#MALKeionbu Top Tens for First Ten Weeks; Looking for More Music Loving Sploogers
Don’t let the funny word that begins with a # throw you off…
One of the earlier ways of anime fandom that I walked was following the piper and his tune. And unlike cartoons from everywhere else (with some exceptions), anime music somehow just rock harder than all others. I’m not sure why. It didn’t take very long for me to get hooked on some tunes (seeing Naomi Tamura in concert this summer probably marked the conclusion of some era in my life…) once I started to consume anime seriously.
It didn’t take long either for me to find like-minded people to banter with. Over the course of many years, though, I’ve moved and grazed between different communities and fan groups. When it comes to “anime music” there are generally these following, non-exclusive camps that I ran into:
- People who like like J-Pop. This category further subdivides, but it’s kind of a mainstream label anyways. However somehow this never really include your typical J-Rock fawning fans. It’s not that people who dig anime music don’t listen to it (I do!) but the fan base never really overlaps greatly.
- Soundtrack freaks. People who read sites like OSV, for example. In the west it overlaps with game music fans a lot, as implied. On a side note, only recently has big name game music composers begin to write for anime. We already have some crossover for live action stuff with anime for a while now (hi Joe), so this is a welcoming development that the fan base has preceded the commercial end of things. Or am I just stuck on Sakimoto or Uematsu?
- Idol and seiyuu otaku. Usually these types also listens to general J-pop, but there are an alarming large number of them who do not. Technically there’s also the pure-bred anison otaku, like those people whose music diet consists of Aniki, Psychic Lover, and Masami Okui or something…
- Curious onlookers who are musically aware. These people tend to be casual anime fans who are tracking a few songs they’ve heard and liked, but they focus on non-Japanese stuff. It’s also probably the largest demographic of what makes up live shows for anison artists in the West. In fact this category generally overlaps #2…
And generally all four of these categories overlap, a lot at times. It’s not really all that meaningful to segregate them into distinct categories, I’ll be the first to admit.
However the categories are good way to describe the people who hang out at this MyAnimeList club that has been a fun thing I look forward to every week, which is the “Anime Music Piece of the Week” club. It’s gotten the nickname “#MALKeionbu” on twitter, if you’re following that. (I’ve been kind of treating twitter as “IRC Lite.” I just don’t goof off enough at work to do IRC, so twitter is a good substitute for IRC-like time-delayed, dialog-threaded chat. I’m also probably doing it wrong but that’s how it works for me.)
At any rate, MALKeionbu is a great little social exercise because a bunch of us can get down to business, share some great music with each other, and talk about that stuff like a gaggle of school girls. Isn’t that internet fandom at its finest? And because it’s been on for 10 weeks, there might be some useful information to share with everyone now that we have had the time to accumulate some off-cuff personal observationsdata:
If you didn’t know, at the MALKeionbu the members toss 10 songs into a hat each week, inspired by a given theme for that week, and our fearless and tireless leader zzeroparticle compiles them for our listening pleasure and vote on the songs the following week. To be specific, we go through the 10 nominated songs like a reviewer doing a track-by-track for an album, and assign a set number of points to the top songs. Because we only rank within 10, it’s more just an exercise of comparative studies than authoritative branding. So just because Taku Iwasaki is the composer to have the most winning entries, that fact shouldn’t mean much more beyond that.
To my surprise the entries for nominations are generally diverse and tend to belong to the picks from group #2. I mean, after all, a music club? Especially at the first few weeks, the nominations have been pretty stiff. We had wonderful BGM stuff to choose from but it was more representative of a classical influence commonly found in game music communities. That said, I have been thinking that anime has been a better place for music over games–it’s just more diverse, and allows for more diversity in themes and approaches. Sure enough, as the club gains more member, momentum and interests the diversity came once we are aware “hay musac with words is cool too!”
We’ve reached a point where, given any vague topic (for example, week 11’s theme is “discovery”), we can mix in the hat: straightforward BGM pieces (even ones with that word in the title of the song) to curve ball ED theme with moonrunes to Daft Punk to BGM to CM pieces. And people are having a good time discovering new stuff, chilling out, and giving props to what counts–the music and their creators.
Where do you music-loving folks chat and chit anyways?
Anyways, this long plug has to come to an end–so two short ones.
1. Lolikitsune has made a silly “preview” along the lines of a demo, called CCY-senpai wa 17sai. I think there is some kind of a reference to this blog in that game, or something.
2. I’m late on the ball, but Eminence has a show this September and there’s…a CD/DVD? What. Must have.
#MALKeionbu… tee hee…
I have a suspicion that the reason why there are many #2 type nominations at Anime Music Piece of the Week is because zzero himself is a massive soundtrack freak, and he has a reasonable amount of influence over what goes on in the club (particularly the general atmosphere and direction of the club). Myself, I’m probably more #4. I think, the best thing about the club, is that there seems to be more concern about highlighting and nominating a diverse mix of songs that aren’t always naturally popular than there is about nominating songs that are already popular and will win. It’s more about exposing people to music they might not have heard or appreciated before, than it is about which song wins (at least, that’s how it seems to me).
You know, or something. ;)
Yes, Taku Iwasaki is great :) His Kuroshitsuji OST will be released at the end of August - it is one of the best music compositions in 2008 :)
You should throw some Xam’d tracks in that hat :P
It sounds like an interesting idea, I’ll keep an eye on that page :)
Thanks for the plug! \o/
Speaking for myself, I can say that each week has resulted in me learning something new, whether it’s discovering a new album to take a peek at, a new composer to delve into, or even rediscovering old tunes and feeling the flames of nostalgia rekindled. It’s been a delightful experience through and through and nothing makes me feel warm and fuzzy quite like listening to the pieces and reading others’ comments. :D
I wouldn’t think that I fell into any individual category, since I’d be more keen to fall into all of them. I think this has probably been well represented in my noms, too, lol. But yeah, it’s always kind of bugged me to see that most anime music fans only like one kind of anime music, so I really hope the club expands their tastes. The trouble is that it’s a competition, and stuff someone doesn’t like simply doesn’t have to get points. Most of my nominations seem to have been primarily a case of ‘this isn’t my kind of music’ above ‘this doesn’t fit the theme’ which is a little disappointing. But I try to see the brighter side.
I’d heard about this before and wasn’t initially interested but I’m willing to try it out in order to expand my aural awareness. I think I fall mainly into category #4 (even though I’m familar with some Japanese artists) and a little bit of #2.
Though the ultimate niche - ultimate as in so incredibly small and difficult to find - is the anime music composing/arranging community. Ichigo’s forums are about the only place I’ve seen any composers hanging around, yet most of them are elitist bastards that wouldn’t have anything to do with anime in the first place. I wish there was a more pro-creative base in the overall community!
Thanks for the comments guys.
@lelangir: i think as much as i like creators, the process of creating stuff, and getting an insight into that, I wouldn’t hang around creators much either. I would think a community focused on appreciation (and whatever else on the side) of the works would be the best…in reality I see it mostly fragmented around certain artists or labels rather than something more generally geared towards a context or genre in which the works are made for (anison, anime-tie ins, etc). With exception to maybe j-rock and j-pop I guess.
@zzeroparticle: thank you for the idea and hard work every sunday ;) I do appreciate it the same as you do. It’s nice to have the music stripped some of its context as product tie-in to anime and more focused on its intrinsic properties and focused on the composers, etc. New ways to enjoy the same old stuff!
@Kitsune: In due time :p
And thanks Sorrow-kun for the context.
Finally, a club on MAL that’s actually worth joining.
As for eminence, still upset that they decided to only play in Sydney again. It’s been ages since they put on a show, and they were talking ANiF09 up heaps and then they announced it was Sydney-only. Devastating. :( Especially since I can’t even consider traveling up there for it as it’s my sister’s 21st that day.
Mostly just a casual fan here. I like what I like. Also, a friend was browsing my iPod and when she said “most of the artists are Japanese” I just said “Yeah, I watch anime” and got a o_o look from everyone in the room. Oh lulz. So many different artists because of MALKeionbu.
“there seems to be more concern about highlighting and nominating a diverse mix of songs that aren’t always naturally popular than there is about nominating songs that are already popular and will win.”
Not to mention people who do it for the lulz (like omo). \o
Sorrow-kun: I can’t speak for others, but I think you could also consider the fact that there’s a hell of a lot more BGM music out there than OPs/EDs (or so I’d like to think), or rather, more instrumental pieces than vocal songs out there, so there’s more of a variety and range of things to consider.
And to be honest, it’s the first time I’ve heard that there might be a specific focus on what songs are chosen because of zzeroparticle’s preferences. I’d say it’s more like the preferences tend to overlap with the small amount of people there so far (which is why more people should join! \o). But I do notice that though I try to go for picks that most people probably wouldn’t try, I do hold back sometimes and choose other picks because I worry about how the pick I chose might be received (as a direct reflection of my musical “taste” I guess), so I can see where you’re coming from.
Then again, it’s a fun challenge trying to pick a song that even, say digitalboy, would like as well. :3
I seem to have trouble picking a song Digitalboy likes as well :-P
I like all types of music. I really can’t describe it any other way. There are some types I’m more familiar with than others; I’m more familiar with rock than rap. The only real exceptions i make are really twangy patriotic country singing about a ford truck or “If you don’t like America kiss my ass” and some really bad character songs.
When we have a theme come up I first think “do any songs on the Gintama OSTs fit this theme”. Then when they inevitably don’t (or do but aren’t one of the better songs) I have to pull somethin outta my ass. I look at other peoples noms and I try to throw out something new that I feel still fits the theme.
Once I have more time I will probably download full OSTs of some of the noms. (Like I did with Paprika when I heard Shizuku no Ippai.(also made me actually watch Paprika for that matter)) Atm I’m just content with the singles and BGM tracks.
[…] (the MyAnimeList Anime Music Piece of the Week Club for the uninitiated) has been going strong and Omo’s post discussing how fun it is to be exposed to new artists and composers captures my sentiments exactly. […]