Known for electrifying live performances that blend various genres to express soul, Japanese outfit ROCK’N’RAW captivates audiences with powerful vocals and makes quick work of captivating audiences with their brand of hip-hop. On their latest single “Sei”, they bring their essence of hip-hop to us– keep reading for my thoughts!
Throughout “Sei”, there are the unmistakable influences of R&B, HipHop and Soul genres that immediately stick out to you. There is much to also appreciate about the flow of the vocals, which are all in Japanese– now, I’m no native speaker, but of the lyrics, the flow adopts a rathe unique rapped style that also leans heavily into the melodic aspect of vocal delivery, and I’m glad to report that’s been done rather well here.
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The production on “Sei” adopts a primarily trap-influenced modern hiphop approach, with elements like the hi-hats featuring as prominent elements on the top end of the song. The bass is low and smooth, while retaining enough punch and clarity to cut through the mix and populate something solid for the woofers to do. The melodic composition explores the timbre of the pianos, all set in a simple, singing-friendly four-square chord passage that is hard to not get stuck in your head.
The standout to me on “Sei”, is the mix; with excellent control in the lows and great articulation in the mids and the highs, every aspect of this song is seemingly well controlled; striking the balance to not overpower the true character of the instruments, yet taming the harshness and the transients excellently well. The master wraps things up comfortably, and the result is a great listen.
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All in all, “Sei” by Rock N’ Raw is a track I thoroughly enjoyed listening to for its simplicity, but more importantly, its tendency to get the fundamentals dead on. Check out the track here!
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