Tag Archives: nes

ALBUMS, FUSION, GAME MUSIC, MUSIC, NERDCORE

GameChops crew free Halloween Castlevania Remix Overload!

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Nerdcore Remastered album coverWow wow wowie. So much incredible new music from the artists on GameChops today. Best of all, every new track in this post is free to download. Here’s the rundown:

Dj CUTMAN + Sammus released Nerdcore Instrumentals, seven beats from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night produced by Sammus and remastered by Dj CUTMAN. It’s a name-your-price download from Bandcamp.

Joshua Morse’s Tears of Blood, a remix of Bloody Tears from Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest was posted for free on Overclocked Remix.

bLiNd released I Am Dracula (Club Mix), an extended version of his Castlevania remix from his full-length remix album NESteryears. It was posted for free on Overclocked Remix.

Mykah released a Tech House tune, Ghost House, and while it’s not from Castlevania, it’s possibly the spookiest theme from Super Mario World. It’s a free download from his Soundcloud.

ALBUMS, CHIPTUNE, Features, GAME MUSIC, MUSIC

Chiptunes = Win Volume 2 Is Here!

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Monday night, the world got to hear 51 brand new chiptune songs for the first time on the 8bitX 8-bit Power Hour. Out of  146 different artist submissions, these colorful tracks made the cut. The listening party was well attended, not only by fans but by a huge collection of the artists as well. This review is actually going to talk about EVERY SINGLE TRACK!

It was clear by the reaction in the chat to every new track that there was not a bad song on this compilation. They’re all incredible upbeat and unique. Obviously a lot of time went into each and every one of them.

There is a huge amount of variety on this release.  Talkboy, SubPixel and Apoc all contributed excellent Famitracker songs. There are also some great Genesis-styled FM Synth tracks from Snooglebum, Jameson Sutton and The Flight Away really bring back some Sonic the Hedgehog nostalgia for me.

What I was really impressed with are the LSDJ tracks. The Gameboy has become the most common chiptune instrument. That’s not a bad thing, but on some compilation tracks, the LSDJ tracks are often the weak links. That’s not the case here. Every LSDJ track stands out and holds its own. Auxcide and Zef both contribute totally epic LSDJx2 songs as well.

The slower tracks really stand out as well, sleepytimejesse’s SNES inspired Riparian Woodland, Viciosul SID’s and Foil Variant’s tracks also provide a nice break from the constant thump of awesomeness without sacrificing a moment of quality.

I really like how a lot of people are using new tools to create the classic sounds. I know some won’t agree, but I see this as a good thing. It keeps things fresh. No new synth is going to exactly match the NES or the DMG, but this adds new dimensions to the classic elements we all know and love. There is nothing here that suffers due to the fact it was created in a DAWs and not on hardware or a tracker.

I normally highlight just a few tracks when I review a compilation, and usually when I buy one, I end up deleting a few songs that just don’t do it for me. This is not the case with Chiptunes = Win Vol 2. There really is not a bad track on this entire album.

So I’m going to do something crazy and write a small review of every song on the whole thing (except my own, because that’s just tacky). Read on to get a quick look at each track!

Continue reading Chiptunes = Win Volume 2 Is Here! →

GAME MUSIC, GAMING, MUSIC, RETRO GAMES

It’s Got Great Music But…

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There are some games out there that had incredible music, but just missed the mark in some other ways. Here’s a list of games that you definitely want to pick up the amazing soundtracks for, but might want to skip itself.

 

Awesome NES Rock but…It’s Impossible

Silver Sufer just bumped into a wall, or a tiny rubber ducky (not kidding), or maybe he just found out about this game….
Silver Sufer just bumped into a wall, or a tiny rubber ducky (not kidding), or maybe he just found out about this game….

Silver Surfer has some excellent NES music. Check out that level one guitar noodling! It’s Epic!  However this Gradius-clone fails in almost every other way. The level designs are impossible, often leaving you little space to maneuver your giant silver surfer board. It’s also unclear of what is in the background and what you’re going to crash into. Oh yeah, touch anything and YOU DIE instantly.

 

It’s hard for me to fathom how the programmers thought this game was ok. It could have been better if they had just given you a life bar. It’s a pretty sub-par side view and overhead shooter but the fact that your board is humongous and you can’t always tell what’s a wall ruins everything. But seriously, get the soundtrack, it’s amazing.

 

 

Continue reading It’s Got Great Music But… →

ALBUMS, CHIPTUNE, MUSIC

Chema64 – Zapotecno

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Chiptune’s ‘official’ Mexican exporter, Chema64, has returned with a new collection of tracks spanning four years and four consoles. Released on his own label, 56kbps Records, Chema64’s infectious jams are sure to remind the world that, along with Pulselooper and Chilean Analog, South America should not be underestimated as a producer of chiptune. One thing ‘Zapotecno’ does well is traverse genres. Tracks ‘Machines of Loving Grace’ and ‘Fin del Mundo del Fin’ both contain nods at metal a la 90s VGM faux-thrash (think Duke Nukem 3D’s soundtrack). Elsewhere, album closer, ‘Quetzalli’, has a euphoric Saturday Morning theme tune pop atmosphere, with the accompanying hook-laden melodies lodged within its crevasses. The apex of the release really does come past the mid-point, however, and to be honest if the first four tracks had been cut the five remaining would have created a far more cohesive and powerful statement. The sounds present within ‘Dubtrip’ and ‘Featherblade’ are one of a kind, in fact the horn-like glissando harmonies on the climax of the latter sent goosebumps shooting up my arm. The spaced out atmosphere and throttling basslines of ‘Datavoid’ created a nice chunk of variation, and ‘Quetzalli’ has quite possibly one of the greatest selections of melodies to be released this year. Whilst on the first few listens the sometimes repetitive and often hap-hazard sounding melodies might deter future listens, I would implore you to persevere. Unlike the adrenaline ladled ‘unce’ of most of his contemporaries, Chema64’s real strengths lie in his understated melodic hooks. What on first listens might appear like a jumble of erratic notes will quickly become nine tracks of greatly varying character and undeniable brilliance. So, with the amateurish tones of ‘BROWNWAVE’ and dud melodies in ‘Megameng II’ aside, this release is fantastic. Given the time, ‘Zapotecno’ will likely become a mainstay in your listening repertoire, and such a unique one at that. If this is the level of quality produced elsewhere in South America, the rest of the world should definitely take note.

Grab the release here.

Written by Andrew Kilpatrick for his blog The Waveform Generators.