I’ve Sound have some weirdass song titles. Just saying.
Yuki over at I’ve Sound Blog posted the news about KOTOKO’s latest song. The song is the theme song for BALDRSKY Dive2 and is called… jihad.
Yes, believe it or not KOTOKO’s latest song is named after a controversial Islamic term. The short version of the song doesn’t sound bad at all, but… why that term, out of all the random wikipedia pages?
While I find I’ve Sound have always had a history of bizarre titles (The penchant for Botany related terms is something I picked up on – song titles such as Lythrum, Meconopsis, Oxisols exist plus strange things like Everything is assumed to be connected, intron tone, Vacillate, Scheherazade), this one just makes me scratch my head more than usual.
So in some sort of experiment to satisfy my curiosity, this is a meme that I plucked off livejournal which uses the Special:Random page over at wikipedia to generate an album and some songs. Will it resemble anything particularly I’ve Sound-ish? Let’s see.
Review: PSI-missing – Kawada Mami
Artist: Mami Kawada
Title: PSI-missing
Catalogue No.: GNCV-0009
Tracklist:
01. PSI-missing
02. 雨 [Ame]
03. PSI-missing (Instrumental)
04. 雨 (Instrumental) [Ame (Instrumental)]
My love for Mami Kawada’s eyeshadow on the cover art aside – PSI-missing is one of those songs I am not entirely sure why I like. I shouldn’t like it in all respects – it is completely unfulfilling as a song as it is… not as catchy or memorable as Mami’s earlier releases. (The only lines I can remember the melody of is “touzen no kurushimi o unmei ga sasou” and “sezoku made”) Mami sounds flat and the melody doesn’t really resolve itself as strongly as it could be, so it falls flat even if it starts alright.
As for what it sounds like, it sounds like the bastard child of radiance and Hishoku no Sora, arguably Mami Kawada’s two best singles.
That is probably the reason why I like it, ahaha. The use of distortion is reminiscent of KOTOKO’s Suppuration -core-, which gives Mami a darker sounding voice contrasting with the chorus which doesn’t have as many effect filters on it and eventually the distortion is almost non existent towards the end of the song. The effect of altering Mami’s voice quality becomes understandable after watching the PV for PSI-missing, which is included in this edition of the single.
Demonic Mami calls upon Goddess Mami (who is very reminiscent of MELL, though I can’t put my finger on exactly why – maybe it’s the hair. Or the fact that Mami looks… so much more mature than I remember.) and the use of filtering on Mami’s voice fits what she’s doing in the PV. Ohoho, so they did try to be clever.
So, how do I feel about PSI-missing? It’s enjoyable to listen to, but not really memorable. 
Which is a shame. I do love the drums in this song. I couldn’t help but me won over by the entire package – which admittedly in the absence of, might have made me dismiss this song. I do have a soft place in my heart for I’ve Sound’s darker trance songs though.
As for Ame, the b-side… sadly forgettable. Even from the opening, it is just very bland and very flat. A half-hearted pop ballad, if you will. I can’t actually say much about it, because I nod off while listening to the song because I get bored listening to it.
So, is this single on it’s own worth buying? Well, in my honest opinion, not really. (Watch me eat my words as I come back from Japan with this single in my collection, but that’s because I’m obsessed with collecting CD singles.) Admittedly while I do like PSI-missing, for the casual I’ve fan it’s probably worth just waiting for Mami’s next album (which will have this track in it) to come out so you get more value for your money.
