We told you about this album a couple of months ago, and after hearing it, I’m still confused as to how this album came into existence. Who would have thought it possible to feature the music of Final Fantasy, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, and Edward William Elgar all on one disc? Sounds like some sort of cosmic accident, but I guess that’s the purpose.
For those who are unaware, Cellythm is a cello quartet made up of three beautiful ladies and one… lad, we’ll say. And if the list of artists featured on the album doesn’t sound strange enough to you, the arrangements of the Final Fantasy material are based on The Black Mages’ arrangements of the original source material… and now I’m confused.
Try not to get your brain all distorted in our review of Cellythm’s Those Who Distorted after the jump. (more…)
The Gregory Brothers are some of YouTube’s newest celebrities. They started out humbly on the ‘net, doing “Debate in Song and Dance” videos for the 2008 presidential race. They’ve since expanded to general news (though mostly political news, still) with their “Auto-Tune the News” series, which is taking the ‘net by storm.
We know it’s not game or anime music. But if this isn’t “nerd” music, we don’t know what is.
In our interview with them, we ask about their work as a “family” band, the Angry Gorilla character, their take on politics, their music, and a whole lot of random, hilarious stuff. These guys (plus one girl) are some of the most interesting people we’ve ever interviewed, and they’re definitely what we would consider a “rising star” in the world of internet celebrities. Fortunately for them, they’re making their way through actual talent, rather than silly memes and viral trends.
After the jump, our exclusive interview with The Gregory Brothers (and lots and lots of embedded YouTube).
Michael Bross is a composer and music producer who broke into the world of VGM when he got the job for two different Oddworld projects: Munch’s Oddysee and Stranger’s Wrath (the latter being a personal favorite of mine). On July 14th, his new solo album Subway Meditations will be released for both physical and digital distribution via Bross’ own “Deep Lever” record label.
If you’re ready for some experimental, minimalist, ambient electronica, you’ll want to read further: after the jump. (more…)
Religiously-motivated company Digital Praise is in the business of cloning popular rhythm games, adding Contemporary Christian Music (henceforth referred to as CCM), and releasing these products exclusively for the PC at a premium price.
Today, we take a look at Dance Praise 2: The ReMix. Note the misnomer; none of the music in the game is remixed. Licensed music from the CCM industry is what you’ll find, and entirely unchallenging DDR-style gameplay is, sadly, all the game has to offer.
I had the pleasure of meeting Christopher Lennertz at the Golden State Pops Orchestra game music concert a couple months ago, and was able to find out what he had been working on lately. One of those titles was The Godfather II videogame. While we all know that games licensed from major films are usually crap, the Godfather series has actually received positive marks in the past, so I was curious to hear what Lennertz would do with the music in the game.
I can tell you that while there’s not a whole lot of it (about 20 minutes in all), it’s quite good. Of course it references Nino Rota’s “The Godfather Theme” from the films, as you’d expect, but the combination of gritty basslines, classy orchestral elements, and smooth brass sections really hit the spot for me.
Is it worth you time? Read our review of The Godfather II soundtrack after the jump. (more…)
Takenobu Mitsuyoshi has been for almost 20 years now as one of SEGA’s most prolific and hardest working composers. He had his start in SEGA SOUND TEAM and its SST Band, and went on to compose music for many of SEGA’s most memorable arcade games. Possibly my most famous of these are DAYTONA USA, where Mitsuyoshi first came into video game fame for his catchy English vocals and fast tempo music. While this is by far his most famous work, he has been part of many other soundtracks of great fame, such as Shenmue, Space Channel 5 and Burning Rangers.
Now, he has released his second vocal collection CD, From Loud 2 Low Too, featuring his most famous vocal work in game music. Mitsuyoshi was generous enough to take the time to discuss his latest CD with us, so check out what he has to say.
From Loud 2 Low may not be a very familiar name to many game music fans, but for Takenobu Mitsuyoshi fans, it is basically the holy grail of his CD releases. From Loud 2 Low was released in November of 2003, and was only released in a very limited number via SEGADirect, Sega’s Japan-only web shop. Because of these circumstances, the album was very obscure and hard to get, and importers had to resort to middleman services in order to get it.
From Loud 2 Low is a collection of Mitsuyoshi’s best works in game music, and contains the main themes for many well-known games such as DAYTONA USA, Shenmue, Virtua Fighter 2 and Burning Rangers. It is a blend of vocal and instrumental works; also, it contains 2 all new originals, “Night in H.A.P.” and “I feel so good…” The CD does a brilliant job showcasing Mitsuyoshi’s talents as a vocalist as well as a composer, and for fans who only are familiar with his work on DAYTONA USA, this is a real eye opener to his actual skills.
Now, six years later, Mitsuyoshi announced he would release From Loud 2 Low Too, a follow-up of his collected works. As more details unfolded, it was revealed to be a two disc release, with the first From Loud 2 Low (excluding a few instrumental tracks) on the first disc. The second CD is a collection of ballads, again revealing a rather underrated side of Mitsuyoshi’s talent.
After the jump, our full review of From Loud 2 Low Too. (more…)
