Kajiuras music quality is dropping?

[Lorde-Kowz]

Re:

About live vol.5, I remember reading Yuriko was having cold atm.

I think Chibi-Chibi mentioned that.

 

[mi_feng]

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i thought wakana was perfectly alright in materialize =/

maybe yuki wanted yuriko to save her energy for the epic finale

and wakana doesnt dominate Kalafina anymore imo (unless its a ballad), feels like the leads are moving towards Hikaru

Wakana sounded like a chicken during the high notes, IMO.

 

[Lunaria77]

Re: Re:

i thought wakana was perfectly alright in materialize =/

maybe yuki wanted yuriko to save her energy for the epic finale

and wakana doesnt dominate Kalafina anymore imo (unless its a ballad), feels like the leads are moving towards Hikaru

Wakana sounded like a chicken during the high notes, IMO.

Yeah,almost like Kate Perry live.

 

[mi_feng]

Re: Re:

i thought wakana was perfectly alright in materialize =/

maybe yuki wanted yuriko to save her energy for the epic finale

and wakana doesnt dominate Kalafina anymore imo (unless its a ballad), feels like the leads are moving towards Hikaru

Wakana sounded like a chicken during the high notes, IMO.

Yeah,almost like Kate Perry live.

Lol. True story.

 

[Yuki88]

I guess this thread is better off locked. The whole discussion has gone meaningless and turns into "Attacking the Vocalists" session. Don't use reason like "she's overused" etc, yes yes I know it's a fact but I hear you all you guys have repeated that line for 8790653696 times and I'm sicked of it by now. If you're tired of listening to her, just message it directly to Kajiura. She's always available on Twitter or you can just mail her.

 

[Maha Jyotiṣa]

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I guess this thread is better off locked. The whole discussion has gone meaningless and turns into "Attacking the Vocalists" session. Don't use reason like "she's overused" etc, yes yes I know it's a fact but I hear you all you guys have repeated that line for 8790653696 times and I'm sicked of it by now. If you're tired of listening to her, just message it directly to Kajiura. She's always available on Twitter or you can just mail her.

Even the fan is sick with the term, the theme, the pro and contra, the style.

Now I think about it. The vocalist do have helped me identifying each of Yuki's works.
Noir : the first time I heard yuriko
.hack SIGN : Emily
Madlax : Yuuka and Fion
Xenosaga II : Margaret Dorn
Petite Cosette : Yuriko with lower voice
Tsubasa : Ito Eri

Hokuto no Ken : Tokyo Konsei + Wakana.

 

[grunty]

nevar forget back when Kajiura did good stuff

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsi2cbYRdBQ[/youtube]

 

[Nick Hunter]

nevar forget

Oh, we don't. And we won't. Regardless of attitude to her newer works.
But I'm always glad to see Erementar Gerad OST getting credit. Like I said, it seems heavily underrated to me.

 

[george1234]

You right that its kinda underrated but that imo is because among some very good music (eg the vocla tracks) it has numerous varations of everlasting song (which i personally dont like). The music Grunty pointred out is indeed very good and I am pretty sure that of the same level is the battle music with the Sayaka-witch in Madoka.

 

[Nick Hunter]

Yeah, an frequent theme, I guess Xebec likes OSTs that way (remember all the variations of Melody and Contractor themes in PH ). But both CDs contain a lot of great music besides it.

 

[ninetales]

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But I'm always glad to see Erementar Gerad OST getting credit. Like I said, it seems heavily underrated to me.

I think the El Cazador OST is underrated too...most people seem to focus on the Noir and Madlax OSTs, but my personal all-time favorite OST from Kajiura-sensei is El Cazador.

Hey, it's got The Ballad of a Bounty Hunter, Sad Yearning, Inca Rose, Hit it and Run!, Moonlight Fiesta, Just for Love, Hidden Love, The Place of Eternity (one of my top faves ever), L.A., Paradise Regained, Ordinary Sunset...what's not to love?

Oh, and I do like the Elemental Gelade OST too. Very folksy and violin-oriented, which is nice. Kajiura-sensei's never done an OST like it, I think.

 

[Nick Hunter]

I think the El Cazador OST is underrated too...

That would be even less understandable... El Cazador is one of Yuki's Bee Train OSTs - meaning one of those where she could almost write whatever came to mind. One of those where every other track is a potential hit. Besides, stylistically it remains one of Yuki's most vivid and interesting works.

The Ballad of a Bounty Hunter

THAT. Harmonica is cool by itself, but the guitar solo is also one of the best I've ever heard in Yuki's songs.
Actually, I meant to add more examples to your list, but on second thought, I won't. It would be easier to post the whole tracklist.

Oh, and I do like the Elemental Gelade OST too. Very folksy and violin-oriented, which is nice. Kajiura-sensei's never done an OST like it, I think.

Indeed, folksy themes and arrangements seem to be rarer in her recent works... Although it may have something to do with the nature and setting of the shows she composes for. Satoyama had a nice bunch of folk melodies, Historia had its glimpses, too. The most recent and unexpected one would probably be Homura's theme, although I might have expected something like that (I remember thinking that PMMM would have allusions to Celtic themes and all, mostly based on Madoka and Homura's bows ).

 

[ninetales]

Re:

That would be even less understandable...

There was actually a poll about it and the results are in the archives. Tsubasa Chronicles won by a mile, and although I like it too, I personally think El Cazador runs rings around it for mood

Harmonica is cool by itself

JR!!

Actually, I meant to add more examples to your list, but on second thought, I won't. It would be easier to post the whole tracklist.

I just posted my personal favorites, and I haven't even taken the time to listen to the whole thing yet...

Actually I'm planning to buy it instead of just listening to it on Youtube

Satoyama had a nice bunch of folk melodies

The Mercy of Nature

The most recent and unexpected one would probably be Homura's theme, although I might have expected something like that (I remember thinking that PMMM would have allusions to Celtic themes and all, mostly based on Madoka and Homura's bows ).

I actually haven't seen the show since the first episode, so I can't wait to hear the music

 

[Nick Hunter]

Tsubasa Chronicles won by a mile, and although I like it too, I personally think El Cazador runs rings around it for mood

I voted for Tsubasa, too I may not be too objective there, since the factor of TRC being my introduction to Yuki Kajiura may play it part. Besides, in the poll Tsubasa set up 4 CDs against El Cazador's two, that could even be cheating

I actually haven't seen the show since the first episode, so I can't wait to hear the music

Then you'd better start it, so much the more that the last two episodes are due next week. And this show has a whole pack of mastepieces. Which we won't hear in good quality until late in May, though.

Btw, if you watched the first episode, you should have heard Homura's theme, it played there right after her conversation with Madoka.

As to Yuki Kajiura's MOST underrated OST... I think it would be Boogiepop. That album is magnificent, but as it was released in pre-Noir years, not many people actually know about it.

 

[ninetales]

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Then you'd better start it, so much the more that the last two episodes are due next week. And this show has a whole pack of mastepieces. Which we won't hear in good quality until late in May, though.

I was actually planning to wait until the OST comes out since I'm not sure if I would enjoy the show that much.

Btw, if you watched the first episode, you should have heard Homura's theme, it played there right after her conversation with Madoka.

I think I remember that one...but what I remember the most are the guitar theme when she's going to school and the transformation theme for...is it Mami, I think? Plus that wonderful echoey piano theme too

As to Yuki Kajiura's MOST underrated OST... I think it would be Boogiepop. That album is magnificent, but as it was released in pre-Noir years, not many people actually know about it.

I guess you're right...I've never heard a single song from it

 

[ninetales]

^ Well, now I can hear them...because Kowz put them up on Youtube!

 

[Nick Hunter]

They've been rereleased in WFS already... Kowz gotta go hide before SME agents track him down!

 

[grunty]

Let's just imagine Yuki has dumped Kajiurago almost completely, and it pops up once an album at most. Now, I wonder, how long will it take us to complain and want "generic" Kajiurago bridges back?
It's good to try something new, but if Yuki wants to compose songs full of "generic Kajiurago", then so be it. The quality of her songs remains far above the generic general mass of pop music, both Western and Japanese (and let's not get started on Russian pop music ), so let her do what she's INSPIRED to do. When a musician goes experimenting just because people say he/she should do so, without having any personal interest to the things tried... the result seldom turns out good. That's what bothers me.

This is a load of devoted fangirl BS in my opinion and here's my take on the issue.

If an artist is doing the same things over and over again then I'm simply no longer interested - I can listen to the original tracks that brought me to this artist in the first place. I'll bring Bjork in here whom I used to be a HUGE fan of. Bjork has been stuck in a corner since Vespertine - she has not done anything new musically since then, no growth as an artist. She just keeps doing the same things over and over again using acappella, using brass, using a tesla coil, etc. F*ck that. Count me out.

If an artist "experiments" with their sound and fails... TOO BAD. That will simply also show that this artist's time has come. They should ask themselves if they should keep releasing mediocrity or retire until they feel like they can do something fresh again.

tldr: (most) fans get bored.

 

[Nick Hunter]

I'm fully aware fans get bored, growth and variety are welcomed and so on, and so forth. And fading creativity is something that may eventually befall any artist (btw, Yuki herself said that she's aware of such possibilities).
But that's all good on paper. In reality, a musician does things because he wants to do them - except if he's struggling to get some money for living. Otherwise... Doing new things for the growth? Let's first assume the artist CARES to grow rather than just compose something he likes, sharing it with people and getting some nice money for the labour (the latter much attributed to the hell which recording industry is). Doing new things for the fans? It's a damned lottery, since for every fan welcoming these new things there may or may not be one or several who are NOT pleased. The "unpleasable fanbase" trope wasn't born out of nowhere, so trying to cater to everyone is exactly like sitting on two chairs - a pain in the butt with a prospect of falling. Like I said, there are times when a musician changes his style to get old fans back or attract new ones, but only if he (or his recording label, for that mater) is really concerned about the current size of target audience and/or income. And there is plenty of those who aren't. What do we have left? Oh, doing new things because you feel like doing something new. I think, I've spoken on it already.

Sticking to the old tested ways MAY do harm to one's career, but lack of originality hardly ever disproves the quality. There are artists like Elton John who manage to play in the same vein for 40+ years and sell their records like hotcakes, gather full stadiums for their live performances. And then there are creativists who spend their whole career experimenting and getting pumped up reviews in vanguard music magazines... and calling themselves "someone whose music only the elite can value" because their records don't sell for a penny - they're simply uninteresting to listen to.

Of course, there are lucky ones who manage to be successful while constantly experimenting. That's why someone who wants moar diversity in a musician's portfolio should go listen to David Bowie. Or Mike Oldfield, although he's not exactly a superstar (not quite his own fault). As to Yuki, the presence of ol' tested ways in her music is easy to acknowledge. Some have a problem with it, some don't. Personally, I see her style as a bunch of over a dozen different ones merged together, which IMHO gives a considerable credit against complete originality expiration. And while she keeps the quality of her songs on the same level, evolving at a pace she chooses (or even not evolving at all) is hardly something she should answer for to anybody. There's a difference between growing when you're ready to and growing (or attempting to grow) by the schedule someone has made for you on the base of being your fan, buying your releases and thus, by their own estimation, knowing better.

 

[grunty]

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Let's first assume the artist CARES to grow

I stopped reading there. If we need to assume that then it's not an "artist" to me.