Well, Michael posted about a DDR track and a GBA game and, somehow, I landed here, posting on shoesatthedoor and thinking about Lumines II for the psp. That was the first time I had ever heard music like this while playing a game – and over its music video, too! It was an incredible moment I had not expected. The game started out like the previous one, a kind of Tetris-style game with a slight musical component. Suddenly, the song changed, and the background faded into the music video. It was spectacular. And this wasn’t the only one. The game even featured one of Takagi Masakatsu‘s song-moving-painting things, perhaps one of his best. At the time, it was a multimedia experience that felt quintessentially Sony. I’m not really sure if companies compete for that wow-factor anymore, or maybe I just don’t notice it, except for in racing.
Near the end of university, and just after, I traveled a lot, and I spent a lot of time on airplanes and in some other rough places with my psp, playing Lumines II and Taiko no Tatsujin. Hearing these songs really takes me back, not to anyplace good, but to a place I was pretty thankful for having them.
I had known about Takagi Masakatsu before. I used to hang out on some website that was all about minimalistic music. I forgot what it was called. I found Masakatsu there and this other little band called Lali Puna. I also bought a couple of his CDs back then, probably the rarest things I own. Hopefully, with this blog, we won’t lose anymore websites.