Threads with too many embedded YouTube videos can cause issues for some users, so if you have a lot to share, please use text links or spoiler tags. Please give a descriptive label to all video links/embeds for future-proofing, in case the video eventually goes down. A thread for talking about any music outside soundtracks, including J-pop and all other forms of music. That scene in Lucky Star where the weeaboo girl claims to like Japanese artists but only knows their stuff used in anime, yeah, that's me most of the time. Exploring music is work, man. And it pays off... but not always. Actually it's quite common that when I do listen to an artist's other stuff, I don't like any of it nearly as much as the anime song. Various factors can weigh into that. Obviously if I like the anime at all, that adds value to the song. Hearing the song repeatedly in the show gives it time to grow on me. And the show's producers may have caused the artist to produce something different from normal, whether through giving a band specific detailed requests/demands, or through pairing the artist with a composer they've never worked with before. I don't follow J-anything anywhere near enough to have looked into that, but I know a western example. The movie The Twilight Saga: Eclipse was scored by Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings), and closes with a cue called Wedding Plans. This leads into the song All Yours by the Torontonian indie rock band Metric, which uses the Wedding Plans leitmotif as its melody. It turned out that Howard Shore, also from Toronto, was a fan of the band, brought them on to do the credits song, and wrote it with them. I loved the song. I went on Last.fm and found fans complaining that the song was terrible, and that singer Emily Haines was singing much too high on it. Sure enough, their other stuff sounds nothing like it. Here's the track Wedding Plans / All Yours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuu83Kimxws I decided to start exploring J-pop in 2009, got as far as Ayu (Ayumi Hamasaki) and Utada (Utada Hikaru)... and pretty much stopped there. I never got into anything by Utada; I don't enjoy the R&B vocal style, with some exceptions like Rihanna and the Space Jam soundtrack. WE ONLY TOLERATE HIGH-CLASS VIEWPOINTS IN THIS CLUB Ayumi Hamasaki Ayu probably isn't for everyone either; she has a strong voice which I could see coming across as too loud or grating, and she uses a ton of vibrato. There are other Japanese voices I like more, but Ayu remains by far my most listened Japanese singer to this day, and my #2 most played Japanese artist after Sawano. https://www.last.fm/user/nDroae/library/music/%E6%B5%9C%E5%B4%8E%E3%81%82%E3%82%86%E3%81%BF Early favorites were Until That Day and GREEN, whose wagakki scale intro has never lost its impact. More recently, her passionate FLOWER has been one of my favorite rock anthems of the past few years. Most importantly, and I didn't even know about this until last year, Ayu has released three albums of "classical" versions of her songs, in which her original vocals are set to chamber/orchestra arrangements. MY STORY Classical (2005) A Classical (2012) Winter diary ～A7 Classical～ (2015) Of which my most played (63x) is WARNING, originally a rock song. Her label deletes everything from YouTube, but here's a low quality version on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ayuangel.news/videos/warning-winter-diary-a7-classical/10153801243246764/ Those descending woodwinds and strings, the grand sweeping leadup to that war cry of a chorus, it's all SO GOOD. This summer I got briefly hooked on the instrumental track Kaleidoscope from MY STORY Classical. I highly recommend looking up all three albums if her vocals don't turn you off. ~»»//««~ ...Come to think of it, a bit later I did also listen to some Versailles, DIR EN GREY, and BUCK-TICK at the behest of certain enigmatic sovereign entities commonly known as girls on the internet, but as I was unable to even pretend to myself that I genuinely liked anything by those bands, I was unable to unlock the coveted Glad you liked it! ^.^ (Cut to me extolling something by one of them at some point in the next few years.) I have memories of independently checking out ORANGE RANGE, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, and Bump of Chicken, and not liking any of them, but now I'm not sure whether that ever actually happened; I mean, that was almost 10 years ago. At any rate I do like Bump of Chicken's 3-gatsu songs. Though apparently not enough to have motivated me to catch up on them by now. Wait, BUMP OF CHICKEN is also supposed to be all-caps? Shit. At least I know I did actually listen to X JAPAN about a year ago, the recentish material. It was alright. I clearly need to check out the ancient stuff. Y'know what's a good old band though? Evanescence  Japanese symphogothpoprock and metal I looked up Iori Nomizu after hearing DARAKENA, OP to Chaika: Coffin Princess, which was above-average mallgoth j-pop. I'm not keen on her voice, but at the time I didn't know about VGMDB, so I would look into singers' work hoping to find material by the same composer/songwriter as the initial bait song. DARAKENA's composer was manzo, but the other Iori song I ended up liking, WISH, was composed by Masahiro. WISH (not on YouTube) has some catchy frenzied strings and impressive solo violin on top, including a brief solo in the bridge. I highly support using violin solos instead of guitar solos. That would be one potential way to improve Resuscitated Hope. Recently I've been enjoying the Bang Dream game's band Roselia for this kind of music, thanks to @HecticLeo. Also Rachnera Arachnera's character song from Monster Musume (gone from YouTube). Seems unjust that she got better music than Ranko-sama / Rosenburg Engel in Cinderella Girls, but I'm fine with this arrangement. Similar story to Iori with the "gothic metal" (not strictly speaking) band 妖精帝國 Yousei Teikoku; like many others I discovered them via the Mirai Nikki/Future Diary OP 空想メソロギヰ Kuusou Mesorogiwi, but their song I really got into is ココロサンクチュアリ Kokoro Sanctuary (predictable Babymetal fan). (Wait, I never write BABYMETAL all-caps, so why am I bothering to do that with other bands?) #2 most played is the instrumental ancient moonlit battleground. I just played it while thunder rolled outside. Ideal. Then there's that band's alter ego or something, 電気式華憐音楽集団 / DenKare (Denkishiki Karen Ongaku Shuudan). I liked their 2017 LP CARNAVAL THE ABYSS more overall than any Yousei Teikoku album. Favorite song is Vatican Cameos for that overpowered chorus hook, "Whodunnit? Howdunnit? Whydunnit?" Very fun, very headbang. I'll cover European symphonic metal in a reply, but there is one Japanese symphonic metal band I started listening to in 2011 - LIV MOON. My top played tracks aren't on YouTube, but my recent obsession is. I don't see much point writing about overexposed Babymetal, except to say that From Dusk Till Dawn is my favorite Japanese metal song... and one of my favorite music tracks of all time. ~»»//««~ Around spring 2018 I started to scratch the surface of 80's j-pop/rock. Outside Bubblegum Crisis, my favorite so far is Sabishii Nettaigyo by Wink. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIVGQ-B9G38 Apparently it was used in Yakuza 0. Also good: Shizuka Kudo - Doukoku https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qmluOp2G4w Junko Ohashi - 男と女 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A2Cm4ueYvg THE ALFEE - Mary Ann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bydXHXkxT4w 1986 Omega Tribe - Misty Night Cruising https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifmbp7W4Xnw (I love that the group name sounds like a 2010's synthwave project, but it's actually from 1986... in this case. They updated the year in their name when they changed their lineup, or something.) Also katamari'd in along the way was 90's band Every Little Thing. I liked a lot of tracks by them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEbqv7gVUxk ~»»//««~ So far the best modern j-pop I've found this year via Spotify was the song Feel It by i☆Ris. It's above average symphonic j-pop... probably. https://open.spotify.com/album/1IgTyWf1t9EZ2kGFDO8gdy?si=zR0Dm_0GRWyP7XQu_t7xJw My pick for top young Japanese vocal talent is still 蓮花 Renka, frequently featured in Nobunaga no Shinobi OPs, and not nearly enough else. Her sound is airy and clear, and instantly recognizable. I only wish she'd be paired with stronger songwriting. She's the only Japanese singer I'm currently keen on buying an LP by, since Eri Kawai is deceased and Lisa Komine is inactive. |
nDroaeOct 6, 2018 9:47 PM
| I've been working on a rundown of my favorite discoveries from different countries (mainly Europe / Slavic nations and the middle east), but that will take more work to get done. Here's a map of where artists I've listened to come from: http://explr.fm/?username=nDroae I'll briefly list my all time favorite singers. It's been these three sopranos since 2010, because I am old and set in my ways. Jackie Evancho. Your Love: https://youtu.be/Mnz2QUrzDFA?t=44s As a song, maybe not my #1 favorite in her repertoire of mostly covers. But in terms of sheer beauty of sound, her voice on that chorus overpowers me the most. Simply my single favorite sound. I like this absurdly over-the-top superlative review: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1LHZCKEMOH8F4/ I suspected that sometime in her career I was going to listen to the most beautiful sounds that ever came out of a human throat. (...) Once every 50 years or so there is a light lyric soprano voice that has a great richness and warmth that is usually denied to this fach. Most light lyric sopranos, however delightful, lack this quality and it limits their ability to consistently grab you by the throat or bring tears to your eyes. Or they excessively 'cover' their voices to produce a rich sound. But Jackie Evancho has (...) sung gloriously and courageously forward. (...) Her voice has a fullness and purity without narrowness or harshness that is at present unsurpassed by any contemporary woman singer. And she seems to be speaking to you intimately when she sings. (...) Jackie Evancho has built for herself in what is surely record time the most beautiful voice in the history of recorded music. Tarja Turunen, formerly of Nightwish. Innocence: https://youtu.be/6yYccQ0S1yI?t=1m25s Tarja was classicaclly trained, but created a sort of hybrid sound for Nightwish. Seemingly everyone who knows anything about classical vocals (I don't) says that her voice is critically flawed, but some say the flaws create her unique appeal, which sounds right to me. (Typical choice for "objective best" is Floor Jansen.) Liv Kristine, formerly of Leaves' Eyes. Twilight Sun: https://youtu.be/XiPNYiKPbF0?t=1m7s My first favorite, a soft, light, comforting voice. (The first Leaves' Eyes song I heard, The Dream, has the lyrics "I cover you warm, fall asleep upon my chest," ha!) Some wish she had more power. Personal preference, I guess. [/brief list of favorite singers] Re: those last two... Symphonic Metal is my most played, default genre. One comes to assume that most people on the internet have already been exposed to it, anime fans likely through AMV, but here's an introduction anyway. Symphonic Metal I've always gravitated toward orchestral music because I like to hear a richly layered mixture of sounds. That applies also to electronic music. But I look for a catchy, easy to follow lead melody; I don't have a good appreciation for complex compositions. It often takes me months or years to develop an appreciation for progressive music that's more complex than I'm used to, if I ever do. Mature metal fans are known for being demanding, the reason being that they look for creative, technically impressive music: http://www.metalinjection.net/latest-news/metal-science/science-proves-metal-fans-and-classical-fans-are-identical-personality-wise More thoughts on metal's heritage: https://www.quora.com/How-is-metal-music-related-to-classical-music  Symphonic metal typically features strings and other orchestral elements, backing the song and occasionally coming to the forefront. When I first read the term "symphonic metal," I assumed it meant metal with the musical structure of a classical symphony. This is rarely the case, if ever (not that I would be able to tell on my own). Because of that some say the term is unjustified, but it does work in the literal sense, "consonance of sounds," or "sounding together," in the words of my "respected metal senpai," a German journalist acquaintance on Last.fm. This is from the description of the "Fans of Old Nightwish" club which he co-led on Last.fm, back in the days when Last.fm had clubs. It's fairly representative of many metal fans' POV on symphonic metal, though it's specifically about how Nightwish's most popular album (my personal favorite) is inferior to their early work. "Once = mallcore + orchestra. The use of orchestra was just to show off in front of naive kids, who think this way: 'Wow they use a symphonic orchestra, they must be so great!' Completely unnecessary." "Compositions are totally flat and empty (to be honest, Ghost Love Score is a little exception). Tuomas did better with just piano and keyboards." "The whole band was instructed by Tuomas to play artificially simple music, to attract masses and gain 100x more fans than Nightwish could have if Tuomas stayed with good music." "Emppu can't show his guitar skills, because he has to play just simple rhythm and stupid solos. No real, metal riffs on this album. Jukka plays drums like... Well no comment needed. Just compare drums from Wishmaster to drums from Once." Some symphonic bands make no pretenses. Within Temptation have called themselves "symphonic rock," and Delain's founder and composer Martijn Westerholt told Kerrang magazine, "I always say we write pop songs in a really heavy coat." Meanwhile, Epica started heading in a heavier direction in 2009, and continue to impress serious and casual listeners. I don't follow the genre like I used to, but from what I've seen, their 2016 album The Holographic Principle is regarded by many as easily the best symphonic metal album of the past few years. I still prefer their previous album, The Quantum Enigma, which was regarded as good, but too simple and safe. That's me. And then this year Epica released an album of Attack on Titan covers. Epica being a Dutch band, one might think they would keep the German lyrics, but no, the lyrics are English. I've noticed that while German and Nordic bands are proud to release songs in their own native languages, Dutch metal bands avoid it like the plague. This is understandable, since Dutch does sound comical to me. Ignorantly, I once assumed that it should be fairly easy for Dutch people to learn German, until several years ago I read a comment that a Dutch singer's German was terrible. Apparently the languages are actually very different. However, Epica's singer Simone Simons tweeted that she can speak German. My guess, then, is that the band simply wanted the Attack on Titan songs to be accessible to their fans who don't understand German and aren't fans of anime. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7CtsU25cQoob2CZoPX94VC Crimson Bow and Arrow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX3dwi_yuSA My favorite Epica song is still Design Your Universe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfKcymQFflw Best chorus, best lyrics outside a ballad. (The lyrics are not a high bar; most are based on founder Mark's obsession with quantum mysticism, these included. Design Your Universe is meant to be about how WE HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE THE WORLD THROUGH OUR THOUGHTS. Sometimes Simone writes lyrics, especially on ballads.) Not a fan of metal? Listen to the ballad Tides of Time. One of the most beautiful songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyD-qMMe7Mo Funny thing about symphonic metal, some who really get drawn in start becoming weeaboos for the countries their favorite bands come from. Nightwish fans trying to learn the notoriously difficult Finnish is quite common. Something about humanity's eternal attraction to the Other. Here's a Japanese stage show that used Nightwish music: http://www.climax-iwakuni.net/climax/stage_guide/2013_Amaranth/2013_Amaranth.html ................ After the above I decided to go ahead and put together some introductory playlists of mostly old favorites. I don't think I've ever posted any kind of symphonic metal playlist online. I'm sure some songs available here are blocked in some regions, oh well. And some tracks are folk metal, or just regular power metal, or not metal at all. I mean, I could have made them even more homogeneous.... Generic Symphopop One could argue that almost all symphonic metal is generic, but these "radio-friendly single" type songs are the most generic. And I love them. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6tjVpns1ptRn23wuo4yyBohLyeSQ5WE_ https://open.spotify.com/user/ndroae/playlist/6hwGT511M4kHhiMPSb7Dw0?si=upfc1V_ET1SunKxmWmdpvA Relatively Interesting Songs I'd suggest to those bored of the above. This mostly isn't prog music with unusual song structures, time signatures etc. - if you want that then just listen to Epica, the newer the better. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6tjVpns1ptRqOXbxX9cX8RatLtJBxV_e https://open.spotify.com/user/ndroae/playlist/1DHGPt0DX3wWLoJdqC0gPj?si=5IJiDzQYSZ-aX_mOvMuY_g Hype Springs Eternal "Passion & Adrenaline" from the anime songs thread. Many are album openers. Ends with my jam "AnDro" because why not https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6tjVpns1ptSF6yAICdrU23B4EhSc6T91 https://open.spotify.com/user/ndroae/playlist/14OwRKub44VPASE2VPiLyj?si=ZZ2arI-5QUy63JvKV3lypw Missing from Spotify: Tristania - Sanguine Sky Slow & Gentle Ballads and other softer songs. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6tjVpns1ptQZkm6JEGI5zlN9zuoizgkX https://open.spotify.com/user/ndroae/playlist/1hNvv9qEX6UdiLTVCqe22w?si=6OuRIkzpRAOtMH0z4RboRw Missing from Spotify: Tristania - Ab Initio; Nightwish - White Night Fantasy Gothica The meaning of "gothic metal" is highly contentious, but most would probably agree these tracks count. Closes with two favorite 80's goth rock tracks, one featuring orchestra and the other, choir. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6tjVpns1ptSoc9mTemUH4WR9-3N1bfaq https://open.spotify.com/user/ndroae/playlist/0tdJYfqEk6IERqtCIbSCwK?si=-zPnoEyTSJ-xudLAb_sT2A Missing from Spotify: Tristania - Equilibrium Epics & Closers The "epic" is a tradition in heavy metal, a long, varied, and highly dramatic song of typically 9-15 minutes or more. The "epic maneuver" meme from 2006 used an orchestral clip from one of these songs, Nightwish - Ghost Love Score, a favorite of many. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/epic-maneuvers Epics are often used as closing tracks, both because of their climactic nature and because they're expected to exhaust the listener. Some of these are closing tracks which are not epics, though they might be referred to as "epic," particularly by 2000's teenagers. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6tjVpns1ptT2yZN5OLJH6BNRKEJcvuL4 https://open.spotify.com/user/ndroae/playlist/2XQPQ6PXadhQoSlBaJzhqX?si=dd599LJwSWy4tDbEjfT5Gw Oh, I forgot to add Dethklok - Blazing Star to that last one. Fixed :) |
nDroaeFeb 16, 2021 10:25 PM
| My state as a music listener is strange, in that I've allowed myself to remain underexposed to classic music. My only thorough exploration of classic rock is the Beatles and Pink Floyd, and classic metal is mostly foreign to me. Yet I've made reasonably successful efforts to educate myself on classic film, classic Doctor Who, and old school anime. I once set out to go through 20th century music, and never got past the 1910's. :D Should have started with the 50's, I suppose. From the Anime Songs thread: nDroae said: The Other Side of the Wall (Princess Principal OP) Composed by Ryo Takahashi (Void_Chords), lyrics by Konnie Aoki and MARU, performed by MARU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL3czvPOMcw The opening is hard-hitting like little else on this list. The intro builds up pressure like a steam boiler, then releases in an explosion of jazz-rock. Takahashi tastefully and skilfully incorporates musical elements which I like from earlier times in my life, and the English lyrics are solid, making what would have easily been my favorite OP of the last two, possibly three years, were it not for Tabiuta. I seem to come across musical references to Monty Norman's James Bond Theme every few years, from Tarja's In for a Kill to (least surprisingly) Adele's Skyfall to this, and I would welcome more. It must one of the most important pieces of popular music of the 20th century (don't ask me what the others are, I wouldn't know), and its appeal is timeless. One of the first long media journeys I undertook, around 2005, was to watch every James Bond film, and there's some great music among them. If the Monty Norman references get tired, how about some John Barry? His main theme for On Her Majesty's Secret Service is fantastic, though in a mismatch all too familiar to any soundtrack fan, the film itself is one of the worst-regarded among fans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUE9wiaRwFI This is BEST digression, not sorry. Actually, let's go further - together with the 70's feeling I got from Jojo's Great Days, the 70's style strings on The Other Side of the Wall made me want to explore the original western strings of the era. I had learned the sound in my youth from the era's film and television. What I noticed in the chorus was the style where, in a quick succession of notes, the strings play each note distinctly and strongly. One particularly close example is the 1970 motown track Sounds Of The Zodiac by Gordon Staples: https://youtu.be/21wDZ4pW69s?t=3m52s Other examples of varying notoriety include The Trammps - Disco Inferno; The Spinners - I'll Be There; MFSB - Love Is the Message; The O'Jays - Love Train (one day I will cross that river and read Steel Ball Run); Leroy Hutson - Love, Oh Love; The Temptations - Masterpiece; Bobby Womack - Across 110th Street; The Dells - Wear It On Our Face ; Ray Conniff - Theme from S.W.A.T.; Silver Convention - Fly, Robin, Fly; and Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive. A brief thread about strings in 70's pop music: http://www.inthe00s.com/archive/inthe70s/smf/1233844802.shtml The question posed was whether strings were the defining instrument of the 70's, to which the answer was no. I've noticed more prominent brass than strings in what I've heard. Here's an excellent article called "Strings Attached: How Symphonic Soul Scored Big In The 70s": https://www.udiscovermusic.com/in-depth-features/how-symphonic-soul-scored-big/ And its companion Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/udiscover/playlist/49QM6G3G7J34QjQBxY4ptp |
| @Withoutaname Hey, welcome to the club! :) Is it a coincidence that your username is Nightwish lyrics? (Nemo - "This is me for forever, one without a name") The idea of hearing symphonic metal on the radio is still foreign to me, though I've heard of such a thing from Europeans on Last.fm. I like the idea that there are certain elements in music that I enjoy across different genres, though I may not even realize it. I suppose that goes somewhat against the idea of "eclectic" diversity of taste, which some become enamoured with; on Last.fm, many used to have usermade API-based profile widgets showing their "eclectic score." Diverse taste is certainly a good thing in general - the family member, roommate, coworker, etc., who only likes a narrow range of music, can quickly create a bad situation if they control what's playing for too long or too often. But unexpected connections or similarities in music are more interesting than differences. Recent shouts on Last.fm from user flowwwz: "Y'know, there's already a technicality and classical dimension to a lot of Japanese pop that makes it really compatible with metal. [BABYMETAL] works better than one might expect." "Like, a lot of Japanese music is structured a lot like Power Metal." https://www.last.fm/music/BABYMETAL/+shoutbox/33209071:shoutbox:34db11c0-3212-4089-a3e5-021e61493cf5 Edit: Come to think of it, here's a similarity I noticed which I don't think has any musical significance :P Sabaton - Ghost Division: https://youtu.be/9FkYxnm70vg?t=20 Konosuba season 1 OP (Machico - fantastic dreamer): https://youtu.be/0Y_7YdFkEmY?t=28 |
nDroaeNov 12, 2018 10:30 PM
| @Withoutaname It's weird to me to think of symphonic metal as in the past since most bands are still putting out music, but on the other hand a lot of it either already was old (90's Tristania / Theatre of Tragedy / Nightwish) or felt old (Once) when I first discovered it (2007). At any rate I have no qualms at all with being into "uncool and outdated" music, as someone recently described Babymetal on Lastfm. :P Thanks, I'm always down for that :) I like these, especially the Yura Hatsuki one, I'll have to explore her stuff... wow, there's a lot! A lot of western gothic music is electronic - The Crüxshadows in the 90's, or more recently The Birthday Massacre (synth rock). https://www.last.fm/user/nDroae/library/music/The+Birthday+Massacre The Other Side has one of my all time favorite intros: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRDCteKULaM I've had mixed experience with gothic j-pop/rock. I mentioned Rosenburg Engel above... I tried to get into ALI PROJECT, but only really liked 波羅蜜恋華 and 卑弥呼外伝. I guess they're best known for Code Geass ED1... though looking at Lastfm now, I see that their all time #1 and #2 tracks are Rozen Maiden OP1 and OP2. The baroque sound where the music (and vocal line) goes up and down constantly is not really for me in many cases, I guess. :D I do tend to be more easily attracted to simpler vocal melodies with strong long notes, like the ones that turn up in Jun Maeda OPs. I listened to ARTERY VEIN (Asami Imai/Eri Kitamura), didn't get much of an impression from anything I heard, but I do like some of Eri Kitamura's solo "symphonic metal" songs. This reminded me that I still haven't listened to MYTH & ROID beyond what I've heard in anime. Got their discography ready to go now. So far the only doujin artist I've heard a lot by is 花たん (hanatan) AKA ユリカ (YURiCa), due to @Prog_upworks13 playing her music a lot on Lastfm. My top tracks: Dely https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLC8wMZ42go Reincarnation (apparently arranged from Touhou music) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNxWR5N1Q8s |
nDroaeNov 14, 2018 12:45 PM
Spotify 2018: I mostly only use Spotify to explore, and this is 90% from the six months during which I had premium. Like with wanting to break out of modern J-pop to other Asian countries (mainly China) and older music, with Europe I wanted to break away from Scandinavia and particularly Finland. But then I ended up with my top discovery being another Finnish artist, and a second in the top tracks. Yappari, once a suomiaboo, always a suomiaboo. :) Ramin Djawadi is there only because, aside from catching up on his work, I re-listened to the more recent Game of Thrones scores to make sure I didn't miss anything great. I don't think I did, certainly not anything comparable to Mhysa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLYeWGAY4NE I've never watched Game of Thrones, but I've been a fan of Djawadi (yet another Remote Control Zimmer drone, like several of my favorites) since Iron Man in 2008. Favorite track is Canceling the Apocalypse from Pacific Rim. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yotV6AeOzR4 I need to do a quick rundown of my favorite Hollywood composers, but even a quick one would take several hours :P Zimmer is there because of catching up, because he's so prolific - probably thanks to his role as composer being comparable to Alexandre Dumas' as a writer, as described by G.K. Chesterton here. Jerry Goldsmith is one for whom I've had high respect for... 20 years, but not heard enough by; I was trying to rectify that. Schiller is a German electronic musician I found in 2007, due to his having featured Nightwish's singer Tarja on the song "Tired of Being Alone." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBafjDoRk3w This year's Spotify plays are from his 2014 album Symphonia, recorded with a live orchestra. Sommernacht: "Your Dreams Are My Dreams" is a track by instrumental rock band Exxasens. They describe themselves as "Prog Post Rock," but I'm sure many would be happy to contest the tag. On the topic of post-rock, favorite band is Caspian, favorite album is Tertia, favorite track is (off a later album) Fire Made Flesh. That's probably proof that I'm not a true fan of the genre. :P I guess this has probably been the post-rock state of affairs for the past decade or so: https://www.reddit.com/r/postrock/comments/3xcm0z/the_stigma_against_crescendocore/ Remember the post-rock talk in Charlotte? I don't. Seven Nation Army is The Oak Ridge Boys' cover version. I think it's fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpABudFP6jE Finnish Music Discoveries, 2018 Haloo Helsinki is a pop-rock band, and my best artist discovery of the year. I dunno, the first minute might be offputting, but bear through to the chorus. To me it just works, a massive dose of emotion and energy despite not knowing what the song was about. A more sombre song for the Finnish WWII film Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck8zNTzvuII And TEXAS is a take on America, fun like many of those in anime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0ldI2XQLfY The lyrics seem more serious than the music: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/texas-texas.html-1 Sini Sabotage is some kind of trashy pop-rapper, and I find her music REALLY FUN. This would be a "guilty pleasure," if I had any capacity for shame over something like this. Lastfm user iSorbet wrote: "Discovered her by accident and I actually quite love her. The lyrics are probably shit and all, oh well." 1k likes to 1.5k dislikes on the official video for Kovempaa kyytiä: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh5SjXJoXNs Suo "is a Finnish folk trio inspired by the traditions surrounding Finland's national epic, Kalevala" -Last.fm. I love their song "Yhen emosen lapset," but the only video of it on YouTube is a low quality live recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZw4cC5ZFVU So here's a Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/album/1N3ZW7gYmexmdFNJY0EHnu?si=W1dP0OTdRxmRUnn9aGK7yA Earlier Finnish Discoveries Johanna Kurkela (roughly "cork-ela") has a lovely soft voice, and I was obsessed with her for a while in 2009, after discovering her via Sonata Arctica. She's also the wife of Nightwish puppetmaster Tuomas. Olet Uneni Kaunein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-knx8E-cIuU Other favorites: https://www.last.fm/user/nDroae/library/music/Johanna+Kurkela Jenni Vartiainen I found as a similar artist on Lastfm. Selvästi päihtynyt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gFSpti_eW8 Hevisaurus is a metal band for kids who perform dressed as dinosaurs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2eXICPPBdQ “There is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for.” Petri Alanko is a Finnish composer best known for work on video game scores for Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment, including Alan Wake and Quantum Break. I really enjoyed his work on the Nightwish film Imaginaerum, for which he adapted most of the songs from the album of that title into instrumental score tracks, released separately as "Imaginaerum - The Score." Probably not much point listening to that without first being familiar with the original album, though. |
| I got a recommendation from @Knightmare_Fused to listen to the soundtrack from the Turkish TV drama Adını Feriha Koydum, by Cem Tuncer and Nail Yurtsever. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_kScIuh-UMWzlhHjqY7EfEFAfzh1NDqa https://open.spotify.com/album/1zdTzo4RZGTIIMtvl0Hhks?si=qYLznb3-SWqk44G4BqdCNA Unfortunately it came the night before my flight to England in April, and though I did listen to it, I never replied. I liked it, it reminded me (being obviously not at all knowledgeable of the region's music) of clarinet music from neighboring Greece by Vassilis Saleas, which I used to listen to after discovering him on eMusic in 2006. I hope it's not a huge insult to say Turkish woodwind sounds like Greek to me? :P Europe according to Turkey  Vassilis Saleas seemed to mostly perform Vangelis covers, with a general new age sound around the clarinet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O7z07yja0M Obviously the Adını Feriha Koydum score doesn't have that new age sound, but the clarinet (?) is similar. The sound also turns up in Turkish pop, for example the chill Prens & Prenses by Simge, which I quite like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d749RT9kV_Q Tangentially, it also brings to mind "A Narnia Lullaby" from one of my all time favorite scores, Harry Gregson-Williams' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, on which Chris Bleth performed on duduk, an ancient Armenian woodwind instrument. The "lullaby" was used to magically entrance and induce sleep in the listener; makes sense, since all of these examples tend to have a mesmerising effect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0gOeol5agA I wanted to write a bit about the time in 2013 when I felt like I had too much European and Japanese music in my library, and set out to explore middle eastern pop, but it's been so long now that I don't remember much. From Turkey in particular, my favorite discovery so far is the song Feveran by Bengü: Last year a younger coworker told me that Turkish pop was on the rise as the next big trend after K-pop, but I'm far removed from whatever circles that may be happening within. From the whole region, despite an apparent domination of the music industry by Lebanon, my favorite remains Egyptian singer Amal Maher's Rayeh Beya Feen: Naturally, an online friend from Jordan said this song is pure pop trash, and I expect many Turks would say the same of Bengü, but such must be the case in any nation with a contemporary pop music industry. From a native perspective, I suppose it's a sort of artistic treason against one's own culture. But for me as an American, the combination of generic (but exciting) modern pop music with "exotic" traditional vocal styles is a tantalizing mix. I like mashup music in general - symphonic metal, the opera/rap of Gurren Lagann's Libera Me From Hell, or any J-pop with traditional wagakki instruments. Then there are also singers whose vocals seem to have entirely forsaken their homelands' sound, for example Lebanon's Haifa Wehbe. https://youtu.be/_ZqEM_4dYWU?t=107 Not to imply that I don't also like more traditional Middle Eastern music. I'm very impressed overall with the singers, particularly the women, though my introduction had male vocals. That was via an ancient meme, a 2000 Flash animation which used a 1981 love song by Lebanese singer Azar Habib called مين ما كنتي (Miin Ma Kenti), also known as Habaytek or Habbeetik. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/hatten-ar-din-the-hat-is-yours Being 13 at the time, I had a lot of fun singing along to it, particularly the wordless vocalising sections, to the great irritation of my parents. It's still fun to sing, always will be. My favorite middle eastern voice is tough to call, but in 2013 I picked Zain Awad, due to my liking for soft female voices (Liv Kristine, various generic loli characters). Ya Tara Tehwany: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynPuNTfIH7o |
nDroaeJul 5, 2019 2:59 PM
| This one i like most! Aşk-ı Memnu Main Theme by Toygar Işıklı |
| GO SAKABE IS A ROUSING SONG |
| Very nice, I like the descending strings on that. In Turkey the convention seems to be to use "jenerik müziği" / "generic music" instead of "main theme" or "main title," which is funny to me because in English, "generic" carries negative connotations. I used to lament how Danny Elfman would have a track called only "Main Titles" on all or almost all of his albums: https://www.last.fm/music/Danny+Elfman/_/Main+Titles/+albums It's okay if it's "[Movie/Series Title] Main Titles," like how the full official title of that track is "Aşk-ı Memnu Jenerik Müziği," though personally my favorite formula is to either use the title alone, or go with something more abstract. I love the Batman Begins score's gimmick of giving every track half of the Latin name of a species of bat. Then there's Michael Giacchino with his everlasting groan-inducing love of puns. I kinda wish Night on the Yorktown had a better title, being such a great piece. |
nDroae said: Very nice, I like the descending strings on that. In Turkey the convention seems to be to use "jenerik müziği" / "generic music" instead of "main theme" or "main title," which is funny to me because in English, "generic" carries negative connotations. I used to lament how Danny Elfman would have a track called only "Main Titles" on all or almost all of his albums: https://www.last.fm/music/Danny+Elfman/_/Main+Titles/+albums It's okay if it's "[Movie/Series Title] Main Titles," like how the full official title of that track is "Aşk-ı Memnu Jenerik Müziği," though personally my favorite formula is to either use the title alone, or go with something more abstract. I love the Batman Begins score's gimmick of giving every track half of the Latin name of a species of bat. Then there's Michael Giacchino with his everlasting groan-inducing love of puns. I kinda wish Night on the Yorktown had a better title, being such a great piece. I Write Main Theme because the pace of Song , Magnificent Century Savaş (The War) by Fahir Atakoğlu & Aytekin Ataş & Soner Akalın Renaissance Style? |
| GO SAKABE IS A ROUSING SONG |
| Since I'm not musically educated, generally all I can tell you is what other music is brought to mind. In this case it's 1) trailer music, such as Two Steps From Hell; and 2) Jeff Van Dyck's score to the PC strategy game Medieval: Total War. :P Euro Mobilize 1, 2 and 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt8X-Vtv0vQ Arab Battle 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER9_Y2m8L0c Yeah, I know Turks (and Persians, etc.) are not Arabs. ;) I'm talking about the similar woodwind sound. So, what instrument would that be? Here are some of the Turkish woodwinds (not all Turkish in origin) listed on Wikipedia. Zurna https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq4hVTax_yI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zurna Sipsi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sipsi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaQaRV9eHqk These two sound about right to me. But while on the track, here are some others: Arghul - this one's double-pipe design gives it a deep drone via the long pipe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arghul https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0wg7MmjV_E Turkish ney - very different, I wanted to post this one because the sound is particularly beautiful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_ney https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOqyl-0TIPU The first I clicked on was the mey / duduk / balaban. Maybe this was what I heard that I thought was clarinet? Though clarinets are of course also used in Turkish music. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mey_(instrument) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE7Cf-DEP2M The Mey article has a "Related instruments" list with some interesting connections, including the European shawm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawm https://youtu.be/r9tSe0MAd6o?t=336 Wikipedia said: The shawm is a conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissance periods, after which it was gradually eclipsed by the oboe family of descendant instruments in classical music. It is likely to have come to Western Europe from the Eastern Mediterranean around the time of the Crusades. Another via Mey / Related instruments is the Chinese suona, whose origins may lie in ancient Iran or India. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suona Fascinating: https://www.easonmusicschool.com/chinese-orchestra-instruments/chinese-woodwind-instruments/suona/ The videos linked on that page begin with a demonstration of each variant instrument's scale, but it's then played normally afterward. Back in 2011-2012 I worked a little with FL Studio and became addicted to world/folk instrument VSTs. This erhu one was my favorite: http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=Mini_Erhu&id=308 |
| Spice and Wolf OP 1 "Tabi no Tochuu (旅の途中)" by Kiyoura Natsumi Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/track/5Fs6i0rfOxchAOoDUuxZfI is there any other song similar to this? Let me know |
| GO SAKABE IS A ROUSING SONG |
| @Knightmare_Fused Ah yes, they were going for a 100% European sound on that, weren't they? I don't think I know anything very close to that, but I can share what it brings to mind.... The chorus itself reminds me of "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof. https://youtu.be/lRsciuPOWW4?t=65 The music in the opening makes me think of fhána - Forest Map, though it's not exactly similar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t_qfIUEFLA This is maybe too obvious of a connection, since Maoyuu was seen by some as an inferior follow-up to Spice & Wolf. Austenost by riya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvYtydvuzns Probably one of my top hundred favorite songs of all time, Eisley - Memories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xewk7OgIrPU The vocals brought to mind "La Fin Du Reve" from Bruno Coulais' Microcosmos soundtrack. Ha, my music player tells me it's been ten years since I last listened to it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnUgvjNMF_E This is the Spice & Wolf OP's composer, if you're interested: https://vgmdb.net/artist/3701 And here are a few other songs performed by the female vocalist, Natasumi Kiyoura: https://vgmdb.net/artist/10322 "Dawn of a New Day" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCmc145t7fU (from http://asianwiki.com/Tower_of_Sand ) "Hanabi" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzPh0Gx-fVI (ED of https://myanimelist.net/anime/11793/Tamayura__Hitotose_-_Attakai_Kaze_no_Omoide_Nanode ) Cover of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuKVAK4I5r4 (from https://myanimelist.net/anime/28725/Kokoro_ga_Sakebitagatterunda ) |
| @nDroae , I have listened to all the songs you have mentioned, but none of them sounded like this. All were good. Let me tell you some songs and what I like about them then you will know what I mean by songs like this. Hans Zimmer "Crimson Tide" https://open.spotify.com/track/4OoNzK5J8HOT1hsciIrDWb starting at 2:50 , and Toygar Işıklı "İntikam Yemini" https://open.spotify.com/track/3OXYwW2dQKKjplBZ85Yj8r ; Does sound same or not. If you listen to the song I told you again from Point 1:18 to 1:52 and point 3:17 to 3:52 .so maybe you understand , you said European sound, Then i search that specific term and listen many songs but could not find what i wanted. soundtrack from Spice and Wolf Anime Composed by Yuji Yoshino that I like , Sounds like Medieval: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab5klx6OoR8&list=PL5PW5TdgaMAQZIwJfZFbgwPDeyZzkuLEG&index=6 "Tabi no Tochuu (旅の途中)" by Kiyoura Natsumi = PAST-ERA ; i remember something from the past. There are many Songs, And I'm going to tell you how I like the song. "Absolute Perfection" by "Elisa" https://open.spotify.com/track/0cosjhDFZ9jAiuFeioDoD8 ; " Ino Chi No Mizu" by "Denkare" https://open.spotify.com/track/6eNSuP4UbgjQUwt6UWMObT "Mesoni Otiru Yami" by "Denkare" https://open.spotify.com/track/3bSKLruht5fJkIQijvxyWB ; Reason i like "Mesoni Otiru Yami" because of this "URDU" Song "Rozen-E-Deewar" by "RoXen" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzHoq44tfOM When i listen Dead or Alive first time, Composed by Go Sakabe ; https://date-a-live.fandom.com/wiki/Date_A_Music_Extension ; this song came to my mind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y_EBrUmlc8 "Now Tell Me About Each Track" They Are not similar or somehow similar to each others Track 26 https://open.spotify.com/track/2LxM4Wk29Z0EU5jWjQHEEW?si=k0ZRyEhaSX-cAZGeV6s11g Track 4 https://open.spotify.com/track/4WcdPdkAyrebjSbaTMLVqm?si=pNDnw6WiQw-q1ChTezBIOg Track 14 https://open.spotify.com/track/0Si7XdYSxrTTh9zGDjcChP?si=2jF5HGmgQKuAeXJm_HKKBw Track 28 https://open.spotify.com/track/3cXbQrMIN5BUFXfXRKBHSo?si=1KrfOyC1StqNt-acC-tIEA Track 32 https://open.spotify.com/track/3ZQBx8LSMfpuGpnSPT2uzb?si=kyjSq4EJQRq1eij8OY3Wfg Track 5 https://open.spotify.com/track/46YdovQgZ98xSjsKUY1L02?si=yPamKfrlSH-P-IgG_AKhRw Track 11 https://open.spotify.com/track/4NTZF47xY3bnahZq5gw0kZ?si=SW82et7nSEm7Q4r_qhuPGg Track 12 https://open.spotify.com/track/0w8gvTTS1Re2gxX7zewbwV?si=n8_PQSOyRoOkbcyBxuM9Dw Track 24 https://open.spotify.com/track/4DcTZZc0oFasROtMgwW6jI?si=0BE03e3dThKsn08cvYHQOg Track 26 https://open.spotify.com/track/1RKvvugPexJeTVzaV2h7k4?si=MdUxL4OzTO6HR2BvMY0FDA Track 34 https://open.spotify.com/track/4jqoxEO9IQu1qQsPR48L99?si=aHfqJaTRTg2THw4rz17BZA Note : last one only Composed by Go Sakabe , Wrong Tags sorry for not following the rules |
RaVeN_MortusMay 18, 2020 7:56 PM
| GO SAKABE IS A ROUSING SONG |
| @Knightmare_Fused "European sound" is not a genre, I was thinking of this when I wrote that: Pyschoneurosis said: And very probably if they hire a gaijin it's because they want a "gaijin sound", the japanese usually think that way. I like that RoXen song :) Ah, Crimson Tide! That was one of the first movies I watched because of its score. I browsed iTunes around 2005 and bought a few Hans Zimmer tracks from movies I had and hadn't seen, the latter including Run Free and Roll Tide. Later I found out that Nightwish had covered it on their 2000 live album From Wishes to Eternity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbdbstVvvy8 Our Decades in the Sun has parts that sound like the section you linked. https://youtu.be/EoV4seyWs8k?t=297 There are also officially released instrumental and orchestral versions of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_gQFXEjbaA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVKURRIkn5U Epica - Consign to Oblivion bears some resemblance. https://youtu.be/-s3Ax1lwYKE?t=336 From Crimson Tide, the Spice & Wolf song, and the Toygar Işıklı track, it seems you are looking for repetition of a short, simple phrase, which is why I mentioned Sunrise, Sunset, though it's not an epic hype driving trailer music the way the Zimmer and Işıklı tracks are. One I've had stuck in my head lately is Epica - Divide & Conquer. https://youtu.be/xl7xvjRbLao?t=32 There is an official instrumental of it, but I'm not finding it online. Here's a fan-made instrumental cover. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NesEr8Ml_ak Epica - Originem: https://youtu.be/CC2uhn81C90?t=56 The music I've listened to the most so far this year is the soundtracks to Netflix's Our Planet, which, again, I haven't seen yet. It's by Steven Price, who scored Gravity and Fury. The track "The Ocean Returns the Favour" is extremely simple, and I love how powerful a hook I find it. This is SUPER subjective :P https://open.spotify.com/track/3Gj4PAMWvmJLrxbtl404VV?si=vfCQZYZqQJaAi28YsY3npg Tangential, to me the track Mayflies is one of the most beautiful cues I've ever heard. https://open.spotify.com/track/5DpSpTSp5JVHdjr7UW6Auw?si=aFGJ02e4QeexhpsW0fSrgw (Even more tangential, in the 2000's I bought some soundtracks of IMAX ocean life documentaries composed by Christophe Jacquelin. Sharks has a couple of wonderful tracks on it. I ended up being contacted by the composer because he needed help uploading his picture to Last.fm. I now own 3D blu-rays of those IMAX films he scored. Haven't watched them yet though!) Alright back on topic Intensifying repetition is a stereotypical characteristic of trailer music. Trailer music for action/adventure movies is designed to grab the attention of a likely distracted or uninterested audience, and cultivate excitement within a matter of seconds. Because of that, it tends to be simple and loud. The cliche trailer track of the 90's was O Fortuna, and the cliche trailer track of the 2000's wasLux Aeterna. LotR trailers raided the usual material pretty well - The Two Towers famously used a new arrangement of Lux Aeterna, and Fellowship trailer 2 used Gothic power by X-Ray Dog, which was very much derived from O Fortuna. https://youtu.be/aStYWD25fAQ?t=117 X-Ray Dog parodied the trendy style with a joke track consisting mainly of a choir repeating a single line, "Come and see this movie!" https://youtu.be/nsu3gS5MRoM Ten years ago, Inception "seized the zeitgeist," both the film itself and Hans Zimmer's score, the latter thanks in part to the brilliant use of the iconic dream-slowdown-inspired bass blasts in marketing leading up to the film's release (Zack Hemsey - Mind Heist). Afterward, there was a period in the early 2010's when bass blasts seemed to be ubiquitous in summer tentpole trailers. One I particularly remember was this 2012 trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness: https://youtu.be/r5gdbUC9mWU?t=70 Thankfully, that trend didn't last. Looking through my favorite Two Steps From Hell / Thomas Bergersen tracks, there's actually not much that fits the pattern. Most of them use longer melodies rather than short repeated phrases. One exception is Protectors of the Earth: https://youtu.be/x5Q_TSNk-p4?t=65 Among the "Hans Zimmer Clone" composers of Remote Control Productions, the one that part of Roll Tide makes me think of the most is Steve Jablonsky, mostly known for scoring Michael Bay's Transformers films, though my introduction to him was their earlier collaboration on The Island (2005). Before that Jablonsky scored the 2004 anime film Steamboy. Jablonsky's music does tend toward lowest-common-denominator appeal like trailer music, but I've always thought more highly of him than his apparent general reputation on music sites. He used repetition with building intensity in Scorponok: https://youtu.be/5wt2WtZUCuo?t=175 And in Collapse and Rescue from Steamboy, Jabsolsky continually builds at a slower pace for its first four minutes. https://open.spotify.com/track/0RhaivYvnzbzH5E2GTT3Qp?si=VlAC-WD9RLCggjlRbmprDA I feel like I should have been able to come up with more examples than this. Oh well :P |
| @nDroae Thank you so much for explaining many things . i really appreciate your effort. |
| GO SAKABE IS A ROUSING SONG |
| @Knightmare_Fused My pleasure! :) I hope you liked some of the music I linked. |
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