Info

Song: 勾勾手 / Hooking Fingers

Album: 修理愛 / Love Fixing (Buy Album)

Artist: 游喧 / iD

Release Date: November 15, 2008

Blurb

You’ve probably never heard of iD (游喧) - that’s because she’s a new artist, with this, Love Fixing being her debut album. I’ll get to a more detailed review later, but this particular song, Hooking Fingers (勾勾手) is just so beautiful. I know it’s a really sad song, but really, I like it so much, and it reflects so much on the times. Also check out the music video after the jump, it’s really good too.

Music Video

Lyrics ▼

Possibly Related Posts:

• 蔡依林 - 愛的練習語 / Jolin Tsai - Love Exercise
• Album Review: 五月天 - 後青春期的詩 / Mayday - Poetry of the Day After
• Album Review: 林俊傑 - 陸 / JJ Lin - Sixology
• First Listen: 周杰倫 - 魔杰座 / Jay Chou - Capricorn
• 魔杰座 / Capricorn Leaked?

Info

Album: The Anthology (Buy Album)

Artist: ジブラ / Zeebra

Release Date: September 17, 2008

Review By: blummer

Review

The Japanese hip-hop scene is technically one of the oldest and possibly one of the most established ones on the globe, but sadly it also remains one of the lesser known ones despite this fact. Although J-pop, J-rock, and pretty much all other forms of J-something have blown up in America and a bunch of other countries in recent years thanks to the “OMFG JAPAN IS SO KEWL” movement, J-hip-hop remains fairly unknown outside of Japan. There are many good artists out there, however, and Zeebra (real name: Hideyuki Yokoi), happens to be one of the more successful ones. He’s an interesting fellow that’s been accused about a million times in Japan’s hip-hop scene for “selling out,” in other words, appearing in more and more pop-oriented songs throughout the years, dumbing down his rhymes, and losing a lot of the edge and hunger that he had in his early years. Despite this, however, most Japanese hip-hop heads take the time to recognize Zeebra’s earlier contributions, stating that in his early days, at least, he was dope. Therefore, he’s sort of like a Japanese Snoop Dogg, if you will–an artist appreciated and respected by many for his early catalogue, but at the same criticized by just as many for his later works.

Back in the early 1990’s, Zeebra was a member of the famous Japanese hip-hop group King Giddra (yes, they took their name from a monster in a Godzilla movie). Alongside group mates DJ Oasis and K-Dub Shine, Zeebra was one of the first major Japanese rappers to address socially relevant themes in his music, particularly in the now-classic King Giddra debut album 空からの力 (Power From The Sky). Together the group tackled a score of random stuff ranging from the Japanese economic crisis which was occurring during the time to the vast proliferation of “fake” rappers in Japan who were, at least in the eyes of King Giddra, more concerned with copying the style of American rap rather than forging anything new, or uniquely Japanese, from the art form. The group existed together for a while, but eventually split to embark on separate projects, and hence Zeebra’s career as a solo artist began.

This particular anthology is essentially a freaking huge (there’s three CDs worth of stuff here) collection of Zeebra’s hit singles from his various albums: The Rhyme Animal, Based on a True Story, Tokyo’s Finest, The New Beginning, and his latest work, World of Music. There’s also some original songs, stuff from an earlier compilation album he put out called The First Struggle, and one of his newer singles scattered across the discs. Furthermore, disc 3 alone is an especially interesting assortment of the supposed best collaboration tracks that Zeebra’s been featured on during his career. All in all, it’s a daunting package.

The first disc details works from Zeebra’s first two albums. If you listen to these there’s a clear difference in style between these works and his newer stuff on the second disc–the beats here are rougher, the sound quality a little lower, and Zeebra’s voice is a little softer with a rhyme style less developed and forward. His lyrics are also better here with his earlier tracks, but I’ll get into that more later. Anyway, there are definite gems on here–未来への鍵 (The Key to the Future), an early collaboration featuring Akeem de Managoo from Zeebra’s first album is a particular standout, with lyrics honing on decadent trends in Japan that need to be changed in order to find “the key to the future.” It’s a good example of the sort of early social activism that Zeebra expressed in some of his songs right after the King Giddra era. A few other gems on this disc include Original Rhyme Animal, Parteechecka (Bright Light Mix), and MR.DYNAMITE. Not all of these songs are socially deep, but they’re got solid lyrics (Original Rhyme Animal is pretty hot) as well as the bboy-style flavor that Zeebra and many other early veterans of Japanese hiphop exhibited during the early 90’s. Mr. Dynamite is also notable in that is was one of the first Japanese hiphop songs to really achieve success as a single. Oh yeah, and Zeebra also produced it himself, a trend he would follow in his later albums. Zeebra’s production style is interesting–upon first glance it sounds brash and abrasive, sort of like two goats having sex upside down in the middle of a desert sandstorm, but it grows on you after awhile. Anyway, while you’re at it, check out a few more of my favorites–プラチナム・デート (Platinum Date), featuring Double, and Neva Enuff, featuring Aktion, which was used as a tie-in song to the Takeshi Kitano film “Brother” that was coming out around this time.

The second disc immediately hits you with a different sort of sound than the first one. There are traces of a more mainstream, less underground sound in the first disc with some of the songs from Zeebra’s Based on a True Story album, but the first song you’ll hear on the second disc is BIG BIG MONEY, featuring Hiro from F.O.H. (popular Japanese band Flavor of Harmony). And you guessed it–on this track Zeebra raps about ladies, big cars, VIP rooms and all that other fine stuff that you’d see in your average American rap video. In fact, the chorus of the song, which is almost all in English, immediately starts out as “gold chains, diamond rings, big big money.” Now this is surely a far cry from Zeebra’s earlier work, especially when Zeebra goes through a hilarious part at the middle and end of the song where he basically lists like every big city of Japan, encouraging them to “get that money.” Now no disrespect to the Japanese rappers hailing from Nagoya (because there are some good ones) but I have been to that city, it is boring as hell, and I seriously doubt anyone there is really “getting that money, yo.” But anyway, this particular song, from Zeebra’s Tokyo Finest album, is an example of the “selling out” that lots of fans like to accuse him of doing during this era. Nevertheless, the song, while sort of vapid, is at least very catchy, and alongside other selections from Tokyo’s Finest, including Touch The Sky, one of Zeebra’s biggest singles, form an easy selection of listening as long as you disregard the drop in lyrical skill. Nevertheless there’s one big standout from Tokyo’s Finest on this disc, and that is GOLDEN MIC (REMIX), featuring Japanese freestyle legend Kashi Da Handsome, AI, 童子-T, and 般若. This song is a crazy and worth listening to alone for Kashi Da Handsome and AI, who both kill it with their delivery.

The rest of disc two mostly features selections from Zeebra’s most recent albums, The New Beginning and World of Music. While still not rising back up to his early lyrical standard, Zeebra still shines on songs like Street Dreams, his lead single from The New Beginning and personally one of my favorite J-hiphop songs. It’s basically a short history of Japanese hiphop told from Zeebra’s eyes, all tied together with a great beat  and a hook that appeals to that unique sense of Japanese pride (and Zeebra’s own ego), where he shouts out “I am the number 1 hiphop dream.” After Street Dreams, the other big single from The New Beginning, Oh Yeah, is also here. It’s a typical Middle Eastern-sounding dance song, the sort that’s popular in hiphop these days, but still not bad. You’ve also got a song with Swizz Beats called Let’s Get It Started. Zeebra is one of the few Japanese rappers with very good international connections (he speaks pretty good English) and has lately been working with more American producers. This song was the result of one such collaboration, and is worth a listen to if only to hear how absolutely LAZY Swizz Beats sounds on his section of the track, most likely because he figured that because this was for a Japanese audience, they wouldn’t understand what he was saying in English anyway. On a better note, you have another great collaboration here, Do What U Gotta Do featuring AI, Namie Amuro and Mummy-D. It’s pure pop but ridiculously catchy. The rest of the disc hosts selections from Zeebra’s most recent album, World of Music. My People featuring Miliyah Kato, Shinin’ Like A Diamond featuring Sphere of Influence (Zeebra’s half brother) and May J, and Last Song are probably the standout tracks here. My People, in particular, highlights a recent trend that Zeebra has been exhibiting in his newer songs–that of “representing” all of Japanese hiphop and enforcing unity among his fellow artists. Finally, I’m partial to Stop Playin’ A Wall, just because it’s such a retarded song. Listen to it and you’ll see. What the heck does “Stop Playin’ A Wall” mean anyway? Oh and while you’re at it, please watch the video for it on Youtube, because Zeebra is rockin’ this ridiculous Japanese afro thing on his head and it’s absolutely hilarious. Nevertheless, the disc ends on a good note with Bushido, Zeebra’s newest single, and also a song featured in the upcoming Playstation 3 videogame Yakuza 3. You can watch the video for that one too. It’s still funny because it’s basically Zeebra walking around pretending to be a samurai, but once you get past that part, it’s a pretty good song.

The third and final disc, like I said before, is an excellent selection of various collaborations that Zeebra has performed throughout his career. 今すぐ欲しい (I Want It Right Now) is a favorite of mine, staring Sugar Soul and Zeebra. It’s a sexualized but classy slow-paced song, and DJ Hasebe produced the beat so it’s absolutely smooth as hell. Koda Kumi released a cover of this song, from what I recently hear, but anyone interested in its origins should check out the original. Another favorite of mine is MASTERMIND, featuring Mummy-D, another track produced by DJ Hasebe. Mummy-D and Zeebra just in general have always tended to have great chemistry together on the microphone, and they exchange punchlines and rapid-fire delivery here excellently. Good Life, a collaboration that Zeebra did with Namie Amuro under the Suit Chic collaboration project is featured here, and is only one of several works that the two have done. Zeebra and Namie Amuro have the habit of sounding very cute together whenever they’re on the same song, and it’s worth listening to especially if you’re a fan of Namie’s more R&B sounding songs. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, is the ONLY King Giddra song on this anthology, 911, featuring K-Dub Shine. It’s a shame that for a collaboration intended to be the “best” of Zeebra’s works that this song was the only King Giddra feature that made the cut, but at least it’s a good song, from King Giddra’s second album, 最終兵器 (Ultimate Weapon). King Giddra released this single during a short period when the group had temporarily reunited, and it comments on the 9/11 terrorist attacks, drawing an interesting parallel between them and the earlier atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. It’s an interesting Japanese take on a very American tragedy, and although Zeebra holds his own, K-Dub Shine is really the force that shines on the track, spitting a criticism of American foreign policy and President Bush. It’s a track that manages to be sympathetic but venomous at the same time, even though the connection that they make between the 9/11 attacks and the atom bomb is not necessarily one that I agree with. Still, it’s thought provoking music at the least.

All in all, the length of this review should give you a hint as to just how much material is present on this album. There are a few songs here and there that I wish had made the cut, including Zeebra’s Cultural Universal collaboration with Sphere of Influence or Zeebra’s old school classic Untouchable, but overall, it’s a good compilation and the third disc has some rare tracks especially. Whether you know about Zeebra or not, whether you consider him a “sellout” or a Japanese hiphop legend, this album deserves to be checked out by fans of hiphop. Zeebra may have dumbed down his lyrics in recent years and become less underground, but even so, in his newer albums, he still shows signs on some tracks–Street Dreams for example–of the older era when he was a hungrier, younger emcee. And on the end of disc one, there’s one such track, aptly titled Jackin’ 4 Beats, that shows a great deal of respect for the Japanese hiphop scene in general, if only because it’s Zeebra rapping over a vast selection of beats from the most important J-hiphop songs of the last decade or so. Although it’s doubtful that Zeebra will return to his older, more lyrical style (and will probably continue to be ridiculed by a large number of “hardcore” hiphop heads because of this), he’s an important figure in Japanese rap history precisely because he’s been around for so long and can make tracks like Jackin’ 4 Beats, tracks that feature mini-history lessons about the culture and scene that he’s been a part of since 1993. Shortly put, he deserves respect for still being relevant after all these years at the very least, and if you like rap in the slightest and would like a short introduction to the Japanese form of it, Zeebra’s “The Anthology” collection serves as a fine entry.

Possibly Related Posts:

• alan - RED CLIFF ~心・戦~ / alan - RED CLIFF ～Heart, War~
• Single: Perfume - Love the World
• Album Review: 安室 奈美恵 - Best Fiction / Namie Amuro - Best Fiction
• Album Review: m-flo - Award SuperNova ~Loves Best~
• Album Review: 宇多田 ヒカル - Heart Station / Utada Hikaru - Heart Station

Info

Single: Eat You Up

Artist: BoA

Release Date: October 21, 2008

Blurb

Why do Koreans speak so many languages? Virtually every Korean I know speaks three or more languages - and here, BoA is no exception. For her upcoming album Look Who’s Talking coming out next year, BoA released this single Eat You Up, featuring all-English lyrics and a urban/hip-hop/dance style. That and the title of her album is probably a good indicator of what her full-album is going to sound come a few months.

Pretty good, though I believe cannibals all over the world will probably take this to be their anthem and theme song.
This also marks the second thing we’ve covered that has no Asian languages in it, but is merely sung by an Asian singer.

Lyrics

Lyrics ▼

Possibly Related Posts:

• 東方神起 - Mirotic / DBSK - Mirotic
• Review: 빅뱅 - Stand Up / Big Bang - Stand Up
• Album Review: 이효리 - It’s Hyorish / Hyori Lee - It’s Hyorish

Info

Album: 愛的練習語 / Love Exercise (Buy Album)

Artist: 蔡依林 / Jolin Tsai

Release Date: November 4, 2008

Tracklisting:

Show ▼

Blurb

Now, we’re not going to make a regular point of covering English songs on this website, but we have a bunch of comments positively wondering about how Jolin sounds like singing English songs.

Essentially, this album, Love Exercise (愛的練習語) - it’s a collection of various English hits over the last few decades and of various genres. It took me a while to look up every single song, but I think I have them down right - I was interested myself in what songs specifically had she covered, since there were a few of which I had not heard before.

Overall, my take is that having the same artist do so many different songs kind of makes it feel a bit bland - it’s nothing on Jolin, but rather, I would think that this should happen for any singer trying to do so many songs. However, I think she does a great job at really trying to capture the essence of the songs.

Just for some comedy, and for any fellow Office fans out there, catch this after the jump of Physical.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Chinglish: J. WU - 是什麼音樂讓你覺得舒服 / J. WU - What Kind of Music Makes You Comfortable
• Chinglish: 徐若瑄 - So So / Vivian Hsu - So So
• Chinglish: 徐懷鈺 - 等不及 / Yuki Hsu - Can’t Wait
• Chinglish: 卜學亮 - 子曰 / Ah Liang (Charge Pu) - Confucius Says
• Chinglish: S.H.E - Super Star

Hey everyone, illuminance here. So Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) just released a new album, entitled Love Exercise (愛的練習語). Only thing is, it’s an all English album - not Chinglish, but rather, covers of several love songs dating from different times and eras. It’s billed as a way for people to learn how to express their love - in English.

So it’s not really what’d we call “azn music” here at azn.play, but yet, it is by an Asian artist, is it not? So what do you guys think - should we cover it? Let us know in the comments.

Possibly Related Posts:

• And that concludes 2007 in Review!
• Hello everyone!

Info

Album: 後青春期的詩 / Poetry of the Day After (Buy Album)

Artist: 五月天 / Mayday

Release Date: October 23, 2008

Tracklisting:

Show ▼

Review By: ashih

Blurb

Lately, it seems like all news has been bad news. Pull down your BBC newsfeed and the top stories blare headlines like “Diplomats seek to end Congo crisis,” “US economy officially shrinking,” and “TV star gets three month ban.” It’s times like these when it seems like music is the only thing that makes sense anymore.

Mayday, or 五月天, is one of those special bands that doesn’t come along very often. But their songs are the ones that make sense. Years after their release, people are still uplifted by tunes like Lockjaw (牙關) and Stubborn (倔強). Show Luo (羅志祥) cited Mayday’s 戀愛ing as his favorite song to sing at KTV. And S.H.E recreated the chorus of Mayday’s 溫柔 just last year, 7 years after the original song’s release. Mayday’s concerts, whether they are held in Taiwan or mainland China, are always packed, with fans screaming their heads off and teenage girls professing their love for Ashin, Mayday’s lead singer. All of Mayday’s albums have made it onto the American version of itunes, perhaps a testament to the musical genius of the group.  With their latest album “Poetry of the Day After” (後青春期的詩), Mayday has been around for almost ten years. Are they still going strong?

“Poetry of the Day After” (後青春期的詩) is a daring album, not only in its musical depth, but also in its release date. “Poetry of the Day After” was released almost concurrently with Jay Chou’s new album, Capricorn (see below). The Taiwanese media has already, predictably, started an unofficial “battle” between Jay and Mayday of who can sell more albums.“Poetry of the Day After” (後青春期的詩) is a very strong album, incorporating several musical styles into generally feel-good tunes.

The album starts with “Suddenly Thinking of You” (突然好想你). Although this is a “typical” Mandarin pop song talking about love and one’s significant other, Ashin’s voice makes this one worth a listen. Despite the song’s somewhat somber lyrics, it is still an uplifting song.

“Survival Above, Life Below” (生存以上 生活以下) showcases Mayday’s trademark playfulness. Opening with the sound of a toothbrush (strange but charming in a way) and then moving into a happy, exciting chorus, “Survival Above, Life Below” is a fun song that might brighten up a rainy day.

“You’re Not Really Happy” (你不是真正的快樂) is another winner. There are times in the song when you can almost predict a loud, rousing, chorus, but Mayday waits until the very end of the song to bring it to a climax. The result is a soothing , inspiring melody.

From the name of the next track, “Burst Liver” (爆肝), one can predict that this song is a little weird. Indeed, filled with toots and some wacky lyrics, “Burst Liver” (爆肝) is a song that seems a little too repetitive and a little too crazy. It’s worth a listen for the fun tune, but I think it’s one of the weaker tracks on this album.

The next song on the album, “Oh My God” (噢買尬) is another fun song. It’s not quite as repetitive as “Burst Liver” and features a cool guitar part in the middle, making it a decent track. It sounds like Mayday tried to bring back the “戀愛ing” feel here; it succeeds to an extent but still nothing can quite compare to that rush you get when you’re sitting with friends in a ktv room scrambling to sing 未來某年某月某日某時某分某秒…

I can’t even begin to describe how much I like Mayday’s newest Taiwanese language song: Day of Appearing (出頭天). Even if you can’t understand the lyrics (and this includes myself), the song gives you a warm, hopeful feeling, something the whole world needs right now. Although it’s a different, more mellow feel, because it’s in Taiwanese, this song brings back wonderful memories of “Jack and Jill” (志明與春橋), the Taiwanese song that made Mayday famous almost 10 years ago. 出頭天 is a rousing song; with Ashin leading the way and background voices giving us lalalas and singing the chorus together, this one is a winner.

Mayday’s Taiwanese language songs continue into the next track- An Uncollapsed Spot of My Heart (我心中尚未崩壞的地方). While I don’t like it as much as 出頭天, this is still a solid track. The song is relatively soft throughout, giving us some more of that homely feel that can be found in Mayday’s classics like “Wen Rou” (溫柔) and “I love you 無望”. The song is over 5 minutes long and can kind of drag on. Stick to 出頭天 if you are looking for a happy Taiwanese song.

“Spring’s Howl” (春天的吶喊) has a very “rock and roll” style. If you’re looking for a loud song with a lot of background, then this one’s for you. For fans of rock, this will probably be a standout. Personally however, I prefer Mayday’s softer melodies.

Taiwan doesn’t celebrate Halloween but Mayday certainly got into the spirit with the next song :“Interview at Night With a Vampire” (夜訪吸血鬼). Actually, the song isn’t very “scary;” rather, it’s pretty calm until the final seconds of the song. I think the same couple of chords are used a little too much over the course of the song, but it is still a wonderful display of Ashin’s vocal abilities. This song incorporates some elements of rock into it as well, but less so than the previous track, “Spring’s Howl” (春天的吶喊). If you’re looking for soft rock this might be the song for you.

“Like Smoke” (如煙) starts with the soft strumming of a guitar and maintains that kind of plain but charming feel throughout. I didn’t take to the song the first time I heard it. As I listen to it now however, I think it’s a pretty soothing song that is definitely worth a listen. While this could be said of many of Mayday’s songs, if you listen to this one with a pair of nice headphones, you can really hear the depth of the instrumental side of Mayday.

The title track of the album, “Poetry of the Day After” (後青春期的詩) is only a little over 2 minutes long. This might be a song that you listen to before going to bed…it’s quite calming. Once again, one gets a sense of unity from the song; I love the voice in the middle that whispers “要和你…一起走吧.”

Mayday’s final contribution to 2008 is “Laughingly Forgetting a Song” (笑忘歌). The song is really upbeat and reminds us to well…smile and forget. It’s an apt ending song and I think it sums up this album’s “theme” really well.

Unquestionably, Mayday went above and beyond with this album. There are 12 songs on it, 2 more than is standard, and I can’t say I genuinely dislike any of them. According to official statistics, this album has sold slightly more copies than Jay Chou’s newest album, which is a great feat. Mayday is truly a unique band-producing good music, escaping the prying eyes of the media (for the most part), all while maintaining a clean, down to earth image. “Poetry of the Day After” (後青春期的詩) is a joy to listen to. Let’s hope Mayday’s upcoming concert is a success and that they can keep producing these sorts of  masterpieces.

Recommended Songs

Track 1: Suddenly Thinking of You (突然好想你)

Track 6: Day of Appearing (出頭天)

Track 12: Laughingly Forgetting a Song (笑忘歌)

Lyrics

突然好想你 / Suddenly Thinking of You

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你不是真正的快樂 / You’re Not Really Happy

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出頭天 / Day of Appearing

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後青春期的詩 / Poetry of the Day After

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笑忘歌 / Laughingly Forgetting a Song

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Possibly Related Posts:

• 游喧 - 勾勾手 / iD - Hooking Fingers
• 蔡依林 - 愛的練習語 / Jolin Tsai - Love Exercise
• Album Review: 林俊傑 - 陸 / JJ Lin - Sixology
• First Listen: 周杰倫 - 魔杰座 / Jay Chou - Capricorn
• 魔杰座 / Capricorn Leaked?

Info

Album: RED CLIFF ~心・戦~ / RED CLIFF ～Heart, War~ (Buy Album)

Artist: 阿蘭 / alan

Release Datectober 15, 2008

Tracklisting:

Show ▼

Blurb

alan, is a Chinese-Tibetan singer who’s recently been gaining the eyes of observant music industry watchers, and thanks to a reader email/comment, I’ll post something about her.

First off, I hadn’t even heard of her before this (I went back and checked the other three singles of her five-element series), but I really like her voice and style - fans of trashy Japanese music (which is also good..) like ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION will probably fall asleep, but other people who appreciate soulful, slow ballads will like it. There’s a time and place for everything. Best of all, she has NO ENGLISH in her songs - you can’t believe how much of a relief that is for me, listening to a J-Pop song. Furthermore, Jay Chou should hire her album cover designer, considering how beautiful it is (and she is)!

Lastly, she sings in both Japanese and Chinese, and sounds perfectly natural in both, an amazing feat. Take a listen!

Possibly Related Posts:

• Album Review: Zeebra - The Anthology (Deluxe Edition)
• Single: Perfume - Love the World
• Album Review: 安室 奈美恵 - Best Fiction / Namie Amuro - Best Fiction
• Album Review: m-flo - Award SuperNova ~Loves Best~
• Album Review: 宇多田 ヒカル - Heart Station / Utada Hikaru - Heart Station

Info

Album: 陸 / Sixology (Buy Album)

Artist: 林俊傑 / JJ Lin

Release Date: October 18, 2008

Tracklisting:

Show ▼

Review By: illuminance

Blurb

Following with the sudden flood of new Chinese albums,  Singaporean artist JJ Lin (林俊傑) has released his sixth studio album - Sixology, or 陸 (which is 六 written in longhand for financial/fancy matters). Where 殺手 “The Killa” was disturbing and grotesque, Sixology appears folksy and charming - I love this album truly.

The album is actually fairly long, 1 intro track and 13 songs, bit longer than most Chinese albums which usually consist of 10-11 songs (though, to be fair, one of them has actually been released before).

Sixology begins with an intro, with JJ Lin basically giving thanks for is success in the music industry so far (it’s really been quite good for him, understandably… This leads into the first song - a Chinglish one, no less -  不潮不用花錢 (hard to translate, any suggestions out there?) which has pretty much nonsensical lyrics, but it has a catchy beat and I still like it. JJ Lin also uses the word shit in here, don’t ask me why. (In Malaysia and Singapore, it’s generally not considered a swear word.)

Next up, Small Dimple (小酒窩), a duet with A-Sa (Charlene Choi, 蔡卓妍) of Twins (FYI, she’s the one that didn’t get caught up in the scandal) - it’s really adoring and sweet. I guess I generally like most of JJ Lin’s duets. After that comes 黑武士 (Black Warrior) and 醉赤壁 (Drunken Red Cliffs), which is incidentally, the theme song of an online game of the same name, minus the drunk part. Both great songs as well.

Up to You 由你選擇, featuring a Hong Kong rap duo called FAMA (農夫, get it?) is a Cantonese rap/hip-hop song, loads of Chinglish and Mandarin mixed in there, but really enjoyable, though I shall leave it to the Cantonese critics to decide what they think about the Cantonese - does it seem like merely an after thought?

Two more songs of note: One, Awaiting Love (期待愛), which is essentially Awaiting Your Love (期待你的愛) from the Pretty Ugly soundtrack, only that it appears that Kym’s (金莎) voice has been dubbed in. I love the original, but I like this less because it does not sound like a true duet. Rather, it feels like Kym’s voice is merely overlaid on top of the original, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was actually the case.

Lastly, I’d like to mention Love and Hope (愛與希望), which is an absolutely beautiful ballad full of exactly that - love and hope.

In conclusion, I really loved this album — I hope everyone does as well!

Lyrics

不潮不用花錢 -

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小酒窩 / Small Dimple

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黑武士 / Black Warrior

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醉赤壁 / Drunken Red Cliffs

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由你選擇 / Up to You

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期待愛 / Awaiting Love

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愛與希望 / Love and Hope

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Possibly Related Posts:

• 游喧 - 勾勾手 / iD - Hooking Fingers
• 蔡依林 - 愛的練習語 / Jolin Tsai - Love Exercise
• Album Review: 五月天 - 後青春期的詩 / Mayday - Poetry of the Day After
• First Listen: 周杰倫 - 魔杰座 / Jay Chou - Capricorn
• 魔杰座 / Capricorn Leaked?

Info

Album: 魔杰座 / Capricorn (Buy Album)

Artist: 周杰倫 / Jay Chou

Release Date: October 15, 2008

Tracklisting:

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Blurb

So, Jay Chou’s Capricorn has finally “officially” been released. Quite seriously though, this is the tackiest album cover I’ve ever seen on one of his albums - last I checked, this was a Jay Chou album, not the Taiwanese version of World of Warcraft. Since Capricorn is supposed to be all about sorcery, where’s that at?

As I noted in my really brief note that it had been leaked two weeks ago, there’s not that much that I like about the album. There’s a variety of different styles and directions, but the vocals strike me as rather weak, and there’s not a whole lot of originality in the songs - no song really “sticks,” or makes me imagine playing it over and over again.

That’s not to say there’s nothing that’s interesting on Capricorn - Fragrant Rice (稻香) is still as good as ever, though it’s actually the last track on the album. 喬克叔叔 (Uncle Joker) and 時光機 (Time Machine) I like, but the rest, meh.

Going through midterms now, will post a more through review later.

Possibly Related Posts:

• 游喧 - 勾勾手 / iD - Hooking Fingers
• 蔡依林 - 愛的練習語 / Jolin Tsai - Love Exercise
• Album Review: 五月天 - 後青春期的詩 / Mayday - Poetry of the Day After
• Album Review: 林俊傑 - 陸 / JJ Lin - Sixology
• 魔杰座 / Capricorn Leaked?

Info

Album: Mirotic (Buy Album)

Artist: DBSK / 東方神起

Release Date: September 28, 2008

Tracklisting:

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Blurb

Korean boy band has released (also known as 東方神起 or TVXQ) their fourth studio album, Mirotic, with styles of mostly rap/hip-hop. Overall, a nice album - I particularly like “넌 나의 노래” and 악녀 (Are you A Good girl). (This is short, b/c I have so much work to do. )

Possibly Related Posts:

• BoA - Eat You Up
• Review: 빅뱅 - Stand Up / Big Bang - Stand Up
• Album Review: 이효리 - It’s Hyorish / Hyori Lee - It’s Hyorish