Major Announcement
Hello everyone. Sorry for that small hiatus. As of late, I have enjoyed writing the typical reviews less and less. The format is cumbersome and tiring, and I feel like trying something new. While I still might publish the occasional review, and nothing is happening to my end-of-month and end-of-year countdowns, I will now be posting a recap of every song I wanted to talk about over the week on Sunday. This format is largely based on the work of Patrick St. Michael's Make Believe Mailer substack, and I do wish to give him credit for the inspiration. Thank you for everyone's support so far, and now let us begin this post!
Weekly Recap: 11/4/22 - 11/12/22
YooA - Law Low & Melody
Oh My Girl member YooA has started the rollout for her second solo EP. Her first is one of my favorite albums of recent memory, and maybe of all time. As a result, its sequel has a lot to live up to. Thankfully, the pre-release b-sides Lay Low and Melody have been quite solid, even if they fail to live up to the wonderous pack of five that made up Bon Voyage.
Opting for a wild and Mediterranean summer feel, Lay Low merges contemporary pop elements with a healthy dose of vocoder for some tangy spark. Lay Low is spunky and fun, with YooA's voice being a highlight.
However, my favorite of the pre-releases is Melody. Lyrically, the song sees YooA morph into a Siren, ready to drown any sailors who come too close. This is not even conveyed subtly, with lines like "You'll love me like all the sailors did/Ah yeah, that is what the ocean is like." Combine this with lines such as "Turn your bows around," "The cruise is over baby," and hiding the sailor's melody so he can never find it make the correlation obvious.
YooA's voice has already impressed before, but Melody sees her in her element, playing around with the melody, switching from suave and seductive to fun and over-the-top the next moment. The punchy and tangy melody certainly helps with that.
Listen to and Purchase YooA's Selfish EP Right Here!
Joji - Smithereens
Of all the 88Rising artists, Joji is perhaps the most successful within the western world, with a vast majority of his fandom coming from the United States. This only grew after his mega-hit Glimpse of Us, a veritable internet sensation, and a worthy highlight at that.
Smithereens as a hold never reaches the same heights as the aforesaid single. The new single Die for You is an unironically great moment in the vein of Glimpse of Us, and Dissolve has some wonderful production, but overall the album feels like leftovers from an early Soundcloud demo. Terrible offenders like Night Rider turn this album into more of a collection of leftover demos.
Listen to and Purchase Joji's Smithereens Right Here!
Miyavi - Get Wild & Soul's Refrain
After months of radio silence due to a tour, Miyavi has been as active as ever currently. With a new J-Rock supergroup announced (more on that later), a feature on The Rampage's new single, and an anime cover album announced, all coming within a matter of days. The cover album, Miyaviverse - Anima, celebrates Miyavi's 20th anniversary as a soloist. For it, Miyavi has pre-released "short versions" of City Hunter's Get Wild and Neon Genesis Evangelion's Soul's Refrain, also known as Tamashii No Refrain.
Miyavi, a veritable legend at remakes, often chooses to re-create the songs top-down rather than simply cover them. He retains the original melody while adding a unique slap rock touch. This can be seen through both songs, which are absolute classics in their own right. This can lead to some wonderful mergings of nostalgia and contemporary experimentalism. This is best seen in Get Wild, in which Miyavi gives a unique emotive sci-fi feel, a wonderful companion to the original's gruff and epic J-Rock.
Soul's Refrain is much less changed, since the original is already a stone-cold sci-fi rock track. In the end, both tracks are only teased here, and there is little to no doubt that they will be their very best when finally in full.
Listen to and Purchase Miyavi's Music Right Here!
King & Prince - Tsukiyomi
The news that King & Prince, arguably the most successful J-Pop band in the world at the moment, is splitting up, leaving the once-sextet as a duo in the best case, has shaken the Japanese musical scene like few other events would. The unfortunate end result is that their latest, and perhaps last, single Tsukiyomi, has been ignored by the larger discourse.
This is unfortunate, as Tsukiyomi is a perfect example of '20s Johnny's. A merging of the trendier western elements, in this Moombahton, with classic J-Pop melodies that could be supplanted to any Johnny's act since the '90s. While it clearly wasn't intended as a single with a major event tied to it, it works as a song well enough.
Listen to and Purchase King & Prince's Music Right Here!
Quadeca - I Didn't Mean To Haunt You
Between Joji and Quadeca, this is the week of "former YouTube meme musicians turned serious artists releasing artistic and evolutionary elements." Unlike in Joji's case, however, Quadeca fully delivers on his promise with this album. I Didn't Mean To Haunt You is a haunting album, with some of the most fulfilling production this year. The dense strings and atmospheric instrumentals work incredibly with glitchy electronics and trap elements. Lyrically, I Didn't Mean To Haunt You is a reserve-mourning song, written from the perspective of a recently deceased ghost visiting his family for the last time. The end result is a surprisingly artistic and mature album; one that gets better with each listen. If there is one thing holding the album back, it would Quadeca, whose vocal skills have yet to reach their peak. Nonetheless, his pain is evident when he shouts "I think you're goddamn lying!" in Born Yesterday.
I Didn't Mean To Haunt You is certainly not short on highlights. From the orchestral Sorry4Dying, the emotive Born Yesterday, the rap track Knots, the tragic FantasyWorld, or the cathartic Cassini's Division. My favorite song however would be Tell Me A Joke, a song that manages to be cathartic, tragic, orchestral, and emotive at the same time. The song is about the musings of a ghost that committed suicide and his last regrets. Quadeca provides an impeccable performance on the track, providing the album's absolute peak quite early, at the tail-end of the song.
So what do I have to say on I Didn't Mean To Haunt You? It is one of the best albums in the second half of 2022. An emotional tail on the processing of grief and untimely farewell, Quadeca has truly moved from being a decent YouTube rapper to one of the best artists this year.
Listen and Purchase to Quadeca's I Didn't Mean To Haunt You Right Here!
Musical News
- Miyavi, Sugizo (Luna Sea), Yoshiki (X Japan), and Hyde (L'Arc-en-Ciel) have announced they are forming a supergroup, the LAST ROCKSTARS. Previously, Sugizo, Miyavi, and Yoshiki had worked with Gackt to form a supergroup, S.K.I.N, but they never released any music. Personally, however, I enjoy this LAST ROCKSTARS lineup a little more. If I were to ever create a J-Rock supergroup, it would be these four members. Maybe I would include X Japan's Hide, but tragically that is no longer possible. I am extremely excited for this group, as this is arguably one of the greatest lineups for any band ever.
- King & Prince's split seems to come out of nowhere and is the biggest departure from Johnny's since SMAP. Given SMAP's dramatic split was a result of agency politics, many fans have suspected Johnny's politics to be behind this. Either way, this is truly shocking news.
- After Omega X returned to South Korea, they made an official statement against their CEO's terrible abuse. She did resign, but her husband is still the Chairman of the company (Spire Entertainment), and many fans believe this abuse is grossly systemic.
- Taylor Swift had the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, damn.
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