Jazz

Game Music, Reviews

Celebrate Halloween In Style: Symphony of the Night EP by Bad Dudes and Friends (Review)

October 31, 2008 | Jayson Napolitano | 5 Comments Share this

What a horrible night to be without some happenin’ tunes to listen to. Well, the Bad Dudes have your Halloween evening covered with Bad Dudes & Friends Castleviana: Symphony of the Night – Resurrection, featuring over an hour of arrangements from the amazing Symphony of the Night soundtrack (don’t tell me you don’t like it), along with a number of other Castlevania classics.

It’s currently available for a voluntary donation at the OneUp Studios website, so I recommend heading over for the download. Or you can spend your Halloween listening to something lame. Would you be curious if I told you that Joshue Morse created a 13-minute long Symphony of the Night medley that is completely awesome?

That’s what I thought. Read our impressions after the jump. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

de Blob is de Bomb: Free Soundtrack Is a Must-Have, and Free! (Review)

September 29, 2008 | Jayson Napolitano | 4 Comments Share this

Okay, so I stole this phrase from the fabulous Chad Concelmo over at Destructoid, who I also stole “retromazing” from. You may gather from the coverage we’ve been giving de Blob, including our interview with composer John Guscott last week, that we’re huge fans of the game and it’s interactive soundtrack.

While the game’s innovative use of audio is absolutely amazing, I was even happier when I heard they were giving the soundtrack away to people picking the game up at Circuit City. The soundtrack is great, featuring music performed by over 20 session musicians, and while I played one of my favorite tracks from the soundtrack on last week’s OSVchannel update, I wanted to talk about some of the other great tracks on the album.

Hit the jump for our full impressions of this funktastic soundtrack. (more…)
Game Music

de Blob Audio Interview: Live Jazz, Interactive Music, and a Promotional Soundtrack

September 22, 2008 | Jayson Napolitano | 3 Comments Share this

de Blob has definitely been one of my most anticipated games since E3 and Comic Con this year. The live jazz soundtrack for is an absolute joy to listen to, and the interactivity that developer Blue Tongue Entertainment has worked into the game makes for some of the most fun I’ve had with music in a game in a long time.

We’ve been fortunate enough to get some time with John Guscott, the in-house composer senior audio designer at Blue Tongue Entertainment in Australia. His specific role on de Blob was composer and producer of the music in the game, all of which was recorded live by approximately 22 sesssion artists. We also discover that there will be a promotional soundtrack given to gamers who pick the game up at Circuit City, so I highly recommend getting it there if at all possible.

Find out once and for all of de Blob draws inspiration from City Connection on the NES after the jump. (more…)
Game Music

Three Days of Retro Remix Revue: Day 3 – The Review of the Revue!

September 19, 2008 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this

It seems like just yesterday that we started our “Three Days of Retro Remix Revue” series, featuring interviews with keyboardist/pianist/arranger Blaine McGurty and recording/mixing/master engineer Davis Jones, but we’re finally closing with our impressions of the Retro Remix Revue Volume 1 album itself.

I can’t tell you enough how great this album sounds, from the production values to the quality of the arrangements themselves, this album has created something that other remix projects should aspire to. It’s all here, from professional musicians to an excellent track list, and I’m already looking forward to Volume 2.

Have you listened to the album yet? Do you agree with me that it sounds pretty amazing?

Hit the jump for the track listi and our full impressions of the album. (more…)
Game Music

Three Days of Retro Remix Revue: Day 2 – Interview with Engineer Davis Jones

September 17, 2008 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Three Days of Retro Remix Revue: Day 2 – Interview with Engineer Davis Jones Share this

Earlier this week we featured Blaine McGurty, the keyboardist, pianist, and arranger for the recently released Retro Remix Revue Volume 1. We’re looking to give you comprehensive coverage of what we feel is one of the best arrangement albums to be released in some time.

This time we’re chatting with Davis Jones, the engineer and co-founder of Retro Remix Revue. We discuss the nuts and bolts of what makes an album sound great, and there’s even some advice in here for you would-be engineers out there. Be sure to stay tuned for our review of Retro Remix Revue Volume 1 later this week to close our Three Days of Retro Remix Revue series.

Have you picked up the album yet? Do you think there’s definitely a benefit to having a dedicated engineer on these kinds of projects?

Read the full interview with Davis Jones after the jump. (more…)
Game Music

Three Days of Retro Remix Revue: Day 1 – Interview with Musician Blaine McGurty

September 15, 2008 | Jayson Napolitano | 9 Comments Share this

In case you’ve been sealed away in a cave for the last month, Retro Remix Revue is a new game music remix project from the creative minds of pianist Blaine McGurty and engineer Davis Jones. Don’t recognize the names? Well, you shouldn’t! They’re brand-spankin’ new to the VG remixing community, so I encourage everyone to give them a warm welcome.

We’re kicking off three days of Retro Remix Revue here on OSV (one day for each R!), and to start, we’ve been able to get some time with pianist/keyboardist/arranger Blaine McGurty regarding how Retro Remix Revue Volume 1 came to be, how the songs were selected, and what we can expect from the team in the future. Stay tuned for an interview with engineer Davis Jones and a review of this amazing jazz/rock arrange album in the coming days. While you’re waiting for our review, you can head over to their official website for samples, or can even pick up the album on iTunes for $9.99 if you can’t wait!

Hit the jump to start the festivities. (more…)
Game Music

Soundtrack of the Month 09/2008: Breath of Fire III Original Sound Track

September 1, 2008 | Jayson Napolitano | 4 Comments Share this

Let me start by saying I am completely in love with Akari Kaida. While she has been involved with titles such as Dino Crisis, Luminous Arc, Okami, and of course Breath of Fire III, we haven’t heard nearly enough from this amazing jazz composer. With Kaida teaming up once again with Breath of Fire III co-composer Yoshino Aoki on Luminous Arc 2 (due out later this year), I thought it was as good a time as any to revisit this memorable soundtrack.

Breath of Fire III features a lot of jazz. Most of it is upbeat, but some of it is down and moody. Some rock influences enter through the surprisngly catchy battle themes. There’s an epic opening theme, a J-pop vocal track during the credits, and even some arranged versions of some of the tracks tucked away on this album. The only complaint that I have is that the 1-disc soundtrack doesn’t house all the game’s awesome music!

So, let’s find out why this soundtrack deserves our soundtrack of the month pick for September after the jump. (more…)