Hiroki Kikuta - Lost Files cd impressions

[Carl]

OK, the disc has arrived, so it's time for analysis and impressions!

1. Mona Lisa Overdrive
Sounds a bit like a shooter track, with a Gradius influence

2. Newromancer
Action/Battle theme! A little Falcom/Ys feeling here

3. Burning Chrome
Jazzy Rock with a bit of One Night in Neo Kobe City from Snatcher attitude.

4. Catch a Falling Star
Famicom Era! Happy Bouncy 8-bit love here smile

5. Oceanic
Slow song, music box/orgel intro then adds some Wild Arms style whistling

6. Something Wicked This Way Comes
10 Minutes long. Starts with Happy 80s Pop for first 5 minutes, then goes into darker bells/synth for 2 minute break, then back to the Pop.

7. A Long Trip to Teatime
Secret of Mana time! Has his trademark SFC feelings and instruments here.

8. Night Moves
Intro similar to Mario 64 Underwater, then goes into a wacky shopping-type theme

9. Einstein Intersection
hmm, hard to describe this one, almost like a Sim-City SFC metropolis tune.

10. A Scanner Darkly
Middle Eastern ~ Arabian accents, likely for a desert town theme

11. A Small, Good Thing
slow song with acoustic guitar intro, then at about 53 seconds we get a very similar melody line to the title intro of Seiken Densetsu 2

12. Tenreijima Kitan Part 1
starts out with quiet rain, then at 33 seconds launches into full power Soukaigi Mode!!!
Instrument set is same as Soukaigi with the highlight piano and percussion, adding electric guitar too.

13. Tenreijima Kitan Part 2
bass guitar line has main focus here, for extended groove. Saxaphone comes in for the break.

14. Tenreijima Kitan Part 3
High Energy Soukaigi again, with some India-style female vocal work, then around 1:31 changes into an nicely contrasted percussion and woodwind matchup.

15. Tenreijima Kitan Part 4
Bassline driven groove, slow melody overlay, and some funky manipulated sampling that's hard to describe...

16. Tenreijima Kitan Part 5
Energetic Piano back in forefront, Soukaigi continuation...

17. Tenreijima Kitan Part 6
Closest thing to a dedicated rock song on here, full (Live?) drumset and electric guitars, most likely meant as an "Ending Theme" or Staff Roll song from it's feeling.

18. Princess of Elfland
Harp and flute peice, with some strings coming in later. Second half evokes some imagery of a long travelling caravan journey or something.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with the disc, and was very glad to see more Soukaigi style songs included here.

Recommended purchase for Kikuta fans, it doesn't disappoint!
-Carl

[Jormungand]

It isn't bad. I was personally expecting more modern material, but I guess the nature of the album was already disclosed by its title. The last stretch of the cd is where the best stuff is, but it's still nothing to match Soukaigi or SD2/3. The last (and best) track sounds like something from Koudelka--even to the degree of using very similar synth.

The older stuff...well, it's dated and potential buyers need to be warned of that. His mannerisms are all over the place, for sure--but there's little that I would say truly sounds like his SD work. It'll be less of a worry if you're looking for "Kikuta's sound" rather than "the SD sound".

I'd be a lot happier with this purchase if there were never a Soukaigi, but there was a Soukaigi and thus I know that Kikuta is perfectly capable of producing some really killer stuff. This CD isn't the next masterpiece, but I daresay it's a prelude. At the least it proves he's not ready to give up quite yet, and so I think we can reasonably believe he'll be putting his foot in the door somewhere, sometime.

EDIT: Carl, barely anything here is played live, so I'm not sure why you find it to be similar to Soukaigi. There's a massive difference between this somewhat mediocre synth and Soukaigi's instrumentation.

[datschge]

EDIT: Carl, barely anything here is played live, so I'm not sure why you find it to be similar to Soukaigi. There's a massive difference between this somewhat mediocre synth and Soukaigi's instrumentation.
Maybe you are just letting the synth quality get too much into your way of enjoyment to appreciate the compositions more? People nowadays are way too quick to call some compositions dated if it isn't additonally performed by plenty live musicians...

[Jormungand]

Maybe you are just letting the synth quality get too much into your way of enjoyment to appreciate the compositions more? People nowadays are way too quick to call some compositions dated if it isn't additonally performed by plenty live musicians...
Y'know, that one's been dealt to me more times than I can count. I hold composition first, always, and I'm willing to bet that I'm Kikuta's biggest fan on this board by a longshot.

In the case of this album I find the composition in the first half is not as colorful as it what is heard in SD2 (which is his most dated pro work, and the synth he uses on this new cd is actually better than what SD2 was limited to). So therefore, no, I'm not biased because the synth quality is lacking.

But regardless, the synth used here is dated. I'd know, I'm a composer too, and I pay attention to what's available as the years pass. If anything here represents his best equipment, he's behind in that aspect. It is to my experience that he seems to thrive most when having access to the best possible sound production tools. SD2 and 3 were at their peaks for sound quality in their respective years of production, and the only limitation for Soukaigi was memory. Those three are easily his best and most brilliant scores.

[datschge]

Carl is pleased to see Soukaigi style songs on this album and I see what he's referring to. You are *****ing about missing "more modern material" and deny Carl the right to refer to Soukaigi because that's an all live album unlike this one.


Y'know, that one's been dealt to me more times than I can count. I hold composition first, always, and I'm willing to bet that I'm Kikuta's biggest fan on this board by a longshot.
Then why don't you accept his choices then? Either he just wanted to use the sound he used for whatever reason (in which case your complaint doesn't really fit to your statement of being his biggest fan) or his budget didn't allow for anything better (in which case you're probably just rubbing salt into his wound). What are you trying to argue for?

[Jormungand]

Carl is pleased to see Soukaigi style songs on this album and I see what he's referring to. You are *****ing about missing "more modern material" and deny Carl the right to refer to Soukaigi because that's an all live album unlike this one.
I'm not denying anyone anything. The majority of the music on this cd does not sound like Soukaigi in its composition to me. He may think so, but I'm trying to figure out why (with the exception of track 12 and 17).


Then why don't you accept his choices then? Either he just wanted to use the sound he used for whatever reason (in which case your complaint doesn't really fit to your statement of being his biggest fan) or his budget didn't allow for anything better (in which case you're probably just rubbing salt into his wound). What are you trying to argue for?
The kind of fan you are talking about (the one that accepts anything given to him by his "hero") is not a healthy one. It's a fanatic. Kikuta is brilliant, I'd never suggest otherwise, but I feel the material here doesn't represent what he's truly capable of. I feel the same what about his recent PC soundtracks and to some extent Koudelka.

As for his equipment, I don't know what he has in his studio. Nor do I know how he's paying his bills nowadays. Do you honestly think I would chastise someone who's inspired me to near-inexplicable degrees? All I pointed out was that if this cd indeed represents his current setup, he is indeed behind the times. I'm not saying that that's anyone's fault. Nor am I saying that he can't produce something as incredible as Soukaigi with said equipment. I was relating the trend I have observed. You're reading pretty far into some very clear commentary.

[Carl]

Only Track 17 did I mention the drumset sounded live, since the drums sound different (and are used/played like a standard drummer would) than the percussion style that is used in all the other Tenreijima tracks.


...I feel the material here doesn't represent what he's truly capable of...

Of course not, the entire disc is more or less disclosed as being "demo-ish", and "B-sides" in nature!

It's a pretty logical assumption with the Tenreijima ones, that he most likely made these as practice BEFORE soukaigi, or around the same timeframe, that maybe got cut and weren't selected to be in the game, which would explain why they weren't re-done live afterwards like the rest of Soukaigi...

The title of the CD isn't "ALL ABOUT KIKUTA", and the purpose isn't supposed to be any of his best stuff ever, such as a greatest-hits thing... It's merely some additional tracks that we've never heard before, and that certainly is a treasure in itself!!

[Jormungand]

12. Tenreijima Kitan Part 1
starts out with quiet rain, then at 33 seconds launches into full power Soukaigi Mode!!!
Instrument set is same as Soukaigi with the highlight piano and percussion, adding electric guitar too.
To alleviate any confusion, this is the part that I found deceptive.

[Carl]

Well, that particular piano sound & style (along with that particular combination of total instruments) isn't used in anything else I've heard other than Soukaigi, which then immediately evokes the Soukaigi reference in my mind upon hearing those sounds.

My brain wasn't comparing any Synth Piano vs Real Piano (if that might be what you're concerned about?) it was reacting to the perception of that particular sound & style of playing.

What is erroneous about "Instrument set is the same as Soukaigi"??
Please explain how that phrase is being deceptive!

[Jormungand]

I'll explain. If a fan who has heard Soukaigi reads that, then they will be expecting something similar in sound production to Soukaigi--don't you think? It should be explain that the instruments are of a different quality, otherwise a listener would expect something that's not there.

As is this is a thread that you made for impressions of the cd, I thought it might help to clarify for potential buyers.