Arrangement

Doujin, Game Music

Pre-Order Guitar Collections FINAL FANTASY IV from Scarlet Moon Records

June 28, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Pre-Order Guitar Collections FINAL FANTASY IV from Scarlet Moon Records Share this

Following up on the Prescription for Sleep: Game Music Lullabies series of albums, Scarlet Moon Records is now releasing a series of live classical guitar arrangements of iconic video game music in their Guitar Collections, starting with Final Fantasy IV.

Guitarist William Carlos Reyes (of The OneUps) arranges and performs Nobuo Uematsu’s iconic themes from Final Fantasy IV to celebrate the game’s 27th anniversary. Key themes such as “Theme of Love,” “Welcome to Our Town!,” and the final dungeon theme, “Within the Giant,” are featured alongside an original composition by Reyes are included in the inaugural album.

I’ve always enjoyed Square Enix’s Piano Collections FINAL FANTASY series, but I have a personal preference for the sound of the guitar. I wanted to produce a series of guitar albums starting with FINAL FANTASY IV, just as the Piano Collections series did. I also knew based on William Carlos Reyes’s past arrangements that he’d be perfect for this project with his ability to layer his performances in a very natural and pleasing way, and I couldn’t be happier with the result. I want Guitar Collections FINAL FANTASY to become a series, so we hope everyone’s as eager as we are to hear more! – Jayson Napolitano, Producer

<a href="http://scarletmoonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/guitar-collections-final-fantasy-iv">Guitar Collections FINAL FANTASY IV by William Carlos Reyes</a>

Guitar Collections FINAL FANTASY IV is currently available for pre-order on Bandcamp and will be releasing on July 19th.
Doujin, Game Music

Mischief Makers Remixed EP Gives N64 Shmup the EDM Treatment

October 19, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Mischief Makers Remixed EP Gives N64 Shmup the EDM Treatment Share this

Once upon a time in 1997, there was a Nintendo 64 game developed by Treasure by the name of Mischief Makers. It was a cute side-scrolling platformer/shmup where you play a robotic maid and go on an adventure to save your creator from a bad guy. While the game was a bit obscure and only received mixed reviews at the time, it still has a niche fandom that remembers it fondly.

Enter Materia Collective, who decided they’d release little EP for the game featuring the likes of EDM artists James Landino, Voia, Ben Briggs, Baircave, and a guest appearance by Hyper Potions in order to create a arranged tribute to the game called Mischief Makers Remixed. The EP features five tracks of electronic dance arrangements of the music originally composed by Norio Hanzawa (of Gunstar Heroes fame under the alias NON), and is entirely produced by indie composer and arranger James Landino.

<a href="http://materiacollective.bandcamp.com/album/mischief-makers-remixed">Mischief Makers Remixed by James Landino</a>

“When I was young, Mischief Makers was one of the titles I continued to rent from the video rental store and I grew a nostalgic fondness for it. To my surprise, many fans have reached out to me and requested the possibility of remixing the soundtrack to this game.

Nowadays the game industry is seeing a resurgence of cult classics and hidden gems being remastered. It would be awesome for a developer or publisher to consider remaking Mischief Makers for the current generation of consoles” – James Landino, Producer

Mischief Makers Remixed is a fully licensed album and can be purchased and downloaded digitally on Bandcamp for the tidy sum of $5.
Doujin

Listen To: Chrono Trigger’s ‘Secret of the Forest’ by Reuben Gingrich

June 7, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | 1 Comment Share this

It’s always a fun little treat when you come across a band or musician who normally does their own thing with original music in their own style, but then suddenly breaks out a video game cover. (I’m looking at you, Mutoid Man) It’s like getting a neat little surprise in your cereal box.

Jazz musician Reuben Gingrich recently released his first album, Blue Island, which features 11 tracks of what his Bandcamp describes as “Space Funk to the Dome”. It’s all enjoyable stuff to listen to for some chill tunes so you should check it out on its own merits, but nestled in the middle of the album is delightful tribute to Chrono Trigger‘s “Secret of the Forest”.

The original song, composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, is the theme of the Guardia Forest from the Chrono Trigger Original Soundtrack. The song and video production done by Gingrich are both top notch and worth the attention. You can check out the entire Blue Island album on Bandcamp and Spotify.

What hidden gems of video game music have you found buried within seemingly innocuous original music albums before? Share them with us in the comments!
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.
Experimental, Game Music

That Analog Synth cover of Metroid is Complete

January 2, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | 2 Comments Share this

You may have caught some links to Luminist’s analog synth remake of the original Metroid soundtrack in October when he began releasing single tracks. I was also going to share the work-in-progress but decided to wait for it to be completed, and now it is. Capping off the year is the full 12-track album which you can listen to (and watch) on Luminist’s YouTube playlist or download for $5 on Loudr.

“My initial interest behind doing this was thinking that if the technology were available back then to put hi-fi recordings into a videogame, they might have done it this way with Metroid,” Luminist told Kill Screen. “I’m just interested in bringing out more of the inherent alone-in-space factor that the original gave us with bleeps and bloops.”

The entire album is just over 15 minutes in length but it’s definitely worthy of playing on repeat. Luminist nailed it on adding to the “alone-in-space factor” with the despondent synths and thrumming bass. Take a listen above and let us know what you think of this fresh new (and old) sound in the comments.
Doujin, Game Music

Gamechops Releases Overwatch Remix “The World Could Always Use More Heroes”

August 8, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Gamechops Releases Overwatch Remix “The World Could Always Use More Heroes” Share this

For all you Overwatch fans, the good people over at Gamechops have released a new remix of music from the game. The single “The World Could Always Use More Heroes“, created by Curly, mastered by Steven “bLiNd” Silo and master by DJ Cutman, also comes with a special extra music video with animations from PlayOverwatch.

As always you can find more remixes (including future Overwatch arrangements) over on the Gamechops Youtube page.
Doujin, Game Music

Gamechops’ New Mario 64 Remix Free for Download

June 9, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | 1 Comment Share this

The video game arrangement label Gamechops have released a new remix track for your Thursday morning pleasure.

A Mario 64 remix of the File Select music by GrooveCube! Video by @FuNipz! This trap remix of Mario 64’s File Select Theme brings back all the memories of this genre defining game, Super Mario 64!

You can download the new music for free on GrooveCube’s Soundcloud, and can check out more Gamechops releases via their Youtube channel.