Editorial
-
Anime, Editorial, Game Music
Video Game Soundtrack Collectors on Facebook
Over the past couple of months I have not had much time to write articles here at OSV. Although I haven’t been writing about game music I have been engaged with many collectors of game music through a group on Facebook called Video Game Soundtrack Collectors. The group was created in November 2018, and has grown to over 160 members who have been sharing images of their video game music collections.
Included amongst the Facebook group are OSV alumni and members of The Materia Collective who are very passionate collectors. For me, being a member of this group has allowed me to discuss and share details of my favorite anime and game soundtracks with fellow enthusiasts. I’ve also helped others track down some items, and was at long last able to acquire a CD I’d been seeking for years with a help of a member living in Japan. You may recall I wrote about the album Passion released by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra in an article titled Lost in Time: The Chrono Cross Arranged Album. After posting about my desire to own this album, a group member located it and it’s now a treasured CD in my collection.
.Although I’m not a big fan of Facebook as a platform, I am a member of the group under an alias account. If you are a video game soundtrack collector, on CD, vinyl or have a love of game music I encourage you to check out this group. You can access the group as long as you have a Facebook account at the link below, you’ll be prompted with a couple questions prior to being granted access: What is your favorite game soundtrack, and what is your more sought after game soundtrack?
Facebook Group Link: Video Game Soundtrack Collectors
I hope to see you there. Are you a member of another soundtrack collectors group? Please tell us about it!
-
Anime, Editorial, Featured, Reviews
Wherein we discuss all things Scum’s Wish / Kuzu no Honkai (Review: OSTs and Singles)
Lewd. Tawdry. Filthy. Perverse. Smut.
For decades, those were the words that I associated with virtually all “hentai” Japanese animation and erotic games (eroge). They may have had better plots and production value than a cheesy American porno, but their express purpose was to titillate and turn on. That not only made me uncomfortable, it left me with a moral dilemma time after time; more often than not, I sided with team chaste over time libertine.
(And I won’t even begin to get into concepts like “fan service” or bouncing breasts “chichi yuri.” It’s all quite childish to me. This is not a judgment to any of you who are fans. It’s just where I stand.)
While I very much doubt that this is the first TV anime to break the mold, it is the first one to which I’ve been exposed. Which is to say, I finally found a piece of Japanese pop culture that took on the topics of sex and romantic relationships with some nuance and maturity. I found something I didn’t even know I wanted in Scum’s Wish.
Last year, Fuji TV aired the 12-episode anime adaptation of Mengo Yokoyari’s manga Kuzu no Honkai, which had the unfortunate translated title Scum’s Wish (note: this was not a decision on the part of localization; the title existed from the start in the Japanese manga). Amazon added the English-subtitled localization of the show to their premium channel “Anime Strike,” which is now-defunct, meaning anyone with an Amazon Prime account can now access the show without incurring any additional charge. I would implore you to do so, perhaps before reading the following reviews. We have a lot of ground to cover.
While I will be referencing concepts from the TV show, before continuing on to the music reviews, I cannot state enough how much this anime impacted me. It’s been almost a year, and generally, a week doesn’t go by that I don’t have some memory of the anime or some other reason to recall it. Recently, after (painstakingly) tracking down all the music for Scum’s Wish, I’ve had all the more reason to think on it. But this is not a review of the show itself. I would encourage readers, alongside watching the show, to brush up on the general concept and background of the show by browsing the associated Wikipedia page. The tl;dr — this is a show that is honest about sex, romance, unrequited love, and more. There is no explicit visual content. It is both painfully specific, and surprisingly universal, in scope.
A final note, before the jump: Kuzu no Honkai more accurately translates as follows: “Kuzu” is a term for trash, waste, something used up and discarded. “Honkai” translates to a long-cherished desire, a very deeply-held wish. Something to consider when watching the show, when listening to the OSTs and the singles: who is doing the judging of a human (self or other) as “kuzu” and why? And what are the “honkai”s that rest deep within each character, and within everyday people? Okay, enough existential thought. On to the music! (more…)
-
Editorial
Site News: Website Update & Design
Welcome back OSV readers to thew new Original Sound Version!
Okay, so the new OSV isn’t a super dramatic change from the old. We’ve done some redesign tweaks and updates to the overall layout. You’ll notice we’ve consolidated the main page and updated the menu on the page top, so we encourage your all to take a looky through that. The menu bar and search functions now cover a lot more categories and our “Features”, “Interviews” and “Reviews” have the most recent articles highlighted. In the side bar, you’ll now find that we have a brand new events feature, which we will update with any VGM, chiptune, game audio and other related events in calendar format which can easily be added to your Google, Outlook or Apple Calendars. (If you have any relevant events you think should be listed in the calendar, feel free to send us a tip on it.) There’s a lot of other tweaks made to the site so we encourage everyone to explore and check it out! (As well as let us know if you find anything weird.) There might be a few additional minor adjustments we make throughout the week, so don’t be alarmed! We just didn’t want to wait any longer to bring the site back up for everyone!
I want to extend an enormous thanks to Shawn for his work on helping with renovating a good majority of the heavier, code-intensive parts of the revamp. He managed to work some real magic with a lot of things that might have not been able to be done like we wanted and this wouldn’t have gotten done half as quickly or as nicely without his help.
As always, we will continue to shape OSV to be the best we can make it in order to benefit the VGM, chiptune, and multimedia audio communities. If you’d like to help contribute to OSV, either by writing/contributing content, by providing us with content to review, or just by clicking on some ads to help with our revenue, we’d greatly appreciate it.
Here’s to the improved OSV!
-
Editorial, Featured, Game Music
Original Soundcast Special – Castlevania (with VGMO)
October 31, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Original Soundcast Special – Castlevania (with VGMO) Share this
We have a special team-up between OSV and VGMO for the return of the podcast! (One that will likely continue moving forward.) To celebrate the Halloween season, I talk with their Oliver Jia and go into a complete nerd-out about all things Castlevania!
Special thanks to the VGMO crew for allowing me in on the podcast, and for their editing and mastering. You can check out the podcast notes here – VGMO Podcast Episode 6: Castlevania
You can also download the episode on their iTunes to listen on the go!
-
Editorial, Game Music
Game Soundtracks for Your Soul – Castlevania 30th Anniversary Edition
This past Monday was the 30th anniversary of Castlevania, a franchise that has been a cornerstone of video gaming for so many of us since our childhoods. On September 26th, 1986, Akumajo Dracula, or Demon Castle Dracula as it translates, was released for the Famicom Disk System in Japan, and the legendary feud between the Belmont clan and Count Dracula was born.
For me, Castlevania was not only an indulgence of my childhood love of vampire stories and movie monsters, but the music of the series became the baseline for which I rated so many game soundtracks through my life. Granted, I loved my Sonic the Hedgehog and Golden Axe as a Genesis kid, but the soundtracks from the Castlevania series stuck with me, and impacted a lot of how I perceived game music from childhood to adult hood. If I played it at 8 or 28, the series soundtracks are hands down my favorite of any game franchise.
Thus, in a bit of self-indulgence and as a tribute to 30 years of whip-cracking, wall meat-finding, vampire-slaying goodness, I’ve made a list of my favorite music from each game in Castlevania‘s lifetime; from the very first game all the way through to Lords of Shadow. (I’m omitting the Pachislot games as they’re basically all re-used music and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate since I never played it) Granted, OSV has covered the music of Castlevania several times before, but consider this a brief perusing through of the history of the franchise’s music in all its iterations.
Be ye warned; here there be fangirling.
-
Editorial, Music Production
Editorial: Propellerhead’s Rack Extensions Is No Friend Of Plugins
I’ve been using Reason ever since version 1.0 to make video game remixes. Reason has always been plagued with problems that its community has suffered through, accepting its flaws as features. I have always been a huge supporter of Reason but it’s only until recently that I have grown to dislike Reason 6.5 due to certain features offered in the latest software. I’m talking about Rack Extensions, which is essentially Propellerhead’s version of Plugins for Reason. It’s such a gamble to allow plugins after releasing 6 versions of Reason that I feel it’s only fair in critiquing them on their flaws surrounding Rack Extensions. For me, these flaws are so bad, I’d rather not use Rack Extensions. I’d like to go though some of these flaws, and offer some solutions to the problems in Rack Extensions.
More after the Jump.
Join Us Online Or Log in
Search
@OSVgamemusic Feed
Copyright © 2018 by Original Sound Version.
All rights reserved.