Press Release: Anime Music Streaming Subscription Service “ANiUTa”

Anime music record companies cooperated and established a new company called “ANIUTA,INC.”  The new company announced and launched the worldʼs first anime music specialized paid subscription “ANiUTa” today.

ANiUTa will tap into a new market in music streaming subscription by creating a service specialized in anime music. With the rise of demand for anime and anime music concerts outside of Japan, this subscription service originating in Japan will take on the market worldwide.

The music lineup includes music from anime, game, superhero productions and vocaloid. The 100% pure content will definitely satisfy users from different generations.

ANiUTa plans to provide exclusive original services such as pre-release streaming during anime airing season and collaborations between voice actors/actresses. Services based on anime music, such as exclusive concert ticket application and exclusive merchandise online shopping will also be launched within the service.

The biggest feature of this subscription service is that users can search music from specific anime, which is an exclusive feature that can only be done through specialized anime music service. ANiUTa contains more than fifty thousand tracks while about twenty thousand tracks are released in subscription services for the first time. The service is expected to launch abroad in the end of 2017.

About ANiUTa
ANiUTa is established by the CEOs of the leading anime music makers – Shiro Sasaki from FlyingDog, Inc. and Shunji Inoue from Lantis Co., Ltd. Since the emergence of paid music subscription services such as “Apple Music,” “Google Play Music,” and “Amazon Prime Music” back in 2015, the market has grown rapidly. Witnessing anime music fans worldwide during anime music events held abroad, two companies believe that in order to satisfy anime fans, there should be a specialized service tailor made instead of having massive all-genre music platforms. The new project establishes a unique platform towards fans. This is the concept of ANiUTa – Anime music makers directly approaching fans worldwide and providing a service that satisfies their fans.

Main Anime Music (Starting with fifty thousand tracks)
Attack on Titan
Free!
Genesis of Aquarion
Girls und Panzer
K-ON!
Kantai Collection
Kira Kira☆ Pretty Cure A La Mode
Love Live!
Lucky Star
Macross Frontier
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Re:Zero ­ Starting Life in Another World
Yuri!!! on Ice

Participating Companies
FlyingDog, Inc.
Avex Pictures inc.
Frontier Works Inc.
Kadokawa Corporation
Lantis Co., Ltd
Marvelous Inc.
PONY CANYON INC.
Sunrise Music Publishing Co., Ltd.
TOEI ANIMATION MUSIC PUBLISHING CO., LTD.
TOHO CO., LTD

Esoteric Songs by Kyle Okaly

Kyle Okaly is a film composer in Los Angeles.  He has decided to get into the nerdy music scene recently and so has written and produce his first album Esoteric Songs with  a folk rock style about video games and other geek culture topics.  Song topics include Star Craft, Portal, Pokémon, Star Wars, Chrono Trigger, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and more.

Most of the songs on the album are love songs of some sort of another.  Several from the perspective someone from the various games that inspired him and one, My Child, that is from father to child, that child being a webpage.  It also has a cover of Jonathan Coulton song, Gurl.  They all have a melodious quality, the kind that is great for dancing too or just raising your spirits with.  Overall a good a set of good songs to listen too, maybe even use some for a romantic evening.

There are two animated song teasers (basically music videos that are not the full song) as well.  One for Box 12 (Pokémon love song), animated by Dan Sexton (Crunchlins) and the other Naboolie Portmanteau (a commentary on the intelligence characters in Phantom Menace)  animated by Stephen Leotti.  More are to released in the future, so keep an eye out for those.

The album is available on bandcamp at Name Your Price.  This could be $0, but how about giving the guy a few bucks for his work.

 

RNDM Is Out and Final Tour of The Year

Random (Mega Ran) has released his latest album, RNDM, too much fanfare.  It début #2 in the Mountain time zone on Billboard’s Indy chart.

The album features “Mighty”, the ending credits to the anticipated game “Mighty No. 9.”

They say you can’t go forward without going back. So to move to the future, Mega Ran had to go back to the beginning to say thank you, then to say goodbye. Ran’s 2015 full length album channels the soul of “The Call,” the nostalgia of “Forever Famicom” and blasts into the future with new age production and concepts, while exploring the concept of finding one’s true self through deep soul-searching and experimentation.

Mega Ran calls this “the album of my life.” Hip Hop, pop, electronica and funk/soul meet at the crossroads of introspective, hilarious and heartwarming songs featuring outstanding artists such as Kool Keith, Open Mike Eagle, MURS, Joell Ortiz and more.

The album features appearances from D&D Sluggers, Doctor Awkward, Edy Blu, Elle Winston, Richie Branson, RoQy TyRaiD, Storyville, and Wordburglar.  With beats from Alex Minor, DJ Big Serg, DJ DN3, K-Murdock, Lazerbeak of Doomtree, Lost Perceptions, Michiru Yamane (composer of Castlevania series), RND1, Tunesmith, and others.

You can get the album via download, cassette, vinyl, CD/Shirt bundle, NES cartridge of the album’s instrumentals, or as the Kickstart version of the album.  You can also buy a pair of RNDM socks, only 50 pairs exist.

You can pick it up a copy of the album on iTunes, Bandcamp (with bonus lyric booklet and NES files), Google Play (with bonus track), and Underground Hip-Hop for signed CDS.

 

He is also on his last tour of the year before he gets married.  He is touring with DJ Organic, SkyBlew, and EyeQ.   So check to see if any of the dates are near you.

JUST ADDED:

10/4 ATLANTA at Joystick Gamebar, 3pm to 10pm
10/7 RICHMOND VA (private event, contact Random for info)

After the tour Random is getting married and in lieu of gifts he is asking for donations to the honeymoon fund.

ReplayFX

ReplayFX is an arcade and gaming festival at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from Thursday July 20th to Sunday August 2nd .  There will be 700 arcade and pinball machines on free play, over 2,000 retro console games, tabletop games, showcase by game developers, seminars, magicians, live music, balloon artists, face-painters, and competitions for over $110,000  in prize money.

They have plans for eight musical performances.  On Thursday there will be performances by Triforce Quartet a traditional string quartet that plays video game music and Universal Beat Union an electronic-rock fusion band that makes music for galactic space-time travelers.  Friday Scott Blasey the lead singer of The Clarks will be playing an acoustic set, Flashback an 80’s cover band, and The OneUps a musical collective who play their own intricate and eclectic approach to video game music. Saturday will see a performances by Super Smash Opera a live musical comedy based on the Super Smash Bros series, Inverse Phase a video game composer and chiptune musician, and Dancing Queen a dance band.

Inverse Phase is also doing a seminar on Friday called Chiptune/8-bit music: What is it? How is it Written.  You will learn how to write your own chiptune music.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will be performing an evening of Final Fantasy music at the nearby Heinz Hall on Saturday night.

Regular event passes for the weekend are $94.99.  Single days and kids under 12 are cheaper.  VIP passes start at $150.  A bit much, but they have all kinds of crazy things to do the there besides all the games and music.

Press Release: A New World Premiere in the Twin Cities!

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Amsterdam Hall, St. Paul, Minnesota
New World Players
Arnie Roth, conductor
Benyamin Nuss, pianist

The first opportunity to experience the most intimate FINAL FANTASY music performances in the upper Midwest are at the Amsterdam Hall in St. Paul, a venue renowned for it’s own intimacy and live music experience. With just 340 seats, these performances of A New World allow for remarkable access and perspective inside the music of FINAL FANTASY on two amazing nights.

Led by Grammy Award-winner Arnie Roth, featuring acclaimed piano soloist Benyamin Nuss and the New World Players, these concerts promise an unforgettable FINAL FANTASY musical experience.

Highlights include: FINAL FANTASY VI: Decisive Battle, FINAL FANTASY X: Zanarkand, FINAL FANTASY Series: Chocobo Theme Medley, FINAL FANTASY V: Home, Sweet Home, FINAL FANTASY IV: The Red Wings FINAL FANTASY VII: Those Who Fight, FINAL FANTASY XIII: The Promise – Blinded By Light, and more.

A New World at The University of Michigan!
Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
February 7, 2015 8:00 PM
Evita String Quartet
New World Players
Arnie Roth, conductor
Benyamin Nuss, pianist

A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY makes its Michigan premiere at historic Rackham Auditorium on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan. Directed by GRAMMY Award-winner Arnie Roth, with gifted piano soloist Benyamin Nuss, the Fischoff National Chamber Music medal winning Evita String Quartet and the New World Players, don’t miss this most intimate experience of FINAL FANTASY music. Concert Highlights include: FINAL FANTASY X: Fight With Seymour, FINAL FANTASY Series: Moogle Theme Medley, FINAL FANTASY IX: Danger In the Forest, FINAL FANTASY I: Town, FINAL FANTASY II: Rebel Army Theme, FINAL FANTASY VIII: Fragments of Memories, FINAL FANTASY VII: One Winged Angel and more.

Don’t forget to stay in touch with Arnie, Nobuo, and FF fans around the world on your iPhone, iPad, iTouch or Android!

Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY
Download the mobile app!

This application includes tour info, photos, music and videos!

Join all of our enthusiastic DWFF fans on Facebook! Friend us and share your FINAL FANTASY experiences with people around the world! Stay connected and get the first notice of all the new concerts, ticket on sale dates, new FF scores, special discounts, new recordings, and special events!

Ongaku Overdrive II, Music Festival For Gamers & Anime Fans, Announces Lineup & Day After Show

Ongaku Overdrive is a music festival in Winter Park, Florida (somewhere around Orlando it seems) for fans of anime, video games,  sci-fi, and the like.  Saturday May 10th will be their second event at The Haven Lounge.  Doors open up at 2pm and will go till 1am.  The event includes a mix of rock, chiptunes, J-pop, nerdcore, and electronic music that draws inspiration from video games, fantasy, comic books, and other realms of nerddom.

New acts this year include Armcannon who preform rock renditions of classic video game music; otaku rapper Cashamil Anime Boy; chiptunes/electronic artists Professor Shyguy; videogame/vocaloid synth-rock band Final Weapon; chiptunes and guitarists Danimal Cannon; and finally one of the blog’s favorite rappers Mega Ran.

Returning acts are J-Pop artist Rai Kamishiro; famed otaku rapper Richie Branson; nerd rock band Sci-Fried; video game remixer and DJ, Benjamin Briggs; the blog’s other favorite rapper Adam Warrock; and 16-bit wizards MagiTek.

Tickets for the event are $15 online and $20 at the door.  Attendees must be 18 and bring ID.

An after-party called “The Day After Show” will be held on Sunday May 11th at The Geek Easy starting at 4pm and goes till 1am.  It will feature performances by DJ Roborob, Benjamin Briggs, DJ Cylon, Doug Funnie, Shammers and Shinobi the MC, MC Wreckshin, Eye Q, and more.  A donation of $5 for the artists performing is asked of those attending.  There will also be a grab bag raffle.

This event has one of the best line-ups I have seen in a while and with a cheap price.  I would like to see this expand to at least two days though to give the performers more time.  Someone go and send me a review of it, ok.

 

Black Friday Deals

With today being Black Friday, which is not the biggest shopping day of the year, I decided to gather some links to various artists doing special deals.  Most are only good for today, but some go till Small Business Saturday or to Cyber Monday, so hurry and get what you can.

The Whomping Willows Black Friday sale has everything (CDs, t-shirts, hoodie) for just $5 + shipping.

All music at Gamechops is 50% with code “thankyou.”

All Mega Ran music, including pre-orders, is also 50%.

All Mikal kHill products are 50% off this week, plus t-shirts are reduced to $10 before the discount.  Also when you buy any one physical item get an exclusive kHillcast CD-R with special mix of music, unreleased demos, and music from the new group he is starting.  Just use the code ” FUCKWALMART2X”

Abney Park is doing their Black Friday sale this year.  CDs and novels for just $10, figurines for $5, and dog tags for $9.

Get brentalfloss music 55% with code “wishbones55.”

Get all three of the LeetStreet Boys albums for $30, including shipping.

The Black FuMPDay Sale has select items in the FuMP store 20% to 40% off.  Items include albums from Baldbox, Carrie Dahlby, Cirque du So What?, Devo Spice, great Luke Ski, Possible Oscar, Sudden Death, Worm Quartet, and all the Best of the FuMP albums.

Luke Ski also has all his CDs for $8 and DVDs for $12.

MC Lars is also doing a 50% off sell on everything.

Video Game Music Bundles has five albums for $1 or twenty-four albums for $10.

DFTBA is offering $3 shipping to anywhere in the world.  They have albums by Chameleon Circuit, Alex Day, ALL CAPS, Harry Potter Alliance, Epic Rap Battles of History, and more.

Draco and the Malfoys are offering free shipping in the US and half off shipping outside of the US.

Professor Shyguy is selling his two albums for $5 and his acoustic and instrumental albums for $2.50

The Megas have 50% off their digital downloads with the code “blackandblue”.  Plus the Robot Sketch t-shirts are off 50% at their store.

 

FuMP Kickstarters

Two members of the FuMP have Kickstarter projects going on right now.  Two great albums for fans of Doctor Who and video games.

Devo Spice is looking for some help to with his latest project, I Am The Doctor.  A comedy rap album about Doctor Who for the 50th anniversary, with a song about the different incarnations of The Doctor.

His song I Am The Doctor will be the title track for the album.  Peter Davison (fifth Doctor) makes an appearance on the song “Companion Application.”  Other cameos are being lined too.

The CD is schedule to be released on November 23rd, the day of the anniversary show.  The album has already been funded so no need to worry about it not making it.  You can still get in on this till 2pm on October 31st.  The Kickstarter is to fund production of the CDs, professionally mastering of the songs, money for shipping.

The rewards for this you get a lot of great things for cheap: pledge of only $1 will get you two MP3 downloads of your choice, $10 the digital album, $15 the physical album with booklet, $25 get an exclusive Kickstarter poster with your album, $30 get an exclusive t-shirt with your album, $40 get the t-shirt and poster, $75 signed hand written sheet music page, $100 get credited as producer, $250 get a custom song on any subject you want, and more at higher levels.

In addition to regular rewards, there are also special add-ons.  Devo’s previously released albums are available at a discounted price.  You can get them as either downloads or CDs.  Just add the right amount of extra funds and pick your choice.

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Insane Ian is a comedy musician and a video game reviewer.  Now he wants to combine these two in a web series called “Reviewsicals,” musical reviews of video games.

Funding will go to the materials Ian needs to make the videos himself: new computer, video camera, green screen, and cost of printing CDs.  He already has access to all the games he will review and systems to play them on.  Expect 10 or more videos and songs to be made for the first season.   Each song from the series will be made available on Bandcamp and as a CD once the season is done.

The project’s goal is $2,750 and as of now it has raised $822.  The Kickstarter goes till about noon on November 7th.

Pledge of $1 gets you a personalized thank you and download of one song from the album, $10 for a digital download of the album, $25 for the physical CD autographed, $75 get a poster and extra limited CD as well, $100 gets you listed as an “Executive Producer,” $150 get a short song about yourself or chose a game for the reviewsical, $250 you get both a personal song and pick a song for the reviewsical, $500 get every release of Insane Ian autographed, and more at higher levels.

Nerdapalooza 2013

I am sorry I let this one almost slip by me.  Nerdapalooza, the biggest nerd music event, is back with another great line up this year.  At the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL from Friday October 18th through Sunday the 20th.

Headliners for this year are They Might Be Giants.  The alternative rock band known for the crazy lyrics and wild style.  Their appearance on Tiny Toons lead a whole new generation, including myself, to discover them.  They have written music for the Daily Show, Dexter’s Lab, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Oblongs, and more.  They were the first major labor recording artist to release an album entirely in MP3 format.

Friday night gets things started with performances by nerdcore  superstars Mega Ran, Jesse Danerously, Shinobi Ninja, and Adam Warrock; Gemeni, house band of OverClocked Remix the OverClocked University, chip rockers Urizen, and the electronic/chip music of Benjamin Briggs, Professor Shyguy,  and DJ Cutman.

Saturday starts in the morning with rappers 9K1 and goes from there.  Other acts through out the day are chip rockers The Runaway Five, nerdcore artists Beefy, Schaffer the Darklord, B-Type, My Parents’ Favorite Music, and MC Frontalot; comedy acts brentalfloss and with the OneUps and Marc with a C; video game rock of Random Encounter, Careless Juja, the Protomen, Lords of Thunder and Moon Hooch; chip music with Nullsleep,.  The night ends with They Might be Giants followed by Epic Win Burlesque.

Sunday still has plenty of great acts.  It starts off though with an open mic session.  Acts playing that day are nerdcore rappers Death*Star, Sammus, and MC Lars; nerd/geek rockers Sci-Fred, the Gekkos, The OneUps, Nerf Herder (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s theme music), the Returners, and Urizen again; electronic with DJ RoboRob; comedy rock acts of Peelander-Z and Green Jelly; whatever  Solillaquists of Sound is, and heavy metal with  Powerglove and Dethlehem.

The festival will also have nerd themed artists, several indie game designers, plus vendors and exhibitors.  Friday is free, Saturday passes are $50, and Sunday’s $40.  A full weekend pass is $70.

Once again I so want to go, but can not.  So much different music to check out, everyone can find something to love.

Plus do not forget about The Day After party on Monday the 22nd.  With over twenty performers like YTCracker, Mega Ran and K-Murdock, and Richie Branson.

 

Two Mega Man Tribute Albums Coming

OverClocked ReMix and Sumthing Else Music Works have each put together  an album tribute to Mega Man for Capcom to celebrate 25 years of the Blue Bomber.

The first album is “For Everlasting Peace: 25 Years of Mega Man” by OverClocked ReMix.  It will contain remixes, in multiple music genres, from Mega Man, Mega Man X, Mega Man Legends, Mega Man Battle Network, Mega Man Zero, Mega Man ZX, and Mega Man Star Force.

“We’re honored to again be collaborating with Capcom on another iconic franchise, paying tribute to over 25 years of Mega Man,” said OC ReMix founder and president David Lloyd, who will also contribute to the album alongside more than 20 musicians. “The music of Mega Man is as diverse as the many adventures the games take us on, providing the perfect soundtrack to a quarter century of robotic heroism and upgradeable projectile weapons. The OverClocked ReMix community is always excited to explore new interpretations and expressions of such amazing compositions, and we believe that For Everlasting Peace – our first commercial album – will offer fans something new while staying true to our goals of honoring great video game music and composers!”

The second one is “MM25: Mega Man Rocks” by Sumthing Else Music Works.  This one focuses on the classic Mega Man and the X series.  It has contributions from six big Mega Man acts.  The headliner of the album is The Protomen with a new song “Built to Last.”  Arm Cannon and X-Hunters both provide new songs too.  The Mega and Bit Brigrade re-record some of their previous hits.  Plus Mega Ran and The Protomen hand-pick some their personal faves of their work.

The covers for the two albums was decided from an open contest for fans to send in their own work.

Both albums will launch later this fall on various digital distribution sites.