Arrange Album

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Final Fantasy II: Rebellion From OcRemix is Out Now

June 9, 2015 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Final Fantasy II: Rebellion From OcRemix is Out Now Share this

The fine people over at OverClocked ReMix have released their 51st community arrangement album in the form of Final Fantasy II: Rebellion. If you couldn’t already guess from the title, the album covers Nobuo Uematsu’s music from the 1988 Famicom title Final Fantasy II. There are a total of twenty-one tracks from a group of eighteen different artists, with a wide range of music styles including folk, jazz, heavy metal, and many more.

Artists and groups contributing on this new album include Jeff Ball, Viking Guitar, XPRTNovice, and Sixto Sounds. Like previously released OverClocked ReMix community projects, Final Fantasy II: Rebellion is available for free download in a variety of formats. So if you have any interest in hearing some new interpretations of some classic Final Fantasy music, be sure to give this album a listen. You can check out Final Fantasy II: Rebellion on the album’s main page.
Game Music, Reviews

Prescription for Sleep: Volume II (Review)

May 6, 2015 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Prescription for Sleep: Volume II (Review) Share this

Last year Scarlet Moon Records released a video game music arrangement album titled Prescription for Sleep: Game Music Lullabies. The project had an interesting premise. Take some of the more mellow and relaxing tunes from video game soundtracks and arrange them as soothing lullabies for piano and saxophone. The group arranging on the album was Gentle Love, comprising of saxophonist Norihiko Hibino (composer for Bayonetta and the Metal Gear Solid series) and pianist AYAKI. The Gentle Love duo have collaborated on a few projects, primarily performing and making music to provide therapeutic relief to others after the wake of Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The original Prescription for Sleep album and this sequel is an extension of that work and mission.

The fist album consisted of well known tunes like “Dry Dry Docks” from Super Mario 64 and some lesser known pieces like “Song of the Ancients” from NieR. The album received praise from a number of reviewers, including members of the team here at Original Sound Version. Thanks in part to the success of the first album, this sequel has been released. Prescription for Sleep: Volume II sees Hibino and AYAKI return to cover music from various games in the form of tranquil lullabies. What does this latest addition cover and how does it compare to the first album? Read on to find out. (more…)
Featured, Game Music

Harmony of Heroes Expands its Smash Bros. Tribute With Final Smash

December 31, 2014 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Harmony of Heroes Expands its Smash Bros. Tribute With Final Smash Share this

Earlier this year a Super Smash Brothers tribute album, titled “Harmony of Heroes,” was unleashed upon the world. The collection focussed on the music of game franchises represented in Super Smash Bros., as well as the game’s own original music. The original “Harmony of Heroes” album has over 100 tracks of remixes and arrangements by a variety of artists and covers many of the great tunes used in the Super Smash Brothers franchise.

“Final Smash” is an expansion that covers the games and fighters that were not covered in the original “Harmony of Heroes” album. The 26 all new tracks highlight the music of Pac-Man, Xenoblade, Mega Man, and other titles that are new to the Smash Brothers world. The expansion also contains some tracks of previously covered franchises like The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario. The “Final Smash” expansion and the original “Harmony of Heroes” album can both be found and downloaded for free on the Harmony of Heroes website. Definitely give this collection a listen if you haven’t already.
Game Music

Get Into the Holiday Spirit With the Bravely Default X’mas Collections Album

December 12, 2014 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Get Into the Holiday Spirit With the Bravely Default X’mas Collections Album Share this

Every winter season inevitably brings with it the release of new Christmas and holiday albums. It should come as no surprise that videogame music gets in on the act as well. This year Square Enix has released a special arrange album of Bravely Default. The album X’Mas Collections: Music From Bravely Default is a continuation of Square Enix’s X’mas Collections series and features winter themed arrangements of pieces from the 3DS title. Some tracks stick with covering the game music source material, while others add references to traditional Christmas tunes.

Arrangers on this album include Yuzo Koshiro, Motoi Sakuraba, and Yasuhiro Yamanaka. The music styles vary between tracks and range from simple piano and vocal arrangements to more electronic flavored mashups. So if you’re a fan of the Bravely Default soundtrack and want to hear some interesting new holiday arrangements, give this album a look. The X’mas Collections: Music From Bravely Default album can be found and purchased on CD Japan.
Game Music, Reviews

Super Metroid Symphony (Review)

September 22, 2014 | Richard McDonald | 6 Comments Share this Super Metroid Symphony (Review)

A while back, I wrote an article on Blake Robinson and his Symphonic Orchestra albums. Specifically, I had issues with the branding of his albums; that of “symphonic.” You can read the article HERE. I felt that his albums played on people expectations of orchestral game music and capitalized on its popularity. All his albums include orchestral instruments and the word symphony on their covers, which lead you to the impression that this is orchestral music. Considering that all the albums use samples, Blake does use the term “synthetic orchestra,” I find the premise of his music to be, at best, troubling, and at worst, outright deception. However, this is not to say that I haven’t found enjoyment in his full orchestrations of Chrono Trigger and Banjo Kazooie, although, they are overly long. I have also never played a Metroid game and there are few orchestrations out there to listen to, a track here and there. So; I am very curious about this album and how it will measure up, in terms of quality, with Blake’s other albums, with the original compositions by Kenji Yamamoto, and whether re-creating the entire soundtrack actually works. Find out what I think after the jump.

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Featured, Game Music, Indie Music, Reviews

Tranfiguration (Review)

July 11, 2014 | Richard McDonald | Comments Off on Tranfiguration (Review) Share this Tranfiguration (Review)

I feel that I must get one thing very clear before you continue to read this review. My speciality is piano music. I am a pianist, I listen to a lot of piano music, from Mozart to Debussy, and I go to piano concerts in London. I’m also as close to an expert on the use of the piano in games as you might get, from the triumphant fanfare like riff from Halo 3 to the myriad of Final Fantasy Piano albums. As a result, my standards may be unrealistically high. I also have a confession to make: I’ve never played Journey! I know I know, it’s on my to-do list. This is particularly heinous of me as not only is the game supposed to be amazing, but the soundtrack is said to be excellent as well. However, this might not be a bad thing for this review, as I will not be influence by the game or the original soundtrack. I will take the music at face value, in its own right, separate from its related media.

It’s interesting to note that the composer, Austin Wintory, seems to have had little to do with this album. Transfiguration has been arranged by the Laura Intravia, the singer in the last track, and performed by Robert Thies. In general I think this is a good thing because, as a composer myself, I know how hard it can be to separate myself from my own compositions. I prefer to arrange for other people so I can focus on the advantages and disadvantages of the instrument, rather than being influenced by my own work. So with that said, let’s take a look at Transfiguration. (more…)
Game Music

New Super Smash Bros. Arrange Album is Coming This Fall

July 10, 2014 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on New Super Smash Bros. Arrange Album is Coming This Fall Share this

If you’re a Nintendo fan, you probably can’t wait for the new Super Smash Bros. games that are coming out for the 3DS and WiiU this year. While you are waiting, you should probably check out this upcoming Super Smash Bros. arrangement album. To celebrate and pay tribute to the franchise, a new arrange album titled Harmony of Heroes will be coming to Super Smash Bros. fans this fall. The album is being produced by Shinesparkers, the group that brought us the Harmony of a Hunter albums, a set of arrange projects that were dedicated to the Metroid franchise. Harmony of Heroes aims to give the music from the Super Smash Bros. franchise a similar treatment.

The album will be covering pieces from across every iteration of the game series. There are over sixty different artists contributing to this album including Zack Parrish, Sean Haeberman, and Vomitron. There’s also some excellent artwork being made to accompany the project’s release. The collaborative project will feature over ninety pieces of music. This colossal arrangement album will be available for download on the Harmony of Heroes site this fall. Be sure to check the Harmony of Heroes Facebook page and the Harmony of Heroes site for more information.