Anamanaguchi with Rock Club, from the Scott Pilgrim VS The World: The Game OST.

Anamanaguchi are a chiptune indie band from New York, New York! Headed by frontman, Peter Venkm—I mean er…Berkman with Dann—I mean James DeVito on bass, Ary Warnaar on guitar, and drummer Luke Silas.

Unlike other chiptune bands in the genre Anamanaguchi makes “loud, fast music with a hacked NES from 1985” and backs their synthesizers and NES with fantastic instrumentals. Also interesting, is that Peter states that the band’s music has nothing to do with videogames, it’s just their own original ideas of “simple” pop and rock songs with a twist; derivative of bands like Weezer and The Beach Boys.  

Funnily enough, and slightly contradicting to my above statement, the band’s music has appeared in videogames such as the Scott Pilgrim VS The World OST (obviously), and Rock Band (3)

I have to say, personally though that, I’ve seen these guys live. And they’re AMAZING. It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. the energy they have, the quirky neon guitar/bass strings/wires, the glowsticks spread throughout the crowd, everything was just great. And I wouldn’t trade that night for anything.

Oh, and on top of it all, Everyone in the band is SO NICE! Peter is probably the cutest, and nicest guy I have ever met! he even gave me his autograph, and casually chatted with me for a while, what a guy!

It’s always so cool when you get to know the people who create such awesome works of art in person, it really gives you a sense of who they are, and why they do it.

ANYWAY. I want to say that this was a GREAT game, I mean story-wise it was far from accurate to the book OR movie. but, it was honestly the best experience I’ve ever had with a brawler-type videogame. from the amazing score, done by Anamanaguchi, to the animations done by the very silly, and very morbid Paul Robertson

(http://visublog.mechafetus.com/archives/author/paul NSFW!, js.)

It was an amazing game overall, and the music just added to it and increased the enjoyment of my experience in every way possible.

Here’s Cheap Shop, one of the really offbeat and…”slower” songs on the album, but still one of my favorites by Anamanaguchi overall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7o4k5tMeRE 

Also, here’s  the link to their website where you can get all their singles for the low cost of Zero dollars! ~ http://anamanaguchi.com/singles/

Late of the Pier, Formed in 2004, In actuality, started their careers in 2007 with the release of their single “Space and the Woods” from their debut EP, which was only limited to 500 copies! This was followed by the release of their following singles, “Bathroom Gurgle” and “The Bears are Coming” as well as their second EP.

In 2008 the band had a big break in releasing their first album Fantasy Black Channel, winning them a Neptune Music Prize from the drowned in sound website.

Following that they released two more singles, “Blueberry” and “Best in the Class” in 2010. Unfortunately, they haven’t been heard much from since.

They’ve toured with such musicians as Justice, Soulwax, Kaiser Chiefs, and Hadouken!

Their music style is fairly comparable to Gary Numan, Klaxons, and Metronomy, due to the use of synthesizers in a very unique pop-esque style.

In my opinion, songs like focker almost sound “hardcore” so when I thought Late of the Pier, I thought raw, gritty, obnoxious indie pop…Until they released Best in the Class.

 Here’s the Video to Focker. My other personal favorite from Fantasy Black Channel.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz5Dei5O3xY 

(Confined space + band + broken thermostat + melting insturments + melting people + freaky robot with giant marching band drumsticks = Deliciously 80’s video.)

Kaine (Escape) by Keiichi Okabe, from the soundtrack to Nier, Square Enix’s modest attempt an a genuine action-adventure game.

Most of the albums songs feature melancholy-inducing lyrical ballads sung (and written) by Emi Evans, with lyrics written and sung in French, English, Portuguese, and Scottish Gaelic. Only 9 of the 43 songs on the soundtrack feature no vocal components. 

Although, most of the songs have no meaning behind the lyrics, “Ashes of Dreams” was the one exception. Evans convinced the composers that at least one song in the soundtrack should have recognizable lyrics rather than “futuristic english”, like originally planned. Evans found Ashes to be the most difficult song on the soundtrack to write, due to the difficulty she had with meeting the composers criteria and expectations in finding the right emotional sense of lack of hope and despair in the lyrics.

Songs throughout the album range in language, for example:

“Hills of Radiant Wind” is one of the few upbeat songs on the largely dark soundtrack. Emi sang in a variant of Portuguese meant to sound like a spirit floating in the wind. ”Grandma” was sung in french to set the theme of melancholy and anguish. “The Wretched Automatons” was sang in a variation of English, and the lyrical aspect of the song was recorded prior to the additions of mechanical sounds that play throughout the track. “Kaine” is sung in a variation of Gaelic, and is my personal favorite track on the album.

 NieR Gestalt & Replicant Original Soundtrack was released in April of 2010 and was very well received by critics and fans. Earning such applause as: “one of the best game soundtracks ever”, “captivating vocal work”, “meticulously-crafted”, “accessible to the untrained ear” and “hands down one of the best soundtracks square has ever published over the years”

Original Sound Version, and Square Enix Music later declared it “Best Japanese Videogame Soundtrack of the Year” 

I know I said that “Chrono Trigger OSV” is my favorite videogame soundtrack ever, but I have to admit, this album seriously makes me take my decision back, I mean, I’m really into videogame soundtracks and collecting them is a little bit of a hobby for me, but I can honestly say, I’ve never heard anything quite like this, and I may just never do so ever again.

Ashes of Dreams, the English version ~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufnoiz4ZCOw  

(Source: displacedinsubspace)

Corridors of Time, by Yasunori Mitsuda.

This song is from the Chrono Trigger soundtrack. which in my books, is probably and always will be my favorite videogame soundtrack of all time. (However I have a lot of favorites so no worries there.)

Yasunori started his career at the age of 20, when he landed himself a job as a videogame music composer for Squaresoft (before the company turned to shit) although, they treated him as a sound engineer, having him work on sound effects for such titles as Final Fantasy V, Romancing SaGa 2, and Secret of Mana. in 1994, worried that he’d never be able to get a chance to actually compose any music, and troubled by the low pay grade, he decided to take drastic action, and confront Square’s VP Hironobou Sakaguchi.

Giving him an ultimatum, let Yasunori compose, or he would leave the company. Hiro then assigned him to the team working on Chrono Trigger. Yasunori took the role of sole composer, and needed to make 54 songs for the game, he worked so hard, that he would end up passing out from exhaustion and waking up with ideas for the score. (how he came up with the idea for the end theme)

However, during the development of the album, Yasunori needed to be hospitalized to due to developing stomach ulcers, and Nobou Uematsu (Composer for all the Final Fantasy games) ended up finishing the score, with a total of 10 tracks composed by him, and one co-produced by Noriko Matsueda.

Chrono Trigger’s soundtrack was a huge success, and was extremely well perceived with fans. It was the album that matured and opened up Yasunori’s music style. he attributes it’s success with his use of Jazz and Folk stylings rather then semi-orchestral, which was used by most videogame composers at the time.

After Chrono Trigger, Yasunori went on to compose for various other Squaresoft titles until his leaving of the company in 1998 to become a freelance composer.

Some of his other videogame soundtracks include: Front Mission: Gun Hazard, Xenogears/saga/blade (series), Soma Bringer, Chrono Cross & Radical Dreamers, Graffiti Kingdom, Soma Bringer,  Bomberman 64, and many others.

Non-videogame albums include: Inazuma Eleven, Kirite, Creid, and Mobile Suit Gundam 00— (etc.)

 He’s one of my biggest musical influences, and I’ll always look up to him, and the way he’s shaped the standards for music in videogames.

Here’s another track that astonished me.
“Idea” from Soma Bringer, a quirky j-rpg for the nintendo DS
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H64pW_jKQYs

Two Door Cinema Club, from Northern Ireland.

Sam, Alex and Kevin met when in Bangor Grammar School (High School)

Their interesting band name, was first brought about when Sam mistakenly mispronounced the name of the local cinema “Tudor Cinema” and thus, the name stuck. The band then formed in 2007, and to everyone’s dismay they gave up their places in university to pursue music. (Which became the basis for their song “I Can Talk”) They then released their debut EP “Four Words to Stand On” in 2009 which received positive reviews overall. Later they had been all over the internet due to being featured on many music blogs, they then decided to begin recording their debut record. “Tourist History” was released mid 2010, and thus spawned 5 major singles. 

Two Door Cinema Club’s music has been featured in a lot of outside media such as TV ads, videogames like Gran Turismo 5, NBA 2K11, FIFA 11, on TV shows such as Melrose Place 2.0, and in the film Chalet Girl.

Like a lot of indie artists I listen to, I came across Two Door Cinema Club when on last.fm in related/recommended artists, and they were quite a find!
I looked up their music and stumbled across “Undercover Martyn” and my mind just melted instantly! so catchy! so wonderful! it was just fantastic! Alex’s vocals sound almost angelic, and the instrumental solos from the album can’t be compared to anything. They’re amazing if you ask me ~ 

Also, Undercover Martyn is kind of personal to me. it’s the first song I ever showed to my long-term girlfriend Beverly. and it’s the song that we couldn’t stop listening to the summer we fell head-over-heels in love with each other. (:$)

Anyway, without further adieu here’s my other favorite track off the album. (which was featured one of my favorite yet doomed shows Melrose Place 2.0)

Do you want it all?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XJi7XK1fl0

Graeme Shepherd, or better known by his stage name “Grum” is a Scottish musician, comparable to the likes of Daft Punk, and fellow Scottish electronic musician Calvin Harris. 

Grum released his confident debut record “Heartbeats” in 2010. The album’s style is derivative of 1980’s disco, and has been compared to Daft Punk’s album Discovery.

The first time I ever heard of Grum was due to his remix of Marina and the Diamond’s “Oh No!” Which I thought was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. The second time I heard Grum was in Saints Row The Third’s game soundtrack with Heartbeats, which caught my attention instantly.

Grum’s first two music videos “Through the Night” and “Can’t Shake this Feeling” were both shot in L.A, and both share a very 80’s-esque style.

Here’s the video for Through the Night, which feels like an 80’s cop sitcom gone bad, no seriously I’m not kidding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dUbtrTU-1U  

If you like the music, give the album a download, you won’t regret it. ~