Nobuyoshi Sano

Game Music, Reviews

Team Work: Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and EGC PETA MIX (Review)

December 12, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Team Work: Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and EGC PETA MIX (Review) Share this

Yes, we just reviewed what we believed to be pretty much the entire Tekken Tag Tournament 2 soundtrack a couple weeks ago with the Tekken Hybrid Limited Edition soundtrack CD. That album contained two discs, one each dedicated to Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and we weren’t sure at the time how the single-disc treatment of TTT2 would compare with this two-disc version from SuperSweep.

But now we have it here in our hands and all mysteries have been revealed. We’re also going to take a look at the EGC PETA MIX Extra Disc that was included with orders from SuperSweep directly.

Check it all out after the jump. (more…)
Featured, Game Music

NieR Night: SQ Party LEVEL2 Impressions

October 28, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this NieR Night: SQ Party LEVEL2 Impressions

While Kai was able to provide an amazing writeup of the SQ Party LEVEL1 concert that took place less than a month ago, he unfortunately wasn’t able to attend the NieR night follow-up performance that took place this morning, so I’m filling in based on watching the live stream on Ustream. I know it’s not ideal, but it’s the best we’re going to get!

So, what was performed, who was there, and will you regret not tuning in?

Hit the jump for our impressions. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

A Disturbing Experiment: The Drag-On Dragoon Dual-Disc Reprint (Review)

May 9, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | 3 Comments Share this

I’ll say right out that I never finished Drag-On Dragoon (titled Drakengard in the North America). I played the first few levels, and I didn’t really get drawn in. The music never really struck me as particularly memorable either, but the recent reprinting of the two volume soundtrack in a single package seemed like as a good a time as any to delve in and see what I’ve been missing.

With music composed by Nobuyoshi Sano and Takayuki Aihara, I can say that this is one of the most experimental and distributing soundtracks I’ve heard in a while. Maybe the disturbing portion comes as a surprise to you, but all will be revealed in our review after the jump! (more…)
Indie Music, Reviews

Synthesizers of Many Colors: DG-10’s Golden/Green Synthesizer Albums (Review)

August 9, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Synthesizers of Many Colors: DG-10’s Golden/Green Synthesizer Albums (Review) Share this

Wow, I feel like I’m talking about Pokemon games with these color references. Back in December 2009, 5pb. Records published two unique albums titled Golden Synthesizer! and Green Synthesizer!, respectively. They contain remixes of popular music performed on the KORG DS-10 with three anime-inspired vocalists known as VCO, VCF, and VCA, collectively known as DG-10. Yes, it sounds weird, and it really is, and I would recommend checking out Jeriaska’s excellent interview with Masatoshi Nakamura and Nobuyoshi Sano to get a better idea of what this album is all about before jumping into this review.

But let’s get on to the music. I think you’ll be very surprised by what tracks are featured across these albums, and I can’t help but keep these on constant rotation on my iPod in the car, much to the dismay of my passengers. It’s just too funny not to.

Find out what I mean in our review after the jump. (more…)
Featured, Game Music

Game Composer Nico Nico Douga Event: Event Summary and Photo Gallery

March 4, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this

Noisycroak’s Hideki Sakamoto is at it again. Chris Ling informed us of a special event in Japan a few weeks ago hosted by Sakamoto, who you may recall from our 100 Million Ton No Bara Bara coverage and his previous Noisycroak panel in Japan. This time, however, the event featured a different group of composers, included live performances, and biggest of all, it was broadcasted live on Japan’s Internet video service, Nico Nico Douga. Composers Hideki Sakamoto, Takenobuo Mitsuyoshi, Michiko Naruke, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Nobuyoshi Sano were available for questions, while others joined them for the evening’s various performances.

We’ve been fortunate enough to receive a small summary along with an enormous number of photos of the event from participants Takenobu Mitsuyoshi and Hideki Sakamoto himself, and we’re very thankful to them for providing us with this opportunity.

Hit the jump for our summary and for a photo gallery from the event. (more…)
Game Music

Hideki Sakamoto And Takenobu Mitsuyoshi Host On Niconico Live

February 12, 2010 | Chris Ling | 2 Comments Share this

Though most readers may know NicoNico Douga as the Japanese equivalent of YouTube, not everyone may know about the many streaming live events on the site. Of interest, Otoya Dai-ikkai ~Ai ga 100man Ton Tarinaize!~ (Music House First Round ~Love is 1 Million Tons Short!~) is an upcoming live event that focuses on the impact of videogame music.

The event boasts some top tier talent with Hideki Sakamoto (Noisycroak) and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi (SEGA) as the hosts, Nobuyoshi “Sanodg” Sano (AQ Interactive) and Yasunori Mitsuda (Procyon Studio) as the commentators, and Michiko Naruke (Composer for the Wild ARMs series) as a guest. In addition to a talk, the site also mentions a live performance of some sort to come afterward.

Similar to the Noisycroak round-table, users can submit questions via the entrance page. If selected, the questions will be used to structure the theme of the event. The event is scheduled to start on Feb. 13 at 7:30 PM JST. Users may begin queuing up for the available slots at 7:20 PM JST. Also, as there is no cut off listed for sending questions to the composers, it is not too late to submit any burning questions you may have.

What questions would you ask the composers involved in this event?

[via NicoNico Douga]
Game Music

Noisycroak’s First Game Composer Roundtable Discussion -Complete English Transcript-

August 15, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 8 Comments Share this

While many of you may have missed the news, the guys over at Noisycroak in Japan (who you may recall from our coverage of Castlevania Judgment) recently hosted a composer roundtable to answer fan-submitted questions and discuss a wide range of topics involving the game music industry in Japan. Composer and studio head Hideki Sakamoto hosted the unprecedented event, which our own Chris Ling attended along with a number of Famitsu staff, and the results were pretty amazing.

What we have here is Chris’s English translation of the massive transcript that Noisycroak posted in to their website (in Japanese) a few weeks ago. Yes, a complete English transcript of all 17,000+ words! I’m definitely grateful to Chris for doing this for us, as well as to Sakamoto-san at Noisycroak for putting this together, Mitsuyoshi-san for coordinating Chris’s attendance, and to all the participants for taking part in this event and for letting us post the English-language transcript here for your reading pleasure.

While it’s quite long, there’s a lot of great stuff here. Nobuyoshi Sano is particularly hilarious, and it’s funny reading how Sakamoto-san was constantly trying to keep everyone on track (with mixed results). I found some of the discussion towards the end about game music concerts and “young” heroes to be interesting, but let us know what you think!

Read the entire transcript of the event after the jump. (more…)