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Top 5 Favourite Albums Released in 2011
5. relight - androp
A mostly laidback, relaxing album but with some punch in it. The music variates enough to keep the interest. The best song off this was definitely ShowWindow. It's terribly addictive even from the first play. I also recommend Yurariri and Relight, which are easy to listen to and just really nice.
Also worth a mention are the music videos for the two promo songs in this - Bell has an interactive game music video, and Bright Siren has a creative music video which uses 250 DSLRs from Canon. They're on YouTube.
4. World of Fantasy - capsule
Far surpassing previous effort PLAYER, World of Fantasy has an overall sound so consistent that I can't help but be amazed at the effort that went into it. The entire album flows really darn well and sounds like a one-hour mix people play in clubs. My favourite tracks are WORLD OF FANTASY, WHAT iS LOVE, PRIME TIME, and STRIKER (extended-mix).
This is perhaps Nakata Yasutaka's best work of 2011. Everything he did with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu felt like it lacked effort even though they were catchy. Meanwhile, Perfume's album JPN majorly failed to impress me at all, save for one track. /sighs/
3. Kerguelen Vortex (ケルゲレンボルテックス) - Aural Vampire
I'm not into the darkwave genre at all, but Aural Vampire never fails to get me with their addictive, cool tracks. This generally went largely ignored since it was underpromoted as usual and I almost missed it had it not been for a review website I regularly read. Anyway, it surprised me how good this was as I liked all the tracks on it and that's pretty rare.
2. Shinkokyuu (新呼吸) - Base Ball Bear
I didn't take much note of Base Ball Bear even though I've heard of them for a long time, but my interest was sparked through being a fan of Sakanaction (Ichiro has worked with him a couple times, and they are buddies despite a 4-year age gap). Anyway, long story short, I began listening to them not long ago but I've been impressed with every album I listened to, including this one.
Those previously released in singles are among my favourites, but my strongest favourite has to be album track kodoku no synthesizer. Just a really really great album overall.
1. DocumentaLy - Sakanaction (サカナクション)
Let's be honest here - what else did you expect? Even if overused, the best word to describe this album to me is 'flawless'. I'm 100% serious that this is their best album to date and an absolutely spectacular work.
Okay, I may be completely biased as I'm such a huge fan of them, but hey, I have iTunes Japan (Rewind 2011 - Best Album) and
The Japan Times review backing me up about the quality of this album. It even says that Rookie is "potentially the best Japanese song of 2011".
Yes, my favourite track is still Rookie, but if we're talking album tracks, Monochrome Tokyo, Endless, and Document are amazing.
Top 10 Favourite Singles Released in 2011
10. Zassou no Uta (雑草のうた) - Buono!
Not so much that title track was amazing or anything, but all 3 songs included were good. In particular, JUICY HE@RT stood out and should have been the A-side. It is still a solid single otherwise for the rock idol trio, whose music seemed to go downhill after this.
9. Flying Get (フライングゲット) - AKB48
In my opinion, 2011 was a weak year for AKB48 musically as most were kind of mediocre. It succeeded in reducing my interest in AKB48 like never before. To be honest, it's not really going great being a fan of an idol group because the typical cheery idol songs put me off. However, the one single that I was happy with was Flying Get. The title track itself gets increasingly addictive over time and it helped that I liked the drama the song was tied to.
8. Silent Scream - girl next door
I waited for this single to drop because of the title track. The official previews on YouTube piqued my interest because the arrangement of the song was beautiful. But in the end, I fell in love with the b-side fallin' angel. It's a powerful track with synths and beats that work really well. They've not been selling very well this year for some reason. I wonder if it's because every song they used to make sounded the same and now they've finally moved on from that, people don't like it.
7. Spice (スパイス) - Perfume
I was very disappointed with Spice at first and wondering why the hell they didn't just make GLITTER the A-side because it's so obviously superior. It still bothers me now but not as much since I've gotten used to Spice and it doesn't sound half-bad now. It used to make my head hurt. But in any case, GLITTER is what makes this #7 on my list.
6. Kodona no Kaidan (こどなの階段) - Nanba Shiho (南波志帆)
I shall begin by declaring that Kodona no Kaidan is darn cute and addictive. The song is actually a collaborative effort from Koide Yusuke of Base Ball Bear, and Yamaguchi Ichiro of Sakanaction, which is part of why I love the song.
But really, I think these three have something special going on, if only they'd work together more often. Shiho's vocals are unique and lend an indescribable X factor to an already good composition. I can't imagine anyone else singing this song as it would positively mar it. The song was made for her.
The b-sides are remastered from her indies days if I remember right, and they are kind of generic-cute. Not awesome but it completes the single in a nice way.
5. Liar - TOKYO GIRLS' STYLE (東京女子流)
I am so happy TGS continued with the sound from Limited addiction. They've had a pretty good streak of songs from debut till now, but Liar brings up the level. I've nothing to say about the b-side because it doesn't appeal to me.
I wish they would sell more. They're super under-appreciated but I guess they're kind of struggling to get out of the traditional idol mould. They want to be seen as real artists, but because they're so young, their main fanbase are still idol wotas. Yet, there exists many wotas who don't like them because they're not making typical idol songs. :/
4. yoakemae - Base Ball Bear
yoakemae yoakemae yoakemae yoakemae... ♪ Ugh. It's addictive and has great guitar playing going on. Helped along by the repetitive lyrics, it's currently my favourite BBB song. I liked the music video for the song too since it was kind of like about procrastination but so artistically directed.
3. Sonic Fireworks - avengers in sci-fi
Still a favourite song of mine because of the outer-spacey feeling it gives while being so darn addictive. It's the band's signature sound to make music with a sort of other-universe feeling, but this seems to be their most "mainstream" song to date, with the typical lyric structure. It's amazing anyway and I hope they continue along this direction. Oh and before I forget, the b-side Odd Moon Shining is also well done, putting this near the top of my list.
2. Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story - Amuro Namie (安室奈美恵)
Ironically, even though this is a double A-side single, neither of the A-sides are the reason for this single being this high. It's the b-side, Higher, which steals all the attention. Of course I'm not saying that the other 3 songs on the single were terrible. They're very good, but by Namie's standards, not fantastic. Higher is what pulls this single all the way here. Powerful, light and fun all at the same time, it's a masterpiece.
1. Rookie (ルーキー) - Sakanaction (サカナクション)
There's just no other position for this single! I don't know how a song could ever be so perfect in so many ways, but Sakanaction did it and passed with flying colours. I've talked about Rookie so many times, there's really nothing else to say. So moving on to the b-sides, since the A-side doesn't make the single alone.
Slow Motion has grown on me very well and is my favourite b-side of the DocumentaLy era. I don't know why the band seems to skip over it a lot, whether in selecting songs for the album or performing live. I only know they performed it once (in a festival that will never be shown) which is sad. I'm gonna guess that Ichiro prefers not to sing the chorus live as it's pretty high pitched for a guy.
montage is an instrumental track that somehow sounds very oriental (more Chinese than anything) to me. It took quite a long time to warm up to it but I think it's good now. It combines a lot of instrument sounds well, though it won't beat the other amazing instrumental tracks that Sakanaction have made.
Favourite Song 2011
Rookie
Favourite PV 2011
Sonic Fireworks
And that concludes this long post! \o/
