VG Frequency

Brazilian foursome 8 Bit Instrumental have released their newest album arranging the Mega Man 2 soundtrack. Entitled Beat the 8 Super Robots with 8 Bit Instrumental, the new album is the most focused effort from the band yet, who follow up their previous albums The Song Remains the Game and Altered Bit with their take on a sin

In the tradition of Arm Cannon, vertexguy and Select Start, 8 Bit Instrumental has also performed at Video Games Live through the invitation of Tommy Tallarico. Check them out performing from Metroid and Street Fighter II when the concert stopped by Brasilia, Brazil this past September:

Of course, you can also check out their debut ReMix at OverClocked ReMix yesterday with their Top Gear arrangement from the Altered Bit album, “Rockabilly ~ Dark Gears ~ Surfing Gear” (lovingly titled by me from the names the band gave each section). They’ve got more material coming OCR’s way, so keep an eye out for these guys as they continue to represent Brazil, the bastion of video game music fandom in South America.

On January 19, 2008, Joshua Morse, along with fellow video game arrangers Anthony Lofton and Posu “po!” Yan, released a free album called Ragnarok Online : Hybridism, arranging nine tracks from the Korean MMORPG Ragnarok Online. The game, composed by the Korean sound team SoundTeMP, has its share of fan arrangements by Japanese artists, but has thus far not had many arrangements on the Western side.

Morse did the most work, being personally involved in each of the nine tracks, and each of the arrangements has the same groove flava as his OCR material. My biggest problem with the album is that some of the tracks feel listless, just kind of coming and going perfunctorily. Part of that comes from the sound side, through the use of weak sounds (the guitar in “Nano East” is the most prominent example) and relatively flat production, leaving most of the dynamic changes to come only from instruments coming in and dropping out, which doesn’t always happen that often. Oddly, I did enjoy the extremely low-key “Watery Grave,” which uses its slow lack of energy to create a more ambient groove, with some nice EP and guitar licks. It felt intentional in that case, whereas tracks like “Ancient Groover” felt like they meant to do more than they actually did.

However, the groove bias is strong in this one, and when everything clicks, the result is pure sex of the musical kind. The track that sticks out the most is “Out of Curiosity,” the one track which all three arrangers tackled. It’s also the only track that features the saxophone stylings of Lofton in a soul blazing solo, and backs it up with rapid pan flute action and some nice lo-fi synths. “Samurai Discotheque” is another winner, rocking the bass and keyboards with a nice Oriental flow.

Check out this new tribute to some undermixed material and groove along yourself.

Video game music news portal ThaSauce has launched the first full episode of their podcast, SauceCast, hosted by Dyne and injury, the premiere edition focusing on the events of MAGFest 6 along with other community news at developments at ThaSauce.

Aside from (or dare I say “including”) the comical overuse of the word “phenomenal” (that’s starla’s version of me saying “aight”, “tite”, “hot”, “yo”, and “bro” in my radio days), I was enjoying every minute. There were a few slight dead spaces in the convo I would have edited to make things keep flowing, but I’m anal. Regardless, this was way slicker than anything I’d ever put out, with iTunes sections and everything. Very nice.

Dyne and injury were able to keep things short and to the point while I felt like I’d gotten the info I needed. Granted, I was there for MAGFest, so none of the info was new to me specifically.I’m interested to see how it goes when news I’m not familiar with is tackled, but the team at ThaSauce sound up for the task. Lots of fun akin to the other girl/guy podcast teamups of VGDJ-past. I definitely enjoyed SauceCast and am looking forward to more!

Our friends over at SquareSound are holding an arrangement competition in tribute to Final Fantasy musical legend Nobuo Uematsu. The winner will receive two VIP tickets to the upcoming Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy concert in Chicago on March 1, 2008. The VIP tickets include prime seats at the concert, a free concert CD and program, and the ability to attend an exclusive meet-and-greet session with Mr. Uematsu himself following the performance.

OverClocked ReMix has donated copies of Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream as prizes, and head submissions evaluator Larry “Liontamer” Oji will be assisting with submissions evaluations.

In order to qualify, entrants must submit their own unique arrangement of any of Mr. Uematsu’s compositions. Registration for this competition is open until Tuesday, January 22nd and the finished arrangement must be submitted by February 8th.

For more details and to get registered, please visit SquareSound’s Competition Page.

Patrick “Bucky O’Hare” Todd has made the rounds of the community promoting some rare material by the now-defunct Philly band Chromelodeon. (I saw them perform at MAGFest 5 last year and they were amazing. Props in particular to synth player Dino Lionetti.)

Under the group’s VGM tribute band alias, Sprite Slowdown, the group recorded several VGM arrangements, many of which only seeing a limited release while they were still active.

Luckily, Patrick’s got your back with the digital release of Sprite Slowdown v2. Besides the arrangement scene mainstay of Final Fantasy VI, the EP has got some very intriguing material, many selections of which I could safely say have never been arranged before in the fan community. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure on the Atari Lynx??? Yeah, I can safely say.

Bucky provides what you need to know:

I played drums on this short vgm tribute, and it was recorded a little over a year ago. With the band having broken up since, and this ep never having a ‘proper’ release, I decided to put it up for download. It was very much rushed for release at magfest 5 (and never performed prior to recording), but having just listened to it again more recently I appreciate it more than when I first heard it. A bit rough around the edges, but not as bad as I recalled!

Some of the track selection may be a bit on the esoteric side, hope you enjoy.

Track Listing -
1. Final Fantasy 6 (SNES)
2. Fire ‘n Ice (NES)
3. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (Atari Lynx)
4. Kenseiden (SMS)
5. Abadox (NES)

Clearly all work and no play at the 2008 International CES, DToiders Graybush and Buckfitches decided to interview their own Dale North as he laid in bed, sauced out.

As soon as they creeped up on him, shining a bright light in his face, and you hear Dale go, “Goddammit, guys,” it’s so worth it. Hahaha! Let’s label this one under live performances:

Fresh off their performance at MAGFest, Florida band Select Start has been recruited by Video Games Live co-creator to perform at the upcoming Orlando concert at Otronicon. The band provided the news via MySpace bulletin:

SELECT START has been confirmed to play at [VIDEO GAMES LIVE] in Orlando on JANUARY 24 as part of Otronicon. Video Games Live will be playing the incredible music from games such as Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, Sonic the Hedgehog, Warcraft, and many many more.

Missing this amazing video game music experience leaves holes in your soul - so order your tickets now!!

More details to come as time draws closer. But for now, check out www.videogameslive.com.

Immediately afterward, the group will be performing at the Carolina Games Summit in Goldsboro, North Carolina on January 26. These guys are doing a great job keeping busy this month!

How forgetful I am sometimes. I talked about all the fun I had scoring the Dwelling of Duels competition on day 1 of MAGFest 6. I even talked about the craziness of Paragon’s traditional announcement of the placings at the top of day 4, right after the conclusion of the concerts. But I never posted the official results! I’m gonna quote myself from my MAGFest thoughts on the listening party before the results below. Be sure to be there at the top of next month to find our the results of the new competition theme, the Kirby series:

Dwelling of Duels capped off my night, as I hung around with the most die-hard of die-hards for the over 6-hour listening party voting on entries of this month DoD Free Month. The 11+ minute Secret of Mana arrangement “Let Me Tell You a Secret” had everyone laughing hard after a long night of listening. Hopefully my personal favorite, Splatterhouse “TERRORMASK”, has an impressive showing; I gave it all the support I could with my only 6 point vote of the night, the most points that can be given to any track as part of a voter’s 50 point spread.

musicalman: Metal Gear - Snake’s Revenge
norg: Ducktales - Harden the Duck Up
Danimal Cannon and Chris Dlugosz: Contra 4 - “Let’s Attack Aggressively!”
Fourth Place: ansgaros: Final Fantasy 6 - Kefka Gets Decisive
Fifth Place (tie): Kidd Cabbage: Super Metroid - Fuzzy Green Feeling
Fifth Place (tie): virt: Splatterhouse - TERRORMASK
Seventh Place: Ryan8Bit: Wizards & Warriors, Gauntlet - Kuros Shot the Food
Eighth Place: Snappleman: SET PHASERS TO ^___^ (In Loving Memory of Chavez)
Ninth Place: xoc: Conker’s Bad Fur Day (N64) - Straight Windy
Tenth Place: dasaten: Secret of Mana - Let Me Tell You a Secret
Eleventh Place: MusicallyInspired: Duke Nukem series - Grabbag Mega-Mix
Twelfth Place (tie): CarboHydroM: PopN Twinbee - Ground Split
Twelfth Place (tie): Hope Fails: Salamander 2 - mmmbop
Fourteenth Place (tie): strefig: Bucky O’Hare - Bring Them to the Righteous
Fourteenth Place (tie): SuprMelO: Chrono Trigger - Sambacross Time
Sixteenth Place: JigginJonT: Final Fantasy 6 - A Day in the Life of a Gambler
Seventeenth Place: Millenial Fairs: Chrono Trigger - Robo’s Theme
Eighteenth Place: Scaredsim: Castlevania 3 - Ding dong, au quatrième top il sera 20 heures
Nineteenth Place (tie): Daniel Alm: Gremlins 2 - Gizmo Caca!
Nineteenth Place (tie): Dennis: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest - Crunch Time
Nineteenth Place (tie): rauze: Mega Man 4 - Man & Machine
Twenty-second Place: Hale-Bopp: Super Mario Galaxy, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker - Two Tales
Twenty-third Place (tie): pingosimon: Final Fantasy 6 - Kids Run Through the City
Twenty-third Place (tie): XMark: Contra - Assault on Galuga (Contra: The Movie: The Soundtrack)
Twenty-fifth Place: chunkstyle: Monty on the Run (C64) - Avogadro’s Ostinato
Twenty-sixth Place (tie): thesamareaye: Final Fantasy 3 - Oceans Abound
Twenty-sixth Place (tie): Vegeroth: Breath of Fire - The Fire Came from Within
Twenty-eighth Place: Naz: Chrono Trigger - Dreams of a Black Wind
Twenty-ninth Place (tie): Corax and Zachariasmith: Jazz Jackrabbit - Templum Testudine
Twenty-ninth Place (tie): Hydrasphere: Tetris - Tetrismatik
Twenty-ninth Place (tie): Josiah Tobin: Uniracers - The Fastest Wheel in the Uni-Verse
Twenty-ninth Place (tie): Patrick_Like_Static: Ducktales - Bless Me Bagpipes: Green Cheese!
Thirty-third Place: Cetera: Nightmare on Elm Street - Elm Street
Thirty-fourth Place: zangderak: Street Fighter Alpha - Jaguar Tooth
Thirty-fifth Place (tie): DZX: Final Fantasy 7 - Reunion
Thirty-fifth Place (tie): Skulletmaster: Mega Man 7 - Blue Rock Bloodletting Tyme
Thirty-fifth Place (tie): tibone: Pyscho Pinball - I’ll Jackpot into your squirrel if that’s what it takes
Thirty-eighth Place (tie): Six-Stringed Flamberge: Everyday Shooter (PS3) - Surreal Heartbreak
Thirty-eighth Place (tie): Mr. N: The Sims - Cloud Construction
Thirty-eighth Place (tie): ShinerCCC: Final Fantasy Legend 1, 2, 3 - The Legend of the Glass Sword
Forty-first Place: Nario: Final Fantasy - Crystal Warriors
Forty-second Place (tie): Amaranthine Skies: Magician - Magical Funk
Forty-second Place (tie): bjkmenu: Popful Mail (Sega CD) - Muttonhead is a Nuts Cracker
Forty-fourth Place: Paragon: Dark Cloud 2, Suikoden 2 - Two Fountainheads
Forty-fifth Place: Bobby Winston?!, Baraka: Phenoix Wright: Ace Attorney - Wright #51
Forty-sixth Place: Pancho: Final Fantasy 9 - staggering saiyan. . .err. . .genome

I can’t hope to encapsulate Edgen Animations‘ good fortunes at doing some audio work at George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch. So I’m simply going to recommend that you check out Justin R. Durban’s MySpace blog for all the details, including thoughts on recording with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, as well as several photos on and around the ranch. Congratulations to Justin in fulfilling a career goal with his working visit to the Skywalker Ranch, definitely a unique achievement in his field. I suppose the next goal is making it a steady gig! Make sure to click through to read all about it, and enjoy!

As mentioned in part 3 of my thoughts on MAGFest, Brad “the prophet of mephisto” Burr coordinated the latest album release over at OC ReMix, released the day of our panel presentation. Arranging music from some of the more forgotten lore in the Chrono series, the Radical Dreamers arrangement project Thieves of Fate is released and ready to download (featuring some beautiful art by OA).

I helped coordinate some minor aspects of the release, so I actually promoted the album a little via VGMdb prior to it going public. Besides the prophet, the album features a lot of emerging talent in the OCR community with DrumUltimA, Geoffrey Taucer, Level 99, OA, ellywu2, Ross Kmet, Darangen, Avaris, DragonAvenger, Abadoss, Fishy, and Tweek all on board, all having achieved success in the VGM arrangement community after 2005.

Personally, I think the overall results are on the rough side, so as some of these tracks make their way to the judges panel, I’m only gonna continue to drop the hammer like nobody’s business. A lot of these bros (and girl) are only going to improve further, while some have really hit their stride. Originally conceived as an all-collaboration album, you’re getting a good cross-section of talent treading on some under-remixed ground, many of the tracks featuring multiple artists. For over 70 minutes of action, be sure to pick up Thieves of Fate.

The final day of MAGFest would seemingly be when things died down, but right after day 3’s concerts, the peoples were awake, and they were still busy. Immediately after the conclusion of the Smash Bros. set, Paragon conducted the annual tradition of announcing the results for this month’s Dwelling of Duels. SnappleMan did a great job in winning last year, but musicalman took it home this year with the gold trophy. Props to everyone who participated, good or bad. There were so many participants this go, it was impossible to keep track of them all, but I made sure to congratulate guys like Danimal Cannon, Hope Fails, and norg for being part of the reason the competition was both strong and interesting this year. Afterwards, Mustin did the honors of snapping the yearly photos of the Shizzies gathering for MAG this year.

Afterward, it was time to hang with some OC ReMix peeps as we watched the Hellgate: London trailer bustatunez scored before moving on to other flavors of the internet. You put a bunch of people in a room who’ve seen it all, and of course 2girls1cup and 2girls1finger are just two of the many new staples of grossout internet memes of the past year.

SnappleMan later joined the room and kept it real (as always) talking about the dramas of MAGFest, including police situations, helping run the audio for the concerts, dealing with the drummer of The Advantage, Spencer Seim, nearly walking out of their performance (twice), mig50 getting thrown out of the hotel for not paying, housethegrate also getting the boot, the audio crew watching hardcore porn on via laptop and mortifying Select Start’s Elaine Li when she discovered it, and his overall thoughts on all the performances. If you haven’t already befriended this man, you need to. Just talking with Andy for a hour, he makes MAG worth the entire trip.

D-Lux and I rolled over to the VGMix room to chat with tumult, Matt Pollard, Shawn Phase and Shnabubula about the chaos of the festival, as some of us were complaining about possibly losing the hotel for next year due to this year’s craziness. Just like SnappleMan, shooting the shit with Matt and tumult is great when you wanna talk with no bullshit. Shawn actually made a good point about how he didn’t get wasted at MAG so he could enjoy as much of the event as possible, but Matt had been drunk from the moment he got there!

As night turned into day, myself, D-Lux, Joe Cam, Wire and Maximo Lorenzo stopped by the MAGFest staff room (a sea of tired bodies) and made our way to the staff’s private jacuzzi. Isn’t Joe Cam getting married? Well, that didn’t stop him from climbing in the jacuzzi with Wire. They all had their clothes on. Let me never see Cam in white boxers ever again! Maximo drew pictures of Wire and myself for her as little mementos for the trip. It was definitely an honor being sketched by Max, who’s done some cool stuff with Tokyopop and constantly strives to up his game.

After I left the staff room, I walked around the hotel for a few minutes until I ran into virt, SnappleMan and OverCoat chilling in the lobby, with Shnabubula coming over later to shoot the shit. It was definitely great just getting to hang out with those guys further. With so many personalities around, and friends from across the world to hang with, it’s impossible to see everyone you want to, even in 4 days. You’ve really gotta be content with what time you do get.

Ironically enough, I tried staying awake all night in order to attend ThaSauce’s rescheduled panel. So of course, when I got there…I fell asleep. Across four chairs.

Attending Kroze’s machinima panel was quite the educational experience, including the debut of the trailer for Eden: The Zhang Chronicles, featuring bustatunez handling the score. Once that wrapped up, we amassed more signatures for the deadly OCR guitar in the lobby, where most of the people said their goodbyes and got their last time in socializing. Injury and Mustin snapped a photo in the lobby, always a great contrast with a short lady and a tall man!

Afterward, lots of the OCR crew headed over to Popeyes for the best friend chicken in the world. OA and AeroZ both got to sample Popeyes wares for the first time to some very satisfied results. (Love that chicken.) Most of the crew then said their goodbyes and headed off for parts unknown while those who remained headed back to the hotel for closing ceremonies. It was good being able to listen to Brendan (Mr. MAGFest) thanking everyone on staff who made the event such a huge success, as usual.

Shuttling back home from the hotel (I live close), I got to meet cacomistle for the first time. He’s done some nice chiptune material for Mega Twerp, and also participates in Dwelling of Duels, but I never had the pleasure of getting to chat with Brian until right at the end of MAG on the way home. What did I tell you about not having enough time to get to hang with everyone? Nonetheless, definitely a pleasant surprise.

Once I got back home to my sick lady, I bought her a big cheeseburger from Johnny Rockets and exhaled. You probably wouldn’t want MAGFest to be a week or your entire life (who could process it all?), but for any gamer and especially video game music fan, the 4 days of MAGFest are worth their weight in gold. It’s the right way to start off any year. Down the line, we’ll supplement the blog with pieces of MAGFest 6 nostalgia, but for now all I can say is you have to make it out to this yearly event no matter who you are. You’ll always be glad you went.

Ok, so while Day 1 of MAGFest 6 was awesome, I completely missed Day 2.

LOOK, HEAR ME OUT!

Ha! But yeah, the short of it was that my lady, THE Lady, the esteemed Paige came down with a virus and felt like…let’s say “poop” and be generous. I took her over to the urgent care clinic to get checked out, but waited until late in the evening. I tend to play things by ear, so I didn’t bother checking when the concerts would be. “6PM,” you say? Well, shit. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have left for the clinic at 5:50PM, now would I? Regardless, she felt bad enough where I stayed home afterwards and took care of her, so I missed out on all of day 2! If you’ve ever been in a position where you’ve regretted everything while regretting nothing, you know how I felt. (That’s love! Try it sometime!)

If you have MAGFest thoughts to share so far, please comment or send them in; we’d love to hear from you on this always amazing yearly event. But to give you a taste of what took place on Friday, let’s hook you up with something I missed myself as Thursday turned into Friday after the opening ceremonies: Shnabubula performing in MAG’s Jamspace room.

A new addition to the event, Jamspace is the only place where artists can plug in and do their thing nearly any time of day. Whether it’s turntabling or performing live, if you’ve got the goods, you’re ready to play. Some instruments were already provided to Jamspace for use during the festival, and Sam quickly showed off the potential of the idea, brought to you by ThaSauce.

Maybe you’ve already seen some of his previous performance videos. But they’re nothing like the Final Fantasy VI arrangement “Terra’s Got Her Groove Back.” Enjoy!

Gonna keep it (relatively) short and sweet with some personal comments on day 1 of MAGFest 6:

I managed to make it to the gorgeous Hilton Mark Center in Alexandria, VA with a few minutes to spare for the Opening Ceremonies, and was up on stage along with most of the other guests in order to pimp the many panel set for the convention, including OC ReMix involving myself. djpretzel wasn’t able to swing by due to still having to go into work the following day, but he should be at MAG through the rest of the weekend. When the opening ceremonies were over and everyone dispersed, I hung back and chatted with various community peeps; one highlight was having Nario of VGMix/DoD infamy believe I was djpretzel, which had me literally ROFLing with Mustin nearby.

Always glad to see tons of people who I’ve previously met, though nothing beats meeting new people as well, including CHz, ktriton, AeroZ, Shnabubula, Dhsu, Danimal Cannon, Species8472, jvincion, Suzumebachi, and several others who’ve made their impact in the scene. Danimal thanked me for the kind words I’ve said about Armcannon in the past, which encouraged him to take a chance and submit material to OC ReMix despite some members of The Shizz having a negative opinion of the site. Dan mentioned how some tensions between live musicians and desktop musicians have led to friction, and how it’s been good for both of us to see that lessening in favor of raising the profile of the entire scene.

Daniel “Kareshi” Brown was giving out promotional copies of Nintendo on Piano, including a bonus disc with additional material, including sheet music. Definitely a great score for any doujin fan. It was also good to see Dan add Battletoads to his repertoire this year! Look for a review of Nintendo on Piano down the line here, as I check out the goods.

I had a good time handing out our promotional DVD copies of Voices of the Lifestream to the many, many contributors who are attending MAGFest this year and had my personal copy of the album signed by Big Giant Circles, zircon, pixietricks, bustatunez, Geoffrey Taucer, Shnabubula, Mustin, Dhsu, SnappleMan, norg and Suzumebachi. I also had virt sign my copy of Nintendo Power #218, featuring the Contra 4 developers, WayForward Technologies, revealing Jake’s scoring of the soundtrack to the newly-released Nintendo DS hit.

Dwelling of Duels capped off my night, as I hung around with the most die-hard of die-hards for the over 6-hour listening party voting on entries of this month DoD Free Month. The 11+ minute Secret of Mana arrangement “Let Me Tell You a Secret” had everyone laughing hard after a long night of listening. Hopefully my personal favorite, Splatterhouse “TERRORMASK”, has an impressive showing; I gave it all the support I could with my only 6 point vote of the night, the most points that can be given to any track as part of a voter’s 50 point spread.

Day 2’s only gonna be bigger and better as more people arrive in Northern Virginia for the convention and we enter our first night of concerts. Along with the aforementioned Arm Cannon, there are gonna be some other great live performances over this weekend, including the supergroup of The Smash Bros. as well as Temp Sound Solutions, The Advantage, Select Start, PlanetSkill and This Place is Haunted. Really looking forward to providing more thoughts in the coming days.

After calling it quits with OverLooked ReMiX in 2005 with his seemingly first AND last OLR album project (Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Misstik Kwest), Joe “Joe Cam” Cammisa has returned to OLR with his second album project there, SPLUNK!

What could combine zyko, virt, Zeratul, ktriton, Mazedude, and more bringers of earhurt? Only a truly awful game could bring the Cam and his posse back. Spelunker for the NES was that game. Joe and his way with words whet your appetite for the album:

Spelunker.

One of the shittiest games I can remember for the NES.

Seriously, you died if you fell like half the length of the size of your character’s sprite. It was pretty asstastic.

The music was pretty meh and repetitive as well, but the game has a name that is fun to say, so needless to say I felt it deserved to have an entire remix project devoted to it, but it’s not like it deserved a GOOD remix project, so OLR was the place to go.

If you want to know more about the album, visit the SPLUNK! page and educate yourself. The highlight of the album has gotta be Mustin’s already-legendary “You Just Fucking Died”. Yes, it’s barely been out and it’s already achieved that status. Now you’ve got no reason to ignore this gold. Go get it!

OC ReMixer Joshua Morse is attempting to take OC ReMix someplace its never been before: genre classification. Initially dubbed OCR Genres, criticism by OCR regulars over strict genre classification of OC ReMixes led to Morse rechristening his initiative OCR Tags. The site aims to eventually sort through OverClocked ReMix’s vast library of music via user-submitted descriptors that can range from one to several tags. Morse laid out the plans for the site at the OC ReMix forums:

Hey all,

Lately I’ve been immersing myself in a number of web development projects. One of said projects includes something called OCR Tags. In short, I plan for it to be a supplemental website to OCR, providing a new way of searching for mixes: via genre. I’ve seen some demand for people wanting remixes to be categorized by genre, so here’s your chance!

I need your help! To explain, OCR Tags allows for users to tag their favorite remixes via genre and elements. I still have a quite a bit to work on, but you can check out the site right here. Users can register and start tagging immediately.

I’d also like to welcome any questions / comments anyone has as I’m trying to build up an FAQ for the website. So let me have it! 

Following up on exciting news from months ago, zircon lays it out better than I can, so enjoy:

A few months ago, ReMixer & judge Jill Goldin (aka pixietricks) was added into rotation at radioMystic, a popular net radio station specializing in new age music. She was also made a featured artist on the site with a front page spotlight.

Now, the station has brought her under the spotlight again; her original song “Hajime” (stream it at her MySpace) has been selected as one of their Best Tracks of 2007! Only twenty-three songs were selected in total from the entire year, especially impressive considering radioMystic’s rotation includes new age stars as Enya, Loreena McKennitt, David Arkenstone, and Enigma. The top tracks were selected both by the staff of radioMystic as well as favorites from listeners, and you can listen to the 2-hour podcast with all of them at this page (artists are not listed in any particular order.)

Once again, congratulations, Jill!!

ps. Keep your eyes peeled for her upcoming album release “Origins”, which will contain the full-quality version of Hajime as well as lots of other awesome tracks.

Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY is a new concert tour celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Final Fantasy. The game was first released in Japan on December 18, 1987, and the concert premiered in Stockholm, Sweden on December 4, 2007. The inaugural event was attended by Nobuo Uematsu himself, who was interviewed before the concert started by Johan Köhn of Spelmusik.net.

How did you approach the challenge of composing an opera piece?

- It was very interesting, because I had never listened to opera music when I was asked. I didn’t have any knowledge on composing such a piece, so I did it in my own style. When Dragon Quest composer Koichi Sugiyama found out about the opera part in Final Fantasy VI he called and asked me why he hadn’t been told about this great idea earlier, so that we could have worked together on it (laughs)!

Ah, but who cares about that. Let’s get to the good stuff:

I know you’re always getting this question, but how is it going with the third Black Mages album?

- Yes, I get that question very often, but I would now like to promise to people that the album will be released in March 2008.

THE BLACK MAGES II The Skies Above, the last Final Fantasy series rock arrangement album by TBM, was released three years ago, so their third album has been a long time in the making. Hopefully it will be released on time.

So Shnabubula saw my pimpage for the Uptime recording session EP he recently added to his website, providing some good info on the new tracks with his comments. Now he wants me to plug some recent performance videos he’s got up on YouTube as part of Dragon Army. Or in his words, “PIMP THESE TWO.”

I’m doing my best impression of Tiffany’s Game Music Blog. Let’s get to it:

Sam keeps it pretty standard with some portions of his Super Mario Bros. performance, playing the “Overworld BGM” theme pretty straight over the basic groove of the original, before belting out into some really stylized improv arrangement, even throwing in some cameos of Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros. 2 to close it out.

And in this corner, an under-appreciated gem of mine with “Demon Seed” from Castlevania III. This slightly longer performance features a lot more improvisation, so if you’re interested in seeing what Somnambula [sic] really can put together, this is the one of the two for you.

Shna says: “kthxbye.” [waves]

Ok, so there’s no Blade Runner stuff in here, but hey, you want more original experimental albums from video game remixers, right? Of course you do. And you’re punk, are you not? Of course you are. And since you’re all about the “high tech, low life” lifestyle, Scott “OverCoat” Porter’s got you covered with his newest release, A Cyberpunk Adventure EP.

Get a load of that art. Good stuff, though I’m getting tired of the generic fonts being used lately. Someone get that stylized for a change.

Right from the beginning with “Evaporative Air Coolers” and its strange sounds & unique textures, there’s a lot to enjoy with this album. With that said, I’d skip over “Shmorg” in a heartbeat, due to it sounding too cheap, but everything else is sounding cool, meaning you hit paydirt with at least 5 of the 6 tracks if you’re open to the potential of the cyberpunk genre.

Much like Skrypnyk’s Absolute Music, this EP was also created for Brian “Ubik” Davis’s yearly Auld Lang Syne compo, a compo not really designed in competition but rather encouraging artists to focus on the creation of new albums. Since some of the artists haven’t heard from Ubik regarding the ALS4 rollout of the albums on New Year’s Day, many of the artists have gotten antsy and released their albums early. SOC’s impatience is your gain, so jump right on it and pick this up ASAP, some solid material from one of the community’s many off-kilter composers in OverCoat.

Keep an eye out on OC ReMix in the coming months when Scott’s sophomore ReMix goes up on the front page there, Cave Story “H2O”, from the Cave Story Remix Project.

As a cynic, I hate holiday music. But when it involves the video game music community, I’m there. Game Music 4 All had some good spotlights on holiday music in the VGM community on Christmas Eve. I also contributed some news to GM4A yesterday to spread the word on more good holiday music, some of which falls under my jurisdiction. So, my gifts to you…

Dale North threw out a nice double-shot of smooth jazz mainstream arrangements a couple of days ago with “Last Christmas ‘07″ and “Merry Little Christmas ‘07.”

Meanwhile, several of the arrangers at OC ReMix pooled together this year to create a full-on Christmas EP for the community, featuring arrangements of classic carols, hymns and other winter-themed arrangements. William “Dyne” Michael is hosting the unofficial OCR album, An OverClocked Christmas, and joyfully bestowed glad tidings:

Merry Christmas, and good tidings all around!

As promised, it’s midnight here on the East Coast, and you know what that means! It’s the release of An OverClocked Christmas!! But, before you get to celebrating, I wanted to remind everyone that this is not an official site project album. This is just an ordinary project done by people who love and enjoy Christmas, and are sharing their joy through music.

I hope that you will all enjoy this album, and have a safe and happy Christmas time!

Once again, Merry Christmas!!!

Festive stuff, especially the a capella from Brad “The Prophet of Mephisto” Burr, “O Come, O Come, Emanuel (EX Mix).” Not to be outdone, the friendly competition of Dale North’s smooth vocal treats get it done as well, with “Merry Little Christmas ‘07″ drawing some deserved comparisons to Josh Groban. Great stuff from the OCR regulars and a scene veteran in North to brighten your holiday for sure. Have a Kickin’ Kwanzaa!

I’ve heard of plans for documentaries on the video game music scene in America, sure. But Europe, well…it’s a bit far away. Whatever educational fare may have already come out regarding the Commodore 64 music scene, only a real guru would know if stacks up any better than what German independent filmmakers Shining Movie Vision hope to achieve with their soon to be released doco, The 8Bit Philosophy: A Commodore64 Symphony.

John “Ziphoid” Carehag posted about the unveiling of the documentary’s trailer at C64 arrangement hub Remix64:

[T]he trailer for the upcoming documentary ‘The 8Bit Philosophy: A Commodore64 Symphony’ was released as a Christmas gift to you all.

Konstantin Stuerz and the others at Shining Movie Vision has been driving around Europe, interviewing a lot of known faces in the Commodore 64 community, past and present. Amongst the interviewees you will find Romeo Knight, Markus Holler, Chris Huelsbeck, Thomas Detert and many more…

Do have a look at the website and download the trailer.

The trailer [high-quality version] goes a little artsy-fartsy trying to convey the nostalgia, but it’s the SID, I can forgive that. The 8Bit Philosophy’s lineup of interviews potentially could be pretty comprehensive looking at the names mentioned above, as well as the other artists and personalities in the trailer. The Shining Movie Vision team looks to have a good cross-section of game composers, remixers and scene enthusiasts (including Ziphoid himself).

A good documentary about the Commodore 64 music scene is something that I’ve looked forward to for a long time. For those of you out there who aim to obtain the knowledge, your ship may be sailing in. If you have 2 minutes free, there’s no excuse for not getting taste of what’s in store.

Add the Portal gun to Half-Life 2 and you’re literally in for a trip. Jared Hudson and Ari “Protricity” Asulin recently joined forces to fuck around with The Orange Box. Prot explains:

Jared Hudson and I just finished our Half Life 2 Portal video. This video demonstrates what is possible when the portal gun is thrown into the Half Life universe. There were a few other similar videos out there, but nothing quite like this one.

Enjoy,

Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-P4RxBA-Io

Higher Quality:
http://jaredhudson.com/temp/HL2/Half…ed%20Life).avi

Mirror:
http://prot.arnoldascher.com/misc/Ha…ed%20Life).avi

Consequentially I’ll be starting a website http://halflifemovie.org. More to come on that later.

Clearly the next Spielbergs here. If and when things develop with HalfLifeMovie.org, we’ll definitely let you know. Keep an eye out for more from this universe gone slightly wrong.

Another day, another free EP, this time from Andrew Skrypnyk, who’s been on a roll lately with his excellent Super Mario RPG arrangement “Last Night a DJ Kidnapped Mallow.” Skryp, trying to communicate information on Absolute Music before he loses all his braincell [sic], breaks it down real simple like:

Just before christmas comes and goes, and just before I kill off a few thousand braincell due at a new years party, I have released my third EP. Entitled Absolute Music, this album is completely avantgarde and experimental with subtle and subliminal messages for everyone. If you liked my Brainwork EP, chances are you’ll hate this and start bleeding from the ears.

Fun facts: it is the longest EP I’ve done to date, it contains the most songs to date, and includes a reprise version of an older track.

Right from the jump, you get some good grooves surrounded by a bevy of noise and effects with “Obelisk Run.” Other strong selections included the creatively titled “Track #4,” “You’re Only Ever Asleep,” “Halcyon” and “Visine Orb.” Each song continuously flows into the next so keep it rollin’, keep it rollin’!

Over the last year or so, Skrypnyk has found his musical calling in the genre of “weird ass stuff.” Indulge him by giving this 20 track, nearly 25 minute album repeated play while you choke down that fruitcake.

Music prodigy Shnabubula has got an EP out with his new group, LSD. If you told me Sam was on drugs, I’d believe it, but the group name actually stands for it’s three members: Lenwood Turner, Samuel Ascher-Weiss & Dustin Kaufman.

A jazzy 6-track offering, Uptime features both arrangements and original pieces, the final piece (a Castlevania III arrangement, “The Beginning”) having just been submitted to OC ReMix, so y’all can look forward to that making its way to the front page. Anything Shna’s involved with is worth checking out, so this plug is over.

Jason Vincion, who’s used more than a dozen nicknames in his music career, has released the Super Metroid arrangement album Dark Side of Zebes today. Released by Vincion under the artist name Amaranthine Skies, Dark Side of Zebes is the second album of his Concatenation Records label, following up The Shizz’s Minibosses Message Board community album Nevar Say Die! Compilation, Volume One.

At only 100 copies available and $7, you better order now if you want a part of this 2-track, 40+ minute journey. The galaxy is in captivity…the last Metroid is at peace.