Out Of The Comfort Zone

 

Music + Comic on the coming Sound Messe Osaka 2025

It is the GOLDEN WEEK Holidays here, not that really has much impact on me, other than places can be more crowded.

The schedule for Mattias's mini FREAK GUITAR CAMP and the "optional" requirements of bringing your own guitar and a battery operated Headphone Aamp, as there will be no power available to attendees.

But the real crux Music + Comic on: OFF THE GRID, BEING OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE or maybe NOT BELONGING?  

The thoughts as I prepared for a Freak Guitar Weekend Clinic during the Sound Messe Osaka 2025 this coming weekend. It is 90 minutes by train each way, so a carry your guitar on your back in a gigbag (the way everyone does it here, but I haven't done that before) thing, and take a guitar headphone amp (which I didn't have and bought one second hand on line), wired earbuds and tuner. Not taking my better Ibanez RG, but this 1984 MADE IN JAPAN Squire with a DiMarzio HS3 pickup in the bridge.

This is my oldest, and now, least used guitar and so the one I am most comfortable to take on this trip to ATC Hall Osaka. Very close to Osaka Expo 2025. 

I expect carrying this much of the day will be very tiring for me, a guy in his later 60s. I could drop it or fall over with it. I will probably be wiped out before I even get there if I couldn't get seat on the train.

I attended Mattias's clinic during last years Sound Messe 2024 and it was great. I aren't a good student of Konnakol though. I was the only retired person there. This year is longer and hands on with guest musicians. He does that with his yearly FREAK GUITAR CAMP in the Swedish woods too. It seems a significant part of that camp experience is "the eating vegetarian and shitting like a horse" and that hasn't been brought along😃

The other thing is Saturday is forecast to be fairly heavy rain. Sunday maybe not, but it is too far out to tell yet. Getting myself and a guitar wet isn't really something I want to do. Maybe I go Sunday. 

Seems an opportunity I shouldn't pass up.

"One ticket to FREAK GUITAR WEEKEND please, and I'll take a helping of HUMBLE PIE with the FEELINGS OF INADEQUACY topping"... 

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology

2006 Satoshi Kon's PAPRIKA & Vocaloid Soundtrack

 

Vocaloid was used extensively by Composer Susumu Hirasawa in the soundtrack to the 2006 Anime Paprika. A film to later have a few concepts & scenes "borrowed" in 2010s INCEPTION.  More than a few.  

In the early 1990s I developed a Smalltalk/DSP system in Roland Japan R&D I demonstrated and wanted to use in developing a "singing" synthesizer. Management said don't need that, and a couple of years later Yamaha came out with Vocaloid, a singing synthesizer.  Is it what I would have developed? I don't know as I didn't get that far.  In Japan, it also generated the virtual Idol, such as Hatsune Miku and that is a whole other thing.

So I have an interest in things "singing" synthesizer, and only found out about the anime Paprika through a post about the storyboard art book this week.  A bit of following the threads, and the soundtrack becomes something I need to hear, the use of vocaloid, and other works of Susumu Hirasawa. Then I need to see the movie:

So I got the Bluray on Amazon. Wow.

Dreams vs Reality, and Paprika's weird/ surrealism leaves it up to the viewer to interpret. Or does it? 

The Anime is based on a novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, but Kon was much more interested in producing interesting visuals than explaining character motives, so unless you know the book, which is like nobody,  the result is amazing to look at but much is not "obviously" unexplained. May be vaguely hinted at with Interpretive Dance, is closer to the approach taken 😀 .

The composer also influenced Kon, with his philosophy.  Composer Susumu Hirasawa was also an Amiga user at the time, so was original enough not to be an Artists only use APPLE guy and took advantage of the unique real time midi effects BARS & PIPES provided.

So I have now seen the movie, listened to the Soundtrack a fair few times, and read about the novel and how that was interpreted in the film.  One of the essays I saw mentions all the references to film in the anime, so it is could be more a Reality vs Film thing.  I think Kon just liked Film images, so put them in.  You could interpret it as as Reality vs DrugUser  too, were leaving reality for "the other place" destroys your life. 

Satoshi Kon died of pancreatic cancer at 46 years ago now, so he doesn't have any further insight into it.

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology

Ignorant Son Of A Gun

 

The AMEN Break, above, is the most famous drum phrase used in music of sampled drum music culture. 

For most of that time, I didn't know about it. 

I knew of Recycle, a tool for manipulating such a sample when used with a sampler and a midi sequencer, but never went deeper into it. Okay, "so what" you say, but the thing is, I was in the music industry for all that time, designed the worlds first 16 bit sampler electronics, thought I knew about music tech and applications, then spent years in Roland R&D in Japan, where no one else know about it either! What an "Ignorant Son Of A Gun" I was.

I now think the AKAI MPC was probably a much more culturally significant device that influenced Music Culture through HIP HOP than the Fairlight Instruments CMI did, even if the CMI was the sound of 80s pop music.  But I didn't see that during my 15 years in R&D in Roland Japan.

For the last 20 years I have been off in my own world with heavy guitars and synths with my own music, and apart from ezdrummer, haven't used a sampler. Haven't looked at sampling much at all.  Reaper Digital Audio Workstation, guitars, distortion and analog synthesizers were and still are my interest.  Distorted guitar and Analog Synthesizer sounds, mostly VSTs but do have a KORG MS20mini, are what I use.  

But I had YouTube recommend SPITFIRE SAMPLE LIBRARY videos and other such things over the years. Two years or so ago a friend tweeted about the PIANO BOOK vst and site and some library, and I made an account and looked at some sounds with it, but have never used the one or two things I downloaded. 

I wasn't interested in Orchestral Samples, no matter how amazing SPIRTFIRE's maybe, as my interest in that direction is covered well enough by Garritan Personal Orchestra 4.  That was used in the production of Metalocalypse .  The Orchestra to use, when you aren't really into Orchestral sounds.

So I find myself, today amazed at my ignorance again!  

Benn Jordan on Bluesky posted some things and a link to an explainer video on the self destruction of Piano Book and Spitfire through a founders anti trans stance.  I had completely missed all of that, even though I did know one of the founders was now doing his own thing independently from  them.  I just don't care what other people do around that kind of thing, it isn't any of my business.  

Live and let live works for me. 

The older I get, the more I realize the less I know, about anything. 

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Sunday Jam on Monday, and 2025 Osaka Guitar Messe

 

Always this way. Do something quickly, listen to it a few times, put it out as a quick thing, and want to change it the next day. No matter how "okay" it seemed immediately after doing it. 

Nothing break through here. Same comfort chord progression and lead scale. BUT, after a week of FINGER DRUMMING practice, I am now good enough to actually play something in time, and that is what the drums are here. So I call that progress. 

But doing this makes me think more about my John Carpenter/ Rock Guitar + Synthesizer + Sequencer direction. I am far more interested in that than faking a one man metal band. At least this week 😁

Which reminds me, 12 months ago I was really into Melodic Techno. I still have this in a Playlist and find it fits in perfectly. I don't even realize it is mine when it plays.

Has no guitar what so ever. Has MS-20mini though, which is aggressive for a synthesizer.

Osaka Sound Messe 

May 10/11 is The Osaka Guitar Messe, and Mattias will be there with his now in production 6,7 and 8 string Ulv Freak Guitars at the Zanshin Instruments booth as well as doing 5 or 6 guitar clinics over the weekend.

Takes something like 90minutes, almost as far as Osaka Expo 2025, to get to the ATC Hall Osaka by train from home:

I want to go to Mattias's clinic, but need to enter  the Messe to get a ticket. So will get to the Guitar Show. 

I used to go to Musical Instrument tradeshows a lot during my time at Roland, but NAMM only once. But this is a guitar show, and apart from seeing the Ulvs, I don't really care about looking at guitars, and kind of feel out of place at such an event. I am not such a "guitarist".  I don't collect guitars, even if I do have 4, 6, 7 and 8 string instruments.  I have zero interest in having 4 different colored 6 string PRS, Ibanez, SG or Les Paul guitars, as collector guitarists do.   I think a Guitar Show, is for collector guitarists.   

But I may have an interesting time talking to the people on the booths though.  Hope it doesn't rain, and the day with the least chance of rain is probably the day I go, but hope that is Saturday.

Talking with people on the booths is the reason to go. I was in "the Industry" once.

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology

Oblique Strategies - Creative Inspiration

 

Oblique Strategies is a 120+ card method for promoting creativity jointly created by musician/artist Brian Eno and multimedia artist Peter Schmidt, first published in 1975.

Above is a version with 100 Strategies for use with a D100 dice. This will give enough random prompts for creativity for anyone.  I created the numbered lines in Excel. But for me, my mind wonders off by its own anyway when I aren't focused on something I am working on, so haven't found the sheet and dice particularly helpful, but it was worth trying. Other types of things work better for prompting my own  creativity it seems.  

I am in between projects the last few days.  And that makes for a random path till the next project. My own kind of Oblique Strategies, that isn't a randomly selected ambiguous phrase, but actions and thoughts that eventually lead me to my next project.

Rereading Masamune Shirow manga (that 6 wheeled bike above from APPLESEED VOL3, obviously inspired by Akira, that was inspired by Syd Mead TRON design, is really cool) and doing a few other bits and pieces. Like use the cool ION STORM in UNIVERSE IMAGE CREATOR, in video text, like here:

Recorded some door  noises around the house with my Zoom H1 recorder and manipulated them to use in some yet to be determined piece of music and animation:

That came out of recently founding out about French Metal Band IGORR  and their use of recorded sounds, AI and making of strange videos.  Something I do in the future will be because of inspiration from them. 

Have been practicing FINGER DRUMMING using the Akai pad controller. Why is it the pads always look dirty?

I don't need to be able to play a whole drum track live, but the practice and just doing things different triggers something in me that is encouraging.  A different kind of Oblique Strategy prompt. Doing the basics suggested in THE QUEST FOR GROOVE has made a difference for me in a couple of days too. 

This is the 3rd different Akai pad layout I have tried and have found it the best. The main assignments are also the same as in the Yamaha FGDP-30, which is an interesting development to me. A drum machine without the sequencer, for playing live. Has a USB interface for controlling a VST as well though, and really a DAW is a way better sequencer!

Have found putting the Akai on a small folded towel makes it "better" than being just on my NITORI desk. It is quieter and not as hard on the fingers.  

It seems that being not good at all with finger drumming has completely killed my recent normal routine of making some 60second piece of music and putting a comic to it to do a music+comic.  That and kind of hitting a wall with my technique and composition approach recently. 

Last thing I did was this: 

And felt I was just repeating myself more than normal. It needs more, and I need to change/ learn/ practice to do that.  Maybe that requires going back to Melodic Techno for a bit and putting the guitars aside.  Being more proficient with playing some drums on pads feels like part of that too. 

The Appleseed manga has many complex panels with cityscapes and machines and people. They add greatly to the atmosphere of the work, but must have taken so long to do. Looks great, but that really isn't the kind of comic I want to make though.  So I then think, "what kind of comic is the thing I want to make?"  I know most of the answer to that already.

Non-Fiction is what interests me most, as I find, now (is it just an age thing?) I don't care for made up stories and arbitrary danger to the protagonist.  I keep coming back to the format of Topgear, as an entertainment format that had more great moments for me than other things I ever watched. 

Which brings me to my HEAVY METAL GARAGE comic which is rather like that😁.

I only recently discovered Dino_DC and vbloggers like Sammit with their focus on Japanese Car Culture.  I knew about Initial D from my oldest son many years ago and Tuner Kei Cars are things I admire in the car park of my local 7/11 almost every time I visit. 

Have watched many car shows over the years. Monster Garage, Full Custom Garage, Extreme 4WD (and many others from that network), Counting Cars and recently Rust to Riches.  Things like Extreme 4WD & Full Custom Garage were more hands on real workshop stuff than some other more reality TV style. 

So it was interesting  (but terrifying is closer)  to see a "famous" Japanese shop, put a super wide body kit on a yellow Porsche owned by Dino_DC.  Guy didn't wear a mask, or goggles or gloves while working fiberglass or an Allsaw.  He cut into the fenders to make clearance, but then didn't treat any of the exposed metal with an epoxy primer or anything, to stop it rusting away. Mmmm, that could be all done way better, even if the resulting car looked awesome, it isn't going to last. 😧

I feel more HMG comics focused on the Japanese Car Culture scene is likely this year. I mean, even that wonderful 1970s Lancia Stratos HF ZERO was in Nara Japan last month!

Update: April 27

And did this yesterday. Very off the cuff animation, and the door fx is a main part here.

"After a late night audition to be a guitarist in a KISS parody band, our wana be rock star takes a midnight short cut through a grave yard...."

And on the Finger Drumming front, practicing 5~10 minutes a few time a day makes a huge difference after a week. The pads just fall under the fingers and timing and groove comes more naturally too. 

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology