
I was at a loss on what to write this week, but then I remembered about this. L'Arc~en~Ciel are one of my favourite bands of all time, so when I heard they were finally releasing another cd after Awake came out aaaall the way back in '05 I went pretty nuts. It was kind of like a birthday present not on my birthday, if y'know what I mean. Even though their KISS album has been out for awhile now, I only just recently heard the whole thing properly, from track 1 to track 12, about last week I think. (Honestly...what rock have I been living under...)
I've got to say, I would never have expected L'Arc to have done a song like Hurry X-mas. When I first saw the PV to it I was like, hey, this is...unbelievably, weirdly catchy in a good way. It's so different to anything they've done before, but then again I suppose they've always had a few different songs in the mix of their albums, like 'Ophelia' from the Awake album. Keeps things interesting. I didn't even expect it to be on the album either, I thought it was something they pulled out 'specially for the occasion, but it fits in as a cheery closer.
I quite like all the songs on the album, but for me, the standout track was 'My Heart Draws A Dream'. Straight off, from the first time I heard it. Which was, well, only last week lol. But I just can't get it out of my head. If I had to compare it to another L'Arc song, for me it'd probably be the sequel to Snow Drop. Everything in it blends into just..the PV, the song... i'm kind of not really sure what to say. Just listen to it. Like I said earlier, earsex for the generations. With soul. It'll leave you humming, "My heaaaaart draws a dream, la la la...", well, something along those lines while trying to reach those notes Hyde does, without your voice breaking. Yukihiro's entrance into the song with the drums is great too. I've got nothing but praise for Ken's guitarring, as always. And of course, where would they be without Tetsu's bass. The whole universal peace/unity theme going on in the PV is pretty cool too, with the smooth transitions between the band and all over the world. I like it how they've kept that whole idea up from the Awake era (were they doing it previously too? dunno eh...). Even the whale and the buffalos in the middle of the clip add to the feel of it. It's kinda strange how My Heart Draws A Dream ended up as the Subaru Ad song.

















Whoa! it's been awhile since my last post...bad, bad, bad...been a bit busy with other things lately...
I first heard it as the ending to the anime, Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040. Although I only saw maybe two or three episodes of the anime, the music hooked me pretty fast (the anime itself was pretty good too, but I never really got a chance to see any more of it). Then I found out that it also features on the album 'As Sekiria', which contains pretty much all of the anime's music (honestly, any anime that can incorporate a fictional band which makes rock music has gotta be good). There's also another version of the song called 'Waiting for YOU (Re-Tracked)' on it too. It's got a pretty trippy tribal mix-ish kind of thing to it, but retains all the greatness of the original. Basically the same song, but with a different feel. Her other songs are your pretty catchy mainstream-with-a-twist songs. My personal next best few are: 'y'know' (the anime's opening), ぶっきらぼうな愛に溺れたい Bukkirabou na Ai ni Oboretai (...somehow this song always reminds me of the colour blue...don't ask...>_>) and あなたの海 anata no umi (this one has the strangest intro to a song, but...you'll see...), Make A Motion (funky-ish rock with a grungy groove?) and トンネルの中の惑星 Tunnel no Naka no Wakusei. Blue Image is also quite a nice rock ballad.




