Yamanote Sen (Spring Quest entry)

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PaulyX

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« on: April 16, 2019, 09:29:09 PM »
https://soundcloud.com/commodore-64/yamanote-sen/s-eGCzO

Hello mates
Well here's a last minute entry for the Spring Quest... a bit of a daft curiosity piece really, but the quest felt like a chance to do something different, and it's the taking part, innit?  :'(
The claim to exoticness is that it's in Japanese.  It's an auditory map of the Yamanote Line, which is the train line that runs in a big circle around Tokyo, and just keeps going almost 24 hours a day.  The lyrics are mostly just a complete list of the station names, in order, so it ain't my deepest piece but hey, it might come in useful if you are ever lost in Tokyo and want to catch the right train home.  :)
Good luck to all in the quest.
Paul

Lyrics:

Sa, norimasho   (Well, let's get on board)

Shinagawa
Osaki
Gotanda
Meguro
Ebisu
Shbuya
Harajuku
Yoyogi
Shinjuku
Shinokubo
Takadanobaba
Mejiro
Ikebukuro
Otsuka
Sugamo

Enkei no yamanote sen  (The circular Yamanote line)
Kuru kuru mawaru   (Goes round and round)
Atama karapo dakedo   (My head is empty but)
Kaiten suru   (Keeps turning over)
Guru guru suru   (And keeps going round and round)

Komagome
Tabata
Nishi-Nippori
Nippori
Uguisudani
Ueno
Okachimachi
Akihabara
Kanda
Tokyo
Yurakucho
Shinbashi
Hamamatsucho
Tamachi
Mata, Shinagawa

Go josha arigato gozaimasu  (Thanks for riding)
It's all too beautiful.

pompeyjazz

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« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2019, 09:58:26 PM »
Well that is some fantastically original track @PaulyX It's going to be hard to trump in terms of that.The Japanese language is amazingly rhythmic and lends itself to a song like this. I've never been to Japan but I did once import a Mazda Bongo from Japan which included the former owners CD collection, loose change and dog ends. I spent a year listening to the Japanese CDs before I got round to changing the player. We also had a lovely Japanese student lodger named Nao (pronounced Now) Made things rather confusing at times  ;D Fantastic originality as usual and a top quality song

Movin Flavour

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« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2019, 10:04:32 PM »
Definitely exotic and very clever.

Great production, love all the ear candy.

Enjoyable and fun.

Sandeep

Andreas

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« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2019, 10:21:14 PM »
Well, this is brilliant and clever! Felt like I was in a Nintendo 64 games with that gaming sound in the verses :) You sing really good in Japanese as well.

crystalsuzy

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« Reply #4 on: April 17, 2019, 11:21:06 AM »
WOW! that was very different! It should a movie soundtrack. Are you actually saying all the names and singing in Japanese? Pretty amazing if you are :o It's got a very laid back vibe, almost hypnotic  8) I actually really like this song :-* It's very well produced. Great entry :)
« Last Edit: April 18, 2019, 05:35:36 AM by crystalsuzy »

MartynRich

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« Reply #5 on: April 17, 2019, 01:24:41 PM »
 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Brilliant. Original. If you hadn't´t told me what it was about, I could have thought someone was giving me life advice.

Nothing to say except excellent entry.

EDIT - turn the drums down a tad and make it public ;D

Neil C

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« Reply #6 on: April 17, 2019, 04:44:03 PM »
PaulyX,
Very imaginative, should be on a soundtrack.
Interesting experiment that really worked.
:-)
Neil
songwriter of no repute..

tboswell

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« Reply #7 on: April 17, 2019, 04:54:13 PM »
Not heard much like that in here! Very cool. The combination of instruments and japanese made me think of Can but it's much more poppy than that.

Loved the mix of guitars and keyboards. Strong stuff!

dinnerwithgreedo

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« Reply #8 on: April 17, 2019, 07:25:28 PM »
Absolutely brilliant! I hope you win!!!

Check this out.... it's french https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE0hmDwzXyw
Remember.... it's just my opinion. It doesn't make me right. Although i probably am ;)

PaulyX

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« Reply #9 on: April 17, 2019, 10:21:25 PM »
Aw, thanks for the encouraging feedback guys... I thought you'd all think it was stoopid.
@pompeyjazz love your Mazda story.  I once inherited Shirley Bassey's Greatest Hits in a second hand Honda CD player too.  It was epic (the CD, less so the car).
@Movin Flavour and @Younger Hills  thanks a lot for listening and kind words guys!
@crystalsuzy Ta very much Suzy.  Yeah it's me doing the narration, I used to live there and Mrs PaulyX is from Japan so I picked up a few basic words of the lingo.  She'd probably say my pronunciation is terrible though.
@MartynRich Thanks for the good pointers... I did what you said, nudged the drums back a bit and sharpened up the mix slightly.  Thanks for the detailed feedback.
@Neil C thanks fella, I appreciate that a lot.
@tboswell Thanks.  I haven't tried Can at all yet but they are definitely on my "must explore" list... Damo Suzuki, right?  Any recommendations where to start?
@dinnerwithgreedo Loved that Yamasuki track!  Thanks for the tip... some buried treasure there. 
It's all too beautiful.

Paulski

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« Reply #10 on: April 18, 2019, 02:04:54 AM »
I don't think I've ever listened to an entire Japanese song, but how could I NOT listen to the end?
Ultra cool piece of art this - gonna be hard to beat  :D
Paul

shadowfax

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« Reply #11 on: April 18, 2019, 07:51:16 AM »
Yoku dekimashita.
Soundcloud Shadowfax6

from the nightmare!

PaulAds

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« Reply #12 on: April 18, 2019, 09:15:26 AM »
Excellent stuff!

Verses are amazingly good in particular.

Brilliant concept for the "exotic" theme and my immediate thought was that this will be very hard to beat.

I've never had any fancy for going to Japan, really...perhaps it's because they're supposedly very fond of hard work and doing things properly :)

A great track!
heart of stone, feet of clay, knob of butter

adamfarr

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« Reply #13 on: April 18, 2019, 09:47:06 AM »
Wowser, if anyone calls me quirky ever again, I'll know where to send them!


I really like Japanese sonically - I'm a big fan of Hizaki and Versailles - there's something particularly satisfying  about the "U" sound which feels very unique (ü-nique).


The verses gave me a real "Eskimo... Arapaho..." feeling which is such an unexpected East-West fusion (also shades of the footie results reader with the inflections). The choruses sounded more Japanese somehow - but still your voice, so also somehow homely.


By the way, this isn't last minute. Last minute is Tuesday when I will probably be begging to be let in with my half mixed half considered piece of twaddle.

PaulyX

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« Reply #14 on: April 19, 2019, 12:59:11 PM »
@Paulski @PaulAds @shadowfax @adamfarr - thanks so much for the listens & comments.
Some of you have been kind enough to call this original - and I was hoping it was weird enough a concept that it would be.  But then I get home this weekend and play it to Mrs PaulyX and she informs me there's a whole flippin' sub-genre of people singing about the Yamanote Line!  I had no idea but a quick Google reveals these for example:


Dang.  So what do I do... rewrite it to be about something else even weirder?  Or live with it?  I'm heading over to The Bar now to drown my sorrows on this topic...
It's all too beautiful.