Concerts

Game Music

Know Your MAG: MAGFest 11 Performances Finalized

November 6, 2012 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on Know Your MAG: MAGFest 11 Performances Finalized Share this

It’s November. After the US election frenzy is said and done, peoples’ minds will turn to Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. For us on the ‘net, it will also mean end-of-year wrap-ups in many forms (including OSV’s own “OSVOSTOTY” awards for 2012).

And then, as though it sneaks up on us (as it does every year), we have MAGFest to start the new year right.

MAGFest 11, taking place January 3 through 6 (2013) outside of Washington DC (the Gaylord Hotel at National Harbor MD), is going to be straight up awesome. It’s been awesome in the past, and it’s almost sure to be filled with mind-blowing fun this time around.

Even better, the MAGFest concert lineup has been finalized. And we’re going to present it to you now. Over the next few months, we’ll be posting band bios, features, and links to previous coverage of the performers for MAGFest 11. Keep an eye out for the “Know Your MAG” tag. We’ll be providing a solid education for new MAGFest attendees and returners who have a hard time juggling between the different stages, the panels, and everything else going on every year at this wonderful convention.

Ready? Here we go.

MAIN STAGE
Thursday
The Megas
Metroid Metal
The OneUps
Random / Mega Ran

Friday
Armcannon
Bit Brigade
BrentalFloss and the Cartridge Family
Video Game Orchestra

Saturday
Powerglove
Protomen
Rare Candy
Those Who Fight

DJs
Friday
bLiNd
Benjamin Briggs

Saturday
DJ Cutman
Yuzo Koshiro

CHIPTUNES
Friday
Crashfaster
Danimal Cannon
D&D Sluggers
Inverse Phase

Saturday
BRIGHT PRIMATE
Cheap Dinosaurs
Kris Keyser
Jake “virt” Kaufman

Visuals (both days)
Batsly Adams
Invaderbacca
NO CARRIER
Pixelseed

SECOND STAGE
Friday
Descendants of Erdrick
Dwelling of Duels Live
Fighting In The Streets
Lords of Thunder
My Parents Favorite Music
OverClocked University
The World is Square

Saturday
ARC IMPULSE
Knight of the Round
On Being Human
Professor Shyguy
Super Guitar Bros
The Triforce Quartet
The X-Hunters

—

Wow. That’s … 38 concerts, 34 of them taking place just within Friday and Saturday, plus the 4 visual artists for the chiptunes artists. And then there are those highly-likely “secret” / “unannounced” late night shows.

Who’s doing what? What style? Who’s singing, and who’s instrumental? We’ll be telling you all that and more in the coming months. So stay tuned!
Game Music

Granado Espada: Return to Orpesia Live Event Coverage + Gallery

November 2, 2012 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Granado Espada: Return to Orpesia Live Event Coverage + Gallery Share this

I doubt you knew about this. Hell, we didn’t even know about it until the day before it happened. As it turns out, Granado Espada is getting a big update in the near future, and to promote some of the upcoming changes, an event was held in Japan that included some commentary, a live voice acting session with artwork displayed on screens situated around the stage, and a concert headed Osamu Kubota.

Osamu Kubota handled piano and was the emcee for the evening with the new chamber group, GaQdan (recently featured on Hitoshi Sakimoto’s Crimson Shroud soundtrack), founded by artist TaQ, at his back. It was a great evening of music from the amazing Granado Espada soundtrack, including new songs you may not have heard before.

Hit the jump for a quick report and set list. (more…)
Game Music

New VGO Show In Boston, with Awesome Guests!

August 16, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 2 Comments Share this

We’ve had our lips sealed on this concert for well over a month, but now we’re finally excited to tell you about this one. Pay attention!!

The VGO (Video Game Orchestra) will be performing (full 70+ orchestra plus 5-person rock ensemble) a live show at the Boston Symphony Hall in Boston, MA on Sunday, October 7, 2012. It will be a night celebrating primarily Japanese game music, and to underscore that point, they have some fantastic guests lined up to say hello and perform live as well!

First, they have BASISCAPE leader/founder Hitoshi Sakimoto (too many games to list, but you know the notables: Final Fantasy Tactics, Valkyria Chronicles). Second, in what I think might be his first public appearance in America (commenters feel free to correct me!), they have Noriyuki Iwadare (Lunar, Grandia, Phoenix Wright). Third, a Japanese composer currently residing in New Jersey and one of my personal favorites in the realm of “sleeper composer making a comeback,” Ms. Kinuyo Yamashita (Castlevania, Megaman X3).

Violinist Aria Aizawa will also be performing, and she’s mighty fine at what she does. Of course, we’ll also have VGO leader Shota Nakama on guitar, and I’m personally psyched about that. Whether or not there will be any more guests announced before the show or surprise guests at the time of the show, I cannot say at this time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that special guest list were to expand.

In case you missed it earlier, here’s the link to purchase tickets. We’ll be there, and we hope you’ll be there too.
Game Music

Presence of Perfection: Symphonic Fantasies Stockholm Report

June 13, 2012 | Audun Sorlie | 2 Comments Share this

In 2009, the most beautiful video game symphony was performed in the cultural meeting place of Germany, Cologne. Fans from all over the world rushed to the Cologne Philharmonic Hall in excitement and anticipation of what was touted as the very best orchestrated video game concert of all time, based on the timeless works over the years by Square Enix, showcasing their greatest titles throughout their history in suites of unparalleled beauty and splendor. On September 12th, 2009, the day finally arrived when the world experienced Symphonic Fantasies, the greatest video game symphony of all time.

The legacy that Symphonic Fantasies left behind shook the industry by its core. No longer was the idea of video game music performed by an orchestra enough, the concept evolved and the emotions, the stories and the essence of each game was emphasized to bring the true nature of the game’s soul and heart out for the listener to feel, embrace and cherish. It is now 3 years since the event took place in Cologne, bringing all corners of the world together in a philharmonic hall, and as the concept has kept on growing, so has Symphonic Fantasies in the memories of those who heard it, and the anticipation and demand increasing, with fans eager to experience for themselves what the sell out audience in Cologne spoke so much of after 2009. After the incredible success in Tokyo for their January shows, the team ventured to Stockholm, Sweden in order to showcase just exactly why so many fans from around the world have spoken of its magnificence.

Check out the report from event after the jump. (more…)
Doujin, Game Music

Final Phantom Live on May 7th 9PM EST

May 6, 2012 | Audun Sorlie | 2 Comments Share this Final Phantom Live on May 7th 9PM EST

Daniel Brown is gearing up to a live broadcast of his Final Fantasy/Phantom of the Opera crossover project Final Phantom on Monday 7th at 9PM EST. For those who have not heard of it yet, Final Phantom is a showing of the 1925 public domain Phantom of the Opera motion picture back-dropped by a live piano performance using music from the Final Fantasy series by arranged by Daniel Brown. Brown has toured different conventions performing for audiences across the East Coast in the past, delivering a very true atmosphere to the silent film era for the attendees.

The broadcast will begin at 9PM EST at Kareshi’s Twitch-TV Channel, and there will be a tip jar in place in case some of the listeners wants to fund equipment and future DVD release of the project. Brown’s earlier releases, including his Mystic Awakening: Music from Final Fantasy VI album, can be found for free at his Bandcamp page.
Anime, Featured, Japanese

L’Arc~en~Ciel at Madison Square Garden: 20 Years and Still Steady

March 29, 2012 | Emi Spicer | 3 Comments Share this

It was early this January that I stood pressed between a kind security guard and countless dedicated fans, pausing from my photographic duties to really take in the Earthbound Papas performance at MAGFest X. Fans and musicians alike had gathered across great distances to witness beloved anthems from gaming classics performed, transforming themes that had been shrilly sung by sound chips into guitar solos and rock ballads. It was an extremely emotional performance for many of the audience members, and yet despite the uniqueness of the experience I found myself feeling a very surprising sensation: nostalgia. I remembered another important musical event from years past, when I had made a similar trek from New York to Baltimore to see a different Japanese rock act perform, one by the name of L’Arc~en~Ciel.

Hit the jump for impressions and photos from their recent appearance in New York City.

(more…)
Game Music

Symphonic Fantasies Returns In Summer Of 2012!

March 27, 2012 | Audun Sorlie | 1 Comment Share this

Symphonic Fantasies set the benchmark for what a symphonic game music concert should be. On September 12th 2009, the audience were not only hearing their most beloved game music pieces performed by an orchestra, but transported into the world in which the games represented, with landscapes built on emotion and the memories in the hearts of the listener being transcended by an all new experience, with the music becoming alive in a way no other concert before it had ever been able to accomplish. Fantasies managed to bridge the world of classical music and video games purely through music, and the production which Team Merregnon carefully crafted has traveled around the world with the award winning CD released in 2010. With the incredible success of concert and the CD recording, Symphonic Fantasies traveled to Tokyo in January of 2012, marking the first time a fully European video game symphony production has taken place in Japan.

Now, Symphonic Fantasies is returning home to Europe for another round, promising again to bring the full beauty of Valtonen and Wanamo’s arrangement to life once again, revisiting the worlds of Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger/Cross. The first concerts will take place in Cologne on the 5th and 6th of July, with Niklas Willén conducting the WDR Radio Orchestra and the WDR Radio Choir. On June 9th, Fantasies will for the first time come to Stockholm, Sweden, with Andreas Hanson conducting the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Katarina Choir.

Tickets for the Stockholm show is at sale at Konserthuset.se, while the Cologne show, as expected, is sold out. Be sure to check back on OSV for more news and information on Symphonic Fantasies 2012!