MAGFest 11 had, without a doubt, the largest lineup of special guests and band performances in it’s history so far. The event has progressively upped the ante each successive year it’s been put on, and this year pushed the envelope with 3 notable composers from across the globe with extensive resumes of musical compositions to their names. One in particular was the German composer most notable for his several Amiga and Commodore 64 compositions, Chris Huelsbeck.
It’s been a success story almost unparallelled, a pitch from a video game composer to rearrange, orchestrate and bring back some of the most well beloved music material in video games, and final budget goal at $75,000 for all the backers to receive a triple disc collectors set. What was thought to take months to achieve took merely one week, and Chris Hülsbeck could already see his dream of making the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology a reality for himself and the fans. The support has continued steadily without losing any momentum, and now, the project stands at $150,000+, an incredible 200% of the original intended budget. With this development, the announcement of an extra CD with even more material, a USB drive with the original soundtrack and a vinyl has been announced, along with many other upgrades to the overall presentation. Hülsbeck has always been on the forefront of the industry with his sound and techniques, and with the success of this project, he has yet again proven why he is one of the true legends of video game music.
For those who have yet to jump on board and secure themselves this now 4 disc collectors box, there is officially 3 days left to do so. There are numerous backing choices to choose from at different price point, with $25 landing you a digital copy and pdf booklet, $50 giving you the CD box set numbered and signed, and $75 giving you all the previous awards plus the limited Turrican branded USB stick with the original soundtrack to Turrican recorded right from Hülsbeck’s hardware.
Go on over to the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology Kickstarter and make sure to join before it is too late! For those who already funded, the first completed track has just been released, so make sure to check your email.
It is only one week since Chris Hülsbeck’s Kickstarter project, the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology, was announced to the world. What was then, a hope and dream over a 2 month period to revisit the past, has now become a reality. In less than 7 days, the Kickstarter has reached over $50,000 of the $75,000 asked, and is steadily climbing day by day, surely to exceed beyond the original goal. With the incredible success of the first week, Hülsbeck has provided his first of many upcoming updates.
Now, there are new pledges available. Most interestingly is the new Vinyl option. For $250 you get a LP record with the faithful recording of the original Amiga Turrican soundtrack, as well as the bonus side retro-remix style recording along with the boxset and the digital download which now also includes lossless FLAC files, allowing you to preserve the record as a collectible. The vinyl will also have exclusive artwork and your own name in the sleeve. There is also now an option to pledge 150 to receive 3 box sets as well as 3 individual download codes as well as campaign bonus track.
If you haven’t pledged yet, go to the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology and support this very exciting project, and check back for more news and details as they become available.
I’m too young to have experienced most of the joys of the Commodore Amiga, but I did develop a taste for the music from this era while delving into the musical history of the demoscene as both a fan and amateur composer. Many of the composers working on the Amiga were legends and heroes in the demoscene, so I have a natural affinity for much of the music from that time.
Well, here’s a perfect example of judging a book by its cover. I’ve seen the Immortal CD series pop on VGMdb from time to time and never paid them much attention. That is, until very recently. As it turns out, the series celebrates the best music from the Amiga scene with arrangements from several classic titles arranged by the composers themselves in many cases. And yes, there’s lots of Chris Huelsbeck!
Hit the jump for our review of the two most recent releases in the series, Immortal 3 and Immortal 4. (more…)
Jeff Roberts, a Canadian musician who goes by the moniker jmr and lurks around the corners of the video game arrangement scene and releases some of his own music from time to time, released his newest work through the ThaSauce network on their original label called Wardriver. Over the course of 20 days or so, Roberts tweaked and tuned his album to completion. That’s not so special or out of the ordinary, but what he made it on probably is.
The entire album was composed and performed on his cellphone. Yeah bet you didn’t see that coming. Using the PhoenixStudio interface and his own little cell, he crafted a 15 minute EP The results is quite impressive too, with energetic tunes reminiscent to Amiga and C64 with some excellent retro vibes and demoscene influence, especially the title track. It’s definitively a release to check out for both the quality of music and curiosity of the actual execution.
The EP can be downloaded at Wardriver:Tha Sauce
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