At the beginning of the year, I started talking about the music attached to the zany anime, "Space Dandy". The show has already garnered a lot of attention from the way-out stories and the wackadoodle situations that the crew of the Aloha-Oe end up in. But it seems like the music has also played a good part in the show's popularity. There are the super funky theme songs, "Viva Namida" by Yasuyuki Okamura（岡村靖幸）, "X-Jigen e Yokoso"（Ｘ次元へようこそ） by Etsuko Yakushimaru（やくしまるえつこ）, and the one song that first got me thinking about the music placement for "Space Dandy", the smoothly soaring "Hoshikuzu no Pipeline"（星屑のパイプライン）by Junk Fujiyama.
I just saw the recent episode for the 2nd season which was a seeming tribute to "Glee" and "High School Musical", and although the songs in there were more parody (as they were supposed to be) than actual singles to be released, the dedication of the producers to the additional music had me thinking back to the final episode of the 1st season, "Sōjiki Datte Koisuru Jan yo"（掃除機だって恋するじゃんよ...Even Vacuum Cleaners Fall In Love）.
That episode was about one of the crew, the robot QT, falling in love with a coffee maker. The story reminded me of the plot for the Pixar movie, "WALL-E"; there, I remember Louis Armstrong's version of "La Vie En Rose" following the cute little robot. And just like that movie, there was music following a robot in love in that final episode of "Space Dandy". However, instead of the old-style jazz of "La Vie En Rose", it was a slow-groove techno ballad that accompanied QT and his first love, Maker (at around 8:50 of the episode at the link below).
At first, I thought "Holy Cow! Those guys actually got Daft Punk to perform!" Uh-uh, nope. It was actually a unit called LUVRAW that came up with "ANATATO" (With You), a song that not only reminded me of the French techno duo but also some of the R&B love songs that I used to hear back in the 70s & 80s. I've tried to look up any information about the unit, and he/they have a Twitter account (@LUVRAW), but there isn't much. I've gleaned that LUVRAW has been around since at least 2010 with a couple of albums out, and the unit's weapon of choice is the talk box. Below is another example of their music.
As for "ANATATO", it can be found on the official soundtrack for "Space Dandy". Have a listen to this one at night with the lights down low....except for a lamp on your vacuum cleaner. It looks like no matter what kind of mayhem QT ends up for the remainder of the series, his theme song will always be this one for me.
Space Dandy is awesome! Shinichiro Watanabe has another anime coming out right now called Zankyou no Terror. it's a lot more serious than Space Dandy, but it has his distinctive storytelling style. It also has some great music. Are you watching it?
ReplyDeleteHi, Ryan.
DeleteYup, I've been enjoying "Space Dandy" as well. Some of the eps have been hit and miss but at least the producers are trying all sorts of things. I haven't had a chance to catch "Zankyou no Terror" but I will mention it to my anime buddy. What kind of music is on that one?
If you're familiar with the composer Yoko Kanno at all then you may know what to expect. If not, she has composed the soundtrack to many anime, most notably Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne and Wolf's Rain. The sound she has composed for Zankyou no Terror is a little different from anything she's done in the past, but if you're familiar with her work you'll recognize her sound immediately. It has a lot of ambiance, folk and post-rock feeling to it, but can also be more dramatic at times to match the psychological/thriller elements of the anime.
DeleteHi again.
DeleteI've seen Yoko Kanno's name from a variety of sources including "Space Dandy" and as the creator of the official NHK ballad for the Tohoku Earthquake relief efforts, "Hana ga Saku" but can't say that I'm all that familiar with her songs.
My favorite work she has done is under the band name "The Seatbelts". The music was composed for the anime Cowboy Bebop. If you like jazz, check it out!
DeleteI think I should. I've been reading about the accolades behind the soundtrack for BeBop all these years. I didn't know it was actually the main theme for the anime at the time, but it has been used a ton of times as background music on a number of variety shows. And yep, I like some of that spy jazz from the 50s and 60s.
Delete