Mega Ran

Miscellaneous

Mega Ran’s Kickstarter Busting Goals and Stretching Bounderies

November 5, 2014 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Mega Ran’s Kickstarter Busting Goals and Stretching Bounderies Share this

If you weren’t aware, Random aka. Mega Ran started himself a respectable little Kickstarter to help fund a new album for 2015 as well as a Director’s Cut DVD of his Mega-lo-Mania documentary that released this past August. The new album will feature fan input as well as guest composers, and the DVD Director’s Cut will be expanded in length to feature more performance footage and highlight’s of Mega Ran’s career.

The good news is that, with 16 days to go, the Kickstarter has been completely funded and even passed a stretch goal of releasing the new album to vinyl for higher-level pledges. Now he’s looking to release an additonal Megaman album for Christmas with the project’s next stretch goal. Additionally, Mega Ran was so ecstatic about the goals being shattered that he released a new bit of music based on his love of the sports of Philadelphia.

So if you’re looking to get yourself some new Mega Ran goodies, hop on over to his Kickstarter and chip in!
Chip Music, Game Music

Mega Ran Highlights with Mega – Lo – Mania Tour Documentary

August 20, 2014 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Mega Ran Highlights with Mega – Lo – Mania Tour Documentary Share this

Need more Random aka Mega Ran in your life? Then you may want to consider pre-order his new tour documentary Mega-Lo-Mania! Coming in more digital and physical formats, the documentary will chronicle the chip-hop artist’s recent tour and appearance at PAX. Along with the 33-minute film, directed by Michael Cardoza as he followed Mega Ran and soul/funk band The Lo-Classic, you’ll also be receiving 5 never-released recordings and some other goodies.

“I had a blast. It didn’t totally go as I’d expected, but I think that’s the best story to tell; that it won’t always work out 100% according to plan, and that making adjustments on the fly is such a big part of what we do. I love the way the documentary came out.” – Mega Ran

Need more to convince you? Here’s a sneak peak of one of the exclusive live band recordings to be released with the documentary:

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – “Aria Of The Bloodline” (Live Practice Instrumental)

Pre-Order @ Mega-Lo-Mania Purchase Page
Chip Music, Game Music

T.U.R.T.L.E. Power Music Video w/ Mega Ran

August 8, 2014 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on T.U.R.T.L.E. Power Music Video w/ Mega Ran Share this

If you don’t know who game music hip-hop artist Random aka. Mega Ran is, then shame on you and go do yourself as favor and check him out. (it’s worth it) For those of us who do know who Mega Ran is, then we just got a little treat to kick off the artist’s North American tour. Just released was a brand new bonus track for The Call: 8-bit Anniversary Edition called “T.U.R.T.L.E. Power“, complete with music video along with nerdcore rapper Klopfenpop.

“The TMNT arcade games were some of my favorite memories of being a kid. We spent pockets full of quarters on those games. I wanted to revisit those awesome childhood moments with this video.” – Mega Ran

Mega Ran starts his tour this weekend and goes all month with the following dates:

August 8-11: Orlando, FL @ Orlando Nerd Fest
August 12: Jacksonville, FL @ Raindogs
August 13: Atlanta, GA @ TBA
August 14: Baton Rouge, LA @Spanish Moon
August 15: San Antonio, TX @ 502 Bar
August 16: Austin, TX @ Classic Game Fest
August 17: Ft. Worth, TX @ The Grotto
August 22: Phoenix, AZ @ FilmBar (Mega-Lo-Manialive premiere)*
August 25: Portland, OR @ Ground Kontrol*
August 26: Bellingham, WA @Glow*
August 27: Vancouver BC @ Columbia Theatre*
August 29: Seattle, WA @ LoFi
Game Music, Reviews

Monaco: The Gentleman’s Private Collection (Review)

December 9, 2013 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Monaco: The Gentleman’s Private Collection (Review) Share this

Listening to arrange albums is always an interesting experience. Having a group of artist arrange another musician’s work can produce fascinating results, especially when said artists have very different styles of music arranging. Monaco: The Gentleman’s Private Collection is an album featuring arrangements of Austin Wintory’s soundtrack Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine. In addition to arrangements, the album includes some unused pieces by Wintory that didn’t make the cut for the OST. The trickiest thing about reviewing an arrange album like this is that you’re bound to find a track in a genre that you have little knowledge about or that doesn’t particularly resonate with you. So inevitably, there will be tracks that you will prefer due to preferences for certain genres. With that said, I’d highly recommend giving a listen to all of the tracks on the album. You will easily find something that suits your tastes.

A majority of the arrangements focus on the main theme,”What’s Yours is Mine”, from the original soundtrack. Tina Guo, the featured solo cellist from Journey, and The Vederi String Quartet take drastically different approaches to arranging the piece for strings. Guo’s “The Dark Heart of Monte Carlo” is a slow and somber approach to the material, featuring some wonderfully expressive cello playing. Meanwhile the Vederi String Quartet’s “A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing” sticks with a tone similar to that of the original soundtrack, switching suddenly from an energetic pace to slow and stealthy tempo before speeding back up for the finale. Chis Gale’s “Song Of Banque” and Tomoki Miyosh’s “The Gentleman’s Partita” take a simpler approach to covering the track, using the ocarina and violin respectively for the melody with a simple piano accompaniment in their arrangements. (more…)