After School's Good Year
Haven't had a chance to post much. So as a stopgap, just wanted to say that After School is rising higher on my list of "Subjects For Further Research." So far I couldn't tell you anyone's name other than Raina and the departed Bekah and the departed Kahi. Oh yeah, and I know the name Uee. And couldn't say much about any of them except that Kahi is a strong dancer and Bekah is American (from Hawaii) and Raina is also in subunit Orange Caramel and Uee is a lightning rod for something or other (either loved or hated, I don't know why), and I think she raps. Orange Caramel's vocals are barely adequate, one of the few K-pop groups where the vocals are so mediocre that they hobble otherwise great tracks like "Bangkok City."*
This is all lead-up to saying that I had no idea, until Mat told me yesterday, that Nana (who's also in the Orange Caramel subunit) was the lead vocalist on "Eyeline," and it's my favorite track on the new After School EP.** Paying close attention to the singing just now, I'd say she adds no more flash or spirit than she was able to give to her Orange Caramel solo, "Close Your Eyes." Except on "Eyeline" this matters not a whit, "Eyeline" being a track where adequate really is adequate. Or maybe she's gotten better, or I underrated her work with Orange Caramel. I think better vocals (from someone like Melanie of ChoColat, for example) would make this better, but probably not that much, not needing to, the recording already crossing the threshold, delivering drama and turning the emotional-longing button to high.
After School are having a good year musically, much of it in Japanese (and if the two Red and Blue subunits had each dropped their A-sides in favor of their B-sides, their good year starts last summer).
Here's "Rambling Girls," the best of their many fine recent tracks.
*I suppose the beat would be called trot, but "Bangkok City" and its followup "Shanghai Romance" feel very Italodisco.
**What I'm calling an EP is officially titled "Flashback: 5th Maxi-Single," but if you go 18 minutes with five entirely different songs (as opposed to remixes and alternate versions of the same two or three tracks), you're an EP.
This is all lead-up to saying that I had no idea, until Mat told me yesterday, that Nana (who's also in the Orange Caramel subunit) was the lead vocalist on "Eyeline," and it's my favorite track on the new After School EP.** Paying close attention to the singing just now, I'd say she adds no more flash or spirit than she was able to give to her Orange Caramel solo, "Close Your Eyes." Except on "Eyeline" this matters not a whit, "Eyeline" being a track where adequate really is adequate. Or maybe she's gotten better, or I underrated her work with Orange Caramel. I think better vocals (from someone like Melanie of ChoColat, for example) would make this better, but probably not that much, not needing to, the recording already crossing the threshold, delivering drama and turning the emotional-longing button to high.
After School are having a good year musically, much of it in Japanese (and if the two Red and Blue subunits had each dropped their A-sides in favor of their B-sides, their good year starts last summer).
Here's "Rambling Girls," the best of their many fine recent tracks.
Click to view*I suppose the beat would be called trot, but "Bangkok City" and its followup "Shanghai Romance" feel very Italodisco.
**What I'm calling an EP is officially titled "Flashback: 5th Maxi-Single," but if you go 18 minutes with five entirely different songs (as opposed to remixes and alternate versions of the same two or three tracks), you're an EP.