Props!

RE: Supercar 1 is out, and it needs some analysis:

@Walk Slowly: Really, was all that random panning at the beginning needed? Once the vocals come in, it's pretty solid.

@Sun Rider: Too many layers that aren't adding to the tune during the first break, but it's pretty cool before that and ends well.

@I need the sun: Why does the rhythm guitar sound like it's going through a slicer... it sounds artificial. The vocals are cool, but why oh why is there
random fuzz and feedback throughout the song? It's like he's trying to emulate Furukawa's Candy Girl and is failing miserably.

@Drive: Oh wow, the ending of I need the sun faded into Drive... wait, is he seriously going to just continue using feedback while playing Furukawa's vocal track with lots of reverb and some delay? If you ignore the feedback, there is a quite trippy, interesting arrangement on this one. Nice use of percussion. And bird samples... oh wait, he's only going to do the cool arrangement after all the vocals have played? And he's just gonna keep playing bird chirping for a minute... the arrangement turned into shit.

@Dive: A song that sounds, for the most part, normal, and awesome. Random FX galore (water splash [diving], filtered noise), but it doesn't take away from the sound.

@333: This track isn't necessarily bad, but it just appears to be too clean. An interesting re-arrangement.

@Ooyeah: It was a pretty cool background track, but nothing amazing.

@Pink Rock: What was with that abrupt end? It was alright.

@Jump: An acceptable remake of the tune, but some of the guitar parts seem a little superfluous.

@Lucky: The only "Lucky" people are the ones who don't hear a great piece get butchered by listening to this. It's actually not that bad. The beginning is really weak, but it develops a cool groove by the end of it. Still nothing compared to the original.

@Wonderful World: I actually really like this arrangement, and I feel like this will cause debate with a certain someone [size=50](Marekenshin)[/size]

@ONE: An interestingly dissonant and rocking tune, and no unneeded sound effects or anything. Sounds good.

@Low-down (live): Some of the samples he picked for this aren't sitting well in my ears (CRASH!!!), but I like that yummy sub bass sound a lot.

@Trip Sky: I think this is an appropriate rearrangement. I don't have much to say, just listen to it.

@cream soda: Return of the background feedback that adds nothing to this piece of music! I still approve of it as a whole, especially in the break before the last chorus!

tl;dr: For the most part, Nakakou is not a producer nor a respectable electronic musician anymore. It seems like he attempted to get a natural flow from tune to tune like on Futurama, but it didn't come as easily for him as back when he was with Supercar. It just sounds like a plea from a washed up musician for his ex-band mates to come back and remind him what real music is.

Or, stated another way, you win Mare.

Wow that's really harsh. But part of me wishes this was true, and they actually do get back together.

So um... someone want to explain what this is in detail. I LOVE Supercar, yet this is the first I've heard about this release. is it just a remaster? And looking at the specs on CDJAPAN, it says there is a second disc with demo versions of songs and a bunch of songs I've never heard of such as Spider and Sugar Head. And I SERIOUSLY want to hear this U demo. So please, details!

[url]http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=KSCL-1755[/url]

EDIT

Would also really appreciate an upload, especially of the second disc, if possible. Thank you!

[quote="AlucardX24"]Wow that's really harsh. But part of me wishes this was true, and they actually do get back together.[/quote]
I'm sorry for the harshness, but Supercar is my favorite band, and this release just didn't do anything for me. The demos were entertaining, but almost none of the arrangements for the other songs were good. I admit, I went overboard shitting on Nakakou, but you must know that iLL is absolutely nothing compared to Supercar. He must even know it. I'll have to listen to it more and see if any opinions change, but as of now, that's where my view of the album stands.

lol I don't think it was overly harsh at all, I think it's a really good analyses of him as a musician. He's good at writing a basic song structure and mad fail at trying to do it all himself, for the most part. Also, for the most part, the review sounds pretty accurate, but we disagree on the raping of Wonderful World (it's a soft, beautiful song, this bleep bloop bullshit does not do it for me).

Well, I listened to it. And I don't think it's harsh anymore lol.

Bonus bits and effects were added to the tracks. I'm disappointed, because I feel like if any band has good remixing potential, it's (especially late career) Supercar.

So I ask again, would anyone be nice enough to explain what this release is? The info I've found on it is scant. I can't read Japanese, and the Google translator doesn't do much. All I can surmise is that it's just Nakakou doing remixes? Is that really it though? I mean, what's the purpose of this, and are we getting more of the same on whatever volume 2 is in June?

[quote="Son Goshin"]So I ask again, would anyone be nice enough to explain what this release is? The info I've found on it is scant. I can't read Japanese, and the Google translator doesn't do much. All I can surmise is that it's just Nakakou doing remixes? Is that really it though? I mean, what's the purpose of this, and are we getting more of the same on whatever volume 2 is in June?[/quote]
Nakakou's revisiting old Supercar tunes and bleep blooping them, ruining the majority of them. Disc two is unreleased demos (some of them rather awesome). Volume 2 will likely be more of the same.

[url]http://www.tokyograph.com/news/ill-furukawa-miki-tabuchi-hisako-agraph-form-new-band-lama[/url]

Just had a fangasm. Supercar and Number Girl members? *faint*

Yeah, they've been playing/will be playing shows with kimonos. Hopefully they end being awesome (I mean, Tabuchi's involved and it's not JUST Nakakou, so it should be fine, lol).

The second disc of this new release is by far the best part. The remixes for the most part, pale in comparison to the originals. Save maybe Dive, which some cool effects going on there with the waves crashing.

But these demos... it's like the ultimate cock tease. Nakakou's putting out all these friggin demos and unreleased songs, only to cut most of them off half way through. I think Zeibus has some major potential and I would've loved to hear that whole track. Crunchy as FUCK. I was very sad when it just cut off. In Hawaii was another standout, as was Untitle #12. This is the side of Supercar that I love; that crunchy, distorted goodness. I could go deaf from it and wouldn't care. On the flip side, it was awesome getting to hear a few of these songs stripped down, most notably the Life Goes On demo. Hearing it acoustic was a really nice change of pace. Then hearing Nakakou sing on Miki's songs was a really really nice surprise. The Yes demo is full of awesomeness and win. Definitely looking forward to hearing more demos on the second release. Again, my only complaint is that they aren't complete. If he's going to put these out, why not give us the full picture, at least for the previously unreleased tracks.

I listened to it a few days ago and I enjoyed it. Once you think of it as a remix album, a retake on old songs that he wrote, instead of what everyone assumes is a desperate attempt at former glory or an attempt to eradicate or "one up" his past work (he wrote most of the music, so i think he reserves the right to do what he wants with it) you might be able to enjoy it. It's an alternate take on some old songs but it sounds like everyone's being extremely bitter because they don't understand how hard it can be for musicians to revisit a certain headspace or mindset they were in when writing for a previous band or project and because of this, fans of musicians like Stephen Malkmus, Morrissey/Johnny Marr or even Sawao want run them over with a van. Supercar might never get back together, for reasons you or anyone else can do nothing about. none of the remixes were so awful that it should warrant calling him a washed up hack (iLL on the other hand admittedly pales in comparison to supercar, and i would even go as far as saying furukawa's solo work is better). And on the contrary, i thought the second disc was a waste of time, a bunch of tinny, half finished unexplored ideas and tidbits thrown together that were better off unreleased. I love supercar, but not enough that i'll eat up everything i can get my hands on and shit on everything else because 'its just not supercar'. That kind of devoted fanboy/pitchfork review keyboard jockey bullshit pisses me off.

Usually I don't get worked up over things like this, i just felt a need to give a different perspective. for fans of electronica bands such as the chemical brothers, mondo grosso AND supercar, this album might be worth giving a listen to. the rest of you can cry yourselves to sleep.

....lol u mad bro.

Seriously though, most of the remixes were unnecessarily repetitive and bland, and simply didn't sound all that good. Some of them were fine, and I don't think anybody here was expecting anything less.

yeah I am a little ticked. I enjoyed it, thought I'd give a bit of a different perspective. I think it definitely depends on whether you listen to music that a lot of people would consider repetitive. (i.e. everyone who doesn't like electronica)
But I really don't care, I don't like anything Nakako's done on his own more than Supercar, but I guess as a musician I have sympathy for him. It sounded like everyone was being overprotective and pessimistic of a different take on music HE wrote himself. Again I thought this album was okay. Nothing groundbreaking, but its a pleasant listen.