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Post by molotov889 on Apr 15, 2006 20:41:31 GMT -5
You musta felt a good eal of accomplishment being able to transcribe a song like that. It sounds really cool. Maybe it's good practice for being able to compose something yourself. As for Ayumi, I think she has a lot going for her just in her image as being Japan's pop diva. I don't think she does the things she does (over the top shows, many media appearances, etc) because she's such a big star; I believe it's the other way around. Her fame comes from how many things she does. Plus, for a while there, she literally seemed bigger than life. I mean, everybody from all over the world was coming together to work on her songs, remixing them, getting them into clubs, just doing a lot of things with her music. Honestly, though I like her voice, she doesn't have the raw talent that others (i.e. Misia, Nomiya Maki, Mika Nakashima) that others seem to have. Plus, I do have to admit that her music these days tends to follow the popular trend. I think with Loveappers and Duty, she kind of bea tout her own path, and it culminated in I Am... which brought it all together and got great production behind it. Then Rainbow was kinda of her composing experimental album, and I think she actually lost some favor then. But she seems to be coming back pretty strong because she's coming out with some pretty catchy hits lately. I still wish something would happen again like her period form Loveappers through I Am..., but I doubt it will. Hey, you should check out the song Please Don't Give Up from Globe's new album. I've done a machine translation on the French parts, and from the little bit I was able to extract, it seems right up your alley. I actually like that song a lot, and like the lyrics I've been able to decipher so far. P.S. What's up with electropica these past couple days? I may have to get back to you on a list of recommended songs to make sure I really pick the best ones.
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Post by Joseph on Apr 17, 2006 3:05:45 GMT -5
The concept of Please Don't Give Up does sound enticing. I'd be a fool to miss out on Maniac. From the sound samples, it sounds right on the money. What better time to buy it than now? YesAsia has a Hong Kong version of it at a discount.
What do you think of Ayumi's (Miss)Understood CD?
I'm not aware of anything unusual going on at Electropica, but it doesn't look like it's been updated a whole lot lately. One thing I admire Move for is their ability to seemlessly rhyme English words with Japanese words -- it's kinda funny.
Since mentioning Malice Mizer the other day, I listened to their songs on Saturday, and I discovered that MM uses the baroque style just as much as Two-Mix does. My favorite MM album is Bara no Seidou (2000), which means sanctuary of roses, since it has the biggest emphasis on baroque classical style. Its tracks don't generally sound like rock songs really; it's true classical with a little opera. In an older album, they even have a song called "Baroque," although that song itself isn't an ideal example of baroque style.
Speaking of composing something myself, for the first time I did write my own little song today. Or part of a song. The melody is influenced by Two-Mix, but it's original. It's not something that I planned for; it's just something I had to write down at the moment. If I ever make it into a full song with lyrics, I will use English and Japanese, because I mentioned before how I like the Japanese use of pronouns. Something could be starting here. I'm not getting that music creation software soon enough, but still, I don't want to jump into it before I'm educated enough to know what to do!
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Post by molotov889 on Apr 17, 2006 19:43:21 GMT -5
Haha. Yeah, maybe you'll like Maniac more than you would Globe 2 anyway. Plus, with 2 CDs instead of one, it's a nice value.
I know I reviewed (miss)understood pretty recently. I still like it a lot. I wouldn't call it my favorite though. I think Ayumi's best was either Duty or I Am..., but I did think (miss)understood was a step in the right direction away from what she had been doing for a couple years.
I'll try to get you a list of what I think the best Ayu songs are within the next couple days. That way you can see the spread across the albums.
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Post by Variable on Apr 17, 2006 21:24:29 GMT -5
Y'all ever hear of Billie Piper? If you read my LJ, you'd see that she's my current former-pop-star-turned-actress love affair. She currently plays Rose on the new Doctor Who series.
Anyway, she used to be a pop singer back 6 years ago and did a techno/pop style that might appeal to y'all. If you're up to it, I can email a few songs.
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Post by Variable on Apr 18, 2006 12:14:22 GMT -5
Not to change the subject, but we're the only three people posting here any more.
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Post by molotov889 on Apr 18, 2006 18:08:12 GMT -5
Well, in this thread. There seems to be some activity in the other threads. Plus, activity usually kicks up a lot more around the time of a new release or when Move announces an upcoming release. It would be nice to see more involvement, but it just doesn't seem to happen.
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Post by Joseph on Apr 19, 2006 5:26:50 GMT -5
I just read about Doctor Who in my Scifi magazine (which they sent me free, even though I didn't request it). I admit that I know nothing about Doctor Who except that Christopher Eccleston plays Doctor Who now. I'd never even heard of Billie until you mentioned her. I bought a comic book called "The Gift" the other day, and the aforementioned magazine said that they are planning a new TV series next season called The Gift, although I don't know whether it was related to the comic or not. It does sound quite interesting though (and related to the comic book). Right now I only have two issues of The Gift so far - I'm looking to get more. I'll have to bug my comic e-tailer until they get them for me.
Returning to music, I'm very close to finishing all my 78 piano lessons. I only need to do the last two lessons, then I will be done. After I'm done, I'll need to practice more by playing other songs, so that's why I bought the Definitive Classical Collection music book, which I should receive in the mail soon. I definitely need to get Bach's Anna Magdalena Notebook CD because it is a great compilation of his works, for someone who didn't usually catalog his own works.
Oh, in the review you did of Two-Mix BPM Dance Infinity, you put that Shiina Nagano was the singer. Actually, Shiina is the guy of the group, the lyricist, and Minami is the girl, the singer and instrumentalist. On their BPM Cube album though, they accidentally put that the CD was composed and performed by Mr. Nagano. LOL.
Still no word yet on what II Mix Delta will name their new album.
I read your review of (Miss)Understood. It probably wouldn't be my first choice because you said it has "many different styles and tempos." The albums that try to be too many things to too many people do concern me (especially breakbeats, which don't have the consistent dance/house form). I like somewhat consistent structure and style, though I'm not rigid.
Regarding my future plans for composition, I feel torn between my two loves of techno and classical. I just emailed a sales engineer at Sweetwater (an online music store) to ask them for advice for what software I should get. I think it's a matter of playing around with the software a little, getting more accustomed to it. I probably won't be able to do anything too fancy at first, but I figure I will build up my skill level a little at a time. If people think I can't do that, too bad. I'm doing it anyway!
It's like how I learned cartooning. I didn't know how to cartoon at first, but then I started learning, and I read tons of comic strips. I saw the styles and devices that they used, and learned from them (although I wish the Teaching Company offered a course on humor writing). Now I've done over 600 comic strips of my "Among Wolves" cartoon in the past three years, so I'm very accustomed to it, and I'm even in a comic newspaper based in Rhode Island. However, cartooning isn't the only thing I can do. As you know, I have other hobbies involving foreign language and now music.
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Post by Variable on Apr 19, 2006 22:04:18 GMT -5
Christopher Eccleston only plays the Doctor for the 13 episodes of the 2005 series. He was the "Ninth Doctor." After the last episode of the current series running on the US Sci-Fi Channel, another guy takes over as Doctor Ten.
In Doctor Who mythology, whenver a Time Lord gets injured or killed, they can regenerate into a new actor, but, a Time Lord can only regenerate 13 times, after that, they're dead, however, some Time Lords have been "granted" more regeneration cycles.
In 1989, the original Doctor Who series ended with the Seventh Doctor, I don't remember who (haha) played him, but, the show had been running continuously for several decades (since at least the 1950s) with different people cycling in as the Doctor and new writers and companions, props, etcetera, in part to keep up with the changing times and to keep the Doctor "fresh."
In 1996, FOX, of all companies tried to revive the Doctor with a TV movie. I forget the happenings of the movie, but the Seventh Doctor is killed and regenerates into the Eighth Doctor. That was that Doctor's only appearance.
In 2005, Christopher Eccleston starred in the revived Doctor Who series (Eccleston previously starred in the zombie movie 28 Days Later as the military commander guy). The hawt former-singer Billie Piper plays Rose Tyler, a shop keeper in modern day London who gets whisked away by the Doctor on adventure after adventure in far off lands and our own past.
One thing I love about the "new" Doctor is that he's more fierce than previous Doctors. In an episode that aired the other day, he finds a survivor of the Daleks. The Daleks were a robot race of "people" that were basically Time Nazis, bent on killing all that was different than their own. The Doctor and the Dalek exchange a debate that resonates with the Doctor's newfound fireceness, "...Dalek, your race is dead... I watched them die, countless ships falling out of the sky, and I MADE IT HAPPEN!"
There's also mention of the Time War which killed all of the Daleks (except for the one mentioned above) and all of the Time Lords, except for the Doctor.
In the episode, "The Parting of the Ways," Eccleston is offed as Doctor, a bit prematurely, I kinda liked Eccleston.
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Post by molotov889 on Apr 19, 2006 23:02:25 GMT -5
Alright, Joe, I think I have a pretty good list of Ayumi songs. All of these are just originals, and the album is in parentheses.
The Very Best[/u] Kanariya (Loveappears) Immature (Loveappears) Duty (Duty) Flower Garden (Duty) Naturally (I Am...) I Am (I Am...) Endless Sorrow (I Am...) Evolution (I Am..) Memorial Address (Memorial Address) Free & Easy (Rainbow)
The Other Really Good Ones[/u] A Song For XX (A Song For XX) Poker Face (A Song For XX) You (A Song For XX) Signal (A Song For XX) Fly High (Loveappears) Boys & Girls (Loveappears) Vogue (Duty) Seasons (Duty) Audience (Duty) M (I Am...) Daybreak (I Am...) Connected (I Am...) Heartplace (Rainbow) Over (Rainbow) July 1st (Rainbow) Independent (Rainbow) About You (My Story) My Name's Women (My Story) Humming 7/4 (My Story) Carols (My Story) Inspire (My Story) Alterna ((miss)understood) Ladies Night ((miss)understood) Beautiful Day ((miss)understood)
Heh... just realized I ended up with 10 in the "very best" section. That wasn't intentional, but I guess you could call that my top ten for Ayumi.
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Post by Joseph on Apr 22, 2006 1:55:19 GMT -5
Kanariya? I've never heard that word before. I wonder what it means. I do actually remember hearing "Free & Easy" a long time ago; I faintly remember it. I guess this begs the question - Do you still think that "I Am..." is her best original album? What's her best remix album? Still, even you said that she doesn't seem to have the raw talent of others, which is an indication of an artist that's not as outstanding as the best of them. It's true that some of her remixes might be good, but with me, it takes more than fame to make a good music artist. Now I know which of her songs to look for, so I appreciate the effort that you went to for helping me!
After emailing the Sweetwater store, they assigned me a music sales engineer. I called him today for advice. When I told him I was interested in a new keyboard, the first one he recommended was the Yamaha MO series (the MO6 and MO8 models). These Sweetwater guys don't mess around! Yamaha MO6/8 is a professional-grade keyboard, perfect for making techno because it has over 1,859 waveforms, plus filters. So I found out a lot about the keyboard after the call, and of course, dreamt about having it. It practically has its own built-in soundboard too. It would be fun to play, I think.
Omigosh, the Scifi Channel has a show called "The Dresden Files" about a wizard/private detective. And this character's name is Harry Dresden! A wizard named Harry! I wonder where they got that idea from! That actually sounds interesting, heh heh. The actor, Paul Blackthorne, is more well-known in Britain; in fact, he was one of the runners-up to be the new James Bond before they chose Daniel Craig.
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Post by molotov889 on Apr 22, 2006 12:19:43 GMT -5
Kanariya= Japanese attempt at saying canary. Seriously. So yeah, I'm not surprised you don't recognize it as a real Japanese word . Yeah, I guess I would say I Am... is her best original album. Maybe tied with Duty. Her best remix album is a little harder to pin down for me. I really like Ayu-Mi-X II, III, and IV, AyuTrance, and Ayu-Ro Mix 2. Ayu-Ro Mix 2 i sprobably my favorite Eurobeat album. It blows Euro Movement out of the water, in my opinion. (Apologies to anyone who REALLY likes Euro Movement [::cough::gav::cough::] ) The Ayu-Mi-X's are great because they have a nice mix of styles and they're nonstop, but they do have a lot of house influence, and I really like house so those work well for me. To me, even though she doesn't have the raw talent, she always has very interesting songs, and you're almost always guaranteed to have a great pop "classic" on one of her albums. Plus, she's always written her own lyrics, and recently even her own music, and those things are somewhat important to me in an artist. That keyboard sounds really cool but also really expensive. Are you thinking of making a really big investment in a nice keyboard?
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Post by molotov889 on Apr 22, 2006 19:41:44 GMT -5
It's official, I think. I've become an AAA fanboy. I tried learning the dance to their song Dragon Fire this afternoon during some offtime. Not easy, especially considering I have no dance training. ;D Time to look into hip-hop dance lessons at my school.
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Post by Joseph on Apr 23, 2006 19:34:38 GMT -5
I may be out of the loop here. What's AAA?
Dance lessons sound great! You have all the experience on DDR, don't you? We should sing and dance. I myself cannot dance either, at least not in a way that anyone would admire. I love dance as an entertainment, but it's a completely separate pastime from my love of dance music.
Yes, I guess I am thinking about making a big investment in a new keyboard. In the past year, I've bought a new quality mattress, TV, and car. I'd rather have something high quality that last longer instead buying too cheap and it not lasting long enough. After all, I'm young; I'm going to be around a long time; I need something that will last. The good thing about professional-grade synthesizers is you don't have to worry about upgrading to something better later. I'm sure it's better than the one even my church uses. Plus, I know I will want to play more to try out all the cool waveforms (voices). It would be cool to hear what Bach and Mozart would sound like as techno. You could make modern video game music with this keyboard. It would be wise to try it out at a store first, if possible. I don't think I'm ready to buy it right now.
Dr. Greenberg says to be a composer, you have to study the Bach chorale preludes and the Josquin polyphonic techniques. But I don't think that's true. He may have his PhD in music composition, but my idea of a composer is someone who writes a couple notes, no matter their education. I recently heard a chorus by In-Grid, in which the whole chorus is one note repeated over and over, and in my opinion, she's on par with the recent top French pop star Alizée, even though In-Grid might not be polyphonically sophisticated. I feel the same way about art. Art isn't just for upper class to understand; art is a form of communication that can be experienced and enjoyed by everyone.
One time Dr. Greenberg was discussing one of Bach's fugues, and he was discussing the very beginning, the first two notes, which happen to be G-sharp, A-sharp. He's all, "This is a very Italianate melody." I'm like, "What on earth, it's two notes!! How can two notes a tone away from each other be described as 'Italianate'"? This makes me further question traditional music education!
I'm going to try to learn the Toccata and Fugue in D minor today. I already have been trying to play it from memory, but now that I got the sheet music, I can try to learn it properly. I was barely able to find a tiny image of it without paying. Bach fugues literally have three melodies going at the same time. I hope I don't have to have three hands to play it!
Oh, by the way, the Inspector Gadget DVD set comes out this week, so I will be sure to order it! I've already bought DiC's other TV animation DVDs that have come out this year - Heathcliff, and Super Mario Brothers Super Show.
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Post by Joseph on Apr 25, 2006 17:56:26 GMT -5
I finally found a place on the web where I could get a legible version the Toccata and Fugue in D minor for free. I have been learning it for the past few days. Bach's music is very fast and formulaic. One website I saw rated it 4 out of 5 on the difficulty scale, and another site rated it 5 out of 6. The reason it's so difficult is the sheer speed. Some sections are marked as "prestissimo," which is the fastest tempo there is, plus he uses sixteenth-notes. Most people I think play it as fast as they can. I'm seeing some similarities between the musical devices of Bach and Two-Mix. I wonder if Minami has studied Bach.
I just got my new CDs, including Maniac, Globe 2 Pop/Rock, and Around the World. You know that some of the instruments on Globe 2 Pop/Rock are great. I've only listened to the first few songs on Maniac disc 1, but I'm sure I will be listening to it many times in the future. It just sounds great. Ami Suzuki's album Around the World is wonderful. Ami has truly something to offer both the dance fan and the pop fan. It is awesome! Ami's voice is a little bit lower for a female voice. In my opinion, it's an outstanding album. It is sophisticated, but not excessively complex. She also wrote all her own lyrics for her songs.
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Post by Joseph on Apr 27, 2006 6:42:52 GMT -5
Praise the Lord; they named the new II Mix Delta album. CDJapan says its title is Delta Two - Universe! I'm gonna get my own Delta Two Universe! It will be released May 24th. Ami Suzuki's new single "Alright!" will come out one week before that, on May 17th. So I think I'll just get both of them in the same purchase. I think that Tetsuya Komuro used to be a producer for Ami Suzuki. That would explain why she's on The Greatest Hits - Tetsuya Komuro Sakuhin Shu a CD. Suzuki's music stretches back a long time. She has an album before Around the World called "Fun for Fan." I love the black dress she wears in Around the World; in the booklet her makeup is sort of gothic. My favourite song of hers is "Eventful." Naturally, it's the fastest and most exciting song. Did you hear the news that Globe is coming out with a new single on June 28? What a lucky day! I just love Globe 2 Pop/Rock, especially Lost, which is really addicting, and sounds a bit like that tATu song. Grammatically, all those words that end with "ta" and "da" in Japanese are past tense verbs, and in this case, words that end in "katta" are past tense adjectives. Additionally, I love Asian Night, and of course, Judgement.
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