Epic: The Musical Odyssey

Nicole's really good at finding things for me to get hooked on. 

The latest is Epic: The Musical. 

When she asked if I knew about Epic, I thought she was talking about the movie with the coolest namesake (Queen Tara).  Then she told me about Jorge Herrans, a guy who has been making a musical based off of The Odyssey. 

She played me animatics of "Warrior of the Mind" (where Athena is introduced) and "Suffering," (with the sirens). I read a ton of Greek myths as a kid. Other myths too, but Greek mythology is easy to come by. I'd read a lot of the Odyssey for school, and liked it. So I was already willing to dig deeper into Epic. (I just borrowed my uncle's copy of the Odyssey to read it again. I'm not sure if I ever read the whole thing.)

I told Nicole that either she's really good at selling stuff, or really good at selling me stuff. Because she's given me several things that I've gotten hooked on. On the other hand, I keep trying to tell people about Epic, and no one has been interested. 

Just over a week ago, Jorge released the final songs. I almost always find out about things long after they've been popular. But this time, I actually feel like I got to take part in it! I started tuning in just before the Vengeance Saga, to see the end of Epic come about.

Here's a link to the full playlist, but I recommend you check out his videos. He talks a lot about how he wrote the songs, he has some of the singers appear to act out scenes, and sometimes there's just general horsing around. I love that he can't keep a straight face when he's trying to make a joke.

There are also a ton of amazing fan-made animatics for the songs. I went crazy during a vacation and made a huge playlist of them. I'm sure there are more great ones I've missed.

Now that the music is done, Jorge can start turning it into a real play! I hope I can go see it.

His latest albums have been selling at the top of the charts. Even though he's not working with a big company, and has done most of the work himself (it reminds me of Undertale). And despite the fact that I've never met him, I'm so proud of him. I randomly feel proud of people that I have no actual relationship to. I may be just a little jealous too, since he's only in his mid twenties XD

Most of the cast actually went to Ithaca to celebrate the completion of the soundtrack!

It's awesome to hear his process for writing songs. He works in so many elements. For example, characters will pick up instruments and themes that are usually reserved for other characters, for example if they're trying to appeal to someone. And he'll drop melodies into songs to hint that one character is involved in something else. I love it. 

He also uses a lot of slant rhymes, which are interesting to find.

He sings the part of Odysseus. His mom, dad, girlfriend, and friend all have parts. This guy attracts music somehow.

He's posted some videos where he reviews video games. I always love seeing analyses of character motivations and such. 

There's lots of great singers involved. But one stands out as my favorite. Calypso is not a great person. But her singer is stunning. Her voice. Wow. I stumbled across a lot of comments with similar viewpoints. They don't like Calypso, but they love the singer. Even Jorge posted a video saying that it's important to critique the singer. It cut to a clip of her singing, and Jay's gushing, "you're so goood!" 

I love Polites' song. It's so catchy. "Dangerous" is too. I gravitate toward the fun, catchy ones. But so many of them are really good.

So, God Games. Does anyone else think that Zeus isn't mad that Athena won, but is mad at the arguments she used to win over Hera?

Coco Live

When I went to the Ghibli concert, there was a poster outside of the concert hall that caught my eye. They would be playing Coco, and the soundtrack would be performed live by the symphony. I'd been tempted to attend a live soundtrack for a while. I'd seen them for Star Wars, and other big-name movies. I never expected to stumble across a playing of Coco. So I knew I would be returning to the hall again.

It was so fun. And not just because of the live music, but because of the massive, excited audience. Their cheers got me so pumped up that I wasn't even tempted to cry. 

Not only did they play all of the background music and guitar accompaniment, but they even played some of the little musical sound-effects from various musicians in the movie. 

I noticed songs that I'd never really paid much attention to, because they're not on the soundtrack. I wonder why they leave off so many little bits of music. Are they just too short, or simple? 

The conductor had a computer screen above the score. The screen marked the downbeat of each bar, so he could keep exact time with the film.

I wonder how they get film audio that only has the spoken and sung words. Is there some way to separate the layers of audio? Or is it something that's saved as a copy when the movie is made? I have no idea how that kind of stuff works!

It was great. It would be fun to see other movies with a live soundtrack.