| The cursed blood of Inferno has awakened the enemy within... |
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| New Dawn |
[13 Mar 2007|06:22pm] |
Long overdue but first update for 2007.
Honestly, nothing much is happening. So I'll keep this short and sweet.
This week is Danny's last week working at UPS. Yes that's right, he's finally going to Canberra by the end of the month to commece his training as a Federal Cop. After over a year and a half of long and anxious waiting and being left in the dark (as well as driving around all of Metro Victoria), the long wait has finally paid off. So yeah, congratulations you walking STD, I'm really gonna miss you, you sick scumbag. Work won't be the same without you.
Went to see Jeremy's new band Doramah at Revolver and let me just say that they're an extremely well oiled unit. The band was immensely tight and the ex-False Truth guys are really amazing, so Kris and Gav, nice one. Even Miko has become a rabid fan. However I'm extremely proud of Jeremy's performance that night. Despite all the lack of care of health in recent years, lately he's back on track and at the gig, his voice was working in full force better than ever. I'm glad that he's rekindled his love for singing (even if it mean't to be in a new band) and he's really happy and enjoying himself. Well done Jeremy. Check them out on their Myspace website.
As for me...
Musicwise, my solo stuff has taken the back seat (again, but I promise that this WILL be released somehow and some way), but this time for good reason. My good friend and long time musical kindred spirit Miko (Mikz) has asked me to join The Haz (or Haaz or whatever) as their full time guitarist. Unfortunately the original guitarist Aki mysteriously disappeared (actually he had to leave the country and return to Japan, leaving his band, course and his girlfriend that he apparently couldn't stand... all without a word), which was a shame cuz he was so awesome and good value. I wished we could have jammed together... maybe someday. Anyway back to it, naturally I accepted the offer and have already did 2 gigs with them.
Musically speaking, I'm very satisfied with this band. We're all pretty proficient with our respected instruments (I guess I am anyway), which is great and quite liberating for me. Not to disdain the abilities of Jeremy, Liam and Danny, but back in the Tachism days, I always wrote music to cater the collective abilities of the band where here I can freely write songs that not only we can have fun playing but can also challenge us to be better musos and ultimately, a better band. Plus we're all songwriters as well so we'll be writing some kickass songs. Ultimately this band allows me to aim at the level of excellence on par (or even better) than Janne Da Arc (currently my favorite band int the world right now) haha. Right now Singer/Keyboardist Russell has written 7 songs, Bassist Jerry has written 2 and I've been trying to keep up (so far I've got 4) so the creative juices have been oozing (this even includes the project Liam and I are doing). So yeah, outside of the full time job at UPS I've been very busy. We're also recording demos before recording them properly and finishing off some new songs before we start gigging again.
And yes, I'm still working on my songs too (of course on a slower pace) but if anybody is curious (if any at all?) just look up DAITA on Youtube to see what kind of direction I'm planning to go...
Short and sweet, yeah I lied.
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| Hot Stuff |
[11 Dec 2006|05:04pm] |
As opposed to the previous entry, this one's chock full of events. Other than a lot of my friends getting married (one I slept during the ceremony thanks to the Kyabram gig...) but I won't talk about those. These are more music related.
Regular readers would know I'm a hugh Satriani and Vai nut so the G3 with them and John Petrucci (Dream Theater) coming down to Melbourne (December 9 at the Regent Theatre) would be shred heaven for me, and indeed it was. Petrucci was an undiscovered guitar monster and that not only was he a ridiculously amazing player (his sound was beastly as well), he played with taste and only with a power trio (with ace bassist Dave LaRue and Dream Theatre cohort Mike Portnoy) and it sounded huge. Vai was dazzling once again with the biggest ensemble of the 3, making all sorts of weird and wonderful noises on th guitar (either sounding like a pastoral choir or a whiny 2 year old), Vai is loved by both 80s shredders and shoegazing effects lovers all over. Satriani was like the serenely detached 'monk' of the three. In fact, if they were compared to samurai warriors, Satriani will be the calm warrior that with one note can kick everyone's ass if he wanted to (Vai will obivously be the sly 'ninja' style who would use anything to his advantage and Petrucci would be the technical martial artist)... but enough samurai innuendo... back to Satch, my opinion, the best songwriter of the three and as always very good live. Always With Me Always With You took the cake, normally I'm sick of the song thanks to all guitar players with a Youtube account, but because of the ending jam with Vai and Petrucci made the performance special. Generally a great night for guitarists and musos who enjoy more than three chords and one finger riffs.
Now the guitarist side of me is done, now to the music composition side...
Eminence has just recently presented PASSION, a concert featuring two violin virtuosos Ayako Ishikawa and Hiroaki Yura (the founder of Eminence) on an intimate concert touring in Melbourne, Sydney and Singapore. Sure, great concert for classically trained musicians to play computer games and anime music, and boy did they play some great music. Playing various pieces from Chrono Cross, the Final Fantasy series (most notably FFXII) and even some Yuki Kajiura stuff from .Hack/Liminality and Tsubasa Chronicles (and even included an encore of the classic Meridian Dance from Secret of Mana; the first computer game music score I seriously got into), it was an amazingly breath taking moment.
But there was something else that made this night special; the guest of honour was none other than acclaimed composer Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross/Xenogears/Xenosaga...), who even joined the Eminence ensemble on the Bozouki and wearing casual gear. Now I've worshipped his work ever since I played Chrono Trigger (admittedly on a SNES Rom), and bought a lot of his stuff (some on that very day). Mitsuda's music has the ability to gaze into the soul and pierce right through the heart, and has always had a deep impact on me. In fact, I've always turned to Mitsuda as a prime inspiration of songwriting back in the final Tachism days (Arise was the best example of this). So I couldn't pass the opportunity and brought the booklets to Chrono Cross, Xenogears and Xenosaga as well as bought An Cinniuint (Tsugunai soundtrack) Sailing to the World (CD and Piano Score), Chrono Cross Guitar Music and the recent Kirite album... and got him to sign EVERYTHING! Of course he found the whole thing hillarious, and the fact that he didn't even recognise the Chrono Cross booklet made me laugh at him. And having him along with Ayako and Hiroaki and co sign my copy of the Passion program (with Hiroaki writing the encore song on my program under my request), this was definitely an unforgetable moment for me to meet one of my musical heroes and other great musicians. It's a shame that Hitoshi Sakimoto (composer for Treasure Hunter G, Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy XII among many others and was also on the Passion bill) was unable to make it to Melbourne (he won't make it to Singapore either but Sydney gets the full treatment...damn), but Mitsuda alone was enough for me.
Now I'm feeling inspired, gotta work on those songs...
In a closing note, here's what's apparently going on in the mean streets of St Albans.... AUSTRALIAN BACKYARD WRESTLING:
ABW III Opening
AWB Leviticus... or better known as Ivan Malkin
AWB Shadow... or better known as Patrick Siscar
AWB Haze... some fat dude I don't know, but Mark or Liam might know...
Leviticus Vs Shadow in CLASSROOM CARNAGE
Shadow Vs 88
Man, talk about ending a feel good entry with something this bad...
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| Count Your Blessings |
[08 Nov 2006|07:02pm] |
Nothing really eventful...
Just an Epiphone Les Paul Studio Gothic, a Peavey Triple XXX half stack, a new house in Caroline Springs, and musical freedom.
That is all.
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| Get Down To Business |
[01 Oct 2006|06:05pm] |
Been an eventfull two weeks.
Most noticably Manifest 2006.
Yes, that time of the year when time stands still for my sister and myself as anime nerds, and head of to Melbourne Uni for an entire weekend along with other kindred spirits to celebrate all things anime. And this year it was a blast yet again.
First off, there were too many things to do. Didn't actually watch any new screenings except Witchblade, as a lot of the new anime didn't really jump at me this year. Maybe I'll appreciate it eventually when I get them (ha).
I didn't buy as much as I would have normally did (like last year), just the Ranma 1/2 3rd Season Box set, and a 1/100 scale ∞ Justice Gundam (from Gundam Seed Destiny), which goes beautifully well with my 1/100 scale Strike Freedom Gundam (ditto). Shame it didn't come with the limited edition stand. Oh well, next year, it's either Destiny Gundam or Legend Gundam.
My sister even dressed up as A.B.A. from the newest Guilty Gear game (more on that later) as well. Here's some photos from Saturday that our friend took (look for the girl with the giant key with the dopey face on it).
There was also an Anime Idol segment with Mikz walking out with the audience choice award. Not bad, a few CDs for a prize. And it looks like that we started a little legend when I bought my guitar and ran down to perform with him and then disappear again once he's done... The Karaoke segments were stupidly fun too for all sorts of different reasons.
The real reason I was hyped to go this year was the video game tournaments. Due to certain obligations, I missed the Third Strike tournament (sigh, still don't have that game), but I did go to the tournament I was anticipating the most... Guilty Gear XX Slash. Having played #Reload to a science for over a year, I felt that I was ready to kick some ass, and ass kicking I did. I knew for a fact that I can't rely on the Reload system anymore (RIP Dust Loop), but after a few practices on the new Sidewinder (still getting through), I felt that this was my year. And the result? I came second place, complete with a Silver Medal and $50 worth of Guilty Gear figurines prize. Sick. The first place guy (a solid Potemkin user) definitely deserved first place. Good game dude.
The tournament also introduced me to new friends, all Melbourne Uni students and all wicked Guilty Gear players (last year's winner was also in the group). Last night was a great introduction to who these guys were. Great match to exhibit our playing techniques to each other (Though I tried Holy Order Sol and failed miserably) and it's a beginning of a Guilty Gear community in Melbourne. Good games boys, you know how sick this is gonna be?
Now october... back to work...
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| Life Goes On |
[07 Sep 2006|08:57pm] |
Time to give a massive congratulations to Danny (dannyontick) on finally getting the job for the Federal Police. All the hard (questionable) work and waiting and the beating around the bush (the latter courtesy of the Feds) has finally paid off. And to think I was looking forward to driving you to the Westgate Bridge in a UPS van and you dressed in uniform for the ritual suicide if you failed... ganbatte-o.
Moving on.
Youtube has been the best thing online since Google gave the finger to censorship, and I've become an addict of it, watching random crap to live footage of various bands. My personal favorite is watching top fighting game players against each other. And I may as well add some examples in here eh?
Let's start with the moment that blew the roof of Evolution 2004:
Daigo Umehara (Ken) defeats Justin Wong (Chun-Li) in 3rd Strike. The entire match can be found here.
There's really not much to say. The ability to parry has made this game into a tactical or should I say Turtle (playing fighting game doing nothing until the other guy makes a mistake...) game, thus the nature of this match. Though Daigo (top Japanese player) seems to break this trend every now and then and seem to get away with it. He has won various tournaments in many games (usually Street Fighter style games and the occasional Guilty Gear...). Aside from the awesome finale, most of the high level 3rd Strike matches are like this; a bunch of Ken, Chun-Li and Yun players.
Some Capcom Vs SNK 2 stuff...
BAS vs Tokido (both using A-Groove Vega, Bison, Blanka)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Top Japanese players and former Evolution champs BAS and Tokido (2005 and 2002 respectively) decking it out and showing why A-Bison is so damn good in this game. Incidentally, both of them are using the same team I've been using as of late. There's some turtle moments here as well but far more exciting than this staring contest snorefest.
Now for the Street Fighter Collage Game (Hyper SF2):
Jason Cole vs Graham Wolfe
James Chen vs Alex Valle
John Choi vs Mike Watson
The footage above pretty much shows what this game's all about. As unbalanced as it is (Champion Edition Bison is a joke; Hyper Fighting Ryu is stupidly good by just Fireballing), it sure is fun to play for some reason. I still enjoy playing all versions of Ryu as if I was still in grade 6.
Moving on from the Street Fighter Series, here's some footage from the mighty Guilty Gear XX Reload and Slash:
Sol Badguy Reload combo 1
Sol Badguy Reload combo 2
Sol Badguy Slash combo
RF (Faust) vs PC (Sol)
Yeah I've made it look like a Sol Badguy showcase but Anime Manifest is this month and I've been practicing nonstop to kick some nerd ass.
Just to avoid 3D discrimination, here's some Tekken 5 Dark Ressurection vids:
Qudans (Devil Jin) vs Mainstreet Ryu (Heihachi)
Kazuya vs Feng Wei
Lili vs Steve Fox
The most popular of the 3D games, well Virtua Fighter 5 still hasn't come out of Japan yet, Soul Calibur 3 (as great as the game and it's more-than-you-can-poke-a-stick-at special features) it's game system isn't taken seriously for tournaments, and DOA4 is cute but that's it.
Anyways, there I go again with typing too much.
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| Toe Tapper |
[26 Jul 2006|09:37pm] |
Normally I wouldn't join Livejournal clubs but I couldn't resist joining Kiyo's Bath. I've been in a massive Janne Da Arc phase right now and when I found out that the Keyboard player had an online blog, I wanted a piece of it. Though this is only the english translation of the official blog, it's still all good.
Anyways, now that I've bought the last guitar effects pedal in my 'ultimate' pedal setup (for guitar), I may as well document it:
Direct:
Morley Little Alligator Volume
Morley Bad Horsie Wah
Boss DS-1 Distortion
Boss PS-5 Super Shifter
Boss OC-2 Octave
Digitech WH-4 Whammy
Boss DM-2 Delay
Effects Loop:
Boss CE5-5 Chorus Ensemble
Boss BF-3 Flanger
Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter
Boss TR-2 Tremolo
Boss XT-2 Xtortion
Boss DD-20 Giga Delay
A lot of pedals, yes, enough to rival Munky's and Mike Einziger's setups. But the 11 songs that I've written (and promise to record and release... someday) will require a large setup such as this. Here's a rundown on why:
Morley Little Alligator Volume:
Sometimes the most simple effects are the most effective. Manifested from many years experimenting with the Volume pedal on the old Digitech RP6, the keyboard/violin swells + all the modulation and delays on the FX loop makes for a killer combination. Plus the Alligator has a special threshold volume so you can control the minimum to maximum sweep of the volume pedal. Putting it in front of the direct chain pretty much controls volume over everything too so that was logical. One of the many purchases off Ebay.
Morley Bad Horsie Wah:
Steve Vai's wah pedal may be innovation's biggest underdog. Not only it's a great sounding wah but the gimmick (and best thing about it) is the fact that it's SWITCHLESS. All you need is put your foot on the pedal and it's engaged. Foot off and it turns off. No tone gimmicks either, while I love wah pedals, I HATE messing with controls just to get a good Wah tone, and doing that on multi effects drove me up the wall. So having a straight forward Wah is easily a blessing. Of course putting it in the front of the chain is mandatory (for optimum performance), and the fact that all the Metallica (Binge and Purge) gigs require wah solos, it's no surprise that my pedal has beer stains all over it.
Boss DS-1 Distortion:
The usual beginner's choice, dirt cheap (got mine for $70 bucks off Ebay), and when used correctly, it's one of the few distortion pedals that sound really really good. Normally I'm an adamant Amp Distortion user and I'd plug into a 2 channel amp for clean and distortion (or in usual cases a 3 Channel Marshall) a Distortion would seem unusual. But I use this orange beauty to BOOST my channels. This pedal has a sweet sound on Clean channel, and gives me infinite sustain and controllable feedback on Dirty channel. Once I get my dream amp (a Peavey XXX), I'll have all the distortion tone's I'll ever need.
Boss PS-5 Super Shifter:
Luckily this was last year's birthday present from my sister, and that demands respect as this pedal was so damn expensive. One of apparently many Pitch Shifting devices on my menu, this pedal does it all; Doubles Octaves up to 1 or 2 up or down, Intelligent Harmoniser at different intervals up or down, and has a little warble/detune effect. Hell if I had an expression pedal plugged in it's another Whammy pedal (but in my case, unnecessary). To be quite honest, I'm scared to death of this pedal. The harmonizer is theory knowledge demanding and there's so many options I'm to scared to use this pedal on the fly (the sole purpose of why I switched to stomp boxes... to freely improvise). So in the meantime I'm only using it to double my leads one octave higher, but I will conquer this pedal and manipulate it to it's fullest.
Boss OC-2 Octave:
Why another octave pedal? Why use it when at first glance the PS-5 makes this brown thing redundant? Well first, I bought this BEFORE the PS-5. Second, it's also cheap (off Ebay anyway). Lastly, and most importantly, it's got one unique feature which the PS-5 lacks: It can double the signal with 1 Octave and 2 Octaves down SIMULTANEOSLY. My main use for this is to fatten up riffs (like how Cog fatten the riff to Doors; both Flynn and Luke use one of these), and using it together with the PS-5 (1 octave up + one octave down).
Digitech WH-4 Whammy:
My original favorite pedal, and it's obvious why everybody uses one of these (The Edge, Kirk Hammett and late Dimebag Darrell even used 2). Getting all those octave glisses on the pedal never this good. Like my Wahs, I'm extremely picky with my Whammy effects. I've tried it on pretty much every multi effect I touch from Liam's Whammy/Wah to the Digitech RP6 to various Boss and Zoom units, and to be honest, the analog pretty much sounds best (though the GT-8 is pretty damn close). The digital whammys all have that very annoying glitch that I really hated while the reissue of the original whammy is clean and almost perfect. At first I wanted the original WH-1 (extremely rare) but due to failed hunting on Ebay and the fact that I refused to pay $800 US dollars for one, I settled with the WH-4 instead.
The basis for all the octave/pitch shifting pedals are mostly for my lead work, and the occasional choral harmony textures, and to have these work their best, I put them as close to the front of the chain as I can.
Boss DM-2 Delay:
Probably the last Ebay purchase I'll ever get in a long long time, this pedal can only be obtained second hand via the online auction store. It's discontinued, and it would seem redundant in my case as I already have the mighty Giga Delay. But I'm a massive delay freak. I've been listening to The Edge, Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew and Joe Satriani to know that for my style, there is no such thing as 'too much delay'. Haha. Plus, this is an analog delay, so not only you get the warm surf guitar sounds, it can self oscilate and in this mode, you can control it manually in real time, something all digital delays can't do. Plus this is the delay I use mainly for leads, pretty much like all of the pedals in the direct chain.
And that's only on the front end, the rest are just a bunch of Boss Pedals...
Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble:
The first in the effects loop chain. A popular for all, as it really waters down your sond (beginners tend to mask their true tone with a chorus), I use mine for choral textures or Incubus style water bubbles/organ rotating speaker effect. Not much to say really, other than this model can get one of the richest chorus sounds available.
Boss BF-3 Flanger:
Quite expensive, but I haggled for it for a bargain at $200 off Galins guitars. Those "jet noises" and then some, as this has all kinds of flanger modes in one, and the sound is HUGE. Plus this model gets a new Tap-Tempo feature that lets me change the rate via tap switch.
Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter:
Yes, there is a purpose for both a Flanger and a Phaser in my setup. For all those synth pad modulation effects, this is ideal with the rest of the setup for me for all those keyboard simulation moments (and I do that a lot). I'm really getting into all of the new Rise/Fall/Gate sounds this can produce, one sounds like a 80s glitching computer. Like the BF-3, it's got a Tap Tempo option, and like the CE-5, I got it for a huge bargain from an Allans stocktake sale.
Boss TR-2 Tremolo:
The last pedal I managed to obtain (birthday present from the little sister, very sweet). Of course for all those keyboard modulation effects, one can't be complete without this simple yet very effective pedal. Twin Peaks, Nancy Sinatra's Bang Bang... it's all here.
Boss XT-2 Xtortion:
The first pedal I ever got, again a birthday present from my sister (1998). At first I thought it was enough at the time (I only had a No-Name Ibanez copy equivalent to firewood plugged into a crappy No-Name practice amp that lasted a year and a half), but as I went to the multi effects phase, I started to dislike the tin-foil 80s metal sound that I seem to have thought this pedal can only produce. So after a long retirement, I learned a few months ago that you can actually use distortion AFTER a modulation effect to DISTORT THE EFFECT for those harsh Industrial/Techno sounds. Thus, this pedal came back with a vengeance.
Plus I've made a pact to myself that I NEVER sell instruments that were given to me.
Boss DD-20 Giga Delay;
The final pedal of the effects chain, and it's my new favorite pedal. This pedal has pretty much every delay mode under the sun. Single, Dual (both which I use often with the DM-2 for double and triple delay), classic Analog (which can't self oscilate) or Tape delay, Backwards and panning delay (for more synth moments) new weird Twist and Warp effects (for auto self oscilation; ie weird assed sounds) and the mighty Sound On Sound where you can loop a phrase and play along to and even overdub over it. Like the PS-5, I'm still intimidated by the massive amount of options, but not as much. In fact, I liked this pedal so much, I even bought one for my sister last Christmas. (Jeremy and Liam found that hillarious and would've found it even funnier if my sister isn't a Keyboard player, but hey)
Yes it is a lot of pedals. But unlike the mult effects, I can use certain sounds simultaneously (eg: Flange + Tremolo). Sure a massive setup like this requires far more work than necessary (lots of tap dancing), but I like it that way. For one, it keeps me on my toes literally, and 2, you'll never know when a happy accident may occur. And I think it's obvious that all the Japanese Rock/Pop influence leaked to my SPECIFIC choice of pedals. There was a phase where I wanted to be able to create every Ayumi Hamasaki song live, but really, honestly speaking; this setup is just a bastardised futuristic version of Hendrix and Satriani. I guess I really can't stay away from my influences.
Now to buy a power supply to power 13 pedals and mount them on a massive plank of wood...
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| 25 Years |
[23 Jul 2006|05:49pm] |
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Who would have thought I'd make it this far?
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| Breaking The Girl |
[19 Jul 2006|09:38pm] |
Just went and saw Jess Grey and band. Not my kind of music to be quite honest but it was quite good. Very tight band, that and I pretty much know everybody in the band (except Jess Grey herself... whom bears a subtle resemblance to a certain Abi that Danny elbowed before passing out after a Herculean achievement of an entire Slab in one night). Who would have thought that I'd cross paths with Jerry Su from Uni again, I'll never know. Plus that band also consists of Miko (or as I call him Mikz) on Drums, probably the best drummer I've played with next to Danny and the reasons are obvious. I've watched and jammed with him since the very beginning the moment he decided to play drums and we've influenced each other on pretty much everything. Plus, anyone who can rip off 'Anarchy OK' into this kind of music and still come off as original and unique is a good drummer in my books.
Check them out on http://www.jessgreymusic.com
Also Russel, Jerry and Miko and a mystery Japanese ace guitarist named Aki (whom Jerry can't help compare to me) are forming a band together that I'm going to se rehearse this Saturday. Mikz describes them as hard rock crossover between Muse and Queen (well, maybe not Queen, but the lineup surely suggests so), so I definitely looking forward to that. The band is called HAZ, standing for Hardcore Azns. I suggested to them to change the name more towards Hardcore Gooks instead, but I don't think they'll find that inspiring. Looking forward to them gigging in the near future as well (provided that Aki can get a permanent residency first).
Also, what Jeremy said; Get the Muse album. This year is a great year for Albums, Tool, The Butterfly Effect... go get them.
That is all.
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| Symphony Of Destruction |
[02 Jul 2006|07:36pm] |
First off, whoever does not have The Butterfly Effect's Imago should go get it now. It's worth it.
Ok, just came home from my first attendance to a symphony orchestra. Not just a typical orchestra performance, but an orchestra performance featuring music from Studio Ghibli Anime features and Final Fantasy Games. Being the first time for me, I had to go, and yes it was worth the 35 bucks. Here was the program:
First Set:
Morning in the Slag Ravine (Joe Hisashi - Laputa Castle in the Sky)
The Opened Way - Battle With the Colossus - (Koh Ohtani - Shadow of the Colossus)
War War War (Joe Hisashi - Howl's Moving Castle)
Highwind Takes to the Skies (Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy VII)
Mamma Aiutto (Joe Hisashi - Porco Rosso)
Crimson Wings (Joe Hisashi - Porco Rosso)
Mysterious World (Joe Hisashi - Howl's Moving Castle)
Final Fantasy Medley
- Opening Theme (Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy VII)
- Tina's Theme (Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy VI)
- Love Grows (Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy VIII)
- Vamo' alla Flamenco (Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy IX)
- Main Theme (Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy IV)
- Fiddle De Chocobo (Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy VII)
- Final Fantasy (Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy)
Second Set:
My Neighbour Totoro (Joe Hisashi - My Neighbour Totoro)
Tori no Hito (Joe Hisashi - Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind)
Journey to the West (Joe Hisashi - Princess Mononoke)
Laputa (Joe Hisashi - Laputa, Castle in the Sky)
Life's Merry-Go-Round (Joe Hisashi - Howl's Moving Castle)
Promise of the World (Youmi Kimura - Howl's Moving Castle)
Decisive Battle (Masashi Hamauzu - Final Fantasy X)
Hope - Main Theme (World Premiere) (Taro Hakase, Yuji Toriyama - Final Fantasy XII)
- 1st Movement, Overture
- 2nd Movement, March of a Wiseman
- 3rd Movement, Road of Hope
- 4th Movement, Romance
- 5th Movement, Road of Hope Refrain
Encore:
Always with me (Youmi Kimura - Spirited Away)
Katamari on the Rock (! - Katamari Damacy)
Shadow of the Colossus was the official opener and was the most foreign musical piece for me. However, I've heard nothing but excellent reviews for the PS2 game (and it's been released here so everyone can play it) and also has a killer soundtrack to die for... the orchestra pretty much blew me away and I'm pretty much hanging for the next time I go to EB Sale (and if I do have an extra cash) to grab this game soon.
I'm not really too familiar with Joe Hisashi's work (curiously his name is an anagram for Quincy Jones) but that doesn't mean I didn't appreciate his work, I actually enjoyed it. Crimson Wings was a treat, I'm a big fan of Porco Rosso about a flying Pig and the fact the film builds up to perhaps the greatest animated punch-on of all time, so that was great to hear. Laputa was a great listen to a brilliant theme, but my personal favorite was Journey to the West. The fact the Princess Mononoke is probably my favorite of Hayao Miyazaki's work, it's majestic theme was an experience to hear with a live orchestra. Time for me to get the soundtrack...
Nobuo Uematsu on the other hand is a guy who's music I've worshipped my whole musical life, so I pretty much know his compositions back to front. The Final Fantasy Medley was pretty much did it for me, and the fact that (the immortal) Tina's Theme and The Main theme for FFIV was included, great for all the little spoiled kids of generation now that think Final Fantasy doesn't exist before FFVII. Though it was a shame not to hear One Winged Angel, perhaps that's asking too much, even the Advent Children version, Masashi Hamauzu's Decisive Battle more than made up for it. Hamauzu has become one of my favorite composers of all time and that I've got 90% of all his work (with the exception of Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon - extremely hard to find, legally anyway), and he was the inspiration for me to take piano a lot more seriously. This piece in particular is one of his finest and that seeing and hearing the chaotic piano solo live is amazing.
There were three big surprises that presented themselves in the end.
The first was the Main Theme Hope from the unreleased Final Fantasy XII. Now I kinda lost touch with the Final Fantasy music since Uematsu started to participate less in composing and more in live performances (with conducting orchestras or playing in the heavy rock band The Black Mages), but FFXII sounds extremely promising (considering it was largely composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, who's music can only be described as... well, unique: imagine a symphony orchestra conducted by DJ Shadow and add mood swings), so that definitely up in my things to do in gaming.
Special Guest Youmi Kimura sang Promise of the World during the second set, but for me, probably the only person in the Melbourne Town Hall that night who still hasn't seen Howl's Moving Castle, I kinda enjoyed her second performance more: the dreamy ballad from Spirited Away; Always with me, with only her tender opera voice and that weird harp of hers as the only accompaniment.
The final surprise was rather unexpected: Katamari on the Rock; performed in full orchestra glory. This pretty much put a smile in everybody's faces as it also included visuals from the first Katamari Damacy game that became a cult favorite; for those who don't know, it's about a little guy rolling a ball around and trying to stick as many "things" on the ball as possible (things from small objects such as pens and cats eventually to large objects like buildings and countries) - easier explained than seen. But yeah, the humourous fitting finale.
Overall, this pretty much enforced my interest in orchestral symphonic music to a greater degree. And as if that isn't already evident, the latest batch of songs that I've been writing (including the ones with Liam Jeremy and Danny) have been cinematic in nature, plus it's always been my ambition to make a symphonic arrangement of our songs (hand picked by the four of us of course) with a 72 piece orhcestra w/choir or traditional instruments from selected native countries and have Jeremy sing over them.
Anyways, due to financial difficulties (new house in Caroline Springs), I'm gonna have to put that Mac Powerbook on hold so recording those new songs of mine will have to wait...
By the way;
Jeremy, when are you free for practice?
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| Natural Joe |
[08 Jun 2006|09:00pm] |
No why wasn't I informed of this?
Munty Joe, you are a work of art. Pure gold.
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| Kill A DOG As A Sacrifice To A DOG |
[15 May 2006|09:16pm] |
Ok, we all know Tool's 10,000 Days is unbelievable, but all Tool fans should at least get a load of this.
Not as good as the Mars Volta review but, fun nonetheless.
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| Get Out From The Shell |
[15 May 2006|08:24pm] |
It would seem that Danny, Jeremy, Liam and myself have been in the same room with instruments in hand.
Of course I don't have to say anything more than that don't I?
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| Dare |
[01 May 2006|09:59pm] |
In case you haven't done so already (and why the hell not?), stop reading this and get yourself a copy of Tool's new album 10,000 days.
GO NOW!
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| Pillars Of The Underword |
[19 Apr 2006|06:36pm] |
This potentially could be about getting munted.
SLASH
GUILTY GEAR XX SLASH is out. For those who enjoyed Guilty Gear XX #Reload, well here's the latest installment. Loads of new upgrades such as new moves per each character, 2 new characters such as ABA and Holy Order Sol, so there's plenty of flashy schizophrenic mayhem for those who want to twist their consciousness when they're drunk or munted.
The best part of the game is that the mechanics are extremely well thought of far more than any other fighting game... the only other game that comes close is Virtua Fighter 4 Fine Tuned (which isn't coming out here so I'm stuck with VF4 Evolution until VF5 comes out). And if Reload wasn't balanced enough, Slash takes things up a notch. For one, Eddie is no longer a god (phew), and Sol's abusable 'Dust Loop' (which got my third place in the Manifest tournament) is no longer usable, so no more corner rape from either of them. Ky Kiske has risen above the depths of mediocrity, while Dizzy has fallen from grace (though still possible to kick Sol's ass easily), so the entire game is more balanced than ever, thus perfect for tournament play.
Now go watch those video clips.
DESTROYED
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| Crash And Burn |
[30 Mar 2006|07:22pm] |
Disclamer:
This is not about getting munted.
Now that I've got that out of the way, let me just make this official:
UPS is now a graveyard for failed or struggling musicians. Having Jimmy T from Full Scale come aboard today garunteed that.
So don't be surprised when others like Zeke and the others from Full Scale, the guys from .hinge, Cog, Barry from the Whiteroom or any of your great local acts doing deliveries to you in the not too distant future... I surely hope that isn't the case.
In a completely different topic:
I've always thought that Gackt was a female. Seriously.
Then he released Redemption (appropriately enough), and proved me wrong.
And I'm sure all the nerds, dorks and like minded idiots alike will know well once Dirge of Cerberus (if ever) reaches our shores.
Also note to self:
Start putting your 11 written songs onto audio form.
Oh, and putting a discontinued BOSS XT2 Xtortion AFTER the Chorus and Phaser DISTORTS THE EFFECT not the tone = awesome.
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| Psycho Monkey |
[19 Feb 2006|08:10pm] |
The anime intake has reached a very dangerous level for myself lately thanks to a whole heap of new acquired anime (and even live action/drama) tv shows courtesy of a hefty payslip, my sister's connections and broadband connection. However this particular series caught me off guard...
The series is called Saiyuki. It's an old Chinese tale (Hsi Yu Chi), about the Bhuddhist Tang Priest Hsuan Tsang whom travelled from China to India with three of his companions in order to retrieve Bhuddhist scriptures. Sounds familiar? It's the classic Journey to the West story, retold and reinterpreted far too many times to remember throughout history about a Chinese Monk travelling with a Monkey, a Pig monster and a Water Spirit... yes. For all you born in the early eighties, you will all know this as the Monkey (Magic) series. For many others it's also known as Dragon Ball (but that doesn't really count as it turns into a whole heap of slow moving mess of gayness known as Dragon Ball Z and it's abomination of a sequel Dragon Ball GT). However this retelling of an old tale is something different, something fresh, thus something special.
The series plot is essentially the same, with a few slight modifications as they all do. The most significant change is the portrayal of the four main protagonists of the series and it's quite a drastic change. And I'm going to make an attempt to bridge the nostalgia and the new interest together:
Son Goku (Monkey)
The big hairy monkey guy (played by the big hairy Masaki Sakai) is now the child figure of the group. An 18 year old who carries naieve and innocent outlook on life and people and who's entire love based solely on food (much like the original monkey god), however he constantly fights with the water spirit Sha Gojyo much to the disfavour of the monk Genjo Sanzo. He still has that extending bo staff (now equipped with the occasionaly used split staff nunchacku feature), and he still wears that golden crown, however this time it's purpose is significantly altered. In the Monkey series, the crown was to subdue Monkey and was tightened by Tripitaka using a mantra (we all remember the classic "tatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatata"-ing in pain). This is pretty much how it was in the original story anyway. In Dragon Ball, he didn't have a crown. In this series, the crown is a power limiter to constrain his true demonic nature (he's a demon in this series, and without the crown, he just goes around and kills everything). So how does he get subdued by the monk? Easy, he just beats Goku's head in with a fan, and quite violently too. And sadly for all you nostalgia fans, this version's Son Goku does not ride a cloud. At least in Dragon Ball, Goku did ride a cloud for a while (until it became totally useless in Dragon Ball Z with all that excess superfluous Super Saiyajin power). While the cloud was a major icon, somehow the cloudless Goku here works. Interestingly enough there's a new retelling of the Saiyuki series (Patarillo Saiyuki) except it's a 26 part parody and each episode runs for a period of 10 minutes and Son Goku is a little tubby fat monkey (who is brilliantly voiced by the guy who did Naruto) with all the originial Monkey traits intact.
Genjo Sanzo (Tripitaka)
Possibly the most contraversial character of the 4 patrons. The only human in the group, and he's a young and supposedly attractive monk (which explains why the Japanese chose a female, in Monkey's case, the late actress Masako Natsume, to play a guy; which in a sense is a twisted form of irony as most of the Japanese guys look like girls anyway), is the most important member, based on the real life priest Hsuan Tsang. In Monkey, he was pretty much useless in a fight, and was all talk (reminds me of something) with high words. His reinterpretation however is priceless. This time around he's a blond and highly unorthodox in the ways of Bhuddhism, haughty, irritable and extremely arrogant, and partial to ciggarettes, alcohol and gambling with Mahjong and playing cards. Sanzo also tends to make death threats to Goku and Gojyo often with the use of his gun (yes, this is a far cry from the girly Tripitaka) and slaps Goku around with his giant fan and also does a hefty bit of swearing. He's even got special powers using the Maten Scriptures to subdue and banish demons as opposed to cowering and getting the other three to do all the work. Though then again, there's the Patarillo Saiyuki, where his rendition once again takes a massive u-turn where he is once again girly, does girly things, long locks of blond hair, and even has a hint of homoeroticism (very wrong), but there you go.
Sha Gojyo (Sandy)
The water spirit of the group. I couldn't remember Sandy as well as the rest of the guys, except he wears that bowl hat over his bald spot (in which case however it was part of the classic story where he did have a bowl over his head and had water inside, and that if the water dried out, the water spirit will die. This was even made a reference during a particular Saiyuki desert episode. Sha Gojyo's interpretation is a bit left of field (as this entire series really is anyway). Brash, flamboyant, a self proclaimed God's gift to women and debauchery, and like Sanzo, very fond on ciggarettes, drinking and gambling. Often sleazing on women, or picking on Son Goku, usually swearing at each other and the occasional fag joke, all much to the disfavour of Sanzo resulting in countless death threats. As for special powers, Gojyo carries the same weapon (only with a hidden chain for flashier moments), and unlike Goku and Hakkai, Gojyo is not a full demon, but a half breed from both human and demon races. This is an orginal concept for this particular series, and is often stressed out thanks to his long red hair and red eyes, pretty much an excuse for a tragic story. Interestingly enough, the actor who played Sandy in the Monkey series, was somebody I would end up seeing again in another series called Densha Otoko...
Cho Hakkai (Pigsy)
Quite possibly the most drastic change of the four characters. In Monkey, he's the rebellious pig monster who was once attractive but was cursed (can't remember the reason), often contradicting the rest of the group and goes off on his own, only to result in learning his lesson the harsh way and returning to the group. This time around, Cho Hakkai was once a human named Gonou who went on a murderous killing spree to avenge his lover (only to see her kill herself because of an unborn demon child), thus the killing of 1000 demons has made Cho Gonou into a demon himself. To add even more distace to the original, Hakkai retains his human handsome form, and is the most mature member of the 4 pilgrims. Often playing the voice of reason as well as the peacemaker of the group and using the occasional ironic comments. Hakkai doesn't carry a garden rake like Pigsy, instead just uses his martial arts skills akin to Dragon Ball/Street Fighter when he gathers energy and throws fireballs around. Again, his background story often revolves around his tragic past and takes him quite some time to get over it. Apparently, he's also a master drinker who knows how to put away the alcohol.
Hakkaryu
I just mentioned Hakkaryu because in Monkey, he was Tripitaka's horse that used to be a dragon, then becomes a human during the latter episodes. In Saiyuki, Hakkaryu was a little white dragon that turns into a Jeep that Hakkai drives the party around. That's it.
I think I've written too much now. But anyway, I recommend viewing the series, it goes on to Saiyuki Gunlock and Saiyuki Reloaded, just for the refreshing view of the Monkey story. Or even go and get the Saiyuki parody as well, quite funny. Interestingly enough there was a live Monkey remake in the early nineties (the Monkey series received cult status and a possible sequel was never realised due to Masako Natsume's death), however the remake didn't have the killer theme songs. Ha, even this Saiyuki has some great ones, though they may never reach the download immortality of 'Monkey Magic' or the two versions of 'Ghandhara' or even the obscure 'Thank You Baby' (try to dig that one up for all you nostalgia freaks).
Next entry may be about Densha Otoko, possibly the only love story I've actually liked...
Bah.
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| Step You |
[18 Jan 2006|08:56pm] |
That's it.
I've officially retired, my trusty Digitech RP6 multi effect unit.
After the long 5 years of playing that little workhorse with every single band I've been in, (Tachism, Az One Voice, 4Arm, Binge and Purge etc...) and all the awesome sounds (with a little help from my imagination) I could come up with, has finally given a rest it deserves. Fond memories. (Mikz, if you're interested...)
Nowadays my pedal setup has grown immensely:
For Guitar, I'm using just individual stompboxes now currently in this order:
Direct:
Morley Little Aligator Volume
Morley Bad Horsie Wah
Boss DS1 Distortion
Boss PS5 Super Shifter
Boss OC2 Octave
Digitech WH4 Whammy reissue
On Effects Loop:
Boss CE5 Chorus Ensemble
Boss PH3 Phase Shifer
Boss DD20 Giga Delay
That's it in the mean time, a few more pedals to go (I'm very precise on what I want) and this setup is complete. I'll probably talk about what I'm ultimately aiming for next entry.
As for Bass, I'll be using a Line 6 Bass Pod pro multi rack device. I might add the whammy and delay pedal here too.
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