Tag Archives: jazz

Octavators – Super Castlevania IV, The Remix Album

Today we bring you a guest post from The Octavators, with their cover album of Super Castlevania 4.

The Octavators is a music production company made up of Beyond Z (Joshua Hurwitz) and Vinnie Treux (Vincent Trudel), who have been making beats for the last twelve years. These talented beat makers provide instrumental music for TV shows, musicians looking for backing music to their lyrics, and video games. Their latest project is the soundtrack for the Japanese video game “Super Castlevania IV,” and they deliver the perfect background music to listen to while enjoying the game. As players battle Dracula and his minions, the soundtrack sets the mood and provides a nice auditory experience that will stick with you long after the game is over. “Demon Castle Dracula” has an eerie, spooky vibe, with a slow tempo and heavy bass. The creepy, slinky keyboard adds to the overall scary vibe, and the sound of “bones” clanging together is a nice touch. “Dracula’s Theme” starts out with the creepy sound of a chorus singing, mixed with synthesizers and piano, for am overall surreal feel. The guitars then come in to mix in with the chorus– perfect music for a horror movie. “Forest of Monsters” starts out with a funky drumbeat, and segues into an almost dance/rave type music style. The synthesizers are working overtime in this track, and the tune is both weird and catchy at the same time. Even though all of these songs have no lyrics, the instruments convey all that is being said in the songs– evil, scary, creepy vampires waiting to jump out at you as you go on your quest to destroy Dracula. The Octavators bring it on their latest, “Super Castlevania IV– The Remix Album.” The sound is creepy, the instrumentation wild and weird, and the sound exhilarating. The music sets the perfect mood for the video game, and the songs are catchy.

Perelandra Records – Tide

Netlabel Perelandra Records has released a free compilation of Chiptune fusion music, taking electronic and chip elements and mixing them with organic instruments, vocals, and other soundscapes. The album features tracks from downtempo to jazz to alt rock electronic; Tide is a diverse pallet of sounds to fit your fancy. A personal favorite of mine is the track Famicom Blues by Positive Infinity, a funky tune with clean electric guitar, chiptune arpeggios and a soaring square lead. Beautiful!

Perelandra Records is also home to Daniel Capo, the artist who’s album OST we covered back in May.

Like Perelandra Records on Facebook and visit PerelandraRecords.com for more music!

Shnabubula – NES Jams

A flawless fusion of incredible piano arrangement and Famitracker NES programming, Shnabubula’s new release from Ubiktune is not to be missed. With tunes from games like Zelda, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Contra, and MegaMan, what’s not to like?

Grab the album on Ubiktune or on Bandcamp!

Shnabubula – Game Genie

Tommy got a special gift this christmas. When he rubbed his new lamp he unleashed the ultimate power in the universe….the Game Genie! All of a sudden Tommy’s consoles were able to make all kinds of new sounds never before thought possible, even allowing his different systems to sing together in unison. Tommy felt like he was ready to conquer the world. But first, to prove his worth, Tommy needed to face off against his genie in the ultimate showdown.

released 08 September 2011
Composition: Samuel Ascher-Weiss
Sound Programming: Game Genie
Artwork: Katie Kinkel