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Press release:
San Francisco, California – June 30, 2015 – Meet IMPORTED, a groundbreaking collaboration album created by some of Japan’s top game composers specifically for their fans abroad. With skyrocketing prices of game music imports from Japan, this group of talented artists–which includes Katamary Damacy composer Yuu Miyake, Mega Man 9 composer Yu Shimoda, Street Fighter IV composer Hideyuki “eiceph” Fukusawa, and the musical debut of Super Mario RPG game designer Akira Ueda–wanted to make their music more readily available, and have done so through this free original album that features a variety of musical styles, from rock and electronic to ambient and jazz.

Featured composers include (in order of appearance):

Tenpei Sato (Disgaea series)
eiceph (Street Fighter IV)
Go Sato (Raiden series)
Dr. COVA (Phantasy Star Online and Sonic series)
Takayuki Nakamura (LUMINES series and Rodea The Sky Soldier)
Yu Shimoda (Mega Man 9 and 10)
Jupiter-B (DARIUSBURST series)
Takahiro Izutani (Metal Gear Solid and Bayonetta series)
Marusho (F-Zero GX and Yakuza series)
Yuu Miyake (Katamari Damacy series)
Akira Ueda (Super Mario RPG game designer)
DEIDARA

Producer Kevin Pescoran developed the concept for IMPORTED and assembled the extensive list of talent after becoming frustrated with the lack of availability and high cost of importing his favorite game music from Japan:

“I grew up listening to soundtracks for games like Street Fighter II, Metroid Prime and Sonic Adventure 2,” reflects producer Kevin Pescoran. “But when I tried to get my hands on more recent soundtracks like Sonic Unleashed, VANQUISH, or Bayonetta, I could only find them for $80 to $100, and realized there was a need for an easier way to get this music to fans around the world.”

Pescoran and the contributing composers look forward to creating similar projects in the future. With platforms like Bandcamp putting music creators and fans closer together than ever before, it’s the perfect time for composers in Japan to reach out to their fans abroad.

“I am actually a game designer, so composing game music is sort of like a hobby to me,” notes Akira Ueda discussing his debut on IMPORTED. “I was in charge of the sound effects for Final Fantasy IV and background art and map design for Seiken Densetsu 2 and Super Mario RPG, but when I think of my favorite games, I reminisce each game with its music together. My musical skills are limited but I had pleasure creating for this album!”

Stay tuned to the IMPORTED Bandcamp page for future updates.

Robin “V-Act” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround