Record Review: Fight Back - Da-iCE
Released around 15th of October, 2014, regarding Da-iCE's Fight Back first studio album...well, I'm a little bit too late coming out with this review. I needed to get this out of the way anyway...
Now that I think of it, I never did any review of their singles as well as Vimclip's...oh and the mini-albums for both groups. This is how much of a fail fan I am of both. That aside, I'd been busy with MA thesis anyway, and still am so I guess this is...forgiveable?
Let me group the tracks in this album this way:
We've heard them all before as leads in the singles released, and they are tracks:
02 SHOUT IT OUT
05 Toki
06 Hush Hush
We've heard them all before as b-sides to singles released, and they are tracks:
10 Startin' Up (for Hush Hush)
They've performed these tracks on stage before (prior to the album release) but some I wasn't able to see because I don't reside in Japan (LOL!) and they are tracks:
01 FIGHT BACK
03 BOMB (even during their mid-indie days as a Japanese boygroup)
04 Did You Know (both Bomb and this were even choices for a single release at one time...they have that habit of doing that...)
Then those that are pretty new (to me, anyway) and they are tracks:
04 Noise
08 Stay
09 I Still Love You
11 LOST LOVE
Then there's also this way of grouping them...
Heavy EDM-laced tracks, their music sound like computer game types...:
03 BOMB
04 Noise
Light EDM types:
01 FIGHT BACK
08 Stay
10 Startin' Up
Semi-ballads:
07 Did You Know
11 LOST LOVE
Ballad (but it reminds me a bit of Mou Ichidou Dake/To the Last Man...):
09 I Still Love You
Super-mainstream, radio friendly pop tunes for dancing etc:
02 SHOUT IT OUT
05 Toki
06 Hush Hush
I supose you now sort of get what to expect with the album. It's 9/10ths amazing and 1/10ths boring. Make that: 0.09% boring and 99.91% good if I were to give it a rating. Since I love generic EDM, I suppose this is the response/reaction expected. (gtfo, those who hate and bash EDM...your arguments are not needed here and therefore...irrelevant.)
If there's an appropriate adjective to describe this album, it's this: MUSICALLY COHESIVE. It's the same element Miura Daichi's D.M. had a couple of years back that propelled it to my top favorite jpop albums to listen to. But generally, I would call every body of work, single or mini-album or album that Da-iCE releases as musically cohesive anyway because, if you even bothered to listen to their discography, they have 1 key sound that they remain consistent in and that's always the thing that makes great bands and artists for me. That one unnamed thing, like it's there and you can touch it but you don't have a name for it, they have that makes them, THEM. And this is why I stan Da-iCE so hard. (I still love Vimclip but you know, I started with the Da-iCE fandom but both are top notch in my book... [also, I have an eternal crush on Eiki so we all know how that goes...]) Musical cohesiveness is basically this: music flows smoothly from 1 track to another you forget you're listening to an album that has 10-11 virtually different tracks and you're supposed to pick a favorite but they're all so good anyway so you just go, WHAT THE HELL, I LOVE THEM ALL (caps for emphasis though unnecessary), for me. And this is basically the whole FIGHT BACK album. It's the same thing that endears me currently to EDM sets by really good DJs today, along with the albums they release.
My favorite tracks from the album so far:
07 Did You Know and 11 LOST LOVE because they're really relaxing and groovy for some reason. Easy listening are most of the time my favorite types and track 11, LOST LOVE wins this round. I'm not blacklisting their more lively tracks here either because I love all of the album's contents, to be honest. That includes the cover/jacket. And because I don't have a physical copy of it on hand but I swear to get one soon, I will only be sharing the ones scanned by others...
(source: here)
Considering most of their single releases are of the dance, EDM + R&B fusion/really beautiful meld of music variety minus the recently released single, Mou Ichido Dake which contained semi-ballads and a ballad, I expected them to release an album that comprises of mostly upbeat dance tracks. Carefully crafted upbeat and some mid-tempo music. Let me just put it out here that: I DID NOT GET DISAPPOINTED. AT. ALL. I'm really proud of Da-iCE for this first studio album and I hope that in the coming few years, they remain this way. Let AVEX not mess them up at all because for one, we don't really need them here like how they threw everything in their arsenal to make AAA a very confusing group in terms of the type of music they were made to release. I wasn't happy and will never be happy witht that one.
I'm overjoyed that they kept their signature sound and upheld that one consistently from one track to another in FIGHT BACK. So few artists do this. JE groups were never this consistent musically-speaking - this includes Arashi and big or not, I haven't cared for JE groups since Kisumai happened and even that point of my flailing life was, well, shortlived. Either way, I expected nothing less of Da-iCE and now I consider this album second to one of my to all-time favorites, Miura Daichi's D.M. Every track is worth listening to, drowning in, unless you want to skip on the tracks that have become lead singles from last year. Da-iCE staying faithful and consistent to their music style is the best thing to happen in this contemporary time's jpop world yet. Their mini-album released during their time as indie artists is also worth checking out. THEY ARE THAT FUCKING CONSISTENT. I'm just so happy And with this, they have made me an even bigger fan that I am now plotting to get their stuff from Japan when I get there somehow around end of this year or early next year. Heck, I'd even go to their Swish concerts with other musicians. I'd especially time my Japan trips for those among other things.
These past few days, I've had the album on constant repeat because it's that good. Much like a very compelling book (say, Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings series...), it's something I can't put down yet and forget about for the rest of, say, a couple of weeks. I've been listening to it while walking around the city and even while going to school and back. I can be really obsessive and get easily fixated to good music hence the current fixation on all tracks on FIGHT BACK.
I would be very happy should I obtain a copy of this physically but until then, I'll keep myself busy with my MA thesis. Especially, well, tonight. I think it'll be awhile before I can do my pre-orals because of the lot of things to do yet until then. /lesigh. Stress, stress, stress and more stress. At least there's beautiful music to stan/fail to.
kg*
Now that I think of it, I never did any review of their singles as well as Vimclip's...oh and the mini-albums for both groups. This is how much of a fail fan I am of both. That aside, I'd been busy with MA thesis anyway, and still am so I guess this is...forgiveable?
Let me group the tracks in this album this way:
We've heard them all before as leads in the singles released, and they are tracks:
02 SHOUT IT OUT
05 Toki
06 Hush Hush
We've heard them all before as b-sides to singles released, and they are tracks:
10 Startin' Up (for Hush Hush)
They've performed these tracks on stage before (prior to the album release) but some I wasn't able to see because I don't reside in Japan (LOL!) and they are tracks:
01 FIGHT BACK
03 BOMB (even during their mid-indie days as a Japanese boygroup)
04 Did You Know (both Bomb and this were even choices for a single release at one time...they have that habit of doing that...)
Then those that are pretty new (to me, anyway) and they are tracks:
04 Noise
08 Stay
09 I Still Love You
11 LOST LOVE
Then there's also this way of grouping them...
Heavy EDM-laced tracks, their music sound like computer game types...:
03 BOMB
04 Noise
Light EDM types:
01 FIGHT BACK
08 Stay
10 Startin' Up
Semi-ballads:
07 Did You Know
11 LOST LOVE
Ballad (but it reminds me a bit of Mou Ichidou Dake/To the Last Man...):
09 I Still Love You
Super-mainstream, radio friendly pop tunes for dancing etc:
02 SHOUT IT OUT
05 Toki
06 Hush Hush
I supose you now sort of get what to expect with the album. It's 9/10ths amazing and 1/10ths boring. Make that: 0.09% boring and 99.91% good if I were to give it a rating. Since I love generic EDM, I suppose this is the response/reaction expected. (gtfo, those who hate and bash EDM...your arguments are not needed here and therefore...irrelevant.)
If there's an appropriate adjective to describe this album, it's this: MUSICALLY COHESIVE. It's the same element Miura Daichi's D.M. had a couple of years back that propelled it to my top favorite jpop albums to listen to. But generally, I would call every body of work, single or mini-album or album that Da-iCE releases as musically cohesive anyway because, if you even bothered to listen to their discography, they have 1 key sound that they remain consistent in and that's always the thing that makes great bands and artists for me. That one unnamed thing, like it's there and you can touch it but you don't have a name for it, they have that makes them, THEM. And this is why I stan Da-iCE so hard. (I still love Vimclip but you know, I started with the Da-iCE fandom but both are top notch in my book... [also, I have an eternal crush on Eiki so we all know how that goes...]) Musical cohesiveness is basically this: music flows smoothly from 1 track to another you forget you're listening to an album that has 10-11 virtually different tracks and you're supposed to pick a favorite but they're all so good anyway so you just go, WHAT THE HELL, I LOVE THEM ALL (caps for emphasis though unnecessary), for me. And this is basically the whole FIGHT BACK album. It's the same thing that endears me currently to EDM sets by really good DJs today, along with the albums they release.
My favorite tracks from the album so far:
07 Did You Know and 11 LOST LOVE because they're really relaxing and groovy for some reason. Easy listening are most of the time my favorite types and track 11, LOST LOVE wins this round. I'm not blacklisting their more lively tracks here either because I love all of the album's contents, to be honest. That includes the cover/jacket. And because I don't have a physical copy of it on hand but I swear to get one soon, I will only be sharing the ones scanned by others...
(source: here)
Considering most of their single releases are of the dance, EDM + R&B fusion/really beautiful meld of music variety minus the recently released single, Mou Ichido Dake which contained semi-ballads and a ballad, I expected them to release an album that comprises of mostly upbeat dance tracks. Carefully crafted upbeat and some mid-tempo music. Let me just put it out here that: I DID NOT GET DISAPPOINTED. AT. ALL. I'm really proud of Da-iCE for this first studio album and I hope that in the coming few years, they remain this way. Let AVEX not mess them up at all because for one, we don't really need them here like how they threw everything in their arsenal to make AAA a very confusing group in terms of the type of music they were made to release. I wasn't happy and will never be happy witht that one.
I'm overjoyed that they kept their signature sound and upheld that one consistently from one track to another in FIGHT BACK. So few artists do this. JE groups were never this consistent musically-speaking - this includes Arashi and big or not, I haven't cared for JE groups since Kisumai happened and even that point of my flailing life was, well, shortlived. Either way, I expected nothing less of Da-iCE and now I consider this album second to one of my to all-time favorites, Miura Daichi's D.M. Every track is worth listening to, drowning in, unless you want to skip on the tracks that have become lead singles from last year. Da-iCE staying faithful and consistent to their music style is the best thing to happen in this contemporary time's jpop world yet. Their mini-album released during their time as indie artists is also worth checking out. THEY ARE THAT FUCKING CONSISTENT. I'm just so happy And with this, they have made me an even bigger fan that I am now plotting to get their stuff from Japan when I get there somehow around end of this year or early next year. Heck, I'd even go to their Swish concerts with other musicians. I'd especially time my Japan trips for those among other things.
These past few days, I've had the album on constant repeat because it's that good. Much like a very compelling book (say, Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings series...), it's something I can't put down yet and forget about for the rest of, say, a couple of weeks. I've been listening to it while walking around the city and even while going to school and back. I can be really obsessive and get easily fixated to good music hence the current fixation on all tracks on FIGHT BACK.
I would be very happy should I obtain a copy of this physically but until then, I'll keep myself busy with my MA thesis. Especially, well, tonight. I think it'll be awhile before I can do my pre-orals because of the lot of things to do yet until then. /lesigh. Stress, stress, stress and more stress. At least there's beautiful music to stan/fail to.
kg*