3 posts tagged “j-songs”
The first Angela Aki song that I heard was “This Love” from the anime Blood+. I have a copy of this series but even though I haven’t seen it, I fell in love with her voice. It’s just so clear and strong.
Later on, my sister raved about the beautiful theme song for Final Fantasy XII. It was “Kiss Me Goodbye”. When I heard it, I thought the voice was mighty familiar and as I thought, it was Angela Aki once again. ^_^
I think Angela is a very talented performer. She writes songs, composes them and plays the piano as the main accompaniment for her songs. Then I also mentioned about her amazing voice. Since she has experience living in America, her English skills are superb too perhaps that’s why she’s also famous in US. And yet, her Japanese songs are equally well-received by the people.
“Home” also happens to be the title of her latest album. I really love this song, the opening bars are somewhat familiar but it gets better and better. Please try listening to it. ^_^
Here's another song that brings back a lot of (good) memories. ^^ I remember those days when I ask my friend to recommend some good j-songs because at that time, I was limited only to anime theme songs. So she gave me a bunch from L'Arc~en~Ciel (which I've fallen instantly in love), Gackt (who my friend really adores despite how I tease her about his peculiarities) and Utada Hikaru.
I knew some information about her before my friend recommended her songs to me. At that time, I wasn't a fan of anime or j-songs yet. I remember her music video of "Automatic" and thought that as much as it was a catchy and dancy song, I couldn't understand a bit of it. ^^;; It took a long time before I appreciated her music.
Personally speaking, I'm not that impressed by her voice (I mean, compared to some notable American and Filipino singers), but there's something about her and her songs that are really different and attractive. For me, Utada Hikaru's songs are either a hit or miss (if I like it, I really like it and if I don't then I forget about it). I've noticed also that most of my favorite songs by her are slow songs.
"Final Distance" was one of the songs that my friend recommended to me. I love it to bits. It gives off a somewhat dreamy and ethereal feeling. I still listen to it frequently even after I got introduced to her other new songs. ^_^
Alright, I want to add j-songs here as well but I think my j-music knowledge is quite small so expect a lot of Laruku songs and some Gackt and Utada Hikaru. ^^;;
Anyway, to start, I'd like to talk about one of my all-time favorite songs of L'Arc~en~Ciel. I first heard "Finale" in the movie "The Ring 0" and honestly, I got a little scared with the opening of the song because it was, well...too suitable for the movie. ^^;; I mean, you just got scared after watching the movie and then it ends with a song with a cryptic and haunting opening. Gyah. XD
This is probably one of the longest j-songs that I have encountered, running for about 6 minutes (the longest song I could remember was one of the songs by Oasis, heh). I think it's a little different from the past Larc songs because usually their songs are pop rock-ish or with danceable tunes, but this one is still great. I especially love Ken's guitar performance (he's the one responsible for that cryptic tune of the song!). :P
The music video for "Finale" is great too. According to the making of the video, the weather in the video area was apparently very cold, and the guys (especially Hyde and Ken) were wearing loose and thin clothes. Ack, imagine how freezing that would feel. Tetsu's transparent bass guitar rocks as well Yuki's...hair! Oh, I love his hairstyle here, nice and nice. XD I also love his scene when he beats the slightly wet drums and little sprinkles of water splash out. ^_^
Anyway, "Finale" is a great slow rock song. It's also good for Halloween effects, just kidding. ^^
