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For Volume 4, Scarlet Moon's Halloween mix goes heavy and cinematic
A crossover effort that "can appeal to any music fan."
The arrival of another creepy season calls for a new edition of Scarlet Moon’s Halloween videogame music mix. For its fourth volume since 2022, compilation series founder Jayson Napolitano called up some returning composers to contribute, many of whom are San Diego-based. Appearing on the five track album are George “The Fat Man” Sanger, Sean Schafianski, Nami Nakagawa, Rogov, and Soyo Oka.
“Every year,” says Napolitano, “we reach out to our label artists and friends we've collaborated with over the past year, and folks from our Discord community, and put out an open call to contribute. This usually results in a different slate of artists for each year's entry. What strikes me with this year's volume stylistically is that it has several cinematic pieces, and heavier tunes than previous volumes. What I really hope is that people make a playlist of this, past volumes, and other Halloween favorites.”
The return of George “The Fat Man” Sanger of surf rock band Los Coronados means there’s a familiar local flavor injected into the mix again. Sanger is also a renowned videogame composer and a contributor to San Diego's Mid-City Community Music collective, which provides music education to under-resourced communities in San Diego. “It's great to give them an avenue to release their music widely to the world in this way,” says Napolitano. “George is a blast to work with, and is so fun creatively; the group even records music videos for their work. It's a real honor to get to feature him and the band on these albums.”
Another returning local contributor from the album is alternative rocker Vladymir Rogov; his track is titled “Stop Pretending.” Rogov has shared stages with the Talking Heads, The B-52’s, and Elvis Costello. His musical style isn’t what you’d expect to find on a videogame music album, but he finds a way to make it work. “While his music lives well outside of the game music space,” says Napolitano, “I thought it would be fun to give him a channel to reach a new audience. He's very thoughtful and meticulous about his music, and each song tells a fascinating story.”
Video:
"Stop Pretending"
Napolitano was excited to hear what Soyo Oka would bring to the album. Oka started working for Nintendo in 1987 before leaving and becoming a freelancer. “She's known for the super upbeat and poppy soundtrack to Super Mario Kart and Pilotwings from the 1990s,” Napolitano explains. “While she hasn't been as active in games since those days, she's worked on other popular music genres, and it was really fun to hear her take on a darker tune with ‘Rainy Halloween’ this year.”
Video:
"Rainy Halloween"
Similarly, Scarlet Moon’s own composer Nami Nakagawa, who resides in Japan, has contributed vocals to large-scale videogames like Tekken. It’s also notable that she has a range of over three octaves. “She's the famed vocalist who contributed to the Demon Slayer series, which is in theaters right now. Given the sort of epic style of the song she provided and the fact that it's titled ‘Castle,’ I couldn't help but think of it in terms of her most recent work on this film in theaters right now, Infinity Castle.”
Video:
"Castle"
These compilation albums, Napolitano says, are part passion project and part community service. “I see this as an album by and for San Diegans and fans of game music. It's a crossover album bridging a cultural divide between popular music and game music, I'd really like to see more opportunities for game music fans to explore new genres and people who are not game music fans to appreciate music from games. I have my own holiday playlists for Halloween and Christmas, and I like to have new music to add to those playlists. I figure there are other fans out there who'd love to have more music for the seasons as well. It's a community service because these albums aren't really meant to make a huge profit for us. We all contribute and split the revenue.”
Scarlet Moon Halloween Volume IV was released October 1 and is streaming on all major platforms. “Our audience is primarily fans of videogames. That's why you see remixes of videogames on our albums. But because we include originals and the game songs are remixed, it can appeal to any music fan.”
Here's something you might be interested in.
For Volume 4, Scarlet Moon's Halloween mix goes heavy and cinematic
A crossover effort that "can appeal to any music fan."
For Volume 4, Scarlet Moon's Halloween mix goes heavy and cinematic
A crossover effort that "can appeal to any music fan."
The arrival of another creepy season calls for a new edition of Scarlet Moon’s Halloween videogame music mix. For its fourth volume since 2022, compilation series founder Jayson Napolitano called up some returning composers to contribute, many of whom are San Diego-based. Appearing on the five track album are George “The Fat Man” Sanger, Sean Schafianski, Nami Nakagawa, Rogov, and Soyo Oka.
“Every year,” says Napolitano, “we reach out to our label artists and friends we've collaborated with over the past year, and folks from our Discord community, and put out an open call to contribute. This usually results in a different slate of artists for each year's entry. What strikes me with this year's volume stylistically is that it has several cinematic pieces, and heavier tunes than previous volumes. What I really hope is that people make a playlist of this, past volumes, and other Halloween favorites.”
The return of George “The Fat Man” Sanger of surf rock band Los Coronados means there’s a familiar local flavor injected into the mix again. Sanger is also a renowned videogame composer and a contributor to San Diego's Mid-City Community Music collective, which provides music education to under-resourced communities in San Diego. “It's great to give them an avenue to release their music widely to the world in this way,” says Napolitano. “George is a blast to work with, and is so fun creatively; the group even records music videos for their work. It's a real honor to get to feature him and the band on these albums.”
Another returning local contributor from the album is alternative rocker Vladymir Rogov; his track is titled “Stop Pretending.” Rogov has shared stages with the Talking Heads, The B-52’s, and Elvis Costello. His musical style isn’t what you’d expect to find on a videogame music album, but he finds a way to make it work. “While his music lives well outside of the game music space,” says Napolitano, “I thought it would be fun to give him a channel to reach a new audience. He's very thoughtful and meticulous about his music, and each song tells a fascinating story.”
Video:
"Stop Pretending"
Napolitano was excited to hear what Soyo Oka would bring to the album. Oka started working for Nintendo in 1987 before leaving and becoming a freelancer. “She's known for the super upbeat and poppy soundtrack to Super Mario Kart and Pilotwings from the 1990s,” Napolitano explains. “While she hasn't been as active in games since those days, she's worked on other popular music genres, and it was really fun to hear her take on a darker tune with ‘Rainy Halloween’ this year.”
Video:
"Rainy Halloween"
Similarly, Scarlet Moon’s own composer Nami Nakagawa, who resides in Japan, has contributed vocals to large-scale videogames like Tekken. It’s also notable that she has a range of over three octaves. “She's the famed vocalist who contributed to the Demon Slayer series, which is in theaters right now. Given the sort of epic style of the song she provided and the fact that it's titled ‘Castle,’ I couldn't help but think of it in terms of her most recent work on this film in theaters right now, Infinity Castle.”
Video:
"Castle"
These compilation albums, Napolitano says, are part passion project and part community service. “I see this as an album by and for San Diegans and fans of game music. It's a crossover album bridging a cultural divide between popular music and game music, I'd really like to see more opportunities for game music fans to explore new genres and people who are not game music fans to appreciate music from games. I have my own holiday playlists for Halloween and Christmas, and I like to have new music to add to those playlists. I figure there are other fans out there who'd love to have more music for the seasons as well. It's a community service because these albums aren't really meant to make a huge profit for us. We all contribute and split the revenue.”
Scarlet Moon Halloween Volume IV was released October 1 and is streaming on all major platforms. “Our audience is primarily fans of videogames. That's why you see remixes of videogames on our albums. But because we include originals and the game songs are remixed, it can appeal to any music fan.”
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