Review by Cloth

AUBE is another great example of majico's outstanding musicality. Besides wonderful eight tracks on the EP (among them "Koe", "Kokoro Nashi" and "Avenir") in this edition you get another great live recording at Shibuya WWW X, with some more eleven songs to enjoy. Fine Audio. Great accompanying band. And one more time it's Camacho on drums..! Highly recommended!

After I found out about majiko due to the great bass covers of Yamamoto Hikaru (via YouTube - search! find! you won't regret!), I'm overwhealmed of this astonishing woman. She has got it all: a beautiful, emotional, but jet powerful voice, and the sense to apply it whenever needed. Great songwriting - especially "mimizu", my favorite on this record. And she has a good hand on the choices of her accompanying musicians. But the best reason to buy this EP is its Bonus DVD: 13 wonderful tracks, fine Sound, great band - beside majiko especially camacho on drums satisfied me! A concert I'd like to have joined… So, if you might find the price a little high for an EP, this concert DVD makes it worth the money. Recommended!

If you know T-Square already, no more words need to be said about this band. The following review is for those people, who are as unknowingly as I was, just some days ago… Although I knew Casiopea before, I never heard of this band before. I first got aware of T-Square by a cover music video of drum princess Kanade Sato, playing 'Megalith' at the age of 12, which I regarded as unbelievable. Seemed to be a must-have to get this recording in the original version. And: yes, it is! After I found out on which record 'Megaltih' was published and I received this CD (thank you, CDJapan!) I had the opportunity to discover T-Square... It was a revelation! There are much more songs to light on: With 'Nab That Chap!!' you got one more well reknown classical in the original version, and above that much more Fusion to get lost in... For those who don't know T-Square yet: As Long as you are in Jazz-Fusion, I'm pretty sure 'NEW-S' is a great opportunity to get in touch and broaden your horizon - beneath having fun of listening to these exeptionally gifted musicians. Highly recommended!

Well, what would you guess? Rie goes as hard rocking and fast driving as ever. Nothing new so far. But Rie knows to satisfy. Her music is a great example of headbanging heavy rock, joining with beautiful melodies and technical skills aswell. For 'Top Runner' she obtained the support of Mitsuru Sutoh and Shingo Tanaka (both: T-Square) and Juna Serita on electric bass, and 16-yrs.-old Kanade Sato (Ear Candy Jazz Factory) on drums - some really tight Rhythm Group combinations, that lead Rie through all the songs in just perfect manner. Beneath all these hard rocking and sometimes melodically fine tunes, one song is to mention particularly: 'Wangan Street' is an uptempo rocksong with a lot of different components and feels - partly melodic, hard-driving, sometimes funky and even jazzy… - really overwhelming! My personal favorite. The only point to criticize is the lack of balance between guitar and bass/drums, and a littly to much reverb on guitar and snare drum, which makes the sound too washy for me. But that does not affect the superb work on instruments, and the great songwriting. So, if you know Rie already, there's not much more to say. If you don't: check it out! You won't regret!

"Elfriede", an old german female name, stands for 'witchcraft'. No other name could have been more appropriate for this four-piece all-girl band. These girls know how to combine beautiful melodies with rock music! You might have got aware of the three songs you could listen to in the web: 'Starlight', a pop-/rock-song with earworm character, 'Vibration', a much harder rocking tune (my personal favorite), and 'Orange', a really nice popsong. If you did, you know what you get: Elfriede are a serious Rockband. Their music could be named as alternative rock, although they set store by catchy melodies. Most songs are up-tempo tunes with many breaks and rhythmically finesse - mostly hard driven by Ryo's electric guitar und Yu-Yan's tight Snare and Double-Bass work. All songs are accompanied by Mikuru's sugar-sweet and crystal-clear voice. Elfriede's songs work as your good-morning wake-up music, aswell as your highway drive themes. With the CD, there comes a DVD with the music videos of all songs mentioned above, plus a making-of of 'Orange', in which you can real-ize :o) the fun these ladies got doing their thing. My opinion: If you like bands like Scandal (I would say Elfriede's songs are more catchy, even more musically) or Band-Maid (although Elfriede go by far not that heavy...), this CD is the right one! Recommended!

On "Buena Vista", Senri Kawaguchi, age 17, plays nine songs with different musicians and instrumentation, partly with keys and/or electric guitar, some horns, and even some strings on one tune. The line-ups consist of several bassists, including James Genus (Herbie Hancock), Pino Palladino, Shingo Tanaka (T-Square), John Pena, and Brian Bromberg (!) among others. Some songs to mention are 'See You Much Later', the opener in a combined 7/8- and 10/8-time rhythm, but nevertheless still grooving..! - With 'The Phoenix' we got an Phillipe Saisse original with a really beautiful melody. - 'Onyx' is a hard driving Jazz/ROCK-piece, and its hook line will go into your ear, and stay for a while! I could talk about all the other songs aswell, there is not one that would not be worth to listen to. In the end you got it all here: Hard-driving funky tunes, fine melodies, lunatic rhythms, and a beautiful ballad ('All This Love') aswell. When I first got aware of Senri Kawaguchi, I didn't like her style of drumming too much. Too technical, too much like a show-off of her skills - that's what I thought. Well, I must admit, I was totally wrong! Senri is a super-sensitive musician, and above her undeniable, unbelieveable technical skills she has got something to say, and much to give for all the songs she plays. Her playing sparks from creativity and musicality. "Buena Vista" is a great CD, loaded with a bunch of wonderful music. So, if you are in Jazz-Fusion, this CD is highly recommended!

'Tangerine Peel Jam', the debut of "Ear Candy Jazz Factory", is an outstanding example of new Jazz from Japan, and - allow me to say: it has been getting time for this! The three-piece-band follows a line of smooth Jazz, with some really fine skills, musicality, and most of all they bind their flow with drive and groove - not easy to develop, and hard to find. 'Ear Candy Jazz Factory' consists of Rei Narita on piano and keyboards, and an all-girl rhythm section: Naoko Sakurai on bass, and Kanade Sato on drums. The first song, 'Tailwind', starts with a rhythm in 4/4-time you did not hear anywhere else, joining in a really driving bass guitar, everything accompaniing the dominating piano of Rei - this song makes you want to cruise through the City and run down the freeway at the same time... perfect opener! 'Urahara Cat Street' is just grooving you down in this easy-going-style that Rei's music offers all the time. (You want to carry on cruising…) Some hammond-organ work in here. In 'Monsoon In Crimson' you get some nice music featuring the saxophone of Younosuke Shimizu. In the (much too short!) middle part, Naoko and Kanade groove it all away, again..! 'Run Through The City' takes you back on the highway. Naoko equippes her bass with some mix of touch wah and chorus, Kanade goes in sixteenth on the Hi-Hat, and it flows and it flows… Would you guess, a song called 'The Feeling Of Samurai' had some Samba and Latin groove? Some drum solo in here… In case you missed some more jazzy thing, now you get what you want: 'Autumn Foliage' is a Showcase of the band's skills - in 4/4-time with some middle part in 7/8-time, including one more drum solo (!) 'Rain In Space' lives up to its name: Song for rainy days, looking out of the window - a little sad, but making it better through music… The next song joining in Younosuke on alto-sax again, 'Hack Your Way Through The Sky', is an uptempo jazz thing with a driving out-of-phase Ride Cymbal of Kanade's - next drum solo included! Some unexpected electronics will open 'Snow Kaleidoscope', and the song suddenly turns in much more smooth theme - strange, but nice. Some driving middle part with fine work of the rhythm section: Sounds easy, but runs like a swiss watch. The CD ends with 'Step Into The Inside Of Kyoto' with Naoko on fretless 5-string. Smooth and great piece in 6/8-time. My opinion: Highly recommended!