The Powerpuff Girls: Heroes and Villains
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Free Music Notes for The Powerpuff Girls: Heroes and Villains
Free Music Review: Good enough tribute to the Powerpuffs
Hit: 4 Stars
There have been a few notable tie-ins to animated TV series. Some, like South Park's Chef Aid, boasts an eclectic collection of songs from the series done by alternative, rap, and punk artists. In the case of The Powerpuff Girls:Heroes And Villains, the concept is different, as the songs here are inspired by the series, and with the exception of the intro and end theme, are original. The songs assume that one is in on the Powerpuff Girls, otherwise references to Mojo Jojo and the Gangreen Gang would be lost on the uninitiated.Interspersed between the songs is a bit by bit story of the Powerpuff Girls against Mojo Jojo.
At least Mojo gets a song rooting him on. That is the upbeat "Go Monkey Go" by Devo. Q: Are they not human, A: No they are Mojo.
"Signal In The Sky" by The Apples In Stereo is a nice dose of Beatles-ish pop-alternative and one of the highlights of this collection. Anyone see the music video for this?
Optiganally Yours' "Walk & Chew Gum" is a pleasing oddity of 1930's/1940's lo-fi jazz and describes the Mayor as someone who can't, well, do the actions of title track at the same time. The lyrics here has the mayor down to a tee: "Thank goodness for the Powerpuffs/Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup make it easy to do my job." That is a massive understatement right there.
With "All right, Mo-Jerk! How'd you like a taste of Buttercup?" introduced by the toughest Powerpuff, comes the best song on Heroes On Villains, Shonen Knife's "Buttercup (I'm A Super Girl)," which is the punkest song I've heard the Yamano sisters do. The adrenaline fury of the drums and guitar reflect Buttercup's reputation as the toughest fighter perfectly. I can picture Buttercup jamming to this song over and over.
Unfortunately, Blossom and Bubbles' songs aren't as impressive as their sibling's. Komeda's alt-techno hybrid doesn't do tribute to the Powerpuff commander. Lyrically, yes. Musically no. Ditto for Dressy Bessy's song for Bubbles. The girls deserved better songs.
Bis's "Fight The Power" is sung from Mojo's perspective, and mainly features the male vocalist, and is better than the two tunes preceding it. Love that chorus: "I've got the brain/I'm insane/(You won't stop the power)."
Sugarplastic's "Don't Look Down" has a pleasing, goofy, ambling ambience, and is the Professor's song. Cornelius's instrumental techno number "The Fight" combines techno beats with samples of dialogue and narration. Bill Doss's skipping alt-McCartney-ish "Friends Win" rounds things off, with references to a few of the show's villains before yielding to Bis's closing theme.
There is a hidden track continuing immediately after. That is the song the girls sing in "Mime For A Change" to wake up Townsville from the black-and-white nightmare instigated by Mr. Mime with the "Love makes the world go 'round" chorus. However, it is not done by the girls. Pity--otherwise it would have been perfect. Despite a briefly sagging midsection, Heroes And Villains is a worthy collection giving the girls' their due.
By the way, the Japanese writing along the cover sleeve reads from top to bottom: amaimono, spaiceenamono, iimono. Literal translation: sweet things, spicy things, and good things. Or in English, sugar, spice, and everything nice.
Free Music Review: Powerpuff Girls present pop for powerpuff girls
Hit: 4 Stars
Let me get this straight. A new cartoon who's artwork and humor may be comparable to Hanna Barbera during their ulra hip period in the 60's, ala Pixie & Dixie, gets it's inspiration from both the trendsetting avant/indierock (ie The Pixie's Frank Black & Devo) and the current music aristocracy of indiepoppers (ie Apples in Stereo & Optiganally Yours). Wait...on top of these facts, somehow manages to acknowledge the grand inspiration that the current music aristocracy obtains from Brian Wilson's orchestral/psychedelic years (read: Pet Sounds & SMiLE) by entitling the album "Heroes and Villians"? I too found this quite amazing, so I felt I must make this purchase. I was pleasantly surprised. Though the theme song sounds a bit out of place on the cd (not to mention it sounding out of place in general by speeding up James Brown's breakbeat "Funky Drummer" in the name of Drum-N-Bass), the album plays well in it's entirity seeing that it stays consistant with its own genres. This is especially an important purchase for the Apples in Stereo 45 which somehow manages to be yet even poppier than their albums (how is that possible?), and the Japanese deconstruction genius, Cornelius, who proves that he does still have more tricks up hs sleeve than he has illustraed on Fantasma (and his consistant rehashing of this formula on several remixes). This is a great sign for his next album being that the three albums he has released have all been tremendously different from one another, but his remixing has become quite stale. Ultamatly, the introduction of Optiganally Yours is the greatest thing about this album. The Optigan is a vintage Mattel toy organ that plays pre-recorded band sounds, which it has been explained to me can be interchanged with other types of bands or orchestra sounds (sort of like the Mellotron for children). Here, the band enlist an olde tyme big band orchestra sound library to form a murky, analog tape band, and combine it with the most uptempo poppy sing-a-long yet available (like Majestic with yet even more wimpy pop kitsch). You will be singing this for quite a few weeks non stop! Optigannaly Yours album is much more murky and mellow than the track written for this compilation unfortunatly. Also notable, the return of Shonen Knife which seems timely due to the dicovery of bands like Judy & Mary. Without the discovery of new JPop bands in the league of Judy & Mary, Shonen may have appeared out of date/context, but they rather appear fresh & new. This is a CD must for fans of girlie indiepop. Joe.Free Music Review: A fun, upbeat CD
Hit: 4 Stars
It's perhaps a bit odd that the soundtrack to one of the hippest cartoons of the new century is stylistically rooted deeply in the 80s and early 90s. However, this great upbeat collection of catchy pop/punk/new wave songs (often infused with analog synthesizers) somehow manages to fit in quite well with the mood and theme of the show.The collection is a fairly solid set of songs, ranging from the terribly infectious "Signal In The Sky" by The Apples In Stereo to Shonen Knife's Ramones-esque "Buttercup (I'm A Super Girl)" to Frank Black's excellent rock track to the jazz-infused "Walk & Chew Gum" by Optiganally Yours to the show's great closing track by Bis (which is probably the main draw to those of you looking to buy the CD for music from the show) to the catchy new wave and odd John Lydon vocal quality of Devo's "Go Monkey Go".
Fans of the show will also appreciate the storyline that flows through the album. Clips of the show's announcer and characters piece all of the songs together.
Perhaps the only real drawback to the CD is the unfortunate lack of a multimedia section. The CD is only about 40 minutes long, leaving plenty of room for multimedia, yet the album's producer sadly managed to overlook the obvious possibility of adding some sort of Powerpuff Girls cartoon to the disc.
That being said, the album is still a great collection of upbeat, catchy songs. While not quite as satisfying as an episode of the show, fans will find a fun collection of songs that fits in nicely with the mood and style of the cartoon.
Free Music Review: Nice CD with that Powerpuff touch
Hit: 4 Stars
I can't believe someone actually thought this CD was a ripoff because it didn't "represent the music used in the cartoon series." Um, hellooooooo? The CD's title says "Music INSPIRED by the series"? (And the last track of the CD, which is the End Theme, actually has an extra song after it which was used in the crazed black-and-white mime episode. I forget the title. So much for not representing the music used in the cartoon series)Even the liner note says that these bands are Craig McCracken's personal favorites, the music which inspired him while creating the show. And I guess he asked those bands to create some music about the show in return, and voila, the Powerpuff Girls CD.
The result is quite pleasing. The songs (and their production value) are more indie stuff than Top 40, and that's just fine. Some songs aren't as catchy as I might've liked, but each songs have their own cheerful quirks and personalities that make me smile. My personal favorites are "Walk & Chew Gum" and "Buttercup (I'm a Supergirl)." The Frank Black song is utterly cool as well. And it's sure nice to have the beginning and the ending theme songs on the CD. Perfect stuff to listen to during my dreary morning commute. :)
If you're a fan of the show, then you can't go wrong with this CD. Good stuff. :)
Free Music Review: Grinning ear to ear
Hit: 4 Stars
When this album is at its best, you just can't help having a big grin on your face. It's real driving-with-the top-down volume up sing-along music. It's the kind of raw, fantastic pop that pop radio never plays anymore (there's energy and a sense of fun that's been produced out of most mainstream releases).There's nothing bad on the album, but several tracks are so good as to outshine others. The best? Frank Black's bizarre dog's dream of a song, Shonen Knife's blistering guitar and synthesizer romp, The Apples in Stereo's sublime Signal in the Sky and the Bis Powerpuff Girls (End Theme). Following close on are the skewed Optiganally Yours song Walk and Chew gum (the Mayor's song, natch) and Komeda's B.L.O.S.S.O.M., which has one of the best bass lines I've heard in a long while. The album may have earned 5 stars from me if it had included the version of Love Makes the World Go 'Round from the show. Instead, it includes a "not anywhere as good" version as a secret track at the end. A small complaint, though.
So if you need something to lift your mood and force you to sit there with a dumb smile on your face, the cost of this CD is a real bargain.