Album First Impressions: Kalan Porter, Kuroki Meisa, Yelle

Kalan Porter – Wake Up Living (B-)

I’ve established in my longer Kalan Porter review of his first album that Porter is a very strong vocalist, and he still is. Unfortunately, this album is a bit mellower than his first album, and while the songs are nice, not many of the tracks stood out to me in any way. If I were to pick out songs, I wouldn’t really be able to past the first track of the album. It’s pretty much standard pop stuff. There’s nothing to really dislike, or something extraordinary on this album. Again, Porter is still a good vocalist, but that’s about all this album offers.

Kuroki Meisa – hellcat (D+)

So, how’d this girl get a record deal? Oh right, she has a ~sexy image~. In any case, this girl cannot sing for her life. Not only does she sound bored (Hear the Alarm?), she can’t keep a basic key in many of these songs and sings with absolutely no tone, and quite frankly it’s quite painful. To her advantage, she has a strong production team, which is the only reason why the album isn’t absolutely terrible. The songs are catchy, and quite addictive. The singing, however? Terrible. Hopefully she gets better as time goes on, because right now my ears are bleeding from her inability to keep a key.

Yelle – Pop up (D-)

Ever listen to something so irritating that you had to skip through the entire album? Welcome to Yelle, whom’s music you will either find really fun or just really, really annoying. I’m going with the latter here. Not only does she not sing particularly well when she does try to sing, she spends most of her time chanting through her music. Of course, this is not necessarily a bad thing sometimes, but for Yelle, it’s just annoying. I had to skip through all of her slower songs because her voice just didn’t cut it at all. Her upbeat songs are a bit more enjoyable, as they can be a bit catchy and the lyrics are hilarious if you undertand French. Sorry to say but I didn’t enjoy this album at all, and the only thing that saved it from me hating it altogether was the occasional catchy song and some of the quirky lyrics on the album.

Album Impressions: Son Dam Bi, MEG, Lights

Son Dam Bi – Type B (B)

손담비’s debut album is a little less catchy and addictive than what I kind of expected from what I heard from her beforehand. I know I had a weird addiction to 미쳤어 (also known as “Crazy”) before listening to this album, and I didn’t even know the name of the song at that time (I later realized it was because I watched After School’s debut performance, where she appeared to sing that song). In any case, this is Son Dam Bi’s debut album with 10 tracks, 2 of which are remixes and 1 is an instrumental. The music itself doesn’t really stand out in the Korean music industry much, but some of them are kind of cutely catchy, while others are just really lame. By lame, I mean really boring. Anyways, one of the things holding Son Dam Bi back a lot of the times on the album would be her vocals. Her voice is nice, but sometimes it just really lacks the omph and power that some of the upbeat tracks need. Other times, she performs quite nicely. “No Sympathy” just really lacks any vocal flavour and she lacks any phrasing and doesn’t hold her notes well at all. However, on 느리게잊기, her expression in her singing is really quite good, making it one of the ballads on the album that actually work. The remix for 미쳤어 is quite good as well and keeps the addictiveness of the original.

MEG – BEAUTIFUL (C-)

Oh MEG. Why are you so hilariously entertaining? Seriously though, girl still can’t sing. I don’t care how “unique” you think her voice is, there’s something called pitch, and she doesn’t have very much ability to keep any of that in her songs. After listening to three albums, she’s still terrible. On the bright side, there’s still an array of random songs where her singing isn’t as irritable. “TELEPHONE” is probably my favourite track from MEG out of the three Nakata albums I’ve heard. It’s absolutely addictive, and her voice isn’t quite as irritating, although there are still some moments in the song which make me want to cringe. I also particularly like “SKIN”, which is another one of those long, mostly instrumental tracks from Nakata, which has minimal MEG singing. It’s repetitive, but fun. The worst culprit on the album would be “STAR”, the obligatory jtek ballad, which does nothing but reveal even more technical problems with MEG’s singing. That, and MEG sounds like a dying kitten throughout the whole thing. I’m not quite sure why she’s allowed to sing ballads. In any case, MEG’s third Nakata album is okay. As an album, MEG’s singing is still pretty bad, but the material on the album is okay. Not much of it stood out to me, but there are still plenty of cute melodies among it all.

Lights – Lights EP (B)

Lights is a Canadian singer-songwriter that writes synthpop music and is currently widely played on Canadian radios despite not having a full album out. I first came upon this artist on the Old Navy commercials, where they played “The Last Thing on Your Mind”. Eventually, I found this EP and decided to listen to it. The first thing that stood out was Lights’ really nasally, whiny voice. This works against her in all possible ways. This isn’t saying that she’s tone deaf, because she carries a tune decently. However, her technique is probably equal to some of the mediocre Disney singers I’ve heard (I’m talking about you, Ashley Tisdale). She’s really not that good of a singer for the most part, but I’m sure with some more practice, she’ll improve, because she has some decent moments. While I really don’t like her as a vocalist, her songs are actually quite nice. “Drive Your Soul” has the least amount of nasally straining, and is quite a nice track. In fact many of these are nice tracks, but the level of singing varies from really bad to decent. “The Last Thing On Your Mind” falls into the really bad category as it’s full of nasally straining everywhere on the track. In any case, the girl is still a talented songwriter, which makes the EP still rather pleasant to listen to if you don’t mind her voice.

Album Impressions: Stephanie, Lil’B

More XD. I haven’t been listening to many new albums other than the stuff I’ve been reviewing for LW, though.

Stephanie – Colors of my Voice (A-)

Stephanie’s sophmore effort at an album ends up being just as good as her previous effort, if not better. On the plus side, if people did not enjoy the cheesiness of her first album like I did (guilty!), they will appreciate this album a lot more. The songs on this album are strong from beginning to end, and I quite enjoyed listened to it when I browsed through it. A few points of critique about this album: none of the ballads are quite as strong as the ones on the past album. I don’t mean her whistle notes, because I’m kind of indifferent to them, but generally, the ballads just don’t stand out that much. Not that they did on the past album, but they seemed more enjoyable. In addition, Stephanie’s vocal performance is a bit sloppier on this album. I’m found that far too many times, her voice lacked the control and tone of the previous album. It’s still a good album, though, and worth listening to. Her pitch is a bit questionable at time, surprisingly and many of the album tracks are much better than the singles that came before. Forever is a catchy dance tune, which includes her americanizing the pronunciation of “Aishiteru” (and beings a lot of hilarity in addition to the “huur huur huurr”-ing).

Lil’B – Ima, Kimi he… (C-)

I’m seriously a bit horrified by this effort by these two R&B-pop-rap girls. These girls are probably most known for their song オレンジ from Bleach (which I didn’t really know about until searching up a bit on these girls). In any case, I tried this album on a whim because the album was girly, someone said they had nice voices, and last.fm wouldn’t stop bugging me about them on my recommendations. So I dove into the album and was horrified by these girls’ singing. Seriously, from the first track, all you heard is really out of tune singing. The girls occasionally have their good points here and there as they actually do have nice voices at times, just that they technique is almost non-existent at times. I spent most of the album cringing through the singing. On the bright side, most of the songs on the album are actually quite memorable if you ignore the really bad singing. There are a lot of catchy hooks and memorable melodies. Most notably, オレンジ has a lovely laid-back reggae feel. 15 also stood out to me, despite the bad singing. Hopefully these girls grow into stronger singers, because their music seems enjoyable.

Album First Impressions: Garou, Girls Aloud, Leah Dizon, Mandy Moore, Sakamoto Maaya, Stephanie

. Some of these albums I’ve never reviewed, and I don’t really plan to (sometimes because Tsuki’s already done it), so I’m throwing them on here. =D Added approximate marks XD.

Garou – Piece of My Soul (B-)

Garou is a Francophone-Canadian singer, most known for his role as Quasimodo in the musical Notre-Dame de Paris (both in the Paris cast and the London cast). I’ve never seen the British version of the musical, but the French version is fantastic. “Piece of My Soul” is Garou’s first English album, and his fourth album overall; however, there’s not much here to note about. The thing is that Garou is a fantastic singer, and he shows this well here. In addition, he has a rather unique gravelly voice which makes him stand out somewhat from the pop crowd. However, the material on this album is rather bland and uninspiring. Most notable track is the opening “Stand Up”, which was also the first single off the album. It’s a catchy rock-esque track, which displays Garou’s energy and his voice. This is pretty much an average release.

Girls Aloud – Sound of the Underground (C)

After being disappointed with this British pop group’s latest effort, I decided to start at the beginning of their career for some insight on their debut album. Unfortunately, this album is just as poor of a release as their latest work. The melodies on this album just come off as really awkward. In addition, the girls don’t particularly sing well on this album either, and they come off as a little bit amature-sounding on this album. There’s some nice hooks on this album, but otherwise, I wasn’t particularly interested in this album. I don’t really have any highlights on this album.

Leah Dizon – Communication!!! (C)

If you think Dizon sang badly on the first album, you’re in for a treat on her second attempt. While Dizon has a stronger voice this time around, her pitch has drastically gone from passable to absolutely god-awful. Seriously, I didn’t even cringe this much through Destiny Line. She singing is just really bad on this album. On the other than, I liked a lot more songs (in terms of composition, general production) a lot more this time around. “Love Paradox” is definitely one of my favourites from Dizon, and the strongest Dizon song to date in my opinion. However, far too many times I thought that certain songs would have sounded rather good only if Dizon was actually in tune. For example, “Lost at Sea” has a lovely melody, but Dizon sounds absolutely terrible and out of tune. Hopefully, she pulls out music at the level of “Love Paradox” for the next album.

Mandy Moore – Amanda Leigh (B-)

Terrible cover-art aside, Mandy Moore goes for a more mature approach for her most recent album. Thankfully, despite rumours, she kept with her more folk-pop music. However, at first listen, not many of these tracks stand out in any way, despite being rather pretty. Moore’s singing is still solid, and some of the tracks are pretty calming, but if I were to pick out stand-out tracks off the top of my head, I wouldn’t really be able to remember much of what happened the first time I listened to the album, save for the first two or so tracks. The music is pretty, but Wild Hope made a much better first impression on me.

Sakamoto Maaya – Kazeyomi (B)

Unlike Tsuki, I didn’t quite enjoy Kazeyomi to the same degree as she did. For me, Maaya’s voice seemed a lot more strained than I was used to hearing from her, and as a result, I didn’t really enjoy the overall album as much as some of her past work. However, there are still some notable tracks. “Vento” is a gorgeous opening composition for the album, and actually one of my favourite tracks off the album. “SONIC BOOM” is a pretty mid-tempo song, which shows a much stronger vocal from Maaya, and “ピーナッツ” (Peanuts) is an irresistable, adorable track that features pizzicato strings and xylophone. It’s still a cute album overall, but not one of my favourites

Sakamoto Maaya – Lucy (A-)

While this wasn’t the first time I listened to Lucy, this was the first time I formed an overall opinion about the album. A lot of these songs I grew up listening to, and most of them are just as enjoyable as they were when I first listened to them years ago. As a product, Lucy delivers some fun pop music, a lot of which are nicely sung. My personal favourites include 空気と星 (Kuuki to Hoshi), a lovely ballad that shows off Maaaya’s beautiful tone and delivery, and ストロボの空 (Strobe no Sora), a mid-tempo track with a lovely, flowing melody (although Maaya’s singing isn’t as good on this track). While Maaya still has some ways to go as a vocalist, she still has solid performances on this album, and the material is throughly enjoyable.

Stephanie – Stephanie (A-)

Amusingly, I actually enjoyed this Jpop singer’s debut album. She has some catchy pop tunes, and some solid pipes. I was actually surprised how enjoyable this album was. Stephanie projects her voice really well, although she can be a ble mechanical in her presentation. This album is filled with catchy guitar-centered pop tracks. Among them, “Life” stood out to me as an uptempo pop-rock track with a quick melody. Even the really cheesy “Shiny Days” caught my attention. This album is fun and has some pretty solid singing throughout.

Album First Impressions: A Fine Frenzy, Arashiro Beni, Girls Aloud, Savage Garden

A few new blurbs <3

A Fine Frenzy – One Cell in the Sea (B)

Alison Sudol, commonly known as “A Fine Frenzy”, is an American singer-songwriter who has a beautiful voice and an excellent ear for soothing melodies. This is her debut album, and is mostly filled with pleasant sounds and melodies. Unfortunately, not a lot stood out of its own on the album when I was casually listening to it several times during exam period. Out of the tracklist, the single “Almost Lover” was definitely a stand out with its bittersweet lyrics and sorrowful singing from Sudol. The other track that I remember off the top of my head is “Rangers”, the track that comes before her debut single. It has a fabulous chorus with interesting lyrics that caught my attention the first time I listened to it: “And the rangers stream out if their cabins / They are the hunters / We are the rabbits / Maybe we don’t want to be found”. It’s pretty obvious that Sudol is a fabulous lyricist, but listening to the album casually really does nothing for the album. Maybe I’ll like it better when I write a full review for it.

Arashiro Beni – GEM (A-)

Arashino Beni, currently releasing music under the name BENI is a Japanese pop-R&B singer with a beautiful voice. I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I don’t care for this girl’s earlier material. After listening to her latest Universal material, I decided to give her last album a try, and it was surprisingly pretty good. I’ve always liked “How Are U?” and “Luna” has always been a passable ballad from her. What I didn’t realize was that she has much better tracks on this album. There are some pretty catchy R&B tracks on this song, including the first few tracks. “Paradise” is a lovely, breezy tracks, although her voice is a little bit strained on it. I think my favourite track is her studio live version of 恋文, which is probably my favourite off this album. I’m definitely not dissapointed from picking up this album.

Girls Aloud – Out of Control (C+)

After listening to this Tangled Up, I decided to dive into this British girl pop group’s latest effort. To my surprise, this album is nowhere as good as their previous album. A lot of their singing problems show themselves a lot more clearly on this album, and it’s especially annoying when one listens to a solid pop track, such as their single “The Promise”, which is a catchy song, but littered with a lot of bad singing. Much of the songs don’t really catch my attention after that. “Untouchable” is a notable track, but goes on for far too long. “Revolution in the Head” is rather catchy, and probably closest to the stuff they had on their previous album with a stronger dance feel. “Live in the country” is amusing with the animal sounds, and the catchy beats. Otherwise, there’s not much here. I’d recommend Tangled Up over this.

Savage Garden – Affirmation (A-)

I’ve always really liked this Australian pop duo ever since they first came out, but I never sat down and listened to their album all the way through. Surprisingly, this album is pretty good. These guys know how to write good pop music, and it shows throughout this album. “Affirmation” is an excellent mid-tempo opener with some beautiful accompaniment and excellent singing from Darren Hayes. This album isn’t complete without the slightly cheesy, but really pretty “I knew I loved you” in the mix, and the march-like “The Animal Song”. The ending of the album, however, sizzles down to some filler tracks that I really don’t remember that well, but I remember they were uninteresting and bland. Either way, this is a still a solid pop album.

Album First Impressions: Kalafina, Kuu, BoA, Utada

Since my lit + misc blog kind of died, and I still really like the title of this blog, I just switched it so I can ramble and ramble about whatever I’m listening to at the moment. I mostly shove and listen to two albums on my way to and back school these days since I figured out how to turn my DS into a MP3 player, so yeah! Stuff I’ve been listening to:

Kalafina – Seventh Heaven (A+)

This was mostly before I did my detailed review on LW, and probably one of the reasons why I got a little bit tired of listening to it. Either way, it’s an amazing album, although a bit too much of an abundance of ballady tracks (although they’re all consistently good singers throughout the album). I have a new-found love for Wakana. She’s just an immensely skilled vocalist and she’s fantastic. My favourites include Natsu no Ringo, serenato and Kaze ga Tsuyokunatta. The cover for this album is also really spiffy. Something about the flourescent wires and designs over the black background work really well together.

Koda Kumi – TRICK (B)

After getting tired of listening to elegant, pretty music, I switched the album to Koda Kumi’s TRICK. I, unfortunately, didn’t find this was catchy as some reviewers have said it was and I wasn’t overly impressed with what I heard. Fortunately, I do seem to like it more than her previous album so far, which really isn’t have hard, really. I do like that she’s more consistently sounding interested in her tracks. I’m still not a fan of Kuu on ballads. She sings them with more conviction but there’s still a degree of musicality that she hasn’t reached with them. As a girl who adores really well-sung ballads, Kuu doesn’t do it for me. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved “DRIVING” though. The bridge is fantastic, and it’s really the only new track that I would choose to listen to again and again at this point. I’ll get a more detailed review up on LW later, so I’ll get a better chance to put the album through some close listening. Oh, and BLING BLING BLING isn’t quite as horrifying as the Live I first saw (read: she actually bothers to sing things), although not as amusing without the really ghetto dancing. And she says “Benus”, kids. There’s a very clear B sound. I understand that y’all like to pretend that it’s a P sound, but it doesn’t sound a bit like it. Oh, and listening to Kuu switch between Bling and Bring is really funny for some reason. Oh Japanese and your lack of difference between the two sounds.

Utada – This is the One (C)

This album actually never made it onto my DS, but I’ve heard it enough on my computer. Wow,  Hikki. I can’t say I enjoy much of the music on this album. I find it rather bland all-in-all, and the singing is attrocious. Sorry, Hikki, but you really have to start writing within your limited singing range. It’s kind of painful to hear you constantly strain for notes everywhere. I guess if you’re used to her voice, it’s fine. However, as a long fan of Utada, I couldn’t stand her singing for most of the tracks on the album. Her voice is seriously shot. Her low range, however, is gorgeous, and she should really sing more there because it sounds really good in comparison to her constant strainfest. On the other hand, some of the melodies on this album are rather cute. Otherwise, ew. Favourites include: MCML – FYI, This Child, Dirty Desire (lawls, because it’s catchy). The rest will probably grow on me in some distant future.

BoA – BoA + a few BEST JAPAN comments (Best: C // BoA: A-)

This is technically part of the BEST & USA thingee that I’m supposed to review for LW (Tsuki is taking the actual US album), but in any case, both disks are currently on my DS, but I haven’t had the chance to listen to much of the Japan Best disk. UNIVERSE is really catchy despite the really bad engrish. Her and Crystal Kay sound fantastic together. One of the disappointments for me is LOSE YOUR MIND, because the song itself is ridiculously catchy, but BoA sounds so BLOODY BORED throughout. This is even more evident in Believe in Love. The VALENTI arrangement is horrendous (I adored the original!). BoA ballads are so-so. I don’t really like her ballads much either, but I might like them a bit more than Kuu’s… I don’t know. There’s still a bunch of tracks I didn’t pay attention to, or didn’t get a chance to listen to today.

The US disk is really catchy though. My comments on it WILL be more positive than what Tsuki will probably post in the next few days. I find I Did it for Love really annoying though, I don’t know. It might be because of the ridiculous leather outfit she has in the PV and the crazy arm waving she does in it. That, and the chorus is well… one line. In any case, even with the vocoder, BoA sounds like she enjoys herself a lot in this CD (although a few tracks I don’t bother listening to at all every time I listen to it because I find them boring). My favourites include “Did Ya”, which Bloodshy & Avant recycled the background for “Buddha’s Delight” from the movie “Music and Lyrics” (the soundtrack amuses me, so I picked up the similarity right away). Obsessed is another catchy one, although her accent is really obvious here, but her pronunciation is still really clear either way, so I won’t complain. The third one I really like is Hypnotic Dancefloor. This isn’t including the fact that I still really like “Look Who’s Talking” as well.

I think that’s all for now…