Posts Tagged ‘Mega Ran’

Mega Ran is back, and he’s gone from Robot City to River City in his latest adventure. Run with Random as he raps right through the  rough roads of River City Random. Random lays down some dope rhymes about living in the fight or be fought world of River City. Hear some heavy beats, some catchy tunes, and help stop some bullying by grabbing this album.

It feels like yesterday that I had the pleasure of meeting Shael Riley and Ty Guenley, the masterminds behind the 8-bit indie rock band Shael Riley and the Double Ice Backfire and their newly-released album Ultimate Songs from the Pit. They had been visiting NYC to get the album mastered a year ago, thus bringing Shael and Ty in proximity to me and each other. This came not long after the Backfire’s success in funding the mastering through a Kickstarter, which gained nearly twice as much monetary pledges as the initial goal. The cash certainly didn’t go to waste: even songs from the band’s previous EP Songs from the Pit feel refreshed and immediate due to Drew Lavyne’s mastering and Ty’s mixing.

Although the process of finalizing and mass-duplicating the CD was long, Shael and Ty were hardly at rest in their music making. As incentive for the Kickstarter, the band recorded cover versions of songs commissioned by those who made large pledges; one such cover, a remake of Shael’s Castlevania homage “Juese Belmont” was posted at OverClocked ReMix. The Double Ice Backfire also contributed to albums that covered “Weird Al” Yankovic and They Might Be Giants. My favorite song from Ultimate Songs from the Pit, “Hobby Model” almost seems like a cover itself, with its refrain resembling that of Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman”.

Genius loves company, and so the album has a fair number of guests. Fellow chip rocker Brian Mazzaferri of I Fight Dragons shares lead vocal duties on “Bootstraps” while Schaffer the Darklord drops lines into “Publishing Rights”. Additional rhyme-spitting comes courtesy of Mega Ran on “Area Dolls” and Billy the Fridge in “Rarest of Elements”. Ricky Henry, the ‘third-ice’ in the band’s live shows, was responsible for the album artwork. Ultimate Songs from the Pit is available now at Bandcamp for streaming and as a paid download, with the lead track “How to Fire a Gun” as a free single.

That’s right, Mega Ran and K-Murdock’s collaboration album Forever Famicom is not just an album anymore, but a full fledged story thanks to Griff Morivan. You just witnessed part one up above you, and you can check out part two already as well!

Will there be more though? This is where you come in as a loyal Mega Ran fan. Looks like Random has started a kickstarter fundraiser to bring both the Forever Famicom movie to DVD, as well as the FF album to vinyl for all the record collectors amongst you. The clock is ticking though, as Ran has given us less than a month to raise the necessary 2,500 bucks to make this dream a reality. As with all Kickstarter drives though, there are plenty of amazing incentives for those with deep pockets. Starting from a simple $10 for the Forever Famicom album, and posters, all the way to the highest donation, which gives you the power to request Random and K-Murdock sample and flow over any game you choose! Portal? UN Squadron? Barbie’s Horse Adventures? For the price of $250 any of it is possible.

Yup, one week away from a huge all star night of video game inspired music. So for those who are not up to speed or need some more info, or persuading to come on out, here is the rundown. June 15th at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, CA there is going to be an epic night of video game rock, jazz, hip hop, and chiptunes! We call it West Coast Wigout 2!

It’s a full night dedicated to some of the best in video game inspired music!

Full info about the concert through here.

Who’s playing? Check out this list!

A_Rival (San Francisco, CA) – rivalrivalrival.bandcamp.com

The Megas (Los Angeles, CA) – themegas.com

Random AKA Mega Ran W/ K-Murdock (Phoenix, AZ) – megaran.com

WizWars (Los Angeles, CA) – myspace.com/wizwars

EvilWezil (Los Angeles, CA) – myspace.com/evilwezil

Tanuki Suit Riot (Los Angeles, CA) – tanukisuitriot.com

Quarter Circle Jab (Fresno, CA) – myspace.com/qtrcirclejab

You might recognize A_Rival better as OCReMix artist AE who remixed the classic SF2 title music as Clamato Fever in SF2THDR. Well guess what, he raps about video games too, and you better believe his raps are as epic as his remixes!

If you read GM4A then you already know who The Megas and Random AKA Mega Ran are. If you don’t know though, I think their names give enough of a hint at what they are all about. The Megas tell a tale of a man, a mega man, in rock n roll fashion. While Mega Ran on the other hand raps from multiple perspectives and about every gaming topic under the sun and then some!

EvilWezil and Wizwars are two amazing chiptune artists who perform not with a guitar, or vocals, but armed only with their respective Gameboys to rock things chiptune style.

Finally the last block of awesomeness is the amazing VG jazz group Tanuki Suit Riot who jams out to everything from Zelda, to Mega Man X, to F-Zero. Last but not least is Quarter Circle Jab, who have been around for years but are gaining much more notoriety thanks to their debut release kickbutt.exe (free download). Yup, that album includes some more great SF2 music, as well as other great games like Final Fantasy and Earthbound.

So this will definitely be some night to remember!

Once again more info through this link.

It is finally June 1st, and you know what that means! The highly anticipated album from Random AKA Mega Ran and producer K-Murdock is finally available. Forever Famicom is 14 songs of incredible and fresh nerdcore rap over some of the best (and often more obscure) video game beats I have yet to hear.

From Earthbound, to Chrono Trigger, the album covers a bit of everything from the NES and SNES days, and not just as fan service. K-Murdock seems to have chosen the best songs, despite their obscurity or fame, to create amazing hip hop beats with, and work seamlessly with Random’s various rap styles which show up on this album. K-Murdock’s beats take on a ton of various styles like the rocking Chrono Trigger track Epoch or the upbeat nostalgia in the Little Nemo beat flowing through the track Dream Master.

Of course Random lays down the rhymes. He touches on autobiographical incidents in Dream Master, and, of course, what it’s like to be a gamer in this day and age with the jaded gamer anthem Drop The Load. The latter track listens like a list of complaints that game developers in this day and age could really take heed of. And seeing how I have complained about many similar things as well, this is definitely one of my favorite tracks on the album. We also have to stop back at the track Epoch, which lays down a rocking remix of Chrono Trigger beneath an intense, reference heavy set of rhymes that I think would make a fantastic music video (hear that Ran?).

On the lyrical side we also hear from two other heavyweight nerdcore rappers in int80 of Dual Core, and Schaffer The Darklord in the laid back anthem For The Gamers, which is another amazing track on an album full of nothing less than stellar tunes. This track ends with a fantastic shout out from Random to a ton of classic games which shows off both his gaming knowledge and rap skill in one quick attack.

This is only touching on the album as well, expect a fuller review of the album soon, until then, give the album your own listen and of course grab your copy through this link (or physical copy via this link). I thoroughly recommend grabbing this album, not to mention seeing Mega Ran and K-Murdock live this June 15th in Los Angeles at West Coast Wigout 2!

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This is an appropriate comic, seeing as how Capcom is sponsoring our show in Los Angeles. WEST COAST WIGOUT 2 with awesome swag. If you are in the area, then find out more through this link. In other appropriate comic news we will also be hearing from Random AKA Mega Ran with his newest album Forever Famicom, which comes out June 1st. Of course a write up on it will be up here on GM4A as well that day! Now on to all the news that’s fit to…be news?

• VGM Spotlight – Kileak, the Blood Sound Tracks & Remix via anosou.com
• 
  MithrilWorks’ -R- soundtrack available for free download via Nobuooo.com
• GM4A Records releases B-Type album HOURS
• Subtitled video interview with Beijing chiptune artist Sulumi via thecreatorsproject.com and Nobuooo.com
• Music Monday looks at The Megas album Get Equipped via thenakedgamers.com
• Stage Select: Galactic Hero by Comptroller via Beepcity.com
• Lo-Fi And The Lost Art Of The Pixel via Motherboard
• 8-Bit Doctor Horrible is Just What the Octoroc Ordered via 1UP
• PixelJunk Shooter’s High Frequency Soundtrack via 1UP

Game Music 4 All and Broken Tape Decks, with support from Nerdapalooza, Nerdy Show and Capcom are proud to present WEST COAST WIGOUT 2! Video game inspired music concert.

Full details and ticket info through the main WCWO page here.

The event will take place at Gallery Nucleus. Doors open at 6PM, and show goes until midnight! We will have everything for video game fans and music lovers alike. Nerdcore, Chiptunes, VG Cover bands, and then some! Come on out after E3 to see how video games have influenced art and music over the last twenty five years.

We will be hearing from amazing acts such as the one and only mega man rock band The Megas, chip hop extraordinaire A_Rival, amazing underground rapper and nerdcore champion Random AKA Mega Ran. We can’t forget the amazing chiptune stylings of Los Angeles artists Wizwars and EvilWezil. Also for the classier folks in attendance we have the incredible video game jazz of Tanuki Suit Riot.

All this great music in one night, not to mention free giveaways courtesy of the great folks over at Capcom!

You can order tickets for the awesome price of $10 right now via this gallery nucleus page, and hurry up because tickets are limited and the day of the show tickets go up to $15!

Looks like Mega Ran, alongside producer K-Murdock have finally released the first, and long awaited tracks from their upcoming project Forever Famicom. Better yet, they have released these two tracks for free download! So head right over to the double single Bandcamp page and grab both songs now!

First we hear a laid back autobiographical cut laid atop some nice Little Nemo based beats called Dream Master. This is followed up by the amazing Chrono Trigger tribute where Mega Ran drops line after line of video games and other nerdy references with tons of energy. This track goes by Epoch and is definitely an incredible track, and definitely hope I get to hear it live at some point. These tracks definitely show the varied skills of Mega Ran and producer K-Murdock, and raise the anticipation for Forever Famicom to a whole new level.

Also don’t forget that Mega Ran has also released two new Mega Ran 10 singles for a dollar each over at the Mega Ran 10 Bandcamp page.

And finally, he is also playing alongside MC Frontalot tomorrow night at the Viper Room in Los Angeles (details here), so do not miss that either!

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Another week ends and it’s another Week in VGM round up! Marvel below at the wonders of the internet! Also marvel above at another Neally and DJ Dig Dug comic!

• Mega Ran Teases Us With Yet Another Mega Man 10 Song! via Capcom Unity
• Mega Ran and MC Frontalot in Hollywood – May 5th
• Nario prepares for Super Mario Bros on DDR pad
• Nullsleep announces Collapsed Desires Tour via Nullsleep.com
• Mutherpluckin’ B music video – Air Guitar (from 8-Bit Democracy) via Nobuooo
• University of Maryland’s Gamer Symphony Orchestra Spring Concert is next Sat, May 8th @ 3pm
• Higher Plain Music interviews Tom Salta on Red Steel 2 via Higher Plain Music and Nobuooo.com

That’s right, Mega Ran and MC Frontalot are coming back to Los Angeles to let loose another barrage of nerdy rhymes on the city. Frontalot will surely be unleashing some new rhymes from his latest album Zero Day. Not to mention Random, AKA Mega Ran, will hopefully be showing off a few tracks from his highly anticipated album Forever Famicom.

Full details on the show are below. If you are attending the show, I’ll see you there!

Order tickets early here

May 5th, 11PM
21+

Viper Room (viperroom.com)
8852 West Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069-2108