Music: wac - 音楽 (Ongaku)

First new post in a while. Mind the empty spaces! *ahem*

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Track list:

1. I
2. Little Rock Overture
3. ポップミュージック論
4. 面影橋
5. garden
6. On top of the world
7. Ensemble Forecast 3/28
8. murmur twins
9. 少年リップルズ
10. Little Prayer
11. neu

It seems very inevitable for BEMANI artists to stay with just one musical genre. wac (real name: Jun Wakita) is just one of those multi-musical-genre guys with a somewhat impeccable taste and design, thanks to years of being sound director for every (yes, every) Pop’n Music game starting from PoMu 6. I myself don’t know more about him as much as the next new-coming Bemani gamer but from what I inferred in his album "音楽" (Ongaku), there are bits and pieces of him scattered about every BEMANI game you can name. A behind-the-scenes kind of guy if you may, working behind more than 20 known used aliases (which probably explains why I don’t know that much about him, only a few songs are credited by his proper alias), apt for his own real-life image; almost every publication of wac has him wearing a black-and-white cat mask, similar to how his fellow in-house colleague, Asaki, always obscures his face with either his hair, an object, or just deliberate Photoshopping.

But we’re not here to talk about public image, are we? Or any other artist for that matter. Like I’ve said, wac is somewhat all over the place in BEMANI with over fifty tracks to his repertoire. This album can be said as a collection of only twelve out of those more-than-fifty songs he considers his best. And when I said his songs are all over the place, I literally stress, all over the place, and in many forms of sound as well.

The album opens innocently enough with an original track simply titled “I”, its soft ballad-like piano leading the inconspicuous listener to a ten-minute orchestral piece with all its highs and lows of contemporary classical music, from the soothing, to fickle, to tragic as indicated with its subtle change in ‘movements’ which pattern is then repeated in “ポップミュージック論” (Pop Music Ron) and “Little Rock Overture” with an added swing rock intro (yee-haw!). “On top of the world”, and “Ensemble Forecast 3/28” which are contagiously upbeat and he somehow manages to insert a couple of strings and pianos without it ruining the song (i.e. not making it sound like a different song altogether).

Like most Bemani artists, wac’s anthology wouldn’t be complete without the very least a few collabs from, once again, commissioned female vocalists. “garden” employs Rie Aono (unknown to me as of this moment) with a sound that could rival colleagues 亜熱帯マジ-SKA爆弾 (Anettai Maji-SKA Bakudan) sans the excessive trombones and more laid-back with a kicking organ solo to boot. “murmur twins”, a signature song of his, features Yuu Tokiwa in a jubilant and delightful atmosphere that would almost bring a smile to your face, if you’re willing to get past its slightly broken lyrics. She is immediately brought into play again in “少年リップルズ” (“Shounen Ripples”), one of my favorite songs to play in Jubeat if I may add, which is highly contrast to the former; dark, brooding streams of electric guitars, fast punk-like drums, and Tokiwa’s gentle voice singing in almost uncontrollable giddy per chorus. The end track “neu” brings her back once more in a rather detached medley of all his finest electronic works, among others Spica, Votum stellarum, Ganymede, Babel, and the rest of his electronic family. It might intrigue first-timers, but long-time fans would want to steer clear of it unless they want to hear wac indulge himself in twelve minutes of overproducing and butchering his own brainchildren. Then again, it's the last track so it's pretty much inevitable.

But the main highlight of the album, and one you should immediately listen to, is “Little Prayer”. Sung by former Cymbals frontwoman, the ever-so-lovely Toki Asako, this song, a staple of one of DrumMania GuitarFreaks’ notoriously high-leveled songs, represents the pinnacle of wac’s non-electronic music achievement. Nothing can beat its nighttime soundscape mixed with start-stop dynamics, highly bassline sticking out like a sore thumb, and Asako’s soaring ambient vocals backed with a relentless flurry of shuffling prog-like drum beats; it feels to me like wac has totally outdone himself with this song. The chorus with its enticing chord progression will definitely burn into the listener’s ear upon the first line (“Kagami no...”).

All in all, wac is a musical force to be beckoned with. Songs in the spectrum of rock, classical, electronic, to mixes of both at once sometimes, and his experience which is unparalleled and surpassed only by DJ Taka. His music is still news to me, but all the more reason to fully and deeply appreciate it. wac’s sounds and scapes, old and new, that have subliminally seeped up into the unsuspecting Bemani player’s ears can be heard all over the series and from his long list of those fifty plus songs, he couldn’t’ve picked a better twelve to both draw in new fans and delight his loyal long-time listeners.

Rate: 4/5

Music: Dormir - Petit March

Told you not to expect much from this... So, in the midst of working on my undergraduate thesis and taking some filler classes in between, I wrote one (yes, finally one!) music review. This is intended to be published for my campus music appreciation group (Apres! ITB) but while I'm at it, it should be worth posting here. Here goes, the first actual review on the blog.

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Track list:

1. Introduction
2. space merry-go-round
3. にゃんだふる55
4. Une mage blanche
5. αρχη
6. Ferris wheel
7. 星夢
8. 魔法のたまご
9. みずうみの記憶
10. リンゴロジック
11. おもちゃばこのロンド
12. Cookie Bouquets
13. なまいきプリンセス
14. Resurrection
15. さよならトリップ
16. Ending

The world of video-game music can generally be considered as obscured to the public eye, as video game composers never intend their work to be published globally. It would generate no appeal to the mainstream as their music is catered exclusively to the fanbase and to an extent, avid gamers outside of it. It is such a shame, however, as albums such these offer a world of variety and flair that can’t be found within the strains of mainstream music.

For starters, Dormir are a Japanese-based duo consisting of Tomosuke Funaki (alias Tomosuke) and crimm (real name unknown as of now). Tomosuke himself is highly prolific composer for a string of music games by Bemani and a man of much collaboration and work to his repertoire; among others the soft jazz act Orange Lounge, his delves into pop soul with Frances Maya, a foreword into the mainstream with Japanese jazz group Jazzin’ park, forerunner of pianotronica (mixing electronic elements into piano-based songs), as well as providing instruments (mostly piano) to various Bemani songs, making him one of the most musically versatile in-house artists of the Bemani family. Crimm on the other hand is a vocalist who works mainly with Tomosuke and is known for her candy-sweet twee vocal styles. Together, they make Dormir. Petit March showcases 16 (2 introductory and outro, 14 actual) tracks of their colorful career, all of which are a deft and intelligent blend of Tomosuke’s various styles against the foreground of Crimm’s saccharine saturated singings.

The album opens with the aptly titled “Introduction” that escalates from a soft piano ballad to merry jazz, officially opening the album as crimm utters the album title in the most endearing way possible.

From here, the video game notion is established Evident in songs among others “space merry-go-round”, a bright waltzy march song with intermittent jingles that emulate a video game start menu, the pianotronic transitions of  “Une mage blanche” akin to timeworn 8-bit melodies of yore and “さよならトリップ” (Sayonara Trip) with soothing vibrations emanating throughout to constitute a pseudo-credits sequence, all the while seeping and echoing subtly into the corner of every song.

Every once in a few songs, the elaborate video game emulations are pushed aside to give room for a more post-modern production in the intermingling instrumentations and complex coatings of Tomosuke’s multi-musical repertory. “αρχη" (Arche) is a wondrous and expansive endeavor of jagged and eccentric pacing. “にゃんだふる55” (Nyandafuru 55) is a rousing swing-jazz number in all its festivity. “魔法のたまご” (Mahou no tamago) starts as an uplifting piano-violin duet that magically transforms itself into an electro-lite dance floor tune. “みずうみの記憶” (Mizuumi no kioku) opens with crimm’s dauntingly mesmerizing drones in unison to a music box before it sways an 18^th century ballroom dance. The carnival-like “Ferris wheel” that laments a romantic seaside setting. The earworm that is “Cookie Bouquets”, a buoyantly brazen tune that gets pulled in every direction with fuzzy synth bleeps, pseudo-broken noise beats and ecstatic pacing in a deviously delightful atmosphere. The album’s fitting centerpiece “星夢” (Hoshiyume) puts both members at their prime in a mix of their respective and idyllic talents; Tomosuke stages the music of a nighttime backdrop to crimm’s lush lullaby voice (“hoshiyume” literally means “star dream”, so it’s quite aptly titled).

Like I’ve said before, while it may preferably be catered to the Bemani fandom, Petit March is an intricate assortment of contemporary waltz, march, pianotronica, twee pop, and jazz among others. It is like a toy box of musical celebrations just waiting to be open to the mainstream ear and believe me when I say, that listening to this is much enjoyable whether you are listening to Tomosuke’s intelligent musical designs, crimm’s humble honey-dipped hums, or better yet, both at the same time.

Rate: 4.5 / 5