Doujin

Doujin, Game Music

Celebrate 21 Years of Chrono Trigger with Chronology Jazz Tribute Album

August 23, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | 1 Comment Share this

Yesterday marked the 21st anniversary of the American release of Square’s beloved time-traveling JRPG, Chrono Trigger. Now that Chrono Trigger is legal to drink here in the states, the good folks at Overclocked Remix decided to throw it a party; in the form of a jazz tribute album! Chronology: A Jazz Tribute to Chrono Trigger features eight tracks from the Overclocked Jazz Collective; a group featuring artists such as Nostalvania, DrumUltima and the project’s own director, Dylan “Wiesty” Wiest.

Through some fluke, I was able to assemble my own “dream team” of musicians and arrangers on OC ReMix who all shared a passion for jazz and video game music. I felt Chrono Trigger would be an ideal candidate for our first release given the game’s quickly approaching 20th anniversary and the fact that Mitsuda’s music lends itself so well to jazz and improvisation. The musicians and artists on this album have put in countless hours of practice and recording to produce an album which I think sounds authentic and natural. Jazz is a social music best captured in the moment… and while the production process of this album was anything but “in the moment,” I think the album’s sound and cohesiveness will speak for itself. – Dylan Wiest, Chronology Project Director

This marks the second album Overclocked Remix has produced in tribute to Chrono Trigger; the first being Chrono Symphonic in 2006.

You can download the entire Chronology album for free on several mirrors hosted on their OCRemix website. Between this and the Chronicles of Time mega album from earlier this year, Chrono Trigger and it’s gorgeous soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda is definitely getting the love it rightfully deserves.
Doujin, Game Music

Gamechops Releases Overwatch Remix “The World Could Always Use More Heroes”

August 8, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Gamechops Releases Overwatch Remix “The World Could Always Use More Heroes” Share this

For all you Overwatch fans, the good people over at Gamechops have released a new remix of music from the game. The single “The World Could Always Use More Heroes“, created by Curly, mastered by Steven “bLiNd” Silo and master by DJ Cutman, also comes with a special extra music video with animations from PlayOverwatch.

As always you can find more remixes (including future Overwatch arrangements) over on the Gamechops Youtube page.
Doujin, Game Music

Materia Collective Releases Newest Album: VERSUS

July 15, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | 1 Comment Share this

Fighting game competition EVO is going on this weekend, and as such the game music label Materia Collective has partnered up with game community GameLark to create and release a double album full of fighting game music arrangements to celebrate the event.

VERSUS brings Materia Collective and GameLark together to create a unique double-album of fighting game remixes. The album itself is also a friendly competition between the two groups, who have previously worked individually on a wide range of remix albums of video game covers. VERSUS includes music from Tekken, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, and many more.

“VERSUS was a perfect opportunity to show the collaborative nature of the VGM community,” says Allen Brasch, founder and head of GameLark. “We see countless collaborations between individual artists so I thought, why not collaborate between labels?”

The album spans two discs with 47 tracks full of arranged music from almost every big fighting game you can think of. I personally like that “Holy Orders” from Guilty Gear XX was snuck in, reminding me how much I have to get back into that game.

You can check out the album on the Materia Collective website, or pick it up streaming on Spotify or the digital album on iTunes and Loudr.

Source: Materia Collective
Doujin, Game Music

Community Question: What’s Your Favorite Remix of Vampire Killer?

July 8, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | 3 Comments Share this

Here at Original Sound Version, we truly ask the burning questions that any true fan of video game music has discussed at one point in their lives or another. Michael started the question of what favorite versions of some of the most popular and heavily remixed tunes from iconic gaming franchises are your own, starting with Donkey Kong Country‘s “Aquatic Ambiance“. Now it’s my turn to pick your brain about arguably the most well-known and therefore remixed track from the Castlevania franchise – the original Castlevania‘s iconic stage 1 music, “Vampire Killer”.

It was hard for me to choose which Castlevania track I wanted to use for this question, as “Vampire Killer”, Castlevania 2‘s “Bloody Tears, and Castlevania 3‘s “Beginning” (Or the “Big 3” as I call them.) are almost equally arranged in proportion across both the Castlevania franchise itself, as well as within the remixing community. However, it feels right to start at the very beginning (No pun intended) with “Vampire Killer”, which was composed by the duo of Kinuyo Yamashita and Satoe Terashima in 1986.

“Vampire Killer” – Castlevania

The tune is catchy and full of determination, which made it perfect for first-time players and veterans alike to start off their journey to Dracula with. It’s had several iterations within the Castlevania franchise over the years, showing up arranged in later games such as Dracula’s Curse (As castle track “Deja Vu”), Super Castlevania 4, Rondo of Blood, Legends, Dawn of Sorrow and more. It serves as that constant reminder of the series’s ties to one another and of that first faithful trek we took as Simon Belmont. If I had to choose my favorite iteration of the track from within the series, I’ve grown to truly love Castlevania: The Arcade‘s part-organ, part-rock synth version played during the first boss fight.

Video credit of Nyx Cyan

The track has also been remixed by the fan community in just about every style imaginable, from the jazzy swing of Nostalvania to the electric grooves of Zircon and everywhere in between, to the point of near-exhaustion. Yet “Vampire Killer” persists as one of the most recognized video game tracks in gaming history, and still manages to inspire creativity and energy from musical vampire hunters to this day.

So what is your favorite version or arrangement of “Vampire Killer”? Do you have several? Let us know in the comments!
Doujin, Game Music

An old Sonic Remix Album turns up in time for his 25th

June 24, 2016 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on An old Sonic Remix Album turns up in time for his 25th Share this

We may have Sonic on the brain thanks to his 25th anniversary this month but I stumbled upon Mindwipe’s tribute album yesterday totally by accident. Mindwipe Goes Sonic – The Album wasn’t released to commemorate his 25th (it’s from all the way back in 2012) but like all things on the Internet “if I haven’t seen it, it’s new to me” and in this case it’s perfectly appropriate.

<a href="http://mindwipe.bandcamp.com/album/mindwipe-goes-sonic-the-album">Mindwipe Goes Sonic – The Album by Mindwipe</a>

I’m not familiar with Mindwipe’s other music but I can attest that there’s some truly special treatments of Sonic’s memorable themes going on here. Overall I’d describe the sound as High Swank. The familiar Green Hill Zone launches with orchestral pomp as the melody is sung by strings with breakbeat percussion racing behind. And it turns out what my life was missing was the Marble Zone theme done up with accordion and driving orchestral flare. Naturally, there’s a treatment of Starlight Zone and it’s instilling goosebumps and making me misty eyed as I write this.

The album hits 16 themes from Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, 3 and even the maligned 4th entry with styles that are wonderfully diverse. Spring Yard Zone has the soulful funk, Chemical Plant Zone a smooth electronic vibe and Death Egg Robot is blown out into a near-rock opera rearrangement for electric guitar and drums (sans vocals).

If you’re still on the hunt for more Sonic music to commemorate the occasion after Materia Collective’s new MOBIUS album I highly recommend giving Mindwipe Goes Sonic a few spins.
Doujin, Game Music

MOBIUS Album Celebrates 25 Years of Sonic Music

June 22, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | 1 Comment Share this

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 25 years since a certain blue hedgehog graced the screens of our living rooms and became the flagship title for the Sega Genesis. However, as of tomorrow, that’s exactly what anniversary it is – Sonic the Hedgehog came into being on June 23rd, 1991 and helped change video gaming for a generation. Likewise, the music of Sonic the Hedgehog became as iconic as its contemporaries such as Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda and Mega Man.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, the video game record label group Materia Collective have put together a tribute album that spans so much of the Sonic franchise and some of the most well-known music within the series. MOBIUS: Sonic the Hedgehog Remixed features a whopping 58 tracks of arranged Sonic music from a wide variety of musicians and performers within the game music community, such as Stemage (Metroid Metal), DJ Cutman, Videri String Quartet, John Robert Matz (Gunpoint) and a whole lot more!

“Sonic the Hedgehog is quite literally one of the main reasons that I became a musician. It was also one of my earliest musical influences. Now that I have three kids of my own (who are also Sonic fans), and I am actually a working musician for my career, and it’s the 25th Anniversary of Sonic…there was no way I couldn’t do an album like this as an homage to where it all began.” – Stephen Robert Froeber, MOBIUS director and producer

The album has a huge assortment of genres its draws from, as can be heard within the preview clip. Jazz, electronica, orchestral and rock are just a sampling of what you can expect to hear from the 80 contributing artists attached to the project. MOBIUS: Sonic the Hedgehog Remixed launches tomorrow, June 23rd on the Materia Collective website. Speaking as a girl whose first introduction to video gaming (and thus, video game music) was Sonic the Hedgehog on a snowy Christmas Day in 1991, this should be an album worth checking out.

Materia Collective – Website | Twitter
Doujin, Game Music, Indie Music

GameChops Releases Undertale Remix Album ‘Hopes & Dreams’

June 20, 2016 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on GameChops Releases Undertale Remix Album ‘Hopes & Dreams’ Share this

GameChops has announced the release of their big Summer album Hopes & Dreams by Arcien with an accompanying music video. Hopes & Dreams is a remix album dedicated to the indie fan favorite, Undertale. Unlike the label’s previous Undertale album — Undertale Remixed by Holder — Hopes & Dreams takes a different approach to the massive amount of music from the game.

“While Holder focused largely on character themes, Hopes & Dreams sets out to adapt the setting and story of Undertale in a musical form. From the future house intro, “Once Upon a Time,” to the 80’s synthwave “Thunder Snails,” to the dark, drum and bass boss battle “Your Best Nightmare,” Arcien hits all the major plot points of the Undertale story. Thoughtful transitions make the album a joy to listen to, front to back.”

Hopes & Dreams is available to purchase on Loudr, iTunes, Amazon and Google Play or can be streamed on Spotify. You can also check out the music video above for the track “Your Best Nightmare” to get a feel for Arcien’s interpretation of Undertale’s music.