Got any opinions on the music of the Keldeo movie?

Not long from now, Anne from Pikapi Podcast and I will be sitting down to discuss the music of the 15th Pokemon movie, "Kyurem Vs. the Sword of Justice ", otherwise known as the Keldeo movie. We'll be comparing "Memories" by Rola and "It's All Inside Of You" by Jess Turner, the Japanese and English ending themes (respectively) of the movie. We'll also be discussing the score and other musical elements:

If you have an opinions, feel free to share them with a comment on this post!

Psy, Yai, Yai (Parody of "Bye, Bye, Bye" by N'Sync)

The (arguably) best comic relief Pokemon gets his own song in this latest parody, which takes 2000's "Bye, Bye, Bye" and flips it on its head (perhaps Psyduck can relate) to deliver a moving story:

Notes:

So, background on this one. I originally wrote this in 2008-I’m not sure what prompted it specifically. I heard the original back in 2000, of course (imagine if Weird Al had done something like this for Pokémon 2000!). Obviously the idea was to capture the mixed feelings Misty had for her Psyduck in the lyrics, covering the inconvenience/embarrassment side but transitioning to a more positive tone by the end as she actively defends Psyduck. Of course, this turns the original song on its head, which is something I enjoy doing in my parodies.

I picked to have this recorded now mainly to time up with the release of “Let’s Go”. It was a bit more challenging than previous times because I hired different people to do the instruments and the vocals, giving me my first real experience mixing a music track, which I think turned out relatively well.

One interesting production tidbit-the Psyduck sounds were originally intended to sound as close as possible to the echoing “byes” in the original, but what we wound up with actually sounds more interesting to me as it sounds as if Psyduck doesn’t understand what he should be doing in what is ostensibly his own song. It also keeps the song a bit fresher throughout.

Links:
SHARI
Tom Bedlam

Poke Press Digest Podcast: Episode 21-"How to End a Pokemon Movie (Musically)" (Anime Banzai 2018)

For this single segment episode, we have a panel that was recorded at last month's Anime Banzai in Utah. Listen as Anne from Pikapi Podcast and I share what we've learned from discussing Pokémon music, followed by a few questions from the audience:



Links:

Pikapi Podcast
Anime Banzai
Recap Video

How to End a Pokemon (Musically) (Part 1)

At this year's Anime Banzai in Utah, Anne and I held a panel talking about what we learned so far discussing the ending themes of the Pokemon movies. In this first part, Anne and I share our backgrounds and how and why the discussion series got started:

Poke Press Digest Podcast: Episode 20-European Pokemon Music/More Shorts

This installment has two segments. First (0:46-38:39), Anne from Pikapi Podcast and I discuss a variety of Pokémon music that originated in Europe. Our choices include songs from the German version of the second movie and openings of the Italian dub.

The second segment (38:47-44:15) is a pair of short pieces-one where I compare the music of Octopath Traveler to Shinji Miyazaki’s work on the Pokémon Anime, and another where I announce an appearance at the upcoming Anime Banzai in Utah.



Links:

Segment 1:
Pikapi Podcast

Segment 2:
Anime Banzai

Discussion: European Pokemon Music (Part 1)

In a break between the fourth and fifth generations of Pokemon movies, Anne and I held a discussion of European Pokemon music. In this first segment, we discuss "Du Bist Nicht Allein", and the movie version of "Pokemon Welt", both from the German version of the second Pokemon movie:

Does Octopath Traveler have "better Shinji Miyazaki Music"?

I recently completed the main stories of Octopath Traveler, and noticed a loose similarity to some other music I'm quite familiar with. Is there some connection between the music of this game and Shinji Miyazaki's work on the Pokemon anime?

Poke Press Digest Podcast: Episode 19-Zoroark Movie Music

In this single-segment episode, Anne from Pikapi Podcast drops by to help cover the music of the 13th Pokémon movie, "Zoroark: Master of Illusions". Sukima Switch and Erin Bowman go head-to-head this time around, though there may be another entrant that comes in later. Also, it seems Anne had a somewhat different opinion of the movie than I did, so stay tuned after the outro:



Links:
Pikapi Podcast
Erin Bowman Interview

Unboxing music from the 21st Pokemon movie

The latest Pokemon movie released in Japan last month, and with it came two music releases, one of the score, and one of the ending theme. We recently had an opportunity to open both to see what comes with them:

Discussion: The music of "Zoroark: Master of Illusions" (Part 1)

Anne from Pikapi Podcast drops by once again, this time to help me discuss the music of the 13th Pokemon movie, "Zoroark: Master of Illusions". This movie's end credits feature Sukima Switch's "Ice Cream Syndrome" on the Japanese side, and Erin Bowman's "I Believe In You" in the English version. While tonally similar, they definitely approach the movie's subject matter from different angles: