Well, okay. AYU Ratna, vokalis Garasi (yang nggak tahu apa kabarnya juga). Jadi doski release mini-album indie di Jepang tepat pas Hari Kartini kemarin. Dengan menggunakan penulisan nama yang tipikal “Jepang banget” (kalo sering lihat nama-nama band visual kei pasti ngerti) dia membuat satu lagu original dan lima lagu cover, masing-masing dengan resikonya. Which is good, actually. Lebih baik “covering” daripada “terinspirasi” (if you get my drift).

I’ve heard the leak and sample, and I gotta say there’s a big chance I’d love this album. This is like what Garasi could be if they weren’t caught in the valley of pretentiousness.

Okay, quick review.

Track list:

1. Breathin ‘4U (original song) : Udah denger lagunya dari leak yang dia bocorin sendiri. Slow dan ambientic (is there such word?) dan jujur aja, cocok buat taste gw. It’s not flawless, obviously, but I can’t really find a thing I don’t like yet. Okay, maybe it’s how the title is written, but that’s because I’m a Grammar Nazi, so what the fuck.

2. Gambling (cover: Ringo Shiina) Indonesian ※ ver. : Full song posted on YouTube and every single person I linked (so far) say that this song is the SHIT. She really done well and do the song justice it deserve. Mind you, this is j-music fans we’re talking about. They’re really nitpicky over anyone covering their idol. Anyway, She really make this song hers and not erasing Shiina Ringo’s characteristic at all, which is a hard job to do.

3. Hyperballad (cover: Bjork) : I’m not Bjork’s fan. I just listen some of her songs casually so I can’t do any comparison or anything. But honestly, I enjoy this song, maybe because she have a pretty ear-friendly voice, not to mention penggarap musiknya adalah salah satu orang tua di musik elektronik Indonesia, Andi Ayunir (if my source is right, of course).

4. Blue flowers (cover: BLANKEY JET CITY) : Gw nggak kenal penyanyi aslinya, jujur aja. It’s some old school rockabilly band I never heard of. maybe because I swim too much between the Japanese pretty boy’s pheromone. Just maybe. Btw lagu ini cuma ada sample doang jadi gw nggak bisa ngasih komen panjang-panjang,

5. Thoughtless (cover: koRn) : I have no idea why this song over every song on koRn’s library, but I guess I’m biased over my taste on koRn’s music. I mean, I like pre-Untouchable koRn more, but hey, probably she could change my judgement over this song. No leak, no sample.

6. Tonight (cover: LUNA SEA) : I fucking LOVE this song. This is my first Luna Sea song and always-always-always on the top of my Luna Sea’s playlist. bahkan di album Re:Birth, Tribute to Luna Sea, nggak ada satu pun yang ngecover lagu ini, I really waited for this song to get covered for such a long time. Lagu ini nggak ada leaknya, nggak ada samplenya, so I’m crossing my finger here.

Comment so far? I hope the CD will be released here, I’ll definitely buy it. The amazon.com pricing is just simply too expensive for me. I mean, I like it, but not THAT much. The cover art is okay, and seriously, I can’t really do a decent review here if the album is not in my hand just yet.

But hey, I wish her a very good luck. It’s a tough business, and this is a risky genre. So yeah, good luck. And whatever people say, I call this go international.