Mazedude - The American Album (2006)

Happy belated New Year! For the final day of Weaboo Week I'm uploading something that barely fits the theme at all... in fact, this tribute to American video game composers came about partially as a reaction to the abundance of tributes to Japanese composers being released at the time. This pretty much ended up being video game music week, huh? Oh well!

In the American Album, Mazedude (a.k.a. Chris Getman) remixes music from several American video games in a very wide array of styles. Due to his unusual choice of audio software, Mazedude's style has a distinct sample based sound to it which you'll probably either love or hate. A follow-up called American Pixels is due for release later this year. Pre-order it if you're so inclined and in the meantime you'll also get a bonus EP of progressive chiptune remixes.

Because this is one of my favourite albums ever, I also put together a 'companion' download filled with bonus items. Download that too if you'd like to hear the original compositions behind every remix on the album, pieces of music that served as stylistic inspiration for the remixes, unfinished 'sketches' for tracks that never made it onto the album, source files in .IT format for three of the songs... and more.

Download (320)
Download The American Album Companion

Kanar - Steppes III (2007)

Kanar is Yann van der Cruyssen (a.k.a. Nurykabe, Morusque) and Léo Mathieu, the former of whom contributed to the soundtracks of indie games such as Knytt Stories, Blocks That Matter and Saira along with the controversial remixed score for the Steam / Mac App Store / WiiWare version of Cave Story.

This album features arrangements from not only these games' soundtracks, but others such as Chrono Cross, Grim Fandango and Monkey Island. Also included in the MP3 upload is a great cover of Song of Storms (the Windmill Hut music from Ocarina of Time) which appeared on Steppes II.

Download (VBR)
FLAC version available on Nurykabe's website

P.S. I'm pretty sure the attribution of track 15 to Yasunori Mitsuda on Tracklist.png is a typo which should say track 11.

Studio Ghibli Arrangements

Day 3 of Weaboo Week and I apologise in advance for utterly failing as a weaboo in this instance. Although I've seen several Studio Ghibli films, I haven't listened to the soundtracks in isolation and the only piece of Ghibli music I especially remember is the opening to My Neighbour Totoro. Nonetheless, there was some interest in Studio Ghibli music, so I've decided to irresponsibly post a bunch of arrangement albums I've barely listened to. Note: most of these didn't survive the great Megaupload purge of 2012 and have been removed.

Various Artists - Ghibli meets Bossa Nova (2009)

This was an impulse buy based solely on the cute cover. To this day, my regrets are minimal.

Download (V0)

Lisa Nakazono - Chopin de Ghibli (2009)

These piano arrangements do a pretty stellar job of emulating Chopin, so if that's what you're looking for I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Download (V0)

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Plays Studio Ghibli Symphonic Collection (2005)

A collection of straight orchestral covers.

Download (V0)

Mega Man 9 Mega Post

Day 2 of Weaboo Week brings a plethora of Mega Man Downloads. Most Mega Man games have pretty great music (with Mega Man 2 probably being the fan favourite) but my main focus here is on Mega Man 9, a fairly recent entry in the series.

TSSF - RockMan (Mega Man) 9 NES Retro Soundtrack (2008)

The soundtrack of Mega Man 9 ostensibly emulates the 8-bit style of its NES predecessors, but ignores some of the subtle technical limitations of the console. This download is not the OST itself, but almost perfect recreations of every song using the NES sound format that have then been recorded using NES hardware.

Download (V0)

Random - Mega Ran 9 (2009)

Mega Ran 9 is a hip hop concept album that features backing tracks based on the game's music and an ongoing narrative inspired by the game's story. Absent from the download I've posted is the Splash Woman instrumental which was added for the digital release. If you really want it, head to Random's Bandcamp page, where the other two entries in the Mega Ran series are also available.

Download (VBR)

Various Artists - Chiptuned Rockman (2009)

Chiptune remixes of chiptunes. Lots of people thought this was a dumb idea, but not me! Some of these arrangements showcase ridiculous talent and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in getting into chipmusic. The source tracks for this span the entire franchise. Don't be put off if you don't know the original versions, but one track I think seriously benefits from familiarity with the original is virt's take on Tornado Man, so consider checking that track out in the Mega Man 9 soundtrack above before listening.

Download (V0)

OverClocked ReMix - Mega Man 9: Back in Blue (2011)

This fan-made remix album covers a wide variety of styles and genres. I don't adore everything on offer, but it outdoes the official Mega Man 9 arrange album massively. One track I think will appeal especially to readers of this blog is Morricone Man, which references Ennio Morricone's style along with some of his most famous melodies. Mazedude even includes some sneaky samples from the previously posted Morricone RMX (in fact, he was the one who introduced me to that album).

Download free from the official site. MP3 and FLAC and torrents, oh my!

OverClocked ReMix - Rockin' Sockin' Cinder Blockin' (A Concrete Man Remix EP) (2011)

This one's a mixed bag in terms of quality, which is understandable given that it was proposed, produced and released in the space of two weeks to address the absence of a Concrete Man remix in Back in Blue. The standout track for me is probably Concrete Heart.

Download (mostly 192)

LSD - Uptime (2007)

Merry belated Christmas! Today marks the beginning of what I'm calling 'Weaboo Week' even though that title barely applies to most of the stuff I'll be posting. I plan to make 7 posts over 7 days with vague recurring themes of covers, music originating from Japan or music I consider generally nerdy.

Today it's Uptime by LSD, a jazz trio led by Sam Ascher-Weiss (a.k.a. Shnabubula) who I've posted about here twice before. Sam performs piano solo on the first three tracks but is later joined by Dustin Kaufman on drums and Lenwood Turner on trumpet (performing only briefly due to the effects of wisdom teeth removal). My favourite track is an arrangement of the main theme of Chrono Trigger, which is embedded above.

Uptime isn't technically an album, the name simply refers to the studio it was recorded at. Unfortunately it doesn't serve as a very good advertisement for the studio; the tracks feature low bitrates, questionable volume levels and occasionally audio glitches. Still, I recommend this release wholeheartedly on the strength of these arrangements alone. Also, do yourself a favour and check out Sam's other performances on YouTube and Bandcamp.

Download

Various Artists - Morricone RMX (2001)

Here is something that will hopefully sate uani73's request for "more Morricone": a compilation of remixes devoted to his work.

Tracklist:

The Man With The Harmonica (Apollo 440 Remix)	5:57
For A Few Dollars More (Terranova Remix)	4:44
Here's To You (Copasetic Con Vivi E Selda Remix)	4:17
Belinda May (Fantastic Plastic Machine Edit)	6:48
Clan Of The Sicilians (Amok Sicilian Remix)	6:48
Chi Mai (Nightmares on Wax Remix)	5:21
Il Grande Silencio (Thievery Corporation Remix)	4:14
Un Bacio (Un Bacio è Un Bacio è Un Bacio Remix)	6:16
Doricamente (Tommy Hools Remix)	4:22
Giocoso, Gioioso (Groove Corporation Remix)	5:04
La Bambola/Come Maddalena (Sofa Surfers Remix)	3:52
La Lucertola (De-Phazz Dub Mix)	3:51
Clan Of The Sicilians (Clone Of The Sicilians Mix)	8:21

I love the first track. Others sound like they've just chucked a drumbeat on top of the original song. Nevertheless, if you are a Morricone fan I'd say this is worth listening to.

Download MP3 @MediaFire

Bad Dudes - Thai Guy (2008) [VBR]

Behold, an EP comprised entirely of covers of Sagat's theme from Street Fighter 2. There are 10 covers in all, including styles such as prog rock, porno groove, solo piano waltz and obscure tracker module tribute.

Hopefully this will appeal to some people. As far as I'm concerned, there is no need to know or care about Street Fighter to listen to this, as that was pretty much the situation I was in when I first heard it.

For those interested, the MP3 comments tell a little story. Oh, and Sagat is from Thailand, hence the title. Apparently Max is friends with Sagat on Facebook, so maybe we can hook up the man himself?

Download from MediaFire or the Bad Dudes website.