Nobuo Uematsu, the composer best known for his legendary music for Final Fantasy, played with his band Earthbound Papas at this year’s MAGFest. The Music and Gaming (MAG) festival has been running for ten years, this year moving into a much larger venue and hosting the largest collection of video game related music talent the world has even known. In the past, MAGFest has hosted ground-breaking acts such as The Protomen, Metroid Metal, Rare Candy and Bit Brigade, but this year to celebrate the tenth anniversary, the man who composed some of the greatest gaming music of all time graced the MAG stage.
We are lucky enough to have the dedicated EmFedEx from the Chip Music Chronicle record the entirety of the Uematsu’s set with the Earthbound Papas. View the entire set as a playlist on youtube, or check out my absolute favorite song in the embeded video below.
ChipHop pioneer A_Rival has remixed his own track, this time bringing a heaping helping of electro and dubstep influences into his 8-bit cover of Busta Rhymes classic track.
MAGFest 9 was insane. It’s hard to put into words. I spent at least ten hours a day at my booth, only made it to one panel, and caught about one song from every band. Could I have had more fun? Probably. Did I have a ton of fun? You bet. Why was it so fun to hang out at a booth, you ask? Well perhaps I can answer that with a YOUTUBE VIDEO >B]
I met a ton of totally awesome people, from beat producer Emrls and DJ AGGRESSION (featured in the video above,) to throwing down at the SECRET RAVE with DJ SyNCeRe and the Chip-Hop pioneer A_Rival. We threw down HARD at 3:00AM on Saturday night at the SECRET RAVE. Special Guest OCREMIX’s BeatDrop came through for a total of FIVE DJs throwing down all at once. The energy was great, the crowd was awesome and the party was NUTS. Here’s some proof:
I couldn’t help myself but get do a little credit animation there at the end.
BUT NO MAGFest9 POST COULD BE COMPLETE without mentioning Emrls’ PROTOMAN BANGER and the chaos that ensued. Hear the beat:
[audio: protomanbanger.mp3]
That’s right, I’m talking about the ELEVATOR PARTIES. The most chaotic chaos one could ever expect, checking into a hotel and trying to make it to their room, this compalation video is blowing up on youtube with a bunch of hilarious and venomous comments on youtube. Missed out? Maybe you’re better off. All I have to say is Don’t Hate! If you don’t like elevators / parties then TAKE THE STAIRS. We all drank like fifty BAWLZ anyway, probably could use burning off all that caffeine!
I hope this has convinced you to GET TO MAFEST next year. It’s the funnest time a nerd can have. and shit man, I didn’t even talk about all the VIDEO GAMES.
This is the longest blog post I’ve ever written. And it’s for a damn deserving group of the most hardworking nerds I’ve ever known. Thank you MAGFest.
Nobuo Uematsu, the composer best known for his legendary music for Final Fantasy, played with his band Earthbound Papas at this year’s MAGFest. The Music and Gaming (MAG) festival has been running for ten years, this year moving into a much larger venue and hosting the largest collection of video game related music talent the world has even known. In the past, MAGFest has hosted ground-breaking acts such as The Protomen, Metroid Metal, Rare Candy and Bit Brigade, but this year to celebrate the tenth anniversary, the man who composed some of the greatest gaming music of all time graced the MAG stage.