Looking for some dope rhymes and phat beats laid over the top of classic NES and SNES themes? Look no further, for Random (aka Mega Ran) and K-Murdock have been working on just that! The result of their efforts, Forever Famicom, is dropping to the public on June 1st.

Can’t wait a week? You’re in luck. The album is being released early in digital form to members of the Mega Ran message board who pre-order the album. You can join up and place your order here.

On Random’s official site, you can check out preview clips of all 14 tracks. The music samples lots of memorable tunes from games such as Earthbound, Star Fox, Little Nemo, Ducktales, and much more. If you enjoy nerdcore and videogame music, don’t miss it. And be sure to check out the full version of Dream Master (Little Nemo) embedded after the break.

(more…)

One of my favorite soundtracks this year was Shatter by an artist I was completely unfamiliar with at the time named Module. Each song is a strange mix of mellow electronica with very sparing guitar. Many of the tracks are minimal, but also evolving. It’s an extremely relaxing album to listen to and it has made its rotation in my car and at work more times than I care to remember.

From today until Christmas, you can buy the entire Shatter Official Videogame Soundtrack for the low price of $1. Since it is through BandCamp, you’re free to choose whatever format you like. In fact, you can even stream the entire album before purchasing if you don’t want to be too hasty with that dollar. When I purchased it, I paid more money than the game itself costs with no regrets. So what are you waiting for? Go check it out!

In the ever growing video game remix scene, one game’s soundtrack remains virtually untouched. Even Overclocked ReMix, the biggest vg remix community on the internet, doesn’t have a single arrangement from the highly underrated soundtrack of Mega Man Battle Network.

The Mega Man Network is making a point to change that. For the first time ever, TMMN is banding together to create an original remix album for the fans. The album will be completely free to download.

Right now, you can visit the project’s homepage and listen to three different samples, including one from yours truly. You can also check out info about all the people involved and keep up to date on the news page. And don’t forget to show your support on TMMN.

"The real DJ Hero was inside you all along."

Rhythm games have really been saturating the market lately. It seems like every other month, there’s a new Guitar Hero or Rock Band game coming out. When DJ Hero was first announced (along with two other DJ games from competing companies), my initial reaction was a sigh of dismay at the thought of more peripherals strewn about homes. As more information trickled down, though, my interest was piqued. In a very short amount of time, my feelings of the then upcoming game turned from apathy to excitement.

(more…)

"An OverClocked ReMix solo album by Joshua Morse"

Less than two weeks after the release of Humans + Gears: Xenogears ReMixed, OverClocked ReMix has already released another album. While previous albums featured a variety of artists,  Castlevania: Sonata of the Damned shatters the tradition by only having a single artist: OCRemix veteran, Joshua Morse.

Also setting it apart, Sonata of the Damned focuses on the Castlevania series as a whole rather than a single game. This includes tracks from both before and after Michiru Yamane took the “driver’s seat” in the franchise’s music. You’ll hear songs from games as old as the first NES entry all the way to the recent Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia.

(more…)

"An OverClocked ReMix Album"

The folks at OverClocked ReMix are at it again. Fans from the OCR community have once again banded together, this time bringing us Humans + Gears: Xenogears ReMixed, an album that pays tribute to one of Yasunori Mitsuda’s less appreciated soundtracks, Xenogears.

Interestingly, the album is broken up into two distinctly themed discs. Songs on the “Humans” disc contain a variety of acoustic instruments (and patches emulating them) including guitars and string ensembles. By stark contrast, the “Gears” disc is mostly made up of electronica.

(more…)

Pictured Above: Michiru Yamane

It’s no secret that I am obsessed with videogame music. I even remix it in my spare time. Working a desk job, I end up listening to soundtracks throughout large portions of the day, and I enjoy sharing music with others who might otherwise not hear the songs I love so much. But there are far too many fantastic composers for me to cover in a single article. So to remedy this, I’m going to focus on my one true love… the ladies!

(more…)

When I was first told of “The Protomen”, I was skeptical. The band’s first album was described to me as a rock opera based on the classic Mega Man series. Though I am a huge Mega Man fan, I just couldn’t see something like this actually being executed well. To my surprise, I loved it. In fact, I was so fond of it that I feared their next album wouldn’t be able to live up to it.

(more…)

"An OverClocked ReMix Album"

Over the years, the community for fan remixes of videogame music has not only grown substantially, but has also been putting out higher quality work than ever before. It is becoming increasingly common for fan projects to have the impressive polish of professionally produced albums.

I first started feeling really strongly about the quality of the albums released by OverClocked Remix when “Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream” was released. That is not to say that the albums before were lacking in quality. After all, when the very first album, “Relics of the Chozo: A Super Metroid Musical Collaboration“, came out, I basically wore out the ogg files from playing them so much.

Voices of the Lifestream, however, seemed to take the idea of fan made arrange albums to a whole new level of professionalism that just hadn’t been seen yet. “Final Fantasy IV: Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption” is no exception to the trend of increased quality.

(more…)

"My Mom Helped Me"

On a very special twenty-third episode of Barrel Roll! – A Video Game Podcast, we are joined by special guest Mustin from the amazing video game music related band, The OneUps.

As per usual, we have a discussion revolving around the games we have been playing. Jesse has now committed to “Mega Man Star Force 3: Red Joker”, and tells us his trials and tribulations revolving around his Brother Band. Mustin has gone back to “Final Fantasy VI Advance”, in a quest to unlock that version’s extra content, while Jonah has been busy bustin’ Ghosts.

(more…)