touch Me!

It did give me a little smile reading the cover, not enough to produce anything like a laugh, but I though the title layout was a lil funny. Mai Kuraki’s latest album, touch Me! was released on January 21, 2009 and it’s one I was pleasantly surprised by. It’s peaked at #1 on Oricon and it looks to be on track to hold that position for the week. Tho that might not be a lot to get excited over, I don’t think there was too much competition album wise.

Mai kind of reminds me of a Koda Kumi or Namie Amuro type of artist, yet is plenty less on the intense side, which I prefer in a way. She apparently had some Whitney Houston influence early on and you can still kinda hear a bit of that. The only reason I draw the parallel is maybe for people who have an interest in the others, perhaps you’ll enjoy her style. Or may want to check it out, if you’re in a similar situation as myself. And then again, it may just be a bad comparison.

Ichibyou Goto ni Love for you, featured on the album was the first new single of Mai’s that I bought and it gets top points on the album. To be expected of singles most of the time I guess. I’m just really digging the upbeat sound to it. It’s unique in it’s instrumental aspect, when compared to a lot of her other stuff. Break the Tone was another good one, again more upbeat and has an interesting pop sound.

Didn’t I just put up a whole posts on how I’d like to see less cover songs this year? Jamie, what’s the deal? Well it’s not a single and the entire album isn’t dedicated to covers so I’ll let it slide. Covering Top of The World by The Carpenters, it’s kinda awesome in a way. I mean, it’s a great song, and she pulls it off while adding just enough to give it a bit of an updated feel. It’s one of the best songs on the album, but maybe that’s a bit of familiarity bias.

It’s not something I’ll put on repeat or anything like that, but a few great tracks and overall nice sound make this album a nice grab.