Video Game Grooves

Blog Link: https://videogamegrooves.com/2021/05/29/episode-81-bat-out-of-hal-spelunky/

The procedurally-generated treasure hunt for video game music on vinyl record continues, and we've brought in a couple of strong-jawed Indiana Jones style action archaeologists to get it done. This week, Caleb Denney of Channel 3 Records joins us alongside game music guitar savant and audio mixing sorcerer-king Stemage to get it done. We begin our endeavor by uncovering the hidden gem Bat out of HAL, by Kirby's Dream Band. We praise the band's knack for letting all the musical elements come out and sparkle, as well as the interesting set of choices for inclusion on the album. We then continue to the quizzical and well-known music of Spelunky, by Phlogiston. This release is unique in a few ways, and so we turn it around in our minds and ears to explore its peculiar beauty, and the interesting way it's been arranged to take us through the shifting corridors and caves of its musical labyrinths.

We continue by illuminating the releases and products that seek your treasures these days... and there are many, bold vinyl adventurer!

We then head back to the university to ruminate on our findings by discussing the art and science of audio mixing. Grant and Caleb describe what the process actually is and how it relates to the production of a digital or physical version of our favorite tunes, and how that translates into the finished vinyl that sits on your home treasure altar turntable.

Outro: "Goblins 3" - Bat out of HAL, Kirby's Dream Band

Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @ch3records, @stemage

Facebook – Channel 3 Records

www.ch3records.com

Links:

Final Fantasy XIV Vinyl Box (Square Enix NA) (Square Enix EU)

    https://store.na.square-enix-games.com/en_US/product/634858/final-fantasy-xiv-vinyl-lp-box-vinyl

    https://store.eu.square-enix-games.com/en_EU/product/639581/final-fantasy-xiv-vinyl-lp-box

Melodies Of Midgar (KupoCon) (sold out)

    https://kupo.shop/collections/really-new/products/melodies-of-midgar-limited-edition-vinyl

Enter The Gungeon (Devolver Digital Store)

    https://merch.devolverdigital.co/collections/enter-the-gungeon/products/enter-the-gungeon-vinyl-deluxe-triple-vinyl

Manifold Garden (iam8bit) (Black Screen Records)

    https://www.iam8bit.com/collections/manifold-garden/products/manifold-garden-vinyl-soundtrack

    https://blackscreenrecords.com/collections/distro/products/manifold-garden-original-soundtrack-by-laryssa-okada

Mutazione (iam8bit)

https://www.iam8bit.com/collections/mutazione/products/mutazione-vinyl-soundtrack

Little Nightmares I & II (Bandai Namco US)(Bandai Namco EU)

    https://www.bandainamcoentstore.com/product/637031/little-nightmares-i-ii-vinyl-the-music-box-collection

    https://store.bandainamcoent.eu/eu/product/637612/little-nightmares-i-ii-vinyl-the-  music-box-collection

Papetura (Minority Records)

https://www.minorityrecords.com/en/releases/papetura-soundtrack

Aerial_Knight's Never Yield (Black Screen Records) (US distro Ship to Shore)

    https://blackscreenrecords.com/products/aerial_knights-never-yield-original-soundtrack-by-neil-j-daniel-wilkins

    https://shiptoshoremedia.com/products/aerial_knights-never-yield

Dandara (Mana Wave Media) (Bigwax)

   https://www.manawave.co/product/dandara

    https://bigwax.io/collections/mana-wave-media/products/dandara

Maverick Hunters (Mega Ran Bandcamp)

   https://random.bandcamp.com/campaign/maverick-hunters

Image Gallery

Blog Link: https://videogamegrooves.com/2021/05/08/episode-80-gradius-rebirth-dropsy/ ‎

The season has turned, and for a brief time in Video Game Grooves climes life will be a bit more active and a bit more moist. So we are joined by Aaron from Ship to Shore Media to preside over the action and the, uh, moistness in the form of video game music on vinyl records! Specifically this episode the action belongs to the release of Gradius Rebirth from Ship to Shore. The Rebirth series is a bit special in the pantheon of games and their remakes, and Gradius in particular, ostensively lost forever on Wiiware, lives on with its cutscenes and darkness in this vinyl release. We look at both the narrative-driven elements of DARKNESS and also the fast-paced space jet vibe ala Manabu Namiki, and generally appreciate the little spot Gradius Rebirth holds in the series history. We move on to the moisture with Dropsy, from Joyful Noise Recordings, and it feels just like a damp hug. The mood of Dropsy is something rather unique as well, and we get as close as we can stand to the horrifying/maudlin/sweet combination without freaking out. We appreciate the musical output of the 12-hour Chris Schlarb recording marathon, as well as the Mothersbaughan element of the album, and its overall listenability.

Of course we have new releases and represses and shipping announcements to cover, as always! And finally, we talk to Aaron about the sustainability of the market for video game music on vinyl through the introduction of new (and possibly younger) devotees, and what that means for the release schedule and selections for labels in 2021.

Outro: "Fugitive Foxtrot" - Dropsy, by Chris Schlarb

Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @ajohnagnello, @stsphonoco

Facebook – StSPhonoCo

Links:

Yakuza 0 (Laced Records)

https://www.lacedrecords.co/collections/yakuza

Apex Legends (Enjoy the Ride)

   https://enjoytheriderecords.com/collections/enjoy-the-ride-records/products/apex-legends-soundtrack-etr110

Myst (Fangamer) (Black Screen Records)

   https://www.fangamer.com/collections/myst/products/myst-vinyl-ost

   https://blackscreenrecords.com/products/myst-original-soundtrack-by-robyn-miller

Frostpunk Complete Soundtrack (Gamemusic Records)

   https://gamemusic.net/product/frostpunk-complete-soundtrack/

Mr Nutz (Wayo Records)

   https://www.wayorecords.com/en/vinyls/724-mr-nutz-original-soundtrack-vinyl-collector.html

Super XYX (Respawned Records) (Black Screen Records) (sold out)

   https://respawnedrecords.com/collections/featured/products/super-xyx-vinyl-soundtrack

   https://blackscreenrecords.com/collections/distro/products/super-xyx-original-soundtrack-by-epilis

R-Type Original Sound Box (NIS America)

   https://store.nisamerica.com/preorders/r-type-original-sound-box

NeoGeo Pocket color Selection Vol 1 game bundle (PixnLove) (sold out)

   https://www.pixnlove.com/nintendo-switch/902-neogeo-pocket-color-selection-vol1-snk-limited-edition.html

   https://www.pixnlove.com/nintendo-switch/901-neogeo-pocket-color-selection-vol1-capcom-limited-edition.html

Arknights: Contingency Contract (Monster siren) (requires proxy)

   https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.1-b-s.w20726869-22044789652.1.4a2d66adw4St78&id=640489773953&skuId=4599001768177

Necrosphere (Very Ok Vinyl)

   https://www.veryokvinyl.com/products/vov-001

Friday Night Funkin (Needlejuice Records Kickstarter)

   https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/funkin/friday-night-funkin-the-full-ass-game

Image Gallery

Blog Link: https://videogamegrooves.com/2021/04/22/episode-79-nick-marinelli-sonic-adventure-1-2/

We're back with a new episode dedicated to the spinning lifestyle: not JUST the vinyl, but the Blue Blur makes a return to the podcast after a rather lengthy wait. We could just feel him tapping his toe in our direction. To bring Sonic back to the show we have called upon the only man with the game music event chops to get it done! We're joined by Nick Marinelli of Video Games in Concert to discuss Sonic's seminal first foray into 3D and late-90s lyrical hip-hop and grunge pop.  We close our eyes and feel it burn with the Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 box set from Brave Wave, hitting the feels hard with music that feels nostalgic even on the first listen. We are simply natural, exploring a bit of development history and design challenges that Sonic faced in a complete rework of the franchise. We wanna be cool; we also wanna be like him.

Several new releases and announcements have hit us this month, and make sure to keep you tougher than leather and rougher than the rest of 'em, we update you with links below to get your hands on them. Finally, we sit down with Nick to talk more deeply about the game music fan scene, which has brought up lots of individual artists and groups that have contributed significantly to the catalog of game music, remixes, arrangements, and others--some of which have been released on vinyl! So follow us, set us free, trust us and we will escape from the city. We'll make it through, prove it to you.

Outro: "Pleasure Castle (for Twinkle Park)" - Sonic Adventure, by Jun Senoue

Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @ajohnagnello, @gamemusicrocks

www.gamemusic.rocks

Links:

Mass Effect Trilogy (Spacelab9) (Black Screen Records) (Bioware Gear)

https://spacelab9.com/products/mass-effect-trilogy-vinyl-collection

https://blackscreenrecords.com/collections/distro/products/mass-effect-trilogy-vinyl-collection-by-various-artists

  https://gear.bioware.com/products/mass-effect-vinyl-collection-4lp-box-set

Jet Lancer (Ship to Shore)

https://shiptoshoremedia.com/collections/video-game-soundtracks/products/jet-lancer

Overpass (Ship to Shore)

https://shiptoshoremedia.com/collections/featured/products/overpass

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Laced Records)

https://www.lacedrecords.co/collections/resident-evil/products/resident-evil-7-standard-edition-x4lp-boxset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla (Lakeshore Records)

https://www.lakeshorerecordsshop.com/product/assassin-s-creed-valhalla-original-game-soundtrack-red-w-yellow-splatter-teal-w-black-smoke

Assassin's Creed Valhalla: The Wave of Giants (Lakeshore Records)

https://www.lakeshorerecordsshop.com/product/assassin-s-creed-valhalla-the-wave-of-giants-opaque-white-vinyl-einar-selvik

https://nordicmusicmerch.com/products/einar-selvik-assassins-creed%c2%ae-valhalla-the-wave-of-giants-lp-white-vinyl (sold out)

Demon's Souls (Milan Records)

Mondo: https://mondoshop.com/products/demons-souls-original-soundtrack-2xlp

LITA: https://lightintheattic.net/releases/7691-demon-s-souls-original-soundtrack

Newbury: https://www.newburycomics.com/collections/exclusive-vinyl/products/shunsuke_kida-soundtrack-demons_souls_exclusive_2lp

Black Screen Records: https://blackscreenrecords.com/products/demon-s-souls-original-soundtrack-by-shunsuke-kida

Channel 3: https://ch3records.com/collections/vinyl/products/demons-souls

Chipfreq: https://www.vinylguru.co.uk/collections/all/products/194398431314

Ketsui -Kizuna Jigoku Tachi- (Brave Wave)

Limited Run Games: https://limitedrungames.com/collections/neo-frontpage/products/ketsui-kizuna-jigoku-tachi-the-definitive-soundtrack-vinyl

Bigwax: https://bigwax.

Blog Link: https://videogamegrooves.com/2021/04/01/episode-78-paradise-killer-pepsiman/

Welcome to this refreshing AND tasteful episode of Video Game Grooves! This week we throw it back to chrome, shuttered lighting, palm trees, smooth jazz saxophones, and a horrific faceless nightmare-fuel running facehole fizzer who will compel you with the power of cola. This is just how we do it. This week, Paul leads us to the beautiful and bizarre world of Paradise Killer from Black Screen Records. The game is exceptional and captivating, not least of which due to the musical score by Barry Topping. The nostalgia-nouveau fusion jazz soundtrack keeps us enthralled even if we have no idea what's going on in the game (although we try to explore that too). We then move on to Jeremy's feature of an unofficial Pepsiman release and we ask "Is Pepsi(man) okay?" We take a slice of the original music by James & Gang (James Shimoji) for the inscrutable sugar-water Japanese ad campaign of the 90s, and we appreciate the amazing saxophone and keyboard work, exploring topics such as improvisation, animal attraction, and corporeal miming.

We flow into a discussion about soloists and performers in video game music, who seem often to go under the radar and we shout out several that we know (and a few we didn't) and invite you to seek their work on vinyl and off. And we wrap it all up with new releases and announcements that you can pay for right now! And isn't that just what you want? Of course it is.

Outro: "Idle Lands" - Paradise Killer, by Barry Topping

Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @ajohnagnello

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikMwQxaSRjU

Mizucat Illustration, Art, & Design

https://www.mizucat.com/

Kristin Naigus

http://www.field-of-reeds.net/credits.html

Reven Music

https://revenmusic.com/

Julie Elven

https://www.julieelven.com/about

Links:

Tales of Symphonia (Ship to Shore)

https://shiptoshoremedia.com/collections/featured/products/tales-of-symphonia

The King of Fighters 2002 (Limited Run Games) (Bigwax)

   https://bigwax.io/collections/brave-wave-productions/products/the-king-of-fighters-2002-the-definitive-soundtrack

   https://limitedrungames.com/collections/neo-frontpage/products/the-king-of-fighters-2002-soundtrack-vinyl-or-cd

The King of Fighters 94/95 (Limited Run Games) (Bigwax)

   https://limitedrungames.com/collections/neo-frontpage/products/the-king-of-fighters-94-95-soundtrack-bundle

   https://bigwax.io/collections/brave-wave-productions/products/the-king-of-fighters-94-95-the-definitive-soundtrack

Blaseball (iam8bit)

   https://www.iam8bit.com/products/blaseball-vinyl-soundtrack

Simian Symphony (Donkey Kong 64 arrange) (Respawn Records)

   https://respawnedrecords.com/collections/featured/products/dk64-simian-symphony-vinyl-record

Murder by Numbers (Black Screen Records)

   https://blackscreenrecords.com/collections/all-releases/products/murder-by-numbers-original-soundtrack-by-masakazu-sugimori

Noby Noby Boy (Fangamer)

   https://www.fangamer.com/products/noby-noby-boy-vinyl-soundtrack

Watch Dogs Legion (Laced Records)

   https://www.lacedrecords.co/collections/watch-dogs

Donkey Kong Country Recreated (Mental Groove Records) (Forced Exposure, USA)

   https://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/jammin-sam-miller-donkey-kong-country-ost-recreated-2lp/MPD.036LP.html

   https://shop.mentalgroove.ch/album/donkey-kong-country-ost-recreated-2

Street Fighter II cover album (Retroleaf Records)

   https://retroleafrecords.com/products/street-fighter-ii

Post Void 7" (Diggers Factory)

   https://www.diggersfactory.com/vinyl/240060/ycjy-x-karlflodin-post-void

Blog Link: https://videogamegrooves.com/2021/03/06/episode-77-ikaruga-quake/

This could be the stressiest episode of Video Game Grooves, as we dive into the merciless black-and-white polarized world of Ikaruga, the insanely difficult vertical shooter from Treasure Games, which got a soundtrack release by Data Discs last year. Anthony guides us through the game's monochromatic landscape and its noble-yet-frenetic soundscape, and we place the game in its context alongside other musical and mechanical offerings from Treasure. Jeremy decides to go a little more toward the dark side of the musical spectrum with Quake, by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. We investigate what the sound of "industrial music" is, and whether Quake's musical score is what we think it is, and what the value of Quake to gaming at large might be. We also look subconscious musical-emotional manipulation right in the face, and did you just feel your phone buzz in your pocket?

We carry on with the new releases, (which are manageable!) along with some recently-shipped records that might be finding their way onto your shelf right now, as well as a few new announcements that will lighten your wallet in the future.

Finally, we chew on a list of "real musicians" who have contributed their compositional skills to video games alongside the likes of Trent Reznor (perhaps even some of his NIN bandmates!) and whether their video game compositions have graced the vinyl market yet... and perhaps whether they should. But of course, we can't always be perfectly thorough, so who might we have missed? Listen in and help us out!

Outro: "Reality" - Ikaruga, by Hiroshi Iuchi

Links:

Itta (Respawned Records) (sold out)

   https://respawnedrecords.com/products/itta-4lp-box-set

Borderlands 2 (Laced Records)

   https://www.lacedrecords.co/collections/borderlands/products/borderlands-2-limited-edition-x4lp-box-set

   https://www.lacedrecords.co/collections/borderlands/products/borderlands-2-deluxe-x4lp-box-set

RuneScape: Old School Combat Classics (Laced Records)

   https://www.lacedrecords.co/collections/runescape/products/runescape-old-school-combat-classics-deluxe-double-vinyl

RuneScape: God Wars (Laced Records)

   https://www.lacedrecords.com/collections/runescape/products/runescape-god-wars-dungeon-deluxe-double-vinyl

Esper Dream 1+2 (Ship to Shore)

   https://shiptoshoremedia.com/collections/featured/products/esper-dream

Double Kick Heroes (G4F Records)

   https://www.g4f-records.com/en/produit/double-kick-heroes-vinyl-edition-pre-order/

Anodyne 2: Return to Dust (Yetee Records)

   https://theyetee.com/collections/all/products/anodyne-2-original-soundtrack-lp

YIIK (Yetee Records)

   https://theyetee.com/products/yiik-a-postmodern-rpg-original-soundtrack

Stubbs the Zombie (Stubbs Hub)

   https://stubbshub.com/#collectors

Wave Break: Neon Rides (NewRetroWave Bandcamp)

   https://newretrowave.bandcamp.com/album/wave-break-neon-rides-game-soundtrack

Image Gallery

Blog link: https://videogamegrooves.com/2021/02/03/episode-76-street-fighter-iii-the-collection

The World Fighting Championship returns to your turntable in the form of the underappreciated little brother of the Street Fighter franchise: Street Fighter III. We're joined by Ryan Huff of One Run Records for this one, so you know it's going to be a little offbeat to begin with! In this episode, Anthony takes the helm and steers us through the musically- and canonically-complicated waters of Street Fighter III: The Collection from Laced Records, with stops at New Generation, 2nd Impact, and Third Strike. The evolving music and sound of Hideki Okugawa as the game saw its various iterations from 1997 to 1999 and finally settled on something more evolved and distinctive than the series had dared previously. We discuss the art, the cultural impact, and the mechanical import of this Capcom gem, and help you to appreciate it as only a black-clad beret-wearing teenager traipsing around Germany could!

We take care of some housecleaning with the new releases and other announcements of the past couple of weeks. We muse over the thematically-appropriate question of pan-series box sets, such as Laced has done with Street Fighter 3, and we discuss the relative merit of "less-popular" games getting unsuccessful standalone releases versus folding them into a larger set. Curation!

Outro: "Crowded Street (Yun & Yang Stage)" - Street Fighter III: Third Strike, by Hideki Okugawa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg1xPOUn7vQ

http://www.onerunrecords.com/

Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @ajohnagnello, @onerunrecords

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Onerunrecords/

Links:

Dungeon of the Endless (G4F Records)

Warhammer: Vermintide II (Laced Records)

Spinch (iam8bit)

Pac-Man fever 7" (Cook and Becker, book bundle)

Afterparty (Limited Run Games)

King of Fighters 2000 (Limited Run Games)

Black Materia: The Remake (Gamechops Bandcamp crowdfund)

Klonoa restock (Ship to Shore Media)

Memories of Tokyo-To (glow-in-the-dark repress) (Ship to Shore Media)

Image Gallery

Blog link: https://videogamegrooves.com/2021/01/23/episode-75-goldeneye-64-orchestrated-untitled-goose-game/

We're putting the needle down on the run-in groove for 2021. It's a little noisy so far, so we might need to damp clean the whole thing. For our first episode we're joined by Justin O'Rear from Respawned Records to look at some our favorite recent game-music-on-vinyl releases that are just begging for a closer look. We begin with one of Paul's runners-up for last year, Goldeneye 64 Orchestrated, from Respawned Records. This music takes us immediately back to rowdy group gaming sessions with friends, and punishing cheaters who looked on our quadrant of the TV! We explore the game's weird development history and its eponymous tie-in (but we forget to mention last month's collapse of the Areceibo Observatory!) and how the convergence of pop culture and circumstance made N64 Goldeneye a household name in the late 90s. We continue with a look at Untitled Goose Game from iam8bit, and discuss its similarly-unexpected captivation of pop culture. Claude Debussy's "Preludes" get a bit of airtime and we talk about impressionist piano composition (take THAT Debussy!)

We run through the most important news... make sure not to skip this part! There's a lot going on!

And finally we use the "fun old memories" of Goldeneye to springboard to the "fun new memories" of music and experiences like Untitled Goose Game, and we talk about whether game music on vinyl can be a catalyst for some latter-day nostalgia.

Jeremy's Favorite Goldeneye Comedy

https://realgoldeneye.ytmnd.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RR5V0rmN4o

Outro: "Depot" - Goldeneye 64 Orchestrated, by Rich Douglas (composed by Grant Kirkhope, Graeme Norgate)

Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @respawnedrec

FB – https://www.facebook.com/RespawnedRec/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/respawnedrecords/

https://respawnedrecords.com/

Links:

Tree of Life (Manawave)

Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game (Limited Run Games)

Grindstone (iam8bit)

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege (Laced Records)

Panzer Dragoon: Remake (Bigwax) (Brave Wave / Limited Run Games)

Panzer Paladin (Limited Run Games)

Little Big Adventure symphonic Suite (Wayo Records)

Super Meat Boy Forever (sold out) (Yetee Records)

Banjo-Skazooie (Respawned Records)

Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World (Strictly Limited Games)

Mutant Mudds (Cartridge Thunder)

Red Dead Redemption 2 "House Building EP" (Lakeshore Records)

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger (Kickstarter)

Image Gallery

What a year. Period, not exclamation point.

But what a year for video game music on vinyl record!  The full VGG crew is joined once again for our annual best-of-the-year episode by Frederik "Blipblop" Lauridsen from BlipBlop.net for the definitive breakdown of the very best releases from across the niche universe of our weird hobby.

In our round-robin fashion, we count down our top 3 individually, as well as a few special shout-outs, and then we get to your favorite picks, as the community of Lovers of Video Game Music on Vinyl Record in the year 2020.

Big thanks to you, our community, for toughing out 2020 with us, and get ready to spin up 2021 as big new things come our way! Happy New Year!

Outro: "Staff Roll" - Tekken 3, by Nobuyoshi Sano, Keiichi Okabe & Yuu Miyake

Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @blipblopwax

http://www.blipblop.net/

To shortcut to the good stuff you all wanted (community picks) you can click here, but it's a secret to everyone.

Show notes and gallery:  https://videogamegrooves.com/2020/12/14/episode-73-ultimate-doom-doom-2016/ ‎

Oh hello there, welcome to our cozy winter fireside for the latest episo—PROFANE BLOOD OF THE DAMNED DID FLOW OVER THE PLAIN OF TORMENT—of the Video Game Grooves podcast! We're joined by "extended family" show hosts Tom Quillfeldt from Laced Records and culture maven Brock Wilbur to make the season merry! This episode goes a little off the glowing holiday message you'd usuall—AND IN THE THRALL OF THE HELLISH LEGIONS THE WEAK SHALL KNOW NO PEACE—in this festive time of year, but we think you'll love it! This episode features the unofficial release of Ultimate DOOM, by Bobby Prince circa 1993, and 2016's DOOM by Mick Gordon. We think you'll really enjo—AS THE UNQUENCHABLE WRATH OF THE NETHERWORLD POURED THROUGH THE GATE—fantastic heavy metal sounds of the series, originating—RENDERING THEIR FLESH INTO PUREST AGONY—and still iconic today.

Plus, we continue with the news and new releases, and there's plenty of —UNSPEAKABLE VIOLENCE—your wallet, so watch out! ;)

Plus, we discuss games of 2020 that we think deserve a vinyl release, including a few so obscure, you might think we invented them! Listen in and—SUFFER ENDLESSLY.

Outro: "BFG Division: - DOOM (2016), by Mick Gordon

Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @laced_records, @brockwilbur

http://www.brockwilbur.com

BROWSE: Brock's Discogs profile for charity

DONATE: Harvesters Community Food Network (food bank)

DONATE: Veterans Community Project (veterans housing)

http://www.lacedrecords.com/

Laced Records Blog

LAST CHANCE TO VOTE: Video Game Music on Vinyl's Best of 2020 Community Poll, by BlipBlop.net

Links:

Terraria (Laced Records)

ActRaiser (Wayo Records)

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Mondo)

Klonoa: Door To Phantomile (Ship to Shore)

Vampire: The Masquerade-Shadows Of New York (Bandcamp)

Alwa's Awakening (Thunderful Games)

Rez Infinite: Area X (iam8bit)

Disco Elysium (iam8bit) (Open Edition) (Limited Edition)

Katana Zero (Fangamer)

LocoRoco (Fangamer)

Battletoads: Smash Hits (Rare Ltd)

Shovel Knight King of Cards (Bigwax EU) (Limited Run USA)

Shovel Knight Treasure Trove Empty Box (Limited Run)

Earthnight (Limited Run, sold out)

DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou (Bigwax EU) (Limited Run USA)

Clockwork Aquario (Strictly Limited Games)

MOTHER Music Revisited (Amazon.jp) (CDJapan) (HMV)

Slice of Life: Songs from Wholesome Games (Black Screen Records)

Doctor Who: Edge of Time (Amazon)

Sinnohvation (insaneintherainmusic Bandcamp)

Twin Mirror (Diggers Factory)

Image Gallery

Show notes and gallery: https://videogamegrooves.com/2020/11/25/episode-72-manawave-w-f-music-from-final-fantasy-13

It's time to talk turkey about video game music on vinyl record, and we're going to start with the drunken uncle at the gathering: lo-fi hip-hop.  We're joined by Caleb Denney, formerly of Debug Records but newly of Channel 3 Records, to talk about some great and noteworthy feature picks!  We begin with the cross-label release of Manawave, an ostensibly low (but not-low) fi (but not-fi) hip (but not-hip) hop (but not-hop) adaptation of Secret of Mana. We admire its aspirations and discuss the album's flowing intentionality and mood, as well as the improbable path to approval by Mana's original composer, Hiroki Kikuta and the album art by Hiroo Isono. We continue to Anthony's pick of W/F Music from Final Fantasy XIII, and champion the unusual divergence the divisive game's music takes from the rest of the canon. A tiny bit of soapboxing and gushing later, and we ponder Square-Enix's vinyl trajectory toward mediocrity from this serendipitously wonderful release.

We take care of the news and releases, as always, keeping you informed just in time for those spendy, spendy holidays. And for our final segment, we decide to deeply interrogate the idea of "exceptional" music in the game music vinyl space. What qualifies as exceptional? Are we getting exceptional releases? Do we deserve them? What does the future hold? Is Mass Effect's music really that good? Listen and find out!

Outro: "Can't Catch a Break!" - Final Fantasy XIII, by Masashi Hamauzu

VOTE: Video Game Music on Vinyl's Best of 2020 Community Poll, by BlipBlop.net

Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @ch3records

Channel 3 Records Website

Links:

SteamWorld Tower Defense Reimagined (Thunderful)

The Pathless (iam8bit)

Radirgy Swag (fashionstore.jp)

Carrion (Materia Collective)

Guacamelee (Ship to Shore)

Guacamelee 2 (Ship to Shore)

The Music of Destiny Vol 2 (Bungie US) (Bungie EU)

Haven (G4F Records)

Resident Evil 6 (Laced, Limited Ed) (Standard Ed)

Art of Fighting 3 (Bigwax) (Limited Run Games)

Shenmue III (Standard Bigwax) (Standard Limited Run Games)

Blossom Tales (Respawned Records)

Serious Sam 4 (Special reserve Games)

Zelda & Chill 2 (Bandcamp crowdfunding) Ends Dec 11

Firewatch (Kickstarter) Ends Nov 30

Image Gallery