Saturday 21 January 2012

One for You has landed!

Ahoy to all of you!  Well last week I told you how I had both presses of the albums on order.  Well today, they finally arrived!



Well first things first, YATTA!  Sooo happy to have these at last, she may have taken four years to have the opportunity but I don't care!  So what's god about the album?  Well first of all, it does have seven brand new songs, with "Igniton" being merely an intro as I expected.  (And quite an odd one at that, computer typing to slow burning dark electro, very unexpected!)  Of those seven songs so many different shades of what Kikka is capable of are displayed.

On Knight flight Kikka has a voice that is extremely similar to Aya Matsuura...  Praise doesn't come higher than that!  A beautiful slow ballad with Kikka really getting to shrug off the idol chains and properly blow minds away.  While Time to zone is an insanely catchy dance number with Kikka's fast vocals proving her ability to flow effortlessly from style to style, seemingly, to me at least, her boundaries are unlimited.

ヒラヒラ星 starts with a dream like effects sequence and a spoken segment from Kikka which is vocoded to sound even more ethereal.  I am not a fan of autotune, in fact, one of the few things that makes me rage is autotune.  Mainly as it becomes impossible to tell the power of the singer.  Surprisingly, here it sort of works.  Kikka's vocals still have trailing presence and it is only certain intonations that are tuned.  Coupled with the bizarre BGM this works, may my tongue turn black for saying it.  And no, this is nothing to do with Kikka-sama doing it...  Well...  Maybe a bit :p

ありのままの I LOVE YOU! continues the urban style that Kikka did so well on her previous b-side love you forever, it is a soothing, almost jazzy take on urban R'n'B, Kikka's vocals meanwhile go from extremely high noted to chill and deep soulful crooning.  Pops to the piano on this, managing to sound chilled and reflexive without touching upon dinner jazz.

ハコの中のブルー could be a Buono! track!  Nice punky guitar, some heavy snare drumming and Kikka doing some really deep blasting vocals in the verses, off set by some slower and softer vocals around the choruses.  This stab of heavy rock is a rake in the eye to say 'I am not just a ballad singer boy!'  Yes Kikka, I agree!  This track is all sorts of awesome.  Even if the translation is "The blue inside the box" :s

Make you!  Rounds off the album by taking the odd electro from earlier and turning it in a piano and guitar driven mid-tempo song.  It is a nice closing track in having a sense of almost everything from previously on the album, plus a really nice guitar solo as the cherry on the top of the cake. 

Not only do you have these great new tracks, but some of her best previous work is featured.  Her debut ballad さよなら涙 still remains one of her best songs, thanks to the great vocal work and the heart-breaking lyrics being offset wonderfully by natural piano.  水色 still has that awesome rock edge with the powerful vocals, while Sweetie is still gushingly cute yet defiant of that in its garage rock roots.  Then you have arguably her best single こんな私でよかったら which shows dance singles can be urban and gritty without ripping off other artists.

In short, this is my fave album since Buono's 'We are Buono!', it is a record of class, style and exploration.  It also shows the insane potential Kikka has when it comes to future records, for one artist to have such range in their voice, coupled with her wonderful look and bonkers character, she could be huge if enough get in support!  I urge anyone to check this record out and buy it!

Now I'd like to touch on the bonus DVD, first of all the live footage of さよなら涙 is absolutely phenomenal, live her voice has such presence and power, it is great to finally have some proper footage.  Boy does it wet the appetite for a proper live DVD!  The rest are dance shots and making ofs for the last two singles, which are fun, but the live footage is easily most important segment!

So yes, Kikka-sama, you have done it.  Now get on tour and blow my mind with your show!  Here's too many more singles and albums in the future!  Until next time *sets sail*

Friday 13 January 2012

"One for you" ships soon!


Ahoy!  Well first post for this blog begins in a simple way, talking about the first album Kikka-sama is releasing in just three days time!  As everyone would expect, for me, this was the cherry for the top of my cake in terms of being Kikka wota.  In just a year there has been three singles, two movies, a photobook, solo dvd...  I have lost count of how much money I have spent supporting my number one!

A thing I have wanted since the beginning was an album.  Naturally when I heard it was coming, I made certain to order, as such, I have first press of both editions!









Aren't they just gorgeous?  I love covers that are not too overburdened, and with such a photogenic face, Kikka-sama looks as good as she sounds.  What also really excites me personally for this release, is that there is a total of eight brand new songs.  Now the only concern I have here, is that one is called "ignition" and a part of me has a sneaking suspicion this could be simply an intro filler song much like on an album by Koda Kumi.

But even if it is, that still means half of this debut album is 100% new, when you consider how s/mileage had barely any new songs for their release, and even less that had never been heard due to the tour, you can see why I am so excited.  What is peculiar though, is that Kikka's debut album actually features some of the b-sides from the singles Kikkake wa you! and hapi rapi sunrise, not to mention those tracks themselves and current single Konna watashi de yokattara.

I feel a bit bad for those fans who chose just one edition of each single here, as if you chose the one that has the b-side on the album, you've been a touch hard done by in that you'll be paying for no extra content when you could have had a different one.  Me?  I bought every version of all three singles, as well as the Premium box version of hapi rapi sunrise lol.  But still it means I can keep the singles wrapped up tight and never opened.  ^_^

The only news surrounding this release that annoys me, is that Kikka has a day of live events on February 18th!  As I am 9000 miles away and totally short on cash, I cannot attend Kikka-sama's debut concerts :(  But still I have a trip to Buono! in Paris to look forward to in the interim and I am certain I shall worship Kikka-sama live at some point soon!

In short, I am excited, hella excited, and hopefully in a week or so, I can put my review of the album up here for you all to laugh at!  Until next time *sets sail*