Though Touch Me! is full of new material from Mai Kuraki, the mood is decidedly retro in its own fashion along the way.
Kuraki started right around the turn of the millennium, but her sound is thoroughly informed by 1980s and '90s R&B in the U.S.
The title track (and opener) has a lot of the feel of contemporary Japanese R&B in its opening bars, but slowly adds in string arrangements and a slightly stuttered beat that point toward bits of mid-'90s Janet Jackson-style works.
"Break the Tone" goes a step further, with stereotypical synth hits from the likes of one of the Breakin' movies.
When she gets a chance to stretch out lyrically a bit, Kuraki can warble with the best, hitting all of the right notes and placing them in good form to fit the songs.
Unfortunately for Touch Me!, she gets only rare shots at this, instead heading either toward the standardized formats of the last couple decades or into entirely standardized contemporary R&B instead.
Either way, fans of the contemporary sound that she's such a part of will be pleased with the new material.
Newcomers are likely to shelve the latest album with the rest of the genre without giving it much of a chance.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Break the Tone | Mai Kuraki | Play | 03:31 | 8 MB | 21 MB |
| 2 | I Can't Believe You!! | Mai Kuraki | Play | 03:49 | 8 MB | 28 MB |
| 3 | Secret Lover | Mai Kuraki | Play | 03:43 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 4 | Hello! | Mai Kuraki | Play | 03:53 | 8 MB | 28 MB |
| 5 | 24 Xmas Time | Mai Kuraki | Play | 04:14 | 9 MB | 32 MB |
| 6 | Catch | Mai Kuraki | Play | 04:14 | 9 MB | 33 MB |
| 7 | Top of the World | Mai Kuraki | Play | 03:00 | 6 MB | 22 MB |
| 8 | 一秒ごとにLove For You / Ichibyou Goto ni Love For You | Mai Kuraki | Play | 03:57 | 9 MB | 31 MB |
| 9 | 夢が咲く春 / Yume ga Saku Haru | Mai Kuraki | Play | 03:54 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 10 | You With Music And Dream | Mai Kuraki | Play | 04:06 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 11 | 夢が咲く春 / Yume ga Saku Haru: Remix | Mai Kuraki | Play | 03:54 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 42 mins | 96 MB | |||||
| 42 mins | 309 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mai Kuraki | Primary Artist |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |