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fluidsf · 4 years ago

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Polar Visions Amplitude reviewing -

John Wiese - Deviate From Balance

Released on 15 June 2015 by Gilgongo Records

Reviewed format: CD album

Connected listening - there are various ways to order a selection of John Wiese’s further discography. The Helicopter mail-order stocks various John Wiese releases as well as Sissy Spacek releases and releases by by John Wiese in collaboration with associates, you can find it here: https://helicopter.storenvy.com/collections/924921-john-wiese

Several solo releases by John Wiese are also available on physical and digital format from his Bandcamp page here: https://johnwiese.bandcamp.com

Many releases on Gilgongo Records are available on physical format through their mail-order store here: https://gilgongorecords.storenvy.com

After looking at one of Sissy Spacek’s recent new albums Featureless Thermal Equilibrium in the previous Polar Visions Amplitude it’s time today for the first of two follow-up reviews in which in this case we’re focussing first on one of John Wiese’s past solo albums, Deviate From Balance. Released back in 2015 on both a 2 LP vinyl package as well as a CD version on James Fella’s label Gilgongo Records our look is on the CD version which features the packed 79 minute album in full and what a collection of pieces it is. While the Sissy Spacek album showcases John Wiese’s talent in mixing Grindcore aggression with monolithic Noise screeches as well as maxing out the energy throughout, Deviate From Balance showcases John’s more restrained side in a collection of 10 tracks encompassing mostly live recorded compositions and improvisations that are leaning more towards intense choppy sound collages and noisy electro-acoustic interplay of acoustic and electric instrumentation with John’s electronics with a more conceptual edge to them. However while some of the titles of the 10 pieces suggest a somewhat philosophical or technical meaning behind these pieces, listening to these reveals a much more playful and raw sense of composition and performances from John and all musicians and artists involved in this album. Whilst John’s sound can be related to Free Improvisation, his rapid-fire editing and manipulation of sonic material on this album is much more complex and dazzling than many other artists and carries John’s signature knack for surprise, high frequency distortion crunches as well as shifting and abusing lo-fi sound recording equipment and electronics in as many ways as possible, almost as if they turn into crumbling fragile rocks. Disintegrating broken sound and dadaist absurdist humour is a recurring theme in John’s sound, making for an album that is much more enjoyable than overly academic contemporary Tape Music can be at times. Besides John’s sonics the involved musicians on this album are definitely an important element that adds many rich colours to the 10 pieces, featuring musicians like guitar virtuoso Oren Ambarchi, violin artist Jon Rose, sampling expert David Shea and drum machine musician Ikue Mori as well as many others. Before we’re diving deep into the 10 tracks on Deviate From Balance, let’s have a look at the packaging design of the CD version. The CD comes in a neat glossy oversized gatefold sleeve showcasing John Wiese’s minimalist design, artwork as well as a very colourful artist photo of John by Martin Escalante on the back. In terms of artwork I do like the photo-collages and art pieces on the inside of the gatefold a bit more than the cover this time as while the cover does highlight the general collaged, choppy nature of the album well in a visual manner, its subdued grayscale grainy images aren’t as striking as John Wiese’s other album covers but still, it’s a decent cover and the typography is quite stylish and repeats on the spine in a similar manner. The aforementioned imagery on the inside of the gatefold showcases both grayscale abstract art in the form of archaeological artefact style fragments on the left panel as well as a film roll like photo collage of a rather disturbed looking lady blowing up a balloon. The abstract images are a bit similar to the album cover though with darker and more distinct contrast but the photo collage also adds another good visual reference to the packaging regarding the tracks themselves in that balloon like squealing and screeching can be heard on some of the pieces and it also seems to refer to the album’s quite off the wall type of abstract humour. The left panel additionally features all album credits neatly laid out so you can find out all about the involved artists and recording locations plus sources. The CD itself comes in a convenient little black envelope with plastic protection and features a more LP like label design featuring simply the artist name, album title and Gilgongo label logo, somewhat similar to a Japanese mini-LP replica package. Now that we’ve looked at the package, let’s pop in the CD and dig in.

Deviate From Balance starts with Wind Changed Direction which is one of the most atmospheric pieces on the album. The piece blends organ like drone, chopped up distorted recordings of what sounds like children’s voices, machinery as well as other Industrial noises together to form a quite surreal mysterious soundscape. Quite like the title suggests the music sounds quite like you’re floating through the clouds right after the wind has changed direction. The drone feels both calming but also a notch ominous whilst the auto-panned chops of sound are both vaguely abstract and at times recognisable with John varying between distorted and resonant shards of crunchy sound and cleaner metallic elements. The voice samples hint somewhat at sonified memories, they sound like fragments from the past, conversations or event you might remember from childhood though the actual words are unrecognizable. This first piece is definitely one of the most straight-forward compositions on here in terms of structure with the drone both introducing and rounding off the piece as in both cases it eventually fades into the background. A quite lush start of the album. Following piece 356 S. Mission Rd continues the soundscape like approach but in a more ominous manner sounding quite like a cross of dark sounding orchestral music samples with strange hollow metallic resonances and washy shifting noises. The metallic resonances bring plenty of subdued Industrial shine to the piece but the aforementioned orchestral samples are what draws me into this piece the most as the screechy dissonant strings combined with ever so slightly differently timed horn crescendo suggest an ever apparent danger which is getting closer but just like in an abstract nightmare is stuck in a loop with the danger never reaching further than a certain indiscernible point. The shifting noise elements add some rawness to the piece which suggests some kind of turntable manipulations going on in the piece, a lovely brooding collage piece this is. Segmenting Process For Language, the next piece, is where things start to get more chaotic and free-wheeling though still very much controlled. The track featuring a live performance recorded at East Brunswick Club in Melbourne, Australia consists of wild and inspired mixtures of saxophone, (junk) objects, percussion, drums, guitar and noise as the musicians move into always differing “segments” made up of shards of sound, wildly swirling melodies, chords and tones. This does make for quite some literal clashes of sound but rather than being one of the more random sounding Free Improv performances the sections of interplay follow a much more recognisable structure in that certain droning tones as well as feedback lays somewhat of a base underneath the bursts of sonic mayhem. Whilst there are a whole lot of things happening in this recording I would like to name a few particularly enjoyable bits. These include the short bursts of squelchy synth swirls, resonant ground vibrating feedback laden noise, the hilarious goofy but still playful wordless vocalisations spat out by the musicians but also the at times disturbing dissonant chords which are formed and culminate in an absurdly, almost 50’s Horror film soundtrack like waves of organ droning at the ending of the piece after which we can hear the only applause that could be fit in on the tightly edited CD. An inventive juxtaposition of out of the blue musical absurdism with the more dadaist lightning strike like approach of collage based Harsh Noise carrying John’s seal of quality. The next track Superstitious does match its title rather well in terms of the sounds within and it’s the most Noise focussed piece on Deviate From Balance though still more along the lines of a layered soundscape. After the instrumental interplay of Segmenting Process For Language we’re back to a more noticeably composed piece which moves through various phases emitting a definite ambience of superstition through somewhat disturbing concrete sounds, noise and tones. Its beginning featuring chopped and quite heavily scrambled recordings of a scared woman wailing as well as various other waves of distorted sound and tone overtime moves to the climax of the piece which is an extended section of the aforementioned noise from by a nicely low end grounded stream of screechy sound featuring especially piercing high frequency sound manipulations quite like some kind of dystopian alien machinery, though your interpretation might definitely be much different. Regardless of how you interpret it, the piercing noise does give off quite an intense feeling of dread and fear and while the sounds used in the piece are sometimes somewhat recognisable, like dirt like crumbling sounds, coffee cups, car related sounds etc., again they’re manipulated and structured in such shifting and distorted manners that they feel like sudden waves of mind imagery than things you can really grab onto. The finale of the piece in which John frequency manipulates a continuous tone is quite gripping too and Superstitious as a whole sounds quite like both a physical and mind gripping piece. Cafe OTO is the track that follows and it’s obviously a live recording that was made at Cafe OTO. Moving back to the more improvisation based style of collaborative group performances that John Wiese has done together with other musicians this piece has a more continuous flow of sonic events and instrumental interplay and a generally might lighter edge to it than some of the other pieces. Especially the percussion blended with effect manipulations and saxophone performances are particularly good on here with percussion clattering, clinking, jumping around the room in quite hilarious surprising manners moving from crystal like tinkling to shells and wooden percussion whilst the saxes wildly swirling melody lines and screeches form sweet tonal abstraction that are wild but not going overboard and staying well in tune with the other elements of the performances. The “spat” out vocalisations are quite matching with the saxophone performance and whilst somewhat more subtle for most of the recording, there’s also some tasty, albeit less abrasive crashes of objects near the end of the recording. Again, John Wiese’s talent in highly abstract but always varied and uncompromising electronics and instrumental performances combined with the excellent inspired energy of all musicians that appears in his group performances shines through with the fun and details in the layers created making this suitable for many repeat listens. The following track Battery Instruments (Stereo) does work quite like an extension of the sounds from the Cafe OTO recording, though in a bit more minimalistic fashion being made up of mostly small, clicky and quite sounds. A collage of instrument, objects, electronics as well as short vocal bursts the piece puts the freely moving aspect of John Wiese’s group pieces into more of microscopic lowercase territory. It’s the shortest piece of the album at 2:12 minutes and works as kind of transition from Cafe OTO to the quite abrasive walkman Noise collage piece Memaloose Walkman, showcasing various crackling, scraping, spiky sonic details, a mysterious subdued drone as well as some quite tasteful bass string scratchings all panned quite widely (as this was originally a multi-channel piece). A sweet short piece this one. The aforementioned piece Memaloose Walkman then follows and it’s quite straight-forward in nature consisting of a mono tape collage of various recordings of gunshots. Besides splices and perhaps a bit of pitch adjustment there’s not much manipulation added to this but as a Noise piece it’s quite effective letting you hear the different swishing phased textures of shots from various guns as well as some bits of talk and music in between with a layer of crunchy saturation on top of everything. Simple but effective. Afterwards Dramatic Accessories continues within the Noise territory as a piece of quite a lot of instrument / object and especially turntable abuse featuring quite a lot of bassy and wild distorted screeches mixed with chopped recordings all presented through some crazy panning. One that will especially please harsh heads, within Dramatic Accessories there are various sections in which John and the other artists involved use all kinds of methods to create a variety of sounds ranging from the shifting kind of turntable warble, clicks, grating washes of distortion, chunks of feedback, amp hiss and metallic ringing. However whilst there are a lot of distorted sonic events happening within this piece, there is some sense of dynamics within however, created by the wild panning as well as shifting the phase and using some of the room acoustics and feedback of equipment to create some loud / softer / loud sections leaving some headroom for the sounds to not fully max out and become a bit overblown. The garbled object and instrument chops are clattering around often but strange distorted disturbing recordings of voices are also thrown in the mix making for an at times frightening but thrilling ride of unpredictable sounds. One element that is recurring throughout the wildly fluttering barrages of different sounds are certain grounded tones that bring forth some kind go base for all sounds to lean on as they continue changing in at times rapid manners. All in all Dramatic Accessories is another enjoyable sonic ride on Deviate From Balance in which rich and uncompromising textures are brought out in memorable ways through some fine inspired performances from all people involved. Solitaire follows, which is one of the two longest and final pieces on Deviate From Balance, at 11:15 minutes. In terms of approach the piece is somewhat similar to Dramatic Accessories but with the difference that rather than using vinyl, tape is being used here as one of the elements that create the various sounds within the piece. Solitaire follows a more continuous structure than other pieces on Deviate From Balance in that it’s mostly based on a set of repeating patterns within it's structure acting a bit like the compositional and performance equivalent of mechanical processes. Whereas Dramatic Accessories featured experiments with both clean and distorted sounds, Solitaire moves more into a quite crunchy rough direction featuring shards of chopped up instrument and music recordings, junk objects, voices as well a various especially percussive and resonant concrete sounds that ever continue to change in form. These repetitive patterns do give some kind of rhythmic drive to the piece but change often enough to not become sampler like and are more akin warbled broken tapes as the recordings are mercilessly abused through speed manipulations and ever increasing distortion. This is combined with a constant shift of stereo phase, through which on headphones you get the idea that the shards of sound are flying over your head and are forming 3D shapes in between your ears. A great listening experience which even works as the distortion gets quite murky and harsh nearing the end of the piece. Whilst the pattern style, on the fly pitch warbles and crunching noises carries on throughout, it’s great how some depth is slowly forming near the end of the piece, in which soft ticking percussive bits are being scattered between out ears and rimshot like ticking sounds are added for nice clean percussive accents. A very fluid piece in terms of progression and sound work which shows that whilst John Wiese’s solo and band works might at times sound very free-flowing and chaotic, he’s always got quite some noticeable control and focus within every piece, inspired and always different. Final piece Segmenting Process (Oregon) is indeed somewhat related to the earlier Segmenting Process For Language although in the case of this recording the segmenting of the several parts of the piece is even more clear. Being the longest piece on Deviate From Balance at 21:45 minutes the piece is also one of the most introspective and “organized” sounding tracks on the album as in here we can find the by now familiar mixture of acoustic, electric instrumentation with both electronic sounds and manipulations but also a more restrained approach to the Noise elements John Wiese has explored in various ways in most tracks before this one. Rather than almost overtaking the non-electronic instrumentation either through loudness or sharp (harsh) frequencies, the Noise is more in tune with the instrumentation as being a part of a blend of various sonic elements. This is also helped by the fact that with the larger group setting featuring brass, percussions, drums and more the piece required a larger venue to be performed which gives the piece some welcome acoustic space, adding some room ambience and keeps the piece nicely dynamic. Sounding most similar in approach to Electroacoustic Improvisation the pieces segments blending vibrant instrumental performances which vary from fluttering percussive tones, noises as well as more drone focussed falling and rising tones with crackling, noisy, humming, distorted, sample based and glitchy electronics sound quite like the piece is based on a mixture of dreams. Like a sonic interpretation of a dream world the piece moves from segment to segment with all of them featuring somewhat recognisable sounds like the instruments themselves or voices mixed with shaped abstract noises but everything carries some kind of mystery within it, which is especially caused by the somewhat unnerving textures created by the brass instruments within the performance. The absurdist humour element is still apparent within the piece however with at times goofy squeaky noises, drum kit hits, tinkling bells and other pointy bits of abstract sound keeping things nicely playful and light but still powerful as always. The flow of the piece also helps to keep things captivating and interesting throughout as its length might take some listeners a bit to get into it but with so many different events happening throughout there’s never any idleness in here. And with this last piece I’m getting into the conclusion of this review of John Wiese’s Deviate From Balance. I award this album a Polar Visions Amplitude of 85 dB, recommending you to definitely check out this album. Deviate From Balance showcases both John Wiese’s compositional and performance talents through a varied selection of recordings in which you can hear John’s approach in various settings ranging from surreal sound collages, Noise infused instrumental improvisations to rough tape manipulation and Electroacoustic Improvisation. Never resorting to mere academic musical studies John Wiese’s pieces on Deviate From Balance keep hitting the ears and mind in excellent and inspiring manners and will be a great discovery for fans of free spirited contemporary music, both analog and digital based sound collage works, (Harsh) Noise fans as well as anyone into inspired improvised music and will be a great addition to the collection of fans of John Wiese and Sissy Spacek.

Deviate From Balance is available on CD from Gligongo Records mail-order store here: https://gilgongorecords.storenvy.com/products/20648396-john-wiese-deviate-from-balance-cd-gggr-077

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maitranslations · 4 years ago

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[ENG Translation] =LOVE Takamatsu Hitomi - HUSTLEPRESS interview (2020.10.12)

“Appearing in their personal clothes!” Serialization part 1 - Takamatsu Hitomi

Note 1: It is her first interview with HUSTLEPRESS since her return.

Note 2: There are bound to have mistakes so I apologize for any errors.

Switching from lazing around at home to deciding to return took one day.

--Upon returning, how did it felt at the dressing room waiting to perform for the 3rd anniversary concert in September? It felt the same as last year, the usual.

--It was your first stage in one year, were you nervous? Nope. I have always been the type who doesn't get nervous. But on the actual day, time was tight, and we all had to get whatever we need to confirm right into our heads. So when I saw Sashihara (Rino)-san from the stage during the rehearsal, I got nervous.

--During the preparation lesson, you find the choreography for 'CAMEO' which was released during your hiatus, difficult that you cried even though you rarely do...... I heard this story from Sasaki Maika-san's radio show on YouTube. It was difficult, or rather, I didn't know the choreography when we were working on the 12-people version, so I was supposed to learn it while doing it with everyone else. But then I didn't know the choreography plus I had no idea where my position was, I was like, "This is impossible after all. I'm sorry."

--During your hiatus, you were "at home almost everyday" so what did you do at home? Nothing (laughs). For one year, I was sooo out of it (laughs).

--Did you watch Ikorabu (=LOVE)'s activities? Yes. From my perspective, Ikorabu has become more and more popular and famous, and I think that's great.

--At some point, did you go into "I can't wait to return" mode? I had the feeling of "I will definitely return" ever since I went into hiatus, but there were days where I couldn't think like that. During those days, I tried not to force myself to think that "I must return".

--During your hiatus, Sashihara-san commented, "I want you to have a wonderful experience that you could only have while you're on break". Did you get such experience? I wanted to, but because of the self-restraint period (Note 3: most likely referring to the ‘lockdown’ period due to COVID), I didn't go anywhere, and I hardly did anything. At most, I met up with my friends from my hometown in October when I started my hiatus.

--Hitomi-san, you like movies, right? Did you watched all sorts of films? I watched quite a lot on streaming services.

--Did you watched whatever movies that was on "Recommended"? I searched for what I want to watch. I watched a lot of Japanese movies, but what I looked forward to every week wasn't a movie nor drama, but "Gout Temps Nouveau 2". It broadcasts every Wednesday, I hardly can wait every week (laughs).

--To that extent huh (laughs). The casting of the guests is superb, I never get bored because I get to listen to opinions of different people each time, and I love that the talks are interesting. Topics about romance are a lot, so there are some things that I don't understand. I even went for the public recording (laughs).

--You bought a ticket normally? I applied for it. I was close to the stage, the casts were all so beautiful.

--Hasegawa Kyoko-san, Tanaka Minami-san, Takizawa Karen-san, and Nishino Nanase-san, right? Their talking ability were so great that I was overwhelmed.

--Anyways, it seems that you decided to return 2 months before the 3rd anniversary concert, were you able to immediately switch your life and mind back? Yes. I called and talked to a staff a while back. All this while I was just lazing around, but my life completely changed in one day. I thought I should do my best that I switched really quickly.

--Perhaps your mind got into the "it's about time" mode. I did get into it, but I couldn't take any actions with my feelings alone. When I needed someone to push me, I felt like I got it.

--Did you devote yourself into self-training for dance? I did some self-training, and had a one-to-one lesson with the teacher to sort of help me recall the steps for everything from '=LOVE'. In case I might have forgotten.

--So even when you didn't dance for so long, your body still remembers? There were times where I went "huh?", but I'm fine.

--Do you feel different now compared to before you were on hiatus, and when you made your debut? I think so. I feel much more positive than ever.

--We would like to ask you about the theme, "Whatever moves you has a meaning" for this interview. Hitomi-san, is there anything that moved you recently? The moment I saw the audience during the 3rd anniversary concert, I got really excited. It went straight to my heart too, I could feel it pounding hard. It's been a while since I felt that, I knew it I would feel nervous, but I was so happy.

--Were the audience cheering louder than you expected? The audience weren't allowed to let out their voices, but when my name first appeared on the screen, I could feel everyone let out a "Woahhhh!".

--Were you touched that during your hiatus, Oba Hana-san made a flipbook-like animation of you dancing to '=LOVE' in the ending card for the official YouTube channel? I was so touched. I only got to know it as a surprise when I watched the video, so I immediately texted "Thank you" to Hana-chan on LINE. She was still working on the drawings at that time, so she told me, "I'll do my best".

--Did you watched it when it was completed? It was perfect. The animation is so cute, it does feel like Hana-chan's work. I was also happy that she drew me with a ponytail.

--What is the most impressive thing that happened in your life so far? At our first stage in 2017 at TIF, where we performed outdoor at a very large venue, two of my friends came down to watch us while wearing cooling pads. They screamed my name, "Hitomi-!".

--They didn't tell you beforehand? They were like, "We might come down". They were right in front among the audience, so I was like, "EHHHH!?". One of them came all the way from Hokkaido. I remembered being so happy that it gave me the energy, so I was able to work even harder.

--Looking at the other Ikorabu members, anyone impressed you? After being on hiatus for a year, I started looking at Ikorabu in an objective manner, and I realized the effort everyone put in behind the scenes. Especially (Takiwaki) Shoko-chan and Hana-chan. I didn't go and watch their performances during my hiatus, I only listened to the songs from their CDs. Listening to their live singing for the first time since my return, I realized they really improved. When I asked them, "What did you do?", they told me they went for voice training, and sang a lot. I'm so impressed.

--Okay, any food that left you a good impression? I'm into eating imo-kenpi recently. Also, I started cooking for myself every day ever since I decided to return. I was like, "Eh? This is delicious!" loudly when I tried the sesame soymilk noodles that I made (laughs). I was so impressed by how delicious it was then.

--Is the cooking of high difficulty? It was rather easy to make. I just looked at the recipe and made it, and the spiciness and seasoning was just how I like it.

--Do you usually cook before this? Not at all.

--No wonder you got burned while cooking. I got burned at two areas. Both times were when I was trying to take something while using the frying pan, it hit my arm and burned me (laughs).

--In the first place, what's the link between returning and cooking for yourself? I didn't take 3 meals a day before this, I ate and went to bed whenever I want, to the point where I became pretty chubby (laughs). I felt like I need to lose weight before I return, so I started cooking healthy meals for myself.

--So you completely changed your eating habits. I did a complete 180 degrees change. I eat a lot for breakfast because I get hungry, I basically skipped lunch for two months, and eat light food such as fish for dinner.

--2 meals a day huh. I was often told that if I'm going to have 2 meals anyways, it is better to have breakfast and lunch, but I can't hold my hunger in at night. I still can tolerate not eating lunch, so I choose to eat breakfast and dinner.

--Have you ever been moved from looking at beautiful sceneries? I can see the sky from my room, so during my hiatus in January, February and March, I often get to see beautiful sunsets that were like pink and light blue. Whenever I open the curtain and watch the sunset. I feel soothed.

--Hitomi-san, you will be turning 20 at the beginning of the new year, right? I used to feel like I still want to stay in my teens, but recently I want to turn 20 as soon as possible. There are more members who are legal to drink, so I can't wait to mix around with them.

--You will be able to do more things. There are various places I feel like going, but with the situation right now, it's hard. Thinking about it now, I really should have gone when I was still on hiatus (laughs).

--What kind of places do you want to go? Overseas. Like Taiwan or Italy. I was planning to go to Italy with my mother and older sister, but we couldn't go abroad at that time, so it got cancelled. We did talk like, "We should use the money supposedly for the overseas trip to go somewhere within the country", but couldn't go anywhere eventually due to country being in a state of emergency.

--What do you look for if you could go? I want to eat authentic pizza and pasta in Italy, I want to eat while walking around the night market in Taiwan. I would look for food if I could go (laughs).

--You are waiting for the day to be able to go...... right? It is precisely at this time that we, =LOVE, would like to be given more chances to make everyone happy.

#equal love #=love #ikorabu #takamatsu hitomi

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secretradiobrooklyn · 4 years ago

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Shroud of Pigeon | 12.5.20

Secret Radio | 12.5.20 | Hear it here.

1. Yos Olarang - title unknown

This is a real score in my book. Generally known as Yol Aularon, this guy is Cambodia’s greatest rock musician, turning out garage rock that knows no equal in America or anywhere else, in my opinion. I tracked down this song on a tape attributed to “Yol Aularon” which includes his big hit, “Cyclo,” but also this song which I haven’t heard on any other collections. Honestly, though, I may yet run across it in a prominent collection, because I have no way of figuring out the title — every bit of the text I can find is in Cambodian. In any case, we LOVE this track! It’s almost like a catalog of Olarang’s laughs: there’s a merry snort, a giggle, and a malevolent cackle all built into the melody. I believe he’s the blazing lead guitarist as well. It’s just such a perfect gem of pure rock energy.

2. Gedou - “Scent” (I think)

Speaking of pure rock energy — DAMN, SAM! This was our introduction to Gedou, a blasting burst of Japanese glam rock whose costumes match the sounds you hear here. These guys were only originally active from ’73-’76, and then got back together sporadically after that; I believe this is from that original lineup. It’s well worth it to check the live video that this comes from. It’s an electric thrill just to see them leaning back to back, singing into the same mic, doing kicks and losing their minds in shining kimonos and silk hiphuggers. It feels like a Japanese MC5 whose wardrobe directly influenced David Bowie. One note I read says that they were popular with Japanese biker gangs at the time — and there are certainly bikes aplenty in the video. I’m looking forward to finding out more about the impact they had in Japan, and whether they made an impression in the rest of the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHfBhJsqrD8

3. Clothilde - “Saperlipopette”

What a strange little slab of chamber pop! Clothilde was barely even a one-hit wonder in France — she released two 45s in 1967 and, as far as I know, that was it. But what a song! It’s like a vanful of pop records crashed into a classical instrument shop. I especially dig the xylophone or whatever that is back there — hardly necessary given the hyperactive harpsichord, but it takes the poppy flavor right over the top. So many bands have tried to get to this level of fizz, but I’ve never heard it succeed like this!

- King Kong - “Ten Long Years”

Slint is one of indie rock’s most unimpeachably cool bands, which makes the silliness of King Kong all the more endearing. Band leader Ethan Buckler was the original bassist in Slint, and all of the Slint lineup got into the act at one point or another. In 1995 Drag City released King Kong’s “Me Hungry,” a sort of funky concept album about a caveman, his yak, and an inhospitable world. Sean Nelson and I spent many not-sober nights enjoying that record — “I push em out, I push em out” — and got to see them play the Crocodile Cafe. I definitely remember appreciating how groovy King Kong was, like Neanderthal B-52s. Butler even looked a bit like a shaved caver.

4. Star Feminine Band - “Femme Africaine”

Born Bad is our new favorite label, right up there with Analog Africa. They’re based in France, and release music both archival and new. Star Feminine Band is based in Benin, home to so much of our favorite music. It’s definitely worth watching the video for this song just to see how young and full of potential the girls in the band are. They were assembled in a School of Rock sort of situation, taught to play instruments and encouraged to write lyrics. The lyrics of this song are so directly uplifting it’s enough to put a lump in the throat. Meanwhile, the music is such a pleasure to listen to! The whole album is full of good stuff, but this song is pretty much their theme song. It translates to:

“Oh woman, African woman

Oh woman, Beninese woman

Black woman, get up, don't sleep

You can become president of the republic

You can become prime minister of the country

Get up, something must be done

African woman, be independent

The country needs us, go to school

Africa needs you, you have to work

The world needs us, let's stand up we'll defend

African woman, be independent”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdDp6VAXXbk

5. Young Signorino - “Mmh Ha Ha Ha”

A few years ago a friend posted the video for this song on FB with a note that was like, “Ever see something you should hate but you can’t stop watching?” I watched it, watched it again… and watched it again. It eventually slipped out of my mind, but I was thrilled to remember it the other day in the context of WBFF. The song’s language, such as it is, is Italian, but it also just fits perfectly into the post-language mix that has been turning our cranks lately. I’m really glad to get a chance to present it here first as a piece of music, because the video really affects the experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9bf4PT-aEk

6. Yura Yura Teikoku - ゆらゆら帝国で考え中 “Yura Yura Keikoku de Kangaechuu” (I think?)

This is another sweet find in a broadcast full of em! Yura Yura Teikoku is a trio formed in 1989 and have a huge rep in Japan as a psychedelic band, but apparently by 2000 they were crafting super-awesome pop songs that rocked hard. The video of this song features a singer with adorably mussed hair and a striped shirt against an orange background, looking super hip and on top of the world. From what I’ve read they were gigantic in Japan but utterly unknown outside, which changed a bit when they played New York in 2007 and again a year later, to packed houses. But that didn’t seem to do the trick, and they finally broke up in 2010. They have several good songs from this period, but this one, from a three-song 45, is the one that has hooked us the hardest so far. We can’t seem to find out even what the song title is, but as far as I can tell the band’s name translates to The Wobbling Empire, and the song title is “Thinking in the Wobbling Empire.” It’s bizarre to us that this kind of hip tight rock didn’t find a way into the bigger world… but I guess singing in Japanese was the deciding factor. Really glad to have uncovered it though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9CM44MohAs

7. Can - “Mother Sky”

I know a lot of bigger Can fans than me, but this track has so much of what we love in the drones, the freakouts, the lockdowns, the Engl-ish vocals, the long climb towards the climax… it feels sometimes like flying, sometimes like swimming, sometimes like burrowing deeper and deeper downwards.

8. Señor Coconut - “Showroom Dummies”

Can and Kraftwerk share enough DNA that they seem like a natural pairing. But… Señor Coconut’s version of this classic track of “Trans-Europe Express” is honestly my preferred version of the song. It sounds so sincere and strange, and I find myself thinking about the lives of mannequins even as I also hear the palm leaves switching in the breeze. The album “El Baile Aleman” — “German Dance” — was released in 1999, and apparently Kraftwerk was fine with it. Thank goodness.

- Lithics - “A Highly Textured Ceiling”

Every time I hear this track I think of Six Finger Satellite’s “The Pigeon Is the Most Popular Bird,” a crucial album for me. I learned about all of these tones for the first time from that record. I’ma write more about this band in a sec, when they show back up.

9. Schwervon! - “American Idle”

Years ago Mike Appelstein hipped us to Schwervon!, a two-piece band who were about to make the opposite journey of our own eventual path, moving from NYC to Missouri — in their case Kansas City. They turned out to be lovely individuals and an instant favorite band, and we hosted them whenever they came through STL. Their album “Courage” plays like a lost ’90s classic, and “American Idle” is one of the best tracks on there. The production of the album, by Matt Mason, is straight-up enviable. As is so often the case, good people have good friends, and they led us to Jeffrey Lewis, who has been a pleasure to get to know better since we made our own way east last year. I don’t think Matt and Nan are writing songs together anymore, but we’re glad that they did.

10. Boney M. - “Rasputin”

I saw this song peeking at me from my computer now and then, but didn’t check it out til recently. What a complete banger! The lyrics are absolutely fantastic — “Rah! Rah! Rasputin, Russia’s greatest love machine, it was a shame how he carried on!” — but so is the production… and the video, for that matter. Apparently this was a hit track in 1978. I’ve spent most of my life avoiding disco, though, so I had no idea. I love how the narrative weight shifts from the lead male voice to the chorus voices. It’s such a strange read of Rasputin’s life and death — the unkillable Casanova of Russia!

11. Rafaella Carrá - “Festa”

Did I mention that I used to hate disco? Well, this is my big comeup. We’ve been dabbling in disco on WBFF here and there, but this pairing is meant strictly for the dancefloor! This is the original Italian version, but Carrá became a massive hit in Spain and recorded most of her songs in Spanish as well. Obviously, the Spanish influence is strong in this song’s amazing flamenco claps and trumpet passages.

12. T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou Benin et Loko Pierre - “Djo Mi Do”

There’s nowhere to go from disco but back to our prime fascination: Tout Puissant! This album is a collaboration with saxophonist Loko Pierre, and every track hits hard. But this track’s chorus, “djo mi do, djo mi do!” is such a gotdamn hook! This band continues to surprise and reward the deeper we dig into their catalog, and I feel like we’re still just getting started. So funky and fresh every time.

The chorus makes me think of a song we first heard on KDHX about a decade ago — “Dominos,” by The Big Pink. I really liked the hook of the song but loathed the cold-blooded lyrics, so I found myself hating it. You know how it is. I’m really glad to find a song that can replace it in my head — and it’s a way better song!

13. Bruno Leys - “Hallucinations”

Credit to Born Bad records once again for this song. It’s a true rarity. Bruno Leys fell in with some fellow students in Paris in 1967 including a guy named Emmanuel Pairault, who was obsessed with an instrument called the ondes Martenot, which is a very very early electronic instrument that works a little like a theremin — though it’s played by wearing a ring on one finger and sliding it along a wire, depressing the wire to change the note — but has a crazy range of sounds. The instrumental hook in this song, as well as the backing notes, are on the onde Martenot. Leys co-wrote and recorded four songs with the band, they got signed up with a label, released a 7”, then he had to leave for compulsory military service… and by the time he got back two years later there was no band and no label. The 7” was practically unobtainable til this year, when Born Bad records finally released it anew. I hope Leys is still alive to appreciate that it finally made its way into the world!

- The Psycheground Group - “Psycheground”

14. Troubadour Dali - “Spirit of ’67”

Oh, Troubadour… Sleepy Kitty shared a label with Troubadour Dali for several years, and we were big fans of their whirling swirling psychedelia. They had a couple of chicks (I think they’d approve of the word) projecting old-school colored oil-and-water light effects on the band, and when they were on, they looked and felt like the greatest band in the land. Troubadour went through an impressive number of players over the years, and there was generally some sort of drama or mayhem going on — not too surprising for a band who loved Brian Jonestown Massacre. The main songwriter was a lanky, handsome fella named Ben, though there were also great songs by Kevin and, every once in a great while, a powerful contribution by a quiet, snappy dresser named Benjamin. Benjamin apparently put this recording together entirely on his own. When he showed it to the band they flipped out — it’s obviously a winner — and they quickly got together a live version of it. Man, it tore the house down every time. At some point, though, in the midst of some of that drama, Benjamin started to kind of slip sideways out of the band. As they were finishing up their second full length, he declined to let the band record this song, or to make the demo available, despite their pleas. Eventually they went forward without it, and I don’t know what happened to Benjamin but I do know that Paige happened to rediscover her copy of “Spirit of ‘67″ recently, tucked into a stack of burned CDs. We’re very glad to get to drop this very special song into this secret radio mix.

- The Psycheground Group - “Psycheground”

Rare Italian instrumental noodles from the mid ’70s.

15. The Velvet Underground - “After Hours”

*Not ruined. Affected, but not ruined. She said so.

16. Jean Cussac in “Le Livre de la Jungle” - “Etre un homme comme vous”

One musical adventure we’ve really enjoyed is checking out familiar musicals in unfamiliar tongues. And though you may not think of Disney’s “Jungle Book” as a musical, you’d be mistaken. This version of “I Want to Be Like You” is a particular delight. It plays straight with the original, but the presence of the French language inflects the rhythms with a Parisian flavor that I’d never noticed before.

17. Duch Kim Hak - “Neary Sok Khley”

Another hit from the Cambodian treasure chest. Paige noted as we listened the first time, “This one has good chords,” and we took to referring to it as Cambodian ska. I think it’s meant to be a simple twist song, but there’s a royal quality to the chords that really puts it above a straightforward dance novelty. And his vocal delivery is ace!

18. The Fall - “Terry Waite Sez”

Not much needed on this one! This is one in a host of classics from 1986’s “Bend Sinister.” The Brix E. period of The Fall is just the BEST.

19. Twiggy - “When I Think of You”

Paige: “I was made aware of this record by The Deccas [a band she briefly sang with in Chicago]. They knew every single girl group song that had ever been recorded. This was the same band where the guy who was obsessed with Scott Walker and looked like him and his house was very /60s and he had a word processor. I didn’t even know what a word processor was. That’s unrelated to this song though. She’s one of the great singing models — and maybe next week we’ll play another one. There are three known.”

- Psycheground Group - “Psycheground”

20. Hallelujah Chicken Run Band - “Alikulila”

SO happy to have this album on vinyl at last! It was just released in this format, and Analog Africa is always so good at including notes about the album’s genesis. These guys are from Zambia, and they pioneered the translation of mbira parts into guitar parts, while writing these amazing songs that I’ve never heard anything like. Except for one. One of their songs sounds a bit like a Bound Stems song. Which is weird, because obviously we’d never heard them when we wrote “Cloak of Blue Sky.” It just proves to me that they were both way ahead of their time and working in an idiom that could and should be hit music today. It sounds so alive and creative and insightful, like good indie rock should.

21. Lithics - “Snake Tattoo / Twisting Vine”

Lithics is one of my favorite contemporary bands. They played Foam in St. Louis like five years ago, right after I’d discovered their existence via the excellent album “Borrowed Floors.” Foam was a tiny little club that fit maybe 50 people and was sure to go apeshit for this show. I was SO psyched to be there… but the night of, we couldn’t get out because we were staying out in the Illinois woods and it was snowing enough to make the return trip too treacherous. As much as that’s one of the main shows of my life I wish I’d seen, I’m glad that Brad got to see them and tell me about it later. I hope I can catch them in NYC.

22. Sunny Blacks Band - “Mission spéciale”

OK, I admit that I’m obsessed with Melome Clement — or Meloclem, as he is known by some in Benin. He’s the composer of hundreds of T.P. Orchestre songs, and I’ve written about him a ton. I know he plays some horns and I believe he plays the slashing guitar that you hear in this track. I don’t think that’s him singing but I’m not sure; his voice is very malleable. Sunny Blacks Band is the group he was playing with when the T.P. Orchestre guys found him. It’s hard music to track down, but I love how much it rocks — or “jerks,” as they said at the time. We’ve also played the track “Holonon Die” on here and it jerks too, with an extended, wild electric guitar solo over pulsing trap and hand drums. What a freakin powerhouse Meloclem is.

23. Betti-Betti - “La Vie de Bettie Bettie Chanteuse Camerounaise”

This recording is a beautiful mystery. It appears in a film called “Badiaga,” which I encountered while looking for music by Betti-Betti, a superstar within her nation of Cameroon. This comes from one of the final scenes in the movie. There are different summations of the film (we don’t understand the language of the film itself), but apparently the story is “inspired by” the story of Betti-Betti, who was discovered as a child wandering in a marketplace, brought up extremely poor and eventually sang (a cappella?) on the radio, whereupon she became an instant success. She played constant shows and played with many of the region’s heaviest hitters, including T.P. Orchestre (they recorded an album together, which is how we found out about her). As for this recording — I don’t know if this is sung by Betti-Betti or by the actress playing her. And I don’t know the male character singing alongside her, though I’m guessing he’s a real-life music figure himself. It’s a beautiful duet, rich with feeling, and the performance footage throughout the movie is electrifying.

P.S. This film is also how I found out about Eko Roosevelt, whose “Me To a Dey My Own” is an epic upbeat number we’ve played on WBFF!

24. Guided By Voices - “The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory”

A perfect song, meant for the opposite of social distancing: to be sung full-bore in a crowd with one’s arms slung around sweating strangers, straight into the face of the band (I’ll be the one hooting the recorder part). This is how legends are made.

- Janko Nilovic & Soul Surfers - “Maze of Sounds”

I love the bass part on this album as much as the album artwork, which we will surely have included somewhere around here. This guy’s story is pretty interesting: he was born in Istanbul to a Montenegrin father and Greek mother, and his career started by working with French singer Davy Jones (but not THAT Davy Jones) in 1967. He got into recording for sound libraries, working in soul and funk and psych music, gained a serious composing rep and eventually, maybe inevitably, his music started getting sampled by the likes of Dr. Dre and Jay Z. Not bad, not bad!

25. Gnonnas Pedro et Ses Dadjes - “La Musica en Verité”

Maybe someday we’ll release the version of this song that we recorded in the early days of the pandemic. This is the final track (if not the final song) on the immortal “Legends of Benin” album on Analog Africa. My favorite aspect is how the guitar plays the same mesmerizing piece throughout, but the percussion evolves over the course of the song until it has gradually changed completely. It’s a subtle dynamic but it’s a master clinic in how to run a drone song the right way. Also, that organ part is just beautiful.

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kenkamishiro · 5 years ago

Photo

It took a couple days more than I expected since I was busy and distracted by Chen Gong memes, but I finally finished Ishida’s review which is essentially him rambling about his favourite parts about the Tokyo Ghoul S movie lol.

The other thing of note is that we finally know the kanji for Sui? 帥 which means ‘commander’, but who knows if it was like that originally or if Ishida added it after the fact.

The original can be read here. If you find any mistakes please let me know!

＊＊＊

“Have you seen Matsuda Shouta's portrayal of Tsukiyama Shuu?”

The other day I was finally able to go see the movie "Tokyo Ghoul S".

Since posts on Twitter have to be 140 characters or less, I’ve been struggling to cut down the number of characters each time and fit together the necessary information like a puzzle, but to put it bluntly it’s a pain in the ass. So this time, I’d like to share my written thoughts...or should I say endorsement of the movie via this new web service. I apologize for making you read my poor writing.

Oh, just as a precaution, I’ll be touching a bit on the contents of the movie, so if you want to avoid spoilers, I’d advise you not to read any further.

Also, although there were lots of little details that I liked, I’d like to focus on Tsukiyama Shuu played by Matsuda Shouta. (Please don’t get me wrong, all the other cast members were amazing. It’s just what I want to talk about in particular…)

＊＊＊

Matsuda Shouta’s portrayal of Tsukiyama was the best ① His waking up scene was the best It took place early in the movie, but it’s the scene where Tsukiyama is selecting his outfit for the day. I loved that scene.

It’s when the recently awakened Tsukiyama heads for his bureau, calmly yet seriously deliberating over what he should wear for the day.

Going like, “(What about this colour...no, this won’t do. How about this fabric? Good, now then a handkerchief to match…)”

The audience may think, “Whatever, it doesn’t matter…!”, but this is something extremely important to Tsukiyama. His passion of aesthetics came across perfectly in this scene.

At this point in the movie, I was already moved by how Matsuda-san was playing the role of Tsukiyama.

② Tsukiyama whenever he was with Kaneki was the best He was hilarious (delightful) from their first encounter.

The scenes of when they first come in contact, when Tsukiyama visits Kaneki’s university and invites Kaneki to the cafe, and the scene at the cafe itself were very interesting. Particularly when Tsukiyama was waiting at the cafe with his handkerchief. And what he did with the handkerchief afterwards. I was having a blast the entire time. (When Tsukiyama said, “I’m going to wash my handkerchief,” and headed for the bathroom, warning his reflection in the mirror to be flat*)

[T/N: Assuming ‘flat’ means some form of ‘calmato’.]

③ Tsukiyama was strong It’s a given that he'd be strong. He didn’t take any damage at all. The battle scene during the climax was beyond amazing.

In the scene where Tsukiyama was single-handedly tormenting the two people, and even after he released his kagune he was suuper strong.

(Ah, Tsukiyama was so cool…) Is what crossed my mind.

The fight itself was interesting, but his actions outside of it were also fully enthralling. (I really liked when he “set the table”...)

④ Conclusion Tsukiyama fans should absolutely go see the movie. That’s what I want to share.

Live action adaptations of manga are prone to character exaggeration and will occasionally remind you that it’s fiction, but Matsuda Shouta was able to reconstruct Tsukiyama’s rich character with a dose of reality, which makes me think he truly is a rare breed of actor.

I thought that this Tsukiyama can be enjoyed as a character in his own right, even to those who have yet to read the original work.

I was so moved by this character, that if I had the chance to speak to someone who’s being made to read the manga, I’d want to ask, “Have you seen Matsuda Shouta’s portrayal of Tsukiyama Shuu?” He went beyond my expectations.

Starting from the bottom left going clockwise:

Bottom left:

Tokyo Ghoul S Movie Personal Highlights by Ishida Sui

Top left:

Shuu-sama choosing his outfit for the day Looking serious

Top right:

Mask of the moon’s surface. If you look closely you can see it's transparent. Good since it's kinky. Every gesture of his has class to it. His hand attached here looks very elegant.

Bottom right:

So strong! Holding his handkerchief Tsukiyama: Don't worry about it... (Kaneki): I'm sorry.

＊＊＊

Other things I liked ① Kaneki’s reactions Kubota-kun as Kaneki was amazing as always.

About Kaneki’s development in the movie, there were many instances where he was still quite passive, but every little detail in his reactions I saw was amazing.

That is to say, no exaggerated movements or shouts at all, but within his subtle movements and expressions implying the anxiety in his heart or suspicion that doesn’t reveal itself in his face, it made me think that that man is a genius...

(1) When Tsukiyama went to the university and called out to Kaneki, and Kaneki goes, “...huh?” in confusion. His confusion was as if a middle-aged man you've never met sitting next to you suddenly speaks to you.

(2) When Kaneki is carrying the injured Nishiki to his room, Kimi appears at the front door. Kimi embraced Nishiki in his beaten-up state without thinking. During that time, Kaneki couldn’t let go of his shoulder he lent to Nishiki, and as a result, when the three of them ended up in a scrum-like position, it somehow felt like he was trying to make himself inconspicuous.

...those were some examples of the little details I enjoyed a lot.

② Kaneki was strong There were enticing parts that looked like they came straight from a kung-fu movie, with confrontations that went, “undergo intensive training → see results of intensive training → fight strong enemy”, and there were also parts where the battles were simple yet interesting. Whenever I see cool action scenes, I get excited.

I heard from Avu-chan who’d already watched the private showing, that, “He was flying like, fwoosh!”, which made me a bit worried because, “He was flying like, fwoosh…!?” But (I didn’t go to the private showing, so I didn’t see anything from the movie until after it was completed), although there definitely was a part where he flew like fwoosh, I wasn’t the least bit concerned. I was surprised it was so cool.

③ Yamamoto Maika’s portrayal of Touka In the previous movie, how should I word it, Sen-chan* portrayed manga Touka perfectly. It felt as if I dived straight into the manga and was looking right at Touka herself. Her acting was divine, and I liked it a lot.

[T/N: Touka’s first actress, Shimizu Fumika, who changed her name to Sengen Yoshiko under Happy Science.]

For the recent movie, I went to go see it nervously wondering how Yamamoto Maika’s version of Touka would feel like.

Yamamoto-san’s Touka was powerful. I mean that in a good way.

First of all, how high she can raise her body trained through karate. Her blows and strikes fit well in the action scenes, and they were physically strong. She had an impressive battling style in both the “intensive training” scene and the “vs. Tsukiyama” scene, and if I were to pick a fight with her, I can easily imagine that it’d be one-sided and I’d get utterly thrashed.

And more than anything, the power of her presence. I think it’d be quite hard to stand out between Kubota-kun’s Kaneki and Matsuda-san’s Tsukiyama.

However, she became a character that stood out in her own right even standing with them, and character-wise I felt her assert her dominance.

This is just how I personally felt, but to me it seemed as if Yamamoto Maika was angry against the world. That aura fit Touka well, and it looked great.

As an aside, when I saw an interview with Yamamoto Maika the other day, she said, “I haven’t read the original work because I don’t know how to read manga,” and I was very impressed by that.

④ I like the music Rather than the grand majestic melody like last time, this time it was a tad mellow, yet distorted melody interwoven into the taste. That was my favourite feel in the entire movie.

The scene at the beginning especially caught my eye. I was drawn into the movie’s world by experiencing the gorgeous Tokyo and the sense of loneliness you feel there. It fitted well with the atmosphere of both the movie and the manga.

⑤ The Helter Skelter duo was alluring Uta was played by Bandou Minosuke, and Itori by Jiyoung. It was fun seeing the charm and allure of those 2 people who make up Helter Skelter. Jiyoung-san, who made her entrance in this new movie, was a stunning visual who was originally a member of KARA. It might be because she’s from Korea, but although she looks close to Japanese, there’s a subtle air around her that suggests that she isn’t. She was gorgeous in a sultry beauty kind of way.

Things I was concerned about It’s inevitable as an adaptation, but I felt like there were a couple scenes that were a bit difficult to understand if you hadn’t read the manga. Certain words or characters, for example. However, I think it was addressed during the script-writing stage so that they’d be explained throughout the movie (thank you Mikasano Chuuji*…)

[T/N: Also the scriptwriter for the anime.]

Additionally, Kaneki, Touka and Tsukiyama were very compelling characters, so I thought it’d be a fun movie to enjoy. My reactions ended up being late, but I’d be happy if more people go to watch it starting from even now.

Thank you to the directors Kawasaki Takuya and Hiramaki Kazuhiko, the producer Nagae-kun, and everyone who was involved in the making of this movie.

I don’t often go see the same movie in theatres, but I’m thinking of going to see it again.

#Tokyo Ghoul #Tokyo Ghoul S #Ishida Sui #Translations #my translations #i will never not appreciate ishida's rambling #i'm glad he liked it #can't wait to see it in theatres myself :)#featured

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jennikkugoesoff · 4 years ago

Text

Exploring copy personalization via VR

Introduction

Hello, my name is Jen. Many of the current world are starting to take notice to the idea of Mario 64's personalization AI. Neither of these topics need introduction, You know what Super Mario 64 is and you know why you're here. I've been taking a recent interest into the study of how the game adapts over time to suit the player, and exactly how personal that personalization gets. I'm very familiar with the game, I know most of it's ins and outs, I've completed it multiple times on the original console.

And I can tell you yes, it is a fact.

Super Mario 64 is a personalized game. But it's not personalized in the way people think.

In most cases, I've found the personalization factor of the game is incredibly small, and it's more subtle than meets the eye. And it can only be achieved on original hardware (IE, the Nintendo 64, or an environment that perfectly simulates the Nintendo 64, on a composite monitor or TV), and, for our purposes it would ideally be with the original Japanese release (or as I call it, the J variant) rather than International (or as I call it, the ! variant). It doesn't make too much of a difference, but in the original release it's effects are more obvious, at least for English-speaking players or players with English as their first language.

For instance, an English-speaking player will have slightly negative or empty feelings throughout the game while playing the J Variant on original hardware, similar to those felt in Wet-Dry World in the international release. Likewise, non-English speaking players will feel the same negative aura playing an international copy. I haven't yet studied the relationship between the International and European copies or Japanese and European copies though, which could definitely be something to look into, these same emotional auras could very well carry over.

The reason it can only be achieved on original hardware is because personalization was outright removed from other releases of SM64. Starting with the Shindou release, all subsequent versions of Mario 64, such as the iQue and Wii Virtual Console release, as well as the Japanese, North American and European versions commonly circulated through emulation and rom websites, and consequently what most, if not all of SM64 Hacks, mods and ports are built off of, have personalization outright removed, or altered in such a way to be unnoticeable. I'm not sure if this would extend to SM64DS or not, but the games seems similar enough that cognative proccesses line up in a similar fashion. Something I have noticed in my research is that skeptics of the Personalization AI often come off the heels of having played Modern versions of SM64 rather than the original versions.

Although to what extent I can't be sure, it's entirely possible that playing these modified ports of SM64 could lead to differences in brain activity that affects the way personalization works, specifically to the extent that playing copies of SM64 without the original personalization factors intact leads to an 'immunity' of sorts to it. The learned responses from playing SM64 emulated rather than on it's original console are subtle, but they're enough to cause differences. Given the personalization AI in general stems from the subtle differences between players, it would only make sense these 'learned behaviors' would alter the game in such a way to give every player who plays on the original hardware after having played a modified port a shared experience, or at least with differences that are too subtle to be noticeable. This is what I'll call the "Surface SM64 Theory". So at least in my mind, copy personalization equates more to instilled emotions, feelings, and thought processes that are interpreted through subtle differences between inputs, than it does pure 'injection' (IE, new graphics, music, sound effects and textures being 'beta-ified'). Although injection is certainly a part of it, it's not grandiose, and the effects are rarely seen on video, if at all. Which brings me to why I'm here today.

I feel that, to experience copy personalization on a level that's intimate enough to not just be a ripple effect, and can be closely analyzed, the only solution is to give the personalization factor a more direct line into one's senses. And what's the best way to do that with tools that are already available to the common consumer? VR, along with some other tools.

By controlling the game as if I were Mario, rather than Mario being a proxy to player input, I can observe the game at a closer, more emotionally open level. With headphones I can experience the sounds at a closer level, and by being closer to the screen I can experience the game itself at a closer level. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Given the Surface SM64 Theory though, I should note that I have played other ports of SM64 though, and, like I said, know it's ins and outs quite well, I decided to break from the game for an extended period of time (about a month at the time of writing) before trying to conduct this experiment. Ideally we'd want someone who grew up with the original release and nothing else, or had never heard of the game at all, but, I'm not interested in using any human guinea pig except for myself. In this way I hope to approach the game with a fresh mindset, or at least a mindset fresh enough so that I could explore at least some of the personalization effects.

Before this break though, I got into contact with a few different mod authors (who, for the sake of privacy, won't disclose the names of, they didn't want much to do with this project to begin with. I think they thought I was crazy or something) who gave me the grace of helping me out. The VR setup in question uses a rom extracted straight from my copy Super Mario 64, which has been verified to be an original cart. This rom was extended, modified, then the new rom was flashed onto a player cart in a modified Nintendo 64, with the rom's mods adding support for a gyroscopic, first-person camera, environmentally accurate surround sound, and two VR controllers I can hold.

I hope that doing this hasn't tampered with too much of the personalization AI, I'm not sure what the authors did to the rom, and in retrospect I probably shouldn't have given them the benefit of the doubt just putting my safety into their hands when they obviously thought I was bananas and refused to let me share any information about them. But, I've gone about this the only way I knew how to, and I've poured too much time into this now to not do it. So, I guess this frontier will be one I explore blindly. So, over the course of however long it takes me to finish the game with 120 Stars and talk to Yoshi, I'll be logging my experiences.

The Experiment

8/7/2020 11:30AM - Stars Collected: 0

Getting used to the controls took quite a lot of time, although thankfully the gyroscopic camera seems to follow Mario as an object instead of his model's face, I can't imagine doing all those flips and turns with a gyroscopic camera.

Everything seems to be working ok so far though, nothing seems too out of the ordinary, of course I didn't really look outside very much before going in, but, we'll see where it goes from here.

8/7/2020 11:55AM - Stars Collected: 8 This may've been a bad idea. I feel fine. So far it's just been playing the game in close-up, with not a whole lot else going on. I'm still going to see it through to it's end, but I wouldn't be surprised if I don't report back on anything else for a while. It's just kind of going through the motions at this point. I have all of BoB's stars except for MwttS and the first secret slide star, I'm not going to even try to attempt the second one right now, I still need time to get used to this I think, and for some reason I've always struggled with that one in particular. I guess if there's one thing that feels off, it's that, ironically, everything ironically feels much more quiet, I don't know if it's me, but everything feels quieter. With quieter audio this game feels so much lonelier. Early 3D environments can seem so bland and barren without much context. I'm gonna go try to fight Bowser, hopefully this goes well.

8/7/2020 12:10 PM - Stars Collected: 8 I may have made a slight error in judgement. Bowser levels are not only harder than I though they'd be with the camera zoomed in so close, but fighting Bowser is nearly impossible. Even though the camera follows Mario as an object and not his model, that doesn't seem to translate to Bowser very well, because the camera spins. Oh boy, does it spin. It's making me motion sick trying to beat him. I usually don't even get motion sick, I've been playing video games all my life, and VR has never bothered me like this. Perhaps it's just the game though. In the meantime I think I won't bother with Bowser and I'll go do some other stars here in the Foyer, there's a lot to get done after all.

8/7/2020 12:46PM - Stars Collected: 15 I finally got the other slide star, after a bunch of tries. I've always struggled with that one in particular, but this time it was especially hard with the camera, you can't hardly see where you're going and making that blind jump is such a gamble. I was really happy to be done with it when I got there. And by really happy, I mean, seriously giddy. When I heard the twinkling and the star appeared I had this moment to myself where I just started giggling. It just felt so rewarding. Something about it just... got to me. I felt warm on the inside. I think I'm starting to like the game better this way, it's harder, but, it's rewarding. I almost wonder if doing it again would have the same effect. But, I don't have time for that, I have to go finish up WF and JRB

8/7/2020 1:12PM - Stars Collected: 17 Well, out of pure curiosity, I tried it. And it worked. Too well. I haven't been getting much done for the past 10 minutes. I've just been redoing the slide star. Why I'm stuck on it? I don't know. I have more progress to make, I know, but, something about it is just fun. But, really, that's what the game is about, isn't it? Having fun? Besides, I have all the time in the world to finish the game, surely a little indulgence can't hurt right? Maybe it just feels nice to have finally conquered that one star that frustrated me so much. Either way, I for sure am gonna go back and finish the foyer now. I'm wasting time.

8/7/2020 2:36PM - Stars Collected: 17 God damn it. Why am I so stuck on this one mission? It's a really unremarkable star in the long run of things, it's a footnote. It's just one star. It's just one star. Why is it so much fun? It's so stupid, I feel like an addict going back to it over and over again. But, there's such a rush that comes with it. It's like a rollercoaster, the thrill, the anticipation of it all. And it has such a nice payoff, collecting a star feels so nice in this game. Screw personalization, maybe I should just shoot for the record on this star, surely there's a glitchless record for it somewhere.

8/7/2020 3:01PM - Stars Collected: 17 Still no progress. Been having a good time though. I think I should take a break soon though, I caught myself drooling a little bit after getting the star again.

8/7/2020 3:25PM - Stars Collected: 17 Yeah I need to take a break soon. This is extremely captivating, but, I caught myself drooling on myself again, and, I think I'm freaking my housemates out by giggling so much. But, I can't help it! It's such a rush! This is the truest essence of a video game I've felt in so long, I'm starting to feel nostalgic. I've always liked the Slider music more than most, and there's so many questions clawing at my mind. Like, what are the pillars there for? Who put them there? Why are they tangible? I always did like them. I wonder if they were meant to be in other levels before getting removed.

8/7/2020 5:16PM - Stars Collected: 17 Ok, I guess the road ends here for now. Someone kicked me off. Probably better that way too. I was in the zone playing the star again but, apparently I must've gotten really into it, because, I didn't hear myself, but apparently I was laughing, a lot. Very loudly. Eventually I guess I pissed one of my roommates off, they came and took off the headset and told me to go take a shower and stop doing this. I don't really want to do that, I kinda just wanna keep researching, but... I'm not too upset about it though, I mean, after all I can always just come back to this later. I mean, if this one star has captivated me so much, what'll the rest of the game be like? I'll come back tomorrow.

8/8/2020 9:50AM - Stars Collected: 17 I had a dream last night. About the slide. I think I need another day to take a break from this, the more I think about it, the more it's starting to bother me. What was my deal there? Why did I start laughing. Why did I enjoy this so much? And why do I still have all these questions about it? It's just one star. I need to get to the rest of the game and stop thinking about this.

8/9/2020 5:30PM - Stars Collected: 17 I can't stop thinking about it. I need to do it again. Just one more time. Then I can do the rest of the game. But I need to put this to bed.

8/9/2020 5:45PM - Stars Collected: 17 It happened again. I did it once, and it turned into another time. And another, and another. I started laughing again. I can't help it. I don't even know it's happening. But it is. It is. And I love it. It makes me sad that it's annoying people, but I can't help it. It's just... so much fun. So much fun. So much. So much. So much.

8/9/2020 7:31PM I shouldn't even bother with the star count. I got down to 13 seconds and I lost it. I cant' believe it. It's amazing. I was so happy. 13 seconds oh my god, I don't even know what the record is but it's gotta be close!

8/9/2020 10:00PM It's too much fun. I stopped about 10 minutes ago but, I soiled myself playing the game. I was too into it, I must not have noticed. What's wrong with me? Why am i like this? i feel like i cant tell anyone about this, they wouldn't understand. they wouldn't get it. they would just tell me to stop. i cant stop. i can't its serious now. this is serious. i have to keep going i have to i have to. but i cant anymore i need to go to bed i need to stop i need to sotp i need

8/9/2020 10:20PM im starting to realize that... this is personalized. this must be what people mean as in, the game appeals to you itself. it's horrific, i hate it i hate thinking about it. i don't even know what the game's doing to make me think this. Why. how. why is it like this? And why do i keep coming back. I hate doing it. I can't stop doing it but I hate doing it. It's an addiction it's a virus it's eating away at me like a parasite. I need to go to bed.

8/10/2020 3:28AM i can't sleep

8/10/2020 4:00AM i couldn't help myself i had to go back to it. i had to play it. it's so fun. i know it's bad for me, but nobody gets it. not even you reading this gets it, you don't KNOW me. you dont' know how much this emans to me and what it's doing for me. It's my lfieblodd this is my purpsoe. thise is me.

8/11/2020 they took it from e they took it from me

i tried t play it on an meulator just to get the ficx but it wasn't the same. it wasn[t the same. it wasn't the same. and I NEED it back. i need it back . it's been hours now withotu eme having it and it's hurting me. it's hruting me. i'm seeing it in my head, it's what i need to take hold of and use, but Ii cant have it they won[t let me they won't let me do it.

i think im starting to see things that arent there.

8/14/20 I want fun. someone, please, show me, somewhere. I need thid feeling to come back. i need fun.

i hope he’ll show me fun