Naoshi Mizuta’s ever compelling spread of music for Final Fantasy XI continues with it’s latest expansion pack “Final Fantasy XI ~Altana No Shinpei~ (roughly meaning crusaders of Altana) getting its soundtrack release at the end of April. More folksy gentle tracks with eastern tinges and epic battle tracks I hope then Naoshi!
Archive for February, 2008
A New Final Fantasy XI CD!
The Black Mages – New Album
The Black Mages release their 3rd album on March 19th entitled “The Black Mages III: Darkness & Starlight”. The rock group take tracks from Final Fantasy games and arrange them into big rock out anthems with some mental guitar solo’s thrown in for good measure. 10 tracks will be on the disc including “Opening~ Bombing Mission” from Final Fantasy VII, “Assault of the Silver Dragons” from Final Fantasy IX and “Momoro de la S^tono” from Final Fantasy X. Apparently the men themselves will sing on one of the songs too. We shall wait and see!
Imogen Heap: iBlog
Imogen Heap while waiting to go for album 3 (or 4 if you include Frou Frou) has a really random video blog detailing her week in action from the building of her recording studio, what she did during the week and just general babbling, all of which are very entertaining and shows her warm personality and good humour in the wake of disaster. It appears she’s also in talks over doing another song for the next Narnia film as well which would be fantastic as “Can’t Take It In” is a great song. Keep up to date by going here ans subscribing!
The curse of the one hit wonder!
Poor Vanessa Carlton. Tipped for dizzy heights back when “A Thousand Miles”, when her second album “Harmonium” was released in the USA no one seemed to pick it up. The first album deemed too pop for alternative fans and too alternative for the casual pop fans once you got passed the singles. As a result I had no idea at all that she’d even released a third album entitled “Heroes and Thieves” late last year! I had to hunt for “Harmonium” on import and now thankfully I’m fully internet shopped out I can find it with relative ease but what a shame that people who can clear shift records is again not promoted and faded out to survive on hearsay alone like so many others. I’ve just ordered the latest album so expect a review soon.
Akira Yamaoka – Silent Hill Zero OST Review
Akira Yamaoka continues to raise his profile with his latest Silent Hill soundtrack, this time for PSP game “Silent Hill Zero”, a prequel to the series. Here there are 26 tracks ranging from rock anthemic vocal pieces to ambient noise pulsating horror shows – more of the same then but it still feels unique as nothing else is quite like it and although the music has constantly swung slightly more and more mainstream and melodic with each offering, that’s not necessarily a totally bad thing.
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn is back on-board for the third time as vocalist. She opens the soundtrack “Shot In Flames” a chugging painfilled grungy track in similar vein to the SH4 vocal songs. “O.R.T.” is much more trip-hop ambient which harks back to more early 90′s music where as “Blow Back” bridges the two in an empty song that works much better much only bare bug being the sudden stop at the end. Finally there’s “Hole in the Sky” perhaps the best vocal track which drips emotion and ranks up there with the best of the vocal tracks.
Of the rest, Yamaoka brings a mix of ambient noises that will haunt you forever to looping drums that plod and plug along which disillusioned guitar plucks. “Meltdown” slowly envelopes you in mystery while “Evil Appetite” is a creepy minimal piano piece. “Wrong Is Right” harks back to the SH2 days of swirling ambient trip-hop while the Silent Hill complete freakouts are present with “No Tomorrow 3 & 4″ continuing on from the originals 1 and 2. “Monster Daddy” uses warped guitar wails to great effect and “Don’t Abuse Me” gives us warped flamenco like “The Last Marachi” in SH4. Other standout’s include “A Million Miles” with its eerie stop/start drums and chewed up noises, the electronic “Battle Drums”, the oriental sounding “The Wicked End”, the harsh percussive “Drowning”, the ethereal “Theme of Sabre Dance” and the dead church sounding “The Healer”.
Once again Akira Yamaoka delivers a fantastic soundtrack. It’s ambience transcends mood music and genre really, and it works best when listened to as a whole just like his other albums and you should do it with all the lights off for maximum effect. Superb
Tori Amos – Concert Clips
Tori Amos is such a performer on the stage, she seems to take to it like a duck to water. I have been snooping for clips from my concert I saw in 2007 (and I have to confess as there’s little Tori news at the moment I just wanted to post some Tori stuff!) Here she played at the Hammersmith Apollo on the 4th of JJuly and it was a fierce concert with a new “Independence Day” jokes thrown in for good measure! I enjoyed it immensely and here’s some clips I’ve found to share.
Charlotte Martin – Reproductions Review
Charlotte Martin is never sitting still and this latest limited edition release “Reproductions” see’s her showcasing 12 cover songs (including the worthy separate download song) of artists such as Massive Attack, Snow Patrol and Cocteau Twins. This album sits firmly between the electro tribal bliss of “Stromata” and the more organic “On Your Shore” and it’s a nice contrast.
On one hand you have maddening urgency of electronic blips and manic vocals of “Angel”,the keyboard fused beauty of “Constant Craving” and the minimal “I’m Stretched On Your Grave” which sit firmly on the electro-side and are proud of their roots. The other side you have lush pianos of the heart breaking “Just Like Heaven” and the powerful “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town”.
Then there’s where the two sides merge together and these are my favourite tracks. “Obstacle #1″ has so much energy is a smash hit in waiting and “Chocolate” is a sublime song showcasing Charlotte’s vocals however nothing can prepare you for Charlotte’s version Cocteau Twins’ “Cherry Coloured Funk” which she makes her own and adds a new dimension to her ever expanding impressive catalogue.
“Reproductions” raises the bar again for Covers albums and very few of them are really given an artists full heart and soul but you can feel it in spades here and that is what makes each of these songs like her own.
PJ Harvey Starts Work With John Parish
PJ Harvey, not content with releasing the superb “White Chalk” last year is currently in the studio with old friend John Parish recording a follow up to Dance-Hall At Louse Point! It will be interesting if it will be a direct follow up to that record or a continuation of the more piano-led music of her most recent album.
Sarah Slean CD/DVD News
Another tracklisting this time for Sarah Slean’s new album released on 11/03/2008! The Baroness has twelve tracks on it and are shown below. Furthermore, a little more obscure is the Tales of the Baroness DVD which joins her up with a man named Nelson Chan which looks like being an artistic film in similar fashion to her Day One videos of animation and live people moulded like a Tim Burton film. Very interesting indeed!
Tracklisting
- Hopeful Hearts
- Get Home
- Euphoria
- Goodnight Trouble
- Notes from the Underground
- Sound of Water
- No Place at All
- Please be Good to Me
- Willow
- So Many Miles
- Shadowland
- Looking for Someone
Utada Hikaru: Heart Station Tracklist
Hikki’s new album Heart Station, released next month has had its track names released. We have Boka Wa Kuma on there and as a bonus track both versions of Flavour of Life are present! Once again half the albums already been released as singles which is more commonplace in Japan than the UK but I’m still very excited.
01. Fight The Blues
02. HEART STATION
03. Beautiful World
04. Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-
05. Stay Gold
06. Kiss & Cry
07. Gentle Beast (Interlude)
08. Celebrate
09. Prisoner Of Love
10. Take 5
11. Boku wa Kuma
12. Niji-iro BASU
13. Flavor Of Life (Bonus Track)
Will Drawing Restraint 9 Ever Get A DVD Release?
Made by her partner Matthew Barney, Drawing Restraint 9 follows artistic religious rituals of the Shinto, a Japanese religion which used to be Japan’s state religion up until World War II. Now it’s not so common and this weird and wonderful film was born from Matthews interest in religion. Sadly he’s gone on record to say it will never get a DVD release as he doesn’t believe in reproducing art. While that’s all well and good, why not just release it as a non-profit production or something similar? So many people are wanting to see it (it’s only been available in a few art theatres in the USA) that I’m sure it’d be worth while.
Having said that, it is very niche and the soundtrack itself illuminated to that with its 10 minute long “Holographic Entrypoint” which was a Japanese man chanting atonal and the slightly ear piercing sho instrument which doesn’t always sound as listenable as it should. There were some great tracks on the soundtrack which Bjork composed (Storm is furious, Gratitude with Wil Olburn is beautiful and Cetacea is like a lost b-side) but I’m sure it’d be enhanced with the visuals that it was meant to be heard with.
Friday Night Live: Dead Can Dance
Every Friday there will be a live performance posted here for people to watch. The first edition comes from the fantastic Dead Can Dance with their genreless, timeless and mystical sound. I’ve taken a song called “Dreams Made Flesh” which showcase Lisa’s vocals and Brendan’s music playing a Yang Chin. Such a unique talent…
Ayu! The 2007 DVD Is Coming…
Never one to actually take a day off work, Ayumi Hamasaki is not letting her deafness slow her down. The J-Pop star who recently was diagnosed as deaf in her left ear, now has her Secret Tour dvd coming out in March. Here’s the tracklisting:
Disc 1 (LIVE)
01. LABYRINTH
02. evolution
03. UNITE!
04. taskinst
05. 1 LOVE
06. until that Day…
07. M
08. appears
09. part of Me
10. Secret
11. kiss o’kill
12. Not yet
13. SURREAL
14. AUDIENCE
15. Boys & Girls
16. SEASONS
17. glitter
18. independent
19. Humming 7/4
20. Who…
02. evolution
03. UNITE!
04. taskinst
05. 1 LOVE
06. until that Day…
07. M
08. appears
09. part of Me
10. Secret
11. kiss o’kill
12. Not yet
13. SURREAL
14. AUDIENCE
15. Boys & Girls
16. SEASONS
17. glitter
18. independent
19. Humming 7/4
20. Who…
Disc 2 contains a documentary of the tour and I’m assuming as ever there’s no English subtitles! Not that many Secret songs though which is a shame but I can’t wait for Kiss O Kill!
Vienna Teng’s Live DVD Review
With 3 albums under her belt Vienna Teng has a rapidly expanding fan base and rightly so as her Live DVD showcases her talents for all to see.
Somehow I missed this DVD when it was released but having bought it and watched it for the first time last night I was surprised at just how elegant she is.
The tracklist follows a large chunk of her most recent release “Dreaming Through The Noise” and Vienna performs subtle, subdued and elegant versions of “Whatever You Want”, “Blue Caravan” and “Transcontinental 1:30AM”. Her vocals are so crisp and controlled it’s a joy to listen to and although there’s not much chatter between songs, she does joke around with her string players and her band. There’s a beautiful version of “Green Island Serenade” without instrumentation and a heart wrenching rendition of “Gravity” which shows Vienna’s a class act. The only thing I’m not so sure worked was having The Tower duetted with a male singer. It confused me hearing someone else singing the song – maybe in time it’ll grow.
In short, this DVD clocks in at the hour mark and is worth every penny. So when is your UK tour Ms Teng?
Utada Hikaru: Heart Station/Stay Gold
Utada Hikaru is set to release her final single for the upcoming album “Heart Station” in under two weeks time. The album is to follow in March (and I’ve got it pre-ordered) The double A side contains the title track from the album which is a mid-tempo track that sounds like how I’d imagine a First Love track to be if she wrote that album after Ultra Blue. The PV is a simple affair and while its a great concept its not as fun as some of her other videos. You can see it here
I think more people are excited over the second A side “Stay Gold” which is a beautifully understated ballad that is sung so softly it makes you stand still. It’s piano led and sounds superb. You can hear a radio rip here if you don’t mind the lower quality sound.
Hikki, whom also has an English album in the works, has delivered for me with each album so I’m prepared to be bowled over with this new release.
Sarah Slean’s New Exclusive Track “Parasol” Available
Sarah Slean, the Canadian born cabaret infused songstress comes blasting back with her new album “The Baroness” which is released in March. If you pre order it through her website you’ll receive a song that didn’t make the album called “Parasol”.
“Parasol” is a cabaret-kitsch piano led jaunt that reminds me more of the Night Bugs album than the more recent Day One. Gone are the electrics and in are strong foreground strings, rolling drums for the chorus and accordions. The lyrics of the chorus are great to sing to “Oh Virginia.. we don’t know you had it in ya…” In short it’s everything you want in a Sarah Slean song and sets us up perfectly for the new album.
