Album

Chip Music

Fill Up on RPG-Inspired Chiptunes & Electronic Music with Shadow Spirits Vol.1

April 18, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Fill Up on RPG-Inspired Chiptunes & Electronic Music with Shadow Spirits Vol.1 Share this

It’s always interesting when you see big names break into the VGM and chiptune music scene. Cody Carpenter, musician and son of legendary director and composer John Carpenter, along with game composer Mark Day (Diner Dash, Aqua Kitty) have done just that and released an album of RPG-inspired chiptune/electronic hybrid music titles Shadow Spirits Vol.1.

Carpenter has experience in the music world all his own, having not only co-wrote, co-produced, and performed on the acclaimed Lost Themes (2015) and Lost Themes II (2016) with his father and Daniel Davies, but also released five instrumental progressive rock albums and one synthwave vocal album exclusively on Bandcamp. 2018 saw the release of Cody’s first non-Bandcamp exclusive album entitled “Cody Carpenter’s Interdependence”. Now, he’s delved into the realm of chiptunes.

“I wrote the original versions of these tracks exclusively with the NES chipset. I then passed it over to Mark to arrange into the finished product. We were both inspired by classic game music, with myself also taking a lot of inspiration from the work of Vince DiCola.” – Cody Carpenter, Musician & Co-producer

The album features 14 tracks of original chiptune & electronic music, which lend themselves to the nostalgic themes of the 80s and 90s RPG classics and could easily be slid into any retro-style game and sound inspired.

<a href="http://scarletmoonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-spirits-vol-1">Shadow Spirits Vol. 1 by Cody Carpenter & Mark Day</a>

“Initially we were going to do a 4 track EP. But the tracks came out so well we decided a full album would be better. I suggested a classic RPG concept as I love the music of Nobuo Uematsu and Hiroki Kikuta and had recently played Final Fantasy VII. I arranged Cody’s pieces along with the pieces I had written using the Commodore SID chip for most sounds and a little Juno 106 here and there for warmth.” – Mark Day, Arranger & Co-producer

Shadow Spirits Vol.1 is currently available for pre-order on Bandcamp for $10 and will be releasing in full on April 24th.
Doujin, Game Music

German Remix Group Release a Tribute to Chris Huelsbeck’s Game Music Legacy

March 5, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on German Remix Group Release a Tribute to Chris Huelsbeck’s Game Music Legacy Share this

In celebration of game composer Chis Huelsbeck’s 50th birthday on March 2nd, the artists known as the German Remix Group have put together a tribute album paying homage to the music Huelsbeck has created for games in the past 25 years.

Literally titled A Tribute to Chris Huelsbeck, the album features 19 tracks of remixes and covers of the composers work across several games he’s worked on, including Turrican, Turrican 2, The Great Giana Sisters, Jim Power and more. It even includes SID medley, which Huelsbeck created a slew of from the Commodore 64.

<a href="http://chrishuelsbeck.bandcamp.com/album/a-tribute-to-chris-h-lsbeck">a Tribute to Chris Hülsbeck by Chris Huelsbeck, German Remix Group</a>

<a href="http://chrishuelsbeck.bandcamp.com/album/a-tribute-to-chris-h-lsbeck">a Tribute to Chris Hülsbeck by Chris Huelsbeck, German Remix Group</a>

A Tribute to Chris Huelsbeck is currently available on Bandcamp for digital purchase at the Name-Your-Price tier and a proper nod to the history of an amazing composer.
Indie Music, Miscellaneous

Legend of Zelda Inspired Band Master Sword Release Album “Shadow and Steel”

December 9, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | 1 Comment Share this

If you’ve never heard of the video game-inspired band Master Sword, then let me take a brief moment to educate you. Hailing from Washington, DC and taking their name from The Legend of Zelda and their music subsequently inspired by the series itself, this five-piece American progressive power metal band celebrates both the series and gaming in general with a hard rock edge. Coming into their own in the VGM community music scene and who recently performed at MAGFest Labs and BitGen, Master Sword released two singles earlier this year and and EP Epoch in 2015 and now are revving up to release their first full-length album.

Shadow and Steel was originally conceived as a Kickstarter campaign which made it’s goal, and the band got to work making good on their visions.

Shadow and Steel is Master Sword’s long awaited full-length album, featuring 10 songs inspired by Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda series. Hear your favorite game melodies played in a completely new way, with screaming guitars, pounding bass, expressive keyboards, innovative drumming and the siren vocals of Lily Hoy serenading you with the lost stories of Hyrule.

<a href="http://masterswordband.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-and-steel">Shadow and Steel by Master Sword</a>

You can preview the album above for a taste of the band’s style, as well as check out their MAGFest sets for live performances of tracks from the album. Shadow and Steel is currently available for pre-order on the band’s Bandcamp page in both digital and CD formats. You can also stream their other music on Soundcloud.
Doujin, Game Music

Get Your RPG Flashback with Breath of Fire III Remastered Tracks

October 3, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Get Your RPG Flashback with Breath of Fire III Remastered Tracks Share this

Materia Collective and arranger Sean Schafianski are bringing the RPG nostalgia with the release of Breath of Fire III (Remastered Tracks), which gives tribute to the Playstation-era game composed by Yoshino Aoki and Akari Kaida.

Breath of Fire III (Remastered Tracks) includes several battle themes, from the playful “Fight!” to the epic finale titled “Self-Determination,” alongside the serene “Cedar Woods,” the jazzy overworld “To a Distant Place,” which features composer Wilbert Roget II on woodwinds, and the track “Pure Again.”

As with many of my previous remastered albums, I strive to keep the essence of the original tracks while adding a bit of flair. For this album, I went a little bit further with creative liberties, but not too far. A flute solo here, change of texture there, and so on. It was an honor and a privilege to work with fellow Materia Collective musicians, and a couple artists I had never worked with before! This album holds a very special place in my heart, as it is one of the first PlayStation RPGs that I played as a child, and the jazzy, upbeat soundtrack stuck with me ever since. I hope that listeners will feel the same energy, joy, and nostalgia that I did while revisiting this amazing soundtrack. – Sean Schafianski, album producer & arranger

<a href="http://seanschafianski.bandcamp.com/album/breath-of-fire-iii-remastered-tracks">Breath of Fire III (Remastered Tracks) by Sean Schafianski</a>

The album is currently available on Bandcamp, iTunes and streaming on Spotify. You can learn more about the album including track credits on the Materia Collective website.
Doujin, Game Music

EarthBound Gets Psychokinetic Remix Albums by The Bad Dudes

April 27, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on EarthBound Gets Psychokinetic Remix Albums by The Bad Dudes Share this

A remix album paying tribute to Nintendo’s MOTHER series titled “Psychokinetic” has been released by video game cover band Bad Dudes. Originally a part of the “You Are Now EarthBound” Kickstarter campaign run by Fangamer in 2014, the album is now available separately for the first time.

“Fangamer’s Kickstarter aimed to deliver the ultimate EarthBound fan’s dream package – a guidebook for the game, a documentary about the effects of EarthBound in the United States, a fan zine, lots of collectible knick-knacks, and our album.

Backer Emile Rosales challenged me by requesting two pieces of short, ambient music from EarthBound to arrange: ‘Crossing Space and Time’ and ‘The Place.’ I drew from my experience playing the game and applying my senses of both wonder and terror as you learn the true nature of this cave and what it means for your party.” – Mustin, Bad Dudes Founder

<a href="http://baddudes.bandcamp.com/album/psychokinetic-i">Psychokinetic I by Bad Dudes</a>

Separate of the Kickstarter campaign, a limited number of physical copies produced for the campaign are still available, housing both Part 1 and Part 2 of the digital collection in a sleek DVD case alongside a booklet containing credits and track commentary, along with digital copies of the albums available on several digital outlets.

You can purchase the physical copies of the Psychokinetic double album on the Mustin Enterprises website, with Part 1 and Part 2 being available on both Bandcamp and Spotify.
Doujin, Game Music

EDM Meets A Capella in Smooth McGroove Remixed Vol.2

January 20, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on EDM Meets A Capella in Smooth McGroove Remixed Vol.2 Share this

In terms of mashups between musical genres and styles, I can safely say combining EDM and A Capella was never one I thought about before. However, Youtube VGM vocal star Smooth McGroove teamed up with the people at GameChops and decided “Why the heck not?”. Thus, we have Smooth McGroove Remixed Volume 2.

Remixed by music producers like A_rival, Dj CUTMAN, Grimecraft, and James Landino., the album features licensed EDM remixes of classic videogame music from Super Mario 64, Undertale, Pokemon, Mega Man and many more based on the the a capella talents of Mr. McGroove. The album is available now for purchase on ITunes and Google play, on Spotify for your listening pleasure, or you can just watch the neat music videos like the one above.

I can safely say that an a capella of Castlevania‘s “Vampire Killer” remixed into a danceable electronic music was never something I asked for, but I’m appreciative at the quality put into the production of such a chimera of VGM and can say I give such an effort a thumbs up.
Events, Game Music, Indie Music

The Runaway Four Announce First Studio Album for January 20th

January 13, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on The Runaway Four Announce First Studio Album for January 20th Share this

Coming off of Patient Corgi’s mega collaboration, Tribute Album 64, Vancouver’s video game medley band, The Runaway Four, have announced the release of their first studio album on January 20th. Titled Chaos Theatre the 45 minute album offers five tracks of themed medleys with tunes from 31 different games mingling and mixing together.

In the opening track “This Game is Baroquen”, you’ll hear Final Fantasy, ActRaiser, Super Mario RPG, Columns and Katamari beautifully intertwined and played in a classical baroque style. The next three medleys are themed around the video game tropes of Ice Worlds, Fire Worlds and Battle Themes.

In “Borreal Bedlam” Earthbound flows into Donkey Kong Country into Kirby’s Dream Course among 8 other themes. On “Magma Mayhem” you’ll hear Diddy Kong Racing mingle into Super Mario RPG and charge into “Hot Damned” from Super Meat Boy. “Battle Royale” is a 17-minute track that melds 15 different battle themes from games including Chrono Cross, Bahamut Lagoon, Kirby Super Star, Pokemon R/B/Y and even Mega Man. Finally, there’s “Your Sanctuary”, a medley of themes from Earthbound which the band describes as “the warm hug at the end of the journey”.

Chaos Theatre will be released January 20th on The Runaway Four’s Bandcamp page and kicked off with a live show and listening party at Seven Dining Lounge in Vancouver. For those not on the continent or in the area they’ll also be streaming the event live on their Twitch channel. In the meantime, check out some of The Runaway Four’s past performances on YouTube and their previous release Live at Columbia Theatre on Bandcamp.