音時雨 ～Regentropfen～

Yesterday I talked about A.T. 3 Hymmnos concert red side, and I was a bit disappointed in it, because it’s not that A.T.-ish. Today, I’m going to talk more (?) on another album: the blue side. However, these reviews are only my totally personal feelings. I don’t expect you guys accept them. I just want to say what I felt at my first a few times of listening. I’m also planning to write something (maybe not), after I read the booklet and get more ideas from the game context.

[SAKIYA=RUMEI side:]
1. GUST – Legend of Ar tonelico III
Still, this is an introduction, with more legend-telling-like ambience.

2. Akiko Shikata/志方あきこ – utau oka/謳う丘～Harmonics TILIA～
Like the previous works, the famous opening theme song “utau oka” starts the whole hymmnos concert. This song was in the preview, at the very beginning. But I didn’t recognize the part in the preview was a variant of “utau oka.” This time, this main melody changed a lot; only the rhythm and tempo were kept. But, I like it; it has a lot A.T.-elements!

3. Akiko Shikata/志方あきこ – EXEC_EP=NOVA/.
OMG! I loved this song since the preview has been out! It’s so cute (even the booklet has a special cute page for this song xD)! It seems to be a story about the daily fight between two cats, and cuteness is THE thing you can find out in it in most times. In the background, Akiko sang the “nyanya~” and made me couldn’t stop laughing!! I can do nothing when listen to this song!! This song would not be a standard A.T.-ish song, but, it IS bright and cute. It also reminds me the song “Pepen” from the A.T. orgel arrange album!

4. Akiko Shikata/志方あきこ – EXEC_FLIP_ARPHAGE/.
Nice song it is. This song also led the whole preview. Although I think it’s a bit like Akiko’s album “Harmonia,” what else can I say but this song is epically wonderful? Akiko used the multi-voice to render the song and gave it a feeling of an ancient scene: the story inside the song was begun. Then, the melody was opened widely, she sang more intensely. The story went on. Finally, the melody returned to be quiet. The song ended, yet the story would still continue. A story was told in a language no body knows.

5. Akiko Shikata/志方あきこ – toki no suna/トキノスナ
This is also a typical Akiko-ish song. However, when I firstly listened to it, I thought it would also have some eufonius-like elements. I couldn’t tell and still don’t know why. Both of the melody and the way of chorus and the arrangement were like what I can feel from some eufonius songs. Hmmm… who knows? xD

6. Yoko – EXEC_METEMPSYCHOSIS/.
Yoko Ueno, I only have ever heard a few of her songs, but she is a nice composer/singer. Her voice is clear and strong. I’m wondering if they took Yoko (and/or KOKIA) to replace the position of Yuuko Ishibashi… Anyway, this song is basically good. The Yoko’s multi-voice is nice too!

7. KOKIA – EXEC_REBIRTHIA=PROTOCOL/.
Ahhh, finally, here comes KOKIA. Although I would have repeated for several times, I still wanna say, the performance of KOKIA in A.T. was such a surprise!
This song was the ending song of the preview mix. The melody is very KOKIA-ish! I like it (especially the introduction)!! This song is very similar to KOKIA’s “hoshikuzu no vocalize/星屑のヴォカリーズ” from her balance albums. However, listen to this song, I don’t think I’m listening to A.T. Hymmnos concerts, and what I feel should be I’m just playing a KOKIA album. lol

8. KOKIA – EXEC_COSMOFLIPS/.
This song…………
KOKIA sings Hymmnos……
…………………
It’s way too epic to say more here. I loved it, and was looking forward the whole version right after I listened to it from the preview.
Too nice…
Too awesome…
Too epic…
……………
We’re listening to a divine song…. *_____*
Afterwards, I checked the booklet. KOKIA wrote the lyrics, composed the music; the arranger of it was Masumi Itou (also known as Hikaru Nanase)!!! MY GODDESS!!! Remember “KARMA”? Remember “Transparent”? This is her! KOKIA herself also mentioned in her blog that she likes Hikaru Nanase’s music. Yes, I agree that the two can make good music! Awful ladies……… m(_ _)m

9. KOKIA – 光の中に
It is another typical KOKIA song. Here, again, I get the feeling that I’m not listening to the A.T. Hymmnos concerts but a typical KOKIA album. lol Anyhow, a good song it is sure enough.

10. Akiko Shikata/志方あきこ – Ec Tisia
Yay, Akiko is the queen of Ar Tonelico Hymmnos! I like the melody and singing in the first part of the song. A medley of previous A.T. songs were presented here too, and it’s pretty nice too.

11. GUST – Planet Gene
The background rhythm was like the heartbeat. The melody was slow and calm. Only to read the title, what I can say could be “our story has ended, but the planet is going on, and there will be more and more stories to be told in future.”

Overall.
I was pretty satisfied by this album. I strongly recommend this one especially the KOKIA’s “divine song”. Akiko and KOKIA (I’m also so glad that KOKIA chose to use “KOKIA” but her real name “Akiko” lol) did a nice job. The Yoko song is very good as well. Also, again, again, and again, I will say: “KOKIA’s join is so nice”! Although I miss Yuuko Ishibashi’s performance, KOKIA’s presence balanced the absence of Yuuko. The only weak point of this this album could be that it is too bad that some songs have no translation from the Hymmnos in the booklet. >_<

Since I wrote a post about the A.T. III Hymmnos preview in the last December, I couldn’t stop talking about the new A.T. Hymmnos albums. On yesterday, January 26, that was January 27 in Japan time, the albums were finally released!
Certainly, I need to say something, because I’m an A.T. Hymmnos fan!
When I just got the songs from one of my friend (zurra, some of you would know him). Then, I was in my lab, and thus unable to scrobble them to my last.fm page. Anyways, I copied the files into my digital player. However, I played each song for only seconds, until “EXEC_COSMOFLIPS/.” came out.
That’s the song I’ve been waited since I tried the preview!!! OMG, this song was so awesome. After coming back home, I looped it for about 20 times before playing all other songs (including the super cute Akiko neko-song! lol).
Now, I wanna talk about my own impression towards those songs. I don’t know the A.T. game story, thus what I talked will only be music-based!

[SUZUNO=MIYA side:]
1. GUST – Grow
A good introduction with some epic ambience.

2. Azumi Inoue/井上あずみ – Kazeshirube/風標
This song was in the preview, and I recognized her voice then. It’s basically a calm song. It’s not that Ar-Tonelico-ish, but the melody does have the element of telling a legend.

3. Au(Gusha-Ningen)/あう(ぐしゃ人間) – EXEC_CUTYPUMP/.
This song is … crazy… @_@ and I mis-thought the kinda-bright part was sung by Haruka… >_> however, for darkish songs, this is not that good as “EXEC_PAJA” series from A.T. I. Be frank, I don’t like this song. >_<

4. Haruka Shimotsuki/霜月はるか – EXEC_FLIP_FUSIONSPHERE/.
Here, the Haruka-ish A.T. style comes back. It’s basically a good song. It sounds gentle yet strong. Just, I have nothing special to say here…

5. Haruka Shimotsuki/霜月はるか – EXEC_ViiBaCi_MjiiRa/.
I can’t understand anything from the title… but it’s kinda like the “PAJA” songs. So I think I like it!

6. Yayoi Yula/柚楽弥衣 – chmod b111000000/n
A.T. III seems like to get strange titles… I’m sorry if such titles are related to the game story. But, they are really, really strange to me. Anyway, in the preview, it was already there. What I felt from this part was a bit difficult to describe. It was like in a very ancient era, and people were gathering in the twilight, having some secret ritual… did I think too much? lol

7. Haruka Togawa/東川遥 - EXEC_Z/.
Orz, I don’t understand this title too… and firstly, I thought this singer would be Rekka Katakiri and just knew she was not in the preview at all. -__- According to zurra, this song is a bit I’ve-sound-ish. It’s true. The electronic elements are so overflowing that it’s hard to ignore. The song is just average, but I like the I’ve-ish rhythm.

8. Rekka Katakiri/片霧烈火 – METHOD_HYMMELI/.
This song isn’t that Ar-Tonelico at all! It keeps reminds me her album “hareyakanaru sora no yukue.” The beat, the sound effect, and the way she sings! But, I can say it’s a nice song.

9. Noriko Mitose/みとせのりこ – XaaaCi.
Another song with a weird title… I wish there was someone may interpret them combining with the game story… ._. This is also the ONLY Noriko Mitose song in the two albums… yet I like Noriko’s voice so much… it’s unfair!! This song was in the preview too, and I recognized her immediately! In this song, the background is kinda noisy, but still in a range I can accept. The rhythm is fine. Noriko performed so well, and the total ambience of the song is superb. Noriko is really a good chanter!!! And I think this song is too short!! I wanna listen to more Noriko's voice longer... >_<

10. Haruka Shimotsuki/霜月はるか –hoshi meguri no uta/星巡りの詩
This one has a good melody, very comfortable melody. Haruka’s voice fits it very well. But, still, I want to say it’s not that Ar-Tonelico-ish, at least this was based on my feeling of A.T.1 and A.T.2.

11. GUST – Glow
A small epilogue, I guess. Mainly, it’s an ethnic track.

Overall:
This album isn’t that good as what I expected. Some classical sound elements of Ar Tonelico were lost here. New Hymmnos singers sang well but the total feeling of the album is not that Ar-Tonelico-ish. Especially, the chorus part: it was not very intense enough to reach the “epic” level. Also, since new singer joined, I’m missing Haruka and Noriko. Especially Noriko!!! They made a huge change, but failed to reach what they’ve achieved before… In all, I was a bit disappointed by this album…

I’ll talk about the SAKIYA=RUMEI side later.

夜にある友人に貝田由里子さんの歌『午後の描写』を紹介されて、もう一曲の『夕餉を囲みて』を知り、ついでに『ことのはクラシック』シリーズを知っていた。二曲ども美しい旋律を持って、歌詞のほうも美しいなんです。クラシック音楽が好きな私には聞いたとたんにこの二曲を大好きになってたのです。
実はね、CD全曲を聴くことなしに、私はなんとなくこのシリーズは必ず上品だと結論としてたのよ。だって、もっとも私は貝田由里子に誘われこの曲たちを試していたの。
わたし、貝田由里子さん大好き～
もちろん、今の私はこの二曲を繰り返しに聞いているところです。

あとで『ことのは』サイトにアクセスしてた。そのイントロを読んで、だんだんこのシリーズを分かるように気がしたの。
ほかの言葉とは違う、日本語には特別なものがいる。「言の葉」っていうのはただの「ことば」じゃなく、私にとって別の言葉に直訳することできないほど、微妙な意味が囲む。この歌詞に使われた「ことのは」は、平凡で繊細な感情がある。そして、世界中におおく広がるクラシック作品と、貝田さんの天使のような声(梶浦由記さんより)とくみ上げ、こんなにもすばらしい歌になったのです。
クラシック音楽はおんがくの一番、そして日本語は言葉の一番、ということだね。

During the night, I was introduced to a song, “gogo no byousha / afternoon sketch” by Yuriko Kaida. Then, I came to know another song “yuuge wo kakomite / surrounded around the dinner,” as well as the “kotonoha classical” series. Both of the two songs were have beautiful melodies, and the lyrics was very beautiful too. As a classical music lover, I liked them as soon as I tried them.
I didn’t try all songs from this series actually, yet I was very sure that it would be a nice series. Anyway, I was attracted by Yuriko Kaida firstly.
I really like Yuriko Kaida~
Thus, now I’m looping the two songs.

Afterwards, I visited the “kotonoha” site. I thought I knew more about it after reading its introduction.
Different from other languages, Japanese is very special. The Japanese word, “kotonoha,” doesn’t mean “kotoba (words)” alone. There is something subtle in it that it’s difficult to translate it into a single word in other languages directly (as far as I know). The lyrics of these songs were kind of using these common yet delicate words, plus the famous classical pieces, and Yuriko Kaida’s angelic voice (according to Yuki Kajiura), here we’re listening to these pretty works.
The best music should be classical music, and the best language should be Japanese, that’s what I get from them.

Eriko (left) and Yuka (right), I'm going to use this one as a background pic in my new blog design. xD

@pixiv

(I write this just because I want to change my last.fm sidebar content.)

click "Read more" only if you WANT to read this super long post...

I was born in a classical-listening family. Western music was all I listened when I was still very, very young. But you can’t remember much of things because you were too you to memorize them. The only thing I can still recall clearly is, I liked Mozart’s work Serenade K.525 movement 1 when I was six-year-old. That was in one night, I asked to use my mother’s new CD player before I went to bed. Thus she randomly inserted a CD, which contained this track – my first loved classical track.

Anyways, when I became older, my music life was kinda in a vacuum. Maybe it was from 1992 to 1996, which I can’t remember exactly. A lot of things happened, yet they didn’t stay in my mind. I listened to so little music. Occasionally, when my family listened to some pop songs from Hong Kong or Taiwan, I reacted like they worth of nothing (I still think so; no offense, just my own feeling). That was rather a boring period in my life.

Then, an animation series from Spain attracted me. That was “The Mozart Band.” That animation told good stories, and taught me lots of knowledge about classical music. Since that year (1996 or 1997), memories about these classical melodies were waking up, and my keenness for classical music was regained. I started to search all resource of classical music. I listened a lot, and felt in love with classical music. I don’t know what you would feel if you could have a chance to hear a little girl talking about piano and violin, concertos, operas, etc.

That was just astonished, to the fact that I didn’t learn any of instruments. Actually, my family ever wanted to buy me a piano when I was five or six, but I finally refused to learn it, according to my mother. Also, my mother has a violin, but, still from her, I’ve never got interested in playing it. One of my aunts bought me an electric piano. Again, that heard from my mother, I only played it randomly. That YAMAHA electric piano is still in my home, set upon our bookshelf, and is in idle all the time. I’ve heard about that a lot of people learn much about classical music when they learn an instrument. However, that is not the case of me.

Because of that animation focused on only four composers, what I listened to in that period were mostly their works. When I started to listen to local radio music channels, I got more chances to touch other composers’ music. Time from 1998 to 2001 was the most various time for me. I listened to tons of music whose genres varied completely. Firstly, I listened to everything I heard. Little by little, I started to choose. My taste in music shaped during that time. I liked classical, but not all kinds of it. I more liked music in baroque, classical, and romantic eras, but I didn’t like others like impressionism, and late 19-/20-century music. For modern music, I couldn’t accept both Chinese and western pop songs. I didn’t and still don’t know the exact reason. “They’re just not my style.” I always tell others who asked me about it.

Classical, classical, only classical music was around in my life until 2000. That was a crucial year in my entire music life. Japanese animes went into my life, with the specially-styled Japanese songs/sound tracks. My first Japanese song was the opening theme song of “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” and I loved it very much, as well as its background music. Luckily, the composer of the anime, Shiro Sagisu, made the music epically beautiful and impressive. His style is like classical, yet with modern elements, and therefore, his music bridged the gap between classical music and Japanese modern music. I also liked GARNET CROW a lot. Their genre is typically J-pop, but their music sounds special. Unique. Yes, this word can be used to describe their songs comparing to all other J-pop works. Sometimes, I even didn’t dare to listen to their song “wasure saki,” which would make me in a rather depressing mood for some unknown reasons.

With I watched more animes, I listened to more Japanese music. As well, some of them were very good, and some of them I didn’t like at all. Before 2004, my music was still limited in classical music that I’ve already liked, and some of Japanese pop songs and sound tracks. I also read magazines about Japanese animes, and thus, I knew more about the kinda-new-to-me music kingdom. I liked a few Japanese composers and singers/bands, like Shiro Sagisu, Yoko Takahashi, Ritsuko Okazaki, Kou Ootani, Mai Kuraki, GARNET CROW, Katsuo Ohno and so on.

Yes, I liked them a lot, but for me in that time, I just liked them. Anyways, another critical period came in 2004: that I realized how nice modern music can be made my life cannot be apart from Japanese music.

I felt in love with Yuki Kajiura’s music.
Well, I don’t want to spend much of time to talk about her and her music (I’ve already talked for lots of times). Just, from “Gundam, ” See-Saw, “noir, ” FictionJunction YUUKA, and “.hack//SIGN,” I started to pay more attention on her music. Once and once again, I was touched by her ethnical and catchy melody. She soon became my goddess of music.
Yet everything happened in that winter, in 2004.

Gradually, I listened to more music while watching less animes. The position of music was replacing that of animes! It was another story of how I touched Japanese doujin music. It was about also about Yuki Kajiura. One day, when I was searching about FictionJunction YUUKA, a blog about Japanese music popped up. I read a post about Akiko Shikata. Yet, strangely, the reason for me to find out her music was only I liked the CD jacket of her album “RAKA”!! From her, I knew Ar Tonelico and Haruka Shimotsuki afterwards. From recommendations from my friends, I knew Sound Horizon. By accident, I started to listen to Rekka Katakiri. I discovered piles of artists, and got enough information about them. The variety of my listening music was exploding, in a somewhat limited range.

I knew, there were more nice composers and singers I still didn’t know or haven’t noticed. Like KOKIA. I’ve already listened to a few of her songs in 2005, but I’ve never realized how excellent she was until 2008. Now, maybe you’ve guessed, 2008, was also an extremely time point in my music life. “The VOICE,” the best KOKIA album for me, made me soon infatuatedly fell in love with her and her music. Generally, her style can be put in J-pop, yet hers isn’t that J-pop-ish (could be various on this point). She can sing extremely low notes, and high notes as well, which I absolutely admire. The most important point that made me fell in love with her more than all other artists (sadly, including my goddess Yuki Kajira, although she’s still my goddess…) was, that her music can really touch my heart. As what she said in one of her interviews, “warmth” is very important in her music, and a good piece of music must have contained the composer’s “heart.” Music is the gift from the god; it enables people from different places in the world being linked together without language. She made it.

Classical and Japanese music are all I listen to. I seldom listen to other music style, except Merlin’s Magic, a New Age band. I knew them in 2004, from the zodiac series music. In their music, you can be very relaxed. I often listen to them when I’m tired and don’t want to listen to any others, and when I study because they won’t get me distracted. I’ve also tried a little other New Age music, but I still vote for Merlin’s Magic till now.

I always know that I’m limited in what I listen to. I always know there must be more nice music to be discovered. I always know sometimes I prejudge some music because I myself am greatly picky on music. I always know I can’t even mention all my favorite artists in this post. It has already been a very long (and maybe boring [?]) post, though I believe if I don’t end it here, I can write another 2.5 pages.

I love music. Music is half of my life.

random work... because someone said black is the colour. :P

@pixiv

Damn, I’m not accustomed to type a new year’s number each time. It happens in the very beginning of EACH YEAR.
Well, anyway, here I am. I don’t want to be a bad blogger. I just read my previous blog entries, and I realized that I wrote much more before. What I found as well was my English in that time was so unreadable.
Thus why I’m here, typing madly on Microsoft Word. I’m going to write something important issues I need to do in this year.
Well… I know, such thing should be better done in the first day of the whole year or the last day in the old year. However, today is just the third day, and actually, I did the similar thing in the fifth day in the last year. It would not be that bad in this case, I THINK!!

Okies, now, the main part of this post:
My 2010’s to-do list.

1) Do more research: I need to figure out why my experiments didn’t work though. Then I’ll work more on it. And, in this summer, I need to think on whether or not I should leave here to fetch my PhD. I may transfer myself to a PhD program within 2 years, but the earlier I decide (even though I would change my mind afterwards), the better.
2) Pass the level 7 driver’s license exam. To be able to drive a car is very, very important.
3) Learn more German, French, and Italian if possible. As you know, I like to learn languages. I want to be multilingual. I’ve started to learn some German in the last year, but I was just pause and pause again by some reason. Recently I have just finished re-reading the lessons I’ve already learned, and in this year, I hope I can learn more without much serious pausing. Also, French is another language I want to learn; plus that French is also an official language of Canada, it’s more necessary to learn it. For Italian, I just want to learn it for singing, so it’s not very prior to the other two languages.
4) To check for if KOKIA will go to Europe in this year. And if so, find a chance to GO TO EUROPE!!!!! Omg, I just love Europe more than any other places, and I love KOKIA more than any other (modern) artists!!!
5) Post more. I just like to see my own writing stuff on my own blog with my self-designed template. Kinda narcissistic, huh? But, that’s what I do like!
6) Start my story. I started it in 2008 winter and halted in 2009 spring. orz. This time, I can’t stop anymore, I want to continue; I want to finish MY STORY!!! -___-
7) Sing/draw more. Hmmm… no comments for it. xD

That’s all I can think up currently. Yes, yes, I know sometimes to write down your to-do list for a whole year is stupid, because you can always ignore what you’ve said before and change your plan at any time. But…
A new year HAS TO have a good start, right?