RADWIMPS - ANTI ANTI GENERATION Album Thoughts(J-rockl)

   Radwimps decides to stroll out with a brand new album for fans and critics alike after two years. This band is on a roll pushing out enough material so that Japan doesn't forget about them. The Your Name(Anime Film) craze is dying down now which means that Radwimps has to keep pumping out music that granted them their huge fanbase in the first place. Anti Anti Generation landed at number one on the Japanese charts, making it the band's third number one of their careers. They're really riding high as a comet in the sky right now. The tie- in singles for the album did very well too. How is the quality of the music though?

Tracklist
01. Anti Anti overture
02. tazuna
03. NEVER EVER ENDER
04. IKIJIBIKI feat.Taka
05. カタルシスト
06. 洗脳(Anti Anti Mix)
07. そっけない
08. _宿題発表-skit
09. PAPARAZZI～＊この物語はフィクションです～
10. HOCUSPOCUS
11. 万歳千唱
12. I I U
13. 泣き出しそうだよ feat.あいみょん
14. TIE TONGUE feat.Miyachi, Tabu Zombie
15. Mountain Top
16. サイハテアイニ
17. 正解(18FES ver.)

 

  I'll say state my opinion right off the bat without beating around the bush. Anti Anti Generation was very incomplete to my ears. The whole body of work felt like that there was something missing that would have made the album feel con-jointed. I for one love that Radwimps can be a very experimental band as this album continues to show listeners. Tracks are very diverse in experimentation. There's rock and jazz together in one track where the horns and saxophones are very noticeable. Rap bars that wrap around those rock anthems that sync in time rapidly. Then comes in the pop ballads that are sure to please Japanese listeners when they want to feel anything at all. Each track just didn't flow well together for a full concept that should have come out of Anti Anti Generation's existence. Things got even worse when you get to tracks that literally have some of the same melodies that were used in the theme songs for Your Name. Someone at Radwimp's record label must have laid down some ground rules that read under the fine print, a must for recreating the happy and upbeat rock signature songs that name them a household name. I expect this from them BUT give me something new using the same formula, not reusing the same melody along with the same beat. The highlights of the album are the collaboration with One Ok Rock's lead singer Taka and the two tracks that came right after this track. The Aimyon feature was a surprise for me since I love her music, but the song could be taken as very underwhelming. I tried to make myself love this track because of Aimyon…… Those vocals are very average to me though. They both don't sound bad…. The song just sounds very basic. Aimyon deserves better considering her good vocals. Loved the mixture of English and Japanese in the vocals and I liked Mountain Top when it was first released as a digital single. I wish Radwimp had kept that dark edge to their music that they had when their music was kinda known in Japan. Now, their music is VERY well known and it's causing a strain on their music to conform to being more bright, poppy, and love struck for the masses. Their music wasn't like that before Your Name, however people who became fans because of the film don't know that. Conforming is alright if your music doesn't take a dip in quality like this album unfortunately did.

  The struggle was real on some of the tracks this time around. From a weird vocal high note that sounded awful in one of the tracks to there being too many songs that allow you to hear the imperfections in the vocals. Vocal highlights for the album are when Radwimps is back in their element performing regular rock tracks.

   I only liked about five songs, maybe six out of the whole album. Radwimps is a very good band until you have them giving away their souls to sell out. I'm sure a lot of their old fans don't listen to them anymore because they don't bring the same fire to their music that they use to. Blame mainstream popularity folks.