Grab Beyond Good & Evil OST for free!

Beyond Good and Evil is one of my favourite games ever (might be smart to finally do that list one day and publish it here). I love its green-lips heroine, races design, story, orphaned alien children, graphical design and of course great soundtrack. It is therefore with much pleasure that I would like to point out that the aforementioned soundtrack is available for download free of charge (the password for the album is MySpace.com/HyllianMusic and the list of mirrors is here).

While the music tracks from Beyond Good and Evil haven’t reached the ultimate status that mp3 can dream of, namely being put in the permanent folder on my Zen Stone player, they are quite memorable and I do come back to listen to them every now and again. There is also a good deal of variation between them: ranging from ambient oriental music (“Ancient Chinese secrets”) which I have used as a background for one of my tea ceremony dates, through weird sounds of “Propaganda”, to aggressive techno-ish boss fight theme (“Sins of father”), they provide a good variety of tunes for different moods.

The soundtrack was in fact released for free long time ago, which is when I got it, but it’s just quite recently that it has popped up on MySpace. Even if it’s just the clever marketing ploy in order to draw our attention to incoming Beyond Good and Evil 2, I am comfy with it, because I do like freebies, plus this soundtrack is really awesome. Also, worth noting is this interesting remix of one of the main themes, availabe at OCRemix – it is an unofficial remix, but it’s quite good, so I allow myself to link to it as well.

Genetically Modified Musician

Some of the sweetest of my childhood memories are the ones related to gaming – wrapped in a comfortable cocoon of synthesized sounds, covered in delicate shinining of monochrome monitors, I was threading the virgin grounds of 8 bits entertainment, which then smoothly became 16 bits. But even though game music evolved to the point where it can be released as a regular album and no one will notice, I still have a soft spot for retro chiptunes, as you can infer from some of my posts. So in this note I will recommend a bunch of delightfully retro music, which, additionally, is free of charge and can be downloaded at your leisure – another thing that is a definite plus in my book.

The first retro music project that caught my attention was Ugress. I can precisely pinpoint the moment when I first heard about it – it happened on Wojciech Orliński’s blog, in comments section to be precise, Anno Domini 2007. I downloaded Makina Fifth, because its description (“Commodore 64 discotronics with Therese Vadem“) caught my eye. Five minutes later I was already in love and furiously downloading all other free tracks. Some of these songs were a bit too weird for my taste, but some have gained unpassing place on my MP3 player – and that is a lot.

Some time has passed and through random googling and link surfing I have come across Shadow of the Beat, quirky musical project with the name related to a certain Amiga title. I barely noticed that the project has the same man behind it as Ugress – I tend to forget things I don’t find useful very quickly, so I just didn’t care (the definitions of “useful” that my mind applies are somewhat peculiar, though, which becomes obvious when you talk with me and I give you accurate description of some 80′s game third level).

Some time later Last.FM, Pandora or some other music service suggested to me PixxelTyger, which I instantly liked. Yes, it bore some resemblance to Ugress, and no, I didn’t give a damn. Lots of things sound like other things, if you excuse the generalisation. I downloaded the track, of course, but didn’t bother to check the project website until recently, which resulted in not reading more about who made it.

In December 2008 I got one click too far and discovered Ninja 9000, yet another retro project composed of two releases, each of them sounding like a soundtrack from non-existent 16bit games. Commander Moira is yet another track that I am listening to a bit too often, but it’s so incredibly well executed that even my girlfriend likes it, despite not being a fan of 80′s electronica.

All these things came together like a fractal puzzle, the pieces of which were spread across my brain (and incidentally time as well), after having read this post by Weirdnik. The post is in Polish only, sorry, I tried Google Translate, but it massacred the text beyond any recognition – anyway, the bottom line is that Weirdnik wrote about his own soft spot for chiptunes and all the projects listed above (plus one that I have missed so far). This actually caused some bits of my mind to finally fuse together and I realised that for good part of last two years I have been listening to music made by one man without even being aware of it…

The mastermind behind all this music is the talented individual, known as Gisle Martens Mayer (hence the title of this post). He owns his own label, Uncanny Planet – a good place to start browsing his numerous projects. The funny thing is that since the beginnning of 2009 I have been toying with the idea of writing a post about cool music available for free on the internet – it turned out that roughly 70% of the list would be GMM’s different projects…

My top three GMM’s tracks so far are Kosmonaut (thanks to Weirdnik I realised it has its own communist webpage), perhaps somewhat influenced by this retro game, the other two being Diurnal Entropy and Commander Moira. I have ideas for animated music videos to all of them and will realize them if I only I manage to get two months of free time and enough money to pay my mortgage rates in the meantime. Ah, it’s good to dream.

So there you have it – a solid portion of free, retro-stylized, game-like music. You can buy GMM’s music through here and if only you are not total douchebag cheapskate, you will throw a coin or two to this great guy who is not afraid to share his creations for free.

Free game, free music – with bonus Beagles

I love free things, games and music and I adore Beagles. So this post fuses quite a lot of good things in one, namely a game appropriately called Rescue the Beagles.

It all started with me browsing lists of best free indie games of 2008 (available here). I have ambivalent feelings toward free games, since in general the vast majority of them sucks. Being a cheapskate from the third world country, however, I still occasionally dig into the piles of poo and every now and then dig out a little jewel, such as Every Extend, N or Gnome Carnage for example. I still prefer to go through the lists that someone already sorted for me, lazy bastard that I am.

This time there were not that many titles I cared enough to try, much less play for more than five minutes – nevertheless Rescue the Beagles managed to catch my attention, hold it and provide enough fun not only to play but also to write a post about it, so you can appreciate it as well.

The game, created for procedurally generated content games TIG competition, revolves around, you’re right, rescuing the Beagles (hey, you’re still a great crowd!). There’s some story, if you really must, but the objective is simple – catch all the stray dogs before evil scientists get them.

I like almost everything in Rescue the Beagles, excellent choice of colours, randomly generated levels, minimalist sound effects, sweet retro pixel art, catchy background tune. The only thing I pretty much hate about it is the difficulty level – the game is unforgiving in truly 8-bit spirit. That or I have grown too old for arcade games.

Below you can watch someone playing the game to get an idea what it is all about:

As a cherry on top this cake, the stylish retro soundtrack is totally free. There’s the initiative of creating database of free indie games music and tunes from Rescue the Beagles is one of (so far rather few) game soundtracks available.

Download game music here and the game itself here, you can also check other games by Nenad Jalsovec.

Making music on the go

It’s been quite some time since I last ventured into PSP homebrew territory, so here’s a quick note on two programs that serve one of the less obvious applications of PSP, namely, as the self-explanatory title suggests, making music.

Essentially, there are two competent homebrew applications that can be used for this purpose – PSPSeq and PSPRhythm (which I have already written about way back in 2007). Each of them is backed by online community, in form of Google Group (almost dead recently) and quite vivid forum respectively.

PSPSeq

PSPRhythm

Being quite illiterate when it comes to music in general and music creation in particular, I allow myself to quote this forum thread when it comes to differences between two programs:

the main difference is that PSPSeq primarily uses software synthesis while PSPR is most based around the idea of sample playback. this isn’t strictly true because PSPSeq does have WAV file playback and PSPR does have some synthesis capability.

If you understand this musical mumbo-jumbo, good for you – there’s more detail in the thread. I don’t, but it doesn’t prevent me from enjoying music made in both applications. You can read more about them in this article as well (and about some DS homebrew as well).

If you would like to see more of these applications in action, check two music demos here and here, as well as the famous Tetris tune remixed for a glimpse of PSP Rhythm, and this blurry video for a taste of PSPSeq. Also, have a look at this PSPRhythm trailer:

There might be a new competitor stepping into this niche soon, as I learned recently that there is yet another similar PSP application in making. It is called LittleGPTracker (commonly referred to as “piggy“), hence the cutesy icon below.

The author adopted a curious approach of asking for money before he starts porting the application. He seems to have secured 310 out of 410USD, which constitutes about three quarters of his goal, so the chances of PSP community seeing his creation come to life are quite high.

Other than homebrew, I will end this post by mentioning Traxxpad, a commercial music creation software/game for PSP. It seems a little more user-friendly, unfotunately you have to pay for it. Feel free to check the official trailer and read some more information in this post, as well as have a look at what can be done with it in the hands of enthousiastic amateur here and here.

In the commercial depatment, I believe that there also was similar feature in Beats and DJ Max Portable series, although in both cases it was not the core function – they were principally rhythm games. What’s more, I am not 100% sure about it, since I have played them long time ago and never really caught the virus, so I guess you’ll have to check it by yourself.

Spectrum movie goodness

I have been planning to write ZX Spectrum retrospective recently, but I realized I had already done it some time ago on the occasion of 25th anniversary of this extraordinary computer. Instead of writing a long-winded article over again, I have chosen instead to present you with two Spectrum-related movies I have found on Youtube.

The first clip is an advertisement for ZX Spectrum+ (exactly the model I had) from the eighties, and boy does it look cool.

The second clip is a retro music video featuring “SUPERB remix of Martin Galway’s C64 ‘Arkanoid’ theme (remixed by Lagerfeldt). The Arkanoid tune is of course a remix of Martin’s ZX Spectrum music from the Ocean game ‘Cobra’” which means that not only the video, but music as well stems from ZX Spectrum roots.

If you missed on the age of 8bit computers, you might watch it in the similar way people go to museum to see caveman tools exhibition, and if you are a thirty-plus nostalgic (like me), enjoy
this little retro flashback.

PSP Rhythm

I swear I couldn’t decide on which aspect of this post I should put more emphasis : great piece of retro music, making me reminiscence about my 8-bit youth, or a great piece of PSP homebrew that allowed the music to be created. Let’s make it just a quick note then all of it, before I get all nostalgic and start blabbering about ZX Spectrum and good old days.

PSP Rhythm is a homebrew sequencer program that you can carry around in your PSP and use to create music on the bus. Neat, eh?

The authors, Billy and Louie Iturzaeta, not only gave us the audio tool, but also sponsored a contest in which participants had to create music with PSP Rhythm. As a result, there was quite a couple of interesting songs that were conceived.

The winner was Transforming Landscapes by Turbo Raketti and honestly, it deserved the prize. You can listen to it by clicking below :

As I wrote in the beginning – I like this song a lot. It has this subtle retro feel to it which makes the images of 80′s pixelized games appear in my mind. It resonates well with the synthetic sounds of Amiga mods and the first audio renditions of ZX Spectrum that I remember so fondly.

So all in all : great program and great music!

PSP Rhythm

I swear I couldn’t decide on which aspect of this post I should put more emphasis : great piece of retro music, making me reminiscence about my 8-bit youth, or a great piece of PSP homebrew that allowed the music to be created. Let’s make it just a quick note then all of it, before I get all nostalgic and start blabbering about ZX Spectrum and good old days.

PSP Rhythm is a homebrew sequencer program that you can carry around in your PSP and use to create music on the bus. Neat, eh?

The authors, Billy and Louie Iturzaeta, not only gave us the audio tool, but also sponsored a contest in which participants had to create music with PSP Rhythm. As a result, there was quite a couple of interesting songs that were conceived.

The winner was Transforming Landscapes by Turbo Raketti and honestly, it deserved the prize. You can listen to it by clicking below :

As I wrote in the beginning – I like this song a lot. It has this subtle retro feel to it which makes the images of 80′s pixelized games appear in my mind. It resonates well with the synthetic sounds of Amiga mods and the first audio renditions of ZX Spectrum that I remember so fondly.

So all in all : great program and great music!

Of Metal, Poland and Computer Games

I am a huge fan of Anime Music Videos and Game Music Videos – I am thinking about writing a bigger feature on them, but I always lack time to do it. Nevertheless, I have found a great music video by Polish metal band Vader (one of few Polish bands that are known in the world) made to promote the incoming CD-Project Red production The Witcher – a game based on the fantasy world created by one of the best recent Polish writers, Andrzej Sapkowski (buy his book here).

Although I agree that the lyrics are a little cheesy, I really like the videoclip. It is professionally done, well arranged, mixes game cinematics with cool band leader takes and music is not as hardcore as in some Vader songs. All in all, two thumbs up from me.

And as a bonus, I have found promotional video for other Polish game, Painkiller. Funnily enough, it is also heavy metal and even slightly similar, but nevertheless Vader’s one beats it hands down.

Pandora – the best internet radio there is

I never was too much into listening to the radio. All those so-called DJs who thought they were funny, all these commercials cutting into the music, the fact that if I ever heard any original tune noone would tell its title – all that stuff strongly discouraged me from ever trying to listen to it. Maybe that’s why I was so effective at work and while studying?

As for the internet radios, I somehow didn’t really feel the need to listen to them either. However, I started working in open space environment and sometimes one simply has to create a sound boundary between him and the rest of the crowd. A friend recommended Pandora to me, advertising its ability to chose the music I like.

After trying it, I have fallen totally in love with it. The process is simple – you create a station based on your favourite song (or group) and Pandora then suggests the following songs that are similar to the initial selection. You can then bookmark favourite songs, rate them as bad (thumbs down) or as preferred (thumbs up). These choices will narrow down the attributes of the songs you like, so that the radio station will become shaped more and more into your taste.

Pandora interface

At the beginning I was a little skeptic. I started with Rammstein, one of my favourites. Then, after a couple of songs, Pandora suggested Rob Zombie, then Megaherz, then KMFDM. Since these are the bands that also were on my hard drive in the folders right next to each other, I was astonished that Pandora would be able to chose so well.

The only downside to people from outside of the States is that this service is available to US residents. But since the check is based solely on the postal code number, you can always get a little creative with it. I use my company’s postal code (as our headquarters are located in United States).

Thanks to Pandora I have found some music gems that I wouldn’t otherwise ever come in contact with. I provide you the little excerpt from my list of bookmarked titles. If you click on the images below you will get to the pages with the backstage information about the song, artist and where you can listen to the sample of it that song (which I thoroughly recommend, if you want to get a glimpse of my musical taste).

BARTS’ BOOKMARKED SONGS

Parasytes by Coriolis Engel byRammstein No More Ghosts (Unreleased) by Neuroticfish Darkness / Influence by Neuroticfish Wish I Had An Angel by Nightwish

Miss Lucifer by Primal Scream I Am by Covenant Every Day Is Exactly The Same by Nine Inch Nails Vater Unser by E Nomine Fading Light by In Strict Confidence

Keep Hope Alive by The Crystal Method The Chemicals Between Us by Bush Race The Dream by Kill Hannah The Mercy Machine by Attrition Alexandria by Kamelot

Different Sound by Teddybears The Spark Of Ignition by Beautiful Sin Anniversary by Oomph! Metal Machine by Sabaton Professional Killer by KMFDM

As a post scriptum, I’ll only note that Pandora is not perfect. There are cases when it suggests music totally different from the station profile, there are occasional hiccups when listening (rarely, but sometimes they happen), I also spotted a couple of bugs in their vast databases (see the image below for example), which I immediately submitted (their time of reaction and customer service is incredible, by the way).

Double entry in music database

Still, it is the best internet radio for me and I stand by this opinion. Oh, I’d almost forget – it’s totally free!

Pandora – the best internet radio there is

I never was too much into listening to the radio. All those so-called DJs who thought they were funny, all these commercials cutting into the music, the fact that if I ever heard any original tune noone would tell its title – all that stuff strongly discouraged me from ever trying to listen to it. Maybe that’s why I was so effective at work and while studying?

As for the internet radios, I somehow didn’t really feel the need to listen to them either. However, I started working in open space environment and sometimes one simply has to create a sound boundary between him and the rest of the crowd. A friend recommended Pandora to me, advertising its ability to chose the music I like.

After trying it, I have fallen totally in love with it. The process is simple – you create a station based on your favourite song (or group) and Pandora then suggests the following songs that are similar to the initial selection. You can then bookmark favourite songs, rate them as bad (thumbs down) or as preferred (thumbs up). These choices will narrow down the attributes of the songs you like, so that the radio station will become shaped more and more into your taste.

Pandora interface

At the beginning I was a little skeptic. I started with Rammstein, one of my favourites. Then, after a couple of songs, Pandora suggested Rob Zombie, then Megaherz, then KMFDM. Since these are the bands that also were on my hard drive in the folders right next to each other, I was astonished that Pandora would be able to chose so well.

The only downside to people from outside of the States is that this service is available to US residents. But since the check is based solely on the postal code number, you can always get a little creative with it. I use my company’s postal code (as our headquarters are located in United States).

Thanks to Pandora I have found some music gems that I wouldn’t otherwise ever come in contact with. I provide you the little excerpt from my list of bookmarked titles. If you click on the images below you will get to the pages with the backstage information about the song, artist and where you can listen to the sample of it that song (which I thoroughly recommend, if you want to get a glimpse of my musical taste).

BARTS’ BOOKMARKED SONGS

Parasytes by Coriolis Engel byRammstein No More Ghosts (Unreleased) by Neuroticfish Darkness / Influence by Neuroticfish Wish I Had An Angel by Nightwish

Miss Lucifer by Primal Scream I Am by Covenant Every Day Is Exactly The Same by Nine Inch Nails Vater Unser by E Nomine Fading Light by In Strict Confidence

Keep Hope Alive by The Crystal Method The Chemicals Between Us by Bush Race The Dream by Kill Hannah The Mercy Machine by Attrition Alexandria by Kamelot

Different Sound by Teddybears The Spark Of Ignition by Beautiful Sin Anniversary by Oomph! Metal Machine by Sabaton Professional Killer by KMFDM

As a post scriptum, I’ll only note that Pandora is not perfect. There are cases when it suggests music totally different from the station profile, there are occasional hiccups when listening (rarely, but sometimes they happen), I also spotted a couple of bugs in their vast databases (see the image below for example), which I immediately submitted (their time of reaction and customer service is incredible, by the way).

Double entry in music database

Still, it is the best internet radio for me and I stand by this opinion. Oh, I’d almost forget – it’s totally free!