Anyway, RE:BORN has nothing new as far as material goes; the tracklist is composed of songs from the multitude of singles he’s put out over the past year. (And when I say multitude, I’m not even exaggerating: the songs on this album come from six singles, and that’s not even counting the other three he put out this year. He’s been very busy, not that I’m complaining.) A majority of the songs came out in June over four straight weeks of singles, which I meant to review and then never really got around to the last three. So it’s high time to do that now, I say.

The album starts off strong with “JESUS -ЯRII-.” It’s different from the version released last November by about forty bonus seconds of rocking out; not much else has changed. I listen to this song almost every morning as my alarm clock — look, Gackt yelling “wake me up” gets me up, okay — so I was hoping for something more substantial, but I’ll take this. “SUDDENLY,” “NO REASON -ЯRII-,” and “IN FLAMES,” a few of the B-sides from the summer singles, follow it well; they’re all great rock tracks. “IN FLAMES” was my favorite song from the summer singles, and somehow it sounds even better here.

(Please view the post to listen)

“SAYONARA -ЯRII-” is identical to the version on the Jesus single last fall as far as music goes, but it now begins and ends with sound effects that rather take away from what’s otherwise a gorgeous song. It does, however, lead very well into “GHOST,” which came out last January as Gackt’s introduction to techno. I enjoyed it then and I still like it now, and the same goes for the GHOST single’s B-side, “BLUE LAGOON -深海-“, which follows it here. More than anything else, “BLUE LAGOON – 深海-” makes me think of an underwater sub, and given the war theme of Gackt’s Reminiscence et Requiem II tour (where most of these songs debuted) it works well.

“OBLIVIOUS -顔のない天使-” takes us away from the techno and to a really pretty ballad. Ballads are usually hit or miss with me, but I rather liked this one. It and “MY FATHER’S DAY” finish up the B-sides from the summer singles, and we’re left with the four A-sides in order. “小悪魔ヘヴン” remains a very entertaining song, while “FARAWAY -星に願いを-” is more pop. “FLOWER -ЯRII-” now has Gackt speaking before the song and is still one of my favorites from the summer songs. Finally, “LOST ANGELS” closes the album out beautifully.

(Please view the post to listen)

Overall, this is an album I’m going to have on repeat for quite a while. I don’t know what it is exactly — none of these songs are new, and if I’d known the order of the songs I could have been listening to it months ago. There’s just something about having it in official album form that makes it that much better to me. For some reason, I couldn’t get myself to listen to his summer singles that much when they came out, but I feel like I could put this album on repeat for a month and be perfectly content. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand how Gackt does that to me, but I’m not exactly complaining.

Of course, there’s also his latest single, and that might just win out…

Somewhat ironically, BoA’s self-titled American album was my introduction to the Korean singer. I’d heard of her, but I’d never had a chance to listen to her music until I heard she was releasing an English album. Curious, I decided to check it out.

The first thing that’s clear about it is that it is a very American album, from start to finish. It would sound right at home blasting from any club. As such, it’s fairly typical of American music — lyrics about love, sex, and clubbing are quite prominent. Hardly surprising, given the intended audience.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from listening to foreign music, it’s to completely ignore the lyrics and just listen to the music. I do like actually understanding the lyrics I’m hearing, and in the case of “Obsessed” I’d definitely say it makes it more entertaining, but overall it’s easy enough to just listen to the music and enjoy it.

Enough talking about the album itself, let’s get to the music! It starts off strong with “I Did It For Love.” It’s catchy as hell and downright addictive, and the song serves two purposes: it pretty much spells out what the rest of the album will sound like, and it leaves you wanting to hear more.

(Please view the post to listen)

Which you do. “Energetic,” “Did Ya,” and “Look Who’s Talking” are good dance songs, sounding much like those before it while having their own unique style. “Eat You Up” stands out, though, and not really in a great way — it sounds different from the other songs, and by different I mean trashier. I can look past it for the other songs, but that’s really all “Eat You Up” makes me think. And for a single (it was BoA’s first English release), it doesn’t sound particularly catchy.

“Obsessed,” however, makes up for this entirely. It, too, is thoroughly Americanized, but in a good way — it’s the kind of song I’d expect to hear on the radio and have stuck in my head the rest of the day. It’s for this reason that it’s easily my favorite track on the album.

(Please view the post to listen)

The rest of the album follows along the same lines as the tracks before it, with another exception in “Scream,” which honestly sounds completely out of place and strange, between the lyrics and the sound. This is perhaps because it’s a cover of a song by the German group Monrose, but it really just sounds odd. Somewhat conversely, her English version of her song “Girls on Top” sounds more natural here than it does in Korean. BoA finishes strong with “Hypnotic Dancefloor“, which to me feels like a reprise of “Energetic” between the lyrics and the sound.

Sure, BoA sounds like an American album. But for a Korean artist, this is a good thing — it fits right in with typical American music. I find it enjoyable and catchy, if you ignore some of the more trashy lyrics, and I hope she releases more here. In the meantime, I think I need to check out her Korean and Japanese releases.

I’ve listened to it almost two dozen times since it came out.

Ayu blew me away with NEXT LEVEL, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to be so wrong. I won’t go so far as to say it’s perfect, because it has a few things that I’m not so big on, but overall it is a terrific album.

I started listening to the album with significant trepidation, but I obviously needn’t have worried. “NEXT LEVEL” sounded much better after “Bridge to the sky” than it did in the promotional video, and I settled myself in for what I thought would be a decent album.

And then “Disco-munication” came on and shattered whatever expectations I had about the remainder of the album. I like some of Ayu’s interludes, but never to the point that I’d actually want to get up and dance to them — because usually they’re interludes. This one makes me say “wait, am I still listening to Ayu? What have I gotten myself in to?!”

(Please view the post to listen)

That question is answered in “EnergizE,” which is so catchy you find yourself singing along halfway through. (I have no doubt it’ll be part of her next tour, and I can’t wait to see it.) “Sparkle” fits in to this album so much better than it could ever sound by itself (and the PV is brilliant and really would have improved the “Rule/Sparkle” single). “rollin’” is easily my favorite track, and another song that sounds nothing like the Ayu I’m used to. Instead, it’s a thoroughly unique song — between the distortion of her voice in parts of it and the background behind it in the whole song, it makes me wonder why I ever worried in the first place.

(Please view the post to listen)

I never would have thought the very Chinese-sounding “GREEN” would work so well after “rollin’,” but it does, and actually got me to like the song much more than I did the first time I heard it. It’s followed by “Load of the SHUGYO,” which aside from having a bizarre name, is another interlude that makes you forget it’s an interlude.

The rest of the album is great, but there are several things about it that don’t make it as good as it could have been. For starters, “identity” strongly reminds me of her 2007 song “decision” and makes it difficult to listen to seriously as a result. And although “Rule” does sound better when listened to in the album, I still find it pretty bland. “LOVE ‘n’ HATE“, however, makes up for this. Like “EnergizE” and “rollin’“, it is a thoroughly different sound for Ayu, and the album is definitely improved by it.

“Pieces of SEVEN” sounds like the interlude it is, but at least it sounds interesting. The thing is, it fails as an interlude, because the transition between it and “Days” is fairly disorienting — it’s more of a dance-influenced track the whole way through, and “Days” is a winter ballad.

In fact, “Days” is the weakest point of the album. I’ll be blunt: I hate this song. No, I utterly despise it. In general, I find most ballads boring, and although there are a few of Ayu’s I like, “Days” is not one of them. It’s beyond boring, it’s utterly pointless and a waste of a song, and it sounds entirely out of place on this album. The one and only good thing it does is transition well into the final song, “Curtain call,” which primarily features just Ayu’s voice and a piano and sounds lovely. It closes the album beautifully, at least until you turn it back on.

I love this album. I’m going to be listening to it years from now, marveling at the fantastic creation it is, and all the time in between. It’s sort of a surprise I like it so much, I suppose, considering I’m usually not big on dance-influenced music like this, but I love it. I just wish it didn’t have “Days” (which at this point I can’t even listen to anymore, I just skip straight past it). More than anything, though, I’m thrilled that I was wrong about NEXT LEVEL, because it was nothing like what I expected — it was a million miles past it, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

By the middle of the first song, I was positive that this was an album I was going to love for years to come. As much pop and classical music I listen to, I am foremost a rock fan, and ONE OK ROCK’s sound appealed to me immediately. I wasn’t as instantly sold on the vocalist, but after a couple of songs I found myself liking his voice more and more, and knew I was going to have to hear more of this band.

And then I realized why the band sounded familiar. I’d just read an article the other day about its guitarist, Alex, getting arrested for groping someone, which has resulted in their next single’s delay and the guitarist’s career up in the air.

To which I say: well, damn! Did it have to be right when I got into them?

Despite that, though, I am thoroughly enjoying ONE OK ROCK, and my thoughts on their albums are behind the jump.

Kanjou Effect is, in a word, brilliant. “Koi no Aibou Kokoro no Cupid” grabs your attention right from the start, and the first few tracks continue that energy. “Living Dolls” slows it down and features some English lyrics, as do several other songs on the album. A few of them — especially “My sweet baby” — bring American bands like the Backstreet Boys to mind, which is a bit… unexpected, but not bad, because the music is still terrific. The strongest track in my opinion would be “Break My Strings,” though the others are all just as great.

(Please view the post to listen)

My one and only gripe with the album is the last track, “JUST.” There’s nothing wrong with the song itself, but there’s a hidden track at the end of it. The pause between the two songs is far too long, and I’m too impatient to sit in silence for that long, so I find myself skipping ahead. Still, if that’s the only issue I have with it, it’s clearly a fantastic album, and I do expect to enjoy it for quite some time to come.

BEAM OF LIGHT, their second album, should really be called a mini-album, as there are only eight tracks (including an interlude) and the total time is under half an hour. Nevertheless, it would serve as a great introduction to the band, particularly “100%(hundred percent).”

Their first album Zeitakubyou is honestly just as good as Kanjou Effect. The songs flow together well, though a little variation would probably help it — it’s pretty much all rock songs. Not that I’m complaning, but it does get a little difficult to tell them apart. The exception to this is “Yume Yume“, which was their second single. It made me sit up and listen immediately, and I think it’s probably my favorite song by the band.

(Please view the post to listen)

In fact, all three of the band’s singles appear on this album, and they’re all great in different ways. “Yume Yume” is captivating, at least to me, while “Et cetera” is (relatively) slower and “Naihi Shinsho” is a fairly typical song for the band — typical in that a lot of their songs are like it, which is a compliment because it’s a great song. And I have no complaints about their other mini-albums, Keep it real and ONE OK ROCK, which are both great.

In short, this is a band I’m going to keep a look out for… so long as they weather their current scandal.