It’s time.

Loving this at the moment. Perfect music as I finish writing this damn discussion section and abstract.

Two of my favorite J-Pop artists put out singles this week. Yay?

Shiina Ringo - “自由へ道連れ (Jiyuu e Michizure)”

It’s her first post-Tokyo Jihen track solo track, but it sounds just like the other straightforward, upbeat rock songs that would have fit right in with their last album (or maybe a B-side when the band was in their prime). Overall it’s a pretty underwhelming track, but it does have some redeemable qualities (mainly the melody and singing for the hook).

Kaela Kimura - ”マミレル (Mamireru)”

I was more excited to hear this just because her last album was excellent, and I couldn’t wait to hear what direction she’d take her music in. However, as soon as I learned that the track was being composed by AXSXE (from NATSUMEN), I became a little bit skeptical since his work with her has been pretty average. ”マミレル” sounds partly influence by Sakanaction or a similar band, which does make things a little more interesting, but for the most part the song isn’t doing much for me. Between this an Shiina’s track, however, I have to say this is a bit more enjoyable, and I can see myself revisiting it a bit more.

I forgot to mention that aside from being released at the same time, these two tracks also happen to be ED songs for drama series. That probably explains why I’m not liking them so much; they were probably created with a totally different target audience in mind (wait, when have I ever been her target audience). I had some theory/thoughts about the relatively lack of sales success for Kaela’s last album and her decision to work with AXSXE, but I’m probably just over-thinking things. I’ll give her a few more singles before I start worrying about it.

Drip drip. The release is a lot more poppy and doesn’t have the same edge as “透明なのか黒なのか (Tomei nanoka Kuro nanoka)” but it’s a good listen nonetheless.

Just heard R.A.P music, and El-P is confirmed for killing everything in sight for 2012.

YUKI never misses with OPs. One of her best songs ever.

List created out of pure boredom. I have a feeling that upcoming Killer Mike album is going to grab a spot fairly soon.

EDIT: Sorry Mirrorring, Phil just knocked you out.

Top 3:

1. El-P - Cancer 4 Cure

2. Mount Eerie - Clear Moon

3. Beach House - Bloom

The rest in no particular order:

Mirrorring - Foreign Body

Big K.R.I.T. - 4Eva N A Day

YUKI - Powers of Ten (singles collection and not a proper LP, but whatever)

Grimes - Visions

Dustin Wong - Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads

Death Grips - The Money Store

Actress - R.I.P

dat jazz.

and that little bit at 1:01-1:02. yeahhhh…

Finally watched Discovery this weekend, and it’s definitely up there as one of their best BD/DVD releases. Yup, that’s about all this post is about. Anyways, here’s some screenshots of Shiina looking awesome.

Spring 2012 is shaping up to be one of the best anime seasons in quite some time. In fact, I can’t really think of a season that had such a high quantity of quality shows, at least based on the first couple of weeks.

I’ve been most hyped for Sakamichi no Apollon, as demonstrated by my past posts, but I have to say Lupin the Third: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna is blowing my mind by how amazing it’s been. The music, art, and overall presentation is just oozing with style. It might even be my frontrunner for show of the season.

With that said, Apollon aired yesterday and it was everything I hoped it’d be, and I was hooked from the moment the OP by YUKI played. I’m a huge fan of most josei anime due to its focus on more realistic character interactions, and most of the time they just offer more interesting art, music, and settings.Apollon takes all of these things, has a focus on music (jazz in particular), and there isn’t really much more that I could want from something in the medium. Shit, maybe in the future they will be some anime centered around math- and post-rock, ambient, and “experimental” music. FUND IT.

EDIT: So I just went to a get together for our research team at the home of one of my professors, and I asked to check out some of the records he had in the living room. It turns out he’s a pretty big jazz head, and we, along with a few of the other people there, started talking about Sun Ra, Charles Mingus, Pharaoh Sanders, John and Alice Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, and a few other artists. Pretty awesome. Just thought I’d throw that in there since I’m on some kind of jazz high right now.

Anyways, back to the anime season. There are just too many interesting shows, and one things that sticks out is just how pretty everything looks. The influence of SHAFT/Shinbo’s style is starting to be seen (Tasogare Otome x Amnesia is directed by Oonuma Shin who is a protégé of Shinbo, and Sankarea is directed by a guy who has worked under SHAFT/Shinbo). However, the one show that has really stuck out in the art department is Tsuritama, and I just learned that the director is the guy who did Trapeze. Now it all make sense. Check out that color palette and these backgrounds:

I don’t even have the time to talk about the other good or initially interesting shows such as Space Brothers, Kimi to Boku 2, or Mysterious Girlfriend X. Hell, even Upotte!!, which is essentially just a moe fanservice show, is keeping me interested with its ridiculous plot (i.e., the girls are guns, literally, I think). AND Hyouka hasn’t even aired yet. 

Lastly, this is always important for me:

Best OP song: Sakamichi no Apollon

Best ED song: Lupin the Third: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna

The wait for full songs is always torturous, but at least the song for Lupin comes out next week. It’ll be a month before we get the full track from YUKI for Apollon, however.