[Ai Otsuka] The 20th Official Thread - New Album "LOVE TRiCKY", 2015.4.22

[haraiso]

Originally Posted by jean-baptiste

Anyone know how long Ai's been crediting herself as "aio?"

I think she started with Re:NAME (October 2013).

[NintendoHTF1242]

Originally Posted by Chiharo

@NintendoHTF1242

Thank you so much for the album pics! Is it possible that you could rip the album in lossless?

I'll try later tonight after I'm done at the gym! Is Apple Loseless fine? I've never ripped a CD at Loseless before so I'm just making sure lol

[koumori]

Thanks for the uploads, and booklet/packing photos. This album is glorious... what LOVE FANTASTIC should have been for her comeback.

EDIT: Although there's no real weak links in the album line-up, my favourite so far is affair.

[Chiharo]

Originally Posted by NintendoHTF1242

I'll try later tonight after I'm done at the gym! Is Apple Loseless fine? I've never ripped a CD at Loseless before so I'm just making sure lol

I'd be forever grateful! And yeah, apple lossless is completely fine (also ticking the "use error correction" box would be appreciated). Can't wait to listen to the album.

[Miichan]

Love Tricky is fantastic, so many amazing tunes for summer nights!
The full tracks are even better than the previews.

[attractive nausea]

Alright you guys made me curious, i'm downloading her album right as i'm writing, i've never listened to her before though.

[Delicious n Bold]

^ it's so worth it!!!

[Zeke.]

This shit should have came out yesterday on 4/20 with it being so trippy. Lol.

[jean-baptiste]

Originally Posted by haraiso

I think she started with Re:NAME (October 2013).

Thank you!

Gonna hear the album later tonight. Very excited!

[prussian blue]

This album is really a bunch of hot stuff. I've stopped listening to her since LOVE COOK, but she caught my attention again this time

[Delicious n Bold]

Wait I just read about the road trip!! Omg that sounds like a friggen blast lol
We'd end up at the beach with tekillya and corona and maybe some deep fried and breaded meats lol

[Zeke.]

This album really isn't all that people. The following songs from her last album are better than ALL the songs on this new piece of material:

LOVE FANTASTIC
LUCKY*STAR
CHUxCHU
Mawari Mawaru Mawareba Mawaro
Lai Lai
9

Lai Lai is everything.

Almost all the tracks on the new album sound as if their melodies are interchangeable. And the melodies for most of the choruses are way too repetitive. It's like the same notes repeated - no progression. The melody is like a bar long. Some of the songs are enough to drive you mad.

Dislike summer lovely days a lot, but seriously loathe affair. That song is RANCID. I'm like "what the FUCK is going on here? What is she trying to accomplish with this horrid beast?" It's so utterly disorganized. Sounds like it would be right up Namie's alley though. Just a bunch of crap noise without a proper chord progression to really highlight any hint of a melody.

My favs were:
busy lady

That's it. I gave it 4 stars.

reach for the moon I gave 3. Time Machine, laugh, I'm lonely, and shooting star I gave 2. The rest I gave none cause I'll probably never listen to again.

[chocopockymaster]

Originally Posted by Delicious n Bold

Wait I just read about the road trip!! Omg that sounds like a friggen blast lol
We'd end up at the beach with tekillya and corona and maybe some deep fried and breaded meats lol

I'm drinking tequila on the rocks with a splash of watermelon-cucumber cooler from Trader Joe's...sorry I started the party without y'all. I say we rent a stretch Hummer and just ride around somewhere warm blasting the album.

Originally Posted by Zeke.

This album really isn't all that people.

lol bye, no one invited you to our party anyway

[haraiso]

Originally Posted by Zeke.

Lai Lai is everything.

And the melodies for most of the choruses are way too repetitive. It's like the same notes repeated - no progression.

Not you blasting this album for supposed repetitive melodies...when Lai Lai is just like 5 notes repeating for the entire song with no change except for some brief guitar rifts overlayed at the end.

[Delicious n Bold]

Lol Zeke.'s coming for blood.

[chocopockymaster]

You guys--I just wanted to thank you for the amazing day, and for our brother Nintendo for sharing his rip with us. What a wonderful bonding experience, y'all. I had the shittiest night ever and coming home to this album was a godsend. SO THANK YOU

[Tom Punks]

Originally Posted by Zeke.

This album really isn't all that people. The following songs from her last album are better than ALL the songs on this new piece of material:

LOVE FANTASTIC
LUCKY*STAR
CHUxCHU
Mawari Mawaru Mawareba Mawaro
Lai Lai
9

Lai Lai is everything.

Almost all the tracks on the new album sound as if their melodies are interchangeable. And the melodies for most of the choruses are way too repetitive. It's like the same notes repeated - no progression. The melody is like a bar long. Some of the songs are enough to drive you mad.

Dislike summer lovely days a lot, but seriously loathe affair. That song is RANCID. I'm like "what the FUCK is going on here? What is she trying to accomplish with this horrid beast?" It's so utterly disorganized. Sounds like it would be right up Namie's alley though. Just a bunch of crap noise without a proper chord progression to really highlight any hint of a melody.

My favs were:
busy lady

That's it. I gave it 4 stars.

reach for the moon I gave 3. Time Machine, laugh, I'm lonely, and shooting star I gave 2. The rest I gave none cause I'll probably never listen to again.

See, this is what I was saying! lol

I guess I've just outgrown Ai because I love this kind of music but think these songs stink. The compositions are so incredibly barren and feel amateur, and then the production (mostly the vocal mixing... and just her timbre in general, which I find grating now) ruin the pieces of songs that I think have potential. I don't think she's ever been a great songwriter, but she could do bubblegum pop just fine and did well with her earlier ballads when she was actually playing around and not just doing generic piano stuff.

I don't think she's cut out for this more "mature" café-style songwriting she's been trying to do the past few albums. Because she's really not a strong composer, she tends to fall back on really repetitive and overly simplistic melodies that never build to anything. Everything falls flat when she's not hiding behind being cute or quirky or crazy honestly.

IMO, these songs just really highlight Ai's faults as a songwriter. They're not musically strong but try to hide that behind layers and layers of synths and vocal effects, so they sort of sound fine at a glance but beyond that there's no compositional substance to any of them. That sounds really pretentious, but idk how else to word it lmao.

affair had parts that I thought had potential on first listen, but that chorus (or whatever that is she starts the song on) is the most melodically drab thing I've heard in a long time. X_X It evokes nothing and certainly doesn't belong in the song stylistically. The whole song feels like she sat down and forced herself to write something honestly. Actually, the album as a whole kind of feels like that.

I'd probably like I'm lonely from a different vocalist, and maybe laugh. I shouldn't get into the vocals though, since I haven't really been a fan of her voice since LOVE COOK. x_x

I don't think it's a bad album for Ai's standards at all though really. I just think I've outgrown this really bare-bones, simplistic style of songwriting. If this were 2005, I'd probably be all over this shit too lol

[NintendoHTF1242]

Originally Posted by chocopockymaster

You guys--I just wanted to thank you for the amazing day, and for our brother Nintendo for sharing his rip with us. What a wonderful bonding experience, y'all. I had the shittiest night ever and coming home to this album was a godsend. SO THANK YOU

Aww no problem! It was such a blast. Haven't had this much fun on AHS since the Utada thread where we were making Religious song titles LOL!

And Zeke. lol I'll respect your opinion. But as a long time fan of Ai, this has been the best thing she's released since her hiatus. LOVE FANTASTIC was basic Ai, but Ai didn't even pull that off. I'm loving this new sound, and I hope she keeps it up. I want more "end and and"-type songs because that sound is SO unique. I can't think of any songs that are similar to it.

[Delicious n Bold]

Originally Posted by chocopockymaster

You guys--I just wanted to thank you for the amazing day, and for our brother Nintendo for sharing his rip with us. What a wonderful bonding experience, y'all. I had the shittiest night ever and coming home to this album was a godsend. SO THANK YOU

Definitely gonna give thanks to Nintendo! He's the best for uploading this album!
And it was so cool to bond over it, it was like a religious experience (like in the utada thread omg!!). Just before my exam too! I've also been having a rancid cough and this album is healing me. I remember mika nakashima's latest release was labeled a healing album and all it did was induce me into an almost permanent coma.
Just wait for namie's album, omg that'll be another adventure.

[jean-baptiste]

Aww wish I hadn't missed the bonding! Glad you guys have had a great experience with his album. Ai never fails to deliver for me.

Thanks again Nintendo!