UK based video game rock band Spheres of Chaos have just released a new EP over at netlabel Pterodactyl Squad. It’s called Stratospheria and is free to download.
“Embark on a new quest in Stratospheria, the second release from video game rock band Spheres of Chaos. Set off at the breakneck speed of Twilight To Midnight, before moving into the brooding saga of The Citadel; then marvel at the power of the Megafauna, before voyaging upward in Skyward. Spanning styles and sentiments, a journey of adventure, imagination and story-telling awaits.”
Pin Me Down is Russel Lissack (the bassist of Bloc Party) and Milena Mepris (Vocalist from New York). The cross of the two creates the most chic new-wave sound this side of a Kitsune Maison compilation.
Lissack’s guitaring is comparable to an over exaggerated 80s guitar-gasm, just without the grease and the hair (although, that fancy fringe must require some work?). The two met in 2004 and have been swapping ideas through email ever since, the fruits of their labour only just coming to harvest.
Those brilliant ‘Banquet’ style Bloc Party guitar riffs are back with a new glamourous, lip-glossed chorus. Pull out those crimpers and leg warmers as Pin Me Down will be releasing their first vinyl ‘Cryptic’ on French label Kitsune Music this May.
They were the cheeky darlings of last years NME with their nouveau-indie sound with a pinch of electro added in. Now that everyone in the music press has forgotten about the genre they so desperately tried to create through hype, I think it’s safe to come out from under than rock and hope we never ever have to hear that awful phrase again.
What we have here are some truly superb remixes of the bands chart-topping singles from some of the most exciting groups and artists in music right now. Woah… hey, give them a chance though, not everything related to the band has to be covered in conglomerate-hyped up money does it?
Independently developed rhythm surfing game ‘Audiosurf’ is now up for pre-order on Valve’s ‘Steam’ digital delivery service. Becoming a finalist in the 10th Annual Independent Games festival awards is clearly a sort of recognition which is not easily given to the many indie game devs out there and thankfully, thanks to Valve, this game will reach the hands of many rhythm gamers (and most likely console download services in time).
Previously the game was only available to a specific group of beta testers but from this Friday will be available through Steam for $10. Much like Harmonix’s early work before Guitar Hero, Audiosurf has you in control of a aircraft which zooms through constantly changing highways. Traffic metaphors aside, with many different rules and an unlimited soundtrack (the game has a unique music processing engine, perhaps it’s biggest USP) Audiosurf very rarely gets dull. The game allows you to experience your personal music collection in ways never before expected. With the many ways to play, everyone will have their own personal favorite and thankfully all play modes are scored through the global scoreboard which brings the ’score attack’ aspect to a whole new, online level.
If you have access to the Steam platform this game is highly recommended, and with such a low price tag it would be a shame for you to miss out on! The game also comes bundled with the Orange Box Soundtrack which will most likely please the masses of Portal fans out there. Definitely check it out and let me know what you think.
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Gamewave Podcast Episode 39 is now available, and it’s a good ‘un, featuring music from Spamtron, Pixelh8, NES1, The Depreciation Guild, cheap dinosaurs, Jay Tholen and Sintecoraz. There’s also a track from Disasterpeace’s awesome new full-length, Level. Make sure to listen on some nice headphones.
Back when ‘Osu Tatakae Ouendan’ was a purely Japanese love affair, the game obtained notoriety from western gamers who were attracted to the ‘wackiness’ of Japanese media forms. Many imported the game through the internet and it enjoyed much larger sales than originally predicted by developer iNiS.
Keiichi Yano, the designer and co-founder of the development team behind Ouendan shared his thoughts on the subject of bringing over the game to a western audience in the form of ‘Elite Beat Agents’ and what became the basis for the second Ouendan game.
“As we started doing Elite Beat Agents and Ouendan 2, it was interesting. We sat down with Nintendo and knew that we had to create another universe for [Elite Beat Agents], otherwise we have no chance. But yeah, we did that, and that was just the natural progression of wanting to bring the series and that game system over [to the west].”
Hiroki Kikuta, composer of Secret of Mana and Alphabet Planet, has a new album coming out in February.
Featuring his musical contributions to the Japan-only MMORPG Concerto Gate, the release for the artist’s privately owned Norstrilia label will feature 15 songs and a four-page booklet. It is titled simply “Concerto.”
A music sample and thumbnail of the elaborate cover art is now on display at the artist’s official website Angel’s Fear.
Magically exported by SEGA earlier last year, the game focuses on two ‘fashion witches’; Love, and Berry. ‘Oshare Majo: Love and Berry’ is originally from Japan where the game became an instant success with young girls, spawning a successful fashion line as well as a portable version of the game for the Nintendo DS. Created as a female oriented successor to the arcade/trading card game ‘Mushiking: King of Beetles’, Love and Berry has clearly surpassed its spiritual younger-brother by being magically whisked to other countries throughout the world on its own diamond powered private jet.
Taking place in the highly competitive (read: bitchy) world of Tokyo fashion, ‘Oshare Majo’ follows the lives of two close friends as they battle it out to be the best dancers with the cutest styles in the land. The game play itself occurs during three separate ’stages’, all located in and around the most fashionable districts of Tokyo. Across the three stages you’ll be required to ‘dance off’ against an opponent (either computer controlled or a real life fashionista friend/rival) by bashing your palm to the beat of the music. As a hugely simplified version of the Bemani games, obviously the game seems focused on allowing everyone to join in rather than limiting game play to those who play a lot of the time. The machine amplifies it’s soundtrack at such a low volume though, sometimes it becomes incredibly difficult to tap along to the beat of gunfire and roadside crashes coming from the other games in the arcade, either that or the game isn’t really designed for a journalist that’s almost twice the size of the unit and nowhere near as feminine as the intended audience.
It became clear pretty quickly that this isn’t only just about tapping a tambourine to the beat of what can only be described as ‘porn music’. It suddenly clicked, that bright pink cutesy card covered in glitter that fell out of the machine and into my large grubby hands, did that have something to do with this? As I was instructed to swipe the card on the machine I suddenly came over with the giddy excitement of a younger me being given a set of keys to the chocolate factory. I was playing dress up with a human shaped mass of polygons. From then on it became a race, an obsession to obtain more and more clothes to dress up my little dancer and together, we would be the best dressed in Harajuku, Roppongi and then, the world! The urge to collect more had overcome me, some times I even obtained duplicates of things I already had but that didn’t stop us, me and Berry, we were taking over Tokyo and that was all that mattered. The cool knit, active parka and miracle foundation were all we needed for success and it was great.
Shortly after my brief period of awe though we hit a terrible block in the road - an extensive summer ball had been announced and everyone was going to be there (especially that bitch, Love) and we didn’t have any new dresses to wear, this simply wouldn’t do. Gold kept leaping out of my wallet and into the machine, soon enough I had run out of funds. No money, no fancy new dress and certainly nothing to wear to the party. For at least an hour or so I was living the dream I had always had, people were respecting my groove and showing love for my style.
As I swiftly vacated the arcade following many strange looks from my crowd, it dawned on me that all I was holding onto from my experience were my tainted memories of my time at the top and several, very expensive pink sparkly pieces of card. My time in the public eye was something that I will always remember. With my tattered persona and negative image sprawled across newspapers, magazines and TV, maybe it’s for the best I bring out those clippers, eradicate my hair and spend some time in rehab - the comedown from stardom can be harsh.
Following on from their previous single ‘Machine / Revolution’ released on heavily acclaimed indie label ‘Regal’, and with a tonne of remixes under their belt, South Central’s newest release ‘Golden Dawn’ is a collaboration of hood fuelled, urban paranoia and bass filled glitches. With the same, highly renowned drum fill the duo have used since the beginning, it’s no surprise that every new song these mysterious dj’s come out with, it’s always much more fulfilling than the last. Highly energetic guitar riffs intertwinned with a heart moving vocal combine to give a sense of a system which contains no heartbeat.
The video, filmed by Steve Glashier (Who has also worked with Fatboy Slim, DJ Scotch Egg and CSS) is a light filled triumph of colour which only helps to confuse the manic, head-pounding nature of the song even further.
’Golden Dawn’ is out now on Holiphonic Records or for digital download.
A brand new video game music netlabel, Pterodactyl Squad, has just launched. Based in the UK and from the same team behind the Gamewave Podcast, there are already five releases available to download, including music from NESMETAL, Super Multifaros, arcadecoma., Spheres of Chaos and Anamanaguchi. Here’s a blurb from their site:
“Pterodactyl Squad is a netlabel - an online record label which distributes music for free - and all the music we release is inspired by video games. We split our releases into two categories: there’s the original music category, as well as a category for video game soundtracks - these may be faux soundtracks or soundtracks for indie games. Please download all the music you want and play it on your PC, put it on your MP3 player, burn it to CD and tell your friends!”
Pin Me Down is Russel Lissack (the bassist of Bloc Party) and Milena Mepris (Vocalist from New York). The cross of the two creates the most chic new-wave sound this side of a Kitsune Maison compilation.
They were the cheeky darlings of last years NME with their nouveau-indie sound with a pinch of electro added in. Now that everyone in the music press has forgotten about the genre they so desperately tried to create through hype, I think it’s safe to come out from under than rock and hope we never ever have to hear that awful phrase again.
Back when ‘Osu Tatakae Ouendan’ was a purely Japanese love affair, the game obtained notoriety from western gamers who were attracted to the ‘wackiness’ of Japanese media forms. Many imported the game through the internet and it enjoyed much larger sales than originally predicted by developer iNiS.
Magically exported by SEGA earlier last year, the game focuses on two ‘fashion witches’; Love, and Berry. ‘Oshare Majo: Love and Berry’ is originally from Japan where the game became an instant success with young girls, spawning a successful fashion line as well as a portable version of the game for the Nintendo DS. Created as a female oriented successor to the arcade/trading card game ‘Mushiking: King of Beetles’, Love and Berry has clearly surpassed its spiritual younger-brother by being magically whisked to other countries throughout the world on its own diamond powered private jet.