Gaki N Me If you love to talk about the world, love Asian idols, this is the place.

Yesterday, I received the long awaited albums (Rosso E Azzurro, Si Album, Coward Endlicheri Endlicheri)of Tsuyoshi Domoto from Yesasia and today I got to finally sit down and put it in my living room stereo system to see how he sounds in a good system compared to downloaded music.  I have to say the quality of JE albums is still far from desirable.  There is not the transparency that once come with Japanese albums of Sony standards.  For US$25-$30 a piece, I expected a lot more in audio quality.  Naturally the money went to the idol buidling business.  I had to put Koichi's Mirror album through the high bass system downstairs because his music has too much base.  I chose the high fidelity speakers for Tsuyoshi because I expected his voice to come through but the recording is just not there. It's a pity.  In the slow songs, it could have been better. Putting the technicalities of the albums itself aside, I will give you our thoughts of Tsuyoshi's music in real. 

The first time I heard Endlicheri Endlicheri album about 2 months ago, I thought, gosh...what an awful singer.  He sings with the bottom of his voice, so forced.    Then when I listened more carefully to his slower songs, I noticed he did have range and good control of his voice, though it sounded contrived most of the time.  The turning point came when I watched him sing DEVIL and MY WISH in a clip, and I totally turned around.  He being a part of the duo Kinki Kids definitely played a certain part in my noticing him or else I wouldn't even care for this slightly overweight man in mismatched clothes most of the time looking slightly stuck up in Domoto Brothers not participating much but leaving it to his poor partner to do all the interacting.  I noticed the emotion he put in his songs, the depth of his voice and the music he composed is not your regular Johnny Entertainment pop or rap driven Jpop.  His songs could reach middle age people who want more than Chemistry's blandness and Oda's overly shrillness. It's more emotional than Gackt's ballads and hipper than Mr. Children's without the noise factor.

My daughter used to cry, "Turn it off, turn that tasteless man off..." whenever I played his song as we surf edside by side.  She said he's too random a singer. I agree.  That's what Tsuyoshi is aiming for. Every song is a happy coincidence of lyrics and melody and no song is alike.  I can't say, oh this song sounds like that one...etc.

My husband over the years have become tolerant of my poor taste in music and twice, I slipped in the Si album as we drove. This last time, I asked him if he liked the Si album at all.  He said, "This guy doesn't know how to sing. He's discordant and just because he plays a few guitar notes, great xxxx deal...When it was supposed to go high, he sings low....."  That was my first feeling when I first listened to him too, to be honest.  I totally agree with my husband. Yet Tsuyoshi's music grows on me because there are no other ones like that out there that sound different every time I listen to it.  He has songs that fit many moods and his songs also change your mood too...usually for the worse.

So today, while I went through his albums one by one, I had my paints ready.  Please pardon my inability to paint very well yet...but one day, they'll be better.  But for now, I want to show you what Tsuyoshi's music means to me.

I started off with Si album because that's the easiest to listen to and I needed purple, lots of purple and red and blue. It's totally Tsuyoshi. At first it was just splashes of colors here and there with no subject at all. I couldn't even think of what to draw. But later on, with the splashes, I outlined it according to the mood of the album. This album has a certain peacefulness to it, with a certain amount of love that is not too painful. Mind you, I have not translated all the lyrics of Si album yet. Just half done. And in general, the music gives you a feel of what the contents would be and I generally prefer not to know the lyrics but to really feel the music itself.  A case in point was that the first time I watched Si concert without the subtitles, I enjoyed it.  But when I watched it with subtitles, not only do the lyrics destroyed slightly the ambience of the music, the way Tsuyoshi conveyed it in appearance did not match the lyrics for he suddenly looked too pop idolish.
http://www.mtvtop.net/html1/9128.htm
http://mp3.chengtu.com/Singer/bmm/ivm.Shtml

 

Next I turned on Rosso E Azzurro. I have watched the Rosso E Azzurro concert already and believe he gave a most soulful performance in it.  The lyrics in the few songs that I know were beautifully sung and delivered by a more manly looking Tsuyoshi. Meaning, he got the looks, the songs, the lyrics totally down.  I love every slow song in Rosso and the faster tunes, Dekiai Logic, Luna, are very good.  By the time I got to Luna, I needed to express the refrain of Tsuyoshi's in bold red strokes and that's why you see the spiky hair and the protuded eyes. They were frustrated strokes of red according to his music.
http://www.eou.cn/music/eou_2072.htm
http://www.mtvtop.net/html1/3010.htm



Finally, Endlicheri Endlicheri, a much more expansive all including type of album as though Tsuyoshi is ready to encompass the world anew.  I could feel his music has come out of the dark pit of Rosso E Azzurro, and more solid than the lovey dovey of Si album. This latest album is a good buy definitely if you are a brand new fan.
http://www.eou.cn/music/eou_7960.htm
http://www.mtvtop.net/html1/18956.htm

 

I'm not so sure about the latest Endlicheri The Rainbow Star concert series yet.  If he is going to spend a lot of time tuning his guitar swinging his fish head gear around, I might pass and just wait for the next full album. Apart from Koichi whose dancing I need to watch, I think I could make do with just listening to Tsuyoshi.  I don't care for facial hair, messy hair, mismatched clothes or a 27 year old trying to look cute sticking fingers in his nose.   I am not that idol blind yet.