Happy Weekend, kids!
How about something fun for the weekend? Something a little left of center to amuse you? You guys ever heard of Overclocked Remix? I love this site, both for the content and the concept. My neighbor in college told me about it, telling me if I had any love for video games at all, I simply had to check it out. At that point the site was already seven or eight years old. What I found there blew my mind.
Overclocked ReMix is ostensibly a place where artists take music from video games both new and old and reinterpret, remix and reconstitute it into amazing new works. The results are astounding. Name a game and its probably there. There are the heavy hitters of the video game world, like Final Fantasy VI or VII, which boast hundreds of respective remixes, or Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, anything Mega Man, Mario or Sonic related. There are thousands of high quality, mind blowingly original re-contextualizations of memorable music that will really make you step back and reevaluate the idea of music in gaming. The sheer volume of content hosted on the site is staggering - over 2,000 mixes by over 500 artists, all organized in searchable databases or listed by gaming platform.
This is something that you really owe it to yourself to check out, regardless of your stance on videogames - you may not care for them, but how can you deny that the music produced here is gorgeous? Not only does the source material vary widely, from pre-8 bit to modern symphonics, but so do the results - everything from techno and trance to thrash metal to jazz arrangements and classical compilations. Furthermore there are conceptual groupings and albums done by individual artists and the community as a whole. Entire soundtracks get re-worked and released for free as declarations of love for the games that spawned them. There's even a Youtube channel to flip through selections if you don't want to download anything.
Not only have the artists and members of the community received praise in print and across the web, they've received accolades and kudos from the originating artists themselves. The OC community always credits the source material and doesn't profit from the endeavor - this is all about love of the games. In the ultimate stamp of approval, the community was tasked with creating the official soundtrack for Street Fighter II HD Remix, a modern update of the classic fighting game, by the developers themselves. In fact the music for the game was one of the best received elements of the new game.
I adore this site. In the years since being turned on to it I've been consistently amazed at the work produced. It's made me really appreciate the music in games I love and better understand how the composers affect my experience. Old games I've loved have had new life breathed into them. Friends have loved music I've played for them, having no idea the songs originated from a 16 bit game. Normally they'd scoff and think me a geek. Instead they ask for a copy of it. I just want the world at large to know about this amazing community of artists and the crazy work they do. Give 'em a look and see if your old favorites are there.
How about something fun for the weekend? Something a little left of center to amuse you? You guys ever heard of Overclocked Remix? I love this site, both for the content and the concept. My neighbor in college told me about it, telling me if I had any love for video games at all, I simply had to check it out. At that point the site was already seven or eight years old. What I found there blew my mind.
I adore this site. In the years since being turned on to it I've been consistently amazed at the work produced. It's made me really appreciate the music in games I love and better understand how the composers affect my experience. Old games I've loved have had new life breathed into them. Friends have loved music I've played for them, having no idea the songs originated from a 16 bit game. Normally they'd scoff and think me a geek. Instead they ask for a copy of it. I just want the world at large to know about this amazing community of artists and the crazy work they do. Give 'em a look and see if your old favorites are there.
