Celebrating their 10 years of music career, the Japanese band Love Psychedelico has released a new album “Abbot Kinney”. I still like their debut “The Greatest Hits” the most (how appropriately titled!). But “Abbot Kinney” is growing on me. I guess I was looking for that dark melodic track “Last Smile” in this new album [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Music Reviews'
Love Psychedelico – Abbot Kinney – An Uplifting Album
February 16th, 2010 No Comments
Tags: Love Psychedelico
Lisa Ekdahl – Give Me That Slow Knowing Smile – It’s Simply Heavenly Beautiful
July 16th, 2009 6 Comments
I would love to give her that slow knowing smile and make her say hey, hey, hey, hey. And we would say oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Just like her song. From the whistling in the beginning of “Give Me That Slow Knowing Smile”, the simple repetitive chords of an acoustic guitar and the harmonizing [...]
Tags: Lisa Ekdahl
Korean / Japanese Singer BoA’s First English Album Is Now On Our Daily Playlist – Best&USA
May 30th, 2009 2 Comments
I’ve said it before and I will say it again. She is young, she is talented, she is ambitious, and at the age of 22, there are few artists who have released a dozen of commercially successful albums in three different languages. As mentioned in my previous post (April 2008), I had my hopes and fears [...]
Tags: BoA
Next Level by Ayumi Hamasaki – I Love It
May 7th, 2009 1 Comment
I met my friend for lunch one day at Shokudo and told her that Ayumi Hamasaki has released a new album. “Who’s [What’s] that?” she asked. Maybe I am too naïve to think that everyone know who she is. Japanese artist Ayu has been my inspiration for years. Since 2000, she has been releasing one [...]
Tags: Ayumi Hamasaki
Rimi Natsukawa 夏川りみ – ココロノウタ – A New Studio Production, A Live Recording, and A Concert DVD
May 3rd, 2009 2 Comments
I wouldn’t imagine in a light year that I would enjoy listening to Japanese folk music. Rimi Natsukawa’s previous album “Self Selection” has been like a comfort album to me. So when I saw her 13th album “ココロノウタ” selling on the shelf, I quickly grabbed one without even test listening to it.
“ココロノウタ” comes with 3 discs. A [...]
Tags: 夏川りみ · Rimi Natsukawa
Mai Kuraki (倉木麻衣) – touch Me! – Odd Song Choices Aside, A Decent Effort Nonetheless
April 18th, 2009 2 Comments
Again, the Japanese pressed CDs of Mai Kuraki don’t come cheap. Three times the price of a normal disc. HMV Singapore charges me the price of one English CD as shipping fees. I guess it is sort of fair. If only I could read Japanese and order online instead. Pondered in front of the counter [...]
Tags: 倉木麻衣 · Mai Kuraki
Kelly Clarkson – All I Ever Wanted – Now, Give That Girl Some Love
March 21st, 2009 8 Comments
In a way, I am not surprised to read that Kelly Clarkson’s latest single “My Life Would Suck Without You” made the biggest jump from 97 to 1 in the US Chart. After her last effort “My December”, I am reminded that big stars don’t necessarily make great albums all the time. Look at Leona [...]
Tags: American Idol · Kelly Clarkson
No Line On The Horizon – An U2 Album that Splits Audience and Rewards Those with Patience
March 12th, 2009 No Comments
Q Magazine wrote, “Good Lord, it’s a masterpiece”. Oh well. For all that’s worth, for better or worse, this 12th U2 studio album has offered the audience a listening journey that is rarely seen these days – from the music and lyrics to the visual experience. What would this album be if U2 was to [...]
Tags: u2
Taylor Swift – Fearless – Less of Country and More of Pop This Time
February 8th, 2009 14 Comments
It is easy to forget that onto the second album, Taylor Swift is only 19 years old. 17 when she first released her debut that in my previous review, I have strong belief in her potential. In 2006, she topped the US Country chart while attaining a 5th on the US Billboard 200. “Fearless” topped all the [...]
Tags: Taylor Swift
Mika Nakashima – I Don’t Know, I Don’t Know, I *Know* “Voice” is My Favorite of Hers So Far
January 7th, 2009 No Comments
Having followed Mika’s music career since her debut album “True” – and I just realize that I have all 6 of her albums! – “Voice” has got to be the most appealing, most infectious of all. To be honest, I was surprised because although from time to time there are great music albums in the [...]
Tags: 中島美嘉 · Mika Nakashima