Search "Minds" 11 Items

Trailblazing instrumental synth pop experiments created to soundtrack Japan’s booming 1980s cartoon and comic industries. The brightly futuristic instrumentals on this collection reflect the mindset of composers and musicians who believed in a technological future where everything was possible.

In the late 1980s Japan experienced a brief but heady period where societal changes combined with new-found wealth to open up a world of possibilities. A huge influx of cash - artificially created by slashed interest rates after an agreement with the US to weaken the dollar relative to the yen - resulted in the inflation of real estate and stock market at a rapid pace. While the economic bubble it created was unprecedented and impossible to sustain, for a while money was in plentiful supply.

The musical genre City Pop reflected the aspirations of the country’s booming leisure class. Video games flourished with Nintendo's 1983 launch of their Family Computer (or FamiCom). Studio Ghibli was founded 1985 to later became one of the most famous and respected animation studios in the world, and Anime and Manga were established as major forms of entertainment for all generations of the Japanese public.

Music was no mere footnote to the anime and manga boom: the two forms of media often went hand in hand, and not simply through the presence of background melodies. With generous budgets available, even two-dimensional static manga comics could be released with an accompanying soundtrack of original music known as an ‘Image Album’.

Composer and arranger Kazuhiko Izu was one such beneficiary of this open budget approach. Written to accompany artist Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga comic Domu, the composer and arranger took advantage of the world-leading (and wallet-busting) Japanese synthesiser technology available at King Records’ fully equipped studio. Featured on this compilation, A3: Act 2 Scene 26 reflected the story’s sci fi themes with a blazingly futuristic yet warmly funky slice of synth pop that presents a joyful celebration of synthesisers and their seemingly endless possibilities.

Kan Ogasawara was another composer who made early mastery of the litany of synthesisers, drum machines and sequencers that had become available. Two tracks written to accompany the 1985 period manga Yume No Ishibumi are featured here; Honowo’s experimental electronic textures add spice to a jaunty electro pop melody that recalls the Rah band’s 1983 hit Messages From Stars; the jazz-tinged Utage rounds out Ogasawara’s shimmering synth textures with beautifully crafted backing from legendary musicians Yuji Toriyama (guitar), Pecker (percussion) and Jun Fukamachi (piano).

Before becoming one of the pioneers of Japanese Kankyo Ongaku (Ambient Music), Takashi Kokubo worked on the proto techno track Kiki (Jungle At Night). It was put together for the 1984 anime film Shonen Keniya (Kenya Boy) using some of the most expensive music technologies available at the time. This Africa-Inspired dance track offers a contemporary parallel to the early techno music that young Detroit based producers were then creating using cheap Japanese Roland drum machines and synthesisers.

This is the first compilation of Japanese anime and manga soundtracks curated by Kay Suzuki and Rintaro Sekizuka from Vinyl Delivery Service (a Tokyo based online record shop which also operates in East London's renowned wine and hifi shop Idle Moments). With a cover by artist Kazuki Takakura and two pages of liner notes, this vinyl only compilation of music never before released outside of Japan, captures a vital aural snapshot of an era whose forward-thinking sounds went hand in hand with cutting edge technology.

Double LP housed in a gatefold jacket Milan Exclusive Variant pressed on Gold colored vinyl In his quest for power, the 12th King of Boletaria, King Allant channeled the ancient Soul Arts, awakening a demon from the dawn of time itself, The Old One. With the summoning of The Old One, a colorless fog swept across the land, unleashing nightmarish creatures that hungered for human souls. Those whose souls were stripped from them, lost their minds – left only with the desire to attack the sane that remained. Now, Boletaria is cut off from the outside world, and the knights who dare penetrate the deep fog to free the land from its plight are never seen again. As a lone warrior who has braved the baneful fog, you must face the hardest of challenges to earn the title “Slayer of Demons” and send The Old One back to its slumber. This is Demon’s Souls, the beloved action game from Sony Interactive Entertainment and Bluepoint Games.

Demon’s Souls (Original Soundtrack) features an incredible score composed by Shunsuke Kida for the PlayStation 5 remake of the original game. Kida delivers a bold and brilliant soundtrack befitting of the game’s lore and follows the composer’s work on the original Demon’s Souls with triumph. Now available on vinyl, Demon’s Souls is pressed on a pair of color vinyl housed in a gatefold jacket featuring beautiful artwork by Ken Taylor. A credit insert is also included. Fans of the Souls series will not want to miss this deluxe vinyl packag

Black Screen Records and Toge Productions teamed up to release Andrew Jeremy’s soothing, relaxing and jazzy lo-fi soundtrack to their coffee brewing and heart-to-heart talking simulator “Coffee Talk” on limited edition cassette tape. The soundtrack will be available mint green and bronze tapes with stunning original artwork by Natto.

"Jazzy chords, hip-hop beats, vinyl crackles, a chilled mind and heart, and a prayer, that’s all you need to make music for ‘Coffee Talk’. It’s soothing, relaxing and most importantly, keeping the warmth of your heart." - Andrew Jeremy, game producer and music composer.

“Coffee Talk” is a game about listening to people’s problems and helping them by serving up a warm drink out of the ingredients you have in stock. It is a game that depicts lives as humanly as possible, while having a cast that is more than just humans. Immerse yourself in the stories of alternative-Seattle inhabitants, ranging from a dramatic love story between an elf and a succubus, an alien trying to understand humans’ lives, and many others modern readers will find strongly echo the world around them.

Black Screen Records and Toge Productions teamed up to release Andrew Jeremy’s soothing, relaxing and jazzy lo-fi soundtrack to their coffee brewing and heart-to-heart talking simulator “Coffee Talk” on limited edition cassette tape. The soundtrack will be available mint green and bronze tapes with stunning original artwork by Natto.

"Jazzy chords, hip-hop beats, vinyl crackles, a chilled mind and heart, and a prayer, that’s all you need to make music for ‘Coffee Talk’. It’s soothing, relaxing and most importantly, keeping the warmth of your heart." - Andrew Jeremy, game producer and music composer.

“Coffee Talk” is a game about listening to people’s problems and helping them by serving up a warm drink out of the ingredients you have in stock. It is a game that depicts lives as humanly as possible, while having a cast that is more than just humans. Immerse yourself in the stories of alternative-Seattle inhabitants, ranging from a dramatic love story between an elf and a succubus, an alien trying to understand humans’ lives, and many others modern readers will find strongly echo the world around them.

Fortnite is more than just a game. It’s a bonafide, genuine, global phenomenon – a platform for players and creators alike to express themselves, a cross-media megaton of diverse characters, concepts, & artwork, and a mind-bendingly massive digital space to hang out with your friends after work, between classes, or whenever you’ve got time to play. Fortnite represents the cutting-edge of what’s possible where creativity meets technology.
Here at iam8bit, we love to live in that particular intersection. So it’s with great pride that we teamed up with the innovative & clever polymaths at Epic Games to present this album for your listening pleasure: Say hello to the Fortnite: Best of the Lobby vinyl!

It’s 1xLP positively packed with the Fortnite community’s favorite Lobby tracks and tunes. It includes hits like Default Vibe, Solid Groove, Afterburner, and even festive jams like Frosty Serenade. They’re all there on gorgeous, peely yellow vinyl.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Fortnite without spectacular art, aesthetics and presentation. That’s why we tapped the infinitely funky Jim Mahfood for the album art and design, featuring tons of iconic Fortnite friends and characters hanging out and enjoying the jams.

Fortnite is more than just a game. It’s a million moving parts, an intersection of online community, technology, and of course, artistry. We are humbled to play a small part in that symphony with this album – a true labor of love.

Genesis Noir is a real gem — a fantastical riff that not only spans time and space, but also dabbles in fun little diddies like an celestial existential crisis and the notion of obliterating creation itself. It does so with tremendous style, drenched in monochromatic beauty and amazing animation, oozing with the essence of a smoky jazz club from another dimension. Did we just describe the game… or the album, because all those things are effectively captured in the soundtrack, too. Composer Skillbard does a phenomenal job of taking us on this massive mind trip, full of lively sax, energetic vocals, periodically somber notes and savvy future melodies. It’s absolutely fantastic and totally unique.

Pressed on 180 Gram Black Vinyl with artwork by Alex Pardee

Mondo, in association with Squanch Games, is proud to present the premiere release of Asy Saavedra’s soundtrack to the 2019 sensation Trover Saves The Universe.

Created by Justin Roiland (Rick And Morty, Solar Opposites) the world of Trover is littered with mind-bending, and literal eye-popping visuals. But underneath, lies one of the most inventive soundtracks for the medium, period.

Asy Saavedra (chaos chaos) has created a sonic playground that so sublime and saturated it practically melts into your ears. equal parts pop, synth and dance, its an album featuring beats that scream to be sampled in the years to come. Play this album loud.

The PlayStation soundtrack for the school romance AVG “To Heart” is now available as a heavyweight analog double-LP!! The PlayStation soundtrack for “To Heart,” one of Aquaplus' historic masterpieces of visual novels and a school love AVG that recently surprised fans with a new production announcement, is now available on a heavyweight analog vinyl record! The original “To Heart” game was released in 1997, followed two years later by the PlaySyation version in 1999, and then by various media mixes, including anime and comic book adaptations, which have made “To Heart” an explosively popular work. The songs are all distinctive and memorable without feeling old, having been released in the 90s, and each song brings to mind a scene from the game as it plays.

WORLD OF HORROR is a 1-bit roguelite horror RPG inspired by the works of Junji Ito and H.P. Lovecraft. The mystery and terrors of Shiokawa, Japan are fully brought to life by this retro-inspired chiptune soundtrack that is as melodic as it is atmospheric."Writing music for a horror game with such a limited chiptune sound palette was a very interesting challenge. It made me consider every part very carefully, resulting in an unusually melodic soundtrack for a horror game", says composer Joseph "Qwesta" Bailey. He and the other musical mind of the game's soundtrack, Garoslaw, have collaborated with Black Screen Records to bring the WORLD OF HORROR onto cassette tape to really give investigators the feel of 1980's Showa Era Japan. We can't provide the AE86, but we can provide the soundtrack!

"This is the complete soundtrack album for Interstellar Sentinel, an action-packed bullet-hell shoot'em-up that takes you on a sci-fi fantasy journey through legions of monsters, demons, and cosmic mind-ripping entities. The game was created by a friend and colleague from the former Factor 5 USA studio and is an inspired love letter to some of the best side-scrolling games ever made, like Salamander/Life Force, Gradius, R-Type, Darius, Super Aleste, Einhander, Ikaruga, and more." - Chris Huelsbeck The soundtrack, featuring all new compositions, is heavily inspired by Chris' earlier works and successes, like Turrican, X-Out and Katakis and should be an aural feast for his fans.

Ship to Shore PhonoCo. is proud to announce the release of Darius II - Original Video Game Soundtrack on vinyl!

It was inevitable that a successful game like Darius would receive a sequel, and in 1989 lucky gamers were treated to Darius II cabinets in their arcades. It has since gone on to become a fan favourite, and rightly so: you can’t mention scrolling shooters without mentioning Darius II.The game was ported over to gaming consoles in Japan the following year, and reached U.S. shores in 1991, under the title Sagaia, with a re-arranged soundtrack and different level layouts. But for purists the arcade version remained top dog, and it is with this in mind that we have pressed the original arcade version soundtrack for Darius II onto vinyl, making this its debut on the format!

Featuring liner notes from composer Hisayoshi Ogura and journalist Anthony John Agnello, and decored with rare production artwork within, this gatefold release of a bona fide shoot ‘em up soundtrack classic is not one fans of video game music and quintessential cabinet gaming will want to miss!