One year ago, OSV’s inaugural “Soundtrack of the Month” was the score for Joe Hisaishi’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. This classic anime, based on a long series of manga-style graphic novels, was released in 1984 in Japan. Thirteen years later, Miyazaki-san decided to attempt the “man vs. nature” plot type again. But this time, instead of a post-apocalyptic fantasy world, he used the historical backdrop of 15th-century Japan, but still included plenty of mythical creatures and fantasy. And, of course, Miyazaki’s trustworthy film score composer, Joe Hisaishi, was along for the ride.

Today’s soundtrack of the month may be understood as a fitting reprisal. The only Miyazaki film, and soundtrack, darker and more shocking than Nausicaä has got to be Princess Mononoke. After the jump, our full review of this classic soundtrack, which you can pick up in Japan, Europe, or America with relative ease.

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Did you know that 2009 marks Nobuo Uematsu’s 50th year on the planet? Well, in honor of his 50th birthday, he’s decided to publish a solo album entitled 10 Stories. However, unlike a traditional release, he’ll be releasing songs from the album every two to three months until Spring 2010 arrives. At this time, the full album will be available for purchase, with an English version as well. So what will this album be about? Well, all the music and lyrics are written by Uematsu himself and is performed by NOBIYO and the Dog Ears and it aims to bring happiness to a wide range of ages via experimental ways.

Check out details about the first single after the break! (more…)

We hopefully brought Kotaro Oshio’s amazing guitar skills to your attention last month with our review of You & Me. In his review, Tim mentioned Oshio’s then-upcoming album, Tussue mussie, which he described as Oshio’s first cover album, and that’s exactly what it is. Tussie mussie features some downright lovely guitar arrangements of pop standards from both Japan and the United States going all the way back to the 1960s.

So, which tracks are featured? How about “Lovin’ You” and “Time After Time?” Do those get you excited? Maybe not, but trust me when I say these arrangements are great. As for the remaining 8 tracks on the album, I’ll admit I’m not very familiar with them, but if anything, I enjoyed them even more for it.

Find out why that makes sense in our review of Tussie mussie after the jump. (more…)

I went to my first anime convention this year. There were lots of things there that I did not want to see, such as a dude in a Lulu costume and about fifteen too many girls in Yuna cosplay. Over the course of about seven hours I saw more people dressed up as Naruto and Cloud Strife than anyone should ever have to bear witness to in their entire lives. There were teenagers screaming loudly over a Super Smash Bros. tournament, there were people dancing in the convention center halls to J-Pop and, in case you missed it the first time, there was a DUDE in a LULU COSTUME.

Why would I put myself through such torture? Find out after the jump. (more…)

Fan-made arrangement albums are popping up all over the place these days, so it’s not often that one catches my attention right from the outset. This one did just that, however, as there aren’t a whole lot of albums dedicated to Koji Endo’s King’s Field soundtrack. The one official album that does exist happened to be our soundtrack of the month back in January, so I was pleased to find that somebody out there actually liked the music enough to make an album like this.

Xacs Ishikawa and Harumi Shiina of GYRO MiX arrange six tracks from the first game, which unfortunately was the only one in the series to not make it to the States. Although I never experienced these tracks in-game, I did enjoy them on the official soundtrack album, so it was awesome to hear them redone by these guys.

Read our review of this rare tribute to the world of King’s Field after the jump. (more…)

So, did you think we let Kalafina get away without an interview after reading our coverage of their weekend concert at Anime Boston 2009 that went live this morning? Think again! Shortly after the concert and autograph session was over, OSV contributor Tommy Ciulla and I were fortunate to sit down with Yuki Kajiura and Kalafina to ask them some questions.

We delve a bit into Kajiura’s Xenosaga scores, some of her other projects, and into her musical direction. We also got to hear about Kalafina’s concert selection, their vocal style, and some of their favorite songs. You’ll hopefully find this informative, although I admit I was able to have a number of my own personal questions about the group answered.

Interested in hearing what they had to say? Check it out after the jump! (more…)

Over the three day weekend, I was privileged and honored to see Kalafina’s US debut concert at the Anime Boston convention at the Hynes Convention Center. Although the Boston-based VGO was opening for Kalafina (we’ll be publishing impressions of the VGO performance in the coming days), I was more interested in hearing what songs Kalafina would be performing, given the fact this was their first concert outside of Japan.

Interestingly, as the VGO was clearing the stage, I noticed that there were no instruments being prepared for Kalafina. Considering the style of their music and the expense of travel, I can understand why this was, but I was hoping to see at least a few instruments up there, considering there are some themes that incorporate live instruments. What did this mean for the evenings performance?

Check out our impressions of the concert as well as a list of songs performed after the jump. (more…)