[2014.04.23] Lovendor - Bukiyo (Mini-album)

[Anderei]

Lovendor mini-album, and their first to contain original content. 5 tracks, 2 MVs, and 3 live performances.
 
There will be a pre-release on 3/29 and 3/30 at the Satoyama event.
 
Tracklist:

[Disc 1]

1. 不器用(MusicVideo) (Bukiyou (MusicVideo))

2. むせび泣く(MusicVideo) (Musebi Naku (MusicVideo))

3. 人生マニアック(Live@LIQUID ROOM) (Jinsei Maniac (Live@LIQUID ROOM))

4. 思うがままを信じて(Live@LIQUID ROOM) (Omou ga Mama wo Shinjite (Live@LIQUID ROOM))

5. BINGO(Live@LIQUID ROOM)
 
[Disc 2]

1. 不器用 (Bukiyou)

2. むせび泣く(Musebi Naku)

3. 880円 (880yen)

4. BINGO

5. だけどもう一度 それでももう一度 (Dakedo Mou Ichidou Soredemo Mou Ichidou)
 
Stuff Sohee from jplop got from CDJapan:
- Bukiyou is a "heavy, emo" song

- Neesan did the music to bluesy "Musebinaku"

- "Dakedo mou ichido soredemo mou ichido," is a Nakajima Takui cover, he also participate as chorus for that song

- Their label has also changed from Up Front to "Daiki sound" which is an indies label, not related to Up Front.
 
I included fan-recordings of 800yen and BINGO from their tour.
 

[Elpis]

I actually heard about this release. In UF Licks, I saw they had a Making of video for the PV. I haven't had a chance to see it though. Hopefully Reina will finally ditch ears.

[Anderei]

Cover

 

[arcobaleno]

Well, at least she doesn't have cat ears.

[Anderei]

Other than the fact that the album is missing the title (which lots of albums do anyway), I think it's a great cover. Everyone looks nice, they took the photo in a real place, and they were all actually there at the same time when the photo was taken. They're not a grungy rock band and aren't ever going to look the part. People just need to get over it.

[JPope]

Are people really mad that they're not grungy? It seems to me most people are disappointed that they A) aren't really a band and B) aren't all that interesting. If Lovendor were doing songs like Scandal, ZONE or even 80★PAN!, I don't think there would be nearly the amount of disappointment attached to them.

[arcobaleno]

[quote="JPope"]
Are people really mad that they're not grungy? It seems to me most people are disappointed that they A) aren't really a band and B) aren't all that interesting. If Lovendor were doing songs like Scandal, ZONE or even 80★PAN!, I don't think there would be nearly the amount of disappointment attached to them.
[/quote]
 
Definitely not. As a huge fan of Scandal, I can vouch if they had songs like theirs, I'd love Lovendor.
 
Lovendor just doesn't seem to be all that like a rock band. Just an idol one, at least to me.

[Anderei]

Most of the complains I see nowadays are about the way they're dressed. I think people keep forgetting it's a band centered around Reina. The way Lovendor dresses is very similar to how Reina dresses herself.
 
Also, Arco, I don't know how most Scandal fans feel, but to me they're basically an idol band.

[JPope]

Scandal is definitely an idol band (and didn't they create the term "bandol" for ZONE?), but they just seem more honest about it. Part of the problem is that Up Front was promoting Lovendor as more of a legit rock act and less of an idol group, while presenting them as mostly an idol group. Then they released an album of rock covers, but continued to used session guns for the rhythm section. It's like they couldn't decide what they really wanted them to be, or maybe there were competing interests. Like Tsunku wanted them to be a rock band but the suits wanted them to be more of an idol band, and neither side cared enough to put their foot down and demand they be one or the other.
 
Everything about this project has been poorly planned and executed as far as I'm concerned. They are the most awkward looking group I think I've ever seen. I literally cringe every time I see anything they do.

[Anderei]

That's true, but now that they're under a new label maybe things will start to get better. Other than them slapping his name on the audition, though, it looks like Tsunku hasn't been involved in Lovendor at all. Which might be why it's been so slow. Look at how long it took The Possible to get back up and running once Tsunku stopped writing for them.
 
I'm kind of curious as to what Reina's ideas were for them that she told TM Revolution got shot down, because I'm wondering if some of them were actually good.
 
Also, an HQ rip of Bukiyou is out. I like it a lot. Reina and Marina are getting good at harmonizing together. Musically this is the direction I'd like to see Lovendor continue to go in. I think people who were disappointed with the weird covers of older songs will like this.
 
PV Preview
 
They're also going to have a taping on Music Japan on 4/14 at the same time as Morning Musume.

[star]

I love love love Bukiyou!! Although, haven't we heard a fan recording of this before?? I remember there being a bunch of new original material posted in the LoVendoR thread from part of their live house tour I think. This just sounds familiar though.

[Anderei]

I think so, but on jplop they mentioned that the lyrics were changed.
 
Edit: I went and checked. Bukiyo is brand new.

[star]

Ah ok. I scrolled back through the LoVendoR thread and found the ones that were posted, and after listening to them, I remembered why I had hope for this band and why I started to beleive that they could actually make it as a band.

[smtmissin]

When Reina and Marina sing together at least give Marina a chance to dominate Reina's voice for a chorus or so. As much as I love Reina, too much of her voice tires me out.

[Anderei]

As nice a her voice is, part of me feels like adding Marina was a mistake. I've seen bands where the official members are just a vocalist and the bassist/guitarist, but I can't think of any band of the top of my head with two dedicated vocalists where both of them also play no instruments. Added to that, they're awkward together on stage because Marina is nowhere near as charismatic as Reina is (not that this is surprising, given how long Reina has been in the business but still).
 
I think that if they had just one vocalist, let Neesan write songs since she's interested in it (plus bring back whoever was involved in Bukiyou, I look forward to when the cd comes out so we get details), allow the girls to have some input and never went through that long period of covering all those songs, the band would be much better than they are now.
 
But like Star said, some of the original material they've been putting out makes me have hope for them as a band. I look forward to hearing the song Neesan did the music for and the Takui cover.

[JPope]

For some reason I missed the Bukiyou rip earlier. I like the song quite a bit, but not so much the production. I honestly think it's too heavy and raw -- mostly raw I think, because it almost sounds more like a really well mixed demo as opposed to a final mix. Most of the drum fills, and especially the double kick drum bit near the end, are way over the top and unnecessary to me. 
 
Still this is the best thing they've done by far and I like this direction. 

[star]

Like I said, I love bukiyo. Also I just now got a chance to watch the music video and I can't wait to get a longer version!

[Anderei]

Musebi Naku PV at 1:26 on UF Licks this week.
 
It's the full PV but according to Reina, this isn't the version appearing on the album. This is the song that Uozumi Yuki wrote the music for. Takui did the lyrics.

[smtmissin]

I am not completely satisfied with Marina either, but a girl with voice AND stage presence wouldn't want to join such a half-hearted band. I keep on feeling sad that Takahashi isn't in the band instead of Marina.
Both songs sound so great, but management should stop over-exploiting Reina's voice, or else all the sales will go to Reina's fan, and just like any idol who retired from their sucessful group (Maeda Atsuko, Akanishi Jin), some fans will stop following them after a while.

[star]

I really like Musebi Naku. The lyrics are nice and listening to those lovely guitars at the end was simply splendid. I don't like how whenever they sing together all you can hear is Reina. I like Reina and all, but if they are both singing then I want to hear both of them and not just her.

[Anderei]

Radio preview (~2 min) of BINGO.
 
This is one of the songs they played at their live-house tour.

[Anderei]

Bukiyou PV at 4:15.
 
No word on which song they're performing at Music Japan, but I'm going to guess that it'll be Bukiyou.

[Anderei]

Two upcoming performances on Girls Live:
 
4/24 - Bukiyou
5/15 - Musebinaku
 

[ShiroiChanUK]

To me a real band has to have a guitarist, pianist, drummer and vocalist and I mean proper ones, not ones who only know how to play the songs they're given by other people. As I've said that I think it's pretty clear that they get bonus points if they write their own material.
 
The only upside in this mess is that it sounds like Reina is actually trying to sing properly.

[smtmissin]

Musebi Naku and Bukiyou's PVs are up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThmN41XqsIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txnRWv3iQaQ&noredirect=1

[Anderei]

You can also watch them record the mini-album on the latest UF Licks. It's the first segment after the intro.

[al kusanagi]

It's up on US itunes if anyone is interested.

[star]

[quote="Al Kusanagi"]
It's up on US itunes if anyone is interested.
[/quote]
This made my day! . . . Although I looked for it and I can't find it.

[al kusanagi]

It's under Lovendor with that backwards R. I put in Lovendo and it auto-filled the R for me.

[star]

Thank you!