Daily Archives: June 18, 2012

by

Cara Winter – “Do You Have A Heart?” Review

Local artist Cara Winter released her new album a few weeks back and it’s a collection of new and old songs redone with some lush string arrangements behind the piano and vocal delivery.

“Do You Have A Heart (The Mousey Song)” opens things up how the album proceeds. The piano sounds full and thick, the strings beautifully compliment the melody without taking over and Cara’s vocals are spot on. She has a way of making wonderful layers to her voice and its showcased here in this cute opener.

One of the standouts from her debut “Butterfly” returns to utterly devastate you. The stuttering piano and purposefully whimsy vocals are perfectly underscored with bass and strings. You could hear a spec of dust drop in my flat every time I listen to the track. Stunning. New track “Is This Love” has some wonderful lyrics and turns of phrases. “Would you like to buy my car? It’s driven me to hell and back” is classic. It’s a mature ballad, as they all are but it certainly sounds more complex than some of the reworked tracks.

“Chimney” is a lovely track that is made more powerful with the extra instruments compared to original recording. Cara’s voice is also a hushed whisper too and it adds more to the broken effect. “Woman’s Emancipation” is a deceptively simple new track which lacks the big kick I was expecting on the production but then it works because the whole feel of the album as a whole is a bit fragile and broken down.  ”Remember” is very similar, a track that’s over too soon as it has such a playful lead piano melody that is both innocent and slightly curious at the same time.

“Rebecca” is beautiful track which has personally taken a few listens to get used to having heard a version with drums on. There’s no percussion on the album at all. This version instead has some wonderful string arrangements attached and its one of the few opportunities where they do take the lead and show what they’ve got. It’s the other stand out track along with Butterfly and I urge new listeners to start with these tracks first. The closer “She’ll Go” is a concise but effective song that ends the album a bit more upbeat than where we’ve tread previously.

“Do You Have a Heart?” is short but wonderfully formed. It strips away so much and leaves you with just the pure melody and its a brave step. Cara Winter’s melodies though are more than enough to sustain that approach and we look forward to hearing more from her. I personally would like to see what she’d do with added percussion.

by

Ayumi Hamasaki – “Party Queen” Review

Ayumi Hamasaki. A tireless release schedule. I’ve noticed her albums with me personally seem to flip-flop between stunningly rocking pop tracks to more uninspired. “Party Queen” should be on the stunning after I failed to really click with mini album Five nor massively with Rock N Roll Circus. Let’s see…

“Party Queen” goes straight for the jugular with a catchy dance rock number. A bending chord progression and some simple lyrics carry the song although it goes on a tad too long for its own good. It feels distinctly dirty though, as if it’s been Americanized. That follows through on “NaNaNa” with a man rapping who sounds like he’s the voice over from the Dance Dance Revolution games. Rapping “All those gorgeous boys, come and make some noise” is simply cringeworthy. The actual tune and riffs are very good however so I think it comes down to personal taste more than ever. The rapping however is not for me.

“Shake It <3″ keeps the grungy 90′s guitar over crass bass keyboards for a strange discordant mid tempo track. The Engrish stands out particularly here. I think it’s the fact it tries to be so busy with so many clashing genres, it just doesn’t fit immediately. A few listens is needed to appreciate it. “Taskebab” is one of those typical rock fillers for two minutes that you know will be on a costume change in a live show.

“Call” is the first slower track on the album and in its stripped down from sounds much better than the harshness that came before it. Ayumi’s vocals sound better, the guitars are crisper, the melodies are warmer and the whole thing sounds completely different to the previous four tracks. “Letter” follows the same production values as if we’ve suddenly shifted tact and the albums all the better for it. “Reminds Me” is more of a brooding stadium rock ballad with sweeping strings backing up the big guitars and various layered vocal deliveries. It’s one of Ayumi’s strongest assets and she displays it at her finest here. “Return Road” is also a strong song too with a catchy and sad toned chorus overlaying a strong pounding beat. There’s some lovely regal organ and string moments in the track too.

“Tell Me Why” moves into pop territory with minor keys and more muted bass. The focus stays more on the melody and the vocals which is a good choice. Simple, catchy if not taking over my brain catchy, it serves nicely as down-tempo track before “A Cup of Tea” returns with one of those two-minute freak outs of computer wizardry again.

“The Next LOVE” suddenly veers off into completely new ground with a smoky jazz number. It’s a genre Ayumi’s never touched before and her vocals compliment the sound well. The tempo changes are fun too. “Eyes, Smoke, Magic” is even more playful with a clumsy childlike piano and brass choruses bursting into showgirl 1930′s number. It’s completely left field from what I was expecting and nothing like how the album started out at all! “Serenade in A Minor” is then a two-minute classical piece – talk about cram in the genres!  The album then closes with “How Beautiful You Are” which is a standard ballad starting off quiet and slow and building up into a huge climactic finale.

“Party Queen” is utterly strange. The album sounds like three separate EP’s smashed together. The first third is filthy dance music that does not showcase anything whatsoever, the middle section contains good power ballads and the closing section goes all jazz. Jazz apparently means you’ve made a credible album. Not in my book sadly. It’s so unbalanced, so confused,  yet there’s a few gems hidden in the rough. Great to try new things on album number 12, but cohesion is needed for a reason.