Interview: Paul Umbach (Co-Producer, "(Have Some) Fun With The Funk")

In one of his early assignments at Jive Records, Paul Umbach helped record Aaron Carter's "(Have Some) Fun With The Funk", a song that would later appear on the double-platinum soundtrack to Pokemon: The First Movie. During his time at the the label, Paul had an opportunity to meet and work with several well-known musicians of the era, and has done quite a few things since:

Paul's Website

The most popular Pokémon movies-according to iTunes US search results

While there's no truly objective way to determine which Pokémon movie is the most popular, I thought I could potentially gain some insights by monitoring the order of results for Pokémon movies on the US store. Each day for a 10-day period from 8/22 to 8/31, I did a search for "Pokemon" on the US iTunes store, and noted the rankings:

Movie	Average Rank	Standard Deviation
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu	1	0
Pokémon: The First Movie	2	0
3-movie pack (Detective Pkachu/Small Foot/Lego Movie 2)	3.2	0.422
Pokémon 2000: The Power of One	3.8	0.422
Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew	5	0
Pokémon 3	6.4	0.516
Pokémon: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages	6.9	0.734
Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life	8.1	1.101
Pokémon: I Choose You!	9.4	1.506
Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai	10.7	1.337
Pokémon: Genesect and the Legend Awakened	11.3	1.059
Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea	12.1	1.287
Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior	12.3	3.653
Pokémon: Zoroark: Ruler of Illusions	14.3	0.675
Pokémon: Kyurem and the Swords of Justice	14.8	1.229
Pokémon: Diance and the Cocoon of Destruction	16	0.816
Pokémon the Movie White: Victini and Zekrom	16.4	1.265
Pokémon: The Power of Us	17.6	0.699
Pokémon: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel	18.8	0.789
Pokémon the Movie Black: Victini and Reshiram	19.9	0.316
Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution	21	0

Raw Data

Average Rank: The title's average position across all ten days. Lower numbers appeared earlier.

Standard Deviation: Average variance in rank over the 10-day period. Higher numbers indicate greater variability in rank.

Notes:

-Movies four through seven (originally distributed by Miramax) are not currently available on iTunes US and therefore are not ranked.

-Each day's ranking was obtained by searching "Pokemon" on the US iTunes store on my iPhone between 11am and 1pm Central time.

-Based on my long-term observations, search ranking appears to be a function of relevancy and sales. There's no guarantee that all the movies are considered equally relevant.

Observations and theories on specific movies:

Pokémon Detective Pikachu: Unsurprising that the movie with by far the highest box office gross would rank the highest.

Pokémon: The First Movie: Also not surprising given the cultural status of this film.

3-movie pack/Pokémon 2000: These have a tendency to swap places.

Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew: Likely benefits from being well-loved by fans, and also being the last 4Kids-produced movie.

Pokémon: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages: Somewhat surprisingly high given the general reputation of the XY-generation movies. It may have benefited from Hoopa-related events in Pokémon Go, but I honestly think Hoopa is one of the more popular Pokémon from that era, and the podcast episode discussing that movie's music is reasonably popular.

Pokémon the Movie Black/White: Obviously at a disadvantage since a large number of consumers will buy just one instead of both. I did find it interesting that "Zekrom" consistently ranked above "Reshiram". Perhaps it benefited from the limited theatrical showing in the US.

Pokémon: The Power of Us: Rather surprising (and disappointing) to see this well-regarded film so close to the bottom. I have heard that it grossed significantly less than "I Choose You!", probably due to having less of a "hook". I still maintain that they should have at least used the more recognizable western version of Lugia's theme in the score, if possible.

Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution: While it obviously has the (sales) disadvantage of being easily available on and closely associated with Netflix, seeing it consistently at the bottom of the list suggests that despite its popularity on the service, much of the public doesn't feel compelled to purchase it, at least digitally.

Poke Press Digest Podcast: Episode 48-Discussing the Music of "Pokemon Dash"/Nick McKaig

In the first segment (1:17-35:20), Anne from Pikapi Podcast helps me discuss the music of Pokemon Dash, the first Nintendo DS Pokemon game. While this racer certainly isn't the most memorable Pokemon title, that didn't stop us from finding plenty to talk about. As usual, there's a game discussion after the outro.

Our second segment (36:25-43:17) is an archival interview with Nick McKaig, a musician I interviewed all the way back in 2011, when he released an acapella cover of the English Pokemon theme. As you'd expect, we also talk about his musical history, and some of the other songs he’s covered, ranging from TV themes to classical music.

Links:

Pikapi Podcast

Nick's Channel

Poke Casters Network

Why It Works: Holding Out For A Hero

What makes an 80's dance song a good fit for the trailer of a Pokémon movie? As it turns out, "Holding Out For A Hero" has a number of features and parallels to Detective Pikachu, some of which weren't even used:

Transcript:

With a driving beat and dramatic vocals, “Holding Out For A Hero” makes a great trailer song. In the case of Detective Pikachu, it’s used to showcase the more action-packed elements of the film. With shots from the Roundhouse, the lab, and the climax of the movie, the music helps sell that this isn’t simply a low-key crime story. There are lyrical parallels as well-the hook of the song responds to Tim’s statement that he doesn’t need a Pokémon, and the trailer makes a fairly obvious use of “like a fire in my blood”. To be honest, though, they could have gone even further, as “someone somewhere watching me” is definitely true for our heroes, and the references to thunder and lightning are just begging to be used. Then again, there’s only so much you can fit in a trailer. In any case, what are your thoughts on this pairing? Be sure to let us know. Thanks.

Interview: The Consouls

I recently had an opportunity to interview Jonathan Gamra of The Consouls, a video game cover band from Australia. Earlier this month, they posted a version of “Imakuni?’s Theme” from the Pokémon Trading Card Game for Game Boy, and I wanted to learn more about it.

Where are you from, and how did the band get started?

We're based in Sydney. Our keyboard player Zorsy had his own channel about a decade ago where he uploaded solo piano covers of VGM on YouTube. Eventually he found me and the other members and we started the Consouls project in 2014.

How would you describe the overall style of the band? What are your musical influences?

We consider our genre “video game jazz”, but we dabble in other genres too. We’re heavily influenced by a lot of soul, R’n’B, and fusion.

How do you pick which songs to arrange/cover?

We have a monthly show called “Consouls Radio” where we pick a theme and Patrons vote on tunes they would like to see within that theme. Past examples have included JRPGs, SEGA music, vocal anime covers, etc. That accounts for about half of what we cover, the other half we pick ourselves.

Why did you choose to cover "Imakuni?'s Theme" from the Pokemon TCG game?

June was our birthday month and for Consouls Radio the theme was “anything goes”. Our guitarist Jono really liked the tune so we picked it.

Was there a specific philosophy or methodology for how the song was arranged?

Often times we’ll take inspiration from other tunes that we like or think will work over a video game tune, but this was more about expanding on the parts of the original that sound good and would be fun to play over.

How did you get from that to the final product?

Once Jono finished the arrangement, the band got a lead sheet, which is essentially a reduced version of the melody and chords. At that point, we played through it many times to decide how we wanted the whole arrangement to sound.

Are there any specific parts of the song that you wanted to point out?

The solo section follows a 12-bar blues form under the riff which akes it a little easier to play while still holding the core of the arrangement. You’ll see that a lot in a of jazz arrangements, even if the tunes aren’t 12-bar blues, because it’s just a progression to solo over with plenty of room for the band to react to the soloist and build from.

What are some other songs you've covered recently?

Some highlights include a lo-fi cover of “Zanarkand” from Final Fantasy X and a funky take on “Life Will Change” from Persona 5.

How has the pandemic affected the band?

We're working completely remotely at the moment as we’re in lockdown. Since we can’t record as a full band we're experimenting in other genres like the aforementioned lo-fi and soon, chiptune!

Where can you be found online?

Despite the pandemic we're still pumping out uploads every week on our channel and almost as frequently on music services like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music. You can find us on social networks under @theconsoulsband.

Unboxing the "Together With The Wind" Cassingle

Pokémon is an old enough franchise that some of its music was released on cassette when the format was still (somewhat) current. That said, the number of titles released on the format isn't particularly large, especially on the Japanese side, where "Together With The Wind" is one of the few examples:

Poke Press Digest Podcast: Episode 47-Discussing the Music of "Pokemon Colosseum"

In this episode, Anne from Pikapi Podcast drops by to talk about the music of Pokémon Colosseum, the first of many Pokémon games by Genius Sonority. With its western-inspired setting, it gives us plenty to compare to, especially from the world of film. If you want to know what we thought of the game itself, be sure to listen after the outro:

Links:

Pikapi Podcast

Poke Casters Network

Pokemon Colosseum Walkthrough (partial)