Category Archives: j-rock

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Wowaka – “Unhappy Refrain” Review

WowakaVocaloid is something I’ve recently got into over the last year in a huge way and one of my favourite producers is Wowaka. I’d only recently noticed he’d put out an album back in 2011 but my goodness – it’s a fabulous trip at 180bpm to rock heaven.

Opening “Unhappy Refrain” gives you exactly what the next hour will throw at you. Catchy hooks on the guitar, choruses that stick in your head and vocals that speed through the track at a rate a real human would seriously struggle to keep up with at times! “Rolling Girl” is a personal favourite with a fantastic piano melody that runs throughout as the guitars, drums and bass take a more passive role in this excellent angst track. Sometimes the production of all the instruments means that it’ll take a few listens to big up everything going on in the track but not so much here.

“Tsumikino Ningyo” wheels out the synths properly for a more cheeky track with playful melodies that album tango’s its way through the rock track which then slowly irons out the tango and ends up becoming a more rampant 4 by 4 beat. “Bokuno Sainou” has far too much high-end hiss placed on the track but is still a massively catchy track that actually takes more than a second break from extreme head banging! Every track is so complex that its sometimes only in the quieter sections of a track you can appreciate how many complex melodies have been woven into the track to give its overall result.

“Nichijyo to Chikyu no Gakubuchi” is a more funky guitar rock track. Miku Hatsune, whose voice is used during most of the album, is set to a higher pitch than usual and it all works very well although it’s not one of the tracks that immediately sticks to your mind. “Tenohira” however does stick out as about the closest this album comes to a ballad – and even then it’s rocking all the way with thick guitars, keyboards and epic choruses. If I had a lighter, it’d be swaying right about now. “Tosenbo” has an amazing hook and reminds me of a sister to “Rolling Girl” with its emphasis on a rocking piano and angst ridden shouts and screams from a computerised voice! I’ve had this song (well album) on repeat and still never tire of it. “Lineart” then decides – to hell with it – let’s just absolutely mash-up everything into a massive drum roll and guitar trash frenzy for three minutes. The sheer energy takes you over. It’s fabulously free of everything.

“Two Faced Lovers” kick starts the next mega madness. The vocal speed here is simply nuts but it’s always second to the melodies and the chorus is superb, as are the hooks between them. “In The Glay Zone” follows with equally cheesy and fun guitar riffs which don’t quite push everything to the limit and the reason for that is the epic finale where everything goes nuts for its ending thirty seconds. It’s a great change-up that again makes the song stand out. “Zereteiku” returns the arpeggio style riffs that punctuate the album throughout for a short enka styled track before “Revisable Doll” gives us the token Luka Megurine track. Luka’s vocals always sound more adult and darker in tone and she fits Wokaka’s style perfectly too. It’s not my favourite of the album because you can almost have too much of a good thing and by this point you’ll have noticed Wowaka has such a specific style – he’s the best at what he does – but he only does that. It also sounds very similar to “World’s End Dancehall” which has the excellent vocal duelling between Miku and Luka and has more depth to it by having a broken up chorus. The latter track is really getting some new fame after its inclusion in Project Diva F and deservedly so. The closing track is “Prism Cube” which is a great round-up of everything that’s preceded it. It runs a slower pace than most of the album and takes time to breathe. There is a second disc of remixes too – most of which are quite good and turn the tracks into alt-dance versions so if you can get the extended album for not much more in price – go for it.

Perhaps this review bangs on about how excellent it is but harps on about the same thing. Wowaka’s album is very one directional. It is 100% utterly focused on providing quick, catchy tracks to rock your heart out to. The production sometimes lets it down with too much hiss and not enough depth in places but it’s a mighty album at what it does. Don’t except anything else though!

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Game Review: K-On After School Live HD Remaster (PS3)

Ah my love of the Rhythm Action genre knows no bounds. K-On is a relatively popular anime which follows a group of school girls and their band, singing catchy songs and enjoying school life. Just perfect for a Simon-says button mash-up!

Classed as a PSP Remaster, K-On fits in a strange place on the spectrum of platform defining. It saves into the PSP Mini saves and crucially does not have trophies. Yet its just as polished as some of the HD remakes that have been done with PS2 titles. This decision is quite baffling. I’ve no idea why it doesn’t have trophies but its the biggest omission from the game as a whole.

The game itself follows a mini scene that’s fully voice acted in Japanese with the girls involved as they explain the games mechanics. Musically notes appear of a constantly re scrolling musical staff. Moving from left to right, a clef crosses over the notes and you press the right buttons at the right time. K-On’s selling point is that you can effectively choose each of the girls whom play an instrument each and they all have their own little nuances. The bass player uses the direction buttons, the keyboard player likes to play with the symbols while the guitars like to combine the two. Each song has two layouts per song with a normal and hard mode and there’s about 20 songs in all. The songs themselves are very catchy and cross mostly J-PopRock genres with a token ballad or jazzier number. A few are real stand outs but few are as catchy as say Project Diva.

The timing here in this game is brutal. It’s difficult sometimes to know exactly when getting a “perfect” is going to be right and this is because instead of wanting you to hit the notes bang on the centre, it appears to reward a perfect rating when your moving clef first touches a note. This initially is extremely off-putting and it takes a while to get used to it and when you then play other rhythm games and return, you have to really make sure you go back to the K-On style. It’s this that ramps up the games difficulty because aside from that there’s not too many absolutely maddening button layouts. It’s a great intro to the genre and while the later songs do leave you needing a lot of practice goes to get an S Rank, its always a pleasure to return back to.

I’ve not been able to test the up to 5 player multiplayer aspect but the fact you can do that is superb.

Positives

~Great to harness each instrument and work with them. Your instrument is played louder than the rest and it makes you feel like you have 5 versions of the same song

~Cute aesthetics

~Interesting musical representation of the gameplay mechanics

~5 player multiplayer!

Negatives

~Sometimes it feels like you have to tap the button ahead of the note to get it to hit perfectly

~No trophy support

Conclusion

Some strange choices make K-On After School Live not the easiest game to initially warm to. Take your time though and learn its tricky traits and you’ll be rewarded with a fine game that is as cute and silly as it is addicting and enjoyable.

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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.

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Utada Hikaru – “Passion” Review

 

Utada Hikaru, queen of the vocal tracks due to the general success of Hikari / Simple & Clean returned to the Kingdom Hearts and VGM fray with a brand new song to tantalize us for the upcoming Kingdom Hearts II soundtrack. The offering is a 2 track single entitled “Passion” which is available with just the tracks or with an additional DVD containing the music video.

 

“Passion” is frankly one of the most captivating vocal songs I have heard in an extremely long time. Starting with soft backing vocals and electronic pulses the song rip roars into a mass drum fest – almost verging on pop tribal and it beats out a stomping stadium anthem chorus to Utada’s sublime vocals which are in both Japanese, and if you reverse it, you’ll catch many lines of English too. The verses are equally rocky and edgy and the whole sound is a much more mature and darker mood which seems to suit the overall look and feel of the Kingdom Hearts game too. The song then finally reaches up a notch for a climax of guitars, drums, electronics and bleeding vocals to return to its very soft beginnings. Amazing. While I must admit I am a huge follower of Utada Hikaru’s previous works since hearing Hikari and going onto hearing Colors – I must state that I have rarely had my breath taken away by a song so easily.

 

That’s the single version which also appears on the album Ultra Blue. Also on the single we have “Passion ~after the Battle~” which takes away every element of the single version except the vocals and then adds a soft and simplistic piano backing. Beautiful, although the warped vocals can distract at times, it really takes the same song and adds a completely different spin. Once the song has gone through its paces it then strikes up the guitar and carefully goes through a karaoke version of half the song again to finish off which I believe is quite unique – almost like the tune you’d get after you hear the victory fanfare in a game and you’re adding up your exp. points! Clever stuff if you look at the title me thinks!

 

Now if you have bought the CD+DVD version (as I did) you’ll also get a separate DVD with the music video on which involves anime Utada, lots of drum banging, even more horses and even more dancing kachinas! A visual spectacular but those of you after Kingdom Hearts footage will be left disappointed.

 

I’d recommend this single to absolutely anyone without hesitation, a masterpiece!

 

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Afrirampo – “Afrirampo” Review

Afrirampo are like a firecracker of energy and sound. From the opening shouts of “Uchira Wo Ko Sastemiro”, a fourty second tapping and shouting song you know you’re in for something different.

Title and band track “Afrirampo” sets the energy to maxmium as the production sounds like everythings been done in a garage and recorded on some cheap £5 tape recorder. It sounds absolutely awful, but then that’s part of its charm. A bit like how The Go Team’s music is poorly produced in many ways, this has the same garage band throw it together and we’ll see charm. The song itself is fantastic and a great screaming anthem of silliness.

“Oni-Pika Heart” is equally as nuts but more of a chugger track but you will be struggling to make out anything over the funky guitars and squeals from our ladies! “DoDoDoDo” does exactly what it says on the tin, there’s no words at all but when the drums roll at the end of each riff they shout “DoDoDoDooooo”. Just wait, you’ll be doing it to! It’s like a party crashdown. “Kawaii Watashi” is just a random jamming session with no real rhyme or reason at all!

“Akan Konomama Kaesanai” has an excellent guitar/superspy motif but the vocals are so distorted and bled out it sounds like an awful  bootleg gone bad! Uncontrolled chaos. Utterly bonkers. Love it! “Natsu Ga Kita” is the most barmy yet as a simple guitar motif plays over and over as the girls chat, talk, laugh and scream for five minutes. It is extremely trippy – in a good way! The final track is a 16 minute epic “Yuki Chan” which is actually as normal as this album actually gets. It reminds me of early Hole in the beginning before it breaks off into its own tune and screaches. It’s like they smashed up the instuments with the recorders still running like a real rock gig!

Afrirampo is certainly not for everyone. The production is worse than most audience recorded bootlegs but if you’re focusing on that your missing the point. Its pure unprocessed emotion and freak out bliss. To hold this together for an album of complete nuttiness and still have people of a high speeding round like they’ve been on a drip of Red Bull since birth is a top notch effort. Just one more thing…. “aaaarghhhhhhh!!!”

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Video Vault – Afrirampo

I’m not normally one for posting two video vaults in one week but I’ve just discovered my new musical craze. Welcome Afrirampo. Completely bonkers and loving every minute of it, I can only discribe it as Rikku from Final Fantasy X going grunge rock whilst squeeling at high volume. It’s mad! Here’s the video to their song Afrirampo and it always brings me a smile.

EDIT: For some reason it didn’t publish yesterday but I did try, I’m still on one post a day ;)

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Chihiro Harada – Gitarooman Soundtrack Review

Chihiro Harada – a man whom after this outting making the music for the wonderful game “Gitarooman” deserves to be mooted as a rival to Massaya Matsuura for most bizzare fun rhythm soundtrack. With the help of J-Rock band Coil (his alter ego) he has made a soundtrack of barmy perfection.

The Gitaroo soundtrack opens the way how in intends to go on, with anthemic J-rock hooks courtesy of Coil’s “Soft Machine” before Harada begins to flex his fingers with “Boogie For An Afternoon” a quick little number thats the weakest song on the album as it just flexes itself through a chilled out number.

“Twisted Reality” then gets the energy flowing with stomping drums, chugging heavy electric guitars and a simple riff that is overlayed with erupting guitar solos and someone going mad on a keyboard! Add it up with vocal snippets like “I’m a cute demon vampiress” and you’re onto a winner!
From one type of guitar to another we jump to hyper pop “Flyin To Your Heart” which has a superb showdown in the middle as the guitar and keyboard try to outdo and match eachothers solo – it really is something that takes the Simon-Say approach to a new level. The song’s then capped off with a sublime ending – and the vocals are good here too! Phew!
“‘Bee’ Jam Blues” reminds me very much of afro’s, flairs and hip hop cheese! This time the funk guitar takes the lead in a fun and unusual song structure in which you get a very short verse, then an end line for a chorus – with some great action from all player and singers all round.
“VOID” steps up the pace for a quick power drum n bass freak out really – a synth guitar is in place here but this songs all about power, pace and the bass!
“Nuff Respect Featuring NAHKI” takes us to a completely new reggae genre in this ever changing soundtrack. While this song isn’t my favourite by a long way – replacing guitars with some random b-movie alien ray zappings instead – it’s far from bad! It just takes a bit of getting used to. Also its a tad too long for my liking.
Following on we go laid back for “The Legendary Theme (Acoustic Version)” a song any newly rebadged ex boy band solo artist would be proud of. Sweet, cute and catchy – it’s a surprise at just how diverse Chihiro Harada’s music is. This is backed up with the mad samba fest that is “Bad To Be Bone” possibly my favourite track from the soundtrack – a complete throw in the kitchen sink latino guitar solo freak out! It has a superb climax to the song as well, as do most tracks as the final section of the song collaborates both sides of the Simon Says rhythm formula to great results.
“Tainted Lovers” is stadium rock gone gothic at its best. It reminds me a bit of when Metalica performed with an orchestra and rocked out, its a very similar style of sound only with a very snyth sounding choir instead and some ultra cheesey goth reed organs!
“Overpass” continues the heavy riff rock influence but doesnt really develop as a song as it cuts out once it’s done a full loop of the song (due to the games story) which is a shame as they could have finished off the song especially for the soundtrack! However “The Legendary Theme (Album Version)” makes up for the loss with a lighter waving version of the fantastic tune. It transposes itself from acoustic to electric very nicely indeed. Then comes the best of the rock songs from my view “Resurrection” which has a dark and crisp feel to it and the riffs and solo’s are absolutely top notch!
The album effectively closes with “21st Century Boy” the closing song performed by Coil, another great bouncy light hearted tradional J-Rock number which is easy on the ears.
When I mean it effectively closes, there are 4 “remixed” tracks afterwards but I honestly do not know what the differences are – they sound absolutely identical! Wasted time there I’m afraid.

All the material of Gitarooman is of a very high standard and of course it will be an advantage if you like your gutiars. On the otherhand it does tackle many genres of music in the one album so its far from a strickly rock and freak out soundtrack. This is a well balanced soundtrack that all should find at least something they like on and I think in a few years time, this should still be remembered on very fondly indeed.

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Higher Plain Music’s Top 10 Music Releases of 2008

Well in the previous post we told you what we’d bought, now its time for our top 10 countdown. There were some excellent releases this year although we’ve bought less compared to 2007, however there wasn’t one release we did not like so everyone’s a winner (except the bank account). So without further ado:

10) Ayumi Hamasaki – GUILTY

Ayu went all rock for this years album and we head banged with her. With guitar riffs popping out your years and cute verses inbetween, who couldn’t love GUILTY. Standouts are Talkin 2 Myself, GUILTY, Marionette, Together When & Mirror.

09) Son Lux – At War with Walls and Mazes

Our first of two new artists we found this year in the top 10, we were hooked by the unique nature and cold music that made us emotional inside. We look foward to more and more from Son Lux. Highlights are Break, Weapon, Wither, Tell & War.

08) Yasunori Mitsuda – Soma Bringer OST

We must confess that the reason this is 8th and maybe not higher is due to the fact we’ve not spent enough time with it but Mitsuda always produces stunning etheral and mystical albums and we love them and the soundtrack is that good we couldn’t decide our top 5. A review will be coming early next year.

07) Sarah Slean – The Baroness

Possibly the highest charting disappointment for 2008, we felt the production and song’s were a little bland but bland for Sarah is still fantastic and in time we grew to love the album. Definitely a grower. Stand outs are Euphoria, Notes From the Underground, So Many Miles, Sound of Water/Change Your Mind & Get Home.

06) Wataru Hokoyama – Afrika OST

We only reviewed it last week but it’s that good it rockets in at No.6. The lush soundscapes and beautiful melodies earn it a place as one of best orchestral VGM soundtracks in recent memory. Stand outs are Savanna, Afrika, Safari, Big Five & Base Camp

05) Akira Yamaoka – Silent Hill Zero OST

While the games may get a bit of bashing for sticking with the same formula, Akira Yamaoka delivers another serving of empty, sorrowful, eerie ambience that makes you shiver, squirm and tap your feet all at the same time. Not as immediate as some of the other soundtracks he’s done, the songs gradually fester. Stand outs are Hole in the Sky, Theme of Sabre Dance, Drowning, This Wicked End & Wrong is Right

04) Julia Marcell – It Might Like You

A complete new artist for us to discover, we loved her debut album in all its demo-esque glory and look forward to enjoying her work in the years to come. Stand outs are Carousel, Outer Space, Fear of Flying, Dancer & The Story.

03) Emiliana Torrini – Me & Armini

Completely genre hopping – being barking mad in places while utterly devastingly beautiful in others, no one can master everything all at once quite like Emiliana. Good to have you back! Stand Outs are Jungle Drum, Dead Duck, Beggar’s Prayer, Gun & Birds.

02) Alanis Morissette – Flavors of Entanglement

We had been just passers by for Alanis until this album came out. Infectious, technically excellent, emotionally charged and completely compelling, this has quickly become our English album for 2008. Stand outs: Straitjacket, Tapes, Not as We, Limbo No More and Orchid

01) Utada Hikaru – Heart Station

Utada has yet to make a duff record and this, her fifth Japanese album (sixth overall) continues to show her as a natural talent. Stand out tracks are Stay Gold, Heart Station, Beautiful World, Take 5 & the bitter sweet finale Niji-iro Bus.

Congrats to Utada Hikaru!

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Shiina Ringo – Album Boxset Cometh!

Shiina Ringo has been having a very busy 10 year anniversary and now she completes it all with a box set re-release of all her work to date. Available in either 5 CD’s or 5 DVD’s, you can have all five of her albums. It will be housed in a box that plays Shiina when you open it and will also have a 100 page booklet, stickers, postcards and a poster. What a great way to get into the Ringo! Release date is 25th of November.

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Gackt – Returns With “Nine”

Gackt returns to the musical plains with an excellent sounding live boxset called “Nine”. I’m new to Gackt to be honest, although I’ve got a few of his albums currently on order – this sounds like a dedicated fan’s wet dream!

“Nine” includes 13 (!) CD’s of live performances throughout his career starting on the 2000 “MARS” tour going through to 2006 “Training Days Drug Party”. Also included is a DVD of unreleased songs and mixed footage from various gigs.
Bonus features include mini leaflets from each tour.

Sounds like quite a collection and is due out 15th of October