Review: Everything Needs Love – Mondo Grosso feat. BoA
Since I spent a reasonable amount of time bitching about how Shinichi Osawa isn’t Mondo Grosso anymore, I thought I’d review what is one of my favourite Mondo Grosso singles. Plus, I’m sure people need something other than the slew of Japanese hardcore release information I’ve been putting out (but to be fair, there aren’t any other blogs that do it really)
Artist: Mondo Grosso feat. BoA
Title: Everything Needs Love
Catalogue: AICL-1397
Tracklisting:
01. Everything Needs Love
02. Everything Needs Love (Piano-pella)
03. Everything Needs Dub
04. Everything Needs Love (Instrumental)
I’m not sure what it is about this single that I like so much. Perhaps it’s the clever orchestration that’s gone into this, the real instruments provided by string maestro Tatsuya Murayama (If the strings in a track aren’t done by Chieko Kinbara, then it’s most likely goign to be Tatsuya Murayama) and the skillful piano provided by Mr. Ryota Nozaki aka Jazztronik. Maybe it’s the build up from a piano solo to a full on house track with those vocals by BoA which makes me forget the majority of her output is compositionally bland.
It is very hard to ignore the power of using real instruments. I’ve gotten to the point in which my training in music analysis means that I can recognise the difference between tracks that use real instruments for instrumentation and fake ones. Everything Needs LOVE is organic, there is no other word for it other than organic. Even the drums felt organic, the track is wonderfully mastered and as a result Everything Needs Love is so pleasingly uplifting that I can’t help but feel something as BoA holds that word, that word which describes my attitude to the track – love.
The Piano-pella version substitutes the drums and takes out the bass leaving the listener effectively with a ballad/acoustic type version of the song. It’s a gentler listening to experience that’s more laid back and chilled. BoA’s soaring vocals seem slightly out of place in this version as it uses the same vocal track across the entire single. It would have been good if she re-recorded them or Shinichi Osawa took out the higher frequencies (oh wait, no, that would just make her sound flat, okay, re-recording it is) just so that it sounds a bit more toned down and it gets together a little bit more easily.
The third track on the single is the one I have to say is a bit boring. There are very few dub remixes that I enjoy and sadly I don’t enjoy this one. BoA’s vocals are cut up to just a few snippets here and there and the sweeping electrohouse swooshes just get on my nerves. I admit I do like the drums on this but that’s probably the only enjoyable thing about it. It’s just boring and not a very musically interesting track. It’s amazing what extra minute can do because it just seems so much more protracted and a pain to listen to. Admittedly it is the only DJ friendly track on there AND the pun Everything Needs Dub is kinda funny.
To round off this single, you have as always – the instrumental version of the title track. It’s good for a listen if you want to hear the ongoings of the track without BoA in your ear how everything needs love. It’ll make you appreciate how good Mondo Grosso is.
I’m not entirely sure what rating to give this. I love this song so much that I want the vinyl of the song so in respects if you have money to spare then the Physical Copy of the single is good nugget to keep in your collection.
Album Review: ravex – trax
Welcome to the first post ever of The New Eccentric Girl where I attempt to bring you into my musical world… because I think it’s interesting and I find some interesting stuff that doesn’t get talked about enough.
Anyway, I thought I’d kickstart this blog with a review of the album which contains the song in which this blog gets its name from.
Lets start with the artist. Most of this description was cannibalized from the original entry I wrote for the livejournal J-tek community Stereo Night.
If you haven’t heard of ravex, it’s basically a unit made of Fantastic Plastic Machine’s Tomoyuki Tanaka, Mondo Grosso’s Shinichi Osawa and m-flo’s Taku Takahashi. Tagged with the line that the music they made was “21st Century J-Pop”, ravex is a unit to celebrate the 20th anniversary of avex trax and the 80th anniversary of Tezuka World. You know, Astro Boy. Marvelous Melmo. Kimba the White Lion, Princess Knight. Osamu Tezuka’s Star System and more make an appearance in the 20 minute special “ravex in Tezuka World” which was such a throwback to my childhood.
Their roster of vocalists is basically every single BIG artist on avex trax and its associated sublabels. Amuro Namie, Tohoshinki, LISA from m-flo, Tsuchiya Anna, BoA, Chisa from GIRL NEXT DOOR, Maki Goto, trf, Verbal from m-flo, Monkey Majik, Ando Yuko and DJ OZMA.
Star power aside, the music is electrohouse fused with J-pop and made with the whole spectrum of electronic dance fans in mind so it’s got something to appease hardcore electronic music meant to be played in clubs fans to people who like pop in general.
I think the whole concept of this project is key to understanding how this album is supposed to work.
Artist: ravex
Title: trax
Catalogue No: AVCD-23790/B | AVCD-23791
Tracklisting:
01. I RAVE U (Original)
02. ROCK U feat. 安室奈美恵 [Amuro Namie]
03. Just the Two of Us feat. 東方神起 [Tohoshinki]
04. HOUSE NATION feat. LISA
05. Bangalicious feat. 土屋アンナ [Tsuchiya Anna]
06. Believe in LOVE feat. BoA
07. NEWエキセントリックガール [New Eccentric Girl] feat. 千紗 [Chisa] (GIRL NEXT DOOR)
08. Golden LUV feat. MAKI GOTO
09. V.I.P.P. (Very Important Party People) feat. TRF & VERBAL(m-flo)
10. 1 more night feat. MONKEY MAJIK
11. 悪い子みつけた。 [Waruiko Mitsuketa.] feat. 安藤裕子 [Ando Yuko]
12. I RAVE U feat. DJ OZMA
