NihyakuWIND – J-Indie Rising

mayonnaise by ego apartment

Released: 22.06.01 / Label: NihyakuWIND

I think “mayonnaise” is the best song title I’ve heard in a long time. I’m already invested and need to know what this is about. I wish this song had it’s own unique artwork but sadly this is just a single from a full album, so we have to look at plums.

It’s time to give ego apartment another chance at a review. I reviewed their song FOG almost a month ago when the blog was just starting out, and a lot has changed since then. For my part, the review style has shifted a bit to be more broad and music focused. For their part, they got a shiny new website up and running and their album has finally dropped! The self-titled but all-caps album “EGO APARTMENT” has found moderate success, with a couple tracks really taking off. I’m definitely interested to hear some of their more popular music, so let’s dive in and see what kind of song they could have possibly written about mayonnaise.

That was so creative and fun! What an absolute joy of a jam they set up here. Really creative grooves, fun lyrics, great pacing, interesting melodic ideas and rhythms in the vocals. This is way better than the last track I heard of theirs. I can definitely hear the time and care that went into this track, which was my big issue with FOG. Where that song sounded rushed and rough around the edges, its clear that each section and instrument here was carefully crafted and perfected here.

I still have an issue with the bad English, but they really cleaned it up a lot this time around so it’s much easier to listen to. That the second vocalist has perfect pronunciation though, and the gap between the two is still jarring to hear. Hopefully that’s something they work out by their next album.

Speaking of sounds, they use a ton of them here. There are guitars, funk basses, sub basses, keyboards, percussion of all kinds, multiple vocal layers. It’s a huge project and it all works together seamlessly. I would really love to know more about their production process, who had what ideas, how they recorded them, all of it. Also a vibraslap. Respect for any band that knows where to place a vibraslap. But all around a stellar job on the mixing this time.

Verdict: Must Listen (4/5)

★★★★★

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FOG by ego apartment

Single Review / Alternative, Pop

Released: 22.05.18 / Label: NihyakuWIND

FOG is the lead single for ego apartment‘s newest self-titled album, and I’ve got to be honest here, this sounds super rushed. Coming from a group that has some great songs in their catalog, this one is just disappointing in so many ways.

The track’s opening is cliché, but it redeems itself with a great pop melody in the verse and bridge. I love the use of ambient noise and guitar fiddling to add texture and motion, but the rhythm section is glaringly bad. The drums are lazily written and the general groove they’ve gone with is flat out boring.

The vocals are well-sung and emotive, something I’ve come to expect from the group, despite one singer not having any idea what he’s saying… The first verse is just unintelligible, which is a shame because the second verse sounds great. I don’t know why they had the tenor sing in English here, he clearly needed more practice. He usually just sticks to the Japanese parts and sounds great doing it. It’s confusing why they would shake things up on a lead single. The FX work is top notch, and it seems like they had fun crafting it, but the programming is very robotic and lacks dynamic nuance.

The recording and mixing process seem rushed. It sounds like they were working under pressure to get this single out before the album dropped, but I wish they had spent a bit more time improving everything. The drums sound like they’re in a gigantic room while the guitar sounds muffled, at the same time the vocals need to be re-recorded and tweaked in post. Whoever mixed this really did an already shaky track a disservice, the balance is all over the place and nothing pops. I don’t know why the song is called FOG, but they’ve certainly achieved that sound.

This is what happens when a group has no time to polish a track. What could have been a powerful driving pop song comes up short.

Verdict: Skip (1.6/5)

★★★★★

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