Kitschstortion

ROK boyband in DPRK

2011-10-13T18:18:00.000-07:00

South Korean J-Pop band performing in front of Pyongyang elites circa 2006.

ELECTRICAL PARADE

2011-08-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

TWILIGHT

2011-08-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

An entry in MMD cup 7, which as far as I know is a tournament for use of MikuMikuDance, a program related to Vocaloid characters (traditional usage is having them sing/dance along to Vocaloid-created music).

VAGUE SERENADE

2011-08-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

Tonio and his super-human super-choir explore the musical capablities of Vocaloid through the power of cover songs.

http://www.archive.org/details/VagueSerenade

The album is 100% Vocaloid with some post-processing, such as Buffer Override. Songs used are mostly from the 50s/60s.

BEWARE OF VAGABOND MACHINE-GODS

2011-07-26T15:08:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a month or so due to new job and loss of internet connection. Things settled down a bit recently and I got to working on Vocaloid some more.

Tonio was forcibly detained by Japanese militarists. He should find his way out at some point in the future. In the meantime, here are some sub-par Vocaloid performers:

http://www.archive.org/details/Vocollage

Each track uses a single Vocaloid voice bank and either a single one-syllable word or a phoneme. Three of the tracks are music. Would not suggest listening with headphones for most of these.

Synthesize EVERYTHING!

2011-06-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

I've been hanging around with Japanophiles for the past few weeks, mostly because of my research into Vocaloid and its applications. A nice crowd, worth noting for their extreme tendency to synthesize everything. Each Vocaloid voice bank, in the minds of many fans, has its own apperance and personality. Each is a virtual pop icon, the avatar singing and dancing using programs like "MikuMikuDance."

"Real" instrumentals are rarely used, most everything being done through software. Their anime-styled avatars and the less-than-perfect synthesis Vocaloid provides, however, might be considered barriers to more mainstream approval.

Enter AKB48.

AKB48 is a long-standing popular Japanese girl-pop group, often noted for having more active members (58) than any other pop group. The newest member, Eguchi Aimi, has made no live appearances and has no real record of existence, as noted by fans. Here is a video revealing the nature of the being:

The face, shown to the left in the latter half of the video, is a CGI amalgamation of the "ideal" portions of other popular band members. This is not a CG representation of a single face, basically being a kind of cyberpunk Frankenstein monster. Imagine! This is pop icon synthesis perfected, aside from the distinctly human voice. This, too, will be replaced, perhaps much sooner than we realize.

I, for one, welcome our new synthetic overlords.

If interested, here is a very popular Vocaloid-oriented forum which I am now frequenting. There's also an IRC, sakura.tsukihi.net #mikuchan.

ETA: here is an article released just yesterday about the virtual icon.

►Messer Für Frau Müller◄ - Intim Service Cosmique

2011-06-14T22:01:00.000-07:00

Yma Sumac - Magenta Mountain

2011-06-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

Song of the week.

Paper Mache Hubcaps and You

2011-06-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

Made using test card music from test card music compilations featured on Cosmobells. Most tracks are distorted beyond being recognizable, though the original pieces' names are kept. Each track is around a minute long.

http://www.archive.org/details/PaperMacheHubcapsAndYou

Tower of Sunz

2011-06-06T12:12:00.000-07:00

Somewhat vague and bewildering lyrics with unsettling imagery and a strange atmosphere. This is one of the better uses of Vocaloid, especially Hatsane Miku, that I have seen, as it takes advantage of the inherent uncanniness of the program's output.

Vocaloid Honey

2011-06-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

This is a thing man was not meant to know.

Tonio Unplugged

2011-06-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

Tonio, a singing intelligence from the year of our Lord 2052, visited my illustrious government housing complex for some good old southern hospitality. Though in need of repair, he managed to produce some tunes derived from his decaying databanks. Here are the results:

http://www.archive.org/details/TonioUnplugged

Tonify your songs!

Tonio is taking requests from his "Old World" listeners. Ask him to sing a song and he might put it on his next release, "Tonio by Request," after loading it into his (now rather vacant) lyrical memory.

Please make requests in the comments section of this post or email me at idemosaka@gmail.com.

Answer of the Soldiers

2011-05-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

Orchestral performance of popular DPRK song; no massive booming chorus or cheesy electronic effects to be found.

Comrade Normal's Essay on the Three Sins of Free Music

2011-05-19T13:39:00.000-07:00

Comrade Normal released an essay regarding the follies and transgressions of the modern free music movement. A large hindrance to our movement is a lack of filial devotion to correct and proper noise artists. The essay is highly regarded internationally, and study groups devoted to his works are currently being formed in countries such as Argentina, Chile, and Macau.

3 Sins of Free Music and How to Fix Them

10 Point Programme on the Noise Idea for a Better Socialist System

2011-05-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.archive.org/details/10PointProgrammeOnTheNoiseIdeaForABetterSocialistSystem

Completely sampled from DPRK sounds & music.

Pore Jud is Daid

2011-05-12T00:17:00.000-07:00

Dondollari

2011-04-30T04:54:00.000-07:00

The famous DPRK pop phenomenon "Dondollari."

Five Seconds of Eternity

2011-04-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.archive.org/details/FiveSecondsOfEternity

This was made in Audacity and Reaper, using their default effects/VSTs as well as meapsoft and a file-stretching program. The purpose was to make a diverse piece out of a five-second sample, a .wav file which can also be found in the above link.

Kit Kat Tik Tak

2011-04-25T19:48:00.000-07:00

This was made mostly by sampling The Rockin' Beats' "Kit Kat Sin" album, folk/hardcore/no wave brilliance which can be found here.

Kit Kat Tik Tak

Garbage is Terrible.

2011-04-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

Ritter knows something about filth.

Transient Hearts EP

2011-04-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

This is my first "official" EP, with four tracks. Samples used range from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to the gentlemanly Frank Scott.

http://www.archive.org/details/TransientHeartsEp

Look at all of these Filthy Dishes.

2011-04-23T04:40:00.000-07:00

Some people are just plain filthy.

►Ralph Boston Sound Orchestra◄ - Cavallino

2011-04-21T22:41:00.000-07:00

Hello

2011-04-21T22:33:00.000-07:00

I have just gotten into the noise groove and will use this blog to post my experiments as well as the works of others. Here are two pieces I have created, one sampling the Clebanoff Strings’ “Oye Negra,” the other sampling multiple tracks by sixties commercial big band extraordinaire Reg Tilsley. Both can be streamed from or downloaded at the Internet Archive.

http://www.archive.org/details/Clebanoise

http://www.archive.org/details/tilsleycore