Album of The Week - 1.4

YMCK

Family Cooking

avex trax (2009)

Why you'll love it:  8bit music

Why you'll hate it: 8bit music

After a two year absence (trust me, that's long for a modern Japanese group to go without a release), YMCK rose from the dead with 2008's Family Genesis and the YMCK Songbook cover EP. Family Genesis was a surprising and evolutionary change of pace, making their sound as epic as 8bit music could possibly get.

To new listeners, yes, I said 8bit. While the vocals are live, the music is entirely composed with as much processing power as a Nintendo Famicom system can muster. With the short but sweet Family Cooking LP, YMCK returns to their familiar Shibuya-kei and chiptune smoothie recipe, but with a dash of high energy. (There, I got all of my food puns out of the way in one sentence. No more, I promise!)

It's hard not to imagine what game every YMCK song would be, and for my favorite track (Gourmetなアイツ), Metal Gear and Contra come to mind. As a whole, the album sounds like an arcade, unpredictably shifting from a manic pace to leisurely cute melodies. 8bit music is such a confining genre, so it's a real testament to creativeness when the songs can still have surprises on album number 4.

YMCK proves you can make great things out of what most would claim is intellectually beneath them. Their style is like an impressive exhibit of LEGO art. The tools may be juvenile, but the craft is for real.

Three things that worry me about Resident Evil 5

I don't really mean to make these "three things" posts a theme; it's just working for now...  In just a few hours, the law abiding US gets its first hands on with Resident Evil 5.  Here is why I'm tensive over the whole thing.

1) The departure of Shinji Mikami - Series creator, and director on the best installments has left, and won't even look at the new game in fear that it will just stress him out.  I can't get the thought out of my head that this new game is just going to be a RE4 clone in less capable hands.  The Jaws 2 of videogames.

2) Co-op -  Having no friends on Xbox Live means most of the game's intended fun is gone on me.  I've been an RE fan since day one.  Dumping the static camera angles, classic zombies, and exploration was bad enough, now I'm feeling just plain thrown out of the party.

3)Neo Wesker - Ever since RE3, the series has had its plot in the toilet.  It's a total joke and full of cliches.  RE5 brings back Wesker with superpowers, and JIll is dead but obviously not, and Chris is here trying tozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.  More camp, less poor attempts at substance.

I hope the game is good, though.  It would be nice to outdo its copycat series, Gears of War.

Album of The Week - 1.3

O Fracas

Fits & Starts

I Can Count (2008)

Why you'll like it: Humbly produced punk rock

Why you'll hate it: Nothing new

One more overlooked release of 2008, before the new stuff starts piling in... O Fracas plays like a sort of coffehouse version of Gang of Four.   As I've lamented before, post-punk is a played out genre, although still an alluring one.   If it were just jangly guitar riffs and off tempo drum beats, this would sink into obscurity rather quickly.   So, it's good that the album's opener, "Brouhaha" is the loudest song on Fits & Starts.

While the album remains mostly plugged in, it's modest compared to most of today's punk production.  Acoustics and nearly all the quieter moments stand out here.   Fans of The Evens may enjoy this.

Album of The Week - 1.2

I Am Robot & Proud

Uphill City

Darla Records (2008)

Why you'll love it: A unique collection of instrumentals.

Why you'll hate it: All the songs sound pretty much the same.

I Am Robot And Proud is one of those few musicians that can get away with more of the same. Composer, Shaw-Han Liem, offers up the same tone of delightful catchy electronic instrumentals as he had in his previous two LPs. 

The melodies are very well put together, but use the same exact set of bells and whistles he's always been using. If this is an introduction, you should love it, but if not, it's all up to the level of patience you have.

Three things to look forward to in 2009

The Radio Dept. -  Clinging To a Scheme
The status of my favorite Swedish new-wave/shoegaze group's 3rd LP has been undermined since its first delay from the initial May 2008 due date. Constantly pushing the album back has created a buzz; leaving us only with a taste (the aging single, Freddie & The Trojan Horse, was released last spring) of what's to come. A promise of melodic evolution and a krautrock influenced sound has made this my most anticipated album of 2009.

Mad World

To follow in the footsteps of No More Heroes, Platinum Games (formerly Clover - the studio that brought us Okami, and Viewtiful Joe) plans to carry the torch of "unlikely ultraviolent wii games released in the year's first quarter." Mad World is a brawler with distinctive comic book art, a Running Man inspired plot, and the ability to jam a stop sign through another man's skull.

Inglorious Bastards 

The long speculated Quentin Tarantino war film is finally coming true, with Brad Pitt reciting lines.   As interesting as the plot appears to be, I'm most looking to see if QT has the restraint not to tar it with his obsession with camp.

Album of the week - 1.1

Yukari Fresh

Grrrl, Summer Cape Kid, etc.

Escalator Records (2008)

Why you'll love it: Catchy/cute electronic melodies

Why you'll hate it:  Shit's for babies

A new blog and a new year also marks what may be the end. The unlucky victim in this case is Tokyo's Shibuya-kei genre - a modest 90's phenomenon that crossed pre-70's jazz, bossanova, and bubblegum pop with modern production. The legendary Pizzicato Five carried the genre on its shoulders most of the way, and has been assisted by the likes of capsule, Cubismo Grafico, and (finally), Yukari Fresh.

Almost every Shibuya-kei artist has managed to create his or her own spin on the genre. Yukari brought forth her knack for brilliant electronic pop arrangements, with ancient pop riffs used like samples in hip-hop. Her style sounds less like P5's retro swing gala, and more like a time-travelling Casio keyboard. 

The last time we heard from Yukari was in 2003 when the genre had one foot in the grave. So it's quite a pleasant surprise to have another new release. The announcement came bittersweet, although, as this was confirmed to be the last release by the Shibuya-kei flagship label, Escalator Records. Another nail in the coffin...

So how is this album already? To the average listener, quite light; but to this starving fan, anything is a gift. The tracks are basically a collection of two minute ditties. Yukari is modest enough not to create anything more of her pop riffs than they need to be. While previous releases have had proper radio-worthy tracks or layered pieces, these are basically some leftover rhythms that have most likely been bouncing around in her head for the last 5 years. 

Not to say that I don't enjoy the songs though. "Interstellar Kiss And Ride" is great fun, and the "Grrrl" reprise at the end, mixed with broadcast tennis match highlights, shows that she hasn't compromised her style at all, unlike other artists who abandoned ship years ago.

This release feels like hitting a home run while down by 12 runs in the bottom of the ninth.  It may be a record without any relevance, but it still feels good to run the bases one more time.

The games of 2008

There are so many factors that go into compiling a proper list of what games are better than the rest, so Instead I'm handing out awards to certain games I've played this year...

Art Award 

Geek Award

                                                            

 

Mayhem Award

Teamwork Award

                

         

Nerd Award

Sadist Award

                 

Best Online

Still the best series ever

Best baby game

Champion of 2008