THE BAD DUDES ANNOUNCE NO BALLS, NO GLORY, A REMIX PROJECT BASED ON TECHNOS’ SUPER DODGE BALL Album Used In Promotion With Aksys Games’ Upcoming Nintendo DS Title Super Dodgeball Brawlers
The Bad Dudes, a group of the internet’s best video game music remixers, announces the upcoming release of their latest project: No Balls, No Glory. This internet EP, based on Kazuo Sawa’s music from the 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System video game Super Dodge Ball, contains sixteen unique arrangements spanning various musical styles, with a focus on ethnic arrangements from each dodge ball team’s country of origin.
This collection of music will be used by video game software developer Aksys Games in promotion of Super Dodgeball Brawlers, a Nintendo DS title based on the classic Super Dodge Ball Nintendo game. This upcoming release takes the classic game play of the original and adds new attacks, multiplayer gaming, and a host of other upgrades, and will be released on May 27th, 2008 for a MSRP of $29.99.
No Balls, No Glory project producer Mustin said, “I’m excited about releasing this project in conjunction with Aksys games and their Brawlers release. I hope the music pays suitable tribute to the Super Dodge Ball video game we all played as kids.”
About No Balls, No Glory
This is the third internet-release EP by The Bad Dudes, a multinational group of musicians that releases covers of video game music. This album was produced by Mustin of MustinProductions.com. No Balls, No Glory is available for download at NoBallsNoGlory.net.
About Aksys Games
Based in Torrance, California, Aksys Games is a third party licensee of Nintendo of America. More information on Aksys Games can be found online at aksysgames.com.
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!
I’ve spent tons of time recently manually reuploading the entire OCR library of mixes to www.last.fm, organized by ReMix ID in sets of twenty so I can manage them better. We went from missing Last.fm previews for over 350+ tracks to missing under 40, and some tracks whose previews were broken or only 20 seconds long should now be fixed. The remaining tracks need to be fixed here on ocremix.org first, since most of them are not to standard 44.1khz frequency specification, which we require and which Last.fm requires as well.
Furthermore, for usability I moved the previews from the download tab right to the main writeup page for each mix. I really feel like this makes it easier to read about the mix and listen at the same time, and in general should make the site friendlier to the type of exploration we encourage. I’m going to try to keep things in sync and upload to Last.fm for each new mix that’s posted, which again I personally find useful. Hopefully you will too!
As a side note, this was extremely monotonous work that took hours, but it was made a lot easier by seeing the support we’ve been getting this month. Thanks!
For Immediate Release
April 1st, 2008
Contact: Tyberius H. Guenley, (suzumebachi@gmail.com)
BELEN, NM–ReMix:ThaSauce, in cooperation with Dupaszef, LLC, is proud to present Super Mario Land 2: Tremendous Achievement. Super Mario Land 2: Tremendous Achievement is an achievement unlocked in video game music remixing. Such a great achievement to have been achieved is truly an achievement in itself. Super Mario Land 2: Tremendous Achievement is the remixing community’s first official Super Mario Land 2 remix project, an honorable achievement. Also an achievement, is the incredible talent involved in this achievement. Greatly achieved artists, such as:
Downloading of this achievement is free on the condition that you share this achievement with your unachieving friends. After downloading this achievement, users are allowed to select songs from this collection of achievement and listen to them. The act of listening to these songs is an achievement all on its own. Tell your friends. And your mother. Ty Guenley, ThaSauce Admin, ReMixer, Forum Troll, IRC Troll, World of Warcraft Player, Haver of Basic Skills, Project Director for Super Mario Land 2: Tremendous Achievement (http://remix.thasauce.net/sml2/), and Generally Standup Guy, writes:
“This is totally a crowning achievement. Not unlike the crowning of a newborn child, or like the King of Canada or something.”
Hope Fails‘ first place track “Puffball Promenade” tackled Kirby’s Dream Land 2 from the Game Boy. He’s really come a ways from earlier material in his game arrangement career, so it’s really nice to see that growth validated with the win here.
As we anticipate next month’s competition, a Sci-Fi Games theme, be sure to get your DoD fill this month and download these tracks inspired by the pink poofer:
Hope Fails: Kirby’s Dreamland 2 (Gameboy) - Puffball Promenade Musically Inspired, Jabo: Kirby Superstar - Thanks For The Help, Knuckle Joe! foXdiE: Kirby’s Adventure - Roy G Ambivalence
Fourth Place - Scaredsim: Medley - Pink Like a Bubble Gum
Fifth Place (tie) - ionvortex: Kirby Superstar - Save Cabin Getaway
Fifth Place (tie) - thesamareaye: Kirby’s Adventure - Smooth Like Butter
Seventh Place - Corax, Zachariasmith, hodded: Kirby 64 - Baby Blue Toque
Eighth Place - Noise and a Beat: Kirby Superstar - Gourmet Race of a Thousand Flames
Ninth Place (tie) - Millenial Fairs: Kirby - Kirby’s Nightmare
Ninth Place (tie) - Shnabubula: Kirby’s Adventure - OMG U SUXX
Shnabubula was kind enough to let me check out the album on the sly back in January, but now that it’s finally out, I’m glad to post about it. Released via II(read: Pause), Controller 1 finally saw the light last week. That’s some pretty awesome concept art from Francis Coulombe, am I right?
Produced by chiptune scene fanatic Shawn Phase, this original chiptune-style album is inspired by the buttons of the classic NES controller, featuring titles all derived from the various controls. Quoth Somnambula:
Take a journey across the face of an old NES controller. Each button has a story to tell if you’re willing to listen. Some of them have been forsaken by their fellow buttons while others are living the good life. Come listen and find out what goes on inside your controller when you’re not around.
I’d recommend something specific, but you’re really not gonna go wrong checking any of this out. At just over 35 minutes and not costing you a dime, you’ve gotta swing over to II and grab this quickly. Tell your friends about it. This album is wild per Sam’s usual craziness.
Early this week, the regulars of SoundTempest were treated to a surprise when legendary Commodore composer and demoscene enthusiast Jeroen “WAVE” Tel showed up to participate in SoundTempest’s regular compo series, CompoST.
zircon, SoundTempest’s creator, hollered at me to come on over, and CHz and I joined in the discussion while OverCoat and other ST regulars got along famously with Tel as well as Peter “Skaven” Habja, who also stopped by briefly.
Anyone can join in future original music compos with CompoST by joining #soundtempest on the EsperNet network via IRC. Thanks to OverCoat, you never know who will show up!
With guest appearances by a number of artists, including fellow Just Us member VanElliott “CYPH-LOW” Chambless, N00dle has been pimping the album left and right to anyone who’ll listen. If you’re a rap fan, you won’t be wasting your time.
For some of the tracks, the production lacked some polish that I would have pushed for, but favorites of mind included “Give Me Wings”, the slick beats of “Another Everyday”, and the subtle bass work of “What’s Goin On?”, and the groove-driven “I’m a Ride”. Besides the great music sampled and reworked for the mixtape, every one of those tracks plays to Escape Route’s most significant strength: fashioning personal, heartfelt, intelligent lyrics. If you don’t believe me, listen up:
I have just released my first “album” (it’s really a single/EP) on Skrow!Media (a friend’s netlabel). It is totally free to download, so if you’re interested, go to http://skrowmedia.com/skrow004.html and you will be able to download it. It’s short at just about ten minutes total length, so it won’t take you much time. Be warned, though - the two pieces are ambient/drone music that rely heavily on piano, so if that’s not your thing… well, it still won’t be your thing. =)
Featuring album art cropped from an acrylic and pastel piece of Stephens, this original ambient offering, Meditations on Autumn, is definitely an engaging listen, also described by Stephens as “two songs written as meditations on the season of transformation.” Considering there’s very little time investment, you should have no regrets taking a moment to check the EP out in full, some smooth stuff from Saffron Slumber. You may have to keep an eye out on Skrow!Media for potential future releases from Kevin.
There is a Where’s Waldo thing going on in it. Where’s Magic Butterfly? It’s in each month.
Cool stuff for any EarthBound fan! While January’s purposefully not difficult, if you think you’re hot shit, see if you can find the Magic Butterfly every subsequent month. Damn, my eyes…
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.
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.
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)
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 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.
Petroglyph Games recently handed out a free digital release of Frank Klepacki’s Universe at War OST. The soundtrack is definitely a welcome treat this time of year, with 3 discs worth of material clocking in at over 2 hours. At the risk of selling Klepacki short, which I hope I’m not, his work here is full of the militaristic rock and electronic themes you’re familiar with if you’re a fan, so be sure to check it out.
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.
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!
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.
The album is pretty awesome. I thought the soundfield was a little cramped, particularly for “Bank Holiday” and the overall volume could have been pulled back a little bit. But in the way of criticisms, that about all there was to it. The sound quality was otherwise hot, and all 7 songs on the album were well-written. “Girl Trouble” and “My Gay Shirt” in particular were my favorite cuts. Shael Riley, that boy can harmonize. The pimped-out bassline for the verses of “Girl Trouble” was genius along with the smooth and speedy vocal delivery, while the lyrics didn’t get any sharper or more hilarious with “My Gay Shirt.” Don’t be selfish, spread this gold around.
Fellow OCR judgeJigginJonT was really feeling the album, definitely meaningful since Jon doesn’t go out of his way to give praise to anything. With that said, don’t delay in picking this up for your fill of nerdcore. If you’re an audiophile looking to support a good cause, you can buy the FLAC version of the album for $5, with all the money going to support the Penny Arcade charity Child’s Play. Lulz for the chilluns.
Master Hatchet took home top honors in the live performance compo with “Union Alpha” an excellent arrangement from the all-too-rarely tackled Valkyrie Profile, while Scaredsim followed in second place with the Brain Lord/Illusion of Gaia combo mix “Will is the Lord,” featuring some good 8-bit style leads before segueing into more serene leads for the Gaia section. norg was, in my opinion, the story of the month with his 18+ minute evolving super-medley of Japanese-exclusive Famicom release Just Breed entitled “Abduction.” Ryan8bit and Hat helped round out the top finishers in a solid turnout.
Wanted to throw special props out to Hope Fails for the Terranigma arrangement “Afternoon Tea with SnappleMan’s Mom,” which finished tied for 8th place, not just for a funny title, but a great composition as well, which I didn’t feel got enough support. It could have sounded a bit more polished, but the execution was fairly strong and had some good orchestration ideas rarely heard in DoD.
You look like you could use a breakdown. Don’t forget to check out how DoD rings in 2008 when this month’s Free Month competition creation phase wraps up late on New Year’s Day:
M-H: Valkyrie Profile - Union Alpha Scaredsim: Brainlord, Illusion of Gaia - Will is the Lord norg: Just Breed (Famicom) - Abduction
Fourth Place: Ryan8bit: Dragon Warriors 2, 4 - Wayfaerer
Fifth Place (tie): Hat: Soul Blazer - Get to Town
Fifth Place (tie): Riders, Ranger-X, ShinerCCC: Brainlord - The Audio Dragon
Fifth Place (tie): thesamareaye, The S.P.O.B.: Star Ocean 3 - Red Leaves of Autumn
Eighth Place (tie): Hope Fails: Terranigma - Afternoon Tea with SnappleMan’s Mom
Eighth Place (tie): Hydrasphere: Terranigma - Just for a While
Eighth Place (tie): Josiah Tobin, XMark: Brainlord - Master Of The Platinum Site Of The Tower Of The Abell Civilization Ruins
Eleventh Place: Theo Confidor: Paladin’s Quest - Wielding a Holy Sword
Twelfth Place (tie): bjkmenu: Bust a Move - hiroshortykittyn
Twelfth Place (tie): Bucedric Nosnik Rionediamn: The 7Th Saga - The Runes Ruse
the new album is finally done and arrived.
as you can clearly see, i am not selling it like i said i would… it just didn’t make sense for me to do so and i’m sure you won’t blame me for the decision i’ve made. i’ve never taken this long on an album before… for the early stretches, it was driven by a slow roll of creativity… i was writing but not in the abundance that i’m usually accustomed to. stretches later on, i was simply curbed by my computer failure that lasted months amidst production. as a result, you’ll hear an, at times, unnerving mixture of contrasting musical ideas… some of this is all over the map and it’s really because within a year’s time, it isn’t a stretch how much of the “map” i, myself, have traveled … let alone my music haha. i eventually got back to it and then spent a few months in a seemingly unending state of obsessive revision. as a result, it’s a far more refined body of work than its predecessor, “Perspektiv”…
and at times, a ton more comprehensible - i tried to stay committed to making more sense this time around than with the last effort as stretches of Perspektiv didn’t seem to make sense to anyone which turned a lot of people off. of course, it neither moves me nor behooves me to worry much about my audience as i’m convinced that anybody who likes my music probably likes it because of the very attitude i have about it: it is what it is.
i’d be surprised if anyone listened to my work with the expectation that it was going to be orthodox
this may not have as many critical errors as most of my work because of how unrushed it was… but at times, i’ll have boring drums and out of tune guitars and bad vocal intonation, wonky strings and awkward transitions and lyrics that don’t make any sense…
and then after it’s all over, you’ll realize it was me and it’ll be ok.
If I had to confirm any “errors” alluded to in the info, I felt “Patience in Love” had a promising Santana-style vibe before everything started clashing something fierce, but that was about the only track I outright wasn’t feeling and would surmise you won’t be a fan of.
“Something about Laughter” was very laid back, a great listen if you’re just trying to chill. zyko tends to have a pretty loose style, but he’s managed to preserve that while really upping the level of polish on the overall presentation, as well as exploring quite a few interesting instrumentation ideas that I’ve either never heard him explore or never heard him use with this level of refinement. Check out the wind instrument action of the opening track “Something Wicked…” for an example of what I’m taking about.
The killer work of this album? In my opinion, it’s shared between two pieces. “Remember me?”, a remake of a 1998 track of his and easily one of weed’s best efforts in my many years following his material, and “Everythin you expect of a hero,” the most upbeat and straight-up catchy piece of the bunch thanks to some great percussion writing and the funky rhythm guitar work. Download Circumstantial Zen in full and take a listen to some of zyko’s strongest offerings yet.
Hope Fails: Kirby’s Dreamland 2 (Gameboy) - Puffball Promenade
foXdiE: Kirby’s Adventure - Roy G Ambivalence
Early this week, the regulars of 
Rap fans who enjoyed 
norg: Ducktales - Harden the Duck Up
“Something about Laughter” was very laid back, a great listen if you’re just trying to chill. 
