I used to wonder if I was a lavishing, love-blind music fan. Especially after thoroughly digging Ayumi’s 2009 album ‘NEXT LEVEL’ for its quirky experimentations on what was becoming a tired formula, I was worried that I was simply resigned in my own brain to expect greatness and believe nothing less from my favorites. I thought Buono’s 2nd album was better than their first. I thought ‘⊿’ was brilliant in its own special way as well. Admittedly, I am one of the few who really didn’t get into ‘Platinum 9 Disc’ from Morning Musume, but that has more to do with a severe stagnation of Morning Musume than with me, as a fan.
So I ordered Date Koji’s new mini-album, ‘Konna Jidai Dakara’, with extremely high spirits. You may or may not remember that I was one of the only people flipping out with raves over his first album, ‘Gyakkou’, but if you have forgotten I direct you to my little review of that album over at the now-defunt fangirl blog ‘Date Kouji (sic, because I didn’t know it was romanized as ‘Koji’ for certain before seeing the cover of the new album) Can’t Stop Crying’, where I am now (un)known as ‘ex_pinkocrac87′ for all eternity. I loved his blend of musical stylings, sounding like a long lost homage to Bruce Springsteen while at the same time incorporating fantastic rhythms and melodies.
Yeah, you actually haven't gotten better. I'll go back to not bothering to defend you when rabid TeniMyu fangirls spew hate.
Yeah, but ‘Konna Jidai Dakara’ is complete crap. I was first skeptical when I popped it in and five of the seven songs weighed in at over 5 minutes long. The most annoying thing about ‘Gyakkou’ was his inability to end good songs. They just meandered on, Dave Matthews style, until it was unbearable. But I gave Date Koji the benefit of the doubt, considering his newcomer status, assuming that he would learn. NO, HE DIDN’T LEARN.
Track 1 – 何でもない日 - It’s only 4:23 but it feels like it’s at least 5 minutes long. The old-school jazz piano is great, but beginning a song with a backing clap-track is a pretty shitty move, unless you’re banking on annoying your audience. The chorus is nice (a nicely snycopated chant of “sore nani ni ore wa” being the centerpiece) but it’s also a little intangible, not really standing out from the verses much. I could listen to this as a piano piece, honestly, but the uninspired rhythm of everything else (and that clap-track!! JESUS) ruins it.
Track 2 – ダメ人間ブルース – Starts off more promising than the lead track, with a great, infectious melody to the lyrics and an authentic folk/bluegrass style. The BIG unfortunate thing here is that his voice sounds terrible. At least on ‘Gyakkou’ he made an effort to sing. Then at around 1:40 he starts repeating the same line about twenty times before a modicum of awesome harmonica comes in to break that up. He seems to find his key in the second verse, but it’s not enough. Fuck this song by the three minute mark and no signs of slowing down (it’s 6:24 long).
Track 3 – 君との未来 - This middle-of-the-road ballad starts off sounding like something lost from the back-catalog of Whitney Houston, and then proceeds to almost but not quite rip off the melody of ‘Jidai’, a far-superior ballad found on ‘Gyakkou’. I’m starting to realize that the novelty of his gravelly voice is starting to grate on me so hard at this point. THIS SONG IS JUST OVER 7 MINUTES LONG AND THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THAT. The rawness of his first album is here strippd away and replaced by an annoyingly over-produced feeling. It sucks for him.
Track 4 – 禁煙席とコーヒー – Starts off with harmonica, which lulls me into a false sense of security. He’s turned away from Bruce and Dave Matthews here, and is in full-on Bob Dylan mode, including the same sort of cadence to his vocals, if that’s possible in Japanese (in certainly sounds like it). The song is unadorned with crappy backing tracks or even any other instruments, and is really just a kid with his guitar and a harmonica. It retains the awesome “we just recorded this in the club one day” feeling from ‘Gyakkou’, and that’s what makes it my favorite track from this album. The absolutely unsurprising part is that it is by far the shortest song on the album at 3:43. What. I want to point out that by saying it’s my favorite song on the album, I’m still saying that it’s annoying as Hell.
You are so far from a badass that a badass couldn't see you with a telescope, stop trying.
Track 5 – 君らしく – Boasts the best vocals on the album. I can’t believe, after they didn’t even try with the first three songs, that his voice still has the ability to sound so on-key and lovely. But there it is – he actually does have a beautiful voice. That said, it’s a boring ballad that’s over-produced and could just as easily have been put on record by any other singer. And it’s over 7 minutes long. Fucking stop that.
Track 6 – 気楽にいこうぜ！！ – There are two exclamation points in this title, and I am slightly happy with the dirty electric guitar that opens it. Then that fucking clap-track is back. The melody is okay but it sounds like something that wasn’t good enough for ‘Gyakkou’, which is probably true. I guess this is my second favorite track on the album, if you combine the fact of the bearable sound of it with its length being only just over five minutes long. It’s short by this mini-album’s standards. I don’t want to have to listen to the last track again. I had already made my mind up on first listen, by this point, that I hated this album. But I’ll soldier on through.
Track 7 – 世界よ変われ – It’s a shame that this song, which actually isn’t that bad, has to follow so much terrible, terrible music. He does some cool stuff with rhythm around the halfway mark, but that’s a long time to wait. I can’t even disinfect my brain long enough to review it objectively. I’m sorry, song, I judge you on the company you keep. You should be ashamed of yourself. It might be good, but I have better things to do with my day and if I can shave off an extra 6:47 I consider myself the winner.
Dear Date Koji: I want my money back.
