I’m not used to being friends with rockstars. In fact, the situation is entirely weird sometimes. Granted, [The OneUps] aren’t exactly rubbing shoulders with those people appearing on the VMAs, but [Wil Wheaton] [isn't exactly someone you get to chum around conventions with everyday.] Coming off of yet another fantastic performance at [Penny Arcade Expo], the boys didn’t skip a single beat and released their second album - a two-disc affair known simply as Volume 2 - on September 2.
For some fans, this album could not come out fast enough. No one denies that the wait was well worth it.
But for me, as I listened to the work of my friends and tried to be as impartial as possible, I could only marvel at the serious work that they have accomplished in the year (and then some) since I first [met them] and wonder what the heck I did to even deserve a mention in the liner notes of such a significant achievement (in the history of video game cover music, at least.) These guys won’t stop at just fantastic, and I, as a musician, have to thank them for that, their inspiration, ambition, and - of course - music. I am incredibly lucky to call these guys my friends. With this album and their most recent show, The OneUps have claimed the full right to be ridiculously proud of themselves. For a little while, at least.
As for the album itself, let’s just say that as I listened to it during my search for a new bookbag, I drove worse than I ever have, parked better than I ever have (which is saying a lot), and for the first time that I can ever recall, found myself contemplating a lingerie section (I did not purchase anything from that store.)
I haven’t listened to the second CD yet, and probably shouldn’t do that when I drive out later tonight.
Many thanks go to the lady of zabe.net for her adorable photography. Volume 2 is available through the OneUps’s [myspace] and website. Rumour has it that the guys are already sketching ideas for Volume 3. Congratulations.
September 12 2008 | games and music and relationships | 1 Comment »
Apparently, I do keep my word sometimes. (I’m still searching for that last document.)
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I often take small victories when I manage to get my mother to enjoy a musical composition that is either not classical by nature or is related to video game music. When she listened to one of Kazunari Ninomiya’s solo songs (see [previous post]) and said she liked it, I knew I had stumbled on something rare (She also admitted that he was cute - I don’t disagree). The world of [Arashi] is deceptively gentle, but always ridiculous. In its early stages, when they were but twee boys, Arashi was marketed as yet another energetic (hyperactive) perky group of young boys with flexibilities not granted to many, vocals that were difficult to differentiate from those of a girl’s, and many a happy song.
Not too much has changed.
For anyone familiar with [Johnny's Entertainment], the way that Arashi evolved under the company is nothing new. But as the young men of Arashi grew up in this new modern world and took on some serious popularity above all the other Jimusho groups, Johnny’s Entertainment had to adjust in ways outside of their previous blockbuster groups [SMAP] and [Tackey & Tsubasa] - to name but two. Like many groups before them, individual members took on solo projects in many mediums of the entertainment world, from acting to newscasting. But they continued to visually entertain as a group offstage by hosting some brilliantly executed and considerably hilarious (though relatively indecipherable if you aren’t familiar with band members) variety shows with good celebrity following. One of the greatest of appeals of Arashi is the relationships between the members, and they are famous as not only a band but also a great group of friends.
Today, Arashi continues to maintain an image of young men looking for love and loving life in this happy happy world, but the image has become sleeker and for the most part, matured. Their songs have evolved to some more serious topics, their production values have greatly risen, and somewhere along the way, they’ve learned to really work a mean suit. They still gyrate enough on dance floors for easy speculations about sexuality, and Johnny’s producers still like to plunk them in some [outrageous outfits]. But no matter what, these guys still remain the happiest boy band ever.
Personally, I do enjoy their later work much more. They’re not as garish and the music is composed better. Here are a few samples, with the music videos (thanks, YouTube) in case you want to experience the dancing and spectacle for yourself. Sorry, too lazy to do that whole embedding thing at the moment.
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All files uploaded onto savefile.com. All music is respective property of the artists’ and their company. I don’t any of these. Don’t sue me, please… Buy their CDs and support them!!
+ [Love So Sweet] [video]
- This song was my own introduction to Arashi’s music after I saw a screenshot of its respective video. The video is appropriately executed for the mild and standard material, but accentuates its endearing qualities enough to keep you hooked and feeling all squishy inside afterwards. It was used as the opening song for one of the seasons of drama [Hana Yori Dango], which member Matsumoto Jun starred in.
+ [Truth] [video]
- One of their latest songs which displays a drastic change from the usual Arashi music above and a noticeable step in their evolution. The passionate and dark melody currently serves as the opening song for the thriller drama [Maou], which Arashi member (and bandleader) Satoshi Ohno currently stars in. The music video is a very impressive production, and I am quite biased towards it for the string orchestra in the background. In fact, if you listen carefully to the vocal layerings and background score, you may notice that aside from the throwaway dance number section, “Truth” is actually one excellently composed song so far as pop music goes.
+ [Kaze no Mukou e] [video]
- A stark contrast to “Truth” and the other of their two latest releases, the optimistic and encouraging “Kaze no Mukou e” is currently being used as Japan’s song for the Beijing Olympics. If that’s not evidence enough of how influential Arashi has become in the Japanese entertainment world, Sakurai Sho, the “rapper” of the group and a Keio University graduate, is in Beijing covering the Olympics as a newscaster. The video is bright, fun, and features the usual questionable wardrobe.
VIDEO ONLY:
+ [Sakura Sake] (live performance)
- This performance is one of the main reasons I enjoy Arashi: they are some amazing performers. From the band members making faces at the audience through the transparent (moving!) Tokyo Dome stage to the crowd finishing up Sakurai Sho’s lyrics, the energy of both crowd and band is infectious. This is one incredibly inspiring performance…terrible vocals (excepting the fantastic Ohno) and all.
+ [Kitto Daijobu]
- You don’t get more standard Arashi than this video. Rainbows, sparkles, goofing off to a very perky tune. BEWARE: HIGHLY SPARKLING and gratuitous amounts of “member-ai.”
August 17 2008 | music | 1 Comment »
Well, it’s been officially a month or so since I returned from Taiwan. I have one last leg of “Fallback” to cover before I can move on to my Taiwan travels, but I seem to have lost all the schtick I typed up in Taiwan to catch myself up.
Lovely.
So while I am searching, I’m going to leave these three songs for you all to enjoy in the time being. I haven’t written a music post in over a year anyway. Shame on me, really. All three are of of Japanese origin but I promise you that they were randomly selected by my music player. Hope you enjoy!
All files uploaded onto savefile.com. All music is respective property of the artists’ and their company. I don’t any of these. Don’t sue me, please… Buy their CDs and support them!!
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+ [Niji] - Kazunari Ninomiya
- While Japanese boy band pop is not exactly my favourite genre of music, I’ve slowly come to admire the group [Arashi]. Unlike many other groups, the members of Arashi seem to have concrete personalities and multiple talents, making them somewhat less easy to toss aside than other groups that have been produced by the ever-entertaining and amusing (though exemplary business empire) [Johnny's Entertainment]. If I had to blame one person for my descent into the fangirl universe, it would be Arashi’s [Kazunari Ninomiya] (affectionately called “Nino.”) A fair actor well known outside of Arashi for his drama roles and even in Hollywood as a soldier in Clint Eastwood’s Letters to Iwo Jima, Nino’s singing has greatly improved over the years. His dancing on the other hand - well, we’ll see. The lyrics for “Niji” were written by Nino himself and in concert performances of the song, he sometimes plays piano. This particular song is one of my personal favourites for its emotional range…and violin solo…
There are many songs I want to recommend by Arashi, but I think I’m just going to make an entirely Arashi post someday instead.
+ [Kane wo Narashite] - Bonnie Pink
- [Bonnie Pink] (original name Asada Kaori) is less famous than she should be. Though she has a successful career, from singing anime songs to multiple collaborations with the insanely popular hip-hop duo [m-flo], there is not much glory or celebrity surrounding her and her unique, talented voice. This song was used as the opening music for the recent video game [Tales of Vesperia] and I can’t stop listening to it.
+ [Brand New Breeze] - Stella Quartet (from La Corda d’Oro)
- This song introduced me to that element of life known as “obsession.” I fell in love with this quintet arrangement of the anime [La Corda d'Oro] opening song “Brand New Breeze” (by [Kanon]) on the airplane en route back from Taiwan, but could not find it anywhere when I got an Internet connection back up. In fact, the CD on which it was originally released (a special St. White’s Day edition OST) seemed to be all sold out too. I can’t recall how I finally found it, but I must have listened to it about twenty times in a row after that - and then started to arrange for myself. This arrangement is a true example of how to arrange music from a standard pop song into a beautiful chamber piece.
A few side notes: The original “Brand New Breeze” was based around Edward Elgar’s “Salut d’Amor,” a ridiculously famous violin solo piece. The fashion in which this piece is integrated into both the pop song and the quintet arrangement is just adorable. Also, I have never seen or played La Corda d’Oro. The first book of the manga was cute, but I’m too busy to keep with it for now…
August 16 2008 | games and music and travels | 2 Comments »
Happy second birthday to little pocket universe!!
It certainly doesn’t feel like it’s been that long since I still haven’t learned to take good care of you…I promise promise promise to be better from now on.
July 20 2008 | Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Editing means that the five hundred words around this one sentence were deleted.
July 09 2008 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
I can’t move onto my current Taiwan trip without finishing up on my USA travels so still being very slow. Please pardon the dust…or lack thereof.
July 09 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
The audition process for music graduate schools is nothing to be trifled with. The work is hard and supremely time-consuming, but, like most things, revelations and joys can be found in between. At the end of it all, I was so grateful that the auditions gave me a chance to travel and meet and/or get to know some people better. Meeting the teachers was tremendously intimidating and frightening, but observing how they interacted with me was very interesting.
For Los Angeles, for the first time ever, I was completely on my own, with no guides or friends in the city. The experience turned out to be rather exhilarating in the end, though very nerve-wracking with the fear that I would oversleep my alarm in the ridiculously comfortable hotel bed or miss the bus to my audition. L.A. was also the first place that I could feel the pulse of the city so clearly after touching down. Like Seattle, I only had one weekend there so I can’t say I’m any expert on the city, but there was no questioning that the air practically buzzed with life. I’m sure nothing actually happened faster than normal, but it certainly felt that way as if in any moment, the city could just burst into sunshine particles - and it would do it again if you dared it. The pace of Los Angeles felt like a composition of millions of moments and memories in time that play in your mind for just a second, before it is swept away by the next moment; and you would have to be very lucky to find that moment again. Also, perhaps because the people in L.A. are undeniably gorgeous, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being judged with every step I took.
L.A. is so fast-paced and crammed to the brim with craziness that there isn’t just one thing that can completely sum the city up (as proven by how long it took for me to decide on one photo from my collection to represent my thoughts.) And as I killed time waiting for my red-eye home, reading newspaper house listings (barely any of which were under a million dollars) I could not deny that California life is really something else.
During the flight, I was greatly amused to discover that the thick layer of smog above L.A. is no joke, and had a good time imagining how incredible the interiors of some of the houses on the hills and mountains were. I suppose my assumption isn’t entirely off considering that the University of California, Los Angeles is one of the most beautiful collections of buildings I have ever seen. I actually didn’t realize until after I returned just how prestigious the music school was, but the people were quite nice, possibly except the students who gave me strange looks when I got there the first night. I suppose I could pin this on my outstandingly touristy appearance - on the phone with my friend/guide/Oracle and wibbling to her about how amazing everything was (She’s hoping to attend UCLA for graduate school herself. The night I got into the town, I went to the campus to make sure that I could find the building in the morning, but didn’t have a map. So my friend found a map online and proceeded to guide me step-by-step where to go. After finding the music school, I got distracted by the gorgeousness of some of the other buildings so I let her off the phone while I took photos, and consequently got lost from thereon in.) Sometimes, the niceness felt a little forced, but maybe that was just another part of the nature of L.A.
However, Westiwood Village, the little shopping plaza (or very outdoor mall?) right beside the campus, was incredibly charming, and I don’t think that area could have lied at all. There were so many sushi and noodle shops that for a few brief moments, I thought I was back in Taiwan. The shops, though small, were literally open and inviting. I was particularly impressed by this little fashion boutique called [Ai-Wish] which featured quirky cute teeshirts, fun interiors, and adorable import accessories right from Japan and Korea. I couldn’t help picking up a very sparkly and pink cell phone charm there for my oracle friend.
The first night in L.A., I hoped to have a small dinner at a little cafe on a corner of Westiwood that I wholly regret forgetting the name of. My regret stands particularly because when I finally did accomplish a meal there (The previous night’s attempt was foiled by the fear of missing my alarm in the morning and given that L.A. is a few hours behind my “normal” circadian clock, I was getting paranoid.) I enjoyed the turkey burger and goat-cheese spring salad quite a bit. The coffee was not too bad either, but much of the enjoyment was truly compliments of the Bohemian vibe of this little cafe and perfect outdoor meal weather. For a small and probably misleading moment, I felt like I could actually get used to the city, even with all its reputation and schizophrenia.
That next day, I returned to Florida at around 9 a.m. EST, and at 2p.m. EST, joined my university orchestra for the second run of our Polish avant-garde concert. I was visibly tired so when my colleagues found out I had just come back from L.A. that morning, some were visibly impressed. One pointed out how cool it must be to say to another musician, “I just got back from L.A. this morning.”
I didn’t disagree.
June 05 2008 | fashion and films and food and music and travels | 1 Comment »
Bossman has certainly made this blogging window very spiffy since I last came here. I’m way behind. But given that I travel yet again tomorrow, I figured I’d better catch up before another grand adventure.
This year has been the year that staying in one place has been a luxury.
I suspect I will end up writing about three or four posts today heheh…
Anyways…continuing in this giant recap of life and cities (which will be kept far less detailed now): I had been to Seattle many years ago with family en route to Canada. All I could recall of it was the airport. Unfortunately, Seattle will still be lacking in my mind because this time I only got to spend two days there, most of which was concentrated on the second day’s audition. Nonetheless, there were still many amazing moments to cherish.
The weather was surprisingly warmer than I expected while all the jokes about overcasts and rain are true. [norg] (aka George aka our sound engineer from [MAGfest]) picked me up from the airport and upon returning to his place, I met Matilda (who I inevitably ended up calling “Miss Matilda” the entirety of my time there), a 145-lb. St. Bernard who thought she was still a puppy. The sound of her running across the floor resembled that of thunder, but she was truly special and sweet. Naturally, George and I spent a grand amount of time that weekend discussing music, the nature of the video game music community, and discussing several hack collaboration plans. In many ways, I felt like I was visiting the OneUps again, except just one of them…living in the mountains…
After the audition the next morning at the University of Washington, we took a necessary, but very nice drive through the cool and laid-back streets of Seattle to the ridiculously gorgeous [Benaroya Hall] to catch the [Seattle Symphony Orchestra] performing for [Play!]. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this performance was that I had been playing for and watching [Video GamesLive] just a day and a half before (see previous post.) The [rivalry] between these two video game orchestras is not entirely unfounded, but more than anything else, I found it to be unnecessary. Both orchestras aim for the same goal of promoting video game music, but they both approach it in very different manners; Video Games Live in a more interactive, youth-oriented fashion and Play! in a very classical, formal concert setting. Neither approach is more right or wrong than the other as they both have upper hands in some elements and shortfalls in others and can cater the same message to two very different audiences. If anything, Play! can be considered more “educational” while Video Games Live would be the class field trip to a science museum.
While congratulating him and orchestrator Larry Kenton after the concert for a fantastic Guild Wars suite, I got a chance to speak to [Jeremy Soule] himself ([Marty O'Donnell] of Halo fame was standing just a few feet behind us.) and he asked about, then agreed with most of my views and comparisons. We discussed the concerts and he professed nothing but love and respect for VGL and [Tommy Tallarico]. Both he and his brother (and occasional partner in crime, I understand) Jason seemed rather interested that someone had been able catch both Video Games Live and Play! in the same weekend. I couldn’t help feeling like a diplomat. Mr. Kenton gave me some lovely insights into the studio recording world and name-dropped a whole bunch of people I really hope my subconscious absorbed. I also became reacquainted with [Shnabubula] (who I had heard play at MAGfest), but my favourite meeting of the weekend was his father, who truly embodied my friend Russell’s claim that Seattle is such a hip city that even the “older people” are hip. I’m not sure I’ve ever met another person of his age with such a simultaneous air of amusement and wisdom about the world around him.
In terms of the actual concert itself, it was most definitely the most expensive concert I had ever attended. My wallet cried a little, but my heart rejoiced (aided by the fact that the teller was quite cute and charming) after hearing the spectacular opening rendition of “Liberi Fatali” that left me gripping my chair for fear of running onstage and just joining them. There were many program parallels between Play! and Video Games Live, but I was very glad to be introduced to some new compositions, such as the aforementioned Guild Wars suite (with a gorgeous violin solo that I really want to try out) and Battlefield 1942. Somewhat sadly, the SSO’s interpretation of a Kingdom Hearts suite (God bless you, Yoko Shimomura…) did not bring me to tears as the VGL orchestra’s had (and I blame proximity, really), but principal oboist [Ben Hausmann] (if he indeed was the one playing that day. If not, then whoever was playing principal oboe that day…) tore out my heart and soul with his amazing solo. The music may have been from a video game, but the solo was performed as emotionally and beautifully as if it had been from Ravel’s “Tombeau de Couperin.”
With not enough time left to carry out plans to visit the original Starbucks at Pike Place, the day was capped off by relaxing at George’s place (or as much relaxing as can be done when a giant bear of a dog is trying sit in your lap) reading Atonement (which I had started in Orlando) before my red-eye flight back home. En route to the airport, we stopped at this little restaurant with an extremely valid claim of “the best clam chowder in the world”, and then participated in the only tourist action of my entire trip: a loop on the road to look at the breathtaking Seattle night skyline.
When I arrived back in Florida, I noticed that in my huge weekend of meeting some of the most significant names in the American video game music industry, I didn’t take a single autograph or buy any merchandise - but had given out almost all of my cards and gotten lots in return. Oops?
Also, how on earth does Firefox think that “Starbucks” is a misspelled word? Silliness.
June 04 2008 | films and food and games and music and semi-facts and travels | 1 Comment »
Okey. The time has come for me to finally set things in order because I have been away from here far too long. Now that graduate school auditions are over, I’m back (for now) from the most excitement I’ve ever had squished into two and a half months of my life. This is a long recap - you are warned.
Where to start….
I suppose everything begins with [Select Start] (+guests)’s 13-hours-one-way roadtrip to perform at [MAGfest] in Alexandria, Virginia. Once a small festival that people only found out by word-of-mouth, MAGfest VI hosted well over a thousand people and was truly the most welcoming environment any video game cover group could imagine. Select Start performed to a huge crowd the Saturday night of the convention (reportedly the largest crowd of the entire weekend) and received unimaginably awesome responses from headbanging to chants to tears in the audience’s eyes.
Sales reached a record high, everyone lost everyone else at least twice, took random adventures in the Virginia area, and I spent way too much time in the jamspace, networking, and - according to others - hanging out with my dear friend [Mustin] (who, along with [Dale North], I was all too happy to be reunited with after [the trip I took] to perform with [The OneUps] last summer), and meeting the great people who make up such stellar bands as [The Advantage], [Armcannon], and [Temp Sound Solutions] as well as amazing composer/arranger [Jake 'virt' Kaufman], those from [OCRemix], and many, many others. Highlights include finally meeting my friend [Darryl 'Escushion' Fabia] who I had known solely online and through phones for many years, playing a piece with [This Place Is Haunted], the fire alarm (of course), and Mustin and [Kunal 'ktriton' Majmudar] joining us on one of our Secret of Mana tracks during the show to just, well, bring the house down. Not bad for a little classical video game cover group, eh?
One week later, I found myself in a 50-minute phone conversation with [Tommy Tallarico] (famed composer of such games as Earthworm Jim, Advent Rising, and Prince of Persia) planning and discussing the details for a guest performance as part of [Video Games Live] and answering emails from [Jack Wall] (famed composer of such games as Jade Empire, Myst, and Splinter Cell). One week after this, we found ourselves in the backstage of the entire Universal Studios boulevard, more specifically [Hard Rock Live Orlando], preparing to play for over two thousand people and meet one of the friendliest, professional, and fun groups to have ever worked with.
The entire experience of playing for Video Games Live was pure exhilaration by the time all the nervousness of meeting these big-time composers face-to-face wore off. The staff and crew were laid-back but professional (i.e. ridiculously cool) and there was not a single boring moment of the fourteen hour day. There are so many highlights from that one day (a full recap will be posted elsewhere soon), but three must receive particular attention:
After a solid sound check (except for problems with piano coming through monitors that was quickly fixed) and verbal run-through of the show with Tommy (and meeting Jack, [Martin Leung], and some really great staff and crew members), we were allowed to stay on the stage and watch the orchestra rehearse. Being classical musicians, before rehearsal officially began, John (cello) and I could not stop ourselves from taking interest in the orchestra’s music so we found the courage to approach the musicians of our respective instruments. Within seconds, I was running through licks from Metal Gear Solid with the concertmaster, helping him with tempoes (since he had never heard much of this music before), while John was getting cello tips from the extremely animated principal cellist.
We stood off to the side when rehearsal officially began and marveled at the beauty of some of the arrangements and the talent of the musicians to come together as a group so quickly. However, their sightreading of Kingdom Hearts, paired with the video montage Tommy had put together, brought three of the four Select Start girls (myself included) to tears by the end of the piece. In this moment, the stunning gorgeousness of Shimomura’s music, the novelty of hearing the music so close to us, watching the performers engaging in the music we personally loved so passionately, and the emotions of exclusivity slammed down on us pretty hard so even “super-manly” John, standing next to me, was shaken a little. Mrs. Wall, who was standing near us, noticed us crying and came over to give Kiki (violin), one of the biggest Kingdom Hearts devotees in the world and most noticeably teary of us, a warm hug while calling us “sweet.” Tommy walked by not too long after to poke fun before admitting that he himself gets a little teary watching the entire Kingdom Hearts segment.
Video Games Live is an event that no one should ever miss. Standing in the crowd and watching the music we so loved being showcased and appreciated as if The Beatles had been reunited was an unbelievable experience, never mind getting to be part of the show. The orchestra and chorus blew through the opening numbers so seamlessly that who would have ever guessed they had only seen the music hours before?
What happened next was a blessing and pure stroke of luck all rolled into one: We were scheduled to appear after the Space Invaders segment, but as soon as [Gerard K. Marino](!!!!) strolled out onstage after the God of War segment, David (guitar) suggested that we go backstage since Space Invaders was next on the program. Backstage, we are slowly unpacking our instruments, chatting with Marino, who had just walked offstage. Suddenly, [Becky 'Aktrez' Young] opens the backstage door and starts waving at us furiously to go onstage. Completely confused, we suddenly hear Tommy yell from the stage “…local group Select Start!” followed by cheers. Not knowing what else to do, we run onstage, all putting our instruments together, and there they were: two thousand people and us - 85% mentally unprepared for one of the biggest moments of our lives.
So we just do what we do best and start playing. When the nervousness wore off, we found ourselves in the usual groove and after that, things were nothing short of fun. Plus, Kiki rocked everyone’s face off as we’d never even seen her do. Later, Jack reveals that he was attempting to stop Tommy’s mistake but just gave up in the end - a defeat visible in the video graciously taken by David’s’ girlfriend. Everyone has a good laugh over the mistake post-show.
After the end of a show which cannot be done justice in words alone, Select Start was invited to join the entire Video Games Live crew and guest artists for at least one hour of signing various articles of merchandise. The night finally ended around midnight with suggestions of post-show celebrations, but most people from VGL and Select Start were too tired or had early flights out in the morning (VGL’s next stop was St. Louis…I think…) so I don’t think many ended up going. I myself was on my way to Seattle in the morning to audition for the University of Washington.
And what would you know - on my flight to Dulles (transfer to Seattle), Tommy and I shared the same row on the airplane, but opposite sides of the plane. We exchanged greetings, jokes, and both fell asleep pretty much as soon as the plane took off.
My personal photos from MAGFest are available [here]. Photos from Video Games Live and the Seattle journey/Play! (coming up next) are [here]. Video of our Video Games Live performance can be viewed [here]. Videos from MAGfest are available somewhere on YouTube…
March 13 2008 | games and music and travels | No Comments »
Just got back from playing at [MAGfest] and one simply amazing weekend. Times have been busy around here (*glares over to Comms) but eventful. I’ll be catching up on things soon - promise.
January 07 2008 | games and music and travels | 2 Comments »
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