Label: Avex Trax
Artist: Skankfunk
Release date: August 2006
A lot of favorites came from this anime soundtrack hearing it growing up to the degree I would repeat the intro, outro and specific scenes more-so for the music than animation itself. Although the album is chock-full of songs, and the attempt at variety is fine, definitely have to say off-the-jump they weren’t all necessary, and quite a few should’ve been cut back from the album. But I’ll comment more on that later.
Tracklist:
1. Chain
2.
Skygrinder
3.
Love Sensation
4.
Tricky Sister Girl
5.
Do-Trippin-Do
6.
Let me see your love
7.
Snapped
8.
Dawn of da Bassment
9.
Edgeways
10.
Dam-da-dam
11.
Rock from da bottom
12.
Not Humming But Vibin’ (homage to
Humming the Bassline)
13.
Mad babies
14.
Put 2 much
15.
His groovy trick
16.
Her groovy trick
17.
Blind-2-see
18.
Naturarhythm
19.
Needin up
20.
Some body funk
21.
Bizzy or Dizzy
22.
Have a raga break
23.
Stop da pop
24.
Strutter’s cruise
25.
Overcooled
26.
Vertigo high
27.
Betrayal 303
28.
Uneasiness of funkiness
29.
Anthem 4 pipe dreams
30.
Mr Shine
31.
Fly da mission
32.
Here comes the sun road
33.
Sky 2 High
Nothing like
any series that grips us with a theme and “Chain” is the first song courtesy of
Japanese alternative rock band Back-On,
who is recognized for doing themes for Anime and
Video Game It has a short and long version, but
reasonably so, as it’s the introduction must be cut in size for TV. Of course
the longer version is primarily recommended and differences are mostly in the
length. It leads in with lighter guitar chords before the explosive riffs come
in, then Japanese-English rapping comes
in smooth for the following bridge and chorus that has legitimized the
catchiness, with long, (possibly auto-tuned) powerful lyrics.
The voice-manipulation
of “ba-ba-ba-ba-baby” leads us into Skankfunk first official song of the album,
“Skygrinder” and kicks off the speedy, intense “Sky” theme electronic riffs perfectly.
Vocal tricks utilized here are some of the best of the album.
“!Do Trippin’
Do!” is another one brought out by catchiness of vocal-trick techniques, but with
fast-paced jazzy sounds. “Snapped” turns to punk-ish experimental rock, with
some great electro-sound manipulation interspersed between. “Dawn of the
Basement” starts out with spacey, underground hip-hop aesthetic, but flips into
a fast rock-Drum-N-Bass style, and switches between the two styles throughout.
“Edgeways”
tones it’s down with groovy bass, and continues with high-pitch synths, lead guitar
chords, and even some record scratching throughout the rest. “Not Hummin’ But
Vibin’ ” is a cover/remix and homage to “Humming the Bassline”
from the Jet Grind Radio video game soundtrack. This was cool for two reasons:
·
1: that was one of the initial
and main songs I liked off that soundtrack.
·
2: Given the nature of this anime
(dynamic rollerblading to even fantastical extents), remixing a song from the well-known
skate game made sense if not an obligation.
Sadly, maybe
ironically, in comparison it doesn’t hold up nearly as well as the original;
doesn’t quite ‘hit’ with Skankfunk’s lo-fi sound redesigns for the most part.
“Bizzy? Or Dizzy” is quite literally the party
song of the animation (usually some type of get-together was happening when this
was played ) “Overkooled” is a smooth-jazzy, hip hop track. The high-pitch
piano and the flute effects throughout this definitely make it worthwhile. Coupled
with “Vertigo High” these two make great laid-back tracks, with the latter
being very hypnotic. There’s a clever “record-skipping” effect towards the end,
and if you not paying attention, you’ll think the device you’ll playing the
song on is glitching out.
“Sky 2 High”,
as mentioned in the beginning (the outro) was on repeat for quite a while given
how engaging the whole composition is. It’s more-so something to intro a show with
than end, getting an person energized for what’s coming, being fast-paced and intense,
with a multitude of instrumentations. The lyrics keep the ‘High flying through
the sky’ imagery evoked.
On the
least-interesting side of things, “Her and His Groovy Trick” are just the
show’s commercial break intermissions, so nothing much to say there. On “Love
Sensation”, “Needin’ U” and “Some Body Funk" Skankfunk draws from ‘70s funk/synthesizer
style of musicality, but aren’t to appealing in extension, and while I’ll say the
two formers could’ve been ones cut from album completely, the latter could stay, having a clever beat-box segment
that caught me by surprise.
Others like “Dam
Damn Dam” and “Here’s Comes Da Sun” are either not engaging enough or a bit
overly-pop on the verge of annoyance. Mostly it’s just more songs that weren’t
needed, because there were betters songs on the album that had them “covered”
if you will.
The obscurity
of info’ on Skankfunk is kind of disheartening; new music with his electronic
variety and flare, animation-related or not, would be highly well-received. Finally, when listening keep in mind
the shortness of some tracks goes back to being for selective situations in the
show, so no need in thinking you’re being “gipped” out of more music, it’s just
situational. There’s always the repeat button.
Favorites/Recommends:
Chain
Skygrinder
!Do
Trippin’ Do!
Edgeways
Mad
Babies
Busy?
Or Dizzy?
OverKooled
Mr.
Shine
Sky
2 High
Overall Rating
Vocals: 8/10
Lyrics: 7.5/10
Musical Variety/Creativity: 9/10
Catchiest Song: Sky
2 High
Replay Value Overall: Occasional
