OverCoat For One Night Only in Neo-Seattle

OverCoat, aka Scott Porter, is a busy man. Not only is he the host of two radio shows over on Arecibo Radio (Touhou Tuesday and his own Radio Overcoat), but he also makes music! The third entry in his self-titled series of EPs dropped on August 14, titled OverCoat 3: One Night in Neo-Seattle. Encompassing five tracks for a runtime of 16:34, this EP takes the listener on a cyberpunk adventure through a futuristic variation on Seattle. And, just as the album takes you on a tour through the city, what follows takes you on a tour through the album! You can follow along by grabbing the album here, or you can snag it later! Whichever route you take, it’s time to go!

1. Sunset 2:12
The first song starts out simply, setting the stage and the mood. At 0:21 the soundscape begins to fill out, and even more at 0:41 or so. The main rhythm at 1:21 or so is pretty nice, and really finishes making that soundscape full. I already feel like I’m on a journey of sorts. It all drops at around the two minute mark.
2. International District 4:00
This track starts off right away, with some percussives at about the 0:22 mark. Some melody comes in at 0:33 or so, adding to the feel of the song. There’s a slight breakdown at about 1:04, and it gives way at 1:14 for some cool effects. 1:36 mixes it up a bit, bringing some nice string plucking of sorts. 2:03 drops out all the extra stuff, only to return the main melody at 2:13 or so. 2:39 brings a simpler feel, one that also is clearly a herald to what will be the end of the song. Climactic parts are always fun! Now I’m getting a Deku Tree vibe from the part at 3:04 or so, as in the music that plays when he’s talking. Main melody back at 3:28, and the end begins at 3:52.
3. The Market 3:13
SYNTH! Apparently that’s what this market deals in, synths. 0:18 brings in the beat and 0:38 brings in a melody. There’s some release set to these instruments, and it sounds good. I suddenly want to play a game where this is the shopping theme. A nice change-up at about the 1:23 mark comes in, and it works well. 1:44 brings that melody back. Breakdown at 2:09 or so, and it’s this track’s climax. Main melody returns at 2:28 or so, and the fadeout begins at 3:07.
4. Broadway 3:57
Ooh I like the instrument choice on this one. Beat comes in at 0:16, and rhythm at 0:22 or so. I really enjoy the backing rhythm; it works well and keeps the momentum intact. 0:54 or so has a nice changeup, only to mix it up even more at 1:10 or so. It keeps going this way until 1:49 when the main melody returns to prominence. 2:39 brings a return to how it was at the start, truly heralding the end of the mix-up. 3:13 drops out one of the lead instruments, and leads to the fadeout at 3:47.
5. Phantom Bracelet 3:12
Ah yes, this track. Cool intro, which picks up at 0:13 or so with the first beat and some wub sounds at 0:27. Melody comes in at about 0:51, adding to the fullness of the track. This continues until 1:42, when the wubs drop out. There’s an obvious feel of a buildup, and the wubs return at 2:07. The melody vanishes at this point, and another sound vanishes at 2:35 or so. The wubs continue until 2:59, until replaced by the finale.

And with that, our night in Neo-Seattle comes to a close. I hope you enjoyed your brief visit, and you can obtain a lifetime pass to this night at whatever price you so desire (even no price at all) by clicking here. You can also find more of OverCoat’s work here and here. And you can also hear him Tuesdays from 5-7 PM PST with Touhou Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 7-9 PM PST on Radio OverCoat, only on Arecibo Radio. Until next time, game on!

ThaSauce Presents: One Hour Compo OHC #400

ThaSauce Network is excited to announce a milestone event in our community’s history — the 400th round of One Hour Compo, hosted by starla. Compos (short for “composition competitions”) are competitions for musicians who want to “think outside the box” and challenge themselves.

Here’s how it works. One Hour Compo happens every Thursday at 9PM EST. Every week, a new theme is announced, and participants are encouraged to remix a track based on their interpretation of the theme. They are given one hour to create, complete, and submit their tracks — after that, submissions are off to voting! The event ends with a listening party featuring the week’s top submissions.

The 400th compo round will happen on June 9th at 9pm EST, and you can RSVP to the Facebook event to stay updated. Musicians of all skill levels are invited to join in. There is no requirements for OHC, other than wanting to participate and have a good time creating good music. We encourage everyone to join, and help us make the 4ooth one a compo to remember!

 

GameFuel & Arecibo Radio Present: Stemage’s Marble Madness Release Party


Join Arecibo Radio  for a GameFuel special presentation with Grant “Stemage” Henry for the “Where Good Marbles Go To Die” release party. Grant “Stemage” Henry, the man behind several amazing bands such as Metroid Metal and Yes, Mayhem, is also an accomplished solo artist who has composed for indie games Alpha Squad and Radiant Escape.

Marble Madness highlights seven new tracks featuring various accomplished guests such as Disasterpeace, Kirby Pufocia, and VikingGuitar.  Stemage emphasizes the direction of Marble Madness when he states, “The Marble Madness soundtrack has a lot of variety, and that theme carries over to this album. I’ve actually been calling it a “collection of remixes” instead of an album, but things are really starting to flow together.”

Taking place on June 2nd at 9 PM EST, Marble Madness will be played in full, along with many other surprises, such as the digital release of the album during the show itself. And if you haven’t tuned into GameFuel,  you’re in for a treat. GameFuel is a game-centric show of hard-hitting music, particularly of the videogame and videogame-inspired variety, also featuring chiptunes and other original works every week, hosted by the ever exuberant KyleJCrb. Be sure to tune in to Arecibo Radio this Saturday for an exclusive listen to what may very well be an awesome album.

Internet Promo Machine: Sponsor Adam WarRock’s Upcoming Fall Tour


Adam WarRock, one of our favorite hip hop artists who brings back the ‘cool in all things nerd and pop culture, needs your help:

I am in the process of booking a pretty baller ass Fall tour with some friends of mine. We’ve been talking with some small sponsors for the costs of the tour (so I can potentially bring some international friends with me), so if you are a small website, business, or whatever, and are interested in being promoted by our tour INTERNET PROMO MACHINE, please contact me at adamwarrockmixtape[at]gmail.com. We have very affordable rates, and you get to have access to our sweaty, rabid audiences.

Doing it like this allows us to build business relationships, as well as avoid daily tweets about kickstarters or basically begging you for money constantly. That sucks. You don’t want that, right? You just want us to bring the THUNDER, don’t you?!?!

WarRock has scheduled to tour various major cities on the East Coast, including New York, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and much more. While we can attest to WarRock’s talent as an emcee, we would like to extend his invitation to those who would be interested in sponsoring the tour through e-mail. For more information regarding press releases and to preview his music, visit Adam WarRock’s official website here.

Disasterpeace, virt, & 6955 on Indie Royale’s All-Charity Lightning Pack


Established by the creators of the leading independent video game editorial site IndieGames.com and online download service Desura, indie game bundle website Indie Royale releases game bundles every two weeks to help get the word out over games that are worth playing and support developers that are typically passed over in mainstream media.

Recently, Indie Royale has recently released some cool game releases in the name of charity with the  All-Charity Lightning Pack, such as Osmos, B.U.T.T.O.N., The Shivah, and Blueberry Garden.  In addition to all these awesome games that you get, you’ll receive even more bonuses for just a $7 minimum donation — Jake “virt” Kaufman‘s acclaimed FX4, Toronto-based chiptune artist 6955‘s IN1ep, and Disasterpeace‘s Level albums are all available for you right now. The best part of this pack’s deal is that 100% of your donation goes to charities like UNICEF, Electronic Frontier Foundation, ActionAid, and Amnesty International.

With less than twenty hours left, make sure to subscribe to Indie Royale’s newsletter for future deals and buy the bundle today!

Infinity Shred Album Available on Indie Royale’s May Hurray Bundle

Established by the creators of the leading independent video game editorial site IndieGames.com and online download service Desura, indie game bundle website Indie Royale releases game bundles every two weeks to help get the word out over games that are worth playing and support developers that are typically passed over in mainstream media.

This time around, Indie Royale has recently released an epic May Hurray Bundle with some incredibly fun indie releases, such as Dungeon Defenders, Containment: The Zombie Puzzler, Data Jammers: FastForward, Brainpipe: A Plunge to Unhumanity and Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space.  In addition to all these awesome games that you get, you’ll receive even more bonuses! The PC puzzler Soup Du Jour, the ethereally mixed post-Italo  chiptune album Future, Towards the Edge of Forever from NYC-based Infinity Shred (formerly known as Starscream), and the original soundtrack for Data Jammers: FastForward from Digital Eel are also available for the taking.

There’s only two days left, so make sure to subscribe to Indie Royale’s newsletter for future deals and buy the bundle today!

Dates Announced for Minibosses 2012 Bay Area Tour

Calling all Bay Area residents, the Minibosses are comin’ at you fast this June! With a broad range of instrumental covers of 8-bit NES songs, the Minibosses will rip into your soul with hard-hitting video game metal. Even still, the Minibosses tend to effectively reconstruct all your old favorites into something every gamer will recognize and enjoy which makes it easy to see why the reality of this band’s popularity is made quite apparent (check out their latest release Brass 2: Mouth if you haven’t). And let’s not get into stage presence. Wait, we will. Being at a Minibosses show can easily be one of the best live performances of your life, simply because these dudes just get it. Claiming total ownership over the crowd with the ways they can easily excite fans by playing a specific Castlevania theme throughout the night just to mess around, the Minibosses are sure to please anyone who has picked up a NES controller.

The Minibosses will embark on what they call a mini-tour, travelling through various locations in the San Francisco Bay Area with their instruments in tow. Peep the dates and locations below:

FRIDAY June 1st, 2012 – Subzero Fest in San Jose
FRIDAY June 1st, 2012 –  Hemlock Tav in San Francisco
SATURDAY June 2nd, 2012 – Ocean Beach Studio in San Francisco
SATURDAY June 2nd, 2012 – Catalyst in San Jose
SUNDAY June 3rd, 2012 – Streetlight Records in San Jose

Ticket links and other information will be coming soon, so be sure to check back here or the Minibosses Facebook page for more updates.

Indie Game Music Bundle 2 Out Now

 

Has the economy got you down? Yeah, us too. But for this week only, my friends, you can stick it to the man and get some of the best VGM albums at a crazy affordable price. With some of ThaSauce regular featured artists like Laura Shigihara, A_Rival, Jake “virt” Kaufman, the newest Game Music Bundle 2 release has you covered in a extremely convenient “Pay What You Want” format.

Oh, and if you happen to contribute $10+, they’ll throw even more VGM swag at you. As in, fifteen albums for the price of one fancy meal. Or one large pizza. Or maybe… oh, nevermind. At this rate, we have to say: total steal.

You can also sign up for GMB’s newsletter to receive exclusive updates and upcoming bundles. So what are you waiting for? This offer is only available for seven more days. Get down with your dirty self and get yo’ swag on now.

The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses 2012 Tour Continues


Nintendo and Zelda fans, rejoice! Nintendo has announced the schedule of dates and locations for its 2012 Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses concert tour, including major North American cities like Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, Phoenix, Atlanta, and more. The tour revolves around a four-movement symphony that will take you through the course of The Legend of Zelda’s history to the most recently released  Skyward Sword, relying entirely on enchanting music and video footage.

Ticketmaster has started selling tickets that range from $19 to $115 luxury seats to appease those who want to choose to splurge on seating. If you manage to have a membership at Club Nintendo (you can sign up for free), you are eligible to receive a 15 percent discount. Further dates will be announced soon, so keep an eye out if you’d like to attend one of the most promising concerts of the year.

In Retrospect: Mirby’s Year in ReView

As another year comes into place and the one we just finished slowly slinks into the past, so too comes the time when Mirby must stop being lazy and start writing articles again instead of letting the release dates of albums fade into the obscuring mists of time. With a new year comes new articles, and there’s no better article to bring it in than a retrospective of 2011. A lot of things happened this year, even more than in 2010, so I’ll keep it brief. And so, here begins the retrospective.

ReMix: ThaSauce kicked things off on January 4 with three mixes; two from the Sonic games and one from Super Metroid. OverClocked ReMix posted their first mix of 2011 on the following day; this one was a mellow rock track from ilp0, remixing “Gold Mine” from the SNES game Wild Guns. With the mixpost came a call from djpretzel. “If there’s one theme I’d like to personally endorse for 2011, it’s ReMixing unmixed games.” We’ll see if his endorsement held up through the year. And then, on the tenth of January, the world got… The Answer.

THE ANSWER: An Armored Core Tribute Album by Mattias Häggström Gerdt

No, not the self-help book, the Armored Core Tribute Album. Mattias Häggström Gerdt headed up this album, featuring Jillian Aversa and DragonAvenger as well. And then, on January 27th, SEGA called OCR out for having zero SEGA Pico remixes.

On February 3, OCR posted their first Pico remix courtesy of zircon; it was a mellow mix from Tails and the Music Maker. Just four days later, Heroes vs. Villains was released. Pitting the Bad Dudes against OCR regulars, it took hero themes and villain themes from various franchises; OCR took the heroes and Bad Dudes took the villains. The result was a delight; the pairs of tracks work well on their own, but combined creates a melodious melee, one where each track plays off its companion. Near the end of the month, another original soundtrack was released on OCR, this one for Missile Master Episode 1: Invasion; it was composed by Kunal, one of the Bad Dudes. Fitting for the other album release that month.

March started off immediately, with the long-awaited Pokémon album, The Missingno Tracks, dropping on the first. Paying tribute to music from the series so far (except for the then-unreleased Black/White), it was two discs of remixes ranging various styles. On the 25th, OCR released another pure Joshua Morse album, this one for the Mega Man series. Entitled The Robot Museum, it took a single track from each of the first 8 games (along with the Data Base Accessed theme from Mega Man and Bass), and got the JM touch applied. Finally, on March 29, Benjamin Briggs released his Attention Deficit EP, an eclectic mix of styles all containing his chippy touch.

April started off with another OCR prank, this time a “reveal” of the full year’s album lineups, totaling thirty-eight new albums. Some gems included “Hers – Female Character Themes by Female Artists,” “Up, Up, Down, Down Lower – Porn Grooves of Game Tunes,” and “Beyond the Beyond – Beyond the Beyond the Beyond,” among others. Alongside the revelation of all of OCR’s albums for 2011, ThaSauce released the soundtrack for Fasto the Speedhog 2. The long-awaited follow-up to the original Fasto the Speedhog, it blew away listeners, many preferring it to the soundtrack for Sonic 4: Episode 1. In more realistic news, Sonic the Hedgehog: The Sound of Speed was released on the twelfth, completing the trilogy of Sonic albums on OCR. Though it was a single disc, the entire album was full of gems. Or should I say… emeralds?

May was a relatively quiet month. Support OCR Month, which usually happened in April, got off to a late start and carried into May. Though the goal was set at $5,000, people went abobe and beyond to bring the total for 2011 to an amazing $7,514! Incredible rally from supporters to get that much to OCR in just a month. halc released his Pixel Perfect LP on the 16th, which fit perfectly with his EP from the previous year. Together, the two create a complete album, and a good one too!

Malcos releasing his It Started in 2012 album in June. Equal parts orchestral and electronic, the album takes the listener on a quest as it details future events that will occur in a universe separate from our own. And while not strictly music-related, everyone’s favorite person to blame Liontamer AKA Black Dynamite and his long-time girlfriend Paige became engaged this month as well. WillRock also released his own EP on the 19th, entitled Refractions of a Dream. Loosely inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic “Alice in Wonderland” and possibly also “Through the Looking Glass,” the album is comprised of some pretty trippy songs. Seriously, I blame this album for all my sleeping problems (not really). Also of note was the general public’s introduction to the OverClocked Plaid Muffins, through the mixpost of “Ska Buffet (All You Can Eat: Clean Version)”, a clean cut of their track on the upcoming Milky Way Wishes album.

July may not have kicked off with a “Four for the Fourth” as in 2010, but it give us NiGHTS: Lucid Dreaming on the fifth. Worked on with love for the game, Stevo Bortz, aka Level 99 or he of the awesome beard, the track featured two discs that took the listener on a journey through the game. Except guided by music instead of some flying jester. This was also the first album I reviewed without being familiar with the source material; doesn’t really matter, as the album is fantastic either way. Also in July, YouTube favorite FamilyJules7x began a hiatus from his weekly game music guitar covers; after a year of releasing a song weekly, he felt the need to relax. He ended Year 1 with a cover of the Super Mario 64 Credits theme.

August happened to be Metroid’s 25th anniversary, so a bunch of Metroid music was released. First it was Harmony of a Hunter on the 7th, and then Theophany’s Crystal Flash EP later that same day.Shnabubula and a friend also made a tribute song for the anniversary along with a video, which was later featured on IGN. The song itself was posted on the 12th. On August 14, Mazedude revealed his self-proclaimed opus American Pixels, the long awaited follow-up to 2006’s American Album. It will remix a bunch of songs from American composers, including Jake Kaufman and Danny Baranowsky. August 15th brought the release of Amphibious’s debut EP, Oceans. A soothing aural trip into the ocean, through its deeps, and back out once more, it was an excellent effort. Nario released an EP on the 19th, entitled More of Me. A chippy mix of a bunch of different songs, it’s a rather nice listen on the whole.

Then in September, Danimal Cannon released a video. It was a rather hilarious video (explicit too, I think), but it led to a bunch of people calling him out as racist and homophobic. The best part about all the hate? The video itself was making fun of rap, and thus was created specifically to mock those who’d complain. On the 7th, an album that often had questions about its status asked was finally released. No, it was not FFV: The Fabled Warriors – WATER. Instead, it was Mega Man 9: Back in Blue. The song arranged the majority of the soundtrack. Unfortunately, all the songs on a Mega Man soundtrack are rather integral, especially the stage themes. And this album completely neglected to have a Concrete Man remix. Sure, there were two Jewel Man mixes, but no Concrete Man.

This was even referenced in the album’s trailer, and remedied shortly thereafter with Rockin’ Sockin’ Cinder Blockin’ – A Concrete Man Remix EP. Spurred on by this grave injustice to the most concrete of ‘bots, DarkeSword arranged an emergency mixing round. Calling on all mixers via the forums, DarkeSword challenged everyone to make a mix in one week’s time. The album was posted a week thereafter, album art and all. A great tragedy was indeed averted (and the also neglected Castle of Evil got a mix from Jason Covenant, formerly known as Prophecy.) Jimmy Hinson, aka Big Giant Circles, also released a chiptune album on the 12th, entitled Impostor Nostalgia, with virt’s Bloodrayne: Betrayal Official Soundtrack released through Ubiktune the following day. Shnabubula also released his Game Genie album, a marvelous collection of original songs. The Binding of Isaac was also released at the end of September, with a soundtrack by Danny Baranowsky. The style was similar to his Super Meat Boy soundtrack, which is to say it, too, was excellent.

October was nowhere near as busy as the previous month (though that was mostly due to Concrete Man’s omission), but it was a good month nonetheless. The tenth heralded the release of Super Dodge Ball: Around the World, another of OCR’s albums that had been in the works for several years. It’s never planned that way, but there’s a few where that has happened (such as 2010’s Threshold of a Dream or 2009’sSummoning of Spirits). A lot of great tracks were to be found here, including two mixes of the Versus Play theme (appropriate for the 2-player motif of versus play itself). And on Halloween, the oft-loved Castlevania mix “Juese Belmont” finally made it to OCR. Albeit it was by Shael Riley and the Double Ice Backfire (who covered the song as part of the Kickstarter campaign for their album “Ultimate Songs from the Pit”) and not the original Disk Mastah Smokabitch. Longtime OCR members may say otherwise though, and for good reason.

November kicked off with “Cover Your Light,” a remix of the main theme of the Commodore 64 game Deflektor. OCR had been holding it for the German hard/glam rock band Zero Division since August of 2010, wishing it to be released after their latest album was released. However, since that took longer than expected, this mix sat around for 15 months. It’s fantastic, and sounds just like it was ripped from the ’80s. The 6th heralded the release of Ultimate Songs from the Pit, the album of which the Kickstarter campaign that produced the “Juese Belmont” mix mentioned above was for. I hope that made sense…

The first R:TS mix of the year saw release as an OCReMix on the 17th, giving JH Sounds his first mixpost and Cyril the Wolf another one; the mix is an emotional acoustic rendition of Final Zone from Sonic 1, entitled “Finality (Radio Edit).” It’s an edit from JH Sounds’s album Hedgehog Hysteria, releaed in 2010. On the day of release for the latest Zelda game also came a surprise album: 25YEARLEGEND: A Legend of Zelda Indie Game Composer Tribute. Released on the 22nd, the album took composers of various indie games and mixed them with songs from across the entire franchise and its 25 years of captivating minds of all ages.

Roots by Danimal Cannon

Danimal Cannon started December off with the release of Roots, a collection of chiptune originals. He was even nice enough to include the project files so that others could experiment with them. OCR released BadAss: Boss Themes on the 6th; this album was just boss themes from a bunch of different games, mostly rock and metal but with a great orchestral track and a couple others too. This is also only Volume 1; the Volume 2 thread’s already up and running in the projects board. The Bad Dudes released another album on the 20th, the Metroid Arrange 25th Anniversary Album. I’m working on getting a copy of this to review with the other two for a Metroid Triple Review, don’t worry. Also released on the 20th was the long-awaited Wild Arms: ARMed and DANGerous. This album took the the soundtrack of Wild Arms and arranged it in a multitude of styles, all of which worked wonderfully for them. And on Christmas, ProtoDome released his album BLUESCREEN, a follow-up to June’s BLUENOISE. This begs the question… is this the dangerous formula he saves Christmas with? Possibly, but it’s awesome regardless of that. As for the theme DJP set at the year’s start… I think that with all the albums released, it was more than met.

December also happened to be Reviews Month at OCR. The premise this year? OA had attained the Power of the ReMix and was poised to destroy OCR. Thus, King djpretzel and his ReMix knights had to review mixes to deal damage. Each remix dealt 50 damage to him, but each remix OA wrote healed 50 HP. Rexy and Bahamut annihilated OA, with a lot of help from many other members. However, that was but OA’s first form; the ground began to rumble… and then his true form awoke. A tentacled beast bearing the facial likenesses of other judges (including Jooj-cat) revealed itself and challenged the community to review 200 tracks to finish him off. Everyone kept doing their best, and I even got involved, doing 16 reviews a day on the 23rd and 24th, and then 16 more on the morning of Christmas. By Christmas night in my time zone, Final OA was down to needing a mere 20 reviews to finish him off. So I took the initiative and reviewed 20 more songs (bringing my total to 36 for that day alone; 78 total) to finish him. What were the spoils of battle, you ask? Well for every review written, a raffle ticket would be entered to win one of three $35 eStarland gift certificates or one of three custom avatars on the OCR forums. Rexy finished the month with a grand total of 200 reviews, and Bahamut with 118. It was a noble effort from all!

And now we find ourselves in 2012. The final tallies for the previous year are 206 mixposts and twelve albums on OCR, and thirty-nine mixposts for ReMix: ThaSauce. That’s twenty-one more songs and four more albums than 2010 for OCR, and nineteen fewer for R:TS. Regardless of that, there’s plenty more to come, just as there is plenty I’ve missed (I know for a fact there’s stuff I haven’t mentioned here). If you know of something else great from 2011 that wasn’t mentioned here, just post it in a comment! It was a wondrous year for the community, and I know that 2012 will be even better! So until next time, game on!