A Review
If there ever was a way to listen to an artist at their fundamental core then undoubtly an acoustic setting would be an ideal spot to do so. Acoustic lives are usually sold as a stripped down, intimate type of event that allows fans to appreciate an artist or band and their songs at a much deeper level without the technical magic that usually makes a song an overproduced masterpiece.
When recorded, acoustic lives can either feel immersive in it's raw nature or if production takes over it can become less like an acoustic live and more closely resemble a polished studio production.
So, what chances of a truly acoustic feel does a recorded acoustic song have when production tries to make it a song that's devoid of just drums, bass, and distortioned guitar effects? Usually I find the results of studio recorded acoustic songs way too polished, sure it sounds nice. but surely it's not something you'd hear live in an acoustic setting. Acoustic to me implies something live and immediate, like all you need is the artist to pick up an instrument and start wailing away. The flutter of a voice, notes that don't come across completely as they should, essentially the imperfectness of a one-take recording.
I'm sure people know what I'm talkiing about but you'd be hard pressed to find an artist who would release something so unmastered and unchanged. Tetsu graced his fans with a very raw acoustic track, yoro no iro ~color of street~ on the Thank you ep. You hear everything, from the footsteps walking toward the microphone to the lighting of a cigarette after the performance is done. Another track was added with the sound of cars passing, as per the vibe of the song and video, but that's it the song was most definitely recorded in one take. Some fans would probably be disgusted by such an track or album, some might be pleasantly delighted.
While The Ball & Wall was never labeled an acoustic album, and for that matter not even a 'solo' album but an 'independent release', it surely is an acoustic album. It straddles the line between the rawness as displayed in yoro no iro ~color of street~ and a studio polished album. This album really is a treat for Tetsu fans, you hear his voice as it really is, and for some who've heard him live in Malice Mizer bootlegs, it's something that takes more getting used to than even his studio recorded voice. He never really strives to be the most technically perfect singer and for those who've come to accept that will find his voice in the Ball & Wall is deeply evocative and emotional.
And while the lo-fi nature of yoro no iro from Thank you would've been alot for a listener to endure for a whole album, the Ball & Wall finds a balance half way between a full blown studio track and live acoustic recording. If you had to put it on a scale this album would probably be closer to an acoustic recording by a little, 40%-60%. It's a nice balance of production that works perfectly. There's really one two or three tracks per song. One for vocals, one for guitar, and occasionally one for a distorted guitar which is used sparingly to provide a backing guitar, ambient effects and some noise during choruses. This is a serious production attempt on their part but it doesn't take away to the acousticness I described before. Well it does a little because some of the sounds will jump at you over everything else and it removes the thought that is a acoustic album. But it's almost 50%-50% as I said. With just the right amount of production and rawness that I think many acoustic albums never really achieve.
The songs on the album are all what you'd expect them to be in acoustic form. Sayonara davinci, summertime cruise, orion, can you here me are similar with a little extra and some subtracted here and there. Garden and Venus in the Mirror, formerly heavier rock tracks, trade in their fast paced beats for slower lusher acoustics. Garden you will recognize with it's original counterpart, Venus in the Mirror has a completely different composition and is a whispy track that almost sounds cliche in it's sound. It's good but comes across as one of the slower songs on the album.
The two new tracks. Beautiful You and Hotel, are nice treats and judging them now before the nil band version comes out is a treat. You can listen to them without preconceived notions. Beautiful You is a sparse track that evokes images of Aurora and is 6 minutes of pure bliss. I can only imagine what the recorded version sounds like and this hints at a new direction for nil. The acoustic version on Ball & Wall doesn't feel like the original will be jammed packed with stuff going on, something that seems to be the case with most nil songs, some exceptions being n.i.l, Birthday, and Aurora.
Hotel is a darker track and is somewhat unimpressive at first but and I'm sure it'll grow on you with more listens. I'm still not completely enamored by this song and I'm sure the band version will change that. This song is a little wordier than Beautiful You, and I have yet to decipher any of it's meaning.
And the secret track is none other than Placebo, which is the fastest song to be converted into an acoustic track. It retains it's speed and is a nice pick me up after the mellowness from the rest of the album. There's no effects on this song, just guitar and vocals, even some screaming during that middle part.
Overall The Ball & Wall will be a good buy for serious tetsu and nil fans and the depth displayed here will be thoroughly enjoyable. For casual fans this might be laughable and forgetable, it single handedly displays tetsu's voice as being strong and weak, and it's really up to the listener whether this openess is worthy of admiration and respect. For me, it most definitely is.
That's cool , haha !! I am curious to know what he said about MALICE MIZER!! 
Like I was bummed when you said Baroque, but now...ahhh. I wish I could've gone. Now let's see some live recordings to make up for it. xD