6 posts tagged “merry”
Or at least, very very disappointing.
2.L'arc En Ciel - for those who know me, it's no secret that I touch everything they do lately with a ten-foot pole and one eye closed. We can probably go back to Smile for them, but at the very least, Awake and Kiss were nothing to write home about. Again, like Merry, maybe half the tracks were decent? Less on Awake. I think there were only a couple good tracks there. Unlike Merry though, it's hard to figure out where they went wrong. At least, for the legions of Hyde fangirls disguised as L'arc fans. For me, it's easy. The solos. They have gotten markedly worse since going off for solo fun time. I don't think they'll ever be the same and I honestly just wish they'd break up.
3.Dir en grey - I can't say I'm a huge fan, but I did like most of their stuff prior to Marrow. But that and this other one with the pretentious U title are steaming piles of poo. Crimes against music include, noise, Kyo being unable to sing better than a hoarse monkey, trying to sound like Korn and just general boredom.
4.Mika Nakashima - ok, it's really only one album, but I hate it so much I'm mentioning her. VOICE. Manufactured, generic pop tripe and such a complete and utter waste of her ability it makes me see red just thinking about it. I wish whoever her handlers are would realized that jazz, soul and even gospel are what she sounds best singing. Thus, to me, her best album is YES. Fortunately though, her latest single seems to indicate she might be going back to that.
5.SID - lol. I'm sorry, but I enjoyed their jazz days. This Osare-sounding poppy lite-rock is really...not cool, and it makes Mao nearly intolerable to listen to. That said, I did enjoy Monokuro no Kiss quite a bit, but the rest of the album was not much better than Sentimental Macchiato, which should be shot for its name alone.
6.Penicillin - Idk, I think I'm just getting tired of them. Their music sounds so very uninspired these days, and it's getting harder and harder to overlook Hakeui's complete inability to sing. They have another album coming out next month, and if it's not head and tales above their last one, I think I'll toss them.
7.The Pillows - that last album of theirs was so ugly I don't even care about the new one. The songs were anywhere from really annoying to really boring. I think I only really like one or two songs on it.
So the big question is, can these artists recover from their crappy streak? I think it's possible. My favorite examples are Girugamesh, UVERworld and Exist Trace. I was ready to drop Giru after 13 Reborn. I was sick of all their stuff sounding just like every other raaawwr hxc nu-metal VK band. Then they released their self-titled and all was forgiven. I was turned off from UVERworld after Bugright, an awful, boring mess of an album. But since then they've released AwakEve and Proglution, both very solid albums, so I've changed my mind. Exist Trace has always been a mediocre-at-best band, and had they released another badly produced, generic, filled-with-muffled-bad-vocals album, I would have dropped them for good. But the mini they DID release was very good so I have high hopes for whatever they do next.
Tbh, the only artists in that list I've truly lost hope for is L'arc and Diru. I don't really care if Penicillin or The Pillows right their ship, because they aren't my favorites. I do hope that Merry and Mika can though. Merry used to be one of my favorite bands and it saddens me that they annoy the shit out of me now. :(
This is Merry’s second single release of the year, some four months
after their last one. Rumors flew about this single early on. Enka
covers? A fifteen-minute title track? Though some said that it was in
fact, three songs in one track or something similar. Well the truth is
about to be uncovered.
Also, the three-version thing is in full force. One version gets you a
DVD, but no b-sides, and the other two have one b-side a piece on them.
As I’ve done in the past, I’m simply going to review all three songs
without regard to versions.
Merry
Gekisei
Genre: rock, jazz, Eroguro, Angura
Release Date: 08-20-08
Price: 1,260 ¥
Released By: Victor Entertainment
Tracks: 1 (+2)
01.Gekisei (all types)
02.Gakuseimachi Kissaten (type A only)
03.Isezakicho Blues (type B only)
Gekisei - starts out with some static before a lightly strummed acoustic guitar comes in for a few bars. Then comes the noise they’re famous for lately, but it does finally settle down into on off-beat reminiscent of Calling. And I must ask again, how many times does Yuu plan on ripping himself off with that song? That goes on until about 5 minutes in, then we get to hear an upright bass, some hi-hat, and Yuu and Kenichi trading muted chords. This particular section sounds a bit like something off of Peep Show, distorted, but jazzy. Gara’s singing is urgent and he occasionally throws in a bit of scatting. At almost seven minutes, this bit descends into noise with Gara using a distorter and a lot of other random sounds, including Yuu yelling in the background. Easily the worst part of the song. At 8 minutes in, it returns to half of the first part and half of the second, and by 9 we have that acoustic strumming returning. But for the most part, the rest of the song is essentially a continuation of the first five minutes. The very last part has Gara shouting some random depressing words and then the acoustic strumming leads us out into a little music box ditty.
Gakuseimachi Kissaten - the first of the enka covers. I almost didn’t recognize Gara’s voice at the start, as he’s a lot lower than usual. It certainly sounds like a 70’s song, but at the same time, it has a distinctly eroguro flair. It reminds me somewhat of Guruguro Eigakan or Taiheiyou Belt. Mainly I really enjoy Gara’s vocals. He shows he doesn’t have to be dramatic all the time in order to sound good
Isezakicho Blues - this song however, makes the entire single for me. It was originally sung by a woman, but you’d never know that with how Gara sings it. And he’s again, nice and low, and during the chorus, just for a bar or two, he sounds almost exactly like Morrie in one of his old solo songs. The stop-start tempo is also fantastic. This song has more old jazz feel packed into barely 3 minutes than you would think possible.
Of course in this single, to get all three songs, you have to buy at least two singles. If you’d like to know which I’d recommend, it would be the one with Isezakicho Blues. That mere three minutes is far better than the fifteen of Gekisei. Just repeat it about five times to get the full effect. Yeah, I haven’t been terribly pleased with Merry lately, but I like this thing. Even if the b-sides are just covers, they’re fantastic covers and they bring back that old Merry sound. Also, you’d be hard-pressed to dig up songs, even old songs, where Gara sounds that good.
Final Word: the coupling of Gekisei and Isezakicho Blues are definitely worth your money. ★★★★☆
Key:
★★★★★ = Excellent, flawless, perfecto
★★★★☆ = Very good, has some minor flaws
★★★☆☆ = Good, maybe a few boring moments, but overall enjoyable
★★☆☆☆ = Fair, bad outweighs the good
★☆☆☆☆ = Poor, possibly offensive to your ears
This is Merry’s first single release of the year, some four months
after their last album, M.E.R.R.Y. When last we left them, they seemed
to be going in a slightly new direction, which could be a good or bad
thing, depending on how you viewed that album.
As I said in my review, I was concerned at the lack of material from
Yuu. But the a-side of this single is in fact written by him. Can he
redeem their sound with this single?
Merry
Tozasareta Rakuen
Genre: rock, jazz, Eroguro, Angura
Release Date: 04-16-08
Price: 1,260 ¥
Released By: Victor Entertainment
Tracks: 3
01.Tozasareta rakuen
02.Kigeki no Taboo
03.To.ro.ke.te.ru
Tozasareta rakuen is Yuu’s track, and back when the
previews came out, I had the hardest time with it. The song sounded
noisy and disjointed with Gara’s thin voice standing out far too much
against the breakneck pace of the drums.
I’ve changed my mind a bit since then. The structure is actually pretty
complex, but the problem is that it emphasizes the chorus, which is
still weak. The overdubbed voices behind Gara don’t help the weak
sound, and in fact, emphasize it even more. It also doesn’t help that
he’s singing way behind the beat, which makes for the disjointed
feeling. I do like the hook however. It’s very rockabilly and very Yuu.
But I can’t help but be impatient for this song to end every time I
hear it, and that bothers me.
Kigeki no Taboo is next, and this would be Kenichi’s contribution. It starts out with a riff somewhat similar to the one from Saihate no Parade, and it repeats like crazy going into the rest of the song. In fact, by the second time it does that, I’m already sick of it. As is somewhat typical of Kenichi, he skips that whole bridge thing in favor of…yes, more riff repetition. Gara’s vocals are better than the previous song, on the lower side, and he combines singing with some of his hoarse yelling. The problem I have with this song, besides the riff repeating thing, is the structure. It’s almost nonsensical and it makes the song seem to go on forever even though it’s only four minutes.
The final track, To.ro.ke.te.ru, is Nero’s, and my first impression that it was a crazy combination of Charlie and Oriental BL Circus, his songs from last year. The first thing I dislike is the disco beat, but the rest of the song more than makes up for it. First off, after Gara sings the first two lines, the others come in to combine for the next line. It goes Yuu -> Tetsu -> Ken -> Nero. The chorus is incredibly catchy and the fake ending was convincing. I also like the mad tempo changes and Gara’s Middle-Eastern harmonics in the background. The guitar solo (presumably Yuu) is thrashy and full of feedback, and the backing riffs aren’t bad either. Also, this song is the shortest and yet, I felt like the fade-out ending came too quickly.
Well, this single was not quite as bad as I was expecting from the samples. However, I can say unequivocally that the last track is the best. Perhaps this just says that Nero can take the crazy motif and really work with it. The other two were certainly crazy, but in a way that makes you back away slowly and not make eye contact. If I may, I would like to recommend that Merry move away from this new style. Unless they vastly improve on it by the next release.
Final Word: it’s not bad, but it might give you a headache. Or you could just put Nero’s track on repeat and call it good. ★★★☆☆
Key:
★★★★★ = Excellent, flawless, perfecto
★★★★☆ = Very good, has some minor flaws
★★★☆☆ = Good, maybe a few boring moments, but overall enjoyable
★★☆☆☆ = Fair, bad outweighs the good
★☆☆☆☆ = Poor, possibly offensive to your ears
One of my other favorite musicians and guitarists is Yuu from the pretty well-known eroguro band Merry. I recently had occasion to hear his sole former band, Shiver. I was mainly interested to see if his guitar style is as distinctive as Aie's. There were two guitarists, and the other one (Akira), like with Aie's early bands, was the lead and did most of the composing. However Yuu did get a few shakes at it. They were a pretty typical VK band, especially in appearance, and somewhat in vocals. The vocalist sounds more like an Aki type than a Kiyoharu type, however.
After the fairly mundane Hypnosis, I moved on to Saibou, and I had to keep checking the composer, because with that galloping bass line and jazzy guitar riffs, I'd almost swear it was written by Yuu. I can't really hear a second guitar either, and the one I mostly hear really does sound like Yuu.
The next song that came up was written by Yuu. Gimmick. Interestingly it wasn't really jazzy, but I do admit the lead definitely sounds like him. He's also credited for synth, oddly enough. Rasen no kago was next, and another Yuu composition. Again, rather heavy on the synth. It does an interesting thing about halfway through though, changing times. The next song, Kuroi Kyojetsu is equally off-beat. But it sort of surprises me that Yuu wrote these. They seem less distinct and more "typical". Whereas, wherever Aie has been, I can tell it's him right away. I guessed nearly every Lamiel song he wrote, just by hearing it.
Nevertheless, I'd say they were pretty successful by small band standards. They released several singles and a mini, and their guitarists went on to be the lead composers for their next bands; Merry and Baroque respectively. It's also interesting to me that Yuu's name was written thusly: ユウ and ゆう. It probably explains why the majority of Merry fandom now romanizes his name as Yuu and not Yu.
In spite of hoping to be all over Yuu in this, I'd have to say the best song I heard was, in fact, Saibou. My conclusion is, as talented as he is, he's still rather young in band years. Aie, after all, was in three bands before Lamiel and in three since Lamiel. He's also been all over the place in session bands and helping on other people's projects. They may be the same age (I think, lol), but in band years, pretty far apart.
It's early for this (not even winter), but strangely this year has brought very little of that dark gloom I like to stew in until December. As such, I'm already feeling Christmasy. Which brings me to the music, of course. I've never been fond of commercial Christmas music, i.e. non-choral, non-traditional, original Christmas music. I especially dislike pop stars' renditions of things like "Here Comes Santa Claus". Oddly, until a few years ago, it never occurred to me that Japanese musicians might have any interest in what is technically a Christian holiday. Obviously this is an incredibly wrong assumption, because not only are they interested, but it's actually a big deal. Over only two years, I've amassed eight 80-minute CDs worth of Jrock and Jpop Christmas music, some of it traditional, but most of it is original. The latter is what amazes me the most. Many of these original Christmas songs are gorgeous and moving, and very accurately portray the meaning of a holiday that it seems us Amerikajin have forgotten. I heard very few original Christmas songs while listening to American music for years, certainly none that I remember fondly, if at all.
Take, for example, B'z's "itsuka no Merry Christmas". This is now one of my favorite Christmas songs of all time. The lyrics are incredibly moving and the song is so simple and full of soul that I cannot help but get a little misty every time I hear it.
Another band responsible for three of my favorites, is GLAY. Even when I hated them, I adored White Road. Christmas Ring and Winter Again are also amazing, and have the exact vibe I love in Christmas songs. Dark, wistful, mystical and hopeful.
I only recently discovered the duo of Chage & Aska (thanks to Aie), and their Christmas album, entitled: Snowmail. Done in a style reminiscent of Frank Sinatra and Barbershop groups, and with amazing harmonizations and jazzy compositions. I think I would consider listening to them outside of Christmas, just because it's so rare to hear TRUE tenors in popular music.
There are also a couple of uniquely Japanese songs that I love to hear every year. That is, songs with the traditional instrumentation intact. Specifically "Poinsettia" by hitomi shimatani and "Harmony of December" by the Kinki Kids have this. The former is a gorgeous song, and hitomi's voice is definitely traditional in delivery.
It's also a bit amusing to me that bands I cannot stand the rest of the year, happen to have Christmas songs I quite like. Such as Psycho le Cemu's "inori", or Gackt's "12gatsu no Love Song", as well as songs by Vidoll, Wizard and Remioromen. Also,there is, of course, always pop. But Christmas is where pop shines, because it has license to be sweet and sappy and no damage done to reputations.
Generally, Japanese Christmas songs not only sound Christmasy (there IS a sound, people), but they contain a lyrical motif of love and often winter or snow imagery. A particularly poignant song uses the opposite effect of all these warm, hopeful songs full of love.
Instead it connects the falling snow with lost love. The snow piling up on Tokyo only reminds the narrator of his burdensome memories. This all set to an upbeat jazzy tune courtesy of the one and only Retrock band in Japan, Merry. If you don't know the lyrics, you'll have no need to feel sad, because the song doesn't suggest that at all. But then, isn't that the point of jazz and blues? No one understands that better than Gara, the vocalist and mad genius lyricist of the band.
Actually, I personally like the effect of this song among all the rest of my library. It reminds one that not everyone has family and/or a significant other to share Christmas with, and how profoundly lonely this must be. Leave it to Gara to point this out. XD
But you don't have to understand the lyrics to hear the Christmas in these songs. Even without the requisite "Merry Christmas". Trust me on this. ;D
Merry’s second single of the year came in three different versions,
each with a different b-side. As they’re roughly eight dollars a piece,
I was, in the end, suckered into buying all three. But, rather than
post three reviews, I shall review all four songs here.
Their last single was more on the rocky side, thanks to Kenichi, and he
gets the a-side here, but two of the tracks this time, are by lead
guitarist and band leader, Yuu. Can we expect a little more jazz this
time?
Merry
Komorebi ga boku wo sagashiteru
Genre: rock, jazz, eroguro
Release Date: 08.08.2007
Price: 980 ¥
Released By: Victor Entertainment
Tracks: 2 + 2
01.komorebi ga boku wo sagashiteru
02.Charlie (type 1)
*02.makka na aoi haru (type 2)
*02.Hi no de machi, machikado Cinderella (type 3)
The title track komorebi ga boku wo sagashiteru, starts out with a little guitar riff that reminds me straight away of Calling. The solo that follows is either a really strange guitar effect or an accordion. I leaned towards the former initially, but considering accordion appears in two other songs, I’m no longer sure. Gara chanting along to the drums with a briefly prominent bass line is effective, and stands out. The chorus comes up quickly, and is followed with the verses again, and repeat. The solo isn’t bad, and sounds a tad like Yuu initially, but with the speed, it becomes apparent that it’s Kenichi. The bridge, however, is rather unimaginative and reuses most of the elements already introduced. The rest of the song is one long chorus, very similar to Calling. Unfortunately, Yuu just did this less than a year ago. I am fairly certain that is an accordion (or similar) however.
If you got Type 1, the b-side is Charlie, composed by Nero. It’s a typically fast-tempo, drums-prominent song with a fairly simple structure. However, the spaghetti-western sounding guitar riffing (probably by Yuu) is quite nifty. The chorus mostly features Gara and the drums, with everything else hidden. Remember how I ranked a bit on Kenichi’s bridge? Well, this one is a lot more imaginative (revisiting the spaghetti-western theme that started the song out), and segues nicely into the guitar solo, led by Nero’s drumming. Gara’s last note is drawn out in reverb and some softly strummed guitar brings the song to an end.
If you got Type 2, the b-side is makka na aoi haru, the first of two b-sides composed by Yuu. This one starts out with a little static, reminiscent of that classic, Tasogare Restaurant, but instead of a driving beat, we have a lazy one, and again the accordion takes center stage at the same time Gara does. A minute has barely passed before Yuu steals Kenichi’s thunder with this song. The chorus is so effortless and clear, segueing back into the verses almost before you realize what happened. I can’t help but love the way Yuu’s chords follow Nero’s drum cues. The solo brings back memories of Yuu’s bluesier compositions. The bridge uses elements of the chorus and verses, but is somehow neither. Gara’s vocals are rarely brilliant, but he copies the musical style so effortlessly, that it’s a kind of brilliance nevertheless. The timbre of his voice is like brass, even with that last, low, “hanabi”.
If you got Type 3, you’ll hear Hi no de machi, machikado Cinderella, also composed by Yuu, and sounding like he went to Italy when he came up with it. Or was perhaps eating a lot of spaghetti.
Anyway, the accordion really takes center stage here, and ahh, is that
a mandolin? I do believe it is. The rest is some soft drumming and Gara
singing. My reaction to this song was that this is the song Merry was
meant to do since their inception. It’s avant-garde, it’s jazz, it’s
gorgeous. Yuu may not be doing anything in this song, but you can’t
forget that he composed it.
It’s hard to review a Merry single, or album, for that matter. So much goes on in the space of three to four minutes, that it’s hard to capture it in text. It is, however, relatively easy to communicate what a creative and innovative band this is. They really are the vibrant color in what is often a monochrome scene. ★★★★☆
Key:
★★★★★ = Excellent, flawless, perfecto
★★★★☆ = Very good, has some minor flaws
★★★☆☆ = Good, maybe a few boring moments, but overall enjoyable
★★☆☆☆ = Fair, bad outweighs the good
★☆☆☆☆ = Poor, possibly offensive to your ears
(originally published Aug 27th, 2007 )
