The GB Album Club 001- Sounds Of Tokyo-To Future by 2 Mello

Welcome duders to the inaugural entry of The Giant Bomb Music Club! After a month or two of getting things off the ground, we have our first randomly-selected-out-of-a-pool-of-fourteen-albums album to kick off this shindig: "Sounds of Tokyo-To Future" by 2 Mello!

Joining in on the discussion is simple. First, listen to the album using whichever, preferably legal, methods you prefer; though Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music, YouTube and Amazon Music links to the album are down below for less Google searching. And then, just, share your opinion/join the discussion of the album either in this thread or within the corresponding thread within our Discord server, which is how we're getting things organized as the club grows and evolves.

Spotify
Bandcamp
Apple Music
YouTube

So, that should be it as far as updates go. Hopefully you'll enjoy our first pick to formally really kick this thing off, and hopefully you'll join us on Discord so that albums that you'd like us to listen to and review can be selected, at random, in the future.

Copy and pasting what I wrote in the Discord thread:

First and foremost, I loved this album. But the primary thought that kept running through my mind while listening to it was, "Man, I wish I was a better PS2 owner."

For those of you who don't know, this album and its predecessor Memories of Tokyo-To are meant to be tributes to the Jet Set Radio soundtrack, a soundtrack that I didn't get to hear as a kid because I did not have Jet Set Radio. I also missed out on that whole PS2 "this is why the 'Best Styyyyyyyle' category was invented" mini-movement. Stuff like Rez and Katamari and all these games that leaned into a certain stylized millennium aesthetic in terms of their music and visuals and their overall outlook. Cool games, basically. (My older brother was sort of in charge of what games we got and he stuck to the more mainstream-y franchise stuff.)

In the years since, I've been able to play remasters and re-releases of most of these games, but I never got around to Jet Set. I know of its soundtrack by reputation, or the general idea of what it's supposed to sound like, but I never dove in and listened to any of it. So when I put this album on, I felt like I was experiencing that moment by weird proximity. Like I had a weird surge of enthusiasm for not just this album, but a game that I've never played, which is a very odd feeling.

That said, I also think this album works really well in a vacuum. Some of it sounds like music pulled out of a video game, and some of it sounds more inspired by that kind of music while ultimately being its own thing. I really like the blending of those two approaches. Makes it feel not only like a soundtrack to a game that doesn't exist, but also like an artifact from a city that doesn't exist. Also it's just really fun and catchy all the way through and you don't have to overthink it to enjoy it.

And upon completing this album, I bought Jet Set Radio on Steam. I've only had a PC for about a year, so I finally had the means to do so. We'll see if it holds up, but even if it doesn't, I'm sure it'll be an interesting artifact.

Favorite tracks: RAVE SHIT, Noize the Invasion, I Wanna Kno

Before I start to talk about the album, I feel the need to establish some context in terms of what my tastes are for the sake of being transparent about what my biases are, and how I'm thinking about this album in relation in the Album Club since this is my first fore into analyzing music in a group setting. In case anyone hasn't noticed yet, technical death metal and more aggressive approaches to progressive metal are what I listen to on a near daily basis, but I do have an appreciation for other genres such as rap ranging from the 90's to current day styles, 2000's era pop punk, 2000's era metalcore, some pop here and there, and a couple styles of electronic music such as tech house, dubstep and eurodance. As for this album being the first pick for the club, even though it was randomly selected, I feel as though is does set an expectation for what new potential members to our group can get into.

The introductory track "Break Down Break Up" does a pretty excellent job at introducing the album's overall seance of style and vibe by having a mood that's high EDM energy enough to be exciting, but not to the point of being overbearing or obnoxious. I find that this type of laid-back charisma carries over into other earlier tracks into the album such as "Dance With You Long" and "Rave Shit", which I suppose make up my top three tracks of the album. Even with having only talked a bit about a few tracks, I feel confident in saying that is a pretty strong start for both the club and the album itself. It makes perfect sense to start up a music club, on a video game website, and have the first album for discussion and reviewing being related to video games; specifically Jet Set Radio in this case where the games should have cult status by now. Having played a bit of Jet Set back on the PlayStation 2, I don't a vivid memory of the game's original soundtrack, but I have been reminded of the game's style and vibe over the past twenty-two years through various video essays and fan art, Sounds Of Tokyo-To Future does match up with the various aesthetics of the game; clearly though the album art matching the roller skater and graffiti motif that the games have gone with, but also in terms of soundscape by the album incorporating a mix of, at least to my ears, electronic, rap, a little bit of pop with some of the vocal inflections on the track "I Wanna Kno", and dance, which to me have an air of rebellion that matches up with the games. As someone who hasn't heard of 2 Mello before the Album Club and is only relatively somewhat familiar with Jet Set, I think that 2 Mello does a pretty great job at musically embodying Jet Set Radio. Also, I feel like most of these tracks can fit within the Persona games as well; specifically 3 and 5.

As for some negatives however, I'm not too interested in the rap portions on tracks like "Life On The Line", "Molotov Music" and "Rapid Crew (Can't Move Me)". Between my personal preferences for rap to not be mixed with other genres too often, this album already containing a broad mix of elements from other genres, and having only lived with this album for just shy of a whole week, I just think that the rapping sticks out a little too much and that I was expecting the album to favor the instrumentals even more that it already does. But, because of my unfamiliarity with 2 Mello and me being able to rationalize rapping as being a part of Jet Set Radio's aesthetic, it is not a hill that I'm willing to die on, even though I'd still rather hear Mike Shinoda rapping on Hybrid Theory and Meteora more than listen to "Rapid Crew (Can't Move Me)" too many times. And one track that I more or less dislike is "Sound Effects Recorded No. 27". I get the want for variety, but not when the variety edges on penis music by incorporating distinct sound effects like frogs croaking, cows mooing and a telephone ringing. Even though it could have been worse by adding in Hanna-Barbera sound effects, it still detracts from the album more than adds to it.

Overall, I'm willing to say that my impression of Sounds Of Tokyo-To Future is positive; not nearly to the extent of being over-the-moon for the album, but enough to acknowledge that it's a mostly solid and accessible album even for those that aren't familiar with Jet Set Radio. I don't see myself revisiting this album too often for my personal intents and purposes since my three current favorites on the album don't outshine most of the tracks that I either dislike or I'm neutral towards at the moment, but this is an album that I have a good amount of respect for. The album isn't entirely what I look for in music, but has moments that might have the potential to grow on me over a longer period of time.

With the slow-motion online mental breakdown of Hideki Naganuma as he falls prey to the influence of shitty 4chan memes, it's nice to have someone like 2 Mello carrying on with the iconic Jet Set Radio breakbeat sound.

This was my first listen of this album, and overall, I really enjoyed it. There was a bit more variety in the sound than I actually expected with some tracks having much more distinct jazz, blues, pop, ska, or hip-hop influences breaking through. This isn't strictly just a copy-paste of Jet Set Radio - 2 Mello was taking shots at something a bit different in spots and I think it mostly works.

I did generally find myself enjoying the first half of this album with tracks like "BREAK DOWN BREAK UP" and "LUV 2 LUV" really standing out to me. The more direct attempts to integrate pop with "I Wanna Kno" and hip-hop with "PULL UP" just didn't really do it for me.

Overall, I still think this is absolutely worth a listen, especially for anyone looking to scratch that Jet Set Radio itch.

The rapping worked for me primarily because of 2 Mello's delivery. Most of the time he's rapping like how someone would rap if they were making a soundtrack for an early 2000s video game. Or at least that's how it sounds to me. Granted he's structuring his lyrics more like a traditional song than something that would play on loop in a game, but there's something in the cadence and how he's hitting certain words. It just has a certain millennium-era video game "attitude."

So for me, the rapping fit the aesthetic so well that I just went with it. Granted, they're not my favorite songs on the album. But I didn't balk at them either.

It sure sounds like a Dreamcast. I'll just echo what others have said: It works really well and has a good bounce throughout. I enjoyed it.

Even with the very specific thing it was chasing, it's pulled together in a cohesive way. Sincere flattery.

Couldn't think of a harder album to review to start the album club. To establish my biases, I listen to a lot of mainstream stuff (which you can see in my album picks) and growing up I was mocked endlessly for it, and in response I called them music snobs and elitists. And now you want me to listen to an artist that doesn't even have a Wikipedia page.

I played some Jet Set Radio Future as a kid and generally have a fondness of music that I grew up with, same as everybody I guess. I also booted up the original Jet Set Radio on Steam for the first time. But this isn't the soundtrack of those games, it's only inspired by it. I think game music usually works when you get lots of repetition of it over hours of gameplay, especially this type of music that has a fairly repetitive beat and songs don't usually go much above 3 minutes.

What's weird is that this album came out in 2021 when the Jet Set Radio series had its last entry in 2002, not counting the GBA game a few years later, and those games themselves were going for a 90s aesthetic. I don't think the album nails the mood of those times, especially the rap lyrics go pretty hard on topics that don't fit the source material at all. I was hoping the album would have been more light-hearted although I appreciate that this may be a tough thing to ask for in these times.

As an album, there's not a lot of cohesion apart from roughly grouping songs according to their style. It's tough to tell where one song finishes and another one begins, except that some songs have vocals and some don't. There aren't any highs or lows on the album. Although 2 Mello experiments with different styles, it's not a substitute for actually having different artists on the soundtrack like in the games.

I think it would be great to have 2 Mello collaborate with other artists on a project like they have on OC Remix, but I don't know how feasible that is. The album would have benefitted from more focus and direction. Then again this is what people call indie music so I don't know if that's too much to ask.

I picked this album so I figured I should chime in! For full disclosure, I currently use a song from the original Sounds of Tokyo-To for my podcast intro music and I've had@2mello on the show multiple times, including to interview him about a song from Sounds of Tokyo-To Future. However, I was a fan of Mello's music long before I knew him and I picked this album because I listen to it all the time. The Tokyo-To albums have a sound that is simultaneously nostalgic for a specific era of gaming and fresh in that basically no one else makes music like this. What better album to start off an album club on a gaming website?

I really love this album both for its invocation of Jet Set Radio and its ability to move beyond just reproducing the sound of those games. Sounds of Tokyo-To, Mello's previous Jet Set inspired album, did much more directly referential work than Future. It utilized samples that were also featured in the Jet Set games and some songs even felt like they were meant for sequences from those games. In Sounds of Tokyo-To Future, the aesthetic of Jet Set is applied to genres like club music (Rave Shit) or more traditional rap (PULL UP) in a way that feels like an evolution. The beats themselves are also noticeably more complex than the original Tokyo-To.

My favorite songs on the album are Chainsaw Funk, Molotov Music, and PULL UP. The guitar riff on Chainsaw Funk is just so smooth, yet complementary to a fairly breakneck song. Blending funky beats with such an up-tempo song managed to combine the part of my brain that loves EDM with the part that loves classic rock. Couple those elements with frequent horns and brass and it's just 100% up my alley. Molotov Music comes in fast, hits hard, and gets out. It sounds like the sort of thing that could work as a wrestling intro or a baseball walkout and I mean that in the best possible way. PULL UP is just such a fun song about slapping racists. The wordplay is very clever and the guitar beat is also very smooth, a perfect combo.

Sorry I’m so late writing this! Life got a little busy at the same time this got posted. I did listen to it the first week it was out, but didn’t find a moment to write about it. My memories are a little old at this point so I don’t have tons to say on it.

I did enjoy parts of this album. I like the music here, for the most part. It’s energetic and fast and changes often enough for my prog metal mind to not get bored or irritated. However, I can’t say that I liked most of the vocal parts on the album. The first song just keeps repeating “BREAK DOWN! BREAK DOWN!” and that gets real irritating, real fast for me. There are also occasions where this song dives into rap and I really don’t like it. Maybe there’s a rap song out there that will make me like rap, but this sure isn’t it. I’m still pretty sure I dislike repeating the same phrase over and over and over more than I dislike the rap, though.

If I could get this album without the vocals I’d probably enjoy it a whole hell of a lot more. There’s no way that line will ever get thrown back my way, right? Right!? Anyway, overall I did enjoy it, significant portions of the album lack vocals and what’s there is never enough to ruin a song for me.