echochrome

• Game Music, Reviews

  Working it Just Right: Hideki Sakamoto Orchestral Works (Review)

  August 12, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Working it Just Right: Hideki Sakamoto Orchestral Works (Review) Share this Working it Just Right: Hideki Sakamoto Orchestral Works (Review)

  

  Have we mentioned that we’re huge fans of Hideki Sakamoto’s work? He’s been featured numerous times on OSV, from his work on Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida 1&2 Giant Recital to 100 Million Ton No Bara Bara to his recent Guinness World Record-winning (for longest game music piece) score for echochrome ii. And don’t forget about the crazy Noisycroak game composer roundtable that he hosted some years back.

  Back in March, however, we told you that Sakamoto would be traveling to St. Petersburg, Russia, to put on a live performance of his music from No Heroes Allowed! and the original echochrome. For most of us who were unable to attend the performance, Sakamoto has made a recording available through his in-house Noisycroak record label.

  Brace yourself for an epic listening experience and check out our review after the jump. (more…)

• Game Music, Reviews

  Hideki Sakamoto’s Masterwork: echochrome ii = prime # 4507 (Review)

  March 21, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this Hideki Sakamoto’s Masterwork: echochrome ii = prime # 4507 (Review)

  

  Yes, it was just two weeks ago that we mentioned that Hideko Sakamoto is traveling to St. Petersburg, Russia to conduct an orchestra in the performance of his music from echochrome and No Heroes Allowed!, but we’d been meaning to check out his score for echochrome ii for quite some time now.

  We posted about the live streamed recording session for this soundtrack last year, where we noted that the game would feature a single track titled “prime # 4507” that would clock in at over 75 minutes in length and act as the soundtrack for the entire game.

  Did Sakamoto’s experiment pay off? Find out in our review after the jump. (more…)

• Game Music

  Hideki Sakamoto Live in Concert and Live on Ustream

  March 10, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Hideki Sakamoto Live in Concert and Live on Ustream Share this Hideki Sakamoto Live in Concert and Live on Ustream

  

  [Update: In consideration of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, the concert will no longer be broadcast live, but will instead be aired on Sakamoto’s USTREAM channel at a later date. Check the noisycroak website for more details]

  By now, we’d certainly hope you know who Hideki Sakamoto is. If you somehow missed our coverage of his work, he’s the incredibly talented composer and head of noisycroak with titles like the echochrome series, the Yakuza series, and 100 Million Ton no Bara Bara under his belt, among many others. As it turns out, he’ll be traveling to St. Petersburg, Russia, on March 30, 2011 to conduct the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra in a performance of his music from echochrome and No Heroes Allowed!.

  Wait, upset that you won’t happen to be in St. Petersburg, Russia on that day? Sakamoto has you covered, as the concert will be broadcast live on Ustream for fans to enjoy. Sakamoto did this recently with the recording sessions for the amazing echochrome ii soundtrack, and it’s good to see him continuing this trend with this concert. His official website not only lists all the tracks being performed, but lists the stream times for nearly every time zone around the world.

  We’re all in for a rare treat!  Let us know what you think of the set list and the fact that this is being streamed live to fans around the world.

• Miscellaneous, Reviews

  The “Quintessential” de Benedictis: Quintets (Review)

  October 8, 2010 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on The “Quintessential” de Benedictis: Quintets (Review) Share this The “Quintessential” de Benedictis: Quintets (Review)

  

  I absolutely love the experience of popping a new CD in the tray and being surprised, in a most positive way, by what I hear.

  This time around, it happened with Paul de Benedictis’ “Quintets,” released in 2007. We last talked about de Benedictis a few weeks ago in reference to his self-composed-and-performed piano solo album Power of One. It was an interesting album, but one that didn’t fully capture my attention. It was better as background music than as music one could get lost in.

  All that changes with “Quintet.” In this album, a variety of 5-piece groups (piano, strings, wind, vocals, even a mute trumpet) perform music written by de Benedictis. And it’s all sorts of awesome. I’ve gone from cautiously optimistic to “when is this guy going to write some more music?” And, seriously, with his association with the industry of audio engineering, this guy needs to start getting recognition in media. In other words, the guy should be featured in a videogame score. That’s my thought.

  I think you’ll agree with me if you take the jump and read the rest of the review. (more…)

• Game Music

  Sakamoto Returns, Spins, Falls for echochrome iisy

  June 29, 2010 | Gideon Dabi | Comments Off on Sakamoto Returns, Spins, Falls for echochrome iisy Share this Sakamoto Returns, Spins, Falls for echochrome iisy

  

  Noisycroak’s Hideki Sakamoto will be returning for the upcoming PlayStation exclusive, echochrome ii, the sequel to the Playstation Network downloadable puzzler, echochrome. echochrome featured a very intelligent and charming soundtrack (recently made available for download on the PlayStation Network, review to come soon!) made up of a string quartet – most uncommon for a game soundtrack. Sakamoto is also famous for his work on Yakuza 3, a massive departure from the echochrome series in every way.

  It’s a great movie by the folks over at Sony’s JAPAN Studio to bring back Sakamoto as the soundtrack was one of the staples of the series. Plus, it’s damn fine music.

Covering and promoting discussion of composers and music with a focus on video games and other contemporary media entertainment

Join Us Online Or Log in

 Got tips? Get in touch Or Browse our Categories Game Music Music Production Gear Anime Demoscene Software Television Doujin Chip Music Indie Music Film Events Japanese Miscellaneous Experimental Featured Editorial Reviews Interviews