Tekkonkinkreet

You know I don't usually post recent stuff. Yet I felt these two went largely unnoticed, for reasons I cannot understand, (except that they were issued in Japanese multi-corp label Aniplex Inc).

Legendary Plaid have taken a (reasonable) turn to producing soundtracks; for films and shorts by Michael Arias for now. Though the more recent 'Heaven's Door' OST is also beautiful, this one's got me from the start. I'm all for the film anyway, a lyrical/disturbing, surreal/streetwise poetic story you should definitely see, anime fan or not. The soundtrack follows the same pathways. Almost always understated melodies blend with urban atmos; esoteric jazzy interludes blend with traditional instruments' sounds and spooky synths. It might be a dark trip for some, yet Plaid always try to keep the balance between the experimental, the cinematic and the emotional aspects of their work.

There's also a remix CD, handled by people like Uwe Schmidt, Derrick May, Matthew Jonson, Prefuse 73, Para One, etc.
.

Plaid - 2006 Tekkonkinkreet OST
Info here.


Plaid - 2007 Tekkonkinkreet Remix Tekkinkonreet
Info here.

Of course, Tekkonkinkreet is the name of the film for distribution in english speaking countries. I'd really like to know what 'Tekkon Kinkurîto' means... Any friends from Japan?

4 comments:

roowlant said...

"Tekkonkinkreet (Tekkon kinkurîto) A play on the Japanese "tekken konkreet" which means reinforced concrete, Tekkonkinkreet takes place in Treasure City"

So.. it means something like reinforced concrete.. ;)

Nightlight said...

Now we also now what Tekken means... Or not...

So I'll guess 'konkreet' is a loan from the European languages, right? In Greece we call it 'Beton armee', from the french.

I've noticed a lot of words of 'english' origin in anime; I know I use english words all the time too in everyday talk. But the most impressive one was a corrupted form of the word 'homeless' in Satoshi Kon's "Tokyo Godfathers".
That might also mean that urban homelessness in Japan is really new as a phenomenon (at least in the sense we define 'homeless' now).

Anonymous said...

I thought the meaning is 'iron concret'(armoured concrete) but I might be wrong. Anyway, Plaid has already completed a new soundtrack for a Japanese film (see http://www.spatze.com/?p=87) but the Tekkon Kinkreet OST is the better one.

Cheers

Spatze from Frankfurt/Germany

Nightlight said...

Yeah, I've heard it; nice, but not more low-profile than 'TK'. It's possible I've kept it somewhere, if anyone's interested let me know.