Game Music 4 All

MAGFest VIII announces final bands; all out of gum

2009-11-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

At only a month and a half away, MAGFest 8 is right around the corner, and with that the MAGFest dissemination campaign is a go! If you watched the video above you know about one of the special guests who will be there, but word from Nick at the MAGFest camp has given word about some more guests including famed game developer Sid Meier.

Alongside the new guests, the final four bands have been added to the all star roster of VG influenced performances. Let's just do the list thing here, featuring the 100% full roster of amazing artists. It should be noted that none of the bands will have any gum either, which we hope is indicative of something or other.

Final bands added
The OneUps
Select Start
Entertainment System
The Megas

Previously announced bands
Armcannon
Metroid Metal
Temp Sound Solutions
Rare Candy
A_Rival
The Smash Brothers
Armadillo Tank
This Place is Haunted

So if you are on the East Coast, nay, on Earth, head over to magfest.org and sign up for the fest right now. Unless of course you want The Duke ripping off your head, and..er..just go to MAGFest.

Pizza and Chips - Free chiptune show tomorrow 11/13 in Rosemead, CA

2009-11-12T17:15:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow night, from 6-8, test your luck with a special Friday the 13th show with Los Angeles chiptune extraordinaires EvilWezil and VGM Remix DJ BeethovenBoy for an evening of Gameboy fueled rock and delicious pizza. The show is at Rose City Pizza and is free to enjoy, so come right on in, and chat with the artists, bring some friends to have a delicious pixelated dinner and just have a great time!

Hope to see some awesome local chiptune fans there!

November 13th
6-8PM
Rose City Pizza
3588 Rosemead Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770

PS. First few folks who come in with a printed (or even a picture of the) flyer from this site will get a free slice of pizza while it lasts! Also the flyer says WizWars is performing but unfortunately can't perform due to illness. Get well soon WizWars!

Gameboy pixelart by MassiveUntilMorning

"Game Over"-Karmageddon

2009-11-11T14:12:00.000-08:00

Mr. Xbox Live, Mr. Game Over, Karmageddon. These are names that will be known across the internet and you lovely readers will help with this conquest. I went in downloading knowing of Karmageddon and his skills but this just pushed my expectations to an incredible level. Pride in Nerdcore is fired up on this album with hot tracks like "Doin Me", "Let it Rock", "All Hail the Kings" and "Game Over". Featuring artists Billy the Fridge, Untested Methods, Hairetsu, Ronald Hagen, Deafinition, Dr. Awkward, Pops Ghostly, King Pheenix, Dirty Jenkins and Kabuto the Python, this all equals win.

1.The Story So Far[Intro]
2.Future Sight [Feat.Billy The Fridge]
3.Grew Up A Screw Up [Remix]
4,Doin' Me
5.Error 404 [Remix]
6.9MM [Remix]
7.Amazin' [Remix]
8.Hold My Head Down [Remix Ft.Untested Methods]
9.Let It Rock [Remix Ft. Hairetsu]
10.I Can Transform Ya Verse
11.Like Whoa [Remix Ft.Ronald Hagen]
12.Mr.XBOX LIVE verse
13.LOL WUTCHA SAYS? [Whatcha Say Remix]
14.Talking To Myself [Feat. Deafinition]
15.Some Dissasembly Required
16.Quantum Leaps [Ft. Doc Awkward]
17.For The Swarm [Moby Flower Remix]
18.The Move Meant [Ft.Pops Ghostly]
19.Out Here Grindin Verse
20.All Hail The Kings [Ft.King Pheenix]
21.Killionare
22.Game Over[Ft.Dirty Jerkins and Kabuto The Python]

Nerdcore Artists from Geekamigo and Rhymetorrents plus rockin' remixes how can anyone say no? Download this now and get pumped up like you've never been before!

KK Setlist - An Unfinished Animal Crossing Remix Project release

2009-11-09T15:14:00.000-08:00

I recently spoke of the phenomenal Bound Together album both here and in length on The Start Screen which was originally compiled and overseen by Joe Cam. Well unknown to me Cam had been hard at work on an Animal Crossing tribute that has sadly remained unfinished for well over a year. Joe Cam has decided to make the best of the situation by collecting the finished tracks along with some WIPs and releasing them for all you Animal Crossing fans to enjoy.

The album is an all star collection of VG Remixers and musicians all coming together to pay tribute to the Animal Crossing series and the fictional musician KK Slider. The album is available via torrent or thanks to KyleJCrb and kngi.org you can Download the RAR file for the full album which includes proper id3 tags and artwork by Red Kinikacha from the OCR forums.

Speaking of the forums, be sure to pop in the official thread and toss some thanks to the Joe Cam and the awesome collection of musicians and contributors if you enjoyed the album as much as I do!

The album has lots of high quality stand out songs like Sixto Sounds over the top metal in Rockin' the Crossing or the classy laid back vibes of Mustin and Anthony Lofton's rendition of KK Soul known as I Got Soul. Another stand out is what may be Benedikt Terhechte's final song ever in the very somber stringed sounds of Kristina. Perhaps the biggest highlight and the way to best tell that this was a Joe Cam organized album is the return of the Crazy Crackaz alongside GM4A favorite Chico Ray in 7am (feat. Chico Ray) which catchily blends the very NSFW styles of everyone on this track. That is just a very small sampling of the large collection of tracks.

Below is the tracklist as compiled by KyleJCrb and Joe Cam's thoughts on the release.

"This is what remains of a planned Animal Crossing remix project I set out to organize. One specific remixer was unable to finish his task which would have been a huge chunk of the project. After waiting on him for over a year, I gave up and aborted the project. These are the finished (and unfinished) tracks from what was to release.

Enjoy what could have been." -JoeCam

1. K.K. Cruisin' - Bruce Bonebreak
2. Clock Part 2 V2 MIX - Christian Pacaud
3. Clock V5 MIX - Christian Pacaud
4. bossa00 - Joshua Morse
5. nilli00 - Joshua Morse
6. rainy00 - Joshua Morse
7. K.K. ReMix - Less Ashamed of Self
8. Slidin' & Cruisin' Live - Less Ashamed Of Self
9. 4 A.M. (v6) - Monobrow
10. K.K. Dirge - Nutritious
11. K.K. Western (WIP2) - Sixto Sounds
12. Get Out of Town (rough demo) - Sixto Sounds, The Crakaz
13. Rockin' the Crossing - Sixto Sounds
14. KKmusic Dj - FFmusic Dj
15. Safari - Mazedude
16. Purdie Old Days - Posu Yan
17. Shimmering in the Dark - Level 99
18. T.S. Aria - Tim Sheehy
19. I Got Soul - Mustin, Anthony Lofton
20. 7am (feat. Chico Ray) - Crazy Crakaz
21. Rider's Bewailment - Vampire Hunter Dan
22. Acetone - Sixto Sounds
23. Enjoying the Rain - Salluz
24. Good Old Days - Posu Yan
25. Just a Summer Drizzle - POCKETMAN
26. Only Me - Girlz Melon
27. Kristina - Benedikt Terhechte
28. K.K. Sex-A-Peel - Mustin
29. Letting Go - OA
30. Mr. Soccerball - Theory of Nonexistence
31. Camrade - Diggi Dis
32. 1 AM Smile - Tim Sheehy
33. 7 AM (Instrumental) - DCT
34. KKmusic Dj (alt) - FFmusic Dj

Gaijin Games release Bit.Trip Beat soundtrack and launch date for Bit.Trip Void

2009-11-06T22:09:00.000-08:00

Independent game developers, Gaijin Games, who I was glad to catch on to with their well received launch title Bit.Trip Beat, has announced a release date for the third game in their series of retro inspired chiptune infused titles. Bit.Trip Void will be coming to the US Wii consoles through Wiiware on November 23rd. As with Bit.Trip Beat and follow up title Bit.Trip Core which featured music from Bit Shifter and Bubblyfish respectively, The new Bit.Trip Void will feature music from well known seminal chiptune musician Nullsleep.

What do these incredible chiptune artists have in common besides great musical ability and being featured in the Bit.Trip series? If you said they will be performing at this years Blip Festival in New York you would be correct. In that vein Gaijin Games has decided to support these artists and the chiptune community by helping sponsor Blipfest this year. If you would also like to show your support and get some 8bitpeoples goodies as well by also becoming a sponsor through the Blipfest Kickstarter page.

The second bit of news from the folks at Gaijin is the announcement that Bit.Trip Beat soundtrack is now available for digital download at iTunes, CDBaby, and many other online retailers. The soundtrack not only includes all the in house music for the levels and cutscenes, but also includes amazing theme music from Bitshifter. So for chiptune fans as well as supporters of great independent titles and fans of Bit.Trip specifically, I suggest you grab the album and the game and have quite the retro Thanksgiving.

Jay Tholen - Danny's Incredible 8-Bit Voyage album release

2009-11-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

A good while back I happened upon a young chiptune artist from Florida, and was promptly blown away by a cleverly made chiptune zombie apocalypse. The great chiptunes, surrounded by effective sounds and great narration (ably done by glomag) filled a niche in chiptunes that I had never even known needed attention.

Well after a few fantastic forays into other musical genres Jay Tholen returns to chiptunes with another high concept album. This time a mixture of landscape painting chiptunes and fantastic audiobook style narration (this time by Andres Williams) combine to create an adventure of selfishness and redemption, of action and amusement. I plan on having a lengthier review of this album soon as well, but I honestly expect every person who reads these words to download this incredible album. Head over to jaytholen.net right now!

Dot.AY releases debut self titled album

2009-11-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

Glitched out Australian chiptune artist, and also guest contributor to this site Dot.AY has finally settled down and saw fit to release his first full length album. Going with the self titled Dot.AY, the album drops eleven tracks of glitched up retro'd out tunes. From the dance infected POQO to the punk rock sounds of Education the album covers a fair amount of sonic territory.

My personal favorite of them being the ever building track Physical Time. Starting with a wall of sound before finding a laser filled path through a maze of distortion, chips, and even some samples. The song picks up it's pace into a whirling dance number before breaking down into the glitchy void it came from.

Head over to dot-ay.com and pick up the new release today, for free download. Also don't forget to keep your eye on Game Boy Australia for the latest of chiptune news from the Southern Hemisphere.

Pixelh8 And The Revolution album release

2009-11-03T15:36:00.000-08:00

Incredible and multi-talented chiptune artist Pixelh8, whom I have praised before, has released his latest effort, and it was well worth the wait. And The Revolution is eleven tracks filled with out of this world chiptunery. From the soaring opener The Girl From The Future to the robotic dance rhythms of Out On The Floor the album spans plenty of moods and shows Pixelh8's incredible ability to take his chip knowledge into every genre and explore every landscape.

This is an album I have been anticipating ever since his 2007 release of The Boy With the Digital Heart (which I also recommend). You can find the new album through Pixelh8's music store as well as iTunes in both America and UK and almost all other fine mp3 retailers. Expect a full track by track review and more from me about this album in the near future as well!

Castlevania: Sonata of the Damned - an OverClocked ReMix album arranged by Joshua Morse

2009-11-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

Just in time for Halloween (although my post itself is too late for it) comes Joshua Morse with a brand new Castlevania series tribute, Castlevania: Sonata of the Damned an OverClocked ReMix album arranged by Joshua Morse. The title pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the album. Brought to us by OCR and Joshua Morse, who also helped bring us that other Castlevania tribute, to pay homage to the amazing composers throughout the Castlevania series.

Morse brings a ton of jazz flare to the monster infested rooms of Castlevania starting off with the requisite cover of Vampire Killer from the original NES title. The funky mood is upheld with plenty of piano theatrics and hip hop style breaks throughout the album. At half an hour the album is on the short side, especially when compared to other all star OCR albums, but there is certainly something to be said for brevity as the tracks are fantastic and will certainly garner repeated listens. Grab the tracks or torrent from sotd.ocremix.org and check out the track listing below. This is another great OCR release and is sure not to disappoint fans of the series.

1. Vampire Snap
Castlevania
Vampire Killer (Breaking Into the Castle BGM)
2. Demonic Conception
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Demon Seed (Dracula's Castle Underground)
3. Madd Forest
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Mad Forest (Forest Stage)
4. Wandering Latinas
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Wandering Ghosts
5. Sparkle
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Emerald Mist
6. Fear of Haze
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
VICTORIAN FEAR
7. The Solace of the Daylight
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
The Silence of the Daylight (Town Stage BGM)

Halloween Hip Hop: In Transylvania by Neally and DJ Dig Dug & Rhyme Torrents Halloween v4

2009-10-30T15:43:00.000-07:00

Not content to do just one song, nerdcore duo Neally and DJ Dig Dug saw fit to make an entire Halloween EP. In Transylvania is that EP, containing six songs full of scary samples, awesome raps, and rocking beats. I Now Say kicks things off featuring the requisite tribute to Dracula filled with ridiculous lyrics and classic vampire clips. Warped sounds bring us into Soda Pop Rocks, which, as the title indicates, has to do with the horrors of drinking Soda with Pop Rocks. The winding lo-fi tune works great for this short and clever tune. Definitely a stand out track on this EP.

The third track, Autumn Moon takes another twist, opening with some haunting vocals, setting up the werewolf fueled premise of this song. The song then switches to a rapping style, and does a great job making sure the switch offs between the somber singing and more in your face rapping run together very well. The music side of the song is on the simple side, using mostly drums and synths, but interspercing it with howls and haunting violins to great effect. This brings us to my favorite track on the album, My Zombie Girlfriend (featuring Lakeside). Starting out with a soft rocking guitar, drums, vocals combo, the song then shifts to an electronic chorus which continues to hold in the harder rocking second verse. The song itself is a surprisingly love filled track about a man and his girlfriend. Zombies as a metaphor for whatever else people want to inject in it's place is a well known movie idea. Neally and DJ Dig Dug along with female vocalist Lakeside use this idea to their advantage to create a nerdy romantic song that keeps from easily treading into cliche territory.

The album steps back into the more ridiculous with Nymphomancer. With a chorus of "I'm a level ninety-nine mother fuckin' nymphomancer / Before you ask your questions I can give you all the answers." the song plays up the angle of the necromancing playboy. The album comes to an end with the title track In Transylvania which gives a hard rocking hip hop historical tour of Dracula's home town. The song build and builds, spiraling into a rauckus track, which peters out at the very and brings the EP to a close.

This album has been getting quite a few plays in my iTunes lately and I very much suggest you check it out. You can download the album free at Neally and DJ Dig Dug's website neallydjdigdug.com.

That's not it for the Halloween festivities though, We also have...

For the fourth Halloween in a row the Rhymetorrents community has saw fit to combine their nerdy with all things evil and supernatural and bring us Rhyme Torrents Halloween v4, which is of course free to download. The compilation features some great new tracks from some of the RT communities best, and about everything from zombies and vampires, to horror novels, and yes, survival horror video games.

Once there you might also notice that RT has gone over one big redesign, so why not use this as a great opportunity to sign up and be part of the liveliest nerdcore hip hop community on the web!

Full tracklist, including tons of awesome collaborations below.
01 – Killer Nocturne – Magitek
02 – House o’ Terror – Spandex Moose
03 – Zombie Evolution (feat. Madface) – D20
04 – My Server is Down – Antisoc
05 – Thanks for the Add (Antisoc Industrial Remix) – Brad Sucks
06 – Caught in the Grip of the Silent Hill Madness – Character Battle Excellent All Star Super Team featuring Luigi, Blanka, and Tails
07 – Lavender Town – Fanatical, B-Type & B0wlman
08 – Three Wolves Howling at the Moon – Shamus Oddish, Mister B-Type, MC Wreckshin & Chozo Ninpo
09 – Rhyme Your Own Adventure – jprime & Legendary Wizard
10 – Jigsaw – Billy the Fridge
11 – Sexy Supervillian – Fanatical
12 – The Dead – MERCER
13 – Serial Killer – Sir-Up
14 – The Cauld Lad of Hylton – B-Type
15 – Meowlori – Emperor Pilaf
16 – Haunting You – Thugmasta J & MC Wreckshin
17 – Perfect White Knight – Ultraklystron

"Bleach'd Out"-Maja

2009-10-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

Soul Society has a new member on the rise. He's a lyrical Shinigami and has a Bankai that gives Hollows a new beat. Maja's new album,"Bleach'd Out", will bring Bleach fans out in the open. He covers it all, going through everything that makes up series and uses actual music from the series. He's not your average rapper, he lights up the mic and clearly has a certain passion that's hard to find. Through songs like "Bring It!" and "Shinigami" he puts you in a scenario just as if you were watching an episode of Bleach. Taking down Hollows, being in Soul Society and saving loved ones. This album gives an example of the greatness of Bleach.

If you dig hip-hop and a mix of anime characters with big swords and fighting off corrupted souls, then "Bleach'd Out" is definitely the way to go. You can get his new album here and also check out Maja's MySpace to see his other songs as well (like a personal favorite of course, Final Fantasy). So come to the other side and get "Bleach'd Out".

01. Intro-2:45
02. Bring It!-3:36
03. Never Stop-5:00
04. Bankai(Interlude)-4:10
05. Shinigami-3:20
06. Outro-1:46
07. Hip Hop Daikou-4:22
08. Bring It!(Remix)-3:36

Ballad of the Wind Fish Halloween Special on Arecibo Radio

2009-10-28T23:55:00.000-07:00

As you may be aware by now, I have been broadcasting an internet radio show for the past few weeks. Every Tuesday and Thursday at 12-2 PM PST (3-5 EST) over at areciboradio.org you can tune in to Ballad of the Wind Fish! And today we are having a special Halloween episode filled with plenty of classic fear inducing tunes so listen in.

UPDATE: You can listen to or download the recording here.

DOWNLOAD LINK

If you listen in while we are airing live be sure to join the Arecibo live chat (no password needed, only username required) to request songs and talk music and video games with your host as well as other great like minded people. Today we will even be discussing some of our scariest gaming moments.

Also, the fantastic artwork for BotWF is brought to you by Nyno, so check out her work right now!

8 Bit Operators - Wanna Hld Yr Handheld, Vol. 1 Beatles tribute release

2009-10-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

As I wrote about last month, 8 Bit Operators have announced their years in the making tribute to the one and only The Beatles. Well at last the album is finally out and available to download! If you head over to 8bitops.com right now you will be taken to the Band Camp page where you can download the full album for $10. The album includes a cavalcade of phenomenal artists bringing their own chipped out interpretations of both famous and more obscure Beatles tunes.

Well worth a download and most definitely worth a listen, this album follows in the steps of other great recent releases like Kind of Bloop and Weezer - The 8-Bit Album. Check out the full collection of tracks and artists below!

01. 8-Bit Operators "Tomorrow Never Knows Megamix" 04:50
02. 8 Bit Weapon with ComputeHer "Eleanor Rigby" 02:13
03. glomag "h3lt3r_sk3lt3r" 03:16
04. Bacalao "Blackbird" 02:39
05. Burnkit2600 "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" 02:56
06. Saskrotch "Paperback Writer" 02:09
07. Psilodump "All You Need Is Love" 02:44
08. minusbaby "Flying [El Barrio Mix]" 07:02
09. Anamanaguchi "I Will" 01:00
10. The Depreciation Guild "Because" 03:43
11. Aonami "Back in the U.S.S.R." 02:16
12. Bubblyfish "Piggies" 02:01
13. poke-1,170 "When I'm 64" 01:54
14. GOTO80 "Come Together" 04:00
15. Sloopygoop "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" 01:54
16. Herbert Weixelbaum "Sie liebt dich" 02:18

New Pterodactyl Squad release from lpower

2009-10-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

lpower (formerly known as Lawrence Power) has just released his latest faux soundtrack with Pterodactyl Squad. This 15 track album is available for free over at the release page.

Emanon is the faux soundtrack to a futuristic RPG racing game that would likely have been played in the 90s in one of those fancy-looking arcade racing booths. Using this concept as a base, lpower took some of his favourite samples from various consoles and synths and used them to craft the music which would play during the racing levels and cut scenes. Typically upbeat, melodic and intelligent, Emanon is a rich exploration of sounds from years gone by.

Blip Festival returns and first artists revealed

2009-10-26T13:39:00.000-07:00

Recently the fine folks at 8bitpeoples have launched the brand new 2009 edition of the Blip Festival website. Along with that they have also revealed both the Blip Festival 09 dates of December 17th to the 19th in New York at Brooklyn's Bell House. They have also revealed some of the first confirmed acts for the show, which includes some of the best that chip music has to offer, and spanning all over the globe, including the first Australian chiptunist in little-scale! The full run down is below.

But before that, sadly things aren't all sunshine for the festival. Looks like the grant they used to fund the show in prior years is no more. The good news is that you, the loyal chip loving fan can help part those gray skies by heading over to Kickstarter for the The People's Fund to Support Blip Festival 2009 and donate a few dollars to make sure this mecca of micromusic can continue for another year. Of course 8bitpeoples is more than happy to give a little back by offering plenty of awesome incentives for different donation levels. Head over to see what's still available.

ARTISTS CONFIRMED AS OF THIS POST
Bit Shifter
Chromix
Disasterpeace
failotron
Fighter X
The Hunters
I, Cactus
The J. Arthur Keenes Band
Je Deviens DJ En Trois Jours
Leeni
little-scale
Nullsleep
Rainbowdragoneyes

Announcing the Game Music 4 All 3rd Anniversary Compilation: Third Form

2009-10-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

After a long delay I am happy to announce that the long awaited Game Music 4 All third anniversary album is currently wrapping up! The album is a collection of brand new and exclusive tracks from some of the finest in video game inspired music. From VG Rock to remixes, from nerdcore hip hop to chiptunes and more, we cover all the bases of video game inspired music.

Third Form will feature over an hour of music from the many talented musicians who have supported GM4A over the past three years. Just a small sample of those are Player Two, Super Barrio Bros, Temp Sound Solutions, I Fight Dragons, 8 Bit Weapon and Elfonso! That is simply a handful of tons of talented musicians. More will be revealed soon, but for now, get ready for the upcoming launch, and enjoy some of that preliminary teaser art above from the great Doctor Octoroc. We hope to reveal more soon as the album gets closer to release!

New episode of the Gamewave Podcast

2009-10-22T12:26:00.000-07:00

After almost a year of radio silence, the Gamewave Podcast returns! Episode 46 is guest hosted by Steve Jenkins of Crystal Labs and STFUAJPGM and features some killer music, including chiptunes from Spamtron, Disasterpeace, Little-scale and Virt. If, like Steve, you'd like to host your own episode and become a very minor internet celebrity, please do get in touch at contact at gamewavepodcast dot com.

As usual, you can subscribe to the feed at www.gamewavepodcast.com/rss.xml or download the episodes directly from www.gamewavepodcast.com/episodes.html. And if you don't know what the Gamewave Podcast is, you're missing out, so go now. Now. We'll wait.

Chiptuned Rockman composer interviews

2009-10-21T15:46:00.000-07:00

Rockin' In the Bleep World - Musicians on Chiptuning Mega Man from Jeriaska on Vimeo.

Just recently Jeriaska of nobuooo.com uploaded the above video from the recent Tokyo Game Show in where a handful of the remixers from the Chiptuned Rockman album, which was released at TGS, discuss their work on the album. The album is an amazing collection of Megaman (Rockman in japan of course) tracks remixed in classic NES style from both VG composers as well as chiptune musicians like Virt, Saskrotch, and chibi-tech. If you can hunt down the album, it is definitely worth a listen!

Also for more music news that came out of TGS this year, check out Jeriaska's post from earlier this month on GameSetWatch.

OverClocked ReMix releases Humans + Gears: Xenogears ReMixed

2009-10-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

One of the main, and definitely one of the most well known places for video game inspired music, OverClocked ReMix has debuted their newest collective effort, this time in honor of the amazing Yasunori Mitsuda and his amazing soundtrack to the game Xenogears. Humans + Gears: Xenogears ReMixed is an amazing two disc tribute to the classic PSX title from Square-Enix (then known simply as Square). As with all releases, this one includes a wide variety of amazing musicians taking part in this project, including the likes of Skrypnyk, the prophet of mephisto, Avaris, Level 99, E-Bison, and that is just a small sample of the artists contributing. The album, just like everything else from OCReMix, is 100% free to download, and this album is available at xenogears.ocremix.org. You can download the full album there, as well as individual tracks. You can also help out their bandwidth by torrenting the album as well.

To explain more about the compilation, I present Avaris' (who also produced the album) write up from the website.

The album is an arrangement of the soundtrack for the classic RPG Xenogears. Many artists from the video game arrangement community have come together to create this album. The original soundtrack is by legendary composer Yasunori Mitsuda. With impeccable work ethic and a sense for melody and texture he created one of the most emotional soundtracks of all time.

Humans and Gears was a lengthy undertaking. The project began in the summer of 2006. Many Xenogears arrangement albums have been released in the past. The albums tries to re-envision the soundtrack in a new yet familiar way. We set out to create two unique albums in one. The first album features songs with a focus on natural elements and a "Human" touch. The second album is dark in tone and electronic in texture, symbolising the fear and destruction of "Gears." Artists were given complete creative freedom to express and reimagine the game in a new sonic format. We hope the listeners relive part of the amazing story and music that is Xenogears through this album. Thank you to all of the artists for your hard work and relentless dedication towards completion of this wonderful project.

Welcome to Humans and Gears, and enjoy the journey... again!

A Chip off the Shizz Block, Volume One compilation release

2009-10-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

Netlabel Concatenation Records is back with a new all star compilation of artists from The Shizz Minibosses boards. That album is an indescribably epic 25 track collection of chiptune music brought to you by the dozens of incredible musicians who inhabit The Shizz, and goes by the quite clever name of A Chip off the Shizz Block. As with some prior releases, A Chip Off the Shizz Block is another compilation that is using all donations to contribute toward the MAGFest fund to help many a shizzie make their way to the hallowed halls of MAGFest this January.

The album is available in both digital as well as physical form. The 320kbps MP3 files will run you a minimum $5 donation, whilst the fancy pressed copy will only set you back a meager $8 ($9 Canada, $10 Worldwide). Oh man that's about 32 cents per song! Let's see iTunes beat that price! Not to mention that they are all quality arrangements. From Shnabubula's jazz infused Virtigo to Alex Mauer's fast paced I Guess Your Face Fell Off. Not to mention temp sound solutions' grimey A New Dawn, and even chiptune star Neil Baldwin with his adventurous tune Trapped. That is just a mere handful of the quality tracks on display here. I plan on discussing them in greater length soon as this is an impressive album which I would certainly like to expound on further.

Finally, I hope you are sufficiently prepared to have your own face fall off at the amazing full track list I am including below!

01. MetalBishop - Famiclone Beatdown
02. M-H - Welcome To...
03. Mystic Nova - Fury of the Cyborg
04. bucky - The Exorcist (Final Area BGM)
05. Disasterphase - Ascend
06. temp sound solutions - A New Dawn
07. virt - Turbonugget
08. Wizwars - Fly Away
09. Phlogiston - I Was in the War, Damnit!
10. Zio and TEH LOLZ - Soul Snob
11. Norrin Radd - A Barrage of Hostile Abstractions
12. Alex Mauer - I Guess Your Face Fell Off
13. cacomistle - Blue, Brown, Pink, Grey
14. Alex Atchley - RUFFTRADE
15. Bit_Rat - Sunbeam
16. Prizmatic Spray - Desert Dilemma
17. temp sound solutions - Psionic Blast
18. RushJet1 - Boss9
19. Norrin Radd - Paradoxes Are Unveiled
20. Bit_Rat - Gimmick
21. Mystic Nova - Aerosaga
22. optomon - Hysteria
23. Shnabubula - virtigo
24. Neil Baldwin - Trapped
25. virt - Sorcerors Battle

Xoc Plays III - Xoc recreates full Super Mario Bros 3 soundtrack

2009-10-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, before I started this site, I was treated to the aural quality of what is now one of my favorite albums of all time. That album was by an artist named Xoc and that album was the classic SMW. Xoc has released tons more incredible material since then and I for one have become more and more amazed with him with every new album.

Well a brand new album is on the horizon now! Xoc goes back to the Super Mario well and pulls up a project that may excite some people even more than even SMW. That album is Xoc Plays III and is available now to download for the incredibly low price of only $5. The soundtrack spans 20 memorable tracks, all recreated using live instruments while keeping the same lovable and classic feel that puts you right into the original game.

I have had my copy of the album on repeat since getting a hold of it upon release just a few days ago. It's incredibly tough to choose a stand out track amongst this whole album of stellar music, but I will try and highlight a few. The opening track actually comes from a remake of SMB3 which you might remember if you had an SNES. All-Stars Title Screen is the opener, and kicks off the album with a great lively feel, and makes a fantastic introduction with it's warped intro, as if you have suddenly gone back in time. The drums and warbling guitar work give this oft forgotten song some of the respect it deserves for being just one small song in a collection of classic games. From there we get into SMB3 proper with Overworld Theme #1 / Death Jingle. We get a gruff countdown and we are presented with maybe the most memorable track from the game. Too bad we die before it finishes..possibly by drowning?

Another incredible tune is the incredibly catchy Iced Land / Underground / P-Block (medley) which, as the title states, combines three tracks into one incredible and cohesive tune. Kicking off with the creepy (I even thought so as a kid) theme from world 6. We quickly tumble into the high energy of the underground theme, which just as swiftly moves us into P-Block territory. Suddenly we find ourselves in an even stranger version of Iced Land with wailing guitars and the continuously ominous keys. The song gets progressively wilder in this fashion until we our lead out the same way we came in with the Iced Land theme once again.

The King is a soft reflective track. With it's simple guitar strums it reminds us of defeating that first boss on that epic airship and how it felt returning peace to the land. Another stand out arrangement that isn't in the game proper is Advance Bonus, which as you may guess comes from the GBA re-release of the game. With it's chiming children's piano and heartfelt kazoo playing it is tough to not love this track, even if it is probably the least nostalgic of the tracks on the album, it certainly makes itself known with it's playful nature.

From the lively opening to the lo-fi dream like ending, this album spans a multitude of moods, and is able to reach many of those nostalgic soft spots we have for our gaming youth. I can't recommend this album, nor any of Xoc's other albums enough. His versatility and carefree music making style lets him create songs that are as diverse as they are amazing. Be sure to purchase the album now at xocmusic.com/xocplays3 and grab anything and everything else that catches your eye on his site! 99% of his albums are free to download, including the aforementioned SMW album as well as the amazing What's Pink and Sucks? Xoc's Kirby's Adventure tribute. Finally I leave you with Xoc's own commercial for the newly released XOc Plays III album.

Doctor Octoroc now taking Christmas time bead sprite commissions

2009-10-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

The well known bead sprite crafting extraordinaire (also well accomplished musician) Doctor Octoroc has recently announced that he is back from hiatus and ready to start creating some more great custom bead sprites for the coming holiday season.

If you have that certain special game and art lover in your life, Dr. Octoroc prescribes his own special bead sprites as the solution to your Christmas gift dilemmas. Of course you can cut out the middle man and purrchase some awesome artwork for yourself as well. Head over to doctoroctoroc.com, check out some artwork (or commission your own), and place your order today. I myself have been the recipient of some of his work, and still have my awesome gameboy color and SNES sitting above my desk today! If you are undecided definitely check out some more of his different works below!

Wizwars - Gameboy Rock!! EP from Handheld Heroes

2009-10-14T16:08:00.000-07:00

Thanks to California based Wizwars I have now heard of plucky young upstart netlabel Handheld Heroes, A label which celebrates their fourth release with Wizwars' own new EP Gameboy Rock!! (or grab the direct Archive.org download).

The album is five tracks of catchy upbeat chip-rock anthems. Kicking off with the title track Gameboy Rock!! we power on and dive right into things with an in your face wall of, well, of Gameboy rock of course. The song hits hard and gets things off to a great start with it's lively rhythms and puts you in the perfect mood for the rest of the album. The EP keeps up this upbeat rock pace, which sometimes frenetic and sometimes a bit slow, but remains strong through out the meat of the album. Like many a rock album though, Wizwars holds the most somber song for last, this is also my favorites.

Right Back To You starts off with a soft piece, but a quick pause and we get some upbeat drum sounds to fill the void with some more energy. The lead instrument seems to tell a serious but heartfelt story for passers by to listen to. With the climax to the story coming in at about a minute and forty seconds. From the sound of the music though it seems to have a happy resolve. As the instruments fade out and we approach the end it feels like perhaps the listeners have learned a lesson from the story, and perhaps the storyteller, in retelling it has as well.

Letters VS Numbers episode 020: "Plot Leaks!"

2009-10-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

We are back again...again! This time bearing the gift of Letters VS Numbers episode 020: "Plot Leaks!" Within this episode we dicuss Scribblenauts, Super Mario romhacks, and of course some Final Fantasy. We even delve into where we've been, what's coming up, and even give away the plots to the most sort of maybe anticipated movie coming up!

Remember that you can head over to twitter.com/lversusn and follow us! We will tweet when we are recording, then you can tweet questions or comments to us while we are on the air!

Listener Emails
We got us one email this week, it's pretty awesome! Remember to send us emails at lettersvsnumberspodcast AT gmail DOT com so we can read them on air!

To listen in (and for full track listings and info) be sure to head over to lettersvsnumbers.net Or subscribe to our RSS feed, or subscribe through iTunes.

I Got Next documentary now taking music submissions

2009-10-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

Some fine folks with their ear to the fighting game community have no doubt heard of I Got Next. A documentary based on different members of the professional fighting game tournaments that take place all around the country and more. Well I am happy to announce that as the feature length version of the film gets ready for release, creator, Ian Cofino has announced that he is looking to the online video game inspired music community to help create the soundtrack for this documentary!

To take part in the project you can head right over to igotnextmovie.com/music.html to get the full scoop about song criteria and everything. Best of luck to all artists who create and contribute music to this project!

Also included below is the official press release for the soundtrack announcement.

“I Got Next” is a documentary film on the fighting game scene that started as my Senior Project at Purchase College, School of Art + Design. I originally envisioned a very small project, but as I traveled and became more involved with the scene, the documentary grew as well. I Got Next follows four prominent players, Justin Wong, Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez, Joe "iloveu" Ciaramelli and Mike Ross through their experiences in the fighting game scene.

Thanks to the generous community of players and film supporters (through Kickstarter.com), I have obtained additional funding to pay for travel expenses, equipment costs, and a new computer to edit and produce the feature length cut of the film.

Because “I Got Next” has been a community driven project on a shoestring budget, I would like to extend an invitation to everyone in the online music community to participate in a collaboration for the film's soundtrack. I am holding open submissions for musicians to send their arrangements to a panel of judges for a chance to be used in the film. Every artist is encouraged to take part (VG inspired, Nerdcore, Hip-Hop, Rock, Electronic, etc.)

Submissions will be open until Spring 2010.

The short cut of “I Got Next” has been shown at Gallery Nucleus in Pasadena, CA, and gaming conventions across the country such as PAX (the Penny Arcade Expo), one of the largest gaming expos in the world. It has even been featured on prominent mainstream gaming sites like “G4TV,”
“the Escapist Magazine,” and “Joystiq” as well as documentary sites such as the “Submarine Channel”. The “short cut” of the film has been downloaded, in total from various sites across the internet, over 30,000 times.

I wish to thank the gaming and film community for your generous support of my film. Without your help, I would not be at this stage of development.

Please visit http://www.igotnextmovie.com/music.html for additional information and to submit your music.

- Ian Cofino