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Game Music, Indie Music, Japanese

What’s New with Basiscape

May 24, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on What’s New with Basiscape Share this What’s New with Basiscape

If you’re not a guru of the Japanese game music scene, then you might not yet heard of the group Basiscape. The group is comprised of nine composers and sound designers and headed by Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy XII, Valkyria Chronicles). Sakimoto created the group, along with Masaharu Iwata (Ogre Battle, Final Fantasy Tactics) and Manabu Namiki (Bloody Roar, Contra ReBirth)

Basiscape provides complete sound and music production services for all digital mediums including video games, television series, film and television commercials.

With our artists and staff carrying out projects of any scope and size, Basiscape delivers the utmost excellence in quality and creativity, while keeping with the usual tight deadlines of the industry.

The group has been responsible for a huge amount of video game soundtracks over the course of the past decade, including Odin Sphere, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Dragon’s Crown and more. The mobile game Metal Saga: The Ark of Wastes, the fifth game in the Metal Max series, was composed by Basiscape and Yoshimi Kudo (Tekken 6). Grand Kingdom will also see its soundtrack released on June 23rd by Basiscape and composer Mitsuhiro Kaneda. Valkyria Chronicles Original Soundtrack was recently released in its full orchestral glory as well.

“Main Theme” – Valkyria Chronicles

However, they’ve been making the rounds on the indie game music scene recently. The recently launched Kickstarter for the indie rogue-like adventure game Death Story by Team Neko features a stretch goal which would bring Sakimoto and Iwata on to compose the main theme for the game, so fans can contribute to see to it the game receives a fantastic contributing score.

Don’t be surprised if you see Basiscape’s name continue to pop up in the near future, so keep an eye out for Sakimoto and his team on upcoming titles!
Game Music, Indie Music, Japanese

Artist and Composer Baiyon Officially Joins Q-Games

April 18, 2016 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Artist and Composer Baiyon Officially Joins Q-Games Share this

Today I learned: Japanese composer and multimedia artist, Baiyon, wasn’t already an employee of Q-Games. After years of friendships and collaborations with the Kyoto based game studio Baiyon has officially joined the full time staff as a Creative Producer. He initially worked with Q-Games as art and sound director on the studio’s trippy plant-former, PixelJunk Eden, in 2008. He then returned for PixelJunk 4am in 2012, helping the studio create a player-controlled music synthesizer and visualizer. In between he contributed music to LittleBigPlanet 2 and more recently provided music and art for indie titles Panoramical and Fotonica.

“For nearly 15 years I’ve acted as a freelance artist, but now I’m taking on the challenge of being a Creative Producer at Q-Games,” Baiyon says of the new position. “I’ve had the privilege of collaboration with many other artists and studios from around the world and accumulating the experience and knowledge that comes with that, but was starting to feel that fully utilizing those as just one person had become difficult. I felt like I needed a place that I could call home in order to do things right.”

No projects were announced with the news but as Q-Games’ latest title, The Tomorrow Children, nears completion Baiyon will most likely be fully involved in whatever comes next. Today I also learned that we’ve got loads of Baiyon coverage right here at OSV! Patrick dedicated a whole week to him back in 2012 so if you’re interested in what might come next from Q-Games, have a look at some of our fine featured posts.

What would you like to see Baiyon and Q-Games do next? The studio has been all over the place from top-down racers to side-on shooters, tower defense and soup capitalism simulators. How about a MOBA?
Chip Music, Events, Indie Music, Japanese

‘8Bit Music Power’ out Now for the Famicom

February 2, 2016 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on ‘8Bit Music Power’ out Now for the Famicom Share this

You might remember hearing about 8Bit Music Power last November. The collaborative chiptune album has the distinction of being released exclusively for the Famicom console. Though not an official Nintendo product, Japanese accessory manufacturer, Columbus Circle, has matched the real deal with a gorgeous full color box and reproduction cartridge.

The 12-track album contains original songs by several Japanese game and chiptune composers under the direction of producer and illustrator, Riki. Contributors include Omodaka (Ape Escape), Masahiro Kajihara (Triggerheart Excelica), Takeaki Kunimoto (Star Soldier), Yuriko Keino (Dig Dug), Saitone, Hiroaki Sano (Triangle Heart), Nobuyuki Shioda (Summer Carnival ’92), Professor Sakamoto, Tappy (Tokimeki Memorial), Hally (Mighty Gunvolt) and Keishi Yonao (Asuka 120%). The cart’s pixelart graphics were created with the help of Hiroshi Ono, artist on some of gaming’s classic arcade titles like Pac Man, Galaga, Dig Dug and Mappy.

We’ve known the details for a while but the big news of the day is that 8Bit Music Power… is out. The first thousand cartridges produced are on sale now through Amazon Japan and Play-Asia will have them ready to ship worldwide on January 31st. Click inside to check out the full tracklist, a preview of the album and more.

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Game Music, Japanese

Dragons & Orchestras: A Look at the Musical Style of Koichi Sugiyama

February 1, 2016 | Sebastian Urrea | 1 Comment Share this

Koichi Sugiyama may not be a familiar name to a lot of gamers in the West, but he is a very well known figure in Japan. He is the man behind the music of the Dragon Quest series (originally released as Dragon Warrior in the West), which despite having only achieved an overall modest success in the United States, is very popular in Japan. Koichi Sugiyama’s style for the music that he writes for the Dragon Quest games is very unique, and it has been a significant influence on other video game music composers as well. I’ll be going through some of his work on the primary games of the Dragon Quest series and taking a look at what makes his music uniquely his, and how his style has changed over the course of the series.

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Events, Film, Game Music

Beep Documentary Preview to Debut at Game Music Connect 2015

August 24, 2015 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Beep Documentary Preview to Debut at Game Music Connect 2015 Share this
News announced for the upcoming Game Music Connect 2015 conference in London on September 15th is that Beep: A Documentary History of Game Sound will be premiering an exclusive preview screening of it’s expansive look at gaming sound and music through the years. The preview, Beep: Big in Japan, will look at several different Japanese composers, such as:
- Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy)
- Yoko Shimomura (Mario & Luigi RPGs, Kingdom Hearts)
- Hisayoshi Ogura (Taito sound director behind Legend of Kage, Ninja Warriors, Darius series)
- Shinji Hosoe (Namco sound director turned SuperSweep music producer: Ridge Racer, Street Fighter EX2,3)
- Tenpei Sato (Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, Valis, the Disgaea series)
- Yoshino Aoki (Mega Man series, Breath of Fire series)
- Michiko Naruke (Wild Arms series)
- Koichi Namiki (Daytona Racing, Virtua Fighter, Sega Sound Team band)
Documentary director Karen Collins, associate professor for the Games Institute at the University of Waterloo, will be presenting her exclusive interviews with “Japan’s game music royalty”, all as a preview to the full documentary’s release in Spring of 2016. More about the project cane be read about on their website, as well as the Game Music Connect website, which still has tickets available for the show at The Purcell Room at London’s Southbank Centre.
Japanese

Japanese VG Composers Create Original Album for Western Fans

July 1, 2015 | Brenna Wilkes | 1 Comment Share this

If you’ve ever been frustrated that you can’t listen to a wide variety of the works from some of your favorite Japanese game composers due to the difficulty and high cost of importing from Japan, then this will be a little treat. Several composers have gotten together to create an original album of music specifically for their fans in the West.

IMPORTED features a top-tier ensemble of music composers from all walks of gaming, including:

Tenpei Sato (Disgaea series)

Hideyuku “eiceph” Fukusawa (Street Fighter IV)

Go Sato (Raiden series)

Hideaki “Dr. COVA” Kobayashi (Phantasy Star Online and Sonic series)

Takayuki Nakamura (LUMINES series and Rodea The Sky Soldier)

Yu Shimoda (Mega Man 9 and 10)

Jupiter-B (DARIUSBURST series)

Takahiro Izutani (Metal Gear Solid and Bayonetta series)

Marusho (F-Zero GX and Yakuza series)

Yuu Miyake (Katamari Damacy series)

Akira Ueda (Super Mario RPG game designer)

DEIDARA

“I grew up listening to soundtracks for games like Street Fighter II, Metroid Prime and Sonic Adventure 2,” reflects producer Kevin Pescoran. “But when I tried to get my hands on more recent soundtracks like Sonic Unleashed, VANQUISH, or Bayonetta, I could only find them for $80 to $100, and realized there was a need for an easier way to get this music to fans around the world.”

Scarlet Moon Productions

The greatest part of the entire album is that it is completely free to download from Bandcamp for all international fans to enjoy. Go grab the album and be sure to check back for further updates.
Game Music, Japanese

Diggin’ in the Carts Chronicles the History of Japanese Game Music

September 12, 2014 | Brenna Wilkes | 2 Comments Share this

As enthusiasts about video game music and everything attached to it, a good majory of those in the community have a incredible sense of nostalgia for the old days of gaming and how it influences all of our lives. Documentaries that delve into the media itself and its background are a hot topic because of this nostalgic desire, with several being kickstarted to help really dive into the nitty-gritty of game music.

“Diggin’ in the Carts” is actually a unique entity for two reasons: 1.) It’s sponsored by Red Bull Music Academy; yes, as in the energy drink but it’s actually a world-traveling music workshop that focuses on today’s “musical landscape”. 2.) The series is specifically about the origins of video game music in Japan with Japanese composers and the history of companies like Namco and Konami.

Diggin’ In The Carts is a new series from Red Bull Music Academy about the untold story behind the most influential music to come out of Japan. Check back each Thursday, from September 4th to October 9th, for new episodes, mixes, and bonus interview footage.

So far two of the six, 15ish-minute episodes have been released and I have to say that the work behind the series is phenomenal. Having people like Anamanaguchi and Haruhisa Hally Tanaka explain the influence of game music and things like the history of the VRC6, and then featuring what I can only describe as delightful interviews with the likes of Masashi Kageyama (Gimmick!), Junko Ozawa (Galpus, The Tower of Druaga) and Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka (Metroid) just to name a few, is beyond wonderful. I admit I got misty-eyed through parts of each episode (especially ep.2) and it’s so refreshing to see Japanese composers who otherwise might go without knowing the impact their games had on so many of us as children and beyond getting their spotlight.

Diggin’ in the Carts will be released every Thursday for the next month, so be sure to tune into each episode. I dare you not to feel some form of excitement while watching it.