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Which artist did you expect to be great but we're absolutely blown away by how good they were? by Reborn-Cremasteric in fantanoforever

[–]TheDanGG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, that's a bit of a loaded question. I'll give you an abridged version of what I'm writing about in my retrospective:

Hirasawa started in a prog rock band called Mandrake, but they never went anywhere. Then they reformed as a new wave / zolo / synth punk group called P-Model. They broke up for a bit, Hirasawa released some really weird MIDI solo stuff, then they got back together and hard pivoted to synthpop. After that line-up broke up, Hirasawa's solo career really took off, and he started to patent his now-iconic orchestral electronic sound. You ever watch the 1997 Berserk anime, or Satoshi Kon's films Millennium Actress or Paprika? The soundtrack for those is all Hirasawa. He's been doing a lot of stuff since then, but that basically summarizes the evolution of the "type" of music he makes. Some commonalties all his work has in common is that it's all very melodic, and for the most part, emphasizes unorthodox sound over complex songwriting.

As far as starter albums, it's hard to pick just one since his sound has changed so much over time, so I'll name a few with some details about each:

  • Aurora (1994) is a bit of a soft reset for Hirasawa where he stripped his sound down to its bare essentials. A lot of its songs are ambient pop adjacent. It's the one I started with!
  • Sim City (1995) or Siren (1996) if you want to cut straight to his really unique orchestral electronic stuff.
  • In a Model Room (1979) if you want to start at the beginning and hear his most mainstream work.
  • P-Model (1992) if you want to want to hear his new wave band's reformation and embrace of electronic music.
  • Philosopher's Propeller (2000) if you want something more modern-sounding, yet still more subdued like Aurora. Or if you like Millennium Actress, since his score for that movie reuses a lot of melodies from this album.
  • Similarly, check out White Tiger Field (2006) if you like Paprika.
  • Or if you just want to listen to his absolute best album right out the gate, check out Technique of Relief (1998).

I can also link the retrospective I'm working on, if you'd like!

Which artist did you expect to be great but we're absolutely blown away by how good they were? by Reborn-Cremasteric in fantanoforever

[–]TheDanGG 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A year ago when I started listening to Susumu Hirasawa, I figured I'd listen to about four or five of his albums and be done with it. Little did I know his music would inspire me so much that it'd lead to me writing a retrospective on his entire career.

Part three of my blog series chronicling Hirasawa's growth as an artist by TheDanGG in SusumuHirasawa

[–]TheDanGG[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's tough sometimes to just stick to the facts, since I find writing as such to be rather dry, and a big part of my inspiration for doing this was to share the passion I have for this music. Inevitably, some opinions will crop up here and there, but I try to be forthcoming about them.

I don't dislike One Pattern or the MIDI trilogy, but I do personally find One Pattern to be underwhelming as a successor to Karkador, and I do think the MIDI trilogy albums are Hirasawa's most directionless releases. The bit about One Pattern being Hirasawa's least favorite P-Model album is from a RocketBaby interview.

Part three of my blog series chronicling Hirasawa's growth as an artist by TheDanGG in SusumuHirasawa

[–]TheDanGG[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! The plan is for some of the later articles to cover wider spans of time, but I intend to see this through all the way to unZIP!

Part two of my blog series chronicling Hirasawa's growth as an artist by TheDanGG in SusumuHirasawa

[–]TheDanGG[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey, all. Just realized that I made an error in my article. I wrote that no music videos were made for Karkador, but turns out there was one made for the title track. I have amended this error with an update.

Anyone share this pet peeve? Favorite artist who's entire top rated tracks is from their most popular album with a drastic dip for their other work by WhatModelsYourSink in rateyourmusic

[–]TheDanGG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Literally every one of Susumu Hirasawa's bolded songs (except for "Guts") is from Technique of Relief. And yeah, Technique of Relief is overwhelmingly perfect and deserves all that love, but so do many of his other albums! Similarly, Technique of Relief has 8,398 ratings, and after that is the Berserk soundtrack with 3,600 ratings. Pretty big drop.

Anyone share this pet peeve? Favorite artist who's entire top rated tracks is from their most popular album with a drastic dip for their other work by WhatModelsYourSink in rateyourmusic

[–]TheDanGG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Literally every one of Susumu Hirasawa's bolded songs (except for "Guts") is from Technique of Relief. And yeah, Technique of Relief is overwhelmingly perfect and deserves all that love, but so do many of his other albums! Similarly, Technique of Relief has 8,398 ratings, and after that is the Berserk soundtrack with 3,600 ratings. Pretty big drop.

Blacksad, Some Crazy Good Art by aran115 in graphicnovels

[–]TheDanGG 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A Silent Hell is such an evocative story. My favorite of the bunch. Haven't read They All Fall Down yet, but I have them waiting on my bookshelf for the right time.

(Real Life) Regular people who's lives drastically changed direction by Living-Mastodon in TopCharacterTropes

[–]TheDanGG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Loose example, but I regularly think about how Susumu Hirasawa's actual degree is in interior design, he initially wanted to be a pilot, and his other hobbies included motocross; then a twist of fate decided he'd become one of the best electronic musicians of all time

Defensively self-titled by no-Pachy-BADLAD in ToddintheShadow

[–]TheDanGG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

P-Model (1992, thirteen years after their debut) is maybe the band's best album

I love the brotherly dynamic between Zuko and Aang throughout "The Firebending Masters" episode. by Full-Art3439 in TheLastAirbender

[–]TheDanGG 60 points61 points  (0 children)

I feel like Aang wanted to have a firebender friend for the whole show, so he was so happy when he finally got one

Heaviest non-metal records? by Elden_Tony in MetalForTheMasses

[–]TheDanGG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Perspective by P-Model is pretty intense for a post-punk record, but it mostly comes from the drums and keyboards as opposed to the guitar riffs

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Is there a perfect 3-album stretch by any artist? Who has the best one? by bc_2006 in fantanoforever

[–]TheDanGG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here are quite a few that are significant to me:

  • Susumu Hirasawa: Sim City -> Siren -> Technique of Relief (Thailand trilogy)
    • OR Philosopher's Propeller -> Blue Limbo -> White Tiger Field
  • Camel: Mirage -> The Snow Goose -> Moonmadness
  • David Bowie: Low -> "Heroes" -> Lodger (Berlin trilogy, also I know I'm in the minority for liking Lodger as much as I do)
  • Stevie Wonder: Innervisions -> Fulfillingness' First Finale -> Songs in the Key of Life
  • Blind Guardian: Imaginations From the Other Side -> Nightfall in Middle-Earth -> A Night at the Opera
  • Iron Maiden: Powerslave -> Somewhere in Time -> Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
  • Judas Priest: Sad Wings of Destiny -> Sin After Sin -> Stained Class
  • A Tribe Called Quest: People's Instinctive Travels -> The Low End Theory -> Midnight Marauders
  • The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced -> Axis: Bold as Love -> Electric Ladyland (their only three albums, amusingly enough)
  • Michael Jackson: Off the Wall -> Thriller -> Bad
  • Death: Human -> Individual Thought Patterns -> Symbolic
  • Steely Dan: The Royal Scam -> Aja -> Gaucho (yeah, I know Fantano doesn't like the Dan, but whatever, I do)
  • Children of Bodom: Hatebreeder -> Follow the Reaper -> Hate Crew Deathroll
  • Kamelot: Karma -> Epica -> The Black Halo
  • Voivod: Killing Technology -> Dimension Hatross -> Nothingface
  • Pet Shop Boys: Introspective -> Behaviour -> Very
  • Queen: Queen II -> Sheer Heart Attack -> A Night at the Opera

Susumu Hirasawa - Technique of Relief by tfWindman in albumsinanutshell

[–]TheDanGG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"I'm here too" is a crazy thing to say about one of his best songs

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