#Embu (Nincom)

[transistor-rhythm-909]

Koshiro Soundsystem D - But Is It Art? [from"Embu 103rd Mix"]

Another testbed/experiment track done mostly to test out some new samples; specifically, Organic Loops' Disco Strings sample library. I'd heard the main recurring string ensemble loop used in this track in a few places lately (you might recognise parts of it if you were really into drumstep/'brostep' around 2010-2012), and went digging to see if I could source the point of origin. Once I'd uncovered it, my friend and partner Dio Maxwelle very kindly bought the library for me- doubly kind, given she had to endure my rambling about the sample whilst looking for it.

I'm pretty happy with the end result here; despite being "just a test track", its got a nice vibe to it. Lush string ensembles + UK Garage always did make for a lovely combo aurally + there's something to the fusing of "classy" strings with the sound of the streets, hence the title (the answer to the question is 'yes' btw, of course UK Garage is art). Also, the euphoria of getting to use a sample you know and love is evergreen.

I wound up assigning it to one of the less-loved Gonkaka/Nincom projects; a fictional rhythm game/"fighting game" hybrid series produced by the fake game company, under the title of "Embu" (which is a rarely used term for when one martial artist- or several- perform demonstrations of their moves, usually without an opponent; you have Tekken's 3-thru-4 to thank for teaching me the term and concept). I need to properly flesh the idea for the games out, but the rough idea is that instead of actually "fighting" your opponents, you engage in an 'Embu' competition, blending fighting and dance moves together in time to the music you've selected in some fashion. The actual "fighting game" mechanics would likely be much less intensive- much simpler combo maps- but the player would still be encouraged to get creative with the moves they'd use. As said, the concept is still quite loose- don't have any finalised character designs for it, whether characters are tied to one song or several is still up in the air, how many songs you'd play in a given arcade ladder is also still up in the air, all I've got for inputs is that it would probably use a Tekken like "four buttons, one for each limb" system. I do know that the games would have similar insane genre naming conventions to Konami's various rhythm games- hence the "Yuppie Garage" genre tag. Likewise, similar to Relentless Riders, many of the songs in the project would be assigned unique one-off (or very specific use case) aliases used by the Gonkaka crew in the metafiction- in this case, straight up bringing back Denji Koshiro's "Koshiro Soundsystem D" moniker from the Relentless Riders soundtrack.