When you say “jazz fusion” and “video games” in the same sentence, I’m there. Last year’s V-Jams is still one of my anytime, go-to albums and that same meandering melange of jazz, funk, R&B and rock is present in Materia’s New Game+. Materia’s core members are Peter Kim, Julius Verzosa, Kevin Lin, and Kwesi Andoh but New Game+ is the work of a total of 27 collaborators, all of whom came together over MAGFest.
“New Game+ is an album whose scope and impetus came from our gut reaction to the faintest attention our band was beginning to receive at events like MAGFest,” reflects Materia co-founder and musician Peter Kim. “And so the album is as much of a tribute to MAGFest and the people responsible for it as it is to the friends we’ve gained through its creation, and my hope is that the listening experience captures even just a bit of the magic that makes MAGFest the best convention in the world.”
New Game+ is produced by OverClocked Records and is available to buy for about $10 direct from OC or on iTunes, Google Play or Amazon and can be streamed on Spotify, Apple Music and Soundcloud. The full tracklist is below and includes a very special 11+ minute arrangement from Chrono Trigger, the game that initially brought Materia’s members together.
- “Prelude” (Final Fantasy)
- “Dash” (Final Fantasy XIII-2)
- “Victory Fanfare” (Final Fantasy VII)
- “Light Velocity” (Gran Turismo 3)
- “Image of a Hero” (Phantasy Star Online)
- “Esperanto” (Mega Man Zero 4)
- “Great Fairy Fountain” (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)
- “Stronger Than You” (Steven Universe)
- “Chrono Suite” (Chrono Trigger)
- “Funkadelus” (Jazz Jackrabbit)
