ryan hemsworth, friendzone, keyboard kid, julian wass, and others sampling mr. mitsuda's work from seminal japanese rpg's such as chrono trigger, xenogears, and shadow hearts
there is also a contest involving this release: whomever identifies the most samples gets some free prints of the cover art done by notable pixel artist and game designer derek yu of spelunky and aquaria fame
for those interested in the contest, track 4 samples xenogears' "shevat ~ the wind is calling"
>thank you for checking the album out! > >by the way if you are interested in the contest, a sample from >Shevat the Wind is Calling DOES appear on the album... but not >on the track you posted
it's from xenosaga, not xenogears. it's right there in the title, too!
if you don't mind me asking, how did a group of (i'm assuming) 18-25 year-olds get interested in a composer whose best known work was out when the aforementioned group were probably toddlers? i find it incredibly interesting that the music that dominated my life when i was a teenager is getting rediscovered and repurposed by kids 15 years younger than me
>it's from xenosaga, not xenogears. it's right there in the >title, too!
>if you don't mind me asking, how did a group of (i'm assuming) >18-25 year-olds get interested in a composer whose best known >work was out when the aforementioned group were probably >toddlers? i find it incredibly interesting that the music >that dominated my life when i was a teenager is getting >rediscovered and repurposed by kids 15 years younger than me
Well, I'm in my 30s, (the grampa of the crew), so I definitely grew up with Mitsuda as the soundtrack to my best years
You're right though, the rest of the team is pretty young. But they know their stuff. Even though some of them were literally babies in the early 90s, they all love SNES games. Even those who didn't fall in love with Mitsuda's music through gaming became big fans through other channels, even through youtube. Mitsuda is so emotional, I think that's his appeal this this particular set of beat makers. They all love deep, emotional samples.
>Well, I'm in my 30s, (the grampa of the crew), so I definitely >grew up with Mitsuda as the soundtrack to my best years > >You're right though, the rest of the team is pretty young. But >they know their stuff. Even though some of them were >literally babies in the early 90s, they all love SNES games. >Even those who didn't fall in love with Mitsuda's music >through gaming became big fans through other channels, even >through youtube. Mitsuda is so emotional, I think that's his >appeal this this particular set of beat makers. They all love >deep, emotional samples.
it's super encouraging to know that music that left a big impression on me is still making being discovered and making an impression on people. if i'm being honest, i think a bit of the emotional impact of that music is lost without the context of the game* (meaning just hearing it on youtube) but it speaks to mitsuda's talent and skill that listening to it as just a piece of music still generates an emotional reaction
*i think a lot of those jrpg's were about teen angst and adult/societal expectations. i always feel like the music for areas like shevat (the technologically/socially/intellectually advanced city/country in any given late 90's jrpg) was trying to communicate the same thing to me. that thing being, "hey, you'll get here eventually (metaphorically of course) and it's going to be great. that's why this music is so rad and soothing." then the city was inevitably beset by some tragedy from within or from outside forces
14. "Chrono Trigger had the Dragonball Z connection" In response to Reply # 6
>if you don't mind me asking, how did a group of (i'm assuming) >18-25 year-olds get interested in a composer whose best known >work was out when the aforementioned group were probably >toddlers? i find it incredibly interesting that the music >that dominated my life when i was a teenager is getting >rediscovered and repurposed by kids 15 years younger than me
And it was re-released for Playstation with all those extra anime cutscenes right at the height of DBZ-mania on Toonami. RPGs were actually a huge thing to do for kids my age from jocks to nerds, everybody had a Final Fantasy and you could never find a copy of Chrono Cross to rent (also released in 1999). You can bet most 18-25 year olds emulated the older games if they played them, but that FFVI/Chrono Trigger bundle was pretty clutch.
19. "RE: Chrono Trigger had the Dragonball Z connection" In response to Reply # 14
>RPGs were actually a huge thing to do for kids my age from >jocks to nerds, everybody had a Final Fantasy and you could >never find a copy of Chrono Cross to rent (also released in >1999).
This is a great point, one that I hadn't considered in some time. When I was into RPGs, the only people that played them (or played them and talked about them at school, publicly) were "indoor kids" like me. But I did notice that the kids about 10 years younger than me were much more open about their RPG playing, like the stigma was gone or something.
I also think alot of these kids were inoculated by playing Pokemon when they were very young, so that RPGs were more natural to them.
9. "RE: This is cool. Is Mitsuda-san aware of the project though?" In response to Reply # 7
Yes, Mitsuda-sama does know. He tweeted me a simple "thanks" and then later he tweeted about the album to all his followers. It was definitely a dream come true. I hope to send him a copy and a large print of the pixel portrait.
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