03 December 2014

Episode 159: Free Play 17

On this month's episode, Rob is out sick, but not to worry - Brent is joined by special guest co-host Jake Kaufman aka virt.  Jake Kaufman is a prolific video game music composer, responsible for the soundtracks to games such as Shovel Knight, Contra 4, DuckTales: Remastered, and Double Dragon Neon.  Also, the Legacy Music Hour Christmas Carolers perform some VGM Karaoke with lyrics written by LMH user pendaflux.  NOTE: The gang had forgotten to take a photo with Jake, so they just used last month's photo with a bit of alteration.  Full track listing below.



Game - Composer - Song - Company - Console - Year (North American release unless otherwise indicated)

Aerobiz - unknown (Taku Iwasaki?) - Pacific - Koei - SNES - 1993

Streets of Rage - Yuzo Koshiro - Keep the Groovin' - Sega - Genesis - 1991

Otoboke Ninja Colosseum - Tsukushi Sasaki, KK.Mint - Stage 4-3 and 4-4 - Mint/Intec - Super Famicom - 1995

Lord of the Sword - unknown - Ending - Sega - Sega Master System - 1989

Doomsday Warrior - Junta - P-Lumb/Fatty Bomber - Laser Soft/Renovation - SNES - 1993

Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord - unknown - Overhead - Sega - Sega Master System - 1988

Might and Magic: Book II - Atsuhiro Motoyama, Akikaz - Town - Starcraft/LOSC G. Amusements - Super Famicom - 1993

Ihatovo Monogatari - Tsukasa Tawada - Ihatovo City - Hect - Super Famicom - 1993

Lord Monarch - Falcom Sound Team J.D.K. - Demon's World - Epoch/AIM - Super Famicom - 1992

Honkaku Shogi: Fuuunji Ryuou - unknown - Ending - Aisystem Tokyo/Virgin Interactive - Super Famicom - 1994

Psycho Dream - Michiko Naruke - Sky Scraper - Riot - Super Famicom - 1992

Arkista's Ring - Sizlla Okamura - Title Screen - NMK/American Sammy - NES - 1990

Tuff E Nuff - Yashuhiko Takashiba, Suguru Ishida - Zazi - Jaleco - SNES - 1993

Dangerous Seed - Yoshinori Nagumo (NAUN), Yoshiki Nishimura (Yosiquin) (arr.), Akihito Hayashi (Neumann A. H) (arr.), Yoko Shimokawa (Shimokyaaa) (arr.), Totsukurzwell (arr.) - Ending Theme - TOSE/Namco - Mega Drive - 1990

Momotarou Dentetsu Jr.: Zenkoku Ramen Meguri no Maki - Kazuyuki Sekiguchi, Kazuaki Miyaji - Peach Airline - Hudson Soft/Make - Game Boy (Japan) - 1998


Relevant Links:

Jake "virt" Kaufman's website...

www.virt.rocks

Shovel Knight original soundtrack...

http://virt.bandcamp.com/album/shovel-knight-original-soundtrack

21 comments:

  1. Shovel me timbers, those were some great tracks.

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  2. Virt! Sooo cool to hear commentary from the man himself! Awesome!!

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  3. What an epic guest! So cool to hear virt on the show. Definitely top 5 current VGM composers, as well as top 5 western composers in my book!

    Lots of good music here, though not enough 8-bit stuff :(

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  4. Does anyone think Sizlla Okamura sounds like Koichi Sugiyama? I agree with Kaufman that this man is definitely classically trained. Kudos to you Brent/Rob for finding this gem.

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  5. Jake Kaufman is absolutely one of my favorite composers! I've been following his stuff for a long time, and he is amazing at just about every imaginable style. This episode was a ton of fun to listen to. The "bonk jams" for me were Aerobiz and Lord Monarch. But man, everything was soooo good!

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  6. Virt was indeed an excellent guest, but I missed Rob. It's the chemistry between R&B that make the show for me.

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  7. what was the name of that chiptune artist virt was diggin? GBtech or something? can't find it. thanks for your help. love the show.

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    1. I'm pretty sure he said chibi-tech. The other was Blitz Lunar.

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  8. It was really fun to hear Brent go into fan-mode with Virt.

    Brent, do you have any recommendations for Smooth Jazz albums? I'm an open minded guy and I've never really given it a full chance and this podcast has really softened me up on the idea.

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    1. Brent has mentioned a group named Spyro Gyra before on the podcast. They're pretty awesome. Check out the album of the same name "Spyro Gyra".

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    2. Brent also recommends Sypro Gyra's album Morning Dance.

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    3. I would like to recommend to Kenny to check out George Duke's A Brazilian Love Affair (1980). It's a great feel good smooth jazz album! Every time I hear the track Sugar Leaf Mountain, I think to myself how it would make for a great fourth tune to pick from in the game Out Run.

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    4. Sorry. Just wanted to add one more recommendation. The album is Sweetback (made up of members from Sade's band), and this ones very chill. This is the kind of album that you listen to if you had a crap day. If you've got an decent audio setup with a good subwoofer, the bass in this one is great! Btw, stay far away from the second album!

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  9. Solid episode. Brent, don't be afraid of talking too much! I personally like the top of the show news/updates!

    I've always wanted to play Shovel Knight. With Brent saying he's enjoyed it and recently listening to tracks on Virt's bandcamp, I definitely have to play it now.

    Also, great impromptu Sega start-up a'capella! Impressive to hear Virt can recite pitches without referencing.

    I wonder what Rob's reasons were for picking the tracks? Could it be reasons specific to each track or to his picks as a whole?

    Until next time! Happy Holidays, LMH!

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  10. Get well soon, Rob! It's just not the same without the Switch.

    I really enjoyed that virt kept dipping us into the deeper aspects of chiptune tech -- I can't get enough of that stuff. I also appreciated that drive-by Animal Crossing reference! I was super amused that someone else was also thinking of K. K. Slider during that discussion. Got a big grin out of me.

    I can't say enough about the Legacy Music Hour Carolers, or the fact that pendaflux fulfilled my request for lyrics. So awesome. I especially loved those ad-libbed background flourishes ("Nooo flowers, babyyy!").

    And I gotta say, that Ihatovo Monogatari track really tugs at my heartstrings for some reason. I've listened to the episode twice, and both times that track came up I froze in the middle of whatever else I was doing, sat on the floor right where I'd been standing, and just full-on listened to it. I don't know what it is, but it completely hooks me.

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  11. Great to have the show back regularly and to have such an awesome special guest. This episode was Super Bonk and you've added a few new games to my to-play list.
    One personal comment on the Tuff E Nuff music, it has that typical Haleco sound but slightly higher in pitch and for me it really sounds like it's fallen straight out of Pop'n Twinbee.
    Did anyone figure out the link in Rob's tracks? I thought it was because there was one from each year, but he went to 1990 twice. I have no idea.

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  12. Other thoughts that arrived in my head re virt:
    Is the Drymouth game that he composed for the Picross-alike homebrew game? I remember when that was released. Really good fun.
    Also, I think he should try to get involved with a golf game.

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  13. I heard mention of TMNT 3 "Cast" being your favorite Konami track. Not sure if you've heard this or not, but thought you might enjoy it:
    http://playingwithpower.bandcamp.com/track/tmnt-3-ending

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  14. I'm loving that Lord Monarch soundtrack. Between that and Sorcerian, Sound Team JDK might just be my new jam masters.

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  15. Wow, virt in the studio, this episode was amazing! I loved the Sega choir, and hearing the musical analysis.

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