Showing posts with label KN10YEARS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KN10YEARS. Show all posts

Sunday 9 December 2018

The #KN10YEARS Compilation "The ABCDs of Klassic Note"

Sorry for being this late into the party, but here it is! We're finally here!!

A little about what made me decide on this time's compilation project (you can skip this paragraph if you want): It was 2017 and I was thinking of how I could easily represent Klassic Note in its uniqueness and what it was different from just anyone listening to songs out there, and I determined it to be on three main aspects, namely Anime songs which are underrated even here in Klassic Note, single B-sides which people normally foresee as they only give the topic songs and move on, and my experience with music based on my mood. And thus, the compilations were born, and a homage to the best of whoever that left to complete the set.

May I present to you:
"The ABCDs of Klassic Note"
We're going back to basics, everyone. And to introduce to all what Klassic Note is, below are the four examples I came up with to display the best, the different, and what made an impact in my life.

[Note: These are only available as self-curated playlists and won't be in disc form unlike the 5th year anniversary compilations, and is subject to availability if I ever create these in Apple Music]




#KN10YEARS: THE ANIME SONGS


Gamers!/Tendou Karen & Hoshinomori Chiaki & Aguri
Don't say "lazy"/Sakurakou K-ON Bu
Kokoro no Kara/Team.Nekokan[Neko] featuring.Amaoto Junka
Orange/Aisaka Taiga, Kushieda Minori, Kawashima Ami
Kokoro no Senritsu/Shirohamasaka High Chorus Club
May I Help You/Yamagami Lucy, Miyoshi Saya, Chihaya Megumi
Eyecatch! Too much!/Miyakoshi Hana, Muranushi Sayuri, Kamakura Shiho
Date TIME/Mineral Miracle Muse
Hoshi no Kakera/fhana
I scream chocolatl/Team Nekokan[Neko] feat. Lia
two-Dimension's Love/denk!girls
WONDERFUL WONDERS/Ryuugajou Nanana (CV: Tanabe Rui)
My Sweet Shelter/Kawai Ritsu, Nishikino Mayumi, Watanabe Sayaka
Full Swing/Kushieda Minori (CV: Horie Yui)
Chameleon Daughter/Saori Bajina (CV: Nabatame Hitomi)




#KN10YEARS: THE B-SIDES


Saigo no Houkago/Ikimonogakari
Winter Hot Music/YUI
three sheep/Chatmonchy
Naga Sugita Yoru ni/Aqua Timez
Sekai wo Kaesasete Okureyo/Sambomaster
Coin Locker Boy/Tsuji Shion
Omoide ni Naru Mae ni/Lil'B
JUST LIKE THIS/SPYAIR
Anata ga Inai to Sekai wa Konnani Tsumaranai/miwa
Slide show/School Food Punishment
Come on come on/Rie fu
CANDY LOVE/Taketatsu Ayana
Issai Gassai/Tomatsu Haruka
Ookami/STEREOPONY
Ashita no Sora/Ikimonogakari
Strange Dancer/Base Ball Bear
Love My Melody/Hikasa Youko
Intention Propellant/yanaginagi
Gift/Kon Natsumi
Tomato/Toyosaki Aki
Moteki Yobigun/Kuso Iinkai
Time Tripper/KANA-BOON
GET BACK/THE ORAL CIGARETTES
Towa no Machi/Scenarioart
Angel Number/Komatsu Mikako
Raise de Aou/Sayuri
Tenshi ka Akuma ka/negoto
Blush/Yoru no Honki Dance
Naimono Bakari/Natsukawa Shiina
Kakawari/TrySail




#KN10YEARS: THE COLD MOOD


Esse/yanaginagi
Hizuke Keikousen/nano.RIPE
Kokoro no Yakusoku/Primary
Kunshou/NEGOTO
Sherbet/UNLIMITS
Feeling The Ocean Air/PHONO TONES
Provence/SPECIAL OTHERS
Kanashii Yokan/Iwasaki Ai
tomori/Tainaka Sachi
Ally/RYTHEM
Tomorrow/Tomatsu Haruka
PRESENT/Rie fu
SNOW AGAIN/Ikimonogakari
Rainbow/Touyama Nao
Nekoyanagi/Tsuzuri Zukuri




#KN10YEARS: THE DISBANDED


Re:ache/HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR
A Flower/RYTHEM
Ai scream/Lil'B
RPG/School Food Punishment
OVER DRIVE/STEREOPONY
LIFE/YUI
Never Ending Voyage/Aso Natsuko
1.2.MAX/PE'Z
DAIKIRAI-DAISUKI/HAPPY BIRTHDAY
triangle/Kawada Mami
Laughin' Road/HOME MADE Kazoku
ebb and flow/Ray




As a side note, I am also still in the process of making the sequel to the Klassic Note 5th year anniversary compilations - THE EMOTIONALIST II, THE ENERGIST II and THE IMPRESSIVIST II - in continuation of the series which will be revealed earliest end of the year or early 2019, so be sure to stay tuned for more song recommendations coming up!

- Kaineng, on the Klassic Note

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The Klassic Note Spirit Part 11 – The Year 2017 and How It All Lasted

Last time in the Klassic Note Spirit, we talked about how much appreciation we give to J-Pop artists and their songs and how far we have came, and I know this might be repetitive here, but we've come this far. There must be a point where we finally give some mention to as many artists as we can, and relate to what music has done to my life. And this, we can never say enough. Whether we will continue from here is no longer a question. Or is it?


The Klassic Note Spirit Part 11 (FINAL)
"The Year 2017 and How It All Lasted"


TO EVERYONE COMING BACK
This year symbolised something big in Klassic Note, but also meant a lot for many artists who decided to make a comeback to release songs for the year, and that, I can never ask for more. These include Sambomaster on their 3rd album after they moved to Victor Entertainment from Sony Music Japan, fumika released the one single which would become one of the best she has ever done on her music career whose topic song ranked the top in the charts, negoto releasing a new single which was the most acceptable from them since forever and an album, SID with two singles and an album which barely passed my judgement but was still really good to hear and more. For many it was a comeback, but for some it was farewell. Ray announced her final album along with her retirement from the music industry after singing years of Anime songs. Chatmonchy announced their end soon after releasing a single on April that year which was after releasing singles on a slow pace since their album in 2016, and not long after Aqua Timez joined along the ranks which is due the following year. These artists proved to Klassic Note that not everything will last, and no matter how much I support them, they will not be able to contribute as far as I want them to.


SEEKING GREENER GROUND
Following the departure of Collection Artists and more, I seek further to new artists which can potentially be good and will be in the music industry as long as what I have experienced this past decade, and will make a huge impact in Klassic Note, from here and beyond. Among them are Ryokushaka (Ryokuoushoku Shakai) which is a prospective pop rock band which made an impact in the year itself with two mini-albums, GLIM SPANKY which rose in the end of the year with heavy impact 70s Rock music which struck me the first time I listened to it, Yogee New Waves which played relaxed music and impressed me year after year with good songs, and even Middle Kids, an Australian band which wrote great alternative music tunes I will never forget. These along with many others from past years mentioned will no doubt make a huge crater in the planet that is the Klassic Note song list.


AN IDOLISED RANKING
This year's list of songs though, unlike previous years, became populated with better Anime songs than ever, ranging from inside the shows themselves or even just generically speaking from the Japanese Anime industry which includes voice actors (namely actresses here) and their music careers, and this made a huge impact for the year for some reason. As such, their excellence has got them mentioned in the ranks more than ever, as when I went through the decision-making process of how the Top 20 would be of that year I suddenly saw that many mainstream artists are losing to the potential of what Anime artists have. These include Numakura Manami who created an impact from 2016, Komatsu Mikako who changed music labels and is now under Anime composer group Q-MHz releasing new songs, Uesaka Sumire after finally accepting one of her songs ever since I got interested in her years ago, upcoming idol group TrySail in which even in their group Amamiya Sora has been doing well in the year itself, despite being relatively new to the industry along with Numakura-san herself.


RESULTS EXPLANATION FOR 10 YEARS
As much as I am enjoying myself listening to all that Japan has to offer, here in Klassic Note we have come a long way to create a standard so that we can keep giving songs, and we can keep giving songs that will last in my mind for a lifetime. For example, the "formalisation" of Song Integrity Survey has been established ever since it was introduced in the previous year which now contains a flexible average rating so that it can be fine-tuned every year to compensate for my tastest in music. Song Awards results are also fully explained in the extended results page for this year specially to clarify any changes that have been made throughout the years, and what will be the likely standard going forward. This year the main page got more depth in order to give Klassic Note some form of explanation of what it is now, and how much it means for any number of songs to appear on them.


IS IT GOING TO CONTINUE?
Speaking of going forward, how is Klassic Note going to continue from here on? Every year even coming up to the year of 2017 I question myself every year. Firstly, the judgement of songs now provides a more objective yet stricter way of giving songs which might impede the flexibility of giving songs, so should I just not bother too much and give songs based on what I like and my mood or should I judge songs in further detail so I don't keep giving the same styles? Then, there's the time to commitment. Along the years, I have always have plenty of time to listen, review and comment on songs whether it's online or through the Song Awards results every year. But ahead of me is going to be a busy schedule of adult life, and that will create a challenge to keep this going. Lastly, how do I continue this with following the vision that is now "Searching For A Different Melody"? My passion for song appreciation over the years will be put to the real life test with all considerations above, a busy life, and most importantly, a decrease in mood to devote time to listen and explore more songs in order to fulfil my raging desire for what I have been pursuring thus far. These will no doubt create an impact in future years as I move on, and Klassic Note's fate might just change from here on, for better or for worse.


To be continued...


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Saturday 24 November 2018

The Klassic Note Spirit Part 10 – The Year 2016 and the Smooth Return and Rise

In the previous part of this series, we talked about one of the dullest years in Klassic Note history, showing a change in perspective of giving only good songs, not letting my gender preference get in the way of giving songs, and trying to rid of the criticism on social media despite my hate for artists coming up with disappointing tunes. In this, we decide to come up with a standard which can balance between subjective and objective opinion such that more songs can be given instead of limiting potential for my desire for searching for new melodies.


The Klassic Note Spirit Part 10
"The Year 2016 and the Smooth Return and Rise"


TAKING IT TO THE INTERNET
With indie artists on the rise and many of them I know of getting their major label debut, it's no wonder I like to give more of them on their new songs to support them. And the easiest way to do that is to listen to their music videos online, specifically YouTube. And the trend for this did not stop ever since last year, as I give more male vocalist groups in hopes of balancing the scales. Artists like LuckLife, LILI LIMIT and The Floor became big contributors in the next few years as I find more wonderful tunes that aren't written by Anime producers and sung by voice actresses. This was also an example of the huge increase of music videos I'm getting every year on that YouTube playlist I created a couple of years ago, which makes music accessible to more even though I'm already in Apple Music Japan by now.

Speaking of Apple Music, I subscribed to Apple Music Japan by the end of the year to firstly, listen to new songs more reliably on the date of release, and also, to be able to listen to more artists easily following the listening to less famous artists who would otherwise not leak their new songs online. Examples include Tsuzuri Zukuri, which have hard to find resources to listen to due to lack of popularity, so I decided to invest. Paying up to $130 a year, this might be the most expensive and best investment I've contributed to the Japanese music industry till now. I know it's a streaming service and not buying music so they let a small cut of my subscription, but still, this is the easiest way to support them as I listen to it more often and more artists open up their music library to the rise in music streaming services.


THE SELF-DOUBT
Due to the drop in new songs from the previous year and much criticism from my own methods for not giving songs off the bat which I used to, this year I decide to come up with a stronger standard  based on much research from the past year. With this in mind, I cam up with the Song Integrity Survey, asking honestly about how I felt about the song in first impression as with how I started with giving J-Pop. However, I also added on long-term review opinions, making 2.99 Star Project a little less like a trip to hell and never coming back (which saw significant comeback for some of them who went there), and giving better chances to promoting star ratings on the flat 4-star song majority I've been stagnant on. This became a definitive benchmark for future years but it was hard to not create bias to familiar melodies with this system. This eventually was fine-tuned to follow past year standards accordingly as I have to manually change ratings to create a flexible rating system.
The first year results utilising the Song Integrity Survey. As you can see there is a healthy trend towards higher rating songs shown by the green line.


QUALITY AND QUANTITY
Over the years, I noticed that giving songs every year seems to have a trend, and I naturally try to break a trend sometimes to avoid following into market trends. In general, and since the financial year in Japan starts in April, most songs are releases in certain peak periods following each season's start and end (mostly end) so to promote sales and of course, show a better report every year to be honest. As much, in Klassic Note, it is always dull in January following the start of the year after Song Awards which is good. It also gives me time to find new songs and recover from the season end that is December. February and March are riddled with releases as many push new songs whether it's for Anime or just because it's going to end the year on a good note. May is the next best month to release new songs following the Spring season conclusion, So is August which is lesser compared to May, and November and December months are the most hectic in releases. It's like Black Friday for music releases, to be frank. This in turn will also make giving songs tend to peak on those months, as seen in the Hall of Fame document. The balance between quality and quantity thus heavily depends on these peak months as I tend to give more songs on peaks and less songs but focused on quality and songs I'll remember on in other months of the year.
This yer's Song Appetite Report is a good example of song increase trends.
The line represents average growth in Klassic Note song count.


LIVING IN THE TIMES
At this point we should appreciate the fact that we are blessed with so many songs to listen and enjoy, and it's as if it feels like a dream. Firstly, despite knowing this many artists up till now and knowing many artists don't even release songs yearly, it was still a relief to see so many songs release every month, even without having to find them myself. This, and the fact that it is easier to find them simply by following them on Twitter on Apple Music makes this such a joy to do despite my busy schedule. Also, seeing artists grow and get more popular as you have heard them from indie times or even Collection Artists who have been around develop new styles and break their own music barriers to reach greater heights... that can never be described as I'm living in it enjoying all of it. Finally, that Twitter account made me happier over the years as I continue to get recognised by artists and some of the people in the Internet alike, which is just a joy for me to keep sharing my thoughts about music (positively) as much as I can, promoting as much as I deem necessary even if they aren't Songs of the day. This, is truly good times in Klassic Note, which also explains the back of the increase in new songs for the year, as I truly learn to appreciate how far Klassic Note has come.

Thanks, guys. Sadly it's the one song I can hear from you though.
A proper conversation on the Internet, by the way.

Next up: The Klassic Note Spirit Part 11 – The Year 2017 and How It All Lasted
(How it has been a wonderful decade of music appreciation I don't even know...)

(**All linked references ago were active at time of publishing this post. They are meant for educational purposes and not are not taken directly from any intellectual property)
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The Klassic Note Spirit Part 9 – The Year 2015 and the Initiation Plateau

Previously, we mentioned about how after the 5th anniversary I became serious about wanting to give more songs that are different in melody. Something more towards what I truly liked, instead of giving many songs off the bat. And so, I kept setting requirements and introduced measures to enforce them. Also, I created a new home to display all of Klassic Note and I had a wonderful first year on Twitter. Let's see how the setting of standards will set some pros and cons for the year ahead.


The Klassic Note Spirit Part 9
"The Year 2015 and the Initiation Plateau"


THE MELODY JUDGEMENT
As mentioned in the previous part of the series, it was hard to give songs off the bat after listening to this many songs and only giving a fraction of them, so requirements had to be set to give songs more objectively then to be swayed by various aspects of the industry to attract people to listen or buy their releases. Idolism and Anime are two easy examples I can think of, and I'm sure I'll mention them in future posts, but here I'll talk about how it impacted me giving songs for the year. Being more judgemental than intinuitive, it ended up making me reject more songs which buffed up the 2.99 Stars Project list. This blog post which I boldly posted criticises on what I dislike about some of the songs I reviewed, which is also a small fraction compared to those who aren't even worth of mention. Furthermore, not giving based on first impression also affected later years as I struggle to give songs more promptly compared to the past, where songs are easily given or rejected. 5-star ratings are also harder to give, which you will see next year, that I had to come up with a way to make sure I can force myself to give songs I know are good but underestimated due to this judgement.


CORNERING THE PLATEAU
Because of a more objective opinion of giving songs after the past few years, this has led to a decrease in the number of new songs in the song list for the year, reaching levels of Klassic Note 2011. This is likely also due to me trying to give other artists which are further from what I listen, mainly on female vocalists and Collection Artists which I normally just give off the bat. Speaking of Collection Artists, since most of them have already been around for at least 5 years, the number of best albums I see released for the year has also increased over time as they "mature", including Aqua Timez, sphere and ClariS. This year has also been the first year that I noticed that it was hard to give the Top 20 rankings in Klassic Note history, as I spend less time to listen to songs and more time giving new artists and finding new melodies out of what artists I know of now.


THE GENDER UN-BIAS
Also affected by the objective opinion is the increase of male vocalists in new artists appearing in Klassic Note. Investing time in listening to them and finding new songs and creating strict requirements to artists I've known which are primarily female, I've managed to draw the ratio of female vocalists from the previous year's 4.5 to 1 female to male solo vocalist ratio to 2 to 1, which was astounding as my continued recognition of artists and vocalists from both sides continue to grow. New male-only artists which affected the change for the year include KANA-BOON, THE ORAL CIGARETTES, Yoru no Honki Dance, amazarashi and Cocoro Auction.
This was the first from Yoru no Honki Dance, with strong rock dance beats you'll never forget.

This is THE ORAL CIGARETTES< with so much power you'll fall in love with.

Later in the year they also released one of their most popular songs till date.



MORE CHANGES IN SONG AWARDS
After spending more time from the past couple of years refining methods to automate the yearly process, by this year I have effectively dropped the buffer period from more than two weeks to within a one week period. This is likely due to me spreading the data collection over the year (Songs of the day, song list update to label song ratings and the day they were added) to allow a more consistent update then deal with everything by the end of the year, which I had plenty of time for since back then I was a student. I had to find an easier way to then based on this, bring in more Excel skills to auto-compute Song of the day data collection, data references in statistics, and more. In addition, the Song Integrity Survey was tested after increasing much criticism on songs after the 5th anniversary, which brought a concept of allowing songs to be promoted or demoted in song ratings to expand the range of ratings I can give despite by narrow, more flat opinion of songs now, if you get what I mean. This ended up being the standard of what would determine how I give 5-stars and 3-stars every year.

Commendations also got more recognition this year compared to Song Awards, which kind of led to me thinking about how Klassic Note Song Awards should be viewed in general in terms of outside of Top 20 rankings. Commendations, as you may not have known, are songs recognised for being unique, different, or significant in contribution to Klassic Note, and everything in between we can't give as an Award, for example, Klassic Note Review and let's say, songs with the same song name (of course, compensated for pronunciation because translations), and so on. These got more recognition as I re-arrange how they are represented as seen from the Song Award Results page of the year, giving artists and songs alike a new level of mention due to what they have brought in to Klassic Note.


GETTING RECOGNISED ON TWITTER
Ever since the start of the Twitter account I opened for this and an avenue to share what I'm listening which will eventually turn into a news column, I find myself strangely amazed back then when I got recognised for even posting a Tweet violating all the rules of post... posting. You see, if you did see my Tweets, they are neither on hashtag, doesn't have any catchy lines, is in English (compared to Japanese if you ever see my own Twitter feed), and is designed (I thought about it) to make sure I get as little social media attention as possible. However, this does not deter some artists from finding me because I still have to put their names in, and searching without the hashtag isn't as tough as you think. Apparently some of them just camp on the search term and find interesting Tweets to re-post. This is seen even more clearly in future years where artists like mol-74 and nano.RIPE get on the retweeting fever. But first on the line of many encounters, as I have mentioned in this blog back then was yucat, also YUKARI from RYTHEM. And with this, I must say I felt more of the need to speak up my mind (still without hashtags) whenever I listen to music. Of course, criticism won't be on my Tweets, I assure you.
RT with comment instead of replying? Seriously? She placed the hashtag in btw



Next up: The Klassic Note Spirit Part 10 – The Year 2016 and the Smooth Return and Rise
(After years of being more and more like a robot, I had a realisation...)

(**All linked references ago were active at time of publishing this post. They are meant for educational purposes and not are not taken directly from any intellectual property)
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Thursday 22 November 2018

The Klassic Note Spirit Part 8 – The Year 2014 and the Transformation Period

Previously, we witnessed the freedom in Klassic Note after the stress that is the 5th Year Anniversary which led to a whole bunch of songs given off the bat. As Klassic Note moved on I started to think about how to give songs again and despite the many changes in this year, it did not stop me from thinking about how I would want to give songs in the near future.


The Klassic Note Spirit Part 8
"The Year 2014 and the Transformation Period"


CHANGES IN SONG AWARDS
Attempted revamps of the Song Awards have been done to facilitate easier computation of results, and continuously done over the years ahead. For example, Song of the day got a revamp so that calculations can be made to a minimal. I'm not going to talk Excel here, but yeah most things can be references so that it is easier to compute Song of the day results just by inputting the entries in the right places. Further automation did not happen as for most of the time it is complicated to do, and mostly my initial attempts at them aren't very satisfying, and it took longer to do the usual work I had to do for Klassic Note every year, and that wasn't good.

Furthermore, due to increased emphasis on giving songs and settings song ratings based on the new motto of "Always Searching For That Melody", I created the 2.99 Star Project to list down every song that did not make it to the list but had an impact, was compelling or just something I did not want to give for a certain thing that irritated me. It's also a way to show how close many songs have been to stay on my list but failed in certain aspects. This ended up drawing attention to melody, song structure or even genre as I continued to focus on certain categories of music after the break that is the 5th anniversary.
This year also showed the highest vocalist ratio among female to male, climbing above the usual 2.5 to 1 ratio to extreme levels of 4.5 to 1 by Klassic Note 2014. This shows a heavy bias to female (solo) singers in the song list which obviously represented a lack of balance. It would continue into the future that I find more artists with male vocalists to combat this, but that has been over the years, and as a male listener I felt that was rather unfair. In Klassic Note many male vocalists have stood out, but it isn't enough to win over me in my case, as this misaligns itself to what I want to focus on which was the melody instead of who is singing it.


THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE
The previous year also brought about a concept of an official website firstly to offset the unappealing list of results that is the old results page and also to summarise all the stuff such that I can give an overview and hopefully previews about the songs I listen. I then thought of a way to sum up all the results in neat statistics instead of putting up front all the things involved, including the new media. For artists, images were used to spice up the webpage and if any, YouTube videos can be referenced to give a more interactive site. Overall I liked the feel of it. The Strikingly-hosted website has then stayed to be the place to showcase all the stuff over the years, including Ultimate Collection which was crammed into a page in the old web page, Reviews which would help me post to social media neatly, and also a Hall of Fame document showing all the statistics which I made to easily show changes in Klassic Note. (Both will be discussed in detail below)



THE KLASSIC NOTE REVIEW
At this point, I would like to bring your attention to how much I've listened over the years. Going into the 7th year brings my desperation to share what I feel for each release. Obviously I cannot cover all, but I started the year with covering a couple of releases (not shown here but on the old site) listing what I liked and disliked about it. I then noticed it'll take a lot of time to talk about the songs I already listened, let alone all of them I did not give. So in came Klassic Note Review, where I review - as fast as I can get them - new releases on my shelf, and treat it as a recommendation panel than something of strong criticism. Backed by the fact that within the year I reviewed many singles including an album which passed the stringent requirements, the Review also pushed me to add these from my blog to putting alongside the website I created which can be found here. That, and throughout the years that I have reviewed many artists of different genres, vocalists and so on, the Review is here to show how diverse I give songs and artists even though most of them may still be female. Yes, idolism became a pushing force in most reviews since they ended up having less strict "requirements".

SCANDAL has the highest amount of singles reviewed in 2014, focusing on self-produced songs


THE HALL OF FAME
Along with the changes to Song Awards are revealing of statistics in Klassic Note. After 6 years running there seems to be a lot of information lying beneath the songs I listen every year, and in this year I decided to give an overview about it, in the form of charts and tables. Not for Song Awards or rankings or calculation, but for observations so I can let the world see the information. And so I did, adding an updated online document showing trends, lists of artists, and review statistics all into one, and is available for viewing right here. It was also a good place for me to keep record of new artists, new song trends and so on so I'm glad I made the effort to start it.
Examples of what the Hall of Fame document contained
(Click to enlarge)


THE FUN IN SOCIAL MEDIA
I think I had a lot of fun since the opening of the official Twitter account (which is kind of my personal account anyway) and the artists are somehow the focus in these engagements for some reason. Mostly from indie artists, this is a good way to promote their songs as well as... you know, make me look good online lol. I totally enjoyed it, by the way. This was also used to post Song of the day rundowns so that I can find a way to track them down without using a notebook or whatsoever, so getting recognition from the artists or bands are just adding on to the wonderful times I have in social media. I also took an effort to share lyrics from certain songs as I slowly learn the Japanese language and start to comprehend songs old and new, giving them more impact as I discuss them online alone. Furthermore, I tried to source the legitimacy of listening to songs, but that got kicked off real fast not until there was music streaming platform Apple Music to share my opinions and recommend songs, but that is not something to detail here.





Next up: The Klassic Note Spirit Part 9 - The Year 2015 and the Initiation Plateau
(Where things took a turn and did not come back, a resolution had to be made...)

(**All linked references ago were active at time of publishing this post. They are meant for educational purposes and not are not taken directly from any intellectual property)
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Saturday 10 November 2018

The Klassic Note Spirit Part 6 – The Year 2012 and 5th Year Plans

Previously, we talked about how Klassic Note may have taken a dip mainly because of the absence of the biggest Anime I've given and the changes to giving other styles of music besides Pop and Rock. Nonetheless, the fifth year continues this trend, however it did not stop expanding and actually gave rise to more recognition of artists I didn't expect to do over the past few years: indie artists. Let's take a look at what makes the first 5th anniversary celebration this special.


The Klassic Note Spirit Part 6
"The Year 2012 and 5th Year Plans"
(*The below information is an adaptation of the original excerpt which was posted here five years ago)



THE DEFINITION OF 5-STARS
After so many years of music listening and appreciation, it's time to take notice and ask myself the very question: "What is in a good song?" Is it a song that must impress me on first listen? Is it a song that is so flawless I could not criticise any part of the song at all? Should I give more songs based on certain rules of how the song is structured or continue to give blindly based on my instinct? Questioning myself on these ended up with me setting parameters (not as much as they are guidelines yet) as to define what is in 'a good song'. Problematic? Maybe. But as of that time, it became a necessity. And it's because of that and the need to keep up with the number of songs I have given such a rating before, I decide to push up on the amount of songs with a 5-stars rating out of second impression such that they are double the initial amount on the year itself. Really, it's this conflict that made Klassic Note worth thinking about. It also had a huge impact on my decisions for giving songs on following years too, which we will come to notice may become an enforcement.


THE LEGEND OF THE SHELF
And after so many years of... you know, leeching off the Internet, it's time to give back. This anniversary year also brought about me "working for the first time in my life", and so with me having a decent salary like any other consumer staring at their interests, I start to spend. And guess what’s the first thing I spend on: CDs. Lots of them, and enough to cover my old desk. That is about... 100+ discs from circa 2007 to 2012. (I forgot the actual numbers at this point) I can still recall the first batch of CDs that came to my house: I was so happy I couldn't stop smiling all the time I was reviewing every single one of those... I think a dozen discs in my living room alone. Those were the times, people. Remember that blog post? I guess not, I don't remember much of it anyway. Still, if there was someone who is THIS crazy to buy a stack of CDs which are not locally sold and where shipping costed a significant portion of the order (~25% according to my statistics, and 5-10% if you buy CDs from your local music store) that'll be me.
(As you will notice in the future this number will go up considerable due to going from batch purchase which cuts down shipping costs per item to single item, online store-focused ordering)
My stack of CDs on what is before today's "shelf"  where they are lined up instead of stacked, October 18, 2012.
(The labels on top pasted on book holders represent each year in Klassic Note)
The very first box of CDs that arrived at my home on July 12, 2012 according to Facebook haha
(This batch were releases on first half of KN2012)


YUI’S HIATUS
This year was also an encouraging year for new releases from Collection Artists in Klassic Note from Chatmonchy to Aqua Timez to Ikimonogakari but not YUI. If you need some bad news for the year, this was one of the bigger ones. The singer-songwriter has decided to go on hiatus and will eventually be part of a new Rock band named "FLOWER FLOWER" and has in 2018 released their 2nd full album since their debut in 2014. At this point in Klassic Note though it seemed like all was lost, but we'll explore this in the future. At this point in 2012, questions loom before me. Is she going to come back? Or is she pursuing another kind of music which... I may not like? Saying that though, I’ve done much in the history of Klassic Note to support her and her music, which at this point, was collecting most of the physical copies of her music. And by the end of the year, after 49 songs, 3 albums and 15 singles, I can truthfully declare that no one is ever going to beat her in Klassic Note for the number of releases on my shelf. Never will I be able to give singles so easily off the bat (she was real easy to give in 2008 btw), and not to say three albums worth. Well, she was the only one for now anyway.
All the releases which is in Klassic Note which are YUI.
(Not all are here at least... 5 albums are missing including tributes)
The best albums for YUI, released 5th December 2012. It arrived 4 days later.
(Yes, with the limited edition photo book if you purchased them both)


IN SEARCH OF "VERY NEW" ALTERNATIVES
In view of such a change in artist activity, I couldn't help but actually spend more time on YouTube (how I met ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE) and audioleaf (how I came to know sunday morning bell, deepNow, and SECONDWALL) to find other (even if) indie artists who are super new in music composition which might suit my tastes. And in the age of the Internet where infrastructure is way better than what it was five years ago, I guess this was inevitable as it was a good alternative. Because they are kind of free compared to their paid counterparts, listening to songs now has become an addiction made me more desperate to search for more melodies easily over the Internet. And with mainstream artists declining in activity after this particular year ie. releasing albums like how it's done in Chinese and Western music releases traditionally, this is actually a path I carved out for myself in order to stay and listen to more Japanese songs.




TOP 20 REVAMP
"To who?" You may say. Dear readers, Klassic Note has come a long way. As such, the yearly rankings for Top 20 has to change after years of comfort giving the best of what the Collection Artists have to offer. And considering from the above that we're lacking in support for new artists through Anime franchises and the decrease in Collection Artist activity, the rankings have to gear towards giving other indie artists a chance. As such, the list has, for the first time since the first rankings back in 2008, had its top songs replaced by Chatmonchy and fumika instead of Aqua Timez or VELTPUNCH, if you noticed the trend over the years. The list this year also includes many new names, including those who may not even have a release for me to review. So as you can see (or hear), giving the new Top 20 ranking from this year on will not be that easy.




THE PLAN FOR 5TH YEAR
It’s because I listen to this many songs and loved them for so long that motivated me to want to commemorate and celebrate this spirit that comes within, and that is formally named Klassic Note. The plan was as follows:
  • A 5th year anniversary site has been opened to list and make available, all top 20 songs for the past five years, including short summaries for each year and "achievements" reached for Klassic Note
  • Three compilations have been created in celebration of The Klassic Note Spirit series in 2013, named "THE EMOTIONALIST" for emotional songs, "THE ENERGIST" for upbeat tunes, and a later decided "THE IMPRESSIVIST" for first impression 5-star rating songs
  • A compilation for THE NANO-MUGEN COMPILATION is compiled for Klassic Note to celebrate the wonderful (especially Japanese) artists that have made an appearance and beyond in relation to Japanese Rock band ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION
  • Collection Artists (as mentioned thus far) have taken a form in physical compilation with an initial release of eight CDs, recognizing artists with significant contributions to Klassic Note
  • Yearly Compilations have also been compiled since its initiation in 2011 which include THE GOLD "Top 20" compilation, THE SILVER "Sidetrack" compilation and THE BRONZE "Highest Artist Contributions" compilation
All these were mostly completed by the end of 2013 with actual physical copies made to the extent I couldn't believe (this shall be shown in the following post of the series), and all this, for Klassic Note and everyone in it.

Some of the plant that did not work (as of December 2012) are:
  • An overall song ranking from 2008 to 2012 which was deemed impossible considering how hard it is to give Top 20 already and subsequent years proving that is still a challenge, not to say an overall version of it
  • Video adaptation of the audio song rankings which have been done to preview Top 20 songs for Klassic Note every year. This was not done until late 2013 where DVD compilations have been made for years 2010 and beyond
  • Artist Case Study blog post series written by myself of my opinions of artists and their works and contributions to Klassic Note (mainly just too lazy and because there are too many)
  • Secondary song compilations which have been planned since late 2011 and 2012 but have yet to execute due to lack of a theme and songs to compliment the idea of the theme(s). This was later fulfilled starting in 2013 with the first secondary yearly compilation "THE INDISPUTABLE ANISONG"
  • More modifications and unification of an official website for Klassic Note. That was not solidified until the discovery of Strikingly and their wonderful web design in 2014.


At this point, it would seem obvious that this passion will not end. At least not with my enthusiasm and my thirst for more wonderful Japanese songs! This thirst, this passion, this enthusiasm that represents the Klassic Note spirit. It's all because, I was always searching for that melody.

Hey that could me my motto! Wait, let’s try this again:

"Always Searching, For That Melody" – Kaineng



Next up: The Klassic Note Spirit Part 7 – The Year 2013 and the Dawn of a New Era
(Is it a relief or is it a resurgence? The process in giving songs after much celebration)


(**All linked references ago were active at time of publishing this post. They are meant for educational purposes and not are not taken directly from any intellectual property)
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The Klassic Note Spirit Part 7 – The Year 2013 and the Dawn of a New Era

In the previous post, we talked about the (technically) 5th year point of Klassic Note, and the overall plan to celebrate the spirit that is to put it simply my passion for Japanese music appreciation. Moving on, we shall discuss how this led to a relaxation of song initiation in Klassic Note, and how that will transition to - after settling the anniversary stuff - actually dramatically changing the scene in Klassic Note for the next five years. Okay let's start.


The Klassic Note Spirit Part 7
"The Year 2013 and the Dawn of a New Era"


THE SEASON OF GIVING
2013 became "known" in Klassic Note (because I say so) as "the season of giving" probably because I decided to relax after the stringent rules that is the decision for 5-stars, the subsiding of artist activities, the rise of new artists and so on. So in the end, I gave pretty much everything I liked. This ranged from voice actress Hikasa Youko's solo artist debut which shortly ended in the following year with the collaboration mini-album being the most compelling, to sasakure.UK in giving his only collaboration album which did not feature Hatsune Miku (no really, go check him out you'll get what I mean) to Anime songs especially from the 2nd season of Anime "Oreimo" which of course you guys would know, has quite a history of ending theme songs from 2011, and indie artists including Kuso Iinkai who will end up contributing more than I would think in the following years. All in all, I may be cutting some slack, but in the end it did introduce many good songs among them which has since altered the Top 20 ranking in many ways than other.




SONG(S) OF THE DAY STANDARD
Long time ago in Klassic Note (well, around 2009), I noticed that the songs I listen matter in my everyday life. It is felt that pretty every day there can be a song to represent the day, and so in my diary entries ever since I can write a blog online (it was 2006 btw) I have been adding the song that was in my mind. However, it has been many years, the number of songs filling my mind have increased, and so shall the standard for tracking these songs. It's no Music Fest (a reference from a diary blog post I think from 2007 where I gave FIVE songs of the day), but instead of just giving one song per day in credit, I brought up the requirement to two. So, one for the start of the day, and one for the end. It eventually became the way for me to jot down the songs which woke me up in the morning and the song stuck in my brain before I go to sleep. Although this wasn't cemented until the following year, it became the current standard for giving songs some form of recognition in my everyday life at its ultimate honesty, instead of once every year.


INCREASED ONLINE PRESENCE WITH @KLASSICNOTE
And talking about song of the day, it's hard to ignore one of the biggest breakthroughs in Klassic Note administration and that is... creating an online presence! After much thought of bringing Klassic Note to a whole new level probably after seeing such success on that SoundCloud compilation of the Top 20 rankings for the year before, I created a start to what would be a whole new world for even myself: I opened a Klassic Note Twitter account. Yeah. This was quite a huge thing for me personally since (1) I have never used Twitter despite it being one of the earliest in social media and (2) I don't really like to share the songs I listen to the people around me considering I don't live in Japan nor USA and everyone here is at this point listening to K-Pop which makes Japanese songs feel irrelevant... you get the meaning. Anyways, this account - which was created intentionally on 31st December 2013 (yeah) - was initially used to track the new songs of the day with the help of the Internet since before that I literally had to do it in pen and paper, or SMS, or anything along those lines. So yeah, it was convenient, but as you would have noticed became much of use in the following years as I start to maybe interact with (especially) indie artists and artists I know over time.
(Wow my first Tweet was really lame but yeah it introduced the special website for 5th year)
(Okay this was slightly better as it featured my shelf)

Also, I took the liberty to use my personal YouTube account (I mean, you'll notice) to create a playlist of all the music videos I can get my hands on over the Internet as it continues to emerge as the most convenient way to listen to new songs since it's expansion into Klassic Note two years ago. The playlist is now still populated with the latest, maybe not the best, but this shows the openness of music companies and artists posting their songs online for the world to listen as the Westerners have done since the service's inception. Hey, what can I say? Later is better than never, as many companies still withhold their artsts' work (even if little) through geographical limitations, still making this compilation challenging as ever. As of 2017 more than 300 songs have graced this playlist, and I'm glad it's only going to grow from here on.




CHANGES TO SONG AWARDS
In the house of Klassic Note that is the song rankings, many changes were made to facilitate the changes in listening habits over the years. This was done to give more recognition (as mentioned in the previous year) to the little details of the Klassic Note songsphere (wow I like this terminology) which I might oversee as it wasn't significant enough over the past few years to give some talk about them. The most prominent of them was a "Female Solo to Male Solo Ratio" was inserted into the Vocal Styles Popularity Survey (I need to change this name, seriously) to emphasise the over-arcing differences between my bias as a human male for favoring female vocalists, regardless of whatever songs I give. This particularly will make a difference in following years giving some awareness (personally) for this gender bias in Klassic Note over the past five years.

The year's results also retired several ideas introduced to the Song Awards including the newly introduced B-side Survey due to its complexity in calculation (which will make its comeback in the following year) and reverting back to one Song of the Month list instead of putting it with two other compilations which have been partially integrated to yearly compilations.


THE PLAN FOR 5TH YEAR PART DEUX
As mentioned in the previous post of the series, 2013 was still focused on moving away from the 5th year celebration and pushing as many of the ideas for it as possible by the end of the year, all while listening to new songs and getting this year's list going. The 5th year compilations surprisingly starting with the article "THE" because I thought it was a wonderful idea to show exclusivity, got made into physical form unlike many other compilations which stayed as a digital playlist ie. just a notion, and I can prove it because it's still on my shelf and some of the images can be seen below.

The covers for the three anniversary compilations

For THE EMOTIONALIST, a short summary and lyric quote for what makes the song emotional
For THE ENEGIST, a full coloured tracklist design on the booklet


I will never reach the level of Japanese CDs to any extent, but this goes to show just how far I would go to make this happen, and this, I'm proud of the result. Also, for Collection Artist compilations too, I made physical copies of them. These are all for you guys, artists. Another thing that was pushed in the middle of the year was making video adaptations including full song previews in a disced video release also known as DVDs. (I mean, is it obsolete yet? lol) And that, though not as wonderful as the CDs above, signaled a whole new level of compilation production which I must say is as impressive as it was tiring as one of these (signalling a year's rankings) took like a week of continuous editing, I swear. You guys would have noticed these from the later publicly released on the official website (we're close to that part of the discussion) short version of this release, without the music videos since it's too much copyrighted material.
The (if you know of) DVD menu of the release in the 2013 compilation
The menu for the Top 10 songs, with full music videos
The animation that inspired what you see in the videos from the official website today


THE YEARLY SECONDARY COMPILATION
Also in continuation of the things I'm doing for the 5th Year Anniversay in Klassic Note, I went ahead to do a couple of things I did intend to do but not until the end of the year leaning on to the following year. Most notably for the idea of yearly secondary compilations other than the three (GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE if you could recall) compilations set back in 2011, I compiled a trend-type compilation featuring a set of (in this year's) Anime theme songs for the last three months of the year, featuring Anime I watched and many which I don't, which was a surprise. Titled "The Indisputable Anison", I thought of bringing out the wonders of Anime theme songs (not to be confused with the Anime genre in Klassic Note) as they set new grounds for making new, catchy, and easy-listening tunes.


THE PRE-ORDER FEVER OF GIFTS
In the face of spending my hard-earned money (not really) on CDs, thinning out the list of discs I need to purchase to fill up my shelf, it has finally plateaued in 2013 where I've reached the maintenance period meaning I have to only buy singles or albums on demand, and thus gave me the thought of doing two things which are revolutionary different to buying over the past year: caring for pre-order and its special gifts, essentially taking timing into the equation when reviewing releases. I must say the biggest disadvantage of appreciating releases this way definitely paved the way for giving songs much more haphazardly as the idea of a ceiling made it way more extreme to give singles because that girl is so cute on that limited edition "bromide" photo (Toyosaki Aki was the best example with single "CHEEKY" which received the lowest 3-star rating by the end of the year) or not giving releases because we were this close to giving it and not giving will save me money and energy to give a review of it in later years. This controversial consumer change made it actually expensive to maintain my shelf and surprisingly, give bias to releases which should appear on my shelf.

These two singles from Kotobuki Minako (left) and Hikasa Youko (right) will be known as the first attempts of pre-ordering singles (one day) before release date, and from one of the hardest-to-get online stores Animate.


Next up: The Klassic Note Spirit Part 8 – The Year 2014 and the Transformation Period
(This is where things really took a turn...)


(**All linked references ago were active at time of publishing this post. They are meant for educational purposes and not are not taken directly from any intellectual property)
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Sunday 4 November 2018

The Klassic Note Spirit Part 4 – The Year 2010 and the Exclusion Principle

Previously, we talked about the year 2009 in Klassic Note and how everything exploded into a bunch of songs I get mostly from Anime, but also exposure to different song and melody styles than I could imagine. So much so that I would immerse myself from then to a never-ending list of Japanese songs. Which is the topic of discussion on this part, where this is the first year since the beginning where only Japanese songs exist. Why so? Read on to find out.


The Klassic Note Spirit Part 4
"The Year 2010 and the Exclusion Principle"
(*The below information is an adaptation of the original excerpt which was posted here in 2013)


JAPANESE SONGS INFLUX
This year is the year I don’t listen to anything else but Japanese songs! I swear, really. How does all of this happen considering when the song count had reached a record high? A good example from where this source for immersion is - as mentioned from the previous year - Anime songs, and plenty of them came from shows which have a ton of music productions. A good example of this is not Anime "Oreimo" (I'm sure you can search for the full title) which brought on a new way of putting in ending theme songs by adapting fan-created songs every week, and that is in a way novel and interesting to hear so many styles of presentation. Also of course, is "K-ON!" which at that time is definitely famous even within the country itself so much so that… you guys remember SCANDAL? They did a cover of the ending song too!

This is the ending theme song that got me (and many others) hooked...
And this is from rock band SCANDAL. Frizzy, isn’t it?

Also coming in are new artists (mostly Anime) like ClariS (a duo who are schoolgirls and got famous in niconico, Japan’s version of YouTube in singing cover songs and got picked by a music label), miwa (not anything special because she sings generic Pop as a singer-songwriter but her height is... 149cm?? lol) and SPYAIR, a wonderful band focusing on Rock songs. With me spending more time reviewing singles and albums, it is no wonder there is an increase in the number of CDs which could be on my shelf back then. (It is not until 2012 that I have a budget to do so) Adding to the numbers are also as mentioned previously, new voice actor solo music artists which debut from the formation of idol group Sphere, from Aki-chan (Toyosaki Aki), Tomacchan (Tomatsu Haruka) and most recently for the year is Mina-chan (Kotobuki Minako) who sang a wonderful love song "Startline" for an animation movie which is also interesting in itself named "Koisento". You can go check both of them out yourself I promise it's not disappointing at all

(I couldn't find the music video online so here's a 15s commercial preview of the song xD)



MAINSTREAM MISSING IN ACTION?
Many artists who have been active for the past few years have suddenly dropped in activity. Well, at least in releasing new songs. Examples include Aqua Timez who only released two singles compared to albums (once at the start of the year and close to the end of the year which are still great though) and Chatmonchy which only released a mini-album for the year. I'm not that worried about their progress, but it’s a sign...

MISSING NANO-MUGEN COMPILATION OF THE YEAR
Also missing from the year's list (which is why I can say this year is only Japanese songs) was the only compilation that got me interested in listening to English Rock music and other J-Rock groups: THE NANO-MUGEN COMPILATION. Because this year the committee behind it (not Ajikan I assume) decided to not release a compilation but only initiate the live performance, also known as the NANO-MUGEN CIRCUIT 2010. In later years they did make both happen, however not having a formal release to introduce those artists seemed rather dampening for Klassic Note to say the least.

DISBANDMENT NEWS, IN JAPANESE
As I took much time to listen and find out sources, singing along to the songs in translated lyrics and music videos, you tend to learn some of the language here and there. And yes, I do understand some Japanese. It wasn't a lot, and it probably won't be (there's a good reason for that, but that's a post for next time), but it's more than enough for me to understand Kanji (which looks a lot like Chinese), so phrases like  η™Ίε£² (release)，δΈ­ζ–­ (hiatus) and 解散 (disbandment) become very sensitive while browsing the news page on the artists' websites. This is typical of the last one especially when the end of bands RYTHEM and HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR announced just as I was getting interested in them was not a good sign for Klassic Note already. This gives some level of reminder that while Klassic Note is constantly expanding into knowing more music and artists and getting a good following of them (also known as the Klassic Note Ultimate Collection later), I noticed not everyone can last in the music industry, whatever their reasons might be.
Like many artists, their reason for disbandment is based on their background.
RYTHEM were a bunch of high-schoolers back when they started, and after gaining knowledge of the music they write and produce they want a different perspective and thus they decided to go their own ways. As of 2018, Niitsu YUI (left) is on her 2nd alias using her full name as solo artist and Katou YUKAri (right) went on to the punk rock music industry as "yucat".

Nontheless, the number of songs increasing was still unstoppable despite the loss of some artists who I hope to see grow, but that really goes to show that I cannot live without searching for more Japanese songs to listen. And even then, I feel that this many songs per year was also an exaggeration.


Next up: The Klassic Note Spirit Part 5 – The Year 2011 and the Venture Outside Standards
(I missed classic Chinese Pop songs already??)


(**All linked references ago were active at time of publishing this post. They are meant for educational purposes and not are not taken directly from any intellectual property)
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The Klassic Note Spirit Part 5 – The Year 2011 and the Venture Outside Standards

Up till now, we have been talking a lot about Japanese music. Well because Klassic Note originated with the desire to search for more Japanese songs anyway. But hey, as someone who has listened to Chinese and English songs half his life, it's no wonder I'll miss them once in a while, and this year is the first exception to the growing interest in what was mainly Klassic Note since 2009. Let's see how far this has went.


The Klassic Note Spirit Part 5
"The Year 2011 and the Venture Outside Standards"
(*The below information is an adaptation of the original excerpt which was posted here in 2013)



RISE OF NEW MEDIA, AND NEW STYLES
Around this time, copyright laws (and probably new artist/label contracts) within the country (Japan) allowed the music companies to appear in more familiar Internet platforms, for example YouTube - the first and most widely used video streaming service in the world - instead of niconico, their local online video service. Because of this, (Anime) music companies from King Records (with plenty of solo voice actor music careers and mainstream artists) to Lantis (famous for Anime songs) and Pony Canyon (featuring overseas artists and also Anime songs which they later opened a channel for the latter group) have since been around the Internet to allow the previewing of more new songs and expanding my horizon on music listening. This would likely explain why the songs in my list is still expanding. Along with these are the addition of the Anime "K-ON!" with a movie adaptation and "Oreimo" with their ending theme songs. However, not all are into the ecosystem of the new media yet, so this is still a work in progress which we no doubt, will see more of in the future.

From Victor Entertainment comes a slew of new and old artists. This one is from LITTLE CREATURES which released an album just to celebrate their 20th anniversary. This is their really quirky music video.

2011 also signaled another change in giving melody over music style with the acceptance of electronic and dance-based music (leaning on the edge of techno which I will NEVER touch on) with artists like NEGOTO, LAMA and School Food Punishment, with the latter two from Anime and the last... disbanding within the year. Man, that was fast.



THE JOURNEY BACK IN TIME
This year also spawned the first of later, many journeys back in time to explore older tunes sung by... artists who have disbanded? Yes, and the easiest way to have this reach is through Anime, specifically jazz duo "Natural High" from the Anime "Bartender" which I watched purely from interest in, you know, cocktails and stuff. It was a short one considering their tracklist isn't that long, but there were some amazing tunes that will make their footprint in Klassic Note significant and long-lasting, to say the least.

The great jazz duo “Natural High” singing with a guy: What a fresh idea. Also...

They have awesome piano melodies in their releases. Yes, this single has been on my shelf already, haha.

As they already say, “picture says a thousand words”, not to even say in video. As you can see, the songs have not decreased, and so is my passion for listening to J-Pop.


IN A WORLD OF ANIME WITHOUT BLEACH
With the largest source of theme songs from Anime "BLEACH" potentially ending the following year on March 2012, the decrease in artist introductions became a major concern in Klassic Note. But as explained earlier, many of the avenues and watching more Anime will actually help in broadening my listening of what Japanese music has to offer, mainly from Anime. From "Fractale" featuring AZUMA HITOMI to  "[C] - CONTROL: THE MONEY OF SOUL AND POSSIBILITY", an Anime original featuring School Food Punishment and NICO Touches The Walls to "A Channel" featuring Kawano Marina (she sang theme songs for the main and the OVA) to Hyadain in "Nichijou" for his quirky pop duo songs created for the Anime in his typical style... all these serve to show the never-ending fountain of songs that make the Anime world a colorful spectrum but also, bring forth a new set of artists (as long as they are not affiliated fully to Anime) which I can tap on in future years.

AZUMA HITOMI also sang later in the year on her 2nd single "Kira Kira" which hit my rankings hard as the newcomer favourite.


WHATEVER IS NOT JAPANESE
Maybe it's because of the upset of Anime songs that I have to venture out into my past again, but hey, I don't mean to be racist here. We're talking about specifically the Chinese songs I've given in abundance before Klassic Note started and apparently it has staged a comeback. Maybe it's the saturation of artists as mentioned above, from the disbandment and lack of activity of some of the more active ones from the past year, which made this more of an alternative than of interest. And so, I took a journey back to listen to a couple of artists, from famous ones you might know (sodagreen, Rainie Yang) to probably regional (as in Southeast Asia) ones you probably will never know otherwise even if I mention them here. All in all, it was a nice journey and I gained a lot of insight about how much Chinese Pop has improved over the years, gearing away from singing emotional tunes and giving a perspective the Japanese have been doing in recent decades.



TOWARDS CREATING THE KLASSIC NOTE PACKAGE
Up until now I still referred whatever I did as an abbreviation of my name ie. KN Song Awards, but I’ve been creative and thinking hard and far about what I can make it be like, there was a realisation. So finally after two to three years since the beginnings of a Song Awards presentation, I came up with the title "Klassic Note" to describe the overall... passion project that was going on for the past few years, and I liked the name a lot. This will help to push on the effort to tabulate results and awards every year ever since as they get more complicated and heavy considering the never-expanding song list accompanied by my hunger for new melodies in J-Pop.

This revision fixed a lot of inconsistencies by setting standards for plenty of initial ideas done up till now including fixing Commendations (Awards where competition is not required because of a typical milestone, for example "Most Complicated Lyrics" lol) (yeah as if I know), presenting the Vocal Styles Popularity Survey (yeah the name is still) with a pie chart and making a list of selected entries to choose for Awards and Top 20 Rankings to make the thinking process a lot easier. Two new lists of songs were listed per month along with Song of the Month entries (one of them "POWER PLAY" would become an inspiration for the SILVER yearly compilation) and Awards were thought of and named since 2010 to give the awards more meaning above their original title.

This revision also introduced plenty of concepts which I have taken from everyday life to put into the project. This goes from using correlation (it's Math, baby) and searching online on how to realise them in the Song Awards which brought us the Song Appetite Survey to the Anime Songs Survey which showed proportion of songs from this genre with respect to the yearly list (I mean, this done in 2009 or 2010 would've been massive thanks to "K-ON!") to the single review-focused Singles B-side Survey, giving singles (music releases with a handful track count) some recognition of their efforts even if the topic song (typically known as the A-side) isn't as great as I think. All these will in turn expand and form the Song Award package to what it mostly is today. Of course, this is not over as we see in future years, more will be added in, changed and maybe retired in recognition of the ever-changing landscape in Klassic Note.



Next up: The Klassic Note Spirit Part 6 – The Year 2012 and 5th Year Plans
(And my wonderful idea of starting all of this from five years ago... it needs a commemoration.)


(**All linked references ago were active at time of publishing this post. They are meant for educational purposes and not are not taken directly from any intellectual property)
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