Baiyon - Pixel Junk Eden

Its rare that video game music is so captivating that you dig through the credits to find out where it came from.  Anyone fortunate enough to be hip to the new metro-electronica, or square enough to own a Playstation 3 console, might unknowingly be familiar with the multimedia art of Tomohisa Kuramitsu, a.k.a. Baiyon.  Last summer the game Pixel Junk Eden released on the PS3 network and since has amassed a following.  What Many do not know is that Kuramitsu is both the composer of the progressive ambient music, and the artist behind the original mind blowing graphics.  Baiyon also tours as any DJ, only armed with computers and synthesizers instead of turn tables, churning out entire dance sets.  It is rare that such an artist emerges one might call a bard, and it's this sort of multi-layered artistic genius that shows real potential for the future evolution of media as a whole.

Pixel Junk Eden is an incredible game where you grow a garden from the perspective of a tiny Grimp (imagine a tiny pollinating spider).  From the start-up menu the theme "Become A Part of This" (Top Garden) in warm, inviting.  I've let this 47 second glimpse of heaven loop for hours before, on accident drifting off to dreamland.  The gradual rise and fall of the base timed with a sort of pulsing chime of a lead does something very soothing to the brain.  The response is overwhelming relaxation.  The game however, is not so smooth.  Eden you soon find out is one of the largest scale platformer games ever invented.  The climb is stunning, the fall can be epic.  And when you do fall -and you will- the effect can be devastating.  Lucky for us the music is inspiring.  Every progressive build in each level's customized music is reminiscent of the glowing plants you're pollinating.  The

 subtlety can not be overstated, like classic board games that survive thousands of years, the way Pixel Junk Eden works and sounds is a new benchmark for platforming.  Harmonies seem to sprout up out of the ground and grow in your home.  In surround sound the effect is so beautiful that it is worth playing to listen alone.

The soundtrack to Pixel Junk is truly a garden itself, some places neat lined with alternating blooming floral arrangements, other places overgrown with wild plants transitioning into jungle forest;  it is so hard to call music with this much depth ambiance!  Baiyon effortlessly converts it into house, trance and hours of dance, playing clubs around the world.  This may be music on the verge of new frontiers.  The cinematic quality of the gaming tempo applies a rich quality not often sought after in electronic music.  As an experienced director, we can only wonder what will be next for the brilliant Tomohisa Kuramitsu.  For now simultaneous production companies in Japan and Ireland are starting to pump out Baiyon EPs ("Goshoguruma" & "S Soup") and is playing random venues in Japan, just recently having hit up San Francisco.

The Pixel Junk Soundtrack can be found in the game or separately in the Playstation Network store for the modest price of $9.99.  1-4 players (though maddening with more the one in my humble opinion) and a great way to relax if you're good at platforming; if your're bad at platforming it could cause nightmares.  Fiendishly difficult, yet elegantly simple, Eden and Baiyon are establishing a new legacy for original gaming and music alike.  Like all good games it offers up a real challenge, has lots of replay ability, and a memorable soundtrack unlike any other.  Now lets just hope Baiyon is thinking up a sequal.  Baiyon's music and art alike can be found at baiyon.com.

Baiyon - PixelJunk Eden Origional Soundtrack

2008 Baiyon, Tomohisa Kuramitsu

Gravel Undertone – Gravel Undertone EP

This new band is one to watch grow. A blend of driving rock and elegant violin subtly brings the music together.  One recalls the sounds of early Dave Mathews Band or Jars of Clay, but much faster and harder likening perhaps more to the Stone Temple Pilots.  We even here the sort of minor high string plucking that Modest Mouse made its signature, but here it is more subtly applied.  Despite all these random comparisons, the Gravel Undertone is forging its own new sound.

                The lyrics and vocals of Sean Thompson are reminiscent of alternative roughly ten years ago, but not in a bad way.  His tone is rough and raspy at times, yet has the capability to soar into near operatic power.  However, at times the music floods over his voice & one must strain to hear the words.  Though many bands revel in the mystery of their lead singer’s accent, this is more a sound problem.  Sometimes the guitars and violin just crowd out the vocals.  Also a strange effect on the voice may be responsible.  However, when well leveled, the main vocals as well as Nick Edwards backup, harmonize in new and intriguing ways, both with wide vocal ranges.  Sometimes they both sing different phrases, then join together back in synchronicity at the chorus; a very technically difficult thing to do while each playing an instrument & mostly well executed.  On occasion their vocals remind me of Scott Weiland, a bit withdrawn, yet still rough and strong when they want to be.  We hear this quality in phrases like “Whatever happened to fire and brimstone?” on “In The Name Of…” where the song seems to explode.  All the same, improved diction & more confidence couldn’t hurt them. 

That being said, the lead singer definitely has some pitch problems.  Thompson has some where along the line gained an annoying habit of sliding on notes and extending the wrong notes into diphthongs.  Sometimes it is to his credit, especially when he’s in his sort of metal whisper sound.  Much of the time, however, it works against him, leaving his stranded and out of tune at the beginning of long notes, but still getting in tune by the end.  He needs to speed up his resolution to the right key, then cadence.  All new artists, please stop going into a cadence before hitting the right note.  Tune first, then go wild, then get back in tune.  With a little polish there is tremendous potential here for some real bluesy vocal performances.  But the sliding flat and sharp notes are unprofessional at best.

                There is a lot going on in this album.  Gravel seems to have energy to spare, their songs are so fully packed with changes & complex solos.  This is normally a good thing, but more often then not the music all blurs together with too much confusion.  Many times simply slowing down a bit & letting some of the instruments have a more individualized voice would help.  There are simply too many instances where everyone is playing, singing and cymbals are crashing making a melody indiscernible.  If they would just back off a bit and progressively build to these points rarely it would be perfect.  Instead the crashing is at times sporadic and random, as though the drummer just couldn’t take it any longer and needed to hit everything he had over and over through the chorus.

                “French Fetish” is a striking departure from “In the Name of…” with a more contemporary blues feel that sometimes even breaks down into a sort of renaissance courtyard dance, –plucking violin strings- the song takes a turn for metal by the end, and it works!  Again here I really enjoy the tone of the lead singer, but can barely understand anything he’s saying.

                Not enough can be said about the instrumental capability possessed by Gravel Undertone.  Their fierce guitar duos with violin madness that never miss a beat, instrumentals never going out of tune, are incredible.  Hiroko Matsuda is a classical genius playing fiddle in an alternative band.  Some of the techniques he must use to keep up with the band make my fingers hurt just thinking about them.  And despite my earlier comparisons to other bands, their sound is still totally their own, seemingly due to Matsuda’s impeccable violin leading the procession, instead of lead guitar, which is a refreshing change.  Tie all this together with Benjamin Manning’s wild drumming and Edward’s awesome bass lines, and it all sounds amazing.  Set aside for a moment that they get into musical crashes, & the majority of the EP is solid and consistent.  Even though those crashes are a bit amateur now, later it could be what’s most interesting about their style if they can only figure out how to wield the noise appropriately with rare progression to it.  The musical experiments now found in their new EP are a great indicator of their potential and fearlessness in the eyes of creativity.  In spite of my nitpicking, I can’t wait to hear the full album & the future of Gravel Undertone.

Gravel Undertone - Gravel Undertone EP

2009  Gravel Undertone

Nobuo Uematsu: Distant Worlds Tour

After years of touring the world & secretly concocting the new up and coming soundtracks for Square Enix & Mistwalker, the impossible is happening:  Nobuo Uematsu, original coposer of multiple Final Fantasy series games, is returning to the United States with the concert series “Distant Worlds.”  With a new orchestral album due out March 31^st, the Distant Worlds team of musicians, composers, special effects artists & programmers (yes, programmers, the show will feature a montage of past Final Fantasy games with new glimpses of Final Fantasy XIII –demo in April, still to be announced official release date.)  If you are lucky enough to live in one of the 6 cities where the tour is stopping in America (or anywhere else in the world where they are) you won’t want to miss this hybrid of classical music & the utmost of modern technology.  Tour dates can be found at the Distant Worlds website.

            Now if none of that made sense to you, you’re probably not a gamer.  Square Enix is one of the worlds top game designers & producers, having a full CG movie studio in house, connections to highly respected classical artists of all varieties & the best most intensive RPGs (role playing games) available, the theme of which is always the potential end of the world;  you play the hero.  It is by utilizing beyond professional movie standards within video games that made Square Enix multi-billion dollar game corporation.  Nobuo Uematsu composed the original Final Fantasy music, as well as the epic “Prelude,” possibly the most beautiful song on harp ever created.  Despite the majority of the music being digital, the key to success, says Nobuo, was always “composing songs on the piano, first” attributing much of his success to the fact that all of the songs can be played on any instrument, allowing Uematsu to even go so far as to form his own heavy metal band, The Black Mages, while still playing the same music.

For those of you who never played the Final Fantasy games, I highly recommend you get with the times.  Many of you might have children who play them & if you don’t understand the themes the kids will pass you right by.  Each game deals with serious social issues and connects them back to their lore; in other words, all the scenarios are factual based on mythology.  The depth of emotion expressed by the music, therefore, is epic in scale.  Themes must correlate to bliss & tragedy, sorrow & adventure.  There are bombings of entire cities, genocide, genetic splicing, torture, suffering, & in the end all of it always gets trumped by some crazy megalomaniac attempting to conquer –or destroy- the earth.  This is why Uematsu’s music is so important, it’s a theme for victory in desperate circumstances, where the hero should simply just give in, but never does (unless you quit the game).  These classic games mean much more to people then mere movies, and are more on the level of interactive epic tales, or great books.  Keep in mind, a single Final Fantasy game could take 50-150 hours of game play and original story, all of this must have music.  This is why Nobuo is more then a simple music director for video games, writing a Final Fantasy soundtrack for say FFXII (the 120+ hour newest installment) is like scoring 75 movies, all at once, all connected, each connecting zone in tune with the next.

Now that we’ve went through a brief history, lets talk about the present.  Nobuo Uematsu currently just finished his third metal album with The Black Mages, Darkness & Starlight (album & concert video available).  The band is difficult to see, as obviously their keyboard player is quite busy.  However, they are known from time to time to do special concerts, as for the original Final Fantasy XI (FFXI) fan festival (where the true Square Enix fans are) and other rare venues, so if you get the chance to hear them, don’t hesitate!  Many of these shows are not booked, but special surprises featured at the end of festival events.  Not to mention, all of Uematsu’s apprentices (who’ve helped to make many other game soundtracks, and are consummate professionals in their own right) often show up, some being a part of the new rock band from the game studio, The Star Onions.  Even when not present, the influence of Nobuo’s style in undeniable in the sound.  This group of game designers and programmers has practically made their own genre of music, like symphonic rock or neo-prog, but hours of progression instead of minutes, a sort of Gamer genre that is similar to soundtrack music before movies had sound, & instead came with scores to be played live.  This effect is found throughout each game, as new musical styles time to storyline and plot twist, as reoccurring themes build the progression of their stories to epic proportion.

At present, Nobuo Uematsu (according to the tour) has put the finishing touches on scores, for his other composers to finish up, such as Final Fantasy XIII, Blue Dragon 2, & the opening theme for the remake of the classic manga, Guin Saga.  On top of this, most of us true fans of the older games are expecting a total orchestral remake of the Final Fantasy VII soundtrack for the up coming Playstation 3 re-release.  With the advantages of full stereo Dolby surround 7.1, the expectations are high; but these are the people who set their own incredibly high standard, so we expect even more!  Another secret, yet unconfirmed rumor, is that after three years of absence from the FFXI fanfest, is that the next festival’s surprise guest appearance could be the Black mages, romping out their new album plus a mega-mix of FFXI favorites.  But once again, that is just my guess.  It is difficult to predict a band that does so much in secret, especially random shows around the world, but hey, it does make it exciting.

The new Distant Worlds tour will be featuring a two hour song set. The majority of the conducting will be done by Annie Roth, with all composition & special appearances by Uematsu.  The Minneapolis audience will be treated to a special live performance of “Ronfaure,” one of the starting zones in FFXI & a beautiful arrangement that sounds straight out of a renaissance court.  Not to mention, special, and most likely sold out, meet-&-greet tickets, where fans actually get to talk with Nobuo and ask questions.  Square Enix is also quite good to their traveling fans, often booking entire sections of hotels, so there are discounted rooms available.  If you’ve never attended one of these events, their much more like comic-cons, or anime festivals, many dress up as their favorite characters, and the planned events are usually just a part of the festivities as new found friends gather to discuss favorite characters, plot lines, and of course the wonderful music of Nobuo Uematsu.  These songs speak for part of our childhood as much as what we would like to one day become: heroes.