*looks around* Damn, deserted wasteland, aren’t you?

As a result of fatigue and lack of motivation (as a result of being ill), I haven’t felt very up to blogging lately. I have a nearly-finished article on Berryz’s “Dschinghis Khan” PV (which is less about the PV and more the usual, if you know what I mean), I need to start my series of reviews on the Morning Musume old group, and write a post on v-u-den. But instead I think I’ll pick up blogging slow and review Buono!’s new album, Café Buono!, which came out February 20th, instead. Sound good?

Limited edition cover

Tracklisting:
1. Café Buono!
2. 泣き虫少年
3. 恋愛♥ライダー
4. ホントのじぶん
5. バケツの水
6. ガラクタノユメ
7. Internet Cupid
8. Last Forever
9. こころのたまご
10. 星の羊たち
11. ロックの神様
12. 君がいれば

(I thought it should be pertinent to mention I didn’t actually buy this, so there won’t be any adorable packaging details. The covers are cute, though! Look at the covers!)

This is an okay album from Buono, which is amazing to me, considering I don’t take anime-specific units seriously enough to warrant their own original album, nevermind expect something passable from them. Really, though, what the hell was the point of releasing this? Buono really only does the OP and ED of the Shugo Chara anime and wears punk clothing, I have no idea what the purpose of the extra tracks on the album are, if not just capitalizing on the moderate success of Buono’s sales in comparison to other artists on Pony Canyon.

The amount of effort put into this album is quite apparent, albeit shakily distributed. A lot of their songs are “average/poor”, there isn’t much to criticize or praise, and they’re all the same style, which is Buono’s biggest enemy at this point. Sure, some are more pop or rock than “pop-rock”. Needless to say, it gets boring after a while. This album does help break things up by a lot, following “Renai Rider” which had the intriguing Hawaiian interlude, and it never goes too far from their home genre. Unfortunately, the songs that were different were not really as great as I would want them to be for Buono.

The music executives of Shugo Chara were definitely wise when they chose three of the most talented H!P Kids, and I feel this business deal helps my perception of those Kids they chose as well. Miyabi doesn’t seem to radiate such an immature aura in Buono like she does in Berryz and has the disposition to pull off the punk look they’re going for, Momoko’s voice actually sounds like it went down a couple octaves, and Airi is…as usual, consistent as a singer and carries the brunt of Buono’s vocals perfectly. These are three idols I don’t have particularly strong feelings on, so there’s no room for bias here. (On the note of bias, some part of me does kind of wish Maasa were in this group. She could do the punk thing and it might help her improve as a singer, being surrounded by these good vocalists! rofl yeah right)

Anyway, I think I need to get my track-by-track review on.

Normal edition cover

• TITLE: Café Buono!
• RUNTIME: 04:50
• REVIEW: OH GOD WHAT A CUTE SONG. This is the ideal opening for a Buono album. It enters with fast drums, a good beat, the voices of the three girls in this unit work fantastically here and actually seem to harmonize, and the best part is the randomly-shouted words in the song, like “Buono!” when “buono” comes up in the lyrics. It’s cute but still has that rock edge. I wouldn’t call it the perfect representative of Buono, but for the album, yes. A great starter, and sets the bar pretty high at this point.

• TITLE: 泣き虫少年 (Nakimushi Shounen)
• RUNTIME: 04:05
• REVIEW: By the second track, Buono’s album continues to deliver. “Nakimushi Shounen” is a fantastic, catchy rock song. I’m heavily surprised because I wasn’t expecting such quality out of Buono at first, even though “Renai Rider” had changed my mind about them completely when I saw the PV. There is something about the tune of “Shounen” that makes me nostalgic, and overall, it’s a very fun number from this album.

• TITLE: 恋愛♥ライダー (Renai ♥ Rider)
• RUNTIME: 03:51
• REVIEW: This is the A-side that changed my perception of Buono!. “Renai Rider” is the perfect example of Buono’s sound, which is very cutepunk pop-rock, while still managing to be interesting, with Miyabi’s old-style solo line and Momoko’s Hawaiian-influenced one, and the crazy 1960s James Bond instrumental section. I love the acoustic guitar during Airi’s solo, it’s very “organic”, in a way. Though this is an anime song, it does a good job of not making that fact painfully apparent, like “Honto no Jibun” did. It fits in nicely with the rest of the album and, dare I say it, is even one of the more better tracks.

• TITLE: ホントのじぶん (Honto no Jibun)
• RUNTIME: 03:59
• REVIEW: The song that started it all for Buono is one I ironically hate. “Honto no Jibun” just screams anime, it’s uninspired, and more or less what a usual subpar Buono number would be like. People were raving about the PV due to its schoolyard setting, and the dance, which included ☆～AIR GUITAR～☆, which I guess tipped the kakkoii meter over for most of you. Bleh. I hear the “yay!” soundbytes reused later on in a different track, and the mysterious shouting of random words concept in “Café Buono!” is used here first.

• TITLE: バケツの水 (Baketsu no Mizu)
• RUNTIME: 03:40
• REVIEW: I’m…really not quite sure what went on here. “Baketsu no Mizu” isn’t what I would call the ideal song to follow-up “Honto no Jibun”, which caused me to lose the vibe of the album I so praised in the beginning for its vivid energy. “Baketsu” sounds a lot more like a B-side on a single than a really good album track, and thus causes me to label it filler. This isn’t me mistaking the downtempo cute sound of it, either. It’s…just a pretty lackluster song for Buono.

• TITLE: ガラクタノユメ (Garakuta no Yume)
• RUNTIME: 04:52
• REVIEW: “Garakuta no Yume” is okay. The fact that it doesn’t give me much to talk about is more than disappointing, and it’s as bad as “Baketsu” in terms of sounding like a B-side filler track, but hey, you get over it.

• TITLE: Internet Cupid
• RUNTIME: 03:47
• REVIEW: Someone said a while back that fans of Perfume would love “Internet Cupid”. Hi, I don’t. It doesn’t flow well with the rest of the album, it’s a stupid attempt at making some kind of interesting techno song, and it sounds like a simple B-side. I think if more effort had been put into the vocals of “Baketsu”, “Garakuta”, and this (what the hell, that’s like three lame downtempo songs in a row), it would be passable, but compared to the burst of energy at the beginning of the album with the title track, “Shounen”, and “Renai Rider”, this is just a disappointing trio of songs. “Internet Cupid” does not shine nor does it make the album itself shine in any way. I almost feel like the memory of “Nakimushi Shounen” is carrying me through the rest of the tracklist.

• TITLE: Last Forever
• RUNTIME: 04:41
• REVIEW: Finally, a decent track. “Last Forever” has great harmonization, which is always enough to win me over in any equation. It rocks out more than the previous three numbers. I almost feel like the album dropped off the face of the earth briefly with “Baketsu”, and got its groove back with “Last Forever”. However, there is something broken about this song’s spirit, which is why I turn to the harmonizing and melody of the song. It has your usual quotient of guitars and a pretty interesting interlude. It closes somewhat humorously with the sound of someone opening a door and exiting.

• TITLE: こころのたまご (Kokoro no Tamago)
• RUNTIME: 03:55
• REVIEW: “Kokoro no Tamago” is nothing special. It’s not bad, the vocals save the repetitious instrumental, and there’s one (1) rockin’ guitar solo, but it’s just a normal pop song. It’s also the B-side to “Honto no Jibun”, but it’s measurably more bearable than its counterpart.

• TITLE: 星の羊たち (Hoshi no Hitsuji Tachi)
• RUNTIME: 04:26
• REVIEW: Another disappointing downtempo track, but I have to admit that this is one of the better ones on the album.

• TITLE: ロックの神様 (Rock no Kamisama)
• RUNTIME: 04:15
• REVIEW: This track piqued my interest in Buono permanently. The title alone translates as “God of Rock”, which I figured could be an awesome, powerful, heavy rock song. Unfortunately, Buono pops out on me and this song feels only half-delivered. A song can be saved by the vocals sometimes, but in “Rock no Kamisama” the girls sound bored and the music is predictable. It’s a little sad how “Shounen” kicks more ass than a song called “God of Rock”.

• TITLE: 君がいれば (Kimi ga Ireba)
• RUNTIME: 04:55
• REVIEW: “Kimi ga Ireba” ends the album with a repetitious stereotypical anime ballad, which only pauses its lameness for the girls’ nice vocals and the rock guitar solo which is a mandatory thing in any Buono song.

I was earnestly hoping this album would go out with a bang like it came in with one, the final tracks offering me some sort of respite from the lame songs that made up the filling of this Buono donut, but I have to say I’m pretty disappointed on the whole. It’s a solid album, yes, but there’s too much jelly filling and not enough of the actual high-quality dough. Who do you buy ingredients from, Pony Canyon? I would change suppliers. Then again, jelly filling is enough to please most people, so maybe you’re doing right by others.

OVERALL, I give this effort from Buono 2.5/5. Now excuse me, I must go listen to System of a Down’s “B.Y.O.B.”. Because, yes, I really would prefer if Buono told me we don’t live in a fascist nation, and ask me perpetually where the fuck I am. Who wouldn’t?