by: Wulfy 
Dear readers,
Today, lights on « J.D.K. BAND », the famous group of the famous Japanese publishing and video game development company, I have named: « Nihon Falcom » (or « Falcom » Quite simply).
In the 1980s, the emergence of J-RPG began with the triptych formed by Falcom (Ys), Square (Final Fantasy) and Enix (Dragon Quest). At that time, despite the limited capabilities of the game consoles, Falcom attached great importance to the musical composition of its productions. The firm then appealed to composers « 8-bit » (chiptune) like Yuzo Koshiro, who is now one of the most illustrious composers of RPG music on the same track as Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy) and Koichi Sugiyama (Dragon Quest).
Precursor in the music video field, Falcom will be the first game editor to integrate lyrics. They will also be the first to produce OST CDs of their games and to have their own team of professional musicians: « Falcom Sound Team jdk », of which Yuzo Koshiro was one of the founders.
J.D.K. BAND and Falcom Sound Team jdk? What difference?
To avoid a fairly frequent confusion, let us be clear from the start. Names « Falcom Sound Team jdk » and « J.D.K. BAND » refer to two distinct groups. The first is Falcom's sound team in charge of the musical composition of all the games, while the second is the firm's internal rock band.
Although members of the J.D.K. BAND have been able to make composition in the past, their role is mainly to perform the arranged versions of music produced by the Falcom Sound Team jdk. Occasionally, this results in live performances and live album releases to promote Falcom's musical compositions.
For history, the J.D.K. BAND is at the base a Hard Rock / Heavy Metal oriented band, founded in 1990. A decade later, the group dissolved and then reorganized in August 2007 with the arrival of new members. To mark this rebirth, « J.D.K. BAND » becomes « jdk BAND » (Yes yes, without the dots and tiny ones, one would almost feel the difference at the oral!).
Today, the Jdk BAND mainly features a J-Rock musical style. However, the introduction of the violin into the composition of the band (two guitars, a bass, a drums, a piano and possibly one or two singers) allows the band to orient itself towards various styles such as Folk or Classical Sound.
From left to right: Icarus Watanabe (sing), Kanako Kotera (sing), Mizuki Mizutani (violin), Masaru Teramae (guitar), Terukazu Inoue (guitar), Noriyuki Kamikura (piano), Atsushi Enomoto (bass), Toshiharu Okajima (battery)
Since its re-formation, the composition of the band has evolved, but the quality of the arrangements and the interpretation of the music have remained intact. Series « Ys » and « The Legend of Heroes » certainly would not have had the same success without the soundtrack of the Falcom Sound Team jdk. Indeed, fans of these series agree that their music is among the best ever made and that the derived arrangements are just as grand.
For the moment, Falcom can really boast of having a genius musical staff. I hope it lasts a long, long time... And to finish in beauty, I suggest you click Here to make you discover now the universe of Jdk BAND!
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And here's a video of the latest concert of the new band, the jdk BAND, shot in 2015. Personally, I have a little preference for the old group!