My thoughts on “REINCARNATION”, the first EP from GO TO THE BEDS.

Release Date: January 13th 2021

Tracklist

1. Magicami
2. Akachan
3. If I die
4. Genjō machigainaku GO TO THE BEDS
5. SECRET MESSAGE
6. Rebirth

I’m not really sure if it’s because of the still ongoing pandemic or something else, but to me at least it sure does kinda feel like WACK haven’t been doing a whole lot recently. Granted this is me comparing them to their past hijinks, output and what have you but yeah kinda quiet from the scene’s most mainstream alternative outfit in recent times. Another stark reminder that no one is really safe from having their world flipped upside down by forces that are for the most part totally outwith their control.

It must be a pretty tough time to be GO TO THE BEDS then. One of two groups forged from the ashes of the now defunct GANG PARADE, they’re not exactly getting the easiest time of trying to reestablish themselves under this new banner but that hasn’t stopped them from putting out their first album (review here) last July but then what happened happened and we haven’t seen or heard too much from them since, though granted they have of course been doing what they can domestically to keep things afloat until such a time as we can all get back to the way things were and I’m sure that there will be plenty of shenanigans abound when that time does eventually arrive.

For most of you reading this article, music is your main means of interfacing with Idol currently so if you’re a GO TO THE BEDS fan then you’ll probably be pretty happy with the arrival of their first EP “REINCARNATION”. It’s a tie-up of sorts with the Magicami PC/Mobile game so they’re carrying that tradition forward which is kinda cool to see. That said, this collaboration has offered up some…interesting music previously so I’m not entirely sure what I’m in for here. I also still haven’t totally formed an opinion on GO TO THE BEDS just yet but between them and PARADISES, of the GANG PARADE successors they’re definitely my favorite so hopefully this EP might go some ways to strengthening that opinion. As always thought there’s only really one way to know for sure so I guess it’s time to hit play here and see what WACK have in store for us this time.

Much like the video game itself, “REINCARNATION” starts things off with opening theme song “Magicami” which lulls the listener into a false sense of security with a Lo-Fi retro Pop theme before obliterating the eardrums with some crushing harsh vocals and distortion. It makes sense I suppose, given they spent a decent chunk of the lead-up to this release promoting it in over the top, cutesy Idol garb. From there we move into a high intensity, heavily distorted Heavy Metal number which is quite catchy in its own way and not something that you typically hear out of a WACK song so it makes for a nice change of pace too. The vocals are done in a typical “shouting through a megaphone into a grain filter” style which works for the genre they’re basing the song on but it can get a little bit tiring after a while. To be fair they do change it up slightly for the choruses where everything gets a bit more of a Pop slant like in the opening moments of the track, but the heavy distortion filter persists which while making perfect sense does kinda feel like it could have been backed off just a bit more to give everything a little bit more breathing room. Still, some catchy vocal lines and the Pop instrumental that’s buried under there also sounds rather fun so it does an alright enough job of clearing the air every once and a while before it’s back into the chaos and aggression that are very much hallmarks of this song. If you like your Idol music heavy then you definitely need to check this one out, you’d never even be able to tell that it’s a tie-up song if someone didn’t point it out so no worries there either.

From there things take on a much lighter, bombastic tone for the EP’s second track “Akachan”. The intensity levels are still kept nice and high however, as the track wastes very little time in launching right into its high tempo, very punchy Punk Rock flavored instrumental. I like the energy this one is giving off early and the beat is very appealing and perhaps most importantly of all fun sounding, something which I feel like I haven’t really been able to say too much lately. The initial vocals are fairly basic in their lyrical content but the energy and tone they’re delivered with only serve to ramp the excitement up even more before things settle into something a bit more subdued to allow the vocals to do a bit more of their thing. So honestly, they kinda lost me a bit here but thankfully it was only a blip and the high octane actions makes a return right after the track’s first, very hype and also incredibly well sung chorus and remains up there for pretty much the rest of the runtime. There is quite a lot going into this one and at times it does start to feel like they’re maybe trying to do too much but to GO TO THE BED’s credit I think they do a pretty good job of toeing that particular line without ever making a huge leap across it. Some really nice riffs throughout, the drums keep things catchy and fun with their high tempo beat and the vocals do their best to steal the show from all of that with some really impressive emotional deliveries and what is pretty much a perfect showcase of this group’s vocal talents. Good stuff here, so much so that I didn’t even feel the need to mention the ever present distortion because it just doesn’t factor in at all somehow.

We approach the midway point of the EP with the rather grimly titled “If I die”, though I suppose in a lot of ways it’s never really a question of if but when, isn’t it? Man, now I’m sounding grim. Anyway, surprisingly enough the opening instrumental for this one isn’t some dark, depressing affair but instead a pretty twangy and almost Psychedelic at times Rock instrumental that’s as enjoyable to me as it was unexpected. I really like the vibe this one is giving off, though the vocals do sort of take a bit of that away when they come in sounding rather serious and dark in tone. It does kinda work with some of the deeper notes in the instrumental but I wasn’t really convinced that it suited the overall mood of the track. Things do get a lot louder and a little brighter in the vocal department as the track continues but it unfortunately comes at the cost of a lot of the definition in the instrumental, which is fine I guess because this is an Idol group and they’re supposed to be the stars of the show but man…I was vibing out over here! As far as the choruses are concerned, I’m not really sure if I like them or not honestly. They have this sort of lazy, we don’t really care tone to them which if it’s part of a gimmick or whatever is great but as a casual listener it just sort of feels a bit flat and like if they don’t really care why should I? Hopefully that makes the same sense written down as it does in my head anyway. It’s not a bad song by any means, and it’s way more interesting than the track I thought we were getting based off of the title, but there’s just a few things that kinda stuck out to me in a bad way and that’s okay, I can deal with it and still enjoy everything else I liked here just fine.

We continue the upbeat, twangy Rock theme into the EP’s fourth track “Genjō machigainaku GO TO THE BEDS” so if like me you’ve been enjoying this particular development then there’s more of it heading your way on this one too. After a short build up the track is off to the races with a nice high tempo composition that’s layering together all manner of catchy guitar riffs with a nice and energetic drumbeat to create a very positive sort of mood around the song. Vocally things are a little more reserved and carry a smoother tone but it works perfectly with the instrumental because they capture the personality of the track just right, and the lyrics are also fairly catchy too which goes a ways to helping things along also. Things do start to get a bit more chaotic the further we go though, with even the vocals getting swept up in it all after a while so there’s definitely progression happening which is nice but I also feel like maybe we get to the point where things are getting a little too busy at times. That said, I love the energy on display here once again and there’s more hooks than you can shake a stick at for better or worse so GO TO THE BEDS really have gone all out here to try and get people to pay attention to this track. I would say that the choruses do kinda suffer a little given all of that though as while they are perfectly enjoyable in their own right, I just feel like they didn’t get the chance to shine as much as if they’d maybe back off some of the unbridled enthusiasm that’s on display throughout the rest of the song. Fun stuff for sure, quite a lot to take in here though so make you’re ready for it is all I’ll say.

Next up is “SECRET MESSAGE” which is the ending theme for some element of the Magicami game I believe so the fact that it isn’t the last track on this release is a little bit of a head scratcher I have to admit. Especially considering that GO TO THE BEDS are going super hard on making this the most Ballad-y Ballad that you ever did hear. Bright, melodic Soft Rock with a bunch of piano added into the mix is the order of the day when it comes to the instrumental and this remains the case for the entirety of the track so hopefully you like a whole lot of that sort of thing. It’s all very pleasant and you can definitely see how something like this would fit as the ending theme to…well, just about anything really I suppose. The vocal performance is also pretty much what you would expect from this style of song, no surprises or crazy takes on the genre, just some straight up clean vocal tone that lets you really hear just how talented the members of GO TO THE BEDS are as vocalists which is nice in its own way. I sorta struggle with what to say about this type of track at this point as really it isn’t doing anything that we haven’t all heard a million times before but it is doing it all incredibly well so there’s nothing wrong with it either. It’s a solid track that’s here to play a role and if the brief was “Soft Rock Ballad with emotive vocal performance” then it’s hard to say that they’ve done anything less than nail it perfectly. It does exactly what it says on the tin.

Rounding things out on what has been a rather enjoyable release on the whole is “Rebirth”. Now that’s a title for a Ballad if ever I saw one and in some ways that is kinda what we ended up with here but in a different sort of way to the EP’s previous track at least. There’s a bit more of a spring in the instrumental’s step here, though the style is still for the most part centered on Soft Rock laced with piano. Not really an issue by itself but you could argue that we have had a couple of fairly similar tracks in quick succession at least as far as the overall genre is concerned anyway. They’re definitely two different songs but at a base level…you guys get what I mean. The vocal performance here packs a bit more of a bit to it than on the previous track which ups the tension a pleasing amount and also makes a lot of the lines connect that much harder with the extra punch of emotion behind them. It’s another impressive performance from GO TO THE BEDS here and it should drive home the fact that they can more than hold their own vocally without a bunch of bells, whistles and other gimmicks attached. That said, the choruses do sort of fall into that trap of taking on the WACK house style but it’s a winning formula clearly so it’s hard to knock them for it here honestly. Again, there is only so much you can commit to paper about this style of music in 2021 but if you’re still after some nice melodic vocals with a shot of emotion behind them and a pretty catchy Soft Rock instrumental with some nice piano accents then this should be just what the doctor ordered in that regard. Nothing to rush out and listen to right this instant but they also haven’t put a foot wrong here either.

For what is essentially a tie-up release I think that GO TO THE BEDS have offered up one of the more compelling WACK releases in recent times with “REINCARNATION”. While there are definitely elements of the SCRAMBLES production style I’d say this release also has plenty of its own personality too and that goes a long way to making it and GO TO THE BEDS stand out from their peers in the WACK sorority. It’s a nice mix of chaotic fun and more conventional Pop/Rock styles and I think that they’ve struck a nice balance between those two things here.

Yes, this is indeed me being rather positive about a WACK release for a change. Long may it continue, but probably not if we’re being honest. Still, GO TO THE BEDS at this point are definitely up there for me as far as WACK groups go musically. Hopefully that continues to be the case and hey, I wouldn’t even hate if a few of the other groups were able to reignite my imagination either if anyone reading this has any power to make that happen. We’ll as always just have to wait and see though, because at the end of the day this still WACK after all isn’t it?