Showing posts with label famicom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label famicom. Show all posts
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Gamer Culture: The Adventures of Duane and BrandO
Some of you might remember when I featured a rap group named Forever Famicom on the site many weeks back. They were a group in the hip-hop genre which had a unique blend of video game samplings and great lyrics. Well, I was recently introduced to another hip-hop gamer group who has quite the library of songs already. They aren't as "mature" lyrically but they aren't trying to be. Instead of creating hip-hop songs based on life but using gaming beats, The Adventures of Duane and BrandO use the gaming beats as a backdrop to sing and rap about the games themselves.
This makes for a fun and creative mixture of NES musical greatness. NES music has always affected me at the core. Something about it is just amazing. In the NES' sound hardware's limitations, came brilliance. Now that is being used to create new music and new art. I love this sort of thing...even more so when it's actually good!
Their most recognizable work can be found on their LP Of Devastation album but they have lots more at their download page, found here. Games featured in this album include, Battletoads, Bomberman, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Mario II, Mega Man II, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden, Sonic, Zelda, and believe it or not, Cheetahmen II. Best of all, the song about Cheetahmen II is leaps and bounds better than the game itself!
What other hip-hop/rock group sings with such energy and flavor about video games? It's pretty great and I highly encourage all you readers to check it out. Two other great aspects about this duo are that not only are the songs long in length, but they feature different songs from the games they're about which definitely help take you on a little journey. I have no doubts that when thinking about the original Super Mario Bros. most people think of the Overworld Theme and then suddenly the Underworld Theme and then most likely next is the Underwater Theme. These songs just naturally go together and Duane and BrandO pick up on this. Below is one of my favorite samples (from Zelda II) as well as a snippet of some lyrics about that song. Judge for yourself if this is for you. It's definitely for me.
This makes for a fun and creative mixture of NES musical greatness. NES music has always affected me at the core. Something about it is just amazing. In the NES' sound hardware's limitations, came brilliance. Now that is being used to create new music and new art. I love this sort of thing...even more so when it's actually good!
Their most recognizable work can be found on their LP Of Devastation album but they have lots more at their download page, found here. Games featured in this album include, Battletoads, Bomberman, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Mario II, Mega Man II, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden, Sonic, Zelda, and believe it or not, Cheetahmen II. Best of all, the song about Cheetahmen II is leaps and bounds better than the game itself!
What other hip-hop/rock group sings with such energy and flavor about video games? It's pretty great and I highly encourage all you readers to check it out. Two other great aspects about this duo are that not only are the songs long in length, but they feature different songs from the games they're about which definitely help take you on a little journey. I have no doubts that when thinking about the original Super Mario Bros. most people think of the Overworld Theme and then suddenly the Underworld Theme and then most likely next is the Underwater Theme. These songs just naturally go together and Duane and BrandO pick up on this. Below is one of my favorite samples (from Zelda II) as well as a snippet of some lyrics about that song. Judge for yourself if this is for you. It's definitely for me.
Well I made it to the palace, I got nothin to lose.Ridin' up and down on these elevators (Awesome dude!)I gotta find the key to open up these doors first.Before I lift this curse that's been put on this earth.I'll stab that f*****' Horse Head and put him on my wall.Helmethead ain't gonna be a f*****' problem at all.That ghost ridin' Reubenok licks ghost horse balls!Reflect Carock's spells, brawl with Gooma and make Barba fall!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Gamer Culture: Forever Famicom
Do yourself a favor for a moment and press play on this youtube link below.
Alright. Now listen and read my words. There are two genres of music I don't enjoy. Authentic Country and Hardcore Rap. That's just how I am. I like old-school hip hop and folk or bluegrass if you want some grounding of my enjoyment of the variants. Anyway, that all said, it was earlier this year when somehow (perhaps from the Negative World forums) I discovered Forever Famicom.
Mega Ran and K-Murdoch, as the two lead musicians are known as, have taken something I absolutely love with something I rarely consider in my daily life. The result is amazing music that hits me at my 8-bit heart and resonates with my gaming soul. The sample you're listening to now on youtube is called "Dream Master". The art makes it obvious but this track samples from the NES classic, Little Nemo: Dream Master. The music to this game has fond memories for me and these guys masterfully rap well-written lyrics along side with it. I don't really know how to explain it, better than just listening to it, in order to make you understand.
This album samples from all sorts of excellent classic NES games. This track was from Little Nemo, but my other favorite song, "For The Gamers" takes samples from the excellent DuckTales game. Other games sampled include, Mega Man, Earthbound, Starfox, Kirby's Dreamland, Chrono Trigger, and Metroid. Their album, Forever Famicom, is fourteen tracks long. The album feels very full and satisfying both to listen to and for the price point. A digital download is nine dollars (barely 64 cents a track) while a signed hardcopy and a digital download is fourteen dollars (only a dollar a track).
It appears that after releasing this album in June of this year, they released a bonus CD called "Forever Famicom DLC". That contains eight tracks, with samplings from Zelda II, F-Zero, and even Mario Paint. Then it contains instrumental versions of all fourteen original tracks. Amazing value for seven dollars. Just last month they had a third release called "Thank You For Listening". This is simply one song and this song is free to download off the site. It takes samples from Super Mario Bros. 3. It's the perfect way to test the waters and see if this stuff catches your fancy.
It only takes a mere couple of a seconds for me to geek out over this stuff. Mega Ran and K-Murdoch have created something insanely special and unique. They deserve your dollar and with the holidays just around the corner, this is perfect for that gamer in your life. Visit their page and purchase some tunes. At the very least you can listen to full tracks streamed and find details on which games were sampled in which tracks. Don't game over on these guys... they sound awesome.
Forever Famicom Homepage
(I have problems playing the samples in Safari but it works great in Firefox.)
Alright. Now listen and read my words. There are two genres of music I don't enjoy. Authentic Country and Hardcore Rap. That's just how I am. I like old-school hip hop and folk or bluegrass if you want some grounding of my enjoyment of the variants. Anyway, that all said, it was earlier this year when somehow (perhaps from the Negative World forums) I discovered Forever Famicom.
Mega Ran and K-Murdoch, as the two lead musicians are known as, have taken something I absolutely love with something I rarely consider in my daily life. The result is amazing music that hits me at my 8-bit heart and resonates with my gaming soul. The sample you're listening to now on youtube is called "Dream Master". The art makes it obvious but this track samples from the NES classic, Little Nemo: Dream Master. The music to this game has fond memories for me and these guys masterfully rap well-written lyrics along side with it. I don't really know how to explain it, better than just listening to it, in order to make you understand.
This album samples from all sorts of excellent classic NES games. This track was from Little Nemo, but my other favorite song, "For The Gamers" takes samples from the excellent DuckTales game. Other games sampled include, Mega Man, Earthbound, Starfox, Kirby's Dreamland, Chrono Trigger, and Metroid. Their album, Forever Famicom, is fourteen tracks long. The album feels very full and satisfying both to listen to and for the price point. A digital download is nine dollars (barely 64 cents a track) while a signed hardcopy and a digital download is fourteen dollars (only a dollar a track).
It appears that after releasing this album in June of this year, they released a bonus CD called "Forever Famicom DLC". That contains eight tracks, with samplings from Zelda II, F-Zero, and even Mario Paint. Then it contains instrumental versions of all fourteen original tracks. Amazing value for seven dollars. Just last month they had a third release called "Thank You For Listening". This is simply one song and this song is free to download off the site. It takes samples from Super Mario Bros. 3. It's the perfect way to test the waters and see if this stuff catches your fancy.
It only takes a mere couple of a seconds for me to geek out over this stuff. Mega Ran and K-Murdoch have created something insanely special and unique. They deserve your dollar and with the holidays just around the corner, this is perfect for that gamer in your life. Visit their page and purchase some tunes. At the very least you can listen to full tracks streamed and find details on which games were sampled in which tracks. Don't game over on these guys... they sound awesome.
(I have problems playing the samples in Safari but it works great in Firefox.)
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