It’s been a while XD

I know it’s been a LOOOONG while, but my real life has been hell, so I can finally have some time to update this poor neglected little blog! I’m sorry for the wait :X

Ok, so the Perfume Superlive in Budokan DVD is finally going to be released! Yay!! It means, of course, that we finally get to see Edge, Plastic Smile, Jenny wa Gokigen Naname and some more songs! And wow, for those of you who could watch the TV special, the stage was just… AMAZING! And all of the lasers and special effects were absolutely superb! This one is definitely on my MUST BUY list! And it should be in yours too

So, in order to tease you all and make you buy the DVD, here are a few of the amazing Budokaaaaaaaaaaaaan! Superlive performances

PLAY THE GAME!!!

Dream Fighter!!! *_*

Puppy Love!! Tsunderetion FTW! I adore this song, and the choreography is absolutely cute and awesome, like everything related to Perfume!

Wonder2… ONe of my favorite songs, and the most emotional performance. Also, comments of all the girls about the experience of performing in Budoukan :3 Very cute. I love A-chan!

Ok people, so you know how it goes, order the DVD, enjoy it, watch it a 1000 times and keep supporting Perfume because they are amazing!!

Top Stuff of 2008

Hi people! I’m not going to be here for new years (because I’m going to Tokyo, baby! w00t!) so I decided I’d do a countdown of the best of 2008. AKB48 wins by default in all my categories XD but those ones are all  going to be in Aitakatta! and I’ll focus in the non-AKB stuff for now.

Top 3 LOLs of 2008

3. Sawajiri Erika is going to marry a guy who could be her dad…: Well, I don’t care about who marries who but its the controversy surrounding this one what really made me LOL. Apparently, she isn’t very convincing about her love for the guy, and thus people are in shock. Publicity stunt much? LOL

2. Koda Kumi’s MAJOR mess up: You know, some 6 months ago, Koda Kumi said that women shouldn’t have children after they’re 35 years old because their amniotic fluid is rotten or something along those lines O_o I don’t want to hate on Kumi, because I’m sure it was just a dumb thing she said, and she didn’t mean to insult so many women, but the way it came back to bite her in the a$$ was just hilarious! BTW, people should really advise her to keep her mouth shut about sensible stuff like this! I’m not a Koda Kumi fan, but I certainly enjoy her music, and I’m glad that she just brushed it off after a while and kept rocking. But yeah, LOL.

1. HANGRY & ANGRY: Come on! If this PV didn’t make you LOL nothing will. Now don’t get me wrong, I really admire Yossie and Rika is one of my favorite H!P girls because of her incredibly charismatic persona… But this is just ridiculous. An Ishiyoshi unit was always a dream, kind of like GAM, and then they dress them up in these really hardcore Gothloli dresses, with the awful hair and give them one of the cheapest PVs I’ve ever seen (and I’ve been a H!P fan for quite some time now, I should know about cheap PVs…) Yossie’s angry faces are too much, Rika just can’t feel comfortable dressed like that, and the spikey hair does no good for her. She is (for the first time in her long career) completely out of her element, and it shows. I like their songs, sure, butplease don’t ever give them guitars again. Especially not to Rika. XD  Well, let’s look at it on the bright side: LOL.

Top 5 Best PVs of 2008

5. Otsuka Ai – Kurage Nagareboshi: I’m a big fan of Ai-chin, although I very rarely fangirl her XD This was my favorite release of hers in 2008, especially because of the simplistic but hauntingly beautiful PV. The piano in the sea at night, and the loneliness that it conveys is touching. Loved it.BTW, you know that avex is a b*tch when it comes to copyright issues, so the only version I found was this with spanish subs XD But it works to give you an idea of what the wonderful PV looks like..

4. Perfume – Baby Cruising Love: This PV is amazing. It’s heart warming, cute, interesting and cool, all in one. I absolutely adore the outfits (especially A-chan’s <3) and the light bulb thing they do (you’ll understand if you’ve seen it XD) is both awesome and cute. Just like Perfume.

3.  Perfume – Secret Secret: I’m completely win over by this amazing PV. It has a classy aura, and a mysteirous feel to it, without losing the fun! Plus, Electro World outfits make a guest appearance <3. This was one of the best songs of the year too, you just never get tired of watching this PV.

2. Buono – Renai Rider: Renai Rider is Buono! at its best. It’s a great song with just enough elements of punk to make it sound cool without overdoing it. And the PV is both adorable and kickass at the same time! The outfits are cute, the dance is simple but works well, and Momo’s tricycle is EPIC. This remains my favorite Buono! song for now, and it probably won’t change anytime soon

1. Perfume – Dream Fighter: I ADORE this PV, I’m going to write a review about it at some point, but just now that I adore it! A-chan is my favorite Perfume member, but Nocchi was just FIERCE in this PV, and Kashiyuka was as awesome as she always is. The outfits are spot on, the simplicity of the PV makes it enjoyable to watch and contrasts nicely with the complex dance moves. It’s great to see Perfume just being their own selves, with not much else added. It has a charm of its own.

Top 3 Best Albums of 2008

3. C-ute -3rd Love Escalation-: Geez I’ve just discovered that I spent all of 2008 fangirling AKB and thus barely lstened to any of the albums released this year XD Anyway, I liked C-ute’s album, but I seem to be in a minority, since I read many reviews rating it as average. I’m not a C-ute fan, I just love Airi and Maimi, and like Kanna, Erika and Chisato. But I’m not going to rave on about hem for hours like I do for my favorite groups or singers. I found this album entertaining, and a good listen. I can’t remember some songs right off the bat by just looking at the tracklist, but I thought it was well balanced. My favorite track is Sweets —->live, which is amusing, because it’s one of the most bashed tracks in everyone’s reviews XD This album included Tokaikko Junjou which is C-ute’s best sigle ever (IMO) so it was good. And yeah, next year I’ll try to listen to more stuff so that I don’t end up babbling about an album I barely listened to XD

2. Berryz Koubou – Five: I <3 Berryz, and this album is amazing! I like the stronger sound they have here, and how well the girls sound, I’m proud of them! So, since I really loved the album (and because I only babbled nonsensically in the above album comment XD) I’ll do a mini review:

1. HAPPY! Stand up: I love this song. It’s high energy and kind of badass. I love Captain’s lines here, with a passion. And Miya’s too. If the song title didn’t have “Happy” in it, it would be SO much better though

2. Kono Yubi Tomare: Sounds like an old-school Ayaya song, and that is always a great thing <3 Also, Maasa and Chinami get some love, and they work really well with Momoko! Great song.

3. Baka ni Shinaide: My favorite song in the album hands down. It features my favorite member (Yurina) with strong voices Miiya and Captain and plus, Risako, whose voice I like This is a rock number, and it’s just BADASS! I didn’t believe that the girls had it in them to rock out, and it was a pleasant surprise!

4. Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance: Eclectic album indeed. From the rocking Baka ni Shinaide we move to the silly and hyper Monkey Dance. I’ve always loved this song, it’s so much fun and so infectious. Plus, Chinami’s “Banzai” line is pure moe–

5. Ah Merry-go-Round: An RnB number sung by Momo and Captain. It sounds great, because they are both great singers, and there are lovely harmonies included as well <3! I’m not much of a fan of that style, nonetheless but yeah, enjoyable.

6. CLAP!: Yurina, Chinami and Miiya do an amazing song! Thank God the lyrics don’t say clap, or they could end up sounding like “crap” which would spoil it a bit for me XD Ok, bad jokes aside, I like this energetic and feel-good guitar driven song a lot! <3

7. REAL LOVE: This is the song people will hate on forever and ever just because it’s Rii’s XD I like it, musically it reminds me of the early Gocchin songs, and a bit of Gomattou which I loved. It’s kind of a slow-ish song, but I like it. Not LOVE it, though, especially not at the ridiculous lenght it has…

8. Yume no Hitotsubu -Berryz Kamen Ending Theme-: Now this song right here is the highlight of the album! It features Maasa at her best, and it has a funky background music that sounds typically spanish and flamenco like and then turns into something that sounds strangely russian during the chorus O_o I love it!

9. Dschingis Kahn: I like it. That’s all. With this song, you either love or hate, and I love it.

10. Tsukiatteru no ni Kataomoi: I’m one of the few people in the world who actually enjoyed this single. Oh well.

11. BE: A ballad… ew. It sounds pretty, I guess. Who the hell are those kids? This sounds like Disney! It bores me to death though.

12. Special Generation Remix: Not needed. Whatever

1. Perfume – GAME: Ok, no GAME mini review, because I’ll do a real one later on This album had a lot to live up to, since Complete Best was so good, but it managed to surpass its predecessor and establish Perfume as the greatest technopop group ever (not that there are many out there, but still XD) There’s not a single dull moment when you listen to it (and yeah, Take me Take me isn’t boring, if you think it is then you aren’t imagining Kashiyuka doing the dance with the chair while you listen to it!). It has a great balance of happy songs, slightly more serious stuff and things that you can just headbang to. Awesomeness.

Ok, this is long as HELL. But I really felt like writing it Well, people, see you next time, maybe I’ll be able to squeeze an update in before I leave, but I don’t promise anything XD Have fun!

Super Jet Shoes!

Just a quick post to point out a funny fact I found out a while ago. Perfume has covered live in several occasions a song called “Super Jet Shoes” originally sung by Hiroshima born singer Peachy. This song is very cute and energetic, and the girls of Perfume, charismatic as always, give it a lot of heart and make it tons of fun!

Here’s a relatively recent performance of that song

That was awesome, right? Well, the funny thing is that “Peachy” is actually Ishii Rika, and while I’m not completely sure if it’s the same girl or not, there used to be an Ishii Rika signed with UFA and Hello!Project eons ago XD She performed a few songs in the “Douyou Pops” collection. I remember her voice particularly because it was what catched my ear first, she’s a great singer! Sadly, her version of Super Jet Shoes kinda fails miserably when compared to that of Perfume… Oh well! Here’s a live performance of the original version of Super Jet Shoes in HEY!HEY!HEY! Boy, she is a hyper girl, right?

This could add to the infamous “Are Perfume idols or not?” debate I guess

Perfume ~Complete Best~ Review

Hello! Welcome again to Macaroni-i! Today I’ll be reviewing Perfume’s debut album, ~Complete Best~. I became a fan of Perfume back in 2006 when this was released, so I <3 it! I thought of reviewing GAME, but I’ll probably do it later anyway.

This album complied Perfume’s releases ever since they debut, A-sides and B-sides included too.   The reason why this particular album is so special to me is because it’s what made me their fan. Back in their indies times, they were quirky and cute, and very idol-like! As they grew up, their music did too, it became a little more complex without ever losing the fun in it, which is why I love them so much!

1. Perfect Star Perfect Style: This was one of my first favorite Perfume songs. It caught my ear immediately! The “Perfect Star – Perfect Style” sung through the whole song are what makes it so catchy, I think. I like how the song is upbeat and lively even though it’s about a break up XD This song never fails to make me dance in my seat whenever it comes up!

Rating: 5 out of 5

2. Linear Motor Girl: This song was Perfume’s major debut single. I’ve never been a huge fan of it, but it’s very “Perfume-like” since quirky is probably the best word to describe it. It’s playful even from the beginning, with the “girl” in Linear motor GIRL! line sung in a high pitched girly tone. It sounds very computer-esque too XD the lines have some sort of monotone or dissonant quality to them that makes them sound almost like a machine. This is a song that you could listen to in a videogame! The thing that I find the must funny about this particular song is how I usually skip it whenever it comes in my playlist, but then when I listen to it I remember how much fun it is! Lots of cute computer sounds in the background and my favorite part is when they start counting, it’s just so random XD

Rating: 4 out of 5

3. Computer City: This has always been my favorite Perfume song, and I’d be lying if I said it was for anything other than its lyrics, actually. This doesn’t mean that I think it’s a bad song, musically speaking, because I think in this aspect is one of Perfume’s best ever! But I just feel like I can connect so much to those post-apocalyptic love song lyrics XD The chorus is beautiful and sticks in your head without fail, but it’s actually the verses that I find the most memorable, with the synth melody backing them up.

Rating: 5 out of 5

4. Electro World: The album version starts with a subdued chord and then the cute blips and beeps. But this isn’t a cute song. The first verse is almost a capella, and then the whole instrumentation builds up for the chorus. I like how there are electric guitar riffs in this song, it makes it musically interesting and adds to the heavy synth beats in the background music. This is probably Perfume’s best single, in my opinion, its sung beautifully and manages to convey a certain unsettling but powerful emotion. Musically its very interesting, with its constantly changing melodies and beats, making this song a great start for anyone who wants to become a fan.

Rating: 5 out of 5

5. Inryoku: Another quirky song! I quite like Inryoku, it’s cute and fun without being too much. It starts with the overlapping voices of the girls singing the first phrase sweetly, and then goes into the verses, which are less interesting but still cute. The background music is the usual cyber techno stuff, but this time there’s a tiny piano like sound (tiny piano XD I suck at reviewing Perfume LOL) which drives the song. The “Pa pa pa pa” in the background music are fun, but I find the girls voices kind of monotonous at times, which is why the beeps and stuff help the song’s mood so much.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

6. Monochrome Effect: This song has a way of clinging in my brain forever, especially the beginning of the verses! This is an old indies single, and Perfume were all young and cute when they sung it (not that they aren’t cute now, they’re just, you know, older and cute XD). This one has just hints of an electronic sound, so it’s not as techno influenced as the more recent singles. Also, the girl’s voices aren’t computer distorted, which is a nice change of pace every now and then! I’m sick of listening to people say that we will never find out if Perfume can sing or not, I mean, come on! Their earlier singles didn’t have so much vo coder in them, and the girls have performed them live lots of times! Anyway, back to the song, fun and bouncy with lots of cute elements into it, I love it.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

7. Vitamin Drop: I don’t know why, but in this song the girls voices sound in the lower range, which gives it a different overall feel than the rest of Perfume’s usual work. It has the usual blips and synth background, which sound somewhat dissonant because of the quality of the voices here. I like the short pizzicatto like fragments that accompany the verses, they sound cute. The best part of the song are the solos halfway through the song, because of their use of only soft delicate sounds that help make the sometimes dull background music more enjoyable. Yeah, not the best Perfume song out there, but if anything, it’s worth listening only for how different it sounds from what we’re used to hear from them.

Rating: 3 out of 5

8. Sweet Doughnuts: This is Perfume’s first indies single, and I really like it. It’s quite upbeat, with the mix of electronic sounds with a very poppy tune ends up sounding refreshing and exciting. Very catchy! It’s also fun to listen to it now that they’ve grown up and sound a bit different, it never loses its fun quality!

Rating: 4 out of 5

9. Foundation: This is a medium paced song, and it sounds “hip” I don’t know how to describe it well, but it’s like something you could hear in a classy bar or something like that. I like the effect created by the random whispered words, it makes the overall mood shift from “laid back” to something a bit more mysterious and elaborate.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

10. Computer Driving: I have a soft spot for this song. I constantly find myself humming it and doing the little dance that goes with it. It has a very distinct melody, like a sequence of beeps that seriously  sticks to your head. In contrast to this, the verses are sung with little voice distortion and are very melodic, which makes for a great balance and an enjoyable song to listen to.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (I might be the only person in the world to rate this song so high, but I find it simply addictive and beautiful all at the same time)

11. Perfume: I thought it was funny to have a song named after the group, but this reflects what Perfume is about, in essence (no pun intended XD) which is why I like it. It’s an upbeat and cheerful song, very poppy and with a repetitive bridge that makes it very catchy (although it can get quite annoying after a while XD). I have to say however, that you can appreciate this song a bit more when you watch it performed live. The girls of Perfume make sure that any performance of this is full of energy and taken to the max!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

12. wonder2: This song starts with etereal background music and haunting la la la’s that go with it. It’s a slow song, sung with quite distorted vocals, which make it wound even more surreal. I like the prechorus especially, it flows nicely. You know, I wanted to name this blog Wonder2, I really like this pretty ballad, but that username was taken and I had already thought that Macaroni-i was a cute name for a blog anyway so I kept that. I don’t know why I like the most unpopular Perfume songs either, but I just do XD

Rating: 4 out of 5

Overall Rate: 4 out of 5

The Complete Best album is a wonderful compilation of various styles that takes us along Perfume’s musical history in a fun ride. I think that it’s also a great start for people who like the group, because its a display of the range Perfume have as a group, I mean, they can sing serious songs, pure techno, idol pop, 8bit sounding songs… all without losing their own personal style, which is what makes them so remarkable, especially in a changing market like Jpop!

Hi everyone!!

Hi people! Welcome to Macaroni-i my new blog about everything Jpop related! Yay! I’m Cat, and I own another blog, an AKB48 fanblog named Aitakatta.

AKB48 are my favorite group without a doubt, but I’ve noticed recently that I have a lot of stuff to say about other Jpop acts, releases, performances DVDs and the such, so I decided I’d keep another blog just to ramble about the non-AKB related stuff!

This blog is named after Macaroni, which is currently my favorite Perfume song. I’ve been a fan of Perfume for quite a while now, and I’m thrilled to know that they’re succeeding now in Japan because they are awesome and deserve it. The banner features them too BTW.

But this isn’t a Perfume exclusive blog, I’ll also post about anything I find interesting related to Jpop-Jrock-cute stuff or whatever XD

I have a waning interest in H!P, but I’ve been a fan for quite some time now (ever sicne 5th gen joined) so I’ll probably post about them.

What to expect in the H!P related posts: I’m a fan of Berryz Koubou. I don’t care that everybody seems to pathologically hate on Risako, I like her. She’s not my favorite member (that would be Kumai Yurina <3) But yeah, no Risako bashing in here (unless I find a funny pic or video I’m not serious about my idols at all) I like all the rest of Berryz’s members equally (which is a TON)

I’ve never quite gotten into C-ute, especially after Megukami left. Airi is love and so is Maimi. Chisato needs more lines, Kanna is awesome and Erika is just amazing. I HATE Hagiwara Mai with a raging passion. I won’t bash her, because she has many fans, but yeah, I hate her so don’t expect to find anything about her in here.  Same with Nakajima Saki. I don’t hate her like I hate Hagiwara, but I don’t like her either so yeah…

Morning Musume-wise, I’m pretty fed up with them, sadly. My favorite member is Risa, and second favorite used to be Aichan but I’m seek of seeing so much of her lately so she’s dropped down a bit XD. I LOVE Sayu, she is like WHOA, and so is Eri I <3 <3 <3 them. I’m neutral about Reina, sometimes she wows me and sometimes she annoys me, I have never decided much how well she fares in my personal ranking. 8th gen are ok. I don’t care about Mitsui (but she can be pretty cute sometimes) JunJun is adorable but I’m no fangirl of hers and Linlin is my favored panda .

I HATE Kusumi Koharu’s voice, but I find her absolutely hilarious and entertaining as an idol persona. She is very pretty and she just cracks me up, and I love that about her. But I’m not enough of a masochist to enjoy most of her solo work. There are exceptions of course, and I’m sure that Koharu is a better singer than most people (including myself) usually think, but she fakes this super human high pitched screechy annoying voice for the Kirarin stuff that I just can’t listen to without my eardrums bleeding. So yeah, there’s that too.

I was a big fan of the Elder Club (ofc, they were all kind of still around when I first became a fan T_T) but now that they’re leaving it’s a sad fact, especially for me. My favorite H!P member was always Gocchin, so when she left, my fandom went to hell, pretty much.

*big breath* That’s it for H!P when it comes to my tastes (Oh I forgot! Buono is the best freaking thing ever!). I already said that I love Perfume… That’s pretty much all I lsten to in a regular basis XD But I also enjoy more mainstream artists like Amuro Namie, Otsuka Ai (<3), Utada Hikaru’s recent stuff, Hamasaki Ayumi’s old stuff XD

So yeah, stop by every now and then and check this one out. I probably don’t do crazy long posts like in Aitakatta because I’m not as passionate (aka fangirl) about the rest of the music industry as I am about AKB48, but maybe you’ll enjoy it here!

That’s all, Bye!!