:+: No Music No Life :+:

Sunday, April 19, 2009

CD Review :: Kuroki Meisa - hellcat EP

CD Only Cover :

CD + DVD Cover :

Tracklist :

1) Hear the alarm ?
2) Like This
3) Bad Girl
4) Criminal
5) No , no , no
6) SEX
7) Lost
8) THIS IS CRAZY

hellcat is model/actress turned singer Kuroki Meisa's debut mini album . It was released 2 Wed's ago on 8th April .

No singles are included in hellcat . Instead , 3 album tracks received music videos of their own & while Kuroki didn't wrote any lyrics in hellcat , she co-composed 3 of them in the form of Criminal , SEX & Lost .

Before I go on , just a bit of f.y.i in that Kuroki's label mates with Yuna Ito & YUI . All 3 ladies's music material are released under STUDIOSEVEN Recordings .

Hear the alarm ? is a great hot R&B tune to get things started & it's 1 of the most recent & not to mention addictive tracks that I have came across & I love it that it gets seriously & insanely addicted as each listen goes by .

I love the somewhat futuristic sounding melody pertaining to Hear the alarm ? I should add .

Like This is her 1st digital single which was released last year on June 18th as Chaku-Uta and June 21 as full Chaku-Uta . It was used in Toshiba's Sportio (au) commercial which starred Kuroki herself .

Just like Hear the alarm ? , Like This's also another catchy piece of R&B tune . I remembered when I 1st reviewed about Like This alongside with Bad Girl , I didn't like it for some weird reason but I'm ok with this now .

Bad Girl is the 1st album track that received a music video of its own on hellcat & it was used in the Toho film Crows Zero II .

To say that Bad Girl's just a bad ass tune on all levels's an understatement . I wouldn't go into how raunchy the video's for Bad Girl since it's more for the guys to watch & not for me to see but you can definitely see yourself hearing such a tune in a club where people just get down & dirty on the dance floor .

Criminal is the 2nd album track to receive a music video & this's the 1st song that Kuroki had a hand in co-composing .

I really adore Criminal on 1st listen as the beats , lyrics & the tune gel very well together . That & also the music video's kinda like a mini movie of sorts which's like Tomb Raider in a way & it's so neat .

No , no , no is another good song although I realise compared to the other tracks on hellcat , it has a more poppy side of things which's a good thing so that Kuroki's able to balance things out & prevent the album from becoming a full blown R&B effort .

SEX is the 2nd song that Kuroki co-composed & well with a song title like that , I can't say anything much other than the fact that this's 1 hot mid tempo R&B tune & the chorus pretty much said it all when Kuroki sings 'going crazy cos I'm thinking about sex' .

Lost is the last tune that was co-composed by Kuroki & this's sorta the only ballad in hellcat which's nice as sometimes too many upbeat tunes in a single album can be a bad thing so I'm glad that she decided to sing this ballad inspired like no. .

THIS IS CRAZY is a great track to close off her debut mini album & this's 1 of my fave album tracks . I just love the whiplash effect pertaining to the melody & it's a guilt pleasure song to listen to .

Wow , what can I say ? Kuroki Meisa's hellcat is 1 of the most surprising albums that I have came across for the year , let alone for a debut album .

I was real impressed with the quality of the songs found on hellcat & here I was at the beginning being very skeptical to listen to her music especially since Kuroki's by right an actress & a model & for her to start a music career , it's tricky business but it's great to know that the production , songs , lyrics , melody found on hellcat is an overall real solid effort .

My only grouse's that being a mini album , hellcat doesn't tend to allow Kuroki to showcase other type of genres that I thought she might do especially ballads as Lost's pretty much the only ballad of sorts found on hellcat .

I suppose she decided to stick to more funky upbeat R&B tunes as frankly she doesn't have the best vocals around so she did so to cover her somewhat limited vocal ability .

But other than that , a great job that Kuroki Meisa has accomplished & the fact that she had a hand in co-composing 3 tunes on hellcat is commendable . The nun has really left the building (watch One Pound Gospel & you know what I mean) & this's essentially hot bitch R&B music at its best .

Do yourself a favor & buy/listen to hellcat , you'll be surprised on what kind of music journey Kuroki Meisa has in store for you from the start to the end & hopefully this wil mark nothing but new music beginnings for her .

I hope she can release a new single & hopefully a full length album in due time but until then , I will just settle in playing hellcat on my stereo in enjoying this solid debut offering that she has released .