KraftyRadio’s August Podcast: The Day of Hardcore Showcase by JAKAZiD
In between refreshing the Hardcore Tano*C website constantly the past few days, I’ve noticed that The Day of Hardcore headliner JAKAZiD has mixed a special KraftyRadio Podcast consisting of an interesting mix of mostly Japanese producers (the mixer himself the only one not Japanese, lol)
The mix itself is downloadable over here. And for reference, here’s the tracklist!
1. Cycheouts Ghost – Arcadex – ROMZ Record
2. DJ Shimamura – Bring The Noize – Dynasty Records
3. M-Neko – Everything Needs RAVE – MPT
4. M-Project – Blue Lotus – Terraform Music
5. Joshka – No Reason – Hardcore Tano*C
6. DJ Shimamura – Return 2 Universe – Dynasty Records
7. L.E.D. feat. Sana – The Shining Polaris (Kors K Remix) – Konami
8. RoughSketch – Pride or Money – Mob Squad Black Label
9. DJ Sharpnel – Shine!! – MPT
10. m1dy – Wani – Maddest Chick’ndom Pork
It features a variety of things – JAKAZiD’s new track for Hardcore Syndrome 3 entitled “Nø Reasøn”, kors k’s highly popular remix of L.E.D.’s The Shining Polaris, Cycheout G’s Arcadex from Vikalpa (one of my favourite tracks from there) and tracks from M-Project’s new album, M-Neko’s first album and DJ Shimamura’s new album. For those of you who keep seeing me blabber on about j-core but never really know what it is – this is pretty much a good starting point with arguably the most popular artists on there (Including Sharpnel himself and m1dy, Japanese King of Speedcore). It’s a diverse enough mix and a little bit mental in some places (I mean, come on. m1dy is there.)
August is shaping up to be a pretty good month for J-core in general as even BBC Radio 1’s Kutski has tweeted that he is making a j-core mix for his upcoming radio show. I shall be in Japan when it airs, most likely at the The Day of Hardcore, but nevertheless Kutski has good taste, so it should be a good listen.
And as I mentioned, I will be going to Japan for The Day of Hardcore, so I might make a photo report on that when I come back.
Denki Groove’s Shangri-La – The Cover Song Paradox
Firstly, I’m surprised by the number of Jpop fans who don’t know who Denki Groove is. I’m not the biggest fan of theirs (I have interest in what they do) but I know who they are. Anyway, a short introduction to them is needed and their song Shangri-La.
Denki Groove is a Japanese technopop in the style of Kraftwerk and YMO. The current members are Takkyu Ishino and Pierre Taki who basically produce everything, compose everything and whatnot. I’m a fan of their older stuff, especially of their A album and their songs have a very raw feel to them with pop sensibilities over very nice beats and basslines. I find that they’re sorely underrated as a group and they have gotten some popularity in Europe in any instance.
Their arguably most popular song is Shangri-La. It’s one of my favourites anyway.
The bassline in that song is to die for. It is amazing, I love this song. It’s very new wave but there is something German, something French, something distinctly European but fused with this infusion of something very Eastern as well. The melody is of course, taken from Bebu Silvetti’s Spring Rain (Lluvia de Primavera? That’s the title in Italian, though I have seen both in usage.)
Anyway, the lyrics are about this girl who is so wonderful that when she laughs, when she talks – it’s like she’s bringing Shangri-La (utopia, paradise, whatever floats your boat in terms of fictional mythical arcadia) to this guy who is infatuated with her. The days with her are sweet for him, like the spring rain. It’s a beautiful song, lyrically and musically. I would pay good money to have the original 8cm single that this was released on.
As far as I am aware, this song has been covered twice relatively recently. The first one is by the newest incarnation of formerly Konami backed j-pop group BeForU.
From this very raw new wave sound it gets turned into slick, electropop influenced… well, pop. It’s a different direction for the song, but what is with those outfits? As much as I like BeForU and followed their travails, I know this new incarnation was meant to be a shift from their old image to something sexier, but still. If I’d never heard the original Shangri-La, I would be perfectly content in thinking this song was alright, but not terribly impressive.
The other cover I know of is by electropop darling, Aira Mitsuki’s labelmate Saori@destiny, who gives a distinct definite electro twist to the song and it’s ever so slightly verging into denpa territory as well. Though this didn’t have a PV, it was released before Saori’s JAPANESE CHAOS album on iTunes as a “teaser” track.
Now that I’ve made you aware of the existence of both covers and the original, I am flummoxed by the fact that they’re both electropoppish and they’re both sung by females. It’s ever so slightly egotistical for a female to sing this because for god’s sake, it’s like they’re saying they’re the girl that brings Shangri-La upon some poor soul – which is clearly the direction the BeForU video takes it with those pajama outfits and sexy dancing.
BeForU make their cover sound very sexy and admittedly the synth that carries the main melody line sounds very cheap compared to the used in the original. It’s a decent enough cover.
Saori@destiny has sorta made covering songs in an electropop style her speciality as her first major single was a Kyogo Kawaguchi cover, and the choice of Shangri-La was certainly odd, but she pulls it off well enough with her vocals being slightly flat on the emotional aspect of the song (that’s probably just the vocoder), but nevertheless, it’s not too bad to listen to, with the vocal cutting of “Shangri-La, Shangri-La” during the bridge being one of the highlights.
What I really want, is a guy to cover this song. Admittedly after seeing a clip of Shangri-La live on youtube, if a guy were to cover this, then there’s a lot that he’d have to live up to. Nevertheless, as far as cover songs go, Shangri-La by Denki Groove does lend itself to being covered well enough.
