new album "A ONE" 2015.04.08 in stores IV

[oaristos]

Yep, I think it's a short version since it ends quite... abruptly. I'm getting even more excited for A ONE!

[TheRainbow]

What a nice preview!

[ayujarl]

A Bell reminds me of Ghibli studio movies, such as Spirited Away, music by Joe Hisaishi.

magic, calm and beauty

[primavera♥]

Originally Posted by ayujarl

A Bell reminds me of Ghibli studio movies, such as Spirited Away, music by Joe Hisaishi.

magic, calm and beauty

Saaaame. That's exactly what I thought. And that's a good feeling lol

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

a Bell has to explode at some point. You can't have a piano/ethereal-esque intro track when the next song is WARNING... lol

[Heavenly]

a Bell reminds me of overture from Love songs.

[Surreal17]

Originally Posted by Heavenly

a Bell reminds me of overture from Love songs.

I was thinking the same thing

[Isicio]

浜崎あゆみ / a Bell（from 2015.4.8 Release "A ONE"）: https://youtu.be/r6MXtYWDKMs

[freedreamer]

omg its sooo beautiful

[freedreamer]

avex is strange LOL..uploading Walk too when it was a single track =.=

[zellyx]

I can't handle the waaaaaaaaait

[xLuna&1LOVE]

a Bell is so... dramatic. But it is very nice. I cannot wait for my copy any longer

[Delirium-Zer0]

"a Bell" is just SO post-HAL Yuta Nakano - way to tell us right out of the gate "This is going to be an Ayu album! Like how she sounded before!"

Good show, intro. Way to do your job!

[mizuki-7]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

"a Bell" is just SO post-HAL Yuta Nakano - way to tell us right out of the gate "This is going to be an Ayu album! Like how she sounded before!"

Good show, intro. Way to do your job!

as soon as I heard it I told myself "wow that sound so much like HAL in the past" and it's a really good thing because I miss HAL arrangements ... What happend ? Why they don't work together anymore?

[Delirium-Zer0]

Originally Posted by mizuki-7

as soon as I heard it I told myself "wow that sound so much like HAL in the past" and it's a really good thing because I miss HAL arrangements ... What happend ? Why they don't work together anymore?

It COULD have something to do with creative differences after the HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR album. That was a very cool album (though I think halca needed more time to get used to singing in a studio... live she sounded amazing but she lacked power on CD), but I had no idea it was a HΛL production when I first heard it. It doesn't sound HΛL-ish at all.

Toshiharu Umesaki was one of the two founding members of HΛL and he does still work under that name producing & maybe managing indie artists... but he hasn't released any major recordings.

Takehito Shimizu, who was the other half of HAL until 2011, was a guitarist before joining HΛL, and he's back to playing guitar again. (He's on NOW & 4EVA, for example.)

Atsushi Sato was part of the original duo and left in late 2002... He was in the group before RAINBOW, and while HΛL was a group with HΛLNA on vocals. He left first to produce on his own as ats- (pronounced like "A.T.S.") instead of his full name (which is the same as EXILE ATSUSHI... AND a comedian, AND a TV producer... so that's hilarious). He's still with avex, still quite active. He's done production work for AAA and Tackey & Tsubasa recently, for example.

Yuta Nakano.... that's an interesting chapter of the story. He was added to the group (along with Shimizu) when ats- left, and that formation of HΛL are who did much of RAINBOW.

Well, Yuta Nakano didn't stay in the group very long, but once he left, his production sound... was suddenly the HΛL sound. Where it had NOT been before (He got his start in early 2000 by remixing Fly high with the vocal track, and his remix was one of the three "fan remixes" that got chosen for inclusion on ayu-mi-x II NSMM... he did remixes of SEASONS and NEVER EVER as well before joining HΛL). It's like he joined the group, stole a bunch of their secrets, and left! lol...

HΛL (as just Takehito Shimizu and Toshiharu Umesaki) kept doing their sound too... But in the meantime, Yuta Nakano kept most of the HΛL tropes - piano with reverb on it, that "Paahhh!" sound effect, some of the electronic twinkle/beep sounds - and brought that sound forward, gradually updating it for the times. HΛL didn't do that to the same degree... the mix got more modernized but the music didn't get heavier. Their stuff got much more generic - that seems mean to say, but it's exactly what happened. HAL's once-singular sound was gone and they sounded much more run-of-the-mill, much more typical. You couldn't identify their production work in a lineup anymore, you know? Basically Yuta Nakano did HΛL better than HΛL did. He seemed to "get" what made their sound special when they lost sight of it.

Eventually HΛL's production just wasn't interesting anymore and their work sorta petered out.

....That post was longer than I intended it to be. But if you read it, thank you! lol

[mizuki-7]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

It COULD have something to do with creative differences after the HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR album. That was a very cool album (though I think halca needed more time to get used to singing in a studio... live she sounded amazing but she lacked power on CD), but I had no idea it was a HΛL production when I first heard it. It doesn't sound HΛL-ish at all.

Toshiharu Umesaki was one of the two founding members of HΛL and he does still work under that name producing & maybe managing indie artists... but he hasn't released any major recordings.

Takehito Shimizu, who was the other half of HAL until 2011, was a guitarist before joining HΛL, and he's back to playing guitar again. (He's on NOW & 4EVA, for example.)

Atsushi Sato was part of the original duo and left in late 2002... He was in the group before RAINBOW, and while HΛL was a group with HΛLNA on vocals. He left first to produce on his own as ats- (pronounced like "A.T.S.") instead of his full name (which is the same as EXILE ATSUSHI... AND a comedian, AND a TV producer... so that's hilarious). He's still with avex, still quite active. He's done production work for AAA and Tackey & Tsubasa recently, for example.

Yuta Nakano.... that's an interesting chapter of the story. He was added to the group (along with Shimizu) when ats- left, and that formation of HΛL are who did much of RAINBOW.

Well, Yuta Nakano didn't stay in the group very long, but once he left, his production sound... was suddenly the HΛL sound. Where it had NOT been before (He got his start in early 2000 by remixing Fly high with the vocal track, and his remix was one of the three "fan remixes" that got chosen for inclusion on ayu-mi-x II NSMM... he did remixes of SEASONS and NEVER EVER as well before joining HΛL). It's like he joined the group, stole a bunch of their secrets, and left! lol...

HΛL (as just Takehito Shimizu and Toshiharu Umesaki) kept doing their sound too... But in the meantime, Yuta Nakano kept most of the HΛL tropes - piano with reverb on it, that "Paahhh!" sound effect, some of the electronic twinkle/beep sounds - and brought that sound forward, gradually updating it for the times. HΛL didn't do that to the same degree... the mix got more modernized but the music didn't get heavier. Their stuff got much more generic - that seems mean to say, but it's exactly what happened. HAL's once-singular sound was gone and they sounded much more run-of-the-mill, much more typical. You couldn't identify their production work in a lineup anymore, you know? Basically Yuta Nakano did HΛL better than HΛL did. He seemed to "get" what made their sound special when they lost sight of it.

Eventually HΛL's production just wasn't interesting anymore and their work sorta petered out.

....That post was longer than I intended it to be. But if you read it, thank you! lol

Wow thank you for such a long post
I really like HAL sound especially during Duty to Rainbow ! This kind of digital/ambient sound mixed with other musical instruments etc... but from what I read on the web the persons responsible of this kind of sound were Toshiharu Umesaki & Atsushi Sato ...and now I read your post I understand why this sound progressively disappeared after 2003 if the group broke out !

The interlude "Rebirth" on Guilty is the last song with this kind of atmosphere ! Yuta Nakano sure mimics HΛL from time to time but something is missing in his arrangements... it must be this digital/ambient sound ?

[Surreal17]

I saw a pic of A ONE CD on Facebook earlier. Please leak already

[freedreamer]

i pray for a siren in "a Bell" HAHA and then it kicks into this sick guitar section and leads into WARNING perfectly..like Pieces of SEVEN

[Yoake]

Originally Posted by oaristos

a Bell (from ayu's official YouTube channel): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6MXtYWDKMs

sublime. This intro is just wonderful. Can't wait to hear it in full version.

[AyuGAME]

omg a Bell is so wonderful and touching...i love it

i hope she will make a real song out of this instrumental track (just like what happened with mirror)