Posts tagged: music
Sure wish I could’ve been at DICE last week considering who’s speaking at it. For those who don’t know (which probably means all of you), I’m a huge fan of both Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Masaya Matsuura (my other two favs being Fumito Ueda and Suda51). But Matsuura, who used his own original compositions for PaRappa, expressed concern about the Guitar Hero model, in which music gamemakers license hit songs, then build their games around them. I think this is already much better than it currently is with most non-music games where the music is largely tacked on at the end. Also I think this model, while perhaps not ideal for innovation in the musical game genre; provides like well needed stimulus to the music industry in general (although the health of the “music industry” is a topic for another discussion entirely)… This comment however: Matsuura suggested that Harmonix allow players to “make their own game course with their own track, and share it with each other, or sell it to each other.” I found a wee bit on the odd side since Harmonix’ earlier titles like Frequency and Amplitude did a far better job of that. Granted both used licensed music, they both still offered modes where you could still generate your own music from gameplay as well. I also found Mizuguchi’s take on this intersting as well: Mizuguchi, creator of acclaimed music games Rez and Lumines, said that there are pros and cons to using licensed music. By writing original music for a game, he said, “we can make the sound and music fit the game design. But nobody knows this original music.” With Lumines 2, Mizuguchi licensed tracks from groups like the Black Eyed Peas and Fatboy Slim, which helped draw in gamers who wanted to play his game with familiar musical tracks. Personally while Lumines II I think was the better game in terms of mechanics and gameplay options, I found the music of the original far more interesting, unique and memorable. In fact with some of the levels basically being like a live music video in the backround, I found it rather distracting compared to the more subtle graphics of the original.
Yes, even more muzak… Pretty worn out these days with all these little concerts. Another night at the 2nd Street Jazz and this time not only was the sound rubbish, but there were technical delays that caused us to wait an hour or so before being on let in. Again, we were there mainly to catch Thee Out Mods. Instead of waiting in a queue outside, we decided to meander (one of my GF’s pals walked by, and suggested we have some drinks elsewhere) on over to another bar on the other side of the village. It turned out to be quite amusing as I’ve walked by it many times over the past few years but never bothered to walk in. Turns out it as a rather good choice as I’ve forgotten how pleasant it is to suck down a couple of beers while munching on Japanese snacks as watching baseball with a bunch of old, drunk Japanese people… So after all of that, we went back to the Jazz, only to find that we still had to wait in line for a while longer. After a while we got in and got settled, and the first band started up. While significantly better than the other band that’s been opening up, Hokma Gandhi still wasn’t quite up there with the other bands (and what the hell is it with asian chicks playing bass?). Anyways the singer (big, tall, white dude) though was actually quite good, although I think the band would have looked (and sounded) more appropriate singing covers of anime opening themes. Next up was Mongoose, and they were much cooler. I’ve seen the drummer around quite a bit, so it was kinda nice to actually see him play rather than just move equipment around. Afterwards came Dig Jelly (don’t really care for the name). Reminds me a lot of Korn/Limp Bizkit hip-hop rock blend. Not really being my flavor of music, I still enjoyed their performance and I was impressed that they made the most off the Jazz’ poor sound (personally acoustics wise, they sounded the best of any of the bands there). For the first half though, I also could only hear Rayko rather than see her as her small stature prevented me from seeing her over the crowd (granted I’d seen her walking around the club earlier). Still, it allowed me to focus on her voice, which was wonderfully good when she actually sang. The whole, guttural, death metal wail in to the mic thing though didn’t really do anything for me (although I was impressed to see such a sound emanate from such a compact, cute little package). Later on she moved to sitting and strutting around on what looked like a piano (yes she’s that tiny) and thus I got a better look at her performance. A couple of observations. One final thing that I liked that she did though was instead of drinking bottled water or a beer, she drank milk instead… Coolio… At last came Thee Out Mods. All done up with white pressed shirts and black ties, you’d think Oreskabandhad gone punk! Anyhow, they rocked as usual, although Sana had to suffer through technical failures as her mic kept going out during their performance. Still, even when the mics are working, the Jazz never quite seems to do them justice… At least we got to have fun ’cause Yoshiki passed out party poppers. Also, he didn’t moon the crowd this time… Dunno if that’s a good thing or bad thing though (after all there are lots of fan girls there)… Well I guess that’s enough for now, hopefully this will be the last of these muzak posts for a while.
Only a few days later and even more music. Although unlike Sunday it was more along the lines of smaller (in some cases, local) bands playing at Zen Sushi. Mainly we were there for Thee Out Mods, but my GF had a friend showing up who knows Justin, the drummer for Lemon Drop Kick. The place was so-so, but I liked the layout with the stage upstairs and all. Unfortunately that rather blah band who’s name I don’t even remember was opening things up again. The singer is weak-sauce (seriously the guitar player sings better), and they don’t have a drummer (yet?), instead relying on drum machine. Plus they looked all disconjointed in terms of image. The bass player was the only one who seemed to fit the image behind name of the band (who’s name I can’t remember). Actually the vocalist tried too, but failed miserably in my opinion.
There was some other band that came on later, but I can’t for the life of me remember their name either, it’s like on the tip of my mind. There weren’t bad, but I didn’t listen to them much. I was downstairs at the bar chatting it up with their tour guide/promoter and Justin (Lemon Drop Kick) along w/the GF and her friend (who’s name I can’t remember now (bear with me, I’ve only met him 3 times!). Actually I did hear one song I really liked, but honestly the conversation downstairs was more interesting.
Eventually we got around to Lemon Drop Kick and they were alright. Honestly the songs didn’t do much for me. The singer was pretty good though, really strong voice, especially considering how tiny she was! Still live music is live music, and it’s the experience (good or bad) that make it, and in general I give ‘em a good rating. Plus it’s always cool when you can chat up members of the band readily, and jabber about videogames.
Anyways, the other band that the guy was with was The Psycrons. They turned out to be a quite a pleasant surprise! At least after a few technical difficulties were resolved. They definitely had that 60’s British Invasion look and sound going on that’s for sure, although perhaps with a bit of Japanese flavour. Being from Kyoto, they immediately reminded me of all the random little bands we saw playing in Kyoto (usually along the Kamo river). I was particularly fond of this one couple that was playing along the banks with a guitar hooked up to a little battery powered amp, and a mic hooked up to a boom box. They (a girl and a guy) sang and played their hearts out. Karaoke basically means empty orchestra. In this case it was more like empty audience as there was nobody really sitting and watching except for me and my GF and a couple of old guys. Still, they prattled on as if they were standing in the middle of a packed Tokyo Dome. It’s things like that that make me feel genki.
But enough of that digression. Finally we got to Thee Out Mods, who we came to see. They rocked as usual, although they had somebody else (who I’ve seen at their other concerts, but for the life of me I can’t remember his name) playing guitar (which allowed Sana jump around the stage a lot more (girl REALLY knows how to shake the head and waggle the tongue)). Yoshiki managed to lose his shirt promptly and by the end of their performance mooned the crowd (I have a good idea for a poster using that shot!). Thankfully the Zen has better acoustics than the Jazz (which usually has malfunctions and other issues), so you could actually hear her singing.
And last but not least Inazuma. I saw them earlier at the 2nd. St. Jazz, but we left early ’cause me and the GF were wiped out. So it was cool to see Thunder (Vo/Gt) jamming. Plus he was nicer than you’d imagine after watching him help out The Psycrons with their technical difficulty earlier on in the evening. However, I think Thunder over powers the rest of the band. Still pretty impressive to watch. Unfortunately, for the last song one of the fans got to go up and sing with them. Cool in principle to let a fan up on stage and sing one of the band’s song with them. Bad execution though. I mean seriously, YOU DON’T NEED TO SCREAM INTO THE MIC at the top of your lungs! It’s amplified so you don’t have to! While listening to that my brain decided to deactivate the ear drums for the rest of the evening.
Pretty tired. The whole SXSW Asia going on this month, and yesterday we went down to the Knitting Factory to catch their performances in Hollywood, and it was definitely a wonderful treat. For one, the doors actually opened on time (and by on time I mean only 10 minutes late instead of what seems to be the obligatory 45 minutes). At first I was also bummed out that it was just the front stage being used mainly because it gave me flashbacks to The Pillows concert at the sadly waaaay overcrowded Whisky. However it turned out to be just fine as there was a decent sized crowd, but it was still easy to move about. Plus you could get fairly close to the acts if you felt like braving the mosh pit… Asakusa Jinta was the first band we saw get on stage. Quite a hoot too. While I’m not particularly into what they’d call “hard marching band” music, they’re definitely a blast to watch like, especially with Mika as lively as she is. Next up came the 50 Kaitenz; much more my style. Plus Danny is completely off the wall hilarious on stage with his facial expressions (seriously, has to be seen). After came one of the two bands I was actually there to see; Oreskaband. No need to comment on their performance, as they were totally awesome (and I’m not a big ska person either). Plus i was rather impressed how they interacted with the crowd (e.g. not shy, or quiet on stage), then again, they are from Osaka. Then finally came GO!GO!7188; THE band I was there to see. Pretty much worth it too, as I was blown away getting to hear “Ukifune“ live. The amusing part for me though was that Akko and Yuu were so plainly dressed (jeans and t-shirt). All the other bands had very distinct appearances, but Akko and Yuu just looked so casual, as if they had just been loafing around at home (and it’s not like they’ve never dressed up at their concerts either). Granted it really didn’t bother me, as they were quite cool even in such casual persona. Then along came Pistol Valve. Very different. Very cool looking. Very annoying delays in getting set up. Granted you’ve got 10 girls to hooked up and dialed in properly. Unfortunately the neat little parking garage where the car was was closing around 11:30pm so we pretty much had to bail. So we only got a brief chance to see a bit of Pistol Valve. Personally I think they need some stronger vocals, but they do look and sound pretty cool otherwise (C’mon 10 cute girls and a ton of brass? What’s not to like!?!)… Also HY was there as well, but as we left during Pistol Valve’s performance we missed out on that. Bummer too..
