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.
OSVOSTOTY is our annual rundown of our picks for best game music, indie music and more from the previous year.
You might find it disconcerting to read that I, as a video game music writer, didn’t find that much music in 2016 that set my heart on fire. While I penned nearly 90 posts for OSV and heard loads of great music there were only a handful of albums I’ve stuck to with a passion. I’d be hard pressed to sort out a Top Ten list but thankfully the OSVOSTOTYs are a much simpler and personal selection.
So click on in, dear readers, and find out what music from 2016 was special enough (and weird enough) to penetrate my curmudgeonly old hide.
Last month, Original Sound Version partnered up with the Dwelling of Duels game music competition and Impact Soundworks at MAGFest Labs to debut “Opposing Bloodlines“; a video game music competition specifically for established game music cover bands, be they instrumental, chiptune, acapella or otherwise. The competition was a success with one of the prizes for the winner being a feature on OSV!
The grand winner of the competition was a one-man band out of southern Maryland known as WASD. Who and what is WASD?
The acoustic duo known around as the Super Guitar Bros. (aka. Sam Griffin & Steve Poissant) have at long last released their second full-length album as a follow up to their self-titled premier album in 2013. The new album, “Nice”, features 17 tracks spanning several classic games such as Donkey Kong Country, Chrono Trigger, Castlevania III and of course several Super Mario titles. It also features some of the most interesting album art for a VGM release I’ve seen since entering the community, which can take as you may.
The album is currently in digital format on Bandcamp at a “Pay What You Want” price, or as a physical CD for $10. The duo recently performed at San Francisco Comic-Con and PAX West 2016, and, you can also catch the Bros. streaming regularly on their Twitch channel for live practice, mini-performances and other shenanigans.
We’re back with another roundup from independent game remix label GameChops. Over the past week they’ve released a slew of new remixes and mesmerizing music videos through their YouTube channel. From modern fan favorites Undertale and Overwatch to Sega’s niche nightopian, NiGHTS, there’s a bumpin’ remix for just about anyone inside.
Here at Original Sound Version, we truly ask the burning questions that any true fan of video game music has discussed at one point in their lives or another. Michael started the question of what favorite versions of some of the most popular and heavily remixed tunes from iconic gaming franchises are your own, starting with Donkey Kong Country‘s “Aquatic Ambiance“. Now it’s my turn to pick your brain about arguably the most well-known and therefore remixed track from the Castlevania franchise – the original Castlevania‘s iconic stage 1 music, “Vampire Killer”.
It was hard for me to choose which Castlevania track I wanted to use for this question, as “Vampire Killer”, Castlevania 2‘s “Bloody Tears, and Castlevania 3‘s “Beginning” (Or the “Big 3” as I call them.) are almost equally arranged in proportion across both the Castlevania franchise itself, as well as within the remixing community. However, it feels right to start at the very beginning (No pun intended) with “Vampire Killer”, which was composed by the duo of Kinuyo Yamashita and Satoe Terashima in 1986.
“Vampire Killer” – Castlevania
The tune is catchy and full of determination, which made it perfect for first-time players and veterans alike to start off their journey to Dracula with. It’s had several iterations within the Castlevania franchise over the years, showing up arranged in later games such as Dracula’s Curse (As castle track “Deja Vu”), Super Castlevania 4, Rondo of Blood, Legends, Dawn of Sorrow and more. It serves as that constant reminder of the series’s ties to one another and of that first faithful trek we took as Simon Belmont. If I had to choose my favorite iteration of the track from within the series, I’ve grown to truly love Castlevania: The Arcade‘s part-organ, part-rock synth version played during the first boss fight.
Video credit of Nyx Cyan
The track has also been remixed by the fan community in just about every style imaginable, from the jazzy swing of Nostalvania to the electric grooves of Zircon and everywhere in between, to the point of near-exhaustion. Yet “Vampire Killer” persists as one of the most recognized video game tracks in gaming history, and still manages to inspire creativity and energy from musical vampire hunters to this day.
So what is your favorite version or arrangement of “Vampire Killer”? Do you have several? Let us know in the comments!
During the past month we’ve asked our readers about the first game soundtrack they ever listened to and about the first game music arrangement that they had heard. This week, I’d like to pose a more specific question to game music remix fans out there. Since starting up the Arrangement of the Week posts on OSV last year, I’ve listened to a tons of game pieces reimagined and remixed into a variety of styles. As a result I began to notice a pattern in favorite tracks among remix artists. One of these trends is the frequent covering of Donkey Kong Country’s “Aquatic Ambiance” by composer David Wise. So the question for this week is: What Is Your Favorite Remix of Aquatic Ambiance?
It’s not hard to understand why this track in particular gets so much attention. The original’s ethereal tone makes it great for chill electronic interpretations like “A Hint of Blue” by artists Gibs and Mordi. At the same time the track’s memorable melodies make it a good candidate for metal covers like ToxicEternity’s “Aquatic Shrediance.”
While I’ve enjoyed a number of great ambient electronic and rock versions of the classic Donkey Kong Country track, I’ve also heard a few great acoustic versions. Gentle Love’s saxophone and piano duet interpretation off their album Perscription for Sleep: Game Music Lullabies is one that instantly comes to mind. Part of the appeal to me for this version is the generous amount of time devoted to improvisation with the material, a feature which is present on the entire game arrangement album.
“Aquatic Ambiance” has seen many arrangements and there’s no doubt that I’ve heard only a fraction of what’s out there. Music remix site OC ReMix boasts sixteen different arrangements of the piece alone (as of this writing), and there are tons of other interpretations floating around on YouTube and Soundcloud. So do you have a favorite remix or arrangement of “Aquatic Ambiance” that you’d like to share? Tell us about them in the comments!
