ZIZ - GIFT: Reviews

[flowersofnight]

I got in my copy of ZIZ's "GIFT" today! And... well, usually I "live-blog" my initial reactions but I'm not going to bother putting it all down here this time because there was a lot of forgettable material here.

First off, basic info: Kozi is on vocal/guitar, Jiro on guitar, Sugiya on bass, Yugami on synth, and Charge on drums.
The tracklist and credits:

1. ö (Kozi+Yugami)
2. RayD5 (Kozi)
3. Ill (Kozi)
4. Besque (Kozi/Sugiya)
5. Kosmostill (Kozi/Yugami)
6. Night Creature (Jiro/Kozi)
7. Super Naked Disko (Kozi/Charge)
8. Sanityman (Kozi/Jiro)
9. With Fu (Kozi)

Kozi split the writing duties on a lot of these songs with his various bandmembers, but it wasn't clear whether that meant they collaborated musically or if it was just lyrics by one guy and music by another. The first track was the only instrumental-only one.

The biggest takeaway from this album is: whatever reasons you may have liked Kozi solo, you're going to have to find different reasons to like ZIZ, for the most part. Many of their songs on this disc are repetitive rock-electronic stuff without much of a melody - I guess more of a "flow" type thing, just a wall of sound. Most of the tracks on here you won't come away remembering the tune to because there isn't much of one. None of it is actively offensive to listen to (besides "Super Naked Disko" which is annoying), but generally it's not actively engaging either. I could see some people liking "Besque" on its own merits, but it wasn't my style.

HOWEVER: two songs on there were excellent. First off: the last track, "With Fu" was absolutely worthy of the Kozi name. All the rock and noise nonsense is banished and we have a well-woven synth-type song that you'll actually remember and want to hear again. The whole disc should have been more like this, but I guess Kozi didn't want to do anything that would fit in with his solo style. Our loss.
Second: "Night Creature" is... an ACOUSTIC JAZZ cover of the Kozi solo song XD Outstanding - dark, moody, and cool. I think people will either love it or despise it because, you know, jazz

The verdict: mostly disappointing. Maybe ZIZ is just more of a "live band" (a designation I personally think is nonsense) but I don't think most of their songs will hold up to repeat listening. I'm happy to have the two gems off this album but some may find the price of admission a little steep for them.

EDIT: added the credits to the tracklist.

 

[Iskanderia]

Thanks for the review. I'm pretty bummed but not surprised based on how unimpressed I was by the samples.

 

[Berserk]

Thanks for the review. I wish this were more widely available so I could listen to it myself.

I'm sure I would really like the rendition of Night Creature, and I'm guessing I would at least marginally enjoy some of the other material. I thought the samples sounded alright, personally, but it seems I'm a minority on that one.

 

[flowersofnight]

I thought the samples sounded alright, personally, but it seems I'm a minority on that one.

We'll see if you still think so after they start looping XD
None of the musicianship is bad or anything, but a lot of the songs themselves have no larger structure than what you could hear in those 10-second samples.

EDIT: Added the credits to the original post. Going by "Night Creature" which is the only one we can "match up", it looks like maybe the first person listed is the lyricist and the second is the composer, which would mean Kozi didn't actually compose half these mediocrities. Makes sense, I suppose.

EDIT AGAIN: Also, I didn't know "Sugiya" was the same Sugiya from Moi dix Mois. But he is. Congratulations to him for writing one of the less-mediocre songs on there.

 

[Blue Moon]

I was a bit disappointed about this but it’s nice to hear Kozi’s voice. I also think he did a fantastic remake of Night Creature. There are couple of songs that I like: Besque, Sanityman and With Fu. Kozi should compose songs with Jiro and Sugiya and avoid Chargeeee.

@Berserk: I pm’d you.

 

[Mademoiselle Folie]

I'm crying... to hear Közi's voice again is extremely touching...

the album took my breath and now i can't wait for them to release more copies so i could be able to get mine. I hope they release in cd japan, i'm scared to buy from amazon jp because i've never bought in there before...

 

[Blue Moon]

@ Mademoiselle Folie: When I ordered the CD from Amazon JP, it was already sold out and remain sold out the entire time; however, it was shipped last Thursday and I got it on Monday. Super fast and no DHL customs fee. Shipping fee is about 400 yen more than CDJapan which make up for faster delivery time.

See my post on the ZIZ thread about CD Japan.

 

[Mademoiselle Folie]

@Blue Moon: wow! that was really fast, i see you live in Canada, i'm in Mexico.. i will see your post, thank you!

 

[Koji]

Just listened to it once, but imo it's quite enjoyable from Kosmostill onward.

 

[MeganAubrey]

I got my 'Gift' Monday, and have been looping it trying to get my impressions straight ever since. While I didn't come away totally disappointed, I ultimately think it's a mixed bag... I miss that moody circus noir sound that characterized so much of Kozi's work in MM and beyond. However, I like some of what he's doing with his voice on this album, and his guitar comes through nicely in a number of the songs.

Sanityman is actually my favorite on the album (I've always liked dance music,) it's a fairly straightforward little disco song, but about 30 seconds in the bass drops and it's a 'woah- turn that up!' moment. (I thought!)

I also agree with others that the jazzy Night Creature rendition is really refreshing. So different! And Sugiya's bassline is out of this world in that song. I also liked Besque for it's melancholy sound, and 'With FU' (mostly for its opening)... I agree with Flowers that 'With FU' is clearly the strongest bridge between this body of work and Kozi's solo pieces.

I truly could have done without songs like 'O', and 'Super Naked Disko' they didn't have much to characterize them... kind of bland.

Not regretting the money spent, and that saying something at least!

 

[Berserk]

Well, it's already uploaded to YouTube

My verdict: There are some good individual tracks, but the album as a whole lacks direction and inspiration and the sum is less than its individual parts. There are also some bafflingly weak tracks that are just not listenable. Probably half of them could be reliably classified as "skip-overs". I'm glad I had a chance to listen to it, but I would have to say that only the most devoted Kozi fan should make an effort to buy this CD, and for collection/supporting-the-artist purposes only. I did a track-by-track rundown since the other reviews were more general. ZIZ's greatest weakness IMHO is that they're just unprofessional and uninspired. They have potential, but you won't see me holding my breath for them to realize it.

ö is a short intro track that has a good vibe, but a poor execution. That's more than can be said for some of the songs that follow.

RayD5 sounds like it could have been an extra track from Loki n' Roll, except it has more of an upbeat video game/techno vibe rather than the corrupted circus aura that Kozi has become known for. It's one of the strongest tracks.

Ill is an illustration of Kozi's chaotic/messy vibe gone bad. i.e., it's simply unlistenable rather than disorienting/trippy like it should be. The intermittent, soaring chorus that is something of a Kozi hallmark doesn't do much to save this song, unfortunately.

I wasn't a fan of Besque. I appreciate the vibe it's going for, but in some parts it gets oversaturated with incoherent and unrelated tracks. There are some neat melodies (the chorus has a beautiful, aching sound to it), but they have no connection. Once the song is all said and done, it hasn't really said or done anything.

I liked Kosmostill. It has a far-out, spacey loop that gets old but still has a neat effect. I really like the singing on this track (it has a nice vocal harmony too), and the parts of the song actually feel relevant/coherent to each other, which shouldn't be a surprise but is for ZIZ. Definitely one of the strongest compositions.

Night Creature opens with a bluesy bass line and sparse guitar and grows into a toe-tapping jazz number. It wasn't as good as it could have been but it was the best out of them all, mostly because it had good composition and development as well as some real musicianship (I assume Sugiya is on bass here. Is it Kozi on guitar?) rather than being made up of crappy synth loops.

Super Naked Disko made me laugh. It's probably not the worst song on here, honestly. It's a bright and bumpy dance track with a demented, off-kilter quality and what sounds like the repeated shouting of, "I'm naked!" I imagine this as the inner monologue of an escaped mental patient XD That said, it's a one-time song. It gets old fast.

Sanityman has a really good start but it loses focus, goes down hill, and gets stuck in an uninspired loop. I like the vocal style (is it Kozi singing this? If so, it's different than what he's done in the past), and the instrumentation is good, but the composition as a whole just doesn't hold water for me.

With Fu has a good ambience and seems particularly dark for Kozi. It's not a very melodic or catchy song, but it sets an interesting mood. The synths remind me a bit of the Moog and maybe old school video games with a gothic touch.

 

[flowersofnight]

ZIZ's greatest weakness IMHO is that they're just unprofessional and uninspired.

You were expecting this to be professional? Kozi just pushed a mop through his apartment at 4AM one day and whoever got mopped up he made join the band
I really do wonder if we're just not the target audience for this stuff. Maybe no one is except the band members themselves. Maybe this music is just really fun to perform, or it sounds great when you get blasted by it at 750db while drunk out of your mind on formaldehyde or something.
Or it could just really be weak ::kisaki:: I'm sort of inclined to think that most of the members have no business writing music, at least when they have Kozi available for that. But either way, the bad songs seemed to be bad in a consistent sort of way so it seemed to me that they were aiming for a specific style.

Super Naked Disko made me laugh. It's probably not the worst song on here, honestly.

No, it really is It was the only one that actively annoyed me, anyway.

EDIT: BTW, does anyone have any interest at all in seeing the lyrics for these songs? I'll probably type up "With Fu" this weekend but not bother with the others unless someone wants them.

 

[voixdinferno]

just listen to it ... from tumblr xD...

I don't know what to say... it's like I have not heard... is forgettable maybe... Zero melodies.

 

[MeganAubrey]

What I really want to know is, at about 3:05 in Kosmostill, does anyone else think it sounds like he's saying 'I want another cookie?"

Maybe it's just me. God knows I mishear lyrics all the time.

:-P

 

[Wandering_Fox]

Kozi just pushed a mop through his apartment at 4AM one day and whoever got mopped up he made join the band

Thank goodness he finally mopped up, the last time I was there for our monthly bridge game I stepped in a big ol' puddle of Sugiya and he got all over my sock.

Um... I'm not sure what to say about this... This is definitely one of those releases that people will buy just because it's Kozi from Malice Mizer, but if this had been a first release by anybody in the band, you'd probably have a hard time giving it away... It doesn't really sound like Kozi, or at least the style of music he has written that I enjoy. The arrangements aren't engaging, the tracks are unmemorable, and, even in Night Creature, it takes the band too long to get to the good stuff (when there actually is good stuff to get to) That being said, though it is unfortunate that the majority of the CD is a skip track, it did have some quality performances by the musicians for what it was, and I have no problem with bands writing music for themselves, even if it's not my cup of tea... I'll be happy to give them another chance once they tighten up their song-writing and focus on more memorable riffs (Also, what's the difference between "naked" and "super naked"? Is this track inspired by Action League Now! from the old Nickelodeon show "KaBlam"?)

 

[PureElegance]

So I decided to listen for kicks! I'm not a Kozi fan so I have no idea about how he sings or anything about his past songs.

With Fu: First impression - cool. I really like it since it's pretty dark and creepy. Not sure if it's something I'll listen to over and over again though. I really like the beginning of the song. It's a cool song and reminds me a little of Malice Mizer's "Saikai no chi to bara."

Night Creature: After all the jazz talk, this was good, but I was expecting something like Klaha's "Chameleon no Seppun" or The Aristocats' "Everybody Wants to be a Cat." Not what I was expecting, but still good, especially the intro.... OK I guess I am a little let down since I wanted the whole brass section to fill my ears.
I listened to it again, and it actually sounds like Santana's version of "Black Magic Woman," especially in the beginning. It's a pretty cool song that reminds me of the psychedelic songs of the 60s/70s rather than jazz, even if it is a jazz song.

Basque: I really love this one, if only for the chorus. It really is aching and painful, even though I have no idea what he's saying. I love that about it. Especially when he goes "ayayay." OK, that sounds like it's a Spanish man complaining, but I have no idea what he's saying there. It's a pretty good song.

Sanityman: Oh My GOD, this is what I want! I love it! Oh man. I was about to skip this after hearing the mostly bad reviews, I'm so glad I haven't. I think this and Basque are the only songs going on my phone at the moment. It's upbeat, has a catchy chorus, has an Ace of Base vibe, it's just all around great.
I'm still surprised at how I totally jumped at this song, I love everything about it.
Is he speaking English here? It sounds like it. I love it. I'm sad I even have to move on and listen to the other songs, but here goes.

Kosmostill: Hmm, it's nice and easy to listen to. It's not great, but it's not terrible. It doesn't sound like a typical pop song, so that's good, but it's still lacking. The singing is good though.

Super Naked Disco: lol. XD DISCOOO.
DISCO!
DISCO!
SUPA NAKED. DISCO! I think everyone needs to listen to this just for the experience.

RayD5: Ew, this sounds like a lame alternative rock song. I don't like this at all. It's kind of gross. How was this video game/techno at ALL? How can you even categorize this song with those? What kind of video game sounds like this? How does this have a techno vibe? It even has that lame Indian instrument, how is this videogame/techno? I feel offended.

Ill: Interesting... It's not awful, but yeah. It's interesting. *strokes chin* It's definitely something I'm not used to hearing.

o: Hm. It could've been cooler, but it's fine.


I wouldn't call this album terrible or anything, but a mixed bag. If I had bought the CD, I wouldn't regret it at all once I listened to Basque, Night Creature, With Fu, and Sanityman. The song that annoyed me was RayD5, the other songs were fine and Super Naked Disco is stupid in a good way, so I don't even mind it.

*gets grossed out at the thought of RayD5*

 

[Iskanderia]

I'm not a Kozi fan so I have no idea about how he sings or anything about his past songs.

Get out.

 

[PureElegance]

I'm not a Kozi fan so I have no idea about how he sings or anything about his past songs.

Get out.

Haha, for some reason I've never been interested in him and I could barely make it through a couple of his earlier songs, so after that I didn't bother with him. Maybe I will now since I love a few of the songs on GIFT. I'm still listening to Sanityman. GIFT is really not that horrible Iska, you should try it out and listen!

 

[flowersofnight]

RayD5: Ew, this sounds like a lame alternative rock song. I don't like this at all. It's kind of gross. How was this video game/techno at ALL? How can you even categorize this song with those? What kind of video game sounds like this? How does this have a techno vibe? It even has that lame Indian instrument, how is this videogame/techno? I feel offended.

Berserk was right. Learn the classics
The first two tracks kind of reminded me of "Sonic Spinball" and "Sonic CD", if you want to get specific. I left it out of my original review to keep the gamenerd quotient a bit lower, but I guess we're going there now XD

 

[PureElegance]

... I'm never playing those.


Berserk didn't even talk about old games (I seriously doubt he went, "This sounds like Sonic Spinball"), he said that With Fu was old-school. Is Berserk really talking about ancient games or is he talking about something lame like Tony Hawk?

It's still horrible.