The Official Macross Website has posted a promotional video of Macross Frontier.

I’m hearing some Ghost in the Shell:SAC vibes in the background music to that song. Kanno’s name is at the opening of the PV, and I’m guessing that the song that plays is hers.

And still the hanging question… who is the other composer to this animation?

Someone uploaded the video to youtube:

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Another roll of re-releases, old and new. Click on the images to view the details.

Memories

Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaia

Cowboy Bebop: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

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First it was reported this year, then another reported it for 2009, then now, 2008! Please, let it be 2008. The news also reports that Kanno WILL share the composing duties with another person. From ANN:

…Macross creator Shoji Kawamori of Studio Nue will collaborate with the animation studio Satelight (Macross Zero, Noein) and music composer Yoko Kanno (Macross Plus, Cowboy Bebop) for the series. Due to the rigors of composing a television series, Kawamori said that Kanno will be sharing her duties with another composer as she did with The Vision of Escaflowne and Aquarion. Kawamori will oversee the project and design the main variable fighters while Junya Ishigaki (Macross Zero’s Destroids, Noein) and Takeshi Takakura (Appleseed movies, Noein) will contribute additional mechanical designs.

Read more at ANN. (more…)

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 (more…)

click the image to go to the cm videos page

New CM music from Kanno this time for an insurance company and it looks like they are targeting a rural audience. The piece is another piano with light orchestra piece, which she has been doing for a lot of her CMs recently.

As an aside Gabriele Roberto also has new CM music for Daiwa House, available in Grandfunk.net . It’s impressive stuff, you have to take a look! (more…)