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• Chip Music, Reviews

  Autumntunes: A Little Chip Goes a Long Way on a Cold and Windy Day (Review)

  December 13, 2009 | Surasshu | 3 Comments Share this Autumntunes: A Little Chip Goes a Long Way on a Cold and Windy Day (Review)

  

  I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand autumn. I’m not a big weather guy at the best of times, but autumn is easily my least favorite season of the year. It’s windy and cold but not cold enough for skating or snow (or to warrant moaning about it). The leaves may change color but they also fall off the trees and become a soggy mush that you wade through. And, just to make things worse, as a European we don’t even get a proper Halloween or any Thanksgiving, so it’s a solid tromp from summer to Christmas with hardly anything to look forward to. I hate autumn.

  But at least there was one thing to look forward to this year: Autumntunes. A few years back, a new chiptune netlabel initiative called Ubiktune was started by progressive chiptune artist C-Jeff. But recently they have been making a name for themselves with releases for each season, featuring a group of chiptune artists from all over the world, using all manner of tools.

  So will this release liven up my dreary autumn, or does it get dragged down by my all-consuming autumn depression? Find out after the jump! (more…)

• Game Music

  Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka Finds 10 Guys With His Name, Releases New Single on HearJapan

  December 8, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 5 Comments Share this Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka Finds 10 Guys With His Name, Releases New Single on HearJapan

  Yes, Nintendo legend Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka is back, and this time with a project that has nothing to do with videogames. “Tanaka Hirokazu No Uta,” or “Hirokazu Tanka Song,” is a short and unsurprisingly quirky single featuring the voice of Hip Tanaka himself along with 10 other dudes named Hip Tanaka. See the above video for maximum weirdness! It’s apparently all the rage in Japan right now. It’s a fun concept, and this announcement is made even more exciting by the fact that it’s being made available online a whole week ahead of the official Japanese release date of December 16, 2009. We haven’t heard from him since Super Smash Bros. Brawl where he arranged a few tracks for the game, so this is big news!

  As it turns out, he’s teamed up with HearJapan, an online music store based in Japan that caters to an English-speaking audience. They’ve been around for two years and already have a massive catalog of videogame, anime, J-pop, chip, and even vocaloid music to supplement the standard rock, jazz, and classical releases. I can’t believe we haven’t heard of this site before, but we recommend heading over and checking out the Hip Tanaka single along with the rest of their catalog.

  Do you have a favorite Hip Tanaka soundtrack from his early days at Nintendo? Will you be picking up his single, and what do you think of the rest of the music that HearJapan has to offer?

  Check out the official press release regarding “Tanaka Hirokazu No Uta” from HearJapan after the jump. (more…)

• Game Music

  Kind Gift: Free NyxQuest Kindred Spirits Soundtrack

  September 22, 2009 | Audun Sorlie | 2 Comments Share this Kind Gift: Free NyxQuest Kindred Spirits Soundtrack

  

  You might remember our review and interview about NyxQuest a couple months ago, giving the game and soundtrack high praise, which it highly deserved. When the game was released, Nintendo Of Europe ran a small promotional deal where the first 100 purchases came with a code to download the soundtrack in a single mp3 format that spanned 19 minutes.

  Well, Over The Top is proud to announce that Steve Gutheinz’s great work is now available for free online! So how can you find it? Head over to Over The Top’s NyxQuest Oracle Trivia Game and the soundtrack is your reward after a brief trivia game. 8 great tracks for the price of nothing, can’t beat that.

  Be sure to pick up NyxQuest on WiiWare as well, as it’s a great little 2D platformer with some clever puzzles.

  What do you think of the soundtrack? And would you like to see more NyxQuest with Gutheinz behind the composer wheel again?

• Game Music, Reviews

  Jeremy Soule Mounts A Sneak Attack On Your Ears: Order of War (Review)

  September 18, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 5 Comments Share this Jeremy Soule Mounts A Sneak Attack On Your Ears: Order of War (Review)

  

  Well, here we are with Jeremy Soule’s triumphant return to Square Enix. I suppose it’s not in the way that any of us would have expected, but hey, we’ll take what we can get. For those who are totally out of the loop (and I don’t blame you), Order of War is Square Enix’s upcoming World War II RTS title for the PC. With that in mind, you’re not going to hear your typical Jeremy Soule RPG score here.

  What you are going to hear is tense World War II action from start to finish. Jeremy Soule plays the part perfectly, which is surprising in that we haven’t heard this sound from him before, but unsurprising because he is an amazingly talented composer who has seemingly been type-casted for scoring RPG scores despite his versatility. Bombastic orchestral volleys and tense instrumental interludes will provide no safe haven this time around, as you’re in for some of Jeremy Soule’s most intense work to date.

  Read our advance review of Jeremy Soule’s soundtrack for Order of War after the jump. (more…)

• Game Music, Reviews

  RED FACTION GUERRILLA Soundtrack Hammers My Face In Good (Review)

  August 28, 2009 | Gideon Dabi | 5 Comments Share this RED FACTION GUERRILLA Soundtrack Hammers My Face In Good (Review)

  

  Including the Demons of the Badlands downloadable content, my play time on Red Faction Guerrilla is upwards of seventeen hours – not including the multiplayer matches. I played the game into the ground and is easily a Game of the Year candidate for me and many others. It was because of this that I was particularly intrigued to review this soundtrack. Clocking in at over three hours, this soundtrack is as robust and meaty as the game itself. Five composers and thirty-two tracks later, I felt just like one of the buildings I had demolished with my hammer.

  No doubt I felt “smashed”, but does it all amass to anything besides rubble? Click the jump to find out! (more…)

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