In this episode, Anne from Pikapi Podcast joins me to talk about the music of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red & Blue Rescue Team. These initial entries in Pokémon's most successful side series have a number of interesting facets, including being the only side games with a full-on remake, which adds a third version to every tune. Luckily, the two of us are more than up to the task of covering this soundtrack. If you still need more though, we have the usual game discussion after the outro:
Monday, December 20, 2021
Friday, November 5, 2021
Poke Press Digest Podcast: Episode 49.5-Discussing the music of "Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness"
In this episode, Anne from Pikapi Podcast helps me talk about the music of Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness for the GameCube. While it may seem like a slightly expanded version of Colosseum, there's actually a ton of new audio content to cover, with our selections highlighting new areas, new characters, and of course, Shadow Lugia. On top of all that, there's the usual game discussion after the outro:
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Thursday, October 21, 2021
Poke Press Digest Podcast: Episode 50-Discussing Pokemon Trozei Music/Insert Pokemon Song Here
In the first segment (1:45-15:21), Anne from Pikapi Podcast drops by to discuss the music of Pokemon Trozei for the Nintendo DS. While the soundtrack isn't the most extensive, it's certainly worth talking about, with some interesting stylistic choices. As usual, there's a game discussion after the episode outro.
In the second segment, Anne and I return to bat around some ideas about songs related to Pokémon movies, but not actually in them. I propose putting "Makin' My Way" into the dock scene of Pokemon: The First Movie, and Anne tries to find a place for "I Am A Collector" in Revelation Lugia (The Power of One). Both ideas have their merits, so listen in and decide for yourself:
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Friday, October 8, 2021
Poke Press Digest Podcast: Episode 49-Paul Umbach/Neal Coomer
First (1:15-20:25), there's an interview with Paul Umbach, co-producer of Aaron Carter's "(Have Some) Fun With The Funk" from the Pokemon: The First Movie soundtrack. In addition to discussing the song, we cover Paul's lengthy musical career, including his time at Jive Records.
Our second segment (21:40-31:47) is an archival interview with Neal Coomer, co-performer of "It's Always You And Me" from the fifth generation of the anime. We talk about that song, as well as his thoughts on being a background vocalist for other singers, and even his video game work:
Links:
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
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:
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
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:
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.
Monday, September 6, 2021
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.
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