Review: 13th Floor with Moonshine
Disclaimer: this was originally written on my other blog for non-fan general audience (= real life friends, co-worker), so I might sounded cold and generic ^^;;
十三階は月光 (13TH FLOOR WITH MOONSHINE)
Buck-Tick (2005) ****/*****
13TH FLOOR WITH MOONSHINE is the 15th full-length album release from a band celebrating their 20th anniversary (will be writing an entry on that). BUCK-TICK is a prominent and influential alternative rock band in Japan for their longevity, ever-evolving diversity and productivity. Surprisingly this new album turns out to be GOTHIC theme. o_O Back in 1990 they did a ground-breaking album 悪の華 (Aku no Hana) that introduced the early 80s UK Goth sound to mainstream Japanese pop scene. It was an interesting but *green* effort ^^;; Since then they've moved on to other style. I was puzzle at why would these 40s-ish ojisans go 'backward' to do such seemingly tiring juvenile genre...
Unlike the bleakness and decadence in 1990's 悪の華 (Aku no Hana), this time the goth sound is 'updated' with the more recent Gothic Lolita J-goth trend ^^;; There are 13 songs, interluded with circus freak show-ish instrumental tracks. The whole album ties in together to tell a story of this clown character. Disappointingly I didn't hear much innovativeness, though certainly something new for themselves. The sound is still definitely Buck-Tick though. The theaterical song and instrumentals are a bit reminiscent of Malice Mizer, though unlike Malice Mizer's cheap and silly sound, B-T pull that it off effortlessly with 20 years of refinement and sophistication. ^^;
Compare to their work from recent years that were heavily loaded and filled up with with electronics and industrial sound, this album is much tighter and minimal (less is more), and much less pre-made synchronized sequences (except for one song). Overall it has very high production quality so I'm satisfied. Here're some brief song by song impression (skip instrumental tracks, my habit of uploading every CD I got onto iTune/iPod and the instrumentals get a bit distracting.)
02. 降臨 (Descend) - started off a bit shakey, standard Visual-kei/J-Goth flare, the creaking guitar reminded me of Bauhaus's "Bela Lugosi' Dead."
03. 道化師A (Clown A) - why called clown 'A' (for Atsushi?)? If weren't their tight, "professional" and refine sound, this one could easily collapsed as one of those cheesy indies Visual kei 101 act. borderline...a fine line..
04. Cabaret - started off promising, but I'm ambivalent toward it, I rarely like distorted vocal and the quiet intro and loud bang structure is a bit...overdone...
05. 異人の夜 (Foreigner's Night) - Very nice song, also a bit standard J-Goth flare though it's a very good song. The 80s sounding synthesized guitar is a bit distracting but the bass is awesome~
07. Goblin - This is my most favorite track. It is a swinging jazz number (which would fit in nicely with their 1993's 20s Jazz + rock fusion release Darker than Darkness album), awesome~ It is also the only song featuring Imai's bonehead chorus (^o^) The saxophone-ish wails...Bauhaus's "In Fear of Fear"?
08. Alive - Sounded like a throw-away song that just doesn't fit in. Pity because the bass part was quite cool. I deleted it from my iTune at my second spin.
09. 月蝕 (Eclipse) - must have sounded GREAT in concert (reminds me of Bauhaus's "Stigmata Martyr" + "Mask"?)
11. Doll - theatrical Malice Mizer-ish song...quite an eye-opening shock to see BT doing a song like this, very interesting...^^;;;
12. Passion - Started off a bit like Holloween (the film) 's theme. Does conjure the image of Passion of the Christ.
13. 13秒 (13 Seconds) An ingenius rip-off of John Cage's 4'33" ^^;;;
14. Romance -Incubo- Sounded much better after the guitars were tuned more bleak and hollow.
15. Seraphim Lovely song~ A lullaby with an irony, a innocent angelic hiding his devil tail..
16. 夢魔 (Incubus) -The Nightmare A trancey dance electronica number. At first impression it sounded cheesy but after couple listens it has became my most favorite tracks. It is very catchy, Achan's voice sounded amazing. Drummer Ani did actually played most of the dancy drum beats. Somehow it get played so much that it quickly ended up in my iPod's Top 10 Most Played list.
17. Diabolo -Lucifer- playful demonic freak circus show~ the most representative track that sums up this theme album.
Amazingly the album debut at No.4 on Oricon Chart on its first week (the Billboard in Japan), for the first time to made on top 10 (let alone top 5) for a long time ^^;; That's bizzare...
十三階は月光 (13TH FLOOR WITH MOONSHINE)
Buck-Tick (2005) ****/*****
13TH FLOOR WITH MOONSHINE is the 15th full-length album release from a band celebrating their 20th anniversary (will be writing an entry on that). BUCK-TICK is a prominent and influential alternative rock band in Japan for their longevity, ever-evolving diversity and productivity. Surprisingly this new album turns out to be GOTHIC theme. o_O Back in 1990 they did a ground-breaking album 悪の華 (Aku no Hana) that introduced the early 80s UK Goth sound to mainstream Japanese pop scene. It was an interesting but *green* effort ^^;; Since then they've moved on to other style. I was puzzle at why would these 40s-ish ojisans go 'backward' to do such seemingly tiring juvenile genre...
Unlike the bleakness and decadence in 1990's 悪の華 (Aku no Hana), this time the goth sound is 'updated' with the more recent Gothic Lolita J-goth trend ^^;; There are 13 songs, interluded with circus freak show-ish instrumental tracks. The whole album ties in together to tell a story of this clown character. Disappointingly I didn't hear much innovativeness, though certainly something new for themselves. The sound is still definitely Buck-Tick though. The theaterical song and instrumentals are a bit reminiscent of Malice Mizer, though unlike Malice Mizer's cheap and silly sound, B-T pull that it off effortlessly with 20 years of refinement and sophistication. ^^;
Compare to their work from recent years that were heavily loaded and filled up with with electronics and industrial sound, this album is much tighter and minimal (less is more), and much less pre-made synchronized sequences (except for one song). Overall it has very high production quality so I'm satisfied. Here're some brief song by song impression (skip instrumental tracks, my habit of uploading every CD I got onto iTune/iPod and the instrumentals get a bit distracting.)
02. 降臨 (Descend) - started off a bit shakey, standard Visual-kei/J-Goth flare, the creaking guitar reminded me of Bauhaus's "Bela Lugosi' Dead."
03. 道化師A (Clown A) - why called clown 'A' (for Atsushi?)? If weren't their tight, "professional" and refine sound, this one could easily collapsed as one of those cheesy indies Visual kei 101 act. borderline...a fine line..
04. Cabaret - started off promising, but I'm ambivalent toward it, I rarely like distorted vocal and the quiet intro and loud bang structure is a bit...overdone...
05. 異人の夜 (Foreigner's Night) - Very nice song, also a bit standard J-Goth flare though it's a very good song. The 80s sounding synthesized guitar is a bit distracting but the bass is awesome~
07. Goblin - This is my most favorite track. It is a swinging jazz number (which would fit in nicely with their 1993's 20s Jazz + rock fusion release Darker than Darkness album), awesome~ It is also the only song featuring Imai's bonehead chorus (^o^) The saxophone-ish wails...Bauhaus's "In Fear of Fear"?
08. Alive - Sounded like a throw-away song that just doesn't fit in. Pity because the bass part was quite cool. I deleted it from my iTune at my second spin.
09. 月蝕 (Eclipse) - must have sounded GREAT in concert (reminds me of Bauhaus's "Stigmata Martyr" + "Mask"?)
11. Doll - theatrical Malice Mizer-ish song...quite an eye-opening shock to see BT doing a song like this, very interesting...^^;;;
12. Passion - Started off a bit like Holloween (the film) 's theme. Does conjure the image of Passion of the Christ.
13. 13秒 (13 Seconds) An ingenius rip-off of John Cage's 4'33" ^^;;;
14. Romance -Incubo- Sounded much better after the guitars were tuned more bleak and hollow.
15. Seraphim Lovely song~ A lullaby with an irony, a innocent angelic hiding his devil tail..
16. 夢魔 (Incubus) -The Nightmare A trancey dance electronica number. At first impression it sounded cheesy but after couple listens it has became my most favorite tracks. It is very catchy, Achan's voice sounded amazing. Drummer Ani did actually played most of the dancy drum beats. Somehow it get played so much that it quickly ended up in my iPod's Top 10 Most Played list.
17. Diabolo -Lucifer- playful demonic freak circus show~ the most representative track that sums up this theme album.
Amazingly the album debut at No.4 on Oricon Chart on its first week (the Billboard in Japan), for the first time to made on top 10 (let alone top 5) for a long time ^^;; That's bizzare...