Okochama Sensou (Children's War) - Giga-P

Handy YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pywNi6gD1FA&src_vid=Tl3vBeuyZ3Q&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_1724896357

Okochama Sensou, or "Children's War" if you prefer the English title, is a song that's upbeat to the max.

 

Sweet Art Link: http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/wSZbbFQBGdE/maxresdefault.jpg

How upbeat is it? Well, whenever I write these reviews, I always listen to the material while composing my thoughts. However, this song was just so insanely catchy and distracting, that I got absolutely nothing down that made any sense whatsoever.

Of course, just being catchy and distracting doesn't make a song good. A good majority of the songs that are popular in the USA right now (2014) are catchy as all hell and get stuck in my head for hours...but that doesn't mean they're good. I often find myself grinding my teeth, trying to get those infectious beats out of my head so that I can get work done.

Children's War is not one of those. Though I can really get into the solid bass line and top-notch tuning of the Kagamine twins, the tune never attaches itself to my mind for very long. I know that the definition of a "catchy song" contradicts what I just said, but screw it. Any song that engages me while I'm listening to it, and leaves me alone when I'm trying to concentrate is a good song in my book.

I haven't really gone over the song itself in any sort of detail yet, so before I digress again on some other wild tangent, lets start the review. Giga-P is a producer who I've not had the pleasure of listening to before. He sings (and pretty well too), makes covers of other songs using Rin and Len, and creates original compositions like the song I'm talking about right now. He's not world-class by any means, but I enjoy his work.

Children's War, in my opinion, sells itself with the tuning. Rin and Len are portraying children in a very juvenile quarrel. They go back and forth, mocking each other in a no-holds-barred elementary school style one-up contest, each trying to out perform the other. While its stated in the beginning that they are the heirs to a wealthy family, the object of their fight isn't really clear until the middle-end. I figured that they were just typical siblings competing over who can eat the most, or be the fastest to the car or whatever. At the end though, we find that they're competing over who can be the most polite. The irony is stunning and it brought a smile to my face.

Oh yeah, back to the tuning. It really sounds like a brother and sister yelling at each other. By nature, the higher registers of Rin and even Len sound harsh without expert tuning skills, but in this song, that actually fully works to the song's advantage. Kradness did a cover of this song, and while I LOVE his voice, for the meaning of the lyrics, I'd still have to choose the original.

The music is pounding. Fantastically so, I might add. However, a lack of a real tune drops my rating for this song. It has clear, crisp beats for the verses, and a high-intensity electro-fest for the refrain (as is the norm for pop songs these days), but not a lot of variety or originality. A song doesn't need to be original to be good, but originality is definitely a plus that I'm always looking for.

7/10

A solid listen for anyone trying to stay awake or in the mood for some loud, upbeat, pulse-pounding Vocaloid music.

Until next time!

ROCK ON, FELLOW VOCALOCONNOISSEURS!

REMIX/COVER SPOTLIGHT: Kradness's Senbonzakura

Senbonzakura. That's another song I don't have to review. Its quite the masterpiece (9/10) that needs little introduction. I don't believe its creator, Kurousa P needs any intro either...that man is a true genius. Cantarella, Risky Game, Crescent Moon, the list goes on.

Because of its extremely upbeat and infectious tune, Senbonzakura has become one of the most heavily remixed Vocaloid song on YouTube. Naturally, the amount of mediocrity is quite high, but many remixes bare listening to.

If you feel in the mood for a remix with some good drops, check out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JY44KrrHpY

However, this post is to highlight a WAY ABOVE AVERAGE remix/cover by Kradness - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daybRF2pcmA

Kradness has made many covers to the world of Vocaloid through Nico Nico Douga, but none (as far as I've listened) can even compare to the pulse pounding, blood boiling, adrenaline fest that is Kradness's Senbonzakura.

Yeah...so...for me to make a REMIX/COVER SPOTLIGHT on a song, the only rule is, it needs to be better than the original IN MY OPINION OF COURSE!

ROCK ON FELLOW VOCALOCONNOISSEURS!

MMD - A New User's (Bad) Tutorial

Isn't it great when programs are free?

In the world of animation and design, only those with deep pockets can acquire the best software (unless of course you decide to traverse the high seas if you know what I mean).

Of course, freeware does exist legally on the internet, and the Vocaloid scene is no exception. Don't have $200 to blow on a voice bank? Download an UTAU! With some correct tuning and lots of practice, UTAU can sound more realistic than even premium Vocaloids. Need a studio software to record and produce music? Plenty exist, and a free demo for FL Studios (a great music creation software) is available to tinker around with.

In fact, Miku V3 English comes with her own studio free of charge! Isn't that nice.

http://piapro.net/vocaloid/mikuv3e.html

...

So you have your newest track, complete with some seriously wicked UTAU tuning, and now you want to create a PV for it? Well I suppose it is important to beef up your emotional song with some touching visuals of everyone's favorite twin drill rocking pink haired singer!

Well...what options do you have, really? Unless you're quite the accomplished animator, you're likely wanting a quick and easy program that doesn't look like complete crap.

In that case, you might want to try...

MMD or Miku Miku Dance!

MMD is a freeware program that allows you to import different 3D models of your favorite characters, and make them get down and funky. I believe the program itself, upon download, comes prepackaged with Miku only, but its been awhile since I've used MMD for anything serious.

Upon opening the program, you're greeted with a very beginner unfriendly interface. Also, unless you have the Japanese language pack installed (PC users), some of the buttons and text will look like it came out of some crazy hacker's behind.

So naturally, the first thing to do is to hit all the buttons. You can move Miku around, bend her joints, and view her from ANY angle of your choosing.............please restrain yourself. I know what you just did.

At this point, unless you're completely new to the MMD scene, you've likely seen the many fan creations out there. From different Vocaloid costumes, to Hetalia, to even YouTube star Pewdiepie, a myriad of different models exist to suit your fancy...and its free!

So you have the program, installed the Japanese language pack, and have a collection of great models. Time to make your creation COME ALIVE!!!

...

Two hours later:

Yeah. Its not the easiest thing.

Alright, the main purpose of this post was to talk about the merits of MMD as a program, not provide a handy tutorial. I'm not the best at MMD after all. actually really terrible.

So!

MMD, known as Miku Miku Dance, was created by Yu Higuchi in early 2008. Its a freeware program as I stated above, and IT SHOWS. Oh jeez. Believe me, it shows.

MMD itself is not a bad program by any stretch. For a free software, its actually quite robust and allows for many modifications via separate downloads. Of course, being free, anyone can use it, everyone can use it, and EVERYBODY DOES...or at least it seems that way sometimes.

Aside from a few really good videos, YouTube is completely covered in a slimy layer of mediocrity when it comes to MMD.

However, can you really blame the public for not using MMD for its original purpose? Its not easy to make really clean looking music videos, so why not make stupid crap like:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pafu+pafu&sm=3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRJNgq3An8o

More akin to YouTube Poop than anything else, these videos define idiocy...

and I love them. Don't judge.

So overall, MMD as a whole is a fantastic resource. Its free for those who are poor, law abiding citizens, and who are ambitious. Unfortunately, its also free for those who want to abuse our eyes, but hey, what do you expect, really.

ROCK ON FELLOW VOCALOCONNOISSEURS!

WHAT IS UP WITH THE HATE ON: Ryo

First: the controversy. I've noticed that for the most part, the English speaking Vocaloid fan base is split between "Ryo is a genius!" and "Ryo is a terrible producer!"

My opinion is a bit more in the gray area...but before I get into that, its important to know more about Ryo and Supercell as a band. Supercell was formed in 2007, not under some huge production label, but as an independent group. Its worth noting that while Supercell contains 11 members, Ryo is the only one who directly manipulates the music. The other 10 are artists, designers, and photographers.

While Ryo has worked with many female singers, his debut album (just named "Supercell") featured Hatsune Miku as the lead (and only) vocalist. From this one HUGELY SUCCESSFUL album, we get such legends as "Love is War", "Black Rock Shooter", "Melt", and "World is Mine". However, is Ryo really deserving of all the praise he gets? Are his songs really deserving of so much acclaim?

Yes...and no.

I'll talk about the good first. Ryo follows something I like to call "Supercell Syndrome". Many other Vocaloid producers also seem to have Supercell Syndrome, but there is no better example than its namesake. Ryo's Miku album is not the best by any stretch, but neither is it bad. In fact, among all Supercell songs ever made, only one would score a 10 on this blog. However, (and here's where Supercell Syndrome comes in) he has yet to put out, in my opinion, a song I don't like. Sure some of them are mediocre, but all of them are worth listening to! Its quite amazing in that respect. Other extremely popular and mainstream producers such as 40mp, kzLivetune, and even the BRILLIANT Wowaka all have a song or two I can't stand.

Some people don't like how quite a few of Supercell's songs sound alike.

Alright. There are some producers such as UtataP, AVTechNO!, and Kikuo who put out both clean sounding emotional songs and drop the dirtiest wubs ever heard in Vocaloid, but they are few and far between. Ryo is a one man operation for the most part, and light rock is what he knows best. To be fair, he puts out some of the best sounding pieces in his niche.

Also, even if you don't like World is Mine, or even hate it, at least give it the respect it deserves. In America, the place where we have to import all our CDs, manga/anime, and T-shirts, World is Mine played on a car commercial which broadcasted nationally. If there has ever been a Vocaloid track to bridge the Pacific, it would have to be Supercell's most famous song.

...but then again, I wish that song WASN'T World is Mine. Now, I know I said Supercell is genius in my World is Mine review. However, I didn't specify HOW he is a genius. When it comes to songs, he knows what the people want as is evident from his enduring fame. Aside from that, I believe hes genius for a certain song...and just one song in particular.

Usotsuki No Parade or Parade of Liars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuilbq3j8T8

So Supercell doesn't mix it up. So he isn't always the most innovative force in the Vocaloid community. SO WHAT? Usotsuki No Parade is the BEST example of taking something that you're good at (light rock for Ryo) and polishing it beyond measure. This is the track that would score a 10 which I talked about above.

Usotsuki No Parade is crisp, energetic, catchy, and the lyrics are compelling (especially the last two lines: "I love you, so please, just die.") Its pretty much the quintessential angry breakup song, and it works fantastically.

Now, back to World is Mine. Its a good song...and I can never hate it because it got me interested in Vocaloid, but I don't love it either. I say its a good first song, because its harmless, well known, and cute. Melt might push the HFT (high frequency tolerance), Usotsuki No Parade might scare with the meaning...what I'm trying to say, is that if there was ever a "rated G" song with some spunk and energy intact, World is Mine is a solid choice.

Other than that, for a song talking about being a "princess", its surprisingly lacks the instrumental backup to push through the strong lyrics. It seems much more minimalist than other Supercell works...which simply isn't true, the repetitiveness of some parts conveys this. This isn't one of those songs that should be minimalist by the way.

So, overall, do I think Ryo and Supercell should be the most mainstream and popular thing out there?

No.

Supercell is genius. I like the group, I like Melt, I like Black Rock Shooter, I love Usotsuki No Parade the most, and World is Mine is a meh pass.

Honestly though, based on sheer merit alone, Supercell should not be at the top. They're a good band with solid releases and catchy tunes, but the lack of variety is still a thing despite all my attempts to ignore it. I expect that many people hate on Ryo because he's stealing the spotlight from artists such as Wowaka and Kikuo who are much more versatile.

Its honestly the same in the American Pop scene right now, and believe me, its not going to go away if the last few years were any sort of trend setter.

Ryo sticks with the basics. Drums, guitar piano ect...its the instruments that we all know and love. They are safe picks. He may not be the most original, but nobody can deny that his skills with these instruments are some of the best around. These skills really shine when he does collaborations with other artists, namely Jin (Sky of Beginning) and kzLivetune (Kotchi Muite Baby). Those works were much better than anything the parts could do on their own in my opinion.

Ryo, Supercell, just keep doing what you do.

Lets keep the hate at a minimum please! There are many Supercell supporters, and plenty Supercell detractors. It all boils down to opinion. Even though I may disagree with some people's opinions, its great to know that there are those out there who are getting involved, discussing, debating, and seeing each other's points of view. That's why I hate flame wars. Nothing gets accomplished and everybody ends up angry (except the trolls but that's a different story).

ROCK ON, FELLOW VOCALOCONNOISSEURS!

Knife - Powerchord-P

This is definitely a song that has less of a following than the others I've reviewed so far.

In terms of pictures, I was only able to find a few, and this is the best one:

Link to the fabulous art: http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/AAXeyvyrGF0/hqdefault.jpg

Handy YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAXeyvyrGF0

Knife was created in February 2010 by Powerchord-P. Before stumbling across this little gem of a song in the depths of the album "Vocalonexus", I had never even heard of Powerchord-P.

For some reason, though, Knife is on iTunes in case you want to go out and support. Seriously. What's up with that? I'm happy that Powerchord-P (who in my opinion is a fine producer) is on the American iTunes, but what about people like Nem and 40mp? There are whole lists of LEGENDARY producers who aren't represented.

But...I digress.

Knife is a song that tackles a subject that both adults and children (teens especially) can relate to...growing up. More specifically, the question of dreams over responsibility. There's no doubt that having outlandish dreams is and will continue to be a hallmark of childhood. However, what happens to all that ambition once we're faced with the harsh reality of supporting a family among other expenses and crippling occupational stress?

Well, that doesn't happen to everyone, but its natural to experience some measure of reality check in the awkward transition from child to adult. While Knife does seem a bit cynical at times, its message is global as it deals with a subject that affects everyone regardless of race, status, or location: aging.

The music is tight with some upbeat guitar and drum action. Its honestly pretty standard and nothing to write home about. However, what is really interesting is the tuning of Luka.

Luka is a very underrated V2 voice bank. Her voice is richer than most give her credit for, and while she can't sound nearly as cute as Miku, for Knife, few Vocaloids could have been more fitting.

The refrain is where this song really shines. I thought Luka's scratchy voice-break-prone upper register sounded very desperate at first, and it fit in well enough with the lyrics, but on subsequent listens, it began to seem a bit more like nervous excitement.

I'm sure Powerchord-P did not plan this...its pretty hard to predict the emotions of your audience after the first listen, but if it was planned...Knife is completely genius. Just like how a teenager may look back at dwindling youth with dismay and regret, an adult well into life may be both nostalgic and excited for the future. Its a very nice outlook on life disguised in a depressing package.

It gets better...right?

Of course, there are many other interpretations of Knife's meaning.

-

The Rating

7/10

I can't help but take the instruments and synthesizers into account more than the lyrics when giving a song a rating. Its called "music" after all, not "poetry".

The actual instruments were used only as an energetic backdrop to the real star of the show: Luka's voice. The difference between the smooth verses and the excited refrain was really apparent and provided the much needed variety in the musical score.

I don't usually talk about lyrics, but I think I shall be doing more of that in the future. It makes for a fuller and more interesting review for one.

Also, I've decided that I'm only going to review the lesser known Vocaloid songs. After I just made fun of Cantarella's video last post, I found that its much easier to write a sizable review on a song that I know a large number of people haven't heard (comparatively). But of course, right?

Until next time!

ROCK ON, FELLOW VOCALOCONNOISSEURS!

Cantarella - KurousaP

Oh man. Cantarella. Is there anything bad I can say about this song that won't have fans all over me?

Link to the amazing art (whoever did this, NICE JOB!!!): http://i99.beon.ru/anime-pictures.net/pictures/get_image/70881-1200x900-cantarella+%2528vocaloid%2529-vocaloid-hatsune+miku-kaito-fujie.jpg

Handy YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3U-IGxt_qU

Anyway, Cantarella is one of those songs that everybody has heard. It was made in early 2008 by extremely popular Vocaloid producer KurousaP. This man is amazing. I bought his album recently, Kimi no Iru Keshiki and I don't at all regret it. His violin work in Cantarella especially is what makes this song so iconic as few other Vocaloid songs can stand up to THIS CLASS.

Oh yeah, and a real alive singer named Gomu did a cover of this. Its damn good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij3Ka3VGSfE

I'm pretty sure you know what I'm going to say now. Its great! Its a great song!

The Rating

9/10

There you go. I mean, the violin is the PERFECT touch, and it has a very grand ballroom type feel with a beat encouraging a feeling of some urgency, but in a more graceful way. Its a weird classical/pop mix that somehow creates something beautiful that only KurousaP can really pull off (so I've heard so far). I'm always keeping my eyes and ears peeled for the next Vocaloid sensation.

So yeah.

Time to talk about the video.

The first video I posted...I find it half hilarious, half scary.

Taken out of context (ignoring the lyrics), the video starts with establishing shots of Miku and Kaito, our two characters, in their everyday environments. Normal.

Suddenly, Kaito has on this FABULOUS outfit in Miku's room in the middle of the night. WTF.

I can't get over Kaito's outfit. Its just so incredibly flamboyant. At 0:43 in the video, right after Miku wakes up and sees this strange man over her bed, Kaito strikes the best pose. I know its supposed to be serious, but its just too good.

Anyway, I'll make sure to review a song next time with a little more substance that I can talk about. If a song is perfect, it makes for a boring review I guess.

ROCK ON, FELLOW VOCALOCONNOISSEURS!

Lynne - Hachi

First, a little background on the alleged "Lynne Disease". Instead of typing it all out...I'll just give you the WikiAnswers definition: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_Lynn_Disease#slide1

This is pretty much the only definition I can find, and besides from being far from scientific, this definition can't even decide on how to spell "Lynne". That's pretty damn bad.

Handy YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYzwznQbPGg

Link to some fantastic albeit disturbing art: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vYzwznQbPGg/0.jpg

As you can probably guess, we're diving into the unstable realm of Vocaloid horror. I happen to enjoy a bit of horror now and then in my music, but unlike love songs which are quick to make and relatively hard to screw up if you're reasonably talented, horror is touchy and very hit or miss.

For a producer to make a niche in horror is a dangerous undertaking indeed. While there are some psychological elements to horror in which we can all relate, the fear of the unknown is what gives some of the best scary flicks their thunder. In that way, a mediocre horror movie automatically becomes reviled or worse, falls quickly into oblivion. However, unlike a movie, the common song is about 4 minutes. That's 240 short seconds to convey a certain feeling.

As any frequent theater or movie goer will tell you, its a much simpler job to make an audience go "Aw, that's so cute" then to be genuinely disturbed. So as genres go, I believe horror is one of the hardest to successfully pull off.

These days, the common reaction to having watched a scary movie is "Wow, that was dumb". Its a fact that for every movie that gives me some serious nightmares, there are about a hundred that would leave me laughing. Also, the reason some horror elements no longer work is because they've already become cliched. Every generation will have a harder and harder time scaring a more prepared set of people. A tactic which caused grown men to wet themselves may be considered cheesy today even by younger children.

...So where am I trying to go with all of this?

Meet Hachi: a Vocaloid producer whose music I am quite fond of. Probably his most notable work was on the song "Matryoshka" which is a true Vocaloid classic. Most of his songs have some sort of horror element, and for the most part, I find them enjoyable. Its nothing that's going to keep me up at night, but it provides that creepy chill anyway.

Lynne is a Hachi song. Now remember when I said horror is hit or miss? Yeah...sorry Hachi, but this is a miss.

Lynne isn't a terrible song...but its seriously flawed.

A common tactic I find among Vocaloid producers to create a creepy atmosphere is to dump a whole bunch of odd synthesizers together which somehow work on a different level. I've tried walking around with a few of these, notably Kikuo's "Ten Sho Sho Ten Sho", and it throws my balance off. It's a very satisfying feeling. Lynne tries this method and it fails terribly. The beat and the synth just don't mesh up like they should and when the words come in, the cacophony retreats to the background. Now, instead of being muddled, its just boring.

Boredom is the worst fear of any horror show director.

Lynne DOES manage to create an interesting story, and the music does end up working...but on a non-horror level which means the writing isn't backed up at all by the instrumentals.

I hate to cut into a Hachi song, but this really isn't his best work. The sad part is, I know Hachi can pull off the desperation tactic in a song because I've heard it many times in his works.

Anyway...

-

The Rating

5/10

A very mediocre grade for a very mediocre song. There was effort, don't get me wrong, but nothing seemed to click. The concept was cool, but wasn't executed properly. The story was compelling, but the music didn't match.

...Yeah, I pretty much said the same thing three times, but that's pretty much all I CAN say. Miku's tuning was alright (for a horror song), and overall, there wasn't really anything that made me want to whip my headphones across the room...but there was nothing to keep them on my head either. Nice try, Hachi, but I think I'll stick with your "In a Rainy Town, Balloons Dance with Devils" for my daily dose of creepy.

ROCK ON, FELLOW VOCALOCONNOISSEURS!