Kitakore return with “ワンダー☆フューチャー” (Wonder Future), a single that failed to impress us. More on our impressions below.
Title: Wonder Future Label: B-Project Release date: 15/03/2017 Genre: J-Pop/Rock
Tracklist:
01.ワンダー☆フューチャー 02.Vivid Scenery 03.ワンダー☆フューチャー（Off Vocal） 04.Vivid Scenery（Off Vocal）
Track by track analysis:
01.ワンダー☆フューチャー
KITAKORE go all-out with a rock driven song. “Wonder Future” is a pop-rock song with focus on the mid-tempo bassy drums, raging guitar riffs and strong bassline. As we’re used to, synths are a must for B-Project’s releases and we find them here as well. It’s thanks to those that the song leans more towards the pop genre in some parts, if not for that, we could be listening to a punk rock song right now. On the vocal side of things: we confess that we weren’t really expecting much from the Daisuke combo, mainly because one of them tends to force his singing into sounding something that really isn’t and the other only works well alongside certain types of voices (when he’s in a duo/duet/group situation). We weren’t particularly satisfied with the vocal performance but it was bearable. 4/5
02.Vivid Scenery
“Vivid Scenery” kicks off strongly with guitar riffs leading the way for the gentle piano melody playing in the background. With a brighter tone this song surprisingly manages to not sound appealing at all. The verses are nice with acoustic guitars, minimal synthetic drums but the chorus sounds a bit over the top ridiculous. The vocal performance is a clear downgrade from the previous song. Daisuke Ono manages to pull through this song with a solid performance but Daisuke Kishio is a whole other story. Singing on a higher key and sounding “cute” at the same time are two things that 99% of the times don’t go well together, especially when you’re not particularly skilled in one (or both) parts of the performance. Listening to Kishio‘s high pitched vocals is not a thing we’d suggest you to attempt. 3/5
Final rating:
On what is our first time reviewing KITAKORE, we can only say that despite the fact that the instrumentals are rather good, sadly the vocal performances don’t live up to it. With this pop-rock sound they have going on, one could have expected more powerful and engaging performances. Instead we get bland performances that fail to make the listener interested in the song. “Wonder Future” is a single that we honestly hoped that would turn out good but it simply didn’t even come close. A disappointment.
“Wonder Future” is available for purchase on CDJAPAN for all overseas fans.
[…] [As previously reviewed] “Vivid Scenery” kicks off strongly with guitar riffs leading the way for the gentle piano melody playing in the background. With a brighter tone this song surprisingly manages to not sound appealing at all. The verses are nice with acoustic guitars, minimal synthetic drums but the chorus sounds a bit over the top ridiculous. The vocal performance is a clear downgrade from the previous song. Daisuke Ono manages to pull through this song with a solid performance but Daisuke Kishio is a whole other story. Singing on a higher key and sounding “cute” at the same time are two things that 99% of the times don’t go well together, especially when you’re not particularly skilled in one (or both) parts of the performance. Listening to Kishio‘s high pitched vocals is not a thing we’d suggest you to attempt. 3/5 […]
[…] [As previously reviewed] KITAKORE go all-out with a rock driven song. “Wonder Future” is a pop-rock song with focus on the mid-tempo bassy drums, raging guitar riffs and strong bassline. As we’re used to, synths are a must for B-Project’s releases and we find them here as well. It’s thanks to those that the song leans more towards the pop genre in some parts, if not for that, we could be listening to a punk rock song right now. On the vocal side of things: we confess that we weren’t really expecting much from the Daisuke combo, mainly because one of them tends to force his singing into sounding something that really isn’t and the other only works well alongside certain types of voices (when he’s in a duo/duet/group situation). We weren’t particularly satisfied with the vocal performance but it was bearable. 4/5 […]