About four years ago, Yoko Kanno was announced to become the composer for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, a semi-alternate world for the highly successful Ghost in the Shell movie. The fanbase was surprised. The Ghost in the Shell movie has been one of the most influential animations that came out of Japan, and the composer for that animation was Kenji Kawai, not Yoko Kanno.

But the fans were also confident that she could come up with something fitting for the animation. Kanno has been well known to shift styles to fit whatever genre is needed for a show, be it comedy, action, drama or suspense. And as the Ghost in the Shell TV series has a lighter mood than the movie, the music also has to follow suit. These following song samples from the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex are most reminiscent of the song “The Making of a Cyborg”, which was the theme of the Ghost in the Shell movie. Both have vocals and lyrics by Gabriela Robin. Check them out:

Zero Signal:

Zero Signal is the third track from the Ghost in the Shell: SAC Solid State Society OST starting off with strong a cappella vocals by Gabriela and ends in heavy electronic instrumentals. The next sample is Stamina Rose which is the third track from the first album of Ghost in the Shell: SAC’s first OST. It’s a chant with electronic pulses and an off-beat rhythm.

Stamina Rose:

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Hi everyone, surprise, I actually bought a domain and space for the Gabriela Robin site I made almost three years ago. But since it’s made on a shoe string budget, my dreams of making a site with song samples for every set of lyrics will probably have to wait.

What has changed / is being changed:

1. Dedicated page to each set of song lyrics. The lengthy list of songs with bookmarks in them are not very nice to look at.
2. Blog-styled front page. It will be easier to post news, reviews and comments. Mind you, Kanno has a lot of up and coming material this 2007.
3. Blog design. I will attempt to capture the style of the former website, but this one will not have the piano thingy anymore.
4. Ads. Yes, there are ads. If I could earn a bit to purchase bigger space and more bandwidth, then that would be great. Of course I recognize that Gabriela has such a niche market that ads won’t really have fast returns, but here’s to hoping

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