Original Album

Miscellaneous

Roetaka to Release Original Bloodborne Album “Night of the Hunt”

August 2, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Roetaka to Release Original Bloodborne Album “Night of the Hunt” Share this

If you’re familiar with Alex “Roetaka” Roe, you’d know he’s been a artist in the arrangement scene for a while, dating back a good decade. Almost two years ago, he released an album inspired by the FromSoftware game Bloodborne, which at the time was not quite released but Roe loved the concept enough to create ‘Borne in Blood’ to celebrate it’s upcoming debut.

Evidently the game made such a lasting impact on Roe, he decided to make a second original album inspired by Bloodborne (Not that I blame him; Bloodborne’s music is some of my favorite of recent years and was my OSVOSTOTY pick for 2015).

‘Night of the Hunt’ is my new original album inspired by Bloodborne. When I made ‘Borne in Blood’, I was writing it not knowing a lot about what the game actually was or what its music was quite going to be like. Now that I’ve played the game a ton and my skills have increased so much since that album, I was quite excited at the prospect of returning to the world of Bloodborne and writing something which is both fitting and quintessentially me. – Alex Roe

‘Night of the Hunt’ will be released on August 15th on Roe’s Bandcamp, as well as Spotify, iTunes and Amazon.

Special thanks to Shnabubula for the heads-up on this album. From what I’ve heard in the trailer, it sounds exactly what you’d hope for some a Bloodborne-inspired album – gothic, orchestral goodness.
Japanese

Michiru Yamane Releases First Original Album “Chiruru’s Music”

December 22, 2015 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Michiru Yamane Releases First Original Album “Chiruru’s Music” Share this

Castlevania and Skullgirls composer Michiru Yamane has released her first original album ever! Titled “Chiruru’s Music”, the album is a dedication to her beloved pet cat who passed away early this year, and features a diverse selection of different styles of music for each track.

“Chiruru’s Music” – Michiru Yamane

All nine tracks of the album are instrumental and based around a different concept and is sure to tug at your heartstrings. Clocking in at just under a half and hour, the album can be purchased on iTunes for under $12 USD or Amazon Japan for 1800 yen.
Anime, Indie Music

Anime-Inspired Original Album Kickstarter Debuted by Lara Croft Composer

November 10, 2015 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Anime-Inspired Original Album Kickstarter Debuted by Lara Croft Composer Share this

A new crowdfunding campaign has been debuted by the composer of of Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, Star Wars: The Old Republic and others. Wilbert Roget has taken to Kickstarter to help fund his original album, Beyond Libra, which is inspired by anime composers and features several cultural influences.

As a composer for games, I’ve always been influenced by classic Japanese anime and video game scores, with musicians like Yoko Kanno and Jo Hisaishi being some of my biggest inspirations. I’ve always wanted to write music for animation, and so 8 years ago, I embarked on an ambitious album project: I’d write an entire soundtrack for a show that existed only in my imagination, with commissioned artwork to accompany the music and an interplanetary adventure story to bind it all together.

Beyond Libra is a very diverse soundtrack, with songs ranging from j-pop to orchestral, dulcet small ensemble works, and uplifting afrobeat. There is no single “sound” for the album as a whole, but instead, a great variety of genres support the characters’ adventure across several planets and civilizations. – Wil Roget

The album will feature several additional musicians, including Jillian Aversa (Halo, Soul Calibur 5, VideoGamesLive), Offiong Bassey (featured on NPR Radio and The Boston Globe), Raj Ramayya (Cowboy Bebop, Wolf’s Rain) and others. It will also include the Yale Women’s Slavic Chorus and several other cultural ensembles. The current goal is $1,500 for the 45-minute album and some stretch goals to help improve mixing and increase tracks and more.

Beyond Libra – Kickstarter
Game Music, Japanese

Sega Band Crush 40 Release New Original Album

May 13, 2015 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Sega Band Crush 40 Release New Original Album Share this

Despite Sega having downsized and largely pulled out of the gaming market, that hasn’t stopped their boys in Crush 40 from making new music. The band just released the newest album, “2 Nights to Remember” on Amazon Japan.

Crush 40 is the band created by Sega and fronted by composer Jun Senoue (Sonic Games, Shadow the Hedgehog) on guitar and Johnny Gioeli as vocalist, originally for the release of the game NASCAR Arcade, and has contributed to the soundtracks of several Sonic titles, including main themes for Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 and songs for Sonic Heroes and Sonic and the Black Knight. This new original album follows the release of their 2012 album “Live!” and contains four newly-record studio tracks, as well as several live-performance tracks from the “Live!” album and various Sonic themes.

You can purchase the album on Amazon Japan for about 2,381 yen (or $19.95 dollars plus tax). You can also check out some previews on their website.

Crush 40 – Website | Twitter | 2 Nights 2 Remember
Chip Music, Miscellaneous

CarboHydroM’s Prime Legacy Releases Today!

May 19, 2014 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on CarboHydroM’s Prime Legacy Releases Today! Share this

The Amazing Frenchman Cometh! Longtime arrangement artist and fantastic musician Christophe “CarboHydroM” Blondel has just released his newest album “Prime Legacy” for all to soak up in it’s glory!

Prime Legacy is the soundtrack to a fictional STG, in the glory of those games, my favorite genre ever. The story it tells is very ambiguous, as one can tell from the song titles, and embeds possible deeper meaning. It is left open to interpretation on purpose. It’s up to you to let your imagination go wild while listening to it!

The album features 12 tracks of blaring guitars and amazing melody that just drips nostalgic appeal to fans of the old-school SHMUPs of yesteryear. If you haven’t been able to grab it during it’s pre-sale period, it’s now live and ready to download for a few bucks on Bandcamp and Overclocked Records. (Also a brand-new update to Blondel’s 2005 Link to the Past arrangement “Unsealed” will soon be available for auditory consumption, so keep up on Blondel’s Facebook for updates!).
Miscellaneous

“Just Fun” Kickstarter Fully Funded!

February 5, 2014 | Brenna Wilkes | 1 Comment Share this

Well that didn’t take long, now did it!

Looks like within 24 hours of it’s launch, the “Just Fun” album Kickstarter headed by composer Alexander Brandon and featuring a plethora of contributing composers and arrangement artists, has reached it’s $6,000 base goal thanks to feverish pledging by fans and supporters. So what happens next for the project? More stuff, that’s what!

The original goal might be reached, but that doesn’t mean those who didn’t get in on the rush can’t still pledge and reap the rewards of pushing the funding through multiple stretch goals! A digital version of the album available for just $10, a signed physical copy for $25, other albums in Brandon’s catalog and even a custom-created single just for you at the highest backer level of $500. If potential pledgers need additional incentive, how about the full album song list? (Courtesy of our friends at Scarlet Moon Productions)

01. “Introduction”

02. “A Thousand Words” (Feat. Jameson Sutton and Stemage)

03. “On a Dark and Stormy Night”

04. “Chronophasia” (Feat. virt)
05. “Twilight Floating” (Feat. Erik Peabody)
06. “Oath of the Matron” (Feat. Andrew Aversa and Jillian Aversa)

07. “More”
08. “God bless the child that’s got his own” (original by Avery Brooks)
09. “Infinity” (Feat. Big Giant Circles, original by Andrew Sega/Paul Schultz)
10. “Overture of the Avatar” (Feat. DJ Bottles)
11. “The Blue Hour” (Feat. Bryan Rudge)
12. “Hypercontrol” (original by Andrew Sega, guitar by Craig Rundels)
13. “The Willowdale Handcar” (Feat. Danny Baranowsky)
14. “Epilogue”

With 28 days to go in the campaign, getting an entire second album worth of music doesn’t seem that far a reach for a project this star-studded. Check out the “Just Fun” Kickstarter for updates and more goodies!
Miscellaneous

Alexander Brandon “Just Fun” Kickstarter Brings the Talent

February 3, 2014 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Alexander Brandon “Just Fun” Kickstarter Brings the Talent Share this

If you’re a fan of Dues Ex and Unreal Tournament composer Alexander Brandon, you might be interested in the Kickstarter that went live today. “Just Fun” is slated to be an original album of Brandon’s design, featuring 45 minutes and beyond of original compositions by the gaming composer. Even better than that, he’s not alone! Several big names are lending their musical skills to the project, including Jake “Virt” Kaufman, Andrew “zircon” Aversa, Grant “Stemage” Henry, Erik “Viking Guitar” Peabody and a ton more! All of this on a 14-song album with a ton of extras open to backers, including additional songs, download codes to additional albums, credits in the album notes and more!

Via the Kickstarter:

Roughly three months of full time effort has gone into this album over a period of over a year. Evenings, weekends, early mornings spent by myself as well as the fine folks who have collaborated with me. I’d like the ability to have this release be to a wider audience, with the ability to supply things like cool signed CDs as well as even more digital downloads of previous works.

The Just Fun Kickstarter goal for $6,000 ends on March 5th with several reasonable pledge tiers for the digital album, the physical album and thensome. Check out the page for the full list of contributors, rewards and details of the album!