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Chip Music

PAX East 2010: JamSpace Chiptune Concert Recap

March 30, 2010 | Joshua Kopstein | 5 Comments Share this

As one might expect, there were plenty of games to play and panels to attend this weekend at PAX East. But for attendees with an insatiable appetite for live music, the JamSpace was most definitely the place to be. Organized by Dom Cerquetti and the rest of his crew from MAGFest, JamSpace acted as both the perfect hangout spot and an awesome concert setting. Throughout the weekend, a large variety of musicians pro and amateur alike grabbed instruments and took the stage, playing everything from chipmusic to videogame music jam sessions and original compositions. Even one of PAX East’s musicial guests, The Protomen, took time out to rock the JamSpace stage. But the main reason I hung around, as you may have already guessed, was the chiptune concerts that took place on Saturday and Sunday.

Read on for our full recap of everything chiptune that went down at PAX East.

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Chip Music, Game Music

PAX East 2010: Anamanaguchi writing soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim Game

March 27, 2010 | Joshua Kopstein | 1 Comment Share this

It seemed to fall into place all too well: Just one day after the release of the official trailer for Edgar Wright’s film adaptation of the popular comic series, Scott Pilgrim, New York chiptune supergroup Anamanaguchi dropped a bombshell on stage last night during their set at PAX East — The group will be writing and performing the soundtrack for the Scott Pilgrim videogame being published by Ubisoft. For those not familiar, Scott Pilgrim is a comic series by independent Canadian comic artist Bryan Lee O’Malley. Debuting in 2006, the comic quickly gained an enormous following and became a cult hit amongst comic fans for its rapid-fire videogame references, off-the-wall story and loveable characters.

PAX Attendees watched as graphics from the game — which are being done by incomparable Australian sprite animator Paul Robertson, creator of King of Powers 4 Billion % and Pirate Baby’s Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 — exploded onto the screen following the announcement as the band performed the game’s theme song for the very first time live on stage. If you’re not familiar with the series, please trust me when I say that Anamanaguchi’s exuberant 8bit-style punk rock is the perfect fit for the Scott Pilgrim franchise. Everyone I spoke to afterward had pretty much the same reaction: They could not wait to get their hands on this game, or its soundtrack. This was just one of the many amazing moments I’ve experienced this weekend at PAX East, and we’ll have more to share in the next few days. Stay tuned!

[image courtesy of Attract Mode; check out their post for more images from the game]
Game Music, Miscellaneous

PAX East 2010: OSV Will Be There, And You Should Be Too!

March 25, 2010 | Joshua Kopstein | 4 Comments Share this

Are you going to Boston this weekend for the debut of Penny Arcade’s East Coast Expo? Great! We’ll be there too, carrying bags full of journalism, instant noodles and other terrible junk food that we’ll probably regret eating later. But more importantly, we’ll bouncing around the Hynes Convention Center like overstimulated Yorkshire terriers covering all sort of music-related happenings at PAX East.

Find a short round-up of some notable events and panels you might want to check out after the jump! (more…)
Game Music

Metroid Metal: Varia Suite is Almost Ready to Suck Away Your Money

August 17, 2009 | Audun Sorlie | 5 Comments Share this

It’s almost here, the Metroid Metal studio album is right around the corner! Grant Henry, AKA Stemage is well known for his work on Metroid Metal where he has arranged the full soundtracks for Metroid, Metroid 2 and Super Metroid into pure metal glory, and has gone on to start arranging the music from the Prime series. Last year, he put together a live band consisting of Dan Taylor, Dan Behrens, Mike Molnar and Kevin Lawrence for an amazing performance at MAGFest 7 and also to record the long awaited Metroid Metal studio album! The release date is September 8, 2009, so get your wallets ready and be prepared for what might be the best game arrangement CD of 2009. They posted a preview on YouTube for everyone to enjoy.

You can also catch Metroid Metal live at PAX at September 4th, and pre-order their CD here. Be sure to watch for our review of the album soon!

Do you feel the Metroid spirit is retained in the metal style? And is there any other game you would like to see get similar treatment?
Game Music

PAX Stays a While and Listens to The OneUps

September 5, 2008 | David Hsu | 1 Comment Share this

[Editor’s Note: Contributor David “Dhsu” Hsu has been involved with the video game remixing scene for quite some time and is a pretty amazing pianist. Check out his OCR profile and his post below about the Diablo III performance at PAX by The OneUps!]

It’s been a good week for fans of OneUp Studios, with their release of The OneUps Volume 2 and the Bad Dudes’ Sagat-themed Thai Guy EP. The week has also been equally bountiful for Diablo music lovers, who got a double-whammy of Diablo II and Diablo III tracks on iTunes. Both of these demographics got a special treat at this year’s Penny Arcade Expo (or “PAX” to us nerds) when The OneUps performed the Diablo series’ Tristram theme live as an encore after their action-packed set at the concert on Friday night, which also featured other geek favorites Freezepop and Jonathan Coulton. If you wanted a chance to relive those memories, or were like me and missed the whole shebang due to not having a few hundred dollars lying around, you can catch a video of their rockin’ cover after the jump.

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