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Saturday, August 30, 2008

August 28 - 30 (Miles Davis)

(August 28, 2008)

Listen to "Agharta" (1975) by Miles Davis. This is a poor work. I feel sorry for the people who think this is good just because of the Miles-Davis brand name. They should discover Masa Oka's music as soon as possible. lol. Also, shame on the Sony Music people who have been profiting from this junk over time.

Then I listen to "The Man With The Horn" (1981). Making a change, this album is great. This is what Miles released when he came back to the scene after some years of absence following a retire comment, and just the release of this work itself was an emotional event for music fans across the globe.

Here Miles accomplishes more than what answers to his fans' expectations, accompanied by Mike Stern whose guitar style partly derives from hardrock, Marcus Miller whose electric-bass playing makes the best use of slapping technique, synthesizer, and Al Foster's funky drum groove.

By the way, in Japanese, "Miles" is pronounced with the "s" sound at the end, not the "z" sound as in English.

(August 29, 2008)

Composing my new tune.

(August 30, 2008)

Use a microwavable glass bowl for cooking, for the first time. It's real easy. It was hard to cook things like salmon fillets in a plastic container by microwave because they produce much oil when heated, but now the problem is solved. Carrots are said to taste better when cooked with oil, and they do taste good when I mix them with oil and cook them in the glass bowl by microwave.

Composing the new tune. Writing the lyrics for the chorus section.

2:57 PM

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Thursday, August 28, 2008

August 27 - 28 (Movie: Pull It Down)

(August 27, 2008)

10:00-12:00
Watch a movie "August Rush." (It's got a terrible Japanese name, by the way, if you dare to know the truth. It's called "A Symphony Of Miracle.")

This is a movie based around music and I was recommend it by a mixi-friend of mine. Mixi is a Japanese SNS. The movie has a great sound track, as it's said in the reviews. Nice tunes are used such as a guitar instrumental by Michael Hedges and a gospel song sung in a church.

Honestly, I thought the story was a bit unnatural. A short summary: A boy, who was born to a singer-songwriter father and a cellist mother but has lived as an orphan since right after his birth, eventually starts to show an incredible musical talent.

No matter what parents you're born to, you won't acquire any talent without education and training. Musical talent is not inherited genetically. The reason why Bach family kept producing musicians for 200 years is they kept the tradition of music education in the family.

Now, the parents of the main character of this movie are both musicians, but the child was separated from the parents as soon as he was born. Therefore the condition as to musical talent for him is not anything particularly advanced. The story of this movie relies on the presupposition that the boy inherited special talent genetically, and it seems a little overbearing and naive.

But nonetheless, I mean that is that. I don't want to be so cold to just dis a movie that my friend kindly told me. lol. As I said, the soundtrack is interesting. If you haven't heard the name of Michael Hedges, you should either listen to his albums or watch this movie.

18:00-20:00
Composing a new tune.

20:00-22:00
A lesson for English-lyrics-writing and DTM lesson. DTM stands for DeskTop Music, a neat term referring to any music produced electronically, which is widely used in Japan.

The student lives in Wakayama, about 400km (248miles) away from Tokyo. he learned of Masa Oka via the website. He's in Tokyo for a couple days to do some things and took the chance to take a lesson.

I assumed he had also learned I was from Wakayama too, but he actually hadn't. So
when I told him that I was, he got pretty surprised. No wonder, Wakayama's population is so little, as little as it's the 39th populous prefecture among all 47 prefectures in Japan.

(August 28, 2008)

13:00-15:00
Movie making for "Pull It Down." (It's my latest tune.) It's finished and uploaded onto Youtube.

6:28 AM

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

August 25 - 26

(August 25, 2008)

14:00-15:00
Record a guitar riff for my new tune. This time I go with the clean-tone style like Andy Summers' from The Police.

19:00
Continued from yesterday, I watch another Prince live video. "Sing O'The Times Tour" from 1987. It's different in many aspects from the Purple Rain Tour one, but the most notable one is that he added Tenor sax and Trumpet. The weight of horn sounds in the arrangement increased.

Is it just me? But the '87 live show already sounds like the 90s.

I think the 80s was when the "programmed" music started participating the mainstream music scene, and the 90s was when it was deemed cool to incorporate acoustic instruments into programmed music in an unexpected way.

The '87 stage of Prince which generated the hybrid sound of machines, funk and jazz testifies he had already seen the tide, ahead of his time.

And Sheila E, who was a guest percussionist in the Purple Rain, plays full-set as a drummer in Sign O'The Times. Her performance skill is pretty high, and what adds to is is that her bust shakes everytime she swings the sticks widely. LOL

22:00
Watch a movie "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest." The chain of uptempo actions that occur in an exotic world is pretty entertaining. The fun of it can be compared to that of Indie Jones series, though it probably can't compete with the classic series in terms of intelligent depth.

(August 26, 2008)

14:00
Listen to Joao Gilberto's "Live at Montreux"(1987). The whole album is superb, but the 11th track "Pra que discutir com Madame" is really good.

Gilberto is described as "God of Bossa Nova," and his anecdotes are such that he discovered his style by practicing in the bathroom, or that he has a habit of being late for concerts or canceling them at the last minute, or that he makes sure the air conditioner in the concert venue is switched off. He's an interesting person.

14:30
Ukulele lesson.

17:00
Guitar lesson.

19:00
Gospel lesson: "Joyful, Joyful." It's the song Lauryn Hill sings in Sister Act 2. The song has a rap section, so I can probably get pretty hot with this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_c_MHkba5c

4:32 PM

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Sunday, August 24, 2008

August 24

(August 24, 2008)

10:00
Listen to Al Jarreau's 1983 album "Jarreau." It's west coast vocal-Fusion with David Foster on the keyboard, Jay Graydon on guitar and Toto's Jeff Porcaro on Drums.

Both Jarreau's singing and the band's performance are high quality.

12:00-14:00
Shimokitazawa, guitar lesson. Improvisation in the key of Bm.

15:30-16:30
Tama-center, guitar lesson. "Desafinado," "Wave," and "The Girl From Ipanema."

19:00
Bullet's announced the performers for the next Bulletsen, so I update the info page for that event. I'll be playing it, it's on Sep.12.

20:00
My laundry is filling up the basket, and it's raining today. But since the forecast says it'll keep raining for 5 more days or so, I decide to wash them now and hang them in my room. I put my shrinkable laundry poles on the walls of the doorway, and hang the laundry from the pole.

I use my infrared ray electric stove to decrease humidity around the poles. Also place my music stand in front of the stove so I can hang things like towels on it one at a time.

22:00
Watch a live video of Prince, Purple Rain Tour in 1985. To see it as multi entertainment, of music, dance, stage-set, costume and lighting, I think Prince probably was the best of the world around this time. Michael Jackson beats him with dance, but never does with music.

23:00
All Pricefied, I start practicing dancing. I'm not joking. Dance is important for my gigs too. I have no problem with steps and turns, but I can't kick up my leg above my head. Seems like my body is stiff. I'll be improving this from now on.

3:32 PM

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Saturday, August 23, 2008

August 22 - 23

(August 22, 2008)

Start writing a new tune using a breakbeat sampled from "Apache," a tune by Incredible Bongo Band. (Apache beat MP3)

Although it's a sample, I don't think it will cause a legal problem. I'll use only one measure, and there has been a tremendous number of dance tracks produced with this beat.

(August 23, 2008)

17:00-19:00
Movie making for "Pull It Down," my latest song. I work on it with two applications launcghed at the same time, Illustrator and Premiere.

A call from a friend who plays piano. He has a tune he wants to practice in a key a semitone lower than the original, and he wants me to transpose the MP3 file. Cubase can alter the musical pitch of audio without changing the tempo, so I do it right away and send him back the file.

22:00
Shibuya, Bar Ear. To see CX DJing, who shared the bill the other night at Bullet's.

I don't have it today, but they are making tasty-looking Takoyaki at the counter. Tako means octopas and Yaki means to fry. To make Takoyaki, you mix flour, water and diced octopas, and fry the mix with a frier specially tailored for this food. Fried Takoyakis are in the shape of small balls.

CX again is selecting great tracks and his mixing technique is well maintained.

11:30
Since I'm worried about my last train. I need to leave already. It's a shame because girls seem to have just started to come. lol. Why do trains stop running around midnight in Tokyo? They must be under a secret deal with taxi companies.

3:12 PM

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Thursday, August 21, 2008

New Tune: Pull It Down

A new tune called "Pull It Down" was finished.

This one's message is "If you feel stuck and not so creative, let's break it and start something new." Soundwise, I think it's like 40% Hiphop, 20% Hard Rock, 20% Jazz Funk and 20% Electronica.

Let me thank Modern Girl who sang the backup vocal part, and Sniper who helped the recording of it. The two are an active pop duo called Modern Girl & Sniper.

Below are the lyrics. I hope you like it as much as I do.

(Verse 1)
Some say when you are lonely
You need to search your inner beauty
But I'd simply say you need to boogie
The wam-bam beats of David Bowie
Sometimes I do feel I'm astray
And nothing is here for me to stay
In those times I let my soul have a say
And soon the emptiness will decay

If you're on the verge of breaking down
Come see me I'm in downtown
I'm wearing a flat cap in light brown
You should stop thinking you're like a clown
Let's go, let's dance, hang around
I saw your heart in the lost and found
Swim in the sea of fuckin' loud sound
The best of the underground

(Chorus)
Pull it down, pull it down
And you'll be making things fresh and new
Pull it down, pull it down
If it's not working, then break it down

(Verse 2)
Feed me thoughts I am dead hungry
Listen people, before I go too crazy
Let me introduce myself briefly
You'll sense my joy and woe deeply
Come on baby girl, no time to cry
Give your sorrow a bye-bye-bye
Don't ask me 'cause I don't know why
But I think I could be your good guy

We can be something, we can be anything
You know your power, so stop doubting
I can see your mind is blazing
And your fake attitude is now blurring
I don't give a damn who they think I am
I'm the king of an instant jam
Hear me talking live on the webcam
Let's check my program

(Verse 3)
Pull it down and create from scratch
It's the new vibe you wanna catch
And it's your heroes you wanna match
Forget about your weakness and such
Hurry up coz time's running out
Be aggressive but true and devout
Let them know what you're all about
Are you ready? Let's freak out

2:01 PM

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

August 19 - 20 (PC Renewal)

(August 19, 2008)

13:00
I use a PC I built myself. I've been thinking I should replace some of its parts with new ones, and now is the time to execute the idea. The USB ports stopped working.

Without USB at work, I can't:

Send and receive data between my cellphone and PC.
Send and receive data between my MP3 player and PC.
Print sheetmusic for lessons or recording sessions.
Use the MIDI keyboard when composing.

And it causes me a big problem. So I buy:

Motherboard: ASUS P5Q, 16,300yen
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66Ghz, 17,800yen
Memory: 2x512MB, 3,160yen

at Bic Camera Shinjuku. By the way, if you're visiting Tokyo and wanting to shop for electronics without the hustle to go to Akihabara area, you have two prominent shops in Shinjuku. One is Bic Camera as I mentioned, and the other is Yodobashi Camera.

Both bear a name with "Camera" but they cover pretty much all kinds of consumer electronics, from iPods to rice cookers to vacuum cleaners to shavers (electric shavers by National is great) to DVD players to Nintendos.

15:00
Home, building the PC. All the parts for self-build PCs are made so that you can build them with one screw-driver only. And most of them don't even need that. All you have to do is to put them into the slots.

I have two memories and there are four slots. Two slots in A channel and another two in B channel. Wondering if I should insert both two memories into A or insert one each into A and B, I call the shop and ask. They say A and B.

17:00-18:00
Yamato, guitar lesson. I make a simple arrangement using "Edelweiss" at the lesson. Play the melody first, then add bass notes and chord tones gradually.

As for guitar lessons, some teachers may be using materials they buy at shops and let the students practice them. But I use standard tunes I arranged myself, or materials that are completely original.

That way I'm able to better explain why I put some notes into some places. If the arrangement was done by someone else, I can't be responsible as to its contents very much.

Among Japanese music fans, the act of copy-playing is still exercised to a large degree. They call it "kan-kopi" (complete copying).

Now, I don't say it's bad. It's an effective way of learning and and I did that too. I still do it sometimes now. But you shouldn't be satisfied just by doing it.

Because to copy other people's performance doesn't mean you are thinking on your own, and one should start thinking why things are the way they are when s/he gets to some point on the path of studying music.

Japan will shift more and more into high-value-added economy from now on, and to think on one's own will be more important than before. Because high-value-added economy means to create value by originality.

To respect copy-playing other people's tunes so much can be compared to the Japanese people's stealing American ideas and mass-producing off the idea to make money in the postwar days.

Of course, I won't blame individual music fans who enjoy copy-playing. To be blamed are politians and company executives who haven't tried to change the public mood.

I want to convey to people what it's like to be original through my lessons. That is the spirit that makes the base of our free and democratic society, and it's something we cannot do without in the coming era.

19:00
Resume building the PC. I realize that the power connecter now has a different figure when I tried to connect the power cable to the motherboard. It's been more than 4 years since I last renewed the parts.

20:30
Shinjuku again. To buy an appropriate power supply. I can't wait until tomorrow. I have ideas to record, messages to convey and schemes to execute while it's today.

22:00
Home. I'm dead hungry. Meal first. Rice has just been cooked. (It's been timered - common practice for busy Japanese.) So I make curry sause. My dinner on hot days is always curry and rice. I use the pre-cooked-and-frozen fried meat-n-veggies and make the curry quick.

24:00
Resume PC building. I come so close to completion, but now the graphic card's connecter doesn't match. I'll buy a new card tomorrow. I wanna sleep. I wanna get up early tomorrow morning and do the laundry too.

(August 20, 2008)

07:00
Wake up, laundry, breakfast. Well, it sounds like military. lol

09:50
Shinjuku. There's 10 minutes before Bic Camera opens, so I buy iced coffee at McDonald's. Its price has just risen up today, to 120yen for S size.

10:00
Purchase a graphic board for 9,980yen. The gross amount of expenses for this PC renewal is about 52,000. Now I really want to increase the lesson sessions and cover the expenses.

If you'd like to pursue originality with Masa Oka, please get in touch. You can get a 500yen discount by saying "Originality!" at the first lesson.

11:00
Shinyurigaoka. I'm hungry so I eat cold Tororo-don set at Hakone Soba. Tororo is grated Japanese wild potato. A man sitting near me is eating with loud annoying noise - he sucks in the soba noodles like a vacuum cleaner.

Some Japanese believe that soba noodles tastes better if they suck them in rapidly, which is complete nonsense. There isn't much more to say than it's stupid when they make noise while eating, to irritate others, suck the food into their tracheae, and cough in emergence as a result.

Plus their ugly way of eating causes foreigners to keep away from Soba. When other Japanese food like Ramen, Onigiri and Gyudon are recent hits in America, especially New York, why does Soba alone have to remain minor?

So friends, we must stand up and spread the cool ways of eating Soba - cool ways which involve great deal of originality!

6:00 AM

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Monday, August 18, 2008

August 16 - 18

(August 16 - 17, 2008)

Work on my new tune. I'm a little bit tired, so I proceed with it slowly. Mixing the backup-vocal part which I recorded on the 15th with Modern Girl singing and Sniper helping us in various aspects.

(August 18, 2008)

My condition has returned to the norm, so I re-record the rap part. The weather is cool, continued from yesterday. Opening the windows makes nice wind coming in, but I close them because if I keep them open and record, I won't be able to tell if it's my song or it's an audio encyclopedia of insects. That's how loud the chorus of cicadas is around my apartment.

Before recording I eat breakfast. I mix flour, egg, milk, sugar and microwave the mix. That makes something like steamed bread. Eat it with cafe-au-lait and a banana. Good thing about this is, you have already eaten an egg when you're finished with your coffee-and-bread breakfast. And it's cheep.

10:30
Finish recording. Lunch. I make pasta, mixed with steamed chicken breast, leeks, minced raw Konbu-algae, namplar, black pepper, red-chili-pepper powder, sake, olive oil and juice of Sudachi orange. Adding Sudachi was great success.

11:30
Work on the new tune. Add-record something to the guitar riff and improve it.

12:30-14:30
Mixing. Balancing each part, deciding on reverb amount and so on.

15:00
Grocery shopping.

17:00-18:00
Listen to albums by MeShell NdegeOcello. "Plantation Lullabies" (1993) and "Peace Beyond Passion" (1996).

Ndegeocello is as good a musician as I think she probably makes it into the top 20 of the most talented musicians in the world. Nonetheless most of average music fans don't know about her. The reason probably is simple - she hasn't got the look of Britney Spears or Janet Jackson, and her music is a little too intelligent for the mass.

But Ndegeocello is great. She's a black musician who plays bass while rapping or singing. She fuses Soul, Funk and Jazz in her unique way.

Everyone, let's listen to Ndegeocello more!! Don't stick only to the major hits that record-company-old-jerks discharge on you. Let's try and pass on what's really good to future generations ourselves.

11:00 AM

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Saturday, August 16, 2008

August 15 (Modern Girl & Sniper)

07:00
Because it was really hot last night, I left my air-con while sleeping for the first time. I hear lots of stories about people catching a cold after doing it, so I careful set the templature to 29 degrees Celsius.

Fortunately I seem to have caught no cold. No sore throat. I'll use this method again when it's real hot at night.

07:00-10:00
Record a guitar solo for my new tune. It's a funky rhythm-cutting solo and it's hard to make sure I mute all the strings I don't want to ring. I probably recorded 40 takes or so.

12:00
Takadano-baba. To record the backup vocal part with a help from my friends Modern Girl & Sniper.

14:00
Finish recording. It went smoothly.

19:00-23:00
Jiyugaoka. Drink with Modern Girl & Sniper. The hijiki and beans Modern Girl cooked tastes great.

24:00
Listen to Aerosmith in the train. "Dude Looks Like a Lady," "Walk This Way," "Love in an Elevator" and others. Steven Tylor soon publishes his second auto-biography in the recent 5 years.

Aerosmith had a contiguous hits in the late 80s and early 90s, with the cheerful sound vastly incorporating horn sections, a rare attempt for a hard rock band.

I really like his open humor which allows him to shout "Dude looks like a lady!" repeatedly in a song. In my next show I'm planning to introduce my new choreography which embodies his ducky duck step.

2:00 PM

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