[2024.02.21] Tsubaki Factory - 3rd -Moment-

[Solarblade]

Today, they announced Tsubaki Factory's 3rd album, 3rd -Moment-

http://helloproject.com/news/16817/

Coming in two discs and a blu-ray

Disc 1

1. Namida no Heroine Kouban Geki
2. Garakuta DIAMOND
3. Yakusoku Renraku Kinenbi
4. Adrenaline Dame
5. Yowasa ja nai yo, Koi wa
6. Idol Tenshoku Ondo
7. Machigai ja nai Naitari Shinai
8. Skip Skip Skip
9. Kimi to Boku no Kizuna feat. KIKI
10. Yuuki It's my Life!
11. Mousou Dake Nara Freedom
12. Demo...Ii yo

Disc 2

1. Power Flower ~Ima Koso Ichigan to Nare~ (Power Flower ～今こそ一丸となれ～)
2. Stay free & Stay tuned
3. Shichibu-zaki no Tsuzuki (七分咲きのつづき)
4. EZPZ!!
5. Summer Challenger (サマー・チャレンジャー)
6. Amayadori no Epilogue (雨宿りのエピローグ)
7. Atashi Rhythm (アタシリズム)
8. Kimi to Boku no Kizuna (君と僕の絆)
9. You're My Friend feat. KIKI / Asakura
10. Kacchoii Uta / Yamagishi
11. BE / Kishimoto

[JPope]

- Power Flower ~Ima Koso Ichigan to Nare~ (Power Flower ～今こそ一丸となれ～)

UF been reading my blog.

[Zoe]

I wonder if they'll have album versions for the songs Yumeno ended up participating in live.

Kinda of weird they're putting all the solo stuff (including Yumeno's singing videos) here.

[Solarblade]

Album covers are out and tracklist is finalized (no changes, no smaller groupings either) - http://helloproject.com/release/detail/EPCE-7814/

[Shoujo Q]

Something to hype you up for the release this month.

[JPope]

Two days from release and I've not seen a single radio rip for any of the album tracks.

[Shoujo Q]

My Tsubaki Review

I wish they had put the singles on the a disc 2, but whatever.


I’m only going to talk about the new songs.

Power Flower ~Ima Koso Ichigan to Nare~ - The opening. This is a concert for sure. It’s not bad and I sort dug it. But I totally forgot about it after the second song. But after a second listen it will stick around in my rotation for a bit.
Stay free & Stay tuned - This is such a high energy song and so classic 2000 era H!P. Best song on the album!
Shichibuzaki no Tsuzuki - And then we have a slower song. It’s got that anime ending feel to it. I dig it.
EZPZ!! - What is this group? I like this song it’s really boppy. It really doesn’t feel like a concert song. It feels like it could have been a single song. But not quite. Maybe like a minor A Side.
Summer Challenger - Not really new, but new to me because I never saw them perform this song in concert. It’s okay but not one of my favorites so far in this selection. Maybe it will grow on me? But this is just a filler or a filler type of song.
Amayadori no Epilogue - The current Tsubaki have such an amazing group of vocalists. I don’t think I’d like this song if it wasn’t given to another group. Maybe Juice could pull it off? But even mediocre songs sound good with these girls. I’d love to hear this live.
Atashi Rhythm - I’m glad they pulled out one last song with Yumeno. This song sounds much better recorded than when I heard it live. It almost feels a touch Angerme. But I doubt Angerme would make me enjoy the song vocally. I love the piano solo.
Kimi to Boku no Kizuna - Ending with a slow song before the Solos. I didn’t realize this song hadn’t been released yet. They had this in their back pocket since 2022. I’m glad it finally got released. It’s a really good ending song. But then we get the solos that honestly feel like an end cap I didn’t really need here.

Overall I liked the album because I LIKE this generation of Tsubaki. This will get a lot of play this year for me. I like it a heck of lot more than Ocha’s album. But that’s comparing a Junior to a Freshman.

[Solarblade]

Kimi to Boku no Kizuna - Ending with a slow song before the Solos. I didn’t realize this song hadn’t been released yet. They had this in their back pocket since 2022. I’m glad it finally got released. It’s a really good ending song. But then we get the solos that honestly feel like an end cap I didn’t really need here.

But it was released technically? as Kimi to Boku no Kizuna feat. KIKI. Same arrangement, just no Kiki, Yumeno, or Riko

[Shoujo Q]

That’s what I get for skipping disc 1 and going straight to disc 2.

[JPope]

First listen impressions are that this will eventually be my least favorite TF album, or it will be my favorite to date. Shojou's descriptions are almost exactly what I was thinking while hearing the songs for the first time, although I'll add that "EZPZ" sounds like a group challenge song from a Korean survival show.

The thing is, though, that nothing really hit me hard right away, which means they'll either be slow-burners that I end up absolutely loving, or I just won't dig them all that much. Or a mix of the two, lol. "Amayadori no Epilogue" is the only song that kind of grabbed me immediately -- maybe "Atashi Rhythm," too. It's very much classic TF. Actually both are. Adding "Kimi to Boku no Kizuna" minus the graduates to this disc feels like a cop-out, but I do love the song.

What's ironic is that this is TF's first album to follow the H!P convention of sequestering the singles and album tracks to separate discs, but the new songs are so stylistically disjointed that it feels less like an album than their previous two, at least to me and at first blush.

Right now I'd rank OCHA's ahead of this, but that could change.