Taichi Mukai(向井太一) - 24 Album Thoughts(J-RnB/Pop)

   I'm back at this again bringing you new music from Japan. I never touched on too much of the indie music scene there because I didn't dive into the area myself. Until now that is. A musical artist caught my eye over the past few months by the name of Taichi Mukai.

1	SPEECHLESS / MUKAI TAICHI SPEECHLESS / 向井太一
2	STAY GOLD / MUKAI TAICHI STAY GOLD / 向井太一
3	SALT / MUKAI TAICHI SALT / 向井太一
4	SIN / MUKAI TAICHI SIN / 向井太一
5	KONOMAMA / MUKAI TAICHI KONOMAMA / 向井太一
6	SLOW DOWN / MUKAI TAICHI SLOW DOWN / 向井太一
7	24 / MUKAI TAICHI 24 / 向井太一

   My first time hearing Taich Mukai's music was on a Japanese music video site where I was watching some new PVs that had com out. His PV for Slow Down was in the suggestions box on the page and I clicked on it out of curiosity. I loved what I heard and decided to search up more information on him later. Sadly, nothing much came up about his music other than a few pictures and his Sound cloud page. I don't give up though so I stopped looking and waited till a later date for more information to appear. IT SURELY DID with the release of his new album 24.  He's mainly an indie artists but he signed to the record label TOY'S FACTORY/MIYA TERRANCE, A label that I'm familiar with. The reason it was so hard for me to find his music was because its sold exclusively through Tower Records in Japan. Its also recently became available on iTunes.(I'm guessing only iTunes Japan....) Or you can go listen to his music on his Sound Cloud.

    I had an idea in my mind of what Taichi's musical style could sound like based on the title track, "Slow Down" but boy was I wrong about this guy. People should stop putting people in boxes based on the one piece of information. And yes. I'm taking my own advice. Anyway,  Taichi Mukai uses a lot of edits in the production of his music. Listening to the first track is like walking into Taichi's own personal club where he's the DJ. He doesn't produce his own tracks but he does write all of his lyrics. I'm pretty sure he has complete control of his musical direction too. Tracks take beats and cut them up, bend them and stretch them out so that the listener will want to move their body along with the rhythm. A lot of 24's tracks aren't as smooth as "Slow Down" but you will want the cool down vibe of the song by the time you hit the track. Dance beat numbers mixed with other musical instruments and voice effect samples are half of the album. Not a lot of Japanese artists use voice effect samples like American artists do. I've heard popular J-artists such as Kumi Koda and Amuro Namie use it in a few songs but only their Hip Hop style tracks. Mukai uses them effectively for a more personal sensual sound. Not to mention he does a lot of his music videos in the bed and his "pour out my heart" lyrics. The last two tracks are a pair that goes together well with the style I was expecting. I like when he lets his music have a more smooth clean approach more than the DJ dance style.  However, Its all growing on me the more I listen.

  Taichi Murkai has a good voice but I wish to hear him belt a note in a song once or twice. He seems to me that he's more about the production of his music than the chance to show his vocal range. I don't know how to really describe how his voice sounds but it matches the RnB/pop/dance genre. During the times that he does get louder, his voice has this growl quality to it that I love. Soul singers tend to have this same trait to their voices when they get excited while vocalizing. He sings in English too but he has to work on pronouncing the ending sounds to words. I sometimes feel like I'm listening to incomplete sentences when trying to hear his English lyrics. His English is fine otherwise.

  There's always room for improvement to grow but Taichi Murkai gives me a feeling that he will be huge one day soon. He might not want that kind of fame or he might end up just being a producer for other artists. I just hope he continues to progress in his music career. If you stay indie, you get to create the kind of music you want to. The music he makes has mass appeal to me. A record label that will give him the tools to full bring out his potential will work wonders for him though. Most of his music videos have good quality for an indie artist too. Check him out in your free time everyone.

***Author's note: The track, "Thinking about you" isn't on the tracklist for some reason...***