music

My Ten Favourite Steven Universe Songs

/ Michael Beckwith / 2 Comments

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Steven Universe

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Steven Universe is arguably one of the best cartoons ever made. Or, at the very least, one of the most popular modern ones. Whether it be because of its soft and cosy atmosphere, it’s large and lovable cast, or the stories and messages it presents, a lot of people love this show, myself included. Today, I want to highlight one of the show’s most notable aspects – its songs.

You can tell just by watching the show that the crew LOVE making music and song numbers. I can’t quite describe it but every song has the same level of heart and passion put into it, resulting in a unified yet varied soundtrack, with some of them sounding like they’d fit in a stage musical. So, with the Steven Universe movie almost upon us and it being a musical as well, I’m sharing my ten favourite songs from the show so far, in order of when they appeared in the show. And let me tell you, there were a lot to pick from. Continue reading →

What’s This? – A Final Fantasy XV Parody

/ Michael Beckwith / 1 Comment

NOTE: If you would like to cover this song, then you are free to do so as long as you provide me with writing credit and a source to this post. Thanks!

And now for something completely different! I wanted to do something special for Christmas this year and upon hearing a friend of mine gush over how good Final Fantasy XV is, this dumb idea quickly sprouted in my head and I figured “Why the hell not?”

First things first, I’d like to thank one SerpentinePirate for creating this lyric-less version of the song and, of course, you lovely people for listening to it. Hopefully my singing isn’t so bad that it causes your ears to leak blood. And, if you’re curious, you can find the lyrics by clicking on the “Continue reading” link.

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas, and if you don’t celebrate Christmas, I hope you just have a good day and a good new year in general. Happy Holidays!

Continue reading →

Persona 4: Dancing All Night – Pointless Party or One Last Hurrah?

/ Michael Beckwith / 3 Comments

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Persona 4 is, without a doubt, one of the best JRPGs ever made. Anybody who’s played it will tell you that, which is probably why some people got a bit mad when Atlus started milking the crap out of it. Two fighting games, two different anime series, a crossover with Persona 3 and, today’s subject, a rhythm-action game.

Personally, while I understand some people’s frustration, I had no issues with these because 1. any opportunity to spend more time with these characters was a welcome one for me, 2. the money made from these would help fund other projects (coughPersona5cough) and 3. they were fun to play anyway. And for me, it was, bizarrely, the rhythm-action game that had me most excited.

At the time, I had only recently found myself becoming a fan of the genre thanks to the likes of Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy and the Project Diva games, so having a game like that but with Persona 4 music was a welcome one. But did the game live up to my admittedly lofty expectations? Can someone who isn’t a fan of the series enjoy it? Or does it alienate even the Persona 4 fans? Well, that’s what this review is all about. Continue reading →

My VG Music Picks #2 – Seaside Hill (Sonic Heroes)

/ Michael Beckwith / Leave a comment

(originally posted December 12th 2014)

Though Sonic Heroes is by no means one of my favourite Sonic games (in fact, it’s probably one of my most hated), it was the game that brought me into the series proper, even though I already had some experience with Sonic 2 (which I was terrible at). Looking back, the first level of the game didn’t really leave that much of an impact on me but now I’m older and more appreciative of music, I find myself absolutely loving it. Continue reading →

My VG Music Picks #1 – Opening (Super Smash Bros. for Wii U)

/ Michael Beckwith / Leave a comment

(originally posted November 28th 2014)

For reasons that I won’t explain since you probably don’t care, I’m beginning to not have as much time to write articles. But since I don’t want to break the streak of doing them weekly, I figured I’d start a recurring series of articles that are short and simple to write up; specifically, articles about some of my favourite pieces of music in video gaming. And what better way to start this off than with a track from a game released in Europe today: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Continue reading →

Ten of My Favourite Music Tracks from Project X Zone

/ Michael Beckwith / 1 Comment

(originally posted October 17th 2014)

I briefly mentioned it in the article I wrote two weeks ago, but Project X Zone has an amazing soundtrack. Granted, most of the tracks are remixes of already existing tracks but there are still plenty of original tracks and, regardless of originality, they are all really good. So, to honour it, here’s a list of ten of my top picks. Continue reading →