SQ Series

Featured, Game Music, Reviews

Amber Goggles: Beer SQ (Review)

September 21, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 2 Comments Share this Amber Goggles: Beer SQ (Review)

Purchase Beer SQ (LE): CDJapan | Play-Asia
Purchase Beer SQ (Standard): CDJapan | Play-Asia

One of Square Enix’s most creative albums in years, “Beer SQ” takes the kind of music you might expect to hear at a local pub, or “bar,” at different locales around the world, and merge it with classic Square tunes.

Ever wanted to hear the FF series main theme performed by a gypsy-punk klezmer band? How about all of the FFVI character themes, in succession, by a jazz ensemble?

All this and more is found in Beer SQ. And for those who purchased the limited edition set, there’s even more (in the form of a second disc). We’ll talk about both discs in detail after the jump. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Bonus Envy Again: SQ Chips 2 Tower/VV Discs (Review)

July 26, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 4 Comments Share this

Alternately, this post could have been titled “Limited Release Part Three.” It’s like a three-part series on new, immediately hard-to-find albums.

Square Enix has been doing these retailer-specific bonus discs for some time now. They did a Village/Vanguard bonus disc for SQ Chips (with all chiptune arrangements), and then they split the bonuses among Tower Records and Village/Vanguard for Cafe SQ (Jayson reviewed those here). All the comments on that post were along the lines of “why is Square Enix holding out on us?” I agree.

And I’m about to make you feel that way, even more, with this next batch. And it’s even more frustrating, since there are two unique tracks per disc and two shared tracks (as opposed to only one unique track per disc on the Cafe SQ bonus discs). After the jump, I’ll give the details. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Bonus Envy: Café SQ Tower & Village/Vanguard Bonus Discs (Review)

January 17, 2012 | Jayson Napolitano | 3 Comments Share this

Square Enix has been doing some pretty neat stuff with Village/Vanguard stores throughout Japan with the release of their SQ series albums. Customers who’ve picked up their copies at these stores have received a neat little cardboard case for More SQ, a customer bonus disc containing several exclusive tracks for SQ Chips, and now more exclusive music for their most recent release, Café SQ.

You can read our review of the entire album here, but what makes the customer bonus discs for Café SQ even more interesting are the fact that there are two: one for customers who picked up their copy at Village/Vanguard stores, and another for those who shopped at Tower Records.

As you’re not likely going to be able to get your hands on these outside of Japan, are they even worth worrying about? They just might be! Find out in our review after the jump. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Square Enixian Beauty: Cafe SQ (Review)

December 2, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this Square Enixian Beauty: Cafe SQ (Review)

I’ve had really high hopes for Café SQ. I loved Chill SQ, although my major complaint was that it was too short. While it was formally announced even before SQ Chips, I thought that perhaps this album was in trouble given that SQ Chips was released back in September but we still hadn’t seen Café SQ, but here it is.

True to its name, it features a lot jazz and other styles of music that would be appropriate for a café, although there are a few curve balls included as well. Does it live up to mine and many others’ expectations?

Find out in our review. (more…)
Chip Music, Game Music, Reviews

Ignoring Convention: SQ Chips (Review)

October 12, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this Ignoring Convention: SQ Chips (Review)

Okay, so that’s a stab at the naming convention of the SQ series, but also a comment about the album. SQ Chips has easily been the most anticipated SQ series album to date, and after seeing the track listing on the official website some weeks ago, I was super pumped about the album as well.

Now it’s out, and many of you have already listened to it. Does it live up to the hype? Is it the strongest SQ series album to date?

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

Beating the Game at Level 1: Square Enix SQ Party LEVEL1 Impressons

October 11, 2011 | Kai Oehler | Comments Off on Beating the Game at Level 1: Square Enix SQ Party LEVEL1 Impressons Share this

Mind. Blown.

If anyone doubts the legitimacy and possibility of videogame music, let SQ Party LEVEL1 stand as proof that not only can MIDI music be orchestrated a la Distant Worlds, but DJs also can sample, mix, amplify, chop up and distort Final Fantasy to hipster hell and back – and make it sound brilliant.

SQ Party Level1 was the first of several scheduled fully licensed concerts featuring Square Enix tracks styled at the forefront of digital music. Four renowned Japanese DJs were to perform their takes on classic Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest, and other SQEX tunes

Check out our impressions from the evening after the jump. (more…)
Game Music

Cafe SQ Gets Full Track Listing, Streaming Samples

October 4, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this

It was just two months ago that I was asking, “Where the heck is Cafe SQ?,” and now here it is. I still find it odd that it was announced prior to SQ Chips, yet SQ Chips is already out, but hey, as long is it gets released, I’m happy. Square Enix recently launched a site dedicated to the album, which was rapidly translated on VGMdb, and the album is looking to be one of the best SQ series offerings to date, although I am biased given that I love the whole chillout genre.

The album will feature music mostly from Final Fantasy (big surprise), although tracks from Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, and Dewprism, and a couple others will also show up. There are 15 tracks in all, and some of the picks, including “Delightful Spekkio” from Chrono Trigger, “Matoya’s Cave” from Final Fantasy, and “Troian Beauty” from Final Fantasy IV have me super excited. Yes, “Troian Beauty.” It seems like everyone gets how amazing this song is except for Uematsu himself. Do I need to start a petition to get it included in Distant Worlds?

Anyway, the official Cafe SQ website has the full track list as well as streaming sample (including “Troian Beaut”), so check it out!

Which is your favorite SQ album to date? Will you be picking up Cafe SQ when it’s released in late November?