Showing posts tagged Music.
By: Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano - On Friday 30 May 2008 @ 7:12 pm
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DTM, makers of Vocaloid will be releasing a new version of its software that features the voice of J-Rock legend Gackt. This, supposedly, to finally bring a male voice to the vocaloid platform and to cash in on Gackt’s fame. This however is probably the first in a new trend of bringing famous voices to the Vocaloid platform. You can listen to a sample track of GACKPOID above.
If this goes well it’s easy to foresee periodic releases with the top voices of J-pop, J-rock and even voice actresses. Fanboys and fangirls would probably pay ridiculous prices for them and the Internet would in turn be filled with yet more Vocaloid videos. I think I’m much more scared than excited, what about you?
[IT Media]
By: tskiller - On Monday 5 May 2008 @ 3:58 pm
Ah, our trusty plumber. Is there nothing he cannot do? First we had levels that play themselves. Now we have levels that play themselves, and also create music while doing so. Pretty damn impressive, or someone’s got waaaaay too much time on their hands. Either way, enjoy this fine music from our friends at nicovideo and youtube.
[tag] mario, music, automatic, nicovideo[/tag][youtube][nicovideo]
By: Random J - On Saturday 12 April 2008 @ 8:38 pm
The Parasite eve series was one of the worst kinds of series. You know the ones… Original for the company who developed it at the time, had potential, was decent, but was short lived. Parasite eve was one of Square’s most polished titles on the presentation front at it’s time of release. The graphics were hot (trumping the likes of Final Fantasy), the FMV was stellar and the music was seriously kick arse! For the music, we thank Yoko Shimomura. The lady who would be remembered for the now iconic Street Fighter II soundtrack and then rise in popularity many years later for helming the Kingdom Hearts’ soundtracks. Her work on Parasite Eve was was of the high quality you’d expect from her. Her compositions set the tone of the game perfectly. F**k knows what happened to the soundtrack for Parasite Eve II. I’m not sure if Yoko Shimomura even contributed to it, which would explain alot.
I present to you the battle theme from the first Parasite eve game. It’s hot, it’s funky and I’m partial to working a shoulder to it now and then.
Listen: Arise within you
Composed by Yoko Shimomura
Parasite Eve OST
© 1998 Square Enix
Last Saturday 15th of March Video Games Live gave its first performance in Mexico as well as its first performance with a student orchestra. Our very own Velcor being a music student fought for a spot on the show, read on to find out how it is to be on the inside of the beast as well as my account of the event as just another fan.
Velcor’s Account:
It all started in Ensenada, Baja California, a small city 4 hours away from the city where the concert was to be held, and also the place most of the members from the orchestra and choir were from. It was about 3 weeks ago that I heard from one of my classmates that Video Games Live was recruiting members for the orchestra. Inquisitive as I am, I asked him if there was room for one more voice at the choir (I’ve been a bass voice on various performances before so I was confident I’d do a well job); Yes, he replied, so as soon as class ended, I dashed to talk to the school’s administration and asked them about being a part of the show.
After some mean stares and threats to their physical integrity sweet-talking they didn’t seem to have any objections (smart choice). And so I was in and on my way to being part of this video game music phenomenon.
Hikaru Utada’s fifth studio Japanese album Heart station is imminent and Hikaru’s gone and released a 35 second teaser of her singing a brand new song off of it. Check it out…
I’m liking the whole one take whilst singing dealio, even though she did it before with “Hikari”. One thing concerns me though; ever since “Flavor of life” Hikaru has looked like a boy with a terminal disease. She looks so pale and washed out. I still love her and want her to marry me though. There’s only so many women who could rock a boy’s haircut, a boy’s shirt, look like Ashiya from Hanazakari no kimitachi e and still look sexy. It’s all in her eyes.
Hikaru Utada’s new album Heart station is released on March 19, with a Canadian release slated for April 8.
By: Random J - On Saturday 23 February 2008 @ 3:58 pm
In light of me posting an in depth interview with Nobuo Uematsu, it’s only fair that I honor him for today’s Sound test Saturday.
Final Fantasy VIII was a pretty weak soundtrack in my opinion. There were probably only 3 pieces from it that stood out, one of them being “Liberi Fatali”. I would’ve posted that tonight, only Uematsu wasn’t responsible for it and I wanted to honor him this evening.
I’ve decided to post “The legendary beast”. For years I thought this was from Final Fantasy VII and even posted that it was until Dark Diamond regular Link pointed out to me that this piece was indeed from Final Fantasy VIII. So excuse the mishap and my lack of knowledge regarding shit such as which game this piece was from. Even now I cannot remember what you fight when you hear this piece. I just remembering it moving me and thinking to myself “Shit! I cannot f**k up…” The Final Fantasy fans amongst you with better memories than mine: Please enlighten me as to what you had to fight when this played. I cannot remember for shit.
As hot as this piece sounds as it is, I’d love to hear this orchestrated live. That would most definitely rock…
Listen: The legendary beast
Composed by Nobuo Uemtasu
Final Fantasy VIII OST
© 1999 Square Enix
1up conducted an interview with one of the most famous video game composers of our generation: Nobuo Uematsu. This dude needs no introduction. He is kick arse. I can’t even diss his socks and Crocs combo in the image above, because he’s just that kick arse. The interview is probably one of the most in depth I’ve read. Nobuo seems at complete ease, enjoys answering the questions and recalling his life at Square. He also doesn’t seem to hold anything back and is incredibly candid. Highlights for me are Nobuo speaking on:
- How he feels Square are taking advantage of him by milking his compositions even though he no longer works for the company.
- Square Enix releasing too many Final Fantasy games.
- The reason he left Square.
- That Square shouldn’t have continued to make Final Fantasy games after Sakaguchi left the company.
He is never bitter though and seems fully contented and happy with his earlier days at Square.
The interview is incredibly long, but very insightful and worth checking out from start to finish. If you’re into video game music, an aspiring composer or just a fan of Uematsu’s in general - you’ll thoroughly enjoy this. I have to confess to having caught onto Uemtasu and the Final Fantasy bandwagon late with game VII, but I immediately latched onto the music, loved it to pieces and quickly became a fan of Uematsu’s work from there on out.
Check it out: James Mielke’s interview with Nobuo Uemtasu
Because of gamevideo.com’s terrible movie players, none of the videos can play for more than 10 seconds without freezing and re-buffering. The whole interview has been transcribed so you can read it all if the the videos mess up on you. But if your not a big fan of reading through 8 pages of text and would prefer to see Uematsu-san kicking it in all his awesomeness, the videos are after the jump.
Kumi Koda was a guest on popular Japanese radio show All night nippon and she made a bit of a boo boo…
“Koda was hosting “All Night Nippon.” The topic of her manager’s marriage came up, and Koda was asked about when her manager was planning to have children. She made a seemingly light-hearted reply that “when women turn 35, their amniotic fluid goes rotten, so I’d like them to have a child by 35.”
Her comment had caused an uproar and as a result: a cosmetic brand that Kumi was the face of has disassociated itself with her, angered fans want her upcoming tour canceled and Kumi Koda’s record label has haltered all promotion for her latest album for at least a month. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she was also made to make a televised apology in which I’ll proceed to post in all its uncomfortable glory. Even if you can’t understand Japanese, the language of ’shame’ and ‘paying for it’ is pretty universal.
She should get an Oscar for that performance. The long pauses, the sniffles, the decision to not wear any make up or any hair extensions. Bravo! I do think however, that given that she’s the bitch in the wrong that she should’ve bowed lower. MUCH lower. Her head should’ve been sweeping the floor.
In the west an artist can publish a box on sex, strap themselves to a crucifix on stage, smoke crack, whip a titty out at the Superbowl, lose custody of their kids, go through several divorces and still have albums sell shit loads, get nominated for Grammy’s and not have to apologize to anybody. In Japan: not the case. Any form of controversy however small can potentially stop a female J-Idol’s career dead in its tracks and Kumi Koda knows this. That is why she was crying; because she knows her lavish lifestyle and her record deal with Avex Trax could go down the drain, not because she’s deeply sorry.
Whilst Kumi Koda is sat at home reflecting on what a silly bitch she was, her latest album is currently sat at number 1 on the Oricon charts. Hopefully this will cause Avex Trax to think twice about giving up on her. I’d deeply miss her slutty music videos if they did.
By: Random J - On Saturday 9 February 2008 @ 3:00 pm
I’ve decided that every other Saturday I’ll post a piece of video game music that I dig and feel like sharing; in something I’m going to call Sound test Saturday. (If you can think of a better name, please…share it with me).
Today’s VGM is from Street Fighter EX+ alpha. The EX series may have slumped into suckyville with the second and third titles; but the PlayStation release of the first EX game was pretty solid and the soundtrack was awesome. The music comprised of really funky numbers which featured live instrumentations and gave the sound this really cool edge. It was a nice break from the tinny MIDI’fied numbers that many Capcom and Street Fighter related soundtracks had sported up until the point EX+ alpha came along.
There are many highlights of the EX+ alpha soundtrack, but the one I’m going to share with you this evening is Hokuto’s theme: “Sakura mankai”. This shit sounded like your life was in danger and that you were going to get stabbed underneath a cherry blossom tree at night by some crack head ninja. I loved it! Damn funky, well arranged and mood setting.
Listen: Sakura mankai
Street Fighter EX OST
© 1997 Capcom / Arika
Its been some months already and we still cant get enough of portal, with the Weighted Companion Cube PC mod unveiled today and now GameSetWatch brings us this awesome list of the top 12 Still Alive covers. Its hardly the end all be all list of covers but it does contain some pretty awesome ones including the couple below which caught my eye.
First this one, aptly titled on the list as ‘Incredibly Awkward Bedroom Singalong’ and thats exactly what you get. Fret not, though, because when a cute girl donning a gothic lolita dress starts singing awkwardly it can be pretty awesome! I specially dig the electric wires as accessories and the look on her face when she picks up the gun, I almost duck for cover! Rock on CupcakeAndTea!
Now here is a very cool version made entirely using Gmod, few things as amusing as playing a giant piano by shooting at it!
Check out the list at GameSetWatch for the rest including the number one which is pretty damn awesome.
By: Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano - On Tuesday 11 December 2007 @ 12:32 am
Ever since Guitar Hero came to be my reaction to it has been bittersweet at best. On the one hand it was connected to RedOctane, my favorite peripheral company of all time. On the other, there were now thousands of people claiming that Guitar Hero was the best thing since Pong and how it was so awesome that someone had finally done a Guitar simulator. Every time I heard someone say Guitar Hero was the first Guitar simulator and how someone should have thought about it sooner I died a little inside, did they not know about Guitar Freaks?
Guitar Freaks, the legendary arcade and PS2 game that made you rock out with a toy guitar, only 3 frets but a more eclectic music selection, it is the game which inspired Guitar Hero yet it got no respect, until now.
In an excerpt of the book “Inside Game Design” posted at Gamasutra, Iain Simons talks about how Guitar Hero came to be:
[Red Octane] was interested in making a guitar game as they’d seen Guitar Freaks, which Konami had done. So they came to Harmonix with the request, “will you make us a great guitar game for our new piece of guitar hardware?”
And there you have it, finally Guitar Freaks gets a little official recognition, that’s one down, can we now talk about Drumania and how it was a better drum sim? and how you could connect Guitar Freaks to Drumania and have bass, guitar and drums before Rock Band did?
Sure it didn’t have a microphone but making one of your friends sing should be considered a design flaw!
Yeah i know, MTV no longer plays music videos except in the wee hours of the morning, and well, its all rap music anyways.
A popular video on the Japanese MTV is one from Final Fantasy 4’s remake for the DS. Unfortunately its coming out later this month in Japan, but there is no news for a stateside release, lets all cross our fingers!(Editor note: Rosa is hot!)
If I ever needed a reason to buy a DS again, this game would be it. Nostalgia City.
[Joystiq]
You’d have to be a hardcore fan of Resident evil and be slightly disturbed to want this soundtrack. In all the times I’ve played a Resident evil game I’ve rarely taken in the music. I only notice it when a zombie, dog or crow comes bursting through a window or during boss battles. Most of the time there isn’t any music. Either that or I’m just oblivious to it.
Still… For those unlike me who DO take in Resident evil’s musical efforts, you can now buy the Umbrella chronicles soundtrack, officially released by Capcom. I’ve yet to play the game, but the soundtrack apparently consists of remixed themes from the Resident evil games which feature in Umbrella chronicles. Not that I can even remember the original themes.
Interestingly the soundtrack comes complete with an image of Ada on the front, looking like she’s just been gang raped by a bunch of zombies, flashing a bit of leg and doing her best bandaged up Rei Ayanami impression.
Buy the soundtrack @ Play-asia.com
Portal is a really short game, groundbreaking and hilarious, but really short. However, having only recently beaten portal, in about 5 hours of playtime, this 30 minute speedrun is still pretty impressive. It is also pretty hectic so not only will you get spoiled if you see it without having beaten the game, you wont understand much. And while we’re talking about cake, how about a song? Spoiler warning again.
I just had to post it, for the people who are still alive.
Nintendo really are going all out for Super Mario Galaxy. As if the next gen graphics, kick arse platforming action, new play mechanics, tight controls and all round awesomeness wasn’t enough - the game will also feature an orchestrated soundtrack! Not every piece in the game will be orchestrated, but a bunch of songs will be. This marks the first time a Mario adventure will feature as such. The last Nintendo game to be graced with a fully orchestrated soundtrack was StarFox: Assault. The music in StarFox: Assault was awesome. It’s just a shame it was wasted on such a rubbish game.
Check out this video of a recording session of an orchestra playing a piece from Super Mario Galaxy. It sounds fantastic. Without a doubt the most grand and epic sounding piece to ever feature in a Mario game. Koji Kondo (Composer of the soundtrack) and Shigeru Miyamoto (Producer of the game ) don’t look too impressed though. They just sit there like patients waiting to be seen in a hospital.
Dark Diamond readers may or may not know this, but resident editor and contributor tskiller is an accomplished bassoon player. He is actually part of the woodwind section in the video above, but you can’t see him. They flew him in to Tokyo especially. He’s THAT good.
…
Okay, so I’m lying. But tskiller is a bassoon player and he could’ve been a part of the Super Mario Galaxy orchestra if he wanted to. He just chose not to.
It’s great to hear an original piece of Super Mario music that sounds so grand and doesn’t work in that SAME old theme we’ve had drummed into our brains over the past two decades. Though a Super Mario game wouldn’t be complete without said theme and I can confirm it does feature in Super Mario galaxy in remixed form. I’m just glad Koji Kondo did away with that French caf? bullshit that played throughout Super rubbish Sunshine. The music in that game was bad enough to make me wish I was deaf.
com.JPG "Only the finnest in flash animation for your entertainment")
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