Nana Kitade,
Violet BlazeNana is on her own again for the first time in 8 years with her new album Violet Blaze. In a fitting purple CD case with pictures of Nana decked out in temporary tattoos of butterflies, I certainly didn't know what type of expectations to have for this album. Nana never had a clear musical identity, but she did like to rock and on her previous album Bondage she went mad with some noisy tracks.
Violet Blaze has no rock at all, it's all electro pop and...it's not great. There is nothing overly interesting, the compositions are so-so, the melodies aren't much, and it's full of ballads. Nana sounds awkward when she sings in English, and while she's always been a catty vocalist, which is a trait I like about her, the way her voice is mixed and layered doesn't sit very well. It's very underwhelming as a whole. The first track "Make Believe" is good, and led me to believe this would be an album full of summer jams! Instead it's just kind of flat.
Gonna watch out before I buy another album with Violet in the title. GARNiDELiA's Violet Cry was similar in it's "meh" status. I wanted Nana to come back strong and make this awesome album, I've seen pictures of her rocking a sticker covered Jazzmaster and she posted a picture of Washing Machine on IG. I was like...no way, she's not gonna...and sure she enough she did not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgUYNv_Crwk Slowdive,
s/tWell, it sure sounds like Slowdive. With the intense sadness of their showgaze sound, this album packs the melancholy feels with it's intense textures. "No Longer Making Time" would best highlight the sound, there are soft bits and then an explosive build up. I don't always like the vocals, but their is a very crushing feel to this album that's so easy to get lost in. It's not great all around but it has some highlights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxwAPBxc0lU I found this guy on Bandcamp named Barry Goldman. He released a new album called Magnus Bridge today. It was pretty cringy and overall I found it to be lame. Maybe a song or two had some effort, but it was an otherwise poor job with some of the worst bass playing I've ever heard. The mix was complete garbage, the drums where beyond awful and he sang like a complete doofus who picked up a mic for the first time and sang lyrics written on a Subway napkin, implying that much care even went into them. It felt like he was trying to make things sound ironic and goofy when he clearly takes his stupid music very seriously. His one album, Flat as Mantioba, was a lot better but even that had the same issues. But he did make all these Love Live and K-ON references which was cool.
Japanese Breakfast is releasing her first full album in July! Many great songs on Psychopomp and the theme of this one is going to be sci-fi and all. "Soft Sounds From Another Planet", it will be released on my birthday! The first single "Machinist" is decent, has a nice tone and SUNRISE SAX SOLO MY FAVORITE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wujw-FH2Itw Beach Fossils released another single from the upcoming album. "Down The Line". Once more it's a decent tune, they've polished their sound and in general it's sounding a lot better. This is looking to be a strong album. The comment on this video "This music video looks exactly like what Beach Fossils sounds like?" is too true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdfjCivNxGY