Friday 31 October 2014

Circle You, Circle You

Here is a scary music video for Hallowe'en, performed by Ashe (a.k.a. "ashestoashesjc"), featuring images of Vocaloid avatars.

It's quite effective and really needs no further introduction or explanation from me...

Song of the Carcasses

It's time to kick-off this Hallowe'en evening's musical journey, while the young 'uns are still awake. Essentially carcasses and a mythical type of unpleasant creature, the Rakshasa, are what this creepy song is about, as told from a child's perspective and dressed up in a light and upbeat arrangement.

This is the live performance at Kansai of Hold, Release, Rakshasa and Carcasses (though also known by variations of that title), performed as it should be on the upper stage, and the video below comes with English subtitles.

I have to say that the band's backing here isn't quite as good as the 39s at Sapporo a couple of years earlier, but it works well enough overall...

Thursday 9 October 2014

Bieber vs Miku

This ten-minute video is actually quite instructive about the two sides of the popular music scene – human and virtual. It also covers ground that doesn't tend to be mentioned very often, and could even be helpful to former 'Beliebers' who have recently gone off their former idol. Here, you might find out why it all went wrong for him, and many others before.

As always, it is important to remember that Vocaloid does not replace human performers, but merely adds to choice in the marketplace. There were those, years ago, who bemaoned the arrival of piano-keyboard type synthesiers, fearing they'd supplant guitars. They did not, but augmented them instead. Now it is commonplace to have both, whether on record or at live performances.

This video, though, concentrates on the actualities of the two methods and what effect they can have on the person or the product. It is a useful reference work...