18-11-07

**Some informations for those expecting my new tracks...**
Hi everybody. I know, it's late. I have to apologize, especially to those who have Believed. I know you've been waiting for Angel Sanctuary or some other song. But now that song lies in a cupboard. Unfinished
Why?
For 2 main reasons: 1) I can't find a singer, and I really don't want to ruin it with singing by myself, as I did with my old songs. The "instrumental" track is ready, but it doesn't make much sense without lyrics, so I won't upload it unless a lot of you will ask for it.
2) The second reason is much more difficult to explain. I'm living a sort of "revolution" inside, about the real meaning of "music", and of what I want to do with it. I found out that the music I was writing was not what I expected. You'll probably call me idiot, but since my latest song doesn't fit at all with those new "ideas" growing inside of me, I feel really unpleased when I work on it. That's probably why it's taking so much time to complete it.
I want to assure to everybody that I'm NOT GIVING UP with this SAB project, or with my music. Only, I'm studying hard to make my music have a real sense for me too.
Just to upload something new, I'll put in this page the "Organ Ouverture" I wrote for Angel Sanctuary. Just to give the idea that I'm still alive. Hope you'll like it: it's a kind of 3 parts Invention in the baroque style. Enjoy.

13-10-07

**About the upcoming song.../2**
Hello. Recording Angel Sanctuary is taking me more time than I expected... My poor PC cannot really bear a 10/15-minute rec session... you should hear the crying noise it makes when swapping on the Hdisk after the 8th minute... SOB! SOB! ;_; My poor PitChie! SOB! SOB! ;_; ...well, I have to split every session into at least 2 parts, and this takes me twice the time of a normal recording session: it's like I'm working on 2 tracks at once. Heh, I have to buy some extra RAM... Well, once more, I ask you to be patient. My new song will finally see the light, I promise. 'Bye everyone, I go and work. :)



07-10-07

**About the upcoming song.../1**
Hi everybody! I know I'm terribly late, but I'd like to tell you I'm working really hard... And I have to attend to my college lessons too... So I'm very very busy. I just finished the ultimate arrangement of my last song, Angel Sanctuary (it's 10.00 P.M.). It's a 11-minutes song (more than twice the lenght of a "normal" song), and the keyboard parts I wrote were very difficult for me to learn :) (yeah, I know, I'm an idiot, I should have written easier parts...). But now my dirty job is over, I'm going to record it next week. So please be patient. That's one of my best songs ever, I think. I'm working also on another piece, it would be ready very soon after the recording of Angel Sanctuary. So stay in touch! And Believe!

P.S.: In the meantime, you can enjoy some images taken from the mangas I was inspired by, just have a look at my photo page...

                                        IMPORTANT!!!

1. I'm not a singer. My vocals are just here to give you an idea. I'M LOOKING FOR A PROFESSIONAL SINGER to make my music sound better. If you're interested, please contact me!

2. Please listen to all my tracks, from the beginning to the end, since they usually contain various parts: you may find that a theme you don't like is followed by one you'll love... :) Thank you.

MANGA READERS ALL AROUND THE WORLD!!! THE MUSIC YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS RIGHT HERE!!!!

                      ^_^   BELIEVE!!!   ^_^

03-08-07

Hello!

Do you like my music? I hope so. I've decided to open a MySpace page.
Why?
Because my friends says that my music is "too experimental" to get enough believers here. So I'll try to put more "easy listening" songs on this page, leaving the more "experimental ones" (such as The Night of the Berserk) on MySpace. Of course, if I'll ever get the 50k goal, I'll put on the CD all my tracks. So, if you believe, please let me know if you prefer my experimental side, or the easy listening side.
I'm not betraying my music! Since I've written at least 50 pieces, I've got to decide what of them I have to record first. You'll see that my style doesn't change at all from one track to another. It's important for me to make this concept clear: I'm not becoming commercial (bleah!). Only, you may find yourself singing my next few songs when you're taking a shower... :)


26-07-07

Hi everybody!

This is my very 1st post... I'm so excited...!!

My name is Shuuchan. I do love music... Well, I think everybody here does.
I'm 25, I'm a keyboard player and I'm studying composition. I play piano since I was 7, but I'm not that good after all... :)

I love Japan. I loved it since I read my first manga when I was 14. So there's no reason to explain the title of this SAB project - "Rising Sun".
All the pieces you'll hear in this page will get their inspiration in MANGAs, ANIMEs and Japanese NOVELs. I'll try to tell their stories.

Thus, my music has no specific genre. [...] You should treat my pieces as soundtracks.

In order to make my music more comprehensible, I'll write an explanation for all my pieces in the Blog page. Check it out!

This week in playlist:

• - Metropolis (from Rin Taro's Metropolis);
  

• - Video Girl Ai (from Masakazu Katsura's Video Girl Ai);

• - The Night of the Berserk (from Kentaro Miura's Berserk) EXPERIMENTAL TRACK.
  

 

26-07-06

Welcome!
In this Blog you'll find all the explanations you need to enjoy my music.

• MONSTER (from Naoki Urasawa's Monster)

The story so far...
Dr. Kenzo Tenma is a famous Japanese surgeon who works in a private clinic in Germany. One night he decides to operate Johan, a child that was shot, instead of a wealthy mayor. From that moment on his life goes to rack and ruin: he loses his job, his fiancée, and everyone's friendship. Some years later he is also wanted for some murders. Trying to escape from inspector Lunge (who really believes him guilty) Tenma discovers that all those crimes he is in charge with are committed by Johan himself, who became a serial killer. Tenma, in order to find evidence of his own innocence, then investigates on Johan's past, and discovers Johan's twin sister, Nina...

The Track
This piece isn't so easy to explain. It may seem a simple electronic work, that becomes a little bit "techno". That's not.
First of all, there's no storytelling, as in my other pieces. This time the track is a "bolero", which introduces different instruments step by step. And each instrument represents a character of the manga: you may find Tenma (Electric Piano), Johan and Nina (two Digital Pianos that you may hear alternatively on your left and on your right), inspector Lunge (bass), and many others.
But, most important thing, "Monster" is a "minimalist" piece, just like a lot of Steve Reich's, Philip Glass' and Ludovico Einaudi's works: is built on two simple patterns, which are repeated slightly changed all along the piece. These are, in this case: 1) the first measure of Johan/Nina's piano, which is repeated steadily with minimal changes from the beginning to the end; 2) the couple of notes F-E. Why just F and E? Because E is the "dominant" of the A minor scale, the tune of the piece, and F is the only note of that scale that's not present in the first pattern. Every (and I mean every) part of each instrument is built from these patterns (reversed, transposed, ecc).
Confused enough? No? Then you should notice some other things too. Inspector Lunge's theme on bass (A-G-F-E-D-C-F-E) is just Tenma's theme (E-F-C-D-E-F-G-A-E, last E is there just to close the circle) reversed and played more slowly with a different beat division. The same with variation (Lunge: F-G-A-E; Tenma E-A-G-F). Why this? Because Lunge believes Tenma guilty while he's not (reversed theme), and he tries to arrest him (so he is after Tenma, and walks slowly on his tracks in order to get him).
Another example: Johan and Nina are just twins, so they share the same theme. But since Johan is a serial killer, while Nina is not, the two themes are completely out of phase.
And so on... It'll take me too much time to explain all the things I've put in this piece. But (I want to stress it one more time) every note has got its own meaning. Maybe you'll enjoy yourself in trying to get those meanings. Maybe you'll even find some I've never thought about! :)))
That's why I'm quite proud of this work, even if it's not the one I prefer to listen to. It's difficult to work as an "architect" on music, and still make it sound at least decent for listeners: just give ear to some of Schoenberg's masterpieces, or listen to the "phase instruments" by Steve Reich. Of course, they were both genius for their ideas. But I believe that after few "dodecaphonic" pieces, or 20 minutes of "piano phase", your ears will disagree... :)

• VIDEO GIRL AI (from Masakazu Katsura's Video Girl Ai)

The story so far...
Yota is a very shy 16 yo boy. He really likes his classmate Moemi, but unfortunately she is in love with Yota's best friend, Takashi. One day Takashi turns her down, and makes her suffer. Yota is more sorry for Moemi's suffering than for his own unrequited love, and shows a really pure heart. So that day, on the way home, Yota runs across a videoshop he has never noticed before, called Gokuraku (=Heaven), which only pure-hearted people can see. He walks in, and rents a video, "Ai Amano - I'll cheer you up". Finally home he puts the video in the cassette recorder... and magically Ai comes out from the screen! She is a Video Girl, and her duty is cheering boys up. But Yota's video-recorder is damaged, and the tape isn't played properly, thus Ai starts feeling emotions she wasn't programmed to - like love. And this forces Gokuraku's headmaster, The Man with Raincoat, to whitdraw Ai and her tape...

The Track
This is the very first song I ever wrote on mangas. I was only 18, and I really loved this comic. Even now is one of my favourite, because, to use one of my friend's words, "it's so touching that hurts". I've read it 100 times at least, but I always weep like a baby when I get to the very last chapters.
I've tried to write a touching song too. It's very melodic, and simple (a classical 6/8 ballad), and you may find it slightly (very?) different from my other pieces. I hope you like it anyway. The first idea I had was to play it all along with guitars... but since I've no guitarists, and guitars usually suck on keyboards, I decided to do the job with synths. Please notice the keybaord ending duo, with both parts in a panning dialogue from Left to Right. At the beginning of the song you'll hear a TV that switches from one channel to another... You may hear, in sequence: 1) "Gabriel's Oboe", a theme from "The Mission", written by one of my favourite composers, Ennio Morricone; 2) a shot from Otomo Katsuhiro's "Akira", a milestone of Japanese animation; 3) the opening titles of "My neighbour Totoro", directed by Hayao Miyazaki, probably the most talented anime director all around the world; 4) an MTV program, playing one of my favourite songs, Eric Clapton's "Layla"; 5) a shot from the anime "Vampire Hunter D"; 6) a battle from "Braveheart"; and 7) well... a video tutorial I found on my home PC... :)
As usual, lyrics following.

Here in my hand
The remote control of my head
And I cannot rewind all those days again
But my mind is still fancying with them

On the TV
There’s no place enough for my tears
So the video recorder is silent now
But I have got to see you somehow

‘Cause this shit of a world
Is not wasting a word
‘Bout the greatest pain
A man could ever explore
And I miss you,
I love you,
Adore you, revere you
Just like an addicted should do.

Oh, then came she
And amazingly called for me
She confessed all her feelings concealed inside
I refused with a merciless lie

So, they were dreams
All our kisses and our scenes,
You’ve now left and the room is so sadly cold,
In the end you’re just a video girl...

And I’m swearing against
This so fucking harsh place
Where dreams turn into nightmares
And fears into chains
‘Cause my life’s got no sense
If there’s not the romance
Of your arms holding my body tight.

Here in my hand
The remote control of my head
And I cannot believe it is ended up
Please rewind now this tape to the start.

• METROPOLIS (from Rin Taro's Metropolis)

 
The story so far...
Next future. Ken'ichi has come with his uncle to Metropolis, in order to catch a dangerous criminal scientist. The city has a mayor, but in fact is governed by Duke Red, a very rich stateman, that has a stepson. Ken'ichi and his uncle finally find the hideout of the scientist, but a fire destroys everything, and the scientist die. Ken'ichi finds under the ruins of the hideout a beautiful girl, who cannot speak and doesn't remember anything, and has the appearance of Tima, Duke Red's daughter, died some time before...

The Track
I've always loved this anime. The story was written by one of the most famous Japanese manga-ka, Osamu Tezuka, remaking the homonymous film by Fritz Lang. With such a background, I had no difficulties in writing: in fact it took me only 3 hours to complete the song and the whole arrangement. I wrote the lyrics focusing on the last words of the film: in a scene of distruction, Tima's voice speaks from a little radio under the ruins, asking: "Who am I?". My song is about the search for identity, in a city that never stops (you'll hear a perpetual moving Robo FX during the verses, and you'll probably notice a lot of city noises). I made Ken'ichi speak, in a dialogue between Tima and him.
Here's the lyrics:

City of Gold,

City of Wonders, City of Sun,

Here I am,

I’m looking for the One.

City of Blur,

She’s so fragile and so sweet,

And her puzzled smiles

Are the only words she speaks.

 

(So, who am I?)

A flash of darkness hit my eyes

(So, who am I?)

And I became blind

(So, who am I?)

You’re the One who stole the light –

I can’t see through

(I belong to you)

 

Underground

Lies the City of the Unseen,

In a dump

For people and machines.

There’s a void,

An empty space between our hearts:

This Metropolis

Is tearing us apart.

 

(So, who am I?)

A flash of darkness hit my eyes

(So, who am I?)

And I became blind

(So, who am I?)

You’re the One who stole the light –

I can’t see through

 

(So, who am I?)

A flash of darkness hit my eyes

(So, who am I?)

And I became blind

(So, who am I?)

You’re the One who stole the light –

I can’t see through

 

(Who am I?)

You are the only One to me.

(Please don’t cry)

There’s no sorrow in my tears.

(Tell me why)

There’s no answer in my soul.

(Am I gonna die?)

For sure you won’t be alone.

 

(So, who am I?)

A flash of darkness hit my eyes

(So, who am I?)

And I became blind

(So, who am I?)

You’re the One who stole the light –

I can’t see through

(I belong to you)

Here you are. Welcome.

If you're watchin' this page to check my next live shows, well, it's probably a waste of time.
Why?
'Cause Shuuchan won't play or sing in any show.
There are three main reasons for this.

First of all, I'm not a good performer. I can hardly sing. I play pretty well, but I'm not Rudess, or Allevi, and I don't feel at ease on the stage.
The second reason is a technical one. I have no band supporting me. I should play my pieces all by myself, with the help of a laptop PC. But using a PC gives the impression that the PC is doing everything, especially if you're on your own on the stage (in fact, the bigger the band is, the less you'll notice the PC-work). More than that... I've got no laptop PC!!! :)
The last reason is much more deeper. I don't like live performances. When I write music, I'd like that people would enjoy my music. I don't really want people watching me while I'm playing my music. Perhaps that's why I don't feel at ease on a stage.
Only music really matters. When I go to a concert, I usually get distracted from the band that's on the stage, and I don't pay attention to the music the band is playing. You'll probably say that a live concert is not only music, that you can experience different feelings just being there, two steps far from the artist. True. But that's not what I want. Only music really matters. I believe that the artist should not interfere with his work. A song lives its own life, and nobody, nobody should meddle.

Am I weird? Perhaps.
I hope this won't keep you from believing in me. I think everyone may have a chance... even without a World Tour. :)
No?