Pink iPod Of Doom: Pillows, Utena, Ghost in the Shell & .hack//GAME

By: Lauren Goodnight
Date: Saturday, May 28, 2005

The Pink iPod of DOOM has not been appeased. APPEASE THE POD! Come to And now, for your reviews.

The Pillows: Penalty Life

Geneon Entertainment



God, I wish I liked this album. I wish there had been even a shred of originality, some moment of shining hope that pulled me from my boredom. Sadly, I've heard hundreds of albums like this dating back from the 1960's, and maybe that's the whole point. The Pillows are a very talented three person band in the vein of extremely early Green Day, i.e., the Kerplunk album and everything before that. Sawao Yamanaka, the lead singer and guitarist, writes all of the lyrics, Engrish or otherwise. Yoshiaki Manabe and Shinichiro Sato round out the band, providing more guitar and drums, respectively. The one thing I will say about this album is that, in its mediocrity, it is extremely good at being mediocre. This is a skillfully written album full of passable and almost pretty rock songs that sound a little like punk and a little like surf rock. The most emotion I felt while listening to this album had to have been during the more "rockin'" tracks; this what The Pillows excel at. Sadly, the ballad-type tracks drained the life out of this album.



Where I took it: Borderline surf rock is acceptable fare for net surfing, too!

Where it took me: This reminded me of listening to really silly indie rock that flourished all over the southern USA during the mid 1990's. I would stay up all night and draw while talking to late-night DJs and eating microwave oatmeal.

Standout Track: TERMINAL HEAVEN'S ROCK - This is like old-school spy show music, mixed with surf overtones. The lyrics fit the bill as well, and from the first chord to the last chord, I had a blast listening to this.

Skip-it track: The sun that will not rise - Weezer just did this so much better. I'm glad I wasn't driving while listening to this, or I'd have gone fast asleep at the wheel. Bored now.



Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Yoko Kanno - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex O.S.T.

Geneon Entertainment



I really enjoy Yoko Kanno's soundtracks, most of the time. Then there are really strange post-modern mixes like Wolf's Rain which just turn me off. This is one of the latter, but I will be the first to say how top-notch Kanno is at creating the correct mood with her music. When something like this comes along, I have to say that, even though I don't enjoy it, it is certainly worth owning. Every note stains the consciousness with the grime and sadness of Major Kusanagi's biomechanical world. This music will transport you whether you want to go on its journey or not, and escapism is always a good thing in my book. One thing that Kanno fans will appreciate, even if everything else fails, are the tracks like 'Stamina Rose', which is a complex techno song with the added gravity of Kanno's signature ethereal angelic choir. 'Where Does This Ocean Go?' sounds hauntingly like 'Post'-era Björk, while 'Home Stay' sounds like a Delerium song. 'Siberian Doll House' is an ambient masterpiece. Sadly, too many of the techno and rock tracks sound lifeless, but I wonder if that was the idea. Kanno needs to show us a world slowly losing its old definitions of life while the new definitions are being hammered out by über-sentient creations, often more human than the humans they are surrounded by. This is good music, whether I like it or not.




Where I took it: I studied for exams to this, I traveled to this, I shopped to this, I agonized over how to write this review many, many times. Wherever I went, this haunted me.

Where it took me: An anti-utopian vision of the brutal future, far more brutal than what GitS: SAC shows us week by week. This was a sleazy cyber-Tokyo, transcendent in ways I should never understand.

Standout Track: Beauty is Within Us (vocal by Scott Matthew): This is one of five truly outstanding songs on this disc. I found myself angry that all of the songs were not as good or as enjoyable as this.

Skip-it Track: Train Search: The overuse of feedback and the repetitive nature of this made me want to throw my iPod over the edge of a bridge.



Rating: 4 out of 5

.hack//GAME MUSIC Collection

Geneon Entertainment



Four .hack// games unfolded in Japan, as did a few novels and some anime, before the game music was released for fans. This is what they got: a 31-track compilation album containing some of the more relevant tunes from .hack//INFECTION, .hack//MUTATION, .hack//OUTBREAK, and .hack//QUARANTINE. Some of the songs are event-related, some are character themes, and all are from one game or another, even if some sound like they are from the anime. The limitations of the Playstation's musical audio capabilities are apparent in several of the songs, and the experience is similar to that of listening to Nobuo Uematsu's work for the early Final Fantasy titles released on the Playstation. However, the vocal tracks are luminous and the imagination here far exceeds the normal, run-of-the-mill RPG soundtrack. True, it isn't Final Fantasy, but what is? Even in Square's impressive stable, there are a few FF titles that just. . .well, missed when it came to the music. This, however, does not miss. Highly recommended for fans of .hack// and game music in general.



Where I took it, and where it took me: Occasionally, I will sit down to write. When I do, I need a good mood disc. I tried this out, and a lovely medieval fantasy spread out before me.

Standout track: 'Lios ~ Helba' and 'Aura's Theme': Lovely. Simply lovely.

Skip-it track: Field Prarie Rain as a General Rule ~ Combat: Too tinny, too plunky, too. . .everything I dislike about RPG soundtracks.



Rating: 4 out of 5

la fillette revolutionnaire UTENA Soundtracks 1 & 2

Geneon Entertainment



The Utena music is a paradox. On one hand, the symphonic suite and pop music are lovely. On the other hand, the choral work is jarring and chaotic. In the context of the television series and the films, this works well to delineate the school world and the duel world, but in a listening experience, it fails to impress. Disc 1, one of the most bootlegged titles ever, is lovingly preserved and translated with vibrant colors and deep rich tonal quality. Disc 2, more difficult to find even in Japan, is kept to the same audio standards as well as visual presentation standards. These discs do not suffer poor attention to production detail. The two discs are also very similar in their content. The music from the first and second sections of the series does not differ much, and neither do the soundtracks. There is a third soundtrack in Japan, and I do not know if it will make its way here, but it as well sounds very similar (the Japanese packaging was lovely). Either way, my verdict stands: These discs are for the hardcore Utena fan. The series' relevant music can all be found on Disc 1, or, if you would rather have a fuller orchestration, on the Utena movie soundtrack. The second disc has a number of incidental pieces as well as new duel music, but nothing that sticks to the psyche like Disc 1. Brightened Garden is a defining piece on that disc; Keita Egusa's piano work is lovely. Disc 2 is characterized by strange, out-of-place tracks like 'Dona Dona' and yet another version of 'Revelation of Absolute Destiny'. I'm divided about these releases, as they evoke strong images from the anime but would not be very strong alone.



Where I took it, and where it took me: I've had this music, in one form or another, for years, and the most true thing I can say is that, no matter where I was, this disc brought me back to Ohtori Academy.

Standout track: Disc 1: Revolutionary Girl Overture -- Disc 2: Eternal Secret

Skip-it track: Disc 1: Revelation of Absolute Destiny ~ industrial mix ~ -- Disc 2: Knife of Nectar



Rating: 3.5 out of 5