Hello Cadets, I hope the weekend was kind to you. Now that you are all well versed in zombie classification it's time for a countdown. I Thought I'd go with the shorter list of zombie games. I am warning you that there will be no Call of Duty or Red Dead Redemption expansions on here, there are strictly zombie games that were about zombies from beginning to end. So I present to you the top 5 zombies games/series.
5. House of the Dead
This was the first rail shooter and first zombie game I ever played, the graphics had never been anything to hoot and holler about and the voice acting was Shakespearian in the sense that it was comically tragic, but the gore was strangely satisfying and the bosses were always impressive from first to last. This game has been a staple in my arcade diet since I was old enough to aim a lightgun.
4. Dead Rising
As the first sandbox zombie game this was a treat. Like Grand Theft Auto you run around completing different missions and you choices, successes and failures dictate the outcome of the game. The second game introduced a new hybrid weapon making system that at time were sometimes impractical yet almost always absolutely hysterical. I hope the creators will continue to create something new and extraordinary with each installment.
3. Dead Space
This is by far one of the scariest games I never played. The story, while long, was well worth sitting through and the scares would set you on edge for hours to come. Since I am a big wimp ever since attempting to play Fatal Frame 2 I have not tried again but even just sitting and watch I was entranced. The second installment was equally impressive and freaky and I look forward to further Dead Space spectating!
2. Resident Evil
I loved this series, the first shared the wonderful flaw of House of the Dead with the poor voice acting and the controls were wonky, and don’t even start with the camera angles. Here’s what they did right, the story was intriguing and there was a lot to build off of and build they did. The original characters split off into their own side stories and recently they have changed from reanimated zombies to infected. Also they learned from their mistakes and fixed the camera angles and began to change the controls. Now the game’s playability is near unrecognizable from it’s ancestor but the story remains 100% consistant and we are grateful for it.
1. Left 4 Dead (1 & 2)
I was never a fan of first person shooters until this game. The quick zombies and interestingly fleshed out worlds were something new, and the characters weren’t all military or police types, they were regular people making do with what was given to them. The special infected were a nice touch, to this day the Witch freaks me out a bit if I play alone. The introduction to the melee weapon and new special infected in the second installment were a refreshing touch to a game format that is unique and in a way typically Valve-like. I am excited for the new downloadable content that is on it’s way and the much talked about third game.
Tomorrow I will begin my zombie countdown of my top 10 zombie movies. There is a poll on The Litter-ati Where you can vote for your favorite zombie games and voice your opinions. This is War Kitten signing off and pointing out that you almost became a Jill Sandwich.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Purell Could Help Defend Against Zombies After All...
Hello Cadets, for you here in the Midwest I hope you are staying cool. As I said before you have asked for more zombies and I am inclined to oblige. One thing I like about zombies is that they are complex in their simplicity. There have been a variety of spins on the genre but it is almost impossible to romanticize a zombie story unless the romance is between two survivors because, really, who wants to kiss a diseased undead corpse? Today’s post will be about the three different classifications of zombies. I hope you enjoy and please let me know if I miss anything.
The first type is the classic, rise from the grave, shambling zombie as portrayed in the 1932’s White Zombie. The reason for this is the original lore of how a zombie was created. There are many stories all over the world for centuries about zombies but there was one particular story In Haiti people would get voodoo potions from witch doctors for anything from holistic medicine to love potions but every so often these ‘potions’ would contain a tetrodotoxin to make the person appear to be dead. Bear in mind this was many many years ago before autopsies were common practice. Usually the person who fell victim would be buried alive for hours to days before being dug up by the witch doctor and put to work on plantations. By the time the ‘bodies’ were dug up the person would have developed brain damage from a lack of oxygen and there were times where they didn’t retrieve them fast enough and the person really died. The plantation owners were usually cruel as most slave owners are and would beat the people the essentially kidnapped. One instance the laborers had enough and attacked their abusers with the only tool available, their hands and teeth. One of the men did make it to a town and was recognized by a neighbor, marking the most well-known zombie sighting.
Since then the standard for a zombie is usually some sort of infection or disease that can be spread through zombie bites or being reanimated from a voodoo curse. These zombies are usually all sorts of grotesque, already partially decomposed, slow, and stupid, they can’t use doors or climb anything more complicated than stairs (if that). These are the zombies most typically seen in George A. Romero’s films or the Resident Evil series. These zombies are still terrifying because they do not stop until their head and brain are destroyed and they possess seemingly inhuman strength. Another twist Romero added in Return of the Living Dead and Land of the dead is that they can learn. One on it’s own, while no laughing matter, is hardly a challenge to dodge or dispatch of but a swarm of them could easily overpower a person as displayed in the first episode of Walking Dead. Shaun of the Dead even had something to add to the terror of these slow menaces in the fact that they are easily fooled by pretending to shamble and groan like them but people’s unwillingness to work together or accept the situation is just as dangerous as the zombies themselves and caused them to lose most of their crew. Needless to say slow and steady does not minimize the threat or amount of fear induced by these creepy slow-pokes.
That brings me to the next type, the fast moving zombies. The first film to feature this particular adrenaline-inducing terror was Return of the Living Dead in 1985, which wasn’t terribly scary but great fun. It was not a common trend until 2002 when Danny Boyle directed 28 Days Later. These badboys are of a whole other level of terror because usually they could move just as fast as the survivors but the difference is that they never slow down because they don’t get tired. Imagine trying to maneuver around debris, climb structures and just run like hell while dodging a monster that can do everything you do without slowing down or feeling pain, it’s a whole other level of unfair. On the plus side they are usually still lacking in intelligence and you can still fight if you are able to keep your wits about you but needless to say it’s a safe bet most of us will end up like those who fell victim in Zombieland, rundown and unable to defend against these quick moving horrors.
There is a whole different classification for zombies as of 2002 with the Rage infected people of 28 Days Later, this introduced the infected versus the reanimated. Infected does not apply to all fast moving zombies, as in the case of the Dawn of the Dead remake, but it does make up the majority. The difference is that the infected ‘zombies’ do not need to die to become a zombie. [Rec] was another prime example as was the remake Quarantine with the mutated rabies virus. There are a lot of movies that never reveal the cause of the zombies such as Shaun of the Dead so the safe bet is if they die before becoming a zombie it’s reanimation, not infection. Same can be applied to Left 4 Dead as we do not know the cause of infection and the zombies don’t try to eat the survivors but beat on them instead. Personally I like this spin on the zombie genre, it’s something new for a monster that’s been fabled for centuries.
I have to honest and say that I love how popular the zombie theme has gotten. I am sure with the resurgence of Grimm fairy tale remakes in the making that the trend is going to waver for a bit but the fans aren’t distracted for long. We aren’t in it for the love and romantic drama, we are in it for the gore, story, and even to see the unlikeliest of relationships form. I hope you all enjoyed learning about zombies, if I missed anything please let me know on my facebook group at The Litter-ati. On that note I bit you all farewell until tomorrow. This is War Kitten signing off and reminding you that voodoo priests with potions are the equivalent to a stranger in a van with free candy, usually not to be trusted.
The first type is the classic, rise from the grave, shambling zombie as portrayed in the 1932’s White Zombie. The reason for this is the original lore of how a zombie was created. There are many stories all over the world for centuries about zombies but there was one particular story In Haiti people would get voodoo potions from witch doctors for anything from holistic medicine to love potions but every so often these ‘potions’ would contain a tetrodotoxin to make the person appear to be dead. Bear in mind this was many many years ago before autopsies were common practice. Usually the person who fell victim would be buried alive for hours to days before being dug up by the witch doctor and put to work on plantations. By the time the ‘bodies’ were dug up the person would have developed brain damage from a lack of oxygen and there were times where they didn’t retrieve them fast enough and the person really died. The plantation owners were usually cruel as most slave owners are and would beat the people the essentially kidnapped. One instance the laborers had enough and attacked their abusers with the only tool available, their hands and teeth. One of the men did make it to a town and was recognized by a neighbor, marking the most well-known zombie sighting.
Since then the standard for a zombie is usually some sort of infection or disease that can be spread through zombie bites or being reanimated from a voodoo curse. These zombies are usually all sorts of grotesque, already partially decomposed, slow, and stupid, they can’t use doors or climb anything more complicated than stairs (if that). These are the zombies most typically seen in George A. Romero’s films or the Resident Evil series. These zombies are still terrifying because they do not stop until their head and brain are destroyed and they possess seemingly inhuman strength. Another twist Romero added in Return of the Living Dead and Land of the dead is that they can learn. One on it’s own, while no laughing matter, is hardly a challenge to dodge or dispatch of but a swarm of them could easily overpower a person as displayed in the first episode of Walking Dead. Shaun of the Dead even had something to add to the terror of these slow menaces in the fact that they are easily fooled by pretending to shamble and groan like them but people’s unwillingness to work together or accept the situation is just as dangerous as the zombies themselves and caused them to lose most of their crew. Needless to say slow and steady does not minimize the threat or amount of fear induced by these creepy slow-pokes.
That brings me to the next type, the fast moving zombies. The first film to feature this particular adrenaline-inducing terror was Return of the Living Dead in 1985, which wasn’t terribly scary but great fun. It was not a common trend until 2002 when Danny Boyle directed 28 Days Later. These badboys are of a whole other level of terror because usually they could move just as fast as the survivors but the difference is that they never slow down because they don’t get tired. Imagine trying to maneuver around debris, climb structures and just run like hell while dodging a monster that can do everything you do without slowing down or feeling pain, it’s a whole other level of unfair. On the plus side they are usually still lacking in intelligence and you can still fight if you are able to keep your wits about you but needless to say it’s a safe bet most of us will end up like those who fell victim in Zombieland, rundown and unable to defend against these quick moving horrors.
There is a whole different classification for zombies as of 2002 with the Rage infected people of 28 Days Later, this introduced the infected versus the reanimated. Infected does not apply to all fast moving zombies, as in the case of the Dawn of the Dead remake, but it does make up the majority. The difference is that the infected ‘zombies’ do not need to die to become a zombie. [Rec] was another prime example as was the remake Quarantine with the mutated rabies virus. There are a lot of movies that never reveal the cause of the zombies such as Shaun of the Dead so the safe bet is if they die before becoming a zombie it’s reanimation, not infection. Same can be applied to Left 4 Dead as we do not know the cause of infection and the zombies don’t try to eat the survivors but beat on them instead. Personally I like this spin on the zombie genre, it’s something new for a monster that’s been fabled for centuries.
I have to honest and say that I love how popular the zombie theme has gotten. I am sure with the resurgence of Grimm fairy tale remakes in the making that the trend is going to waver for a bit but the fans aren’t distracted for long. We aren’t in it for the love and romantic drama, we are in it for the gore, story, and even to see the unlikeliest of relationships form. I hope you all enjoyed learning about zombies, if I missed anything please let me know on my facebook group at The Litter-ati. On that note I bit you all farewell until tomorrow. This is War Kitten signing off and reminding you that voodoo priests with potions are the equivalent to a stranger in a van with free candy, usually not to be trusted.
Friday, July 15, 2011
First Annual Zombie Shamble is in sight!
Hello to my wonderful Cadets! In light of the looming weekend activities I am only making a short post today. I have held a couple polls and it has been requested to have more zombies so here’s the deal, next week I will post a couple zombie related articles. Also I have an invite for you all, I want you to join me on August 20th in Millenium Park for the first ever Zombie Shamble Race. I ask that you zombify yourself, we will designate a meeting place closer to the day of the race. The end point? The Bean. Once all of the competitors are at the Bean we will do a short Thriller celebration dance. From there we can socialize and have fun. The link to the event is here: First Annual Zombie Race. I hope to hear from you and get this event rocking. Thank you all and please watch out for falling satellites.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Skeletons & the Empty Pockets: Bringing the Cool Back to Music
Hello cadets, hope you enjoyed the piece from yesterday on the Pop genre. I had a lot of interesting feedback and I would like to take this time to remind you that I accept all feedback and criticism so let me have it, just try to be constructive. In keeping with the theme from yesterday I will submit to you a review of a local blues-rock band from Sheffield in the UK, Skeletons & the Empty Pockets. This review is only of the songs I had access to here in the United States so please bear with me.
I first stumbled across this band in 2010 when I heard the song “Everyone Still Loves You” (known as “Folks at Home” on their myspace page) on The Rock Sound Magazine's 'Rock Sound: Ones to Watch 2010'. Of all the artists on that sampler CD this was the song that had my attention from the powerful beginning that seemed to start with keyboards, guitar, bass and drums simultaneously playing, needless to say it was an attention getter. From there you are left with a catchy tune that conjures an image of the coolest circus ever matched with interesting lyrics and unique vocals, this song was definitely a gem. I proceeded to not only play it every time I was in the car but to look up the band and see if I could find more of their music.
It was in this time that I stumbled upon the next two songs, those were “Oh Brother! Oh Sister!” and “In the Woods” from their Oh Brother! Oh Sister! EP and I was blown away yet again, both songs have a little subtler yet unique opening riffs and the style seemed slightly different yet still very much their own. “In the Woods” has a very 70’s meets new millennium sound that just clicks perfectly with Liam Creamer’s vocal style. “Oh Brother! Oh Sister!” was also amazing, a little more modern sounding and in the same vein as “Everybody Still Loves You.” Christopher Shepherd and Matthew Westley made the guitar and bass create a whole new bluesy sound combined with a wonderful sprinkling of keyboards by Stuart Di-Tanna. This was the first track I heard to lead with the drums which are brilliantly played by Ryan Jenkinson. These songs are on iTunes and I highly recommend everyone should check them out.
I made it to their myspace page next and found yet another song called “Le Cake”. The song starts out with a playful beat that evolves into a delightful romp of a tune that incites one to get up and dance. The energy is nothing but feel-good with good times to be had and should not be overlooked. The backing vocals and up-beat keyboard definitely tied this song together in a truly great way.
Last but definitely not least was “On Ya Knees,” the Skeletons’ newest song. I think this was their mellowest song since “In the Woods” and brought something a bit different to the table. This is the song you could hear at blues club, the low sound that starts the song off that builds to a crescendo at the chorus is definitely something to behold and the last half of the song takes on a whole life of it’s own without becoming a separate entity.
Overall I think that the Skeletons & the Empty Pockets are a band to watch for, their sound is unique and on a level all it’s own. They have a new EP in the works and currently perform in the UK. Please visit their facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Skeletonsandtheemptypockets where you can listen to their music and get updates to their activities. While you are there please join me on my page at The Litter-Ati where you can voice your opinions, participate in open topics and polls and hear about any upcoming events. This is War Kitten signing off and reminding you that any story involving the sentence “I didn’t meant to put my sword there” is going to require explaining.
I first stumbled across this band in 2010 when I heard the song “Everyone Still Loves You” (known as “Folks at Home” on their myspace page) on The Rock Sound Magazine's 'Rock Sound: Ones to Watch 2010'. Of all the artists on that sampler CD this was the song that had my attention from the powerful beginning that seemed to start with keyboards, guitar, bass and drums simultaneously playing, needless to say it was an attention getter. From there you are left with a catchy tune that conjures an image of the coolest circus ever matched with interesting lyrics and unique vocals, this song was definitely a gem. I proceeded to not only play it every time I was in the car but to look up the band and see if I could find more of their music.
It was in this time that I stumbled upon the next two songs, those were “Oh Brother! Oh Sister!” and “In the Woods” from their Oh Brother! Oh Sister! EP and I was blown away yet again, both songs have a little subtler yet unique opening riffs and the style seemed slightly different yet still very much their own. “In the Woods” has a very 70’s meets new millennium sound that just clicks perfectly with Liam Creamer’s vocal style. “Oh Brother! Oh Sister!” was also amazing, a little more modern sounding and in the same vein as “Everybody Still Loves You.” Christopher Shepherd and Matthew Westley made the guitar and bass create a whole new bluesy sound combined with a wonderful sprinkling of keyboards by Stuart Di-Tanna. This was the first track I heard to lead with the drums which are brilliantly played by Ryan Jenkinson. These songs are on iTunes and I highly recommend everyone should check them out.
I made it to their myspace page next and found yet another song called “Le Cake”. The song starts out with a playful beat that evolves into a delightful romp of a tune that incites one to get up and dance. The energy is nothing but feel-good with good times to be had and should not be overlooked. The backing vocals and up-beat keyboard definitely tied this song together in a truly great way.
Last but definitely not least was “On Ya Knees,” the Skeletons’ newest song. I think this was their mellowest song since “In the Woods” and brought something a bit different to the table. This is the song you could hear at blues club, the low sound that starts the song off that builds to a crescendo at the chorus is definitely something to behold and the last half of the song takes on a whole life of it’s own without becoming a separate entity.
Overall I think that the Skeletons & the Empty Pockets are a band to watch for, their sound is unique and on a level all it’s own. They have a new EP in the works and currently perform in the UK. Please visit their facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Skeletonsandtheemptypockets where you can listen to their music and get updates to their activities. While you are there please join me on my page at The Litter-Ati where you can voice your opinions, participate in open topics and polls and hear about any upcoming events. This is War Kitten signing off and reminding you that any story involving the sentence “I didn’t meant to put my sword there” is going to require explaining.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Pop Isn't Dead, It's Just Resting It's Eyes
Hello cadets, I know things have slowed quite a bit around here but alas, even I get struck by a lack of motivation. Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of new types of music (to me, at least) and I’ve noticed something slightly disturbing over the years. Pop music is so extremely cookie cutter that I don’t even notice the track has changed until I look at my playlist quite a bit later. Another trend I have noticed is what I like to call “false advertisement,” which I will explain further. That being said I would like to preface this with the fact that while I tend to prefer bands such as My Chemical Romance and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, I do enjoy pop music from time to time but I’m picky. This article will not be a rant alone so please bear with me.
To start out we will look at the concert scene first as that is where I had my first problem with the pop world. As you all know a majority of pop singers from Britney to Madonna and even Cher lip sync on stage. In a way it makes sense as they are typically dancing and it is nigh impossible to sing well while dancing. My beef with this is the fact that I can go see a band like Flogging Molly for $30 or less, no seating arrangement, and hear actual live music and catch an entertaining show (David King has an impressive jig). If I wanted to go see Ke$ha right now it would be between $45 and $64 depending on where I want to sit. Now I have paid high prices for a show like Muse but I can’t even fathom paying more than $25 for an auto-tuned lip syncer strutting around on stage, the price doesn’t match the quality. The same goes for a majority of the singers of the pop world, they filter and edit their songs so much in the studio that there would be no way to perform these songs live and make people feel okay with the price for those tickets.
Another thing I would like to point out is Milli Vanilli. Everyone old enough to remember knows they were caught when their track started skipping during a performance which revealed that they were lip syncing but that was in the 80’s when people acted like it was a dirty secret. Since then we had known that many performers did the same thing and as long as they were the original singers no one minded. Flash forward to Ashley Simpson. Same issue where the track did something very wonky and she was caught, all of a sudden people were outraged. The thing that baffled me was that people were outraged, by now it was brought to light that most pop princesses and boy bands lip synced in their live shows, so why was it suddenly a big issue? I feel that it was just a chance for the complainers to get on their soap boxes for no reason but I digress, I personally think lip syncing is a horrible trend that needs to go out of style yesterday.
Now the good news, there are a lot of artists that are dropping auto-tune and the prerecorded tracks and doing live shows the right way. I want to give kudos to Lady Gaga for actually singing at her shows and managing dance routines that don’t make her voice too jumpy, hopefully the trend will catch soon. Also bands such as Onerepublic do not lip sync, and they even write their own songs so I consider it an added bonus for them (nothing against those who can’t, it’s like that sometimes). I like that many artists have started to follow this trend and if they have the gall to charge $350 a ticket I would like to hear them sing, not the processed track they pretend to sing to.
Next is the auto-tune monster. If there is one thing I have begun to detest of averything in the music world it is excessive use of auto-tune. I understand using it as an editing tool but it is the sugar of the music world pyramid, to be used sparingly. I am going to pick on Ke$ha again and point out her voice has quite a bit of auto-tune added. Let’s not forget T-Pain, who is a genius because he is able to sell his records extremely well for an overly electronic voice that he makes fun of in the Budweiser commercials. Auto-tune has brought people like Paris Hilton into the music world, for better or worse, showing that anyone with access to this machine can make a song. A majority of rock and country artists refuse to touch this thing and even protest it’s use but at times it’s powers can be used for good, one such instance is the Bed Intruder Song that launched Antoine Dodson’s internet fame in 2010.
The subject of Auto-tune also brings to light another quite interesting aspect that is mostly confined to Japan currently called Vocaloid. Vocaloid is a computer program that generates a Japanese voice characterized by either male or female of different pitches and tones. This program can actually make a pop song without the use of an actual singer (aside from the voice samplings taken from voice actors to create the pitch). There have been tons of tracks released including original songs and cover songs. Each ‘voice’ is given a name and animated character (most popular known voice is Hatsune Miku) and there are concerts where the created tracks are played and sync up to an animation of the corresponding characters.
One person did think that this was just a trend over there but I would like to point out two examples of the separate elements. First is the Gorillaz, who sang live but behind a screen while their animated personas were on stage. Another example is T-Pain, whose electronic voice and obvious use of auto-tune on and off stage still draws in crowds. Whether we realize it or not these trends are pretty global in the pop world but that doesn’t mean the genre is lost, there is hope. Former lip syncers such as Christina Aguilara are now singing without the backing track or auto-tune. Also there are many talented artists who get by without excessive use of any of the aforementioned techniques so I challenge them to step it up because the pop world is being revolutionized and the same old same old is not cutting it anymore. This is War Kitten signing off and challenging you to shake things up, unless it’s a bee’s nest in which case back away slowly.
To start out we will look at the concert scene first as that is where I had my first problem with the pop world. As you all know a majority of pop singers from Britney to Madonna and even Cher lip sync on stage. In a way it makes sense as they are typically dancing and it is nigh impossible to sing well while dancing. My beef with this is the fact that I can go see a band like Flogging Molly for $30 or less, no seating arrangement, and hear actual live music and catch an entertaining show (David King has an impressive jig). If I wanted to go see Ke$ha right now it would be between $45 and $64 depending on where I want to sit. Now I have paid high prices for a show like Muse but I can’t even fathom paying more than $25 for an auto-tuned lip syncer strutting around on stage, the price doesn’t match the quality. The same goes for a majority of the singers of the pop world, they filter and edit their songs so much in the studio that there would be no way to perform these songs live and make people feel okay with the price for those tickets.
Another thing I would like to point out is Milli Vanilli. Everyone old enough to remember knows they were caught when their track started skipping during a performance which revealed that they were lip syncing but that was in the 80’s when people acted like it was a dirty secret. Since then we had known that many performers did the same thing and as long as they were the original singers no one minded. Flash forward to Ashley Simpson. Same issue where the track did something very wonky and she was caught, all of a sudden people were outraged. The thing that baffled me was that people were outraged, by now it was brought to light that most pop princesses and boy bands lip synced in their live shows, so why was it suddenly a big issue? I feel that it was just a chance for the complainers to get on their soap boxes for no reason but I digress, I personally think lip syncing is a horrible trend that needs to go out of style yesterday.
Now the good news, there are a lot of artists that are dropping auto-tune and the prerecorded tracks and doing live shows the right way. I want to give kudos to Lady Gaga for actually singing at her shows and managing dance routines that don’t make her voice too jumpy, hopefully the trend will catch soon. Also bands such as Onerepublic do not lip sync, and they even write their own songs so I consider it an added bonus for them (nothing against those who can’t, it’s like that sometimes). I like that many artists have started to follow this trend and if they have the gall to charge $350 a ticket I would like to hear them sing, not the processed track they pretend to sing to.
Next is the auto-tune monster. If there is one thing I have begun to detest of averything in the music world it is excessive use of auto-tune. I understand using it as an editing tool but it is the sugar of the music world pyramid, to be used sparingly. I am going to pick on Ke$ha again and point out her voice has quite a bit of auto-tune added. Let’s not forget T-Pain, who is a genius because he is able to sell his records extremely well for an overly electronic voice that he makes fun of in the Budweiser commercials. Auto-tune has brought people like Paris Hilton into the music world, for better or worse, showing that anyone with access to this machine can make a song. A majority of rock and country artists refuse to touch this thing and even protest it’s use but at times it’s powers can be used for good, one such instance is the Bed Intruder Song that launched Antoine Dodson’s internet fame in 2010.
The subject of Auto-tune also brings to light another quite interesting aspect that is mostly confined to Japan currently called Vocaloid. Vocaloid is a computer program that generates a Japanese voice characterized by either male or female of different pitches and tones. This program can actually make a pop song without the use of an actual singer (aside from the voice samplings taken from voice actors to create the pitch). There have been tons of tracks released including original songs and cover songs. Each ‘voice’ is given a name and animated character (most popular known voice is Hatsune Miku) and there are concerts where the created tracks are played and sync up to an animation of the corresponding characters.
One person did think that this was just a trend over there but I would like to point out two examples of the separate elements. First is the Gorillaz, who sang live but behind a screen while their animated personas were on stage. Another example is T-Pain, whose electronic voice and obvious use of auto-tune on and off stage still draws in crowds. Whether we realize it or not these trends are pretty global in the pop world but that doesn’t mean the genre is lost, there is hope. Former lip syncers such as Christina Aguilara are now singing without the backing track or auto-tune. Also there are many talented artists who get by without excessive use of any of the aforementioned techniques so I challenge them to step it up because the pop world is being revolutionized and the same old same old is not cutting it anymore. This is War Kitten signing off and challenging you to shake things up, unless it’s a bee’s nest in which case back away slowly.
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