something something baby (Kenichi Asai - Nancy)

Kenichi Asai - Nancy

Why you'll love it:  Atmospheric and passionate blues rock

Why you'll hate it:  slow pace, not enough hooks

Kenichi Asai has been one of my favorite names in rock and roll for a while, and an accomplished musician for much longer.  The guy has been in half a dozen amazing bands, with embarrassing names.  If band names like Sherbets, and Blankey Jet City make you chuckle, fair enough. It still makes me laugh too.  But if their music doesn't come to mind immediately after, you're robbing yourself of a wonderful life experience.  Want an experience with a less silly name?  Try Jude, Pontiacs, or maybe Asai's solo career.

What I'm getting at is that in all of his musical projects, Kenichi Asai has over 24 hours total of fantastic music.  Nancy ranks up there near the top of that playlist.

Despite singing in Japanese, Asai gets his emotions through on every single track of Nancy.  Its dark and mysterious when it wants to be, and effortlessly transitions into groovy and cool on a whim.  The opening notes of "Sky Diving Baby" set a tone straight away, only to have your expectations guided here and there throughout the song.  Asai shows his mastery of songwriting, smoothly transitioning from an intimate piano, to wailing guitar solos without feeling stitched together at all.  "Stinger" may be my favorite track on here, with a blood-pumping pace.  Asai has written his fair share of wild rock songs, even as a solo artist; but there is something special about being able to pull something from deep within the listener without resorting to slamming drums and a buzzsaw guitar attack.  Rather than run you over with a song, Asai puts you in the passenger seat and accelerates; weaving in and out of traffic, but never crashing.

Almost every song has a captivating rhythm or a memorable hook. "What Am I" is the only one that I feel can get away from the listener.  The rest of the album has a craft to it that anyone in the world who enjoys rock music can get something out of.  The instrumental, "Johnny Love" is a good example of how much effort Asai puts into crafting his composition.  Even in Japanese, his vocal delivery on the rest of the album has the intended emotional impact.  It's clear he's trying to sound cool on songs like "Parmesan Cheese" & "Rabbit Fur Cap", and he actually does.  When cool Kenichi and emotional Kenichi collide, it's seamless.  The signature guitar line of "Sakura" is one of the most memorable things about Nancy, and Asai's emotional delivery gives that song the total package.

Nancy is one of brightest spots of Kenichi Asai's glowing career.  It's almost $15 on iTunes, and totally worth the jacked up price.  Apparently the cheaper Amazon mp3 version is of questionable quality.  There used to be a full album stream on youtube, but Asai's people took it down.  It's too bad this album isn't more easily or affordably available.  It's a gem.