ajikan's new single, after over a year.
(the title literally means "new century love song".)

tracklist:
01. 新世紀のラブソング
02. 白に染めろ


... it's weird.
it's like nothing ajikan's ever done before.

in shinseiki no love song, ajikan grows out of the surf bungaku happy energetic feel to emerge with a mellower sound, a bit like in aru machi no gunjou.
what puts me off is the melody. firstly, the pseudo-rapping. it worked in night diving (world world world), but not this time. it's awkward and twisted and weird, not rhythmic enough to be proper rapping yet not holding enough of a tune to be singing.
and then all the singing parts don't help much, because they're mostly made up of notes alternating between a semitone, with sudden twists. i was waiting for the chorus that would save the rapping, but it didn't happen. it's another of ajikan's weird compositions that don't really work out.

in the end, what saves the day is the drumming (ichiji! :D) and the sheer intensity of the lyrics.
the lyrics are amazing.
they're deep in a blunt and forthright way and the intensity only comes out through the melody, which i can't comprehend how. but it does. they're especially powerful in the chorus.

i must explain.
(the translations are not mine.)
this is from the second verse:
夕方のニュースで何処かの誰かが亡くなって (on the evening news, someone died somewhere)
涙ぐむキャスター それでまた明日 (the caster was moved to tears, and so tomorrow)
then in the fourth:
朝方のニュースでビルに飛行機が突っ込んで (on the morning news, a plane hit a building)
目を伏せるキャスター　そんな日もあった (the caster covered his eyes, there were days like that too)

i love these two lines and the way they match, and how they mean what they mean, and the way they sound in the song despite the bad rapping.

and this line:
さようなら旧石器 (goodbye old century is the translation, but i don't think it means that and i don't know what it means. but it sounds good.)
and this line:
息を吸って 生命を食べて / 排泄するだけの猿じゃないと言えるかい? (breathe air, eat life / can you say you're not just a monkey that excretes (them out)?)

they're really interesting.

and the most incredulous thing about this song is that it gets stuck in your head in no time at all. objectively bad but subjectively addictive.
i keep singing it even though it sounds awful without the guitars!
well, that's the thing about ajikan's stuff.

the other thing that saved the song from getting skipped by me is the pv. despite all the bad cgi.
(it reminded me of kuuchuu buranko, what with the psychiatrist and all.)
it's a refreshing change from all their funny spastic pvs lately.
it's got strong intensity and a storyline and with the lyrics there's a thought-provoking message that comes through the song. it's actually moving.


(the first 10 seconds are <3! ken-saaaaaaaaaan~)


on to shiro ni somero.
... which is a tad too happy for my liking.
it starts off well, with super bright-and-cheerful guitars, which was a relief at first after shinseiki no love song. and it's not a bad song.
it's just not very impactful. the chorus is awkward and tiring to listen to.
don't really like.


what happened to genius composing! T.T
it seems like ajikan's moving on to a new, more mature sound and they haven't grasped and perfected it yet. and also that they're trying to get more meaningful messages across but they haven't found the right notes that connect immediately.
the music comes first so even with the lyrics, it's not enough to fill the one-year-plus gap.
well, the single sort of works out after a while. it is very ajikan-like in the end.
but i'm still waiting for that really good song that i will like instinctively, like the singles from the world world world era.
for now, listen to it with the lyrics and don't listen to it if you aren't prepared to be super forgiving and tolerating towards the music.

(and i tried very hard not to be biased throughout this review. P:)

(watch the pv if you're in the mood for unconventional stuff~)

i! will! wait! for the next single/ album! and i hope i get used to the new style then!

well, i actually only wanted to get yoru no call. but there aren't any decent 320 kbps tracks out there, so i ended getting the whole album. anyway, the tracklist goes like this:

1. 夜のコール – ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION
2. Zak And Sara – Ben Folds
3. Stereotypes - Farrah
4. Oats We Sow – Gregory and the Hawk
5. Suburan Knights – Hard-Fi
6. Silver Birch – the HIATUS
7. Morning Sun – 清 竜人
8. SURRENDER – lostage
9. Everything Must Go – Manic Street Preachers
0. Marm – mudy on the 昨晩
11. Weightless – Nada Surf
12. ピンホール – OGRE YOU ASSHOLE
13. ナイトフィッシングイズグッド – Sakanaction
14. 8823 – SPITZ
15. Magic Blue Van – Straightener
16. Rock Star -Understand- – The Young Punx
17. HELLO(蘇えるライブバージョン) – UNICORN

i used to resist the nano-mugen compilation because half of the tracks are in english, and the other half are jap bands i've never heard of before, other than spitz who has been mentioned on forums and the like.

but it's actually quite ok! some english bands like Farrah, the HIATUS and Nada Surf are not bad, they play the kind of alt rock i like. then there are the jap bands like SPITZ that caught my interest.
i just have to say this: the weirdest song is Rock Star -Understand- by The Young Punx, because it's a cover of ajikan's アンダースタンド, but in electropop style with a female singer, not really my kind of thing. and i can't make out what she is singing but it sounds like the original lyrics (the consonants match), yet i hear english at times. poor アンダースタンド, it used to be a high song.

i'm not putting this huge album in my mp3 (oh my pathetic mp3 storage space) but it's good when i want something new, and i might check out some of these bands, i need to widen my listening scope but i don't dare to and don't know where to start.

it didn't rain after all! (:

the chalet is in this super ulu place (my dad got lost trying to get there), but it's very very big! and it has 3 huge bedrooms with 6 beds, and like 3 toilets. and the kitchen is as big as mine. it's big enough to hold 50 people. (and 9 stayed over, what!)

the fire was very good! nice and hot. thanks to kaiyun's supreme fire starting skills.
and ju-tachi blasted dbsk from inside the chalet. =x=

AND WE MADE THE BEST MARSHMALLOWS EVER. brown fungal outgrowth included. and you can suck the melted insides out and the whole marshmallow will deflate. that kind of marshmallows.

and the cats! cats are another thing i'm a sucker for. fat greedy buta-nekos.

after which we went inside to play mahjong and i only managed to play one-and-a-half rounds before going. T.T

it was fun fun fun fun fun! :D

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!~(: