Cellythm

• Game Music, Miscellaneous, Reviews

  Blurring the Lines with Cellythm: Those Who Distorted (Review)

  July 15, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this Blurring the Lines with Cellythm: Those Who Distorted (Review)

  

  We told you about this album a couple of months ago, and after hearing it, I’m still confused as to how this album came into existence. Who would have thought it possible to feature the music of Final Fantasy, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, and Edward William Elgar all on one disc? Sounds like some sort of cosmic accident, but I guess that’s the purpose.

  For those who are unaware, Cellythm is a cello quartet made up of three beautiful ladies and one… lad, we’ll say. And if the list of artists featured on the album doesn’t sound strange enough to you, the arrangements of the Final Fantasy material are based on The Black Mages’ arrangements of the original source material… and now I’m confused.

  Try not to get your brain all distorted in our review of Cellythm’s Those Who Distorted after the jump. (more…)

• Game Music, Reviews

  Pretend You Were There: THE BLACK MAGES III Darkness and Starlight LIVE DVD (Review)

  May 22, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this Pretend You Were There: THE BLACK MAGES III Darkness and Starlight LIVE DVD (Review)

  

  We told you about this release back in March, and we’ve finally had the opportunity to absorb everything contained within this DVD. I can’t tell you how bad I wanted to fly over to Japan for this concert, as I really dug THE BLACK MAGES III Darkness and Starlight. I know not everyone agrees, but I liked the synthy approach of this album compared to past Black Mages albums.

  What you’ll find here is the concert in its entirety, including the MC segments, along with a special behind the scenes look at the preparation that went into the show and a promotional Neo EXDEATH music video, all of which will make great additions to your collection. This is admittedly my first time seeing the band up close as I’ve never watched their other DVD releases, so it was definitely a new experience for me.

  Hit the jump to read our review of the Darkness and Starlight LIVE DVD from their concert back on August 8, 2008. (more…)

• Game Music

  Dog Ear, I think you got some Cello in my Black Mages!

  March 16, 2009 | Michael Schiciano | 2 Comments Share this Dog Ear, I think you got some Cello in my Black Mages!

  

  Dog Ear Records is at it again. Fans of The Black Mages might want to pay attention later this month, as March 25th will see two new releases from the Japanese label. One of these items is a DVD of a live concert performance of The Black Mage’s third album, Darkness and Starlight. The other release set for the same day will be a CD based mini album entitled Those Who Distorted, performed the cello quartet Cellythm (Kazumi Ando, Takaya Anada, Yoko Ohta, and Yumi Shimazu).

  Those Who Distorted is apparently rock themed, and set to have six tracks, half of which are arranged from the rock arrangements previously performed by The Black Mages (“Those Who Fight Further,” “Battle Theme” (FFVI), “Clash on the Big Bridge”), with the remaining tracks devoted to arrangements of other works (“Immigrant Song” by Led Zeppelin, “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles, and “Land of Hope and Glory” by Edward Elgar). While it’s not uncommon to have come across string based arrangements of both pop/rock and video game music, this makes for a rather interesting existence where we have arrangements based on rock arrangements of video game music.

  Those Who Distorted is currently set to sell for 1800 Yen (roughly 18$ USD), and samples can be found on Dog Ear’s page for the album here. A preview for the Darkness and Starlight Live DVD can be found here. Both pages are Japanese only, but it’s easy enough to get the info one needs easily from them.

  Are you looking forward to either of these releases? Are you happy to see rock classics and The Black Mages together at last?

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