Tracklist
1. L.drunk
2. Magic Music
3. Snowdome
4. wani to kotori
5. dolphin
6. sweetie
7. kirin tan
8. Scratch
9. SWINGING LONDON
10. never land
11. TREE CLIMBERS
12. JOEY BOY
13. Ground Control Album Mix

The album starts off with L.drunk, an interesting song primarily using guitar and marimba (a xylophone of some sorts). It’s fast and fun, using repetition that only adds to its catchiness. I love the jumps in pitch in the chorus. A strong way to start off the album.

The things that makes Magic Music so addicting is its short, pronounced notes; not only is there rhythm with percussion, the vocals stress it even more. And the key change is done fabulously. As always, the lead guitar is great.

Snowdome slows done the pace a bit with softer guitar and vocals. The arrangement is really well done and the vocals are very good. However, this song doesn’t jump out to me after listening to the entire album.

wani to kotori starts with funky-sounding rhythms and counting, making you think that this is fast song; however, it’s another slower-paced song. I find this song more memorable than Snowdome because of its pronounced beats, interesting sound effects and chorus.

The beginning of dolphin reminds me of OLIVIA’s a little pain. Another ballad-like song, dolphin’s verses are soft and somewhat muted, giving it a darker feeling - the use of strings is great here. The chorus is very strong and much louder, and you can feel the emotion. There’s also a great electric guitar solo in the middle. dolphin is the strongest so far out of the three ballad-like songs.

sweetie continues the pattern of slower songs. It starts off with a fun electric guitar line; the arrangement in this one is simpler than her other songs’ arrangements, but it definitely works. I find the verse melody to be very sweet and the chorus is just as good.

kirin tan gets back into slighter faster songs with funky percussion. The verse melody is kind of strange; I can’t imagine many other artists doing something similar. But it’s catchy and the jumps in notes make this song stand out.

Scratch is a cool, funky interlude using drum set, piano, guitar, and electronics. It has a bit of a elevator music quality to it, with a jazz overtone. At the end, Kaela comes in with a few short vocal lines.

SWINGING LONDON starts off with a piano based melody. It’s slower paced song with English phrases inserted in. The bridge features a slight genre change that uses syncopation and a electric guitar/piano duet. Something kind of interesting (but I’m not sure if it actually means anything important to the song) is that Swinging London is phrase that alludes to the pop trends in the UK in the late 60’s. Hm…

A rock ballad of some sorts, never land’s verses have little instrumentation and short notes, while its chorus turn loud and vocals come become more emotionally charged. Never land also uses breaks really well. Near the end, Kaela goes up higher and ends perfectly.

TREE CLIMBERS is fast paced song with catchy English lyrics. The entire song is very fun and its use of repetition is great. The instrumentation buildup with its gradual layers adds to the catchiness and I often have this song stuck in my head.

JOEY BOY features some heavy electronic instrumentation. It’s another fun song with hyperness that you can feel through Kaela’s vocals. I’m not too fond of this song as it can become annoying.

The Album Mix of Ground Control adds in some extra ‘hey!’s, clapping, and few guitar riffs. It’s just as fun and addicting as the original, if not more. As per usual for Kaela, all English lyrics are fairly well pronouced and catchy. A good way to end the album.

Buy this album: CD only

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 5th, 2007 at 7:52 pm and is filed under Japanese Albums. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.