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.

I RAVE U feat. DJ OZMA [ravex - Debut Single]

Trackilsting
1) I RAVE U feat. DJ OZMA
2) HOUSE NATION feat. LISA
3) I RAVE U feat. DJ OZMA (Extended Version)
4) I RAVE U
5) I RAVE U feat. DJ OZMA (Karaoke)

I RAVE U is the first single from the mega collaboration groul ravex, which was created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the avex label, similarly to how GIRL NEXT DOOR was formed. It was released on the 19th of November, 2008.

…Eww. I do not like I RAVE U at ALL. This is definitely an all-out dance song, and it features some of the WORST vocals I have heard in ages, on the parts of both DJ OZMA AND the backing vocalists. It’s just a hot mess, and it’s got no real sense of flow or direction. It could possibly even be considered the kind of song you’d use for a rave. Seriously, this is way too hectic, I’m not feeling it at ALL. I don’t even know where to start with the music. Just… Avoid it. Eww.

I had some semi-high hopes for HOUSE NATION, since it was the only chance for the single to redeem itself. It features LISA, the old vocalist for m-flo, and it also has a rather heavy dance vibe to it. I’m liking it a bit more this time, as it’s not throwing fifteen hundred sounds in your face at once, and LISA has a pretty nice voice. Okay, her vocals aren’t always very good, because… Most of the time she’s doing this retarded talking thing and the lyrics are horribly bad. It’s alright, but it doesn’t save the single at all. The music doesn’t even change that much.

There’s nothing more to say about the I RAVE U Extended Version. It’s more of the same. I’m not even going to bother.

Well. This is odd. I RAVE U (this time with no featured artist) opens with an instrumental instead of that crappy “Are you ready?” that kept on looping in the actual track. However, it’s just more of the same. All traces of vocals have been removed, and it leaves you with a crappy instrumental. How pointless. It’s more of an instrumental than the karaoke version is, because that only cu tout OZMA’s vocals, the rest are still there.

Single Score
F-

Favorite Track
None

Yes. I’m super serious. This single is just… HORRIBLE. I RAVE U is nowhere near as funny without its PV, so it just falls flat and it isn’t enjoyable at all, and neither is the b-side or the other three versions of I RAVE U. This was a horrible start for ravex. It doesn’t even sound like the rest of their music.

Features again~

So, I have a few more features I’d like to add today~ I’ll be adding two now, but there IS a third one that I’d prefer to announce through a PV review. You’ll see why tomorrow, when I write it, so keep your eyes peeled for that~ Anyway, for now…

So, I haven’t been an OLIVIA fan for long. Mainly since her Trinka Trinka mini-album came out, and I thought that was fantastic, in its own way.

However, after finally listening to Sailing free today, I HAD to feature her. Besides, the cover (pictured left) is just orgasmically beautiful (Apart from her face, which is kind of iffy, but kind of fits too). Almost as fantastic as the song itself. So, I’ll be doing a PV review of that later on (not tomorrow, that’s when the new feature’s coming up~), and I’ll be starting with either Sailing free or Trinka Trinka, I’m not exactly sure which… I’ll see what happens, so keep an eye open for her anyway.

Okay, so, Anna Tsuchiya is a bit overdue. I was GOING to feature her when NUDY SHOW! first came out. However, the number of singles turned me off. That’s one of my problems with what Nakashima has going on at the moment… Or did, with her last era.

Anyway, I only got to featuring her because hearing the preview for Bangalicious, which is going to appear on ravex’s album, reminded me that she was starting a new era soon. Maybe. Well, there was a possibility. And such, I decided to take the opportunity while it was still available so I wasn’t drowning in a half-finished era full of a huge amount of singles.

So, yes, I’ll be reviewing whatever she releases next. I’m not sure what it’ll be or when it comes out, but it’ll be here.

Okay, so I’m not a huge fan of I RAVE YOU, Believe in LOVE or Golden Luv (That’s all I’ve heard so far), but as I said… Well, come on, Bangalicious sounds too hot for words.

So, I’ll force my way through their singles, and eventually, I will review their debut album. Whether it’s called TRAX or avex TRAX, I couldn’t tell you, but it’ll be reviewed. Eventually.

Also, this group contains a bit of a hint to a semi-secret feature I’m planning on doing. It’s nothing huge or anything, I’d just rather feature them through another method. For the shock value, entirely.

As such, expect a PV review… Very soon. The artist/unit in that PV will be the last feature.

Also, a few changes…

• I will not be reviewing any of Mika Nakashima’s VOICE era. Well, no more of it. TAFE is riding me hard enough, so I have to spend most of my online time on assessments, and… Well, the singles. THERE’S TOO MANY!
• I will not be reviewing Fly Away or Lady-Rise by Maki Goto. Yet. There’s something flying around about those being b-sides on her next single, so consider those held off. If they aren’t on that single, fine, I’ll review them. If they are, I’ll be starting there.
• Emi Hinouchi and her time on this blog is being considered. I know, I said I wouldn’t do it anymore, but I’m a very predictable person. She may be another “wait until her next release” case.
• Sowelu, Soni and possibly Urata Naoya are facing a similar fate. With the time I have to actually get a review out, I can’t see them happening soon. Soni’s being considered for removal completely, but Sowelu will probably be started/continued after her latest best of album, depending on how her next single turns out. Urata, I’m not so sure about. We’ll see.
• Part 2 of the Digital Devil Saga OST review will be postponed a bit. The two week Easter break’s coming up soon, so, maybe I’ll have time for it in the middle of assessments.

Any other artists and reviews are business as usual for the blog. There you have it~