Asobi Sesku (Play Sex, in English) is a shoegaze/dream pop/noise rock/whatever you care to call it band from New York. I'm kind of an outsider to the whole shoegaze genre other than some of the major albums, and I'm sure some of you are more well-versed in it than I am. Some of you may have even heard this album before since it is thought highly of in the shoegaze community. However, I think this album is wonderful and can be appreciated by a wide variety of people. The main vocalist, Yuki Chikudate is Japanese and sings in Japanese on a decent amount of the songs on this album, so I don't expect you to dissect and absorb the lyrical content. Her dream-poppy singing style is mainly what I find appealing.
I have been listening to this album a lot in the past couple of weeks, and it was kind of a spur of the moment choice, but I think it would be nice to hear your guys' opinions on it!
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I enjoyed this album...there's nothing really controversial or unique going on here. Shoegaze has always had the wall of noise + dreamy female vocalist formula and for the most part, it works.
ReplyDeleteThe album starts off really strong. Strawberries is a perfect blend of highs and lows, reverb and distortion. It's great. New Years is one I know I've heard before and it REALLY sounds like something that would have come out in 2006, or maybe something that was on like the NHL 2008 soundtrack. It's good but so encaspulates the decade and sounds a bit dated now. Thursday completes what is in my opinion a strong three song stretch. I feel that as the album goes on, though, the singer's voice just gets a bit...dull. It's got a very certain appeal, but it's pretty much "static" the whole time.
That's why I dig Pink Cloud Tracing Paper and its feature of the male vocalist - and it's the most MBV sounding song, coincidentally. It's also nice when they throw in Exotic Animal Parade at the end and you get more of the male +female vocalist combo, but it also feels like they just kind of threw the track in at the end.
In all, a good album, though I doubt it'll ever be featured in my rotation too heavily.
I found this pleasant. I feel like beyond that, I do not have much to say. As Sam mentioned, it follows the traditional Shoegaze formula, and it does it well. I don't feel like it does anything particularly special beyond that. That certainly isn't a bad thing, but it won't make me actively seek this out in the future.
ReplyDeleteYuki's voice is fine, once again very shoegaze-esque, but she kinda loses me when she sings in Japanese. I found it distracting when she switches back and forth between languages. Probably more a failing on my part than the artist though. I just kept thinking "did I just have a stroke, or do none of these words make sense". Beyond that, like I said, her voice is fine, but nothing special or genre bending.
I don't have much to say besides that. It's a good album and they do what they set out to do, but I doubt I'll be listening to it much in the future.
I quite enjoyed this album. Like Tyler and Sam have said, it's a very pleasant listen. It feels pretty shoegazey, but without a ton of distortion. I can enjoy distortion, but not having it gives this album a niche for the times when something softer is called for. I also really loved the vocalist.
ReplyDeleteOn a less positive note, this album felt somewhat samey to me. I was completely hooked on Strawberries, but by time Strings rolls around, everything was blending together. I think since there were some dream pop elements in this album it would have been cool to hear some very dreamy songs in Citrus.
I wish I had more to say. It was a fun album and I might pick out a few songs to put on a sleepy playlist, but it was a little too uniform.
This was a really nice album that I will definitely revisit in the future. It has many of elements that are pretty much just impossible to dislike. It's fun and balances pop and shoegaze beautifully so it's catchy enough to stay engaging while maintaining the cozy, fuzzy shoegaze vibe.
ReplyDelete"Pink Cloud Tracing Paper" was definitely one of my favorite songs because I'm a sucker for those mixed male/female vocals and I think the layering of dreamy guitar effects hit their pinnacle here. The vocals were definitely a real strong point for me on the album in general as they reminded me of a punchier Cocteau Twins.
I thought I was going to think the length here was a negative, I was actually really glad that it was as long as it was. I feel like this is listenable in a lot of different situations because it's not too distracting to have on when I'm working but at the same time it's definitely good enough to give my full attention. It's a great album to be able to just play whenever and not have to worry about music again for another hour.
Great pick! Also I kept hearing "Dunkin Donuts" in "New Years" and this is how I know I've definitely lived in Boston too long lol...
I really enjoyed listening to this album. The instrumentals were on point and even though at times the songs felt like they blended together too much sonically, it was still a pleasant listen. I agree with Sam, the first half the album is very strong (Strawberries through Strings). After this point, I felt like the singer's voice wasn't really drawing me in and I was paying a lot more attention to the instruments.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the album sounded all the same to me; nothing really stood out to be honest. I was hoping for more slowed down tracks or for the singer to do something a bit different with her voice. All in all though, I'm glad I gave this a few listens. While it may not be an album I come back to, I've saved a few of the first songs since I enjoyed them so much.
One of my favorite shoegaze/dream pop albums! I'm so glad you picked this album Parker because I almost posted it last year but ended up posting something else instead. While I do agree with most of you guys with thinking that the album doesn't really do anything too controversial or different, it's still just really a great album overall. One thing I like a lot about this album compared to other shoegaze albums is just how bright and summery it is. Usually when I think of shoegaze I think of cold weather, and staying indoors, and relaxing.. This album is more like a warm day outside kind of shoegaze though, which is probably why I've continued to revisit it after all these years.
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