The official lecca thread!

[Chiharo]

I literally love all of her songs except a few in her Hakobune mini album, just because I didn't still listen to it enough.

I love ALL of her b-sides sooo much! They make me wish that she'd still release singles. 猫視眈々, 百姫夜行, 品行崩正 and 諸業無常 are literally one of her absolutely best songs. Then the reggae ones: 二人のサイクリング, デリバメン and especially アニキ。.

Beside those, my all time favorites by her are:

風と木の歌
BEAST BOY
HEY MISS
DESIRE
Shopping
Friends
Urban Pirates
朝のまえ
Dear
a～i！
Goddess in the Mountain
なみだの日
UN-SOLO feat. SEEDA
北の酒場
モトカレ
Gambling
証
credit
ドルチェ (This one is somewhere in top 5 all time favorites)
gift
シナリオ
獅子奮陣
あいあん・はあと
JUNCTION
live again
- Entire tough Village album tbh- (JUST 1 TIME, きっと大丈夫, あきらめ女とラレ男, 充分エブリディ, Soldiers feat. Spinna B-ILL, INSIDE WARRIOR, Vibes Up feat. JUMBO MAATCH are one of her best songs, really.)


Then again, there are sooo many that just naming them is really useless. Most of her songs are really good.

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

First BEST album announced. Titled Best Positive

In stores 2016.01.27
CD and CD+DVD versions

1 TSUBOMI feat.九州男
2 For You
3 My measure
4 ちから
5 紅空
6 スタートライン
7 なみだの日
8 live again
9 ねがい (他、収録予定、収録曲数未定)

DISC 2

MUSIC VIDEO (収録曲未定、曲数未定、収録分数未定)

Only nine tracks? Seems...rather short. hm...

[NintendoHTF1242]

Maybe those are just the announced tracks so far or something. 9 tracks for a best is a waste of money lol

[chocopockymaster]

The kanji after the tracklist says more songs to come, lol

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

^That's what I thought from reading it, but I wasn't sure so didn't want to say that and be wrong.

[x-megumi-x]

Covers and tracklist are out.

CD



CD+DVD



Tracklist
CD
01. 紅空
02. スタートライン
03. Dear
04. なみだの日
05. 愛&lie&wine
06. For You
07. My measure
08. ちから
09. TSUBOMI feat. 九州男
10. マタイツカ
11. Right Direction
12. TODAY
13. Sky is the limit feat. RHYMESTER
14. 上がるLIFE
15. live again
16. ねがい

DVD (Music Videos)
01. 紅空
02. スタートライン
03. Dear
04. なみだの日
05. 愛&lie&wine
06. For You
07. My measure
08. ちから
09. TSUBOMI feat.九州男
10. マタイツカ
11. Right Direction
12. Sky is the Limit feat. RHYMESTER
13. live again
14. ねがい
15. Jammin’ the Empire
16. SOLA


Promo picture

Spoiler:

[salina]

wow i like the covers love her new haircut and she has blue contact lenses

like all cover and wow for the dvd many musicvideos

[NintendoHTF1242]

Wow she is gorgeous! Definitely gonna get this release.

[x-megumi-x]

Negai PV

[x-megumi-x]

New album "High Street" will be released on March 1st.

CD



CD+DVD


Tracklist
CD
01. 忍
02. woman
03. ど真ん中
04. 残像
05. Looking for U
06. 太陽の視線
07. believe
08. GARBAGE
09. シングル道
10. RUN THROUGH
11. パーフェクト
12. 掌にある未来

DVD
- woman -MUSIC VIDEO-
- believe -MUSIC VIDEO-
- OFF SHOT


woman PV
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8F...huWkowRWRtQzQ/

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

wow! great news! I'm excited

[salina]

awesome cant wait thxx for the woman pv

[chocopockymaster]

YAAAAAAAAS

[orbitalaspect]

High Street has been released on AWA.

If you want to hear clips: https://s.awa.fm/album/ca5a4fe01dd3b...m&t=1487689203

[orbitalaspect]

Well, High Street is available on All J-Pop. And I'll share my thoughts for the approximate TWO OF US WHO ACTUALLY CARE HERE. :disappointing

01. Shinobu - 8/10

The intro is very long, but I love the breaks. This is well produced. And totally something to get moving to. Reminds me of Ai ni Lie ni Wine.

02. woman - 8/10

The ONLY gripe I have with this song is that the beat doesn't have more depth during the chorus. It would benefit from having a Bad Romance-type / MASAYUME CHASING-type romper through the chorus.

03. Do Mannaka (lit. In the Middle) - 6/10

There's nothing too memorable for me here. But I generally expect this to be case at this point in a lecca album.

04. Zanzou (lit. Afterimage - a vivid sensation that lingers after an experience) - 7/10

I love this beat. Still not a song we'll look back after years and think of as iconic of lecca, but the production here is among the best we've heard from lecca.

05. Looking for U - 10/10

A beautiful throwback to Saisei (from Step One). Not as much momentum as Saisei, but certainly a song I'll remember from lecca. Any fan of hers knows how certain songs (Saisei, JUNCTION) exemplify the power of lecca's work. This is a gorgeous reminder of those tracks. And I think we can all relate to the lyrics "Looking for you for the rest of my life / Looking for you in the face of others"...

06. Taiyou no Shisen (lit. Sun's Line of Sight) - 7/10

It's like a mix of Chikara and SKY IS THE LIMIT. Lecca doing classic lecca.

07. believe - 10/10

Probably the most Western-sounding song so far, but it's fresh for lecca. And the best part is that lecca can pull this sound off without it sounding so far from her reggae/hip-hop roots. This is also the shortest song on the album.

08. GARBAGE - 6/10

Throwback to the style of Maemuki's album-only tracks (her last album). This is tighter though. Nothing memorable here though.

09. Single Michi (lit. Single Road) - 8/10

This is totally a throwback to tracks like Chikara / SOLA / Golden Lion / Familia! . It's real late in the album for one of these songs. They usually come WAY sooner in the track list. This has a clean, fresh feel to it though. It's similar, but still noticeably different.

10. RUN THROUGH - 5/10

It's not bad, but it's not memorable. I actually like the outro to the song more than the rest of the song.

11. Perfect - 10/10

I know this won't be remembered as one of lecca's best ballads, but it's among them. Being the only true ballad on this album, it stands out even more. Reminds me of live again. Very inspirational. And what a beautiful melody.

12. Tenchira ni Aru Mirai (lit. Future in the Palm) - 7/10

Similar to Kitto Daijoubu (#4) from tough Village. Not as catchy chorus. It sounds like it's in the wrong place on the album.


OVERALL - 12 songs, album average rating: 7.6/10
STANDOUTS - Looking for U, believe

NO CLIPPING. ON ANY SONG. In fact, every song so far is extremely well produced. This is the most professional, articulate sound we've gotten on a lecca album in her career.

Most of these songs are very uplifting. The only truly emotional track is Looking for U. And I hope people will remember Looking for U as a standout song from this album. I wish it would have been one of the two PVs. I can easily imagine shots of lecca walking through Tokyo at night to this song.

Overall, I'm glad to hear a new lecca album. I hope she incorporates more of the sounds from Shinobu and believe into her next album. I'm impressed with the production most of all. And I hope she keeps this quality moving forward.

[Chiharo]

Originally Posted by orbitalaspect

NO CLIPPING. ON ANY SONG. In fact, every song so far is extremely well produced. This is the most professional, articulate sound we've gotten on a lecca album in her career.

I greatly disagree that "every song is extremely well produced", whatever you mean by that. The quality is the same, except that there's less clipping (and there's still clipping on vocals although it's definitely been toned down so in that way I can understand what you meant). Listen to the chorus of パーフェクト if you want clipping. There are no awfully produced songs like RULE, though, which is a great step forward at least. While there is improvement compared to her other albums, this is nowhere near to be called "extremely well produced", in my opinion.

Looking for U is definitely the best song on the album, I wish there were more like it. At first I liked the album a lot, but now I don't find most songs that appealing.

[orbitalaspect]

Originally Posted by Chiharo

I greatly disagree that "every song is extremely well produced", whatever you mean by that. The quality is the same, except that there's less clipping (and there's still clipping on vocals although it's definitely been toned down so in that way I can understand what you meant). Listen to the chorus of パーフェクト if you want clipping. There are no awfully produced songs like RULE, though, which is a great step forward at least. While there is improvement compared to her other albums, this is nowhere near to be called "extremely well produced", in my opinion.

Looking for U is definitely the best song on the album, I wish there were more like it. At first I liked the album a lot, but now I don't find most songs that appealing.

I'm referring to a side by side comparison of many songs across lecca's last few albums. I'm not seeing any clipping in Perfect in the waveform or by listening. But even if it is there, it's nowhere near the issues seen even on Maemuki. The sounds are better mixed and clearer. The only real issue I hear in tracks like woman is what sounds like limiting used on the chorus. There's a little too much ducking in the sound to make room for her voice.

But I think we can both agree lecca's records don't get the automation treatment they desperately need. I think they rely too much on limiters and compression than manually working with individual tracks to get the best mix. :\

[Chiharo]

Well yeah, I can agree with most of that. The album definitely is more pleasant to ears than most of her older ones. It's just that the overall sound to me is very similar to how her albums have been produced since almost forever. I'm really curious to see whether the sound engineers were the same, which I have a feeling that they are.

[orbitalaspect]

Originally Posted by Chiharo

Well yeah, I can agree with most of that. The album definitely is more pleasant to ears than most of her older ones. It's just that the overall sound to me is very similar to how her albums have been produced since almost forever. I'm really curious to see whether the sound engineers were the same, which I have a feeling that they are.

I just wish they spent the time to manually automate things like volume and effect levels. I know it's the most time consuming part of mixing, but it's literally the difference between something that sounds like shit and sounds like gold.

And lecca's a good songwriter. That's what makes the lack of investment in her records so disappointing at times.

[chocopockymaster]

urgh I'm dying to get home and listen to it. I've been traveling for two months for work and haven't heard any new music so this will be really nice to come home to!