The typical Automatic Mario music video has Mario being ferried across the level by moving platforms, bouncing off enemies and custom blocks that send him flying. Most videos are uploaded to the Japanese video sharing site, Nico Nico Douga.

Melt

Theme song to Doraemon

This next one gets a bit Mario-ception, being a Super Mario World rendition of a vocal version of a song from Super Mario World. Sometimes blocks and other background objects are used to create graphics related to the song. Can you spot the KY in this video?

Western Show on Super Mario World

Even Luigi gets his own 自動ルイージ – Automatic Luigi:

Danjo

Cirno’s Perfect Math Class

Not to be outdone, some videos feature four separate levels playing out at the same time, to cover even more parts of the song.

Little Busters!

There’s even a four screen version of Queen, one for each member of the band.

Don’t Stop Me Now

Interest in Automatic Mario peaked around mid-2008, but there are still a few new videos being submitted to Nico Nico Douga every so often. In closing, I’ll leave you with an eleven minute medley of songs.

Kumikyoku Nico Nico Douga Grand Finale

Daft Punk is obviously extremely popular around the world, but I think that it owes a thing or two to Japan in particular. Besides Japanese animation company Toei creating Daft Punk’s anime OVA (yes, Daft Punk has an official anime), Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, there’s one Japanese man whom Daft Punk seems to owe a lot.

Last time Daft Punk went on tour, they performed on a giant, illuminated pyramid, towering over crowds of thousands across the world. The similarity wasn’t lost on me when I found out that Japanese electronic musician Isao Tomita did more or less the same thing in the 80′s.

Even though Tomita’s music was much, much different than Daft Punk’s (Tomita did mainly electronic covers of classical music), Tomita’s 1984 performance known as “Mind of the Universe” bears a striking resemblance to Daft Punk’s modern-day pyramid of light.

Left: Isao Tomita’s “Mind of the Universe.” Right: Daft Punk’s “Alive 2007” tour.

Mind of the Universe was performed at a music festival in Linz, Austria, and Tomita went balls to the walls for this performance. One blog notes that in addition to the pyramid of light from which Tomita directed the whole show, he also

employed 13 channels of sound, including one from a helicopter 1500 feet above the river, multichannels sound systems on either side of the river, and on a ship that also carried musicians and a chorus of 100 Austrian singers.

Tomita’s music definitely isn’t the kind you’ll hear a DJ spinning at a rave, but you can’t help but admire the sheer spectacle of it all. Here’s some video from the legendary 1984 performance:

Besides his epic Mind of the Universe, Tomita did a ton of incredible work. He also did a massive performance at the Statue of Liberty called “Back To Earth,” and did a show for Australia’s bicentennial that was part of a $7 million gift from Japan.

He also composed music for a Japanese Olympic team, and for the movie that The Lion King ripped off, Kimba the White Lion. Nowadays, Tomita is doing more mundane work (music for Disney theme parks), but is still keeping quite busy, considering he’s been active for more than half a century.

Tomita is definitely more Switched-On Bach than Random Access Memories, but that doesn’t mean that he’s irrelevant.

He directly laid the groundwork for some early Japanese electronic musicians like Yellow Magic Orchestra (a member of which was his assistant) and, far in the future, current Japanese electronic musicians. It’s not that much of a stretch to say that vocaloid superstar Hatsune Miku has a bit of Tomita DNA in her.

In fact, last year Hatsune Miku and Isao Tomita came together to create a symphony performed in Tokyo. When it comes to old school meets new school, it’s hard to top Tomita x Miku.

So when Daft Punk’s new album comes out an people are going hysterical out in the streets, remember that somewhere, Isao Tomita paved the way. Especially that giant pyramid of light part.

For those of you unfamiliar with Vocaloids, they’re basically software that people can use to produce vocals. You type in the words and the note and the pitch and all that jazz and just like that you have a professional singer belting out your catchy lyrics. There are many different Vocaloids, but Hatsune Miku is hands down the most popular. If you want to learn more about them and how they will one day conquer the known world, you can read more about them in my post here, or Koichi’s post here.

But anyway, Livetune formed in 2007 and have been making catchy electro J-pop ever since. So far they have one regular album, one remix album, and a single CD that just came out earlier this week. I really enjoy their work and I hope you will too.

Hatsune Miku at Her Best

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Unfortunately this is the only official PV (promotional video) that Livetune has out for their tracks. It’s also the song that was released on single earlier this week and featured in a Japanese Google Chrome commercial. Not bad, eh?

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This song’s a bit more chill and laid back than the others but I still think it’s pretty good. And by chill and laid back I mean as compared to the other Livetune tracks.

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I like this song. It makes me happy. I never really had anything against Vocaloids before, I just didn’t think that the music going along with their singing was that great (most of the time). I think Livetune does a great job implementing Miku’s vocals into their songs.

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Livetune used to be a two man gig (Kz and Kajuki P) but Kajuki P ended up leaving the group in March of 2009. You can check out Livetune’s Last.fm page here.

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This song is definitely more chill than the other ones. I’m not really a huge fan of it myself but I figured I should share it anyway for those who like slower more laid back songs such as this. I like the music just fine, but I think the Vocaloid voice just isn’t the greatest choice for this sort of tune. What do you think?

Remixes

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Livetune even does remixes! I really like this one a lot. Electro J-pop remixes are always a good thing. The above song is probably my favorite out of the three I included here.

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Orinially, Livetune was signed with Victor Entertainment (the same label as Sakanaction) but recently made the switch to Toy’s Factory in 2012. You can also check out Livetune’s official site over at Livetune.jp.

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I’m not sure if they have any other remixes floating around somewhere but these were the best ones I could come up with. Which remixed track do you like best?

Full Length Album

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Remember that remix album I mentioned earlier? Well here it is in its entirety. Listen! Enjoy! I’ve yet to check out the original, un-remixed album, but I usually like remixes better than the original songs anyway. How do you like it?

I also enjoy the heavy play on words for the name of this album. It’s called Re:Mikus. You can take it a couple ways – like, a reply to all Mikus, or read it as “remix” with a Japanese accent (remikusu). Pretty clever, huh?

So, have any of you heard of Livetune before? Whatcha think? Have any other favorite bands that make good usage of Vocaloid talents? Share in the comments!

Saturday Timewaster is a weekly post that features Japanese videos, music, images, or games that will certainly waste your time (some weeks more than others). We hope you enjoy!

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What is This Thing and Why Should I Care

Hatsune Miku is a female singing synthesizer application developed by Crypton Future Media. Her name is a combination of the Japanese words for first (hatsu), sound (ne), and future (miku). Her voice is sampled from a Japanese voice actress named Saki Fujita.

Vocaloid on its own is a singing synthesizer application that was developed by Yamaha. It allows users to synthesize singing by typing in lyrics and melody, therefore granting the gift of song to those who can’t sing. It utilizes Yamaha’s Vocaloid synthesizing technology combined with the vocals of various voice actors and singers.

One popular Vocaloid compilation (Exit Tunes Presents Vocalogenesis feat. Hatsune Miku) debuted at the number one spot on the Japanese Oricon charts in 2010 and became the first Vocaloid album ever to top them. Hatsune Miku “performed” her first “live” concert during Animelo Summer Live at the Saitama Super Arena in 2009. And by “live” I mean a projected image of the Vocaloid singer performed. Miku also performed in the USA this summer but, I mean – you could just get yourself a projector and have one of her “concerts” anywhere. Ta~da! It’s magic. From the future!

Hatsune Miku and the Vocaloid Army

When Miku was initially developed, Crypton decided to take a different approach than they had before. In the past they had mostly focused on music industry professionals, but this time around they wanted to appeal to the masses. They decided that in order to make the product successful, they needed a highly appealing voice and a highly appealing image to go with it. The lofty task of creating this image fell to a manga artist by the name of Kei Garo.

When Kei designed Miku, his only instruction was that she had to be an android and her color scheme had to be based on Yamaha’s synthesizer’s signature cyan. After Kei had created his monster, Crypton then crafted and posted Miku’s personal data sheet. The data sheet only detailed her “physical” and technical attributes, allowing the masses to associate with her whatever traits they’d like best in a Vocaloid overlord. Her stats are as follows.

• Name: Hatsune Miku
• Birthday: August 31, 2007
• Age: 20
• Height: 158cm
• Weight: 42 kg
• Suggested Genre: Pop/Dance
• Suggested Tempo Range: 70~150 bpm
• Suggested Vocal Range: A3~E5 (roughly mezzo-soprano down to bass range)

Influence On the World As We Know It Today

Nico Nico Douga (Japanese equivalent of YouTube), played an important role in forcing the Vocaloid plague upon us. Soon after Miku’s public release, Nico Nico Douga-ers started posting various Miku videos. A popular video featuring Hachune Miku (chibi version of Hatsune Miku) singing “Ievan Polkka” showcased the unlimited potential of the software and all the creative things people could implement it into.

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Miku is also responsible for bring us the dreaded Nyan Cat meme. Miku along with all the other Vocaloids are masterminding ALL the memes to control the masses so their feeble human brains will be ripe for accepting the inevitable Vocaloid uprising. You’ve been warned.

In November of 2009, a petition was launched in order to get a custom made Hatsune Miku plate made and attached to the Japanese Venus spacecraft explorer Akatsuki. On December 22, 2009, the petition exceeded the needed 10,000 signatures, and Akatsuki was launched with three plates attached depicting various images of both Hatsune and Hachune Miku. Because it just wasn’t enough for the Vocaloids to conquer the world – they had to conquer space too. Way to go handing them everything on a silver platter, humans. Way to go.

After the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, a number of Vocaloid related donation drives were implemented and Crypton joined several other companies in donating to the Japanese Red Cross. In addition, a special Nendoroid (a brand of small plastic figures, created by the Japanese Good Smile Company) of Hatsune Miku, Nendoroid Hatsune Miku: Support ver., was announced with a donation of 1,000 yen (~$13) per sale to the Japanese Red Cross. A nice act of charity to be sure, but don’t be fooled by their good deeds. They’re just buttering you up for now, but before you know it you’ll be shining the shoes of your new virtual master.

A Vocaloid Future Awaits..?

Despite the success of Vocaloids in Japan, us Westerners have been reluctant to jump on the overlord bandwagon. However, some musicians like R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe praised it when it was first announced (but there’s a good chance he’s a Vocaloid too, I think). He noted that one great thing about the software was that it would give singers a way to preserve their voice for future generations and as technology progressed, it could even be used to bring back the voices of singers who have already been lost. I can see it now – Vocaloid Frank Sinatra, king of the overlords, serenading you all the way to the salt mines.

Crypton blamed in part a fear of robots (well duh, obviously) for the lackluster response overseas and expressed that there was a general anti-Vocaloid prejudice (the resistance is assembling already! There may be hope for us yet!). However, Crypton has also noted that they hope this will change over time as the software continues to be developed and updated. And by that I’m sure they mean “as the Vocaloid brainwashing system is perfected and implemented.”

There Can Be Only One – Vocaloids vs Humans

Let’s compare the pros and cons of Vocaloids to real life human artists, shall we?

Pros

• Can never die and therefore can make consistent music forever and ever
• Are virtual, so their talents can be used and seen anywhere, anytime
• Technology could be used to “revive” musical artists from the days of old

Cons

• “Live” concerts are kind of lame
• That feeling that it’s not “real” since it’s more or less just a synthesized voice doing the singing
• They’ll soon rise up and conquer the world

So – do you think that the popular music world of the future will be one dominated by Vocaloids? Is this just a passing fad? How will it influence and shape the music world and will it ever become popular outside Japan? Will our new robot overlords be merciful and kind or merciless and cruel?? ONLY TIME WILL TELL.

P.S. Do you welcome our new Vocaloid overlords? Like us on Facebook.

P.P.S. Do you think virtual artists are rubbish? Follow us on Twitter and help fuel Koichi’s budding music career with love and encouragement.

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Okay, I thought Dave Matthews was weird. I was wrong. This is weird. Hatsune Miku is a character made up for Vocaloid, which is basically some software that lets you make pretty real sounding songs, using this singer. This software is so good, in fact, that this character has built up many many (did I mention many) adoring fans. Watch the video above. Holographic-anime-character-rock-concerts… Only in Japan.

Apparently, she (and her holographic colleagues) go on concert in Japan from time to time, selling out stadiums and other venues, even though she’s totally fictional. Gotta admit. She’s not all that bad, either, for a hologram.

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Personally, I’ve never seen holograms that were this good and had this much movement to them. All I remember is the holograms from the ’08 elections, and those were pretty lame. Forget 3D televisions, I want holograms in my home. This is just another example of how Japan is ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to really cool technology being used in weird and creepy ways. Doesn’t mean it’s not awesome, though.

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If you’re at the point now where you feel like you need to cleanse your mind you can do so with a Japanese Island overrun by cats.

P.S. If you think the future is here, you should follow Tofugu on Twitter, here.

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