Thursday, February 3, 2022

Music Releases Diary 2/4/2022

               Earlier this week, I had a bit of a meltdown because Spotify has refused to cancel a podcast show that is spreading harmful anti-vaccine and anti-mask lies, which has caused Neil Young and Joni Mitchell to pull their music from the app.  Neil Young’s song, “Rockin’ in the Free World,” is one of my favorites from the year I was born, and I love Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” and “River.”  These have been covered by Pearl Jam, Amy Grant, Idina Menzel and Heart, making them a big influence on my musical tastes.  Also, Joni Mitchell was partially the inspiration for the Led Zeppelin song “Going to California,” Robert Plant even saying “Joni” during the “turning 50 this year” performance captured on “How the West Was Won.”  Due to this, I will be using Spotify less, mostly just to check on what’s new so I can keep track of my favorite artists.

 

               Also irritating in the music business is that my anxiety is flaring up due to the blatant Nazi-style censorship in Texas, mostly because I could tell the governor could do something like this to concerts after the crowd crush last year, saying rock, pop and rap are too dangerous and the only music that should be performed/able to be viewed in the State should be from anti-maskers/anti-vaxxers/racists/Republicans like Kid Rock, Ted Nugent, the current incarnation of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Travis Tritt, Toby Keith and Morgan Wallen.  Also, Judas Priest is up for fan vote for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but is currently losing to Duran Duran, Eminem and the Eurythmics, none of which feel very rock and roll by comparison.

 

               That being said, last week had some great releases.  There was a streaming-only release of The Beatles’ rooftop concert, including the unheard jam of “God Save The Queen” and some miscellaneous banter that I didn’t hear on my earlier, poor-condition bootleg I bought because I was desperate to hear the show.  K.Flay and Party Favor released a good single called “Superhuman” and there was a good collaboration between Charli XCX and Rina Sawayama called “Beg For You,” but the best non-Beatles release last Friday thus far is easily the “The Legend of Vox Machina” song, from the show of the same name on Amazon Prime.  Sung by Sam Riegal in the role of Scanlan the Bard, it details the members of the first campaign of Critical Role, the web series on YouTube where voice actors sit around and play Dungeons and Dragons.  Laura Bailey, who plays Vexhalia in the show, was the reason I started watching due to her extensive video game voice-over resume (which will be seen at the end of this post, along with 9 other voice actors, 2 of which are also in Critical Role).  Laura also gets to say two words during this song in particular.

 

               This week there are two albums on my radar, one by Jill Scott, who cameoed on an Alicia Keys track back in 2020 (hard to say that since it hasn’t seemed to end).  The cover has her hold a flute and I thought I read she was a singer, so I guess I’ll have to learn if one or both are right.  The other is a John Williams album performed live in Berlin with various pieces from the many films he worked on.  Now, here is a list of 10 Voice actors I’d like to meet, mostly because of how fun they come across on Twitter, along with roles I know them for.

 

10 Voice actors I’d like to meet:

 

Laura Bailey (Rise Kujikawa, Persona 3 Girl Protagonist (Persona series (not Persona 4 Dancing All Night)), Lucina (Fire Emblem series (not Fire Emblem Heroes), Smash Bros. series), Chun-Li (Street Fighter and Capcom fighting games, Power Rangers; Battle for the Grid), Vexhalia (Critical Role Campaign 1/The Legend of Vox Machina), Jester (Critical Role Campaign 2), Imogen (Critical Role Campaign 3), Lego Wonder Woman (Lego Batman series), Anko Mitarashi (Naruto Shippuden; Clash of Ninja Revolution III and other games only) Sarada Uchiha (Naruto Shippuden Ninja Storm 4; Road to Boruto game only))

 

Tara Platt (Edelgard Von Hresvelg (Fire Emblem series), Mitsuru Kirijo, Elizabeth (Persona series, crossovers), Kali Belladonna (RWBY series), Temari (Naruto series), Miriel (Fire Emblem series), Ikuko Tsukino (Sailor Moon DVD re-release dub), Topsy McGee (self-made silent short movie; Topsy McGee VS The Sky Pirates), Time-Traveling Scientist (self-made short movie; Out of Time))

 

Abby Trott (Annette Fantine Dominic (Fire Emblem series), Nezuko (Demon Slayer), Smash Bros. Ultimate theme song singer)

 

Elizabeth Maxwell (Winter Schnee (RWBY series), Urbosa (Legend of Zelda; Breath of the Wild, Hyrule Warriors; Age of Calamity), Sae Niijima (Persona 5, Persona 5 Strikers), Ymir (Attack on Titan)),

 

Faye Mata (Petra MacNeary (Fire Emblem series), Aqua (Konosuba), Clampearl (Pokémon anime 2022),

 

Matthew Mercer (Chrom (Fire Emblem series), Yusuke Kitagawa (Persona series), Levi Ackerman (Attack on Titan), DM (Critical Role))

 

Yuri Lowenthal (Teenage Ben Tennyson (Ben 10 series), Persona 3 Male Protagonist, Yosuke Hanamura (Persona series, crossovers), Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto series), Marth, Eliwood (Fire Emblem series), PS4 Spider-Man, 1930s-1940s Detective (self-made short movie; Out of Time), Mr./Captain McGee (self-made silent short movie; Topsy McGee VS The Sky Pirates))

 

Travis Willingham (Lego Superman (Lego Batman series), Dinobot Slug (Transformers; Fall of Cybertron), Lon’qu (Fire Emblem series), Guile (Street Fighter/Other Capcom games/Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), Knuckles the Echidna (Sonic Series/Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), Grog (Critical Role Campaign 1/The Legend of Vox Machina), Fjord (Critical Role Campaign 2), Chetney (Critical Role Campaign 3))

 

Brittney Karbowski (Wendy Marvell (Fairy Tail), Camie Utsushimi (My Hero Academia))

 

Colleen Clinkenbeard (Erza Scarlet/Elsie Crimson (Fairy Tail/Edens Zero), Momo (My Hero Academia (I can’t spell her last name)), Luffy (One Piece), Mia Fey (Phoenix Wright; Ace Attorney), Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist), occasionally Android 18 (Dragonball Z and subsequent Dragonball series/games/etc.))

 

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