’t a techno artist, but she could pretty much be considered an electronica artist, since she seems to be a mainly synth-pop styled artist at the moment. Since she only has one single planned (and in reality, I think she’s only featuring on it, unless LADY BiRD is another SWEET BLACK kind of thing), this could change, but either way, until I actually find out more about this damn woman, expect me to start with the single she released with LADY BiRD (or released for the campaign, if that’s what it is), entitled SWEET SONG. Also, there may or may not be a PV review.

I think we all remember how I featured Maki Goto ages ago and then took her off/put her on hiatus. Well, to quote Elton John… The bitch is back. Since she’s finally getting back into releasing music, it’s high time that she found her way back into the Vitamin Drop family. I will, of course, be starting with the digital single Fly Away, and once AGAIN, there may or may not be a PV review in the near future. My internet’s back to normal next thursday, so expect them around then if they don’t come online before then. I just thought I’d announce this before diving into any reviews of her stuff, just for formalities sake.

And there we have it! Keep an eye out for these three lovely ladies for, as I said and shall say once again, there will be PV reviews for their latest releases very soon.  Stay tuned, anyway, because something’s coming up.