Written by This one counts because it’s Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. Don’t know how warren missed this one – Baby Elephant’s March
Now, do these count? Or are they to J-popish?
Muramasa – Hectic
Ore Ska Band – Monkey Man
Ore Ska Band – Pinocchio
Posts in category Audiophilia!
Jared Knows What Ska Is! Edition Sansei: Do these count?
Homework Survival Music
Written by So lately I’ve been listening to a couple of tracks that make doing homework less of a chore. These are just fun, high-energy tracks that keep me awake while drudging through acres of unbelievable garbage.
READ ON!
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Kyla’s Year End Music Gaganzastrava!
Written by Last year I composed a sampling of my favorite music from the best of times and the worst of times. This year, I’d like to do the same—only the names, dates, sounds, have changed.
I missed you all at the party on Friday. I hope we can get together before Sean leaves his ancestral home on Monday, January 2nd for the heathen land of the Mayans.
Love, K
Blind Pilot-We Are The Tide- We Are The Tide. This is a band out of Portland. Their first album was more stripped down folk, simple melodies that manage to get crammed into corners of your subconscious. This one was a bit more expansive, more brass and big sounds. YAY!
Fleet Foxes-Helplessness Blues-Helplessness Blues
I listened to this album over and over and over. There is something timeless and strikingly beautiful in his voice. It’s our Gregorian chanting. The lyrics just get to me on this album—it’s as if they been plucked from my brain and rearranged to be poignant. From the very opening lines:
I was raised up believing I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see
And now after some thinking, I’d say I’d rather be
A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me
Yes!
Foster The People-Torches- Houdini
People (mainly Sean) look at me strangely when I say this is the hipster dance album I’ve been waiting for. It’s perfect for what it is.
The Head and the Heart-Self Titled- Down in the Valley
Best new band of the year! Their music is undeniably lovable and sublime. Like the Fleet Foxes they speak to the lost in the woods, searching for purpose, late golden sunset of youth. Bask in it, soon it will be gone, and we will be as lame as the baby boomers!
Lykke Li-Wounded Rhymes- Love Out of Lust
Big banging drums, beautiful instrumental overlay, and awesome vocals. This album is flawless. ‘Love Out of Lust’ typifies the sound.
REM- Life’s Rich Pageant Reissue-These Days
I had forgotten how much REM rocks. The album ‘Monster’ was in heavy rotation in my mom’s car as a kid (along with various strange early 90′s dance music). I took a listen to this pre- Monster album, a darker snapshot of the late 70′s-early 80′s. Perfect for mid November sulking or reminiscing about emptiness.
Real Estate-Days- Easy
It’s almost impossible to pick a track off this album. It’s the kind of album you have playing in the background and it makes anything instantly more meaningful or interesting. The album is really one continuous song, each song overflowing and weaving into one another. I have randomly chosen the first track, since it starts the flow.
Ryan Adams- Ashes and Fire-Ashes and Fire
Skip over this one. You will hate it. If you don’t already know about him and love him, then you probably fall into the category of thinking he is a bore or too sissy. Having said that, this song was a mantra for several weeks for me. It’s perfect mid 70′s country—sticky sweet twang (tang?) and interesting lyrical rhyming patterns.
Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi-Rome-Season’s Trees
Like the Real Estate album this is an album to be listened to in one sitting. You cannot take any one song and have it represent the whole. It’s a quite extraordinary album when listened to this way and exponentially better with a glass of wine and preferably in a bath tub. Special guest appearance on dos tracks: Mr. Jack White.
I want to conclude with a new band out of Seattle called Pickwick. Their sound is bluesy-folk and the lead singers talent is undeniable. They are coming to Sam Bonds on January 14th if anyone is interested in seeing them with me in Eug. I haven’t been this excited for a show in a long time!
Thanks for reading this if you got to the end of it. Music and my own personal life drama are the only things that keep me writing these days. I hope you enjoyed at least one song.
More Ear Shit! UPDATED WITH MORE SHIT!
This time, a town with three variations on the same theme (a market area, the orrery, and the harbor). Going to clean it up some more, but this represents about 60 minutes of work, versus the last one which was something like 20 hours or more. See, getting better as I go! I hope… Anyway, review please!
Legend – Kestra Town
Legend – Kestra Orrery Way
Legend – Kestra Harbor
This is a battle/event song that sort of came out of something else I was working on. I have two versions of this, each has a slightly different way of handling the guitar lead volume and tone:
Legend – The Vicious
Legend – The Vicious (2nd Version)
This is an environmental theme that eventually became the battle theme above:
Ear Shit For Your Ears!
So for the last few years I have been working on writing a novel or screenplay based in the Legend universe (and NO, nobody will ever be mysterious). Things have been slow going but I have some good ideas and am making positive progress.
I’m sort of close to having at least something to show everyone, but in the meantime to help me relax and keep from getting too overwhelmed by the task I assigned myself a challenge: write a few tracks that I would use if I was making an OST for the game version!
I finished the first track today, and I’d like your input if at all possible.
Works in Progress (august edition)
So one of the things I have been working on to get over the depression I have had lately with my cancer scare, the cat’s slow decline, and the general malaise of the unknown is a rework of the soundtrack to one of my favorite all-time games:
U.N. Squadron (Area 88 in Japan)!
Basically this is a ‘that sounds cool’ thing where I spin a slightly different take on the music from the game. Not really a remix, a remaster, or anything else. Sort of a rework, if you will.
Without further fanfare here are two before and after snapshots of my project:
The Canyon (original SNES sound rip)
The Canyon (my version (rev5))
Enemy Airforce (original SNES sound rip)
Enemy Airforce (my version (rev 5))
Input would be appreciated. These are still VERY much works in progress, especially getting them to sound ‘bigger’ and more room-filling. I have made some great strides recently in both the processing power of my music software and my ability to generate the sounds I want from my scoring, and I think they really show in these examples.
Also, here is a test of some new software tweaks and techniques- the South Figaro theme from FF6. I am actually a little frustrated with this one, because getting the two clarinet parts to split and harmonize at the right tones and times is infuriating! I know that there are some problems with one part going too long or too short and fucking up the flow… but I swear I will fix that eventually. This was not written for clarinets and so the transposition and attack of the notes was a challenge… Anyway, since you probably do not care at all- Have a good Tuesday, and let me know what you think!
A Non-Generic RPG Soundtrack
So a few months back I posted the FF14 soundtrack, which I said was a great example of Uematsu’s return to form. Geoff was kind enough to bring the tactical nuke of differing viewpoints, declaring that the music was kind of generic crap. I did not agree at first, but had to admit many tracks from the game were shit.
Today I imagined what I would say if John Williams composed a jingle for Triscuits, and I had a flash of revelation- that was exactly the kind of shit Uematsu put out in FF14- a tacky sellout that makes it hard to continue to appreciate his past work.
So I went back to the music, and I can now say upon further reflection… it is really too fucking generic, unforgivably so considering it was the work of a true master of the craft.
What the fuck happened to the guy in the last few years? Did he just lose the knack, or get too caught up in trying to reinvent himself like many musicians? Either way, I’m sad to say I no longer feel he is capable of generating the kind of music that impacted my life, so I must turn to other sources.
So on that somber note, I’m counter-posting my original post with the soundtrack from Arc The Lad: Twilight of the Spirits. This was the 4th game in the series, and the first on the PS2.
Arc 4 has some of the catchiest and most varied music of any RPG released in the last decade, and is definitely worth your time. It really does not sound quite like any other game, and seems to go to great lengths to have an original and memorable score.
Of special note, the many battle themes (tracks 3,5,9,14,19,20,28,31,37, and 38) are pretty unique (except the ones that sound like Ace Combat) and really get you into the fighting.
The composers utilize a lot of progression in their music, where you slowly build up and add complexity to the track until you have two or three simultaneous rhythms coming together.
Another big plus to this OST is that there’s more than one goddamn battle track! What an amazing idea! Let’s get on that shit more often, Japanese Developers! As much as I like your monolithic approach to battle music, wouldn’t it be lovely if I could get some variety if I am going to spend 30 hours in battle mode? And no, boss music and final boss music do NOT count. Those are basic requirements, not fucking bonuses we should be thankful for!!!
Anyway, share and enjoy:
dredg concert
OK, we are one week from the show, seriously, is anyone else interested in going? Tickets are $15 and can be bought online as well as at the door. I think doors open at 7 and show starts at 8(not like we shouldn’t show up early anyway)
A cappella Metal
I have just discovered van Canto, my god this is awesome. This is a cover of Nightwish’s song Wishmaster. The girl singer is pretty good; not as good as the original from Nightwish.
rididlididlididlididlididli-rididlididlididlididlididli-dum dum
Stephen Colbert on NPR
This is from Monday, June 14th. Stephen Colbert is interviewed first about his musical performance in Stephen Sondheim’s Company and then the second half is about his show The Colbert Report. Because it’s NPR it is a little boring because he is not in character and is long at around 40 minutes. But I thought it was a good interview, it gave some insight into why he does what he does. I thought it was worth listening to.
Three Soundtracks Posted
FYI- I just put up the Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and Katamari Forever soundtracks as private posts.
Ultimate Showdown
So, I played this in Warren’s car a few months ago and was surprised he hadn’t heard it. or remembered that he had heard it and so I figured I would share it with everyone just in case they hadn’t heard it as well.
Weekend Project: Final Fantasy Tactics Oompah Band Version
Mine:
Original version:
…so what do you guys think?
HIGH SCORE! The Art Of Game Music – TEST #1
This is the first of many of these:
This one is just a test to see how much time it takes to do one, and get the posting and etc to work properly. If the text is too hard to read, the sizing isn’t quite right, etc. Let me know.
Ideally what I will do is have a track that I really like, and put in a lot more slides in that describe the track, the game, why I like it, and interesting factoids that aren’t well known. I kind of want to play with the video format a bit and so something that’s more interesting than the usual ALBUM COVER IMAGE video for the sound file. I may also host the file locally using our media player if youtube pisses me off. A private post will follow the main one with a download link to the track or album I am doing that post.
Any suggestions are also welcome.
Coming Soon…
Tune in 3/14/11 for my first article: Genesis Sound Hardware.
School of Rock
All right kids, log in, sit down and start listening to the start of my new series Required Listening.
Joco Concert
The concert was pretty good. It was at Aladdin Theater so it was mostly sitting, but there was a small dance area in the front.
The only opening act was Mike Phirmin; he was kind of funny. He did stand up and then sang some songs. Nothing amazing but nothing terrible either. The song Monkey Duck Chicken was pretty good.
Joco’s performance was good. He has a band now, so there is him, a bassist and a drummer and their songs are more rock oriented. They had this setup at PAX as well. It’s kind of nice when he plays old songs in the new style cause it’s different. His new songs are good. Mitch and I both agreed that even his old songs take some getting used to and these ones will as well. He wants all of Portland to grow mustaches as a way to show we love him – guess I don’t love him that much…
It’s too bad not everyone was able to go.