Darker Than Black Staireo Self-Covers Review and Others
For one, I wasn’t impressed with the OST of Darker Than Black, and thought that the mixing left the center channel at the back, if that makes sense. The result is a murky, old sound, which might have been deliberately done due to the nature of the animation, but in effect takes away from the clarity and likability of the recording.
left to right: Coma, James Wendt, David Billing, Sebastian Forslund
That made the self-cover of “Blend In” and “Deadly Work” by Staireo a pleasant surprise. Originally composed and arranged by Yoko Kanno and sang by Staireo vocalist James Wendt, the original version of these two songs sound well-arranged, with a very good hint of experimentalism here and there. But the covers are very different from the original, and pleasantly so in my opinion.
Review:
Deadly Work – Funkified, electrified. You can even dance to this version! What I like best is that the recording is that it is much cleaner than the original. The instruments could be discerned from each other and the rhythm has been amped up. Kanno’s version had the chorus in 5/4 meter all the way, but this version has 5/4 and 4/4 shifting meter which adds to the whole funky feel of the song.
Blend In – I respect covers that sound very different from the original, and this is one of those covers that do just that. I almost forgot how the original version sounded like after I listened to this version. The tempo has been sped up, no more folksy mood, and then add a bit of funk and voila! Great cover, Staireo 
For those who haven’t listened to samples of this song, head on down to Neowing and listen to tracks 15 and 16.
And this must be the first time you’d hear from me that I’d rather listen to covers than originals 
Staireo also mentions this piece of news from their website:
CSI:6 / Darker than Black2007-08-25
For the third season in a row, wowow production will use Staireo songs as theme music for CSI in Japan!! Mr Wendt recently made a trip to Japan to record vocals for the songs “Blend In” and “Deadly Work” which will be used in the Japanese tv-animated show “Darker Than Black”.
Also, are currently on tour in Japan. For tour dates, head on down to the Staireo Website.
Related Articles:
November 6th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Speaking of Darker than Black, I’m a bit worried as to why there hasn’t been a 2nd OST announced yet even after the series has ended for 1 month+
In my opinon most of the best music from the series was left off the 1st OST. I know it’s normal for Yoko Kanno OSTs to not include all the music she makes for a show, but there is a huge amount of music left in Darker than Black yet to be put to disc…
November 6th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that too! I wonder why there has been no announcement? Let’s see, either there’s no plan to make one, or the sales were not good, or they don’t have time to put together another one, or something else? I haven’t seen anyone make an “unreleased music” series out of this anime, so I can’t really be the judge on whether there is more good music to put out.