Vampire Variations reinvents the soundtrack of the NES classic while taking a few additional elements from throughout the series. Listen to only half the album and you’ll get the wrong ending! Divided into two distinct musical acts, the album covers everything from “Rock and Orchestral to Jazz and Electronic”.

But don’t worry. Unlike Dracula’s castle, you won’t have to do anything fancy to unlock the inverted second act of this album. Just grab a whip and adventure into the album’s official site. Of course, if you’re too scared to walk in blind (and who can blame you?), you can prepare yourself with the teaser trailer below.

The aim of Super Dodge Ball: Around the World was to take Kazuo Sawa’s original score and reinterpret in a variety of ethnic styles. With an interesting hybrid of world music combined with, rock, trance, and symphonic music, I think it’s safe to say they succeeded. They even got MegaRan to perform on the obligatory rap song.

You can grab the album for free on the official site. But before that, be sure to watch the trailer below.

If you are like us in this regard, then good news! OverClocked ReMix just released a brand new Mega Man 9 themed album, Mega Man 9: Back in Blue. It contains 18 tracks of remixed goodness from the likes of Sixto Sounds, bLiNd, Joshua Morse and our very own Jesse “Main Finger” Gregory.

It was a long time in the making, and lot of blood, sweat and robo-tears went into its creation. So much so that a sequel game came out before this album was able to. So the only question left is, what are you waiting for? Go download it now!

The album will feature 12 tracks arranged by a variety of artists. While many of the names may seem unfamiliar, you might recognize Sexy-Synthesizer who just had 3 tracks confirmed for the upcoming SQ Chips album we reported on earlier.

NieR Tribute Album -echo- is set to release on September 14th for 2,100 yen (roughly $26.75)

Source: Square-Enix Buy the Album: Amazon, Play-Asia, Square-Enix eStore

The two disc arrange album features a variety of genres including ambient, orchestral, pop, disco, new jack swing, piano, jazz, world music, chiptune, opera, and rock styles by 32 different artists. Like all OCReMix albums, you can download it for free on the official site. But before that, check out the trailer below.

Among the artists are Danny B (Super Meat Boy), Mattias Haggstrom Gerdt (Cobalt), and Mutherpluckin B (8 Bit Democracy) to name just a few. The $10 price of admission will grant you a digital or even a physical copy of the 23-track album, PPPPPPowerup!

Check out the teaser below and then head on over to the official site to place your order.

News Credit: Nobuooo

The music, written by famed composer Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross), is getting an orchestral facelift today. -MYTH- The Xenogears Orchestral Album features 14 tracks from the game, rearranged and performed by The Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra. You can hear samples of each song on the album’s official site. And for around $34, you can import a copy of your very own, which actually features some fairly elaborate packaging.

Of course, Mitsuda is no stranger to working with an orchestra. He teamed up with the London Philharmonic Orchestra when recording several tracks for the game’s spiritual successor, Xenosaga. Still, it’s nice to hear the same high profile treatment given to his earlier work. Maybe someday we’ll finally get that Chrono Cross album he teased back in 2005. We finally got a sample from it in late 2008 so it can’t be that far off, right? RIGHT?!

Buy -MYTH- The Xenogears Orchestral Album at CDJapan, Amazon, Otaku, or YesAsia.

Now here’s something interesting. We’ve heard of episodic games, but what about episodic albums? Rather than waiting several years to release all five discs of their new album, Final Fantasy V: The Fabled Warriors, OverClocked ReMix has decided to do make it available one disc at a time.

Of course, like all OCR albums The Fabled Warriors is 100% free (and available in both MP3 and FLAC formats). Each disc is labeled after a different crystal with Disc I taking the name “Wind”. While we may only have access to one disc at the moment, it features 9 songs spanning many different genres from a variety of artists including Sixto Sounds, Zircon, DarkeSword, and more.

So head on over to the album’s site and grab Disc I. Afterall, it’s free. Still not convinced? Check out the teaser video after the break.

If you’re a long time listener of our podcast, Barrel Roll!, you might recall a very special episode last June where we chatted with Mustin of The OneUps about his two new projects in the works, and even played a radio edit from each. One of those albums, CHRONOTORIOUS, has long since been released and reviewed. The other is finally dropping on May 4th.

For those unfamiliar, The OneUps are a videogame cover band that interprets classic tunes into a variety of styles, including Fusion, Funk, and Jazz. Their newest project, the Super Mario Kart Album, has been a long time coming. In our interview, Mustin shared that both the game itself and the original soundtrack by composer Soyo Oka, holds a special place with him. The Super Mario Kart Album is a labor of love you wont want to miss.

The album starts things with a soothing acoustic guitar rendition of the game’s title screen. It’s a great introduction to the album. Besides its individual merits, it gives a very coherent flow to the album as the energy builds up in the next track, “Mario Circuit”.

If you listened to the interview, you’ve already heard a radio edit of “Mario Circuit”. The full version found on the album is over 2 minutes longer, giving the arrangement more room to breathe. It’s a very funky track. There are lots of slick sections where the drums drop out at the end of the bar, causing a very cool and unique accent to the flow of the song. One of my favorite parts, is the four-part solo where the bass, a very expressive synthesizer, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar take turns going nuts.

Next up is “Donut Plains”. The track is as fast paced as it is mellow and relaxing. You can’t help but feel good when listening to it. “Ghost Valley” is where things take an unexpected shift in both mood and instrumentation. In contrast with the rest of the album, you’ll hear synthesizers take things over. Even the drums are electronic. It’s a very creative take on the source with a lot of interesting sections, specifically in the leads.

Not letting “Ghost Valley” be the only black sheep, “Bowser’s Castle” keeps the album transforming with a heavy rock cover. While it starts out about as you’d expect a rock cover of the theme to sound, things start to get really interesting a little over a minute in. The song’s pace changes a few times, with one of the beats even seeming to nod to Mario 3‘s airship.

By “Choco Island”, things finally come back around to more of the sound you expect from the band. This is also where we finally get to hear some sweet, sweet saxophone. It’s another fast paced, feel-good track that’s easy to love.

The highlight of the album for me is the next track, “Something About Koopa Beach”. It takes obvious inspirations in its title and sound from Daft Punk’s “Something About Us”. As a huge Daft Punk fan, this track really resonates with me. It’s also the biggest departure from the mood of the original of all the tracks on the album. Considering you can already find a truer to the source version of the song on The OneUps: Volume 1, the extra creative liberties taken with “Koopa Beach” are more than welcome.

Coming off of the last slow jam is “Vanilla Lake”. This one bridges the gap between the surrounding tracks nicely as it very gradually starts to bring the album back up to speed. Following is “Battle Mode”, a pretty zany track altogether with some pretty crazy sounding synthesizers and lots of fun drum fills to keep things interesting.

Finally, the album closes out with “Rainbow Road”. The disco beat and uplifting melodies really make the album leave on a high note. When it finishes, you’ll want to start the whole album over again. I know I have more times than I can count already.

The Super Mario Kart Album is a very creative and satisfying take on some very under-appreciated music. If you already know the tunes, get ready to hear them brought to life in ways that do great justice to their origins. If you aren’t familiar with the soundtrack, this is a great introduction into Soyo Oka’s fantastic work.

The album drops on May 4th and will be available on TheOneUps.com, Band Camp, iTunes, and Amazon MP3.

This review is based on a digital copy of Super Mario Kart Album provided to us by The OneUps.

"An OverClocked ReMix Album"

Back in 2004, videogame music enthusiasts from the OverClocked Remix community joined forces to remix the entire soundtrack to Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo. Titled Kong in Concert, it was the second arrange album ever to be released from the community.

Now, almost six years later, the fans have revisited the work of David Wise in the form of Serious Monkey Business; a free to download arrange album of the second game in the series: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong’s Quest. The album has been in the works for over two years and it is now available to the public.

Like other albums from the folks at OCR, you’ll find plenty of different styles throughout. Each of the thirty-four artists involved brings their own unique flavor creating a great sense of variety. The artist list includes notable musicians including OCR Founder David “djpretzel” Lloyd, Contra 4 composer Jake “virt” Kauffman, and even David Wise himself!

Some of my personal favorite tracks include Skrypnyk’s “Exit Row” which features some seriously incredible drum programming, zykO’s “The Apes of Wrath“, and Sixto Sound’s rock infused “Pickin’ Out the Fleas“. Really, though, there are just too many great tracks to name.

The album is completely free and can be downloaded in either a zip file or a torrent on the official site. It spans two full discs as well as a small bonus disc. Sample the music in the trailer below and then grab the album. It’s sure to brighten your day.