Best Asian Albums of 2013 Thus Far
 

Since we're almost halfway through 2013 now, what have been your favorite Asian releases of the year? What are you most anticipating for the rest of the year?

I've been making 'best releases' lists for each month of 2013 which you can find here if you're interested, but the best albums of the first half of 2013 for me have been:

1. Koda Kumi's Color The Cover
2. Girls' Generation's I Got a Boy
3. TBD
4. TBD
5. TBD

1. GILLE - GILLEsound vol. 1
2. miwa - Delight

Other good, but not perhaps list-worthy albums from this year include Kalafina's Consolation, Sakanaction's Sakanaction, MISIA and Mami Kawada's best-of albums and Ayu's LOVE again. Still waiting for some more albums to really knock me out the way GILLE and miwa did. I'm pretty excited for yanaginagi and Ikimonogakari's albums coming in July, but other than that, can't recall any albums I'm expecting this year.

Bonus: Favorite singles this year - Every Little Thing's ON AND ON, BoA's Only One, yanaginagi's Yukitoki and Nami Tamaki's REAL. :)

Definitely Color the Cover is one that first comes to mind.

1) BREAKERZ's guitarist AKIHIDE - debut solo album Amber
2) Nakashima Mika - REAL

Amber is really hands down the best album of 2013 & I've waited 6 LONG years for AKIHIDE to come back to sing again . As a result , Amber is truly worth waiting for ;__;

Although I'm a BREAKERZ fan , all the while I always had preferred AKIHIDE's singing voice over DAIGO's , sorry dear :laugh

I know, right? Brilliant album in my mind. I just love Koda Kumi's versatility and the way she sounds completely genuine in every musical style she pursues.

- BENI
- Amuro Namie
- Tegomass
- ON/OFF (even though it's only a mini album)

Hopefully ...

- SPYAIR
- JASMINE (lady where's your super long overdue 2nd album D: )
- KAT-TUN
- ARASHI

I really enjoyed I Got a Boy, very good and cured work. Color the Cover was amazing, particularly in the PV department. I can't say I loved LOVE again, just because for me the only thing really good from the album release was untitled for her... story 2, the rest of the awesome stuff was from the mini-albums. So, really anticipated, but not really good release :/
And, of course, I'm so anticipating FEEL!

In no particular order

ONE OK ROCK - Jinsei x Boku =
Koda Kumi - Color The Cover
Lee Hyori - Monochrome
Sakanaction - Sakanaction
miwa - Delight
Mika Nakashima - REAL
Tohoshinki - TIME

Now I'm impatiently waiting for Namie's FEEL and hopefully a new album from VAMPS, JASMINE, Crystal Kay and mini later this year.
I'd love immi to be back with new material too, but I highly doubt that will happen :/

*high fives* :D

I agree. LOVE again's great tracks came from the mini-albums (and I think Gloria and Bye bye baby are nice). But I don't think as whole it's strong enough to be one of the best.

I'm definitely anticipating FEEL, I'm really hoping it just as good or on par with Uncontrolled and PAST < FUTURE because those albums are great from start to finish.

Top Favorite:

SHINee - Dream Girl: The Misconceptions of You/Why So Serious: The Misconceptions of Me

(Despite both title songs being horrible, I was surprisingly blown away by the quality of the tracks.) :yes

Other Favorites:

Lee Hyori - Monochrome (could never understand the hype behind her but this album impressed me.)
Zion T. - Red Light
Lee Hi - First Love
Infinite H - FLY HIGH
SNSD - I GOT A BOY (awful and horrendous title track song but interesting album)

I haven't been overly impressed with any Japanese releases for years now. Here's hoping Namie, Crystal Kay, and Kuu will change that. ;)

@Becky bookmarked your link so I can go check out music you recommended :P

Color the Cover springs straight to mind. I normally forget it's a cover album because it sounds like an original Kuu album to me haha

LOVE again was a mess for me because my fave tracks came from the minis, so that didn't leave much of an impression on me...

Excited for FEEL :heart

The best: Kalafina - Consolation

Runner-ups: Maaya Sakamoto - Singer-Songwriter
Minami Kuribayashi - Tight Knot
miwa - Delight

And Nana Mizuki would also be the best, if you consider Rockbound Neighbors "this year" like oricon does.

Ah, I'm flattered! :) Thank you.

Kalafina - Consolation
Koda Kumi - Color The Cover

I think FEEL is gonna be amazing. Just with Big Boys Cry, Contrail, and Hands on Me alone it's better than Uncontrolled, imo. I was sooo looking forward to Uncontrolled last year and it really let me down so here's to hoping FEEL exceeds all expectations! :D

Favourite:
None really.
Most likely Ayu's love again and Tommy's candy shop sugar me

Anticipating:
Namiserable's Feel
Angela Aki's unnamed album
Perfume's hopeful 5th album

Are there rumors about a fifth Perfume album? I sure hope they come out with one soon. I really like their most recent singles.

Amuro Namie - FEEL

man I know the album was going to be good but I didn't expect this good . Somemore , for her to only include 1/2 of a double A-side , it's risky but it pays off for her big time !

I so can't wait to get my copy in due time & likewise , on the release of even more albums to come such as

NEWS - NEWS
BENI - Red
JASMINE - 2nd album title tbc
ARASHI - 12th album title tbc
AKIHIDE - 2nd album title tbc

Honestly, I don't think I've listened to any 2013 albums o_o just English releases lol J-Pop has been so stale. But I'll get around to Namie's soon.

1. Namie Amuro - FEEL
2. Tohoshinki - Time

I haven't listened to a lot, but the ones I listened to didn't impress me either way~

Koda Kumi - Color the Cover
Namie Amuro - FEEL
Lee Hyori - Monochrome

These are so far I guess

Namie's FEEL and that's it, no album comes near it.

^ I second that.

Namie's FEEL is really nice, in some points really amazing, but still I don't feel like it's a perfect release. Color the Cover and I Got a Boy still beat it, for me.
Really hoping for Kumi releasing an album by the end of the year.

Ayu's LOVE again and Koda's Color the Cover <3

LOVE again

FEEL is a good album, but it is not album of the year material

I somewhat feel the same. It's great but it didn't really knock my socks off.

Still, since I haven't heard much amazing music this year yet it ranks as one of the best kinda by default.

I have definitely not listened to enough albums to be able to have a say. But whatever's been currently been released, FEEL by Namie is up there. Way up there. 8/10 from me!

This thread just reminds me, that there's so much I have yet to listen to :thud

Imo, Namie's FEEL slays every Japanese release this year. Kumi's Color the Cover was alright (I like about 5 or 6 songs).

Namie's "Feel" just knocked it out of the park for me in terms of a japanese release. Every other artist needs to catch up

FEEL may be a good album but to me it's not an all rounder album

To me , I still feel AKIHIDE's Amber is the best album I've come across for 2013 . From writing to composing to producing & even drawing the art work covers for Amber personally , Amber is pure perfection

Amber digest for all 12 songs



How can anyone NOT like this pure masterpiece coming from AKIHIDE ;__; + somemore he's releasing a 2nd album in Autumn omg :thud

And yeah I guess I'm BREAKERZ biased in this aspect but considering I waited 6 long years for AKIHIDE to come back in front of the microphone to sing again , it's truly worth the wait :heart

Namie Amuro - FEEL
Ivy - I DANCE

I haven't heard FEEL in it's entirety yet (I'm waiting for my physical copy to arrive in the mail), but here are some of my other picks for Best Asian Album(s) of 2013:

SHINee - Chapter 1. Dream Girl: The misconceptions of you
SHINee - Chapter 2. Why So Serious?: The misconceptions of me
きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ - なんだこれくしょん　

I love Ayu to death but I don't think I would consider LOVE again to be one of the best albums of the year. I liked Party Queen much much better. :yes In terms of albums I'm most looking forward to, I would say...

BENI - Red
Perfume - LEVEL3

Namie - FEEL
Jaejoong - MINE (LOVED the rock, wooo!)
Junsu - Incredible - alright, I know this isn't out yet...but it's Xiah Junsu, come on!

Ok so far:

Namie's FEEL
Kyary's Nanda Collection

Really really impressed.

Looking forward to:
LEVEL3- perfume

I might check out the album (Amber). I really liked a few previews, it has an interesting sound.

^ personally you should , it's not my most fave album of 2013 for nothing . If not for Amber , I straightaway will say Namie's FEEL is my most fave album of the year but as usual x)

You can listen to 1 of the tracks ie. Itoshi no Valkyria below



To think I didn't cared about the preview for Itoshi no Valkyria as the full version's so good . Too bad it didn't got a PV , only Hoshi no Kyousoukyoku did

Anyway I want to add NEWS's NEWS to my list . Great comeback album for the guys & this album gives me assurance that they do indeed can survive as a 4 member group now

Yamapi who ?

Noanowa - Cry Like a Monster
Sakanaction - Sakanaction
Kominami Yasuha - Chimera

Namie Amuro's FEEL is great but it's not been out long enough yet to go on a 'so far' list.

I want to add ON/OFF's mini album DICE to the list

Really solid mini from the twin brothers + they're so under rated

Such a shame not a lot of people takes notice of them just like BREAKERZ *Cough cough*

Now I'm looking forward to hear the new albums from BENI,SPYAIR & JASMINE in due time!

Brown Eyed Girls "BLACK BOX" album! :heart

Now I'm looking forward to Perfume's "LEVEL3" album!

Angela - ZERO
:love
http://item.shopping.c.yimg.jp/i/j/hakucho_4113021687

Want to add to the list

BENI - Red

omg such a really good album , very different from her previous albums & at least the new songs are not boring if not samey sounding

Now's to listen to SPYAIR's MILLION to see if they still got it & also waiting in anticipation for JASMINE's Complexxx to get released end of Aug whee

Add on's

JASMINE - Complexxx
Matsushita Yuya - #musicoverdose
SPYAIR - MILLION
Yamashita Tomohisa - A NUDE

I'm sure I'll be adding AKIHIDE's Lapis Lazuli in due time even though it will purely be a guitar instrumental album but who cares man xD

(in no partciular order)

Ayumi Hamasaki - LOVE again
Minami Kuribayashi - TIGHT KNOT
livetune - Re:Dial
AAA - Eighth Wonder

Tohoshinki - TIME
2PM - Grown (Grand Edition)
2PM - Legend of 2PM
Ayumi Hamasaki - LOVE again
Secret - Letter from Secret
Junho - Kimi no Koe
G.Na - Beautiful Kisses

I would say SHINee's new repackage album, but I only really liked the two repackage songs. Selene 6.23 and Better Off were so amazing. I would have also said Namie's FEEL, but I really only liked Contrail, Rainbow, and La La La.

They're aren't in order, and these are all I can think of right now. There's probably more though.

Yup still only FEEL by Namie is the best this year.

Do Kana's collections count or no? Since they're compilation albums lol

FEEL is still the one that reign supreme, by miles.
However i really enjoyed Level 3 & Nanda Collection. BENI's Red was a nice surprise as well.

Whatever Harajuku is my best now.

So far:

1. LEVEL3 - Perfume
2. FEEL - Namie Amuro
3. I'LL BE BACK - Aira Mitsuki

I'm really loving IU's Modern Times :D Never cared much for her before but the album sounds amazing so far!

Want to add the following albums to my previous list

- Shishido Kavka - Kavkanize (perfection :heart)
- MiChi - EYES WIDE OPEN
- JASMINE - Complexxx

^ooo I have to listen to all those. You just reminded me.

^I second that. That album is really underrated.

^^
True, it was such a nice album. Probably one of the best this year.

I honestly couldn't think of a single album. I guess Color the Cover, 'cause I'm a stan? That's about it. And even then... meh.

1. Mika Nakashima's Real
2. Sakanactian 's Sakanaction
3. something Kavka's Kavkanize or whatever
4. Koda Kumi's Color the Cover
5. Miyavi's MIYAVI

ARASHI - LOVE

Not my overall fave album of the guys but it's quite different/less mainstream from their past albums

And of course , easily the best album track of 2013 - P.A.R.A.D.O.X is enough for me to buy the album & that goes for the PV :luv2

I'm sure the next album added to my list will be AKIHIDE's Lapis Lazuli despite it being a 100% guitar instrumental album x)

in no particular order

Ayumi Hamasaki - LOVE again
Rainie Yang - Angel's Wing
IU - Modern Times

TOMMY CANDY SHOP SUGAR ME, by tommy february6, is definitely the best of this year.
Nandacollection almostd did it tho, and I'm predicting MEG's new album will be amaxing too! :)

As for me the list goes
Ayumi Hamasaki - LOVEagain
Entrust ~ the name of MELL~ compilation album btw i am still mad about the tracklist could have been immensely better but those 4 new songs were good
BENI - RED
Shishido Kavka - Kavkanize (oh my god was i surprised she blew me off although i need to listen to her more
Namie Amuro - FEEL
ORIGA - Amon Ra

AKIHIDE - Lapis Lazuli

My 2nd most fave album of 2013 , the 1st being from AKIHIDE which's his absolutely perfect/flawless debut , Amber :heart

Lapis Lazuli is awesome despite it being a 100% guitar instrumental album but it just shows how ridiculously talented AKIHIDE is & sorry DAIGO no hard feelings but AKIHIDE is the brains + brawn of BREAKERZ but you're still great ;D

Some of my favs this year

Mika Nakashima - REAL
JASMINE - Complexxx
BENI - Red
Namie Amuro - FEEL
Shishido Kavka - Kavkanize
Yamashita Tomohisa - A NUDE
f(x) - pink tape
TANAKA ALICE - TOKYO GIRL
Lee Hyori - MONOCHROME

I'd like to add to my best-of list:

Perfume's LEVEL3
This album has been my JAM this past month, especially "Enter the Sphere". It makes walking to school so much more epic.

f(x)'s Pink Tape
Why oh why are people not raving about this album more? This album is phenomenal! Start to finish. So fresh.

Namie Amuro's FEEL
I can't remember if I've mentioned this album already or not but yeah. It's FEEL. Enough said really. :P

I really appreciated Full Bloom by Kara too, but maybe I liked it so much because it was a damn while since they did something worth mentiong in my eyes... Either way, I really loved it, and some days ago I realized I listen to it constantly, so one of my year favourites!