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.

On a very special sixty-forth episode of Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast, we were way too busy playing Monster Hunter Tri to play any other games.

OK, that is only a half truth. We did try to squeeze in some Super Street Fighter IV and Mega Man 10 DLC while we were at it.

This week we are joined by our newest WingDamage contributor, Michelle Baldwin. You have likely heard us talk about her fabulous gaming website, Pioneer Project on previous episodes of the podcast. Michelle is our resident Monster Hunter expert and joins us for the “Monster Hunter Tri-Stravaganza” that takes place in our “Let’s Play Together” segment.

In the news, we discuss the Activision/Bungie deal, Yasunori Mitsuda supposedly working on Xenoblade with Yoko Shimomura under Nobuo Uematsu’s production house, Dog Ear Records (if you understood that part you are probably Jesse), Castlevania rumors, the Mega Man News roundup and more.

Download

RSS

iTunes

Show Links:

Distant Worlds II on Band Camp

Rumored Castlevania: Harmony of Despair Screens

Intro, “Let’s Play Together”, middle, and ending songs all from the Monster Hunter Tri Soundtrack

"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.

Dividing the music in this way makes each disc feel like its own coherent, self-contained album. The idea is well executed for the most part and allows each half to have its own respective flow that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.

Like all OverClocked ReMix albums, Humans + Gears: Xenogears ReMixed can be downloaded for free on the album’s homepage. What are you waiting for? Go download it!

"A Chrono Trigger Arrange Album by The Bad Dudes"

It still amazes me to this day that Yasunori Mitsuda’s very first video game score would turn out to be one of the most beloved game soundtracks of all time. After such a memorable first effort, Mitsuda has continued to create great music over the years, taking the spot as my personal favorite composer.

To say that the source material The Bad Dudes chose to arrange is “good” is an understatement. That being said, there is certainly a lot of pressure to live up to when making a Chrono Trigger album, especially considering how many Chrono Trigger remixes already exist.

The Bad Dudes is an interesting project. It is made up of many musicians from different musical backgrounds, working on tracks independently (with the exception of the occasional collaboration) for a single album. This results in a broad range of styles that never feels stale.

What I love about this album is how original and organic it feels. These remixes are far from “generic”. There are a lot of soloing sections in the arrangements that have that great “jamming” feel to them; sometimes jazzy and always awesome.

“Longing of the Wind” is a great example of taking the right amount of musical liberties with the source material. Yes, there have already been several piano renditions of the “Wind Scene” track, but never have I heard it played like this! The arranger really took the original tune and made it his own, causing it to stand out even among other piano arrangements of the very same song.

There are some really fantastic sounding synthesizers on this album. “B.A.M.F.” has a lead throughout that has an incredible presence and variation without ever being overbearing. It’s a very dynamic collaboration that jumps back and forth through a few different styles, yet the song always manages to maintain its coherency.

Another notable point is that the album covers some under-appreciated themes. “Secret of the Forest” has always been one of my personal favorites on the Chrono Trigger soundtrack, so naturally when I saw “Forest Steppin’” on the tracklist I got excited. This arrangement did not disappoint. In fact, the last quarter of the song took one of my favorite aspects of the original and mixed it up in a way that made me fall in love with song all over again.

While I love the album as a whole, there were a couple tracks I had more trouble getting into. “Dethfrog”, for example, added grunting vocals to a metal cover of “Frog’s Theme”. I actually really enjoy the metal genre, but have always found that kind of vocal performance off-putting. And though the guitar was well performed and the tones sounded great, the arrangement felt more repetitive and less inspired than the rest of the album. I would have really liked to hear some original tangent sections in addition to the familiar tune. Even still, it was by no means a “bad” track. It simply didn’t feel as well executed as the arrangements that surrounded it.

Overall, I would say that if you are a fan of the music in Chrono Trigger, this album is a must have. Though it is a soundtrack with a lot of remix coverage, these are among the best arrangements out there. And if you aren’t a fan of the music in Chrono Trigger, you either have not heard the soundtrack or are in a very small minority.

There will only be one-thousand copies of the album printed. After that, there will be a digital release on Amazon and iTunes, but a third of the tracks will be cut. The album releases on August 18th and preorders are still available on BadDudesMusic.com. If you want to hear it before committing to buying it, you can stream samples on the official site. You can also hear a radio edit of “B.A.M.F.” as well as an in-depth interview with Mustin about the album on episode 23 of our official podcast, Barrel Roll.