This marks the end of “baiyon week.” We hope you enjoyed it, learned more about this particular artist, and perhaps scouted out a few more tunes for your musical library.
But we didn’t get to everything baiyon has ever done. So we just wanted to point out here that baiyon does have plenty of other work out there, if you’re willing to look for it. Some of those items include:
Evening Glow of a River – an EP released around the same time as In The Collaborations 04, you get the title track (10 minutes long), a remix of the track by photographer/musician/producer Eamonn Doyle, and a B-Side “Lupe.” For my money, “Lupe” is the better track.
Dejerabi – a techno/electronica/Arab-ethnic single from Ryoma Sasaki. Buy it, and you get the B-Side (baiyon’s remix of Dejerabi) too.
Vibes Against Vibes (Vol. 1) | (Vol. 2) – Almost everyone that worked with baiyon on the various “In The Collaborations” singles, and plenty more, release their own singles on these two “various artists” collaborations. Vol.1 has two tracks where baiyon collaborates with another artist, and Vol.2 has a baiyon solo track.
Have any more hot baiyon leads? Feel free to leave them in the comments section! Thanks again … and now, let’s go clubbin’! (Seriously, I gotta go to a decent club sometime … just, please, no designer drugs … )
DARIUSBURST ANOTHER CHRONICLE Live in O-EAST -revolt- must have been amazing to actually see live. But, for those of us who couldn’t attend the show featuring the music of this extremely talented team, the event was recorded and published as an album via Enterbrain.
I wanted to write about this album for awhile now, and because baiyon’s contribution from WONDER WORLD is used in the show, I have my excuse. So, after the jump, my review of DBAC Live in O-East! (more…)
For the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Gallery in Shibuya (happening next week, Aug 31 – Sept 2), there will be a special “market” section set up. At that place, for that event, Square Enix will be selling Final Fantasy VII Chips, Final Fantasy VIII Chips, Final Fantasy IX Chips, and Final Fantasy X Chips. Well, if you’re going to milk a genre of arranged music, may as well go all out, right?
No information yet on who will be participating on these albums, but we won’t be surprised to see the individuals who worked on SQ Chips, SQ Chips 2, and XI Chips making multiple appearances on these albums, which will sell for 2100 yen each at the event.
I have much love for Zuntata (OGR et al). And for shmup fans, Zuntata equals Darius. The latest game in the long-running series, a revival of sorts, was DariusBurst. The OST was released in January 2010, and then, only a few months later, a mammoth album dropped.
That album was DariusBurst Remix WONDER WORLD. The album had two discs, and they were themed. Disc one: “Breath of a living thing,” were more acoustic arrangements. Disc two: “Breath of a machine,” much more on the electronic/synthesized side of music.
A total of 22 tracks, 11 tracks per disc, each handled with special care from talented, well-known VGM personalities. How could it possibly be bad? Here’s a hint: it can’t be. This album is filled with yummy-in-my-tummy goodness.
For more details, including an in-depth look at the track arranged by baiyon (this is baiyon week, after all!), join us after the jump. And stop back later tonight for a review of yet another DariusBurst album! (more…)
Last night I had a chat with baiyon via twitter about his 2006 album “Like a School on Lunch Time.” I learned some cool things that I wanted to share with you. For example, the video above is a music video that covers two songs from the album and features incredible visuals by catchpulse. The footage is of the elementary school baiyon attended in his youth. In fact, that’s also where a lot of the sound samples come from.
Yes, baiyon revisited his school to get some field recordings. He told me that of the musicians that use this technique, he was most inspired by Aki Onda’s Cassette Memories series. As I mentioned in the album’s review, I’d heard the technique used prominently on Michael Bross’ Subway Meditations.
Finally, for those of you that can read Japanese (or who are okay with a rough translation provided by google), you’ll want to check out this 2006 interview with baiyon from Jet Set. It provides more background and insight on that full-length album; a little something to help you appreciate it more.
So baiyon released a series of four singles between December ’09 and April ’10, each one had him working with different artists. Of note to the VGM community was his “Hue / Saturation / Brightness” single (vol. 03) where he collaborated with Hip Tanaka.
The series seemed be over after the fourth volume. Nothing happened through the rest of 2010 or any of 2011. But then, in June 2012, baiyon surprised everyone by dropping vol. 05, “Take Away My Eyes,” a track that sounded so thoroughly like a PixelJunk Eden tune that one cannot help but wonder if this track was an outtake from PixelJunk 4am (a game whose soundtrack I’m still anxiously waiting for…).
After the jump, we’ll be exploring all five “In the Collaborations” singles and speculating on what might come in volume 06. (more…)
I remember when one of my best friends introduced me to “noise” as a genre. He started me off with Hanatarash(i), a 1980s group featuring this dude who went by the name “Eye.” This was some pretty hardcore stuff. All noise samples, no tonality whatsoever.
Since then, I’ve heard “noise” albums with different layers or levels of tonality mixed with the non-musical sounds. Many of them come from electronic artists. I was a big fan, for example, of Michael Bross’ “Subway Meditations” — nothing but hand-picked samples mixed in different ways.
After the jump, we’ll take a look at one of baiyon’s contributions to the genre with his 2006 album “Like a School on Lunch Time.” (more…)
A few months ago we did a special week’s worth of content focused around one musician, Jim Guthrie. That was a lot of fun. Let’s do it again, shall we?
No, not a second week for Jim. He’s a cool cat, for sure. But this week we’re going to focus on baiyon.
Born Tomohisa Kuramitsu, baiyon has gone on to become a major influence in electronic music all around the world. He and his art have been presented at events in Japan, South Korea, USA, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, and elsewhere. He is best known, at least among gamers, for his work as audio-visual lead (all music, plus the art styles for each level) in PixelJunk Eden, which we reviewed after its Steam release earlier this year.
One thing baiyon and Guthrie have in common, besides having a week’s worth of content written about them for OSV, is Sword & Sworcery. Guthrie is the composer, and baiyon arranged a track on the Scythian Steppes remix album, which we also reviewed this year.
Throughout this week, we will be taking a close look at all of baiyon’s original works, including various EPs and LPs he’s released, the “in the collaborations” series, and we’ll even discuss his work (among the work of many others) for DARIUSBURST. So stop by each and every day this week to learn more about baiyon and his music!
We’ve had our lips sealed on this concert for well over a month, but now we’re finally excited to tell you about this one. Pay attention!!
The VGO (Video Game Orchestra) will be performing (full 70+ orchestra plus 5-person rock ensemble) a live show at the Boston Symphony Hall in Boston, MA on Sunday, October 7, 2012. It will be a night celebrating primarily Japanese game music, and to underscore that point, they have some fantastic guests lined up to say hello and perform live as well!
First, they have BASISCAPE leader/founder Hitoshi Sakimoto (too many games to list, but you know the notables: Final Fantasy Tactics, Valkyria Chronicles). Second, in what I think might be his first public appearance in America (commenters feel free to correct me!), they have Noriyuki Iwadare (Lunar, Grandia, Phoenix Wright). Third, a Japanese composer currently residing in New Jersey and one of my personal favorites in the realm of “sleeper composer making a comeback,” Ms. Kinuyo Yamashita (Castlevania, Megaman X3).
Violinist Aria Aizawa will also be performing, and she’s mighty fine at what she does. Of course, we’ll also have VGO leader Shota Nakama on guitar, and I’m personally psyched about that. Whether or not there will be any more guests announced before the show or surprise guests at the time of the show, I cannot say at this time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that special guest list were to expand.
August 15th, 2012: For the first time in the US, the man who filled the streets with rage, the legend who raised the act of video game music; Yuzo Koshiro will make his long awaited appearance at MAGFest 11.
An industry legend and pioneer of the FM synthesizer, Koshiro has long been one of the most well respected and admired video game composers in the entire world with his incredibly energetic and dance friendly style of music, contrasted by his grand orchestral masterpieces, making him one of the most versatile and diverse composers of all time.
After studying under the tutelage of Joe Hisaishi, Koshiro made his mark as part of the JDK unit for Falcom’s groundbreaking action RPG games, most notably Ys. He then went from Falcom to SEGA, where he would create the soundtracks that ultimately became his most popular; Shinobi and Streets of Rage. In 1990, Koshiro composed the music for Enix’s Actraiser, a soundtrack that redefined orchestral sound in a video game, and became one of the most popular soundtracks on the Super Nintendo. Since the creation of his family run company ANCIENT in that same year, Yuzo Koshiro has continued to compose for video games for close to 2 decades, with games including Shenmue, Castlevania: Potrait of Ruin, and Etrian Odyssey.
Koshiro will take part in a rare not-to-miss panel and Q&A, telling the story of his career and allowing the fans to ask the questions they want answered. In addition to that, he will also have a full DJ set featuring his own video game music! That’s right, as Yuzo Koshiro makes his debut on US soil, you will be soiling your pants dancing to the sounds of Streets of Rage, Shinobi and other classic surprises DJ’d by the legend himself.
It has been a long awaited and often requested name, and we at MAGFest are honored and excited to finally say; Yuzo Koshiro will be at MAGFest!
(Thanks to Audun Sorlie for arranging Mr. Koshiro’s appearance at MAGFest 11.)
Congratulations are in order for the following individuals:
Matt L.
Paco C.
Andrew D.
Jon R.
They have each won a free copy of the Break Blocks Original Mixtape digital album hosted on bandcamp, which we reviewed earlier this week. To you lucky four, please check your email addresses and/or Twitter DMs for information on how to redeem your prize!
