Search - Livetune :: Re:Package

The First Sounds of our Future begin here

cocoa | 11/06/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Vocaloid is a voice sythesizer technology that was developed by Yamaha and licensed to various other companies who publish it. The reason why Yamaha doesn't sell the software directly is because a company who has the rights to sell the software needs to take voice samples from a real person, who then compiles it, and then brands that voice database with a specific name as well as the music genres it's ideally suited for. That'd be too much work if Yamaha did all of that work by themselves.



Hatsune Miku is the first Vocaloid database that has changed the way music is viewed and created in Japan forever. It all began when users uploaded music that contained her voice onto Nicovideo, (Japan's equivalent of Youtube), just a few days after Miku was released. A few of these people made a name for themselves because the songs that they composed sometimes rivaled that of professional musicans, and the end users were encouraged to try and sell them as the fine print from the publishers specifically states that anything made using Vocaloid software is equivalent to composing music using any other type of instrument.



And what you're looking at here is the first commerical album containing music sung by Hatsune Miku and composed by a group who calls itself livetune which was a top seller at Amazon Japan's site for quite some time after it was released over there a year ago. I'm not talking about top in its genere either; I'm referring to overall sales. Yes, the album is that good, but before I go any further though, here is the track listing for the album:



1- Anthem

2- Packaged

3- over16bit!

4- Shooting Star

5- Nijiiro

6- Momiji

7- Light Song

8- Lyre-Horn

9- Hibi no Yume Omoi

10- Finder

11- Dokdoki Heart Tune

12- Strobe Nights

13- Last Night, Good Night

14- Packaged -piano ver.-

15- Our Music



Now if you were looking at this track listing on the back of the case, you'll notice that it's actually a small cardboard enclosure covering the jewel case. The designers for the packaging of the album clearly understood that the experience begins literally at the box; a laser hologram of expanding and retacting squares along with what looks like a rotating radar oscilloscope centered right where the edges of the squares make contact with each other when they reach their biggest size catches the eye and really goes well with the surreal illustrations that grace both the front and back sides of it, which is really open to your interpretation (my guess is that Miku has the power to alter reality wherever she goes). The disc iteslf is an etching of the jacket illustration found inside the box and looks pretty well detailed, but at this point you'd probably want to put the CD in your player and start listening to it.



The style of music that the box says for the album is techno pop, which is one of Miku's ideal genres. There are also a few non-electronic tracks to add some variety to it. Now if you're one of those people like me who say, "well I don't like techno because almost everything I hear is a repetition of the same beat over and over again with no variety in the melody," do a youtube search for some of these songs first. Don't worry; it's safe to do without feeling like a pirate since a decent number of tracks from this album were originally released on Nicovideo to be viewed by anyone for free. The key songs you should listen to are:



2- Packaged: This was the song that put livetune on the map. What's really impressive about this song is not the fact that the vocals and music mesh so well together, but it was completed in around a month just after Miku was up for sale in Japan. Yes, the artist is that good. The lyrics are Miku's uncertainty about herself singing her first song, but after she realizes that the end user was the one that made this all possible for her, she sings her heart out. This was also one of the songs chosen for Hastune Miku: Project Diva, a rhythm game created by Sega for the PSP.



12- Strobe Nights: This is another well-known song on the internet. Very atmospheric and refers to Miku's fascination with seeing the stars in the sky for the first time and reacting like a child by trying to "catch" them. Like with Packaged, this song was also chosen for Project Diva and was used to promote the game before its release.



13- Last Night, Good Night: One of the most recognized tracks on the internet primarily because a music video was released for it done by redjuice, the same person who did all of the illustrations for this album. It's also an interesting song in that it's supposed to be a lullaby, but Miku reflects upon the fact that since she's immortal because she's nothing more than an AI, she worries about the person in the song she's watching over and hopes that something will work out between them in the future. This was also another song chosen for Project Diva.



Now if you liked those three songs I mentioned, then you'll love the rest of the album, as they're around the same length and quality, which means that's over an hour of really good Vocaloid music. And you'll also understand why Hastsune Miku has become the world's first virtual diva."

New Find

Jennifer R. Reaves | Charlotte, NC USA | 12/28/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I may be a bit behind the time since I just found this gem a few weeks ago. It did not take long to fall in love with this figment of others imagination. You-Tube introduced me to the lovley voice of a computer. When I first herd her singing a version of the ending song to the game Portal I was hooked. The more I looked the more I found and I just had to have the CD once I found out about it. It is very eazy to forget that this is a computer program singing and not a person. I do not speak Japanese but the message still comes through in the songs. If you have a wide taste in musice and love trying new things I strongly this is a great CD to add to the collection!"