Has everyone forgotten Taku Iwasaki that quickly? I mean we already had a ton of people talking about him a couple pages ago, and it feels like all I talk about here is Iwasaki, but regardless I would put him above almost everyone working in Hollywood right now. Stray Dog's soundtrack comes out in a week and I'm honestly more excited for that than any other soundtrack from this year.

I think Zimmer is exceptionally good at creating a "soundscape", I find most of his music, especially nowadays, is more atmospheric than something that is supposed to stand on it's own. For example, I can't remember much of the individual pieces from Inception, but I do remember its "sound", and it's a lot more memorable than almost any superhero movie or even hummable Disney movie score in the last few years. He's made some real garbage of course, but when he hits it he hits it hard. I would compare him to Kawai, even though they don't sound like each other at all, they both have the same philosophy when it comes to making music. I'm not someone who is easily swayed just because there's a massive orchestral sound knocking out gorgeous melodies; one of my favorite soundtracks is Blade Runner's. It's very much a product of its time, but for me the music is so memorable because of its uniqueness- it separated the gritty cyberpunk world from other sci-fi worlds at the time like Star Wars. For me, how the music fits the movie and how it's used in the movie is far more important than the score itself. Which is sad, because i have to agree with Tango about how most movies nowadays are awful with using music, always having to use it for every little scene, bombast in moments where it ought to be quiet. Just getting back from Rogue One, what bothered me about the music was more of how it was used rather than the music itself. Maybe if they used less music everywhere, people would actually be able to remember the music in the moments it was properly utilized.

Tango, I have to disagree with you about Kajiura. She's as much of a one-trick pony as Sawano, but she is far from the worse the anime industry has to offer. Her music is memorable and works in a lot of the shows she's in. Far more than Sawano, whose music has gotten so predictable they even have specific cues for how it's used in the show, most of them revolving around that awful "Sawano Drop". I would still put Sawano and Tatsuya Katou well below her.

One very important person that I would like to mention is Koichi Sugiyama. A living legend with some of the most sublime anime and game scores in existence. He's the grand master of Japanese orchestral game music and STILL writes new music in 2016. I'm very much anticipating the Symphonic Suite for Dragon Quest XI:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdHYS2OWYW0 (Japan truely never changes)

One very important person that I would like to mention is Koichi Sugiyama. A living legend with some of the most sublime anime and game scores in existence. He's the grand master of Japanese orchestral game music and STILL writes new music in 2016. I'm very much anticipating the Symphonic Suite for Dragon Quest XI:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdHYS2OWYW0 (Japan truely never changes)
I wonder who will take over Dragon Quest when Sugiyama inevitably retires (or dies). He's 85 years old.

Maybe Hayato Matsuo, who was one of Sugiyama's apprentices. That would be a nice change of pace for Matsuo. And he'd be putting his talent to good use.

One very important person that I would like to mention is Koichi Sugiyama. A living legend with some of the most sublime anime and game scores in existence. He's the grand master of Japanese orchestral game music and STILL writes new music in 2016. I'm very much anticipating the Symphonic Suite for Dragon Quest XI:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdHYS2OWYW0 (Japan truely never changes)

Don't forget his score for Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)! One of the most memorable scores in the Godzilla franchise, as well as my personal favorite, next to Reijiro Koroku's score for The Return of Godzilla (1984), Akira Ifukube's Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), Ifukube's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993), and Michiru Oshima's Godzilla X Mechagodzilla (2002).

I wonder who will take over Dragon Quest when Sugiyama inevitably retires (or dies).

Probably Michael Giacchino

.

•••Christmas on Movies•••
The Metropole Orchestra



01. "A Christmas Carol" from Scrooge
Arranged & Conducted by Jun Nagao

02. "Christmas Dream" from Odessa File
Arranged & Conducted by Jun Nagao

03. "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow" from Die Hard
Arranged & Conducted by Haruhiko Noda

04. "It's Christmas Again" from Santa Claus: The Movie
Arranged & Conducted by Jun Nagao

05. "Winter Wonderland" from When Harry Met Sally...
Arranged by Haruhiko Noda / Conducted by Hideo Hirata

06. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" from Meet Me in St. Louis
Arranged & Conducted by Keisuke Shinohara

07. "Jingle Bells" from The Five Pennies
Arranged & Conducted by Haruhiko Noda

08. "Home Alone Medley" from Home Alone (Part 1)
Arranged by Masao Deguchi / Conducted by Hideo Hirata

09. "Home Alone Medley" from Home Alone (Part 2)
Arranged & Conducted by Keisuke Shinohara

10. "White Christmas" from Holiday Inn
Arranged & Conducted by Keisuke Shinohara

Ripped, scanned, edited, etc. by nextday.

Download: https://mega.nz/#!5RkThJaL!xZMg1VNjO2joLE6cAWl0obC7LygfzqmaMH0zy2nGBy8

My Christmas present for the thread. Happy holidays, everyone. :)

I'll be sharing a 100% perfect FLAC rip of Arashi no Yoru ni with SCANS as soon as my friend is done with them.

Look forward!

I wish you a Merry Christmas nextday! Thank you for this wonderful gift. :D Home Alone makes me tear up every time.

Thanks.

By the way, I just found this PV for Naotora featuring Kanno's music: http://www.nhk.or.jp/naotora/special/movie/01.html

:happycroc:

That short fanfare on its own makes me happier than any Taiga theme since Shinsengumi.

Since we are entering the holidays, and are (hopefully) in a festive mood here's an early christmas present. Special thanks to nikitos, yepsa, lexwalker, Herr Salat, tangotreats, Akashi San, nextday & atsusa. All credit belongs to them. I’m only using their shares this time, saving me much time of ripping cds, so the rep goes to those wonderful individuals:




The Legacy of Japanese Composers
Michiru Oshima




Michiru Oshima is one of the greatest composers of the 21st century, the inheritor of the Golden Age of American cinema and the greatest anime composer of this decade. On the other side of the globe she continues the craftsmanship and musical legacy of the legends of Korngold, Steiner, North and Rozsa.

She was always a special case since early childhood and in hindsight destined for greatness. Having both a taste for Jazz and Rock since an early age, one could argue that a favor for Jazz has elevated many good composers to greatness. You certainly hear Jazz all over her work as well as some rock influences, particularly in her collaborations with Sahashi.

For me Oshima has two periods, her early period from the 90s to 2003, from 2003 to today. Her early scores were far more in the sound world of American cinema and could sit right alongside the scores from Korngold to Broughton and nobody would raise an eyebrow.

After her big game-changer “Full Metal Alchemist” she launched into amazing new heights with great scores one after the other. We saw more collaboration with European orchestras than before and her skills and tricks grew more refined. She already wrote mini-symphonies and tone poems disguised as film scores but now the line between them began to blur. After 2013 she no longer sits among great film composers but finally stepped in front of the pantheon of the greatest composers of all time. Her skills with an orchestra and her melodic ability are on the level of genius.

She's also a cosmopolitan composer, formed beautiful collaborations with Moscow and Paris and her scores recorded in Russia are among the most punchy yet lush and warm sounding recordings ever.

Unfortunately many Oshima scores are not available both physical and digital, the most tragic being her unreleased scores for Buddha and some Taiga Dramas which were scored in superlative fashion. Mind you this is not everything that’s available, for example I know some of her contributions are missing, but I’m saving those for another collection.

If you have never heard Oshima I urge you to download Part III and check out the excellent music selection for a great overview of the composer. It will blow you away by the first piece alone, I’ll guarantee it.

Of course everything is in loseless if possible.



Russian Bravado



Download (https://mega.nz/#!cYkz3CLC!Z-Fu9QmzzFlVbWQkLyEL64_EQXvwtDzwqsMPXcfeh4E)

Full Metal Alchemist: Oshima's score for the 2003 TV-Anime "Fullmetal Alchemist" and the 2005 movie "The Conqueror of Shamballa" can only be described in superlatives. The music is pure magic. My first contact with her work. The Alchemist Theme is the highlight of the score. It goes through one hell of a journey, appearing in full front as a heroic march, a dark sinister march, a smashing action piece or a pastoral string piece. But the motif is appearing in numerous tracks as well, played bold or subtle, heroic or tragic. We have of course many secondary themes and motifs, often for individual story arcs. The movie score also has a very sinister villain theme that is played in numerous variations throughout the score. Going a bit more into detail I absolutly love how the Moscow Symphonic orchestra sounds. The first bars for the horn in "The Way Home" instantly put me in the world of alchemists. But what really puts me on the edge of my seat are the strings in "Determination", god that is beautiful. "Reminiscence" is one of my favorite orchestral pieces in all of anime and "Hope for the Future" is the best closing title Oshima has written yet, reprising the lovely "Refreshing Weather" at the beginning.

Zetsuen no Tempest: Her most accomplished work and more of a tone poem than film score. It is absolute romantic beauty mixed with nerve-wrecking dystopian introspection. The action is certainly the best Oshima wrote so far and all hell is cut loose in “Resurrection”. Only Mahler could have conjured a more epic sound that screams “The World is Ending”. I structured it like a three act play to present the music in its best light. Every note is gold and it sounds absolutely terrific. The Russian State Symphony Cinema Orchestra elevates this score to monumental heights. I would go so far as to say this is one of the greatest media scores ever written. All the more tragic that no soundtrack release exists. But maybe in time.

Little Witch Academia (1+2): Her most magical score by a mile. Over 40 minutes of pure heroic magic that only Williams can beat. Classical fun from head to toe with some of the most glorious marches and fanfares ever written for media, all made perfect by the sound of the Russian State Orchestra. It all makes me even more excited for the upcoming TV score. Good good I love it so much I could put it on endless repeat. A sweeping glorious work.

Rokka no Yuusha (Braves of the Six Flowers): Speaking of glorious, here’s a Golden Age sword & sandals score par excellence with pure lyrical themes and great heroic and sinister action. Some moments are so great that you would swear Korngold or Rozsa have risen from the grave. Once again the Russian State Orchestra provides stellar sound with punch and clarity. One of the best adventure scores in anime.

Patema is the greatest short score ever written for an anime, the Main Theme is such a goose bumping, glorious romantic theme that you feel your feet leaving the ground and her “Flying Escape!” is one of the greatest flying themes ever written. Right up there with ET and Escaflowne.

HAL is a change of pace with full on romantic and introspective beauty with the piano in the forefront. It would not feel out of place alongside Goldsmiths or Horners greatest romantic scores.


French Beauty



Download (https://mega.nz/#!IRcSHYIZ!cmovsr3fXsXyG29G6FBxMr5_DgAwPUd6CNkdLonWLCA)

Shirayuki (Snow White with the Red Hair): Superlatives again. An enormous outburst of lyrical beauty, perhaps her best yet. It’s so sublime and magical. Regal and majestic beauty mixed with perhaps her greatest love theme yet. At the end things heat up with some glorious action pieces and the only action piece so far where I really don’t mind the drum samples. But thankfully, almost the entire album is performed by the Orchestre de Paris and a wonderful intimate sound makes it one of the greatest pastoral scores ever written. Pieces like “The Prince of Clarines” or “The Prince’s Resolution” sends shivers down my spine, god it wrecks me every time. What a masterpiece.

Sora no Woto (Sound of the Sky): The magic happened once before with the same orchestra. Although Snow White hits hard on a much grander scale, this one hits on a more intimate and psychological level. The arrangement of Amazing Grace here is right up there with Horners in Wrath of Khan. And the French song is just gorgeous. “Beauty in decay” sums up this aural painting. You can hear Oshima at her most jolly here as well but its really pieces like “Au coin de feu” that elevate the whole thing. It’s a late-romantic masterpiece that doesn’t need to hide behind the greats like Debussy. It can sit right alongside them.

Xam’d: One of her best. Again with the Paris Orchestra and pretty unique in parts, especially in its use of auxiliary percussion. She takes a shot at outdoing Hisaishi at what he does best in parts and what do you know, it certainly accomplishes that for me. The Main Theme, especially in its full glory in “Xam'd ~The Namegiver~” can sit right alongside Hisaishi’s best thematic outburst, it wrecked me. It has some of her most heroic action Oshima has written and “Great Pilgrimage ~Blooming and Scattering Souls~” is one of those larger than life pieces you only hear in Japan anymore. For me it’s yet another masterpiece.

Aura: A great romantic score witch starts as a lighthearted adventure at first, with absolutely beautiful lyrical moments until the second half where it loses some momentum thanks to modern drum parts that feel a little tagged on but all is well with lyrical string pieces right after and the great set piece “Confrontation”, which is one of her most accomplished classical pieces. A stellar score all things considered.


Japanese Pride



Download (https://mega.nz/#!4J9n1RJI!lOoqQSgH37NuPQrxRyoSdqc3rAH6NiBWqSS02NxOtLY)

Fuse: A unique vibe with traditional Japanse instruments, Flamenco Guitar, Asian melodies and a much more rhythmic Oshima than usual. Some tracks are not everyone’s cup of tea but there’s the usual Golden Age sound and some wonderful concert pieces like “Gou”, once again one of her most accomplished pieces, that elevate he score to greatness. It also has my favorite “The End” moment from Oshima outside of FMA.

Le Chevalier D'Eon: Ironic that this was in fact not recorded in Paris :D Still what we have here is again more Tone Poem than film score, with dark brooding tones and great romantic beauty. The action is certainly taking after FMA. The final pieces are just lyrical poetry.

Nabari no Ou has beautiful lyrical woodwind, piano and violin focused pieces. The action is very frenetic and blood-bumping, in some parts very jazzy. In many regards this can be seen as a precursor to Tempest. Great music.

Tatami Galaxy opens with the most “rose-colored”, bouncy and happy pieces she ever wrote, the rest of the score is again more introspective and psychological than majestic but nonetheless glorious. More jazzy and guitar focused than her usual works. I get the vibe that this is a more personal score for her. Like the show it’s a multilayered clockwork in parts with moments of vigorous adventure and lyrical romantic beauty. One of her best works. Very excited for the movie btw.

Garasu no Utagi and Momoko are beautiful little short stories with the usual grace and romanticism Oshima is a master at.


European Tradition



Download (https://mega.nz/#!JJlGiTxK!hHEgfysETwat-4t2QHZjILq5jhPr2yHuCOYU4sKUCaQ)

Arc the Lad is a grand symphonic adventure score, for major set-pieces elevated by the sound of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. Scored like an animated feature from the 80s in parts or a Golden Age epic saga in others. “Battle of Airships” for example sounds like a Best-Of from the Golden Age’s adventure classics like Sindbad, El Cid and many others. A truly glorious score and one that cemented Oshima’s status as one of the greatest Anime composer of this generation.

Legend of Casshan is what would happen if Oshima had scored a Neverending Story. It really sounds like an epic children’s fantasy story with moments from a time long forgotten in Hollywood. A beautiful and epic score.

Mahou Tsukai Tai! Has one of the most wonderful themes Oshima has written. If you listen to this and then to Little Witch Academia you can hear how much her style has changed over the years. But it makes this one no less beautiful. I prefer the score suites on the second soundtrack and the first 12 pieces play almost like a symphony. It’s music straight from an old animated feature scored by Goodwin or Goldsmith.

Hanaukyo Maids La Verite is again straight from the Golden Years of cinema and I love it for pieces like “Hanaukyoke” or “Okawa ni Imasu”. It’s wonderful music, all in good fun.

Queen Esmeraldas is a symphonic film score that while lacking Oshima’s later refined orchestrations and technical skill, still employs excellent music with much callback to earlier romantic film scores The same can be said for Gall Force. She is not quite reached the legendary heights of today but it’s all excellent music nonetheless.

Jeiku no Okourimono is perfect for the holiday season, absolutely beautiful and lyrical, with sublime Christmas feeling. It’s not Home Alone but wonderful, lovely music with a classical touch.

Hana Yori Dango is a symphonic album that is part film score, part concerto. I especially love her Fantasia Suites here. Wonderful, wonderful music. A strong indicator how great her unreleased symphony might turn out to be.


Cinema (The Golden Age Scores)



Download (https://mega.nz/#!AcsniKJC!n-Xu26ZEL6P89-_F5HS7TnebkLH2K4i7OGQd_odI2Po)


Late Cinema Period

Michiru Oshima, the Golden Age composer, shines the brightest in her work for cinema. Not only is “Pride” one of the greatest pieces ever written for the big screen, her Godzilla scores (X Mechagodzilla in particular) and Year One in the North are the greatest successors of the great sweeping Hollywood epic of the 50s and 60s. “Hoping for a Miracle” is just awe-inspiring, again one of the greatest pieces for cinema ever written.

Godzilla X Mechagodzilla is the pinnacle of her three Godzilla scores and a pure outburst of glorious military bravado and mankind’s heroism. It’s bombastic both in composition and sound (again by the Moscow Symphony). Her other two Godzilla scores are very much in the same sound world but not reaching the same height.

Adiantum blue continues this glory with a truly beautiful romantic and serene love score whose final piece “Lumiere” makes you wander dream-like plains of harmony. Maboroshi no Yamatakoku and Wanko continue this pastoral sound world. Lyrical and romantic from head to toe and with Wanko in a more playful setting.

Umineko is an introspective and beautiful score, dreamlike and in the greatest tradition of romantic composers, with a focus on strings and piano. Debussy would be proud.

Memories of Tomorrow is a companion piece with the same level of beauty but a much more tragic core. “Memories of Tomorrow” being one of her greatest romantic pieces.

Early Cinema Period

Kulta, The Adventure Of a Golden Dog is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, music from another era, with this phenomenal callback to the Golden Age, Oshima would not feel out of place writing music alongside Korngold, North, Herrmann or Steiner.

Tomoko no Baai is very much in the same vain, a demonstration of class rarely heard today. A lovely magical adventure with absolutely wonderful music.

Friendship is a more light-hearted romantic poem with “Field Of Flowers” being absolutely sublime. Pure love.

Tenshi no Auron is a very unique Oshima score, very esoteric in parts but still full of Golden Age leisure and style. Intoxicating piano pieces as well.


Televison (80s Bravado & Jazz Scores)



Download (https://mega.nz/#!AAEhnR5K!-4J4wHUf5lnLG5KMFMJOwCUzzQgYayK5KiHI12qOqvk)

“Simba” is out of this world, truly magical with perhaps her most lyrical theme. It has instant timeless classic written all over it, like most of her work really, but even more so here.

Planet of Life is another masterpiece by Oshima, more a symphony than television score with a glorious theme and some of her best orchestral pieces ever: “The Ancient Oceans ~Land of Promise~” in particular is just out of this world. The work of a genius.

Data Map almost reaches the same heights but has not the same cohesiveness and symphony character. Still a fantastic theme and some stellar pieces throughout. I really love “Amazing Planet”.

Tenchijin: “Bounds ~ Journey of Tenchijin”, “Road” and “To the Future” are three of her most accomplished pieces and the rest of the score is her usual great standard. Beautiful and lyrical themes with strong heroic material and some jazzy intermezzo. An epic journey.

Gokusen: One of her very best themes with more playfulness than usual and some delicious Big Band tunes. Some sublime moments with “Successor“ that channels Shirayuki’s most epic moments.

Asuka is another full-on romantic and introspective score with beautiful wind and piano pieces and with Japanese flavor.

Junjo Kirari is a companion piece to Shirayuki with it’s absolutely lyrical themes and romantic tranquility.

Shomui (The Great Woman): This is Oshima reaching into Sahashi territory. No surprise since she worked together with him in the past. Not many of her Sahashi-esque scores grab me but this one does. Great jazzy Big Band action and glorious heroic marches and classical moments. The Main Theme sahashified is a Joy to listen to. Oshima’s love for classic rock clearly shines the brightest here.

Hotelier is in best tradition of her romantic film scores and Oishi Propose is basically a Longue album for a relaxing afternoon. Naguru Onna is a classic noir score with a strong early 90s movie vibe.

Netsuretsu Teki Chuuka Hanten (Chinese Cuisine) is just delightful levity and fun. With the last piece “Chinese Jelly Rainbow” she demonstrates how much power and love you can pour into one minute of music. A great finish.

Concert Works / Commissions

Twilight Princess: Oh what could have been. Imagine the game scored by her genius with a real orchestra. Midna’s Theme could have sounded so great. Instead we have two fantastic heroic orchestral fantasy pieces with rendition of Zelda’s themes.

Nagasaki Green & Blue: A heartfelt love letter to her hometown that feels incredibly personal and lifts your spirit.

53rd National Sports Festival (Symphony Orchestra): A fantastic tour de force of her usual heroic bombast with ocean-textures and cymbals galore.

For the East (String Quartet) is a masterpiece. One of the greatest chamber scores of the 21st century. Very oriental melodies and fantastic string dancing. A very personal and introspective work that cuts right into the mind.

Cell Division (Cello+Piano) gets right under your skin and makes the synapses rotate. A cold brittle November walk into a cave of nightmares.

Le Premier amour destroys you with its absolute lyrical beauty. God I love her so much!



Composer Profile: Michiru Oshima



Trademark: Symphonic Lyricist, Golden Queen, R�zsa of the East

Education: Kunitachi College of Music

Style: Romantic Repertoire, Golden Age Film Score


That concludes my Legacy collection for the year. I hope you could find much enjoyment, experience great music for the very first time or discover certain scores in a different light presented with a narrative in those collections. But rest assured that it’s not over yet. A few more will follow next year.

One final comment: Fascinating that she graduated from the same college as Hisaishi and Amano, I guess one musical institution could not need any more advertisement. I wonder how many composers will leave or have already left this institution to perhaps one day lead the film music world by storm.

By the way, I just found this PV for Naotora featuring Kanno's music: http://www.nhk.or.jp/naotora/special/movie/01.htmlThat was wonderful. I wonder what Kanno has been doing all these years? She (or her shadow writers) hasn't gotten rusty at all.

Key changes in the first 10 seconds of that clip (the fanfare part):

D major -> F minor -> Ab major -> D major

That's some Vaughan Williams-level modulation right there.

Well, never thought this day would come but: Kanno has finally seem to return. Last work I loved from her was Gochisousan, but even then from what I'm hearing it's the best I've heard of her in freakin' YEARS. It feels so satisfying to say the least, and I can already hear a lot of nods to Nobunaga's Ambition, it'll be interesting to see and compare how much she's mature since then! (52 years). We're already re-assured that we'll be getting a full blown symphony of a theme for this Taiga Drama, not just your small string session, not just your domestic ensemble, but a big one that is! As much as I would love the involvement of Warsaw, the music will always, always have the final word for me, and this sounds pretty damn convincing so far, fingers crossed all this effort is not just put in just the theme alone, I need at least +30 minutes doses of Kanno greatness.

Thank you for the share nextday! This will hopefully work to fight a little against the damn monotony I hear every year in the repertoire of Christmas songs of my own living at least.

Man, I missed, yet again, another important discussion about the "quality" of Rouge One... oh well, guess I'll bring that for another time...;)

Before I get excited about this...

a) Who arranged it?
b) Is Ch@d Sighter (deliberately misspelled to avoid setting off his vanity Google Alerts) or any other third-rate low-budget Giacchino "musicians" involved?
c) Is it going to be just medleys or will there be a genuine attempt to do something new and original with tired old themes?
I had a feeling it would happen, even though the info I got before was misunderstanding.
1. I hope Yamashita, wouldn't be his first time o this, and if I heard, I could confirm
2. Chad is probably a no, I've actually met the guy and can ask through a mutual friend we share. I can say that they both have accounts here, so they might see anyway.
3. I would much expect the latter for most of the themes. I will hunt down the info

Sorry this is a late reply, but I have been very busy in life but am catching up in the thread.

Man, I missed, yet again, another important discussion about the "quality" of Rouge One... oh well, guess I'll bring that for another time...;)

Eh, why not have it now? I'm gonna post about it, seeing as I've seen the film in the last couple of days, so you may as well join in on the fun.

First, let me preface this by saying that I've never been a fan of John Williams' work on Star Wars, and his music in general. I'll gladly admit that the man can write good theme tunes, but I find most of his background to be interchangeable and incredibly dull. It's a matter of taste, but I consider Williams' score the musical equivalent of Hayao Miyazaki's films - they're beloved, speak to nearly everyone on some level, but they leave me cold for whatever reason.

That said, I would rather have Williams than Giacchino scoring Rouge One in a million years. Rouge One is already a deeply uninteresting film as is, but it's made all the worse by Giacchino's droning wall of noise. It's just orchestrated sound that exists for no other reason than to exist, and is never allowed to become anything more than that. Except when it wants to quote some Williams for the sake of pandering (of which there is a lot in general); then it gets fairly good for about 15-30 seconds, after which it segues back into Giacchino's own work with all the subtlety of an exploding nunnery. Seriously, it adds an extra note at the end that sounds so off, it's the textbook definition of a bum note. I honestly can't help but wonder if Giacchino made a mistake while recording a demo for the song and was so pressed for time that he kept playing, as if he meant to hit that bum note.

If there's anything positive I can say about the soundtrack to Rouge One, it made me appreciate that Williams can at least make something that's pleasant to listen to and somewhat memorable while watching the film (at least I can kinda remember Rey's Theme from TFA, compared to anything Rouge One shat out). Otherwise, all I can add is my bewilderment at Giacchino's popularity. Seriously, how does this guy keep getting work? I've seen at least half a dozen films composed by him (including Zootopia, the latter two Abbrams Star Treks, and the similarly awful Jurassic World), and I can't for the life of me remember any of the music he did for them. And I'm the kind of musically obsessed madman that can name 95% of the music in Cowboy Bebop just by listening to the first few seconds of it. Like, what is it about Giacchino that keeps him regularly doing big name soundtracks?

Is it the same reason that he was hired to do Rouge One's score at the last minute, that he's quick? "Oh, we don't have time to get someone proper in to do the music. Just hire that dude what did them Star Trek films a while back. He'll shove something out by the end of the month." If I were Giacchino, I'd take that as an insult. Hell, maybe he does and gives the producer walls of noise out of spite.

Anyway, shite film gets shite music, so you can at least say it's fitting.

Saw La La Land today. What a wonderful movie and what a lovely soundtrack. Hollywood is still kicking.

On Giacchino...

I can't imagine that Giacchino's that quick - although with such a ginormous team of orchestrators (including at least one who could have composed, orchestrated, AND conducted this score single-handedly AND done it better than Giacchino ever could in a month of Sundays) I suppose anything's possible.

I think it's as simple as this: Giacchino is "the" guy you call if you want a score that's comparatively a throwback - ie, Giacchino has his foot in the door marked "John Williams" and if you want a score with that sort of aesthetic, well, who else in Hollywood are you going to call? (From the current roster of "acceptable" people to score a blockbuster movie.)

The Hollywood mentality also goes: "We need a Star Wars score in a hurry. Who better to ask than the guy who LOVES John Williams, made his name earlier in his career as the video-game Williams, is a known Star Wars fanatic, is based in Hollywood, and is currently one of the biggest names in film scoring?"

It was always going to be Giacchino.

The situation is the same as one I witness at work; I have a budget to purchase equipment but I can't use any supplier I like - I have to pick between half a dozen suppliers on the "pre-approved" list - to purchase from anybody else I have to launch a lengthy process which pisses off Finance and a dozen other people, introduces new risks, and takes weeks to get anything done - so if I'm in a rush to get this equipment, or I can possibly avoid it any other way, I end up picking a company who is pre-approved. Invariably the choice is between a bunch of companies who are f*****g terrible, and one company who's borderline adequate at a pinch - they can do the job well enough and fast enough and cheap enough that I don't get in trouble.

The choice makes itself.

On Kajiura...

Perhaps I was a little unfair; I still maintain that she's a hack and vastly overrated. I don't find her memorable at all - her style is pretty unique and nobody really sounds like her, but I don't think you could argue that alone makes it memorable. Her educational credentials can't be argued with, nor can her popularity, but I have never found anything positive to say about a Kajiura score aside from a) This sounds like Kajiura, and b) This music is appropriate to the tone of the show. On a personality level, I find her amazingly arrogant - maybe it's more fair for me to say I think the gap between her ability and what she perceives is her ability is wide. I feel like Sawano has got more raw ability than Kajiura does, and I feel like Tatuya Kato has more raw ability than the both of them put together - but time will tell whether they get to demonstrate their skills. Kato, like Sawano and Kajiura, has been ultra-typecast to a point where you can hear the premise of a show, hear who's scoring it, and almost guess the score in your head six months before it's even been written. On a purely personal level, I just don't like her music - I find it musically interesting and the arrangement incredibly bland and tedious.

Nextday's Christmas post...

This is a fascinating album - thank you very much! A completely bizarre selection, but interesting to hear some genuine arranging going on - this isn't just a re-recording using existing re-orchestrations, it's an attempt to do something a bit different.

On Zelda...

I would guess (hope) that since this is a non-Western production, Chad will not be involved. It seems that perhaps Nintendo learned their lesson from the 25th Anniversary. Time will tell. Zelda has been done to death almost as intensively as Final Fantasy - so another album of by-the-numbers orchestrations of popular tunes from the games won't cut it. They've all been heard and recorded fifty trillion times already. It would be really nice to hear something with a touch of class this time around; even if, in the end, it's just arrangements, hopefully they'll be good ones made by somebody with a bit of skill. It all depends on what the concert producers were aiming for - if they wanted to get a lot of people in a concert hall and nostalgia them to death, it's probably going to be of limited interest to me. If they're wanting to pay a proper tribute to the diverse history of Zelda's music and realise the genuine potential for magic that exists in that genre, it could be really, really brilliant.

The season has ended.

Yuri on Ice - Pretty interesting debut from Taku Matsushiba. The soundtrack wasn't as orchestral as I'd hoped it would be, but was more of a blend of many different genres. It will be nice for his resume at least. This piece from episode 11 is interesting - you don't often hear this kind of orchestration, except from Hirano: http://picosong.com/d3EL/


Izetta - not exactly my cup of tea. The music is pretty experimental at times. There's quite a bit of ethnic vocals, electronica, and rock mixed in with the orchestra. That description sounds like Kajiura, but I wouldn't really compare the two. There are some interesting pieces, but the soundtrack as a whole doesn't really do much for me.

rogue one is much better with the missing music from the fyc inserted back into the album.some impressive music from thie finale especially.that begiining part of we have to press on from the space battle is some of the best action he ever wrote.

I dunno, tango, the concert album is 2CD long PLUS DVD, I don't expect it to be the same as always, it has to be special.

So this is happening http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2016-12-21/shin-godzilla-evangelion-face-off-continues-with-symphony-performance/.110159

Even knowing how much Shin Godzilla cheekily cannabilizes music from Eva(tho I haven't heard the former yet myself), this should be worth a look. I like Sagisu OK, loooove the music of Eva, and Amano's conducting, among other pluses.

Wow Izetta... listen to "In the Face of Death" and "Battle Mode Irruption"... we got a real Yoko Kanno fangirl here :D

Seems like I was dead on with my observation: A cross of Kanno, Sahashi and Kajiura. So far I'm intrigued. There IS an orchestral score with strong theme present, even if you don't like the vocals and electronics (then again, with an ensemble that small its understandable). And the anthem was neat (in the show the pronouncing was beyond atrocious). A shame some tracks had better mixed versions in the show but it's nothing major.

Yuri on Ice: I'm certainly not disappointed hearing some of the best classical media pieces outside the classical realm. 15 minutes of glory. I also like most of the songs a lot, you rarely hear pop songs backed up by an orchestra with decent orchestration. And it seems like it will get a second season, sign me up for another Aria or Piano Concerto.

Evazilla Concert: I'm starting to lose track of all these projects. Kaoru Wada is also involved so this has my interest. If Amano and Wada provide the arrangements it will be a treat no matter what Sagisu wrote.

PonyoBellanote: Very much looking forward to your share :)

Oh and Gravity Rush 2 demo today and the animation on december 26, let's hear if my predictions of this being Tanaka at his best be validated.

That Yoko Kanno preview music made me shiver with delight! It has been WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too long since Aquarion! I need to see the Kanno more!

���Christmas on Movies���
The Metropole Orchestra



01. "A Christmas Carol" from Scrooge
Arranged & Conducted by Jun Nagao

02. "Christmas Dream" from Odessa File
Arranged & Conducted by Jun Nagao

03. "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow" from Die Hard
Arranged & Conducted by Haruhiko Noda

04. "It's Christmas Again" from Santa Claus: The Movie
Arranged & Conducted by Jun Nagao

05. "Winter Wonderland" from When Harry Met Sally...
Arranged by Haruhiko Noda / Conducted by Hideo Hirata

06. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" from Meet Me in St. Louis
Arranged & Conducted by Keisuke Shinohara

07. "Jingle Bells" from The Five Pennies
Arranged & Conducted by Haruhiko Noda

08. "Home Alone Medley" from Home Alone (Part 1)
Arranged by Masao Deguchi / Conducted by Hideo Hirata

09. "Home Alone Medley" from Home Alone (Part 2)
Arranged & Conducted by Keisuke Shinohara

10. "White Christmas" from Holiday Inn
Arranged & Conducted by Keisuke Shinohara

Ripped, scanned, edited, etc. by nextday.

My Christmas present for the thread. Happy holidays, everyone. :)

What? They didn't do any of the Gremlins music, or Jingle Bell Rock from Lethal Weapon? Sorry, but as good as this is, no Christmas collection is complete without music from at least Gremlins.

---------- Post added at 01:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:42 PM ----------

Well, since it's the Christmas season, who wants to discuss their favorite Christmas movie and TV soundtracks?

My favorites are Gremlins (1984) by the late legendary Jerry Goldsmith, Die Hard (1988) by the late and equally great Michael Kamen, Lethal Weapon (1987) also by Kamen, with Eric Clapton, and the music from The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever Invader Zim episode, composed by Kevin Manthei, who was actually mentored by Jerry Goldsmith himself.

Izetta definitely has Kanno-like overtones, but is missing that certain harmonic ingenuity that goes along with the great orchestrations. It ends up sharing a lot of the same harmonic language as Kaoru Wada and Joe Hisaishi. The random electronic noises over the orchestra are also reminiscent of Kanno.

Track 15 seems to be modeled after Macross Frontier

Track 18 is neat, like Harry Potter crossed with Elfman.

That violin harmonic in track 23 is great.

Track 25 is 100% Macross Frontier. Holy smokes.

Seems like a lot of music is missing, have to wait for OST 2.

http://vgmdb.net/album/63946 < --- Valkyria Azure Revolution is going to get a 2-Disc set...anyone stoked to listen to it? xD ;D

���Christmas on Movies���
The Metropole Orchestra



Thank you very much, nextday!

I just listen to this album and it's absolutely charming!
A wonderful contribution, which I greatly appreciate.
I'm so ready for Christmas Eve! :)

Thanks again for your very generous share!

Merry Christmas! ^^

The Last Guardian's soundtrack in CD is out in Japan since two days ago. It's already available to download in the Video Game section. I'll give my first listen to this now.

On a purely personal level, I just don't like her music - I find it musically interesting and the arrangement incredibly bland and tedious.


I could have never agreed more about Kajiura's music or find the correct words to describe it until now. It always ticked me in the wrong way, even though, I acknowledge the fact that she was able to develop a trademark that led her to be adored by many. Sorrowful violin passages, celtic chanting, constant use of mallets, and that's the thing though, even if every note she's written speaks pure originality, it isn't enough to sustain what ends up being the final product of of her works and the most evident of her flaws: the lack of any ingenious orchestration and arrangement in that manner, that could make her music have any everlasting impact towards me. And now that MICHIRU's Izetta has arrived, it only justifies my general distaste towards Kajiura even further.

Take the second track from Izetta for instance, that's probably one of the most Kajirua-esque tracks of this, you can still hear those constant lyrical chantings and celtic harp so characteristic from Kaijura's instrumentation of her style, but MICHIRU manages to push it further showing just in the first 40 seconds of what she's capable of the arsenal of instruments she can write for, before diving into the main theme. Less than 30 seconds have passed, and we can hear yet, another verse were that sweet oboe comes in to get back to the main course. After the first two minutes, there's a key change after the chanting and then a new part that ends up reminding me alot of a segment of Kanno's main theme for Ragnarok Online II.

It just puts in shame what Kajiura has written in her entire career and the lack of versatility she possesses to get out of her comfort zone. Yes, there's that NHK work were you can see she puts a little more effort and can actually write for woodwinds and a bit of brass other than what she's known for, but the same case goes for Sawano I guess, one work (Gigantic Formula) is not going to convince me in liking the rest of their work, if anything, it's just wasted potential.


Eh, why not have it now? I'm gonna post about it, seeing as I've seen the film in the last couple of days, so you may as well join in on the fun.

I rather have my thoughts (not positive by the way) recollected after a few more listens before I bother to make a post talking about every track if you don't mind... besides the fact that I want to see the film first ;)



Oh and Gravity Rush 2 demo today and the animation on december 26, let's hear if my predictions of this being Tanaka at his best be validated.
Just watched a 20 minute demo... I just can't wait for a full release right now... :D

Yeah I agree about Kajiura's blandness. It was exciting when I was at an early stage in my musical interests before I started noticing more complex music. Both Kajiura and Kotaro Nakagawa write music that is simplistic in orchestration but hits the right notes emotionally and so it grabs you easily.

Also just in case anyone was interested in actually playing Final Fantasy XV, stay far away if you are expecting a decent story. I finished the game a few days ago and the plot was ridiculous in that after the beginning of the game when a certain event happens pushing the characters in one direction there is hardly any explanation for what happens after that. And they somehow think people will pay for DLC to flesh out the plot. No thanks. Shame because the music is lovely and one of the better parts of the game. The combat was the only thing that kept me going and even that was ridiculous when it came to the final boss fight. Now I've moved on to Dragon Age Inquisition where the story is much more in depth as I expected with the first two games being so solid but the music is generic. Rarely is there a game where everything is fantastic.

I have the Main Theme of Gravity Rush 2 on constant repeat. It's so great it needs to be performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic asap somehow. The Brass writing very much reminds me of Ron Goodwin's Squadron 633 and together with that lovely Waltz section... all around class by a master of his craft. I pray for a symphonic album of Gravity Rush, seeing so much symphonic concerts and albums rise up in the last couple of years. I hope the game becomes a hit just for that to happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-TK-QNRMCQ

The whole theme is actually a waltz; mashing together so many different styles of music, throwing on a glittering wash of very detailed orchestration - Tanaka all over; doing more than is necessary in every note.

Kajiura: I actually feel quite guilty now, because in making a mistake I inadvertently tapped into Pensquawk's subconscious mind! I had actually intended to say that I find Kajiura musically UNinteresting as well as having a bland and tedious arrangement - Izetta is an example of how somebody can go after a similar aesthetic and completely succeed where I feel that Kajiura consistently and continuously doesn't. (Most of) Izetta fails as an orchestral score, but all of it wins a thousand times over as an exotic, original, evocative and exceedingly well-written piece of music - even if it does plagiarise from Kanno; which is such a meta concept that I fear the mere existence of this score will BSOD the universe before Christmas. It goes after a particular sound and attacks it with confidence that is simply jaw-dropping; that it's an almost-debut score from a composer in her 30s is simply astonishing. Another composer has arrived on the scene who can orchestrate, has a wonderful sense of melody, can tell a story in music, and has a flair for big, symphonic gestures.

Not that I dislike the diversity of Izetta, but I wouldn't have love to hear Michiru (who was 18 months old when Kohei Tanaka made his debut - let that sink in for a while) have a go at a proper symphonic score - and leave Yoko Kanno's back catalogue alone! I feel like she's got the ability and possibly the interest. (You don't learn to write like track 18 and not have any desire to write the next sprawling orchestral masterpiece.)

Kajiura: I actually feel quite guilty now, because in making a mistake I inadvertently tapped into Pensquawk's subconscious mind! I had actually intended to say that I find Kajiura musically UNinteresting as well as having a bland and tedious arrangement

Worry not, Tango, I mostly just wanted to point out on the fact that I applaud on Kajiura's originality despite all the reasons already listed that makes me not like her music in the first place, so what I said still stands :D

If anything, my opinion on her perhaps might improve if she ever counts with a competent arranger and orchestrator on her side, but who am kidding here, her artistic arrogance wouldn't allow that to become a plausible reality now, would it? ;)

Tango, I think you might be generalizing Kajiura just a bit. As with all composers, even the ones we don't like, there are ups and downs in their career. I actually enjoy Kajiura's soundtracks for Madlax and Noir. Have you ever listened to either of those works?

Although, out of curiosity, if you had to choose between Yuki Kajiura and Michael Giacchino to score... say, a Star Wars movie or another Star Trek film, who would you choose, if those were the only two people available? This is purely hypothetical, of course.

I feel like Sawano has got more raw ability than Kajiura does, and I feel like Tatuya Kato has more raw ability than the both of them put together - but time will tell whether they get to demonstrate their skills.

I disagree. I feel like you prefer him a bit more just because you equate the orchestra to the epitome of music, and Sawano is a bit more orchestral with his music than Kajiura. But unlike Kajiura and many other composers, the man can't write a coherent melody to save his life. He's one notch above Zimmer's wall of noise, but at least Zimmer can modify the sound of his music from time to time. Meanwhile, Tatsuya Kato is incredibly bland. I can barely remember anything he wrote of note. To me, the worst musicians are the ones that I forget about right away. Kajiura is a one-trick pony, and all her music sounds the same, and obviously orchestration isn't her specialty, but at least she understands the importance of not bashing everyone's head over with "EPIC DROPS!1111!!" and knowing how to write actual themes that are memorable. My biggest complaint with her are her overusage and her fanbase, ironically two of the same complaints that I have with Sawano. But at least with her, I can see some merit to her work.

I wonder how you guys all feel about Susumu Hirasawa? The guy who made the music for Satoshi Kon's movies? I love his unique style of music, but he's essentially the same as Kajiura- he's just a one-trick pony with one "sound". But because his music is used far less frequently than Kajiura, and whenever it is used it's done incredibly well, I prefer him by a massive margin over Kajiura.

I don't think you will find that people in this thread equate the orchestra to the epitome of music. Sure it is the most interesting and most discussed but Tango for example has often expressed enjoyment of some really wacky synth sounds Sahashi uses as well as there has been discussion of some synth scores that manage to sound musical. I think for me it is generally more important that there be interesting themes than anything else, which are more often presented in an orchestral context.

I'm a sucker for ethnic instruments injected into orchestral music when appropriate, which is why I like Horner's Braveheart and Avatar so much. One of my favourite Kanno pieces is Kiseki no Umi. I don't know why, I just like the harmonies and rhythm. Also, it's pretty similar to Adiemus, but somehow better.

I think I've always been forthright in expressing my preference for the orchestra, but equally I have always tried to draw a distinction between what I like and what is worthy of academic respect, because whilst there is a bit of crossover between the two, it isn't always the case - I personally enjoy some music that's crap and I have no problem acknowledging it as such, and I have a passionate distaste for some stuff that's objectively genius. I don't like Mozart. He's just not my cup of tea. He's one of the finest musicians who ever lived and almost every note he ever wrote is a masterpiece.

In the case of Sawano vs Kajiura, I believe that in a purely theoretical contest between the two, where the metric of victory is potential as a composer and as a musical storyteller, Sawano would take the prize. That is a belief borne of an attempt to see past a piece of music into the mind that conjured it. It may well be 100% wrong, but we will probably never know the true answer.

Gigantic Formula, whilst absolutely only ONE SCORE among dozens, not at all representative of Sawano's "usual" style, and full of moments that are downright amateurish, has enough going on "behind the scenes" to convince me that he's got a great deal more talent than we've ever heard, and if it were properly exploited and nurtured and he was interested, in twenty years he could be one of the great ones. This "current" Sawano isn't all that's going on in his head; it's just the style he's currently settled on because it is pretty easy to come up with that stuff, and it's making him into a superstar.

And no, not just because there's an orchestra there - because the music is actually doing something, there is melody, there are examples of development and symphonic writing, there is instrumental awareness.

All that said, in addition to Basil Poledouris' It's My Party, my "other" favourite score has no orchestra, no facsimile of an orchestra, no physical performers whatsoever, and barely any melody - Gil Melle's The Andromeda Strain. That score is hard going, but I love it to pieces.


I actually enjoy Kajiura's soundtracks for Madlax and Noir. Have you ever listened to either of those works?

No, but thank you for the recommendation! I will try to track them down and give them a listen.


Although, out of curiosity, if you had to choose between Yuki Kajiura and Michael Giacchino to score... say, a Star Wars movie or another Star Trek film, who would you choose, if those were the only two people available? This is purely hypothetical, of course.

Kajiura, without hesitation - which, if nothing else, should completely clarify the way I feel about Giacchino! ;)

Kajiura bores me to tears and I think she's criminally overrated... but I think she's got more capability up her nostrils than Giacchino has in his entire body. Kajiura would score Star Wars, or Star Trek, and though it will almost certainly not sound like your typical grand symphonic space opera, and I would probably personally dislike it, it would probably have some musical value and some originality.


I wonder how you guys all feel about Susumu Hirasawa? The guy who made the music for Satoshi Kon's movies?

I haven't heard any of his music at all; would you care to make some reccommendations? :)

I used to agree on many points w the many, many Kajiura haters on the net; her stuff all sounds alike; simplistic orchestration; until I sat down to actually listen to her wider discography, and I'm much warmer on her now, w Noir and .hack//sign now sitting on my list of best ost's ever. Maybe it's not that I no longer agreed w detractors so much as I just mellowed out and stopped caring about most of the issues orchestra lovers take w her music after I realized one simple thing; Kajiura IS NOT a symphonic composer, never has been, and as far as I'm aware, has never postured as being one. She's a new age composer first and foremost, and everything about her musical style, habits and fixations reflect this; a focus on small string ensembles(the only Kajiura pieces that even attempt a larger, fuller orchestral sound off the top of my head are a few select Madoka tracks); thick, densely produced atmospherics; use of Middle Eastern and other exotic tropes to evoke mystery/menace; gently sloping legato folk melodies that can swell and soar but rarely surprise just in terms of what notes to hit.

Even simplistic classical musical techniques like modulating a change in key are a relative rarity from Kajiura, but her command of hitting very particular emotional states, entirely through her musical choices, is so damn perfect I have a hard time caring anymore that she likes hitting those same emotional states in almost everything, that a Kajiura piece will most likely end in the same place it began or if her orchestral pieces aren't the flashiest in the world. Maybe these things would bother me more if, again, she WAS a principally orchestral musician, but it couldn't be clearer she has never been about that kinda thing at all. And of course, it helps a lot that those emotional states DO speak to me(and many others; Kajiura's success in anime was assured the moment she mastered the ability to evoke sadness and tragedy, as Japan so loves its torture porn) on some deeper level. If I want endlessly varied, classically inspired orchestral majesty, I got Kanno for that. If I want music that sounds like a haunting, fog-enshrouded nightwalk through a dreamlike enchanted forest infested w witches, Kajiura will always be there, and that just hearing a few notes from her can make me WANT to get in that mood is testament enough of her ability.

---------- Post added at 07:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:12 PM ----------

Manwhile, there's precious little in Izetta that really speaks to me on any level. What MICHIRU's doing w vocals is pretty interesting, she clearly has a lot of enthusiasm and talent, and the breadth of material and styles she hits during this, her scoring debut, is a clear mark of a confident and thoughtful musician, but the relative lack of substance or depth to the writing leaves me cold. It definitely feels like a composers' debut work in every sense of the word, and the same things that excite me about her future are also drawbacks that leave me less than satisfied and wanting to see more. There isn't much here I'd wanna come back to again and again, and I feel perfectly comfy summing up MICHIRU's style at this early stage as "JRPG Kajiura-lite." I'd rather take the original for now, but if MICHIRU can keep up the good work while building upon what works, she'll be a talent to watch for sure. Always nice seeing some Kanno fanboys/girls crop up in the oncoming waves of new talent(lookin at you too, Taku Matsushiba).

I haven't heard any of his music at all; would you care to make some reccommendations? :)

Absolutely! I've never heard anything like it before. I'm not sure if it will be your cup of tea though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rNUPVWPquE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx9RgTiIKDE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrOliVhbBo8

He's a VERY eccentric guy, just look at any of his concerts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnoRxtWFcZE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddw2g4tViuA

I think it's best if you watch one of Satoshi Kon's movies to really understand how great Hirasawa's music is. Millenium Actress and Paprika are exemplary movies. Such a shame their partnership ended when Kon passed away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW0v-NuudQw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-QpfLV8dQw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHzlOrEYDHY

As for Kajiura, I will have to get back to you later. I've heard that someone else actually worked with Sawano in writing the music for Gigantic Formula, but I don't remember who it was. Just from listening to it, you can tell it is not 100% Sawano.

EDIT: What a coincidence, I just watched the last episode of Stray Dogs and was quite surprised to see Iwasaki give us his Kajiura interpretation.

https://twitter.com/_thancred/status/807450398797668352

Kajiura already scored Rogue One:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFo97Zg0nOQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhlRCWPzk9w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5ucwMb_zCM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADqFzDPhB9Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b_eGKPKwsI


As a matter of fact, Kajiura can write for orchestra and has done so in the past now and then. Xenosaga III is perhaps my favorite score of hers, followed by Anne. I for one like some of her themes and string melodies very much (You are my King - Fate Zero). I do find much of her stuff uninteresting but I occasionally return for that particular celtic/fantastic soundworld with focus on violin and vocals. She ain't THAT bad ;)


I also like Hirasawa, you could easily arrange the music he makes for symphony orchestra, he has good melodic sense (almost as great as Akiko Shikata)... I would also recommend every film (and series) he scored if you only care the slightest bit about animated art and cinematic directing. There's a certain conversation in Paranoia Agent underscored with synth but you could easily perform that live as is written/performed. My favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV0qK53UCVw (I guess I'm no orchestral purist either ;))

Hey I'll give it to you, I never said Kajiura was necessarily bad, there's certainly worst in my list for that honor. I just don't like her music very much both in the musical and arranging sense of the word, and as I mentioned earlier, a work or two in the past isn't gonna change what the current artist is now (it feels more of a decline if you ask me in regards to their talent during the course of the years), for both, Sawano and Kajiura. In fact, there's some pieces from her that I do like to listen every now and then that aren't even fully orchestral, but more of the hybrid kind like Le Portrait de Petit Cossette.

MICHIRU's Izetta is definitely more of a demonstration of her skills rather than a proper orchestral score, but she is convincing enough through her writing in those 30 tracks, that I am eager to hear what's in store. If she DO ends up declining after her entrance on future works, it'll be a shame to say the very least. Same applies to that wonderful clasically trained writing from Taku Matsushiba's for YOI.

And yes, I do have my own fare of guilty pleasures such as Masashi Hamauzu, whoose been criticized and doubt of his credentials in this thread before (recently by me as well), but that I do like what he can come up with, outside the "orchestral realm" of music, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I love it, from chamber to electronic. Just clarifying that orchestration and arrangement is not the only factors I take into account on what defines my liking of an artist, as I want to avoid any sort of misunderstanding here. But I do believe it's important to review them in regards to what the title of this thread dictates.

Meanwhile, has anyone been hearing the most recent JoJo from Yugo Kanno? I know he's been getting lots of flack for the electronic there lately, but I beg you to please listen to this piece from the second OST of DiU:

Yugo Kanno - Part Ways and Depart
(http://picosong.com/dqZb/)

It just demonstrates that he can still write some pretty neat stuff nowadays, I just love the elevating progression starting from 2:58 to onwards and I can't wait to hear what he has for his "Symphony N�1" that releases at January I guess (?)

I wonder how you guys all feel about Susumu Hirasawa? The guy who made the music for Satoshi Kon's movies? I love his unique style of music, but he's essentially the same as Kajiura- he's just a one-trick pony with one "sound". But because his music is used far less frequently than Kajiura, and whenever it is used it's done incredibly well, I prefer him by a massive margin over Kajiura.

Uh, in my opinion, it varies depending on the project he's attached to, and even then, I find most of his music to be... uneven. I like some of the tracks on his scores, while I am either indifferent to others or they just put me off. I think his music for Berserk captured the tone of the show perfectly, better than Sagisu's later scores, but at the same time, I don't really find it to be that great of a stand alone experience, unlike Sagisu's music, which does work pretty well on its own. Of course, I also immensely enjoy his work on Detonator Organ, although some of it was a bit... bland in areas, almost unmemorable even. Still, I actually find myself humming various themes from it (mostly the ending themes and one or two battle pieces) from time to time, so... there's that.

In regards to Kajiura again, I do agree that a lot of her music does sound very similar and one trick at times, but there are a few scores from her, such as Madlax and .hack /sign that stand out. For me, Madlax stands out the most because it probably has the most dynamic range in terms of musical tones and sounds. The didgeridoo sound used in Flame is something I don't hear very often, and it stands out because of that, while the track titled We Are One is absolutely mesmerizing in how it manages to combine to distinct characters' themes and weave them together to represent... some kind of... um, man that plot point was really confusing in the show, but damn does that piece sound good.

So... I suppose that being exposed to what may be Kajiura's best and most experimental works first may be the reason I don't dismiss her so quickly compared to others. It's the same reason I still hold out some shred of hope for Michael Giacchino after hearing his Medal of Honor scores first, despite how increasingly obvious it is that he is... well, it's been discussed before. Still, for anyone who doubts Kajiura's abilities, at least give Madlax and Noir a try. Or at least Madlax.

I think Kajiura is at her best when she goes against her usual dark chanty and ambient noises. It's very basic but this is one of my favorite pieces she's ever written.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACiwHP7TOPE

Mike Batt conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Christmas Overture & Watership Down Suite




Merry Christmas! (https://mega.nz/#!cEskxSTS!pPa3phN2w9Z1wy51A34BlGazwAUXVxcudwaUMRUxPRY)


Happy holidays

Merry Christmas. :)

By the way, you'll be happy to know that a 4 CD soundtrack for Gravity Rush 2 was announced today.

Merry belated Christmas, folks! So much to say, so little time to say it... I will hopefully be able to post properly tomorrow. In the mean time, hope you are all having a fantastic holiday and NOT eating too much, as I have been doing today... :D

Happy holydays as well folks! The 4 CD soundtrack for GR2 are just wonderful news! I hope Tanaka is involved most if not all like in the first one.

Anyone else can't stand Naoki Sato's concert percussion samples?

Mike Batt conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Christmas Overture & Watership Down Suite


Thank you very much, Vinphonic!!! :) Happy Holidays!

PILI HEROES MUSIC COLLECTION LII 62

編號： ND04083A

「仙魔鏖鋒」精選樂章+「幽都魔界」迷你專輯+三款神兵名鑑明信片！交織出仙魔的奇幻世界！
專輯收錄：仙魔鏖鋒第一片頭曲「人中之龍」、片尾曲「蓋世傳說」、楚天行之歌「傲」、蝴蝶君、逆神暘、古小 月、劍咫尺、大漠蒼鷹。交織出仙魔的奇幻世界！二○一六年十二月二十三日，發行上市！
2016壓軸大戲 『霹靂天命之仙魔鏖鋒』 原聲帶

「仙魔鏖鋒」精選樂章+「幽都魔界」迷你專輯+三款神兵名鑑明信片！

強勢收錄:仙魔鏖鋒第一片頭曲「人中之龍」、片尾曲「蓋世傳說」、楚天行之歌「傲」、蝴蝶君、逆神暘、古小 月、劍咫尺、大漠蒼鷹。
《動脈音樂、樂果工坊、小艾音樂、黃建秦、賈愛國、張衞帆、丁天牧》
►CD-1 仙魔鏖鋒 完整曲目
編號
曲目名稱 作者
01 人中之龍（仙魔鏖鋒第一片頭曲） 曲/編曲：黃建秦　
詞 ：廖明治　
演唱/和聲：劉昱賢
02 鏖鋒戰雲（仙魔鏖鋒預告曲） 曲/編曲：賈愛國
03 玄影蝶蹤（蝴蝶君新曲） 曲/編曲：風采輪
04 九風萍舟（楚天行角色曲） 曲/編曲：賈愛國
05 劍咫尺（劍咫尺角色曲） 曲/編曲：孫敬凡
06 禁城罌粟（天織主角色曲） 曲/編曲：張衞帆
電吉他：張衞帆
07 千載明道（玉離經角色曲） 曲/編曲：張衞帆
木吉他：張衞帆
08 古小月（古小月角色曲） 曲/編曲：孫敬凡
09 傲（楚天行之歌） 曲/編曲：賈愛國　
詞：周郎　
演唱：張獻仁
10 曙源歸暘（暘神逆神暘） 曲/編曲：黃建秦
11 焚世烽火（精靈幽界大戰） 曲/編曲：張衞帆
男高音/合音：廖弘毅
竹簫：繆沁琳
12 槍中弒神（孤星淚武曲） 曲/編曲：丁天牧
13 大漠蒼鷹（大漠蒼鷹角色曲） 曲/編曲：浩旭
14 禪劍一如寄曇說（寄曇說角色曲） 曲/編曲：黃建秦
15 紅塵夢碎（圓公子悲曲） 曲/編曲：黃建秦
16 傲軍狂人（弒君士角色曲） 曲/編曲：張衞帆
電吉他：張衞帆
17 決戰天下問頂峰（古原爭霸總收幕） 曲/編曲：風采輪
18 平凡是真（黿無極與曼鯉） 曲/編曲：張衞帆
二胡：連方辰
木吉他：張衞帆
19 蓋世傳說（仙魔鏖鋒第一片尾曲） 曲/編曲：黃建秦
詞：廖明治
演唱/和聲：劉昱賢

►CD-2 幽都魔界 完整曲目
編號
曲目名稱 作者
01 萬魔吞月（萬魔驚座氣勢曲） 曲/編曲：孫敬凡
02 魔之境域（幽都魔殿） 曲/編曲：孫敬凡
03 聖羽霓裳（朱雀衣角色曲） 曲/編曲：翁偉瀚
04 憶相逢（朱雀衣抒情曲） 曲/編曲：張衞帆
木吉他：張衞帆[/free]

https://mega.nz/#!B9MFwDSR!UEyGqi_g8TfdSn5y61IDkUIv5mB4-ZKFvJ_qWv0hOL8

pw=VITALIDAD-HG4S84508NBVD

Kenji Ito's "SaGA ScArLeT GraCE" or whatever it's called has materialised - and it's a very nice surprise! The bad news, to get it out of the way first of all, is that the orchestral score runs a total of just 22 minutes - the good news is that it's performed by the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, with orchestrations by Kosuke Yamashita. There is an additional 12 minutes of music for domestic (smaller) orchestra arranged by Natsumi Kameoka and in a variety of styles. Yamashita's cues all finish properly but most of Kameoka's loop and fade - so presumably they brought out the big orchestra for the cut scenes.


KENJI ITO, orch YAMASHITA, KAMEOKA, et al
SaGA Scarlet Grace

Yamashita's cues performed by
Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra
Ayano Nonomura, soprano
Taizo Takemoto, conductor

Kameoka's cues performed by an unknown studio orchestra



Not my rip - MP3 at V0 - original comes from http://www.sonixgvn.net/ so the silly rip at 48khz is out of my control.

https://mega.nz/#!IoRxVBZK!w6e8LL_1kKeO2-8rISpIwS4DmJJkW3068qrX1bAZw84

The majority of the orchestral score is lush and melodic, with just one action cue, but what themes - and Yamashita's arrangement pushes all the right buttons.

The final track, at almost seven minutes, is one of those nice miracle pieces - how do you fancy another operatic aria-style piece for soprano and large orchestra, dripping with romantic melody, gorgeous orchestration (real concert-hall grade) and harmonies that pull at the heartstrings? Right here. Yamashita knows exactly where to pull back and let the voice and the melody take the stage, and exactly when to bring in the full orchestra for a wonderful, grand gesture.

Kameoka's five cues are performed by a smaller studio ensemble - one standout, an orchestral action cue (Disc 2, Track 28) recalls her work on Inazuma Eleven. It doesn't reach the grand heights of Yamashita's work, but it's good to have.

The rest of the score is pretty crap. Go find it if you want to - I've included only Yamashita and Kameoka cues in this upload. :)

Enjoy and enjoy the rest of the holidays! :)

TT

Wow Tango, this is a good share

Does this Watership Down suite include any of the music from Angela Morley's score for the 1978 movie, or is this music from the TV series?

All Mike Batt's original score from the 1999 TV series. :)

Someone put up all of Bungou Stray Dogs' 2nd OST on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0zdQJHgNX1sjPNrs34DTQ9cV00jdLbgG

I'm still forming my thoughts on it but for now, this is very much a pre-2010 Iwasaki soundtrack. I would consider it his latest version of Read or Die. There is no serious electronica or dubstep, and the orchestral moments are much more meaty than what he's given us in recent years.

All Mike Batt's original score from the 1999 TV series. :)
and its glorious

and its glorious

On that, we can wholeheartedly agree! :)

Pity about Bungo, though... Nice to hear something a bit more like vintage Iwasaki, but I am tired of getting scores that are basically terrible with one or two fantastic cues slap bang in the middle, to remind us how good Iwasaki could be if he pulled his finger out. Is it too much to ask that he writes one good score?

I am tired of getting scores that are basically terrible with one or two fantastic cues slap bang in the middle, to remind us how good Iwasaki could be if he pulled his finger out. Is it too much to ask that he writes one good score? I'm not sure how you see it as terrible, unless you expected something like a full symphonic score like Agito, and it was pretty clear that this was never the intent. I see this soundtrack as being equal to something like Kekkaishi and ROD. Which is far more than I can say for Noragami and Qualidea Code and Jormunagand.

After listening to the whole thing, I do have a few gripes, mainly how that damn electric guitar keeps overpowering the other instruments, like in Batalha and Musashino Maachi, both of which would be pretty great without the guitar. But as a whole, this is a far more listenable experience than Iwasaki's previous soundtracks in the past 5 years. It's really nice to hear him take a more orchestral approach without having to rely heavily on Zimmer cues like Akame and Noragami. Not that those were particularly bad soundtracks either, but it's obvious that with BSD Iwasaki is trying to focus more on fundamentals rather than his usual experiments. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues.

Symphonic Gamers Orchestra

I don't know what it is exactly. Looks like a special concert who aired on NHK this 2016/11/06.
Looks like it's a 90 minutes show, and so far I got two links:

Complete one in shitty quality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Ab4xv2n7k
Incomplete one with max quality (life is so unfair sometimes, only 2 guys uploading it and no one knows how to properly record that thing to share it outside Japan!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BmW6w94uCU&feature=youtu.be

It popped on my twitter timeline under those two hashtags:
NHKBSP https://twitter.com/hashtag/nhkbsp?src=hash
and シンフォニックゲーマーズ https://twitter.com/hashtag/シンフォニックゲーマーズ?src=hash

Most sounds like known arrangements, but I'm craving for the HD version of the finale (Zelda medley).

This seems to get a rebroadcast on Dec, 30.
https://twitter.com/jagjagmo/status/814030688798130176

Any help from japanese people here?


Symphonic Gamers Orchestra Concert

- Pok�mon red and green
- Chrono Trigger
- MOTHER & MOTHER 2
- Final Fantasy
- Monster Hunter
- Super Smash Bros. & Smash Brothers DX
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time / Mask of Majora


Some new arrangements from what I can hear. Also how many symphony concerts have there been this year... must have been like 50.
That Ocarina/Majora Suite is quite fantastic indeed, the orchestral Wood Temple and the Deku Palace are my favorite parts, in fact this might become my favorite arrangement of anything Zelda. Hopefully this is what we can expect from the Zelda Symphonic Album, just with a little more cohesion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Ab4xv2n7k&t=74m51s


Oh and Tango, your advice did not work on me, I've indulged in all the pleasures of christmas to my hearts content :D

Not so much terrible... as not living up to what we know Iwasaki is capable of. I stand by my suspicion that he's one of the most talented composers who ever lived, but what he produces time and time again are incredibly frustrating, uneven, diverse-to-a-fault scores that fail to hit the mark. It's a big, big shame.

If I entered the Olympics and came in third place in the 100 metres, I'd be overjoyed and I imagine everybody else would be jumping up and down congratulating me on my great performance. If Usain Bolt came in third place, we'd be saying his performance was terrible.


Oh and Tango, your advice did not work on me, I've indulged in all the pleasures of christmas to my hearts content

Good, good! And same here, to be honest - I've basically just been eating and drinking almost continuously since Christmas Eve. If you can't do it now, when can you? :D

Not so much terrible... as not living up to what we know Iwasaki is capable of. I stand by my suspicion that he's one of the most talented composers who ever lived, but what he produces time and time again are incredibly frustrating, uneven, diverse-to-a-fault scores that fail to hit the mark. It's a big, big shame.

If I entered the Olympics and came in third place in the 100 metres, I'd be overjoyed and I imagine everybody else would be jumping up and down congratulating me on my great performance. If Usain Bolt came in third place, we'd be saying his performance was terrible.I can see your point. Still, I think this soundtrack shows that Iwasaki is far from dead or declining, and still has the ability to make pretty much any kind of soundtrack he wanted to, experimental or traditional. I'm still surprised he even bothered changing his approach to the show's music halfway through. He whined a lot about Qualidea Code but has been saying many good things about Stray Dogs so I can only wonder if this is his way of getting his feet wet again. We'll know for sure with his next works.

The Zelda concert info has appeared. Sorry tango, but it looks like Chad Seiter found a way. It's mostly Yamashita, at least.

And the composer of Breath of the Wild main theme has been revealed: Manaka Kataoka (The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks / Animal Crossing: City Folk & New Leaf)


=Part 1=

Hyrule Castle
Composition: Koji Kondo / Arrangement: Kousuke Yamashita

Zelda's Theme
Composition: Koji Kondo / Arrangement: Kousuke Yamashita

The Wind Waker Medley
Composition: Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, Toru Minegishi, Koji Kondo / Arrangement: Chad Seiter

Ocarina Medley Suite
Composition: Koji Kondo / Arrangement: Kousuke Yamashita

Boss Battle Theme Medley
Composition: Koji Kondo, Hajime Wakai, Toru Minegishi / Arrangement: Kousuke Yamashita

A Link Between Worlds & Tri Force Heroes Medley
Composition & Arrangement: Ryo Nagamatsu

"Skyward Sword" Staff Roll
Composition: Mahito Yokota, Koji Kondo, Hajime Wakai, Shiho Fujii / Arrangement: Tomomichi Takeoka


=Part 2=

The Legend of Zelda 30th Anniversary Medley
Composition: Koji Kondo, Akito Nakatsuka, Minako Hamano, Kozue Ishikawa, Toru Minegishi / Arrangement: Tomomichi Takeoka

The Legend of Zelda Jingle Suite
Composition: Koji Kondo / Arrangement: Kousuke Yamashita

Gerudo Valley
Composition: Koji Kondo / Arrangement: Chad Seiter

"Ocarina of Time" Hyrule Field
Composition: Koji Kondo / Arrangement: Kousuke Yamashita

Great Fairy's Fountain Theme
Composition: Koji Kondo / Arrangement: Kousuke Yamashita

Twilight Princess Medley
Composition: Toru Minegishi, Koji Kondo, Asuka Ohta / Arrangement: Chad Seiter

The Legend of Zelda Main Theme
Composition: Koji Kondo / Arrangement: Kousuke Yamashita


=Encores=

The Legend of Zelda Medley
Piano Solo: Koji Kondo

"Breath of the Wild" Main Theme
Composition: Manaka Kataoka / Arrangement: Tomomichi Takeoka

Speaking of Iwasaki, his Twitter is very interesting, at least when he isn't going into his rants about how his music is misused or having to make "Hollywood ass-licking music" (his own words). You learn a lot about his inspirations. Have you ever seen anyone put Skrillex and Ravel in the same sentence?

https://twitter.com/taque68/status/310071508741521408

Well according to him Stray Dogs 2 is the best thing he ever did so I don't think he will do a traditional score anytime soon. I don't personally mind as long as we get one-hit wonders in every single one, besides as I've said before I currently enjoy the ambivalence in his work very much and I do think Stray Dogs is among his very best work.

I'm thinking that when Chad Seiter is credited, it's not because he's there arranging music, but prolly because they are going to be using the arrangment he did instead of arranging it again by someone else. I honestly didn't see anything wrong with his arrangements. I am happy there's a few new additions in that list but it seems to be the same medleys we've seen arranged over and over again.

Well according to him Stray Dogs 2 is the best thing he ever did so I don't think he will do a traditional score anytime soon. I don't personally mind as long as we get one-hit wonders in every single one, besides as I've said before I currently enjoy the ambivalence in his work very much and I do think Stray Dogs is among his very best work.He likes it that much? Then again, I feel like he's the type of person who says that about his newest work all the time.

Stray Dogs is far more traditional than a good chunk of his other scores, especially in recent years, with the only thing really missing being a central theme. But if he really likes it that much and wants to produce more soundtracks like it than experiments like Noragami, then I definitely see it as a step forward for him.

The overly-liberal use of the word "traditional" in this context bothers me a little - firstly because it muddles up the meaning of the word itself and secondly because it lets the music "off the hook" so to speak - whatever "traditional" really means, I don't care if Iwasaki never does it ever again, or even never uses a live musician in a score ever again. What I care about is that he writes an excellent score; that could be a jazz score, a large scale symphonic score, a hybrid score, a completely electronic score, whatever, it doesn't matter. My personal preference is, as ever, for a symphonic (in this context I do not intend "symphonic" to be a synonym for "orchestra" - instead to represent an intelligent composition, development, tension, and what have you - music written with the "perfect" elegant, free-flowing, indulgent language of Shakespeare rather than with the functional, throwaway language of the dog food commercial on TV) score, a performance by live instruments, and particularly by a competent and imaginatively wielded modern symphony orchestra - but the means of performance and the music itself are very much separate concerns.

A tradition is nothing more than doing something a particular way enough times that doing it that way is expected - there's your tradition.

To praise Stray Dogs because it's more orchestral than Iwasaki's previous work does Iwasaki himself a disservice, unfairly disregards good music in other genres, and gives the impression that this thread is full of, as I have been called on a number of occasions, orchestra fascists.

Good scores tend to be written by good composers, and good composers tend to know about and employ orchestras to show off their compositions - because, frankly, as a medium of auditory expression it remains completely unparalleled in human history. It is a giant instrument played by 80 people working together as one, every one of whom learned to play their instruments through techniques honed and perfected over a period of more than three centuries. Though the size of the orchestra has changed, some new instruments have joined in over the years, and the language of composition has morphed beyond even the wildest, most decadent dreams of Dunstable, Tallis, and Dowland, and even Lully (arguably the world's first conductor), Purcell, Telemann, and Bach... the roots of music, what it does, and how it does it, can all be traced back to the lessons learned, rules established, and techniques sharpened and perfected by these pioneers.

The these days, the orchestra is just one of many means of transferring music from sheets of paper to sounds in the air. As we know, there are "composers" who consider themselves orchestral composers and who manage to produce music so amateurish, so bland, and so anonymous it is hard to know why an orchestra was hired in the first place.

The music is everything. Iwasaki can do it. He's just not doing it lately. Perhaps Bungo is a step in the right direction, but it's a mere shadow of what Iwasaki could do if he canned all these ego-masturbation Twitter sessions, got the hell off his high horse, and just went to write some proper, good quality, music.

Seiter:

Yes, this doesn't bother me much - it looks like they're just reusing a handful of his terrible orchestrations from the 25th Anniversary. His name is nowhere to be seen in the "new" 30th Anniversary pieces, and there's enough Yamashita in there to make me happy. I'm not familiar with Tomomichi Takeoka - he seems to be a kinda-newbie... Looking forward to this album a little more now. The Seiter tracks can obviously sod right off, though. ;)

Happy new year, ladies and gentlemen! :D

---------- Post added at 10:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:17 PM ----------

The overly-liberal use of the word "traditional" in this context bothers me a little - firstly because it muddles up the meaning of the word itself and secondly because it lets the music "off the hook" so to speak - whatever "traditional" really means, I don't care if Iwasaki never does it ever again, or even never uses a live musician in a score ever again. What I care about is that he writes an excellent score; that could be a jazz score, a large scale symphonic score, a hybrid score, a completely electronic score, whatever, it doesn't matter. My personal preference is, as ever, for a symphonic (in this context I do not intend "symphonic" to be a synonym for "orchestra" - instead to represent an intelligent composition, development, tension, and what have you - music written with the "perfect" elegant, free-flowing, indulgent language of Shakespeare rather than with the functional, throwaway language of the dog food commercial on TV) score, a performance by live instruments, and particularly by a competent and imaginatively wielded modern symphony orchestra - but the means of performance and the music itself are very much separate concerns.

A tradition is nothing more than doing something a particular way enough times that doing it that way is expected - there's your tradition.

To praise Stray Dogs because it's more orchestral than Iwasaki's previous work does Iwasaki himself a disservice, unfairly disregards good music in other genres, and gives the impression that this thread is full of, as I have been called on a number of occasions, orchestra fascists.

Good scores tend to be written by good composers, and good composers tend to know about and employ orchestras (in the environment of film music - obviously masterpieces exist for every instrument and combination of instruments right from the solo flute to the largest orchestra, choir, and vocal soloists) to show off their compositions - because, frankly, as a medium of auditory expression it remains completely unparalleled in human history. It is a giant instrument played by 80 people working together as one, every one of whom learned to play their instruments through techniques honed and perfected over a period of more than three centuries. Though the size of the orchestra has changed, some new instruments have joined in over the years, and the language of composition has morphed beyond even the wildest, most decadent dreams of Dunstable, Tallis, and Dowland, and even Lully (arguably the world's first conductor), Purcell, Telemann, and Bach... the roots of music, what it does, and how it does it, can all be traced back to the lessons learned, rules established, and techniques sharpened and perfected by these pioneers.

The these days, the orchestra is just one of many means of transferring music from sheets of paper to sounds in the air. As we know, there are "composers" who consider themselves orchestral composers and who manage to produce music so amateurish, so bland, and so anonymous it is hard to know why an orchestra was hired in the first place.

The music is everything. Iwasaki can do it. He's just not doing it lately. Perhaps Bungo is a step in the right direction, but it's a mere shadow of what Iwasaki could do if he canned all these ego-masturbation Twitter sessions, got the hell off his high horse, and just went to write some proper, good quality, music.

Seiter:

Yes, this doesn't bother me much - it looks like they're just reusing a handful of his terrible orchestrations from the 25th Anniversary. His name is nowhere to be seen in the "new" 30th Anniversary pieces, and there's enough Yamashita in there to make me happy. I'm not familiar with Tomomichi Takeoka - he seems to be a kinda-newbie... Looking forward to this album a little more now. The Seiter tracks can obviously sod right off, though. ;)

Happy new year, ladies and gentlemen! :D

Again, what's wrong with Chad's orchestrations, oh mighty conoisseur of good music?

Iwasaki I thought I made it pretty clear that "traditional" Iwasaki referred to Iwasaki's pre-2010 work. As in soundtracks like Katangatari, Gurren Lagann, ROD, etc. This falls much more clearly in line with those works than something like Noragami and Qualidea Code, which I would consider Iwasaki being experimental. Unlike those experimental works, Stray Dogs doesn't really veer into any crazy new territory for Iwasaki, the only difference was the execution, which was far better than it's ancient ancestors like ROD. And yes, it is also happens to be a lot more orchestral than most of his other scores. The reason why I like it so much is because its a return to form for him, and tells all the naysayers who think he's gone senile and can no longer make music on the same level as Kenshin or Katanagatari or whatever to suck it. Like I said before:


I'm not sure how you see it as terrible, unless you expected something like a full symphonic score like Agito, and it was pretty clear that this was never the intent.

And just as I expected, that was your biggest criticism for Iwasaki. I used Agito as an example, not because it was orchestral, but because it had clear themes and motifs and melodies structured with one another instead of being a hodgepodge of different styled songs with a similar soundscape put together like Stray Dogs. But it should have been clear that Iwasaki has never really been interested in arranging his music in an OST release to resemble a symphonic score. And it's not like Iwasaki doesn't write these themes, watch any of his shows and listen to their soundtracks and you'll realize that much of the music is missing. Katangatari for example, despite having two discs, is missing approximately half the music from the show. Same with Soul Eater.

One of my favorite soundtracks Iwasaki has ever written was his first one for Gatchaman Crowds. It has no repeating themes and motifs that would be identifiable on a sheet of music (other than the titular "Gatchaman chant"), but he made each song very meaty and capable of standing on its own, an excellent soundscape to go with it in the form of electronic disco music, and it was used very well in the show in a way that made each piece memorable. [C] as well, which for some reason is very heavily disliked by many people, I found to be an excellent soundtrack, because the soundscape it provided was very consistent with the imagery and themes of the show. And Jojo, which many people here dismiss as being "messy electronica", was a loving tribute to 80s era rock music, infused with a more modern take, which once again, matched with the imagery of the show. For me, Iwasaki stands out because he is capable of making music that fits the image of the show to a degree where you can't separate the two, while retaining his own voice. For me, that is the mark of a truly talented composer. Being symphonic doesn't matter much to me at all. I listened to Princess Kaguya recently and immediately trashed almost every song save for the two or three main themes because all Hisaishi did was repeat the same themes and motifs without adding any meat to them. I find it boring and unoriginal. There are many musicians out there in the anime industry that I consider better orchestrators and melodists than Iwasaki, but the only one I can even think of that is able to consistently make music truly memorable in the image of the show like him is Yoko Kanno, and I'm not even sure if she's a real entity.

As for his attitude, yes I agree that he goes too far channeling his inner Herrmann onto his Twitter page and sounds like some smug cynical arrogant asshole much of the time, but I find it refreshing to know that he has his own voice and opinions and is clearly not afraid to express them, especially in a conformist culture like Japan's. He openly shows passion for his work. Compare it to Sawano's twitter, where all he does is advertise his soundtracks and post goofy pictures of himself during recording sessions. It's about how seriously he cares for his own work, and it shows in his music. Of course, even outside of music, I tend to like eccentric outspoken genius weirdos like Mamoru Nagano and Mitsuo Iso, so that's probably just my personal taste. But isn't that what this is all about? :)

God, I'm tired of this.

Can barely type shit right now but I can still hit the reply button, starting in 3...2...1...

---------- Post added at 09:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:35 PM ----------

Remember the bomb I dropped last year with all those compilations from decades of Japanese Entertainment. NOW… what if I would tell you I did another not one but two albums, albums that I would usually arrange with music written over the course of 20 years… but hold on to your seats, I could easily do three whole albums right now of the same magnitude of the ones from last year... BUT WITH MUSIC FROM JUST A SINGLE YEAR!!!!… THAT is unbelievable!!… THIS is 2016…

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present:





2016 –The Year in Music-






The Music of Japanese Entertainment
Music for the Concert Hall (2016)



Download (https://mega.nz/#!sEkW0SxK!yMsRzwt01p6mnevjLIKG7fq7Vh8gzUegVtvTUVtN3sk)




The Music of Japanese Entertainment
Anime in 2016


Download (https://mega.nz/#!MA9DkSRT!TxJ2Q8tRnafguKkgHJr-Yk5tmC74VwTMg8bnCCePvGs)

Here you go, five hours of selections of symphonic magnitude and over two hours of excellent film music moments, with some arrangements and remasters from yours truely, all written or released in 2016 :O

What an amazing year where even the absence of a Warsaw score (Drifters not out yet) is not really a concern in putting together this compilation. Mind you that everything in here is not even 100% of the stuff availale this year, at best its 80%. That's just how phenomenal the year has been.

I also put some western scores in there, but to demonstrate one thing only... that for example Williams BFG, Hurwitz Planetarium or Wanamo's Turrican II feel more naturally at home in a Japanese Orchestral compilation from 2016 than in all of Hollywood's back catalogue of the last 20 years. Shocking!





Musical Impressions of 2016


From my impression, there has never been an age where more artists expressed themselves through orchestral score in history or written more concert-quality music for media than now in 2015/2016/17. The signs started to appear in 2015 but now in 2016 it is set in stone. We live in another Golden Age of orchestral music. And all of this can happen in a highly commercialized environment: Japan is proof of that. Japanese companies have shown a tremendous amount of class and interest in preservation for the future this year. Culture is an important part of business. The (Symphonic) orchestral score is culture par excellence, and somewhere in the world it is treasured beyond belief. You have people taking a shot at writing like classic, romantic and modern masters as well as decades of Hollywood tradition in addition to experimenting with the orchestral sound in earnest. The hard truth we face on our side is that this love and enthusiasm for anything orchestral is nowhere near as developed except in very minor niche circles. When was the last time a western media company hosted a massive symphony concerts for one of their newly made products (and not old masterpieces)… can’t be more than a handful in decades… if at all! It should be pretty telling that European and American Symphony orchestras play mostly Japanese orchestral music when deviating from the concert and film realm from ages past.

In the 20th Century, the US reigned supreme about anything orchestral: the quality and number of orchestras, the number of world-class composers that inspired generation after generation and the number of original orchestral scores written for media.
But as history teaches us, every empire must eventually fall (without exceptions) and the age of American musical dominance has faded away.

If you ask me, the home of orchestral music (or quality music in general) in the 21st century, hands down belongs to the land of the rising sun. There’s just no contest anymore or even need for explanation. The quantity AND quality of the music speaks for itself. This year very few scores from the west did manage to hold my attention at all and I really would listen to only a handful of them again after giving it some thought: BFG (from an old master we are still blessed with but who knows if he will still be with us for five more years), La La Land (the most promising young composer over there and about the only one with potential), Sogno di Volare (commission, not even a full score), Turrican II (orchestral fan project)… and that’s about it if I’m absolutely honest. The occasional Russian, Spanish or British score I haven’t heard this year might land in my collection but in general, I can count the number of quality scores I really like on one hand every year.

Now, on the other side of the world, I have… literally over 100 scores released this year alone that not only held my attention but I would gladly listen to most of them again in time. It’s unreal what this year alone has brought us.

This year alone we have more anthems, various concertos and symphonic suites and movements recorded and performed for media than a decade before combined. This year alone there were numerous concerts in celebration of media product anniversaries or straight up celebration of the product or artistic creation as I prefer to call it, with a symphonic tribute. Next year seems to continue that trend in full force already.

So if this year ends on a very positive note, wait till you see the potential for next year: 2017 has to be the most thrilling year for orchestral (symphonic) scores since… well 2016 but you get my point, I’m beyond excited.

I find it astounding that almost everyone, old and new, 85 year old veterans and 20-30 year young promising upstarts can secure more jobs now than ever, and no matter their age, their music in general is (with only very few exceptions) more than competent and most of the time of exceptional quality. Over 90% of composers working in the industry have a classical education and more and more young talents have appeared this year. For example, the very first track and track 47 in the concert collection were not composed by an old master but part of the media composer debut by a young genius, just 25 years old. The Japanse scoring world is full of such examples. What seems like a miracle to us, where the symphonic score is pretty much dead, is the result of a very strong cultural and educational program. Japan established an education AND value system of a reasonable standard in music that is no longer taught in the west. This is why I believe after John Williams retires, the ones who will follow in his footseps or even succeed his body of work will not be working in Hollywood, but on the other side of the world. And the most important thing of all: No one interferes or dictates musical restrictions but instead supports the art and craftsmanship of musicians and composers.
Japan right now dominates the Jazz and Wind Orchestra scene worldwide as well as the output of orchestral scores, symphonic albums and opera despite its industry only being a fraction the size of Hollywood.


Ultimately, right now, I'm feeling really positive and excited about the future so I'm not speaking with any ill-intent or grudging cynicism when I say Hollywood movies are no longer the be-all-end-all of the symbiosis of entertainment and good music. The symphonic film score (and good film music in general) as well as good Jazz has found a new home in many different formats of media. No matter if it is written and treasured on the other side of the planet or if it retreated to small niche circles in Europe, there’s more than enough music to pay focus and attention. I mostly buy or take an interest in projects that employ said music anyway so I naturally shifted my tastes in entertainment accordingly, more towards smaller and more intimate (niche) entertainment and I'm very content with that so far. I regret it not one bit hearing the music I love living more vividly than ever in the Anime industry. There’s many places where I can still get that beautiful symbiosis of picture and sound. The cherry on top is that I’ve access to almost 100 years of film scores to enjoy, and plenty of old movies, beautifully restored in high definition, where that symbiosis still exists. Besides, many people far more in love with “film” scores as I am are doing god’s work in restoring, archiving and rerecording the stuff that should not be forgotten.



Tl:dr edition:



I. Musical Impressions of 2016


From my impression, there has never been an age where more artists expressed themselves through orchestral score in history or written more concert-quality music for media than now in 2015/2016/17. The signs started to appear in 2015 but now in 2016 it is set in stone. We live in another Golden Age of orchestral music. And all of this can happen in a highly commercialized environment: Japan is proof of that. Japanese companies show a tremendous amount of class and interest in preservation for the future. Culture is an important part of business. The (Symphonic) orchestral score is culture par excellence, and somewhere in the world it is treasured beyond belief. You have people taking a shot at writing like classic, romantic and modern masters as well as decades of Hollywood tradition in addition to experimenting with the orchestral sound in earnest. The hard truth we face on our side is that this love and enthusiasm for anything orchestral is nowhere near as developed except in very minor niche circles. When was the last time a western media company hosted a massive symphony concerts for one of their newly made products (and not old masterpieces)… can’t be more than a handful in decades… if at all! It should be pretty telling that European and American Symphony orchestras play mostly Japanese orchestral music when deviating from the concert and film realm from ages past.

In the 20th Century, the US reigned supreme about anything orchestral: the quality and number of orchestras, the number of world-class composers that inspired generation after generation and the number of original orchestral scores written for media.
But as history teaches us, every empire must eventually fall (without exceptions) and the age of American musical dominance has faded away.

If you ask me, the home of orchestral music (or quality music in general) in the 21st century, hands down belongs to the land of the rising sun. There’s just no contest anymore or even need for explanation. The quantity AND quality of the music speaks for itself. This year very few scores from the west did manage to hold my attention at all and I really would listen to only a handful of them again after giving it some thought: BFG (from an old master we are still blessed with but who knows if he will still be with us for five more years), La La Land (the most promising young composer over there and about the only one with potential), Sogno di Volare (commission, not even a full score), Turrican II (orchestral fan project)… and that’s about it if I’m absolutely honest. The occasional Russian, Spanish or British score I haven’t heard this year might land in my collection but in general, I can count the number of quality scores I really like on one hand every year.

Now, on the other side of the world, I have… literally over 100 scores released this year alone that not only held my attention but I would gladly listen to most of them again in time. It’s unreal what this year alone has brought us.

II. 2016: Observation and trends


1. Solidification of established or starting music enterprises:

“Before joining IMAGINE, it was through word of mouth or referrals that I became recruited to projects. After joining IMAGINE, I was asked to do all sorts of variety of music and was able to widen my repertoire. There are a lot of great composers and arrangers in IMAGINE, so it is a great environment for learning and gaining inspiration.” –Hayato Matsuo

Most of the old guard (Sato, Sahashi, Hattori) are under the wing of http://www.face-music.co.jp/index.htm. Mostly contracted for Live-action TV and film.

The rest of the old guard is lead by Tanaka, as well as some promising upstarts: http://www.imagine-music.co.jp/artist/ Focus is on games and anime.

Yuugo Kanno has made a small little enterprise, mostly for J-drama. He and his colleagues strive for Classical and traditional Hollywood sound with the occasional electronic departure: http://one-music.jp/kanno/index_english.html

Yoko Kanno joined a company comprised of pure musical genius: http://www.piano.tt/

http://www.monaca.jp/staff/ under the helm of Keichi Okabe is still going strong. Providing at least interesting scores to full blown traditional Hollywood fanfare for anime and games.

Countless other little companies and collaborations have established themselves as well in addition to semi-independent artists like Oshima, and Hisaishi and recently MICHIRU getting contracted.
The best thing about all of them is that 99% of composers working for one of those companies have a classical education and those companies old guard composers are still scouting and recruiting new members.


2. The rebirth of symphonic concerts and albums

This year alone we have more anthems, various concertos and symphonic suites and movements recorded and performed than a decade before combined. This year alone there were numerous concerts in celebration of media product anniversaries or straight up celebration of the product or artistic creation as I prefer to call it, with a symphonic tribute. Next year seems to continue that trend in full force already.


3. The rise of operatic and traditional vocals

If I noticed one thing that can be attributed as a musical trend in 2016 from a scoring perspective, it’s the rise of operatic vocals and traditional Jazz vocalists. From anime(Sound Euphonium, Qualidea Code and Stray Dogs, Pandora in the Crimson Shell Izetta, Yuri on Ice and Pop in Q) to games (SAGA, Gravity Rush 2, Azure Revolution), all share this trade.


4. More class in “niche” entertainment now than ever:

To be fair this already started in 2015 as well. Traditional title crawls and end credits, most of the time with sweet music as cherry. Trailers or various Previews are using the original score of the project by the composer and in rare cases some trailers/scenes or whole shows are scored to picture. There’s also an increasing number of Films, TV shows and various prgrams about music as the center focus, often it’s about playing instruments or even performing in an orchestra of sorts. Classic Noir Night club scenes return in spades, with beautiful songs to sweeten your cocktail. From anime (Gundam The Origin) to games (Gravity Rush 2) there’s class written all over them. Media Companies and Associations are increasing their efforts in promoting and contributing to musical class and culture and small independent musical groups are in the process of achieving professional quality.


5. A new generation of talents enters the scoring world. More and more promising newcomers make their appearance:

This year many talents made their debut or demonstrated their full potential: From the brilliant debut of genius Taku Matsushiba and eclectic wondergirl Michiru Iida to symphonic Hollywood composer Takeshi Furukawa and “classical Remote control” composer Kenichiro Suehiro. Hiromi Mizutani and Ichizuka Rei demonstrated their potential for great things to come, Tsutomu Narita shows promise with a strong symphonic debut, and at the end of the year Rio Kohyama makes an impression with a strong orchestral score for a girly Slice-of-Life story. Not to mention many promising arrangers entering as well. The future looks exciting for sure.


6. Increasing efforts to reinterpret and reapply the strength of classical music with modern scoring tools or current pop trends.
There’s truly something for everyone:

You like Zimmer but with a tiny bit more wackiness with a denser wall of sound … here’s Sawano.

You want a sophisticated Zimmer crossed with Herrmann… here’s Iwasaki.

You like classic Hollywood… here’s Amano and Inai.

You like Horner… here’s Sato.

You like Goldsmith… here’s Tanaka.

You like the Golden Age… here’s Oshima.

You like modern orchestral music… here’s Hisaishi.

You like modern atonal orchestral music… here’s Hirano.

You like folksy chamber stuff (with electronics)… here’s Kajiura.

You want orchestral/electronic hybrids with substance… here’s (Yuugo) Kanno

You want all kinds of musical genres portrayed in their best moments… here’s (Yoko) Kanno

Best thing of all, there all busy working RIGHT NOW (well, except Sahashi).

This does not even include the countless old and young talents making fantastic contributions every year.

But to be clear these are only comparison I made for folks unaware of Japan’s wonders. In fact I don’t really think Goldsmith or Tanaka are comparable at all as far as style and orchestration goes. I just want to illustrate that I think of them as equal giants.


III. 2017… a thrilling outlook on the Future of orchestral music


If you think this year ends on a very positive note, wait till you see the potential for next year: 2017 has to be the most thrilling year for orchestral (symphonic) scores since… well 2016 but you get my point, I’m beyond excited:

We have the remake of LotGH, Ni No Kuni 2, Yamato 2202, Dragonquest XI, Zelda: BotW and Bahamut 2 as well as countless symphonic concerts and albums to look forward to. In winter things are heating up with Gravity Rush 2, Azure Revolution and Kantai: The movie. Wonderful scores like Ancient Magus Bride and Chain Chronicles continue and we have plenty of delicious Jazz with ACCA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KLcXHQZyls and later that year Kekkai Sensen 2.
Not to mention the next Super Robot Wars, which should be full of classical Hollywood moments based on the PV. And all those Level 5 projects... who knows we might even hear the return of Sahashi, either for the new Saint Seiya or Full Metal Panic.

Yasunori Mitsuda is back better than ever with a traditional symphonic score performed by Japan’s finest orchestra and acoustic environments. Based on the PVs Valykiria is Independence Day level of fantastic bombast. Can’t wait.

Tanaka is also back with at least three projects next year. That 4 CD Gravity Rush 2 album has to have at least some little symphonic movements hidden in there. After watching the Animation I’m convinced Tanaka gave it his best effort. He also scored a more jazz-heavy score for January and there’s that Princess Connect project as well, he’s still in high demand and much respected by many industry officials.

Oshima has potentially three projects next year and with her current style and quality, I'm sure every note will be gold. Little Witch alone would be enough to satisfy my appetite but three more??? Heaven…

I also hope they spare no expenses for the Granblue Fantasy anime. I'm dying for more quality Uematsu score performed by a proper ensemble. Even a small studio orchestra PROPERLY recorded and mastered would be enough. I’m also very interested in hearing Narita’s studio debut, who knows perhaps he is more suited for smaller ensembles. The show’s been postponed to April but a special will air in January so we will get a taste of the score and if its full orchestra or synth.

Amano still gets work, the two Warsaw tracks and the chamber arrangements of Sagisu's themes from the recent Berserk soundtrack were clearly done by him. Berserk continues next year so I hope they record some new music for it. There's also Evangelion and the Sagisu Concert project where Amano is heavily involved. And two or three Warsaw tracks is always better than nothing. They are self-contained symphonic movements for the most part anyway.

Yoshihiro Ike is ten times better when scoring to picture and so far his continuation of the first score for Bahamut has been of a ridiculously high standard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHDoU6AXQRw

Fafner got a new project announcement so chances are high for another Warsaw score. Together with Berserk, the collaboration between Japanese composers and European Orchestras continues ever strong.

Mori Yuya slowly enters the field: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raeEGnX3ReA His Seitokai scores are phenomenal when you remember its for a very perverted slapstick show. He can write a classical waltz just as much as frentic jazz and I really like to see him becoming a regular. In the PV you can clearly hear his wind orchestra background.

Masato Koda is getting better with every project he gets. The first four episodes of Chain Chronicles have some classic Japanese game concert moments. Although I wish Holst would get some rest ;) He just needs a few more years and I will very much look forward to his work. Also if the promo for Konosuba 2 is any indication they turned up the ante with a MASSIVE ensemble.

Keiji Inai already secured two projects for next year, one that screams classical Bravado and for the other Inai expands on his Dungeon score with the same intensity as Alderamin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_25Ar-rS-C4

Pounding Sawano fine and well… but perhaps also orchestral Sawano with no pounding beat heared so far for this other project, perhaps finally the return of a few Gigantic Formula pieces
http://dai.ly/x56oukm

Shūji Katayama, another newcomer and brother of Suehiro it would appear, same influence it seems but more traditional in instrumentation. Together with Mizutani they form a strong combo. Pop in Q is really good sans the fake brass.
http://picosong.com/d59U

Even Hirano is back in the studio, hopefully a lot more next year. A shame the new Broken Blade project got cancelled. I hope he didn’t write music for it, only to be lost.

Let’s also not forget the countless symphony concerts and albums next year: So far we have confirmation on Zelda, Tales Of, Kantai, Miku, Kirby, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Evangelion X Shin Godzilla.


I find it astounding that almost everyone, old and new, 85 year old veterans and 20-30 year young promising upstarts can secure more jobs now than ever, and no matter their age, their music in general is (with only very few exceptions) more than competent and most of the time of exceptional quality. Over 90% of composers working in the industry have a classical education and more and more young talents have appeared this year. For example, the very first track and track 47 in the concert collection were not composed by an old master but part of the media composer debut by a young genius, just 25 years old. The Japanse scoring world is full of such examples. What seems like a miracle to us, where the symphonic score is pretty much dead, is the result of a very strong cultural and educational program. Japan established an education AND value system of a reasonable standard in music that is no longer taught in the west. This is why I believe after John Williams retires, the ones who will follow in his footseps or even succeed his body of work will not be working in Hollywood, but on the other side of the world. And the most important thing of all: No one interferes or dictates musical restrictions but instead supports the art and craftsmanship of musicians and composers.
Japan right now dominates the Jazz and Wind Orchestra scene worldwide as well as the output of orchestral scores, symphonic albums and opera despite its industry only being a fraction the size of Hollywood.


IV. Final Thoughts

Ultimately, right now, I'm feeling really positive and excited about the future so I'm not speaking with any ill-intent or grudging cynicism when I say Hollywood movies are no longer the be-all-end-all of the symbiosis of entertainment and good music. The symphonic film score (and good film music in general) as well as good Jazz has found a new home in many different formats of media. No matter if it is written and treasured on the other side of the planet or if it retreated to small niche circles in Europe, there’s more than enough music to pay focus and attention. I mostly buy or take an interest in projects that employ said music anyway so I naturally shifted my tastes in entertainment accordingly, more towards smaller and more intimate (niche) entertainment and I'm very content with that so far. I regret it not one bit hearing the music I love living more vividly than ever in the Anime industry. There’s many places where I can still get that beautiful symbiosis of picture and sound. The cherry on top is that I’ve access to almost 100 years of film scores to enjoy, and plenty of old movies, beautifully restored in high definition, where that symbiosis still exists. Besides, many people far more in love with “film” scores as I am are doing god’s work in restoring, archiving and rerecording the stuff that should not be forgotten.

In that optimistic and enlightened spirit… to a wonderful 2017 and to another splendid year for the thread.


Happy New Year

Oh this is AWESOME! Thank you so much for sharing! Can't wait to dig in!

Happy New Year, folks!

Happy New Year, everyone! The first piece of music I'm going to listen to this year will be... Gonna Fly Now, by Bill Conti. What better way to start off the new year?

Looks like quite a few Japanese composers have come together to celebrate the new year as well!

http://ameblo.jp/kenokun/entry-12233320185.html

Kohei Tanaka, Taku Iwasaki, Kaoru Wada, Yuzo Koshiro, Kenji Ito, Yoko Shimomura, and Satoru Kousaki, all having a nice meal with one another. It's nice to see that the Japanese media music world is so close-knit.

God, even in this group picture Iwasaki looks so smug.

Man, I'm not very actively informed in terms of seeing these composer personalities, but it's interesting to see them outside the spectrum of their music and what they produce. Tanaka looks like such a humble and charismatic party dude soul, just wanting to hang out with all these other artists regardless on the differences of their music and styles, that I can't help but smile a little when lots of my japanese musical heroes are in this one picture, but also the ones that aren't as well. It's quite the nice view!

I'm thinking that when Chad Seiter is credited, it's not because he's there arranging music, but prolly because they are going to be using the arrangment he did instead of arranging it again by someone else. I honestly didn't see anything wrong with his arrangements. I am happy there's a few new additions in that list but it seems to be the same medleys we've seen arranged over and over again. I've met the guy and iearned that he only arranges most of the time, whereas his wife Suzie orchestrates. I think these arrangements will be old, but wonder when they were recorded. I wish that if they were going to put his arrangements on CD, they added ones that hadn't already been in the Skyward Sword bonus CD. I like his arrangements, but I was hoping for new material. I was right, no new material from him, but I am surprised they used what he wrote previously. I never uploaded his second quest compositions, but can. As for Yamashita, that was very much expected. So now I wonder if Kataoka will be our main composer of BotW or will just do some themes in the game. I am hoping for Yokota, and I know there will be a few involved, so something new to look forward to..

Drifters tracklist and credits have appeared. 26 tracks by Matsuo. Warsaw and Japan session.

The soundtrack includes a suite consisting of an overture and three movements. Seems like everyone is writing suites lately. Let's hope the music surfaces soon.

Man... what a hangover :K




Happy new year folks! Hope you all had great holidays. And thank you very much for the comfy picture Zipper :)


If you think we're passionate about their work wait till you discover how passionate they are for each other. Kosaki checks and promotes new releases from veterans and upstarts constantly and Matsuo almost turns into a fangirl when talking about how much Tanaka has influenced him. I imagine they almost all have good relations with one another and listen to each others work. As much as I hate the average garage studio sound I wil not deny it looks like a very cozy environment to work in.

I think this "intimacy" is one aspect that shines almost above the whole music industry in Japan. Well, they are not a big nation (like us) anyway but even the MASSIVE Hisaishi in Budokan concert manages to feel very personal and intimate, just as much as Yugo Kanno concerts or Taku Iwasaki's street sessions. At least I get the impression this is all because the art comes before the commerce, not despite of it. I stand by my previous statements that Japanese commercialism is very different from Hollywood's profit-above-all-else oriented business model.

One only needs to look at the differences between investion of capital by Disney and then by Sony, Level 5 or Cygames.

Take for example indy music circles like Kokyo Active Neets, Akiba Winds or Lowland Jazz, they are not doing this purely for economic self-interest, they are mainly doing it for two subjects they love: music and media. They have really improved over the years and are slowly backing up their relentless passion with skill, first with the sound of professional musicians and recording facilities and lately better arrangements. They are making money of of it because of a passion for the art, not because of greed for economic profit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy3sTqAfn44 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_Ob_y2d91g


That video about MICHIRU's scoring process alone tells volumes just how worlds apart the two industries operate.


@nextday:

I'm not surprised anymore to be honest :D:D:D
Any news on something for Keijo? I noticed a new cd announcement but it was just a radio drama. Maybe a soundtrack next?


Also, just ten days away from new Kanno. The Year sure starts off perfect. Who got all the time for all this music (and games) this winter?

Thanks for your posts everyone. I had a solid finish to the year and have been listening to FFXV soundtrack quite a bit. There are some serious gems on there including some that are not orchestral at all. Tetsuya Shibata's contributions are all lovely pieces of music in their own right whether he is going more jazzy, country, or rock. And of course some of the massive orchestral pieces which are thankfully used in climactic battles and not reserved to cutscenes. I really need to put together a set of highlights if someone doesn't beat me to it.

First new CD I receive this year is Olivier Truan's score for the ballet "Tevye", recorded with the Macedonian Radio Symphonic Orchestra. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fgczL6pO0s



Any news on something for Keijo? I noticed a new cd announcement but it was just a radio drama. Maybe a soundtrack next?

Also, just ten days away from new Kanno. The Year sure starts off perfect. Who got all the time for all this music (and games) this winter?
If not a CD album, I imagine they'll sneak it into the last blu-ray volume or something. There's no way Matsuo writes all that music and let's them get away with not releasing it.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Kosuke Yamashita on 2017 Sentai - this will be his third Sentai score since 2011! :D

Edit: And the theme is space. Happy Tango! :D

Vinphonic - Already I have heard a lot of tracks from your compilation of Anime music that are from scores I hadn't heard about. Are there some that stand out as most exciting on the whole more than others? Perhaps a top 5 of scores that haven't gotten posted in this thread?

One that stood out so far is schwarzenmarken. Love that short cue.

.

@Sirusjr: Boy that is tuff :D

But I have to say that Kizumonogatari (2 parts released so far) is one of my favorite scores of 2016. The first part has one of my favorite film-music-magic moments from last year "March 26th" but be warned that it's not really orchestral. Also I have to hand it to the Japanese... little did Strauss know his music will one day be used for the most overblown pantyshot ever that simultaniously pays homage to 2001. In short it's Kosaki doing what he's so good at. I adore the second part in particular.

And for the little more advanced Jazz fanatics there's no way around Gundam Thunderbolt... some of the craziest and most honest Jazz I have ever heard and combined with the visuals its an orgasmic experience. The songs are fantastic as well.

A score that I really adore is Pripara☆ Music Collection season.2. It's almost a taste of what Sahashi could have done with Sailor Moon. It's unapologeticly upbeat and corny but I love it to pieces.

Hiromi Mizutani slowly moves up the ladder with every new score he writes: Shomin Sample (Ore ga Ojou-sama) has some of the most elegant and playful moments of the year and really reminded me of Steel Angel Kurumi in parts. A shame the brass and some tracks are synth, otherwise I would return to it more often: http://hikarinoakariost.info/shomin-sample-original-soundtrack/

ACE ATTORNEY by Wada is a must, it's been shared by Issou in the Anime section. I prefer it over D.Gray-man.



For the rest, don't worry. They will appear in the thread in time ;)








EDIT: DEAR GOD... Kanno has outdone herself by the first piece already... and some folks have actually condemned the Golden Age to the history books.

Found this video today, for anyone who wants to know how Sawano makes his music check it out from 23:55 onward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5LbtfuJlJ8

Surprisingly, he leaves the orchestration to someone else (Koichiro Muroya), and I find it funny how even in the video everyone realizes that his melody was awful.

Found this video today, for anyone who wants to know how Sawano makes his music check it out from 23:55 onward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5LbtfuJlJ8

Surprisingly, he leaves the orchestration to someone else (Koichiro Muroya), and I find it funny how even in the video everyone realizes that his melody was awful.

I wonder if that is why he always uses Daisensei Muroya Strings. Likely related.

LOL!

Conductor: "OK, this part sounds lacklustre, doesn't it?
Musician: "Yes."
Narrator: "The main melody sounds dull."

What bloody melody? There isn't one. Not even a bad one, there just isn't one full stop. Three different people in the space of five seconds say it's a turd.

What a horrible waste of studio time, and a bloody big string section.

Where is it said that Muroya does the orchestrations for Sawano? I interpret that scene as saying that Sawano provides incompetent orchestrations, revealing his stupidity (and revealing his sampler-based background, but still worthy of respect that he actually does appear to *do* it, even if he does make elementary mistakes) and Muroya tweaks it to sound better in the real world. We then discover that Sawano has no idea what he's doing, and nobody ELSE has any idea what he's doing either. They record the same piece a dozen times until everybody loses the will to live, then they randomly select a take. Meanwhile it is obvious that Sawano considers the orchestral performance as something that needs to emulate what he hears on his synthesizer.

Can you imagine this kind of childish, anti-musical nonsense going on at a Hirano session?

Well that was depressing. Back to Vinphonic's compilation.

Guys... I'm gobsmacked, my ears overflowing, my mind destroyed. Stop everything you are doing right now! Get DRIFTERS: Black Disc, put track 1,2,5,6,8,12,13,14,22,23,25,26 in a special folder, call it DRIFTERS: A STAR WARS STORY and be mesmerized by 30 minutes of the finest music ever written for media. It makes all that fuss about Rogue One completely redundant as Track 22 is the best STAR WARS music ever recorded not by Williams.
There's also some Goldsmith in there, unless Goldsmith took it from classical pieces that escape my memory right now.

I'm even forgetting that the best battle tracks for Hellsing are not yet released. Matsuo outdid himself aswell.
I guess it's now time for Mitsuda to deliver the best score of his career and for Hisaishi to deliever his greatest masterpiece with Ni No Kuni 2. Seriously, what a time to be alive!




Update for the Concert Collection:


Hayato Matsuo / The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra - Great War (http://picosong.com/dbsv/)

Falcom Sound Team jdk - Lacrimosa of Dana (http://picosong.com/dbw2)

Where is it said that Muroya does the orchestrations for Sawano?I thought at first that all Sawano did was hand Muroya a sheet of melodies, and then have him assemble the string players and conduct the whole recording. I rewatched the video again though and it turns out Sawano did actually write the whole sheet with each instrument in mind, and Muroya was the one who had to modify it to salvage it somewhat. Not much of an orchestration though when all it is is just a bunch of blaring violins and cellos with a percussion loop machine in the background.

I was a bit taken aback by how Sawano didn't utter a single word of music during the whole recording. All he did was leave it to Muroya and give the typical "um yeah, it sounds good!" response that any schmuck can say. I wonder if this is how Remote Control produces their music too.

I'm not a big fan of Matsuo's Drifters. I keep comparing it to Hellsing in the back of my head and it sounds so inferior by comparison, but I can't put my finger on why. Might have something to do with how it was used in the show though, Hellsing had some incredible sound direction and Drifters doesn't even come close to it in that regard.

I should also point out that there doesn't appear to be any Matsuo stuff on disc 2 of that same soundtrack. So don't bother with that one.

Drifters... well, what can be said? It's probably the best score we've heard in any medium for a good few years. There is just something about these Warsaw scores - whenever a composer goes there there's always a feeling of event - they bring their A Game. There is not a single note of filler in the Warsaw cues, here. It's got variety, melody, great themes, and is orchestrated SO densely. It completely ignores every single aspect of the film scoring rot that's been brewing over the past 25 years, and delivers a score that is timeless and in the finest tradition of film music when it actually was music, not vaguely harmonic wallpaper. This is just great music, written by a great musician, performed by a great orchestra. (Listen to the piano in the action cues; no mere bass strengthening going on there - it actually has passages of completely romantic melodrama. Lovely meaty cues, mini symphonies every single one of 'em. The recording is occasionally a little claustrophobic (I just had to complain about SOMETHING) but nonetheless this is pure gold. And to think when Drifters was announced, we were all wondering if Matsuo would at least get an orchestra or whether he'd be sent again down the cheapo route of Jojo and The World God Only Knows. He got Warsaw, blew it completely out of the water, AND wrote *another* score in the same year that nobody in a million years would've thought could be good (Keijo) and it was really fantastic.

Is it just me, or is Track 21 obviously a Warsaw cue that they ran out of time to record and had to include as a synth mockup?

Lots of interesting things going on in terms of the orchestration in Drifters. For all the Williams-isms, I didn't hear any harp. Also didn't hear a lot of piccolo. Or winds, for that matter, at least on a Williams level. Winds were mostly just doubling the strings. The brass and percussion were definitely on point though.

AND wrote *another* score in the same year that nobody in a million years would've thought could be good (Keijo) and it was really fantastic

Did Keijo get released yet? I have not heard anything of it.

I should have expected the jazzy detective sound from the new Gyakuten Saiban score but somehow I had hoped that Wada would have done something a bit different.

Now, for something a little different before the heavy guns are fired this year already and we're all busy discussing the new influx of big releases:





Taku Matsushiba, Kenichiru Suehiro, Michiru Iida, Seikou Nagaoka
Remastering Works Vol. 1
Arranged and remastered by Vinphonic





Download (https://mega.nz/#!kRtFibha!9zy1tE0Cvwe_az8i02gzalxeF5sdTy4VG-vEwI20SUU)


Here's my latest attempt to make various anime studio recordings (this time all from 2016) sound a bit closer to a proper recording on our side. BUT let me say upfront, these are still experiments and I consider them not professional yet. In fact, Yuri and Izetta don't really need any remastering at all, but regardless I wanted to do some experiments with what you can achieve with the raw soundtrack files without access to the master tapes. I also wanted to give my new studio equipment some tests, so bear with me.

ReZero on the other hand needed a remastering badly, the music on the bonus cds sounds atrocious, flat and lifeless and the modern RC hybrids lacked any punch and bite you would expect from a Zimmer recording. I still think ReZero is a good example how you can make an RC score approach work and be interesting (of course by incorporating classical composers like Morricone and Bartok), so I added the much needed brightness, punch and bite into the recording. The various Horneresque pieces should now sound closer to the real thing.

Also a toast to anime from the World Witches series. Somewhere in those type of shows, there's always some level of artistry involved and visible. They could have gone the completely cheap route and go autopilot with drumloops and arpeggios because frankly, who cares for the BGM in such shows?? But somehow Nagaoka assembled one flutist, one trumpist and the world's smallest string section in a tincan studio and recorded an honest-to-god classic Hollywood war score with much romantic heart that puts the industry with the worlds largest production values and instruments to shame, not to mention he did it four times!
I also REALLY like the vibe of Formation Julius. That stuff would kill with the LA session players. So its only natural I've tried to breath as much Hollywood "sound" into it as was possible. I hope you find the result satisfying.

Also another reminder these are all custom film score arrangements and not the official sondtrack, in World Witches case, a film score arrangement from all the soundtracks. You can still get them all on HnA if you haven't already. I highly recommend them.

If you find anything dissatisfactory or not working at all or even bad sounding, please let me know. Or if you think they meet the goal I set, that would be fine too :)


I hope you find it enjoyable

Also a toast to anime from the World Witches series. Somewhere in those type of shows, there's always some level of artistry involved and visible. They could have gone the completely cheap route and go autopilot with drumloops and arpeggios because frankly, who cares for the BGM in such shows?? But somehow Nagaoka assembled one flutist, one trumpist and the world's smallest string section in a tincan studio and recorded an honest-to-god classic Hollywood war score with much romantic heart that puts the industry with the worlds largest production values and instruments to shame, not to mention he did it four times!Nagaoka is a strange one, isn't he? Most of his music is just pop arrangements, but he has such a keen sense of melody and knows how to use a small ensemble well. His score for Gothicmade was laughably tiny, consisting of only a few strings and a single piano, but it's incredibly melodic and thematically rich, though having Maria Kawamura's incredible singing voice probably elevated much of the soundtrack to an even higher level. Brave Witches is another pleasant surprise.

Anyone able to upload the Drifters disc that Matsuo scored? The link in the Anime thread is infected and won't download to my computer.

Drifters (Warsaw Cues Only)
The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus
Composed and orchestrated by Hayato Matsuo
Conducted by Michal Dworzynski



FLAC - https://itsssl.com/0wVCV (password is my username, exactly as written)

Here is Drifters - the Warsaw session only, which comprises eight cues of twenty-seven minutes of music - and is some of the finest music ever composed for anime. In the same year in which Michael Giacchino kills Star Wars, Hayato Matsuo bursts back onto the scene with a full-throated, red-blooded, thematic, insanely-well-orchestrated score for Drifters.

If anybody is interested in the rest, let me know and I'll upload it - but there really isn't any music worth listening to outside of the Warsaw session.

Incidentally... I don't know if anybody picked up this bit of news, but Drifters has been renewed for a second season, though a date has not been set - so we could be getting the same again in a year or two. :D

And just in time. Unless they used some alternate takes from previous sessions, Warsaw also confirmed for the new Fafner project. I'm more than happy to see multible Warsaw scores becoming an annual affair :D

Thanks, i will have a listen. Hope it is as goodas Hellsing.

Warsaw also confirmed for the new Fafner project

Seriously? Ah, YES!

Edit: After research, there is no confirmation of Warsaw at all - just a teaser video featuring music already recorded for the previous series.

http://picosong.com/dBsx/

Pardon the quality - it's from the TV broadcast a couple hours ago.

When can we expect an epic mecha battle sequence?

Hiroshi Takaki
MAHO GIRLS
Studio Orchestra



Download (https://mega.nz/#!pNkGlBjK!wKXwOxcpaRzl8fVyYSvl4zEzkVBAgA0nidKxnLMxlEo)
MP3 / 320kbps / 66 Tracks / 100min




I guess it's now the time to fire the heavy guns.

I feared Takaki was becoming far too formulatic with Precure after my first impressions from the show. But all that doubt has vanished with the last soundtrack releases. Takaki kept getting better with every new Precure franchise. There are moments in there that are almost fit for a SciFi epic and a reminder of his glorious score for Tytania. And that delicious mix of cheesy retro vocals and pop brass is as enticing as ever. The MAJORITY of the score is meaty orchestral fantasy with some delightful woodwind play. Some moments even reminded me of Harry Potter, Hannigan's Phoenix in particular. The second half of this score arrangement is full of fanfare, marches and a big action climax that is among his best Precure moments. The last few tracks now serve as his final farewell as a composer for the franchise and it's a very fitting closure. It was all great exhilerating fun that only occurs when a skilled talent lets off some steam, commands his baton with vigorous force, and makes a whole recording room rock their socks off with almost the same vigor as a 50s or 60s studio recording.

For me he did not quite reach the vigor of Sato's best moments but overall he delivered the most consistent quality of them all with as much classical bravado as modern pop thrills. However, I hope his next projects take us to a bit more serious and sinister worlds. At least I would go all Death Note after so much pink sugar :D

LWA: confirmed to be 25 episodes, so there should be a good amount of new music. It was recorded in Paris.

Innnnnnnnteresting! I watched Episode 1 yesterday and heard a mix of actual re-used Moscow recordings, smaller-ensemble stuff (what I would term typical TV Drama Oshima) and a few suspicious-sounding crappy orchestra re-recordings of existing pieces from the shorts.

Everybody was thinking that the orchestra recording in Hungary was for Little Witch... but no, it was the Paris recording. I wonder if they used a full orchestra. Oshima's scores these days tend to go to Moscow for big orchestras and Paris for warmer, more romantic music.

Now, another obvious question presents itself; what was she recording in Hungary??! :D :D :D

I mean, it's possible that there could have been a miscommunication - Oshima replies to me in English, but she isn't fluent. Though the new music in episode 1 sounds like Paris to my ears.

By the way, the music label for this anime generally doesn't release soundtracks until after the show has finished airing. So, at 25 episodes, we're probably looking at a 6-7 month wait. It isn't bundled with the blu-rays.

You speak to her personally? You just became my new hero. :D

The strings definitely do sound like Paris - it just makes me worry that we now know that they *can* re-use existing Moscow recordings...

I definitely hear some new orchestral score in episode 1 - not much, but enough to convince me that it IS there... I dunno. We'll see. :D

You'd be surprised. Many composers will return emails/messages, even if you write them in English. I suppose they are happy to be asked about their work.

Natsumi Kameoka didn't... :(

Edit: Just skimming Kanno's Taiga drama. BLOODY HELL. To anybody who's been waiting (far too long) for Kanno's next "BIG" score - something up there with Escaflowne, Turn A Gundam, and Macross... this could well be it. Two orchestral cues in the first episode which seem to be thematically unrelated to the Main Theme. First is a wonderful string-led wonderment theme - an irresistible mixture of Debussy and John Williams. Second is a glorious brassy cue, which begins with a fanfare. What is music like this doing in a TV drama? And how are producers not tripping over themselves to get Kanno on their projects with enormous budgets and complete creative freedom?

BTW Sky High has just been released by Intrada, one of Giacchino's earlier orchestral works.

What is music like this doing in a TV drama? And how are producers not tripping over themselves to get Kanno on their projects with enormous budgets and complete creative freedom?Let's not forget that NHK's Taiga Drama scores have all been extremely expensive and prestigious orchestral outings. Their production values are vastly higher than your typical TV series. So good in fact that Morricone himself was hired once to compose. More often than not they present the absolute best that their composers have to offer. Kanno will unquestionably knock it out of the park. If someone like Yugo Kanno could do it with Gunshi Kanbei, I expect the better Kanno to give us something that may be within the top 5 scores she (or her shadow writers) had ever come up with.

Yoko Kanno has become something of a legacy composer in the eyes of the Japanese, on the same prestige level as Hisaishi, basically "too good for generic anime crap", especially ever since she wrote "Hana wa Saku" with the legendary director/auter Shunji Iwai to support the victims of the 2011 earthquake. I don't think she will ever score for anime again, none of her long-time collaborators like Tomino or Kawamori or Wantanabe have been able to get her for their latest works.

I've been hearing the Main Theme for days and saw the first episode, it's been so long to finally have everything I love about Kanno back in place, here are some highlights of the first episode (episode here (http://123kdrama.blogspot.com/2017/01/1-onna-joushu-naotora-ep1.html) in case you want to check it out for the music):

First two cues already described by Tango, nothing else to add besides of the huge inner fanboy screaming while hearing them.
1- 0:57
2- 2:45

3- 4:20 Main Theme, what is there to say? It's a beautiful merge between orchestral old Hollywood and wondrous Ravel passages. Warsaw might not be present, but it's certain they didn't hired all these virtuosi with NHK to play along for crap, not under Kanno's belt.

4- 8:50 the ensemble here sounds more reduced than the previous cue, this seems like material for the second incoming volume? Either way, it's been soooo long since the brass sections were so present from her works!

Reminds me of those cute and playful domestic orchestral tracks from Turn A Gundam.
5- 12:20
6- 21:00
7- 26:05
8- 29:06

9- 31:26 the main theme in a pretty simplistic piano version, even for Kanno standards.

10-35:16 a short beautiful string section with cello as the focus.

11-42:33 ahhh, I'll never get tired of Kanno's gift for melodic lyricism cues like these ones, something Hisaishi would also do, specially on the way it builds up.

12-45:27 hearing some return from Nobunaga's Ambition here, specially the brass.

13-48:20 a little more developed the piano of the main theme here, but I craved for a little more construction there!

14-50:47 main theme with cello once again as the focus, the particular chord changes here are very characteristic from her at this point to me.

15-52:58 the calm before the storm, god I missed you brass sections.

16-56:30 the violin version of the mix between the very first track and main theme, and BY GOD, THE BEAUTY, I'M IN TEARS.

Also for all of you Tanaka fans out there, beisdes Gravity Daze, he's in Onihei which counts with his approach to jazz noir with traditional japanese elements, he even did the opening and ending, the first episode is out if you'd like to check it out! The main theme is the bomb!

...And the moment that you have been waiting for - (source: findings on the net)


Yoko Kanno
ONNA JOSHU NAOTORA ONGAKU TORA NO MAKI ICHITORA



Format: MP3 320kbps
File Size: 158.3mb
Duration: ~68 Minutes


Tracklist:

1 AMATORA -TORANOME 天虎 ～虎の女 [TVサイズ] (テーマ音楽)
2 KOKOH 虎口
3 HAJIME 始
4 ABARE あばれ
5 II DON QUIXOTE 井伊ドンキ
6 WEAK HEART 弱き心
7 ONAGONI KOSOARE 女子にこそあれ
8 MEDETA MEDETAYA でた目出たや (怒)
9 RYUGUKOZOU 竜宮小僧のうた
10 KAME'S WHISTLE 亀の笛
11 TORA'S DREAM 虎の夢
12 BOUNCING TIGER 跳ね虎 (大河ドラマ紀行)
13 SWORD 脇差し
14 MOON BOAT 月船
15 HAMANA WIND 浜名の風
16 TACHIBANA 橘
17 AMATORA -TORANOI 天虎 ～虎の威
18 AMATORA -TORANOKO 天虎 ～虎の子
19 AMATORA -TORANOME 天虎 ～虎の女
20 AMATORA -TORANOO 天虎 ～虎の尾

Link:
https://mega.nz/#!jcsnEKDS!UnYC-afQ-oe8v_djaopsVA5gQsRDqtbMZlFvYGFGOdw

Thanks Arrowhead!

As expected, this was magnificent. It sounded a lot like the style she used for Aquarion. For anyone who was waiting for orchestral maestro Yoko Kanno to return, I don't think you could be happier. I can't rank it in my top 5 Kanno scores because I don't really hear anything that has really topped what she's written in the past, unfortunately, but it's an incredibly meaty, thematically dense score. Out of the 20 songs I only counted 5 fillers, so there's a lot of music here to enjoy.

Bouncing Tiger is without doubt my favorite piece on the whole soundtrack- the entire string ensemble complimenting the violin is beyond words.

2017 is off to great start.

My copy arrives tomorrow, so FLAC will be up then (along with musician info). The Amatora theme suite is Kanno at her best.

BTW Sky High has just been released by Intrada, one of Giacchino's earlier orchestral works.

Oh, that's amazing! :D

So, I am listening to Kaoru Wada (was it him?) orchestral renditions of Utada Hikaru's themes for Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2.. and I need to say.. how dazzled I am by them. How can you wonderfully convert a pop song into a beautiful, fitting orchestrated theme? It's really amazing, isn't it? He aced it, not only once, but twice. Rarely ever can you turn a pop song into a beautifully orchestrated music.

Yoko Kanno
ONNA JOSHU NAOTORA ONGAKU TORA NO MAKI ICHITORA



Loving it so far! Thank you.

Is there any particular reason Hisaishi hasn't scored a Taiga drama yet?

Loving it so far! Thank you.

Is there any particular reason Hisaishi hasn't scored a Taiga drama yet?
I would guess because Hisaishi is primarily a film composer. He does a lot of movies but not much TV. In the last decade, he's only scored two television shows (not including 1-2 episode TV specials).

So Cloud on a Slope was one of them right?

So Cloud on a Slope was one of them right?
Yes, that and The Legend.

I would love to watch that show. Anyone watched Cloud on a Slope? Is it any good?

Loving every minute from the new Kanno but I'll admit I miss Warsaw to a degree. Their absence is not hurting the music but you know... that special air of grandeur is just missing (same with LWA OVA vs. LWA TV). But enough nitpicking about the sound, the music is spectacular. Tango and pensquawk already nailed it. Kanno at her best and shining bright. I also share Tango's desire of seeing Kanno getting job offerings left and right after so many years of hibernation. But what a glorious comeback!

I'm also very much looking forward to Streich picking it apart like a good brain surgeon.

EDIT: Wow, the last piece should have been called Symphonic Variations on Swan Lake... and that seemless transition from Tchaikovsky to Copland at the end... one of the best classical pieces I've ever heared. It's like she's channeling all the old master's greatest moments into a single, cohesive experience. It doesn't matter if everything was really done by her or not or how much she lifted, this is a work of genius, the kind of genius Horner always wanted to be but never became. We can consider ourselves immensely blessed to be even hearing music of this magnitude in our times. I'm sure each repeating listen will deepen my love for it.



I highly endorse the recent trends in the Japanese scoring world and what was once a fantasy of mine could very well become a tradition at some point: Every major orchestral score has a high chance of having suites, concerto pieces or even symphonic movements. Perhaps I will at some point don't even feel the need to create suites anymore. I pray that this trend continues.




Speaking of concertesque works:





Akito Matsuda
Senzoku Gakuen College of Music: Freshman Wind Ensemble

Sound! Euphonium 2: Endless Concert
Featuring music from Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Rachmaninov, T-SQUARE and many more




Download (https://mega.nz/#!xUE1TKgZ!bdRsStEb6_PBencyTwoTs9BtVcZfEEtbX8NIsHwKvYk)
Concert Selection / 22 Tracks / 86min


“This work means a lot to me in the sense that I seriously tackled orchestral songs for the first time.
I used to play a trombone and do simple music composition in a brass band club and I think I succeeded in mixing that experience from my brass band club with my know-how from my past music-composing jobs for anime. Thanks to that, I could write songs that go right in the middle of both anime and orchestra.

For the solo part of my self-written piece “Crescent Moon Dance”, I needed to make the solo part somewhat technical since that solo is played by the character at the audition but at the same time I tried to make it somewhat catchy in consideration for the audience’s views. I think the solo part could create a pretty big impact at the climax of the competition.
I was also nervous myself when they were playing it, lol.

After writing a melody line for my euphonium piece this time, I realized that it’s an amazing instrument whose tone alone can create a wonderful atmosphere for an entire brass band. For example, while we consider trumpets make a real impact, euphonium can create both gentle and spiky tones by breath control. I was quite impressed by its wide range of use.
For the people who will watch this anime, I will be grateful if you can enjoy watching and listening to it.”

-Akito Matsuda


Premiere of Matsuda’s concerto piece for Euphonium and Wind Orchestra
Sound! Euphonium (http://picosong.com/dTKi/)


“There are two criteria in a music composition: skill & expression and these two criteria have 50 points each.
In fact, expression and skill are closely bound together. If we lack skills, we can’t express what’s in our head. On the other hand, we can’t play nice music without expressive power. If we aim for perfection, it’s inevitable that we pursue both of them for the rest of our lives. That’s one of the deep aspects of music.”

-Shouichiro Hokazono (World’s top euphonium player and performer on both soundtracks)

I can't pick it apart. It's honestly one of the best symphonic scores I've ever heard out of Japan. It is very restrained compared to her anime soundtracks, but also probably her most "mature" work to date. It's Kanno's Schindler's List. It's one of her best, but you cannot compare it to her sci-fi stuff, just like you can't compare Schindler's List to Star Wars. Apples and oranges. I might prefer sci-fi, but this exceeded my expectations.

I heard small references to her other scores, but overall it sounded very original. Will there eventually be an OST 2 or 3?

So based on mentions that Kanno is channeling Debussy, I've been listening to some Debussy recordings on Spotify. I've really enjoyed so far the 2007 Karajan recording with the Berliner Phil. (Prelude a L'apres-midi d'un faune
Berlin Philharmonic / Herbert von Karajan) Such energy. Anyone have any favorite recordings to recommend?

La Damoiselle �lue. Boston Symphony Orchestra. Seiji Ozawa. 1995. Absolute beauty.

Drifters (Warsaw Cues Only)
The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus
Composed and orchestrated by Hayato Matsuo
Conducted by Michal Dworzynski



FLAC - https://itsssl.com/0wVCV (password is my username, exactly as written)

Here is Drifters - the Warsaw session only, which comprises eight cues of twenty-seven minutes of music - and is some of the finest music ever composed for anime. In the same year in which Michael Giacchino kills Star Wars, Hayato Matsuo bursts back onto the scene with a full-throated, red-blooded, thematic, insanely-well-orchestrated score for Drifters.

If anybody is interested in the rest, let me know and I'll upload it - but there really isn't any music worth listening to outside of the Warsaw session.

Incidentally... I don't know if anybody picked up this bit of news, but Drifters has been renewed for a second season, though a date has not been set - so we could be getting the same again in a year or two. :D

Yup. Once again, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra proves that they are the go-to orchestra for grand anime score performances. Of course, it also helps when the composer who's utilizing them knows what they're doing as well, as is often the case with composers such as Hayato Matsuo and/or Masamichi Amano.

---------- Post added at 07:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:32 PM ----------

Oh, Tango. I remember you mentioning that Kanno was a thief once. I was curious about what you meant, until I listened to Elliot Goldenthal's score for TITUS. Yeah. Kanno definitely took some of Goldenthal's music for her Genesis Of Aquarion score. I... I cannot deny it. I mean, she used it beautifully, but the fact still remains that she... well, stole it. I also realized that Kuniaki Haishima also stole some of Goldenthal's TITUS score for a couple of tracks in his Macross Zero score. Of course... Haishima at least admitted to cribbing music from others for his score, as is obvious with the Klendathu Drop build-up heard in the track VF-Zero. That doesn't necessarily make him better, but... what can you do?

Let's not forget that NHK's Taiga Drama scores have all been extremely expensive and prestigious orchestral outings. Their production values are vastly higher than your typical TV series. So good in fact that Morricone himself was hired once to compose. More often than not they present the absolute best that their composers have to offer. Kanno will unquestionably knock it out of the park. If someone like Yugo Kanno could do it with Gunshi Kanbei, I expect the better Kanno to give us something that may be within the top 5 scores she (or her shadow writers) had ever come up with.

As a collector of Taiga scores, the poster who introduced them to this thread almost ten years ago, and somebody who has written extensively about them, you're preaching to the choir. ;)

All Kanbee really had going for it, once all the "wow, look at what Yugo Kanno did!" excitement had dried up, is that big orchestra, providing a much-needed feeling of grandeur and event that Kanno's simplistic Sunday morning drama music just doesn't convey. Additionally, whilst Taiga dramas have a pretty good track record as far as quality of scoring, there have also been some real stinkers as far as scores go - Atsuhime and Gou in particular standing out for me as filled with crappy music by a crappy composer - a recent (and disturbing) Taiga tradition is for the theme to be superb but the rest of the score severely lacking.

This score isn't just a cut above; it's a cut above what you'd expect in a Taiga score, and it's a cut above what you'd expect from Kanno. The fact that the main theme isn't just a three minute showpiece (which is miraculous in itself) but is a four movement tone poem running nearly fifteen minutes is simply beyond belief. This is Kanno all grown up - without a doubt a little less orchestrally exuberant than her Warsaw anime scores (a animated space opera and a prestigious historical drama are obviously not going to get the exact same type of score - that's the impression I get from the first soundtrack - although it's Kanno, so who knows what she's got planned for subsequent volumes?) - but I find this musically to be her pinnacle. It exceeded my expectation, it exceeded everybody's expectation, and it exceeded what was necessary for Kanno to do to compose a successful Taiga score - and we've only heard a third of it so far!

This is music written by somebody who has longed to score a Taiga drama for decades. (And, arguably, since Nobunaga's Ambition, a large-scale period drama score has been almost inevitable to come from her at some point.)

This is Kanno's love letter to music.


I don't think she will ever score for anime again, none of her long-time collaborators like Tomino or Kawamori or Wantanabe have been able to get her for their latest works.

A somewhat odd belief given that her latest two anime scores (2012 and 2014) were both for Watanabe and were his last two major projects to date. Kawamori is on record saying that he explicitly tries to avoid over-using Kanno. To my knowledge, there is no record that she was offered the projects and turned them down. Macross Delta was clearly a sign of wanting to go in a different (and significantly cheaper) musical direction. If they wanted Kanno and they were serious about getting her, she wouldn't have objected.

I don't understand why Yugo Kanno ended up on Reconguista - but Tomino is not by any stretch fixed to a particular composer, as a brief scan through his filmography will tell you - with scores of the last thirty years by Senju, Yoko Kanno, Yugo Kanno, Higuchi, SUgiyama, Shinozaki, Tanaka, and others. No Kanno on Reconguista in G does not equal Kanno turned down the project.

Though she seems to pick projects these days based largely around the fun travel opportunities afforded her, I'm fairly sure that if she is asked to work on a project that as some potential, and is offered a good budget and perhaps some exotic international travel to sweeten the deal she'd be up for it. This most recent Taiga drama score is the work of someone who loves what they do. Kanno hasn't had the chance to do a big orchestral score for nearly a decade, and when an opportunity came up she went crazy and wrote a quarter of an hour of music for the OPENING CREDITS; music that's so good they ended up with two of classical music's international superstars on the performance roster. This doesn't strike me as someone who's got too big for her boots and doesn't want to work any more.

Really, really love it - and can't wait for subsequent volumes (and information about which ensemble performed the non-NHK portions - it sounds domestic... I'd be interested to know what orchestra it is (or if it's a studio ensemble) and whereabouts it was recorded.

^Actually, Wantanabe's most recent work was Space Dandy. No Kanno there, but honestly that type of show does not suit her style at all. As for Delta, I'm not sure what Kawamori was even thinking when he was making that show. It was extremely low quality in every regard, not just by Macross standards, but by modern mecha anime standards as well. The music followed suite.

I mentioned "Hana wa Saku" mainly because it came out in 2014, coincidentally the same year Kanno stopped composing for anime with Terror in Resonance, and since then it seemed strange that all of her collaborators have moved on without her. As this score shows she still has all the means to continue making high-quality music, so the only reason I can only think of as to why she hasn't scored any new anime is because she doesn't want to. If someone like Oshima is still given enormous budgets for foreign orchestras, I don't see why Kanno isn't given the same treatment, because someone of her reputation could get work on projects easily. It is strange that a Taiga Drama with Yoko Kanno of all people is not given the Warsaw or Moscow treatment. Maybe it's a corporate thing, and we all know how much secrecy is shrouded in "Yoko Kanno".

Yuugo Kanno has been exceptionally prolific and getting a lot of big-name projects recently, and how someone like him of all people got the chance to do an epic Taiga drama is baffling. I think he peaked at Birdy Decode and went downhill from there. Psycho-Pass was a generic RC production. Reconguista was some of the most bland and thematically empty orchestral music I've ever heard from a Gundam show, even worse than Kawai's 00, and his Jojo's is like a poor man's Iwasaki imitation from part 2 with some decent melodies here and there. He's certainly got talent, much more than Sawano or Kajiura or Yokoyama or Hayashi, but I don't see what it is about him that producers would choose over some of the older vastly superior talents still out there like Senju, or even younger talent like Kameoka. Hell, I also agree with the sentiment that Sahashi should be brought back to life.

I've never actually heard Ryo Yoshimata's work on the Taiga dramas, but when it comes to writing sad sappy drama music, I think he's one of the best. He steamrolls Tenmon and Jun Maeda and all those other visual novel musicians that people praise for nothing. Have him score a Shinkai movie and I think his music would really shine.

Speaking of Shinkai, has anyone seen Kimi no Na Wa yet? Gorgeous-looking movie, but the music was some of the most uninspired I'd ever heard from any anime movie. No surprise since it was composed by the Japanese equivalent of one of those pop bands you hear on the radio like Nickelback, but I really hope that this movie's enormous success doesn't make this practice commonplace. Western composers nowadays are mostly RC and pop band amateurs like Reznor, we don't need more Sawanos and Radwimps scoring big-budget movies.

^Actually, Wantanabe's most recent work was Space Dandy. No Kanno there, but honestly that type of show does not suit her style at all.Not quite :<

http://vgmdb.net/album/44032

■ Izumi Macra x mabanua [Tr. 16]
Composition: Yoko Kanno, Izumi Macra
Arrangement: mabanua
Lyrics: Izumi Macra
Mixed by mabanua

■ Etsuko Yakushimaru [Tr. 23] (Ending Theme)
Produced by Etsuko Yakushimaru & Yoko Kanno
Composition, Lyrics: Tica�α
Arrangement: Yoko Kanno
Vocal, Chorus & Dimtakt: Etsuko Yakushimaru
Synthesizer & Keyboard: Yoko Kanno

http://vgmdb.net/album/47038


■ Yoko Kanno [Tr. 1.03, 2.04, 2.14]
Composition, Arrangement: Yoko Kanno
Performed by Yoko Kanno

^I stand corrected. However, I still consider Kanno the JPop Arranger and Kanno the Orchestrator to be two entirely different people.

I can't pick it apart. It's honestly one of the best symphonic scores I've ever heard out of Japan. It is very restrained compared to her anime soundtracks, but also probably her most "mature" work to date. It's Kanno's Schindler's List. It's one of her best, but you cannot compare it to her sci-fi stuff, just like you can't compare Schindler's List to Star Wars. Apples and oranges. I might prefer sci-fi, but this exceeded my expectations.

I heard small references to her other scores, but overall it sounded very original. Will there eventually be an OST 2 or 3?
Looking at how the album is named ("one tiger"). I am 99% sure there will be another.


So based on mentions that Kanno is channeling Debussy, I've been listening to some Debussy recordings on Spotify. I've really enjoyed so far the 2007 Karajan recording with the Berliner Phil. (Prelude a L'apres-midi d'un faune
Berlin Philharmonic / Herbert von Karajan) Such energy. Anyone have any favorite recordings to recommend?

If you like solo piano music, for which Debussy is one of the very best, I recommend Bavouzet's recording of the entire oeuvre. Bavouzet basically has no competition and I've listened to almost every well-regarded recording.
For the orchestral stuff, I am very content with Boulez's and had no desire to look any further. Don't miss out on the chamber stuff as well (string quartet, violin/cello sonatas, etc.)

Naotora FLAC: Thread 213871
Full credits: http://vgmdb.net/album/63118

As expected, all the music was recorded in Japan. Some of you are using words like "budget" but I can't help but feel that this was an intentional decision. Kanno could go anywhere in the world to record her music. Nothing has ever stopped her before. Also, her previous NHK score was recorded in Vienna so it wouldn't make sense for them to say "no" this time. Maybe she felt that for this traditional Japanese series, it was best to record the music in Japan.

For what it's worth, the music was recorded at the NHK Studio, which is the closest thing Japan has to a scoring stage. Some pics courtesy of Yoshihiro Ike: http://faccio.sakura.ne.jp/blog/2009/05/nhk-1.html

^The only reason I can even think Kanno would stick with a domestic recording is because of her newfound pro-Japan national treasure status after Hana wa Saku, because I still find this out-of-character for her.

thanks

Thanks for posting the FLAC. Such a lovely score and such power in parts.

So, years ago I found the existence of two theatrical japanese anime Tamagotchi. 2007 and 2008. No biggie, right? Except when I checked out the movies I noticed they had a pretty good big scale heavy orchestral score. I knew, luckily, the existance of two CD soundtracks of the movies released in Japan. I even checked samples of the first in the Amazon.co.jp. They sounded fantastic. Always wanted to get those two CD's, still can't get it for a long while, but one day maybe. But the point is.. I've discovered that the actual composer of both movies is Kohei Tanaka. Known for quite a lot of anime scores, and a lot of them also being this good in scale too. You'll have to forgive me though. I am not familiar with his scores sadly! All I could be familiar with is his Zorori (which sadly hasn't been released yet)

Alas, here are the links to the soundtracks. The first one has a copy in stock by Amazon right now cheap, that you can get sent to you. The second soundtrack, however, is sold by marketplace. It's luck if you can get it or not. I strongly recommend you guys give a listen to the first one which has samples for all the tracks.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B000Y1GBZS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AN1VRQENFRJN5
https://www.amazon.co.jp/映画-たまごっち-うちゅーいちハッピーな物語-オリジナル・サウンドトラック-サントラ/dp/B001KNVICU/ref=pd_sbs_15_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WW0TMWC1F2B9KX615RET

If I knew more of the soundtracks I'd prolly make a VGMBD list of it.

From Nintendo's Switch presentation...

Preview of Breath of the Wild with live orchestral music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw47_q9wbBE

Also, the music isn't recorded yet, but it sounds like Mahito Yokota is in charge of the new Mario game. Can probably expect some Galaxy-style orchestral music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kcdRBHM7kM



So, years ago I found the existence of two theatrical japanese anime Tamagotchi. [...] I've discovered that the actual composer of both movies is Kohei Tanaka.
Actually, Tanaka did the 2007 one and Hamaguchi did the 2008 one.

Really? IMBD credits Tanaka at both, but still, Hamaguchi is also quite the heavy orchestra guy, too. I wish I could hear something about the second soundtrack!

Also, MAGNIFICENT to hear that both new Zelda and Mario games will have some live orchestral music in them!

Also, the music isn't recorded yet, but it sounds like Mahito Yokota is in charge of the new Mario game. Can probably expect some Galaxy-style orchestral music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kcdRBHM7kM

Aargh, I'm going to spend the next twelve months worrying about if that's just a mockup or if they're actually planning to put that in the game. ;)


So, years ago I found the existence of two theatrical japanese anime Tamagotchi. [...] I've discovered that the actual composer of both movies is Kohei Tanaka.

I had absolutely no idea! Will I be the first to ask the inevitable begging question...? ;)

Aargh, I'm going to spend the next twelve months worrying about if that's just a mockup or if they're actually planning to put that in the game. ;)
They've had a good track record of employing live musicians for Mario in recent years. I'm not worried. Even the new Paper Mario had a 30 piece ensemble.

I had absolutely no idea! Will I be the first to ask the inevitable begging question...? ;)

Good to see I'm not the only one that is interested in the soundtrack! However, as nextday pointed out it seems the second is done by Hamaguchi.. which, if you ask me, sounds as equally good as Tanaka. So, it's not bad news! The second soundtrack is sold in Amazon.co.jp by marketplace, so it may or may not reach your place, but the first one is right now being sold by Amazon.co.jp itself at a very good price, even with total. I'd recommend the buy! I just can't. x3

Good to see I'm not the only one that is interested in the soundtrack! However, as nextday pointed out it seems the second is done by Hamaguchi.. which, if you ask me, sounds as equally good as Tanaka. So, it's not bad news! The second soundtrack is sold in Amazon.co.jp by marketplace, so it may or may not reach your place, but the first one is right now being sold by Amazon.co.jp itself at a very good price, even with total. I'd recommend the buy! I just can't. x3
Samples sound like One Piece Tanaka.... buuuut if you look at the tracklist there's 63 tracks and CD is 71 minutes. Lots of sub 1 minute tracks. Same thing applies to the second one. Not my cup o' tea.

Samples sound like One Piece Tanaka.... buuuut if you look at the tracklist there's 63 tracks and CD is 71 minutes. Lots of sub 1 minute tracks. Same thing applies to the second one. Not my cup o' tea.

That's okay. I'll get it one day!

I'm ordering these CDs. I will of course upload FLAC. It's Tanaka and Hamaguchi. I don't care if the cues are 10 seconds long. :D

I'm ordering these CDs. I will of course upload FLAC. It's Tanaka and Hamaguchi. I don't care if the cues are 10 seconds long. :D

I have no emotes to express my feelings right now *w*

---------- Post added at 10:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 AM ----------

Good luck! There's a copy of the first cheap over Amazon.co.jp, but the second seems out of stock, and marketplaces don't put it too cheap, I think!

You go, Tango :D


Best case scenario, the albums are 50% stingers or each piece flows into the next.

Also a toast to the new Zelda trailer, and the ongoing (and common sense) practice to use the project composer's music for trailers. It was very well put together, giving the sense and scope of an epic adventure (something Zelda has been missing for many years). It also felt being scored to picture (but most likely wasn't). I previously assumed the game would be entirely like the first Zelda with almost zero story and subdued music but now the chance for another Skyward Sword have drasticly improved.

Btw am I the only one or has no one else noticed the striking aesthetic similarities and influences from Shadow of the Colossus, almost looking like straight copies in parts. And what do you know a 24 piece soundtrack ships with the limited edition. Still not enough to sell me on Switch (but I'm tempted).

God, the soundtrack with the images gave me some huge goosebumps, man.

I hope something more than the 24-track soundtrack comes out later.

Funny how every time Super Mario Galaxy gets mentioned I see so many people raving about the music. I've never been able to make it through either soundtrack long enough to make a list of highlights.

I think you really have to be in the right mood for Super Mario Galaxy - if you're feeling in any way downbeat, it will just piss you off. It's no masterpiece - but it IS nice to hear music in a Mario game that is a) orchestral, and b) in keeping with the Mario tradition. Additionally, even though both scores combined are worth two discs of music, there's probably only 30-45 minutes in grand total that's actually worth listening to away from the game. Most of it is pointlessly happy bouncy synth crap or offbeat crazy sounds. A compilation is just crying out to be made... :D

Surprised no one has done it yet:



Yoko Shimomura, Hikaru Utada
Kaoru Wada

KINGDOM HEARTS: The Symphonic Album
Concerto for Piano, Orchestra and Chorus



Download (https://mega.nz/#!1RFCTLbT!iYMV0YsQcTDX8Zi9vMq2ebtbjUv8ak-HacKPkBTp6YE)
FLAC / Symphonic Soundtrack Selection / 54min


Even after decades of being exposed to Japanese wonders, there's still the offchance you encounter an obscure Game score and suddenly Moscow appears... or in the case of Kingdom Hearts, wade through every game and you will find 95% boring and yet 5% pure gold. Wada does far more than orchestrating here, he basically elevates boring nothingness to concertgrade music. I'm looking forward to Kingdom Hearts III for the usual two or three fantastic tracks provided by Wada.

Here's a cleaner version of that cover for you:

Today, I am extremely proud, and happy to share with you fellow big orchestral action lovers, a 100% perfect rip, with scans, of a MAGNIFICENT anime film music score by the late Keisuke Shinohara, and some other composers. It is really a gorgeous sounding score, and as wonderful as the movie it comes from. Knowing this, and how this soundtrack is long out of print, and hard to find, makes me even happier. With the help of a very greatful friend, who was able to get it for me - as a early Christmas gift, now this piece of gorgeous music is in my hands, and I can't almost believe it. Now, I want you guys to enjoy it as much as I am, so here I present you the disc in its entirety, for the first time in a perfect rip with scans, the best way you can ever download this album. Thanks to the friend who got me, and the other friend who happily helped me with the scans. Enjoy away!

And in case you want the movie single, that, although not orchestral, it's rather beautiful too, by aiko, Star, I recommend you check this thread (Thread 213975), in which I have also uploaded the single, although it's not a perfect rip, just the flac tracks and done, I found it in some J-Pop tracker. One day I hope to add this single to my collection, too, and offer it in perfect form, too.


Arashi no Yoru ni Original Soundtrack (http://vgmdb.net/album/32906)

PCCR-00427

Personal rip | FLAC | LOG | CUE | SCANS | 100% PERFECT RIP



Tracklist

Tracklist:
01 To Live ~One Stormy Night 5:11
02 A Storm 0:42
03 Meeting 2:13
04 Delightful Promise 1:57
05 Throbbing 1:30
06 Your Friend Looks Delicious 3:25
07 Mother Nature 0:52
08 Mei and his Companions 1:43
09 Gabu and Mei 2:13
10 I'll Protect You 0:59
11 Grandmother's Story 3:10
12 Waking Up Sad 1:08
13 True Friends 1:01
14 Resolution 2:06
15 Towards the Green Forest 3:10
16 To Be a Wolf, To Be a Goat 1:36
17 Continue to Escape Forever 1:15
18 My Final Feast 3:57
19 Risking Your Life 2:31
20 Gabu is Alive 1:03
21 Lost Memories 1:37
22 Star (instrumental) 1:35
23 Believe in Each Other ~One Stormy Night 4:10


Download:
https://mega.nz/#!Cx9CmKKL!lX0x61VykwN8SR5lSnPniEBty_P_WK9_9Gmp9vAi7k4

Thanks a lot!

@nextday: Thanks :D (My google-fu seems to be getting a bit rusty).

@PonyoBellanote: Thank you dearly for this wonderful share. I'm sure we all have one or two scores we share a deep emotional connection with and finally acquiring it in the highest possible quality and holding the CD/Vinyl in our hands and then listening to it with our best HiFi setups is a precious special feeling. One of the very small details of life that you treasure.

It's a pleasure! Although I'm happy to just have a very gorgeous score in my hands, I love the movie and this score but I'm not sure if I have a deep emotional connection with it, but maybe something closer to a small extent. :p The next thing I really have been wanting to get for years is the Crayon Shin Chan movie BGM.. still am not able too. But one day.. one day!

MapleStory Symphony in Budapest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGPgZ3M9pRI

The Budapest Symphonic Scoring Orchestra
Conducted by P�ter Pejtsik
Arrangement: Peter Dalwoo Kim
Orchestration: Baro Kim

Always nice to see more symphonic albums in the works.

Many thanks for the FLAC of this album. I've listened to it a few times but now I can give it a further listen in FLAC.

I'm also really enjoying the Kingdom Hearts Compilation. Are some of the longer tracks combined from shorter cues from certain games?

Many thanks for the FLAC of this album. I've listened to it a few times but now I can give it a further listen in FLAC.

It's a pleasure :)

Persona 5 soundtrack is out! Not orchestral in the least but also not as offensive as the previous 2 soundtracks. Gone is the hip hop and instead we get some blues, soul, funk, and rock. Really glad to hear the change in tone and style.

And yet they were crazy enough to deliver an orchestral concert for Persona: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioTZQx64gd8

Is there hope for a CD release? That will be interesting to listen to. I also quite like a few tracks from 5, though not really invested in the full package, but thats business as usual with Japanese soundtracks being musical Buffet.


@nextday: Fascinating... and very lovely... so will that be available on their website? A physical release was not considered by their statements.



In regards to Mario Galaxy, here's a compilation I made years ago but never had any incentive to share... until now ;)



Mahito Yokota, Ryo Nagamatsu & Koji Kondo
SUPER MARIO GALAXY 1 & 2: The Orchestral Album
Mario Galaxy Orchestra (Japanese Studio Orchestra)



Download (https://mega.nz/#!cBF2jQSD!4RVsCmRXRR8tszg6RfojVH9Rs8Yk3E51-I_uURMYRMQ)




KH: As far as I know Wada arranged those from tracks in the game so they very much qualify as concert suites.

And yet they were crazy enough to deliver an orchestral concert for Persona: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioTZQx64gd8

Is there hope for a CD release? That will be interesting to listen to. I also quite like a few tracks from 5, though not really invested in the full package, but thats business as usual with Japanese soundtracks being musical Buffet.


@nextday: Fascinating... and very lovely... so will that be available on their website? A physical release was not considered by their statements.
MapleStory - I believe they will be releasing videos of the other 10 pieces they recorded, followed by a digital album release. Maybe they'll change their mind. I've seen some people asking for a CD.

Persona concert - GSJ hasn't released CDs for any of their 20 something concerts. For that one, Souhei Kano arranged all the Persona 4 tracks. It's a shame.

Mario Galaxy - Thanks. I was going to do this myself but then realized that I only had the albums in MP3. (edit: oh, yours is in MP3 too :P)

If someone really wants it in FLAC I can of course upgrade it since I have the cds (now worth quite a fortune on ebay) but I think V0 is totally fine for Galaxy.

Shame about Game Symphony Japan. I do wonder if they record it on video or somehow archieve it, I still refuse to believe they don't want to preserve it, considering we are talking about a country that puts an insane amount of care in prodcut packaging.

They've done 14 different themed concerts in the last two years. It's most likely unrealistic for them to release a CD every time. Still it's a bit peculiar that they haven't even done a "best of" album. Their website lists many high profile composers as music advisors: Nobuo Uematsu, Noriyuki Iwadare, Hiroki Kikuta, Keiki Kobayashi, Hideki Sakamoto, Yoko Shimomura, Michiko Naruke. You'd think with that much star power, they'd consider releasing something. The arrangers, by the way, are Tomomichi Takeoka, Yutaka Kimura, Souhei Kano, Ayana Tsujita, and Shunsuke Abe.


In other news, Keiji Inai is now scoring two anime next season - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6f-jrrp5P8

Has Noriyuki Iwadare done any noteworthy scores lately? I don't recall anything interesting after Grandia Online in 2009 besides his contributions to Kid Icarus.

Has Noriyuki Iwadare done any noteworthy scores lately? I don't recall anything interesting after Grandia Online in 2009 besides his contributions to Kid Icarus.
He's been doing a lot of independent works in recent years, releasing solo and collaboration albums at doujin events like Comiket and M3.

Edit: new videos from MapleStory Symphony in Budapest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EPmrNriBKU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22gBrgYsqk8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNVfwJM7nYY

Vinphonic - I posted a list of tracks I removed from Persona 5 on the two threads for the score in the video game section so that might help. I like the majority of it so I preferred to post a list of tracks I pulled out not those i kept.

Yoshihisa Hirano scored an anime this season! What show, I hear you cry. Chiruran. A shitty three minute episode comedy thing.

Why, oh God, WHY?!

Yoshihisa Hirano scored an anime this season! What show, I hear you cry. Chiruran. A shitty three minute episode comedy thing.

Why, oh God, WHY?!
Yeah, he mentioned it a few weeks ago. I didn't think it was worth mentioning here. I still don't.


Btw, Necord posted 6 new videos today. Apparently the album will be released tomorrow along with the last two videos. They did a pretty good job, I think.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrgkfqG7JAcPyLenXAzl6NWe3uqWSvQGl

In other news... I just completed writing a 14 minute string orchestra work that depicts the story of a bird leaving the nest to embark on its journey to the Windy Mountain. I wrote this in about two months from start to finish (but in actuality I wrote 75% of it in the last two weeks before the deadline :P). The work will premiere with the Iowa City Community String Orchestra for their Spring Gala concert and I am also getting a studio recording made of it too. Influences for this work are Ralph Vaughan Williams, Joe Hisaishi, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Yoko Kanno, Hayato Matsuo, and Masashi Hamauzu. This is the longest composition I have written in my career and even though it was for strings it challenged me to write it.

And the great thing is I got less editing things from my editor this time around so that means I am learning :).

It's worth mentioning as a point of complaint... ;)

I'm glad he's doing TV anime again, but what on earth possessed him to do this? Is it the best that's on offer? Or is he just taking it easy right now with silly projects that don't require much thought?


In other news... I just completed writing a 14 minute string orchestra work that depicts the story of a bird leaving the nest to embark on its journey to the Windy Mountain

Sounds really good! I've wanted to hear an original composition from you for a really long time. :D

Anybody have thoughts on Natsumi Kameoka's new Kancolle score? I'm just having my first listen to it now.

Very different beast from her TV score. Far more sinister, like a proper naval war score. Her TV themes and motifs do appear but you have to pay close attention to catch them. It is also mandatory you include the movie single, (I don't know why it isn't on the OST), performed by an orchestra and arranged (co-composed) by Kameoka as well. The films score incorporates the verse and chorus across the board and I see it as the climax of the whole score. There's quite a few action showpieces and man do they fire all guns, they certainly don't disappoint. But to make a point there's just ONE piece of levity on the entire soundtrack, and barely any bravado. The movie must be a really dark and grim judging by the music (I just can't imagine it).

Anyway, since in a composers life scoring a product can get quite messy and you sometimes end up scoring the very first scene in a film last, I made a custom tracklist that I think gives the album some much needed ebb and flow, also worth of note that I hear three different studio recordings on this album so I also assume the score on the soundtrack wasn't concieved as a whole from beginning to end (unless someone can ask Kameoka and confirm or deny my suspicions):

Track 1
Track 2
Track 13
Track 18
Track 8
Track 4
Track 5
Track 9
Track 6
Track 7
Track 28
Track 10
Track 11
Track 12
Track 15
Track 16
Track 14
Track 23
Track 17
Track 3
Track 24
Track 21
Track 20
Track 19
Track 26
Track 25
Track 29
Track 27
Movie Single (Kikan)
Track 30

Also a custom cover for those that want it:

(http://www.directupload.net/file/d/4607/z4j8lvei_jpg.htm)

Also toyed with Abbey Road again (very subtle), so I'm awaiting my CD with anticipation: Original (http://picosong.com/ryRZ) / Abbey Road Mix (http://picosong.com/ryR4/)

Any signs of Valkyria: Azure Revolution yet?

Just a shameless advert by SEGA and Mitsuda with commentary on certain tracks by Mitsuda:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5zbt4jIoQ0

Also what a nice move by SEGA to try shoving this product down our throats at every corner and yet deny english subs on the asian version and sell the soundtrack excluesivly on amazon and iTunes. I mean I have a Japanese Itunes account and all but it certainly limits your profit for which you do all that excessive marketing in the first place...





@Barron: Looking forward to it :)

@Sirusjr: Will give P5 a new try with your suggestions ;)



@nextday: Just lovely... EDIT: God help us all, I think the Koreans are starting it now as well...





Changbeom Kim, Junghwan Park
Blade & Soul: The Great Journey
Four Symphonic Movements



Download (https://mega.nz/#!wNVgyS4B!hzgY0YE2z21sKUB95_w8V1QTlbkR5QeoG9sxlLU2dtA)

Just a shameless advert by SEGA and Mitsuda with commentary on certain tracks by Mitsuda:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5zbt4jIoQ0

Also what a nice move by SEGA to try shoving this product down our throats at every corner and yet deny english subs on the asian version and sell the soundtrack excluesivly on amazon and iTunes. I mean I have a Japanese Itunes account and all but it certainly limits your profit for which you do all that excessive marketing in the first place...
Sega has nothing to do with the soundtrack. It's sold by Mitsuda's personal label which has always exclusively used Amazon. As a representative from CDJ has said, they are a "small indies label that has the capacity to accept orders only from a few stores." Not that Amazon is a problem for a lot of people. In the US, at least, Amazon is much cheaper than other shops.

So to clear my confusion, the music rights belong to Mitsuda himself and he has complete control over every aspect from production (that includes contracting performers/players/ensembles) to manufactoring and distribution?

EDIT: I also have no problem using amazon, I just didn't understand why they have exclusive rights to sell Valkyria when your goal should be to sell as much copies as possible, now it makes sense.

While we're on the topic of Mitsuda, I think it's worth mentioning that tomorrow (Jan 21st) is his birthday. :)

Coincidentally, it's Iwasaki's as well.

Very different beast from her TV score. Far more sinister, like a proper naval war score. Her TV themes and motifs do appear but you have to pay close attention to catch them. It is also mandatory you include the movie single, (I don't know why it isn't on the OST), performed by an orchestra and arranged (co-composed) by Kameoka as well. The films score incorporates the verse and chorus across the board and I see it as the climax of the whole score. There's quite a few action showpieces and man do they fire all guns, they certainly don't disappoint. But to make a point there's just ONE piece of levity on the entire soundtrack, and barely any bravado. The movie must be a really dark and grim judging by the music (I just can't imagine it).

Anyway, since in a composers life scoring a product can get quite messy and you sometimes end up scoring the very first scene in a film last, I made a custom tracklist that I think gives the album some much needed ebb and flow, also worth of note that I hear three different studio recordings on this album so I also assume the score on the soundtrack wasn't concieved as a whole from beginning to end (unless someone can ask Kameoka and confirm or deny my suspicions):


Yeah, it's definitely a whole lot darker. I enjoyed it. It's been a while since I heard the TV score, so I'll have give it another listen and see which themes have returned. I'll try your tracklist out too when I return to the movie's score :)

Any signs of Valkyria: Azure Revolution yet?

seeing here - Thread 214173

So to clear my confusion, the music rights belong to Mitsuda himself and he has complete control over every aspect from production (that includes contracting performers/players/ensembles) to manufactoring and distribution?

EDIT: I also have no problem using amazon, I just didn't understand why they have exclusive rights to sell Valkyria when your goal should be to sell as much copies as possible, now it makes sense.
Correct. Mitsuda's label often controls publishing and distribution for his music. Production is handled by Mitsuda's own Procyon Studio as well as Miyano's company Shangri-La (which does the contracting). As an independent label, it's probably much more manageable for them to sell their albums through one website.

Edit: How is the soundtrack, though? I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. I am curious because it is the debut of Mariam Abounnasr, Procyon's new in-house orchestrator (in other words, Kameoka's replacement).

Hmm... well, I'm very pleased that the whole score is orchestral, and they haven't done their usual trick of using the orchestra for two or three cues and padding out the rest of the score with cheap shit. Also, even though Mitsuda didn't orchestrate *everything* it's nice to see that he did a fair bit of it. His cues are functional and competent. Abounassr is the model of professionalism - she is clearly a very good orchestrator but really plays it safe here. Since this is her debut, we have no way to know what constitutes her personal style, but my general impression here - particularly when comparing her cues with Miyano's - is that she's consciously trying to keep her style out of the way in a definite effort to stay firmly as Mitsuda's assistant.

As for the score... I shouldn't like it. I should have started my review by saying "Any other year, I'd have quite liked this but in the last month we've had Matsuo's Drifters and Kanno's Naotora" but I actually really, really like this. It's mostly uncomplicated, but it's got heart and melody (LOTS AND LOTS of melody) and a sheen of quality. It's friendly, approachable, warm music - it plays up to Mitsuda's strengths. This is stuff you can whistle. Each cue, though almost every one of them includes a full repeat, has a proper finish. It has a nice mixture of moods - mystery, romance, action, doom, and joy - where the Kancolle movie score fails due to its endless gloom and doom, with minor key apocalypse cue after minor key apocalypse cue, Azure succeeds.

Very happy with this. :)

It certainly benefits from having an orchestra in the whole album. Seems to be a first for this franchise's music. Depending on what one expects of it I suppose reactions will be different. What attracted me to this franchise in the first place was Sakimoto's brilliant Piano pieces, something that does exist in this entry too - albeit nowhere as memorable or touching. Right now I think Sakimoto was more successful at capturing the softer, more emotional side of the series which is what I care about the most. Regardless, the opening track, albeit too short and somewhat underdeveloped, is already a favorite. Been a while since I had a game tune on repeat for so many times.

Hmm... well, I'm very pleased that the whole score is orchestral, and they haven't done their usual trick of using the orchestra for two or three cues and padding out the rest of the score with cheap shit. Also, even though Mitsuda didn't orchestrate *everything* it's nice to see that he did a fair bit of it. His cues are functional and competent. Abounassr is the model of professionalism - she is clearly a very good orchestrator but really plays it safe here. Since this is her debut, we have no way to know what constitutes her personal style, but my general impression here - particularly when comparing her cues with Miyano's - is that she's consciously trying to keep her style out of the way in a definite effort to stay firmly as Mitsuda's assistant.
She's pretty young. I would assume mid/late 20s (she started at Royal Holloway in 2008) - so about the same age as Kameoka when she started working for Mitsuda. I suppose time will tell if she chooses to stay his assistant or not.

That track The Four Generals is like Mitsuda's attempt at a Batman theme? I hear a lot of Elfman in there.

If any of you buy and upload the Maple Story Symphony in Budapest in FLAC (or MP3 if that's the only choice available) I'd be very thankful.

PonyoBellanote: I would if I could find out where to buy it from... they're not making this easy!


That track The Four Generals is like Mitsuda's attempt at a Batman theme? I hear a lot of Elfman in there.

I must confess, I jumped over that track because the over-insistent percussion was annoying me - but go a little bit further and there's Batman! Funny that this is one of the cues that is credited as composed *and* orchestrated solely by Mitsuda!

Edit: Jeez, I could do without the crappy choir samples... (not on the Batman cue)

Lutheran Symphonix by Christian Sprenger is neat.I am not religious but if you take religious songs and make filmscorelike classic music out of them with great orchestrations...count me in.Hallelujah!

Granblue is piss-poor. Oh, well...

Edit: Ok, just skimmed the second episode and it's a little more promising... but I still don't expect much.


Lutheran Symphonix by Christian Sprenger is neat.I am not religious but if you take religious songs and make filmscorelike classic music out of them with great orchestrations...count me in.Hallelujah!

Militant atheist here, and thanks for the recommendation! It's not quite thrilling me - it feels just a little too pious and over-sincere for my taste - but I did enjoy listening. :)

Yeah what is going on with Granblue? Was this even a studio recording? Wasn't it confirmed they did record with an orchestra? Well, then where is it :(
At least the strings sounded fake, but there's two pieces so far where I can safely say the winds are real but I'm still not sure about the rest. Major bummer.


Also been a bit occupied with Gravity Rush 2 recently (AMAZING game but not so much because of gameplay and story). I was pretty far into it and suddenly... Opera :D
It's really an interactive Tanaka-scored, hot-blooded, trippy Gainax anime. A cross between Gunbuster and King Gainer, and the music follows suit. There's one piece that has striking similarities with Falling Bridge from Last Guardian as well. Can't wait for the full soundtrack. This franchise got kickass style.

On the upside... has anybody been following Naotora? There's a hell of a lot more score (not filler - excellent stuff, some of it I strongly suspect better than released on the first album) still to come... :O

someone asked before who should take over scoring dragon quest in the future.gravity rush has a few tracks that are very similar to dragon quest, especially the theme in the first area.tanaka would be perfect i think.

Thanks everyone for the kind words about my work!


Valkyria is AMAZING! This is the best Mitsuda score since Xenosaga, imo. I also hear hints of Sakimoto's style in the compositions particularly that swashbuckling, heroic sound he does so well. Mitsuda approached this obviously aware of the series roots musically and not only delivered on that front but still kept the music completely within his own style. That shows Mitsuda is still every bit up on his game. I haven't listened to one track that I didn't like which is also another rarity as far as albums. FFXV had some skip worthy tracks (actually quite a lot of them) but this is just so endearing of a score that each track, like Tango said, has a memorable melody that you can whistle throughout your day.

Also in the track "Sabanci & Company" I totally hear a nod to the previous Valkyria Chronicles theme with a little bit of the chord progression from Valkyria Chronicles 2. Does anyone hear it?

Let's hope Mitsuda delivers more like this for Xenoblade 2!

Also been a bit occupied with Gravity Rush 2 recently (AMAZING game but not so much because of gameplay and story). I was pretty far into it and suddenly... Opera :D
It's really an interactive Tanaka-scored, hot-blooded, trippy Gainax anime. A cross between Gunbuster and King Gainer, and the music follows suit. There's one piece that has striking similarities with Falling Bridge from Last Guardian as well. Can't wait for the full soundtrack. This franchise got kickass style.

Would you say that the score will please somebody who is sick and tired of Tanaka putting electric guitars and a rock percussion section in almost every single cue? He does this stuff better than anybody, but I am really wanting to hear some solid, symphonic Tanaka now - some good old-fashioned melodrama. What I've heard of Gravity Rush 2 so far makes me think it's one of those "ten thousand genres all at once" things where we get to marvel at Tanaka's amazing skill but Tanaka the symphonist doesn't get a look in. Time and time again a cue begins and I think "Oh, wow!" - and suddenly bang, we're in electric guitars and rock percussion land again.

What we've heared prior to the release was just the first act of the game, things really heat up with the first calamity event.


SPOILER WARNING!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZO7R8vj1ns

Hear for yourself :D

Exactly the kind of stuff I'm hoping isn't representative of the score - a tidal wave of notes, a really out-of-place vocalist, unnecessary slamming percussion, and absolutely no structure at all. :(

*goes off to play 633 Squadron*

Hmmm... not my impression at all. That piece is actually a continuation of this piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lmVg-EXmfI and it further develops, so perhaps it is a little weird out of context, I don't know.
But no structure? At a superficial level we have: Intro(Mood setup)/Main Theme/Villain Theme/Counterpoint battle between the two themes and then a proper finish (it actually loops twice before that)...

Slamming percussion.. yes, it has a little more bass drum action going on than usual (okay a lot more than what we are used to by him), but I thing it was a deliberate choice to depict the frentic chaos on screen at the beginning of the battle (it's pretty much the only one of its kind in the game). Senseless is never the case with Tanaka!

Here's a more playful piece with Accordeon and Orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrk17J55e88

The seafaring piece from the Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vYsUEzu6og

A tense Situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqEBHsLNvIo

The game is filled to the brim with such cues. I'm sure you have to rearrange a lot of the soundtrack by default but I can guarantee at least an hour of substantial orchestral score IN ADDITION to "ten thousand genres all at once" which is a spot-on description of 50% of the game score. I just happen to be one who immensely enjoys almost any of Tanaka's thousand styles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpsofHD8C8Q

I hope this is more to your liking :)


Oh and for you fans of the first game score, Tanaka actually revised and rerecorded some tracks from the first game and previously electronic synth tracks are now orchestral. The new Pleasure Quarters is even wilder than the original.

EDIT: Also worth mentioning that the final battle is a furious musical climax and (mostly) pure orchestra with no slamming percussion to be found, reprising old and new themes in full force... the final piece on the credits was a pleasant surprise as well and a great finale. And Jesus Christ, look at the size of that ensemble (10 Horns!!!!). Again breaking the rule of musical balance with just 8 Woodwinds but they somehow made it bearable this time.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I enjoy it too - but I thirst for some substantial A-grade orchestral Tanaka because every time he gets close to it, there's some reason why it collapses. Endride came close, but had the Budget Philharmonic playing. Gaist Crusher came close but was never released. Gravity Rush 1 came close, but suffered from the same hyperactivity of genre as I suspect GR2 will do and suffered structurally through the music's need to seamlessly loop. Hyouka was a smaller, more intimate score. Nura had its moments. Rosario + Vampire had its moments but literally three minutes in the whole score... and then you're back ten years in the past. There has been a general sensation in recent years that he's winding down his anime scoring duties and probably (with justification) plans to retire sooner or later... so every new Tanaka score we get is, to me, a blessing - and time and time again it's missed opportunities and shadows of what could've been.

Edit: Christ, he scored Onihei (TV anime which started a couple of weeks ago) - how the hell did that one get under my radar?!

Well I'm enjoying the new Pascal Gaigne score, El Faro De Las Orcas. His signature emotional drama sound and some interesting textures in the action work. I might have to pick up a copy to support Quartet. It isn't at the same level as the gorgeous Los Manos de Me Madre but still enjoyable. Nothing in his work surpasses that theme even if the score is largely variations on it.

Hi. Does anyone happen to have Elliot Goldenthal's Expanded Alien 3 score in FLAC? I tried doing a thread search but couldn't seem to find it. There also doesn't seem to be any luck on the forum.

I actually quite like the Gravity Rush 2 music so far! Then again I am not familiar with Tanaka's music prior to this experience. And since I am a brass player, I loved the brass stuff!

Hi. Does anyone happen to have Elliot Goldenthal's Expanded Alien 3 score in FLAC? I tried doing a thread search but couldn't seem to find it. There also doesn't seem to be any luck on the forum.

There's an isolated blu-ray rip in the "isolated scores thread" if you'd like that to keep you busy for a while ;)

I actually quite like the Gravity Rush 2 music so far! Then again I am not familiar with Tanaka's music prior to this experience. And since I am a brass player, I loved the brass stuff!
Please do yourself a favor: Thread 192770

:)

So after another playthrough where I put the music in focus, I can safely say this is easily among my absolute favorite Tanaka scores. It dwarves GR1 by a mile. If you listened to my G Gundam orchestral selection for comparison, it's almost on an equal level. Easily the most fun ride I had with a game score since Kid Icarus Uprising/Palutena's Mirror. Tanaka is jamming and conducting with his heart an soul. It certainly helps that they had unlimited music budget for the game with an ensemble equal to End of Eternity and it just sounds far superior to 80% of Tanaka's other work (sadly). There's also a few dlc coming so perhaps he will record new music for it.

And this fucking game... I was in a city marketplace with hundreds of random npcs and if you bump into one with a bag of apples, the bag falls down and every apple in the bag rolls across the street with correct physics and eventually drops down into the clouds... my jaw was open when this happened. Or the Jazzy song where they modeled a saxophon and contrabass down to the tiniest detals. I love the insane amount of effort and passion the artists put into this sweet little game, music and visuals.

Yes, this is not his Symphony No. 4 or another End of Eternity but with luck we have some suites or movements on the album to elevate it on that level. Or better yet, a Gravity Rush concert. Even so, the orchestral parts are delicious, meaty and complex with much thematic interplay upon a cascade of notes. It's all wonderfully old-fashioned, played with the same vigor as Tom & Jerry. At times I had flashbacks to Ni No Kuni with that gorgeous fusion of a grandmaster's musical work meeting jawdropping visuals.

Combine that with Kantai, Valkyria, Naotora and the soon to be released Robot Wars, and I'm already having a blast this early into the year and it just doesn't seem to let off steam anytime soon.



I also totally forgot to check in on this seasonal anime until last weekend, I just didn't even feel the need to :D But here's a quick overview, just a quick rundown of this little season. This winter is only a little breather before the year really takes off anyway:



Potential for Greatness

- Onihei: Tanaka, nuff said. Jazzy and classy with introspective and tragic mood. Must-buy.

- Little Witch Academia: Oshima, nuff said. It's all lovely music so far with delightful woodwind pieces and fanfares but also a few detours into her drama soundworld with rock and synth. I expect it to not reach the heights of the OVAs but still, gold. Must-buy.



Good

- Youjo Senki: As expected, Suehiro's more traditional brother, I like the vibe it set and the ensemble is decent. Pretty good for a newcomer so far. Check out the OST.

- Chain Chronicles: Already out last year but let's include it, strong fantasy score with classical influences. Check out the OST.

- Konosuba 2: Massive choir and decent orchestral ensemble on a few pieces, could be one-offs or it actually goes somewhere. Check out the OST.

- Shouwa Genroku Rakugo 2: Nice string pieces and Jazz as usual.





Nice Surprise

- Masamune-kun no Revenge: Uncharacteristicly strong first impression by Tatsuya and all for some crappy highschool romance... will check out the OST.

- ACCA: Jazzy, not orchestral at all, but I dig it so far (show and music).

- Urara Meirochou: Good trumpet fun at the beginning, hoping for more meaty cues to appear. Will check out the OST.

Oscar nominations for best score are out, and as expected the whole list is crap other than La La Land. :)

Not that the Oscars were ever good at this, but at least Giacchino's Rogue What didn't make the cut.

La La Land will win - no doubt about it. It deserves the recognition in my opinion. Great golden age score from a young composer.

But yeah, not like the Oscars really matter since they're pay-to-win.

What's this Rogue thing??? Sounds familiar but it must have been drifted out of my memory ;)

La La Lands a good pick, no doubt, but in seriousness, BFG should win, it has more notes. (Sorry, don't really take the Oscars seriously, at least since Jerry died).




Look at that, seems like I'm not the only one who wants a Gravity Rush Concert: http://ameblo.jp/kenokun/entry-12238202112.html

I hope he can push it. I would also really appreciate it if someone can give a more accurate translation... nextday?! :D



@Tango: I don't think Tanaka will retire from the music business anytime soon. He's now head of an established music company with much prestige around him. His colleagues admire him, and various industry producers love his work, and he still loves being part of the anime/game industry. Remember, Sugiyama and Hattori are still holding the baton and compose new music, Tanaka's is just 62. How old is Williams again? :)

He just says that he hopes to hold a Gravity Rush concert in Japan. Nothing concrete.

Other tidbits: Gravity Rush 2 took about half a year to complete (composition, arrangement, recording). 3 and half hours of music, all hand-written without the help of an orchestrator. He says the director gave him a lot of freedom.

The thing that bothers me about La La Land's nomination is that it wasn't nominated because it has good music, which it does, but because the whole movie is sort of one of those wet BJs to Hollywood nostalgia and cinema that the Academy loves, much like The Artist a few years ago. The entire score could have been written by Pharrell Williams and Giacchino and it still would win regardless of the quality of the music. I will be surprised if the movie doesn't take home at least half the awards it was nominated for (and we all know that includes Best Picture).

Also forget Williams, Morricone is almost 90 and still going strong. Tanaka can go another 30 years.

On another note, I can't believe whoever wrote Jackie's score was classically trained. You wouldn't know it listening to its entirety of holding down one key for ten seconds a piece.

You're right that Hollywood loves movies about itself. It's too bad some people are going to say it only won due to that factor. It's a legitimately good film - my favorite from last year, at least.

Chazelle and Hurwitz make a great team.

But that factor is the reason why it will win, not because of the quality of the music.

I think La La Land is fine. At the very least, it's better than The Artist. That did not deserve to beat Williams. And if Williams scored anything this year, it would most certainly be better than La La Land. But I have doubts whether he would beat it for an Oscar.

I'm still really surprised Rogue One didn't make it. You think something with the Star Wars brand and Disney shilling would be surefire nomination.

EDIT: Silly me, I totally forgot BFG came out this year. Ah, 2016 really was a joke.

Interesting recent NHK documentary on Hisaishi, in fact it's the only one I've seen in English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxjA1WXbZ1c

While I'm not a big fan of his post-Howl's era of music, I find his evolution from minimalist electronic to full fledge orchestra fascinating. Unfortunately, I don't think he'll ever give us another Hanabi or Brother again.

Tnagotreats, thank you for the Drifters Warsaw tracks. When you have time, would you mind uploading the additional tracks?

So far I am very lukewarm on Valkyria. It hasn't grabbed me with tunes I want to whistle in the few listens I've done so far. Nor has any one track grabbed me with electric excitement as "this is what I've been waiting for." It is well made though for sure and maybe after a bit more I will grow to love it but right now I could go either way.

There's definitely an issue going on with the melodies in Valkyria. It's subtle, but I think what's lacking is the development in each track. Since they each loop, they're actually really short, and there's a lot of rhythmic stuff going on in spite of development.

Take the track Battle with Maxim, for example. It sounds to me like it's supposed to be a climatic moment. After 44 seconds of introduction we get the theme which only lasts 13 seconds. Then there's a little rhythmic interlude for 13 more seconds. Then the theme continues for another 13 seconds with a VERY awkward trombone counterpoint. The strings seem to be lonely and weak during this moment too. Then at 1:24 it repeats. So out of 84 seconds, only 26 of it was theme.

Compare with a climatic battle theme from FFT such as Antipyretic. It touches on two separate themes, including the main theme. Not only that, it develops over the minute and a half through a wide range of instrumentation, harmonies, motifs, etc. Such a great track.

A good piece of music is like a good story. I want to get invested in the themes like I get invested in characters and how they develop. That's why I think the best moment in Naotora is in the final track at 4:22. There's a false cadence which is just amazing as it recaps the theme from 1:28. The theme even comes back again at 6:35.

And as if that wasn't enough, at 6:45 the main theme from the first track makes its last appearance to round out the CD. But what makes this appearance so special is the theme has developed fully and is given a proper ending, which is typical for a symphony or classic film score like Gone With the Wind. That's certainly some top-tier stuff.

It's no secret that Sakimoto would have been the superior composer choice. Romeo X Juliet was too long ago. Such a musical genius wasting away with cheap ensembles is a terrible shame and he would have knocked it out of the park with this ensemble for sure. Imagine what he would have conjured with 90 minutes of pure orchestra ...

Listened through Tanaka's GD 2 and oh boy, he really did his best to channel a more jazzy and wild version of Gunbuster. I honestly prefer this over the rehash job he did for Diebuster, this music would have fit in beautifully with that colorful show.


It seems that even outside of Hollywood, Giacchino's not very well respected by his peers. While it was not very professional of him to publicly say this about another composer, Iwasaki put it best back in 2010: "You can't make sushi by putting a raw fish on top of ice."

https://twitter.com/taque68/status/21091894568

Heh


But trust me, that's nothing. LA session players "fucking hate him". It will never be said in public but it's the cold hard truth. But that's nothing special, they fucking hate playing for anyone that isn't from the old guard. And even if you're humble like JNH or Williams your not save from getting shat on if you do a pisspoor job.

Rogue One must have been an absolute disaster behind the scenes. I can only imagine what Shawn Murphy, the players and other colleagues must have thought... utter disbelief. It's such a depressing state of affairs that for the most prestigious film franchise in existence with a history of classical-infused orchestral bravado, they ended up with a failed music student assignment of a Williams impression that was only salvaged by the sound from people who actually know what they are doing. Hollywood is such a bad joke these days.

A bit too much etilist, aren't we?

Vinphonic

What is style/genre for "Gold and Jive~ Silver Ocean" from One Piece Gold that you included on your The Music of Japanese Entertainment: Anime in 2016 compilation? Some sort of Jazz? Has there been more tunes in this style in anime music that you can recommend?

No, not too much ;)



@Sunstrider: Bigband Swing (Jazz) describes it best. Or Broadway Jazz if you prefer. It's a broad definiton and there's numerous subgenres, but this will do for now. A style of music from the early 20th century originating from the US, now almost extinct (exceptions are Seth MacFarlane projects and recently La La Land) but still extremely common in Japan. There's too much to count but here's a quick list, let me pull up my Jazz folder...



Ohedo Rocket (http://picosong.com/r2nh)

Lupin III Italiano (http://picosong.com/r2FL)

Showa Genroku (http://picosong.com/r2qn)

Blood Blockade Battlefront (http://picosong.com/r2R5)

EVAngelion JAZZ night (http://picosong.com/r2ng)

Hotel Avanti (http://picosong.com/r2kr)

Red Swinging (Yoko Kanno) (http://picosong.com/r2Yg)

Lowland Jazz - hub point (http://picosong.com/r2FV)

Classroom Crisis (http://picosong.com/r2FQ)

Super Mario 3D World (http://picosong.com/r2FW)

Baccano (http://picosong.com/r2nU/)

Stella Woman's Academy (http://picosong.com/r2Fs/)

Zettai Karen Children (http://picosong.com/r2Fk)

Sakura Wars: Music Box (about 30 minutes of swing in total) (http://picosong.com/r2y8)

Phantom Thief (Warning: Cuteness Overload!) (http://picosong.com/r2Rp)

Kin-Iro Mosaic! ED (Warning: Cuteness Overload!) (http://picosong.com/r2yE)

Kin-Iro Mosaic!! ED (Warning: Cuteness Overload!) (http://picosong.com/r2yP)


And my recent favorite, to nobody's surprise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-ppWvhTBxE

Excellent share! Many thanks!

The Last Guardian's soundtrack by Takeshi Furukawa...

Wow. First listen ever, and it's better than I thought it would be. I had the impression that this score/soundtrack would be very minimalist, chamber-like, to go with the very artistic style of the game, that it'd be pretty much just ambient sound, but.. I come to find a very Hollywoodesque movie score, much to my like, because you guys I know love these. This soundtrack has the best of "that style".. impressive melodies that are beautiful to hear, but also give ambient to the game, with lots of catchy orchestra action of the type I like, almost symphonic. Some tracks can sound repetitive, because I think they were composed to be looped with the gameplay (which is not bad) but.. wow, really impressive.. I have a sudden urge to get now.. colour me impressed.

Bear in mind I'm horrible to explain myself and to describe, meaning I may be describing it greater than it probably is, it's just my opinion what I'm describing and how I see it. Who knows, you may actually dislike it? I know a few who don't think it's anything great. But seriously I'm loving it so much and I'm just halfway the album. God I've never had a MASSIVE need to buy an album on the first listen as this one. I can understand why some have been dissapointed with it or like it less than me - I definitely can see why. It's nothing new - it's just a very Hollywoodesque score, but, I have a huge bias, as they are my favourite, this score kinda sums up together all I like about movie scores. Some may hate it for that, for not being original, but I like the melodies. I love how emotional the music is, how well orchestrated.. how great it sounds to my eyes. No matter, if you can hear this in any Hollywood score - I love it so much.. I don't know why. I feel like it's got heart, it's got emotion, it's got something that lots of music in Hollywood lack recently.. aunthentic, beautiful music... i love it SO MUCH! O.O

Hahahaha... when Tanaka wants something he gets it! :D




But a double-edged sword because no cd :(

Wonderful news nonetheless, even if we've got no CD to go with it!

AFRIKA Original Soundtrack (http://vgmdb.net/album/10321)

Not my rip (AcidBeast) | FLAC | LOG | CUE | SCANS | 100% PERFECT RIP



Tracklist
01 Savanna 3:40
02 Base Camp 3:05
03 Safari 2:49
04 Mission 1:47
05 Jambo Jambo 2:03
06 Heaven 2:13
07 Masai 1:40
08 Hunting 2:01
09 Okapi 1:31
10 Night Safari 2:15
11 Hatari 1:38
12 Big Five 1:51
13 Sunset 2:47
14 AFRIKA 3:48
Disc length 33:08


Download:
https://mega.nz/#!3lsDnTiK!WX-NHdiCw2VJugQdby1oaoE_JwNJFq-i3RcXauJouEQ

As requested, here it is. A wonderful, fantastic album, with gorgeous music, that is sadly expensive due to being out of stock. I wanna thank AcidBeast for uploading the 100% rip in a private torrent tracker. I thought you people deserve to have the best rip of this album, too, so here you go. Hopefully, one day.. I'll be able to get it, as it really deserves to sit on my collection. Enjoy away, and don't forget to throw a comment or a rep if you enjoyed it as much as me. And trust me, I do enjoy this damn soundtrack! :)

Also, here's a "making of" included in the DVD (which I sadly do not have, but I may ask AcidBeast for a rip one day) which sadly is in japanese, but the americans speak English in some of the parts. https://vimeo.com/22343286. You'll probably appreciate it!

Ohedo Rocket (http://picosong.com/r2nh)


Not being stingy or anything, but that should say Oedo Rocket :)

Doesn't get much better than Afrika! They don't do game scores like this anymore.

Yeah, though I can't really point out the lack of development on Mitsuda's Valkyria that probably explains why it bores me. It got me to go back into my Sakimoto collection, which is massive. Despite being almost all synthesized it is more interesting than anything in this new Valkyria score, well except for most of his Valkyria Chronicles 3 score.

"Ohedo" is, I believe, a valid romanisation of "Ōedo" since "Ō" often becomes "Oh" to separate the pronunciation from plain old "O" which is shorter.

That and the show in English is called "Oh! Edo Rocket" - so, well, that sorts that out. ;)

Doesn't get much better than Afrika! They don't do game scores like this anymore.

Afrika is a wonderful score album - pity it's way too short for my tastes! But the music in it is wonderful! Wataru is a great man, I wish they'd let him do more orchestra ridden games like this one, a la Hollywood style.

I remember when this came out, thinking that Hokoyama was the next big thing and in a couple of years he'd be the "go-to guy" for vintage Hollywood scores... alas, he ended up orchestrating for Go Shiina and not a lot else.

That's really sad, but he isn't the first person with a great talent that went to become nothing big..

What about the guy of The Last Guardian? It's his first official job and it was amazing.. sure, a bit similar to Thomas Newman, but point is, the music had a heart, and emotion, as much as the game. Something that lacks a lot in scores nowadays, so the guy's got talent, regardless if he sounds a bit like someone else.. right?

A 4CD Best OF arrange of Monster Hunter? I'm so gonna dig this.

http://gonintendo.com/stories/272800-double-monster-hunter-soundtracks-on-the-way

For anyone that may be nearby, Joe Hisaishi will be conducting a concert in Prague in April: http://www.filmmusicprague.com/program_en.html#day3

Hisaishi rarely performs overseas. His first European concert was only a few years ago in 2011. I wish he'd come to the US.

I am going to the Hisaishi concert. Very happy to make a get-together out of it. Anybody interested?

I would really love to go if it was in the US. :(

I wouldn't usually contemplate doing a long trip like this for a concert, but it's Hisaishi - and as Nextday says, a Hisaishi concert outside of Japan is a rare and wonderful thing...

I'm definitely up for this. Prague's not too far and it's cheap as chips over there. I think this would be well worth the effort. :)

Unfortunately I'm in the same boat as Akashi. A flight from the US is expensive and I wasn't planning on taking a trip to Europe this year. I'm sure one day he will come to the US... hopefully.

He's also performing in Paris in June, but that concert sold out very quickly (tickets went on sale back in November).

Oof, I better book the Prague tickets quickly... :O

Paris would've been a better bet - I could've got the train - but Prague is nice.

Keep an eye out foe the recently released MINA KUBOTA NHK WORKS album. I heard some samples, and it's hardly surprising stuff, but still lovely and more Kubota is always welcome.

Very interesting interview where a music producer (Akihiro Tomita) talks about the environment of the anime music industry, unfortunately it's all in Japanese:

http://bonet.info/interview/3030

From what I could piece together though, he seems to be saying that the reason there are so many eclectic styles and strange decisions to use music for shows where you wouldn't think such music would fit is because Japan, unlike other countries, does not have a very strong traditional culture, especially since the Meiji era. Therefore there is no predefined notion of what something "should" sound like, unlike what you get with modern CGI kids movies in the west. It also mentions how composers like Kanno, Kajiura, and Iwasaki are able to thrive despite how unusual their music is. He even asked Iwasaki about this and his response was that "Far Eastern culture is sloppy". I'm not sure if I agree with the whole theory, since other factors like musical education and experience need to be taken into account, but it is a plausible explanation as to why Japan has been such fertile grounds for raising composers and orchestrators of all varieties, and why they would give some silly cheap web browser game adaptation show like Kancolle a big budget orchestral score. Unlike western stigma, the precedent for using that type of music in that context simply doesn't exist in Japan.

On the subject of Iwasaki again, it seems like the reason we haven't seen a full foreign symphonic orchestral score from him since Agito is because he was forced to use temp tracks for it and hated the experience (and also because his luggage got lost and made him paranoid):

http://ameblo.jp/soundtrack-maker/theme-10004581674.html

I'm even more impressed knowing that Agito was based on temp tracks, because the music still sounds 100% like Iwasaki. Occasionally it sounds like Ravel or Wagner but it's no more referential of older composers than any of Iwasaki's other work. It's certainly not a Williams-Korngold situation. Not sure why he's upset with it, though given how much he values sound design I can imagine Iwasaki not liking the idea of others conducting his work as another reason.

New Macross TV anime in 2018 to mark the 35th anniversary: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-01-29/macross-gets-new-tv-project-in-2018-35th-anniversary-project/.111595

Now all they have to do is get Yoko Kanno back and then we can forget that Delta ever happened. I'll throw in my prediction from 2013:


I have a feeling the next time we get a new big orchestral Kanno score will be when the next Macross comes around and that probably won't be until the 35th anniversary in 2017.