1) Ah Ah 2) Taste My Skin 3) in my hands 4) FROZEN ROSE 5) MY LULLABY 6) Somebody Help Me
Taste My Beat EP is Anna Tsuchiya's 1st solo / mini album after the disband of Spin Aqua .
This 6 track mini album was released 3 years ago on the 24th Aug in Japan . Although no singles were released from Taste My Beat , Taste My Skin was used as a radio single for promotion and had a PV to go with it .
I have been a fan of this under-rated/super cool lady for quite sometime now ever since I discovered her music that she did for the NANA anime series but it was only recently I decided to go more indepth & focus on her 1st mini album & subsequently her debut album strip me ? .
Despite the fact that Anna was born & raised in Japan , a good bulk of her music is sung in Eng especially the B sides that're found in her singles which surprises me because it's quite an unusual move to sing most of your material in Eng with a bit of Japanese lyrics thrown in considering that Eng's by right not Anna's 1st language .
As such whenever I listen to her music , most of the time I will tend to forget that by right she's a JPop/Rock artiste to begin with .
But I must say that her Eng command's good & she writes most of the lyrics to her songs which's great .
The 1st song on the EP kick things off with a pretty good no. called Ah Ah . I like the guitar riffs going on in Ah Ah .
Track 2's by right the 1st unofficial single that Anna has put which's Taste My Skin . I say so because she has made a PV for Taste My Skin & oddly enough the song was excluded from her strip me ? album for some reasons although the PV made the cut in the CD + DVD edition of her 1st full length album .
But still I enjoyed Taste My Skin & the PV's really interesting to watch as well .
Track 3's 1 of my fave songs on the EP as it presented a more fun upbeat side to Anna . Titled in my hands , it was used in the Venus Jean CM & it's an enjoyable song to listen .
Next in line's the only slow dramatic ballad on the Taste My Beat EP . Titled FROZEN ROSE , the melody of the song's stunning with an orchestra & sweeping feel to it . Anna has good control of her vocals in this no. & she didn't went over the top when she delivered this power ballad & she did so with ease .
The next track's called MY LULLABY , this's also the shortest track on the EP clocking in at 2:53 mins & unlike the 1st 4 songs & the last one on the album , this's the only song which features Japanese lyrics alongside with Eng ones .
I like the song which has a more gritter & rock sound as compared to the other 5 songs on the EP . MY LULLABY has a nice hard rock edge & touch which I adore .
The final track on the mini album's Somebody Help Me which's a cover of the now US defunct band Full Blown Rose .
Anna's take on Somebody Help Me was used as the Japanese ending theme to Tru Calling .
It's quite interesting that she decided to make a cover of Somebody Help Me . Then again since I never heard the original take of the song done by Full Blown Rose so I leave it as it's .
Anna has great control over her vocals in this angsty driven no. which bear resemblance to the future songs that she has did after she put out the EP in the form of rose & cocoon .
Taste My Beat EP is a nice little package to get yourself familiarise with Anna's music in which I feel her vocals are suitable for singing rock music as she carries the songs on the EP pretty well .
This's strictly a rock mini album although subsequently 2-3 years later , she dabbed in pop and R&B no.s as evident in BUBBLE TRIP & Crazy World but still it's a good effort to listen to .
Blog Personnel
Karen Pang
# 10th Jan
# #1 BREAKERZ fan in Singapore since 2008 debut single ♥
# My music blog consists of JPop/Rock singles & albums reviews that I put my heart , efforts & soul into writing them as I'm disgusted with the way that JPop/Rock music is being treated/written/reviewed in Singapore so to the local media (yes you TEENS , Teenage Magazine & The Strait Times) , screw you all . I basically can write better JPop/Rock reviews , period
