Disasterpeace

Game Music

River City Ransom: Underground Soundtrack to be Replaced

July 19, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on River City Ransom: Underground Soundtrack to be Replaced Share this

Many of you may have heard of the ongoing DMCA debacle concerning Alex Mauer, the original composer for Starr Mazer and Starr Mazer DSP, as well as several other games Mauer was a contributing composer & arranger on. One of those games, River City Ransom: Underground, as also been hit with DMCA strikes which resulted in it’s being pulled from steam for the better part of the last week. Although developer Conatus Creative have assured the public that everything is legit on their end with regards to contracts and compensation and that the DMCA strike in false, they have decided to cut their losses and replace the soundtrack for River City Ransom: Underground to avoid ongoing issues.

It is out of respect for those many creators (of the entire Kunio-kun franchise) that I have chosen to commission a new soundtrack to replace the music from RCR:U. I believe it’s the best chance that RCR:U has of achieving a “clean break” from any negative associations with Alex Mauer’s wrongful claim. – Daniel Crenna, Producer

River City Ransom: Underground‘s soundtrack was originally contracted with composer Rich “Distasterpeace” Vreeland (Fez, Hyper Light Drifter), who subcontracted Dino Lionetti (Cheap Dinosaurs, Autoscroll) and Alex Mauer to assist with the game’s music under the alias “Lexi & The Cheap Disaster”. Vreeland has documentation, confirmed by Conatus, that Mauer was paid in-full for contributions made to the game’s soundtrack though Mauer contests this and has used the accusation as a right to DMCA the game on Steam and any video media using tracks Mauer contributed on. By law, Valve was required to take the game off Steam as a result in order to maintain their “safe harbor” status until the strike is proven false, much like what happened with Starr Mazer DSP earlier this year.

In the post on the game’s Steam forums, Crenna does not go into detail as to whether Vreeland and Lionetti will be involved in any replacement music for the new RCR:U soundtrack. I have reached out to Conatus to confirm any additional details regarding the replacement soundtrack and will update this article with any response.
Game Music

Hyper Light Drifter OST Released by Disasterpeace

April 13, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Hyper Light Drifter OST Released by Disasterpeace Share this

The soundtrack for the action-adventure indie game Hyper Light Drifter by Heart Machine has just been released courtesy of the game’s composer, Richard “Disasterpeace” Vreeland (FEZ, It Follows). The 2D, retro-styled game features a blend of electronic chiptune synthetic flavor mixed with minimalist instrumentals to create a unique sound for the game.

<a href="http://music.disasterpeace.com/album/hyper-light-drifter">Hyper Light Drifter by Disasterpeace</a>

“This project is 3 years in the making, one of the most difficult projects I’ve had the pleasure of working on.” notes the artist via his Facebook page.

The soundtrack features 28 tracks, clocks in at 139 minutes and is available on Disasterpeace’s Bandcamp page for $5. Hyper Light Drifter is currently available on PC, Mac and Steam and can be found on Heart Machine’s website.
Game Music, Indie Music

C418 Surprise Launches New Album, 148

December 21, 2015 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on C418 Surprise Launches New Album, 148 Share this C418 Surprise Launches New Album, 148

C418, the German composer best known for creating the soundscapes of Minecraft, has stealth/surprise launched his first new album in nearly two years, titled 148. Included in the 19 tracks are original vocal works, Minecraft remixes that had only been heard at live shows and collaborations with some darlings of the indie game scene. In the works since 2011, C418 explains the surprise release as an effort to move ahead and to re-confirm that, yes, he’s still making music.

“It just has been plaguing me for too long. I think that you can’t be happy with anything if you’ve stared at it too close for too long. Which is why I decided to stealth release it without any announcement. I’ve had incredibly unproductive years recently, and a lot of it had to do with being burnt out and partly being somewhat depressed. This album didn’t really help my psyche either. By releasing this, right now, I hope I can get to a clean slate and start beginning work on new stuff. And, of course, maybe it stops making everyone worried that I stopped composing altogether.”

<a href="http://c418.bandcamp.com/album/148">148 by C418</a>

He goes on to describe the album as “highly energetic and full of house and Drum & Bass tunes”. Sampling it this morning I can say it’s definitely more upbeat than Minecraft and the collaborations between Disasterpeace, Baiyon, Big Giant Circles and Laura Shigihara add variety to the overall sound. 148 is available now from Bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, or Google Play.
Game Music

Dig up some Music from Bonk’s Unreleased Return

August 4, 2015 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Dig up some Music from Bonk’s Unreleased Return Share this

While listening to the Gunhouse soundtrack that Disasterpeace released the other day I got to digging around his Bandcamp catalog. Way down the list is a free “UST” (Unofficial Soundtrack) that he released in May of 2010 featuring his contributions to the cancelled Bonk reboot, Brink of Extinction. I totally missed this album back then but I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Bonk and his ill-fated return.

Long in development, Hudson Soft was planning the reboot for Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 until being bought out by Konami in 2011. Shelved alongside other Hudson Soft properties, Brink of Extinction received the final nail in the coffin after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The game revolves around an impending global catastrophe and no one wanted to look insensitive by releasing the game alongside a real world tragedy.

Disasterpeace’s contributions amount to a mere 15 minutes of music but it’s all worth a listen. “The Original Spelunkers” and “Primeval Tangle” both have layers of airy atmosphere that feel way more mature than the dino-butting action they would have accompanied. Despite being an unreleased game, the album does a good job of walking you through each area as you might imagine playing them. That’s probably as close as most of us will ever get to laying hands on Brink of Extinction.

Let us know what you think and if you know of any other soundtracks from unreleased games, leave a comment. I’m interested in gathering some of them up for a future post.
Experimental, Game Music

Disasterpeace Releases Loop-centric Gunhouse OST

August 1, 2015 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Disasterpeace Releases Loop-centric Gunhouse OST Share this

Disasterpeace has released the experimental soundtrack from Necrosoft’s Gunhouse which is a “part puzzle, part active tower defense” game available now on Windows Phone, PlayStation Mobile and Amazon platforms. The game and its music are as funky as you’d expect from the preceding combination of words. Don’t believe me? Here’s how Disasterpeace describes it:

This soundtrack is largely an experiment in using pre-made loops and samples. I wanted to see how far I could get using loops as the primary source of inspiration. It turns out it’s a great way to not only work quickly, but to flex creative muscle and do strange aesthetic things.

With credit given to Apple and Spectrasonics for their loop libraries, you’re sure to hear something familiar amidst the mechanical loops and repetitious sounds. I wasn’t into it at first but I came around rather quickly, especially once I heard the wonderful horns and wild percussion on both “Decent Spirits” and “The Other Kind of Fork”.

The ten-track Gunhouse OST is available now on Bandcamp for $2 and the game can be found from the links at Necrosoft’s site here.
Game Music, Miscellaneous

Gamer’s Rhapsody Game Music & Art Convention

August 15, 2014 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Gamer’s Rhapsody Game Music & Art Convention Share this
Who doesn’t want more festivals and conventions based around video game music and media? (rhetorical question, of course) A new event, “Gamer’s Rhapsody“, has been created to show just how large the community surrounding video art and music has become over the past few years.

Gamer’s Rhapsody is a new convention that recognizes all the people who work on video games. This is to celebrate all the animators, storywriters, and composers that work endlessly to bring you the video games that you love. Gamer’s Rhapsody is the only convention in Minnesota that connects gamers and artists, celebrating the art that goes into creating video games.

The event will be held in Minneapolis, MN on November 16th and 17th at the downtown St. Paul Double Tree Hotel, and so far is slated to feature:
- Disasterpeace (composer of Fez, Runner2, and The Floor Is Jelly)
- Emily Reese (host of Minnesota Public Radio’s Top Score program)
- OverClocked ReMix (arrangers and community members from the game music remixing destination)
More guests, performers, professional artists and more are sure to be announced as the event draw closer. The event also features an art room with art contest, jam room and exhibitor’s room. Currently registration is at $43.50 until October 2nd, when it will increase by $5.

Learn more about Gamer’s Rhapsody: http://www.gamersrhapsody.com
Game Music

Game Music Bundle 7 Is Now Available

April 21, 2014 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Game Music Bundle 7 Is Now Available Share this Game Music Bundle 7 Is Now Available

The seventh Game Music Bundle was recently released on the music site Loudr. Much like the previous bundles, the albums are available in two tiers. If you pay at least $1, you will receive five videogame music albums. These include Peter McConnell’s Broken Age OST and Austin Wintory’s Banner Saga OST. If you contribute $10 or more, you will unlock twelve more albums, one of which is Austin Wintrory’s newest album Transfiguration. Transfiguration is a piano arrangement album of Wintory’s music from the game Journey. The album is yet to be released on its own, so this is your first chance to get this latest album. The second tier also includes a number of other excellent game music albums, including the soundtracks to Escape Goat 2 and Tribes Ascend. There are also some extra prizes for the top ten contributors. These range from full color promotional posters from Broken Age to physical albums of the Banner Saga OST and Transfiguration.

It’s quite a bargain for so much music. Grabbing the second tier at only $10 will get you over fourteen hours of music. Personally, I’m looking forward to listening to the piano arrangements of the Journey soundtrack on the Transfiguration album. Game Music Bundle 7 will be available for a little more than a week, so grab it while you can. You can check out the bundle at the Game Music Bundle site.