Chiptunes
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Chip Music
Reflect On These Rhythms and Beats From Ubiktune.
It’s always a good time when Ubiktune sends a bit of news our way, and today is no different. Continuing their amazing year of releases, The last few weeks have seen two new albums released on the label, sure to peak the interest of chiptune lovers of all types and stripes.
Reflections of a Dancing Leaf by fluidvolt is an album based on Claude Debussy, celebrating his 150th birthday. The album is a tribute to the composer using the hardware of SNES, N64, NES and even uses 1bit sounds to demonstrate the greatness of grand compositions using the most restricted of electronic sounds.
Rhythm’n’Bits is a tribute album dedicated to the video game soundtracks that had a big impact on the artist, Yoann Turpin, as a child. The result is pure melodic bliss, inspired by the RPGs from the 90’s as well as Sega Mega Drive and Super NES games, blended with a good bit of funk to create a truly unique album atmosphere. With this album, Yoann has managed to make one of the best chiptune albums of the year, and it’s creative and original take with so many familiar sounds and themes makes it a must hear of the year.
Reflections of a Dancing Leaf and Rhythm’n’Bits are available at Ubiktune right now. Rhythm’n’Bits can also be purchased on iTunes for $9.99.
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Game Music
FFVII – X “Chips” Albums Coming!
We interrupt “baiyon week” to bring you some important news.
The limited release XI Chips -Final Fantasy XI Chiptune- is about to have four other albums join the fold.
For the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Gallery in Shibuya (happening next week, Aug 31 – Sept 2), there will be a special “market” section set up. At that place, for that event, Square Enix will be selling Final Fantasy VII Chips, Final Fantasy VIII Chips, Final Fantasy IX Chips, and Final Fantasy X Chips. Well, if you’re going to milk a genre of arranged music, may as well go all out, right?
No information yet on who will be participating on these albums, but we won’t be surprised to see the individuals who worked on SQ Chips, SQ Chips 2, and XI Chips making multiple appearances on these albums, which will sell for 2100 yen each at the event.
Source: Andriasang
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Game Music
Final Fantasy XI, Square Enix to Dominate Summer Releases
Square Enix’s music department is gearing up for a pretty ridiculous summer in terms of album releases. It’s a little overwhelming, and we’re still in the dark on some of these albums, but it’s worth noting that they’re on the way.
Specifically, Square Enix is going overboard for the tenth anniversary of their MMORPG Final Fantasy XI. With expansion content included, the game sports about 10 hours’ worth of original music, so there’s plenty to arrange.
Before even getting to those albums, though, it’s worth noting that in Los Angeles there’s going to be a tenth anniversary concert! All FFXI! That’s crazy. I hope to be there, but I’m not sure if I can get out to the west coast. It’s going to be on September 22 (right on the “technical border” of Summer and Fall) at the Zellerbach Auditorium. Tickets went on sale as of a few weeks ago, and there is a VIP ticket level that includes meet-and-greet with Arnie Roth, Kumi Tanioka, and Naoshi Mizuta. If you ever played FFXI for any period of time, this will be an unforgettable event. I’m psyched about it. Also, if you’re still playing FFXI, buying tickets will net you a special in-game item “Maestro’s Baton.” (tickets here)
Okay, so now for the album releases. Alongside the planned SQ Chips 2 (CDJapan | Play-Asia), they’re doing a special chiptunes mini-album just for FFXI called “XI Chips -Final Fantasy XI Chiptune-” (CDJapan). There’s also going to be a compilation album (with one exclusive bonus track) called “Sword Songs ~ Final Fantasy XI Battle Collection” (CDJapan). Nice!
Beyond FFXI, this summer will have normal editions and limited editions for “SQ Chips 2,” “Beer SQ,” and “Battle SQ.” If you head to vgmdb (that’s what those links point to), you can check out the full tracklists for these three albums. We don’t know what the bonus tracks will be for the LEs yet, but we do know they will come on a separate disc. Very interesting things to note about the song selection: first, that Masashi Hamauzu is getting a lot of love. Both Beer and Battle have arrangements for SaGa Frontier II, and the latter also has something from Sigma Harmonics! There are some other great, obscure titles represented across these albums as well, including Tobal No.1, Bahamut Lagoon, Live A Live (an apparent favorite at SE Music for all the times they’ve been including this game on their SQ albums), Seiken Densetsu 3, Rudora no Hihou, Chocobo’s Dungeon, and more! Great oldschool FF selections as well! Audio samples suggest that Beer SQ will be of a similar soundscape to Cafe SQ, whereas Battle SQ will just rock hard. And “Chips” … well, it’s chiptunes!
Purchase Beer SQ (LE): CDJapan | Play-Asia
Purchase Battle SQ (LE): CDJapan | Play-AsiaPurchase Beer SQ (Standard): CDJapan | Play-Asia
Purchase Battle SQ (Standard): CDJapan | Play-AsiaSo, those 3 albums are all planned for July. Then, in August, SE is making good on their promise to publish “self-arranged” albums from the Mana series. Last year we got Kenji Ito’s album which covered the first Seiken Densetsu, as well as the Sword of Mana GBA remake and Seiken Densetsu 4: Dawn of Mana. Next up is a Hiroki Kikuta album, entitled Secret of Mana Genesis / Seiken Densetsu 2 Arrange Album (CDJapan). We’re not sure why this doesn’t include Seiken Densetsu 3, but we’re hoping it means that SD3 will get its own album too! On top of that, Kenji Ito is following up on the aforementioned SD arranged album Re:birth with his own spin-off album Re:Birth II / Romancing Saga Battle Arrange (CDJapan | Play-Asia). Yikes!
All this to say, start saving now, it’s gonna be a Squeenix-heavy summer.
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Chip Music, Reviews
Sophomore Slump? G&J’s Beautiful Lifestyle (Review)
June 9, 2012 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on Sophomore Slump? G&J’s Beautiful Lifestyle (Review) Share this
In 2010, chiptune duo George & Jonathan knocked our socks off with their debut The Best Music. They quickly followed this up with a cute holiday album, The Best Christmas.
But the official follow-up to “The Best Music” was their November 2011 release “Beautiful Lifestyle.” How does it compare to their debut? How does it compare to the rest of the awesome chip music out there?
After the jump, do the finger waggle with us. We’re going in-depth on this sophomore release. (more…)
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Chip Music, Reviews
A Most Welcome BSOD: PROTODOME’S BLUESCREEN (Review)
June 3, 2012 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on A Most Welcome BSOD: PROTODOME’S BLUESCREEN (Review) Share this
When Ubiktune published PROTODOME’s album BLUESCREEN (a follow-up to BLUENOISE) on Christmas Day 2011, I nearly peed my pants. Not because I knew or understood the pedigree of the composer, but because it had ridiculously cool artwork and the first few tracks hooked me on first listen.
In fact, I think I intended to write about it around the time of its release. But then, holiday break, family events, and then MAGFest… and hey, after MAGFest, any organization or structure left in your life must fall apart. It’s a law. MAGFest law.
But now, BLUESCREEN is one of the albums released in the Indie Game Music Bundle 3, so that’s all the more reason to talk about it. Without further ado, here we go (post-jump). (more…)
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