Category Archives: techno

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“Zone of the Enders Z.O.E.” Soundtrack Review

makikiriokaZOE (Zone Of The Enders) is a techno-based bonanza, which is enveloped in lush string arrangements, stand-out vocal tracks and peppered with heartfelt piano pieces to make it stand-out as a classic soundtrack that could appeal to most listeners’ senses.

“Title (The Origin)” starts off the album in an ethereal vocal piece that sets the mystical and tense scene for “Introduction” which is an ambient piece building up into “Leo Stenbuck (break out)” which glides effortlessly between ambient and techno ambient as the build up continues to produce a nice string piece at the end before finally the soundtracks legs are let loose at full speed after a long build up.

“Factory (Vivid Transparency)” is a snyth infested early 1990′s rave/techno hybrid that’s easy on the ears but great to stomp along to, leading, as many of the tracks do, effortlessly into “VR (The Forth Dimension)” which is a faster paced techno piece that’s full to the brim with grizzly sounds. ”Flowing Destiny (Piano Arrange)” takes the soundtrack to new uncharted areas with a beautifully pristine piano piece that’s understated and heartfelt.

“Global 1 (Forever And Ever” is more melodic than most of the beat fused songs, with soaring electronic arpeggios fading in and out before the album slows down again for “Are you alright, Celvice?” which encases each aspect of the album in one song. ”Boss (Neves)” gets the pace flowing again with more balanced hardcore beats layered with high-pitched vocal lines and hard panned bass lines making for a panic fused song that will raise your blood pressure somewhat! “Celvice! This way quickly!” is a short and elegant piece lead by strings and piano with a slow beat making it unique to the rest of the album, this standing out.

“Resident Block (SO2)” is a song lead by a very muffled and quiet drumbeat showing underlying tension, while various sound effects and white noiz take the lead intertwining with a synth-guitar. “A Light With A Name Of Hope (piano arrange)” is short but since the main tune doesn’t really jump out on you, it does seem rather lost and easily forgettable.

“Radar (Pandemonium)” returns to the SFX smothered techno/rave hybrid with some nice extra drum effects to make this track fluster you, which can also be said for “Global 2 (Virus)” which has some nice rolling wooden percussion throughout. “City (The Earth Light)” continues to edge the soundtrack towards the rave end of the electronic music scale with a piece like something you’d expect The Prodigy to release before it finds its ambient roots again with “Mountain (Who Can Read The Future?)” which is a song of two halves, one ambient and one very much full of discord and drama.

“Rock Thunderheart (function)” is a dramatic piece like a showdown before “A Light With The Name Of Hope” takes you on piano/violin piece that’s a beautiful bitter-sweet collaboration of a great tune that you’ll hear in different guises throughout the album. “You Need This Done To You” is a tension-building piece that comes across like a space oddity before dying before your very own eyes. “Flowing Destiny” is a continuation of the song that leads it into peace and tranquillity making you smile.

“Ada (Promise)” is a piano piece that takes its time to tread its path, and sounds all the better for doing so in a downbeat performance. “Flowing Destiny (memories)” is a full piano/violin rendition that is more heartfelt than the previous versions that have been sprinkled throughout the album so far. ”Neith (Risky)” screams danger and battle from the start as we hit the final boss themes. The intricate little details and drum rolls make this an exciting track, but it doesn’t sound full enough to be a real boss track, despite all its dramatics. ”Viola (silent death)” is another piano song that is made ten times better by its dramatic pauses and lack of rush to get anywhere, making it much more heartfelt and saddening as it reaches its low-key crescendo.

“Anubis (impossible)” has the opening song of the album running throughout as the song instead of focusing on being intense, focuses on being giant in scale and overpowering. The piece is very refreshing for an end boss track and is unique again from the rest of the album. ”Juhuty Will Self-Destruct?” is an orchestral piece that highlights the fact this soundtrack can do anything, and do it above par with this bitter and subtle end.

However, ZOE saves the best until last, with three superb vocal songs to treat us to. Each one stands on their own two feet and are among the elite in the VGM ending songs. ”Flowing Destiny – Ending Theme 1″ is a perfect orchestral and vocal song with a nice pop beat helping it along the way. “Kiss Me Sunlights – Opening Theme” is an original song that borders the dance genre, but is bittersweet (like much of the albums set pieces) with a hint of sadness in the seemingly very lively song. “A Light with A Name Of Hope -Ending Theme 2/Celvice’s Theme” closes the album on a quiet note with a sensitive song and a beautiful voice.

ZOE is a soundtrack that does everything and does it with panache. If you have a soft spot for dance/rave/techno-orientated music, I suggest you pick up a copy immediately. The rest of us however should only look at the other standout pieces and if you love those, the rest of the album quickly grows on you around those pieces. A very pleasant surprise!

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Amon Tobin: “Splinter Cell Chaos Theory” Soundtrack Review

Amon Tobin, a well-known and respected man in his musical field of mad electronica spearheads a 10 song sensory overload that has become the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Soundtrack.

Combining ambience, basslines to kill for and some mega foot stomping drum loops, the soundtrack weaves its way through a manic mental path to hedonism of the dancing senses. I’m not usually one to get madly to grips with such genres however the way its patched together makes for very interesting listening on occasion.

The opener “Lighthouse” melds the ambience and bass lines together to cause some kind of panic fury which never really explodes into a full-blown attack but clearly goes into a bedlam mode. A very clever way to skip around going for the normal route of things. “Ruthless” follows then really does explode into a huge drum n bass number with not much in the melodic department but all trousers in the drums. The percussive elements throughout the album are something to admire.

“Theme From Battery” is a beautiful yet haunting ambience piece, something I could see a band like Cocteau Twins almost doing – very surreal and dreamy. “Kokubo Sosho Stealth” continues the whole ambience theme with broken down drum loops and echoing vocals but is not as successful as creating a timeless space as the previous track. “El Cargo” is completely reliant on its funky basslines and echoes of an almost gospel sounding choir. “Displaced” is full of discord from the word go. Random little quirks of instrumentation are set to an uptempo drum beat which is interesting but not entirely listenable too unless you’re into the genre!

“Ruthless (Reprise)” is much better in this version that the previous one. Almost low-fi in presence, it just has so much more structure and poise to it! “Kukubo Susho Battle” too is better than its similar predecessor just but having a rhythm to its madness and getting on with it! There’s some mean parts to it in places with some electric guitar fits and starts too. “Hokkaido” sadly doesn’t get going, a bit like a lost and best forgotten Silent Hill gone techno track. “The Clean Up” rounds off the album with a bit of everything that had gone before it and makes for a very good track indeed! Some superb use is made of orchestration and drum montages too.

This album is such a hard one to judge. It is technically unique in its sound (Sudeki cross Silent Hill cross Metal Gear Solid prehaps?) however it doesn’t always hit the spots required to say that it should have a standout place in the VGM World. If you’re after something that’s very eclectic and electronic – you could do much worse than this album, or if you should see it cheap then I’d recommend it. It certainly will gain a foothold in your audio mindscape and maybe over time and many listens will grow on you . However a melding of many different genres does not necessarily mean it will please any of the follows of them.

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Esselfortium – “Seventeen More Times” Review

Esselfortium exploded onto my radar last week and now having obtained a copy of his second album “Seventeen More Times” I intend to be keeping the talented man on my radar for a long, long time to come.

The album is a cinematic one – to newcomers think Moby, a cinematic Lamb, Adam Fielding. All that fall for this tripping electro cinescope soundshower will fall instantly for Esselfortium.

Opener “Quantum Magic” is a warm uplifting celestial piece that flows with hope and grandeur, almost like your surveying a vast vista before a journey. It’s bass and trip-hop drum beat pulse out but its the keyboard synths that bleed across the speakers that sets the mood most. “Zwei” swishes to the electronica side of things with grizzly bass lines and a drum n bass beat bursting through while various arpeggios and futuristic sounding keyboards patter away behind the pulse. It’s an epic space voyage that sounds like its straight from a sci-fi. “Invis” is more noir with pitch bending whirling keyboards and some major hard-hitting tom drums upping the tension and drama. For some reason it sounds like a cross to me between Silent Hill and Terminator in style and ambience.

“Treetops” changes its feel for a more zen like approach with bulbous chimes and electro-sitars underpinning the score. Coming across slightly eerie and relaxing at the same time, it strikes a unique balance and for that reason its become a personal favourite. “Descent” bursts in as quickly as the previous song ends with a dissonance and twisted frequency track as different instruments are distorted and flanged to pieces. The result is almost like an ear popping musical experience except a whole lot pleasurable! It’s a great experimental piece.

“Hibernator (White Moon)” is a chugging industrial track full of all kinds of metallic power tool beats that scream factory loudly. The actual melody hides behind the sheer power of the percussive elements and humming that go around it but it makes for an atmospheric piece. “Dirac” returns to electronica roots with a pounding beat and a lot of trance trickery that interconnects and power chords itself perfectly for a uplifting trance inducing euphoria. It ebbs away into steam punk triphop heaven “Other/Self” which is a fantastic track of angst, edge and grit. It reminds me of soundtracks for 2D platforming shoot-em-up games where you’re selecting your weapons and getting a mission brief. A lot of this album would work perfectly in a video game environment as well as a film soundtrack and this is a great example of this. “Final Outpost” takes the previous’ tracks steampunk grunge tech-noir vibe and pushes the noise down to a crunch, taking all the brightness out of the music and making it a hard slog. It’s dripping in atmosphere and hardcore appeal. It’s like grungey low-fi and would sound great in any sneaking FPS mission (someone say Metal Gear?)

“Introjection” is a fantastic track. Crossing over to a music style similar to Apollo440, this track starts off really electro-techno and gradually layers and layers itself until it becomes almost profoundly brilliant. The cinematic strings that serenade the background remind me of Phillip Glass and the Chronos / Koyannisqatsi music and it just feels so big and immersive. Another favourite. “18 Apostolos” is a much more chilled track that gently guides its keyboards around a lovely new age melody. It reminds me of an end credits piece in many ways with added 80′s flair. “Light of the Soul” is a more ambient piece that slowly evolves and builds up beautifully. It’s classic chill out and one of the more straightforward tracks in production and song structure. It’s a wonderfully delicate track and yet another stand out.

“Apollo (Black Moon)” returns to a more gritty low-fi setting like the title suggests, with darker, pitch bent bass sine waves harking back to retro commodore 64 sounds and updating them for a new generation. It feels very sci-fi, very progressive and yet something very familiar all at the same time. “The Beast That Shouted “I” At the Heart of the World” possibly wins best title of a track in 2011. It again comes across a noir-ambience and uses a great choral sample to eerie effect and a lot of distortion techniques. Everything hypes itself up on each run through and it feels very much like Apollo’s bigger, meaner brother! I love the way how everything ends up over processed for a very specific sound and feel. It really attacks your senses and pushes you to rock out full throttle. “Close Hands / Open Hands” is a small requiem track that bridges you over to the finale “Andante”. The closing track in absolutely euphoric. It’s really where the Moby / Phatboy Slim on chillout references all come from. It’s a great way to come full circle and round off the album with a fresh hope renewed and reborn.

“Seventeen More Times” is an album best enjoyed as a whole. There’s different cycles throughout the album and each one plays its act in setting up the next track. You won’t feel the absolute rebirth of “Andante” if you havent crawled the depths of the previous three tracks. For that, for its craftmenship and for his ability to form absolutely storming tracks in all different guises, Esselfortium’s latest album is a triumph. Make this your 2011 new artist discovery.

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Noriko Matsueda & Takahito Eguchi – The Bouncer OST Review

The Bouncer OST is one that is full of life and energy. Coming across like something from late Tekken soundtracks rather than the fighting/RPG hybrid the game tried to be, the bulk of this soundtrack is a techno rock fusion. Sadly, its these tracks that prove to be the soundtracks downfall.

“Prelude: The Bouncer” is a superb but short opening track capturing the life of the music is a short space of time, which is followed the guitar hook filled “Sion Barzarhd” and possibly the best track on the album from the techno side “Volt Krueger” which incorporates a great bag pipe snyth into the song making it stand out.

Sadly after that, the music begins to drop off. “Kou Leifoh” has no hook to the song so is instantly forgettable, while “Echidna” struggles to get going at all. “Mugestu” has some nice eastern touches to it that brings it out of the gutter, and some nice dramatic rising chords also propel “Kaldea Orchid” into the top songs list on the album.

“PD-4″ is a panic driven piece that shows exactly what this album could have been. The song is dramatic throughout with lots of hard-edged instruments to get your pulse racing.

“Dominique Cross” takes a bizarre stance with a lush string background, which is just too quiet and despite its best efforts to catch your attention, fails to do so because the percussive instruments drown it out leaving this track as a missed opportunity.

“Mugetsu: Destruction” suffers from a lack of production polish. A drum roll is present throughout most of the song and had it have been made more of, it could have made the song more dramatic and compelling. As a result, the song is very muffled as all the instrumentation fights for the same space in the speakers. “Dauragon C. Mikado” seems tired by the time you get to this point in the album. Once you’ve listened to the same beat with the same guitar churning out half-hearted riffs, each song becomes tedious. It’s at this point I must declare that The Bouncer OST is much easier and more rewarding to listen to if you dip in and out of the tracks so they don’t blend into one long dirge. Then the weaker songs feel more alive.

Thankfully “Dauragon C. Mikado: Madness” adds some new material to the mix with some vocal snippets and some exceptionally fast acoustic guitar overlays making for a piece of disarrayed music, which holds its own. “Dauragon C. Mikado: Awakening” actually spends the first 25 seconds or so without guitars before giving us a more clear up, riff rock track that stands out because it doesn’t slip into a river of sound and lose its definition and form as a song.

“Prologue” suddenly hits you in the face, as a completely vocal and orchestrated piece full of suspense, fear, adrenaline and also peace and is the most mature piece of music on the album. “Disquietude” is another orchestrated piece that is very disjointed and eerie to listen to, especially in the dark, and shines through as the most ambitious piece on the album. “The Escape” is a dramatic orchestral piece that doesn’t go wild very often but keeps the suspense to the highest level.

Suddenly, The Bouncer has become like the game, a jack-of-all-trades. “LUKIS Covert. Op” sounds like something from Metal Gear Solid with its funk induced keyboards and its quick fire string bursts that personify sneaking around so well. “Distant Rain: The Cross Children” is a sad piano lead piece that once again has an eerie haunting presence, like most of the non techno rock orientated music. “The Pursuit” rounds off the orchestrated section with a dramatic discordant piece that is very basic but does its job.

“OWARNAIMONO: Forevermore: The Theme from The Bouncer (Japanese Version)” is a real treat for getting to the end of the album however. A beautiful heartfelt string introduction brings us to the song proper, with song strong vocals from Reiko Noda which impacts you with some soaring string arrangements with a great ballad beat.

“Kou Leifoh Remixed Version” ends the CD with a slightly stripped down version that works just as well as the original, but one feels that ending on the vocal track would have left people thinking the soundtrack was better than what it really is.

The Bouncer is a tale and an OST of two halves, and it suffers by having them completely separated. Maybe if the orchestrated pieces were scattered between the techno songs, maybe they wouldn’t seem so mundane, and with many of them sounding so very similar, it ruins the great tracks left. If your not a fan of rock or techno dance music, I suggest you try before you buy as this is not a traditional soundtrack by any means. Like the game itself, it tries to be a jack of all trades, but fails to master any.

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OneUp Studios ~ “SquareDance” Review

SqaureDance is a fan made project CD from OneUpStudios letting a group of people remix their favourite songs made by Square Soft and releasing them as a compliation. The result is something far better than just amateur works, these songs are very groovy indeed.

The opening track “Hip-Hop Corridor” is a fairly standard but highly produced remix from Chrono Trigger that uses various synthesizers to provide a mellow dramatic feel. The beginning is masterful as it comes across like a space odyssey. Following that comes the epic length of “Soulless Village” from Final Fantasy IX. This comes across as a dance floor mega hit, and if it were released properly I’m sure would do well! The song is faithful to the original and is very pleasing to listen to.

“Spacecat” from Chrono Tigger comes across like a space movie and then continues to send waves of sound through your speakers. The instrumentation in this song is very close to real life (especially the string sections) and makes for a complete change of scene in the album.

“Hello World” from Secret Of Evermore is a nice song in itself but I don’t think it has a strong enough main melody to really compete much with the surrounding songs. The instrumentation is still top class though. “Cyan” from Final Fantasy VI is geared towards grizzly old skool music from the early 1990′s and the songs chorus makes the song as it uplifts you and takes you on a journey – great ear candy. In between the chorus’ though is fairly cluttered techno-babble but on whole it’s a great song with a lovely ending.

“Forest Animal Groove” from Secret of Mana is done very much in the style of the how the Secret Of Mana’s OST would have had it. It has a beefy, grizzly baseline and some cutesy tunes, but never really gets going and so is the laid back tune of the CD. “To Far Away Times” from Chrono Trigger is a magical adventure trip with lovely fairy lights guiding the tune through with a dance beat bumping away. It’s a simple but very effective and enjoyable remix.

“World Of Ruin” from Final Fantasy VI is a gothic piece that has an almost jungle beat to it. The church organ though begins to get a little repetitive towards the end repeating the same 4 chords to the end but it is a bit more of a welcome quirk from the normal dance music you’d get!

“Adventurous Break” from “Final Fantasy Adventure” is perfectly pitched. It has regular chord changes, regular dips and rises in its song and the actual main tune is good. It comes across as a drama piece more at times with some excellent effects.

“Cecil’s Jinn and Juice” is mixing two songs from Final Fantasy IV and is done in a relaxing manner that rewards you with each listen. The lead is taken by wind instrumentation and is defined and superbly realised. The change over between the two songs is absolutely spot-on and marks this as one the real stand out tracks for the album. Put simply – this song is a masterpiece.

“Reiterated Inspiration” mixed from Chrono Cross begins with a lovely acoustic guitar that is added onto by other lovely instrumentations to make a beautiful dramatic piece. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect at the end of a film when you see the main character make their final goal. It’s another masterpiece on the album and really sticks in your mind. The best way to describe this song is a dreamscape.

“Magus” arranged from Chrono Trigger is a typical trance remix that is pleasant to listen to and has a rather scary voice in the middle of it. Apart from that its run of the mill stuff but done to top class quality.

“The Day Will Come” taken from FFV starts of beautifully with a lovely piano introduction that envelopes into a great piece of trance music that is faultless.

“Star Stealing Girl” from Chrono Trigger uses some excellent vocal samples to set the song apart from the rest and make it a unique experience.

“Forest Starlight” from Chrono Trigger also comes across more of a jazz pop song and slows the speed of the album down for a nice relaxing song that very intimate. The final track is “The Ultimate Being” from Parasite Eve that despite some lovely effects is just a bit too chaotic and cluttered at times.

SquareDance is all about how you like the genre. If you love dance music, this will be right up your street, but for the rest of the VGM listeners out their, you’ll be able to appreciate most of the arrangements that you’ve had first hand experience, but skip over the rest without a thought. Paying for this quality of remixes should never pose a problem however, there is so much original content that’s not even in the same ball park of SquareDance, even if I don’t always feel in the mood for the album. SquareDance is ambitious and somewhat the cement on what would become a great section of VGM, the fan remix. If there’s not a celebration – I don’t know what is!

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Module – Shatter OST Review

jeremiahross-moduleShatter (as you can read below in our review) is a fantastic game. Just as fantastic is the 14 track soundtrack made by Module. The whole thing has an electro-rock feel that feels both retro and futuristic wrapped into one sound. The soundtrack sounds more like a shoot-em-up game but with real riffs and not just freak out guitar solos.

“Kinetic Harvest” gets things going with grizzly bass lines, chugging electric guitars, electric arpeggios and a foot stomping beat. The tune itself is relatively simple but it never sits still and therefore never runs the risk of being stale. “Aurora” is more synth led but although it has an aural essence to it, it’s not a song you’d find on Chill FM. Again its a song that adds and adds to its beautiful bass with all kinds of catchy plinky riffs. There’s some great percussive sounds in this song that manages to sound heavenly yet industrial at the same time and the contradiction works perfectly.

“Granular Extractor” for some reason reminds me of the Beverley Hill Cop theme song and old Spectrum games. There’s a real retro arcade feel to this track specificially. Combined with electric percussion and the way the track changes from high to low pitches, it also sounds more like a medley track in some ways which is great as it feels like going on some kind of space journey. “Krypton Garden” sounds like something Ladytron would make. It’s use of real guitars side by side with loads of keyboards just absolutely works and when it comes together for the final two minutes, its quite possibly one of the best things to happen in VGM releases for the passed couple of years. Fantastic!

“Freon World” is a joyous track. From the nearly uke-sounding guitar unpinning to the blipping arpeggios, this song is a happy bean. At the half way mark it becomes more of a statium rock track with infectious riffs and pulsating keyboards throbbing through to your brain with hedonistic results. Another fab track! “Amerthyst Caverns” is a real personal highlight. The song features clipped vocal samples played via a keyboard it seems. Coupled with a great four bar chord riff and some fantastic keyboard riffs, the song just sound absolutely epic. It’s the perfect mish-mash of old meets new in a whole new ball game. This track is already an all time favourite track for myself.

“Neon Mines” is a grizzly-funky track. It follows the same principle as all the tracks do. A simple start, building up to a new section that then builds up to the two tunes joining. Again this track is infectious and its the voice instruments that stick in your head as you want to strut your stuff. “Argon Refinery” is a great stadium track and would do well as a track to download and play on things like RockBand. The tune is simplistic again but that’s where the beauty lies and if you aren’t playing air guitar after this track, you never will.

“Xenon Home World” see’s the guitar become more edgy and grungier almost. The feedback and whammy bar are great to hear and the whole track sounds like a big boss battle and for a six minute track that is essentially based of two chords, it still feels as fresh as a morning dew at the end as it does at the beginning. “End of the World” is a great track mixing all the elements already mentioned above into one seemless track. It’s almost like a tour de force of Shatter, moulding all the elements of each song together to create a super-song.

“Boss Music” is has some great little touches to it especially the mini freak outs at the end of every four bars at the beginning before it gets dramatic at the half way point with rousing keyboards leading the way. This track feels much quicker than it actually is because its constantly got various things all pumping out a certain beat. “Homelands” is a much more relaxing and free-bird track in many ways. It’s the end credits one and has some great dolphin like snyths that hark back to Ecco the Dolphin! The guitar then kicks in and gives us great memories and a mighty fantastic track.

“Glass Halls” is the menu track which is more electro-ambient with music made from keyboards and dripping water samples. It still bounces along at a fair pace but it’s about as sedate as the Shatter soundtrack gets. The final track is “Hyperspace (extended version)” played in the bonus sections which has a great hook to it and really sums up exactly why this soundtrack is golden.

So far in 2009 I have been seriously underwhelemed with a lot of VGM. Shatter has completely blown me away. Not only is it by far my favourite soundtrack of 2009, it ranks amoungst the best soundtracks for the passed decade with ease. The fusion of old school themes on modern days technology is exactly what a lot of game music is screaming out for today and top marks for Module for going the whole hog and then some to give us a masterpiece. I cannot recommend this collection enough and I’ll look forward to giving it some fine awards I’ll expect come the end of the year. Mind-blowing!

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OCRemix – “FF4 Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption” Album Review

overclockedremixOverClocked Remix is something of a stamp of quality assurance. The community that continues to grow from strength to strength has been embraced by music and game lovers alike for its sublime remixing skills. “FF4 Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption” is the latest project which has spanned over thirty remixers and three discs of music.

Disc 1 is entitled “Act I Betrayal” and opens with “Full of Courage” by Nutritious as a rousing opening track. Both regal and militant, this track seeps with pride and the arrangement breathes 21st Century life into the original “Red Wing”. “The Might of Baron” from audio fidelity takes it to the stadium rock level with a great marching boots samples and a great vein of tension that is given a real pay off with its interesting use of different instrumentation to make a fantastic track.

AeroZ’s “Overture~Tellah’s Prophecy” is an electronica medley that crafts many of the signature themes into a great heavy bass orientated track with seamless transitions. “Journey to Solace” from Avaris is eerie as it is compellingly beautiful. The song continues to move and shape shift into a more dramatic piece but its the quieter moments that make this track more effective. “Ana(pro)logue” from Another Soundscape has a retro/new age feel to it taking an older synth sound, cleaning it up and then turning it into summer breeze party track. The change of pace and tone is very welcome and its unabashed joy is infectious.

“The Flying Machine” by John Revoredo has some of the most realistic samples I’ve heard in a free remix soundtrack. It’s an orchestral arrangement of the Main Theme and could possibly be my most favourite arrangement of it to date. In contrast, Mazedude’s “Welcome to Our Town” has gone for the low-fi route and it works. The gently blips and burps give it a relaxing potion feel that’s quite unique like an alien symphony.

Cyril the Wolf’s interpretation of Rydia is well gauged. Using an acoustic guitar and then building on it into a nice jazzy band, “Emerald Beauty” is the first band version of the theme that actually sounds right and that’s a tribute to the arranger for knowing exactly where to go with it. “RDX Necklace” by Children of the Monkey Machine and audio fidelity has a long ambient build up while the main tune (Ring of Bomb) is only barely heard in the background. It’s an interesting concept but as it builds up and up it only really comes to life in the final minute and you’ve already had three minutes of distorted guitars. However on repeated listens you do begin to appreciate it more and spot the subtle changes going on behind the mask of noise.

Tweek’s “Of Fiend and Man” is a real rock out of titanic proportions. Like a neo gothic finale, this is an absolute stonker of a track. Followed by a nice brass arrangement by DragonAvenger, “Interlude-Yay!” makes winning worth while! “The Skies Hold No Angels For Us” from Level 99 and audio fidelity follows as an excellent track. Starting off as a full on rock track the arrangement is spot on and then suddenly in the middle is a piano solo segment. Of course its back to manic guitar solos again for a bit but the different segments of this track make it one of the most accomplished arrangements as it completely transforms the track into an original.

The collaboration of Adadoss and James George  give us “Edward’s Dream Quartet”, a seven minute string quartet arrangement of Melody of Lute. The arrangement is elegantly done and the sound of turning pages is a great little touch. Who knew there were so many ways to play the song! “Golbez ‘n Goblins” from bLiNd is a dance floor filler. I love the cross over of what should be an orchestral track being given high heels and a disco ball and these kind of dark wave dance tracks always get me going and this is top notch. The final track from disc 1 is “Fighting for Tomorrow” OA, Nutritious and The Fabul Men’s Choir. This is a stunning track for its otherwordly feel. It reminded me of bands such as Faun, Omnia and such at the beginning with a harsh choir. Then out pops all the electronic gizmo’s for a riot and when the vocals kick back in again its simply one of the best things I’ve heard in 2009.

overclockedremixlogo2Disc 2 is “Act 2 Strife”. AeroZ kicks things off with “Mystic Variations”, an early 90′s throwback to electro jazz beat and works well as quirky happy-go-lucky introduction. Cyril the Wolf and OA’s “Metal Mage” is possibly the most deranged version of Palom and Porom and is all the more fun and silly for it. Heavy Metal with over the top voice acting? Yes please! In contrast “Smiling Hilltop for Four Hands” from Long Dao is a nice piano led track. The arrangement is great and isn’t hindered much by the poor midi sound quality at all (which says a lot!). “Step Into the Light” from Nutritious is spacious and airy. It’s large scope is portrayed well and its reverb really gives it an extra layer.

The Prophet of Mephisto’s “Long Time Gone” is a sublime arrangement that’s full of life and soul. Adding the electric guitars onto what is a lazy but fast tempo track is a great mash-up and works perfectly. “Rhymes with Elixer” from The Scuba Divers featuring Liontamer takes the Chocobo theme and turns it into a rap track. Liontamer can definitely MC well and the female chorus line is absolutely hilarious “Chocobo-Chocobo you’re so fine, you’ve got more bling than all of those guys!” Cue mental images of a pimped up Chocobo… Normally I’m not into these kind of remixes as they can be really hit and miss but this is so tongue in cheek over a really dark angsty arrangement it just makes you smile without realising. DragonAvenger returns with a short but sweet brass arrangement of Big Chocobo entitled “Interlude~ Nom!”

Nathan Rich’s “Blue Planet in Mode 7″ is a really nice transitional track. From its intricate quiet sections to its bouncy bridges and big chorus’ the track is always on the move and is a fabulous arrangement. “Goodbye Cid…” from Wiesty, audio fidelity, OA is a come down track. It’s acoustic edge and space bar synth that leads the theme wistfully floats around you until the half way mark where things turn more electric. This is another great example of track and arrangement evolution. Ilp0′s “Almost Fell for the Trojan” is another ballad track that’s been given the band treatment and this one waltzes bitter-sweetly into the horizon with another beautiful arrangment.

“Somewhere to Hide” from Hy Bound and Loka Lafevre is a heavy dance floor track and doesn’t do subtle. It’s pounding beats and embellishments make this track, along with the great vocals. AeroZ’s “Fallen Dragoon” has a very short sombre section before turning the arrangement into a Sonic level music track which is great as its not where I’d have thought the track would go. “Fallen Ascent” (got to love some of these arrangement titles) from Children of the Monkey Machine follows the same pattern as his previous arrangement – a lot of noise and ambience while the theme swirls around just out of general ear shot. These tracks will be either loved or hated but this track is more accessible than the previous one. Audix’s “Survival Instinct” starts off like a girl-band song but then goes trance’d and never looks back. A faultless arrangement.

Cyril the Wolf’s “OMFG! GET OUT OF THERE!!!” wins best track title award while keeping tension as high as possible with a clever arrangement. Rozovian’s “Lacrima” is an ethereal piece with lots of tuned glasses and the slow gradual change into a more electric track bring implemented well. I think this will be a hidden gem many will uncover after a few listens. The final track of disc 2 is “Theme of Love for Guitar Duet” frmo Pot Hocket which is tender, beautiful, emotive and all kinds of wonderful. So far being the only real ballad of the arrangement it wins you over hands down and instantly became my favourite Theme of Love arrangement.

The final disc is entitled “Act 3 Redemption”. Long Dao starts off with “Tundra of Dwarves” and uses his piano expertise to make a cute wintry track with some nice string sections. Ilp0′s “In the Land of Dwarves” is a smokey jazz turned humorous four piece band take of Giott. The electric guitars work really well here., as do the brass to convey a silly its-all-gone-wrong tone. bLiNd’s “Path of Deception” seals the arrangers pedigree as a damn fine dance arranger. Again this is one of those dark wave techno trance arrangements that I think just works perfectly.

“Treason” from Kidd Cabbage is heavy metal to the point of thrash metal taking over. The tempo of the track is so fast the percussion alone has about 10 beats a second at times! The arrangement is a good one and will go down well with Black Mage fans who are looking for more evil. “Evoking the Dawn” from BogusRed is a gorgeous and sumptuous version of Prelude which speeds up the process and is more grande than the piano collection versions. There aren’t many quiet tracks on this arrangement but each one is worth its weight in gold. Vampire Hunter Dan’s “A Saviour Ascends” is an interesting track that spans all kinds of moods and genres in its seven minutes. From chirpy to dramatic and back again, the variety and constant tempo changes really make this symphonic suite come alive.

James George’s “The Land Still” is a space odyssey and its strength lies in its ambience and little flairs that float around in the background. It’s anti dramatic nature (apart from it ending) makes it more daunting in the run. “Bridge to Eternity” from bLiNd is another boogie woogie fest dark Ibiza style and rounds off an excellent trilogy from the talented arranger.

“Finale Part One ~Eminence Gris” from OA and DragonAvenger takes the unusual approach of making a tense atmospheric track and turning it into a vocal one and surprisingly it really works. The vocals are suitably haunting and coupled with the discordant piano and dramatic percussion it all hits the right spots for a great piece. “Finale Part 2 ~ Genesis of Destruction” is a mega arrangement from audio fidelity, Nutritious, OA, lisabela and Cyril the Wolf and continues the final battle vocal track approach. The vocals are bigger and more dramatic to match the music here. It’s a bizarre duet between a female singing like Sarah Brightman had joined Metalica and a male who is busy feasting on people and making death metal! However as strange as it sounds it works – absolutely 100 per cent works. It’s artistic arrangements like these that really show exactly how far game music and its followers and arrangers have come in the last fifteen years.

“Facing” from Fishy is a great arrangement of the Epilogue and goes from nice ambient swirls to full on electro-rock that Team Sonic would be gagging for. Finally “King of Green” is a bossa nova rendition of Rydia from Abadoss, audio fidelity, bustatunez and theultravisitor. It works a treat and feels like the credits are rolling in front of your ears.

There’s also a selection of bonus tracks but I’ll leave that for you to discover!

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Quite simply, this collection is fantastic. Most of us know the tracks, many of us will be amazed at the arrangements. There is a lot of rock and guitar but there’s enough dance and the occasional slow track to keep everyone happy and just as I said about Summoning of Spirits back in March – how can something this good be free? Life may not be great on Planet Earth at the moment but OverClocked Remix once again shows us that sometimes the best things in life really are free!

FF4 Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption is available to download Saturday (the 18th) and we will have interviews with the arrangers and project leaders all next week as part of the celebration!

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OCReMix – “Summoning of Spirits” Review

overclockedremixOverClocked Remix, Kyle Crouse & Aleah Baker bought us “Summoning of Spirits” last week, a massive collection of arrangements from the tales of series. Split into three specific sections, disc 1 and 2 are “Aselia”, 3 & 4 “Derris-Kharlan” and the bonus disc “Ratatosk”. We’ll be reviewing them all track by track. Take a seat, a drink and a few ethers – this may take a while!

Disc 1 opens with Sixto Sounds & Dhsu’s “The Unholy Wars”. A beautifully produced piano intro then bursts into a full speed attack on the senses with a fantastic electric guitar led electro-rock fest. It’s got so much energy and so much prowess, it’s hard to be impressed with this perfect rendition. It keeps very much in the vein of Tales Of… too. Hemophiliac’s and Christian Pacaud’s “Crisis Healing Salve” is a completely different plain altogether with regal harpsichords and serene string overtures leading the way. Then a lonely and empty guitar takes the lead in this sombre but fascinating rendition. djpretzel’s “The Koan of Drums” is another track that has an empty baroness to it in places despite the zooped up beats and electronic blips. Gradually the track layers up and blossoms into a really beautiful new age dance track.

Dhsu’s piano arranged “Airborne” is delightfully light and breezy with some wistful and dreamy segments. The piano playing is first class and the echoing concert production adds to its charm. “Arche Angel” from The Joker has nice militarian feel to it with constant building tension, making it a nice addition to the tracks already heard. The Joker’s “Chronometrical” uses the tick tocking clock to great effect with excellent use of synths again. There’s something undeniably joyous about this track that makes me want to celebrate it. TheDeath’s “Set Sail” is film-esque and moving by its sweeping strings and twinkling eyes. It’s kind of like listening to the day you found the best thing about life in audio. A great moment.

“Mirror Image” from Fishy and The Prophet of Mephisto turns the tables again with a lazy day turned rock arrangement. It has a slight reggae vibe to bounce to at the beginning but its soon blown away when the rocking guitars come flying at you. A great transitional piece. “Frozen Heart” from Sir NutS and USA is an airy and percussive track that takes a few listens to really appreciate the time it takes to grow and develop into its excellent second half. “Momentary” from The Joker & Kureeji Lee is a real wildcard. It has quite an abstract way about it and in doing so it makes it compelling and intriguing. Rexy’s “Gentry is a Five Letter Word” on the other hand plays its strong chords and main theme to its strengths and comes out with a cracking arrangement. Finally closing disc 1 is XMark’s desolate “Wind Dry My Tears” which features a strange electric acoustic guitar and some lovely vocal ad lib work. Adding on to the slow beat and the acoustic leads its a powerful piece to close the disc and leave you feeling like you’ve come a long way and still not finished your journey.

Hale-Bopp opens disc 2 with “Beyond Absentminded” that has some beautiful vocal work. There’s a kind of 70′s vibe to the funkiness of the track but there’s also a bit of a radiohead edge in there somewhere buried away. Sixto Sounds has the real anime madness feel tapped in with “Summoned Without Reason”. It has a real powerful drive and you’ll be rocking out to this track time and time again. Rexy returns with “Middle-Aselia Body” which while being up-tempo and soaring, has a ethereal quality to it with its slightly detuned backing arpeggios. The Joker’s “Cold Memory” continues the ethereal effect with a gentle track that again has a pinch of evil lurking in its corner. PriZm joins the foray with heavy metal arrangement “Simplified Design”. The sound is very Megadeth and the guitar work is immaculate. “Just Go” from Fishy & Nutritious is a pumped up dance track with a big beat and even bigger symphonic arrangements all around. By the time you’ve got the guitars in too, there’s no room in the speakers for anything else! It’s a full on assault – excellent stuff.

pu_freak’s “City of Vigor” is a slightly discontenting piano arrangement. The chords are unusual and so the track conveys that off kilter demonic tone perfectly. The piano playing is beautiful too. “New Technology” from OverCoat starts off with apt industrial noises and then grows out of them a great arrangement that’s both quirky and engrossing. Tepid and PriZm team up for “Horizon’s Walk” which is both intricate, beautiful and maddeningly addictive. The swirling background instruments really give this a certain edge with the acoustic guitar backing chords too.

“Riddles in the Dark” from Red Tailed Fox & Xaleph is a song that does more genres in six minutes than I care to write down. The fact that they are able to do this is no meagre achievement and the fact it all transitions so well is testament to their talents. “As Time Goes On” turns the tables as The Prophet of Mephisto gives us a lazy jazz arrangement with some excellent otherworldly vocals that are heavily processed to slide gently through time with you. “Deity” from Sir NutS takes the otherworldly ethereal sounds to the dance floor with a spacious beatathon clocking in at a massive seven minutes, its a little piece of club euphoria. Closing disc 2 is “Sweet Dreams” with a sleepy smoky jazz bar arrangement from Dhsu and Anthony Lofton that sends you quietly on your way.

summoningspiritscoverDisc 3 opens to the regal delights of Hemophiliac’s “Tales & Trials”. It’s a delightful little number that could have been drowned out by many of the other tracks if not handled properly but its not the case. The climax is rewarding to this arrangment. Christian Pacuad’s “This Fate” is one of drama and tension which does well being juxtaposed by Jazon Phantoms cutesy “Smile and Forgive”. Where one is dark and stank, the other is quietly beaming and rolling in fields of green green grass. Red Tailed Fox’s “Cafe Mantra” sits somewhere in between with some excellent sound samples of eastern instruments that bring a new dynamic to the compilation that we’ve not heard to date.

Sixto Sounds bring us back to anime rock with the excellent “Chaotic Heart” once again showcasing that Sixto Sounds are the masters of synth-rock. Usa then calms us back down from that awesome guitar action with a woodwind led “Desert Nights”. The soft production gives away into a disco diva dance track that’s glittery enough to get out your disco balls to groove to. “Strike from the Devil’s Axes” from LuIzA and CarboHydroM however is pure tales throughout. The electric guitar wails in distress and the energy pulsates throughout, it’ll leave you breathless by the end. A great rendition.

Monobrow returns to the more ambient side that’s came out during disc 3 with “Pain Withstanding” with a dark track led by organs and background pianos. JustChris takes the ambience and almost gives it a garage vibe with “Determination”. It’s all about the percussion and the strangely detuned bassline that runs throughout. It gives it an unusual sound base and makes it stand out from the crowd. “Ain’t Yo Fool” from LuIzA and Mythril Nazgul reminds me of the Atelier series with its very Japanese brass led chirpy songs. This arrangement is pure smiles in an mp3 and you can’t beat a bit of that in amongst all the heavy battle tracks! Having said that though, Christian Pacaud’s “Antegensis” is a cracking piece of arrangement. The guitar work is fantastic as is meanders from slow and wistful to dramatic and forceful and then back to poignant all over again. Finally Usa closes disc 3 with “The Fall of Iselia” which is a very classical styled piano piece that closes the disc nicely.

Disc 4 opens with “Dissillusioned Fate” which is a powerful track from Andy Jayne & PriZm and is a great opener for the final disc. “Continental Divide” is a beautiful track from Nick Tam that has a country feel to it where you could happily have it playing the background while you walk over fields across yonder. “Like a Glint” is an all out rocking arrangement from Master Hatchet. The bass lines are particular grungey on this track. Paragon continues the ultra rocking times with “Cartesian Warfare” where the guitar solo is quite simply awe inspiring. The guitars are so much to the front, you can’t hear the drums too well – so this is definitely one to mosh out to.

Taking a break, The Joker & Kureeji Lee return with a subtly tense piano arrangement entitled “Sacred Ashes”. It’s a real tension builder in the middle section with string sections really giving it some. “Altar Perception” is a collaboration from Monobrow, Protricity, AeroZ and injury in a smooth genre crossing arrangement that is both new age and and uptempo. There is a serenity in it that makes it very endearing. Rexy takes us into deep thought with the piano led arrangement “Dream Traveller”. The key to this tracks success is the fact it takes its time and therefore makes it heartfelt and heavy mouthed. It reminds me very much of the Brandish Piano Collection that I am a huge fan of. Reuben Kee keeps the ivories tinkling with “My Secret Forest” which is melodic and inviting. The over scoring of woodwind and brass over the piano is inspired and the production is perfect. This track is a personal favourite if I were to pick one and its down the tumbling rumble of the piano in places.

Returning to electronic hard edged rock is Silas with “On the Edge”. This arrangement is more grungy with its guitars and its tripping beat keeps it fresh and lively – not that with all that’s going on you could want to sleep through it. “Apogee” is from the trio of Andy Jayne, Fishy and  The Joker and is a really mammoth arrangement. Genre striding from piano to rock to goth to stadium rock to folk and conquering them all, this is a fine work of art. Christian Pacaud’s “Dark Corner” however had me a little confused with its time signatures of percussion and guitar which initially didn’t seem to match at the beginning. However as soon as the tracks off and away its in full flight and I particularly enjoyed the ending which is dark, eerie and evil!

Christian is then joined by PriZm for a twelve minute masterpiece called “Holy Judgement”. The arrangement is epic – like a space journey. The beginning can only be described as momentous. The airy keyboards give way to a classical arrangement that cranks up the tension which is quickly replaced by a fantastic electric guitar led section. The skills of the two arrangers are quite frankly clear to see and we’re only four minutes in! The track then breaks into an almost frenzy that will have you panting for more with an epic guitar solo that daring flows into a piano section before breaking out into an intricately crafted but flawlessly jaw dropping final five minutes of madness. This is undoubted an absolutely classic arrangement and one that should be commended and celebrated – just like this whole compilation. Rounding off the final full disc is Rexy with a brooding “Summonng of Spirits” which is like the equivalent of being pulled out of the pits of hell and riding the wings of the stars. From a moody opening the song opens out into a rousing arrangement that leaves you refreshed and wanting more.

The three bonus tracks are crackers too, Sixto Sounds’ “Go the Distance” has superb production values and some excellent choices of instrumentation and synths to match the excellent band work.  “No Better Time Than Now” from Nutritious and Poolgirl is an epic electro-rock arrangement that doesn’t let up from start to end and will have you singing along with it and “Standing Up” from The Joker is just beautiful… full stop.

project_talesOne thing that kept coming back to me was the fact that this whole collection was free. This collection beats a fair chunk of my bought OST’s hands down. The source material is a great inspiration of course and Motoi Sakuraba and co no doubt wrote these excellent songs to begin with. However the standard of which every single track as climbed to is nothing short of astounding. It’s no wonder games developers are turning to these artists for real soundtracks. The talent is boundless and endless and this site for one applauds every second, every minute and every note that is played in Summoning of Spirits. Inspirational.

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Whispers of the Plains – Interviews With OverClocked Remix Project Leaders!

overclockedremixYesterday saw OverClocked Remix release “Summoning of Spirits”, a massive arrangements project that spans 4 discs (plus 3 bonus tracks) covering the Namco “Tales Of…” series focusing primarily on Phantasia and Symphonia. We’ll be bring a full track by track indepth review on Monday but until then we can simply say that it’s a class effort.

Until then we have our first double interview with OverClocked ReMix’s project leaders Aleah Baker and Kyle Crouse. With their collaboration, they work feverishly behind the scenes to ensure that these massive projects are organised and released. Here’s Higher Plain Music’s interviews with them both.

What made you choose the Tales series (and more specifically Tales of Phantasia) for the latest OCRemix album?

Kyle: While the games (particularly Tales of Symphonia) are quite popular and have developed a major following over the years, the music of the Tales series is extremely underrepresented in the game arrangement community. We wanted to change that, bringing attention to these games and their soundtracks, which are amazing. We narrowed the project down to Tales of Phantasia and Symphonia because they’ve both been groundbreaking games; Phantasia pushed the limits of the Super Famicom by having spectacular graphics for its time, as well as a fully-vocalized theme song and voice acting, while Symphonia propelled the Tales series to new heights in popularity. The two games are also connected in their storylines, so we decided to cover them both in Summoning of Spirits.

Aleah: The Tales series has been getting more releases and focus outside of Japan in recent years, and while its popularity is growing, it and its soundtracks haven’t had a lot of exposure, which is a shame because there’s a lot of great stuff there! Tales of Phantasia only recently got an official English release (though many experienced it earlier via an unofficial translation with some… well-remembered quotes), but when it came out on the SNES in 1995 it was pretty groundbreaking – huge for a cart, with impressive graphics and music, not to mention it had a full vocal track in its intro! As the first game of the series, with a lovely but under-represented soundtrack, we felt it deserved some recognition. While much of the series consists of stand-alone stories, Tales of Symphonia is actually the distant prequel to Phantasia, and its release almost a decade after Phantasia helped boost the series’ popularity outside of Japan.

As project directors, what are your main duties and biggest challenges in such a huge scale project?

Kyle: This project took nearly four years to complete, which is a long time, even for a project as large as this one. A lot of time was spent emailing and IMing the involved musicians, first to invite them to join the project, then to ensure that they finished their work. Luckily, many of the musicians developed a small community, providing feedback to each other on their remixes and collaborating where necessary, as well as helping out with some behind-the-scenes stuff. There were also some periods of time where the project saw almost no progress and I lost interest, and there were many times when real, non-internet life would step in the way. But we persevered and finally realized our vision!

Aleah: Personally I ended up with a lot of the artistic chores, so that was pretty time-consuming on my end. Beyond that, though, we had a lot to keep track of; which tracks were being covered, who was working on them, who was contributing what… we had to check in on various stages of progress, try to meet certain due-dates, provide feedback… it was a ton of stuff to keep tabs on, and because it took so long, everyone had to keep motivated. There was a lot of small-level organization to keep in order, even beyond the production of the music itself.

Summoning of Spirits is a huge collection. How did you get to the final collection songs you finished with?

Kyle: It wasn’t easy! Lea and I initially listened to both the Phantasia and Symphonia soundtracks in their entirety, attempting to pare down their massive tracklists into something more manageable. We took into account a number of things, such as songs played at notable moments in the games, songs that were popular amongst the fans of the series, and just songs that we wanted to hear remixes of. Battle themes and character themes in particular resonate a lot with those who’ve played these games, so we wanted to ensure that we fit in as many of those as possible. We brought down the list to about 36 songs, but over the course of 4 years, the project expanded into the 53 tracks we ended up with. A few remixers approached me with Work-In-Progress remixes of songs we hadn’t previously considered, and we liked them, so they were added to the project. We also invited a few more musicians after all of the songs had been claimed, so we gave them lists of new songs to work with. And of course Tales of Symphonia saw a sequel last year on the Wii, so we had to add in a few tracks from that game as a special bonus!

Aleah: We went through the entire soundtracks and tried to whittle our choices down – which was hard. Being that both games take place in the same world, there were a few tracks shared between the two that were pretty iconic… for example, Fighting of the Spirit, a battle track that’s hugely popular (there are tons of piano and guitar renditions on Youtube, for example – and when we first announced the project, it was literally the first track people hoped for), is featured for boss fights against various Summon Spirits in both games, so it was a given. We picked tracks that were especially memorable or unique, stuff that stands out when you’re playing the game, struggling through a particularly epic battle or experiencing a touching character moment. We looked at what was popular among the fans. Obviously we chose some personal favourites, though we tried not to be biased (for instance, a town theme I particularly like from Symphonia didn’t make the cut). Some tracks were added to the initial list because the remixers themselves were interested in covering them. Despite our efforts to condense things, the final track list ended up a bit bigger than we initially planned… which isn’t a bad thing, considering we’re covering multiple soundtracks.

Did you allow the artists complete free range on their arrangements or were there certain rules applied that they had to follow?

Aleah: The games themselves cover a wide range of styles, and for such a huge album I think variety is necessary, so we largely let everyone do what they wanted. Of course there was a lot of feedback and discussion with the works-in-progress, so we could see the direction a particular track was taking, but we didn’t want to limit anyone. These guys brought a huge range of talent and ability to the table; if a particular track appealed to them and they could see it working in a certain style, we weren’t going to stifle them.

Kyle: We did not have any limitations on the vision of the remixers. They were allowed free reign with their arrangements, and as such we ended up with a very diverse range of music. We invited musicians based on the quality of their previous work, like, “Oh, what if (insert artist here) remixed this? Imagine how awesome that would be!” So we wanted them to have freedom to do what they liked.

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Are there arrangements that stick out as particular favourites for you both?

Kyle: There are so many, it’s hard to list just a few. Right off the bat, anything by Sixto Sounds (Juan Medrano) is a huge standout for me personally. The Unholy Wars in particular is exactly what Lea and I envisioned as the opening track to the project, and the others from him are no less than awesome. The collaboration of LuIzA (Luiza Carvalho) and CarboHydroM (Christophe Blondel) on Strike of the Devil’s Axes is also one that I love. TheDeath (Javier González Garcés) took the original Hydropolis theme from Phantasia and turned it into something truly grand and epic, and it’s quite a standout, I think. Altar Perception from Monobrow (Katie Kinkel), Protricity (Ari Asulin), AeroZ (Sebastian Freij) and injury (Starla) came together very well. The meshing of the organic cello and vocal harmonies with the electronic synths and percussion makes the track a highlight for me.

Aleah: I know it’d be a cop-out to say “all of them!” …but I really do enjoy the album as a whole. There’s not a single track I haven’t listened to countless times. But if you’re going to force me to pick a few examples… oh boy. Sixto Sounds and Dshu really kick things off with The Unholy Wars – Fighting of the Spirit was important to the project, and not only does the project start with it, it ends with Rexy’s softer Summoning of Spirits version, so it’s as well-represented as we’d hoped. Nick Tam’s Continental Divide takes an already pretty track and makes it magical, corny as that sounds, with some lovely woodwinds. Frozen Heart by Sir NutS and Usa features crisp piano over subtly energetic trance. Strike of the Devil’s Axes, LuIzA and CarboHydroM’s collaborative take on Symphonia’s popular Fatalize, is sure to knock some socks off. Rexy’s Gentry Is a Five Letter Word takes a nice but hectic town theme and makes it into something fun and delightful, like going to a fair. Horizon’s Walk by Tepid and PriZm has such a cool tone to it. Reuben Kee, who very sadly passed away in 2007, left us with the hauntingly beautiful My Secret Forest.

For budding artists looking to join in for future projects, what kind of advice would you give?

Aleah: Be aware of what you’re getting into! It’s easy to want to get involved with something you love, but make sure you know that it could be a very involved task and that you’re ready to give it the time and devotion needed. Don’t be afraid of criticism; working with others can really help you bring out the best of your ability, or take things in directions you hadn’t considered before.

Kyle: Don’t be afraid of criticism. Take it and work with it, and you can mould your works into something great. And respond to the project director’s emails! They hate it when you don’t do that!

I remember back when OCRemix was a small site back at the beginning, now its a bustling community releasing soundtracks for computer games! What’s your secret to success?

Kyle: Well, I have no official affiliation with OverClocked ReMix other than bringing Summoning of Spirits together, but I think their success is easily attributed to their dedication to quality. OCR has gotten a fair bit of criticism in the past, with its integration of a judges panel and a rigorous set of standards, but I think that is what has helped make OCR maintain and grow over the last 10 years. Video game music itself has also seen a boom in popularity recently, with game cover bands like The Megas and Powerglove becoming a staple in the underground music scene, so that certainly doesn’t hurt either.

Aleah: Not speaking in an official capacity, but I think part of it comes down to the increasing acceptance of video games themselves as an art form, in terms of art, music, storytelling and overall presentation. I remember when I was a kid, I’d hold a tape recorder up to the TV while playing games – I never imagined there’d be huge communities such as OCR devoted to game music, not to mention entire orchestral concerts! I think the remixing community as a whole helps contribute to that acceptance, helps push the medium as an art form, and in turn more people get involved.

summoningspiritscoverAre there any projects or artists you’d love to tackle in future projects?

Aleah: After this, I think I’m all project’d-out… for the time being, at least. I’d love to see the work of Yoko Shimomura, especially the Legend of Mana soundtrack, get more love! I’d also like to improve my own (meager) musical ability in the future.

Kyle: Well, Summoning of Spirits, although taking a very long time, was a good experience for me. I’ve thrown around a few ideas for projects that would be a bit smaller and featuring games close to my heart, like an F-Zero or Metal Slug arrangement, but if those come to fruition it will be far into the future. In the meantime, I’ll be looking at helping some struggling OverClocked ReMix projects like Around The World gain their footing and help them out.

What are the things you personally look out for in a good remix?

Aleah: I’m pretty easy going with my musical tastes. I’m pretty impressed when an artist can make a particular melody easily recognizable in an entirely new, different style. It’s like taking something familiar but getting an alternate perspective on it.

Kyle: I’m not much of a musician, so mostly just whether a song is enjoyable or not is good enough for me. I’m not a big stickler for remixes having to be major deviations from the source material (but I I don’t mind if they are), or if something is slightly off with, say, a sound sample or recording quality. I tried to keep a better sense of the OverClocked standards while working on Summoning of Spirits, but I don’t keep my personal bar that high, normally.

Who compiled the lovely intricate artwork the release?

Aleah: I did, thank you. Though because the project was so long in development, some of it’s a wee bit dated, I guess… oh well! I hope people enjoy it. A lot of the design was inspired by the games themselves… there’s a lot of fancy gold scrollwork, and many characters in Symphonia wear gems in such settings, so I tried to incorperate that into the visuals.

Kyle: She is extremely talented, which is one of the reasons why I asked her to work on this project with me and to create the artwork. OA (Andrew Luers) put together the final website design, but the graphical work was all Lea.

What do you do to relax once a hard days OverClocking is done?

Aleah: Video games, of course! I also like reading, drawing, photography, but there’s nothing quite like, say, arranging virtual furniture or mowing down hoards of the undead in a convertible while wielding a frying pan. And, of course, someone has to help that sword-carrying teen save the world from disaster, right? I like a lot of different genres, and while I don’t mind turn-based RPGs for the most part, the Tales series’ battle system is a lot of fun with a lot of interesting nuance. It plays almost like a fighting game, only there’s a ton of stuff going on at once and a lot of underlying strategy. It can get pretty intense!

Kyle: Play video games, what else? I’m more of an action-oriented gamer, so I’m a big player of the action-MMORPG City of Heroes, which I’ve logged countless hours into over the past several years. I also love racing game series, namely Gran Turismo, F-Zero, and Daytona USA, and classic platformers and shooters like Metal Slug, Mega Man, and Sonic games, and although I’m pretty terrible at them, fighting games like Guilty Gear are awesome. I actually am not a big fan of most Japanese RPGs (although I love their soundtracks), which might be a bit surprising considering the Tales series is one, but I usually dislike the battle system or some game mechanic, and they can be slow. The Tales series breaks those conventions with great gameplay and a battle system that works more like a fighting game, which is good enough for me!

You can download Summoning of Spirits for free at OverClocked Remix

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SuperSweep – “NanoSweep 2″ Review

2005 saw the release of Nanosweep 2 from the artists aka SuperSweep. After setting the tone for hard hitting bass in the first CD things are a little more relaxed this time around…but not much!

Opening with bird song is “Birds Eye” from Nakany which has a beautiful ambient glow and haze all the way around it. The percussion is fast but light to match the synth pads whirling around the speakers. It’s a complete contrast to anything on NanoSweep.

“Dazzling Rays” from Ryo Wantanabe teases you with a nice electric acoustic guitar sample and electric piano riffs to gently tease you into a great dance track. It reminds me of something from Sudeki in a way with its pace and urgency crossed over with some simple but effective guitar work.

Hiroshi Okubo raises the beats higher with “PLANET FUNK” which has a kind of stuck tape effect running throughout. That fused with some seriously jazzy keyboard playing makes for a funkfest that I could boogie to for ages.

“Sage” from Shinji Hosoe uses the saxaphone for random effects and is the busiest track to date with lots of chord changes going on while the notes decay from the speakers. Its intricate and well executed.

“Like a Clock” sounds to me just like a level clear screen! Masashi Yano creates the typical offbeat and over happy melody for a level clear screen and it works very well and is different to anything else on the album.

Ayako Saso’s “Junk Plant” is the closest you’ll get to NanoSweep 1. This is a mega rave up. At god knows how many BPM that bass drum bangs out to computerized rapping and wailing sirens.

Finally “Neutral Network” from Yousuke Yasui straddles the divide by giving us a song that I’d imagine would be used in an arcade shoot-em-up. I can just see myself blasting away the big boss ship with this blasting its beats and grizzly bassline.

Overall I think Nanosweep 2 is a more cohesive piece than its predecessor. There’s a lot more variety and much more melody involved this time around. I’d recommend this to any fan of arcade game music. It’s good stuff!

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SuperSweep – “Nanosweep” Review

“Nanosweep” is a brand of a collection of artists from various game music backgrounds. Together these artists are best known as Supersweep. Every so often they release a compilation of heavy tracks that are individual pieces not related to games and this a review of the first of the series.

“Red-Eye” opens from Nakany and sets the overall tone for the album and indeed the series. Heavy Drum and Bass booms through the speakers  with a floor vibrating pulse that drowns out the echoing electronic melodies above it. There is so much low end on this piece I can see it really filling the dance floors.

“Recycle” is a 7 minute epic by Koji Nakagawa. This reminds me my days playing with the E-Jay series at the beginning but soon develops into a real Ibiza style club tune that ends up reminding me of the PS2 game “Rez”.

“DENKI GIRL”  by Hiroshi Okubo is instantly a change in dynamics with its scatting weird noise and hyper speed Anime dating style music. Bright pianos and brass lead the way in a fantastic bubbly tune that its impossible to not get your foot tapping or yourself seat bopping.

“Flood” by Masashi Yano is a different beat altogether with a two minute assault at your ears. Heavily processed and very, very busy – it’ll certainly keep you on your toes and its a fine track – a bit like Zone of Enders in a way.

“Nova Prospect” is a more experimental piece. Yousuke Yasui has purposely made the main tune discordant and then everything around it to clash. It’s very much down to personal taste if you would like this piece but I can certainly say its a bit manic.

“Primitive Recycling” from Shinji Hosoe takes a lot of old acoustic percussion and then throws them around a lot of modern day technology and it works very well. The contrast is great even if there’s not a straight melody to it.

Finally “matoryoshka” from Ayako Saso if a very original song in placed and one that I personally really enjoy. It takes me back to early 1990′s rave days and then places some ancient sounding vocal samples over the top. It works really well and is a nice ending.

Nanosweep is a fast paced danceathon through the individual catalogues of the artists at SuperSweep. Some tracks definitely work better than other but there’s a couple of really good tracks here and for the price SuperSweep are after for them, its a good deal.

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Lisa Miskovsky – Still Alive Remixes

Go back to when the original trailers of Mirror’s Edge were released and the first thing I wanted to know about the game was what was that main theme song! The hook grabbed me and infected my musical brain until I couldn’t get it out of my head. Now finally we have a soundtrack of sorts, in a 7 track CD single of various remixes of the song “Still Alive”.

Lisa Miskovsky has a strong vocal that lends well to this pop/alt-pop genre of music. Her voice cuts through the main keyboard tune that hooks you in and gives you a chorus to remember. The single kicks off with the original version and as a stand alone track it looses none of its potency. It still goes onto repeat and I still find myself singing along to it. A great vocal song.

The additional remixes aren’t so bad either! Starting off with “Benny Benassi Remix” (which has a radio edit and a full 8 minute version) we’re treated to a real guttural but euphoric synth led version of the song with a completely different hook but with a great ear for sampling Lisa’s vocals. It’s a completely different entity but its just as infectious and is definitely one for the dance floor. The 8 minute version is probably my preference of the two.

“Paul Van Dyk Remix” is more of a standard trance/dance remix which goes more etheral-esque for the chorus and then leaves the verses for the big bass beats. I’d imagine this’ll be the clubbers choice. “Armand Van Helden Remix” is a bit more dirtier in its sound and much more abstract. This is the only remix I didn’t really understand as its like Helden chopped out Lisa’s vocals and the small piano riff and then left them completely separate to the rest of his remix. It’s not until the final two minutes that it falls together in a more cohesive way but I was left a bit flat by it all.

“Junkie XL Mix” however is completely different altogether. Coming across like a space odyssey with fluffy bell keyboards and distorted siren vocals, it sheds new light on the piece. The way how the chorus’ are remade with all kinds of organic instruments makes me yearn for an acoustic guitar, piano and bell version of the song! Finally “Teddybears Mix” is a very tight remix, taking the main song and giving it a funky beat that makes you want to swing your hips and bounce in the chair – no bad thing then!

Overall I’m very impressed by the collection. Only one remix didn’t really do it for me and it surprising how familiar yet different all the other mixes are. If you love the theme song then you’ll rave over this CD single. HPM has been eagerly snapping up a few of Lisa’s solo albums so expect reviews of them soon too as this is highly recommended.

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Takayuki Nakamura – “Lumines II Remixes” Review

Lumines, the excellent and addictive puzzler for PSP and PS2 has had some excellent music as a core part of its game play. Series sound leader Takayumi Nakamura has released a few albums of the music and now its time for Lumines II Remixes.

Opening with the serene “Cuckoo Clock”, telephone dials, electric piano and clock chimes are integrated into break beats that roll off your tongue. It’s a very well choreographed piece and one that sets you nicely into the world of Lumines.
“T.S.L.” is more electronic in its sound but with a slower beat. Using weird percussive drips and some grizzly keyboard samples, everything is always smoothed over with some spacious keypads that calm down the harshness of the rest of the song. The production is great and the sense of endless troubles are always in the background in this track.

“You are not here.” takes a more rockier route with a dance beat used as a base for the song. Guitar samples are used to create effect and the song feels like its constantly growing and evolving while staying very simple at its heart. Despite being simple in its chords it never becomes repetitive. “HIKARU Frame Work” is the longest track on the album and is one of the more abstract too. With a garage beat and computerised voice samples layered over a minimal keyboard piece, this isn’t a favourite of mine as it has no real hook to pull you in but it’s certainly not unpleasant. “The Mission to the Moon.” in contrast has a great bass line. Add to that brite piano, ethereal keyboards and some fast tabla’s and you have a killer track.

“Mental Gymnastics” kicks off the second half of the album to a tick tocking beat which is fun but the use of some awful computer generated voices hampers the track a little while the the actual melody isn’t too bad. “So that someone may visit you.” takes industrial noises and turns them into percussive and raucous noises. That then fades off to give you a slow moving high tension, slightly darkened piece that’s very enjoyable. It’s all in the chords that just work very well.

“Hometown” however is the album’s most straightforward and fun track. Taking an almost celtic feel, it synthesises an Irish jig and really goes for it. The main hook is excellent and the whole thing just feel fun to listen to. A classic. “Manager Class” is back to the darker tones with plenty of changes of sounds throughout keeping the track nice and fresh.

“Machine Interface” starts off the final trio with some heavy drum loops forcing through the twinkling keyboard riffs. Here though its more like a freelance piece which needed to be reigned in a little. “xop” is more up-tempo and furious but actually is ten times more cohesive. It’s a much better track and gives the album a much needed killer stomper song. Finally “Inheritance” closes with a funky jazzy bass line over some nice drum fills over a relatively forgettable melody.

Lumines II Remixes is a very hard album to write on. It’s probably too subtle for its own good. The melodies are designed to seamlessly flow and be unobtrusive but the problem with that is that there’s no hook to listen and enjoy. It’s more like dance ambience. If you think that will suit you, you’ll be right at home, but I found I enjoyed the Winter Remix album more as it has more melody.