James Eldred
Game Music Revue: Famicom Music
Famicom Music
- Credited Composer: Nintendo Sound Team (Koji Kondo, Hirokazu Tanaka, Yukio Kaneoka, Akito Nakatsuka)
- Released May 25, 1986
- Label: G.M.O./Alfa Records
- VGMdb Information Page
This was the first compilation release that G.M.O records put out after the original Video Game Music, and way to start the show with the showstopper guys. Continue reading
Nostalgia as a Genre: New Wave Revivals and Midlife Crises
The frontman is sporting tight jeans and a New York Mets tank top. His clean cut appearance is accentuated by his musclebound arms and square jawline. He looks like he was the star player on his high school football team, but oozes a boyish charm: if he was the football team captain, he wasn’t the asshole jock type. He sings lyrics pining for a love lost and a simpler time as a soaring keyboard riff plays behind him. He guides the audience into clapping with their hands over their heads. He then screams the city’s name and his bandmate rushes out the stage to deliver an absolutely epic saxophone solo that would make the dude from Lost Boys a very happy man.
It’s a song and a scene straight out of an 80s movie, a moment that feels like it should’ve been lived by Molly Ringwald. But this happened last week, in 2015, at the Summer Sonic music festival in Tokyo. It blew me away, and I’m still trying to figure out why. I think it may be that my midlife crisis is affecting my musical tastes.
I don’t know how to feel about that. Continue reading
Vinyl Review: The Adventures Of Kohsuke Kindaichii
It’s Saturday, which means I’m in HMV minding my own business looking for new wave records.
I got a routine going when I’m not working.
Anyways, so I’m in HMV, browsing the alt rock section when I start to hear some strange 70s mid-tempo disco/funk. It’s cool. I’m grooving to it. Then traditional Japanese instruments start to kick in over it. I’m hearing what sounds like a biwa and a koto mixed in with some radical wah-wah guitar and a groovy bassline. I’m digging it hard.
I decide to buy the record right when the slide whistle and flute kick in.
I’m pretty happy with this purchase. Continue reading
Scrunged: Days Of The New
Scrunge (second-rate rip-off grunge) is a largely forgotten genre, and every few weeks I’m going to examine a scrunge act or two and see if they deserve a second chance. Today’s band: Days Of The New.
I feel safe in saying Days Of The New is the last “scrunge” band. In fact, with their first album coming out in 1997, the case could be made that the group isn’t scrunge at all, and are in fact post-grunge like Creed or Fuel, whose albums also came out around the same time.
But to me Days Of The New is a scrunge band simply because they were trying so damn hard be a grunge band. I don’t think you can say that about Creed or any of the countless forgettable bands that came after them. They were never attempting the realness or rawness of grunge. They just took the broadest and most radio-friendly aspects of the genre and slapped 50 coats of polish and sheen on it. It’s a cliche to say it, but the post-grunge bands come off as being in it for the money more than anything else.
And while you can say a lot about Days Of The New (and trust me…I’m about to) overly commercial sure as hell isn’t one of them. No one goes out to make predominately acoustic depressing rock ballads under the assumption that it’s going to lead to top 40 success. It just kind of worked out that way, for a thankfully brief period of time. Continue reading
Vinyl/CD Review: Demons Original Soundtrack
Demons isn’t exactly a good movie, but it’s definitely a memorable one. A low-budget 1985 Italian horror flick about a movie theater overrun by, well, demons, it features quite the ludicrous plot; amazingly bizarre characters; and some wonderfully over-the-top and disgusting gore effects. It’s a solid piece of 80s eurocheese and it has only gotten more gloriously bizarre as the years have gone by.
Probably one of the only aspects of Demons one can appreciate non-ironically (aside from the killer make-up effects) is the score by Goblin’s Claudio Simonetti. It’s a creepy little piece of music, composed almost entirely on synthesizers. As such, it’s just as dated as the film it came from, but in the most wonderful way. And now it’s back in print via new limited edition CD and LPs, but are they worth the price? Continue reading
Vinyl Review: Babymetal
I’ve been living in Japan for a little over a year and a half now, and let me be the bearer of bad news: Japan really isn’t that weird.
Sure, you see the occasional mascot roaming the streets and everyone on TV seems just way too excited about everything (especially food), but it’s really not that different than anyplace else. And, let’s be honest, a lot of the “weird Japan” concept comes from misunderstandings at best and flat out racism at worst. I also can’t see how a country like America, where walking into a Wal-Mart with a semi-automatic weapon in your hands is legal, has any right to call any other country weird.
All that being said, Babymetal, a heavy metal/pop hybrid featuring a trio of pre-teen girl singers, is the kind of weird shit that could only exist in Japan. Continue reading
Game Music Revue: Darius – Taito Game Music Vol. 2
Darius – Taito Game Music Vol. 2
- Credited Composer: Zuntata
- Released June 25, 1987
- Label: G.M.O./Alfa Records
- VGMdb Information Page
If Gradius is the grandfather of side-scrolling shoot-em-ups, then Darius is it’s weird uncle.
(In case you’re wondering, in this analogy R-Type is the cousin with the cool toys who won’t let you play with them.) Continue reading
Adventures In Mario UFO Catchers
Japan is one of the few places in the world where arcades still thrive, and this is largely due to UFO catchers, or what we in the States call crane games.
Most arcades dedicate at least one floor entirely to the machines, which can range from simple and relatively easy candy prize dispensers, to incredibly difficult/nigh impossible yen sinks that withhold a variety of amazing surprises.
I pretty much avoided these things the first six months I was here. I thought they were too damn hard, and I rarely saw prizes that I wanted. That was, until I discovered that many feature Mario and other Nintendo-related goodies. Then I was hooked.
Just check out some of the sweet shit I’ve scored. Continue reading
Scrunged: Candlebox
Scrunge (second-rate rip-off grunge) is a largely forgotten genre, and every few weeks I’m going to examine a scrunge act or two and see if they deserve a second chance. Today’s band: Candelbox.
It’s really hard to write about Candlebox. Continue reading
Tower Records’ Mario Celebration!
It’s Mario’s 30th anniversary, and to celebrate Tower Records in Japan is pulling out all the stops with a massive summer sale campaign featuring a bevy of exclusive Mario goodies. Myself, being both a Mario and Tower Records fanatic, had to check it out.
It’s pretty rad. Continue reading