GITS:SAC OST 1 and 2 getto daze!
I don't normally pay attention to the background music in anime but there are just some tracks that become indelibly associated with key scenes. When I hear Salva Nos (Yuki Kajiura: Noir), I always think to myself that Kirika is going to kick some serious ass. Likewise when Foxy Doll (EDISON: Black Lagoon) comes on, the image of Revy or Balalaika strutting their stuff comes to mind. Or Haruka charging with her bass guitar to the strains of crazy sunshine (The Pillows: FLCL).
Ghost in the Shell has impressed me with all its offerings, including the Innocence OST (on order from TSRI) and the Solid State Society OST. Bought the first and second sound tracks for Stand Alone Complex for GBP 10.99 each via Amazon.co.uk (with free delivery FTW).
My favourite tracks from the SAC OST1 included the energetic run rabbit junk which evokes the Major moving with her deft deathly grace and the deep melancholy of monochrome which was introduced with perfectly timing at the conclusion of SAC Ep 4: Natural Enemy amidst falling snow, delusion and the searing pain of the banal truth. Of course, there's also my favourite OP/ED track - the pulsating rock anthem, Lithium Flower (sung by Scott Matthew, lyrics by Tim Jensen, music by Yoko Kanno). Electric guitars and cute girls are always a winning combination for me.
Some of the GITS OSTs can also a very international feel to them, like Torukia featuring Gabriela Robin on vocals, in SAC OST2 3. I still have no idea what language she's singing in (and thus what she's singing about) but it has an exotic feel and a strange mix of wistfulness and energy about it. Mixed emotions seem to characterize my understanding of other favourite tracks like Unfinished Love Story have not having vocally communicated one's feelings to that loved one and thus loving but not really and then losing. East of the Peninsula is a slow tune that is full of foreboding yet also hopeful in Churchill's quote that "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." 35.7° evokes the vast anonymous cityscapes in GITS but the slow trumpets also bring to mind a heroic romanticism of imperfect people struggling to do good amidst it and against all the forces of resistance and inertia that stand against them.
Overall, very happy with this purchase. Grateful that GITS is popular in the UK as it's much less expensive to get goodies from Amazon compared to having to pay exorbitant shipping and handling from Japan, plus Royal Mail handling charges and 17.5% value added tax. orz High on the agenda for my next trip to Japan will definitively be stocking up loads of OSTs from the Akiba / Ikebukuro / Nakano second hand (??) shops which often have discounts of 50% off the RRP...
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May 10th, 2007 - 03:48
Apparently all of those OP songs were sung in Russian.
May 10th, 2007 - 06:10
The OP songs were almost all Russian with the exception of Scott Matthew’s “The End of All You Know”, but from what I recall Torukia may be a made-up ‘language’ – basically, vocal sounds used as instrument but meaning nothing. All of the OST’s are very good, although the second OP for GITS:SAC 2nd Gig (“End of All You Know” never really grabbed me
That’s one of the best parts of GITS:SAC, in my opinion – the music was almost uniformly superior, thanks to Kanno and the people who worked with her.
May 10th, 2007 - 20:10
randomshinichi, Haesslich, thanks. Kanno & co 4TW.
Just realized that I made a huge boo-boo; all the stuff about OST2 was actually about OST3 (which hasn’t been released in the UK yet -_-;;). The tracks I liked from OST2 would be i can’t be cool, gonna rice and pet food for their energy and what’s it for and to tell the truth for their mood/moodiness. we can’t be cool is great at conveying a sense of foreboding.