A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 10 Oct 2021 to 16 Oct 2021.

WILT_2021-41

1. Lullaby (feat. Nels Cline) – Sara Schoenbeck, Nels Cline
2. Demon – Moonchild Sanelly, Sad Night Dynamite
3. L-GAIM (Time for L-GAIM) – MIO
4. MEN OF DESTINY – MIO
5. RHYTHM EMOTION – TWO-MIX
6. メロスのように ~LONELY WAY〜 (蒼き流星SPTレイズナー) – Hironobu Kageyama
7. サイレント・ボイス (Silent Voice) – ひろえ純 (Hiroe Jun)
8. Depression Is No Fun – Bomb The Music Industry!
9. Only Wonder – frederic
10. ゲッターロボ (Getta Robo) – Isao Sasaki
11. If – Shizuka Kudo
12. Cold Morning – Kiang Lim
13. THE WINNER – Miki Matsubara
14. 失われた伝説を求めて (Ushinawareta Yume o Motomete / In Search of Lost Legends) – Performed by アンディ(Andy), Arranged by 久石 譲 (Joe Hisaishi)
15. Currents – Jab
16. ガラスのPalm Tree (Glass no Palm Tree) – S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe, Kiyotaka Sugiyama
17. Rewind – Runners Club 95
18. Desire – 18 Carat Affair
19. Children of the Omnissiah – Guillaume David

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2021-41

Notes

The guttural tones of Sara Schoenbeck’s bassoon playing dug deep into my instincts. They battled with the measured accompaniment provided by Nels Cline’s melancholic chord voicings, but ultimately the chaos of the universe broke through and all that is left in its wake are the birth pangs of pain and anguish silently screaming through the void of empty space.

I just love Moonchild Sanelly. Happy to include any new music of hers into these playlists so that listeners can enjoy her talent.

This next section of the playlist came from a deep journey into the rabbit hole of playlists curated by Spotify user, Beef / Kealan. I was revisiting the Patlabor animated movies, and started searching for music from the soundtrack. What I found was Beef / Kealan’s account, and playlists that captured some very endearing aesthetics from my formative pre-teen years.

For example, a playlist titled || BEST MECHA VOCAL SONGS || is indeed supercharged by conjured imagery of giant robot savagery.

From there, I was immediately taken by L-GAIM (Time for L-GAIM), which was an immediate inclusion because of the running eighth-note bass lines transitioning into a daring half-time pocket-inducing bass lick during the pre-chorus that allows the chorus to really launch into the stratosphere. And the robo-disco background vocals just kill it for me.

MEN OF DESTINY. Or as a comment I read on YouTube, the Gundam series’ most testosterone-fueled song is performed by a woman.

This is where I also tell you that I really love the voice of the performer, MIO, and that I learned that there is a group of musicians in the Japanese music culture known as “anison” musicians and performers, who are associated with performing music for the anime/animation medium.

RHYTHM EMOTION is added for purely nostalgic reasons. I think Gundam Wing was the first Gundam anime I was exposed to, and while I did not really enjoy this brand of techno in my youth, I have come to appreciate the sheer intensity and bombastic music production found in the genre.

メロスのように ~LONELY WAY〜 (蒼き流星SPTレイズナー) and サイレント・ボイス (Silent Voice) are extremely catchy, and make me wish I could sing them at karaoke. Also, the staccato strings that accent the moments just before the verse starts are extremely anticipatory.

I started exploring more of Beef / Kealan’s playlists, and that is why Depression Is No Fun, a ska track appears without any other context. I was drawn to this song because of the underlying frustration that undercurrents the whole song. The crunching downstrokes of distorted guitars, coupled with chaotic feedback swells during the chorus subvert the expectation of joyful, cheeky sounds that third-wave ska is typically known for.

The multi-toned guitar lines on Only Wonder really stand out for me. It’s extremely catchy, and quite testament to the innovativeness of Japanese rock.

ゲッターロボ (Getta Robo) is the theme song to one of the first Japanese mecha anime. The timbre in Isao Sasaki’s voice pairs really well with the 70’s orchestral pop arrangement found in so many TV shows from that era.

I think If is where we transit to a exploring some of Beef / Kealan’s city pop playlists. I really enjoyed the elegance of Shizuka Kudo’s vocals and the synth work found in the song.

Slight deviation so that I can feature Lim Kiang’s Cold Morning. A new track from a new album by the original and surviving member of Stray Dogs, one of Singapore’s most popular blues bands in the 60’s. Cold Morning is full of attitude, introspection, and extremely swampy slide guitar work. Not something you associate with the surgical city state of Singapore, and that’s what I love about the track.

THE WINNER sounds like it was inspired by Kenny Loggin’s Danger Zone. But once that chorus hits, it’s a catchy 80’s disco-rock vocal melody line that will have you raising your hands in celebration.

失われた伝説を求めて (Ushinawareta Yume o Motomete / In Search of Lost Legends) is the opening song to the anime Genesis Climber Mospeda, which in my pre-teen years was actually Robotech: The New Generation. Obviously, back then I had no bearing on how amazing this song actually is, but listening to it now, it’s funky, dance-y, full of wonderful horn-based accents and syncopation, one of the rare instances where I feel that slap bass really fits the pop or rock song genre. And I live for that airy falsetto that takes place over four measures in the tail end of the chorus. It is so close to pitching out of tune, but somehow does not. It is butt-clenching.

By the time we get to Currents, I think I realised I had been featuring way too much music from one particular playlist. Currents is here because I was having a rest and listening to one of my daily mixes, and the moment the bongo beats came on, I immediately added it to this playlist. Why? Because bongo don’t stop. Bongos immediately make me assume that the song is going to be great, and have not been wrong yet.

ガラスのPalm Tree (Glass no Palm Tree) is a really classy city pop track, and I recommend checking the entire album out.

Rewind and Desire lend some much needed chill-wave aesthetics to cleanse the palette a little, and somehow Children of the Omnisiah‘s chilling, gothic arrangements of the synth, bass, voice, and percussion, really cap off the last leg of the playlist very well. Pure coincidence that it ends of with some form of western mecha culture.

Giant robots are the best.