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It’s been 84 years since we’ve seen you, but our ❤️ for video game music on vinyl records has gone on, and so we’re back at it! This time, Paul and Jeremy are joined by Justin O’Rear from Respawned Records to discuss a pair of features for this episode that are dubiously thematically tied together for your enjoyment and edification. Our first feature pick this time around is Vectormania by Respawned Records. We grapple with the graphics and opine aout “orbots” in this 1990s blast from the pre-rendered past on the Sega Genesis Megadrive. Justin gives us some insight into the background of the record and we even do a little comparison of the electro-farty soundfont on the original hardware. Next, Jeremy infiltrates Perfect Dark, by iam8bit, and puts the game in the context of its iconic spiritual predecessor while highlighting the style it keeps all for itself. We appreciate Joanna Dark as a cool character and explore the musical unity of this co-composed soundtrack while reliving our comp-stomping glory days of Perfect Dark multiplayer.
Next we have quite a few items to catch you up on, commercially speaking. Times are tough but if you’re like us, the call of the vinyl is strong, and we know you want to answer. In our third and final segment we sit down with Justin to learn everything there is to know about his new (but prolific) record label, and some of the… “cult pop” properties he has pursued. We ask the hard questions about Plok, and we even weasel a brand new announcement out of him for the next Respawned release!
Outro: “End Credits” – Perfect Dark, by Grant Kirkhope
Respawned Records: http://www.respawnedrecords.com/
Twitter: @respawnedrec
Facebook: respawnedrecords
Instagram: @respawnedrecords
Twitter – @vg_grooves, @jeremy_lamont, @ajohnagnello
Guardia: The X-Strike Sessions (TheYetee)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (iam8bit)
Ori and the Blind Forest reissue (iam8bit)
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night (sold out) (Limited Run Games)
Sea of Stars (Kickstarter)
Life Force / Salamander (Ship to Shore) (Debug Records) (Black Screen Records)
Tekken (Laced Records)
Tekken 2 (Laced Records)
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Limited Edition (Game.co.uk)
Bat out of HAL (Kirby’s Dream Band Bandcamp)
Benyamin Nuss Plays Uematsu (Wayo Records)
Rush ‘N Attack (Spacelab9)
Red Matter (Enjoy the Ride Records) (Black Screen Records)
Lost Ember (Mooneye Studios) (EU only)
Image Gallery
Awesome show guys, loved it! And really enjoyed hearing my bro, Justin talk about his label.
Hi Jeremy,
Recently got into video game music and video game music on vinyl and randomly came across your podcast. Really enjoy it, and learning lots, glad I found it. Growing up was mostly an Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Sonic, Micro Machines and Sports games fan, then Metal Gear Solid and not all that much beyond. But enjoy the old game sound a lot and the nostalgia side of it. Your Podcast has let me in on a much wider range of video game music and – though only caught 5 eps so far – kept me up to date with this market, which is a little sporadic and obscure at times, but kind of interesting and exciting too.
Was wondering a couple of things, don’t know if you know or could comment. Why are some quite big games from the past not on official release vinyl? Like say the original Sonic series or classics like Alex Kidd or Wonder Boy? I know there is an old Sega volume release with some Alex Kidd on it which I’m considering getting but is a bit expensive.
And second, more so, why do the covers/inside art of the recent releases rarely have original imagery, console icons or pictures of the original game? I know there is a thing around commissioning new art and that’s cool in its own way, but I would rather in most cases have some of the original artwork and iconography/logos. Like, I have in my quite small collection, Battletoads in Battlemaniacs and Streets of Rage 3 which are nice but neither have the proper covers or graphics from the game. Are the licence companies quite protective about all that?
Thanks for the podcast.
Cheers,
Tom
Scotland
Hi Tom, thanks so much for listening. We’ve been really lucky to talk to each other and guests about a lot of musical history as part of the podcast… and in a way, an “anachronistic” format like vinyl is the perfect vehicle for it. You may have a little extra archaeology to do with some of our past episodes, and we would love to hear from you as you go.
Your question about vinyl releases is well taken, and is probably the most-asked in general about any given game and its music. As best we can discern, and it varies by title, there are a few factors. One is: interest. In this particular episode, Justin actually addresses this somewhat. There’s a big difference between “hey it would be pretty great if [game XYZ] were on vinyl” and someone actually going to the trouble to seek the licensors, put in the effort to produce it musically and physically, and then make it a product. Another reason is the licensing itself. Property holders may or may not decide that they want to allow someone to produce a product with their beloved property. Sometimes it’s a trust issue. Sometimes it’s an “opportunity cost” issue (it’s just not worth it to them, financially, to pursue that versus something else). Sometimes it’s even more complicated when the rights are held by two or more other entities and they speak different languages and their lawyers are busy guys and it’s just–blarrrgh–suddenly a three-year-long process. Ultimately each release seems to be a case by case process. You’ll hear bits and pieces of our explanation here interspersed throughout our various episodes with people like Justin, or Tom from Laced Records, or Cassie from Ship to Shore, who each offer a little glimmer of insight into their work in this matter.
(Whew! That was a long one!)
Finally, on the question of whether art is (or should be) original, that also gets into a couple of things. First is the question of whether the “key art” (original box art, marketing/promotional art etc) is available. Sometimes it’s actually mandatory as part of the license. But this might be predicated on whether the product designer prefers the original art. In the public, we seem to hear it both ways “We want the original box!” vs “I’ve seen the original box. Let’s do something new and cool!” The jacket does give some artistic opportunities to create something new… and many labels will take that opportunity. But there have also been cases where even if the label wanted to do it, the key art was the only option they were given by the licensor. So again, it always depends!
Well, that was a lot of reading rather than listening. Thanks very much for commenting, and welcome along our journey through this strange and wonderful hobby. 🙂
-Jeremy