Wiki
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Release Date
11 March 2009
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Length
13 tracks
Altocolony no Teiri (アルトコロニーの定理, Arutokoronī no Teiri, "The Altocolony Theorem") is Japanese rock band Radwimps' fifth album, released on March 11, 2009. It was preceded by the single "Order Made" in 2008, which became the band's first number one single. The album was a critical and commercial success, with critics noting the successful experimental growth in the band's sound. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, and as of 2011 is tied for their most commercially successful work with the band's previous album, Radwimps 4: Okazu no Gohan.
Altocolony no Teiri was recorded over a period of three years, with recording beginning after the band's post-Radwimps 4 tour, Tour 2007 "Harumaki". Recording was a gradual process, where the band recorded music without thinking of a specific release date. The concept of the album came into fruition in May 2008, and much of the substance of the album was recorded in October. The original plan was to release an album by the end of 2008, however this was not achieved. Noda later apologized for the late release.
"Order Made" was the first song completed for the album, and was released as a single in January 2008. Songwriter and vocalist Yojiro Noda felt the song was extremely important, and that it reaffirmed his ability to write good lyrics. "Nazonazo" was recorded on three days, between December 23 and December 25, 2008. "Sakebe" was made during the final stages of the album in 2009. The songs on the album were created in a different way to previous compositions. Previously, Noda would write songs in a single moment, however in this album, he had a lot of time to consider everything. Every sound on the record was considered as to why it was there.
The title of the album is the first to break from the title style of previous Radwimps albums, featuring Radwimps followed by an ordinal number, and followed by a subtitle. This change was intended to show how the mood of the band had changed between this album and Radwimps 4. The title of the album, Altocolony no Teiri, started with the word teiri (定理, theorem), which Noda interprets as a key to a problem, as a theorem is in mathematics a statement that is true based on previous mathematical proofs. After listening to the completed album, Noda felt like the album was a theorem explaining himself, that it was a solution to all of his worries and the puzzles before him when he wrote the songs. For Altocolony, alto refers to the singing range, as many of the songs are sung in this range. Noda chose alto to be a part of the album's title to express his happiness at being about to create music with different singing registers. Colony refers to biological aggregations, as Noda felt like the album had an aggregated atmosphere.
"Märchen to Gretel" is a response to the lyrics of the band's 2006 single, "Futarigoto," in which Noda writes how someday he'll write a song about if he and his lover "write the character for 'you' but pronounce it 'love,'" and "write the character 'me' but pronounce it 'love'" that they will never break apart. The song also refrains the above lines. Noda was unsure why he made such a promise at the time of writing "Futarigoto.""Nanoka" features a chorus of 16 voices repeating the chorus, however all recorded vocals in the song are Noda's. The choir effect was created by Noda standing in different positions in the recording studio relative to the microphone, as well as by changing the style and adopting a different persona for each vocal take. "Magic Mirror" was chosen to be the 11th track due to the character 1 repeated twice in 11 being similar to a mirror.
Of the songs on the album, eight are sung completely in Japanese, two in English, and three predominantly in Japanese with English sections.
The album was received extremely well by critics, with Hiroki Yokuyama from Rockin' On even calling the album a "masterpiece." Many critics noted the experimental nature of the album, and the increase of the band's breadth of musical sound. Critics were impressed with the careful arrangements of the songs, including fast rap-style vocals, the rustic blues sound that develops into a gospel-like choir sound in "Nanoka," and the band's first experimentation with electronic beats in "Nazonazo". Alexey Eremenko of Allmusic noted that the wide range of influences were held together by "melodic, predominantly clean guitar textures, the high but perfectly controlled voice of Yojiro Noda, and the overall mood of the songs." Vibe's Sōta Hori noted the band's style had changed compared to their previous albums, however felt that all the songs still felt like true Radwimps songs, and that the growth process felt natural. Hori also noted the scattered nature of the album's styles. Takahiro Ōyama of What's In? felt similarly, noting how Radwimps already had a distinct sound, but Altocolony no Teiri built on this sound further.
The leading single "Order Made" was described as "very unique" by CDJournal, describing it as having a British folk-like sound. Takashi Ōno of What's In? noted the song's Mother Goose-like story telling qualities, and praised the "clear feelings" and tender vocals against the occasionally aggressive performance.
Noda's lyrics were often a high-point of reviews. Jun Yamamoto of Hot Express felt they were sharp, and had a dangerous sensitivity, while Rockin' On's Hiroki Yokuyama praised how skilfully Noda's lyrics can draw in the listener to the experience. Hori felt the lyrics would make a warm impression on listeners. Ōyama felt Noda's world-view presented in his lyrics had evolved for this album.
The album, especially the songs "Order Made" and "Oshakashama" won several awards. The music video for "Order Made" won the MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2008 Best Rock Video award, along with the Best Your Choice Award and Best Rock Video award at the 2009 Space Shower Music Video Awards "Oshakashama" won the FM Festival "Life Music Award 2009"'s Best Lyric of Life award, and its music video won the Space Shower Music Video Awards 2010 Best Your Choice Award.The video was also nominated at the MTV World Stage VMAJ 2010 for Best Rock Video, but was unsuccessful. The album was chosen as the best album of the year at the FM Festival "Life Music Award 2009," and was nominated for the best album of the year by CD store workers at The Second CD Shop Awards.
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