Christmas

Game Music

Game-up Your Holiday with some Wintry Nintendo Compilations

December 22, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Game-up Your Holiday with some Wintry Nintendo Compilations Share this

If the holiday season has put you in the mood for festive, frosty, and frolicking game music but you don’t know where to look, check out Luigi’s channel on YouTube. We’re pretty sure this isn’t the official Luigi™ but the channel is definitely on brand with plenty of Nintendo compilations. Their latest and most timely is a 48-minute mix of holiday-appropriate arrangements and remixes from The Blake Robinson Synthetic Orchestra, ClefferNotes, SonicHyuga, and Insaneintherainmusic.

After you’ve finished that video check out Luigi’s 2016 compilation for even more holiday game music or one of their numerous themed videos. There’s “75 Minutes of Relaxing and Calming Nintendo Music”, “70 Minutes of Spooky and Creepy Nintendo Music”, and plenty more to fit your emotion-specific Nintendo needs.

What are some of your favorite wintry or holiday themed songs, arrangements, or remixes from games? Let us know in the comments below!
Game Music, Miscellaneous

Classic Christmas & Video Game Music Combine with Scarlet Moon Christmas Vol.2

November 30, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Classic Christmas & Video Game Music Combine with Scarlet Moon Christmas Vol.2 Share this

It’s the end of November, and if you’re the type that waits at least until December 1st to start celebrating the Christmas holiday season, then Scarlet Moon Records has got your first offering of Festivus tunes to start you off right. Scarlet Moon Christmas Volume II brings back the festive styles of last year’s Volume I and continues their tradition of arranging both classic Christmas songs and video game tunes into remixes ready to get you in the spirit. Featuring the likes of composer Vince Dicola (Transformers, Rocky IV), Osamu Kubota (Beatmania IIDX), Norihiko Hibino (Metal Gear Solid) and performers Grant “Stemage” Henry (Metroid Metal), Mustin & William Carlos Reyes (The OneUps) plus a lot more, the album gives a diverse offering to listeners.

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Game Music

Arrangement of the Week: Fisherman’s Horizon (Christmas Ver.)

December 11, 2015 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Arrangement of the Week: Fisherman’s Horizon (Christmas Ver.) Share this

What makes a “Christmas version” of a piece a Christmas version? Until I started looking up arrangements for this month, I had never given much thought about what gives the holiday genre of music its sound. There are certainly some specific tropes and conventions used for such pieces. Having said that, I think today’s Arrangement of the Week is an excellent example of the holiday music genre.

Last year Scarlet Moon Productions put out a Christmas themed game music album, Scarlet Moon Christmas EP, which included contributions from a number of artists. One of the tracks, by game composer Goomin Nam, is an arrangement of “Fisherman’s Horizon” from Final Fantasy VIII.

The original track is already well known by many Final Fantasy fans, and Nam doesn’t stray too far from the original tone of the source material. The arrangement captures the essence of many modern day holiday covers. A light electric piano, slowly building strings, and some light melodies on the acoustic guitar all help create a serene and relaxing cover.

Part of what I like about this track is that there’s nothing too complex about the arrangement. Different sets of instruments take turns with the melody, including the guitar, some woodwinds, and of course the piano. No improvising or flashy solo parts. Just a simple and straightforward arrangement. All in all, a great Christmas themed game music track.

Do you have any favorite Christmas themed videogame music covers? Let us know in the comments below. You can check out Goomin Nam’s “Fisherman’s Horizon (Christmas Ver.)” on OC ReMix and I’d highly recommend checking it out on the full Scarlet Moon Christmas EP at Loudr and iTunes.
Game Music

Holiday VGM Album Dump – For Your Yuletide Pleasure

December 15, 2014 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Holiday VGM Album Dump – For Your Yuletide Pleasure Share this

There has been a rather jolly amount of holiday-related video game music albums being released this season. It seems a lot of game musicians have gotten into the spirit of the season by coming together ans coming out with a good variety of Christmas and other holiday-themed tunes to help any reluctant Scrooges out there get into the mood for the Yule. So if you’re scrambling to find appropriate game-related music for your holiday gatherings, here’s a rundown of what’s come out recently:

Scarlet Moon Christmas EP

Put together by Scarlet Moon Records, the Scarlet Moon Christmas EP is a five-track release that features a good chunk of tunes centered around Final Fantasy by the likes of Dale North (Dragon Fantasy Book II), Jayson Napolitano and Goomin Nam (Monarch: Heroes of a New Age). Also on the album is a arranged track from legendary composer Vince DiCola (Rocky IV, Transformers: the Motion Picture) from his Saturday Morning RPG album released earlier this year! The Scarlet Moon Christmas EP is up on Loudr for $5 (or more if you choose) so be sure to grab it up quick! – Loudr

Super VG Christmas Party

A huge holiday-styled album from a slew of the video game music arrangement community, Super VG Christmas Party features the likes of Triforce Quartet, Armcannon, Jeff Ball (Tiny Barbarian DX), Playing with Power, Super Guitar Bros. and many more artists and groups from all genres. Tackling everything from Donkey Kong Country to Actraiser with a wintery twist, Super VG Christmas Party was produced by Ian Luckey and is absolutely free to download! So if you’re looking for a hodge-podge of great artists and great tunes to crank for your holiday party, look no further! – Bandcamp

Also, be sure to check out the X’Mas Collections: Music From Bravely Default album that we reported on last week! So if you’re having a hard time getting into the holiday spirit, check all these albums up and see if some of that festive flare can’t tickle your yuletude bone.
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, Miscellaneous

David Arkenstone Live: A Winter Solstice Concert Report

December 23, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this

Yes, a big surprise. I was turned on to Arkenstone’s unusual foray into the world of chillout music with Christmas Lounge after his performance in San Diego on Saturday, December 18, and we’re now getting around to telling you about the concert itself. While there was a piece from Christmas Lounge performed at the concert, the set list was much more varied in terms of style and genre.

For those who missed out, David Arkenstone and his friends traveled to two different Southern California cities this past weekend: San Diego on Saturday, and Thousand Oaks on Sunday. This “Winter Solstice Concert” featured classic Christmas songs and carols alongside Arkenstone’s original compositions, which actually complemented one another quite nicely.

Hit the jump to find out what David Arkenstone had up his sleeve at the San Diego stop of his mini-tour… did he play music from World of Warcraft? (more…)
Miscellaneous, Reviews

Chill Out, Christmas Style: David Arkenstone’s Christmas Lounge (Review)

December 22, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this

With the holidays in a full swing, and having just seen world music and World of Warcraft artist David Arkenstone perform this past weekend (more on that later this week), it seems as good a time as any to dig into some of his Christmas offerings. While Visions of Christmas is his latest holiday album, I did want to revisit his 2009 release, Christmas Lounge.

Just as the album title and this post title would suggest, this isn’t your typical David Arkenstone. Gone are the Celtic influences, small ensemble instrumentation, and even the unique aural storytelling that Arkenstone is known for. Instead, this is a serious electronic chillout album featuring David Arkenstone and arranger Seth Osburn.

Does the album fall flat, or does Arkenstone have a Christmas hit on his hands? Find out in our review after the jump! (more…)