Tag: Jazz

From Art to Music with Millennium Parade’s Debut Album!

This work draws from Japanese folklore, and this supernatural world has modern tonality embedded in the lyrics. The songs take ideas from Hyakki Yagyo – The Night of One Hundred Demons and transform the images, stories and lore from this Asiatic world into evocative melodies that’s both a meditative and a clubbing experience.

Image result for Millennium parade

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Not everyone will know of Millennium Parade, an arts collective from Japan whose music can’t be easily pigeon-holed. They are led by Daiki Tsuneta, frontman of J-Pop band King Gnu, and can be categorized as New Wave or Trip Hop. The debut self-titled album is a fresh exhilarating experience for me, and their sound is similar to but not quite like the sound from the virtual band’s Gorillaz. But anime fans will know them because they’re the composers of the opening song, “Fly with Me” for Netflix’s Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045.

This work draws from Japanese folklore, and this supernatural world has modern tonality embedded in the lyrics. The songs take ideas from Hyakki Yagyo – The Night of One Hundred Demons and transform the images, stories and lore from this Asiatic world into evocative melodies that’s both a meditative and a clubbing experience. On the cover, a “Tezutsu Hanabi” (the oldest form of Japanese fireworks, encased in bamboo and held by hand) which was traditionally used to protect from evil spirits, and was also used to pray for a good harvest, is held by Ebisu (one of the 7 Gods of Fortune).

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PIXAR’s Latest is Soulful and Heartfelt

This film leaves you with that knowledge that life can turn around when you open your eyes. In Joe’s case, he’s not as maudlin…

Soul Poster.jpegBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available on Disney Plus

PIXAR’s got Soul in their latest film about Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a musician by trade and teacher when required. He needs a full-time job to pay the bills, but as most people will say, making the big leagues in the entertainment biz is tough and it demands much more.

Gardner wants to make mama happy. But being an instructor leaves him feeling unfulfilled. His dreams of being a professional musician means having a special type of freedom, which he tries to explain to his students: you become part of a special team, and the music made together–the harmonies–infect you. They bring out your soul (this film’s namesake) and when you are in that zone, the effect is an out-of-body experience to which this movie masterfully and colourfully visualizes.

When one of his students points out there’s an opening to become part of Dorothea Williams’ band, he’s on it faster than a honeybee to a flower. She’s a jazz legend, and he’s all willy-nilly. He gets the job, but on the journey home to get ready, he falls down a manhole and the title credits roll!

Continue reading “PIXAR’s Latest is Soulful and Heartfelt”

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