ZAQ - Extra Revolution

Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shuushoku wo Ketsui Shimashita OP

Tracklist:

1. Extra Revolution

2. Namida Note

3. Candy Rain

4. Extra Revolution (Off Vocal)

1. Extra Revolution

Chaotically disharmonic synths open the song, untangling in a really light, cheerful electronic-pop track. Even for a pop song, the instrumentation is surprisingly simple, with only a thin piano following one or two lines of synths, but perfect for the cute and upbeat melody. ZAQ's voice is, accordingly, much higher in pitch, and successfully avoids nasal channeling, present with many singers who badly attempt to sing like this. Although the arrangement somewhat widens afterwards, it still retains the same character for the remarkably catchy chorus, and the heavier middle eight section, with a trance buildup to another burst of liveliness.
Rating: 9

2. Namida Note

A single ambiental synth and drop sounds start off, with a piano joining in coupled with ZAQ's distant voice, and soon turbulently circulating into a mid-tempo track. Compared to Extra Revolution, the vocals are much deeper and more dense and expressive, also doubling as a support at the final chorus in a jazzy manner, which makes them even more enjoyable than usual. Only one listen will give the impression of your usual pop arrangement, although, when cleared up, the instrumentation is much more exotic, with quiet synths in the background following an acoustic guitar, all while the violin joins in the middle eight section to the slow, marching tempo. Namida Note is, with its laid-back tone quite relaxing, and is another great track.
Rating: 9

3. Candy Rain

Finishing up the single, an acoustic guitar once again starts, but this time in almost a dubstep manner, and as if it were a background to a rap song, until it unravels into another ambiental, deep and relaxing arrangement, but with ZAQ singing an unusual mix of silent and very cute. The combination of the two sounds quite J-pop and like something Perfume might release, but, unfortunately, it's not as inventive in its cuteness, although interesting rhytmic figures and chromatic progressions are stretched out through the whole track. With the melody lines being somewhat generic as well, I'm not a big fan of the third track overall.
Rating: 6

This time around, we get another great release from the singer who actually writes and composes her own tracks; a very rare thing in pop music, and succeeds in it. With several singles already out beforehand, I'm hoping for an album soon as well.
My overall rating is: 8
Will I return for an another listen: Yes.

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Sumire Uesaka - Nanatsu no Umi Yori Kimi no Umi

Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san OP

Tracklist:

1. Nanatsu no Umi Yori Kimi no Umi

2. Waga Ki no Moto e Tsudoi Tamae

3. Nanatsu no Umi Yori Kimi no Umi (off vocal ver.)

1. Nanatsu no Umi Yori Kimi no Umi

This year has been nothing short on weirdness, and I find myself again confused and deeply disturbed by the chaos we get to hear here. Funny rubber-like, cartoonish drums open the song, and they just keep building up, as if this were a trance song, until it unravels into Sumire's chubby vocals. Even with the overall cute-ish atmosphere, this track suffers from genre identity crisis, as we get to hear happy pop, usual anison, and all the way to hard metal with full-blown screams (of course, not by Sumire herself). Following the genre changes, the arrangement can vary greatly as well, and the better question is what isn't thrown in - we have harps, metal guitars, toy drums, strings, etc. I'm a big fan of strange and unique songs, except this one pushes it a bit too far with the confusion, but is at the same time missing the surreal elements which make me fall in love in a song.
Rating: 6

2. Waga Ki no Moto e Tsudoi Tamae

After all the randomness, Sumire again threw me completely out of tact, because here she sounds almost... serious. The song is actually somewhat comprehensible, and instead of being completely ridiculous, it is actually quite normal by the standards of anime music. Her voice is deeper, and since it is probably not her natural tone, she sounds weak and sometimes gets lost in all the instrumentation with a piano, guitars and violins. Although the track is not really original and is easily forgettable, it would make a better A-side than Nanatsu no Umi was. I wonder why she didn't stick to this from the start.
Rating: 7

Considering that this the debut single for her, I was unpleasantly surprised. Along with the songs, it seems that Sumire and her label is confused as to whether to make a new Kyaru Pamyu Pamyu in the anison world, or to just stick to the familiar formula. As for my opinion, if she plans to borrow from someone else in her songs, it must be worthwhile to listen, not sound like her composers were hallucinating while torturing a saxophone. My overall rating for this single is: 6 ½

Yukari Tamura - Fantastic Future

Hentai Ouji to Warawanai OP

Tracklist:

1. Fantastic future

2. Kizutsuku Houseki

3. Datte x2 UkiUki

4. Mou Chotto Fall in Love

1. Fantastic future

Without any first introduction, we are immediately thrown into Yukarin's fast, happy reciting. Usually, upbeat, romance-oriented songs like this quickly become boring to me, but this one has a great thing in it; it's extremely catchy. Infectious, almost. Aside from that, the arrangement is a pretty standard mix of synths, march-like drums but also quirky, uplifting violins which definitely add to the track's enjoyability over longer periods of time. Although this is one cute song, with her being the professional she is, it's not overdone and diabetes-causing, like some of them can be.
Oh, and do watch the PV. It's hilarious.

Rating: 9

2. Kizutsuku Houseki

"Is this Yukari?" was my first thought - her voice was just so deep and contrasting to the previous track (and most of her discography, as well), fitting to the overall jazz style. Her vocals in this song show the maturity she really has as a singer, with stunning but still subtle passages and vibratos, and it turns out to be a song that reminds of older anisong classics with an unexpected mix of saxophones from jazz and hard guitars from rock, especially at the middle eight section. Being all laid-back and clubby it's a great experiment she should definitely do more often.

Rating: 10

3. Datte x2 UkiUki

Even by the funny title you would guess this is a joke-ish track, but it is really overdone and is a complete childrens' song that one would expect to hear in Doraemon or something like that. It's more cute than Fantastic future, and it's amusing to hear her voice go from one colour to another (and pronounce the words like a child) but it's definitely something I shouldn't take for a serious listen. Forever 17?
More like forever 7.

Rating: 6

4. Mou Chotto Fall in Love

Maybe named after her tour of the same title (Fall in Love)?  Anyways, this is a bit more rocky and nostalgic track, featuring the saxophones as well, but it's still just one comic filler, being perhaps just a bit more serious Datte UkiUki. There's nothing especially memorable about it, except maybe the turbo-speed ultra cute "Ah Ah Ah Ah" which could be featured in a character song.

Rating: 5

And this is why Yukarin shouldn't really do longer releases other than real full-lenght albums, because the ideas are going to run out very quickly if she sticks to the cute style for all of the tracks. Fortunately, the A-side was great, and so was Kizutsuku Houseki, giving us a different view on her as a musician. My overall rating is: 7 ½

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