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MIYAVI~ “What’s My Name?” Album Review

He’s back!  Our favorite ponytailed, tattooed, too-hyper-to-be-real guitar-slinging samurai of rock has returned and he’s BETTER THAN EVER.  I must say that this has easily become one of my favorite albums of all time, because this is purely MIYAVI.  It’s simple, sassy, stylish, and overall just FUN.  Ever since debuting as a solo artist in 2002, Miyavi has had his share of experimenting with pretty much every style of music.  From hard rock to pop to L.A. blues to dance to jazz to hip-hop to acoustic ballads, he’s done it all.  Perhaps that’s why he has fans from literally ALL over the world, he just does everything.  In the past, whole albums have been dedicated to each style, but this time, the simplistic instrumentation (guitar, drums, vocals, and occasional note on the keyboard) remains the same throughout while each and every type of music that Miyavi has done makes an appearance, giving the whole album a very cohesive, yet interesting and involving feel.  That being said, if you’re new to Miyavi, I HIGHLY recommend this as your first album, as it showcases everything he can do.  I’m going to break the album down by style.
Pumping Dance Tracks: The album opens with “What’s My Name,” where Miyavi actually tries his hand at rapping.  I’m not really a huge fan of when he tries to speak English in his songs, but this actually works amazingly well.  “Futuristic Love” also will make you bust out the dance moves, but isn’t quite as involving as the title track.
Guitar-Hero-Worthy Punk Rock Guitar Riffs: As many of you have heard, Miyavi has become quite good friends with the Madden brothers of Good Charlotte, and this DEFINITELY shows through in his music.  Tracks such as “I Love You, I Love You, I Love You, and I Hate You” and “Shelter” will not easily leave your head because of the amazing punk guitar.
Korean Hip-Hop: WHAT?!?!?!  Yup, Miyavi is half second generation Korean, and as the South Korean musical wave is hitting Japan, Miyavi too has contributed to this with his track “Chillin, Chillin’ Money Blue$.”  If you listen to any Korean hip hop, you will recognize the same rhythmical pattern that is present in this song.  I thought this was extremely interesting. =)
New Effects!: “Universe,” which Miyavi premiered in Washington D.C. at the show I went to (W00T!) makes significant use of pedal effects, which he really has not showcased before, and I LOVE IT.  He’s more of a stick-to-the-basics kind of guy, but it really is refreshing and fun to see him experiment with musical technology now and then.  “Moon,” on the other hand makes use of new slapping and picking techniques and effects.  This isn’t Miyavi’s usual signature shred-and-slap, but is much quieter and is used ONLY to compliment the vocals, which are gorgeous here.  It’s nice to hear him focus on the voice as the main form of melody for once, especially when he’s so self-conscious about it. =)
Reappearances: “Unbreakable,” a straight-up hard rock track, HIGHLY resembles the Miyavi we knew back in 2002, the 21-year-old ADD apparent psycho with a guitar.  “Super Hero” and “A-HA,” however, are very characteristic of his Neo-Visualizm era from about three and a half years ago.  “A-HA” is amazing because he’s letting his AMAZING Kansai accent carry the entire song.  Recently, he’s been putting much more English in his songs so that he can appeal to listeners outside of Japan, but it really is nice to hear him revert back to that Osaka-based goofball that we originally knew him as.
Softer Side: “Sutekina Mirai” (“A Wonderful Future”) is the only purely acoustic track on the album, and was written for his first child, Lovelie.  This is really a gorgeous track and reminds me of songs like the covers he did of X-Japan a while back.  “Gravity,” however, is haunting and slowly builds into a despairing climax.
Singles: “Survive” was released earlier this year as Miyavi’s theme for his first world tour.  The album presents a rerecording of the original that showcases both grungier vocals and guitar that work amazingly.  I LOVE THIS!  “Torture” is the most recent single, and is much darker than “Survive.”  If I were to pick one track from this album that would describe Miyavi’s style RIGHT NOW this would be it.  Catchy, pumping, and smart, it will stay with you for a while yet.
Well that was quite a lot of writing, but I’m glad I did this.  I will be listening to this one for quite a while, and I just want to spread the wonderfulness of this FANTASTIC artist.  MYV!!! <333  Here is “What’s My Name” as a sample of the album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3-68LtiI0k&p=A370E5F5C5286A4F&index=1&feature=BF
Enjoy!

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