Ling Tosite Sigure (凛として時雨) just seemed to creep up on me in January. Now one of my favourite bands, they are, I’m convinced, Japan’s best rock group since Supercar. Their music is fast-paced and aggressive; songs that may sound like a wall of noise at first, but that make sense (melodically) on subsequent loops through. That’s why I described it as if they crept up on me; I was listening to them at work one afternoon, the dots suddenly connected and now, I’m head over heels.
Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad. Talk about a mouthful. The name may be a tribute to the author’s favorite band, Red Hot Chili Peppers, which also has four words in its name. In any case don’t be scared away by the name, this series about a rising rock band is a treat even for non-music fans.
I’m sitting here feeling like I can take on the world, I’m listening to the Death Note soundtrack. This is the music that makes Light scribbling in his notebook"¦, hell, eating a packet of crisps, rock us like it’s an earth shattering moment. Understand then that this music is overblown and melodramatic, and love it for that.
I’ve only had this soundtrack for a few days but I’m already in-awe of its grandiose foreplay. The instrumental rock tunes were created by Hideki Taniuchi, while Yoshihisa Hirano composed the prayer-style orchestral themes. Atmospheric, haunting and ambient — I’ve been totally sucked in by Taniuchi’s first half, drowned under waves of distorted electric guitar and pin-point melody. This is instrumental music suggesting of imagery and emotion, almost totally separate from Death Note — only during Hirano’s somewhat formulaic second half of operatic guff are we reminded that this was indeed attached to an anime series.
At the risk of sounding painfully impulsive, this is the soundtrack of 2006 and I only picked it up 2 days before the end of the year. Even if you’re not into Death Note but consider yourself a rock expert, give this one a listen. Just don’t be surprised if it inspires you to do something positively epic, like let’s say, scrub the world of all evil (or write a melodramatic blog review)!