Suzuki Ami – Reincarnation

Reincarnation is Suzuki Ami’s 31st single and it was released on February 25th, 2009. It reached #42 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and has sold 3,193 copies.

♠Tracklist♠

1. Reincarnation
2. Dub-I-Dub
3. Reincarnation (Extended Version)
4. Reincarnation (Instrumental)

Months after the release of her well received Supreme Show album, Amigo teams up with Taku Takahashi for her next single. Now I gotta say that I’m a bit iffy when it comes to Reincarnation. It’s still electropop in a way but is a lot more sounding of the club/dance genre. There’s one thing I absolutely love about the song though and that is the opening and ending sequences, along with the repeated synth throughout the entire song. It’s just that infectious. On the vocal side, Ami is under(as I like to say) mild vocoder. She sounds fine throughout the entire song, minus the chorus where she, unfortunately, has to yell out the lyrics. Annoying yes, but not enough to completely throw away the song.

The b-side of the single is a cover of Me & My’s Dub-I-Dub. I initially enjoyed this song over the a-side and it’s easily understandable as the song is a lot easier to get into. It really gives off that DDR feeling since the songs been given that Nakata-ish touch(even though Nakata had no part in the making of the single). Ami’s vocals are under a heavier vocoder and of course, she sings in Engrish. The way she pronounces doesn’t bother me at all, in fact, it makes the song that much enjoyable to sing along to. A worthy b-side.

Now I gotta admit, even though the Extended Version of Reincarnation may be kind of a rip off due to it leaving the actual song intact and simply adding a longer intro+ending, I absolutely love it. What it did was just extend the parts that I loved most about the song. Some may find it a useless edit of the original, depends on how much you love/hate the synth.

Overall, I enjoyed Ami’s single. I would prefer for her to stick with Nakata however as I’m not big fan of her voice unless it’s under heavy vocoder. It’s a journey into a different style of music for her while still maintaining her electronic sound.

♠Single Rating♠

♠Favorite Track♠

Reincarnation (Extended Version)

Suzuki Ami – Supreme Show

Supreme Show was Suzuki Ami’s 7th album. It was released November 12th, 2008. It sold 8,748 copies in it’s first week and reached #16 on the charts. This album commemorates her 10th anniversary as an artist and was produced by Yasutaka Nakata of capsule.

Tracklist

1. TEN
2. can’t stop the DISCO
3. climb up to the top
4. SUPER MUSIC MAKER (SA’08S/A mix)
5. Mysterious
6. change my life
7. LOVE MAIL
8. A token of love
9. TRUE
10. flower
11. ONE

There’s no better way to start off the album than with TEN(although the name states otherwise). The immediate repeating synth(which is good as heck) reminded me a bit of FREE FREE. It wasn’t until the gorgeous piano kicked in that I was really mesmerized. The lyrics are completely in English and REALLY vocoded, not as much as FREE FREE though. Either way, they sound great and tell a story about Suzuki’s career. Between every word, theirs some great synth to keep you interested until the chorus kicks in. Gawd is it great! After the second chorus the music kinda fades out and you think the song is gonna end, but it actually kicks back in at full force and gives you 1 second short of 5 minutes of total electropop goodness.

Now we arrive at the first already released track, can’t stop the DISCO. Nakata actually put the entire single in the album, and one after the next as they already flowed into each other(but maybe he was just too lazy to change things up). The song hasn’t really changed for me since the single. It does fit into the theme of the album(the house genre), though I thought that the other material on the single should have been left out.

I’ve really come to appreciate climb up to the top a lot more than when it was on the single. I still can’t stand Ami’s screaming but it’s actually the instrumental that makes this song stand out. It would also be the most aggressive track on the album…

Now for my least favorite track on the album(also my least favorite Yasutaka produced Ami song). I didn’t really hate SUPER MUSIC MAKER (SA’08S/A mix) when it was on the single but for some reason I can’t stand listening to it now. Maybe I find the arrangement boring, or maybe it’s cause it’s an old song(though the synth isn’t too bad) but I just don’t like it. The original really would of fit in better with the theme of the album.

The second new song is the ever chill/creepy Mysterious. It took me a while to like this song, don’t know why though cause it’s really freakin’ good.  It has some strong beats and almost spooky/dark sounding synth. When Ami starts singing, the song gets really “mysterious(-_-)”. Ami’s vocals fit perfectly with the song. A really recommended track.

change my life manages to brighten things up a bit with it’s high beats and Ami’s club-y vocals during the verse with minimal beats. They kick up a notch during the chorus, making an interesting house style with a bit of cuteness in it. I didn’t like this song too much(and the one that follows) too much at first, but it’s really growing on me. It’s also the shortest song on the album at 3:29.

LOVE MAIL isn’t really one of my favorite tracks of the album. It’s not bad at all however. It’s similar to change my life but instead is more aggressive and sounds like a standard song, not particularly leaning to the house genre. I don’t like how Ami kinda almost screams the lyrics during the chorus(or maybe it’s Nakata screwing her voice up). Still a nice addition to the album.

Leading up right after LOVE MAIL finishes is A token of love, the underrated b-side from the ONE single. I had stated how much I preferred this song(the FM88 mix) over ONE, however that’s changed now. A token of love feels kinda like a filler in the album. Still a freakin’ good song but I could have done without it.

Immediately after the last track starts TRUE. I swear, the very first few seconds of this song made me absolutely gasm of from good it is. The instrumental is amazing!!! The verses are so nice and calm and fit perfectly with the orchestra playing in the background(yes, orchestra). I have to admit though, I did prefer the verse to the chorus, the only problem being that there’s only one verse in the song, with the chorus repeating more. Apart from that, your gonna fall in love with the instrumental.

Another more soft and slow paced track is flower, the last new track and pretty much an electropop ballad. This song is incredible. The strings that open up are perfect and just like TRUE, it’s the instrumental that will make you fall in love with it. Nakata sets the perfect atmosphere with the variety of sounds and Ami puts it all together with her soothing vocals. Recommended listening.

Here we go… Possibly the best song of this entire era, ONE. Ever since the single, this song has been infecting me with it’s catchyness day after day, it’s risen up in play count to #2, just before FREE FREE. This truly is an amazing track and makes for a suitable ending to this album(even though it’s name doesn’t agree).

Wow. I don’t think I had been awaiting an album from an artist as much as I had for this one. At first, I was kinda disappointed with the album, but now that I’ve come to listen to the songs enough and get the feeling of the album, I’ve come to known that it is truly amazing. I could have done without the cstD b-side+remix, but there nothing the “Forward” button can’t deal with. Your best choice if looking for anything electropop.

♠Album Rating♠

Suzuki Ami – can’t stop the DISCO

can’t stop the DISCO was Suzuki Ami’s 15th single. It was released September 24, 2008. It sold 4,655 copies in it’s first week and reached #17 on the charts. The title track was used in “Mister Donuts” commercials.

Tracklist

1. can’t stop the DISCO
2. climb up to the top
3. SUPER MUSIC MAKER (SA’08S/A mix)

I was so incredibly excited waiting for this single, and when I finally got my hands on it, I couldn’t wait to get a listen of the new songs. But before I began skipping the a-side, as I had already listened to a bunch of times from the PV, I was drawn in by the much higher quality and the 2 or so more minutes that were added. Like Ami’s last few Yasutaka releases, can’t stop the DISCO is an amazing electopop song with a more “house” feeling than her last two a-sides. The fist few seconds of the song actually begin with a very FREE FREE type sparkling synth, but that disappears for the awesome sounding synth of the song that sets a different mood from the other songs. It’s still techno, but not as strong as the others and more chill. There wasn’t anything I didn’t like about this song. I liked the verses more than the chorus the first few listens but they ended up evening out, though the bridge is especially strong. An incredibly infectious techno song.

Now, after the ownage that was A token of love, I had VERY high expectations for climb up to the top. Unfortunately, my wish for a b-side better than the a-side wasn’t granted. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s still a very good track. The song starts IMMEDIATELY from can’t stop the DISCO and has a more club sounding synth, which is also a lot stronger. There’s only really like 3 lines Ami repeats throughout the entire 6:33 of the song. It should also be noted that she’s yelling when she says them. The thing I liked most about the song would be the “Ah”’s heard in the instrumental, which are what make the song different from anything else. However, as much as I tried to like this song, it was a tad bit too repetitive for me. The song doesn’t change until 4:50 in where it obtains this much cuter synth sound with some of the original instrumental. Unfortunately, there’s no new lyrics and the song eventually returns to it’s normal self.

I really would have preferred a FREE FREE remix(I’m guessing they didn’t do it cause the song didn’t need any kind of mixing to make it better than it already is) instead of the other a-side, but it’s better than nothing, I guess. SUPER MUSIC MAKER (SA’08S/A mix), compared to the original, is not as techno/club-y but instead gives the song a more brighter summer-ish type feeling, while changing only a few things to the arrangement. You can hear acoustic guitar in there too, which is always a plus in electropop songs. I did enjoy this mix of SMM, but I’m not sure which one I like better. I’m really not a huge fan of the song(I’d say this to anything when it’s next to FREE FREE) but it’s not bad either.

Overall, can’t stop the DISCO was another great release from Ami. I’m really liking all of Yasutaka releases so far and I can’t wait for the album. The a-side was on par with the last two releases in that it was extremely catchy and infectious, however, the bonus material on this single wasn’t quite as strong as the others. The mix of SMM was nice, but kinda unnecessary overall. climb up to the top may appeal to some people, but it’s more of an instrumental track which I quite didin’t enjoy.

♦Single Rating♦

Suzuki Ami – ONE

ONE was Suzuki Ami’s 14th avex trax single and her 29th overall. It was released July 2, 2008, sold 5,103 copies in it’s first week, 6,683 overall and reached #17 on the charts. This single was produced by Nakata Yasutaka, who also produced FREE FREE / SUPER MUSIC MAKER and marks her 10th anniversary as an artist.

Tracklist

1. ONE

2. A token of love

3. ONE (Instrumental)

4. A token of love (FM88 mix)

ONE starts off with the same genre and style of music found on her FREE FREE / SUPER MUSIC MAKER, computerized vocals and strong techno elements which are what stands out in Nakata Yasutaka produced songs. The song starts off with Ami repeating the words “Numbah One”, which are heard often throughout the song. This leads into the first verse which features some very catchy beats, nice vocals by Ami and a ton of synth to put it all together. As the chorus arrives, the music begins to get stronger and we get an extremely catchy vocal performance by Ami, followed by more repeated singing of “Numbah One”. The song ends with 40 seconds of synth and beats, which seem to flow right into the next track.

A token of love begins with some beats that begin to layer into synth which lead us to one of the most infectious vocal performances I’ve heard in a while, Ami’s elongated and layered singing of “Ah”. I can’t explain how much I love this part of the song, it’s definitely what makes this song stand out so much. The verses feature a very see-saw type arrangement vocal wise and the bridge to the chorus slows down the beats into a very simple yet catchy chorus. Ami sings it entirely in English, being accompanied by the vocals “A token of love” after every line. The song is just over 6 minutes long, which was no problem to me as it was all extremely pleasant to the ears.

The FM88 mix of A token of love is, in short, an even better track than it’s original. We can hear some new synth, while other has been left out, though the song sounds pretty much the same, except that it’s around 2 minutes shorter. It skips out all the building up synth and beats and straight into Ami’s elongated notes.

All in all, I was VERY satisfied and relieved upon hearing this single. If her album sounds anything like these tracks, which is most likely the case, I may very well have a new favorite album. ONE was very similar to FREE FREE in many ways, except I found the arrangement a lot more typical and organized, unlike FREE FREE, where I’m still not sure which part the chorus is. A token of love is an EXTREMELY high quality track, and in my opinion, the FM88 mix is superior to ONE.

♠Single Rating♠