Thanks so much to anyone who has supported this project thus far by listening on YouTube, giving a like, a subscription, a nice comment, a share, etc. etc. This collection features "Freebee Honey" which isn't available on my YouTube page! This is it's debut! Right here! Give it a listen!
released December 1, 2022
All performance, recording, mixing, etc. by Josh Elstro (AKA CarlsManager)
This is the last song by The Pillows I intend to cover and make a video for. It’s my final love letter to a band that got me through late adolescence as well as middling adulthood in the same place at very different times in my life. I tried to showcase that in the video. Sorry there’s no cool FLCL anime clips. Hope everyone enjoys anyway!
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!!! IT’S PLUG TIME!!
ONE MORE SONG that won’t be released here on YouTube for starters! I’m trying to get the secret bonus song, as well as the rest, on streaming services and or BandCamp. I'll update these notes and the video when that happens. In the meantime, I’ve launched a Patreon where all the songs (including the bonus song) will be available first, followed by more bonus content. Watch to the end for details. That'll also tell you about my new podcast, My Sister, Evangelion, and Me, in which we (my sister and I) watch all of Evangelion, reviewing and critiquing along the way. It’s a way to experience the show kind of as a book club welcoming to total anime newbs and returning fans alike! Sorry for the massive amount of plugging. Streaming and/or BandCamp links coming soon!
I’m reaching the final stretch of songs I have planned for this series of English translations of songs by the Pillows from FLCL. You have to do this one, right? RIGHT?! Since it had a lot less to translate than the others I decided to go a little extra on the video production which took an extra month or so longer than necessary to get done and published. The end result is that I finally made the thing I wish I’d made when I was 22 but lacked the skills and resources. (Granted, it’s still all shot with an iPhone 11 and plain old overhead lighting. Would anyone like to donate to a “get me some nicer gear” fund so I can really get on my Bo Burnham shit?)
I always loved this hook since I first saw FLCL at 18 years old. But I especially liked tweaking the line “Their days are numbered, counting down.” Revisiting the song after all these years I’m letting myself get a little more emotionally involved in it than necessary. As I worked on it amidst all of uhhh… this chaos, I made it a sort of personal mantra and battle cry against the gerontocracy refusing to do anything to stop the planet from being uninhabitable for the younger generations. One of the themes of FLCL is questioning the seeming absurdity of adults and authority when you’re coming of age. Turns out as you get older, those early suspicions were right.
Anyway, I have one left in the chamber to produce. I feel like it’s also an obvious choice. Shoutout in the comments if you know…
All performance, recording, mixing, mastering, video production and editing by CarlsManager
If you like my work and have any production needs visit: elstroproduction.com
Original song and arrangement by The Pillows
ITS THE CLIMAX! The most requested Pillows song for me to cover on YouTube and Reddit! This one was a bit odd to produce since I like to match as close as possible to their original production and the quality of the original recording is uhhhh... Not great by 2022 standards. (Google "Loudness Wars" if you want to get nerdy about this.) It can honestly be a little grating to listen to, but that's also kind of the nature of the song itself. It grabs you on the first beat and doesn't let go except a tiny bit in the half time sections. Its exactly what makes it so great for the frenetic pacing of FLCL. Lyrically, it's pretty close to translations I found on the web. As always though, I took some artistic license here and there for both the sake of English cadence and rhythm and infusing a bit of my own personal feelings into it. But like I said, the overall theme of the lyrics is about the same: a sense of "burn it all down", destructive nihilism in the face of hopelessness... which uhhh, really changed the vibe of the song for me when I started sifting through translations. Always thought it was the complete opposite based on the uplifting C-Major bounce of the music and how its used in FLCL. But perhaps a great anthem for us Millenials and Gen Z! Also, I got to make a William Gibson reference without bending the original lyrics much at all. Shout out in the comments if you can spot it.
A commissioned video editing project for Hostos Community College in Bronx, NY. It was really a privilege to collaborate with a colleague who did an excellent job selecting clips from hours of interviews with the schools stakeholders, students, teachers, and alumni to tell it’s rich history in such a short time frame.