I bless the rains down in Kokiri
February 10, 2022 9:29 AM Subscribe
Africa, by Toto, played entirely on in-game instruments in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
Awesome!
posted by zengargoyle at 9:34 AM on February 10, 2022
posted by zengargoyle at 9:34 AM on February 10, 2022
Yeah, the fact that Nintendo packed what is a full synthesizer into the N3DS version of Majora's Mask is a bit mindblowing.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:35 AM on February 10, 2022
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:35 AM on February 10, 2022
How does the scale / pitch work so well?
If you watch the video, you'll see him using the left Control Stick/D-Pad as a pitch wheel.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:37 AM on February 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
If you watch the video, you'll see him using the left Control Stick/D-Pad as a pitch wheel.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:37 AM on February 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
It's not just a pitch wheel on the stick (that'd be very hard to control precisely), it's discrete buttons too. Mystery sorta solved: I found some info on Ocarina controls, also this discussion. "The Ocarina is in fact capable of playing all chromatic notes between the low B and high F", one and a half octaves. The control stick is a digital input, one of three positions (down/neutral/up). Also several of the buttons on the controller. There's a vibrato control on the stick as well (left/right). It's complicated!
Here's an older performance from seven years ago but it's just a single instrument.
posted by Nelson at 9:45 AM on February 10, 2022 [3 favorites]
Here's an older performance from seven years ago but it's just a single instrument.
posted by Nelson at 9:45 AM on February 10, 2022 [3 favorites]
I'm so fond of those sounds. I loved how the game let you play as a character from the three other races, each with their own great traversal mechanic. Giving each one their own instrument to play was such a delightful detail.
posted by straight at 1:06 PM on February 10, 2022
posted by straight at 1:06 PM on February 10, 2022
Not bad! I'm guessing the verses had to pitch up because it was already starting at the lowest note for that instrument?
posted by rhizome at 1:47 PM on February 10, 2022
posted by rhizome at 1:47 PM on February 10, 2022
Can someone please explain to this humble olde (who utterly abhors both this song and band) why is Africa such a thing? Is it just a dive into the deep end of the irony pool? I really don’t get it.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:44 PM on February 10, 2022
posted by Thorzdad at 2:44 PM on February 10, 2022
Yeah, the fact that Nintendo packed what is a full synthesizer into the N3DS version of Majora's Mask is a bit mindblowing.
You can play literally any song on it. It's Tuning complete.
(All kidding aside, this is an amazing piece of work and makes me absurdly happy.)
posted by The Bellman at 2:54 PM on February 10, 2022 [14 favorites]
You can play literally any song on it. It's Tuning complete.
(All kidding aside, this is an amazing piece of work and makes me absurdly happy.)
posted by The Bellman at 2:54 PM on February 10, 2022 [14 favorites]
Can someone please explain to this humble olde (who utterly abhors both this song and band) why is Africa such a thing? Is it just a dive into the deep end of the irony pool? I really don’t get it.
Despite being balls-out corny and lyrically genuinely stupid, it's a banger. Also probably a little bit of irony and/or nostalgia at play. It's a genuinely solid fuckin' pop song, and it's got some weird time signature bullshit going on and a keychange for the chorus and honestly it's just fun to do that big dramatic swoop up for the chorus if it's on the radio in the car. Don't overthink it.
posted by cortex at 3:08 PM on February 10, 2022 [15 favorites]
Despite being balls-out corny and lyrically genuinely stupid, it's a banger. Also probably a little bit of irony and/or nostalgia at play. It's a genuinely solid fuckin' pop song, and it's got some weird time signature bullshit going on and a keychange for the chorus and honestly it's just fun to do that big dramatic swoop up for the chorus if it's on the radio in the car. Don't overthink it.
posted by cortex at 3:08 PM on February 10, 2022 [15 favorites]
It's a genuinely solid fuckin' pop song...
Huh. Different strokes, I guess. It would never even crack the top 500 of a list of solid pop songs I might care to make. Weird. Rock on, though!
posted by Thorzdad at 3:23 PM on February 10, 2022
Huh. Different strokes, I guess. It would never even crack the top 500 of a list of solid pop songs I might care to make. Weird. Rock on, though!
posted by Thorzdad at 3:23 PM on February 10, 2022
(I have a Spotify playlist w/ 2 hours of 'Africa' covers. Memail me if you'd like the link.)
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 3:50 PM on February 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 3:50 PM on February 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
(Oh, and this is a totally awesome version! Thanks for sharing it!)
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 3:51 PM on February 10, 2022
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 3:51 PM on February 10, 2022
Toto is/was a higher voltage version of Steely Dan; both groups of extraordinarily talented session musicians coming together to make virtuosic pop music. I have deep respect for all the work both bands did, even though I've heard their catalogues so many times through it's essentially burned into my brain. Africa has a chorus it's really fun to belt, the bass line is bouncy and driving, and there's a lot of little musical surprises that just makes it fun to listen to.
posted by seanmpuckett at 3:59 PM on February 10, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 3:59 PM on February 10, 2022 [4 favorites]
Toto, as a band, never could quite gel as a pop power, yet each member could punch above their weight individually . . .
Steve Porcaro was a pioneer in synths in the 70s LA music scene, his brother Jeff was a solid -- first call -- session drummer, Lukather similarly a solid session lead guitarist, while Paich could serve as songwriter and bandleader.
They had the studio chops, yet lacked the je ne sais quoi of the more successful acts. I guess one hint on the nature of their success is they were much bigger in Europe, where their songwriting could take a back seat to the music.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 4:06 PM on February 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
Steve Porcaro was a pioneer in synths in the 70s LA music scene, his brother Jeff was a solid -- first call -- session drummer, Lukather similarly a solid session lead guitarist, while Paich could serve as songwriter and bandleader.
They had the studio chops, yet lacked the je ne sais quoi of the more successful acts. I guess one hint on the nature of their success is they were much bigger in Europe, where their songwriting could take a back seat to the music.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 4:06 PM on February 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
Can someone please explain to this humble olde (who utterly abhors both this song and band) why is Africa such a thing? Is it just a dive into the deep end of the irony pool? I really don’t get it.
1. The lyrics are both memorable and excessively generic, to the point where it's a little hard to make out what it's about beyond "is love song"
2. It's got a lot of interesting textures and tones to it—leaving aside just rhythm and melody, its synthy bits are doing something more interesting than just "disco/techno" (as far as pop goes, I mean)
3. Lots of tempting little instrumental stings all over, coming from every performer (down to the drum fill before the chorus)
4. It's just the right amount of culturally questionable (enough that it's kinda fun to make fun of the "Africa"-ness, versus the egregiousness of, say, "Turning Japanese"
5. Toto is insanely technically proficient and wrote a solid-ass song, which gives its cheese appeal some longevity
6. It's just off-kilter enough that, despite its being an extremely catchy song, it rarely gets overused to the point of burning people out on it
Some pop songs are "crystalize a theme and do so with fierce and recognizable emotion." Some pop songs are the pop songs that you play for a specific mood, whether it's pump-up or break-up. "Africa", though, is not a song for a specific idea or mood—it is a mood. The mood is "listening to 'Africa', by Toto." It cannot be reduced to a simpler thing than that. You don't play it to feel a specific emotion, you play it to feel Emotion: feeling-as-symbol, catharsis except that nothing is released except the idea of release. And now enough people grew up after the 80s that the original irritation/dread people felt at the song is long since gone, similar to how MMMbop by Hansen is going to come back in a big way.
posted by rorgy at 4:08 PM on February 10, 2022 [15 favorites]
1. The lyrics are both memorable and excessively generic, to the point where it's a little hard to make out what it's about beyond "is love song"
2. It's got a lot of interesting textures and tones to it—leaving aside just rhythm and melody, its synthy bits are doing something more interesting than just "disco/techno" (as far as pop goes, I mean)
3. Lots of tempting little instrumental stings all over, coming from every performer (down to the drum fill before the chorus)
4. It's just the right amount of culturally questionable (enough that it's kinda fun to make fun of the "Africa"-ness, versus the egregiousness of, say, "Turning Japanese"
5. Toto is insanely technically proficient and wrote a solid-ass song, which gives its cheese appeal some longevity
6. It's just off-kilter enough that, despite its being an extremely catchy song, it rarely gets overused to the point of burning people out on it
Some pop songs are "crystalize a theme and do so with fierce and recognizable emotion." Some pop songs are the pop songs that you play for a specific mood, whether it's pump-up or break-up. "Africa", though, is not a song for a specific idea or mood—it is a mood. The mood is "listening to 'Africa', by Toto." It cannot be reduced to a simpler thing than that. You don't play it to feel a specific emotion, you play it to feel Emotion: feeling-as-symbol, catharsis except that nothing is released except the idea of release. And now enough people grew up after the 80s that the original irritation/dread people felt at the song is long since gone, similar to how MMMbop by Hansen is going to come back in a big way.
posted by rorgy at 4:08 PM on February 10, 2022 [15 favorites]
I hate this song, for many reasons, but I am grateful for the perspectives so many people are sharing. You learn something new every day.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 4:33 PM on February 10, 2022
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 4:33 PM on February 10, 2022
Really Toto IV is a remarkably strong album. It sort of won all the awards for 1982, the year it came out. The other big song from that album is Rosanna, which I'm sure you also know.
posted by hippybear at 5:55 PM on February 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 5:55 PM on February 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
Yeah, the fact that Nintendo packed what is a full synthesizer into the N3DS version of Majora's Mask is a bit mindblowing.
In the late 90s, they put a simple (yet reasonably capable) synthesizer with the Game Boy Camera...
Game Boy
Camera
They've been at this for while :)
posted by JoeXIII007 at 6:03 PM on February 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
In the late 90s, they put a simple (yet reasonably capable) synthesizer with the Game Boy Camera...
Game Boy
Camera
They've been at this for while :)
posted by JoeXIII007 at 6:03 PM on February 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
It's a genuinely solid fuckin' pop song
I feel like the verse part like almost wrecks it. It's just a little too bland one line too long, and it's funny that the OP cover fixes that. The real song starts to feel like a dud but then "hurry boy it's waiting there for you" turns it into stupid magic somehow. That little dose of suckage makes it work better. Like there's a lot of stadium rock with better buildups (Don't Stop Believin isn't going to let you get bored) but very few songs that create that feeling of wanting to raise both fists in the air and sing like an idiot quite the same way.
posted by fleacircus at 7:55 PM on February 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
I feel like the verse part like almost wrecks it. It's just a little too bland one line too long, and it's funny that the OP cover fixes that. The real song starts to feel like a dud but then "hurry boy it's waiting there for you" turns it into stupid magic somehow. That little dose of suckage makes it work better. Like there's a lot of stadium rock with better buildups (Don't Stop Believin isn't going to let you get bored) but very few songs that create that feeling of wanting to raise both fists in the air and sing like an idiot quite the same way.
posted by fleacircus at 7:55 PM on February 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
The song is all about the orchestration and arrangement for me. I DESPISE Weezer's version for flattening the chorus to sort-of-two voices, just burying the high-line vocal (not to mention removing the bend on "rains") in the chorus, which is the line that suspends the entire melody, and thus they basically shave the eyebrows off the entire song for me. Plus they act like dickheads in the video, but that's just a general criticism of the band.
The real song starts to feel like a dud but then "hurry boy it's waiting there for you" turns it into stupid magic somehow.
It's perfect. A flat soliloquy shifts into a 4-part harmony, it's the truck-driver key change on steroids and acid!
posted by rhizome at 9:44 PM on February 10, 2022 [5 favorites]
The real song starts to feel like a dud but then "hurry boy it's waiting there for you" turns it into stupid magic somehow.
It's perfect. A flat soliloquy shifts into a 4-part harmony, it's the truck-driver key change on steroids and acid!
posted by rhizome at 9:44 PM on February 10, 2022 [5 favorites]
I swear in that video you can hear the librarian(?)'s papers hit the desk at ~1:48 it doesn't sound like a bongo pat I think my brain is melting.
posted by fleacircus at 10:22 PM on February 10, 2022
posted by fleacircus at 10:22 PM on February 10, 2022
Thorzdad, try : Understanding Toto's Africa. (12tone the YouTuber is awesome fun)
Same for any others who don't know 12tone and overthinking songs....
posted by zengargoyle at 3:08 AM on February 11, 2022
Same for any others who don't know 12tone and overthinking songs....
posted by zengargoyle at 3:08 AM on February 11, 2022
↑
It's barely 8:30 in the morning but I'm pretty sure "shave the eyebrows off the entire song" will be the funniest thing I read all day. Also, I'd heard part of Weezer's cover before but I don't think I had listened to it long enough to get to that part, and... I really can't think of a better way to describe it than that.
posted by zztzed at 5:29 AM on February 11, 2022 [3 favorites]
they basically shave the eyebrows off the entire song for me
It's barely 8:30 in the morning but I'm pretty sure "shave the eyebrows off the entire song" will be the funniest thing I read all day. Also, I'd heard part of Weezer's cover before but I don't think I had listened to it long enough to get to that part, and... I really can't think of a better way to describe it than that.
posted by zztzed at 5:29 AM on February 11, 2022 [3 favorites]
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posted by Nelson at 9:34 AM on February 10, 2022