So far, I know my favorite three tracks are "Tant Pis Pour Toi" (shades of Shin Contra and probably his Bemani stuff), "Empty of the Sky" (probably the title theme for a game or anime that's not Silent Hill-related if he ever did one), and "Showa-era Corporate Warrior Section Chief Arayama LOLITA ON BREAKS MIX" (because recreational drugs aren't always available). Yamaoka is showing some solid versatility on this album. Some of the tracks miss the mark for me, but they're still pretty well-done.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

It would appear that most people are making the mistake of expecting Silent Hill style music when they go and listen to this album.

But if you've liked his various compositions for the Beatmania/Bemani games (I do), then you would probably know what to expect here. (;

(Then again, personally, I like the short bemani tracks better than the full ones here)

Anyway, my favourite tracks are:

Love Me Do
Tant Pis Pour Toi
Injection of Love ("Touch me... lick me... f--- me???///")
Empty of the Sky
Rislim
Heavenly Sun

Too bad there's no "I feel..." though ):

If not expecting, I was certainly hoping, seeing as I believe it to be not only his best work but his most unique work. As it is, although I love some of the tracks, much of it is pretty bland in my opinion. His Bemani tracks would be tough to pick out from any average Bemani album. It's not bad, just nothing too interesting to me.

Same here. I was expecting the next Silent Hill as well, which explains why I was tremendously dissappointed. I mean, even if you expect something akin to Contra, it's STILL dissappointing I thought.
But then, I don't like lyrics in music, so the whole album was pretty much a bad choice to me.

Wow. I'm actually shocked at the responses so far. Mainly because I'm the last person to even consider listening to Yamaoka's Bemani stuff. But I came in kinda knowing that's what would be on the album, so my expectations weren't as high. But I really do enjoy the album more than I thought I would. I guess I just rule like that.

Don't listen to the nay-sayers: this album is great.

layzee has a point about people expecting Silent Hill and getting disappointed. I certainly *wasn't* expecting SH, but I was disappointed the first time I listened through the CD (two days ago). It seemed very bland to me, and very much focused on vocals. But already on the second play-through, I noticed that several of the songs had worked their way into my heart. Now, after listening to it 6 or 7 times, I love most of the album.

Favoutite tracks so far:

*LOVE ME DO
*iFUTURELIST
*INJECTION OF LOVE
*EMPTY OF THE SKY (probably my single favourite so far)
*April Fool Song (this sounds like a Japanese girl pop-band with a sinister, demented twist, love it!)
*Heavenly Sun

But I feel that, with one or two more listens, "tant pis pour toi", "Maria", and "Mad Season" will probably join the above list. Mad Season surprised me particularly: I absolutely hated it the first time I heard it, but I think it's great now. I'm also surprised at how good Yamaoka could sing (he's the main vocalist on iFUTURELIST, Lion Lover, and System Love). Not downright awesome, but good nonetheless. Also, the intro-track (The policy of the iFUTURELIST Party), I found really funny.

There are some stinkers, of course, especially:

*Lion Friend
*bitmania
*Showa-era Corporate Warrior Section Chief Arayama LOLITA ON BREAKS MIX

The albums's flow progression is a little awkward at some parts, and the quality isn't totally consistent. But it's definitely the best music to come out of Japan since the Shadow Hearts 3 soundtrack last August.

The reason some people dislike it is definitely linked to expectations, I think. iFUTURELIST is kind of an alternative rock/pop album with Japanese lyrics, so someone coming to it expecting Silent Hill-music will definitely be surprised/disappointed. But then again, someone coming to Shin Contra expecting SH will be surprised, someone trying to get into SH music expecting Sparkster will also, etc.. If you only see Yamaoka as "Mr. Silent Hill", of course you're gonna be confused when confronted with his other works. What I hinted at ever so suggestively in my thread on the matter in the old forum is that Yamaoka is an extremely diversely talanted composer, and to confine him to only Silent Hill is to insult that talent. SH will always be his prime work IMO, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. In the future, I'd rather see iFUTURELIST 2 than Silent Hill 14, if you know what I mean...

Anyway, bottom line, this album is very good. Just approach it with an open mind, and give it a few play-throughs (and if you only care to hear the next SH, let me give you a hint: wait until Silent Hill 5 comes out).

Lastly, for those who have the actual CD, the full music video for iFUTURELIST is included in the data track. The video is really beautiful (and looks like something that cost pretty much to make).

I'm no Yamaoka-fan but I love iFuturelist. Reminds me of Gradius for one reason or another...
Those who came expecting something else: give it some time, it's the sort of album that grows on you

Don't get me wrong, I love the music in itself, but like I said, I intensely dislike lyrics of any kind, so that's what dissappointed me most.
It's a shame to see Yamaoka putting his enormous musical talent to waste by including 13-in-a-dozen J-Pop singers in his music. Yuck.

Before listening to the album, I was expecting electronic-genre music with some Japanese singing. That's what I got, and I liked it. Makes sense, no (;?

Yes, I totally agree with you there. It's a bit similar to hmm... let's say Yuzo Koshiro, who AFAIK, is mostly known for his early Ys music as well as Streets of Rage/Shenmue. Then outta nowhere, he busts out an amazing trance album that some people decide is generic and repititive. ): (Though I agree that it is repititive in some tracks, it's so good however that it doesn't matter)

So Yamaoka's great at ambience/scary music as shown in Silent Hill, great at rock/metal as evident in Shin Contra, he even makes vocal songs (McGlynn/Romersa, various female singers in Beatmania) sound good by weaving his own unique sound through rockin'/techno backing instrumentals. The point is, he's not just "Mr. Silent Hill" as you say. (;

Anyway, for those that did enjoy this album however (not many apparently), I offer you some of Yamaoka's better beatmania compositions that did not make it to this album.

"I Feel...": Sung by ? and music composed by Yamaoka.
From Beatmania IIDX 7th Style.

This is probably one of my favourite ones. I like Yamaoka's style of techno/electronica, and (good) JP singing, so therefore, I like this.

http://s21.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=25EP … WOWUEW7Z11

"Space Fight": Music composed by Yamaoka.
From Beatmania IIDX 10th Style.

This features the same silly voices from Bitmania and Showa Aikigyo Senshi Arayama Katho (that long trackname). So if you didn't like those, then I don't suggest you download this. (; I dunno, I like this for some reason, it's catchy.

http://s21.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=35FQ … 1OIX35KQVQ

"Dancer": Sung by De Vol(?) and music composed by Yamaoka.
From Beatmania IIDX 8th Style.

Now here's something you wouldn't expect in an album filled with JPop and electronic music; this heavy rock song is quite unique. The vocals are weird yet effective and cool. The associated video this song is played in is even weirder.

http://s21.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2M5E … P2G7OAI1IQ

In any case, I hope to see Yamaoka work on more electronic music in the future. Perhaps he could partner with Sota Fujimori (another veteran from Beatmania) again for another Shin Contra style album, that would be <3333

No doubt he'll work on Silent Hill 5's soundtrack as well for those wanting more shit your pants music. (; If that's the case, I hope McGlynn and Romersa return for more vocal songs. (Another aspect of Yamaoka some people don't like ))))): )

Hope my post wasn't tl;dr ):

And yet to ignore that as is most unique, challenging and accomplished work would be an insult to his audience. So the man has proven he can do j-pop. That's like David Lynch proving he can make a romantic comedy with Hugh Grant - I'm damn sure he can but that makes him no more of a director because 1000 other directors could have done it the same way. Only one director could have made Lost Highway.

1000 composers can do j-pop. Only one can do Silent Hill.

He has proven nothing.

layzee: Thanks for the mp3s. I've heard "I Feel... " before, Angela posted it a long time ago (at least 3 years ago, it was).

That's a good and fully valid point. However, iFUTURELIST doesn't sound like "typical" J-Pop to me. Sure, the style may be a lot lighter than Silent Hill, but I still have a hard time imagining that most composers of generic J-Pop could come up with tracks like EMPTY OF THE SKY or iFUTURELIST. They just sound a lot more sophisticated and soulful than all the J-Pop I've heard (which admittedly isn't that much). There is also a throbbing, "sexy" style that runs through most of the tracks that sounds so much more sincere than your avarage run-at-the-mill-produced sleazy pop/r'n'b-song.

Anyway, I can also easily see how people who like his other works can dislike this. Just one thing before I finish: I hope you have given this album it's fair chance and not just dismissed it outright after one or two listens. Like I and Thomas suggested, it's the kind of thing that definitely grows on you after a couple of listens. After a while, it becomes very addictive.

Oh yeah - like I said in my first post in this thread, there are a few tracks I love. I just felt that overall it was a little bland. Watered down. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination - it just doesn't have that flair I was hoping for. Even on the tracks that have a little more of an industrial feel to them, well it feels like someone like vnv nation could have done them a little better. I suppose what I am trying to say is that I don't feel I'm getting something unique and I know Yamaoka is more than capable of delivering something totally unique.

But like you guys say, much of that is about what I hoped for rather than what's on the cd. My wishes led me astray a little on this one. But I do actually really like a lot of this album.

Anyway, I'm still holding out for a Silent Hill totally-complete soundtrack boxed set with art book. If I wish hard enough, will it happen?

After the eighteenth consecutive listen, I'm going to have to say this album grew from being the biggest disappointment of '06 to one of the best albums of the year so far. This one's a grower.

I have to agree.  At first I popped this CD in and was like.. wtf is this?  Then after a week of having it on in the car (to/from work, driving around, etc.), it grew on me like woah.  Not ONE OF the best albums of the year for me, but THE best album so far.  Akira Yamaoka has yet to disappoint me.

Here's hoping I don't faint when I meet him in Chicago..

-Mike

I think a lot of the appeal has to do with the feel that this is an album, rather than a collection of songs.  There is a cohesiveness between the songs that make them all fit well together.  It's hard for me to listen to this disc on random, because it destroys the flow.

And, as an embattled IIDX player, I laugh whenever I hear this extended version of Lion Suki, because the video for that song on IIDX 9th Style is all kinds of awesome.