We've got a rare 5-pack and a single from the Bangles this week as our Rock Band DLC. The Bangles song is also coming out for Lego Rock Band as well.
AFI - Beautiful Thieves
AFI - End Transmission
AFI - Love Like Winter
AFI - Medicate
AFI - The Leaving Song, Pt II
The Bangles - Walk Like an Egyptian
Prices are $1.99 USD (160 Microsoft Points) per track, and $8.49 (680 Microsoft Points) for "AFI Pack 01" For Nintendo owers, it's $2.00 USD (200 Wii Points™) per track.
Activision just can't seem to stay out of trouble.
Not even two days after the rainbow-infused Band Hero started piling up on endcaps of stores worldwide, it's already got a lawsuit filed against it, and we've heard this verse before. The artist No Doubt is suing for unauthorized use of their name and likenesses.
While it's always fun to make a unique avatar of rock stardom and sing covers, and it's similarly fun to unlock in-game versions of actual artists during their songs, it doesn't seem like a difficult step in the coding process to limit these virtual versions of platinum artists to--I don't know--only playing songs they actually choose to play.
That's at the heart of No Doubt's outrage, no doubt, since they don't appreciate seeing their band "transformed [. . .] into a virtual karaoke circus act" who can "sing, dance and perform over sixty songs." Supposedly, they have an extra-special vein-bursting moment when the game forces Gwen Stefani's lips to utter forth the voice of Mick Jagger singing "Honky Tonk Woman."
The lawsuit might not smell of success, but it does smell like teen spirit. Only two months ago, when Activision released its sequel-tastic Guitar Hero 5, this exact same issue of celebrities-gone-marionette came up as well. Unfortunately, it was even more bizarre and sad then, since the virtual likeness lovingly created and then trotted out to bleat hits of every decade and genre was the late Kurt Cobain, who once lamented, "famous is the last thing I wanted to be." His widow was the first to raise an objection and come at Activision with lawyers a-swingin', but Kurt's old bandmates also agreed (with no lawsuit-happy motive) that seeing robo-Kurt like that was something he never would have wanted.
Regardless of what one believes about the hectic stupidity of a society addicted to lawsuits, these cases have merit, at the very least, in the eyes of those who adore Nirvana and No Doubt. Creating a successful band is as much about image and attitude as it is about music anymore, but once that image is solidified, it deserves to be considered as sacred as the songs crafted by that same artist. It's easy to imagine that artists signing on to have their likenesses used in a game which should be a tribute to music and bands did so only by assuming the negotiators at Activision understood what should, frankly, be a basic idea of why fans love the bands they do.
Activision's response makes no apologies, though. Let's see just how their defense rests, after the jump...
If you haven't heard of OverClocked ReMix you must be under a rock; a community website "dedicated to the appreciation and promotion of video game music as an art form," the ReMixers have been around for years releasing alternative arrangements of popular video game soundtracks. Everything from Chrono Trigger to Castlevania has been examined and as a hobbyist musician back when I lived in NYC I've always been impressed with the level of talent you'll find picking through tracks on the site.
The latest compilation project from the site is Humans + Gears and re-envisions Yasunori Mitsuda's opus from Xenogears. Started in 2006, Humans + Gears is a two disc, 33-track album featuring submissions from thirty different artists. The scope of the album is split into two halves; Human is softer and more acoustic while Gears is more electronic and mechanical. Having gone through the entire two discs earlier I was blown away by the impressiveness of many of the songs-- while they all have their roots in a video game soundtrack, so many of the arrangements completely stand on their own legs without seeming like someone ran a MIDI through Reason.
The album is available on the official website for individual download, or as a 1.07 gigabyte torrent file. And be sure to check out Geoffrey Taucer's "When the Smoke Clears" and Vampire Hunter Dan's "Ship of Emotion and Song" since those were my favorite songs of the entire project.
This week for Rock Band DLC we get a big pack of Queen!
- Another One Bites the Dust
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love
- Fat Bottomed Girls
- I Want It All
- I Want to Break Free
- Killer Queen
- One Vision
- Somebody to Love
- Tie Your Mother Down
- Under Pressure
These tracks will be available for purchase as "Queen Pack" for $15.99 (1280 Microsoft Points) and as individual tracks for $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points). These songs release Tuesday for Xbox and Thursday for Playstation, as usual.
Hello, readers of GayGamer.net, I believe this may be relevant to your interests. You may or may not know about the Canadian musical act Final Fantasy, which has been previously mentioned here, albeit several years ago. It's essentially a solo act of Owen Pallett, professional composer, gamer, and homosexual.
Many of Owen's songs are sung from (or written from) the perspective of a nerdy young gay man and deal with the intense isolation to which that can lead. One of my favorite songs of his, He Poos Clouds, is a pretty good example of this--it links his infatuation with fictional characters to equally hollow 'confidential' romantic encounters, while making references to multiple Zelda games. Many of his lyrics are speaking to secondary but very real facets of self that are rarely addressed in music. Some of his melodies may also sound vaguely familiar to gamers inducted into the classics.
But don't think he's all schtick. He's also a beautiful composer and a diverse song writer, and I encourage you explore his music yourself if you're even remotely interested. Anyway, Final Fantasy is touring the US! The tour dates are as follows:
04/11/2009 USA Grand Rapids, MI (Ladies Literary Club - Calvin College)
05/11/2009 USA Chicago, IL (The Metro)
06/11/2009 USA Madison, WI (High Noon Saloon)
10/11/2009 USA Seattle, WA (The Showbox)
11/11/2009 USA Portland, OR (The Wonder Ballroom)
14/11/2009 USA San Francisco, CA (The Fillmore)
15/11/2009 USA Los Angeles, CA (Henry Fonda Theatre)
18/11/2009 USA Austin, TX (Antone's)
19/11/2009 USA Dallas, TX (Granada Theater)
20/11/2009 USA Nashville, TN (Mercy Lounge)
21/11/2009 USA Atlanta, GA (The Variety Playhouse)
23/11/2009 USA Orlando, FL (The Social)
24/11/2009 USA St. Augustine, FL (Cafe Eleven)
27/11/2009 USA Washington, DC (9:30 Club)
28/11/2009 USA Philadelphia, PA (Theater of Living Arts)
29/11/2009 USA Boston, MA (Wilbur Theater)
01/12/2009 USA New York, NY (Webster Hall)
02/12/2009 USA Brooklyn, NY (The Bell House)
The BF and I will be attending the LA show, if anyone else is planning on going post a comment!
Shoji Meguro, the celebrated music talent behind the Shin Megami Tensei series is the reason I purchased the UMD version instead of the digital of the PSP remake of Atlus sleeper Persona. It just wasn't included with the digital download and that to me is unacceptable especially when the music of Persona has become such an essential part of the game's experience. It is rare I will look for anything other than game-play when making a purchase decision for a video game but there is something about Shoji that puts a spring in my step and makes the day brighter. Is it a JRPG thing? Is it a Japanese thing? I'm not quite sure but one thing I am confident of is my day is typically incomplete without a little "ironic gloom pop" to round out my musical encounters.
Shoji uses a surprising blend of hip hop, orchestral, electronica, jazz and most recently RnB to create memorable music that helps set the SMT series apart. Every time I boot up a Persona game, the opening always makes me feel like I am about to watch an episode of some lost anime show. In fact his ability to make each track feel like audio snapshots of daily moods has his music on many a playlist in my collection. The Persona OST went immediately from case to PC to ipod. Of the 67 tracks, many are short and sweet but here are some of the notables. Much of the album conjures up dark themes mixed with a sensation of hope and a general silliness that has become a touchstone of the SMT experience.
"Jump on over to read all about it!"
In case you guys hadn't noticed, I've been looking forward to Brütal Legend for a while now. After losing a publisher and potential lawsuits, things were bleak. But sometimes you just can't stop a good game, and EA swooped in and heroically rescued the game from the clutches of Activision. (how's that for a sentence you never thought you'd see) The game released yesterday! So if you like metal or just want to support legendary game creator Tim Schaefer, go get it! I think he deserves to have something be a huge financial success as well as being critically acclaimed, for once. Don't you?
Harmonix, in celebration of the release of Brütal Legend today, are giving us a set of Brütal Legend song packs as our DLC in Rock Band this week. All the songs are from the game's soundtrack!
- Motörhead - "(We Are) The Road Crew '08"
- Tenacious D - "The Metal"
- Testament - "More Than Meets the Eye"
- Black Tide - "Show Me the Way"
- Blink-182 - "What's My Age Again?"
- Joe Satriani - "Satch Boogie"
- Joe Satriani - "Surfing with the Alien"
- Kansas - "Icarus (Borne on the Wings of Steel)" (Live from Two for the Show)
- Kansas - "Point of Know Return" (Live from Two for the Show)
- L7 - "Andres"
You can get any of these rockin' tracks for $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) or the whole pack for $5.49 (440 Microsoft Points). You can get these Tuesday for Xbox, Thursday for Playstation.
Whether you like it or hate it, Gay Bar finally shows up in Rock Band DLC this week. Oh, and there are some other fine artists, including Alanis Morissette, The Raconteurs, and even a Flobots song!
These tracks are released on Tuesday for Xbox and Thursday for Playstation. Price is $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) per track, or you can get the Raconteurs or Electric Six packs for $5.49 (440 Microsoft Points).
Guys, (and gals)
Please pay special attention to this weeks Rock Band DLC. This is one of those weeks that makes people squeal with joy. The above video is just one of the awesome tracks available for Rock Band this week. (The video is from PAX 2008) We also get a bunch of great singles AND a three pack of Freezepop, who are my favorite Rock Band artists because for some reason their songs are always amazingly fun to play. Two of these Freezepop tracks I believe are songs that were on the first two Guitar Hero soundtracks, and one from way back in Frequency. Old School.
Freezepop Pack 01
Singles
All tracks are masters. The Freezepop pack is $2.99 (240 Microsoft Points), and the singles are $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points). Tracks are released Tuesday for Xbox and Thursday for Playstation.
This week for our Rock Band DLC we get some singles and you may find yourself with a big pack of Talking Heads!
The singles are $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points), $8.49 (680 Microsoft Points) for Talking Heads Pack 01. Releases Tuesday on Xbox and Thursday on Playstation.
This week for Rock Band we get an assortment of singles of varying styles, and a second Foo Fighters pack. Also, 'No Rain'! Woo!
Blind Melon - No Rain
Blur - There's No Other Way
Dropkick Murphys - I'm Shipping Up to Boston
Eve 6 - Inside Out
Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict a Riot
Foo Fighters - All My Life
Foo Fighters - I'll Stick Around
Foo Fighters - Lonely as You
The price is $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) a track, and $5.49 (440 Microsoft Points) for Foo Fighters Pack 02. They will be available Tuesday on Xbox and Thursday on Playstation.
