Video Game Grooves Video Game Grooves

Show notes: http://videogamegrooves.com/2020/06/22/episode-64-nier-automata-nier-gestalt-replicant



What is Video Game Grooves? Is it a perfect circle, destined to have no begihttp://videogamegrooves.com/2020/06/22/episode-64-nier-automata-nier-gestalt-replicant-box-setnning or end? Is it a planar spiral, swirling against entropy ever inward toward an imperfect concentric point of consciousness? No. It is a podcast about video game soundtracks on vinyl that you will make a part of you, forever. This week we dive very deep into the NieR: Automata  / NieR Gestalt & Replicant box set from Square-Enix. Paul and Anthony take the lead on this millennia-spanning endeavor, plumbing the depths of meaning from Yoko Taro's inscrutible oeuvre. We take meaning from the music and from the story, exploring themes of consciousness of communication, and we mispronounce ALL of it.



Next we keep you in the know about the new releases and crowdfunding efforts in the world of vinyl. You might say that we keep your heart and mind rich, but your wallet poor. Sorry about that.



Finally we discuss our relationship with video game music, or soundtracks in general, and what it means for us when we do or don't have a personal context with the music. There may or may not be a rant about "VGM." Anime fans and VGM community, direct your angry letters to Jeremy Anthony and Paul [-ed.]



Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @ajohnagnello



Links:

A Short Hike (Stumpy Frog Records)

Twilight Princess Arrangement (sold out) (Respawned Records)

Vib-Ribbon (Minimum Records)

What The Golf? (iam8bit)

Grandia Memorial Soundtrack Edition (Wayo Records)

Control (Laced Records) (Light in the Attic)

Dishonored: The Soundtrack Collectio (Laced Records)

The King of Fighters '98 (Limited Run Games) (Bigwax)

Evoland (Red Art Games)

Evoland II (Red Art Games)

Blaster Master Zero 1 (Limited Run Games)

Blaster Master Zero 2 (Limited Run Games)

Skelettack (Mondo)

***Crowdfunding***

Across the Worlds (Chrono Cross Piano Collections (Wayo Records)

Space Quest III Reorchestrated (Qrates)

SID Anthology: To Be On Top (Qrates) (relaunched)













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Show notes and gallery: http://videogamegrooves.com/2020/06/07/b-side-knight-of-the-round/



A new B-Side is fresh from the boat, and this time we're summoning Knight of the Round for a discussion of their newest release, Seven. Band promoter Kyle Gaddo joins Anthony and Jeremy to explore the phenomenon of Final Fantasy cover music, and heavy metal game cover music in general. Band frontman Justin Taylor gives some insight into the composition process for Seven and provides details about the creation of the album and the process of making a vinyl release happen. We also have a chance to listen to a ton of heavy / pensive / outrageous / stompy / portentous metal. The band is looking to tour again soon when conditions allow, but you should consider supporting them so that you know the lyrics to One-Winged Angel to sing along when Knight of the Round comes to your town!



Twitter: @kotrmetal, @kylegaddo, @ajohnagnello, @jeremy_lamont, @vg_grooves



Knight of the Round can be found on:

Knight of the Round website

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook













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It's been a while since you've had a dose of that ancient far-east fare, so we are bringing it back in style in another great episode. This time we are joined again by Frederik Lauridsen of Blipblop.net to feature some of the very earliest video game music on vinyl record with Namco Game Music Vol. 2, one of those good old G.M.O. Records releases. Specifically we focus on a little-known game called Youkai Douchuuki, and hear a number of selections from a hell-themed arcade game and talk about how the earliest game music came to turntables in Japan. Next, we have a very special fulfillment of Anthony's long-time dream to feature Suite Dragon Quest II, also a Japanese oldie, but it's specifically the B-side we want. We sit down for a truly mammoth 25 minute listening session for the entire reverse side of the Dragon Quest album which features an arranged "sound story" of the Famicom game from beginning to end. We spend some time talking about the kinds of creativity in arrangements like this that we just don't see these days, although a glimmer of it exists in recent performances and upcoming releases.



We move on to those new releases and announcements with trepidation. It's been an expensive couple of weeks for some of us... how about you? Links below in case you need to catch up on some of those soon-to-be-hard-to-find items. A vinyl collector's work is never done, it seems.



Outro: Gameplay from Youkai Douchuuki - Namco Game Music Vol 2



Blip Blop website

Twitter – @blipblopwax, @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @ajohnagnello



Links:

Fatal Fury (Limited Run Games US, Bigwax EU)

Chex Quest (Limited Run Games)

Ape Out (iam8bit)

Wilmot's Warehouse (Ship to Shore)

PLOK (Respawned Records)

Sea of Stars (Backerkit)

Hessian (Crowd Ox)













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Rotating like the seasons in the ambiguous and overwrought ending of Mega Man 2, the turntable has again come round to another episode of Video Game Grooves. No reason to despair, we're not dead (unlike Mega Man at the end of Mega Man 2), but rather we're here for another episode of our famously overwrought podcast for you to enjoy!  This time we get equipped with guest host Brock Wilbur, as he takes a breather from releasing his new book in the Boss Fight Books series, this time about Postal!



In this episode we take a new tack with our feature as we devote our entire session to Mega Man 1-11: The Collection from Laced Records. We get to take our time and get out into the weeds with some of the more admirable traits of a "full series" musical take on Mega Man, but of course there are always some oddball robot masters in the attic, and we trot them out for all to see. We discuss the breadth of the iconic series and delve into some of the more obscure areas of the series, developmentally and musically. Anthony, Brock, Paul and Jeremy all have their particular spins on the records AND the robots of one of Capcom's flagship series... we just hope we're doing it all in the right order.



After the feature, we head into news and new releases, deftly getting you the info you need to justify your expenses to whatever degree you choose or don't... it's enabling behavior, we know, but it's just one more service we provide to you. Finally, we get out of robot mode and sit down to talk about our feelings, and just what (emotionally-speaking) draws us to our record shelf instead of other outlets for passing time. We learn a lot about life, love, and each other. And we hope you do too.



Outro: "Staff Roll" - Mega Man 10



Brock Wilbur's website: http://brockwilbur.com/

Postal (Boss Fight Books) by Brock Wilbur & Nathan Rabin



Ultimatemavrickx (Deviant Art page)



Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @ajohnagnello



Links:

Freedom Finger (Rhymesayers)

Minecraft Volme Beta (Amazon US)

Death Stranding: songs from the Video Game (Mondo)

Resident Evil 4 (Laced Records, Limited, Standard)

Ultimate Chicken Horse (Debug Records)

Void Bastards (Ghost Ramp)

Chex Quest (Limited Run Games)

Osamu Sato Collected Ambient Grooves (Mentalgroove Bandcamp)













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It's been 84 years since we've seen you, but our ❤️ for video game music on vinyl records has gone on, and so we're back at it! This time, Paul and Jeremy are joined by Justin O'Rear from Respawned Records to discuss a pair of features for this episode that are dubiously thematically tied together for your enjoyment and edification. Our first feature pick this time around is Vectormania by Respawned Records. We grapple with the graphics and opine aout "orbots" in this 1990s blast from the pre-rendered past on the Sega Genesis Megadrive. Justin gives us some insight into the background of the record and we even do a little comparison of the electro-farty soundfont on the original hardware. Next, Jeremy infiltrates Perfect Dark, by iam8bit, and puts the game in the context of its iconic spiritual predecessor while highlighting the style it keeps all for itself. We appreciate Joanna Dark as a cool character and explore the musical unity of this co-composed soundtrack while reliving our comp-stomping glory days of Perfect Dark multiplayer.



Next we have quite a few items to catch you up on, commercially speaking. Times are tough but if you're like us, the call of the vinyl is strong, and we know you want to answer. In our third and final segment we sit down with Justin to learn everything there is to know about his new (but prolific) record label, and some of the... "cult pop" properties he has pursued. We ask the hard questions about Plok, and we even weasel a brand new announcement out of him for the next Respawned release!



Outro: "End Credits" - Perfect Dark, by Grant Kirkhope



Respawned Records: http://www.respawnedrecords.com/

Twitter: @respawnedrec

Facebook: respawnedrecords

Instagram: @respawnedrecords



Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @ajohnagnello



Guardia: The X-Strike Sessions (TheYetee)

Ori and the Will of the Wisps (iam8bit)

Ori and the Blind Forest reissue (iam8bit)

Bloodstained Ritual of the Night (sold out) (Limited Run Games)

Sea of Stars (Kickstarter)

Life Force / Salamander (Ship to Shore) (Debug Records) (Black Screen Records)

Tekken (Laced Records)

Tekken 2 (Laced Records)

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Limited Edition (Game.co.uk)

Bat out of HAL (Kirby's Dream Band Bandcamp)

Benyamin Nuss Plays Uematsu (Wayo Records)

Rush 'N Attack (Spacelab9)

Red Matter (Enjoy the Ride Records) (Black Screen Records)

Lost Ember (Mooneye Studios) (EU only)













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Improbable as it may seem, we are back for another podcast adventure! In this episode we are joined by friend of the show Jeff Roberts from the legendary (yes, legendary) band Marshall Art to discuss game soundtrack releases on vinyl that are a bit... unexpected. Anthony kicks us off with a look at the never-gonna-happen release of Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth from ShiptoShore Media. We explore the downright oddity of the game, the music, and the canon of this entry in the Castlevania series, and revel in the FM-synthiness of it all. Also, we may have devised the greatest track title since "Load BGM." Next we move on to Namco Museum: Arcade Greatest Hits. This one is a bit improbable for different reasons, and Jeremy and Jeff pick a few favorites (and anti-favorites) from this indisputably archival release from Spacelab 9. Is video game music bleeps and bloops or is it not? Who knows?



Changing things around for this episode, we discuss our never-ever-ever-ever-gonna-be-released-on-vinyl picks (perhaps tempting the fates? perhaps just wishlisting). Jeff pulls one from an era and a system you might not expect. Anthony gets out into left field with a hopeful release that may or may not be recorded in an airplane hangar. Jeremy goes for something that sounds great, but just may not have the same pull on others as it does for him. Finally we let you know what all your hard-earned money is begging to be spent on as we outline the new releases, as well as some represses and rumors. Join in! It's not like there's a lot else to do this week!



Outro: "Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth Another Medley" - Minabu Namiki



Marshall Art: https://marshallart.band/



Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @ajohnagnello, @marshallartband



Resident Evil 3 (Laced Records)

“Bubble-up” Sludge Life 7” (Devolver Digital)

Glover (Respawned Records)

Red Dead Redemption 2 composed score (Rockstar Warehouse)

198X (iam8bit)













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