M y C D s !

I've had my eyes on this CD for a long time, but couldn't reasonably get it due to its rarity, and therefore its price... however, I was finally able to get my hands on it! This is CITROBAL's 3rd album, released in late 2000. CITROBAL was present in the Shibuya-kei scene in the late 90s with her first album 'My Caution Line', and followed that up with two albums, this being the second. With 7 tracks, this record has songs of different moods, tempos, and instrumentations. The songs VW'88 and VW'00 are both about a car that Miyako Ishida (CITROBAL's real name) had. Those two are quite fast paced, which contrast songs such as in due, which is a quiet song, with just a ukulele and vocals. Picking a favourite song here was difficult, since they all have their strong suits. '月曜日の朝', which translates to 'monday morning', is a highlight for me due to the lovely chords, melodies and vocal performance, but I think VW'00 takes the cake. The fast-pacedness of it along with, again, stellar vocal performance really strikes a chord with me!

This one was one of three CDs sent to me from my boyfriend! I'm a big Animal Crossing fan, and he knows this, and that I love a lot of this music for sentimental reasons too. This DVD sized case contains 3 CDs, collectively containing the "Aircheck" version of every single song (barring the new songs from update 2.0 of New Horizons) by K.K. Slider, a character from the Animal Crossing series. These are short and sweet, and makes you feel like you're listening to CDs like you would in the game! This package also comes with a little booklet which talks about all the different genres of music he's written in, and what songs fit into those genres. To pick a favourite is difficult! I personally love Café K.K., K.K. Stroll, and Agent K.K., but one in particular stands out to me... It's K.K. Bossa, which (you guessed it!) is written in the Brazillian jazz genre Bossa Nova. This is my favourite genre of music, which definitely comes into play here (though I do also love this song for sentimental reasons!)

Another CD sent in from my boyfriend! (This becomes somewhat of a trend... I'm very grateful) Hot Freaks' self titled album released in 2013 is honestly a completely no-skip album for me. Clocking in at just under half an hour, this album is short, but definitely sweet. Every single track has so much energy, the vocals are sung with such excitement, and they're always paired with perfectly toned instrumentals that fit the mood they're going for. For example, "Write Me Letters" has an upbeat feel for a song with less happy lyrics than you'd expect... and while this is a trope done a lot, they manage to pull it off really well. The final track, "Hollywood Machine" starts off somber and quiet, but as it builds up you get to hear Joey Joey Michaels (the band's vocalist) really expressing all the emotion packed into the song, with vocals that crescendo accompanied by a guitar solo that hits all the notes you want it to... all while staying inside the walking pace 3/4 tempo.

The third and final CD from this batch sentin from my boyfriend! To get the obvious out of the way, this album is clearly (in my opinion) perfect. Glass Beach (stylized in lower case) released their debut album 'the first glass beach album' in 2019 to much praise - and rightly so! 5 years later, they come out with plastic death; a follow up and a step up in almost every way. As someone who loves 5+ minute songs, tempo changes, jazz elements, you can see why I love this album so much. Much like with their first album, I've had times where I fixate on each of the songs individually, and this happens because all the songs are so... enchanting, captivating, musically distinct, and really everything you could want. With so many emotionally charged songs with equally emotional charged instrumentals, every song's message and tone is conveyed almost within the first second. I could say so so so much more about this record, but I don't want to ramble too much. I remain steadfast that 'commatose' is my favourite track from this album. An almost 10 minute song with sections that feel like orchestral movements, it captures everything that I love about this band.