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Counterspy Original Videogame Soundtrack

Jesse Harlin’s soundtrack to Counterspy was released on a promo LP in very limited quantities. It was released in late 2014 by Dynamighty.

Upcoming Releases

  • Video Game LoFi: Jazz Hop Standards

    Sep 2023

  • Agatha Christie – Murder On The Orient Express Original Soundtrack

    Sep 2023

  • Video Game LoFi: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

    Sep 2023

  • Donut Dodo Original Soundtrack

    Sep 2023

  • Fight’n Rage Original Soundtrack Selection

    Sep 2023


Show all upcoming releases

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  • Album: A Short Hike Original Soundtrack
Artist(s): Mark Sparling (@mark_sparling)
Label: Stumpy Frog Records (@stumpyfrogrecords), 2020
Games: A Short Hike

One of 2020's great surprises for me was the A Short Hike soundtrack. The game is a - true to its name - short and very charming open world exploration indie game where you play as a young bird visiting her aunt who works as a park ranger in a big park. The "goal" of the game is to climb to the top of a mountain, but there are several activities and mini-games you can enjoy a long the way.

I bought it digitally at first shortly before the vinyl was announced and when the announcement dropped it was a no-brainer. The vinyl release contains a selection of 10 tracks from the soundtrack's 12 tracks (although the digital versions has bonus and demo tracks on top of that), which cover the essentials. It's a laidback chill experience that perfectly captures the vibe of hiking to Hawk Peak and having fun along the way. It switches between a carefree attitude and a more solemn lonely feel reflecting where you are in the game. It's a perfect fit for when summer hits and you get ready for vacation mode.

The release is a single LP and was made available in multiple color variants. The one shown here is the "aurora borealis" swirl variant, which came out super well. It comes in a gatefold jacket with lovely new artwork by @saffronaurora and included a bonus fridge magnet and a slip mat (although I do believe the bonus stuff was only for the first run). The initial run sold out relatively quick, but a repress was made available in 2021 which I think can still be found for sale and hey, maybe a repress is coming! It's a lovingly crafted release for a lovely soundtrack to a lovely game - absolutely get it!

#vinyl #instavinyl #vgmvinyl #vgm #videogamemusic #gaming #blipblop #records #gamemusic #soundtrack #music #videogamevinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinylrecords #nowspinning #nowplaying #nowlistening #vinyljunkie #vinyligclub #igvinyl #ashorthike #marksparling #stumpyfrogrecords #saffronaurora #adamrobinsonyu
  • Album: Beep Special Project - Game Sound Collection
Artist(s): Konami Kukeiha Club, Hisayoshi Ogura (Zuntata), Masahiko Takagi
Label: Softbank Publishing, 1988
Games: F1 Spirit, Combat School, A-JAX, Life Force, Rainbow Island, Rastan Saga, Full Throttle, (Operation Wolf, Heavyweight Champ, Alien Syndrome)

Another Beep flexi incoming! This time it's an early 1988 release featuring a bit of an odd selection of arcade tunes from Konami and Taito (and sort of Sega).

Side A features a selection of brief tracks from various games from Konami and Taito where especially the Taito tunes from Rainbow Island, Rastan Saga and Full Throttle (the 1987 arcade game, not the point-and-click adventure) are top tier in my opinion (hit with more of that Zuntata goodness on vinyl, @stsphonoco!). The release ends on a strange note with a whopping 5 minuntes of just voice synthesis and sound effects from Combat School, Operation Wolf, Heavyweight Champion, and - a bit out of the blue in terms of representing Sega on this release as well - Alien Syndrome. It's a fun enough, but mostly a novelty.

As is tradition it's packaged in a standard paper sleeve as it was included inside a magazine. It does feature some neat artwork, though, with a fist punching out through a TV screen against someone playing a game seemingly by an artist called Itaru. The back of the sleeve features a comprehensive breakdown of the individual sound effects used on side B. It sounds surprisingly decent for a flexi, although hopefully we'll get more of these tunes on vinyl someday. As per usual these flexis aren't super difficult to find second hand and with some patience won't cost a fortune either.

#vinyl #instavinyl #vgmvinyl #vgm #videogamemusic #gaming #blipblop #records #gamemusic #soundtrack #music #videogamevinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinylrecords #nowspinning #nowplaying #nowlistening #vinyljunkie #vinyligclub #igvinyl #beepspecialproject #f1spirit #lifeforce #rainbowisland #rastansaga #konami #taito #sega #flexidisc
  • Album: Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo: Music From Square Enix
Artist(s): Tokyo Philhamonic Orchestra and Chorus
Label: Laced Records (@laced_audio), 2016
Games: Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II, Secret Of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X

Symphonic Fantasies is an interesting release. It's a project with arrangements from Merregnon Studios' @jonne.valtonen and @rogerwanamo originally released on CD in 2010 performed by the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln and then released again in 2012 this time performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and with an additional encore suite. The main part is divided in to four fantasies each representing a different Square Enix game or series - Kingdom Hearts, Secret Of Mana, Chrono Trigger/Cross, and Final Fantasy. In 2016 Laced picked up the 2012 recording for a CD reissue as well as its first vinyl release.

The opening fanfare is an original composition and starts things out well before it blasts out into the main deal - the arrangements. And these are great, the games are from different time periods and from different composers, but the arrangements and performances allow the great compositions to stand out yet the overall album still feels like a cohesive work (maybe except for the FFX bonus track, which was taken from the Final Symphony recording, which feels a little forced). 

The release itself is comes on 3 black vinyl LPs housed in a triple gatefold jacket with original illustrations by @jsdidoi. It's a very good pressing too and is worth picking up... if you can find it that is, as it has unfortunately long sold out and can be quite difficult to track down these days.

#vinyl #instavinyl #vgmvinyl #vgm #videogamemusic #gaming #blipblop #records #gamemusic #soundtrack #music #videogamevinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinylrecords #nowspinning #nowplaying #nowlistening #vinyljunkie #vinyligclub #igvinyl #symphonicfantasies #kingdomhearts #finalfantasy #secretofmana #chronotrigger #squareenix
  • Album: The Last Of Us: Original Score - Volume I
Artist(s): Gustavo Santaolalla (@gustavosantaolalla)
Label: Mondo (@mondonews), 2018
Games: The Last Of Us

Mondo's entry into the world of video game vinyl happened in 2015 with the release of the soundtrack to @naughty_dog_inc's The Last Of Us. But we won't be looking at that version (since apparently I had no good photos of it), but instead the first volume of their 2018 reissue.

This release includes the full 30-track score to the base game. It features Santaolalla's characteristic acoustic guitar sound, but a dark and melancholic version of it, which does fit the theme of the game well. There's little to rejoice about in the world of The Last Of Us and it does reflect well in the score right from the get-go in "The Quarantine Zone (20 Years Later)". But there's also a sense of hope, which is clear in the now very familiar tunes of the titular "The Last Of Us". The score also uses variants of the same melodies throughout the game (mostly "The Last Of Us" and "All Gone") to set the mood for what comes next. While Santaolalla's acoustic guitar might be the most memorable here there's something to be said for the shorter sections in between, that does an excellent job at creating tension and atmosphere (take "Vanishing Grace" and "I Know What You Are" for instance). It's a very good soundtrack and it works both in the game and as a casual listen outside of it.

The release is a 2LP and was pressed on both the fungus splatter shown here and on black vinyl. It comes in a gatefold jacket with new artwork by @deadthicket and I feel the art and color vinyl goes really well together. The pressing turned out quite nice although there's a little surface noise throughout some sides. However, it doesn't really take away from my listening experience and if you like the OST then I can definitely recommend it.

#vinyl #instavinyl #vgmvinyl #vgm #videogamemusic #gaming #blipblop #records #gamemusic #soundtrack #music #videogamevinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinylrecords #nowspinning #nowplaying #nowlistening #vinyljunkie #vinyligclub #igvinyl #thelastofus #mondo #gustavosantaolalla #naughtydog #samwolfeconnelly
  • Album: Zone 10⁻⁸
Artist(s): Steven Grove (of @hexanyaudio)
Label: Monster Siren Records, 2020
Games: Arknights (@arknights_messenger_official)

It is inevitable that I have to start writing about Arknights on vinyl with the pace new releases are getting announced, so let's just start with the first one (that I'm aware of) - the "Zone 10⁻⁸" 12" single. Arknights is a Chinese tactical RPG/tower defense game with gacha mechanics, so needless to say there's some scepticism about it. However, it has become increasingly popular and does feature excellent music from several different composers.

Covering the music on this release is pretty simple as there's only one track. "Zone 10⁻⁸" is a trance-y romp with a heavy beat, but an overall pretty laid back melancholic vibe to it that gradually opens up and feels almost slightly ambient before turning into something a bit more pop-y at the end. I was really convinced at first, but it's really grown on me during repeat listens...

...and repeat listens is basically all you can get with this (well, unless you decide only to listen once) as it's a single-track on a clear single-sided record. It's housed in a thick jacket with lenticular artwork on its front cover, which both looks and feels very nice. Sadly more effort has been put into the packaging than the vinyl as the pressing isn't terribly good. Not the worst thing ever, but does leave some things to be desired. 

Style over substance is unfortunately something that will be revisited on future Arknights releases as well, but as of late it does seem like we'll be getting Arknights records with more effort put into the music and pressing side of things, so that's something as the tunes definitely deserve a proper treatment.

#vinyl #instavinyl #vgmvinyl #vgm #videogamemusic #gaming #blipblop #records #gamemusic #soundtrack #music #videogamevinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinylrecords #nowspinning #nowplaying #nowlistening #vinyljunkie #vinyligclub #igvinyl #arknights #stevengrove #monstersirenrecords #hypergryph #hexanyaudio
  • Album: Vampire Hunter - Darkstalkers' Revenge: Dance Revolution Vol. 1
Artist(s): Happo, C-B-A
Label: MEM Records / NEO Label, 1996
Games: Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge

With the announcement of the Capcom Fighting Collection the other day it feels timely to show off this little oddity. It's a 1996 Japanese promotional 12" featuring a small selection of remix tracks from fighting game Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge. I'm not aware of any curious backstory for this release and I'm just slightly assuming it was made as a promo for DJ use as that was not entirely uncommon during the 90s. The tracks are all taken from an arrangement CD titled "Dance Revolution Vol. 1".

I'm not a big fighting gamer, so I have no experience with the actual game or original OST. Remixed by HAPPO side A's "Opening ~ Title" and "Demetri Stage" both scream upbeat fighting game music from the get go - particularly the latter. Side B feature remixes by C-B-A who takes it up a notch. "Morrigan Stage" is fun, but sounds so very 90s and the "Felicia Stage" remix is probably the best of these as it doesn't feel so stereotypically fighting game is and is good fun with its "meow" samples and interesting instrumentation. 3 of 4 tracks makes excessive use of sound and voice effects from the games and unfortunately to the point that it's a bit too much.

The 12" itself comes in a generic white tipon jacket with hype stickers. All copies I've seen has these same hype stickers, so it's fair to assume they were used on all copies. It can be a pain in the ass tracking one of these down and the best course of action is probably to keep an eye on Japanese auction sites (although I see some have sold on Discogs in the past). It's a fun little release, but arguably mostly for fans of the game/series and its price can quickly get up there for what amounts to 20 minutes of music.

#vinyl #instavinyl #vgmvinyl #vgm #videogamemusic #gaming #blipblop #records #gamemusic #soundtrack #music #videogamevinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinylrecords #nowspinning #nowplaying #nowlistening #vinyljunkie #vinyligclub #igvinyl #nightwarriors #vampirehunter #darkstalkers #capcom #memrecords #neolabel
  • Album: Encodya - An Original Soundtrack
Artist(s): Yann Latour (@raydevil)
Label: Self-released, 2021
Games: Encodya

This release was a total surprise to me and is at this point one of my absolute favorites to come out in 2021. It was released in June by the game's composer himself to little fanfare. I cannot remember where I first saw someone post about it, but thanks to whoever decided to share it!

The game is a point-and-click adventure game from @chaosmongerstudio featuring a girl and her robot and takes place in a dystopian cyberpunk setting. And as almost always I haven't actually gotten around to playing the game yet.

Thankfully I don't need the game to enjoy the music, which is absolutely fantastic. Sticking to the cyberpunk setting Latour sets out to channel his inner Vangelis in a Bladerunner-esque soundtrack brimming with style and emotion. While often feeling dark and foreboding there's always a sense of hope in the background of this ambient electronic score.

Some standouts to me appear early on the release in the foreboding "Chalky Sunlight" and the mysterious "Forget The Ones You Love", which makes use of synthesized vocals to great effect. But there's not really any tracks on here that I don't enjoy and the soundtrack works great as a cohesive listening experience as well.

The vinyl release comes on teal translucent colored vinyl and is housed in a regular jacket with art from the game. There's only 200 copies pressed and they are all hand-numbered and signed by the composer! It's also an excellent pressing, so I can highly recommend grabbing a copy while it's still available!

#vinyl #instavinyl #vgmvinyl #vgm #videogamemusic #gaming #blipblop #records #gamemusic #soundtrack #music #videogamevinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinylrecords #nowspinning #nowplaying #nowlistening #vinyljunkie #vinyligclub #igvinyl #encodya #yannlatour #chaosmonger
  • Album: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
Artist(s): @grantkirkhopecomposer
Label: @iam8bit, 2018
Games: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Back in 2017 we learned that some guys at @Ubisoft had somehow managed to convince @Nintendo that a crossover between the Rabbids and Super Mario franchise was a good idea. Even more baffling was that it was a turn-based strategy and... it's actually quite good.

The soundtrack is composed by the legendary Grant Kirkhope who was reportedly asked to write the score before being told that it would be a Mario game and was rather awe-struck upon finding out. Nevertheless it turned out to be good choice as Kirkhope's experience writing music for wacky games proved a great fit for the crazy Rabbids. The compositions are all performed excellenty by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Some of my personal favorites are "Cold Start, Hot Finish", which harkens back to some of Kirkhope's past scores, the epic and powerful "The Lava Forge", and the big star of the show the multi-act "The Phantom Of The Bwahpera". As a neat bonus game director Davide Soliani snuck a vinyl only bonus track of a demo of the Phantom-song sung by Kirkhope himself as well.

The release itself was put out by iam8bit and while there's no original art used (to my knowledge) they use the game assets well for a simple front and back and a colorful gatefold image. The front features the best part of the release's design where they slapped an actual fuzzy mustache on Rabbid Mario, which is one of my favorite jacket gimmicks in my entire collection. It comes on clear vinyl and it's a fairly quiet pressing and I didn't personally notice many flaws, although there are reports of some people having a slightly muddy sound on theirs - so your mileage may vary. It's also probably the easiest of any Mario-related vinyl releases to track down for a decent price!

#vinyl #instavinyl #vgmvinyl #vgm #videogamemusic #gaming #blipblop #records #gamemusic #soundtrack #music #videogamevinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinylrecords #nowspinning #nowplaying #nowlistening #vinyljunkie #vinyligclub #igvinyl #grantkirkhope #mariorabbids #ubisoft #iam8bit #supermario
  • Album: VA-11 HALL-A Official Soundtrack
Artist(s): Garoad
Label: Black Screen Records (@blackscreenrecords), 2017
Games: VA-11 HALL-A

In anticipation of today's upcoming VA-11 HALL-A announcement from Black Screen Records I thought it fitting to take a look at its original vinyl release from all the way back in 2017. For those out of the loop VA-11 HALL-A is a cyberpunk bartending visual novel-style adventure game that's all about mixing drinks and changing lives by affecting the moods (and sobriety levels) of your patrons. For each new patron you get to choose a playlist of music from the bar's jukebox and that's the game's soundtrack - and there's over 3 hours of it!

Think of the music as an 80s synthwave anime soundtrack mixed with 90s 16-bit game tunes and we're somewhere around the right spot. It's a solid mix of upbeat and chill tracks and something that always feels right when putting it on - a "perfect for almost any occasion" soundtrack. And it fits the setting of the game too (surprise - something I've actually played!) and helps build that unique atmosphere and the occasional Karmotrine induced dream. It's hard to pick favorites, but "Hopes And Dreams", "Karmotrine Dream" and Your Love Is A Drug" are up there for me. Obviously a 2LP can't contain the full 3+ hour score, but it's a nice selection of some of the game's imo best tracks (curated by composer Garoad himself).

My copy of the release is the first pressing on blue and pink translucent colored vinyl. It comes in a gatefold jacket and includes some goodies such a booklet with a portrait of one of the in-game characters and a poster for an in-game event. It's a lovely pressing too and it's seen several repressings on different color vinyl. It's sold out now, but... keep an eye on Black Screen Records' feeds for the next few hours :)

#vinyl #instavinyl #vgmvinyl #vgm #videogamemusic #gaming #blipblop #records #gamemusic #soundtrack #music #videogamevinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinylrecords #nowspinning #nowplaying #nowlistening #vinyljunkie #vinyligclub #igvinyl #va11halla #garoad #blackscreenrecords #sukebangames
  • Album: Celeste Original Soundtrack
Artist(s): Lena Raine (@kuraine)
Label: Ship To Shore PhonoCo. (@stsphonoco), 2018
Games: Celeste

It feels a bit tricky to write about Celeste with it being so popular and me not having played it, but from what I've seen it's a well-designed and difficult precision platformer about the main character Madeline determined to climb the titular mountain Celeste while coming to terms with herself and her anxieties while doing so (again, haven't played it so bear with me on this). It's also one of the most popular and best reviewed indie games of 2018 - and it's got a kickass soundtrack on top of it!

The soundtrack is a wonderfully varied mostly electronic tour de force of tempi and emotions. I suppose it follows the in-game action with increased intensity in hectic platforming sections and more ambient tunes in the more emotional, reflective character scenes. The soundtrack starts and ends on a high for me with "First Steps" and "Reach For The Summit" being my two favorites, but everything in between ties it all together so very well. The way Lena Raine manages to mix piano sounds in with the electronics to create fragile, emotional atmospheres is gorgeous and still she manages to mix it brilliantly with some bangers as well. It's worth noting that the full original soundtrack is a bit too long to fit on a 2LP, so some tracks were cut with others slightly edited by Raine herself to make the listening experience of the vinyl release cohesive on its own.

My copy is from the original run and is on "Madeline and Badeline" red and purple colored vinyl. It's housed in a gatefold jacket with some really lovely design by @amorabettany. It sounds lovely and it really is a great soundtrack. I believe it's at its final pressing now, so don't wait too long to grab a copy if you find one in stock. It's worth it!

#vinyl #instavinyl #vgmvinyl #vgm #videogamemusic #gaming #blipblop #records #gamemusic #soundtrack #music #videogamevinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinylrecords #nowspinning #nowplaying #nowlistening #vinyljunkie #vinyligclub #igvinyl #celeste #lenaraine #shiptoshorephonoco #amorab #exokgames
  • Album: Custom Order Maid 3D2 Vocal Collection
Artist(s): Shigetoshi Yamada, Nao, Ayane, Mitsuki Nakae
Label: Kiss, 2018
Games: Custom Order Maid 3D 2

Hey, it's another one of those lewd Japanese ones! Custom Order Maid 3D 2 is a visual novel/simultion game where apparently you take over struggling club with three maids whose jobs you'll have to manage. Apparently these range from anything from actual maid tasks, to stripping, prostitution, and singing - with the ultimate goal apparently being to turn them into idols. I haven't played this, but from what I understand it gets pretty graphic at times. I didn't expect Japanese erotic VNs to be embracing vinyl soundtracks as much as they have when I started doing all this, but here we are.

It's a fairly limited selection of 6 vocal tracks from the soundtrack, but it's fairly varied. Opener "Night Magic Fire" is a catchy electro pop track, "In Pulse" is an almost instrumental club banger, "Blooming∞Dreaming!" is a pop/rock track, "キミに愛情でりぃしゃす" is an upbeat pop track that sounds like it could be a credits track in a "slice of life"-anime, "Luminous Moment" is another electro pop thing with more of an arena sound where you can almost imagine the light show in a dark music arena, while finally "Melody Of Empire" is a weirdly 90s sounding pop track. It's perfectly fine music, even if nothing is absolutely stand out.

The release itself is standard black record in a single-pocket jacket with the stock maid characters on the front (no graphic content on the vinyl release, thankfully). The fun thing about the release is that side A plays at 45RPM and side B at 33RPM. It's numbered on the back, but it's not clear how many copies were actually made. It sold out just recently, and I have seen it pop up occasionally on Japanese auction sites at not-too-terrible prices, so if this is your thing it could be worth looking out for.

#vinyl #instavinyl #vgmvinyl #vgm #videogamemusic #gaming #blipblop #records #gamemusic #soundtrack #music #videogamevinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinylrecords #nowspinning #nowplaying #nowlistening #vinyljunkie #vinyligclub #igvinyl #customordermaid3d2 #kiss #shigetoshiyamada
  • Album: Let's Kick Shell!
Artist(s): Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Label: Enjoy The Toons Records (@enjoythetoons), 2016
Games: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time

Back in January, 2016 seemingly out of nowhere this little EP was announced and released by Enjoy The Toons. And before the official Ninja Turtles art confuses anyone - this is actually a cover EP. It features rock covers of two tracks from the original animated series and three from the Turtles In Time video game. However, Enjoy The Toons did work together with Viacom/Nickelodeon to properly use the TMNT rights hence the artwork. I am curious about the story of how (and why) this came to be, though.

Personally I quite like the tracks, although they did receive a mixed reception from people at its release and I will agree that it's hard to compete with the originals (especially the legendary theme song from the TV show), but taken for what it is the band here (for some reason the band called themselves Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles too for just this one release) did a pretty good job.

This particular copy is the 7" version on "Donatello" green and purple vinyl, which neatly imitates the Turtles' mask (of course it also came in red, blue and orange variants). It also came with a Donatello cardboard mask and a vintage trading card! This version was limited to 200 copies, and the myriad of other color variants were similarly limited from 100-400 copies each. The 7" version is long sold out, but it was recently reissued as a single-sided 12" with a screen printed b-side. This one's also sold out, but the label have been repressing them gradually, so it's probably better to wait than resorting to scalpers (as of now there are 24 different variants of this EP on Discogs!).

#vinyl #instavinyl #vgmvinyl #vgm #videogamemusic #gaming #blipblop #records #gamemusic #soundtrack #music #videogamevinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinylrecords #nowspinning #nowplaying #nowlistening #vinyljunkie #vinyligclub #igvinyl #teenagemutantninjaturtles #tmnt #enjoythetoons #enjoytheride
  • Album: Xeno Crisis
Artist(s): Savaged Regime
Label: Bitmap Bureau (@bitmapbureau), 2019
Games: Xeno Crisis

Not sure if it's entirely in "hidden gem" territory, but it feels close. Xeno Crisis is a successfully Kickstarted twin-stick shooter made for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis (and ported to PC and modern consoles as well). The game itself have received lots of praise for both gameplay and for being faithful to the MD/Genesis it was made for. As with most things I post about I haven't actually played the game (I suck at twin stick shooters), but I HAVE listened to the soundtrack and whether you dig the genre or not that one is an absolutely banger!

Not only have composer Savaged Regime been faithful to the console (or well, sounds that way to me, I'll admit to not being an expert on MD/Genesis sound hardware at all), but it's incredibly catchy and varied and absolutely stands strong as a listening experience on its own. Tracks like "Dune (Area 3)" has a dreamy feel to it, yet could still entice a dancefloor, "Forest (Area 5) has a floaty, ethereal feel to it, "Lab (Area 6)" is just a mean, pumping banger. The boss tracks are a bit more game-y, but still sounds dirty and quite different from each other (even though there's four of them). There's literally not a weak track here.

The release itself is quite plain - single-pocket jacket with game art and good ol' black vinyl. But that's all it needs because the music is what matters here and it is fantastic. Initially released as a backer reward for the game's Kickstarter it has since been made available from developer Bitmap Bureau's own store and is still in stock! Fans of the MD/Genesis FM synth sounds (and fans of good music in general) should not sleep on this one.

#vinyl #instavinyl #vgmvinyl #vgm #videogamemusic #gaming #blipblop #records #gamemusic #soundtrack #music #videogamevinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinylrecords #nowspinning #nowplaying #nowlistening #vinyljunkie #vinyligclub #igvinyl #xenocrisis #bitmapbureau #savagedregime
  • Album: Game Mix
Artist(s): Xasqui Ten (@xasqui) & Toni Ten (@tonitm10) (XTM)
Label: Melody, 1993
Games: Super Mario Land, Zool, Lemmings, Street Fighter II, Sonic The Hedgehog, Tetris, The Addams Family

Surely this is the one you've all been waiting for! The epic 1993 Spanish techno remix album of several classic game tracks released under the novel name "Game Mix". No? Your loss surely.

It features takes on the classics such as the Overworld Theme from Super Mario Land, the title theme from Sonic The Hedgehog and an ...interesting take on Vega's Theme from Street Fighter II among others. Also included is a remix of a track called "Arriba, Arriba" by John Boy, which samples some video game sounds as well as a "Game Mix" with nods to all the tracks on the album supposedly made by Spanish DJ Jodi Carreras. They general approach seems to be adding some heavy pumping bass and drum sounds on top of the tracks along with their vocal samples shouting "Hey!" or "Breakdown!" and stuff like that - plus the occasional samples from the games themselves.

Credits on the release are a little unclear (although they've done their best to credit the original composers with a couple mistakes, but not the remixers behind it), but it's generally assumed that the remixes are done by XTM - brothers Xasqui and Toni Ten - who did a lot of techno remixes in the 90s with their Ten Productions production company.

The release itself is fairly simple and comes in a regular thin LP jacket with the title in big pixel-y letters, although it's surprisingly missing in gaming references on the art. It's pretty affordable on Discogs and elsewhere, although the takes are probably more fun novelties these days than anything else. But as noted on the cover it was advertised on Spanish TV, so it has the distinction of being maybe the only VGM vinyl release with TV ads!

#vinyl #instavinyl #vgmvinyl #vgm #videogamemusic #gaming #blipblop #records #gamemusic #soundtrack #music #videogamevinyl #vinylcollector #vinylcollection #vinylrecords #nowspinning #nowplaying #nowlistening #vinyljunkie #vinyligclub #igvinyl #gamemix #xasquiten #toniten #supermarioland #sonicthehedgehog #streetfighterii
  • Album: Distant Worlds II - More Music From Final Fantasy
Artist(s): The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: AWR Records, 2018
Games: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XI

It's no secret that I have a sweet spot for Final Fantasy and its music, so it always makes me a little happy whenever AWR Records drop one of their Distant Worlds albums on vinyl. The second in the series was originally released on CD and digitally in 2010 and finally got a vinyl release in 2018.

To those unfamiliar Distant Worlds is a concert world tour of orchestral renditions of music from the Final Fantasy series and they've also released several studio albums of these arrangements. This second one was the last with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and is yet a lovely recording featuring several great takes on fan favorites such as "Terra's Theme"from IV, "JENOVA" from VII, "A Place To Call Home/Melodies Of Life" from IX among others. A personal favorite of mine here is the take on "Dancing Mad" which sees the orchestra joined by composer Nobuo Uematsu's band Earthbound Papas!

The vinyl release came out via Distant Worlds own account on Amazon only and is on white vinyl which matches nicely with the white jacket. It comes in a gatefold with photos from the sessions as well as lyrics for the vocal tracks and liner notes by Uematsu and conductor Arnie Roth. Sadly, like the first release this one too is an inconsistent pressing with reports of wow and flutter, warped records and distortion on the last tracks on each side of the records. Some copies are seemingly better than others, but it's a bit of a gamble. They restock these occasionally so if you're interested I'd encourage you to be patient instead of paying scalper prices for what isn't a fantastic pressing.

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  • Album: Alwa's Awakening Original Soundtrack
Artist(s): Robert Kreese (@kungkreese)
Label: Thunderful (@thunderfulgames), 2020
Games: Alwa's Awakening

All the way back in 2018 developer Elden Pixels (@eldenpixels) retweeted a fan mockup of an Alwa's Awakening vinyl release asking if there's interest in this. And lo and behold, we had to wait a bit, but in 2020 we finally got an actual vinyl release! Personally I'm thrilled as I've listened A LOT to the digital release and really love the OST (despite not really being able to get into the game at all).

The album is full of NES-style chiptune-y goodness and they actually managed to get the full soundtrack on there. The original digital release of the OST is actually 80 minutes, but they've managed to to use shorter loops of each tracks to get them all down to like half that length and it works very well. I'm not listening to this and thinking anything is missing at all. Stand-out tracks for me are opener "Theme of Zoe", "Central Alwa" and "Vicar" (the latter by guest composer Prof. Sakamoto), but I don't really think that there's a bad track here. They even went as far as to release the soundtrack on an NES cartridge (which is also still available).

The release itself comes on green translucent vinyl and sounds excellent. The jacket features nice new illustration by Manuel Samolo and graphic design by Dane Baudoin (@danebaudoin) (who also did that original fan mockup!). It's limited to 250, but is still available from Thunderful, so definitely go check it out! It's one of my favorite titles from last year and one that I think most people slept on.

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  • Album: Ape Out Original Game Soundtrack
Artist(s): Matt Boch
Label: iam8bit (@iam8bit), 2020
Games: Ape Out

Gonna try this writing thing again. This time with an album released in October last year for the PC/Switch top down beat 'em up-ish game Ape Out, where you play as a giant captive Gorilla trying to escape. What is particularly interesting about this record is that the soundtrack for the game was made out of a massive library of percussion sounds coded to play in reaction to the players actions, movements and perfomance in the game.

It's all made to play as percussion jazz music during game play and it responds beautifully to the game's intensity (yes, I actually played this one, so for once I somewhat know what I'm talking about!). This means that the soundtrack on the vinyl release was recorded from a playthrough by the game's developer Gabe Cuzillo, which is a pretty solid representation of how it sounds in the game, too. While the music helps set the pace and intensity when playing, it makes for somewhat of a hectic listen. It's not bad by any means, it's just hard for me to stomach almost 50 minutes of all percussion jazz (but hey, you might dig it if that's your thing!). iam8bit even claimed that this was the "first ever live gameplay album", which is debatable at best given many retro soundtrack releases were record from hardware during playthrough.

The pressing itself sounds surprisingly great (especially since they crammed almost 50 minutes of music on a single LP). The game's levels are divided in A and B sides and shown in-game as jazz-style vinyl jackets, which artist Mark Borgions (@handmade_monster) have adapted very well for his great jacket design here. The release is still available and while the looks and quality of the release is very, very good, I'd highly recommend playing the game first to see if this is something you'd listen to on its own.

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  • Album: Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition Sound Selection • Sélection Musicale
Artist(s): Yoko Shimomura, ACE+, Manami Kiyota
Label: Nintendo of Europe (@nintendoeurope)
Games: Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition

This is a special one! This is the first time since the 80s that original music from a Nintendo game have been officially released on vinyl and made commercially available!

And it's a good choice of soundtrack too as the music from Xenoblade Chronicles is something special indeed. As usual I haven't played the game (but I will!), so it's hard to pick favorites or say if important tracks have been left out (it is a selection of 12 tracks from a very long soundtrack after all), but purely from listening there's a lot of variety in the tracks and I thoroughly enjoyed them all.

What strikes me the most about the music when listening to this is the amount of different instruments being utilized. They seamlessly mix heavy guitars, strings, synthesizers, and much more and add percussion and drums as needed.

It's a single picture disc LP housed in a regular LP jacket with some fairly standard game art. The picture disc itself looks very clean and fits the design well. It was released as part of the European collector's edition from the game. Thankfully the sound is surprisingly nice for a picture disc, barely noticed any surface noise and there's only minor crackle and a few very small pops throughout.

Unfortunately, most of the collector's sets that included this LP sold out in preorder, so it will probably be difficult to get moving forward. It officially releases tomorrow, so it's still a new and relevant release, so maybe some will pop up if keep an eye out. It's definitely worth trying to find!

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  • Album: Pac-Man Run For Fun
Artist(s): Unknown
Label: Kid Stuff Records, 1980
Games: Pac-Man

Time to bust out the real good stuff. Or not. This will be a quick one because there really isn't a ton to say about this.

This is a 7" record with a story about Pac-Man who is participating in a run against Speedy the ghost. Major plot spoilers: The ghosts set up a trap for Pac-Man, but due to sheer incompetence end up trapping Speedy instead resulting in Pac-Man winning the run to the surprise of no one.

There's a good bunch of different children's stories like this that were released on vinyl by Kid Stuff Records back in the early 80s (and I'll subject you to more of them later with equal amounts of enthusiasm). Most were seemingly written by Dana Walden and Patrick McBride, but generally there's not a ton of info on how these came to be.

Instead of a regular jacket the 7" comes with a children's book with images so you can read along to the story while listening. There's plenty of pictures and I'll admit that there's some charm to them.

They are typically quite cheap and easy to find second-hand online, so if you're into this kind of thing you shouldn't have issues tracking most of these down.

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  • Album: Kurohyo 2 Original Soundtrack
Artist(s): Hyd Lunch, skankfunk (@hideki_naganuma), ZENTA, Yutaka Akiyama
Label: Wave Master Entertainment, 2012
Games: Kurohyō 2: Ryō Ga Gotoku Asura-hen

Time for something that most people aren't aware is out there. The Kurohyō games are a spin-off series to the popular Yakuza game franchise introduced for the PSP and - to my knowledge - only ever released in Japan. The soundtrack here is for the second game in that series.

The music is unfortunately a well-kept secret because it is a pretty amazing mix of shredding guitars and high energy electronic beats weaved together in a surprisingly cohesive way. I don't know a lot about the composers outside of skankfunk, who is better known under his real name Hideki Naganuma (of Jet Set Radio fame). And it's kinda surprising (but positively so) to hear him embrace the sounds of guitars shredding on the hectic "Panter In The Storm". Other highlights include Hyd Lunch's opener "Catch The Battle" and Yutaka Akiyama's superb almost heavy metal-like banger "EPIC 80". For all intents and purposes all the music on this could be boss battle music, but the kind that makes you feel super satisfied when finally knocking down the big bad boss (I haven't played this so I have no idea of the in-game context of the tracks). The vinyl release comes with in a regular LP jacket, which is reversed in orientation (from a Western standpoint at least, like a manga would be) and features some wild dragon artwork from Spooky Graphic. It was released by Wave Master Entertainment shortly after the game's release in 2012 and was available only from Sega's Japanese online store. It is limited to 1000 copies, is long sold out and only very rarely goes up for sale. It's an absolutely awesome and shamefully overlooked album, so do not sleep on this if you come across it.

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