I’ve been on a kick with random Japanese artists/bands lately. Call it restless ear syndrome; I’m trying to discover something in a broad genre that can entertain my imagination moreso than Morning Musume or Perfume are right now. I’ve been semi-successful, nothing about what I’ve found truly grips me like Morning Musume did a few years back. So my focus has turned to sort of “J-rock” artists.

…J-rock is a kind of doomed subgenre for me. I either really, really love it or it’s tolerable yet undesirable. There is no inbetween. Why did I decide to download Stereopony’s new album, then? Because I’m crazy and like to take up hard drive space. (Okay, no, that’s not it. I thought the cover was pretty.)

Stereopony’s album, A hydrangea blooms

Stereopony (ステリオポニー) is a female three-piece band featuring Ami, Nohana, and Shiho. I can’t exactly tell you who’s who in the cover, except that I’m banking that the frontmost girl is Ami because she’s the lead singer/guitar. The A-side of their first single was mega-popular shonen anime series Bleach’s 17th ending theme song, and the A-side of their second single was the season 2 opening song for Mobile Suit Gundam 00. So clearly they’ve got some amazing staff backing them up and landing them these anime gigs, because I’ll be damned if Hello! Project can get a job writing songs for anything besides lame girls’ anime. Both songs, including their latest single (a collaborative effort with Yui) “I do it”, can be found on A hydrangea blooms (ハイド.ランジアが咲いている), which dropped on the 17th this month.

Stereopony rocks about as much as three Japanese girls playing guitar can…I’d love to see them in concert with SCANDAL some day. Damn, that’d be cool. They could have a guitar battle!

Track list:
1. Seishun ni, Sono Namida ga Hitsuyou da! (青春に、その涙が必要だ！)
2. I do it
3. Komorebi no Journey (木漏れ日のジャーニー)
4. Namida no Mukou (泪のムコウ)
5. Otome Gokoro Hey Hey Hey (乙女心 Hey Hey Hey)
6. 泣かないで (Nakanaide)
7. effective line
8. Sweet Blue (スウィート・ブルー)
9. Tokai no Mori (都会ノ森)
10. Shiawase no Oka de Kurashitai (幸せの丘で暮らしたい)
11. My Mistake (マイミステイク)
12. Hitohara no Hanabira (ヒトヒラのハナビラ)
13. Aozora Very good days!! (青空 Very good days!!)

Anyway, um… Their sound is a bit more acoustic than SCANDAL, and the singer’s voice is much higher in tone, in sharp contrast to SCANDAL’s sort of mixed blend. This makes Stereopony seem somehow more like “the most powerful Japanese girly pop rock” that SCANDAL touted themselves as being in the beginning of their career, as their [Stereopony's] sound is, at times, an interesting clash of escalating electric guitars and the talented yet girlish singing of Ami (most evident in the song “My Mistake”). I was surprised by Stereopony because it never even crossed my mind to try and predict their sound; I just automatically assumed they would be a lot like SCANDAL. They actually aren’t!

Anyway, I like track-by-track reviews, so…

1. “Seishun ni, Sono Namida ga Hitsuyou da!”
Yoshimi: This is a nice ‘opener’ to the album, with bold guitars prevalent throughout the song and Ami’s (at times) cutesy singing. Not much of a standout, but it’s an endearing start. It finishes with a jubilant “yay!”.

2. “I do it”
Yoshimi: Far more disquieting than the former track, but still holding fast to the strong rock vein. Still not a huge standout, as it sounds like a typical ‘rock’ song.

3. “Komorebi no Journey”
Yoshimi: There’s a much more acoustic feel to this track than the previous two, and the drums are more pronounced. Ami really shows off her vocal prowess here, also, and I’ve noticed she has a tendency to belt a lot of the lyrics, rofl.

4. “Namida no Mukou”
Yoshimi: I like the chorus. There’s a pretty good beat to be found in this song, and a blend of background strings instruments set against the persistent drum beats and screeching guitars, making this a dramatic number.

5. “Otome Gokoro Hey Hey Hey”
Yoshimi: Another fun, cute song that almost sounds (to me) like it could be a Buono reject. Not entirely outstanding, but the “hey! hey! hey!” parts are very catchy and the opening is good.

6. “Nakanaide”
Yoshimi: The first truly slow song on the album so far, Ami again displays her singing talents. There is sparse percussion for the most part, until you get into the drawn-out, heavy drum beats, and more of the strings instrumentation from “Namida no Mukou”. Lots of acoustic guitars in this one, and nice background harmonization. The song finishes out with a heartwrenching piano melody.

7. “effective line”
Yoshimi: A good comeback from the sadness of “Nakanaide”, “effective line” is extremely high-paced and energy-abundant. Shiho is fantastic on the drums here. This is the shortest song on the album, clocking in at only one minute and seventeen seconds.

8. “Sweet Blue”
Yoshimi: This is basically one of my favorite songs on the album. It’s very catchy and packed with emotion, and (it’s probably because of the title, but…) reminds me of AKB48’s “Blue rose”, which is also a huge favorite of mine.

9. “Tokai no Mori”
Yoshimi: Another acoustic song, with hints of tambourine. Not that big of a standout, though it is enjoyable!

10. “Shiawase no Oka de Kurashitai”
Yoshimi: Ami’s voice strikes me as being very high and sweet here. A slow, acoustic song, endearing due to the innocence of how it is sung. Also short, at only a minute and fifty-two seconds.

11. “My Mistake”
Yoshimi: This is probably the best song on the whole album. “My Mistake” is another dramatic track, moreso than “Namida no Mukou”. The quieter sections add a sense of foreshadowing until eventually entering the intensely instrumental and catchy chorus.

12. “Hitahira no Hanabira”
Yoshimi: Stereopony’s first single A-side, there’s a good drum beat and chorus, which is…basically like any other decent Stereopony song. It definitely does seem to fit as an ending theme of Bleach.

13. “Aozora Very good days!!”
Yoshimi: We finish on the same happy note that opened the album. This song is very cute, and I like the guitar influences in it.

Overall, out of five stars, I’d give this one, like… Three. Average-sounding album, a lot of the songs seemed to run together for me, but that’s probably a bias due to my aforementioned difficulties with J-rock. I would recommend to anyone who enjoys that particular subgenre or is a hardcore fan of SCANDAL and other similar acts.