YUU MIYAKE ASUKA SAKAI, AKITAKA TOHYAMA, YOSHIHITO YANO, YURI MISUMI, HIDEKI TOBETA

2004 VIDEO GAME SOUNDTRACK/PICO-POP 

Katamari Fortissimo Damacy is, well, this isn’t like my regular reviews because this isn’t an album by an artist made for the sole purpose of listening pleasure, this is a soundtrack to score the digital drama, in whatever form that may be, of a video game. I generally don’t write about soundtracks for a very simple reason, they are created to supplement a larger whole. If you review the music you are only looking at a section of the art, the context in which it is placed is as crucial if not more then as the sounds themselves. So that raises the question, if you oppose reviewing soundtracks then what is this bullshit? Unlike so many of its peers Katamari stands on its own exceedingly well, the pop centric genre jumping with vocals on nearly every song hardly gives the impression that it belongs as the underpinning of a scene, rather a bizarre concept album stuffed with guests.

Importantly it is some of the most fun that can occur between the walls of your skull at any given time. As previously mentioned it’s stylistically all over the place with the only completely consistent characteristic being goofy exuberance. There’s jazz, there’s latin, there’s electro. It’s like digging through a toy chest with every new discovery bringing a sense of fantasy, a shimmer to your eye and an upward curve to your mouth. Do keep in mind this music is for a game about the King of the Cosmos getting drunk and destroying half the universe so he makes his tiny son roll a ball to collect paper clips to recreate stars. It’s going to be absurd.

The opener is called Katamari Nah-Nah and it becomes immediately apparent as to why. Vocals sing nah-nah to a melody that will become familiar throughout the runtime. Rhythmic bleeps and percussion come to join in, there isn’t much going on but it has this innate zaniness that explodes on the next track, Katamari on the Rocks. Huge horns blast the rocket off, the fuselage shudders and we are met with a technicolor festival of cosmic rays. Yet with all the serotonin supplying madness the singers exudes a sort of dinner party charm accompanied by an entourage of porcelain backing vocalists. After this there is a brief Overture, it’s a grand orchestral riff on the main theme but accomplishes little due to its place in the listing, not an opener, an interlude, or a fully realized song. It goes from that to the glitchy electronics of The Moon and The Prince. With a half rapped delivery and crowd hyping “HAs” we ride, gently jamming, but once the chorus arrives, full on seat dancing. It’s straightforward until the record scratching breakdown, yeah, that speaks for itself, it’s great.

Fugue #7777 is a welcome intermission with its layers of silly manipulated vocals blurting out gibberish. Definitely nonsensical but the surreal comedy fits right. Recess is still in session for Lonely Rolling Star. What a terrific romp. It’s like a flight over a rainbow field, children running about stopping for a brief moment to greet your flyover with a wave and a smile. Then there’s Walking on a Star. It’s simultaneously a carnival, and an astronaut plucking his guitar on the moon. The composers are really flexing that they will do anything in service of a good time. Katamari mambo describes itself, mambo as in dancy and latin, katamari as in fun and freaky. The wild masculine ravings are a highlight and like so many tracks it’s crazy catchy, and not just the chorus. Then comes the low bit revving  of You Are Smart. Kick back, relax, and let a robot dryly compliment you. The natural follow up to a groovy mambo of course. Then swing, that’s right we get swing on Gin and Tonic and Red Roses with loads of scat vocals too, you can make this shit up. It’s at this point that you start to wonder, is this all a joke but it is so earnest, so well constructed and so charismatic that it forces you to treat it with a not insignificant degree of seriousness.

Right as I gush is one of the worst of the listing, Wanda Wanda. Akin to You Are Smart with its looping electronics, however the piled on vocals are obnoxious leading to quick ear fatigue. Part way it starts breaking apart and I’m not sure if it’s me or the track. Maybe all the prior weirdness should have prepared me, like the surprise swing song but Que Sera Sera features what I can only describe as Japanese Frank Sinatra. And it’s fantastic, an earworm from front to back, it feels as though you’ve accidentally walked in on something so uncanny you can’t look away but in the best way possible. Angel Gifts is comparatively relaxed with its trance of distorted guitars. It builds by adding ethereal chants and very aggressive shots of electronics, it overstays its welcome, and frankly it’s not the only offender. Many of the tracks run into the five and six minute length territory unnecessarily, chop a minute off half of them and cut the “finale” and you end up with perfection. Still, Katamari is so pure and so charming that a few bumps in its path are easy to overlook. By now you should expect something completely different for Roll Me In, and you get that. A sultry dance on a Caribbean beach, it’s hot but the fading light and an ocean breeze cool off sun bleached sand. Its Japanese name of Katamaritaino, Taino being the word for native the Caribbean peoples, is as apt as it gets. Karamari Stars frenetic percussion gives it a strange hip hop vibe while prominent woodwinds make it feels like one of those YouTube videos that puts flute into a famous song except good. A serene sun shines upon Cherry Tree Times. Inquisitive kids burst from a countryside school’s doors onto a tree-lined riverside, bookbags bouncing, the treasure of innocence is in the air.

With a title like The Last Samba you would think this would close out the album, it doesn’t, the unexpected should be expected at this point. Whistling, group chanting, and a cacophony of percussion, a fireworks show to open for the ending. And yet Katamari of Love isn’t the final song despite how much it should be. Most of the lyrics are in Japanese, but it has a sentimentality that transcends language, a heartfelt goodbye even as the singer lets his operatic howls you sense a few tears glistening under the spotlight. Fading out with a flourish of synths, under different circumstances I would say it’s cliché but as the last act of this hour of outrageousness it’s a triumph. The weakest part of the album is this supposed closer, Katamari March Damacy. When you look at the liner notes it labels this as a bonus track and the previous as ending theme. The goofy vocoder action isn’t terrible but robbing a proper curtain drop is.

Katamari Fortissimo Damacy is of an unusual beauty. Its creators main goal was to make it as fun as possible, if there was anything that could be added to generate more spontaneous joy it was. It feels crafted in a time of no preconceptions, the bubbling happiness of youth where nothing is cast aside at the notion of it being too stupid or too farcical. The air is so fresh it renews your lungs, the sunshine so warm you may never go cold again, and a friendly panda at your door who washes away all your anxieties with a hug. Why is all of this happening you ask? Don’t worry about it, just enjoy it. 

FAV/10

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