Diggin' in the Carts - a documentary series about Japanese video game music

Red Bull Music Academy have produced a documentary series about Japanese video game music in six episodes, which are to be released every Thursday. The first part is out now.

The composers featured include Hitoshi Sakimoto, Hirokazu Tanaka, Michiru Yamane, Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Kageyama, Yoko Shimomura, Yuzo Koshiro, Shinji Hosoe, Hiroshi Kawaguchi and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi. There are also interviews with other musicians, mixes of video game music and "extras" from the cutting room floor.

I've just watched the first episode, and it was really interesting!

http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/diggin-in-the-carts

 

It's a pity there is no Yasunori Mitsuda on the list.

 

I guess they could only interview so many people... or they couldn't interview some. The glaring error is no Koji Kondo mention... but hey, he only wrote two of the most famous video game themes of all time, both of which are still used in the franchises today!

So here's a clip of him playing to a virtually empty room at GDC:



And an interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Vht-er448

This looks like a shorter version of the interview, but if you want to hear his voice, I guess it's good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ilJCerCucA

 

Wow, great link. Thanks for that.

 

The extra (at the bottom) conversation between Yoko Shimomura and Manami Matsumae was interesting - funny about the broken ROM!!

 

I like the way they've done this doc, you can tell the person who created this series really had a lot of passion. I imagine the people they interviewed were to give more of a deeper insight instead of just cover people who are easily recognizable. I wonder where they are sourcing some of the music from, cause something about the way they capture the sound of magical chase is amazing.

 

I said on Twitter that it was a great documentary I look forward to each week, but the omission of Koji Kondo was unforgivable. He replied, saying it was not for a lack of trying!

You could ask him on Twitter - @NickDwyer.

 

I've met Nick Dwyer who created the series and can confirm he is a Game Collector (Japanese games specifically)
He has DJ'd lots in Japan over the years and bags coming back were filled with music and games.

 

Wonder were the series will end , after FF there isnt much too go , maybe XG 3 that was a hardcore soundtrack

 

It's finished - six parts is all you get

 

Sweet! Thanks for sharing, started watching Episode 1.

 

Just finished watching all 6 episodes plus the hidden levels, great documentary, and amazing shots. Really really enjoyed it, very well done.

I can only complain about 2 things: (1) the pronunciation of "influenced" on the intro, (2) some of the guest speakers (mixers), the rest is superb.

Too bad they could not include Koji Kondo.

Thanks for sharing this retro!

 

Oh man, I forgot there were more episodes of this to be released. I saw the first one last year and was looking forward to viewing the rest of it. Glad to see game composers and game music getting more notoriety as time passes. I always thought I was an odd kid for liking game music so much, a large project like this that celebrates game music and its composers is long overdue.

 

Oh man it's fantastic, I hope they produce more this year, so many amazing artists!