What do you think of the Ongaku Blog v2.0?

Now that the new layout and the new plastic Ongaku logo are finally in place, I'd like to have your thoughts on the new changes... Also, a big thank you to Smashing Magazine for their amazing photoshop tutorials, and great logo and visual ideas... It helped me a lot throughout this whole creative process, and I hope it paid off. I also made a couple of others logo, which I might show you later on!

Please answer the poll:

Favorite Song from the Yuki Kajiura Concert DVD?

Now that you've all hopefully watched the whole Yuki Kajiura Concert DVD Live 2008.07.31. (If you haven't, download it here), I'd like to know which song you preferred... Sorry, I like to be curious! So please vote:

My Top Anime Song of 2008 - Tree Song by Yoshida Kiyoshi

I've been holding on to this one for quite a while now! And now it's finally the right time for me to talk about my favorite anime song of 2008. It is Tree Song from the Kaiba OST, composed by Yoshida Kiyoshi (The singer is Minako "mooki" Obata, thank you TheBigN). Sadly, I don't think a lot of people know that song, because not many have seen Kaiba! It was a really sad and amazing anime, yet totally weird... Check it out some time!

There are three versions of the song on the OST:

1. Tree Song (long version) Download here
2. Tree Song (scat. version) Download here
3. Tree Song (a capella version) Download here

10/10 Tree Song is one of the saddest song I've ever heard, it really suits the anime! I've been listening to this song so often. It's actually the only song on my cellphone, and also serves as my alarm ring tone. Each morning I wake up to this song... So you see, I'm really obsessed with it! Maybe that's why I get depressed all the time, XD!
You really have to listen to it, and then tell me which version you like the most...

The long version of Tree Song:


The scat version of Tree Song:


The a Capella version of Tree Song:




PS: I'll be posting my piano cover of Tree Song soon, so stay tuned...

FictionJunction Poll Results

And the winner of the "who is your favorite FictionJunction vocalist?"-poll is...drum rolls... FictionJunction Yuuka (Yuuka Nanri). How could it be otherwise? She is after all the first original FictionJunction vocalist and has worked on a lot of music with Yuki Kajiura-sama! She is also my favorite FictionJunction vocalist...

Here's a short biography:
Yuki Kajiura and Yuuka Nanri first met at Minami Aoyama Shōjo Kagekidan (South Aoyama Female Opera Group, also called Nanshō), a stage group for teenage girls where Kajiura wrote music for some of the plays and Nanri was a performer.

Their first recording was "Akatsuki no Kuruma", an insert song in the popular mecha anime Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, though their debut single was the opening of Madlax, "Hitomi no Kakera" , released on May 8, 2004. On July 27, 2004, the ending theme to Madlax, "inside your heart", was released. In the same year, because of its popularity and the fact that it was Gundam SEED's one-year anniversary, "Akatsuki no Kuruma" was released as a single, which at its peak placed at #10 on the Oricon weekly rankings and sold over 19,481 copies on the first week.

After a hiatus of exactly a year, "Honoh no Tobira", an insert song for Gundam SEED DESTINY, was released, becoming the first seiyū single to hit #1 on Oricon daily rankings.

On November 23, 2005, the duo released their debut album, Destination which placed on the Oricon weekly rankings at #9.

On May 10, 2006, FictionJunction YUUKA released their fifth single after approximately eight months. That year, they also recorded a song, "aikoi", for the Tsubasa Chronicle anime series, which was not released as a single but instead included in the anime's fourth original soundtrack. In November of that same year, they released the opening theme for Sunrise's Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, "Kōya Ruten".

FictionJunction YUUKA held their first live concert entitled Premium Live 2007 on February 8 and February 15 of 2007. A new album, Circus was announced and it was released on July 4 of the same year.. As Kajiura is handling the music for upcoming anime El Cazador de la Bruja, their seventh single, "romanesque", became the ending theme of the anime above. El Cazador de la Bruja was produced by Bee Train, whose anime productions FictionJunction YUUKA has also done songs for previously.

Source

10/10 My favorite FictionJunction YUUKA song is Nowhere from the Madlax anime. The first time I heard it, I was in a total state of shock. I don't know why, but this song just has an incredible energy to it. Maybe it's because it was so well used in the anime, especially in those violent scenes... You can download the full song here.

Favorite FictionJunction Vocalist?

Since I'm currently doing a Yuki Kajiura month, why not have yuki-themed polls? So please answer this poll, and write a comment about the reason behind your vote...

For all of you who don't know what FictionJunction (I'm assuming most of you have heard of Yuki Kajiura by now...) is, here's a small recap:

FictionJunction is Japanese composer Yuki Kajiura’s solo project. To date, all such collaborations have consisted of a female vocalist, with Kajiura on the keyboard or the piano. Most FictionJunction songs have been featured in an anime series:

FictionJunction ASUKA
Vocalist: Asuka Kato
They performed “everlasting song”, an insert song from anime series Elemental Gelade. Originally sung in English, “everlasting song” was also recorded in Japanese and was released as a single (everlasting song, 2005), along with various instrumental versions.

FictionJunction KAORI
Vocalist: Kaori Oda - (Born May 11, 1988)
The duo performed two insert songs used in Tsubasa Chronicle, “tsubasa” (first season) and “dream scape” (second season).


FictionJunction KEIKO
Vocalist: Keiko Kubota - (Born December 5, 1985)
They recorded only one song, “To the City of Wind” , which was used as an insert song in episodes 19 (partially) and 21 of Tsubasa Chronicle (first season). Keiko is involved with Yuki Kajiura's Kalafina Project.


FictionJunction WAKANA
Vocalist: Wakana Ootaki - (Born December 10, 1984)
They have performed a song named "Where the lights are" for the original soundtrack of Fist of the North Star True Saviour Legend. They have also recorded an insert song, "Paradise Regained", for El Cazador de la Bruja OST 2. Wakana is also involved with Yuki Kajiura's Kalafina Project.

FictionJunction YUUKA
Vocalist: Yuuka Nanri - (Born March 13, 1984)
FictionJunction YUUKA was Kajiura’s first, longest and best-known collaboration under the FictionJunction name. They were originally called "FictionJunction featuring YUUKA", but later the "featuring" part was dropped as it made the name long

Source (I hope this is accurate enough!)

Poll Results

Yesterday I did a poll to ask visitors what they thought about my playlist being on autoplay when they visit my blog.

The answers are as follows:
60% voted for "Yes, it's really fun to discover new awesome songs when I come to this blog"
40% voted for "No, I hate having to listen to that junk! Turn it off for God's sake!"

The majority being for autoplay, I will leave my playlist on autoplay!!

My Playlist Update + Poll

I've just added a few songs on my playlist (The weird blue box on the right sidebar underneath the search box). Now I have 155 songs loaded in my Playlist, and only the best in anime music of course!
So don't be afraid to check it out, to pause it if it annoys you when you come here, or to press next if you don't like the song.

So please take the time to give me some feedback on the autoplay feature: