I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of “video games” that let you create things, music in particular. Mario Paint, MTV Music Generator, Electroplankton, and most recently Detune’s line of portable music workstations on the DS and 3DS. Fascinated, but not dedicated. I’ve fiddled with the virtual knobs of these apps in the past but never dug into them or even heard the work of those who have.
It makes Trotus and the Gameboy an especially interesting listen as the album was composed, produced and mixed with KORG M01D, the $34 audio workstation available on the 3DS eShop. Trotus released the album over a year ago on Bandcamp but just linked to it on the 3DS subreddit this past week and it’s generated the most exposure I’ve seen so far.
Self-described as encompassing “chiptune, chill beats, and boss battle house with groovy odd time signatures”, Trotus reveals among the positive comments that he’s drawn inspiration from the likes of Earthbound and Cave Story for some of the tracks.
In another reply he gives his thoughts on using the KORG app. “I love this program. Honestly it’s not too daunting and quite user friendly once you get the hang of it. Touch screen interface and the portability actually are huge draw-ins to me compared to computer DAWs (digital audio workstations for anyone out there unfamiliar.) It’s easy to just loop a drum beat, and sequence in chords, or record melodies/basslines, etc. (it has a nice little piano roll).”
Take a listen for yourself above, grab the album for pay-what-you-want on Bandcamp, and follow Trotus’ page if you like what you hear; he’s currently working on ten new songs. Let us know what you think of Trotus and the Gameboy in the comments and link us to some of your favorite made-in-a-game music while you’re at it.
Ryan’s recent post on the Wipeout Omega Collection tracklist reminded me about my own Wipeout posts. Specifically, Psygnosis composer Tim Wright’s attempt at creating and producing an album of “chilled out” Wipeout remixes which has been in the works since, wow, December of 2015. Over the last year and a half the project has hit all the roadblocks you’d expect from a largely one-man production.
Through a series of updates on the official Ch’illout” facebook page Wright has relayed a job change that led to a move across continents, health problems, and most detrimental of all, a breakdown with the company handling the album’s physical production. With each announcement the date slipped farther and farther through 2016.
On May 18th Wright offered the latest update, admitting that the double disc CD release isn’t going to happen “at the moment”. The album is now lining up to release digitally alongside the Wipeout Omega Collection on PlayStation 4 in early June. Along with the sincere apology to those who pre-ordered the album, Wright offers all of his future digital music “for free for life” and hopes to be able to send out some kind of physical goods once the album is out; he mentions the gatefold poster that would’ve come bundled with the CD as a possibility.
At last count the album had grown to include 18 tracks, each one a slowed-down remix of Wright’s contributions to both the original Wipeout and Wipeout XL on PlayStation. Over the months Wright has released a few demo tracks on his Soundcloud page or you can take a listen above.
Full disclosure, I’m one of those folks who pre-ordered the album back when it was first announced. It’s disappointing to miss out on the physical release but I can appreciate the risk and challenges involved in bringing something like this out yourself. And the music’s still coming which is ultimately what I really wanted to begin with.
Two of the most well known forces in rhythm gaming teased a collaborative new title called Project Rap Rabbit late last week. Now they’ve pulled the wraps off of their pitch and launched its kickstarter campaign, shedding more light on the game and those involved.
Fronted by Masaya Matsuura and Keiichi Yano, Rap Rabbit will also include their respective studios: Nana-OnSha of PaRappa the Rapper fame for Matsuura, and iNiS J for Yano, best known for Gitaroo Man and the Ouendan series. The pedigree is obviously there, they just need the funding and support to create what the pair defines as “rhythm-action 2.0”.
As Matsuura explains in the kickstarter video, he got some flack for referring to PaRappa the Rapper as a hip hop or rap game back in the 90’s. Sure, PaRappa had some opportunities to freestyle but the game really only required the precise, “Simon Says” callback of patterns to succeed. What rap fans wanted was a game where they could change the lyrics while playing, and that’s what Rap Rabbit hopes to offer. Drawing inspirations from both RPG dialog wheels and the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, combined with the back-and-forth gameplay of both PaRappa and Gitaroo Man, you can start to picture what the game might play like.
Based on their past works, it’s probably least surprising to hear that the game’s story trades on finding the strength to do what’s right and conquering adversity; only this time it’s set against traditional Japanese art and folklore. Inspiration here comes from 16th Century Japanese picture scrolls all the way up to films like Spirited Away, Tekkonkinkreet and Kung Fu Panda.
That leaves only the music to address which Matsuura himself is heading up as Music Director and core composer. Despite the traditional look of the visuals we’ve seen so far, the music hopes to fuse Japanese and Western styles while incorporating the Epic Rap Battles mix of beats, unexpected encounters, and comedy. Obviously, music is the most important part of a rhythm game and as a fairweather fan of Matsuura’s work in the past, this is the part that really determines where I fall on Rap Rabbit.
As of this writing the project is nearly $100,000 of the way towards a $1.1 million goal with initial releases on PlayStation 4 and Steam. Some lofty stretch goals would see the inclusion of more content and eventually ports to Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. No estimated release window has been mentioned so far but it looks like European publisher PQube is already on board to ship the game when it reaches its goal.
Take a look at the campaign video and kickstarter page and let us know in the comments if you’re already on board or patiently waiting for more details to emerge.
8 Bit Weapon, the long-running chiptune and electronic band formed by Seth and Michelle “ComputeHer” Sternberger, have a new album and it’s got quite the meta concept: what if the music industry followed modern game design? “How much of a song would you hear before you purchased the rest of it as DLC,” the new album asks.
The idea is to start with track 4, “DLC the OST (Standard Edition)” which features only the backing and melody. It’s nice, but wouldn’t it sound even better with drums? For a small charge the Drums DLC adds layers of percussive depth and really gets your toe tapping. Later in the product cycle, take your song to the next level with the Expansion DLC that lays on the style by adding new synths, percussion, and samples.
Gross right? Ultimately, they couldn’t bring themselves to nickel-and-dime their fans to put the concept to test so the album contains all the “DLC” and the full song, hilariously titled “DLC the OST (Season Pass Edition)”. Taking the next natural step, the album is considered the “GOTY bundle” edition and includes two wholly original bonus songs.
The answer to the question that DLC the OST poses is obvious: No. No one would pay for half of a song and then buy individual instruments as if it were a satisfying reward. Ok, maybe some of you interested in remixes or how the song was created would, but not the general music listening public. The real question turns the focus back onto games but that’s a discussion for a different kind of site, or maybe the comments section. I’m happy to say that despite the concept, DLC the OST still gives us three enjoyable (and totally complete) tracks for as little as $3.
Check it out and let’s discuss in the comments. What do you think of the song, 8 Bit Weapon’s concept, or our modern games with DLC and microtransactions?
While the modern gaming populace is enjoying the conglomeration of Puyo Puyo Tetris, I’ve suddenly found myself crushing pretty hard on regular old Tetris… for the Philips CD-i. The 1992 release for the largely forgotten CD-i was completely off my radar, even as a kid who desperately, foolishly wanted the interactive/edutainment console. It’s all for the best though, I would never have appreciated Jim Andron’s New Age, proto-Vaporware soundtrack when I was deep into Metal, Industrial and Techno.
Having been turned onto it this week by Matt Hawkins over at Attract Mode, though, I admit I’m totally in love with this soundtrack. For those not familiar, Vaporware is one of many “microgenres” of electronic music fixated on 80’s/90’s nostalgia. I’ve heard it likened to the sound of corporate training videos, on-hold music or elevator music and the crunchy compression of the source material — despite the shiny 224kbps AAC rip — only adds to the wistful 90’s feel for me.
In video game music terms there’s a lot in here that calls up Wave Race 64 and “Dire Dire Docks” from Super Mario 64. I even get a little vibe of The Sims here and there. But don’t expect a touchy-feely remix of the familiar Tetris theme, “Korobeiniki”, the closest thing to sounding “Russian” is the song from the High Score screen. Aside from that it’s a very consistent sound and quite a long playlist at just over 45 minutes, as you’d hope for a soundtrack that accompanies the potentially endless addiction of Tetris.
Anyways, it’s well worn territory at this point and I’m just doing my part to spread the word on some obscure and unique old game music that’s new to me. You can check out the recording above from MaxOfS2D on YouTube or see the game in action here; CD-i Tetris conveniently had no sound effects so every recording puts a focus on the music.
While you’re down here, let us know your favorite Tetris (or Tetris derivative) soundtrack in the comments. CD-i Tetris has jumped pretty high on my list but the top is still reserved for The New Tetris on Nintendo 64.
If Luminist’s Metroid: Resynthesized has left you wanting more Nintendo music on analog synthesizers, let me point you to Switched on SNES. It’s the first in a series from producer Will Patterson that aims to bring gaming’s musical masterpieces to new listeners by way of analog synths and drum machines.
The style fits quite well for A Link to the Past, smoothing out the instrumentation of the SNES original without sounding like a near-unrecognizable remix. Unfortunately, and just like Resynthesized, the album is painfully short and runs for just under 15 minutes. In its defense, the album doesn’t promise to rearrange the entire soundtrack and the themes that Patterson has chosen fit his minimal and subdued style in unison. I just wish there could be more of it!
While he may never expand on A Link to the Past, Patterson does have plans to visit more SNES franchises. The album’s Bandcamp page mentions Secret of Mana, Earthbound and Donkey Kong Country as potential upcoming entries. Switched on SNES is available now for $5 on Bandcamp.
What SNES soundtrack would you love to hear given the analog synth treatment? Let us know in the comments below.
To say Ubisoft’s extreme sports title, Steep, had a compressed PR cycle is quite the understatement. The game was revealed to the world at E3 2016 and released just six months later amid the madness of the holiday shopping season. If you weren’t paying close attention you could easily have missed the original soundtrack behind the din of it’s licensed playlist that featured in the trailers.
The original soundtrack from European post-rock collective, Zikali, has been out there for a while on the major streaming services but Sumthing Else Music Works has announced they’re once again teaming up with Ubisoft for a physical release. Available from Sumthing Else for $10 digital and $15 on disc, the 19-track album features a surprisingly emotional score to what looks, at first glance, to be an Xtreme Sportz title that fell out of 2002.
“The musical artistic direction consists of the encounter between a post-rock formation (drums, bass, guitars, synths), to which is added an orchestral dimension (strings, brass) and a set of original instruments (hang drum, duduk) that define the sound identity of the project,” explains Zikali. “The energy of the rider is represented by a modern and electric sound associated with the action; And the orchestra characterizes the different places (summits, narrow corridor or wide spaces) by the variety of its modes of play, bringing a strong emotional dimension.”
As described, the music is full of subtle sound combinations from airy and atmospheric twinkles to explosions of heavily effected guitars driven by a pounding percussion. It’s been a pleasant, if not totally cohesive, surprise as I’ve listened throughout the day. If you were looking for more from last year’s soundtrack to No Man’s Sky’s there’s definitely some of that vibe among the first half of the playlist.
You can give the whole soundtrack a listen on YouTube, Spotify, Deezer and Tidal or pick up the digital version from Google, iTunes or Amazon.
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