baiyon week

Experimental, Japanese

Let baiyons Be baiyons

August 25, 2012 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on Let baiyons Be baiyons Share this Let baiyons Be baiyons

That was supposed to be a pun.

This marks the end of “baiyon week.” We hope you enjoyed it, learned more about this particular artist, and perhaps scouted out a few more tunes for your musical library.

But we didn’t get to everything baiyon has ever done. So we just wanted to point out here that baiyon does have plenty of other work out there, if you’re willing to look for it. Some of those items include:

Evening Glow of a River – an EP released around the same time as In The Collaborations 04, you get the title track (10 minutes long), a remix of the track by photographer/musician/producer Eamonn Doyle, and a B-Side “Lupe.” For my money, “Lupe” is the better track.

Dejerabi – a techno/electronica/Arab-ethnic single from Ryoma Sasaki. Buy it, and you get the B-Side (baiyon’s remix of Dejerabi) too.

Vibes Against Vibes (Vol. 1) | (Vol. 2) – Almost everyone that worked with baiyon on the various “In The Collaborations” singles, and plenty more, release their own singles on these two “various artists” collaborations. Vol.1 has two tracks where baiyon collaborates with another artist, and Vol.2 has a baiyon solo track.

Have any more hot baiyon leads? Feel free to leave them in the comments section! Thanks again … and now, let’s go clubbin’! (Seriously, I gotta go to a decent club sometime … just, please, no designer drugs … )
Game Music, Reviews

Do it LIVE with DariusBurst! DBAC Live in O-East (Review)

August 23, 2012 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on Do it LIVE with DariusBurst! DBAC Live in O-East (Review) Share this

DARIUSBURST ANOTHER CHRONICLE Live in O-EAST -revolt- must have been amazing to actually see live. But, for those of us who couldn’t attend the show featuring the music of this extremely talented team, the event was recorded and published as an album via Enterbrain.

I wanted to write about this album for awhile now, and because baiyon’s contribution from WONDER WORLD is used in the show, I have my excuse. So, after the jump, my review of DBAC Live in O-East! (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Arrange Your Face Off! DariusBurst Remix Wonder World (Review)

August 23, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 1 Comment Share this

Available at: CDJapan | Play-Asia

I have much love for Zuntata (OGR et al). And for shmup fans, Zuntata equals Darius. The latest game in the long-running series, a revival of sorts, was DariusBurst. The OST was released in January 2010, and then, only a few months later, a mammoth album dropped.

That album was DariusBurst Remix WONDER WORLD. The album had two discs, and they were themed. Disc one: “Breath of a living thing,” were more acoustic arrangements. Disc two: “Breath of a machine,” much more on the electronic/synthesized side of music.

A total of 22 tracks, 11 tracks per disc, each handled with special care from talented, well-known VGM personalities. How could it possibly be bad? Here’s a hint: it can’t be. This album is filled with yummy-in-my-tummy goodness.

For more details, including an in-depth look at the track arranged by baiyon (this is baiyon week, after all!), join us after the jump. And stop back later tonight for a review of yet another DariusBurst album! (more…)
Experimental, Japanese

More Insight for “Like a School on Lunch Time”

August 22, 2012 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on More Insight for “Like a School on Lunch Time” Share this

Last night I had a chat with baiyon via twitter about his 2006 album “Like a School on Lunch Time.” I learned some cool things that I wanted to share with you. For example, the video above is a music video that covers two songs from the album and features incredible visuals by catchpulse. The footage is of the elementary school baiyon attended in his youth. In fact, that’s also where a lot of the sound samples come from.

Yes, baiyon revisited his school to get some field recordings. He told me that of the musicians that use this technique, he was most inspired by Aki Onda’s Cassette Memories series. As I mentioned in the album’s review, I’d heard the technique used prominently on Michael Bross’ Subway Meditations.

Finally, for those of you that can read Japanese (or who are okay with a rough translation provided by google), you’ll want to check out this 2006 interview with baiyon from Jet Set. It provides more background and insight on that full-length album; a little something to help you appreciate it more.
Experimental, Japanese, Reviews

Time To Get “In The Collaborations” – Vol. 01~05 (Review)

August 22, 2012 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on Time To Get “In The Collaborations” – Vol. 01~05 (Review) Share this

So baiyon released a series of four singles between December ’09 and April ’10, each one had him working with different artists. Of note to the VGM community was his “Hue / Saturation / Brightness” single (vol. 03) where he collaborated with Hip Tanaka.

The series seemed be over after the fourth volume. Nothing happened through the rest of 2010 or any of 2011. But then, in June 2012, baiyon surprised everyone by dropping vol. 05, “Take Away My Eyes,” a track that sounded so thoroughly like a PixelJunk Eden tune that one cannot help but wonder if this track was an outtake from PixelJunk 4am (a game whose soundtrack I’m still anxiously waiting for…).

After the jump, we’ll be exploring all five “In the Collaborations” singles and speculating on what might come in volume 06. (more…)
Indie Music, Japanese, Reviews

Electro-Nostalgic: baiyon’s “Like a School on Lunch Time” (Review)

August 21, 2012 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on Electro-Nostalgic: baiyon’s “Like a School on Lunch Time” (Review) Share this

I remember when one of my best friends introduced me to “noise” as a genre. He started me off with Hanatarash(i), a 1980s group featuring this dude who went by the name “Eye.” This was some pretty hardcore stuff. All noise samples, no tonality whatsoever.

Since then, I’ve heard “noise” albums with different layers or levels of tonality mixed with the non-musical sounds. Many of them come from electronic artists. I was a big fan, for example, of Michael Bross’ “Subway Meditations” — nothing but hand-picked samples mixed in different ways.

After the jump, we’ll take a look at one of baiyon’s contributions to the genre with his 2006 album “Like a School on Lunch Time.” (more…)
Featured, Game Music, Japanese

Introducing!! baiyon week

August 20, 2012 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on Introducing!! baiyon week Share this Introducing!! baiyon week

A few months ago we did a special week’s worth of content focused around one musician, Jim Guthrie. That was a lot of fun. Let’s do it again, shall we?

No, not a second week for Jim. He’s a cool cat, for sure. But this week we’re going to focus on baiyon.

Born Tomohisa Kuramitsu, baiyon has gone on to become a major influence in electronic music all around the world. He and his art have been presented at events in Japan, South Korea, USA, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, and elsewhere. He is best known, at least among gamers, for his work as audio-visual lead (all music, plus the art styles for each level) in PixelJunk Eden, which we reviewed after its Steam release earlier this year.

One thing baiyon and Guthrie have in common, besides having a week’s worth of content written about them for OSV, is Sword & Sworcery. Guthrie is the composer, and baiyon arranged a track on the Scythian Steppes remix album, which we also reviewed this year.

Throughout this week, we will be taking a close look at all of baiyon’s original works, including various EPs and LPs he’s released, the “in the collaborations” series, and we’ll even discuss his work (among the work of many others) for DARIUSBURST. So stop by each and every day this week to learn more about baiyon and his music!