i like music so i wrote this shit.

Artist: Genki Rockets
Album: Genki Rockets I - Heavenly Star

We all know Lumines is the only good game for the PSP. A launch title which still holds up pretty well, like most successful games, it had a sequel, although Lumines 2 is in my humble opinion, inferior, i blame Mizoguchi's lack of vision for that one, although it was remedied in GunpeyPSP. It did give birth to one of the better musical acts recently. Genki Rockets. this virtual band, so to speak, is made up several unknown composers, muscisians,and dj's, all notable in the scene, probably. Their intention was to make a "group" that makes in-house music for QE videogames, eventually stood out to be more than just that, and made a few pop hits, which actually made it to the charts, in japan i guess. Another notable thing about this group is that they've made up a fictional Image character, Lumi, a teenage girl, who looks eurasian, and is supposedly born in space. She's all fake though, her voice, image, etc, are all fake, and were said to be all computer generated. After 2 singles, they released the first album, Genki Rockets I.

First thing that came to mind upon listening to GR1-HS, was "Shinichi Osawa drank sum vocoder juice, became a teenage girl", and it pretty much sums it up. Now, i love SO/MondoGrosso, so i can't help but compare, then again he's one of Mizoguchi favorite artists, so i wont be surprised if Osawa was involved in GR.

1. Prologue - Earth Rise
An appropriate start, doodle with some synth and take the chorus of Heavenly Star, its like listening to the original track for less than 2mins. Useless.

2. Breeze
Their 2nd Single, i honestly like this more than i should, its very generic, but the arrangement is topnotch, the lyrics are your usual english love stuff. "Im so Close to youuu~". Nice layering, and that acoustic guitar doesn't feel out of place. In fact, make an analog version of this, a bit slower, its gonna be better. Very Mondo Grosso.

3. Smile.
B-track to the Star Line single. Seriously, where the hell did this come from. I think they were trying to be creative by making a "slow yet upbeat pop song" Atrocious piano intro, bad lyrics, and too much sparkling shit. Skip it.

4. Star Line
Their 3rd single, obviously straying more into a JPOP sound. It has a nice cheap guitar thing going on, has somewhat good lyrics, and the distorted voice adds to the "this is a rock song" feel of it all. Only thing I don't like is the piano riff which pops out of nowhere.

5. Heavenly Star
Classic.Great hooks, great buildups, understandably lyrics, and lots of electro, but not too much. Bridge is akwardly slow, and it needs more BANG at the end imo. Other than that, its great.

6. Intermediate - Orbit Swimming-
The title sums it up. Swimming is the right term, its just a bunch of digital mush, loose afloat, but it sounds nice.

7. I Will
Remember when i said, S. Osawa? Another track which sounds too much like his work. the looped-up guitar riffs, and chilly beats, and calm singing. only problem is that the verse-chorus pattern is a lot like Heavenly Star. It has a more interesting mood though.

8. Star Surfer
Sounds like a capsule song, if they listened to Hed Kandi, and decided it was cool. But the chorus, is still the same belting shit from HeavStar.

9. Never Ever
Remember those crappy piano ballads a lot of jpop artists have in thier albums, that nobody likes? This is it folks.

10. Fly!
The "!" surely makes it more exciting lol. This track is peculiar, its solid, and just like any pop song, its predictably constructed. It sounds like an american girl poprock song, from 2002. For more lulz, it uses that looping melody from Heavenly Star. Odd. Ew.

11. Star Line (Japanese ver.)
Same song as original, with Japanese verses. But retains parts of the English Chorus lyrics. Its akward, and sounds forced. Listen-able, if not, meh.

12. Breeze - Summer Afternoon Mix
Its another Mondo Grosso song.. clone! How bizarre lol. closest thing to an acoustic ver. Breeze. I would love it, if not for the annoying rapid synth which bursts out on occasion. Nice, yet disappointing.

13. Breeze - Star Breeze Mix
Sounds like an extended version of Breeze, has some nice things going on, like strings and a few more notes. Decent.

Heavenly star being ripped into different songs was a bad idea. Also, like i've said, "Osawa as a girl", style wise, its a bit too much like Mgrosso/Osawa, not that its a bad thing really. And two remixes of one song in one album, that's a bit too much (that's what single releases are for). I guess the problem with some bands/groups that have a unique sound is that its hard to expand on "that" sound to add variety into things. But this being their first album, its kinda forgivable, but it'll be disappointing if it happens again in their next album/single. Overall, a nice CD, wasn't worth all monies i spent on it though, just buy the Heavenly Star and Star Line single next time. The latter having SEVEN remixes of HS. Enjoy.

if you liked GR, i suggest checking out several artists i've mentioned like Mondo Grosso, Shinichi Osawa (who is also Mondo Grosso, but has a somewhat diff style under his name.), Capsule (latter albums) and lastly, Nobuchika Eri.