In an unusual moment of collective fanbase PMS, I’d like to take a moment away from the anger and frustration that may be going on and simply praise Eurobeat for what it is and where it’s headed. For all the changes that are taking place, I suppose it’s a worthy investment of time to sit down and take stock of what’s happening and what’s yet to happen.

Since SEB 199 was released, producers were allowed to return to a more “classic” style, one that was more akin to one of the previous Para “Booms” (don’t ask me which; I know very little about the Parapara world). Since then, we’ve seen what I would say is a great improvement over the sounds of previous SEB installments, and some great music that I for one am willing to hear more of. (No, I’m not just saying this because I was in one such installment; SEB 201 would’ve been one of my favorites regardless. Neverending Love is on my miiind~) I think 7A should at least be given her dues for taking SEB in a positive direction.

And even if not for that, we should be very excited that there are new releases to speak of. SEB could have ended on 200, a nice round number. Instead, we see more releases, with the plans of releasing in new locations. We see releases on international iTunes, continuing steps in the right direction (hopefully these steps are part of a journey whose end includeds international SEB releases as a whole).

Even if not for that, we have the same producers still in the game. Dave Rodgers recently alerted 7A that he will be starting a new label, Sun Fire Records. For all we knew, it could have been rock-exclusive and we could have lost one of the greatest Eurobeat minds of all time. Instead, we have a fresh new approach from a renowned producer. No, the business world of Eurobeat is NOT perfect right now, but it’s in pretty decent shape and I see few signs of it going otherwise.

This is, of course, nitpicking for trees inside of a larger, still-lush forest; the fact that Eurobeat is still being made by ANYone is a true sign of its joy. Anyone can make dance music, only slightly fewer could make Italo/”Euro”. We have a steadily increasing base of fans and fan-producers coming in (doujin circles and fans eager to contribute to the Eurobeat world), in a genre that is truly unique. Sure, you can have any song with a dance beat, and you could set it to 150+ bpm, but would it be Eurobeat? “Max 300″ from Dance Dance Revolution is technically 150 BPM (it’s the stepchart that’s at 300), but I would argue that it is not, in fact, Eurobeat. No, Eurobeat is something more coherent, more sublime. I’ve yet to hear similar synth brass, “upstroke” stabs, the same ‘woody’ bass fused in any other dance genre. Sure, some forms of J-Pop use them, but that’s usually within the knowledge that they’re taking their cue from Eurobeat first. Sure, you can get an “upstroke” beat anywhere, but… no other genre can execute it in quite the same way. No other genre has the same sense of humor, the same compositional ardence, the same feeling on any level. It’s NOT the most adaptive genre for remakes of other songs, a theory I’ve tested a few times. But, isn’t that just a sign of how truly unique the genre is? It contains such similar elements, but we get such a new result from them.

I have this odd joy of relating Eurobeat producers/composers with bakers; they take ingredients (in most cases the same KINDS of ingredients— flour, sugar, eggs, chocolate chips, etc.— but the ingredients themselves differ from the other labels) and create new audio “cookies”, if you will, that taste so different from other baked goods anywhere else. Anyone can make an audio “cookie”; few could make a sugar-topped, juuust-chewy-enough Hi-NRG Attack cookie.

It’s not all flowers and butterflies, I’m aware of this. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any, either; ours is a genre that has stood the test of time in more than one way. It could have lasted for 10 years (long for any genre) and faded out. Shoot, it could’ve done that for 20 (the genre is approximately as old as I am… go figure). No, what Eurobeat has that any high-caliber fandom has, is a fanbase that contributes back to it. Take any big franchise or successful book, or even a famous painting, and chances are you’ll find people creating new things from that work or world, testing their creativity parallel to the original creator’s. That’s why you find writings on Shakespeare’s plays, explorations of art 300+ years old, entirely new games based off existing ones (from Mario to Touhou). Eurobeat thrives on such a system, as well.

What a genre we’ve got, ladies and gentlemen. I raise a toast to Eurobeat, a genre that has lasted so long and still continues— may it continue to strike inspiration and joy, perhaps even a little laughter sometimes, into the hearts of many as it has for years.

Cheers.

My personal “Eurobeat ‘n More” release is finally available on Bandcamp! Buy your copy (or songs) before all the iTunes-only folks get it in a couple months!

This album contains some old-school favorites from the previous release/5 song sampler on iTunes, as well as some new releases and revamps! Also included is “Magnetic Love”, a non-Eurobeat tune on which I collab’d with friend and acoustic guitar player Cameron Miller!

http://odysseymusic.bandcamp.com/

Alright. I can imagine that some people think I’m a singer from Italy who’s doing some rock side-project and this Eurobeat thing is my day job or side job. In reality, I only get Italian from my Dad’s side (I’m slightly more Norwegian… the least I could’ve gotten is the part that TANS, but noooOOoo… >:U ), I’m relatively poor (I bag groceries every other day as my job) and I live in a beautiful part of the Monterey Bay Area in California. I do quite a bit offline, but I imagine many of you are here to know what I do for/with the Eurobeat world, so I’ll explain what I do to keep my finger on the pulse of the community.

I’ll usually start by checking on Eurobeat forums that discuss upcoming/current releases, so I can see how fans liked certain songs from certain labels. (Moreso since 201, for obvious reasons~!) After that, I bust open Youtube and run a search for the most recent videos uploaded that are tagged as “Eurobeat”, so I can see (and hear!) what’s new from other creative minds… I can catch up on Touhou music circles, DJ Command, newly uploaded Parapara routines, and so on. It’s one thing to keep an eye on avex; another, to keep an eye on independents. I hold DJ Command, for instance, in about as high of regard as I do, say, Neo of ABeatC.

After this, I’ll whip out Garageband and either finish an older tune or start sketching out a new one. In most cases I have the riff and other musical parts already in my head and the lyrics come later, but the one that I’m procrastinating on right now (by blogging) has the lyrical concept first…

And that’s it, really! I say I spend less time making my own material, and more time checking on the Eurobeat world. And, for my money, I can’t imagine doing it any other way; how can you know what fans like without seeing what they’re listening to/creating themselves? It’s the sign of a successful community, no matter its focus (be it a genre, a specific movie/artist/character/etc), when its fanbase GIVES BACK to it. Think about how many Mario fan-games there are, or the sheer number of Touhou THINGS there are in the world (the amount of material that comes from fans ALONE is astonishing)! Think about any show, song, anything of that sort that has fanfiction or fan-art (in which case we must, unfortunately, consider quantity over quality). You can tell how well something is doing when its fanbase and community are not just enjoying it, but using it as a muse for their own creativity, as a catalyst for their own creations.

…of course, I’m just sensationalizing by now. But you get the point; I create Eurobeat by knowing what Eurobeat fans want/like. “When The Sun Goes Down”, while a great track in every respect (barring lead vocals :\ ), is a great deal ‘old’ in terms of what I’ve been writing lately. Perhaps the Eurobeat world will enjoy what next I have in store for them.

In, perhaps, a moot effort to keep this blog alive, I’d like to very briefly (as I’ve not much time) discuss the livelihood of Eurobeat; to wit, if it’s dying or still very alive. This discussion goes on rather heatedly on the Eurobeat Prime forums, pooling in very valid points on either side of the divide. Does avex’s choices damage or propel Eurobeat as a genre? What about increased piracy? Does FARM records have more power than we thought? These questions all only serve as smaller details to the question of if Eurobeat has much life left before a postulated “death”.

It is my take, then, that Eurobeat is quite alive as a genre, and will never fully “die” so much as fall into further obscurity. Eurobeat on a larger scale may not be doing very well, but on the small scales it is performing and adapting just as needed for a couple more years of success.

Exhibit A: Independent productions. We have never seen such an increase in independent projects as we have in the last couple of years. A corner originally occupied by only a few producers such as DJ Bouche and a fledgling DJ Command, we’ve now seen a slew of names appear on the scene: DTZ Project, #Infinity Productions, RainbowDragonEyes, Disko Warp, Sugano, and other names on which I’ve only scratched the surface.
These are not names I list meagerly; their participation in the Eurobeat world is not unnoticed. Disko Warp frequently makes their way into such big-name projects as Dance Dance Revolution, RainbowDragonEyes has gained a cult following for the appearance of two of its artists on Super Euro Freak vol. 1 (to fantastic reviews), and the artists appearing on Underground Eurobeat vol. 1 have also had sufficient fanfare to warrant another entry to the compilation, due some time this year.
In case you are unaware of the more famous works of the above-listed, a small sampling:

From DJ Bouche, his well-known Hare Hare Yukai remix:

And from DJ Command, “Can’t Beat Airman (Eurobeat Mix)”, perhaps his best-known track (sorry for the video, the originals are no longer on Youtube):

I’d be remiss to not showcase these productions as well:

And from the undefeatable Paradise Last:

Part two of exhibit A: Nico Nico Douga and the Vocaloids. Seeing as the vocaloids are very recent trends in Japan, one would suspect that their output in terms of music would nearly be restricted solely to recent genres. What we’ve received instead is a surge of Eurobeat production for our virtual-voiced friends. 2ch and NicoVideo seem to be happy hosts to large amounts of fan-made Eurobeat, nearly bursting at the seams with original Eurobeat creations and Eurobeat remixes of previous Vocaloid anthems.

Here’s one such medley of Hatsune Miku songs redone in Eurobeat:

And, a couple individual eurobeat mixes with other Vocaloids:

Exhibit B: Label count. It would only make sense that, if a genre were not profitable enough to continue being produced, it would not be produced and the number of labels would decrease (or simply change focuses), right?

The number of labels producing Eurobeat has only increased.

In the Avex/SEB camp ALONE we’ve seen increases; from what once was simply ABeatC, Delta, Time, Hi-NRG Attack, SCP, Vibration and BBB, we’ve now made the jump to ABeatC, Go Go’s Music, Delta, SinclaireStyle, Eurogrooves, Hi-NRG Attack, SCP, and Dima. If we consider Dima and Eurogrooves as replacements for Time and Vibration respectively, we have a two label increase (Go Go’s and SinclaireStyle). With an evident surge of the “Super Anime Remix” releases in Japan/Akiba, featuring remixes of popular songs from anime series, this increases the label count a great deal.

Part two coming when I have time~

If anyone expected me to host my own Eurobeat blog… it wasn’t me. But seeing as I can discuss my passion and creations without being constrained to the Myspace formats of blogging, I’ve allowed the encouragement of my dad to prompt me to start this project.

For those unaware, I am a Eurobeat fan, alongside being a composer in that style. I’ve always been passionate about music, and my earliest compositions were in just such a style that I would believe that Eurobeat is a style I was meant to write in. The speed and energy in combination with the musical quality and intricacy is one I’ve yet to find in any other genre, much less one released here in the USA; as such I’ve devoted my attentions to it in this blog.

If you don’t know what Eurobeat is, try visiting Eurobeat Prime and doing some reading up on there. Or, if you’re a more active, less “Google it” and more “do it” person, try playing some Para Para Paradise, Initial D, or even Dance Dance Revolution at your nearby arcade. (In the last you may not find so many examples… DDR is removing some of its most attractive Eurobeat tracks in favor of American covers that nobody in the scene really wanted.)

While there are plenty of Eurobeat blogs (or at least Dance blogs that contain Eurobeat) operated by qualified people, I feel in particular qualified to write about current Eurobeat releases, previous releases and my own material. First off, because I write in the same genre (while the actual sounds and software are not as expansive and effective as those who are seeing wider publicity than myself, I don’t see that as any excuse to stop producing), I can understand, at least on some small level, the creative process for those in the industry. However, seeing as I am NOT on such a level (as of the current writing of this post), I also have the perspective of a fan, knowing what they want to hear and what works or does not work.

I will not just post reviews or discussions on the current Eurobeat world; to rely on outside influence alone would be limiting. No, this blog will also be my own personal jukebox for you; a collection of all my Eurobeat I see fit to sell to you; old versions, new versions, instrumentals… you will have access to the results of my passion, the proof that I am not simply enjoying alongside. With these discussions paired with my own contributions, it is my intention to be a known, potent force in the Eurobeat community.

P.S: I’m also not usually this serious. I do have a sense of humor (at least I like to think so) and will include this in as many of my posts as I see fit to impose it on you.