ooooh. i've wanted to do this for a long long long long time. <3
presenting ajikan's newest album, which is not so new anymore, which means i've listened to it like a million times already! this was released on chinese o level day. and same day as the LM.C albums. this album is more pop-y as compared to ajikan's previous albums. it sounds a bit like ajikan decided to take a break from serious rock and go to the beach. i have continuous images of ajikan playing their stuff on a beach when i'm listening to this. XD it's one of ajikan's most relaxed albums so far. at first it sounded very very very confusing, but then the songs grew on me, like how most ajikan songs do.
let's go track by track!
first released as a single, "Fujisawa Loser" is a song with tight guitar chords and harmonies. it has a strong pulse, very nice. it's a bit short, but nevertheless enjoyable. they tried new things like sliding down from the ending note. the melody is simple but brilliant, and very very catchy. it's just a bit short ... it would be nicer if they added one more verse and chorus.
"Kugenuma Surf" was first released as a b-side to "Aru Machi no Gunjou" (their most awesome song EVER), but in the album version they cut the guitars-drums-and-gotou-warming-up parts which i kinda liked, to jump straight into the verses. this is the song that keeps making me think of beaches and surfing. really. also, it's short. (as a matter of fact, most songs here are ...)
"Enoshima Esker" or whatever its english name is supposed to be, was released as a b-side to "Korogaru Iwa, Kimi ni Asa ga Furu". as usual, the melody is catchy and i like kita's guitar accompaniments and the harmonies! but the vocal and guitars sound a bit faded as compared to the other tracks, maybe it's the guitars they used? (i'm pretty sure it's not my file problem)
"Koshigoe Baby" is where things start to get confusing. when i first listened to this i didn't like it because the first verse is plain weird, and the chords are hard to catch. also, the chorus is a bit awkward because gotou did his octave jumping thing again in the chorus. but after listening to it more carefully, the bridge is VERY nice (the chords O:) and the chorus grew on me. they fit very nicely with the 3/4 timing and the guitars are the kind i like.
"Shichirigahama Kite" became one of my favourite tracks in this album (from the new tracks), and i don't know why. the melody just stuck with me. some people would call it a boring song because there's not much dynamics and everything is c-a-l-m. the chords are great, and the rhythm is interesting. i've never heard this kind of thing from ajikan before, i don't know why i like it so much.
"Inamuragasaki Jane" is one of the most intense and exciting (haha) songs in the album. i didn't like the rhythm at first because it was confusing, but after that it was okay. it's ... cute! and bouncy. gotou's voice is in the intense-till-bursting-and-threatening-to-go-out-of-tune mode, plus it's a fast song, so this made me a bit worried when i listened to it. but he pulled it off well.
i liked "Gokurakuji Heartbreak" when i first listened to the whole album because it was the first song i could figure out in the initial mess. and the guitars were nice! but after that the melody sounded weird, and i don;t really like it anymore. there are some weird melody twists that don't sound nice. seems like ajikan always has this problem - the melody sometimes twists into something very weird. i only like parts of it, like the bridge and the guitars.
the verses of "Hase Sanzu" are irritating because of the weird chords and staccato guitars (didn't manage to pull it off)... but! the chorus is F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C.! <3 which also earned it one of the top spots in the album. it's just the familiar comforting ajikan-style rock with a nice melody and amazing chords. very very nice!~ anyway i have no idea what the title means.
"Yuigahama Kite" is one of the most irritating songs ajikan ever composed, in my opinion. O.O there's this part in the middle where the speed increases and there's a nice guitar part, but the starting melody is plain irritating. the only thing i like about it is the back part and the guitars. by the way, this song was the b-side to "After Dark". they kinda go well together.
"Kamakura Good-bye" is total <3!~ it's i think one of the most ballad-y songs they ever wrote, and it came out really well. although the accompaniment and everything is simple, but it's not boring. it's the kind of song which washes over you and you go "aaaaaahhhhhhh omg that was nice". :D and gotou's voice is nice here. one of the nicest songs here!
つまり。 go listen!:D though i would recommend "World World World" for beginners. but "Surf Bungaku Kamakura" is something new and refreshing! haha. by the way, this is the concept of the album: the titles of the songs are from the enoshima electric railway line in japan, and the order of the stations are Fujisawa, Kugenuma, Enoshima, Koshigoe, Shichirigahama, Inamuragasaki, Gokurakuji, Hase, Yuigahama, then Kamakura. so it's supposed to signify a journey from Fujisawa to Kamakura. explains why the titles are so long.
cool right! and the train on the cover of "Fujisawa Loser" is modelled after the real trains on the enoshima railway! (same green and all)
i still like ajikan's more serious stuff, but this is interesting enough to last until their next album!~(:
harry potter
artemis fowl
terry pratchett
philip pullman
a series of unfortunate events
the chronicles of narnia
neil gaiman
anthony horowitz
james patterson
eragon
dan brown
the doomspell trilogy
suzuki koji
the magister trilogy
tamir triad
tracklist:
01. 藤沢ルーザー [Fujisawa Loser]
02. 鵠沼サーフ [Kugenuma Surf]
03. 江ノ島エスカー [Enoshima Esker/Escar]
04. 腰越クライベイビー [Koshigoe Crybaby]
05. 七里ヶ浜スカイウォーク [Shichirigahama Skywalk]
06. 稲村ヶ崎ジェーン [Inamuragasaki Jane]
07. 極楽寺ハートブレイク [Gokurakuji Heartbreak]
08. 長谷サンズ [Hase Sans/Sanzu/Sons]
09. 由比ヶ浜カイト [Yuigahama Kite]
10. 鎌倉グッドバイ [Kamakura Good-bye]
previously released tracks in bold
ooooh. i've wanted to do this for a long long long long time. <3
presenting ajikan's newest album, which is not so new anymore, which means i've listened to it like a million times already! this was released on chinese o level day. and same day as the LM.C albums. this album is more pop-y as compared to ajikan's previous albums. it sounds a bit like ajikan decided to take a break from serious rock and go to the beach. i have continuous images of ajikan playing their stuff on a beach when i'm listening to this. XD it's one of ajikan's most relaxed albums so far. at first it sounded very very very confusing, but then the songs grew on me, like how most ajikan songs do.
let's go track by track!
first released as a single, "Fujisawa Loser" is a song with tight guitar chords and harmonies. it has a strong pulse, very nice. it's a bit short, but nevertheless enjoyable. they tried new things like sliding down from the ending note. the melody is simple but brilliant, and very very catchy. it's just a bit short ... it would be nicer if they added one more verse and chorus.
"Kugenuma Surf" was first released as a b-side to "Aru Machi no Gunjou" (their most awesome song EVER), but in the album version they cut the guitars-drums-and-gotou-warming-up parts which i kinda liked, to jump straight into the verses. this is the song that keeps making me think of beaches and surfing. really. also, it's short. (as a matter of fact, most songs here are ...)
"Enoshima Esker" or whatever its english name is supposed to be, was released as a b-side to "Korogaru Iwa, Kimi ni Asa ga Furu". as usual, the melody is catchy and i like kita's guitar accompaniments and the harmonies! but the vocal and guitars sound a bit faded as compared to the other tracks, maybe it's the guitars they used? (i'm pretty sure it's not my file problem)
"Koshigoe Baby" is where things start to get confusing. when i first listened to this i didn't like it because the first verse is plain weird, and the chords are hard to catch. also, the chorus is a bit awkward because gotou did his octave jumping thing again in the chorus. but after listening to it more carefully, the bridge is VERY nice (the chords O:) and the chorus grew on me. they fit very nicely with the 3/4 timing and the guitars are the kind i like.
"Shichirigahama Kite" became one of my favourite tracks in this album (from the new tracks), and i don't know why. the melody just stuck with me. some people would call it a boring song because there's not much dynamics and everything is c-a-l-m. the chords are great, and the rhythm is interesting. i've never heard this kind of thing from ajikan before, i don't know why i like it so much.
"Inamuragasaki Jane" is one of the most intense and exciting (haha) songs in the album. i didn't like the rhythm at first because it was confusing, but after that it was okay. it's ... cute! and bouncy. gotou's voice is in the intense-till-bursting-and-threatening-to-go-out-of-tune mode, plus it's a fast song, so this made me a bit worried when i listened to it. but he pulled it off well.
i liked "Gokurakuji Heartbreak" when i first listened to the whole album because it was the first song i could figure out in the initial mess. and the guitars were nice! but after that the melody sounded weird, and i don;t really like it anymore. there are some weird melody twists that don't sound nice. seems like ajikan always has this problem - the melody sometimes twists into something very weird. i only like parts of it, like the bridge and the guitars.
the verses of "Hase Sanzu" are irritating because of the weird chords and staccato guitars (didn't manage to pull it off)... but! the chorus is F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C.! <3 which also earned it one of the top spots in the album. it's just the familiar comforting ajikan-style rock with a nice melody and amazing chords. very very nice!~ anyway i have no idea what the title means.
"Yuigahama Kite" is one of the most irritating songs ajikan ever composed, in my opinion. O.O there's this part in the middle where the speed increases and there's a nice guitar part, but the starting melody is plain irritating. the only thing i like about it is the back part and the guitars. by the way, this song was the b-side to "After Dark". they kinda go well together.
"Kamakura Good-bye" is total <3!~ it's i think one of the most ballad-y songs they ever wrote, and it came out really well. although the accompaniment and everything is simple, but it's not boring. it's the kind of song which washes over you and you go "aaaaaahhhhhhh omg that was nice". :D and gotou's voice is nice here. one of the nicest songs here!
つまり。
go listen!:D
though i would recommend "World World World" for beginners.
but "Surf Bungaku Kamakura" is something new and refreshing! haha.
by the way, this is the concept of the album: the titles of the songs are from the enoshima electric railway line in japan, and the order of the stations are Fujisawa, Kugenuma, Enoshima, Koshigoe, Shichirigahama, Inamuragasaki, Gokurakuji, Hase, Yuigahama, then Kamakura. so it's supposed to signify a journey from Fujisawa to Kamakura.
explains why the titles are so long.
cool right! and the train on the cover of "Fujisawa Loser" is modelled after the real trains on the enoshima railway! (same green and all)
i still like ajikan's more serious stuff, but this is interesting enough to last until their next album!~(: