After an addition that is way too late (4+1 no Sorezore no Mirai, May 27) and one that is way too early (Hold me tight, June 5), the "Taiko de Time Travel" entry for July 2021 is back to a more commonplace schedule.
Also right on time is the promised artist interview piece, featured in the official series blog as per the past (and future!) Taiko de Time Travel song reveals.
Nijiiro Version New Song: July 17th, 2021
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Donder Time Taiko de Time Travel 80's/Masako Ogami feat. Kotoko from Danchinomiya 太鼓 de タイムトラベル80's／おおがみまさこ feat.団地ノ宮琴子 |
★? | ★? | ★? | ★? |
There's little room for Etou to delve into shenanigans this time around, as Donder Time's composer is a seasoned (former) BNSI member who's eager to talk in greater lengths about her latest craft for Taiko gaming!
For Masako Ogami (NDR.- now referred to by us with the official EN artist notation for the song subtitle), coming up with this song's musical direction was rather easy, as the referenced theme of the 80ies was an intuitive one to tinker around as hearing back more of the decade's signature traits in music. With three core principles around the main theme, namely "imagining how it would sound"/"how does it sound from my own memory"/"sounds that left a whole new impression upon hearing", this was for the artist a wonderous time of exciting rediscovery of key traits of the age like synthesizers, jazz-fusion vibes and more complex rhythms, so much so that she herself hopes to leave onto Donder Time's listeners a very distinct feeling of "having heard something like this before", rather than to instil the idea of 'newness'.
Masako Ogami's hardest hurdle to overcome for this piece's creation, however, was to find a suitable lyrics set for such an anniversary-centric track, often times trying to tackle the subject on different points of view but ultimately settling to instill that "Taiko-ness" sensation out of it. This is also due to the fact of her having already worked on such a similar project 10 years ago, with the song 3Q-4U-AC00 from the first 3rd-gen arcade firmware's unlock set. Many years ago, this was also the subject of another Taiko Team interview feature on the old development blog with Masako herself stepping in to talk about the thought process behind its lyrics set! Unfortunately, as the old blog was completely axed a few years back, we can only redirect you to our old coverage of said feature in order to let you catch up to the spot. (and also to witness some of aquabluu/pikaby's earliest artistry for this blog!)
Long story short, for 3Q-4U-AC00 the lyrics were from the perspective of a Taiko arcade machine (here officially dubbed 'Case-Chan') staring at the Donder playing with it, and here with Donder Time the lyrics follow the viewpoint of a drumstick staring at the performing Donder instead. Considering how drumsticks can't really interact with the player unless it's the same player using them, the overarching theme was reached in a roundabout way by making them being about a drumstick-donning Donder that loves Don-Chan and peppering the song itself about anniversary-related numberplays around '20' in many a subliminal way. It's also due to this leitmotif we're having an English-titled song from her as well!
The singer for Donder Time is Kotoko (琴子) from the Danchinomiya duo we came to know in Taiko starting from their involvement in the School Matters cycle of Namco Original songs. We usually get to hear Yako, but this time around her sister was summoned to perform for this song's vocals, something that worried the same singer due to the lack of experience in 80ies pieces but got ultimately bought over by the rhythmic melody that is tied to the song's lyrics! Kotoko also reveals that she usually grins and passes behind to Taiko players in game centers, so if you're an arcade regular, don't neglect your audience- chances are some of the music contributors might be right behind you...
We then go back for another chat with Masako Ogami, seeing how she's also Donder Time's charter! One perk of charting an artist's own craft is to being able to come up with charting ideas as the song's creation goes along, a sentiment that is shared by the same ac. series creator while also being a bit of a detriment for coming up with Kantan and Futsuu charts in order not to make them sound "too rhythmical" (and in turn, more difficult) for series first-timers. For you veterans out there, however, she hopes you'll enjoy the signature 16/4 triplet portion she's crafted for the hardest mode and how well does it sound being played consecutively for an exhilarating chart conclusion!
We end this blog entry with Masako Ogami's random impressions about the series' 20th anniversary, left around in bits on the same blog entry. Being one of the earliest contributors to the series and having seen many a colleague rushing to the deadline at the expense of their own loss of sleep, Ogami's wish is to be able to tell each of them how greatly their efforts have been paid off over time, seeing how the then-newborn series is standing for more than 20 years and keeps on tallying fans all across the globe, which is also why she's grateful to the coworkers who carried on alongside her with such enthusiasm for everything Taiko in all these years. Masako Ogami is also really glad to the highly skilled people who go all their way to train to the point of performing Donder-Full Combo plays of newcomer tracks, even on the same release day! She remembers laughing with joy upon hearing this has happened to a song of hers years ago, while still not discounting the value of each individual player's natural skill progression. Don't rush your pace, everyone- one day you might be able to reach these peaks, too!
The next Taiko de Time Travel song is scheduled for an August release, with the 70ies Showa Idol song being created by Kawagen Kollagen, another BanNam artist whose rise to Taiko fame also came with the School Matters songs...
Link to original post
Long story short, for 3Q-4U-AC00 the lyrics were from the perspective of a Taiko arcade machine (here officially dubbed 'Case-Chan') staring at the Donder playing with it, and here with Donder Time the lyrics follow the viewpoint of a drumstick staring at the performing Donder instead. Considering how drumsticks can't really interact with the player unless it's the same player using them, the overarching theme was reached in a roundabout way by making them being about a drumstick-donning Donder that loves Don-Chan and peppering the song itself about anniversary-related numberplays around '20' in many a subliminal way. It's also due to this leitmotif we're having an English-titled song from her as well!
The singer for Donder Time is Kotoko (琴子) from the Danchinomiya duo we came to know in Taiko starting from their involvement in the School Matters cycle of Namco Original songs. We usually get to hear Yako, but this time around her sister was summoned to perform for this song's vocals, something that worried the same singer due to the lack of experience in 80ies pieces but got ultimately bought over by the rhythmic melody that is tied to the song's lyrics! Kotoko also reveals that she usually grins and passes behind to Taiko players in game centers, so if you're an arcade regular, don't neglect your audience- chances are some of the music contributors might be right behind you...
We then go back for another chat with Masako Ogami, seeing how she's also Donder Time's charter! One perk of charting an artist's own craft is to being able to come up with charting ideas as the song's creation goes along, a sentiment that is shared by the same ac. series creator while also being a bit of a detriment for coming up with Kantan and Futsuu charts in order not to make them sound "too rhythmical" (and in turn, more difficult) for series first-timers. For you veterans out there, however, she hopes you'll enjoy the signature 16/4 triplet portion she's crafted for the hardest mode and how well does it sound being played consecutively for an exhilarating chart conclusion!
We end this blog entry with Masako Ogami's random impressions about the series' 20th anniversary, left around in bits on the same blog entry. Being one of the earliest contributors to the series and having seen many a colleague rushing to the deadline at the expense of their own loss of sleep, Ogami's wish is to be able to tell each of them how greatly their efforts have been paid off over time, seeing how the then-newborn series is standing for more than 20 years and keeps on tallying fans all across the globe, which is also why she's grateful to the coworkers who carried on alongside her with such enthusiasm for everything Taiko in all these years. Masako Ogami is also really glad to the highly skilled people who go all their way to train to the point of performing Donder-Full Combo plays of newcomer tracks, even on the same release day! She remembers laughing with joy upon hearing this has happened to a song of hers years ago, while still not discounting the value of each individual player's natural skill progression. Don't rush your pace, everyone- one day you might be able to reach these peaks, too!
The next Taiko de Time Travel song is scheduled for an August release, with the 70ies Showa Idol song being created by Kawagen Kollagen, another BanNam artist whose rise to Taiko fame also came with the School Matters songs...
Link to original post
