I'm a little late on the monthly pick, but I'm still going to do one for January. I'm back with some music I came across and hoping in the new year that there's a lot of new material to explore.
Okuno Utamichi by Mogamigawa Tsukasa
I came across Tsukasa from a tumblr friend who enjoys his work. He's the first visual kei enka singer according to his profile, an interesting combination if you ask me. I thought enka would be the last genre I'd be interested in, but as it turns out enka can be enjoyable to listen to. In his debut album, Tsukasa covers known enka songs that have now been re-arranged to become closer to rock ballads, but still retain the traditional enka sound. I urge that listeners give this one a try. Perhaps it can get you into enka.
Worldwide by Jay Park
I don't consider myself a kpop fan and I still don't. However I come across some Korean music that I enjoy just as much as my rock and metal. Worldwide is a Korean rap and hip hop album oozing with street culture. Like the name suggests, Jay Park's style of music is international. You can easily pick another song from local radio in your country to match the same type of vibe. My favorites from this one were MOMMAE feat Ugly Duck, which first introduced me to Jay Park, YOU KNOW feat. Okasian, and LOTTO. There are slow jams and there are aggressive raps, take your pick.
Red or Maryam by DECAYS
Seeing that my favorite Dir en grey member decided to start his own side band, it's something that should be worth checking out. To be honest, I enjoy sukekiyo's work more than I do with DECAYS. It's not that DECAYS' work is bad, but it didn't impress me as much as I thought it would be. One of the reasons being that Die's vocals used a auto-tune effect rather than singing cleanly. However it was exactly as Die described it when he was promoting the album, "groovy" and "harmonious". It's very upbeat for the most part making it close to pop rock, but also very psychedelic with some of the distortion and calming atmosphere the songs put you in. My favorite song is Secret Mode and I personally think this is the best one on the album. It's very energetic, suitable to Die's image and style of playing.
Royal Blood -Revival Best-
This album by Kamijo came out last year, but I find it worth mentioning in the year 2016. Despite being re-mastered and re-covered, it holds a significance for Kamijo's career and Kamijo's fans. Most of us are looking forward to seeing him "revive" and continue singing. I ordered this album from Japan mainly because I enjoyed Kamijo's live performance in New York last year. His live performance of the songs was what prompted me to buy the music. The shrink wrap on the album says that 3 new songs are included which is true to a certain extent. The first song is actually a short instrumental track rather than a full length song. Hearing a remake of God Palace was glorious. This ten minute song is re-recorded with a different guitar solo. By far one of the songs I recommend on this album along with Imperial Concerto, Bara wa Utsukushiku Chiru, and Audrey.
Ugly by the GazettE
Lastly I introduce the GazettE's single, Ugly, a continuation of their album, Dogma. It's only been a few days since they announced their world tour. I am excited and pleased to hear that they decided to do a world tour. I was an avid GazettE fan in my high school days and always wondered about their live performance. Now's really the chance to see them since they did plan the Americas as a touring spot. Their single, Ugly, continues with the ominous and dark mood. Like Dogma, it's depressing and angry. It feels like they couldn't fit all the songs into Dogma and decided to release it as a separate compilation.
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