Arrangements

Game Music

The ETHEReal String Project Brings Orchestral Arrangements to Classic VGM

March 24, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on The ETHEReal String Project Brings Orchestral Arrangements to Classic VGM Share this

Composer and arranger Josh Barron (MATERIA: Final Fantasy VII Remixed and SUCCESSOR: Final Fantasy VIII Remixed) and the ETHEReal String Orchestra, who recently contributed to the NIBEL: Ori and the Blind Forest Remixed album, have come together to release an orchestral game music album dubbed The ETHEReal String Project. Taking music from several RPG’s, including Final Fantasy, Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect 3 and more, the album features several contributions are made by the talented performers and arrangers on the album.

“The inspiration for this project stems from productions like Symphonic Fantasies and Final Symphony,” reflects Barron. “I was fascinated with their robust, colorful orchestrations and felt like the music brought nostalgia to life. With the ETHEReal String Project, I arranged pieces that have never been arranged before and in styles that not only depart from the source, but also pulls one into nostalgia.” – Press Release

“I Was Lost Without You” (For String Ensemble and Piano) [from Mass Effect 3]

The album is currently being sold digitally via LOUDr and iTunes and streaming through Spotify. Barron teases that if reception of the album is good, then the next will feature arrangements from Yasunori Mitsuda’s career including Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenogears and more.
Doujin, Game Music

The OneUps New Album “Part Seven” Now Available Online

February 26, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on The OneUps New Album “Part Seven” Now Available Online Share this

If you hadn’t heard, game band The OneUps recently debuted their newest album, Part Seven featuring arrangements from F-Zero, Earthbound, Megaman 2 and more. Done in their signature mashup of smooth jazz-funk-rock fusion, this marks their seventh studio release. (If you couldn’t tell.)

Physical copies of the 11-track album were released at MAGFest last week, and digital format was supposed to be released at the same time but complication lead to a delay until today. Part Seven has now been released for purchase on Loudr, with releases to iTunes and Spotify soon to follow.

Songs off the new album were performed live at this past MAGFest 2016 via the MAGFest Youtube channel. Worth the check out for a preview of their new music.

The OneUps – Part Seven | Twitter | Facebook
Chip Music, Featured, Game Music

OSVOSTOTY 2015 – Brenna’s Picks

January 12, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on OSVOSTOTY 2015 – Brenna’s Picks Share this OSVOSTOTY 2015 – Brenna’s Picks

Coming to you horribly later than the rest of my compatriots, I feel it still necessary to cast my vote on the VGM releases of 2015. So much came out last year that was notable that it’s hard to settle on any one thing. Fortunately, my fellow OSV writers have touched upon the best of things, so it’s a matter of following up on their fantastic lists with my own.

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Doujin, Game Music

Ecco the Dolphin Tribute Released with “Sound Waves”

January 5, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | 4 Comments Share this

If you’re a huge oldschool Sega fan like myself, then you are likely familiar with Ecco the Dolphin; the game where you take control of a lone bottlenose dolphin and swim the seven seas achieving everything from reuniting with your pod to battling aliens to being a time lord. (that last one is speculation)

If you’re equally a fan of the game’s music by Spencer Nilsen, Brian Cobourn, András Magyari and several others through the series, then you’ll be happy to learn of the new arrangement tribute album that just released. Sound Waves: A Tribute to Ecco the Dolphin is a rather large compilation of arranged tracks from several music pieces from across the franchise created by a large assortment of musicians and artists across the game music fandom. Groups such as Armcannon, Do a Barrel Roll, Kirby’s Dream Band and even individuals like composer Alexander Brandon (Dues Ex, Unreal Tournament) have all lent their skill to the huge 39-track, three-disk album.

<a href="http://soundwavesecco.bandcamp.com/album/sound-waves-a-tribute-to-ecco-the-dolphin">SOUND WAVES: A Tribute to Ecco the Dolphin by Kirby’s Dream Band</a>

Whether you’re a die-hard fan of the entire series, or you only played for five minutes on your friend’s Sega Channel before quitting in a fit of rage, Ecco the Dolphin made a distinct impression on gamers across the globe with its unexpected, immersive, and haunting world of marine exploration, aliens, and time travel. Once Colleen and I began thinking about how we wanted to follow-up our last compilation, Super VG Christmas Party, the unique ambiance of these soundtracks came to mind almost immediately. – Ian Luckey, Producer

What’s best is that the album is completely free for download! Check out the album’s Bandcamp page to grab the entire tribute and enjoy yourself some awesome marine music marvels.

Sound Waves: A Tribute to Ecco the Dolphin – Bandcamp
Featured, Film, Game Music

OSVOSTOTY 2015 – Ryan’s Picks

December 31, 2015 | Ryan Paquet | 1 Comment Share this OSVOSTOTY 2015 – Ryan’s Picks

It has been an incredible year for game music, as well as film soundtracks. Early in the year I predicted a title I reviewed would make my list of best soundtracks of the year, it did. Another important factor for me was the question, since its release am I still listening to it? I can happily say that I still regularly listening to all of my choices.

2015 also delivered some of the best film soundtracks on CD from a number of record labels, and for me its truly been a year to remember. Come read about my my picks for “Game Soundtrack of the Year”, “Artist/Composer of the Year” and “Arrangement Album of the Year” and a couple notable releases.
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Featured, Game Music

OSVOSTOTY 2015 – Shawn’s Picks

December 30, 2015 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on OSVOSTOTY 2015 – Shawn’s Picks Share this OSVOSTOTY 2015 – Shawn’s Picks

I’ve only been with OSV for six months but it has unquestionably dragged me into a larger world of game music. Releases I might have tuned out, I dug into. Albums I’d have glanced over, I fixated on. Most of the news and reviews I wrote in 2015 exposed me to something new and I’m looking forward to seeing what other newness comes my way in 2016!

That said, some of my choices for OSVOSTOTY were foregone conclusions from the beginning of the year. But I promise the winners, runners up and special mentions inside probably aren’t (totally) what you’re expecting.

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Featured, Game Music

OSVOSTOTY 2015 – Patrick’s Picks

December 29, 2015 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on OSVOSTOTY 2015 – Patrick’s Picks Share this OSVOSTOTY 2015 – Patrick’s Picks

Another year has come and gone, and we merry audiophiles were once again bombarded with music of all kinds, in terms of both genre and quality. When I look back over the year’s releases (usually by using vgmdb’s calendar), I feel overwhelmed. I’m getting to the point where I dread this time of year, where I say “I’m too old for this!”

Nonetheless, I feel honored to be invited to continue with OSV’s grand tradition of celebrating OSVOSTOTY (OriginalSoundVersion’s Original Soundtracks Of The Year). We change it up from time to time, and we hope you like what we’re doing with individual staff picks this year.

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