The Hidden Blade - Seeking a New Life

I've never met a Yoji Yamada film I didn't like.  Yamada, the now very old but still working Japanese director, made himself a central figure in Japanese cinema history by creating and directing the Tora-san series.  Tora-san is a staple of Japanese culture, or at least was for many decades, and for good reason: spanning the years 1969 to 1995, the Tora-san films constitute (more or less officially depending on the definition) the longest film series in history.  There were forty eight movies made - two movies released during most years.  The movies themselves followed a tried and true formula: Tora-san returns home to reunite with his family, Tora-san meddles in their affairs with (usually) the best intentions, Tora-san falls in love with a woman and in the end finds his affections to be unrequited, returning to the road once more.  The character was beloved by audiences, and the movies became a reliably heart-warming routine.  There was always a Tora-san movie to look forward to.  Only when the principal actor died did the series end.

After dedicating most of his career to Tora-san, Yoji Yamada began to work on other projects.  Finally, in 2002, Yamada found truly international acclaim with the first film of his jidaigeki trilogy, The Twilight Samurai.  He followed it with two more samurai tales, The Hidden Blade and Love and Honor.  All three were based on stories by the 20th century author Shuhei Fujisawa.  I first noticed The Twilight Samurai when it was nominated for an Academy Award in 2004.  The clip they showed, of a samurai leaping over the head of another and clocking his opponent on the head with a wooden sword, made me sit up and ask "what was that?"  Eventually I rented and watched all three.

The jidaigeki trilogy are really only samurai movies in the loosest sense.  That is, they are about samurai.  But if you're looking for sword fights, blood, and shouts of righteous vengeance, look elsewhere.  Yamada's films are straight up dramas, and tearjerkers at that.  All of Yamada's films - from Tora-san, to the jidaigeki, to his most recent period dramas - share a warmth and depth of feeling that is hard to find in cinema.  His characters are truly good people, with good intentions, and the drama of their stories comes more often from circumstances than it does from villains (although villains do exist).  Yamada is a living legend among Japanese directors and I look forward to what he still has to offer.

I have searched unsuccessfully for music from the Tora-san series.  However, I was very happy to find a soundtrack release that compiled music from all three of Yamada's samurai movies.  The composer of the soundtracks is Isao Tomita, a part of Japanese musical history himself.  Tomita gained fame by pioneering electronic music in the 1960s and '70s (he also composed the soundtrack to my favorite Japanese disaster film, The Prophecies of Nostradamus).  His recent soundtracks use some synth, but have shifted mostly towards orchestral compositions.  Today's song is "Seeking a New Life" from The Hidden Blade.  Although I probably liked Twilight Samurai and Love and Honor slightly more as movies, The Hidden Blade contains some of the best music from the trilogy.  "Seeking a New Life" is the final song from that movie and showcases both its love theme, which plays at 0:56 and 3:24, and its main theme, which kicks in at 2:20.  The love theme is particularly stirring and is my favorite piece from the film, and second favorite from the entire trilogy (only narrowly beaten by the theme to Love and Honor).  I will certainly post more music of Tomita's in the future.  Enjoy!

 

Album info:  http://www.game-ost.com/albums/15303/yoji_yamada_jidaigeki_trilogy_best_selection/

Bully - Defend Bucky

For today's soundtrack we return a little closer to home with Rockstar's 2006 game, Bully.  Rockstar is one of the few companies out there that have released their game soundtracks in America, but not exactly because of their original content.  With Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Rockstar recognized the commercial appeal of their "jukebox" soundtracks - that is, their collection of well known (and lesser known) pop songs from the various eras in which their games take place.  They released a huge box set of '80s songs in a Vice City soundtrack, and continued on through the '90s and present day with soundtrack releases for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and Grand Theft Auto 4.  The popularity of these jukebox soundtracks peaked at the very beginning however- Vice City, still remains the most popular soundtrack by Rockstar, and my favorite by far from the GTA series.

The jukebox trend changed with the release of Bully, however.  Bully's soundtrack was an entirely original composition by Shawn Lee, an American musician who relocated to Britain early in his career. However, Lee's soundtrack continued Rockstar's practice of evoking different time periods.  The game itself is set in an ambiguous, anachronistic era, with references to the 70s, 80s, 90s and present day.  The soundtrack also straddles eras to a degree, but its styles definitely point to the punk rock and dance hall sounds of the 70s and 80s.  Lee picks a musical genre appropriate to the scene or character of the moment.  The dropouts get rock, preps gets '80s pop, nerds get vintage electronica, etc.

This track is "Defend Bucky" and plays during one of the game's missions.  The song got my attention with its minimalist style and progressive motif.  At a time when most game soundtracks go orchestral (or at least hard rock), "Defend Bucky" is unapologetically funky, and its style represents the rest of the soundtrack well.  Enjoy!



Album info: http://vgmdb.net/album/3955

Nobunaga's Ambition Online - Tranquility

Today's track is another one I've been listening to non-stop lately.  When I first posted a song by Kenji Kawai (the track from the movie Gantz), I mentioned that I had been introduced to Kenji Kawai's music via the soundtrack of Nobunaga's Ambition Online.  The online game of the series was first released in 2003 and has seen a number of expansions, or "chapters", since then.  The online game continues the series' tradition of great music, starting with Yoko Kanno and then continuing with Kousuke Yamashita.  Although Kawai is probably my least favorite composer of the three, he is still a great one, and his compositions are way higher in quality than those of your average video game composer.

The music to Nobunaga's Ambition Online got its first release in 2005 with a soundtrack to the first chapters.  There ave been two more soundtrack releases since then, all featuring music by Kawai.  Unfortunately, just like the games, the soundtracks are not available in the United States and are incredible hard to find.  I still have not located the third soundtrack, but will continue to try.

Although Kawai's music is often dark and brooding (like his soundtracks to the movies Gantz and Death Note), or fast and action-oriented (like his music for the Ip Man films), I personally prefer the tracks of his that are lighter and more cheerful.  Most of his soundtracks will feature at least one of those, and Nobunaga's Ambition Online has a few.  This is one of them, appropriately titled "Tranquility".  Having not played the game, I can't be certain under what context the music plays.  The song begins with a charming flute solo (an instrument I'm a sucker for) before transitioning into Kawai's signature over-produced sounding strings, which I have grown fond of over time.  It is a very short track, but another good example of Kawai's style and ability to craft a memorable theme.  Enjoy!



Album info: http://vgmdb.net/album/939

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - End Credits

Today's song is one I've been obsessively listening to recently.  I still have yet to play either of the Super Mario Galaxy games, despite loving both of their soundtracks.  I posted one track from the first Super Mario Galaxy already, a song named "Wind Garden", which was the main theme to that game.  That motif appears again here, acting as a theme to the entire series  The soundtrack for Super Mario Galaxy 2 is once again composed by Mahito Yokota, with some main themes contributed by Koji Kondo.  There are also a few songs by the new composer Ryo Nagamatsu, who also worked on the New Super Mario Bros. Wii soundtrack.  These end credits, however, are indeed another composition of Mahito Yokota, whom I hope continues to score many more game soundtracks in the future.

As the end credits suite, this track reprises three songs from Super Mario Galaxy 2.  The first is of course the main theme: "Sky Station Galaxy" on the official soundtrack.  The end credits offer a slightly altered version of the theme before moving into the truly stirring transition to "The Starship Sails" at 1:56 - a transition that might mark my favorite part of the entire soundtrack.  The song then reprises part of "Sky Station Galaxy" again at 2:27 before ending with the original "Wind Garden" theme at 2:57.  All together, the song is an excellent introduction to the musical beauty of the Super Mario Galaxy series, and one of the best end credit themes to a game that I know.  Enjoy!

 

Album info:  http://vgmdb.net/album/19454

Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale - Without a Hunting Field

This year at the NYAFF I had a chance to catch the recent Taiwanese epic war film "Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale".  An edited, international version of the movie had been screened in New York a couple of times, but I had missed each opportunity.  Finally, the film festival showed the movie in its original two-part, four and a half hour version (which I had no idea existed until reading the festival schedule)  The movie is about a little known part of history, and a little known ethnic group - the indigenous Seediq people of Taiwan.  The Seediq, along with a number of other indigenous ethnic groups on the island, have a culture that most Westerners would associate more with Native Americans than with East Asians.  Indeed, the ancient land bridge connecting Asia and North America might have resulted in those cultures settling and developing around the same time.  (I had known a tiny bit about Taiwan's indigenous people already, or at least of their existence - I had seen a television special about them a few years back, which showcased some of their chants.  The chants were immediately recognizable to me, and I soon realized that they had been sampled for the Enigma song "Return to Innocence", a New Age song that had achieved some popularity in the mid 90s.)  When Japan acquired Taiwan at the end of the 1800s, they (like most other colonial powers), saw the tribespeople as savages whose culture needed to be eradicated and replaced.  While the Han Chinese suffered abuses, the indigenous tribes suffered much worse, as their entire populations were displaced and sometimes even wiped out.

The movie relates a rebellion that occurred in 1930, when the displaced natives rose up against the Japanese en masse.  The first "part" (or more appropriately, the first movie) was, in my opinion, incredibly well done.  It establishes the Seediq characters well, flaws and all.  It rightfully portrays the Japanese army as oppressive, but still three dimensional and human: a rarity among Chinese films, even by master filmmakers.  And it concludes with a heart wrenching massacre, not of Seediq, but of Japanese men, women and children who have met for a sporting event and been made targets of the Seediq's first revolt.  The attack is not portrayed as glorious or noble, nor is it portrayed as savage.  It's simply a violent tragedy brought about by a people backed into a corner with violence.  The conclusion had me eagerly anticipating an exploration of the moral and political ramifications in part two.  Unfortunately, the second part of the epic descent into the inevitable nationalism that such subject matter elicits.  The rational Japanese characters become consumed by a need for revenge, the Seediq's killing of civilians is barely questioned, and the whole conflict is presented as a sad but noble necessity. Part two has it's moments as well, and its failings do not ruin the ultimate achievements of the movie.  But While "Seediq Bale" could have been truly great, it settles somewhere around "pretty good".

Accompanying all of this mayhem is a soundtrack by Chinese composer Ricky Ho, who I hadn't heard of before this movie.  Some reviewers complain of the soundtrack becoming too tiresome - a legitimate concern seeing how the soundtrack revolves around one major theme.  However, the motif sees enough variations that I never found it boring.  Any weariness of the soundtrack is more likely brought about by a weariness of the movie and its flaws.  The central theme is, in the end, not just beautiful, but versatile enough to elicit different feelings in different scenes.  This track, which is the longest one featuring the motif, plays during the scene of Seediq being "civilized" by the colonizers.  Coming early in the movie, it's able to take something as benign as Seediq children learning Japanese, and turn it into something heartbreaking - the knowledge that Seediq culture is being replaced and lost forever.  It's actually the one track that made me want to buy the soundtrack, and I was not disappointed.

Overall, I would give the "Seediq Bale" a strong recommendation, if only for the brilliance of its first half.  Most viewers might want to check out the two and a half hour international version, which I haven't seen but hope to soon.  One would hope that the shorter version cuts out some of the gratuitous patriotism in favor of the more nuanced character moments and moral ambiguity.  It's more likely that the movie just cuts out dialogue in favor of violence.  But in either case, the shorter version will likely be easier to swallow, as well as dissect.  Enjoy!




Album info:  http://www.yesasia.com/us/seediq-bale-original-soundtrack-ost/1025036293-0-0-0-en/info.html

Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind - Opening Theme

I posted a song of Joe Hisaishi's before - the main theme to the moving Korean war film Welcome to Dongmakgol - but Hisaishi is much better known for his soundtracks to the animated films of Hayao Miyazaki.  Miyazaki is sometimes called the Japanese Walt Disney, not because of any real stylistic similarity between the two, but more because both animators are known for a series of consistent masterpieces, and because both have significantly impacted the national culture in which they lived.  Just as images of Mickey Mouse, Cinderella and Peter Pan can be found plastered on merchandise all over the United States, Totoro, Jiji, and the Catbus pop up all over Japan (although to be fair, Disney characters are fairly common in Japan as well.)

Much like Spielberg continues to use John Williams for all of his scores, and James Cameron relies on James Horner for his, Hayao Miyazaki has formed a lasting collaboration with Joe Hisaishi.  The animated environmentalist film Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was the beginning of that collaboration.  Although Hisaishi goes mostly for orchestral styles nowadays, this 1984 soundtrack contained a great deal of synthesized music, popular both here and in Japan at the time.  This is the opening theme to that movie.  The song begins with the aforementioned synthesized motif, which plays from 0:00 to 1:17.  It accompanies the pre-credits scene which introduces the dystopian world of the distant future, a world rendered toxic by centuries of pollution, in which humans are sparse and giant mutant creatures run rampant.  The orchestra kicks in at 1:18, where the beautiful main theme accompanies the opening credits of the film.  These credits are accompanied by ancient paintings that depict mankind's downfall one thousand years before the beginning of the story.  The synth returns at 3:53 where we are introduced to the teenage girl, Nausicaa.  Even this early in his career, Hisaishi is as good as ever.  Although I could do without some of the more ethereal computer music, his orchestrations are more than enough to make this a worthy soundtrack, and they establish the film's universe wonderfully.  The moment Hisaishi's main theme started as I watched the movie for the first time, I new that this was going to be a great film.



Album info:  http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=TKCA-72717

Napple Tale - Green Wings

Ah Yoko Kanno, it's been too long.

Part of what makes the Japanese game music industry so unique is its fairly large number of female composers. Along with fan favorite Yoko Kanno there's also Kinuyo Yamashita (composer for the original Castlevania), Miki Higashino (the Suikoden series, Gradius and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade) and the other Yoko, Yoko Shimomura.  (A legend in her own right, Yoko Shimomura has written the soundtracks to the Legend of Mana series, Kingdom Hearts, and the insanely popular soundtrack to Street Fighter II, not to mention my favorite video game of all time: Super Mario RPG). It's difficult to determine why so many female composers have succeeded in the Japanese video game industry while female composers are almost non-existent in Hollywood and American game music. Perhaps a restrictive labor market in Japan during the 80s and 90s opened a niche for female artists in the low-tech, startup industry hungry for talent. Any theory is just speculation of course, but suffice it to say that women got their foot in the door early, and are now a major creative force in Japanese game industry.

Twenty years or so later, Napple Tale was the culmination of that creative force. A Dreamcast game with a development team consisting entirely of women, Napple Tale was scored by Yoko Kanno in 2000, after having been absent from the game industry for six years.  Sadly, as is the case with most unique games, Napple Tale was only released in Japan.  I've only posted one song by Yoko Kanno before (criminal, I know).  It was her theme to the 1990 game Nobunaga's Ambition: Bushou Fuunroku as performed at the Game Music Concert the following year.  After six years of anime and film work, her soundtrack to Napple Tale is a much better introduction to her current style.  This song is "Green Wings", with vocals performed by Maaya Sakamoto.  Sakamoto is a voice actress/singer and frequent collaborator with Kanno.  "Green Wings" displays Kanno's playful style, as well as her frequent fusion of orchestra and synth.  More than anything however, it demonstrates Kanno's capacity for truly beautiful music, and not just exercises in different genres.  The entire soundtrack to Napple Tale is filled with songs as good as this one, and any Yoko Kanno fan (or potential one) owes it to themselves to get this album.  Enjoy!



Album info:  http://vgmdb.net/album/2435

Godzilla vs. Mothra - End Titles

I'm not sure how I've gone this long without posting part of a Godzilla soundtrack, but it's time to remedy that.  Like many other six year olds, I was a big fan of Godzilla movies after being introduced to them by my cousin and a friend from elementary school.  I wasn't a superfan, but I had one or two Godzilla toys and owned what might be the worst of the Godzilla movies: Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster on an English dubbed VHS.  My fandom died down as I entered my teens, but in college, a film teacher screened the original Japanese version of Godzilla from 1954, and I was hooked once again.  I then began to collect Godzilla movies - the Japanese versions this time - and became well acquainted with the three separate series that resulted after two reboots (series reboots were commercial ploys in Japan long before they became popular here).  The Showa series includes the movies made between 1954 and 1975.  The Heisei series are made up of the movies from 1984 to 1995.  And the Millennium series are the movies produced between 1999 and 2004.  My collection is far from complete, but it continues to grow.

One artistic thread that tied the first two series together, from 1954 to 1995, was the music of composer Akira Ifukube.  Ifukube did not compose every soundtrack, but in spite of different composers trying their hands at Godzilla, the producers would routinely go back to Ifukube a few years later.  Godzilla fans praise Ifukube's music, but I have to admit I didn't quite see the appeal at first.  His music seemed very generic, bass-heavy and lacking of any complex melody.  I preferred the more recent composers, like Reijiro Koroku (yep, the composer who later went on to do Kessen) and Takayuki Hattori (composer for Romance of the Three Kingdoms, my first post on this blog).  However, as time went on I started to warm up to Akira Ifukube, particularly when I began listening to his Heisei-era soundtracks.  For those movies, Ifukube reused his old themes, but expanded upon them.  Those expansions, combined with the much higher audio quality of the later 20th century, resulted in some really wonderful soundtracks.  Today's song is from one of those.

Godzilla vs. Mothra, being part of the rebooted series, is a remake of the film Mothra vs. Godzilla (see what they did there?)  The original film was released in 1964, while the remake was released in 1992.  Akira Ifukube composed the soundtracks for both.  This song is from the end credits of the 1992 film - the "Sacred Springs" melody from both films.  In 1964, a vocal version of "Sacred Springs" was performed by the super popular singing duo, The Peanuts, and released on an LP along with "Mothra's Song".  In 1992, the songs were again released as singles, performed by a different female duo.  Here however, the song is an instrumental version, performed by an orchestra and a chorus, sans lyrics.

It might have been more appropriate for my first Godzilla post to be the actual theme of Godzilla, composed in 1954 and used repeatedly by different composers.  However, I think that this particular composition captures the beauty of Ifukube's soundtracks that often goes unappreciated.  Akira Ifukube's powerful anti-melodic compositions have become the standard for monster movies in Japan and beyond, but just as the monsters are used to frame human stories in those films, his simple few-note themes are supplemented by richer and more complex ones like this.  This will certainly not be my last Godzilla post, but until then, enjoy!



Album info:  http://www.godzillamonstermusic.com/G-019.htm

Dracula Battle Perfect Selection - Cross a Fear

Castlevania music often reminds me of summer (and vice versa).  It's hard to know the reason for sure, possibly because the only Castlevania game I ever played in earnest was "Circle of the Moon" for the Gameboy Advance - a portable game that I would have played in the car on various summer road trips.  Maybe because Castlevania's most popular music dates from the 90s, a decade when Konami's team of composers worked on other games that I surely played at boardwalk and beachside arcades.  Or maybe it's just because summer was the season I typically acquired the soundtracks I now have.  Regardless of the reason, Castlevania is one of those series that I can feel nostalgia for without actually having played the games.  Konami games in general, and Castlevania games in particular, have a stylistic consistency to their soundtracks, and they've been omnipresent in my gaming life at least as far back as 1990.

Summer is certainly here now, and to kick off the hottest months, here is a song from the arranged album, "Dracula Battle Perfect Selection", released in 1994.  This album is the third in a series of Dracula Perfect Selections (Dracula being the Japanese name for the series we know as Castlevania).  The first, from 1991, was an album very specific to its moment in time.  It was made up of synth-heavy tracks, many of which contained New Jack Swing style rythms and little vocal flourishes.  The second, released in 1992, took a different approach, combining synth beats and instruments with a live chamber orchestra.  "Battle Perfect Selection" opted to go the heavy metal route, and proved to be the most popular of the three (a second album of the exact same style was released the following year).  I actually enjoy all of the albums, but these rock-style tracks are the ones I listen to most often, and "Cross a Fear" has proven to be my favorite.  The original song is from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, released in 1993 - one year before this album.  Enjoy!



Album info:  http://vgmdb.net/album/552

Estradasphere - Super Buck II

I first discovered the indy Californian band Estradasphere (yes, that would be a sphere made up of Eric Estradas) after downloading one of their submissions to the website ocremix.org.  Overclocked Remix is a community of amateur game music arrangers (essentially doujin, mentioned earlier in this blog) and Estradasphere's contribution was a jazz arrangement of the theme to Super Mario Bros. 2.  Some years later, I bought the album on which that track can be found, and discovered a crazy mix of styles ranging from jazz to death metal to string ensemble to disco and beyond.  Estradasphere specializes in instrumental tracks, just as I like, although they do use vocals on occasion - generally nonsensical or humorous phrases that serve to add to the given songs eccentricity.  The album, Buck Hunter, has a videogame-y feel to it at other points as well.  Several of the tracks are chiptunes - original compositions made with soundboards meant to resemble those of old school video game systems.

Today's song is that very first track I heard from Estradasphere - a cover of the overworld theme to Super Mario Bros. 2.  Compared to the other tracks on the album, this one is one of the most conventional, as well as one of the shortest.  It's a straightforward jazz arrangement, featuring a nice extended bass viol solo from 1:03 to 1:40.  I'll probably be posting more Estradasphere in the future as well as buying some more of their albums.  I certainly recommend them.  Until then, enjoy!




Album info:  http://www.amazon.com/Buck-Fever-Estradasphere/dp/B00005NKIS/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_4

Kessen - Western Army

As I continue my struggle to re-acquire a working iPod, I been browsing through albums of mine that happen to be on Youtube.  While listening to music at work the other day, I got through most of the excellent soundtrack to Kessen, yet another Koei strategy game.  Kessen, like Nobunaga's Ambition, is based on the Sengoku period of Japan, although it focuses mostly on the latter two unifiers of Japan, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Ieyasu Tokugawa.

The music is composed by Reijiro Koroku, who I first encountered via his soundtrack to the 1984 Godzilla reboot.  I enjoyed the music of Kessen immediately upon listening to it, but my most recent listen has made me appreciate it even more.  Every song on the soundtrack is excellent, and Reijiro uses recurring themes very well, sometimes as standalone pieces, other times mixing two or three together for a more cinematic piece.  "Western Army" is one of the main themes that occurs in the game, the  western army itself being the Toyotomi clan and that of his heirs.  This is the standalone version of that theme, with a bit more development than its other instances.  I especially like the strings section at 0:29, which is unique to this track.  Enjoy!



Album info:  http://vgmdb.net/album/350

Begin - Kimi O Miteiru

Today's post is some "not really otaku in Japan but probably still otaku n the U.S." music.  Begin is a Japanese band from the Ryukyus, better known as Okinawa Prefecture.  Formed in 1988, their music for the most part hasn't intersected with film or television.  One notable exception however, is "Kimi o Miteiru", which was used as the closing credits theme for the anime Zipang.  After watching the classic 1971 film Tora! Tora! Tora! yesterday, I was reminded of Zipang and its moving closing theme.  Enjoy!



Album info:  http://www.amazon.co.jp/君を見ている-BEGIN/dp/B0006BA0XA

Suikoden: The Divine Oath - The Ryousanhaku Suite

My iPod just crashed a few days ago, and after taking it to Tekserve to inquire about what the problem was, they told me the hard drive had failed, and sold me a new one... which just crashed again (grr).  Anyway! ...while I go about trying to solve this dilemma, here's the last song I listened to before my troubles: a nice long track from the arranged album "Suikoden: The Divine Oath".

"Suikoden", or "Bandit Kings of Ancient China" in the U.S., is another strategy game by Koei, released in 1989 along with its official arrangement soundtrack.  Like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the game is based on another of the four Chinese classics, "Water Margin".  (I'm pretty sure there's a "Journey to the West" game out there, so that only leaves "Dream of the Red Chamber"  ...maybe a potential dating sim?)  Being released in 1989 (only a few years after game soundtracks first started to see releases in Japan) the "Bandit Kings" album has an older sensibility to it.  The main theme is crooning ballad sung in Japanese, and the instrumental tracks are performed by a small orchestra, heavy on the brass and underscored with some funk-infused bass lines.  It's not the type of music you hear much past the mid '90s, when full orchestral arrangements made a comeback, but it's an enjoyable style nonetheless and one I wouldn't necessarily mind making a comeback.

This track is named "The Ryousanhaku Suite".  It's the longest track on the album because it arranges six separate tracks from the game.  The tracks featured (rough translations and all) are: "Good China and the Town it Goes", "You Desire to Game", "Decision of Victory", "Leader", "Fanfare of Victory", and "When Resting".  The arranger for the album is Norio Maeda, an older composer (born 1934), who sadly hasn't seemed to do produce anything new since 1993.  This track is one of my favorites from the album if only for its length and variation.  I also really like the xylophone motif that plays from 0:00 - 2:12, and gets reprised at 4:10 - 4:30.  The song overall is one of the most upbeat tracks of the album, before bringing the mood way down at 7:14 for a somewhat ominous closing section.  Enjoy!



Album info:  http://vgmdb.net/album/924

Nobunaga's Ambition: Tendou - Thoughts of Different Possibilites

If I had to personally pick which game series had the best music in video game history, it wouldn't be Super Mario, Zelda or even the powerhouse that is Final Fantasy.  Eking out Nobuo Uematsu's classic soundtracks would be those of Nobunaga's Ambition, a series of fairly obscure (in the U.S.) strategy games based on the Sengoku period in Japanese history.  The reason is that, from its beginning in the 1980s, Nobunaga has been in the hands of two fantastic composers: Yoko Kanno (who I've introduced before) and Kousuke Yamashita.  Although Uematsu has crafted classics themes in all of his soundtracks, Kanno and Yamashita's albums contain a home run in nearly every single track.  Although Final Fantasy has more recognizable music and far more popularity, it's Nobunaga's consistent excellence that puts it over the top.

I posted one song from Nobunaga's Ambition before - "The Beacon", which was performed at the second Game Music Concert.  That one was composed by Yoko Kanno, and where Kanno's soundtracks excelled in their diversity and eclecticism, Yamashita sticks to straight orchestral arrangements.  The result, when looking at the series as a whole, is an interesting evolution in the games' music, especially since Kanno began transitioning into mostly orchestral scores just before Yamashita took over.  Today's song is from Tendou, which is the most recent game in the series (released in 2009) and is scored by Yamashita.  It is the main menu music to the game and contains an unusually powerful arrangement for a menu screen, which are usually more restrained in game soundtracks.  If Nobunaga's Ambition can keep up this level of soundtrack quality, here's hoping another game isn't too far in the future.



Album info:  http://vgmdb.net/album/15339

Gantz - Resurrection in the Gantz Field

After being intrigued by some previews for a "Fathom Events" presentation of Gantz (the English dub), I was lucky enough to see it, and its sequel, in their original versions at the New York Asian Film Festival last Fourth of July.  I deliberately went into the two movies (screened back to back) without reading anything about the plot before hand, and the result was one of the best movie experiences I've ever had.  It's not because Gantz, a Japanese sci-fi movie based on a manga of the same name, is necessarily a masterpiece.  But watching the eccentric/creative plot elements unfold from a completely blank slate, combined with an incredibly enthusiastic audience of fans, was a very entertaining experience.

The music of Gantz is composed by Kenji Kawai, who I was introduced to with his soundtrack to the game "Nobunaga's Ambition Online", but who has worked much more extensively in movies and anime. His soundtracks include some classics like Ghost in the Shell, The Ring, Death Note, and the Chinese movie, Ip Man.  Kawai has a very distinctive style - he seems to use orchestras and other live instruments, but he mixes them so heavily as to make them sound almost synthesized.  The result is a "perfect" orchestra, with its richness and nuance stripped in favor of precision and mood.  It's an effect that took some getting used to, but one that I've come to enjoy.  The majority of his music goes for atmosphere over melody, but when he hits on a theme, he does it very well.

This song is an example of that.  It's the final track of the first movie, used in the scene that sets up the cliffhanger.  It's a heroic melody, repeating a motif a number of times as it proceeds up the scale, resulting in a nice crescendo around 4:30.  This song, combined with my audience experience, definitely made the end of Gantz one of the most memorable cliffhangers I've seen.  Enjoy!

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Album info:  http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=VPCD-81693

Symphonic Suite Final Fantasy - Scene III

Ah Final Fantasy.  In the world of video game music, Final Fantasy is king.  A simple search for that game series on www.vgmdb.net gives you hits for 386 albums and counting (that's right - albums).  The music of the Final Fantasy series, composed entirely by Nobuo Uematsu until only recently, has always been popular among fans.  But it was the arrival of Final Fantasy VII that exploded the series' influence on the industry.  The music of Final Fantasy VII became required performances in nearly every single video game concert around the world.  The soundtracks to Final Fantasies VIII, IX and X included not only original orchestral tracks, but also pop songs that became hits in Japan, including one by Hong Kong superstar Faye Wong.  Concerts dedicated entirely to Final Fantasy toured the world throughout the 2000s and continue to do so.

However, before all that there were some other arrangements of Final Fantasy music.  The 1990s saw a few songs performed at the Game Music Concerts.  Each game starting with FF3 had its own studio album and each game starting with FF4 had an album of piano arrangements.  But the very first album of arrangements from the game series was called "Symphonic Suite Final Fantasy", released way back in 1989.  It featured music from the first two games, performed by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and arranged by none other than Takayuki Hattori and his father Katsuhisa Hattori.

At this point I should probably make the disclaimer that, sadly, I have never actually played through a Final Fantasy game myself.  The only one I own is the first game in the series (bought from the now defunct chain of used game stores, Funcoland) and the cartridge crashes after a few minutes of playtime.  But I have come to love the music of the games, from the orchestral concerts to the piano albums to the heavy metal arrangements by Nobuo Uematsu's personal rock band, The Black Mages.  "Symphonic Suite" is no exception.

The album is divided into seven "scenes" which each contains arrangements of one or more songs.  This song, "Scene III", begins with what should be recognizable to Final Fantasy fans - even those who jumped into the series late.  It's the "Prologue" to Final Fantasy I, which has since become something of a theme to the entire series (not to be confused with "Prelude", the instantly recognizable series of ascending and descending notes that opens nearly every game)  "Prologue" plays at the beginning and end of many games in the series, as well as over the end credits of the movie "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children".  Following that theme is the game's town theme at 2:06, followed by the truly beautiful "Matoya's Cave" at 2:46.  The prologue returns at 4:37 to finish off the track.  The first four songs on the album, which includes this one, were arranged by Katsuhisa Hattori.  Katsuhisa deserves credit for his arrangement of the prologue, which has been used repeatdly, and for the most part unchanged, over the last 23 years.

Enjoy!




Album info:  http://vgmdb.net/album/394

Battle Royale - Memory

Today I had the good fortune of being able to see the Japanese cult-classic "Battle Royale" in theaters.  "Battle Royale", originally released in 2000, never had a theatrical release here in the U.S. until now, and is currently on the New York leg of its official, limited North American release.  I saw the movie once back in 2003 or '04, and got the soundtrack a couple years after that, but never listened to it all the way through.  The soundtrack, composed by Masamichi Amano, is quite good despite my lack of attention to it, mixing well known classical pieces (played during the teacher's sickly enthusiastic reading of student casualties) with original piano and orchestral compositions.  This track is named "Memory" and is a bit of an oasis of beauty in the mostly action/horror themed soundtrack.  It plays a few times in the movie, during times of peace and flashbacks to better days.  Enjoy!




Album info:  http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=CPC8-3035

The Land Before Time - The Great Migration

As I mentioned earlier, one of my four "J"s of movie soundtracks is James Horner, the composer of soundtracks for "Titanic" "Braveheart" and "Avatar".  But in my mind, James Horner was at his absolute peak back in 1988, the year he composed the scores for two movies: "Willow" and "The Land Before Time".   "The Land Before Time" is a very short film - only 69 minutes - but the movie is filled almost entirely with music.  It's an animated movie, directed at fairly young children, but like its cousins "Bambi" or "Finding Nemo" there's some pretty tragic stuff going on.  The music doesn't talk down to the audience.  It treats children's emotions - their understanding of loss and pain - just as seriously as it would adults'.  I've often found that animated movies have some of the best scores.  Since they can't rely on the visual subtleties of a live actor's performance, the music needs to transmit more feeling than in other films.  Some might think this means the music is manipulative.  I don't think that's true.  Animated scores are just often richer and more melodic than live action scores, and therefore more satisfying.  This song, "The Great Migration" (the first one in the soundtrack) establishes the world and characters, as well as their search for a new home.  The entire soundtrack, including the pop song by Diana Ross, is wonderful and worth seeking out.  Keep an ear open for the shiver-inducing violins at 6:15.

 

Album info:  http://www.amazon.com/Land-Before-Time-James-Horner/dp/B000002O5Q

Super Mario Galaxy - Wind Garden

One game that I have yet to play, but immensely regret missing, is "Super Mario Galaxy".  A Nintendo devotee for my whole life, I have yet to buy a single non-Nintendo console (that may change soon, depending on my need for a blu-ray player).  However, I my video game purchasing stopped at the Gamecube and I never bought a Wii.  Consequently, I missed the Super Mario Bros. series' first foray into orchestral music, and in that department, "Super Mario Galaxy" succeeds in spades.

Koji Kondo has, for the most part, been the master behind the music of Super Mario Bros. along with numerous other Nintendo games.  Studies have shown that his theme to the first "Super Mario Bros." is more recognizable to children than most classical music.  And while Koji Kondo composed some of the music in "Super Mario Galaxy", the credit here should really go to his orchestrator, Mahito Yokota.  Yokota not only did the instrumentations for Koji Kondo's compositions, he composed and arranged the majority of the soundtrack himself, including this song, "Wind Garden".  "Wind Garden" is actually just a complete version of the game's main theme, and is heard numerous times before and after the level in which it appears (as well as in the sequel).  Mahito Yokota's composition is a delightful theme that carries on the spirit of the Super Mario universe (potential game title?)  Despite being a game I've never seen more than five minutes of, "Super Mario Galaxy" has gotten a lot of play on my ipod.



Album info:  http://vgmdb.net/album/19454

Zipang - Main Theme

One song I had been listening to over and over again only a few months ago was the main theme to the TV anime "Zipang".  Similar to the American movie "The Final Countdown", "Zipang" is about a modern day Japanese SDF naval vessel that is suddenly and mysteriously transported back in time to World War II.  There actually aren't too many anime shows that I've watched from beginning to end, but the concept behind "Zipang" intrigued me and I became hooked.  The show, like the manga it is based on, is surprisingly even handed about the conflict, and refreshingly condemning towards the Japanese Empire's political machinations of the time.  Although the show doesn't come out quite as strongly as I would have liked against imperialism, the modern day Japanese characters never even consider taking the Japanese side of the conflict.  Rather, the moral dilemma comes from whether they should stay out of it entirely, or intervene to force a hasty and slightly less bloody end to the war.  In the end, even this second option becomes complicated when an imperial officer, learning of the future in store for Japan, decides to try and negotiate a Japanese surrender that would maintain much of its occupied territories.  And the stage is set for an engrossing, thought provoking anime.

The music in "Zipang", composed by Toshihiko Sahashi, uses a catalog of canned music which is then reused as the mood of a particular scene dictates.  Although this song is titled "Main Theme", it is used many times in the series - generally when a conflict is coming to a head, or when an episode is ending in a cliffhanger.  In fact, the reason this particular song stuck with me is because it is used for the cliffhanger of the final episode.  Unfortunately, a season two was planned but never created (the manga goes on for longer), and so the show ends without any resolution whatsoever.  Despite this tragic flaw, the show is a great piece of dramatic sci-fi and highly recommended, as is its soundtrack.

Album info: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=MJCD-20025

Welcome to Dongmakgol - Main Theme

Today's song is the main theme to the 2005 Korean movie, "Welcome to Dongmakgol".  The movie's soundtrack is composed by none other than Joe Hisaishi, the Japanese composer behind every one of Hayao Miyazaki's animated masterpieces at Studio Ghibli, as well as some other notable scores, like the soundtrack to the Academy Award winning movie, "Departures".  Joe Hisaishi is one of what I call "The Four 'J's" of movie soundtracks; my favorite film composers: John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner and Joe Hisaishi.  Maybe I just like him because he shares my name (Joe, not Hisaishi), but his music is consistently beautiful and incredibly moving at times.  I had the privilege of seeing "Welcome to Dongmakgol" at the New York Asian Film Festival in 2006 - my first time at the annual event.  It tells the story of a comically isolated village on the North/South Korean border during the civil war there in 1950.  Soldiers from both sides, along with one American, find themselves stranded in the village and must either form a truce, or face starvation as winter approaches.  Although humorous at times, the movie becomes deadly serious as the two sides realize that their new home is a target for American air forces.

This is obviously one of Joe Hisaishi's lesser known works since it's not from Studio Ghibli, or even from Japan, but you can see why the director chose him for the job.  Hisaishi's soundtracks specialize in the realms of wonder and fantasy, and the style works here: Dongmakgol is a village outside of time, where peace persists despite violence and unimaginable cruelty raging outside.  The main theme, which recurs frequently, perfectly conveys the bittersweetness of the village, whose innocence is marred by (but also transformative for) their new friends.  Structurally, the theme is gorgeous, building on its crescendo multiple times before a cathartic conclusion.  I'd be lying if I said the song has never brought a tear to my eye, especially after seeing the equally beautiful movie.  Korea is a broken family, ripped open by war, and sometimes it takes a work of art to remind us of a real world tragedy.

Album info: http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/73816/Welcome+To+Dongmakgol

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise - Oven Fresh Day

When video games started making the transition from synthesized music to orchestral arrangements, some companies chose to hire a new crop of composers with orchestration experience, while others kept their established composers and hired additional musicians who would simply arrange the compositions.  One person who did not have a problem making the transition himself however, is the British game composer Grant Kirkhope.  Kirkhope had composed the mammoth soundtrack to "Banjo Kazooie" for the N64 (mammoth, because the soundtrack was designed to change dynamically depending on which section of a stage the character was navigating - one of the first soundtracks to do so.)  Along with "Banjo Kazooie", he also composed music for the sequel to that game, for "Donkey Kong 64", and contributed music to "Perfect Dark" and "Goldeneye 007", making him something of a staple for the game company Rare.  Kirkhope's style is generally lighthearted - most of his games have been for younger audiences - and he likes to repeat a motif numerous times on different instruments.  Moving from console hardware to live performances was the best thing that could be done to Kirkhope's music. Each change in instrument is more subtle, but also more satisfying.  In the end his style didn't just translate easily to an orchestra, it was made for one.

This song is "Oven Fresh Day" from the game "Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise", the second game in the Viva Pinata series.  Like Banjo Kazooie and Donkey Kong, the games are produced by Rare.  The Viva Pinata games are "artificial life" games (or what I call sim-games, after "Sim City") and, as such, require a lot of music to play over very little action.  Simulators and strategy games tend to have the best music for precisely this reason - the music needs to be able to stand alone and not be carried by on-screen action or story.  Viva Pinata is no exception - the music in the game is downright beautiful and some of Kirkhope's best work.

Album info: http://vgmdb.net/album/14581

Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Ilia's Theme, Main Title, Klingon Battle

Today's song is my first post from a film soundtrack and will also be far more recognizable to most people than any of my previous posts.  Long before there was Goemon, Yoko Kanno or any kind of video game music in my life, there was Star Trek.  Specifically "Star Trek: The Next Generation", which ran from 1987 to 1994 - the years of my adolescence.  Star Trek didn't just help shape my ideas about drama and story-telling, it also shaped my morality.  Star Trek: TNG, like the original series, excelled when it presented a moral quandary and then took a stand - either political or ethical.  Not everyone will agree with Star Trek's views, but at least it didn't use the "everything is gray" moral ambiguity that passes for drama nowadays.  Cynicism is certainly healthy in small doses, but I have to admit some concern for kids who grow up today with children's shows that are so silly as to be meaningless, and adult shows that are so filled with selfish, cynical characters as to be... well, meaningless.

Star Trek: TNG, despite some flaws of its own, continues to be my favorite television series and likely will always be, if only for its relevance to my development.  And the musical core of that series is the "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" theme (or what I call the "Enterprise" theme) written by legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith.  In the case of Goldsmith, the term legendary is apt.  He's composed the soundtracks to "Stagecoach, "Planet of the Apes", "Patton", "Chinatown", "The Omen", "Alien" and many other classic movies from the 1960s until his death in 2004.  "Next Generation" used Goldsmith's theme as its main title, and as a result burned it into the deepest parts of my brain and the brains of many other TV viewers.  But this track is its first appearance, and as far as I'm concerned, the musical birth of Star Trek (no offense to fans of Alexander Courage and the original series' theme music).

I've edited the first three tracks of the "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" soundtrack to represent the music that is heard in the 2001 director's cut.  The first part is "Ilia's Theme" which is heard many times later in the film, but is used here in its complete form as an overture before the opening credits.  The second part is the "Main Title", the theme used in TNG and many other incarnations of Star Trek.  The main theme then blends into the third part, "Klingon Battle", which accompanies the first sequence of the movie.  The Klingon theme is another motif used by Goldsmith in future Star Trek movies, although it does not appear in the television shows.  Together, these three themes are a musical foundation for the giant franchise that followed, which included ten more movies and four more TV series.  But besides their thematic importance, they are also wonderful pieces of music, ranging from the tense battle scene, to the stirring main theme, to the beautiful overture.  Enjoy!

Album info: http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Motion-Picture-Collectors/dp/B00000FC5P

Onimusha 2 Orchestra Album - Truth of Cynicism

Today's song is from "Onimusha 2 Orchestra Album".  This is another album of arrangements, and consist only of songs that were composed by Taro Iwashiro.  The songs are all "orchestral" in one way or another, but they contain a lot of synth and definitely have some extensive mixing. The result is a very glossy sounding set of tracks, something that is common in a lot of anime and Japanese film scores.  The album is separated into 13 "chapters"; most of which are arrangements of character themes from the game.  There are a few exceptions, including two versions of the main theme, and a track which appears to be from the original soundtrack itself.

This track, "Chapter X Truth of Cynicism" is the theme for the character Tokichiro Kinoshita.  In the game's story line, which is a fantasy version of Japan's unification wars, Kinoshita is a lowly servant of the warlord Nobunaga, who eventually becomes Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the warlord that conquered Japan.  Both Nobunaga and Hideyoshi are real life figures in Japanese history and are portrayed in this game as villains (something which is not terribly inaccurate).  As such, Kinoshita's theme is that of a cunning and deceptive servant, out to claw his way to power.  The music portrays this effectively.  It is one of the most playful songs on the album, conveying Kinoshita's servitude, but also his intelligence.  It's exactly that playfulness that makes this one of my favorite songs on the album.  It's not particularly rich, but it's a pleasant and entertaining listen.  Enjoy!

Album info: http://vgmdb.net/album/869

Genso Suikoden Celtic Collection - Children Playing in the Fields

For a very long time, my favorite albums in my collection were the Genso Suikoden Celtic Collections, of which there are three.  They are arrangements of music from the first three games in the "Suikoden" series, released in the 90s and early 2000s.  "Celtic Collection" is a bit of a misnomer - while there are definitely celtic influences in the arrangements, the albums really straddle a number of European styles, like French and Mediterranean.  "Suikoden" (which I've never played - common for the soundtracks I have) is apparently loosely based on another of the four Chinese literary classics, "Water Margin".  Given its visuals and fantasy elements, I'm going to guess it's an extremely loose adaptation.

It's hard to pick a favorite track of mine from the three Celtic Collections since there are so many good ones.  But this song, "Children Playing in the Fields" from the first album, currently has the most plays on my computer.  The song starts with some vocals (no lyrics) before going into an instrumental part performed by a small group of musicians and then combining that with the vocals again at the end.  This track probably best exemplifies the kinds of arrangement albums that are released in Japan - small groups of performers in studio mixed recordings, often combined with some synth work as well (although there doesnt seem to be any of that here).  The song is composed by Miki Higashino and arranged by Yoko Ueno.  Enjoy!

Album info: http://vgmdb.net/album/896

MintJam - Melty Blood (TRIBREATH)

Here's a little change of pace from the orchestral music genre.  Some years back, while looking for some new game music, I started browsing alphabetically through a huge list of albums.  The first one on the list was called "1st GIG #Awake" by a band named MintJam.  This was my introduction to the sub-genre called doujin.

The word "doujin" means something like "fanclub" or "society", but in common usage it refers to independently published works of fiction, art, or in this case, music.  The "fan" part comes from the fact that many of these works are inspired by commercial works of art, but not all.  Doujin music, for example, are often arrangements of game and anime music, but are also interspersed with original pieces.

Amateur arrangements of game music certainly exist here in the States (and I'll be posting them), but the practice in Japan is much more widespread and more commercialized.  Doujin music tends to be of the heavy metal variety, since guitars and other garage band staples are less expensive to acquire and perform on, relatively speaking.  This song is the first track on MintJam's first album.  It is their arrangement (including their own vocals) of the opening theme to a fighting game called "Melty Blood", which itself was a product of the doujin community, before achieving mainstream success with a port to the PS2.  The original vocal theme to the game is of noticeably lower quality, and MintJam's version is definitely a very enjoyable improvement.

Album info: http://vgmdb.net/album/1382

Game Music Concert 2 - The Beacon

I would be remiss in the writing of this blog if I didn't introduce the composer Yoko Kanno early on in my posts. Yoko Kanno is something of a legend in the anime music community, having composed popular scores to "Vision of Escaflowne", "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" and the popular-among-even-mainstream-Americans, "Cowboy Bebop". Lesser known however are her video game soundtracks, almost all of which she had composed before ever even touching anime.

Kanno is a rare artist that, in my opinion, totally lives up to the hype. Otaku music collectors consistently express their love for her work, and rightly so. She is unbelievably versatile, able to jump from genre to genre, jazz to new age, rock and roll to piano ballads, orchestral to modern/experimental, often all within the same soundtrack. I'd have to admire her if only for her stunning range in creativity. But given the fact that she has also composed some of my favorite musical pieces of all time, she is an artist who is at least among my top three favorite composers ever, if not number one.

This particular track is one of her more conventional pieces; a fairly straightforward orchestral arrangement of the theme to "Nobunaga's Ambition: Bushou Fuunroku",  developed by the aforementioned Koei in 1990.  A music album of arrangements (as opposed to the original chiptunes) was released that same year, but this recording is of a live performance, two years later, during the second in a series of concerts held in Japan.  These "Game Music Concerts" were among the first to perform video game music with a live orchestra in front of an audience (although not the very first).  They were also the first orchestral arrangements of video game music I had ever heard back when I discovered them around 1998.  (It was these concerts that sent me on a rabid hunt for video game arrangements over the next fourteen years, and boy did I find what I was looking for).  Yoko Kanno wrote the original composition, this arrangement and, as far as I can tell, conducted the orchestra in this recording.  It's Kanno at every creative step here, and although her style isn't exactly what it resembles today, and the orchestra isn't as tight as some more recent concert performances have been, the song is still as stirring as it ever was.  Considering how long I've had it, I can only assume this is the first Yoko Kanno song I ever heard, and I hope you like it as much as I did.

 

Album info: http://vgmdb.net/album/878

Romance of the Three Kingdoms V - Opening

The second "first" I'm posting is the first track I ever put on my iPod.  Although that's not inherently so important, it should be a good indicator of its quality in my eyes.  Unlike my earlier post, this is a fully orchestral track, and an indicator of the kind of music I will be posting most often on this site.  This track will also serve as an introduction to two great creators of music: the composer Takayuki Hattori and the game publisher Koei.

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a long running strategy game series in Japan (with occasional releases here in the States) based on the Chinese literary classic of the same name.  The novel and the game take place in the real-life historical period in China known as the Three Kingdoms.  The soundtrack to the fifth game is considered among the best in the series, and I'd have a hard time disagreeing (although the first game in the series featured music by the amazing Yoko Kanno; more on her in the future...)  The game's composer is Takayuki Hattori, who also works as a film and anime composer in Japan.  After finding this soundtrack, I was eager to hear more from him, and discovered a handful of other game soundtracks/arrangements he had done, as well as the soundtracks to the '90s movies "Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla" and "Godzilla 2000".  Hattori's style becomes recognizable after repeated listening.  His compositions tend to have simple and repetitive instrumentation (not unlike the "chiptunes" mentioned earlier).  However, he is also a master at eliciting an emotional response from the listener, despite the simplicity of his motifs.

The second creative force behind the game is the company Koei.  Koei, which specializes in strategy games, has a large catalogue of consistently outstanding soundtracks to their name, including the "Uncharted Waters" series, "Pacific Theater of Operations", "Kessen", "Bandit Kings of Ancient China" (based on another one of the four Chinese literary classics) and the constantly fantastic music of "Nobunaga's Ambition".  Koei is also behind the unique "Dynasty Warriors" series, whose heavy metal/Chinese fusion soundtracks are either loved or laughed at by gamers.  I'm in the former category. After working with such amazing composers as Yoko Kanno, Kousuke Yamashita, Reijiro Koroku and Hiroshi Miyagawa, Koei will be featured many more times on my blog.

This particular track is the opening theme to "Romance of the Three Kingdoms V".  Although it isn't my personal favorite from the game, the entire soundtrack is pretty much one home-run after another.  If you can find this soundtrack anywhere, I highly recommend listening to the whole thing.  I will almost certainly be posting a few more pieces of it as time goes on.  Enjoy!

Album info: http://vgmdb.net/album/3051

That's it for today!  Hopefully my future posts won't be quite so verbose, as I won't have to make quite as many introductions.  In any event, so long for now!

Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon - Large Tree at Izumo Shrine

Although it's difficult to pin down the exact song on the "Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon" soundtrack that first compelled me to set up my tape recorder and try to record the music, this song is definitely one of them.  "Chiptunes" are songs that are played off of a video game, using the console's music creating hardware.  These are the songs that people usually think of when they think of video game music, and for good reason.  The majority of video game consoles, from the Atari 2600, to the NES and SNES, to the N64, did not have enough memory space to hold polished, studio-quality recordings on their soundtracks.  As a result, soundboards had to be designed to read simple MIDI files and emulate sounds directly.  These are the "bloops" and "bleeps" that people think of when they remember video game music.

I won't be posting many chiptunes due to their inherent simplicity and repetition, but I'll probably be making exceptions for the soundtracks of the "Ganbare Goemon" video game series that this game belongs to.  Ganbare Goemon has long been known to have excellent soundtracks, and the N64, coming at the end of the chiptune age, had advanced considerably in its emulating power (the sequel to this game, "Goemon's Great Adventure" had such good chiptunes that they were almost indistinguishable from later studio recordings).  This song, called "Large Tree at Izumo Shrine" was one of my favorite tracks while first playing the game back in 1998, and it's a good sample of the Japanese-style instrumentation that the Ganbare Goemon series composers became known for.  It was this game that first got me interested in game music and everything Japan-related.

Enjoy the song that first pushed me over the edge into irreversible dorkitude!

Album info: http://vgmdb.net/album/2779

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog and get ready for some serious dork overload!  This blog is going to be dedicated to sharing some of the music I listen to.  My taste in music is odd to say the least, but it’s also that obscurity that makes me believe more people should hear it.  I’ve posted songs every now and then on other social networking sites in the past, but decided to bring everything together in this blog.

My music collection overwhelmingly consists of instrumental music.  Lyrical music (songs with people singing) will appeal to me on occasion, but usually for nostalgic reasons – music that played on the radio when I was young, a song that I heard on a particular trip, etc.  Instrumental music is what I truly love – anything from an entertaining little melody to a complex work of art.  Songs without singing require a bit more patience from the listener, being devoid of a vocabulary that we would easily recognize.  They can’t tell you what to feel quite so easily, and often times a piece that is intended to evoke one thing will evoke something entirely different depending on who’s listening.  In that way, instrumental music is more personal and more satisfying for me.

But this blog is, for the most part, not going to be about Bach or Tchaikovsky.  My experience with classical music is probably similar to that of most people my age.  I have occasionally found a classical piece interesting or moving, but I’m mostly disconnected from it.  And that’s where my dorkiness comes in.  My first experiences with instrumental music came in the form of soundtracks to video games.  After first recording some songs directly off of my TV, I soon discovered on that old search engine, Napster, that not just a genre, but an entire industry had been built around game music in that far off country of Japan.  It was video game music that was the gateway drug to otakudom.

The word “otaku”, when used in the U.S. nerd subculture, generally refers to someone who’s into Japanese comic, game and anime culture (in Japan itself, the word can be used more generally to refer to any introverted hobbyist, like the word “geek” in the U.S.) .  Although I don’t fit all of the otaku stereotypes – my experience in anime and Japanese RPGs is definitely lacking – I have explored a great deal of the culture through music.  Game soundtracks led me to soundtracks for anime, monster movies, dorama, and the equally vast world of amateur remixing/doujin.  Parallel to all of this I also became interested in the more conventional word of movie music, which now makes up the second largest category of songs on my iPod.  Throw in some world music and theme park atmosphere (that’s right), and you have over 90% of what I listen to.

It is from these categories that most of my blog entries will arise.  Videogame and movie music, being my favorite, will make up the bulk of the posts.  I’ll certainly be posting lyrical music as well, but more than likely, it will be in a foreign language.  Some would certainly consider the music of videogames or theme parks to be trite, and not worthy of the attention I heap on it.  It’s exactly for that reason that I’d like to post these songs.  It may not win anyone over to the world of otaku, but it might at least give people an idea of why this music appeals to me, and a handful of others.

To begin, I will be posting two songs that both deal with “firsts” in my music-listening experience.  So let’s get started…