I’m happy to announce that I have 2 panels during Saboten Con 2014 in Glendale, Az (right by Phoenix) on Labor Day weekend. Both of my panels are about video game music and back to back.
Retro Video Game Music 101
About: A look back at the most iconic and memorable video game music from the 8-bit and 16-bit era. This nostalgic panel will cover the music of video games from such legendary systems as the NES, SNES, Genesis, and Game Boy. We will also pay respect to their composers and legacy. Discover the rich musical history of Final Fantasy, Castlevania, Street Fighter, Mega Man, Chrono Trigger, Streets of Rage, and more!
When: Saturday, August 30th, 2014, 3:30 PM
Where: Solana G
Your Favorite VGM: REMIXED
About: With the rise of both video games and dance music to mainstream popularity, gamers and DJ’s often have parallel interests. We have curated a selection of some of the very best video game remixes ever made. Video game remixes demonstrated will range from Sonic and Mega Man to Doom and F-Zero. We will also give some information for those who would like to become video game music remixers including tips and advice on arrangement and effects.
When: Saturday, August 30th, 2014, 5:00 PM
Where: Solana G
Check out SabotenCon.com for information on buying tickets. I look forward to seeing you there. I will also have some free goodies for everyone who comes through my panels!
I make music. It’s usually some form of hard techno and sometimes house. I’ve even dabbled in trap. But what do those genre’s mean on the radio? Not much. It all falls under the umbrella term EDM. Kind of like, back in the old days, every form of electronic dance music was called techno (it still is in some circles). I think in a lot of ways, EDM is what we make of it. Initially, I found myself fighting the term, because it ignores the specific titles of the genres I love. Like the magic that is a real, groovy house track… Or the happy anxiety that hits during an abstract and creative techno track. However, I also realize, as the sole person who is responsible for marketing my music, that the goal of an artist today is to give people the opportunity to experience their art in a sea of other artists doing the same thing. As an artist, I also understand that at the end of day, the goal for this type of music is to give people the soundtrack to a good time.
Today, that means EDM. In the 70’s that meant disco. By the 90’s, it was called electronica. Each era will have it’s own name for the things we love. However, it doesn’t mean it has to be bad. I think as consumers and as DJs, we have the option of choosing what to support.
Are you playing a track in your DJ mix because you think it will get retweeted by a person who, A) didn’t even make the track you played in your mix and, B) doesn’t care if you played the track on your Soundcloud with 500 followers because their publicist has already made sure the track got 40k plays in a day?
Are you buying the song on iTunes because you really like it, or is it simply stuck in your head from heavy radio play and the two-faced industry of music “bloggers” who post songs based on how much they’re paid (payola)?
By no means am I bashing pop music. I love pop music. Michael Jackson’s Thirller & Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories are among the best records ever made. They are even pop AND dance records to boot! I’m bashing blind support of a commercial machine which doesn’t care about you. Dubstep started off as a rather cool music style, and slowly formed into the madness that is Skrillex’s brand of brostep. However, take note, that Skrillex is out there, doing his thing everyday. I think that’s cool. The real problem is all the people who have dissected his every sound to copy him. A similar problem happened with house music with artists like Swedish House Mafia. Again, I’m not saying your genre of music is bad. I’m saying, supporting copycats and trend chasers is usually something that will not offer a rich level of artistic quality in the long run.
If you’re a DJ… Dig deeper. Find the deep cuts. Don’t be afraid to play a “no name” artist. They’ll not only be more grateful, but you’re also helping them get one step closer to the success they deserve.
If you’re a listener, remember that artists rely on your support. I know you have a lot of options, but try to rely on your own ears for what you want… not “curated” lists created by corporate suits who only want to make more money.
So, what is EDM? It’s whatever is financially successful right now. Let’s try to make it some damn good, hot jams.
This weekend, despite being unable to attend QuakeCon in Dallas, Texas, ended up being a pretty great weekend. For the first time ever, I helped create a video game. I’ve always loved video games, and have long since wanted to make one. I decided to go to a “game jam” run by the good folks at Game CoLab called Phoenix Makes Games Jam, which for the uninitiated, is a timed challenge for people to create an entire video game. In this case, we had 48 hrs to make a dinosaur themed game.
The result of that endeavor was Dinosaur Story. A dinosaur survival and life simulator. Thanks to the hard work of our team (Team BINT), we were able to pull together a pretty impressive game in a very short amount of time. The best part of it all, is that we had fun doing it. We were probably the loudest group there, laughing and playing chiptunes the whole way through. Because of this great team, I was able to create inspired music which fit the theme of the game in addition to graphics assets which made up the title screen and some parts of the gameplay.
At the end of the day, our hard work was rewarded by winning first place in the competition in addition to winning a science award from ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination for our commitment to keeping the game (reasonably) scientifically accurate.
A huge thanks goes out to the team who made this happen…
Ian Robinson, the bad ass coder who gave us the tech and ability to make this game next level. This guy will definitely be going big places in the future.
Tyler Knecht, our capri wearing shadow coder, artist, and all around nice guy. Thanks to Tyler, we were able to put all of our hard work together into one cohesive piece.
Noti Peppas, our other bad ass coder who very quickly learned how to use tools he never used before (Unity) and created critical parts of the game including the UI and gameplay scripts.
All of these guys are awesome and talented. If you’re making a game and need some talented developers, I cannot think of anyone else to call who love video games and programming more than these cats.
Special thanks to Ben, Austin, and Alex at Game CoLab for making this happen. Also thanks to all the sponsors, and to the other teams for giving us such fierce competition.
Event Photos:
You can hear a short version of the music I composed and recorded for the game here:
Here is a mega mix of all my original music from the past and samples from upcoming, unreleased music. It was originally created for RBMA, but ultimately was not selected. Now you can download it and enjoy.
This is the first Mercurius FM newsletter. Thanks for reading.
You can hear all my music on Soundcloud.
I also encourage you to follow me on Twitter and interact.
Don’t forget you can also visit my official site, Tumblr, Facebook, and Google+. The goal of this newsletter will be to keep you up to date with my latest music. I will also offer support to other artists who I think are doing good work.
So to get things started, my latest remix is a bootleg remix of Pharrell Williams’ song Brand New. It garnered quite a bit of plays and even charted on the HypeM Remix charts briefly at #48. Shout out to Nerdy Frames for the support on that! I’d also like to voice support for Pharrell’s G I R L album as a whole, it’s a nice album. Definitely worth listening to.
In other news, I will no longer be doing monthly mixes. Fact is, while they do get a couple hundred plays, it’s not really something I have the time to do when it gets such a minimal response. Instead, DJ mixes will be made on special occasions only, or for radio shows/blogs/etc, or for gigs of course. In the future, you can also expect more remixes than original content going forward. Mercurius FM has been my main project since 2005 but has never offered any sort of financial return to keep it going. With that said, I’m not giving up on Mercurius FM, but rather toning it down so I can work on other projects which might be more rewarding both on an artistic level and a personal level.
I’d like to thank everyone who has supported my music over the years. Whether it was a purchase or a retweet, thanks.
Here is my remix of Pharrell Williams – Brand New (Duet With Justin Timberlake). It’s a disco house version inspired by the record label Roule. Enjoy the free download.
