I’m not a huge fan of those fancy-shmancy Vocaloid sound banks, such as the surprisingly popular Hatsune Miku voice. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to make good music with vocaloid. Rare, in my mind, yes. Nico Nico Douga is flooded with Hatsune Miku stuff.
But a lot of it is just crappy covers. I’m willing to give someone writing original music the benefit of the doubt.
That’s why I checked out artist UwakiP’s EP, “Uwanosora,” available digitally at HearJapan. A nice mix of standard synth pop, chip tunes, and *sigh* Hatsune Miku is what I found across this album, which features pretty cutesy cover art. To learn more, read the review in full, which appears after the jump! (more…)
I don’t know about anyone else, but to me, the Japanese vocaloid scene is truly an amazing phenomenon. It shows some of the best sides of Japanese indie spirit, which is marked by a huge supportive community and a sort of pride in being small-time. This is especially interesting when compared to the relatively small music communities you see in other countries–they tend to focus on making it big above all else. While there are certainly downsides to this underground spirit, one thing you can’t deny them is productivity. Hundreds of songs are being made by the various composers of the vocaloid scene. Apparently all the Japanese composers needed was someone who could sing… like a robot.
Anyway, ElektLyze is a group of three people: composition by Treow, lyrics by NaturaLe and art by Ichijou Meguru. Their best-known work (and the one I know them from) is on the superlative collection of vocaloid tracks called Supernova. Their track, “Blindness,” which was also their debut track as a group, is one of the darker and edgier tracks on the album, employing some great jazzy melodies and very creative sound effects to build a sound that strays quite far from most of the piano-rock that you hear in the vocaloid scene from the likes of supercell and iroha. It’s certainly one of my favorite vocaloid songs. I can’t say much about the lyrical content, since I’ve never seen a translation of their songs, but I’m sure it’s solid.
So will Intolerant Space measure up to the standard set by “Blindness?” Find out after the cut! (more…)
Before you get too excited, this is not Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka we’re talking about. While Hip Tanaka was responsible for the music on the Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta single that we reviewed last month, it turns out that he wasn’t the mastermind behind the project. It was actually another Hirokazu Tanaka who isn’t a musician at all!
Thanks to the folks at HearJapan, we’ve been able to get in touch with this Hirokazu Tanaka to talk about this single, how he came to organize the Hirokazu Tanakas for this project (he even has a website for people named Hirokazu Tanaka), and his thoughts about Hip Tanaka, names, and what’s next for the group. It’s pretty wild, and be sure to pick up the single from HearJapan if you haven’t gotten around to it yet!
Our interview with Hirokazu Tanaka, after the jump! (more…)
We recently posted the announcement from HearJapan that Hip Tanaka is back in town. Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta is his new single featuring a choir of Hirokazu Tanakas along with some quirky chip music reminiscent of his old days at Nintendo, and supposedly is has Tanaka in newspapers in Japan.
While the bulk of Hip Tanaka’s music was created during the early Nintendo era on titles like Metroid, Kid Icarus, Mother, Donkey Kong, and Mario Bros., he hasn’t been completely absent in recent years, creating several arrangements for Super Smash Bros. Brawl and even having a track featured in Beatmania. This is the first original track I’ve heard from him, and yes, from the description above, you can probably gather that it’s pretty strange!
Read more about Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta in our brief review after the jump. (more…)
Yes, Nintendo legend Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka is back, and this time with a project that has nothing to do with videogames. “Tanaka Hirokazu No Uta,” or “Hirokazu Tanka Song,” is a short and unsurprisingly quirky single featuring the voice of Hip Tanaka himself along with 10 other dudes named Hip Tanaka. See the above video for maximum weirdness! It’s apparently all the rage in Japan right now. It’s a fun concept, and this announcement is made even more exciting by the fact that it’s being made available online a whole week ahead of the official Japanese release date of December 16, 2009. We haven’t heard from him since Super Smash Bros. Brawl where he arranged a few tracks for the game, so this is big news!
As it turns out, he’s teamed up with HearJapan, an online music store based in Japan that caters to an English-speaking audience. They’ve been around for two years and already have a massive catalog of videogame, anime, J-pop, chip, and even vocaloid music to supplement the standard rock, jazz, and classical releases. I can’t believe we haven’t heard of this site before, but we recommend heading over and checking out the Hip Tanaka single along with the rest of their catalog.
Do you have a favorite Hip Tanaka soundtrack from his early days at Nintendo? Will you be picking up his single, and what do you think of the rest of the music that HearJapan has to offer?
Check out the official press release regarding “Tanaka Hirokazu No Uta” from HearJapan after the jump. (more…)
Original Sound Version
Covering and promoting discussion of composers and music with a focus on videogames and other contemporary media entertainment
