VG Frequency

Let’s plug the C64 Orchestra touring around Europe, representing the SID:

The C64 Orchestra will perform a special gig at the 3daysON festival on Saturday the 30th of August. Other gigs at this night will be by Michael Fakesch (Funkstorung) and Lefties Soul Connection.

It’s gonna be a great night! Tickets and info at www.3dayson.nl

Great stuff from Chris of Square Enix Music Online, lining up the first English-language interview on the upcoming Chris Hülsbeck concert series tribute, Symphonic Shades. Producer Thomas Böcker spoke at length about what led to the concert’s creation, working with a host of top industry talent like Arnie Roth and Yuzo Koshiro, as well as what to expect, including nearly all-new orchestral arrangements from Jonne Valtonen and the upcoming CD complementing the concert.

Böcker also went into detail on why there won’t be a sixth Symphonic Game Music Concert at Leipzig’s Games Convention, certainly of interest to fans of what was seemingly an institution at GC until recently. A great job and a very thorough read courtesy of Chris and SEMO, check it out.

We think you need to. For the past two years, we’ve been attending this event called MAGFest (that is, the Music and Gaming Festival). Short of knocking on djpretzel’s, zircon’s or my (Liontamer’s) door, this will be one of the best chances to not only meet us, the crew behind OC ReMix, but also to meet a whole ton of OC ReMixers. Not only that, but you’ll get to spend New Year’s weekend with us and party it up. This will be the seventh time they’ve thrown this shindig!

If you’re at all into video games and music, this will be the place to be this upcoming year. There’s so many fun things to do, you’ll wonder where your weekend went! Video game composers like Howard Drossin (with several Sonic titles to his credit) and Jake “virt” Kaufman (Contra 4 and TMNT on the DS) will be around. And Friday and Saturday nights are filled with concerts from video game bands! The Advantage, Minibosses, and NESkimos have all performed there in the past. This year’s lineup of bands will be out soon, including some familiar names from OCR.

The best part is that even after all of that, you haven’t even experienced half of the event! You can hit the video room and watch game movies and cartoons, buy stuff from the people in the marketplace, go to video game panels and discussions (including our own OC ReMix bash), or just play games the whole time. There’s over 10,000 square feet of just console, PC, and even arcade games, and it doesn’t close AT ALL during the entire duration of the event. If you want to play Rock Band on a stage for hours on end with José the Bronx Rican, you can! Or if you wanna challenge James Rolfe, the Angry Video Game Nerd, go ahead and call him OUT!

Here’s what me and some other folks had to say about last year’s MAGFest:
* http://www.vgfrequency.com/magfest-6-from-alexandria-va-13-day-1-report/
* http://www.destructoid.com/magfest-vi-highlights-65679.phtml
* http://revver.com/video/625357/magfest-vi/
* http://www.megatonik.com/2007/12/18/we-rock-hard-we-play-hard-magfest-cometh/
* http://gamemusic4all.blogspot.com/2008/01/magfest-vi-wrapup.html

Now that you want to go, lemme mention the important stuff:
- It’s in Alexandria, VA, in a 5-star Hilton, which is a quick ride from DC (Reagan National Airport).
- It’s Thursday-Sunday, Jan 1-4, 2009. If you’re not free on New Year’s Day, you can come Friday and not miss too much.
- Like many good things, it costs money. But $40 isn’t too bad for all weekend!

And here are a few links for you:
* Their site: http://magfest.org/
* The info on the hotel and directions: http://magfest.org/info/
* The preregistration page: http://courtwright.org/magfest/preregistration

Preregister for MAGFest soon to make sure you’re there! Their hotel is already accepting room reservations, and they even got the rates down for us that aren’t so lucky in the money department. It’s only $99 a night to stay at the hotel MAGFest is in, and come on, it looks like the Citadel! Split it with a few friends and that price goes down VERY fast. If you’re already sold on it, call them up and reserve a room at 703-845-1010 any time of day (they’re a hotel, ya know).

Let them know MAGFest and OC ReMix sent you (and make sure to be at the OC ReMix panel), and we’ll see you there!

Larry “Liontamer” Oji
Head Submissions Evaluator, OverClocked ReMix
Creator, VG Frequency
http://www.ocremix.org
http://www.vgfrequency.com

Via the MAGFest 7 Facebook group, “Mr. MAGFest” Brendan Becker sent an important mailout on what to expect so far for next year’s MAGFest, set for January 1-4, 2009 in Alexandria, VA.

I’m actually attendee #3 this year. Not bad, considering that MAGFest pulls in thousands of people each year. Don’t be stupid. If you like gaming or music, or, dare I say, gaming AND music, you’d be foolish to miss out. Pre-register now to get in on the action. Here’s the deal from Brendan himself:

Hey gamer dudes and ladies,

Just wanted to give a heads up that tons of guests have confirmed their attendance for MAGFest 7, and you should too! Things are shaping up nicely, and we’re even at the same hotel this time!

This new years you can chill with people like game bands like Select Start and Armcannon, game video personalities like the Angry Video Game Nerd, X-Strike Studios, or PBC Productions, game musicians, programmers, and sound guys, and more. If that wasn’t enough, you’ll get two nights of game concerts in our usual style with tons of bands, and of course 24/7 gaming.

If you can’t make it for the first, don’t worry! None of the concerts are scheduled for Thursday — it’s our warmup day — so you won’t miss anything if you’re too hung over, have to work, or just can’t make it down until Friday. We do have some special stuff in the works for New Year’s Eve, though, so if you plan to come down early, you’re in for a few treats.

You can preregister on our website: http://magfest.org/

If you’re coming in a group or you’d like to sell as a dealer, the prereg page has all the info.

Be sure to check out our new gaming radio station, too! We’re playing tons of game music on shuffle out of our personal collections and we’ve linked some of the albums to our pals at http://vgmdb.net/ who have superb information on game-related CDs and music.

Game on!

…because The OneUps are also gonna be bringing The OneUps Volume 2!

Indeed, if all goes according to schedule, Mustin and OneUp Studios will have everything for the upcoming 2-disc album produced, packaged and ready to go.

So if you missed them last year, no worries. If you’re not sure whether you’re gonna plunk down for the double CD at PAX when you get to Seattle, just check out their performance and see if you’re convinced. No pun intended, they’re planning to hit you twice as hard for Penny Arcade Expo 2008!

Thanks to UMD’s Justin Johnston (the host of 8-Bit Radio), for the news.

The University of Maryland Gamer Symphony Orchestra will hold its Spring Concert on Tuesday May 13th at 7:30PM. It will be held at the Kay Theater in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on the UMD campus. Admittance is FREE for everyone!

The details are:
Who: The University of Maryland
What: Our Spring Concert Featuring Pieces from Zelda, Chrono Trigger, Portal, Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana, Metal Gear Solid, and more!
When: Tuesday, May 13th 7:30-9:30PM (doors open at 7PM)
Where: Kay Theater, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland College Park (map)
Cost: NONE! FREE FOR EVERYONE!
Website: www.umgso.com
Contact: umgso@gmail.com

That definitely sounds like a good time, and it’s free! I’m certainly gonna be there right before I move back down at Atlanta. To check out the GSO in action, visit their Recordings section, where they have MP3s of the previous Spring and Fall 2007 performances!

Show your love for the glove by checking out the details on Powerglove’s upcoming tour across the United States. Promoting their latest album, Metal Kombat for the Mortal Man, here’s the scoop from their MySpace blog:

(more…)

Staying with the gravy train of Video Games Live concert reviews, indie game developer Eric Rhea attended the recent Fort Wayne, Indiana performance by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic at the Embassy Theater and had a glowing review of the proceedings (along with a grainy photo :-D).

Rhea’s thoughts confirmed a lot of things that I’m sure concert co-founder Tommy Tallarico loves to emphasize in his zeal for Video Games Live, namely that the event does a great job playing to areas that don’t normally receive video game music performances and not discriminating on location, and that the event has broad crossover appeal.

Have you attended yet? If VGL hasn’t come to your town, you can always contact a local orchestra and see if they could explore the option of holding a concert in your area. Dunno your local orchestra? Do some research and become more cultured!

Following up on Kenley Kristofferson’s Calgary Video Games Live rundown, it’s time for some more Canadian heat courtesy of Christina “Faith Naked” Winterburn, who detailed her experience at the concert’s February performance in Toronto, Ontario.

Before you go brushing this off as another typical account of the concert, Winterburn got to hang with Messuirs Tallarico and Wall at a local pizza joint where hilarity ensued. You trust her, right? Take the plunge.

I always enjoy checking out what people have to say about video game music around the net. Few guys out there have the respect and thirst for knowledge on the subject of Into the Score podcast host Kenley Kristofferson.

Kristofferson was in attendance for the second of a double-header of November 2007 Video Games Live performances in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and used his Flickr account last month to give highlights of the trip, including photos ops with concert creators Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall. Be sure to swing by Into the Score and live vicariously through him. We’ll be plugging more concert accounts in the future from around the interwebz.

OverClocked ReMix judge and director of the Final Fantasy VII tribute album Voices of the Lifestream (http://ff7.ocremix.org) Andrew “zircon” Aversa was recently voted the winner of SquareSound’s (www.squaresound.com) “A Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu” Arrangement Competition. The winning participant out of 53 entries with his Final Fantasy VI medley “Dirt Devil,” Aversa earned a combined score of 96.22%. zircon walked away with the grand prize of a limited edition promotional copy of Voices of the Lifestream, and two VIP tickets to the March 1, 2008 performance of Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy (www.ffdistantworlds.com), including the official concert program and limited edition CD, performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The tickets to the Chicago concert include entrance to the exclusive meet-and-greet with Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu following the performance.

Emerging as runner-up was Kenley Kristofferson, who runs the Into the Score podcast (www.intothescore.com) dedicated to the academic study of video game music, with his own Final Fantasy VI medley, “Hundreds of Voices (Swinging in Unison!).” All of the entries are available for download on SquareSound’s website, and Aversa’s winning piece was recently posted to OverClocked ReMix (www.ocremix.org).

Larry “Liontamer” Oji, OC ReMix’s head submissions evaluator and among the competition’s four judges, noted the prestige of what was at stake: “It was definitely a privilege to judge such an important competition from SquareSound, with a very meaningful first prize on the line. Having the opportunity to meet any composer in person, let alone Nobuo Uematsu, and express one’s fandom and thanks is something a lot of musicians in the community don’t have the good fortune to experience.”

zircon will be attending Distant Worlds with girlfriend and fellow OC ReMix judge Jillian “pixietricks” Goldin. Having created Voices of the Lifestream, Aversa hopes to present his awarded copy of the album to Uematsu in person: “Both Jill and myself are really excited to see Distant Worlds and meet Mr. Uematsu, even if only briefly. We’re huge fans of his music; between the two of us, we’ve remixed over a dozen of his compositions. I personally consider him to be my all-time favorite video game music composer. It will be a dream come true if I can personally hand him a copy of Voices of the Lifestream.”

Links:

*SquareSound: Andrew Aversa Wins Our Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu Arrangement Competition!
*SquareSound
*Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy
*Andrew “zircon” Aversa at OverClocked ReMix
*Kenley Kristofferson at Into the Score
*Larry “Liontamer” Oji at VG Frequency
*Jillian “pixietricks” Goldin at OverClocked ReMix
*Nobuo Uematsu (????) at OverClocked ReMix
*Voices of the Lifestream

Over at the OverClocked ReMix forums, blood_thirsty_demon (clearly a typical name a female would choose) posted her account of the first of a double header of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony concerts in Seattle, performed by the Seattle Symphony on January 24. Several OC ReMixers were in attendance for the shows including OverCoat, Shnabubula, chumble spuzz, norg, and Select Start’s Elaine Li.

The highlight of demon’s story, however: snagging a certain composer’s autograph. Most stories aren’t this fangirlish (in a good way), and it’s better than drama instead, so check it out!

I live in Washington (Seattle area), and after years of waiting for it to come to my neck of the woods, I got to see PLAY! performed by the Seattle Symphony. Unfortunately, the Symphony overcharges the price of admission, and it cost about 155 dollars for two tickets and a program.

But it was the best investment EVER!

My sister and I got amazing seats, not too close too the television screens and not too far the stage. The music was amazing, and I even teared up a couple times through out the show. Being able to hear my favorite songs live is a totally different experience, and I couldn’t stop grinning the whole time. But that’s not the best part.

During the intermission, I was sitting alone while my sister chatted with some of her friends who also came as well. A woman and her son sitting two rows ahead of me saw my grin and started up a conversation that went somewhat like this:

“Enjoying the performance?”
“Definitely. I’ve been waiting since 2006.”
“Yes, this is amazing show. So do you know who the man sitting in front of you is?” I raised a brow, remembering a couple sitting in front of me, but nothing else came up in my mind.
“No, what about it?”
“He’s Martin O’Donnell. The guy that does the Halo music” My entire body freezes up, and after five seconds of silence I nearly shout.
“MARTY?! As in the composer for the halo series Marty O’Donnell?!” She and her son start laughing at me as I kept repeating “Oh my god” over and over again.

When my sister came back and I told her the news she started pestering me to get his autograph. But I didn’t want to bother him, he came to enjoy the show and I didn’t want to act like a fangirl in front of him and his wife. When they returned to their seats my sister began nudging me to ask him. We broke into a quiet argument amongst ourselves, with her telling me to grow a spine and myself saying “I can’t. No I can’t do it.”. Eventually she said if I wasn’t going to ask him then she would. But she didn’t have to, as some kid half my age came up and asked instead, which caused him to stand up and face me. My sister said “Ask him now!” He and his wife started laughing at us as they saw holding the program in my hand.
“So that’s what you two were talking about.” He said.

Okay, so we weren’t as quiet as I thought we were. So blushing madly, I timidly held up my program, “I love your work…Sorry, can I have your autograph?”. He just laughed again taking my program giving me his signature, as my sister and I started up a conversation with him and his wife until the show started up again. Before the show I was complaining about the price for the program, but it was the best fifteen bucks I ever spent. I’m framing the sucker and hanging it on my wall when the house is finished getting renovated.

I can’t wait for Video Games Live next January. Okay, I’m done ranting now.

Tim Maxwell of SquareSound has publicized the final set of prizes for the Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu Arrangement Competition, with the all-important tickets to Chicago’s upcoming performance of Distant Worlds hanging in the balance. Well, I’m helping to judge this bad boy, so let’s hope you’ve got what it takes:

The prize packages for the winners of the Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu Arrangement Competition have now been completely finalized. The grand prize isn’t changing obviously, but we finalized some other details. Here’s the rundown:

The grand prize winner will get:

• Two VIP tickets to the Distant Worlds concert in Chicago on March 1, 2008
• A free concert program
• A free Distant Worlds CD
• Entrance to the meet-and-greet with Nobuo Uematsu after the concert
• One copy of the OverClocked ReMix exclusive Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream CD set

The first runner-up will receive:

• A free Distant Worlds CD
• One copy of the OverClocked ReMix exclusive Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream CD set

The 3rd through 5th place finishers will receive:

• One copy of the OverClocked ReMix exclusive Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream CD set

In the event that the grand prize winner is unable to attend the concert, that person will receive a copy of the Distant Worlds CD hand-signed by Nobuo Uematsu. We will try to film the signing of this album for the winner, but we cannot guarantee this. In addition, this person will receive a $100 gift certificate from our store. The tickets will then be offered to runners-up in succession until we find a contestant that is able to attend the concert.

Once we determine who has won the tickets, we will arrange for them to be placed at the will-call window at the concert venue (the Rosemont Theater) for pickup prior to the show. Tickets may not be sold or transferred.

That about wraps things up! Today is the last day to submit arrangements for those who registered, and the winner should be announced within a week. Good luck everyone!

Sure, there are a lot of VGM cover bands that encourage fans to rattle off songs to them as ideas for an upcoming album. But for an orchestral concert performance? Ok, I’ve seen Tommy Tallarico take dozens of suggestions for Video Games Live. But how about material from even further back?

Well, that’s what you’ve got in the C64 Orchestra working with nothing but Commodore 64 classics. With their initial concerts and debut album, Run 10, under their belt, they need your help deciding on what tracks to add to their concert series.

Officially attached to the concerts, Rob Hubbard and Jeroen Tel have their own nominations ready that you can pick from. Beyond that, however, you can also send by other suggestions for any C64 game music.

I’ve yet to mail in my picks, but you can be sure Tim Follin will be on my list. Be sure to read through the official MySpace message below for all the details you need to contribute your thoughts to a piece of video game music history. Auf Wiedersehen!

Dear C64 orchestra fan,

We hope you enjoyed the looks of RUN 10 as well as the tunes on the cd. As you will know this is only a small selection of the vast amount of tunes available!

For the coming live shows we want to broaden our repertoire with new tunes and we are looking for your help with picking the nicest. To make life a little easier for us we asked Rob Hubbard and Jeroen Tel to nominate a couple of games.

The C64 game tunes nominated by Jeroen Tel are:
1. Cybernoid 1
2. Poseidon: Planet Eleven (Title tune)
3. Rubicon (Title tune)

The C64 game tunes nominated by Rob Hubbard are:
1. Spellbound
2. Nemesis the warlock
3. Rasputin
4. Kentilla
5. Dragons Lair
6. Auf Wiedersehen Monty

So help us by mailing your most favourite selection and please limit your choice to 3! We also want to know which C64 game tune of other composers we definitely have to play in the future.Feel free to forward this question to your friends and anyone who will have an opinion on this quest for the best C64 game music.

Send an email to C64orchestra@ONinternet.nl

Regards

The C64 orchestra
www.myspace.com/c64orchestra

Ha, I’m in it, so clearly this is the best MAGFest 6-related video out there. If you haven’t heard of MAGFest, check out my highlights for some initial insight. Before you check out “MAGFest VI: The Montage”, let’s get the breakdown from PBC Productions (makers of The New Adventures of Captain S):

This week’s selection is a lovingly prepared memento of the greatness that was MAGFest VI. Chock full of peppy VG music, quick cuts, and hilarious footage captured by Devon Riley and Josh Kopstein, it’ll bring back all your greatest MAG moments in a torrent of radness that will have you counting the days until MAGFest VII.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 16, 2008
www.videogameslive.com

VIDEO GAMES LIVE ANNOUNCES 40 SHOWS FOR 2008 WITH MORE ON THE WAY!

Countries Include Taiwan, Brazil, Germany, France, England, Scotland, Mexico, China, U.S., Canada & MORE

Special Performances to Take Place During Game Developers Conference, San Diego Comic-Con, Leipzig Games Convention, Broadway in New York City and a 7,000 Seat Bullring in Mexico!

LOS ANGELES, CA – Having already performed to sold out audiences around the world since 2005, the most successful video game concert in the world – Video Games Live will continue its ground-breaking tour in 2008 with the announcement of 40 performances across the globe.  Video Games Live is produced and created by veteran video game composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall.  It features music from the most popular video games performed by top orchestras and choirs, combining exclusive video footage and music arrangements along with synchronized state-of-the-art lighting, solo performers, special fx, stage show production, electronic percussion, unique on-stage interactive segments with the audience and a pre-show festival.

Video Games Live is best described as utilizing the power & emotion of a symphony orchestra mixed with the energy and excitement of a rock concert combined with the cutting edge visuals, technology, interactivity and fun that video games provide.  Video Games Live is not just a concert, but a celebration of the entire video game industry that people of all ages adore.

The highest and most prestigious level of symphony and venue quality continues with the announcement of some of the world’s most renowned orchestras and local theatres, halls, auditoriums and arenas.  To further attract the biggest audience possible, Video Games Live also partners with pop-culture’s most important conferences and conventions.

  SHOW ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Exact dates and venues for the following cities are to be announced (TBA) shortly:

Anaheim, CA
Atlanta, GA
Boston, MA
Brazil (multiple cities)
Dallas, TX
Glasgow, Scotland
Houston, TX
Indianapolis, IN
Los Angeles, CA
Milan, Italy
Paris, France
Shanghai, China
Winnipeg, MB

All past, current and future tour dates and ticket information can be found at:
www.videogameslive.com/dates

“Our goal of building Video Games Live as a worldwide brand has become a reality,” said Marc Geiger, Senior Executive Vice-President of Touring for the William-Morris Agency. “Tommy & Jack have created a very special and unique event experience that is not only a hit with gamers but also speaks to a general mainstream global audience as well.”

About Video Games Live™ (www.videogameslive.com)

Created by two industry leading video game composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, Video Games Live (produced under their company Mystical Stone Entertainment, LLC) is the front runner in the field of live game music performance.  Video Games Live is an immersive concert event celebrating music from the biggest video games of all time.  The debut performance launched on July 6th, 2005 at the world famous Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles with the LA Philharmonic with over 11,000 people in attendance making it the largest video game concert in the world.

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.

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!

After missing Day 2, I was definitely ready to get back on the horse for MAGFest. OC ReMix had its panel that day, so of course I represented my homebase. Along with djpretzel and myself, fellow judges zircon, pixietricks, Big Giant Circles and CHz were on board the panel presentation that day for an impressive show of staff power.

Rather than going through our traditional presentation for the uninitiated, we were in front of a crowd where the major majority of people were already familiar with OverClocked ReMix. This year, we highlighted all the important developments at OCR for 2007, including Voices of the Lifestream, attending Video Games Live, the debut of the Content Policy, revising the Submission Standards and Instructions and developing translations of our most important information for several languages. OCR’s latest album project, Radical Dreamers: Thieves of Fate, released during MAGFest itself, was given a preview to the audience by director Brad “the prophet of mephisto” Burr, to an excellent reception.

Highlighting upcoming developments for 2008, we’ve got some great stuff on the way. Our first live full orchestra arrangement from Wild ARMs is on the way, we’ve got our first mother-son ReMix collaboration as well from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. djp showed off his plans for swanky new composer pages that’ll show off a lot more information about the men and women who inspire the contributors to OCR, using Tim Follin to give the people a look at how composers are laid out with more information than ever; look for that to go live in the next few days. We also pimped some AMVs including clips of some of the Voices of the Lifestream AMV contest (soon to be judged so that we can get those swanky prizes out there) as well as the Spittin’ Narcissism fanvid by Psycosis91. Plenty of good stuff to promote, not even taking into account our bread and butter of posting creative, free ReMixes.

After a huge dinner with the OCR meetup group, it was time for the second and final night of concerts. Let’s go short and sweet: The moshing this year was definitely toned down a great deal compared to last year. Not that anyone was cracking down on it, there just wasn’t nearly as much this year as last. Let’s not also forget props to NO CARRIER and noteNdo for the NES-created visuals that adorned both nights of performances. You’ve got to see it to believe it, they were a nostalgic acid trip.

Powerglove was excellent. They always have an unbelievable amount of energy to their performances, including some badass costumes. I personally hate the Power Rangers theme, but when they played it for some brief non-VGM material, they definitely got the crowd going. I would have loved to have seen Chris Marchiel’s Guitar Hero synth in play, but was perfectly glad “settling” for some awesome material from Metal Kombat for the Mortal Man, including Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s “So Sexy Robotnik“!

I was legitimately worried that Select Start, in their first MAGFest performance, wouldn’t be as much of a draw with the crowd, who are used to rock and metal VG cover bands acts, but the masses turned out in a big way. We probably could have used some chairs during their set, since there was no reason to stand up for the whole thing. They put on a really classy performance. Frontman Austin Harley started off a little shaky with the opening solo on one track, but regrouped with a joke and was off to the races. The best part of the set had to be when the crowd exploded with whooping and applause to the end of the first track, which visibly took the entire sextet by surprise.

When I talked to violinist Elaine Li after the set along with Big Giant Circles, she confirmed that the group had never received that kind of reaction ever before in their history of live performances, and that it was great to be in an atmosphere where everyone already knows and respects game music, making it so much easier to get immersed in the performance. Indeed, hearing Metroid “Kraid’s Hideout”, Chrono Trigger “Theme of Frog’s” and Final Fantasy III “Eternal Wind” live was a big highlight. Along with Mustin and ktriton joining in for one song, the crew did a great job with their first MAGFest appearance, so hopefully they walked away already thinking about how to return next year.

This Place is Haunted played their final show with guitarist Michael Motorcycle, who’s leaving the band to begin medical school. Who would have pegged him for it? (We at VGF wish him the best of luck, to be sure.) The band’s set was a lot more of a balance between VGM and other retro material (The theme to Sanford and Son??? Let’s throw it on there!); I’ll admit I’m partial to VGM and would have appreciated more…exclusivity on that level. I mentioned to Shael Riley, who’s a big fan of the band, that This Place just has some impeccable chops. Both Michael Motorcycle and Epileptic Peat were playing some really involved runs and solos with just pro precision; it was quite a sight to behold being so close to the stage. Here’s hoping these bros regroup somehow so that they can keep putting out quality material, especially because they spotlight tons of otherwise obscure VGM to arrange.

Last but not least, the final band of the night was The Smash Bros. Running strong from their performance at the 2007 Final Fantasy XI Fan Festival, MAGFest’s house band took on a new flavor with ktriton replacing Shawn Phase on drums and doing an amazing job; there was definitely a great amout of synergy between him and the rest of the band. Before the set started, we were all instructed to listen to the noise playing over the speakers. A few of us thought it was rain SFX until a wonderful smell wafted across the concert hall. In between tracks, Pappy and Joe Cam were cooking bacon outside the hotel and feeding it to the crowd! Enhancing the experience was a microphone brought over to the pig meat so that the entire crowd could hear it sizzling. I was able to snag a full-sized strip of bacon in the first wave of free pork before the bros had to start cutting it up to offer it to everyone. Definitely a hilarious bonus, the crowd chanted “Bacon! Bacon!” with ferocity with every break. The eclectic VGM set of the Bros. (Ailsean, ktriton, Midee, norg, Prozax, Roy McClanahan & virt) included U.N. Squadron, Phoenix Wright, EarthBound and Contra 4 in easily the most diverse set of the festival. They need to record their shows via the mixing boards at MAG and sell, sell, sell.

Anyone who doubts whether or not they should attend MAGFest would become a believer if only to experience the greatness of even one night of the concerts, and that’s only one night out of four days. I’ll be back tomorrow to wrap up the rundown of my time at MAG.

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!

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.

In the fledgling realm of American video game concert series, things aren’t too small for drama as Jeremy Soule and Tommy Tallarico exchanged words via MySpace. Soule, attached to PLAY! A Video Game Symphony, criticized Video Games Live for allegedly cutting corners on orchestra size and not providing a complete orchestral experience, branding VGL as preferring “smoke and lasers.”

Quoted are excerpts of comments earlier this month by Soule and the rebuttal from Tallarico obtained from Jeremy Soule’s MySpace blog. Included are comments from VGL conductor Jack Wall and Jeron Moore of DirectSong.com, Soule’s online music label. An interesting read, without a doubt: (more…)

More than 1,000 videogamers and videogame music enthusiasts will converge at the Hilton Mark Center at 5000 Seminary Road in Alexandria, Va., on January 3-6, 2008 for the sixth annual Music and Gaming Festival, a nonstop weekend of tournaments, concerts and workshops.

Three large rooms packed with videogames will be available free for all registrants at the festival, also known as MAGFest. In addition, video game tribute bands will perform rock, electronic, power-metal, and orchestral versions of popular game themes on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Unlike larger, more commercialized conventions, MAGFest aims for a laid-back atmosphere of fun.

“Our goal is to fuel the community of gaming and connect people with each other, whether they are industry leaders or casual gamers,” said Brendan Becker, 28, who runs the festival.

For starters, MAGFest will offer 24-hour access to virtually every kind of gaming – console, arcade, PC/LAN, or handheld. From the ancient Atari 2600 and the original Nintendo Entertainment System to the latest Wii, Xbox and Playstation consoles, all video game platforms will be available. Competitive types will be able to participate in dozens of tournaments for games such as Gears of War, Halo, Rock Band, Smash Brothers, and Wii Sports. Even tabletop gamers will have their space.

On the music side, Friday and Saturday night concerts will feature at least eight bands — with names such as The Advantage, Armcannon, and Powerglove — that specialize in videogame cover songs.

“We’ve become a videogame music mecca, of sorts,” Becker said. “It’s nothing short of awesome to watch all of these guys play on stage at MAGFest and see hundreds of gamers chant, rock, headbang, or sing along.”

Visual effects at the concert will be provided by No Carrier and noteNdo, who use modified Nintendo game consoles along with custom software and a technique known as “circuit bending” to project mind-twisting images on the wall behind the performers.

Two of this year’s musical acts defy the electro-rock stereotype and present classical treatments of videogame tunes. Select Start, a six-piece chamber ensemble which has been featured on National Public Radio, draws from a repertoire of more than 50 videogame theme arrangements. Daniel Brown, a solo pianist, will perform his arrangements of the soundtrack to Battletoads while the game is played on a large screen.

In addition to games and music, MAGFest will offer workshops by videogame artists, musicians and programmers, discussions on videogame culture, trivia and costume contests, dealer tables, an auction of videogame equipment, and a 24-hour video room featuring videogame-related movies and cartoons.

Other special guests include:

* “Stuttering Craig” Skistimas and “Handsome Tom” Hanley of ScrewAttack, which provides videogame content for MTV’s GameTrailers.com website
* James Rolfe, also known as the Angry Video Game Nerd, another regular on GameTrailers.com
* Brian Colin, CEO of Game Refuge, which has developed several humorous titles for Bally/Midway, others, and themselves
* Videogame-themed webcomic artists Applegeeks and Paradox Lost
* Jake “Virt” Kaufman, videogame music composer
* OverClocked ReMix, a site dedicated to fan-made arrangements of game tunes
* X-Strike Studios and Dark Maze Studios, two film groups that produce full-length feature films based on videogames
* Fargate Productions and Main Moon Productions, two more film groups who produce videogame-inspired projects and shorts
* Flavor Grenade Studios, a videogame design outfit headed by DJ Potatoe
* Robert Aldrich, who writes anime- and videogame-inspired stories
* Virtual Fools, a cadre of self-designated “videogame scholars” who offer academic critiques of videogames and surrounding culture

Registration for MAGFest is $35 in advance, and $40 at the door. Visit http://magfest.org/ for full registration information or http://magfest.org/section.php?8 for a complete, up-to-date list of guests.

Manhattan art space The Tank and New York artist collective 8bitpeoples announce the Blip Festival 2007, a four-day music and multimedia event taking place in New York City November 29 - December 2, 2007. Focusing on the modern artistic exploration of primitive video game and home computer technology and featuring 40 musicians and visualists from around the world, the Blip Festival showcases artists adopting and repurposing familiar but forgotten hardware - such as the Commodore 64, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Atari game console and home computer line, and the Nintendo Game Boy - exploring their untapped potential and unique aesthetic character.

Blip Festival 2007 has come and gone, but the legend shall live on. The event featured Nullsleep, Blasterhead, and other big names from the modern chiptune scene getting down and dirty in New York’s The Tank. On Friday, November 30, one of the performers was Jake “virt” Kaufman, riding the wave of his most recently released game work, Contra 4.

Today, virt posted the six songs he played during his set. The set included arrangements of past songs he wrote (including one from a game he scored, Shantae), an arrangement of Jamiroquai’s “Love Foolosophy,” and a few original pieces. Check the video below for a short snippet of his performance of “DnB Chip Mix 07″:

“DnB Chip Mix 07″ gets my vote for best track by being an epic nine and a half minutes of FM bliss, but also worth mentioning is “Loli Fishing Next 20,000 Leagues,” a chiptune arrangement of a Kwakfest piece. Really, though, you can’t go wrong with any piece.

Orchestral Commodore 64 arrangements aren’t new. Any fan of the yearly Symphonic Game Music Concerts would know that. But by no means are they old hat. In the same company as the Final Fantasy series or major Nintendo franchises, arrangements of soundtracks from the classic computer are comparatively hard to come by.

Last month, the European-based Commodore arrangement scene took its first steps toward physical media of an orchestral act exclusive to the SID chip with the C64 Orchestra’s release of their first album, Run 10 (which I’ve already added to VGMdb).

Legendary composer Rob Hubbard orchestrated the album, which features arrangements of both his work and fellow A-list C64 composer Jeroen Tel performed by the Ricciotti Ensemble, whose mission is to have fun bringing their music to crowds both large and small, no matter how atypical the audience may be. The concept of the C64 Orchestra was first launched in September 2006.

Published by productiehuis Oost-Nederland, the two-disc album rings up pretty pricey for any Stateside early adopters at €35, especially for arrangements of only ten games. But the set also includes copies of the original tunes as well as interviews with Hubbard and Tel among other features (including the tools needed to remix the Orchestra’s take on Monty on the Run). Keep in mind the album’s swanky box design as well.

The album’s European release supplements the group’s plans to continue touring with their concert series, while the official rollout of the album in the US is still ahead this coming January.