It’s easy to see music as a one-way road. We may at times see listening to music as a disengaged activity, passive observation. It’s a final product presented to us, the end consumer, as a finished work for us to enjoy; is there any need to mentally invest ourselves?

Here at Anime Instrumentality, though, we take our listening a bit more seriously. We believe listening to music is an active, involved activity. You get more out of music as you put more of yourself into it; using your brain is as important as using your ears. I hope you feel the same way, and I trust this is why you come to a music review sites such as ours, because you believe that music becomes more powerful and profound the more you engage with it.

To that end, I have compiled five ways (that you may currently know and use!) you can get more out of the songs you already know and love.

1) Tap Your Foot

This may seem almost trivial, even rudimentary, but tapping your foot (or keeping time in some other fashion) has more to it than you may have considered. Syncing yourself with the beat of the song is an essential step in listening to all that it has to offer. By physically moving a part of your body to the rhythm of a tune, you intrinsically make yourself a part of the experience. It forces you to think by making you pay attention to the thrust of the song. Although it’s easy to shift into autopilot and let the music fade into the background, if you actively keep time along with the music, it’s almost impossible to not actively engage with whatever you’re listening to.

More importantly, you should emphasize the first beat of each measure in some manner. By doing this, you are performing a simple analysis of the song by mentally breaking down the music into smaller constituent parts. You also begin to appreciate things like unusual time signatures, which songwriters at times utilize on purpose to baffle listeners in the know. You will also see that measures are not always consistent in the number of beats they hold. As a rather famous example of this, the final measure of vocals in “Hare Hare Yukai,” a song entirely in 4/4, has only 3 beats before entering the concluding synthesizer section.

Hare Hare Yukai

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Can you hear it? What about if you keep time with it, distinguishing the first, emphasized beats of each measure? You may already be beginning to appreciate the little details like this that songwriters inject into their work. “Short” measures such as these were used by composers (Leonard Bernstein is a good example) to give a sense of energy and sprightliness. This is just one example of the things you may uncover.

2) Listen to a Less Obvious Instrument

The human mind is lazy and is inclined to focus on what is apparent and easy to recognize. You may have seen this manifest when you listen to music; unless you’re purposely trying not to, your attention tends to get drawn to the main melody or the soloist. While the loudest and most apparent voices are certainly important parts of the song, there are always elements that are not as immediately obvious, elements that have likely been included and composed with just as much loving care and detail as the main melodic line. Harmonized vocals and bass lines are a good example of this. Next time you listen to one of your favorite songs, consider focusing your attention on instruments like the bass guitar and backup vocals. You may notice something that you hadn’t before, like a quietly mixed bass lick or subtle counter-melody in the strings. Every little thing you discover will help you to better appreciate a good song.

Example: Can you hear the harmonized vocals from “Irony” by ClariS? Try focusing on the edges of the soundstage on each channel. From what I can tell, each channel actually features a different interval of harmonization. Maybe you can discern more specifcally?

Irony

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

3) Sing!

We are not all natural singers (I know I’m not), but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try! Singing along with a song you enjoy may be something you naturally do anyway, but consider what that means. By singing with a track, you inherently make yourself a part of the experience. You stop being an observer and start becoming an active participant. You force yourself to keep time and remain mindful of the progression of the song. As opposed to the following two points, which familiarize rationally, singing intimates the listener viscerally.

4) Identify Form, Function, and Structure

They say the mark of a good composer is proper form. As a listener, keep an ear out for how a song builds itself up and goes through its sections. Try to identify parts of the song like the verse, pre-chorus, chorus, and bridge. If you hear things like key changes and turn-arounds, take note of them too. On a smaller scale, keep track of thematic repetitions and motifs. If you are listening to something like a musical or a soundtrack, take special care to pay attention to the opening overture; it will contain all of the themes that will reappear in some form or other later in the piece. Wary listeners will be keen to identify expansions of older material and its contrasts with newly introduced motifs. You’ll notice that the more sophisticated the music is, the less clearly defined its sections are.

5) Transcribe and Reproduce

Perhaps the most esoteric of the suggestions here, you may find the task of transcribing something daunting. WELL IT IS.  I SHOULD KNOW.  I’VE BEEN THERE. ;__;

But the next time you find yourself in front of a piano, try taking a minute or two hammering out a melody from a song you remember. It may surprise you how thrilling it is to personally recreate something you’ve only experienced passively.

So there’s my five cents as to how listeners can get more from their music. Know a better way? Let me know below!

Moe is but a state of mind.

This is probably the hardest thing to do, this talking about oneself part. I mean, I could write a two thousand word article without thinking too hard about it, within some hours, with lots of coffee. But a self-introduction? That takes days, even weeks of introspection. I have to identify what it is that defines me, insert a couple of bad jokes, and then put it up for the dedicated denizens of the Internet to see. It’s daunting. But I’ve thought deeply about this, underneath a waterfall in Nagoya, and I think I can do this. I shall begin with a…

Hi. They call me Maskerade around here parts. I’m an amateur writer and was humbled and utterly thrilled when Zz and his awesome band accepted me as a contributor for this brilliant blog. I shall try my very best to produce the finest works for your reading pleasure.

I’ve been watching anime for 15 years now, since the high school days. I devoured series after series in my university days, but now that I’m in the realm of full-time work, I do find that anime-viewing has decreased quite a bit and now pick the ones I really like. I completely believe that anime has shaped me somewhat. I went through various phases in my childhood trying to be a revolver-wielding robot-samurai after watching Rurouni Kenshin, Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop. I still make this attempt. You should see the looks on the street.

I’m a big lover of anime music and though I’m more partial towards jazz, rock and instrumental/classical music types, as long it sounds good and is made with feeling, I’ll like it. Yoko Kanno is my goddess, L’Arc-en-Ciel my gods, Nujabes (RIP) my muse and there are way too many indie J-rock bands for me to keep track of, try as I might. I hope this kind of gives you an idea of what I do listen to. Just incidentally, I was having a karaoke session with some friends of mine, a couple of them Japanese. Now, I can’t speak Japanese but when someone put on Evangelion’s “Cruel Angel’s Thesis,” my lips automatically moved along. I couldn’t help it. The song was ingrained in me. Of course, I was rubbish at the second verse, but the body remembered first verse and chorus. I had to sing it.

Now, I don’t really have much in musical background. I sang in a choir in junior college, so I do have some basics, but nothing too technical. I can’t go into the gritty bits of the song, but I’ll focus on the emotions they invoke and what the overall feel of the album is trying to achieve is. Hopefully, I can convey a good sense of the album for you out there. I’ll probably focus on the backlog, the missing songs from long ago, and try to make this blog the foremost site for anime music reviews. Then, I’ll gain a few fans. Then, I’ll take over the world. One step at a time. With much evil laughter. Very evil.

I’ll leave you with this. Anime music has grown so much, it currently rivals anything Hollywood can give us. It’s definitely surpasses music that television series have provided. It’s a soundtrack over the span of episodes, designed to evoke emotions while watching coloured images interact with each other. It’s brilliant. I love it. And I hope to love it even more.

I thank you for reading my ramblings and reviews to come, and should you have any comments, critiques and love, please do not hesitate to send them my way!

Do the impossible, see the invisible. ROW ROW, FIGHT DA POWAH

Somehow I think this actually makes them look more human.

Part 1: Idol Bodies, Idle Minds

There was a time where musicians were like meticulous artists brushing paint onto a canvas: noble  Bohemians living for their art; here, I lament musicians becoming more and more like the brush itself: a replaceable tool that can be used and disposed.

You may have noticed a somewhat disturbing trend over the course of this past decade in the collective music industries of Japan and Korea. There has been a notable drift towards mass-market appeal and short-term financial gain through sexual titillation – something I’ve dubbed the “Idol Culture” – that has come to permeate much of East Asia. The idol process perniciously eliminates the creative nativity between the musician and music, wherein the artist has become more of an attractive representative for the music than the actual creator. I’d like to offer some of my thoughts on the matter that have stemmed from my personal experiences with people who are deeply immersed in this culture and big fans of the music created in this sort of environment. Also, please take the time to check out zzero’s post from this past October regarding a similar topic.

I’d like to start out by explaining a bit of my background. I’m a Korean American born in New York City currently living in the suburbs of Metro Atlanta. Culturally, I was raised very “American;” I really only related myself to Korean popular culture through the dated and often quaint viewpoints of my parents. Most of my friends growing up were also “American” in the typical sense, aside from a circle of Korean friends that will come up later. The point is that, growing up, I was very far removed from anything popular in Korea and have remained as oblivious until relatively recently.

The early/mid-2000’s was around the time that boy groups and girl groups were really starting to get popular in Korea. Groups like Big Bang and Wonder Girls and Girls’ Generation (aka SNSD) (consider them Korean versions of Backstreet Boys and NSYNC) started to appear. My Korean friends just ate this stuff up.

Given that I am the most cynical person this side of the local insane asylum, I just could not understand what they were on about. Sure, the girls were attractive, the marketing was clever, and the music videos were well-edited, but there was no lasting value to me, nothing “there.” These idols and their boob jobs and their pretty faces and expensive haircuts and fashionable outfits seemed like vehicles to wow people into spending their money. They are ideal images who lend their voices and likenesses to songs made by a technician on his MacBook. Could these people even be called musicians given their shallow participation in the creative process?

I bring this up because much fuss has been made over the producer/artist dynamic in music production. The ideas and feedback generated from this relationship are often profound, helping transform the work from its early visions into the finished product. A good example of this on the anime side of things is the oft-cited relationship between Yoko Kanno and the singers with whom she works. I won’t go into details here, but the gist is that when artist and producer come together as creative equals, the synergies result in a richer final product that is ultimately a lasting work with staying power. Not so, in idol land. The vast majority of these idols are as involved in the creative process as McDonald’s employees are in the cooking process. They stand there, follow instructions, and have someone else deliver the final product. The artist that can talk about the music, what it means to them, and how the creative process unfolded is quickly becoming the exception rather than the norm.

Instead, idols, boiled-down, are facades, tools to create sexual tension and incite desire to buy albums, merchandise, and concert tickets. They are the result of a well-oiled corporate machine that has learned how to efficiently and quickly maximize profit.

It’s no longer enough to have talent to become successful. In fact, now it’s not even necessary. If you look good, people will buy your song. If it has a catchy beat and auto-tuning, have a guest artist fill in a hip-hop section in the middle and stick a “FEATURING [NAME]” label at the end of the song  title, and you’ve got a top-ten hit. If a studio happens to find a looker that also has a semblance of singing talent, they’ve hit the jackpot. More recently, I’ve noticed my friends saying that it’s nearly impossible to keep up with the influx of new artists. The competition is ferocious, and the market is becoming saturated; the supply and demand curves only intersect at one point, and the former sure is shifting to the right.

At the very least, this competition may invite attempts by labels to differentiate themselves by improving the quality of their music. There is some genuinely good music out there by idols that give a damn about what they’re pumping into the mic. Some even write their own songs! It’s just that they’re being drowned out by the sheer mass of utter garbage. What I’m saying here, basically, is this: be an intelligent listener. Listen to what moves you, but know when what you’re listening to isn’t good enough to be worth your time. McDonald’s is delicious, but I don’t eat there exclusively. Know quality when you hear it. Reject instrumentality.

You may not have an idol body, but, for heaven’s sake, don’t have an idle mind.

Rating: Concerned

Setlist:

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

If you’ve ever listened to a Ghibli orchestral arrangement album, you will be awed by the intricate instrumentation and expression of Joe Hisashi’s timeless music. Now imagine watching an orchestra consisting of over 200 players and a choir of over 600 members performing the pieces under Hisaishi’s energetic conducting. With a variety greater than that offered by any arrangement albums to date (then again, it is commemorating Ghibli’s 25th anniversary), Joe Hisaishi’s concert at the Budokan brings to fans and regular listeners alike a feast for one’s senses and a performance for the ages.

What is good about it? Well, almost everything. From the dark and tribal ambience created by the booming beats of the Taiko and tinklings of the triangle in “The Curse God” (Princess Mononoke), to the solo violinist’s soulful performance of “Mother’s Broom” (Kiki’s Delivery Service), to the nostalgic piano melody of “The Bygone Days” (Porco Rosso) played by none other than Hisaishi himself, each piece is a musical and emotional adventure for listeners, and the experience of watching Hisaishi bring out the magic in his music is just phenomenal.

Hisaishi’s competence with orchestral instruments makes his works perfect for this sort of presentation. In Joe Hisaishi in Budokan, the orchestra helps bring out the different dimensions in the music and the nuances between different segments. “Tonari no Totoro,” for example, started out slowly and gracefully with strings accompanied by lower brasses. The different sections then took turns at the main melody, steadily increasing the energy, reaching its peak at the portion after the piano.

Hisaishi’s skill at the piano is another reason for the success. There haven’t been many good renditions of “The Merry-Go-Round of Life,” but Hisaishi gentle piano introduction to the piece nails the it spot-on. Many versions are just unable to articulate the elegance of the piece, and they often turn out overpowering and clumsy. Here, the orchestra takes the baton after Hisaishi’s soulful introduction and builds it into yet another fantasy for listeners to immerse themselves in.

The invited vocalists also hold their own against the might of the orchestra and Hisaishi’s presence. My personal favourite is Hirahara Ayaka, who sings “The Name of Life” and “Reprise” from Spirited Away. With her repertoire of classical renditions, it is of little surprise Hirahara’s vocals worked wonders with this orchestra, and her deeper voice almost caresses listeners with its gentleness. Operatic Soprano Hayashi Masako also provided her version of Princess Mononoke, which I personally thought could only be expressed fully with a piano or strings solo. But with her virtuosic expression, and an aria accentuating the anguish, I found myself grudgingly admitting that she has not let the music down the slightest.

With such a talented group of musicians, Hisaishi himself as conductor and pianist, this performance truly does justice for his works. It is indeed a pity for anyone, whether Hisaishi fans or not, to miss this breathtaking performance. And if you weren’t already a Hisaishi fan already, I’m almost certain that by the end of the performance, you will become one.

This is kind of what I feel like.

Hello everyone! I go by Yu around the web. After applying to Anime Instrumentality I was pleasantly surprised and rather ecstatic to find that I’d been accepted as a new writer by Zzero and Co. Many thanks to all of the AI staff for welcoming me into their ranks and answering my questions! The pressure is on to write my best!

Only recently have I become an anime fan. Previously, I was only vaguely aware of anime due to the pervasiveness of Miyazaki’s films in Asian culture. It was when I began sampling other titles out of curiosity that my interest in the media truly started to blossom. As of now, I’ve seen a good number of series and have found that I am not very picky about what I watch. Somehow I manage to find an enjoyable aspect in almost anything (Of course, there are always the exceptions). The music, on the other hand, I’m a little more critical of.

My background with music started with the piano. Since then, I’ve also picked up the cello and played in several amateur ensembles. While that’s fine and dandy, I have absolutely no music theory knowledge past the absolute basics – something I plan to rectify as soon as the opportunity presents itself. But that shouldn’t take away from what knowledge I do have since my experience definitely helps me analyze music without getting too technically deep. Besides, talking about the nuts and bolts is Aftersh0k’s job

As for the genres of music I like, I’m fond of classically-influenced works. That’s not to say I dislike everything else. Jazz, rock, trance, high pitched female singers… I’ll listen to it and enjoy it if it’s been composed with imagination and performed with feeling.

Other than that, my pastimes include being an ardent science nerd and using my name to make terrible puns (It’s so hard to resist. Look at all of the post titles recently!). I apologize in advance.

Thanks for listening to me ramble, I look forward to my time discussing music here!

Yu

After going through all the applications, I’m really happy to announce that the talented and enthusiastic Yu will be joining our staff! You might have seen Yu’s comments pop up from time to time on this site and she’s demonstrated a good amount of insight into anime music through said comments. Expect an introduction from her in the next few days as well as a review of a soundtrack I’ve heard a lot of good things about, but have not yet listened to. Wish her well and I hope you enjoy her anime music musings.

And if you’re wavering between joining or not, here are 5 great reasons to give it a shot:

1) We’re pretty hip. I mean, anime music? Keeping a mental database filled with ridiculous Japanese composer names? We revel in that stuff and wouldn’t have it any other way!
2) We’re so passionate about our stuff that we’ll write. And write. And write! Even if we sucked real bad at first. I mean, here’s an early example of my work dating back to 2006. Ugly? Maybe. I prefer calling it a warm-up for the real deal. Perseverance results in improvement!
3) We’re pretty tight-knit. If you’re even curious as to the atmosphere at the back-end, look no further than our Twitter sidebar. That’s what it’s like. From off-the-cuff remarks about an anime we’ve just seen to ruminating about whatever music we happen to be listening to, we enjoy talking back and forth with other fellow staff as well as with the community at large!
4) Nerds having nerdy discussions about music. Harmonic progression and subdominant augmented sixth chords? Fits the bill as long as we don’t fugue it up. All non-musicians can just duke it out with zzeroparticle over the touchy-feely side without needing to get into the technicals.
5)

Young man, there’s a place where you write.
I said, young man, let music come to light.
You can apply here, and I’m sure you will find
Many ways to have a good time.

It’s fun to write for the A-NI-ME INST
It’s fun to write for the A-NI-ME INST

They have everything that you need to enjoy,
You can hang out, with an ahoy!

In the event that your focus is more on actually talking about the anime moreso than sticking solely to the music, you might also want to give the Nihon Review a shot. Just check out their post on how to join!

The responses I got were pretty overwhelming and encompassed over 90 (!!!!!!!) composers (if you can believe that). Speaking as someone who can name maybe half that number, this was a pretty staggering amount and suggests that there may be more anime music fans amongst the fanbase than I’ve seen so far and that most are just kind of dormant. Anyhow, you’ll want to know how things will look over the next 15 months (yes, we do intend to cover 15 anime composers), so check out the list after the jump!

I also plan to run through the methodology and maybe do some comparisons between the sites where I put up the request. That boring quantitative stuff I’ve thrown on page 2, so if you’re really interested how things unfolded, you can look there. As for the general list and the number of points they received from voters in parenthesis:

1. Yuki Kajiura (547 points)
2. Yoko Kanno (499 points)
3. Joe Hisaishi (383 points)
4. Taku Iwasaki (295 points)
5. Kenji Kawai (233 points)
6. Jun Maeda (214 points)
7. Susumu Hirasawa (127 points)
8. Shiro Sagisu (124 points)
9. Tenmon (120 points)
10. Kou Otani (118 points)
11. Toshihiko Sahashi (114 points)
12. Yoshihisa Hirano (111 points)
13. Yasuharu Takanashi (103 points)
14. Michiru Ooshima (101 points)
15. Kotaro Nakagawa (83 points)

Names that barely missed the cut include: Naoki Sato, Kouhei Tanaka, Masumi Itou (Hikaru Nanase), and Mina Kubota.

How This Will Work
Each month, we’ll be highlighting a composer and place a bit more emphasis on reviewing their albums. In fact, we’ll try to toss out somewhere around 3-4 reviews specific to that composer each month. Before we even do that though, we’ll start off with a general profile where we highlight any important biographical tidbits, the sort of stuff you’d find on Wikipedia for instance, but that will make up a small portion of the profile. The bigger portion is in analyzing just how far we feel they’ve progressed as an artist and analyzing the consistency of their works.

So while last year’s big post series revolved around looking at anime soundtracks from 2000-2009, this year’s series looks to be just as ambitious. Maybe even more so. Do look forwards to it and hopefully you can gain some newfound appreciation for the composers you’re familiar with or find a new composer to check out.

For those with a lot of time on their hands, check out page 2 if you want a peek at the methodology as well as a site-by-site breakdown.

Needless to say, we’ve had a great deal of success on developing that front and our shtick has become relatively well-known. We’re nearing our third year of existence, and managing this site has reached a stable point where I think the time is ripe to expand Anime Instrumentality’s music coverage even further! To that end, I’m putting out a call for new writers to join the current team.

Who we’re looking for:
People with strong writing skills who are enthusiastic about both anime and anime music. Obviously, some knowledge of music is helpful but not necessary (as I, myself, have only one semester’s worth of music appreciation in me). What’s important is being able to opine on music and conveying why you like or don’t like this, that, or the other by backing your opinions up with well-thought-out reasoning and analysis. By virtue of the fact that you’ll be covering anime music, you should also be listening to a lot of it. But that kinda goes without saying.

What you get out of it:
The best part (I think) is letting your voice be heard on all matters related to anime music to an established audience, many of whom are knowledgeable about this aspect of the anime fandom and who are willing to engage with you by discussing what you’ve written. Furthermore, you’ll get plenty of support from having someone edit your work or help guide you through the writing process so that you can develop into a better writer. You’ll be surprised by how much you improve! Finally, the work we do on here qualifies staff writers for press passes at a few select anime conventions, so consider that a bonus for the hard work that you’ll be putting into Anime Instrumentality (you’re still on assignment though, so you’ll be expected to cover the convention in some reasonable amount of depth).

The application form is fairly short and simple. Just copy and paste the form below, fill it out, and e-mail the contents to webmaster[ATSIGN]animeinstrumentality.net by January 25, 2011 to be considered. Please make the topic of the email “Anime Instrumentality Application 2011.” It would be appreciated if the short answer questions are kept under 350 words each.

Internet Handle:
E-mail:

Short Answer #1 – Why are you interested in writing for Anime Instrumentality? What part of anime music are you interested in writing about (example: OP/ED reviews, soundtrack reviews, editorials, concert reports)?

Short Answer #2 – What got you interested in anime music? Name a few of your favorite artists/composers and what you like about them.

Short Answer #3- What genres of music would you say you have an affinity for, in general? Why? What do you think makes you stand out from the other applicants?

Attach a sample of a review or article that you’d submit to Anime Instrumentality. If you choose to submit a Concert Report, the concert must have taken place within the last six months. Please consult existing articles and reviews for formatting and length guidelines. Writing a detailed info table and tracklist chart isn’t necessary, but a simple list of the songs in order would be appreciated.

Good luck to you all and we’ll announce the new writers on February 5, 2011!

Note: guest writers (the two of you + Nihon Review staff) will be unaffected by this and can continue to contribute.

Aw, yeah, you better recognize a Photoshop expert when you see one. Smudge tool ftw.

Hello, all! The name’s Aftershok, and Zzeroparticle has been kind enough to let me join the staff here on Anime Instrumentality so I can Geass your minds with my opinions on anime, soundtracks, and music in general. I hope you guys will enjoy my contributions to the site, and I hope I can continue the standard of excellence the prolific Mr. Zzero has kept up since the site’s founding. I would like to ask for forgiveness ahead of time, because I will be doing a lot of this:

Blah blah blah blah blah.

…droning on and on about my opinions like they’re the only ones in the world; I can only ask that you guys put up with me .

I’ve been watching anime for quite some time now, and can say I’ve seen a lot of shows. My tastes in anime are heavily eclectic; I can’t say I have an affinity for any one genre but, like anybody, I appreciate quality, entertainment value, and attention to detail (or shows that are so spectacularly bad, they are good in their own way).

Music has always been a passion for me, and, having played saxophone for more than half my life, I can say I’ve amassed quite a bit of knowledge on the inner workings of melody, harmonic progression, and music theory that go hand-in-hand with an education in jazz and improvisation. Although jazz is a favorite of mine, I enjoy at least some aspects of all genres, especially alternative rock and classical. I’m the sort of huge music nerd that cannot be satisfied with a song I really like until I’ve analyzed it harmonically and memorized the chords and melody on piano (thankfully, not too many songs tickle my fancy to that extent). As you might expect, this may result in me being somewhat technical in my viewpoints and whatnot, but I’ll try to tone it down and not be the huge geek that I am .

No matter what medium it is, though, I think critically of all my media intake and try to go past the obvious and elementary. Hopefully, I can come up with viewpoints and criticisms that are worth your time. I’ll try my best to respond to everyone that is kind enough to leave comments and hope that we can all be friends and get along.

Thanks for your time, and wish me luck!

- ‘Shok

For those of you with a lot of time to spare, the full-length version of the concert report can be found at OSV. This report is for those who want a quick run-down of my thoughts of the event.

But before we get to that, I’m sure you guys will want a set list. Unlike the MELL Concert, I actually knew most of the songs; the only one that I didn’t know was May’n's performance of “Kimi Shinitamou Koto Nakare” since I never watched Shangri-La. If there are any mistakes, I’ll blame that on my horrendous notetaking skills.  Anyhow, the set list based on my notes is as follows:

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

So the big takeaway from this concert was something that Taka had mentioned in my AX schedule post; namely, that May’n is an outstanding live performer. She did have a bit of a shaky start when a few phrases were out of tune, but once she got her rhythm going, she was completely unstoppable. The way she sang completely exuded passion, confidence, and energy, and in doing so, made her stage presence impossible to ignore. Though I’d criticized her before for her vocals, which feel somewhat lacking in emotion, by actually being there and seeing her movements and facial expressions as she sang went a long way towards bridging the gap.

Most of her songs are characterized by high doses of energy and passion, but she also did a great job bringing out that nostalgic, longing feelings in “Diamond Crevasse,” which demonstrates her ability to shift tones to match the song during the middle of a concert. To draw the crowd in, she also learned some English, and you can probably guess how thick her accent was. Still, I’ll give her points for trying, and the audience appreciated that quite a bit.

Megumi Nakajima brings out the softer, cuter side, which nails Ranka Lee’s personality to a T, and as a result, her songs were much bouncier. That said, she doesn’t have quite the experience, and therefore stamina, to hold out for very long. And since she was performing 15 songs, it was inevitable that her voice would break. I started hearing it around “Jellyfish no Kokuhaku,” but it really became noticeable when she sang “Ao no Ether,” and that stuck out enough to be a bit distracting at times, especially when I wanted to take in the poignancy that the song had to offer. Oh well. I’ll give her a break for hanging in there and seeing the concert through to the very end.

You’ve all heard by now that Yoko Kanno made an appearance, and that proved to be a really awesome surprise. During the course of the concert, she played the piano, put an instrument that mimicked bird noises up to the microphone and played with that for awhile, sang along with May’n and Megumi Nakajima, and tossed a “Kira!” here and there during “Seikan Hikou.” While seeing her was great, having her on the piano really made songs like “Ai Oboete Imasuka” even more heartfelt and engaging. Though I understand the necessity of having singers sing to some background instrumental track, having live instrumentals there to back up the vocals is even better.

Of the two concerts I attended, this one was the most enjoyable mostly because I was familiar with the music. With 23 songs in tow, the singers kept the pace going strong and kept the audience engrossed with the overall presentation. My respect for May’n's singing has grown since her voice closely matches those of her recordings and Megumi Nakajima did well enough in spite of her relative inexperience. The word I’ll keep using to describe this is phenomenal, and so far, its magic still sticks with me.

I’m not the only one who wrote about this event, so if you’re looking to get some other perspectives, you can always check out Tim Sheehy’s thoughts on Japanator and Yoruko’s report over at C’est la Reve Qui Chante.

EDIT: Looks like the Anime Diet guys have posted their report too!

(Note: Much of my coverage of Anime Expo this year is on behalf of Original Sound Version. So over the next few days, my concert report of the May’n/Megumi Nakajima concert will be written and posted over there to accompany my report of the MELL Concert that has already been posted. The same will go for the information I gleaned out of May’n and Megumi Nakajima’s press conference. I will write shorter versions here though for people who don’t have the time to read through all the text, so you can look forward to that!)

With that out of the way, Anime Expo this year was a blast from start to finish. I started that Friday by bumbling my way into my colleague Kylaran at the Nihon Review and Benu at Anime Genesis and things just took off from there. Most of that day was spent scurrying around from one event to the next without really having much in the way of downtime, but I really wouldn’t have it any other way. Through it all, I experienced two amazing concerts, one that was just phenomenal and the other of which was just amazing, got a chance to hear what May’n and Megumi Nakajima had to say about the work they’re doing, where they’re looking to go and not go with their careers, and what they thought about their experience in coming over to America and performing before a group of Western anime fans. Needless to say, this left me drained by the time the day ended. After all, two concerts in one day? It’s a good kind of tired though and the only thing I really wish I’d done better was make sure the camera I was using had full batteries before I attended the concerts!

Saturday was mostly reserved for “me time” so I could kind of enjoy the convention at a slower pace. Given my bent towards Megumi Nakajima, I did drop by her panel and stayed for about half of it where I got to hear her do things like sing that “Chou Jikuu Hanten Nyan Nyan” jingle from Macross Frontier and say a random line from Kampfer. I also stumbled upon the tail end of a Minami Kuribayashi concert right in the Exhibit Hall hosted by Manga Gamer. There was also a press panel session with Eri Kitamura and Horie Yui, and I managed to ask one lame question about Horie Yui’s involvement with the seiyuu group Aice5, but the response she gave was sort of what I had expected. I guess that means Sphere will be the seiyuu group to beat for now.

Much of the material covered during that session is more relevant to stuff that the Nihon Review covers anyhow, so do look forward to Kylaran’s report of the event.

And meetups! The world was a much smaller place than I realized as I met Auden Sorlie and Chris Ling, both of whom also write for Original Sound Version and the latter of whom knows Akira from the Nihon Review. Really kind of strange to know that the network is that tight to say the least, and I’d have to say that both of them were pretty chill and we had a lot of fun trading stories back and forth about things ranging from the state of OSV to strange occurrences at a MangaGamer dinner. Also hoping a meeting with a developer over at GoldfishProductions will bear fruit, and if nothing else, I’ve never met a bigger AKB48 fan. Finally, the Anime Diet guys, Mike, Ray, and Rome were also very fun to talk to and I’m looking forward to their videos and interviews. The ones that they’ve posted have been really fun and informative.

The highlight of Saturday was, of course, the big meetup where Shinmaru of UNMEI KAIHEN, Mystlord of THAT Anime Blog, Yumeka from Mainichi Anime Yume, and a crossdressing Keine (CCY) from Mega Megane Moe. No Omo until we were on the way back to the convention hall from dinner though, so my hope of meeting him face to face for longer than 2 minutes has yet to happen. That we all know each other to some degree through online interactions helped make it easier to get the conversation going and it’s great that the people there were really chill and awesome. Also learned a lot by just listening to their perspectives ranging from Touhou to various eroge, to even venturing into Sankaku Complex (don’t ask how we segued into that tangent). With all the enjoyment I got out of it, it looks like I have something to look forward to next year when AX rolls around!

Obligatory loot section. Given that this site’s raison d’etre is on anime music, you could almost say that this shopping trip was kind of a failure. Half the CDs I purchased were VGM CDs though I suppose you could count Yoko Kanno’s Napple Tale soundtrack as tangentially related. I also decided to take the plunge and grab Saki’s soundtrack. Though I wasn’t that fond of it, it’s still good enough to warrant a few listens here and there. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood’s second soundtrack is more of on a whim; I’d already gotten the first one and was disappointed in how that sounded, but I do hear the second one is better. If Akira Senju’s compositions for FMA: Brotherhood represents a lower bound in the quality of his work, I’ll take it. Finally, getting my hands on the Gundam SEED Destiny orchestral disc is a bonus. I loved the heck out of the first Symphony SEED album, and though I have no emotional ties to the Gundam SEED franchise, Toshihiko Sahashi wins me over every time. Moreso if it’s played by the London Symphony Orchestra. Additions to the review queue? You bet!

That’s about it. This experience was really over the top, making it the best Anime Expo experience I’ve had to date. It’d be crazy to expect any future incarnation of this convention to reach the heights it did this year, but we can hope. And even if it doesn’t, the people I can look forward to meeting for years to come will give me a good reason to seriously ponder going even if the guest list is blah.

With the July 4th weekend just hovering around the corner means yet another trip to Anime Expo with all the madness of making the schedule just tight enough so that I can maximize whatever utility there is to be had by interacting with fans, industry, and of course, meeting people who have been nothing more than internet screenames with all the personality and such encapsulated in those virtual identities. Unlike last year, the concerts this time around are actually worth going to. Also unlike last year, there will be a bit of work involved since I’m on assignment for Original Sound Version. Which effectively means that any enthusing over the concerts will be found there once the dust settles. Of course, if anyone else wants to write up a concert report for Anime Instrumentality as a guest post, do let me know!

Anyway, the plan is to hit up Friday and Saturday. Specifics? Well, here’s the plan given the schedule I have on hand:

Friday:

Not much in the morning though I might go to half of Eri Kitamura’s panel before making a hasty exit to beeline towards what is the must-see event of the day.

Megumi Nakajima/May’n Concert
Is anyone really surprised I’m looking forward to this? Though I might not have liked some of Macross Frontier’s pop music, most of that falls under May’n's performances; I’m perfectly happy listening to Megumi Nakajima’s stuff since she puts a solid effort in all of her songs. Somehow, I don’t think we’ll see any of her non-Macross Frontier material, but who knows, we could be in for a pleasant surprise there. It’d be cool is something like “Jellyfish” from Kobato pops up. So yeah, mostly going for Nakajima, but if May’n's as good a live performer as rumor says she is, it’ll exceed my expectations by a huge amount!

Maybe after that, I’ll hit up the Rightstuf/Nozomi panel? I guess it’d be interesting to see if they have anything down the pipeline since I’ve stopped paying attention to their releases since the ARIA franchise finished. No Danny Choo though. Not even for the Black Rock Shooter OVA and I’m not sure Chinka is in the cards for me.

Yui Horie
You can’t really go for that long without having heard her voice work or vocal performances. Anyhow, a lot of this is nostalgia since one of the earliest series I remember watching is Love Hina. Plus, her recent work has been solid, even if I can’t claim to have been awed by her singing like I once was. Maybe that has something to do with the composers/lyricists who write her songs.

MELL Concert
No, I wasn’t all that fond of “Red Fraction” or of I’ve Sound in general, but hey, if she’s here, might as well make the most of it. And if she sings “Proof,” that’ll be enough to make me a happy person. That should about do it for my Friday.

Saturday:

Megumi Nakajima Panel
Why not, right? I’ve already gone to the concert. Might as well grab more tidbits. Guess that means I’ll miss out on the Toradora! panel, but that’s not a total wash since seeing Yui Horie makes up for that.

That’s really about the only thing that demands my attention at this point. If any of you have suggestions for how to fill up Friday or Saturday, do let me know. Probably a lot of that time that I don’t spend wandering the convention hall will be spent in putting faces to names as I meet up with people I’ve only conversed with through online platforms, so that’ll be pleasant since there are quite a few people I’d like to meet in person. (Anyone else I’m forgetting? A meetup might be in the cards as long as people tell me when/where.)

For the past few months, I’ve heard reports about how people who’ve watch the cam-rip of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya absolutely loved it. I didn’t pay too much attention to the details though since I didn’t want any of it spoiled, at least, that’s the reason I told myself. In reality, I might have been just a bit burnt out from the Endless Eight debacle and was pushing that out of my memory.

When I heard that they’d have a showing in LA, I was lukewarm about it, but what the hell, I gave it a shot and, buoyed by Shadowmage’s review of the movie on the Nihon Review, hoped that it would at least be passable.

Do you remember when you watched the first episode of the second season of Haruhi and all the positive goodwill you had about the franchise just kind of gushed out and gave you that pleasant buzz that made you feel warm and fuzzy? Well, watching the movie gives the same kind of feeling, except it felt even better than that!

Without going too much into a discussion of the movie (feel free to talk about it in the comments section though!) all I’d have to say is that the experience was an amazing one. Watching the ramifications of Haruhi’s disappearance was wonderful because the calm, sober atmosphere contrasted so much with the usual level of energy and excitement that we’ve come to associate with the Haruhi franchise. It just felt wrong, and in doing so, fit the scenario perfectly!

So yes, if you want a take on the movie, just read the review I linked to above. My only disagreement is that I thought it was worthy of a 9/10, but that just might be because the high the movie gave me resulted in a euphoria that’s lasted up until now and is still going strong. It made up for Endless Eight and then some and being able to experience it in the setting of a movie theater along with other anime fans who made the trek was fantastic!

So what else happened there?

Well, it was kind of cool that they gave us a free copy of the first volume of the manga. Beyond that, they had Wendee Lee (who voices Haruhi) and Crispin Freeman (who voices Kyon) show up to give a 1-2 minute blurb on how much voice acting meant to them and in being able to see the popularity of anime grow since they started their careers. Stephanie Sheh (Mikuru) was also there to sign movie posters.

The Haruhi girls (no idea who any of them were) also performed a song and dance routine right before the movie started. It’s not hard to guess at which of the songs came up. They also told some lame jokes that people laughed at out of politeness and only made me more impatient for the film to start.

At the very end, they had a drawing for some Crunchyroll subscriptions, and that concluded the night.

The music

I call these “preludes” because I do want to hit on the music the way it was presented in the film as opposed to listening to the soundtrack on a standalone basis, which can affect my judgment of it depending on how strongly I can conjure images of the anime in question while listening to it.

Well, I did pay attention to the music while watching the movie, and afterward, I can recall about 6-7 tracks that made a good impression on me. Naturally, me knowing that Eminence Symphony Orchestra performed the music for the movie gave me hope that it would be amazing and as far as I can tell, Disappearance’s music is promising both within the context and as a standalone listen. The panicky track that plays as Kyon is trying to get a lay for the altered world carries the urgency that you’d expect. Another was the piece that plays when the SOS-dan is reunified once more since it does the “happy-end” theme really well.

The solo piano stuff was also a joy to listen to. Of course, Erik Satie’s Gymnopedies made its appearance, but there were also a few others that hit upon the minimalist feeling that Kousaki is known for composing (see his work on Bakemonogatari) but those somehow had the depth of emotions that worked with the context of the movie. I do hope it’ll translate over well once I give the soundtrack a closer listen.

Anyways, that was a long way to say that I have high hopes for Disappearance’s score to really jibe with me. I’ll be working on that for the next few days as well as cobble my Anime Expo schedule together so that I can figure out who I can meet when depending on what I happen to be doing. Finally, if you’re even remotely cautious about the Haruhi franchise post-Endless Eight and aren’t sure whether you want to give the movie a go or not, don’t be. It’s very much worth it in every way!

Setlist:

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Frankly, I did not have very high hopes for the Fantasy Comes Alive concert. I remember the disastrous experience of the Video Games Live performance where I heard more of fans cheering than proper music. A flip through the programme booklet revealed that it was not even a whole orchestra playing the pieces. As an orchestra freak, I was honestly very disappointed.

However, this was one of the times when I couldn’t be happier that I was wrong. With a repertoire from some of the most well-known games and anime (Final Fantasy, Neon Genesis Evangelion, My Neighbour Totoro and Fullmetal Alchemist, just to name a few), and a surprisingly excellent group of musicians from the local university, the performance was one that I will never forget.

The concert started with ‘Break the Sword of Justice’ from Tsubasa Chronicles, which was not all that well-articulated, but still had the impact that an opening piece should possess. As the concert moved on, the pieces just got better and better, from the upbeat ‘Granado Espada Medley’, to the deeply moving ‘Kyoudai’ from Fullmetal Alchemist before letting one’s imagination take flight with ‘Touch’ from Romeo x Juliet.

There were a few other slightly weaker pieces, such as ‘Hikari no Senritsu’ from Sora no Woto, which had its flute solo replaced with the electric guitar, to disastrous results, and ‘Vamo’alla Flamenco,’ where the acoustic guitar failed to stand out. However, other than these two pieces and a slightly lackluster ‘Break the Sword of Justice,’ the other pieces generally ranged from very good to extraordinary. The weaker tracks did little, if anything at all, to unseat the excellent performance as a whole.

The upper hand that live concerts have over recordings is that you actually see the music being weaved together. And for this particular one, showmanship was absolutely at its max. It also helps that the musicians are younger and as a result, more carefree in their expressiveness, which makes for a pleasant departure from the staid atmosphere of more professional performances.

The fact that the repertoire was a compilation from many different anime and games also lets one experience the different styles and moods of so many composers and separate works. One piece which really left an impression on me was ‘Cruel Angel Thesis’ from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Being a very fast paced rock-styled rendition of the original, it was excellently put forth by the musicians, delivering something which can only be described as phenomenal.

The occasion was also graced by composers Haketa Sakamoto and Hitoshi Sakimoto. Hitoshi Sakimoto was actually one of the selling points of the concert, as he has been among my favourite composers ever since I heard his works for Romeo x Juliet. Though it was definitely an experience to see the two of them in person, I do wish they can give us more details regarding their work, instead of just telling us how glad they are to be in Singapore and such.

Other minor complaints I have include things like the emcee not being familiar with how to pronounce Japanese names properly, some technical glitches and such. But these are flaws which can be ironed out with experience. And with the (near) full house audience it enjoyed, I think it is not unreasonable for me to believe that it may be held annually from now on.

In closing, I’d just like to say that Fantasy Comes Alive really does live up to its name. Though it’s currently a local production, one day if it ever goes out of Singapore, please go experience it. It’s well worth it!

Good doujin music is hard to find. That’s the message I’ve gotten when I was unfortunate enough to have to listen to either of the Anime House albums or TAMUSIC’s godawful Haruhi arrange album. Hell, if it weren’t for kevo’s post celebrating the better Japanese doujin electronica works, I’d probably be giving up on the endeavor altogether.

My chief complaint with doujin music lies in its lack of creativity; most groups seem content with taking a well-known melody, be it an OP, ED, insert song, or, even more rarely, BGM, and slapping some UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ on top of it. Such a method feels so half-assed that I just become disenchanted by what passes for effort, and head off to better anime music pastures. I realize that such pastures are thin indeed, but the one that has stood out has been the works at AnimeRemix.org.

Back when videogame music dominated my listening charts, OCRemix.org was a site that I’d check out a lot. Not only did it (and still does) offer a whole lot of video game remixes, the ones that were posted there were generally pretty good. You didn’t have lazy techno beats draped on top of an anime melody, straight up transcriptions of game scores, or anything that simple. The people whose submissions were put on the site demonstrated a good amount of effort and creativity in their works, which made listening to their compositions a very fulfilling experience.

AnimeRemix is pretty much an offshoot of OCRemix and their goals are the same, except their focus is on music from animated works (be it Western or Japanese). The scale to which they’re operating isn’t quite as large as OCR because anime music is still an underdeveloped area within the anime fandom, but that it even has more than 100 remixes housed on the site is something to celebrate.

After going through their cache of remixes, I figured I’d showcase some of my favorites in no particular order. If you want to download the track in question, I’ve linked to the track’s downloads page for your convenience.

Dale North – Close Your Eyes (Witch Hunter Robin)

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
This is, by far and away my favorite piece on the site. Composed by Dale North (yes, that Dale North), this composition stands out not only because it combines some of my favorite BGM from Witch Hunter Robin, the work remains cohesive as it weaves that mysterious aura that one feels while watching the show. I’m also fond of the the quote Dale takes from the Prophecy movie in the beginning of the piece. It helps to establish the piece’s tone while giving you something to think about as you connect those lines to the anime.

David Hsu – Castitatis (Elfen Lied)

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
David Hsu (or Dhsu as he’s more commonly known), is a fantastic arranger, dealing mostly with piano arrangements for video game music, but here, you’ll find his anime contribution in the form of an arrangement of Elfen Lied’s “Lilium.” Though the initial impression that one gets is that this is nothing more than a softer version of “Lilium,” do give it a listen to the end. You might find yourself dazzled by the departure around the middle as the piano picks up and the syncopation towards the end of “Castitatis” times the pauses just right to give you room to ruminate further.

Tepid – Something Special (Spirited Away)

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
What can I say? I really love the way the way the piano and the guitars work together in this remix so as to create a feeling of sweetness that Chihiro might experience after reuniting with her family at the end of this movie. I could attempt to expand my thoughts further, but I find that I just can’t. My thoughts are silenced by how well-executed this piece is, reducing me into a state where all I can tell you is to listen to the interplay between the instruments.

Vampire Hunter Dan – To Fly (Anime Medley)

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
I’m not sure whether people know this or not, but I really love “Decisive Battle” from Evangelion, so when this arrangement opened up with that piece, I was immediately hooked by the orchestral treatment that it got. I didn’t know this would be a full-blown medley, so the first time I listened to this, you could imagine the shock of delight on my face when a well-known Rurouni Kenshin arrangement came on. Still, of the pieces that got to share time on this medley, I really enjoyed Escaflowne’s “Yakusoku Wa Iranai.” Vampire Hunter Dan works that piece in the medley in such a way that it really seems like the subject is dancing through the skies. It’s a wonderful feeling, that’s for sure!

Final Thoughts:
Looking at the pieces I’ve selected, I’m afraid they do reflect my musical tastes/biases towards piano/symphonic music. My apologies for those who were looking more for electronica, which you’ll find more of in the Japanese electronica post I referenced earlier.

Thanks to Overcoat and Xaleph for keeping the Anime Remix ship steady! I hope to see more stuff posted in the future and that one day, it gets as much attention as OCR!

Rest assured that Anime Remix won’t be the only ones to get a chance to shine. I’ll do Josh Agaraddo next since I really enjoy his piano performances and arrangements quite a bit. Especially when he puts together medleys like this one.

And yes, as long as I can keep finding good arrangements, this segment will continue.

So don’t worry if you know nothing about this stuff. For this post I’ll talk about five albums that I particularly find are outstanding examples of the genre. Whether you are a techno virgin or the most hardcore junkie ever, come along I take us on an adventure though the wondrous world electronic music in Japan! Bring a nice pair of headphones and turn the bass up on your mixer!

Aura Qualic – Crystal Flow

Lets kick things off with some good progressive trance. The trick to trance (and many other kinds of electronica music) is patience. Trance tracks typically are composed of a nice build, where different melodies add and permutate with each other, eventually culminating into some kind of climax, where the bass is “dropped” and the song is driven by a combination of the beat and melody at the boldest. The interactions between the beat and the melody is crucial in good trance track. The mixing should be complex, but still natural enough for a nightclub full of people who want to have a fun time and dance to follow.

Wanna hear?

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Let it sit for a bit, then when the song starts to pick up 20 or 30 seconds in, close your eyes, press your headphones to your ears, and just let the music envelop you. The builds are simple, but very nice. You really feel the climax and anticlimax. The bass isn’t overwhelming and the melody is soft and sweet.

Aura Qualic is a trance artist hailing from Japan. Active since 1998, he’s one of the shining stars in Japanese progressive trance. His calling is trance, but he does lots of pop and dance remixes, too. He contributes often to compilations like Bastard Pop Terrorists, which is a multi-artist compilation of dance/hardcore anime doujin remixes.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Crystal Flow in my opinion is his tightest album. Though it lacks some variance in mood between the tracks, the entire composition is creative and rhythmically sound. All too often you see rhythmically retarded artists pumping out albums at Comiket with just a song and UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ in the background. Aura Qualic sounds more like a mainstream trance with a distinctive Japanese flavor. I can imagine some tracks off this album blasting in a nightclub being very very sweet.

Spy47 – Ticket to Sweetland

owww! What is it, zzeroparticle? Huh? Yeah I see the title of your blog. Oh, you want me to talk more about anime music and remixes. Oh fine then let’s start with this, then.

Ticket to Sweetland was one of the most popular and surprising albums on the scene back in Comiket 76. While Aura Qualic is generally trance, Spy47 is J-core. J-core (categorizing music is a nightmare so just bear with me) is a style of music that’s characteristic of melody driven heavy beats and sped-up singing. It draws its origins from happy hardcore influenced by gabber, drum and bass, and progressive house. Before I spew any more random musical terms that half the world disagree on let’s just share a track.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Ticket to Sweetland is truly a doujin remix work. The Drug That Took me to Heaven is mixed from the eroge Yume Miru Kusuri. Other tracks on the album are based off of Lucky Star, Nursery Rhyme, To Aru Majutsu no Index, and I’m pretty sure the rest are random eroge. Our First Time is an entertaining track that samples various sound clips from the sex scene in a loli eroge and as the sex progresses towards climax the beat structure literally breaks down in random overmixed noise. Unfortunately I did not know of this before hand and I almost blew out the speakers in my car with this song. At least it’s pretty creative.

Though it’s been remixed about 200 times, I find Spy47′s rendition of the Nursery Rhyme opening theme to be pretty good. It sounds like pure sugar but not too out of control. If you ever thought what Kishimen would sound like if ave;new was even more high pitched, today is your lucky day!

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

DJ Sharpnel – Running All Night

If you’ve ever even heard of anime hardcore, you at least know DJ Sharpnel. Sharpnelsound is one of the most well known doujin labels in the scene and I always pick up whatever they shit out at every Comiket. My personal favorite of theirs is Running All Night from Comiket 73. Stylistically, imagine Spy47 but just totally nuts off the deep end. This is basically what J-core is.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Took me a while to actually figure out that was a remix of Utada Hikaru’s Beautiful World. While Sharpnel is creative and pretty fun to listen to, they are totally hit or miss. You either love them or totally hate them, and I can see why. J-core is simply too much for some people. Above that, half of their tracks in my opinion are just plain terrible. Running All Night simply had an unusual number of really good tracks. Remixes of Moetan, Lucky Star, Bokurano, Dennou Coil, and other shows at the time make the album a pretty fun listen if you like that stuff.

I’m gonna cheat and share a track from one of their more recent albums from Comiket 76.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

One of my favorite parts of this track is how they use the clapping in beginning of Fuwa Fuwa Time to set a beat up. And my is it one heck of a beat.

onoken – Swell Strings

So after all that loud crazy hardcore, let us return to the world of trance. Swell Strings, by onoken, is one of my favorite albums of any genre, ever. onoken’s diverse work spans from goa to techno. His best stuff, in my opinion, is his instrumental and melodic trance as seen heavily here in this album.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

The foreground, rather than the bass, dominates most of the song. onoken creates this immersive atmosphere of sound that is bold yet very calming.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

This great vocal track, thank to the talents of Aki Misawa, has a funky little feeling to it. I love the piano arrangement.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Progressive trance. The song builds up to this nice melody before just totally cutting into a stop at 2:50 just when you were expecting a climax. A vocal with a simple yet bold piano arrangement and a faint ambient backing comes in, quickly and gradually building into a beautiful climax that you ride all the way to the end of the song. This, my friends, is what trance is all about.

Halozy – H ~Heart and Beat Technology~

I always imagine Halzoy as much of what Aura Qualic or onoken would sound like if they remixed more anime stuff. H Heart and Beat Technology is jammed full of pure awesome doujin anime song remixes. This was released in May last year, before Halozy went to the dark side and just spat out Touhou remix albums at Comiket.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Unlike what many lesser artists do, which is just play an anime song and add a generic background bass beat, note what Halozy does here to Air‘s timeless track Natsukage. Resample the melody with a cool instrument, add neat ambient arrangements, and like a good DJ, create a clever build into a monstrous crescendo of awesome. Remixing is addition — it’s about having people enjoy a song from a different point of view.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Quick, how many times has Uninstall been remixed? 10? 20? Among the knee-deep pool of the stuff, I love this one the best. Wait for about a minute for the song to get kind of revved up. When the bass cuts about 1:30 into the song, leaving just the singing, the emotion of the song is portrayed pretty well. Then we go into a nice, unique and creative reimagination of the song. It’s amazing to me how different you can make a song feel with good remixing.

Well that’s all I have. Doubtless I have neglected to cover some aspects or artists in this wide genre. cranky immediately comes to mind. I love his happy hardcore style that resembles European dance music. His new album Hard Re:MIX 2010 is especially great. REDALiCE I guess as well, but I’m not a huge fan of that group.

I know this isn’t the type of music zzero’s readers are used to seeing on this blog, so I hope some readers were able to hear some new kinds of sounds today. Whether you enjoy this kind of music or not, isn’t trying out new types of music what us music lovers are all about? Thanks for reading what I have to say! I’d love to hear feedback in the comments.

Going into this concert, I can’t really claim to have much in the way of knowledge of Hikaru Utada or many of her works. My particular focus on J-pop is mostly confined to whatever is packaged with anime series or video game music so in this instance, her work on the Kingdom Hearts franchise is about all that I’m familiar with. Still, after listening to this performance, I can see why she is held in such high regard. That she composes her own music and writes the lyrics herself is already something that earns my respect. When you combine that element with her ability to sing live, I can’t help but be impressed by her completeness as an artist.

I should not have been surprised when I saw the line snake around the block right in front of the House of Blues on LA’s Sunset strip. After all, it had been about three years since she last performed in LA and people were looking forward to seeing what slate of songs she would be singing this time around. On my end, this concert would be a new experience since not only would I be introduced to more of Hikaru Utada’s repertoire, it would also be the first time I’ve attended a concert where it was standing room only.

The line was pretty long, comparable to her Seattle concert shown above (photo courtesy of @erwinwijanto)

You could feel the excitement brewing once you entered the venue. A few of her fans had brought posters wishing her a happy birthday which made the event feel all the more special. Gradually, more and more people filed in until it was pretty jam-packed, and there wasn’t anything left to do other than to wait. After what seemed like forever, the band finally got into place, and Utada started off with “Opening – Crossover” and show went under way.

I was pretty much lost at this point because I wasn’t familiar with her songs, but then again, I didn’t really care. Her performance was absolutely entrancing. Whether it was because of the venue or the crowds bringing out the right atmosphere, I felt that the pieces she sang had a greater level of expressiveness than the ones that I’ve randomly stumbled across. Just hearing the little flourishes that she puts in here and there made me enjoy the performance a whole lot more.

Even the songs that I did recognize sounded a bit better. “First Love” felt like it had just a bit more emotion put into it, and I could feel the sense of longing that the song’s lyrics conveyed. Her rendition of “Simple and Clean” (this was one of the encore pieces) was also solid with its boldness, energy, and optimism.

This was definitely different from the J-pop concerts that I’ve been to at Anime Expo in that it was more polished (no surprise) and as a result, yielded an awesome experience. Live performances always seem to offer much more than what the CDs are capable of delivering upon because of the atmosphere and the crowd experience, and this concert was no exception. Utada Hikaru fans will derive a lot of satisfaction out of this, but even for neophytes like myself, it was fantastic, and I would highly recommend going if you’ve the time!

Other notes:

There was one segment where Utada Hikaru sang and played on the keyboard. No, I unfortunately don’t remember which song it was. Yes, what she was playing wasn’t that complex and shouldn’t be that amazing, but it was a nice touch all the same since many artists don’t have any talent beyond just singing.

The musicians played “Happy Birthday” and she jokingly joined in. It was silly, yes, but I really liked that moment. A serious business concert just wouldn’t be fitting.

The information is a bit old by now, but if anyone has been following Hiroaki Yura’s blogging activities, you may have noticed that he’s made a post regarding the recording of the soundtrack to the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie which is currently looking towards a February release date in Japanese theaters. Satoru Kousaki will still be the composer as usual and I’ll be looking forward to seeing how his minimalist style interacts with the orchestral work that Eminence puts out. Somehow, my gut feeling tells me that they won’t be using the entirety of the Eminence ensemble. Maybe something on a smaller scale unless they’re flying Kousaki out to Australia to do the recording. Still, a fully orchestrated movie score is something to look forward to at any rate.

As a note, the minimalist piece heard in the one-minute trailer for the movie is apparently Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies N°1. My pretensions to having a hefty amount of knowledge about classical music took a beating that day. (Thanks Smankh! :p)

Speaking of Eminence and Australia, those of you out in Perth have the Destiny: Promised Legacy concert event to look forward to if you’re planning to attend the Perth Anime Convention (or PAniC) on January 23. The concert is going to play a few of the songs used in the Project Promise album using around 7 of its musicians. Tickets can be purchased here. Also, if you’re not that big on Makoto Shinkai and are more of a game music fan, Yasunori Mitsuda will be making an appearance, so that’ll make your trip worth your while.

More information here.

We’ve affiliated ourselves with the Nihon Review as their main provider for soundtrack reviews (and they’ll be contributing soundtrack reviews from time to time as well). To help them out, we’ll be linking to their reviews from time to time. Do take a look at what they’ve put out because their reviews come highly recommended and are definitely worth reading. Also, their staff blog makes for good complementary reading to the reviews so that you get a chance to pick at their minds. If you’ve the time, do join their forums and say hi.

And if you’ve even more time, you can apply to write for them. They’re running a staff contest right now with the objective being to add a few more writers to their review crew. If you’re looking for a fun experience and an avenue to strengthen your writing chops, do apply! They have spots open for blog writers too.

Finally, I’ll be contributing a bit to Original Sound Version in the area of J-music that isn’t VGM. It’s nothing time-intensive and will not detract from my focus here, but it’ll be fun helping out their blog team which I’ve worked with a bit over at Eminence. They’ve done an excellent job at keeping their pulse close to the VGM scene, and since I’m on break from Eminence at the moment, it’ll give me something to do in the meantime.

And that’s it. We should have a few reviews coming down the pipeline as well as a resumption of the Decades Reminiscing thing that I’ve been doing.

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Those of you who keep that steady eye on TokyoTosho when it came back up may have noticed the [#MALKeionbu] pop up recently, especially if you follow the music updates. As you can probably guess, this is indeed the mark that the MyAnimeList Anime Music Piece of the Week Club (popularly known as the MALKeionbu) has left behind from its work this year for others to enjoy. Through our efforts, we compiled two discs: one is made up of a number of tracks which have won first place in each week’s competition and the other is made up entirely of 2-3 of each member’s favorite tracks.

The Main Disc, as I’ll call the Best Anime Music Collection 2009b really is a quirky set of tracks, ranging from classics like “Tsuki no Mayu” from Turn A Gundam and “Blue” from Cowboy Bebop to newer stuff you might not have heard like “SYNCHRONICITY” from Appleseed Ex Machina. Since it’s unlikely that you’ll have heard all of the tracks, we do hope that you discover something fresh from listening to this main compilation!

Tracklist is below for those who are curious. The anime series is listed first, followed by the track title. Download information is also provided for your convenience.

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Download:
Bittorrent
Direct Download
Miscellaneous information like liner notes can be found here.

As I mentioned above, these are more personal favorites, which means instead of group quirkiness, we have individual quirks popping up. This still leads to a strange album, but is nevertheless similar in its diversity. I think the only claim that this album can truly make is that each track comes from a different series, so there’s even more stuff to explore. Presentation is the same as above.

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Download:
Bittorrent
Direct Download
Miscellaneous information here.

Anyhow, Omo has already done an excellent job of capturing the sentiments that make this club so enjoyable and I can’t really add much more to that. It’s pleasant all-around, especially for those who really enjoy the thrill of discovering new anime music to add to ye olde music player and learning about what other people find appealing. Feel free to lurk if it suits your fancy or contribute if you find anything interesting. We won’t bite!

Either way, we’d love it if you could take the time to give these tracks and whirl and comment about our collective tastes! Also, a big thank you goes out to Omo for making this compilation event happen and for anyone who has ever nominated, voted, or commented on the forums! You are what makes this club so awesome!