My town is crazy.

Murfreesboro has had a few strange events over the last five years I’ve lived here. We’ve had our radical preacher’s getting pushed around by butch lesbians, 20 feet tall displays of aborted fetuses, students setting themselves on fire in a dumpster, uber-conservative tea parties, anti-Obama rallies, and all sorts of other things.

Today there was a group of people marching to the courthouse to sign a petition to stop a Mosque from being built. As I understand it (poorly), there was a counter-protest to this as these people marched from a nearby school into the courthouse.

I got quite a bit of Rutherford county’s ignorance recorded, as well as the typical uninspiring chanting from the liberal college kids of the town. I know quite a few of the pro-Mosque individuals, and they are good people. This isn’t meant to question their methods. Nay, this is merely to allow you a glimpse into the twisted, Islam-hating town that I live.

There’s rednecks. There’s people holding signs. There’s people screaming out things about Afghanistan and how the Muslim people are going to take over America and kill us all.

There’s even a dude wearing a shirt that says ‘infidel’ on it that does the Nazi salute.

A few months ago, my friend posted a video from this band on his facebook and I was mesmerized by the unique sound of Transistor Kirac ever since.

Transistor Kirac is a Japanese duo making self-branded techno music.

But it’s not techno music, it’s much more than that. As the title says, it’s spacey, chiptune, and noise pop. Add a little bit of operatic singing in the mix and you have Transistor Kirac.

I had a very hard time finding a place to purchase their music, so I asked the band themselves where I could purchase some. They ended up sending me a copy of Kukeihae KISS which was the album they sent to all press.

I was familiar with a few of their live songs from youtube such as Rainy Comet and a few of their Yapoos covers. Nothing prepared me for what was on that CD.

From discordance to perfectly balanced sounds, this album is just kinda weird. I generally adore weird music, but there was something about the way the synthesizers sounded along the vocals that lit up my brain. To be frank, it sounded somewhat amateur at first.

Each song is based around a certain melody, and there’s discordant riffs coming from a synthesizer. The singing doesn’t exactly match the way the song goes, but it somehow works.

Nothing matches! But then you listen more, and then it all matches!

It almost has that improvisational feel that jazz does, but adapted to a metallic chiptune noisepop setting.

You can buy this album from amazon.co.jp

Transistor Kirac OHP

This month, I went around taking advantage of what Nashville’s music scene has to offer.

Generally speaking, Nashville can be a pretty boring place as far as actually seeing bands you’d like to see. The majority of bands I’d like to see skip Nashville altogether. They will usually go to Memphis, Chicago, or Atlanta instead. That’s perfectly understandable, Nashville probably isn’t the Holy Grail of ticket sales.

Our town probably also leaves a bad impression on many artists given the fact that nobody ever dances. At least, very rarely does the audience become engaged.

I had liked Mono for quite a while already. This show was utterly amazing and it was everything I thought it was going to be. I really wish there was more to say, but everything about this show was spot on. The venue even had a nice balcony for recording, something the other two shows did not.

I considered the next concert to be more of a chiptune show; however, it was a mixture of chiptunes, metal, and a bit in between.

The Collapsed Desires Tour 2010 featured Smiletron, rainbowdragoneyes, Nullsleep, Destroy Destroy Destroy, and Magic Hammer. I had already seen Magic Hammer, but I was most interested in seeing Nullsleep.

His music isn’t exactly something I listen to on a daily basis, but it has its place. When I listen to chiptunes, it has to be much more aggressive. Nullsleep wasn’t like that. The other bands were.

Smiletron was sort of a chiptunes version of Dot Dot Curve with less perverted lyrics. Rainbowdragoneyes was chiptunes mixed with death metal screaming. I accidentally deleted the video of his performance, but I did get a few seconds worth of audio before a very hilarious snafu occurs. Destroy Destroy Destroy used to be a local band that I never got around to seeing. This group was very energetic, and played a variation of symphonic metal.

I didn’t stick around for Magic Hammer. I had seen enough metal/eurobeat fusions for one year.

Then there was the Ke$ha concert.

Not exactly sure why I went. I like her music to the extent that a normal person can like mainstream pop music. The music isn’t the deepest trench in the sea, nor were most people in the audience. Let’s just say that amid the heat and the inane amounts of bratty high school girls trying to dress as slutty as possible (Hey girls let’s dress ASAP!) one could say that I amounted a great deal of stress.

Burning up, and three people were already sent to the hospital for heat stroke, I struggled maintaining good angles. There was a frat boy in front of me making out with his sweetheart the entire time, and kept switching hats with her. And apparently, there where little girls poking me and snickering until my wife gave them an evil glare.

The concert was fairly flashy. I was led to believe there would be a condom machine shooting condoms and glitter. There was only glitter.

Her set was relatively short, and it felt like only five or six songs. Then again, it’s an all-ages flood benefit concert. I’d expect either Nashville’s curfew to blame, or the extreme heat. Granted, she doesn’t have an armada of songs to pick from.

I don’t think I was necessarily ‘let down’ by the Ke$ha concert, but as it was the final show of the month perhaps I had misjudged what sort of expectations I should rationally maintain.

So what’s in store for July? The agenda dictates that I am going to go see Ear Pwr, Future Islands, Sleigh Bells, Everything Is Terrible, and maybe The Liars.

Deathsmiles is a shmup being brought over to the states later this June by Aksys.  It was originally developed by Cave, who are known for classics like DoDonPachi, Mushihimesama, and ESPgaluda.

Granted, most people play these sorts of games for the gameplay, but the screenshots from this game are enough to make anyone cringe. It’s nowhere near as bad as Castle Shikigami II, but Aksys did localize Castle Shikigami III with intentions of keeping the tradition alive with a weird translation.

I am confused as to why they would do something like this with Deathsmiles. It’s obviously a conscious choice on behalf of Aksys, and there has to be a reason for it. I just can’t seem to figure out what their intended target market is.

Hardcore fans of Cave will eat this right up. People who don’t like shmups might be attracted to the Gothic-Lolita aesthetic. Perhaps it’s trying to appeal to Chrono Cross fans with all of it’s double-language usage? I know all my friends who are into Lolita fashion talk like this, and I am certain they will buy this game because of the localization.

It might not be a big deal, but it is somewhat embarrassing for an overseas company with such a big local demographic to see it head in this direction.

Traditionally, when one thinks of Japanese rock music, they think of a bunch of dudes singing as low as they can a la Gackt or Luna Sea. In this entry, we’ll explore four different albums from artists with female singers.

It’s getting warmer, and there’s nothing you want to do more than geek out inside with some amazing rock music that will get you in the mood for school to be over. This week, we have  new (in the states) releases from Inugami Circus-dan, wistaria, Taia, and 101a. Each artist’s album has a diverse offering of sound and texture. As long as you’re into rock music and don’t mind it being in a language you can’t understand, I’m sure you’ll find something you can enjoy!

Buy Inugami Circus Dan MP3s
@ JapanFiles.com!

Inugami Circus Dan has been around for quite a while, and I can remember enjoying their sounds since the early 2000s. They’ve come a long way, and they’ve changed a lot.

I suppose the easiest way to describe them is through comparison. I’m sure most people are familiar with the Insane Clown Posse. Well, Inugami Circus Dan is not at all similar to them save a few superficial attributes like obsession with the morbid, clown paint, and dark lyrical content. The biggest difference is that Inugami Circus Dan is amazing, and they take themselves seriously. You won’t hear deep lyrical ponderings about magnets in this album.

Their new album is called “Setakamui,” and it’s a departure from the familiar.

In this album, they seem to be taking more cues from metal ballads. There’s the solos, the power chords, and all of the things that are meant to make something sound heavy. It really rocks. It’s miles away from the older songs, which were far more traditional in their layout. To that end, none of the tracks sound like they could be a ‘single’.

Kyouko’s singing hasn’t changed much. She still sings as if she were a cameo in a 70s Japanese horror film. It’s much more advanced than the enka style, but still has tinges of traditional Japanese vibrato.

Buy wistaria MP3s
@ JapanFiles.com!

The new album from Wistaria “deep” is a peculiar case. It reminds me quite a bit of other Visual Kei acts that have a female singer.

If you’re wanting something more aggressive, I would check this out. Her voice is a bit higher pitched, like in most female-fronted Visual Kei acts that I listen to, and is supported by growling backup singers to give it that ‘darker’ sort of edge. Definitely recommended for fans of Exist+Trace.

Granted, this mini-album doesn’t do anything I’ve never seen before it’s probably the safest bet for anyone who’s already a fan of Japanese rock. It doesn’t step outside the box, but sometimes that can hit the spot.

Buy Taia MP3s
@ JapanFiles.com!

This band is definitely not the Japanese version of Nightwish, but their the next best thing. It might seem like I’m trying to take the easy way out, but Taia reminds me of a mix between Evanescence and Nightwish.

Their most recent release, “Through Your Tears” will most likely appeal to those fans. The group meets somewhere in between. Taia is not as heavy, but also not nearly as soft as the aforementioned groups. Some of the songs such as “Another Aspect” have much more shredding than either group.

I enjoy Taia for several reasons. I can’t understand the words, so it makes Seika’s lyrics sound all the more beautiful. Gothic metal has a special place in my heart. I need something that can set up a dark atmosphere, but that is also heavy and epic. This album meets all those requirements.

Buy 101A MP3s
@ JapanFiles.com!

I never thought I’d be putting 101a in the ‘rock’ category. Traditionally, 101a have been very downtempo and very relaxing. The new album from 101a is called “LETHE” and it’s anything BUT downtempo. While the vocalist still maintains the ethereal persona for the majority of the singing, their new stuff definitely has an edge.

This is something like a cross between shoegaze, post-rock, and your standard J-rock affair. In one track you’ll be getting sleepy, and then in the next you’ll be rocking out. Most albums that try to do this end up confusing the listener, but this bi-polar attitude 101a carries actually seems to work.

Occasionally, I’d like to consider myself as a creative person. This is the story of why I do what I do, and other tales of setting the box on fire instead of simply thinking outside of it.

Sometimes I’ll doodle in class, record painful or dissonant sounds on my computer, create a level in LittleBigPlanet, or even try my hand at video editing.

During the Spring of 2009, I saw fit to make a couple of AMVs (short for anime music video). In order to create an AMV one must first get video footage of an anime show that he or she is partial. Then you’ll find a song that will go along with your edited footage of said anime. To put it simply, you make a music video out of footage from an anime. People have done this with video games and other video as well; however, anime seems to be the most popular.

Just like with any fandom, an anime music video community has appeared. Like with real communities, there are certain standards one must live up to in order to be part of the community. Personally, I didn’t like those standards. As a matter of fact, I don’t like most AMVs nor its fans. I feel that creativity is stunted at the cost of getting “internet fame” and lots of views. Very many share the same styles, concepts, and other methods.

I wanted to try something different. I didn’t care if it was good or not, I usually don’t. Trying to do something different is good enough for me, I don’t really know how to do it any other way. I proceeded to make a few short AMVs with very little direction and more repetition to match the noise songs which I had decided to use as my signature music picks. There were a lot of Evanescence AMVs, and very few with loud and abrasive noise songs. This had to change.

I just wanted to see what I could get away with. Two AMVs were from Evangelion: one was an homage to John Cage’s 4’33″ and the other was just a seizure-inducing speedcore song. Both used only 1 small scene of animation from one of the last episodes, but focused on how much I could manipulate a single 1 frame scene. The other I did was 4 minutes of someone cutting the tip off a cigar.

All of those used songs that were not my own. Eventually, I decided to use one of my own songs for a video. There was an anime I was really enjoying in Fall 2009 called “Kuchu Buranko” (Trapeze), and I knew I had to make an AMV using footage from it. I couldn’t think of any noise songs that would go well with it, though. So I had decided to create one.

The end result was me screaming into a pickup microphone “I Love You” to my wife in the other room. Since it was a pickup mic, very little discernible speech comes through except whatever was conducted through my teeth when I was able to bite down and yell at the same time. Perhaps it was a little cliché, but it was one of the first times I had ever put that much passion into one of my songs.

Eventually, the end result was something I was actually proud of. A very colorful production that entranced me when I watched it. I enjoyed it, and that’s what mattered. Some people get creative for attention, I get creative because it’s just exercise for my brain. Sharing it is just what I do. I guess that happens to kids who grew up with the likes of Soulseek. That was the perfect place for that, but I digress.

I got a fair amount of positive feedback from friends and strangers alike at various places on the internet. I thought it was pretty amazing that I could just tinker in unfamiliar territory,  intentionally do things people don’t like, and then still have people appreciate the work.

Then several months later I received a private message on youtube.

When I first read this message, I couldn’t help but to bust out laughing. Most of the time people will either get angry, or have some sort of negative reaction to it not being Country Britpop. I’ve never heard anyone, ever, seriously think that there was something actually wrong with the recording. It warms my heart.

The guy is a cool guy. I even got his permission to use his private message for this post!

Comments like these is why I still do what I do. This is why I create. Perhaps it’s the dadaist in me, but hearing someone honestly think your sound is broken has to mean something. It’s not like it was intentional to sound “broken” or that I wanted comments like that. No, the creative things I do is a cathartic release, an exercise. Some would call it a mental defecation.

I could agree to that. In this modern time, we are the receivers of so many messages. If you don’t digest and expunge your waste, you will get sick. I don’t want to be sick.

Final Fantasy XIV testing has begun and screenshots have been leaking all over the internet for quite some time now.

I’ve managed to compile a list of leaked screenshots from 2ch. Many of these screenshots have identifying information blanked out. The quality settings of the game were also lessened during testing. The quality of graphics usually don’t come into play until later phases of testing.

That’s what this game is quite guilty of.

Too bad there’s already a game called Mother, because it also would have been fitting for Final Fantasy XIII! It holds your hand, like a little child whose eyes are blinded by the bright lights of the shiny new world.

Import hype for this game dictated preemptive poor impressions for this title. It was called “hallway simulator” and “too linear” by many netizens. Many of these qualms were crushed under its domestic release here in the states. Whereupon playing the game in English, many understood why it was so linear for a good chunk of the game.

Without spoiling it, let’s just say that the party is “on the run” from an enemy. To me, it made sense to have a very narrow scope of travel between destinations. There are exceptions for older games in which a party is on the run only for a brief while, where you get to ride in airships etc.

Oddly enough, its linearity wasn’t what bugged me about Final Fantasy XIII, it was the fact it held your hand like an all-knowing matriarch trying to convince you that it’s for your own good. Why does this bug me so much, though? Why can’t I just shut up and act like the good fanboy that I am (truly)?

Because this game takes its audience for granted, and that is a bit upsetting coming from this particular series. Remember in that one book where the guy says, “Stay gold, ponyboy. Stay gold?” I don’t mind change, there are some ridiculous changes in series that I actually appreciate.

This game didn’t stay gold. When Final Fantasy X got rid of the world map, that took me a while to get used to; however, it was still gold. The player can’t level up, change party positions, can’t upgrade, and is severly limited on a few other fronts for a majority of the game.

Many games these days are guilty of this sort of behavior. They are programmed to hold our hand, I feel, because of the mainstream acceptance of gaming. Making an awesome game like Ys where it just drops you on a world map and says “Go!” just wouldn’t fly in this modern era.

This is an age where JRPGs are being accused of being stagnant and not changing up the formula enough. FF13 changed up the formula, and is nowhere near stagnant. But at what cost?

The game doesn’t give you certain features until it “logically” makes sense in the game. After playing through most of it, it makes sense to leave some things until later. For some stuff though, it’s MUCH later.

I rather enjoyed my play time with Final Fantasy XIII, but it’s guilty of holding my hand just like many other AAA games are guilty of. Some do it via QTEs or cutscenes instead of letting you fight (RE5, MGS4, UC2). FF13 does it by simply not introducing certain game elements until much later, and it’s somewhat insulting.

I suppose they have realized that their audience has changed, and that’s OK too. This sort of thing is a staple of modern gaming. I just hope that the series at least makes attempts of sticking to its roots. Do something to remind me that it’s a Final Fantasy game, and not just some random Square-Enix quota-meeter.

The game is still pretty fun, once you can get over the fact that it’s so drastically different. Once you realize that it’s just adapted for what the series has truly become, I think you can start to enjoy it. It’s not exactly a shining star at first, but then it really grows on you.

She’s a pop star with a song on the billboard top 100 that claims be a rebel, oh boy!

I first heard her song Tik Tok back in early January on the radio. At first, I thought it was a new Millionaires song. Then I realized it wasn’t nearly as raunchy or as dance-oriented. Unlike that group, this song was actually kinda good. I found myself nodding to it in the car more than I would an Avenue D song or Millionaires.

Like usual, the radio didn’t tell me who it was. I was left wanting to hear more, and I can never remember enough lyrics to do a sufficient Google search. Incidentally, I am a fan of Conan O’brien and she was on his show later that day. What luck I had!

Shortly thereafter I procured her album from Itunes, and checked out the whole thing. Big mistake. I guess this is why they invented things like itunes, so you can only download the songs you like.

Animal is a mess.

Most of the songs are fairly forgettable and tend to blend in with each other. It starts on a high note, but then seems to lull until you get to D.I.N.O.S.A.U.R which sounds like what most hipster pop anthems aspire to be like. It’s a catchy song, but it goes down all the same roads I’ve been down before.

Her hit single, Tik Tok, might be a pretty catchy song, but try not to actually listen to the lyrics. Sometimes I wonder if Ke$ha even knows what Mick Jagger even looks like. The Rolling Stones are probably before her generation anyways. The fact she’s from Brentwood, Tennessee doesn’t really help her case either.

Being a Tennessee resident myself, you start to notice patterns of behavior of certain individuals from different neighboring towns. It might be a little hard to see where I’m coming from unless you’re familiar with these areas. On a similar note, Taylor Swift grew up in my home town of Hendersonville, and Miley Cyrus grew up in Franklin. I’ve met tons of people from these areas, and some of the things these pop divas say can’t surprise me much.

While she probably does know what he looks like, she’s just playing ignorant. What kind of message does that send? It’s pop music, so I suppose it doesn’t really matter much. As a listener, you’re not supposed to care about these things. You’re just supposed to have fun and dance.

Shortly after her appearance on Conan, Ke$ha also appeared on Jimmy Fallon wearing an Indian headdress. Seriously.

I thought her performance on Conan was pretty cool. She dressed up like a normal modern pop star might. Her appearance on Fallon was vomit-inducing. Perhaps this is just personal taste, but white kids wearing Indian headdresses is plain insulting.

I hate to toss around the word hipster too terribly often. A lot of people are just expressing themselves, and some people just don’t “get it.” Sometimes it just seems like people are trying too hard. She calls herself a rebel, but she does the headdress thing and wears American Apparel.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with either of those things, but how often do you see rap artists have “Chicken & Watermelon” being part of their image?

The point: I don’t care about your fashion, just don’t call yourself a rebel when you are so damn cliché.

Like I’ve stated before, this is pop music. It’s meant to be fake, so taking I don’t take it personally. Though I do find it humorous how that culture has crossed over into the pop realm. It’s not bad, but it does raise curiosities about what the future will bring.

I don’t hate Ke$ha, and I don’t hate her album. Though she does make it quite hard not to roll my eyes at the things she does. The album seems like a great way to start 2010. Though, I’m hoping we’ll see much stronger releases in the months to follow.

Now, it’s probably a little confusing since Ghost In The Shell has a sequel, but this release of the movie is actually a revised version of the original.

I can’t speak for the DVD version, but the blu-ray version has both new and old cuts of the movie on the same disc. One can watch either or, there is no split screen option for comparison. The new version features a lot of touched up animation, and segues of CGI animation.

For those unfamiliar with Ghost In The Shell (GITS), one could describe it as the quintessential work of early Japanese animated cyberpunk.  The title has spawned two movies, and two TV shows. It is based off of a manga originally created in 1989.

The genre of cyberpunk usually refers to something that deals with cyborgs, and a ‘junky’ sort of urban aesthetic. If you’re familiar with the movie Blade Runner, then you’re familiar with cyberpunk.

So what’s the big deal about this re-release?

I was a big fan of the original film, but I had sold my copy years ago. I bought this in hopes that it would simply be a touched up for high-definition edition. You know, nothing special like most anime blu-ray.

After I finished watching it, I enjoyed it just as much as the first. However, as the more I thought I about it, the more like this version had turned its back on what made the original so unique.

The concepts regarding artificial intelligence were still in tact, but it seemed like the grittiness was taken out. GITS 2.0 had removed what made it feel like a dystopian society, and replaced it with a polished and clean look. That’s not what the movie was about.

Originally, everything came together in a nice package. The gritty atmosphere, action scenes, music, and characters were all apart of what made the movie great. In the 2.0 release of this movie, it feels like they tampered with what made the movie so great.

Something was lost in translation.

This is still a very beautiful film, but it feels just like every other big budget sci-fi anime movie that’s been coming out for the last ten years. It’s uninspiring.

One final thing to touch on are the copious amounts of added CGI. A respectable amount of the 3D computer generated graphics seem well-placed. For instance, all of the gadgets and displays in the backgrounds, or a spinning display of a brain. Those don’t seem out of place with the rest of the 2D animation.

What does seem out of place are the “cutscenes” in the movie. In GITS 2.0 various scenes are completely replaced with CGI rendering. Certain scenes like the escape from the building in the first scene, or the part where Kusanagi is swimming in the bay.

It looks too pristine, too showy. You can’t capture the aesthetic of a run-down city with much precision using CGI. At least, not in this movie.

Even with all of the negatives that Ghost in the Shell 2.0 presents, most are ignorable if you’ve never seen the movie before. It’s fairly well done, and has been given a leg to stand on the realm of ‘modern movies.’ It just doesn’t recapture the spirit of the original.