The Klassic Note Review 2018.05 Issue 1 (Revised)

Well I thought I should clear this up since I'm going to work starting next week.

*cheers with joy* Okay that's about enough don't get my anxiety up so soon we can continue discussions tomorrow lol

Okay, this one was compensation for when at a time I had no mood to go this review (you guys have no idea how happy I was to be given a job position), so now I'm here to kick things back up again, or so I hope. Now I got to think of how to review Sambomaster's new single. Maybe weekends too? It's going to be the case from now on to say the least.

音楽 The Klassic Note Review

ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION - Shinseiki no Love Song [Single]

(The art in this is amazing as always, and because of the artwork this has been their symbol for the artist for years in the music industry even till today)

Origin: Although the release was in 2009, back then I didn't consider giving the release as a whole with the two songs mainly because of the B-side as I found it less than interesting. In today's Klassic Note, that opinion has been swallowed and thus this came back into view. The nostalgia plus the freshness in giving the other song which I have totally neglected over the past 9 years? This single has come a long way. The best albums were released in March, but it took me about two months to even give the hundred songs worth over three compilations some more time in review before confirming the songs I want to add them to the list, so this is no coincidence, I swear. Let's go back to a time. A time, where ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION ("Ajikan" from here on) was the face of J-Rock. A time, where Ajikan wrote and sang unique melodies and styles that will throw you away every time you come back to them. A time, where today you can still be impressed by their music.

(1) Shinseiki no Love Song [New Century Love Song]
I'll start from 2009. Klassic Note was still at its beginnings. I was still searching for an alternative voice in J-Pop and J-Rock. In the latter, Ajikan appealed to me quite well at that time. Following a wonderful 2008 they have given me they went on to create more songs which would pique my attention. In late 2009 came their latest single after the yearly NANO-MUGEN COMPILATION... a song with a very irregular mood though a standard beat. This song totally blew my mind on what to expect of alternative music, and thus was under the microscope. As you can hear, this song is not your usual verses and chorus portions as in this case, the verses are dragged well halfway into the song which is very typical of the music composition style (specifically Masafumi "Gotch" Gotoh) and the chorus are short. This eventually a memory of something to expect when you hear a new song which defies the usual pop rock music structure. The mood of the song specifically in instruments supposedly feels like bringing you to another world, as I truly recall the days where this was my mood and jam for months. I eventually lost interest in it though as I continued to find songs which are easy-listening, but I must say this has its unique features which will distinguish itself even amongst their own tunes.
Rating (in 2009): 4 stars (Average)

(2) Shiro ni Somero [Dyed In White]
As expected, this single was here because I didn't give the B-side. I must say my reason back then mainly was due to the mood of the song being totally different, so this sort of pales in comparison ("pales", "white" was in the title, get it?) to the topic song which I immediately gave. It was not until in March 2018 where I reviewed their latest best bootleg albums and this brought me back to the times where they were writing simple, catchy tunes which are typically emotional or just plain enjoyable. This was one of those enjoyable ones though, given the lighter mood of the tunes compared to the other in this release. All in all, the lyrics seem to hint on being interested in the female, and ways to not make her sad and advance himself, it seems, and I must say definitely not the easiest way to date a girl, so yeah, take the lyrics with a pinch of salt. Overall, it was the simple melody and nostalgic style (compared to for example, 2015 them) which made me give this song.
Rating: 4 stars (Average)

Conclusion: All in all, I like this single. It was definitely a pinnacle in showing the world how J-Rock is in 2009, but sadly it took so long to appear on my shelf and I apologise for that. For setting a mood overall it isn't, but for defining what they are as being an alternative and as a generic Rock band that we can all like, this one is in the long line of releases which will show you the real them close to a decade ago, and for that, I think it deserves to be recommended.

-Kaineng, on the Klassic Note


(Phew! It's been some time since I wrote this. Been writing reports for my final semester I don't even know how to write it my way already. Or perhaps it still was.)


THE PACKAGE

This one I won't talk about too much since I don't remember very well, but suffice it to say due to its age I had to take this off from a storefront which was sourced online through buying service Buyee so technically I paid more than what I had to pay for TrySail's single back in March. *sob* Hey, I gotta commit to the cause, so here we are. Also, the CD case came with a big crack along the front cover which is half the reason I didn't take a photo of the front. I'll find a solution to fix this though (obviously buy one and transfer all the contents there, in case you don't know this can be done manually), and if I do I'll post an update here. We shall see.




To close this one up, I'm still working on #KN10YEARS still, and am thinking of now to compensate for the reviews I should have done like this particular release where you come back and complete it because of a later release (there are two identified as of now) so that'll have to take a while. Until then, look forward to the next more up-to-date review possibly trying to get the best single award in Klassic Note this year because I'm being too strict. Well, that or single releases aren't aplenty haha ok cya guys tomorrow