VG Frequency

Pro composer Tim “CoLD SToRAGE” Wright celebrated the Amiga demo tracks that got him his start in the video game industry, “Puggs in Space,” with the recent release of “Puggsy Theme Tune 2007 Remix.” More info from Wright’s homepage:

It’s hard to believe that it’s nearly 20 years since Tim composed the tune that launched his career in computer games!

Working with Lee Carus and Alan McCarthy as part of DIONYSUS (seconded in under the Jester Brothers International banner) he created 4 pieces of music and a flurry of sound effects for a demo that would fire the imagination of Ian Hetherington, the then Director of Psygnosis Limited, to sign them up on the spot at a London Computer fair.

Heady days indeed! :O)

To commemorate the fact, he has created a full-on CD remix of “Puggs in Space” for you to download right here.

Tim says, “I hope you like the remix, and it brings back some nostalgic memories… ENJOY!”

Wright actually submitted this to OC ReMix, but we unfortunately had to turn it down due to the source material being from a demo rather than being originally created for a game soundtrack. That’s also part of the reason OC ReMix had to pass on Markus Schneider & Mahoney’s amazing SID demo arrangement of “Sweet.”

I suggested to Wright that he submit the 2007 Remix to AMIGAremix, since I know they’d love it and don’t have any restrictions on demo arrangements. AMIGAremix’s submission system seems down at the moment, but Wright was definitely enthusiastic on the idea, so hopefully we’ll see the remix there as well in the near future!

I encouraged Wright to potentially submit an arrangement from something from his official game discography (Awesome, Shadow of the Beast series, Wipeout series), and he was really nice in his correspondence, so hopefully this isn’t the last we’ve heard from CoLD SToRAGE around the fan arrangement community! For more on Wright’s professional services, visit Tantrumedia.

Slipped under my radar last month, but I’d be remiss in not highlight Quinn Fox’s newest original album Music From Mars. No idea why the album isn’t properly linked and available on Fox’s homepage, but the VGMix forums have got what you need until then. The artist writes:

Well, here it is. I managed to finish this baby up and work to get started on even better possibilities, but this release is clearly new ground for me.

Music From Mars is easily the best, most accessible, and unique album or collection of songs I’ve ever created. Those familiar with my music and style (I’ve been in this scene for more than five years) should find things as alien and new as they are familiar and welcome. I’m positive if I’d spent another few months with this, it could be better, but I’m trying to become better at leaving well enough alone….

Anyway, I hope those who listen enjoy it and listen often. Reviews are welcome and encouraged.

Definitely go ahead and review this one. If, like me, you’re a fan of other works from Fox like Fitz Warine II, then Music From Mars should be solid as well. Fox definitely hits some unexplored territory with this effort, embracing vocal work a lot moreso than most of his previous releases.

In my critical opinion (clearly the most important one out there, of course), the drumwork frequently felt out of place, and the highs should have been toned down throughout, but compositionally this was a pretty sophisticated album.

I couldn’t help thinking I wanted the opening track of “Patience” to be twice as long, to hear the concepts worked with further, and that’s just the start of things. “Director” was also an example of some killer lyrics, spun from a great creative concept. The vocals in “Deimos” should have been punched up and better separated from the instrumentation, but was yet another extremely strong composition featuring some very emotive delivery from Fox. Aside from the percussion not clicking, the same praise and criticism fit “Obliterate Me” as well.

“Prosper,” I’d have rather heard Justin Timberlake or Robin Thicke give that one a go (not my style, but hey), and the transitions felt too jarring and disjointed, but this was a surprising dose of hip-hop/R&B flavor within his trademark sound (including drumloops).

Overall, I feel the album started off stronger than it finished, but the overall package was definitely worth the price ($0!) and the time (just over 35 minutes). Check it out and decide for yourself, then swing by Fox’s site for even more of his original works.

Fans of the arranger band Project X have long enjoyed their albums covering the Mega Man II and Mega Man III soundtracks, as well as the first radio show that gained traction with the US-based fan arrangement community, Super Radio X. And though Rawk and Rok haven’t pursued video game music arrangements in quite a while, they’ve kept the Project X spirit alive for years with their original band, Clawjob.

The Allston, Massachusetts-based duo of Mike Gintz and Nick Burgess are reaching out to their fanbase via MySpace bulletin to let them know about their new club, the Society of Clawjob Aficionados. More than just a mailing list, if you sign up for free, the guys promise to mail members something before the holiday season is upon us. The band gives you the info:

Lovers of Clawjob have one great reason to give thanks this year as the beloved conceptual rock band unleashes a brilliant new idea upon the world! The twin geniuses describe their invention as a “club” for “fans,” or as they call it, an “international society of Clawjob aficionados, united by promotional freebies delivered via the postal service!”

Click here to join the Society of Clawjob Aficionados and get free delights in the mail!

From newsletters, exclusive artwork, and lyrics to stickers, music, and piles of cash*, you’ll get a little of everything! Join now, as the band has made a blood oath that they will send out the first mailing before the winter holidays.

*Piles of cash currently out of stock.

Who knows what you’ll get if you sign up? If you’re not convinced, swing by their homepage or MySpace, get a taste of their “Mid-90s indie rock + the vast emptiness of outer space + dying and staring into the blinding eyes of Zeus” flavor, including the debut album Space Crackers. I know what’s good. I’m already signed up. Don’t miss out!

With Halloween now nothing but a memory, the top of month means Dwelling of Duels results. Of course October spookiness goes well with VGM, as OneUp Studios already showed a few days ago, so what better way for DoD to work throughout the month than with Castlevania Month?

SnappleMan got the duke with a quick effort from Akumajo Dracula, “Thrashard in the Cave”. But don’t take MY word for it. Results! And don’t forget November’s new compo as Enix Month is underway: (more…)

Mustin has reassembled the Bad Dudes for OneUp Studios‘ new Halloween-themed EP, entitled Zombies Rocked My Neighbors. Let’s find out what’s up from the head Dude:

The Bad Dudes are back with another EP of some freaky business for you all. It’s Halloween and time to scare some kids. So we deliver unto you some scary tracks (and well, some not so scary tracks, but they rock anyway). Put them on your Haunted House playlists for the neighborhood kids or just freak out your friends by locking them in the closet for a few weeks, not feeding them, and making them listen to zyko. ouch. Enjoy this freaky business and we’ll deliver more sooner than later.

~m

Along with some scary uh…pumpkin-esque album art from Maximo Lorenzo, the tracklist from yesterday’s seven track release includes arrangements of several scary and otherwise trippy games that go bump in the night including Castlevania, Psychonauts & Silent Hill, as well as other soundtrack given the spooky treatment such as Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess courtesy of Diggi Dis, JigginJonT, Kaijin, ktriton, Mazedude, Mustin & zyko.

If your wallet is so inclined, the Dudes have a PayPal donate button on the album page you can hit in order to give them something they need a lot more than Halloween candy…or even worse, fruit. They don’t need no stinkin’ apples.

Chad Seiter, VGMix regular, film and game composer, and assistant to fellow film and game composer Michael Giacchino, recently released the score to his latest film project, Fear of Clowns 2. Get a look at that poster. [shakes head] Seiter details:

I just finished a feature film called Fear of Clowns 2. I had done the first one, as well. Well, the 2nd one is now complete, coming in at 81 minutes of music. I think it’s some of the best stuff I’ve written, so I wanted to share some of my favorite parts with you guys. I wrote the 81 minutes of music frantically in 10 days during July. It’s mostly pounding thumping totally awesome kick ass action music, but there are the occasional scary and emotional moments. Enjoy!

Seiter noted he was particularly proud of his efforts for this score while limited to synths, so your opportunity is here to scoop up all 10 tracks released so far and survey (a third of) his efforts. Personal favorites of mine would be “Clown Invasion” and “Running From Shivers… Again”. I’d say the results are effective.

With a new month having arrived, Dwelling of Duels has released the results for the latest competition. With the usual Free Month for every third competition, any and all games were free to arrange.

Lots of rock up for grabs, though take note of thesamareaye’s Metroid piano cover “The Rise of Samus Aran” taking 5th place. The top two spots were marked by lengthier pieces, always a good bet for a strong finish as long as the skills are present. QUICKSHOT secured 2nd place with a 7-minute Little Nemo medley, “Nemotherapy,” featuring an A-B-C layout of sorts with violin, rock, and piano to close things out. Meanwhile, Kidd Cabbage led the pack with “Unbridled Ambition” a near-16-minute adventure game epic from a trio of titles.

Castlevania Month is underway for the month of October, sure to be a huge draw as arguably the best game series for rock and metal arrangement in the history of video game music. Keep next month in mind as you check out September’s entries:

Kidd Cabbage: Wizards & Warriors, Dragon Warrior, Willow - Unbridled Ambition
QUICKSHOT: Little Nemo the Dream Master - Nemotherapy
TheoConfidor: Power Athlete (Genesis) - What a Run!
Fourth Place - Scaredsim: Ys IV: Mask of the Sun - This Mask is Burnt
Fifth Place - thesamareaye: Metroid - The Rise of Samus Aran
Sixth Place - Paragon: Final Fantasy 8, Ys 3 - Violins and Violence
Seventh Place (tie) - Hydrasphere: Sonic 2 - Run or Die (sonic 2 medley)
Seventh Place (tie) - Noise and a Beat: F-Zero - Quiet Town
Ninth Place (tie) - Melodies of Gaia: Lagoon (SNES) - Nasir, Champion of Light
Tenth Place - Nario: Chrono Cross - Time’s Scarred Up Pretty Bad
Eleventh Place (tie) - Six-Stringed Flamberge: Lightweight Ninja - Lightweight Warrior Project
Eleventh Place (tie) - tibone: Phantasy Star 1 - Motavia
Thirteenth Place (tie) - Cacomistle: R. C. Pro-Am - Remote Controlled Professional Amateurs
Thirteenth Place (tie) - DeathBySpoon: Super Metroid - Speed Run
Fifteenth Place - Rasgar: Makai Kingdom - Impenetrable Fortress
Sixteenth Place - Jade Puget: Guilty Gear X - Still in the Dark
Seventeenth Place - Burreonomicosis: Zombies Ate My Neighbors - zombies ate my…

Thanks to OC ReMixer Gecko Yamori for pointing it out on the OC ReMix boards, as Electronic Arts, the owners of Westwood Studios, are celebrating today’s 12th anniversary of the original Command & Conquer by freely releasing the game!

As evidenced by the instructions provided by EA, one does have to jump through several hoops to get the game compatible with today’s versions of Windows. Nonetheless, the classic status enjoyed by C&C will no doubt bring in a lot of fans both new and old into the fold via this very welcome free rollout. With the advent of Wii’s Virtual Console and Xbox LIVE Arcade, EA’s realized the value in redistributing the first game of the C&C franchise, which was certainly smart thinking, thinking that I’m sure the company believes will help move the subsequent parts of the series off the shelves and into your homes.

On a tangent, one thing I enjoyed a lot about Scott Peeples 2001 Command & Conquer ReMix “On the Prowl Redux” was how the arrangement, while posessing its own personalized style, managed to retain the feel of Frank Klepacki’s already impressive score, sounding like a natural fit for the actual in-game soundtrack.

As the name of the game around here at VG Frequency implies, I’m always a fan of the music of games in particular. Klepacki’s first Command & Conquer soundtrack set a great standard for real-time military strategy games, providing music that’s functions well in the background yet holds up greatly upon active listening, driving along the action and overall mood of the game. Even on just that level, the now freely-available C&C is easily worth the pickup.

BioShock is an first-person shooter just released on the 21st on this month by 2K Games. It is a spiritual successor to System Shock 2, another FPS that was developed by Irrational Games, which was acquired by 2K Games in 2006. The game is generally regarded as being pretty cool stuff.

A limited edition of the game was released with a figurine, making-of DVD, and CD. The CD was originally supposed to be a soundtrack of the game, but instead contained three remixes of classic songs from the time period the game is supposed to take place in (and which appear in-game), arranged by Moby and Oscar the Punk: “Beyond the Sea” by Bobby Darin, “God Bless the Child” by Billie Holiday, and “Wild Little Sisters” by Brian Lovely and Paul Patterson.

However, 2K Games has just released twelve orchestral pieces from the soundtrack of the game, composed by Garry Schyman. While it’s not a complete score, the twelve tracks still give you a taste of the creepy atmosphere of BioShock. You can download the music from 2K’s “The Cult of Rapture” BioShock community site, or directly download it from their site.

Bryan “Sefiros” Henderson announced the release of his new original album Under the Roots this past Friday via MySpace bulletin.

The album is free to download, so there’s no cost besides time. Why should you check it out despite the cost of time? Well, Bryan’s been on my radar for a while due to his material at VGMix. He later scored an successful submission to OC ReMix with a Final Fantasy VIII arrangement entitled “Everything = Nothing” which featured some of the most beautiful and emotive string sequencing I’ve ever heard in my time in the community.

With that said, Bryan constantly keeps himself busy with periodic album releases, never allowing himself to get stagnant. On the production side, some of the levels should be toned down, but my favorite tracks on the album have to be the opening track “Dependence”, the high-powered “Warfare”, as well as well-textured”Degeneracy” and the unassumingly titled “Oh”. Swing by Sefiros’s space and grab ‘em all.

I haven’t formally introduced Dwelling of Duels around here yet (of course, I have during my radio shows, but the blog is new territory). It’s a usually monthly compo where artists are encouraged to predominantly perform the arrangement live, usually via live instruments rather than sequencing, gravitating toward rock. \m/

Every month at DoD features a different theme based around the world of gaming. Usually franchises, occasionally with broader concepts, always with cool customized game art (see below). Songs are released anonymously near the end of the month, accompanied by a listening party for community regulars. Voting takes place in the following days via a point spread of the voter’s choice, and on the 1st of the new month the results are unveiled along with the new theme for next month.

So just a quick one with this past month’s results, where anything from the Donkey Kong franchise of games was up for grabs.

There are so many new faces that first come to light into the video game music arrangement community via The Shizz’s Minibosses message board and Dwelling of Duels, so it’s no surprise that a relative newcomer like Scared Sim was able to walk away with the gold, with an arrangement of Donkey Kong Country’s “Aquatic Ambience” called “Swimming Monkey”.

I’d include direct links, but then you wouldn’t visit the actual site. Results follow below, and keep an eye out for DoD’s current PC Month competition for the month of August :

Scaredsim - Donkey Kong Country - Swimming Monkey
Paragon - Donkey Kong Country - Fibonacci Factory
thesamareaye, aklmfreak - Donkey Kong Land - Templo de la Fantasía
Fourth Place (tie): Bobby Winston, pingosimon - DK: King of Swing (GBA) - Jumping and Swingin’
Fourth Place (tie): Kodiak Attack - Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong 3 (NES) - Grizzlies Crush Rolling Barrels and Beehives
Sixth Place: Corax, Zachariasmith, Ryan Bennet - Donkey Kong Country 2 - Stickbrush Brambles
Seventh Place (tie): CB+ - Donkey Kong Country 3 - Unrefinery
Seventh Place (tie): tibone - Donkey Kong (NES) - Monkey can´t tune!! Monkey need bananas!!
Seventh Place (tie): Vegeroth, Battlerager - Donkey Kong Country 2 - Tides of Darkness
Tenth Place: AFM SwordBreaker - Donkey Kong Country 2 - Instigating Whispers

I’m ironically not much of a gamer, so anything having to do with actual game releases I’m bound to be slow on. DarkeSword recently made mention that Cave Story creator Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya released a new, even simpler free homebrew shmup called Guxt. (Have Japanese characters installed on your comp, please.) With Cave Story under his belt, Pixel’s already got the buzz needed to give any new project of his a good deal of attention in the gaming community, and February’s release of his most recent game has already got people talking.

I make mention of Guxt, because Pixel is not only a programmer, but a composer as well. With his one man Studio Pixel team, Amaya does it all, including the actual game music. For Guxt, that includes a standalone player program that features all 8 tracks from the soundtrack. It’s classic-style VG muzak, just the way you like it: small size, tons of hooks, and very appropriate for the game setting. The Boss theme in particular is excellent.

Makes me wonder who in the community’s gonna have the first well-made rearrangement from the game under their belt…

I loves me some netlabels. As a big proponent of free music (not ideologically, don’t worry), some of the most creative music you’ll find doesn’t cost you more than the time it takes to download.

Obviously, I spend a lot of time involved in the video game music rearrangement community, but netlabels feature great collectives of talent doing original music as well.

Like any hobbyist initiative, productivity can sometimes be intermittent. My favorite netlabel Hellven, run by Xavier “mv” Dang, has stopped and started on several occasions. This makes it difficult to find a really steady source of content to satisfy your fix.

On the chiptune side, Audun “AkumuHau” Sørlie, keeper of the most comprehensive NSF collection out there (and the only other guy I know who’s listed his hobbies as “VG, Wrestling, Comics” in that order), has been pimping the latest chiptune netlabel, II (i.e. Pause). Norrin Radd and Shawn Phase are there. I’ll be checking out their other material in the near future, but check out this cover art hotness for Radd’s album, Melodia di Infinità.

That art’s good enough to hang on your wall.

One of the other latest netlabels with strong ties toward the game music arrangement community that I’ve been made aware of has been Jonas “Platonist” Loman’s effort, Reunion, which announced last month that its site had gone out of beta stage into a final release. They have a lot of good artists I’m aware of from OC ReMix including FFmusic Dj, GaMeBoX, Saiko, SGX, Siamey, The Joker, and even guest releases by Binster and OverCoat. They’ve hit a pretty good stride, just announcing their 45th single release (courtesy of GaMeBoX), so give ‘em a look and bask in the free.

I don’t own many albums, period. I tend to only buy stuff where a major majority of the album is enjoyable, i.e. I don’t purchase blind. So there don’t end up being many albums, or even EPs, where I can sit down and listen to the whole thing.

I’ll admit, I was lukewarm on Fitz Warine II…at first. It wasn’t a mediocre EP by any means. Indeed, something about the tracks made me keep listening long after I had downloaded them. Fully appreciating the album took me about a month, but it was well worth it. Before we get into the album, onto some background…

In my time at OC ReMix, Quinn Fox has been one of those modest guys who doesn’t like being overly praised. I once asked him (through GrayLightning) repeatedly over the course of half a year to submit a great Sega Rally mix he did, “Snow Tires”, and he said that if I ever asked again, there was no way he’d submit it. /shrugs

But he also recoils after being criticized. Much of the reason for criticism stems from his usage of out-of-the-box preset drumloops, a practice that Protricity’s constant decrying in the formative years of the judges panel ultimately made taboo around OC ReMix. (Though I’d definitely argue that for the community, it was a development for the better. Parts of the necessary “evils” of being on the judges panel. :-D)

Quinn Fox’s predominantly original album Fitz Warine II turned out to be 29 minutes and 32 seconds of really excellent material, full of driving beats, ‘verby soundscapes, and great hooks. Sure, many, of the drum patterns are essentially or verbatim preset loops. But one thing that Quinn does right that hardly anyone else does (so far, only Red Tailed Fox has been comparably decent at it), is actually integrating those presets properly within the context of a complete piece of music.

If I didn’t know any better, I could just as easily believe that Quinn wrote all of the drums. While it’s not rocket science, to me such successful integration of presets is indeed a matter of skill and experience.

Once you check the album out, you’ll see that there’s a lot of care taken by Quinn to fashion smooth, ethereal textures to accompany the evolving grooves at the foundation of each track. For anyone familiar enough with Fox’s OC ReMixes and other works, Quinn has a telltale style on account of his other sounds as well. The album is a nice cross-section of spacey pieces alongside some big beat-style material.

“Lonely Air Machine”, “No Proper Time of Day” and “When and How I Feel” in particular remind me of how the video game industry is missing out on someone who knows how to create very engaging tracks, modern in their approach, but hearkening of the old school in terms of catchiness and memorability. Somewhere out there, a simple but modern-looking space shooter game is crying for a Quinn Fox soundtrack. Meanwhile, his Ristar “H2O” arrangement will keep the VGM-hungry among you satiated for at least 3 minutes and 32 seconds.

Some of the louder tracks were mixed a little too hot for my tastes, and some of the textures could have been fuller for the quieter pieces, but everything turns out a winner overall, especially on the writing side. For the clock-conscious music listener, it’s not a huge time investment, so you should be willing to download this free album and see how it suits you. At a mere $0, the price is right. Have at it, and be sure to let Quinn know if you enjoy the album.

I got my first exposure to Bjørn Lynne’s material from Song of the Week, a piece of in-game music from Spin Jam for the PlayStation. He’s got some really creative, dynamic material, as evidenced by other tracks of his I’ve heard, including “Jooli’s Song” (which I encountered from Song of the Week as well).

Lynne makes the rounds via his MySpace page, pimping the latest developments on his site to those on his friends list. If you’re up for a 14-minute experiment of sorts, give his latest message a look!

I hope you don’t mind me taking this opportunity to let you know that produced a brand new music track in 5.1 SURROUND which is now available to download from my web site, for free, in WMA (Windows Media Audio v10) and in AC3 (Dolby Digital) surround music format. The track is a 14-minute ambient rock space journey that sounds pretty cool in surround audio, and I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Download the track Voyager in 5.1 surround from my free surround music page.

PS, you can also hear it in regular stereo format (no surround speaker system required for that) on my blog

All the best,
–
Bjorn Lynne
www.lynnemusic.com

Jason “Xoc” Cox has has plenty of arrangements, side projects and concept albums come out since the ultra-popular Super Mario World tribute SMW, but the spiritual successor to SMW finally arrived a few weeks ago with the Kirby’s Adventure tribute album What’s Pink and Sucks?

Go for it now. You’re bound to find something that you like within the album. It’s over 30 minutes of Jason at his best, making creative use of a cavalcade of instruments and coming up with some great results. I don’t have any nostalgic ties to the Gremlins 2 NES game (that’s never stopped me), but Jason’s arranged that as well, so you should know G2EP is worth the download.

Mazedude’s The American Album is an album of 15 video game music arrangements of material exclusively created by American video game music composers. The album is Mazedude’s first, and was conceived as an alternative to the overwhelming attention given to Japanese composers by video game music fans.

Having been released to the public weeks before its scheduled December 1 release date, the album also enjoyed a spotlight at OC ReMix coinciding with the posting of the Commander Keen: The Armageddon Machine ReMix “Slick Rippin Keen.” According to Mazedude, Slick Rippin Keen “has been acclaimed as the ‘catchiest’ track off the album,” arranging Bobby Prince’s “Make It Tighter.”

The album’s website features a feedback area where, alongside fan commentary, several of the composers honored on The American Album have already expressed their appreciation including Jack Wall, Tommy Tallarico, Jeremy Soule & Peter McConnell, as well as Doom lead designer John Romero, as it continues to pick up recognition.

In light of working on The American Album for over a year and offering the finished product for free, Mazedude has solicited for donations at any comfortable level from fans who enjoy the album. Along with feedback, those can also be made via the album’s homepage.

The Dwelling of Duels results for August are in (August’s theme was racing games):

#1 SnappleMan: F-Zero X - Break the Silence (34)

#2 norg: RC Pro Am - Deadly Plastic Vroom Vroom Machines of Doom (31)

#3 Master Hatchet: Road Rash - Concrete Kiss (29)

For complete list of results (including a slew of F-Zero mixes) and discussion on September/October’s special Tornado of Solos competition, head on over to the thread @ the Minibosses’ message board.

For a complete list of downloads visit http://dod.the-core.gr. The DoD@VGMix mirror should be coordinated in the next few days.

Someday, I’ll have all the free time in the world. Until then, I plug away at the summer stuffs, this set of community releases from June 26th to July 2nd:
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Look ma, no hands. I did this report (including the typing) with my ears only. Are you not proud of me? I know I am. Now let’s view the goods from June 19th to the 25th in order to achieve karmic alignment:
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Not too much for me to go through means that I could knock this out in a couple of hours, which is not only good for you and me, but good for America. The summer rundown gets back on track with material from June 12th through 18th.
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As the poll for who the sexiest OCR judge (other than me of course) keeps heating up, we continue pimping it up with summer material to cool you off, checking out the week from June 5th to June 11th:
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Let’s continue covering the summer stuffs from May 29th to June 4th, for June is the month of the junebug…
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I remember a year ago when it took a full day to write these damn things. I guess judging’s paid off this time around, since I only spent a few hours going through everything below. Let’s cover the material from the week of May 22nd to May 28th.
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Covering the relevant releases from the month o’ May continues with the goods from the week ending May 21st. You’ve got a full plate in front of ya, so make with the clicky clickly.

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