“PIZZA SUSHI planet walking” is a solid single all about its relaxed and mature vibes, featuring some of Takuya Eguchi’s best performances to date.
Title: PIZZA SUSHI planet walking Label: Kiramune Release date: 10/05/2023 Genre: Jazz/Hip-Hop/Eurobeat
Tracklist (regular edition):
1 - PIZZA SUSHI planet walking 2 - Life is Sauna ～明日は明日のロウリュが吹く～ 3 - Carnival
Track by track analysis:
1 – PIZZA SUSHI planet walking (lyrics by Takuya Eguchi)
A jazzy piano melody slowly plays in the background, muffled in the soundscape in a lo-fi fashion.
Slowly, the doors open and you’re presented with a groovy downtempo sound in which jazz, hip-hop, and R&B blend to create a chill instrumental that is all about good vibes.
The guitar is jazzy, bringing fancy licks and riffs to the soundscape as the bassline slowly adds a danceable groove that is addictive.
Underneath, a slow-paced hi-hat and snare combo keeps the beat tight as old-school 90s hip-hop synth hits complete the stylish instrumental.
The vibes are good and as such, Takuya Eguchi opted for a quiet yet mature performance that is more melodic than anything he had done until now.
Performing in a lower key than usual while mixing stylish rapping with emotional singing, Eguchi shines in “PIZZA SUSHI planet walking”.
As “PIZZA SUSHI planet walking” wraps up, you are left wanting more of that laidback soundscape with a touch of jazz decadence.
2 – Life is Sauna ～明日は明日のロウリュが吹く～
The tone changes completely for “Life is Sauna”. Timpani mixes with EDM-centric synths to create a party-like sound that is heavily inspired by Eurobeat.
As a result, this song goes crazy with its dancefloor-ready sound while keeping it surprisingly tight throughout, carefully raising the tension while taking the listener to an ethereal pre-chorus.
As the tension seems to fade away, the roller coaster ride begins and you are taken to a bonkers chorus.
Now, this chorus doesn’t change much in the instrumental, having the same synth lead echoing in the back as a loud, Eurobeat bassy synth makes sure this tune is dancefloor-ready.
The biggest change is with Takuya Eguchi’s vocals. This is, by far, not a technical song in the sense of Eguchi doing incredibly difficult things on the vocal end. However, what you find here is a carefree style of performance that, at times, gets close to him missing keys or wavering too much in his control in a way that seems like he’s almost singing along to this song on karaoke. Not taking himself or this performance too seriously.
And this works wonders in the overall vibe of this song. Still, as far as the enjoyment of listening to this song more than once goes, it misses the mark a bit, with the lead synth turning into a nuisance the more you repeat this song.
3 – Carnival
And wrapping up this single you will find “Carnival”, song that brings back that jazzy sound from the title track, neatly tying up everything in this single.
The song kicks off in a fancy fashion with brass and strings taking over, creating a fun and upbeat sound that stands out.
Between that intro and the first verse, listeners are presented with a fast and technical piano melody – playing almost the role of a “filler” – that is really beautiful.
While the verses have an old-school sound to them, bringing influences of jazz, funk, and disco, the pre-chorus goes all out with samba-inspired instrumentalization, adding a bit of a wacky dimension to this song.
The chorus is punchy, with the bassline leading the way as Takuya Eguchi powers his way through this performance.
As the 2nd verse kicks in, a rhodes piano teams up with the brass, changing things around ever so slightly in this song.
“Carnival” doesn’t wrap up without delivering a high-tension guitar solo that perfectly builds up the tension to the final chorus and outro.
Solid performance that leaves a massive smile on my face.
Final considerations:
Takuya Eguchi has vastly upgraded his sound in “PIZZA SUSHI planet walking”. Straying away from rock and pop, Eguchi’s sound now is more mature than ever as he brought a sound – across all 3 songs – that is heavily influenced by 90s hip-hop, jazz, R&B, funk, and disco music.
As a result, the sound is richer than ever however, at the same time the trade-off of bringing such sound is that most of the songs are in a comfortable mid-to-low tempo. You get all the good vibes in this release with a lot of quality on the vocal end.
In my books, this is a big change in Takuya Eguchi’s sound, one that I believe best fits his image as a solo artist and while fairly grounded in its presentation, it still allows for crazy shenanigans like in “Life is Sauna”.
The highlight of this single is, by far, the title track. “PIZZA SUSHI planet walking” is that type of song that is perfect to serve as the background to a lounge, a laidback ride along the seashore, or just for an intimate setting. The vibes are awesome, the performance is fancy and everything about the composition and mixing of this track shines to me.
I honestly want to hear more songs in a similar style or with a similar vibe coming from Takuya Eguchi.
Another thing that is starting to show in this single is that Takuya Eguchi is finding his own voice as a solo artist, sounding different from most – if not all – work he has done for 2D music projects.
His cadence, the style he brings to his performances, and the comfort he shows in this single are good indicators of him, perhaps, having found his “own voice” as a solo artist.
And this excites me a whole lot. This cool mix of clean, emotional singing and stylish downtempo rapping alongside his warm mid-toned vocals is perfect.
Only time – and further releases – will tell but my guess is that Takuya Eguchi’s upcoming CD releases may end up being absolutely amazing if he really has found his voice and style as a solo artist.
All in all, “PIZZA SUSHI planet walking” is a rock solid single that is all about its laidback, mature vibes, featuring some of Takuya Eguchi’s best performances to date, showing a solo artist slowly maturing in front of our eyes and ears.
“PIZZA SUSHI planet walking“ is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.
“PIZZA SUSHI planet walking” is available for streaming on Spotify.
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