Jet Set Radio Future: Soundtrack

Music Listings:

1. Humming the Bassline (D.S. Remix) – Hideki Naganuma
2. Aisle 10 (Hello Allison) – Scapegoat Wax
3. The Answer (The Latch Brothers Remix) – Bran Van 3000
4. Baby-T – Guitar Vader
5. Birthday Cake – Cibo Matto
6. Bokfresh – Richard Jacques
7. Latch Brother Bounce – The Latch Brothers
8. Fly Like a Butterfly – Hideki Naganuma
9. The Concept of Love - Hideki Naganuma
10. Funky Dealer – Hideki Naganuma
11. Shape Da Future – Hideki Naganuma
12. Statement of Intent – bis
13. Koto Stomp – The Latch Brothers
14. Count Latchula – The Latch Brothers
15. Let Mom Sleep (No Sleep Remix) – Hideki Naganuma, remixed by Richard Jacques
16. I Love Love You (Love Love Super Dimension Mix) – Guitar Vader
17. Rockin' The Mic (The Latch Brothers Remix) – The Prunes
18. I'm Not A Model – Russell Simins
19. Oldies but Happies – Hideki Naganuma
20. Me Likey the Poom Poom – The Latch Brothers
21. Rock It On (D.S. Mix) – Hideki Naganuma
22. The Scrappy (The Latch Bros Remix) – BS 2000
23. Sneakman (Toronto Mix) – Hideki Naganuma
24. Ill Victory Beat – The Latch Brothers
25. What About the Future – Richard Jacques
26. Teknopathetic – Hideki Naganuma
27. Like It Like This Like That – Hideki Naganuma
28. Sweet Soul Brother (B.B. Rights Mix) - Hideki Naganuma
29. That's Enough (B.B. Rights Mix) – Hideki Naganuma
30. Grace and Glory (B.B. Rights Mix) – Hideki Naganuma
    

Analysis

Starting with the order, given this is a soundtrack for a cult classic videogame this soundtrack is partially listed in order to best compliment surroundings where it will appear but is also intentionally styled like radio line up or mixed tape. Starting with fairly generic songs it surges outward into the strange and unusual items outside the mainstream, from electronic alternative music, to rock, rap, punk, and even pop. In addition like a DJ taking requests or a mix tape of songs it's tone shifts wildly yet it still seems to flow by some unseen connection that stitches the patchwork of genres and styles together into a cohesive whole, in context this makes a lot of sense given the music is supposedly coming from an underground radio station including song transitions and mixes at the end and beginning of each song.

From a thematic standpoint however there is a great amount of connection between the songs mainly non-conformity, dissatisfaction with the world as it is, and resistance of authority. Given much of this music is Japanese in origin and is set in Japan this would have been a very serious standpoint outside the norm when this was released. Japan up until recently had a very conformist and duty/tradition centered culture making this soundtrack distilled dissidence for the youth combined with a focus on skatters (frowned upon) and graffiti (illegal) it shows a very strong tie to the nonconformist ideals of rejecting the past in favor of the future hence the title.

Finally we get to the feel of the album, call it aesthetic sense or whatever fancy name you choose but the most important thing about a song or an album is how it feels to the listener. Personally this album takes me through the range from angry, excited, flamboyant, and cheery to mildly depressive, unhappy, weirded out, and confused. This is an amazing range for any one album to invoke in a listener and though some of my feelings like depressive or unhappy have negative connotations attached to them it is good to feel that way from a song, look at sad songs like “every rose has its thorns” and you'll see that everyone likes to feel the negative feelings sometimes just like the positives. Summed up this is a genuinely special album that's worth listening to and the only unsatisfactory part is that some of the songs from the original list haven't been included on any disk release.