2009 Review – Albums

Next in the ’09 recap are albums I liked. You’ll probably notice that this list is going to be fairly small because I don’t  listen to full albums these days. I try but just give up when the songs (outside of single releases) sound like rushed product instead of something one would actually be proud of.

Anyway to avoid confusion I will break my habit & not number this list. =)

Hangry & Angry – Sadistic Dance

Hangry & Angry live up to the hype created by their mini-album (or is it an EP) Kill Me, Kiss Me.  It’s surprisingly strong for a debut album with many great songs such as Top Secret, Mr. Monkey & Doubt.

I felt there should have been 3 more new songs instead of remixes of their older tracks. But that’s not really a big deal considering the album as a whole.

2NE1 – 1st Mini-Album

2NE1 were arguably the best newcomers to the K-Pop scene in 2009 & this album was an example of pop perfection. Pretty much everything on this album was a gem with the standout being Pretty Boy.

Well I can’t say everything was good, there was the collaboration with Big Bang (Lollipop) that still kind of annoys me.  I have a love/hate relationship with that song.

Otherwise great stuff.

Buono! – Buono 2

An excellent follow up to Cafe Buono! that shows that this group is not a one & done done deal like so many other sub-units in H!P seem to be.  The sound is pretty much the standard Buono! Pop/Rock hybrid that was established on their first album.

Of course there are the single releases & songs like I Need You & Early Bird to hook people in but what I found the most interesting was the Coldplay ripoff. … I mean inspired song Goal.  Me thinks one of the producers was listening to Viva La Vida when Goal was being written?

Perfume – Triangle

Game was a juggernaut of an album to live up to & unlike others I wasn’t expecting another album like that out of Perfume. So while many may think this album kind of blows I am of the opinion that it’s a solid piece of work.

I was surprised that there was a slightly less electro influence on the songs on this album.  It wasn’t so drastic a change to say that Nakata has changed up things for Perfume but it was noticeable enough to think that perhaps there will be an evolution in Perfume’s sound eventually?

Ravex – Trax

An album full of House goodness featuring a bunch of Avex heavyweights equals a whole bunch of awesomeness. Songs like Rock U, Golden Luv & New Eccentric Girl are fucking brilliant.  Perhaps the overproduced V.I.P.P. would be considered a low point but the greatness of the other tracks nullifies that.

Scandal – Best Scandal

Scandal’s major label debut wasn’t spectacular but it was a very solid effort that warranted the hype surrounding this group. It was kind of sad to see some songs from their indie albums excluded from this but what was included was some great stuff.

This is one of those albums you can listen to from start to finish easily, it flows that well.

Hikaru Utada – This Is The One

Between BoA’s U.S. debut & Utada’s 2nd shot at U.S. success I chose Utada. Although I don’t mind the electro-pop style of BoA’s album hearing so many of those songs in a row kind of got annoying. Especially considering that most of them sounded the same.

Utada’s album on the other hand is a lot closer to what I listen to outside of J-Pop & while it may be a little raunchier than her Japanese output the album as a whole was fairly decent.  Decent enough that I bought 2 copies of it (digital copy from iTunes & physical CD).