Tracklist
- すべては君のせいで
- 逆バタフライ・エフェクト
- Low way
- (LIKE A)TRANSFER GIRL
- 寛解
- SHINE
- リアリティーズ
- Darling
Base Ball Bear and I have sort of a long history together. It all first started when I found their music video for Change on youtube by chance. Kind of the way you come across all good music East Asian music if your not Asian. This band interested me because their conventional system the band was run with. The band was named Base Ball Bear for gosh sake and their music was catchy but the vocals didn't fit the typical norm of the Japanese music I had already heard at the time. Then I started listening to their albums one by one. I tried to keep up with their releases through the years until other music interests made me forget about them completely. I saw they released a new album thanks to the Oricon Chart's monthly listing. When I saw them on there, I was both excited and sad at the same time because I hadn't been checking for their music. We're talking about on of the bands that got me to a happy place when I was feeling lost or disappointed….. but hey. At lest I'm here talking about them now, right?
Light Source or Kougen is Base Ball Bear's eighth album to date. I'm a bigger fan of them during their Changes to Short Hair era. In fact, I might say that these two songs are my top two favorite tracks by them. Stairway Generation comes in a close third. Base Ball Bear is well known for their pop rock tunes that get caught in the confines on a person's mind for days. Their sound is pop that you can dance to while adding in a hint of rock edge. Kougen is a little more mainstream pop than the last time I've heard one of their albums. They had a definite change in music style to accommodate the new generation of listeners in Japan's society. Even so, the album doesn't throw away the band's away completely. Base Ball Bear's lyrics still are like paint that hit a blank canvas. Each color paint meets the white canvas, combining with each other to form a painting. The lyrics convey the emotions that connect people to each other as well as the effect these emotions have on the being of each person. From the first track to the third track had fragments that reminds me of the Base Ball Bear that i used to listen to as a teenager. Kougen is just Base Ball Bear molding a solid version of their pop rock sound that they were still redefining with the release of each album in the past. The keyboard synchronizes playing normally and adding a digital pop effect on Base Ball Bears songs while the lead guitar and bassist play with precise proficiency. Drums are the part that has enough skill to pull these other parts together as a main sound. Now, you just have to add a more pop mainstream melody and you have the album Kougen. It took me a while to warm up to this album because I felt it was a little too mainstream sounding for my tastes. Kougen is good enough to not be overlooked though. Those guitar solos will also not let this album be passed by without being given a listen at least once.
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| Base Ball Bear during their Change Era |
Yusuke always sounded like a vocalist that joined Base Ball Bear never learning how to sing properly to me. Thats why I said in the beginning of this post that their vocals weren't typical to other bands I had heard at the time. He has improved over the years. He sings out more with a full voice and his falsetto notes are way more stable than they used to be. Shiori sings backup vocals and plays bass. I love when they sing together. The contrast of female and male vocals makes their songs stand out to me. If you listen closely during their songs, you can hear her voice singing right behind Yusuke's.
Kougen isn't a flop but it could have been. I don't like this album as much as I liked their older music. However, the album isn't bad at all.
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