Annotation
The Runaway Four, Vancouver’s video game medley monsters, release their independent studio debut “Chaos Theatre” on January 20, 2017. This 45 minute sonic adventure contains 37 choice tunes from 31 video game titles, mixing popular favourites and hidden gems into 5 themed tracks. Medleys from past performances were selected to build a dynamic narrative through the course of the album, intended to give the listener an adventure for the ears.
The opening track, “This Game is Baroquen”, uses themes that highlight pre-classical musical devices of polyphony and counterpoint, and starts the journey on a light foot. Ice levels don't often come second, but “Boreal Bedlam”, the second track, keeps the fun going with melody-rich ice themes from the snowy woods of Earthbound to the cool, cool mountain of Super Mario 64. Track 3, “Magma Mayhem”, leans back on the rhythm section and heats things up with themes of fire, lava and the infernal, preparing listeners for the 17-minute epic to follow that is “Battle Royale”. The fourth track begins solemn and foreboding, but soon dives into heavy battle themes from Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Pokémon and Donkey Kong franchises and ending with a triumphant fanfare. The closing title, “Your Sanctuary”, is an arrangement of themes from Earthbound exclusively. “Your Sanctuary” is the warm hug at the end of the journey, with a soft chord from the keys enveloping an endearing melody alongside contemplative bass harmonies and drum beats.
credits
released January 20, 2017
Allan Heppner - Drums & Percussion
Chris Doughty - Keyboards & Vocals
Chris McKnight - Bass
Josh Pendlebury - Guitar & Vocals
Sarah McGrath - Guest Vocals
Arrangements by The Runaway Four
Produced by The Runaway Four
Mixed and Mastered by Shafer Carson
Tracking by Josh Pendlebury
Drum tracking by Gary Carter
Drum editing by Dan Whittal & Allan Heppner
Additional tracking by Shafer Carson
Original Artwork by Eddie Farrell
Design & Layout by Allan Heppner
COMPOSER CREDITS
This Game Is Baroquen features
“The Place I’ll Return To Someday” from Final Fantasy IX (Playstation, 2000) by Nobuo Uematsu
“Birth of the People” from ActRaiser (SNES, 1990) by Yuzo Koshiro
“Margarie Margarita” from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES, 1996) by Yoko Shimomura
“Clotho” from Columns (SEGA Mega Drive, 1990) by Tokuhiku Uwabo
“Fugue #7777” from Katamari Damacy (Playstation 2, 2004) by Asuka Sakai
Boreal Bedlam features
“Snowman” from EarthBound (SNES, 1994) by Hirokazu Tanaka/Keiichi Suzuki
“Ice Cave Chant” from Donkey Kong Country (SNES, 1994) by Eveline Fischer
“Iceberg Ocean” from Kirby’s Dream Course (SNES, 1994) by Hirokazu Ando
“Vanilla Lake” from Super Mario Kart (SNES, 1992) by Soyo Oka
“Sherbet Land” from Mario Kart: Double Dash (Gamecube, 2003) by Shinobu Tanaka/Kenta Nagata
“Frappe Snowland + Final Lap Fanfare” from Mario Kart 64 (Nintendo 64, 1996) by Kenta Nagata
“Freezeezy Peak” from Banjo-Kazooie (Nintendo 64, 1998) by Grant Kirkhope
“Cool Cool Mountain + Course Clear Fanfare” from Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64, 1996) by Koji Kondo
Magma Mayhem features
“Wild West (The Veldt)” from Final Fantasy VI (SNES, 1994) by Nobuo Uematsu
“Primitive Mountain” from Chrono Trigger (SNES, 1995) by Yasunori Mitsuda
“Bazaar” from EarthBound (SNES, 1994) by Hirokazu Tanaka/Keiichi Suzuki
“Melty Monster Galaxy” from Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii, 2010) by Mahito Yokota/Ryo Nagamatsu/Koji Kondo
“Magma Flows” from Kirby Air Ride (Gamecube, 2003) by Shogo Sakai/Jun Ishikawa/Hirokazu Ando/Tadashi Ikegami
“Hot Top Volcano” from Diddy Kong Racing (Nintendo 64, 1997) by David Wise
“Barrel Volcano” from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES, 1994) by Yoko Shimomura
“Hot Damned” from Super Meat Boy (XBOX 360, 2010) by Danny Baranowsky
Battle Royale features
“The Lunarians” from Final Fantasy IV (SNES, 1991) by Nobuo Uematsu
“Ancient Dragon’s Stronghold” from Chrono Cross (Playstation, 1999) by Yasunori Mistuda
“Let The Battles Begin!” from Final Fantasy VII (Playstation, 1997) by Nobuo Uematsu
“Battle Scene” from Final Fantasy (NES, 1987) by Nobuo Uematsu
“Sub Battle” from Bahamut Lagoon (SNES, 1996) by Noriko Matsueda
“Dying Corpse” from Breath of Fire II (SNES, 1994) by Yuko Takehara
“Marx’s Theme” from Kirby Super Star (SNES, 1996) by Jun Ishikawa/Dan Miyakawa
“Sub Castle” from Super Mario World (SNES, 1990) by Koji Kondo
“Tyran Castle” from Chrono Trigger (SNES, 1995) by Yasunori Mitsuda
“Devil’s Lab” from Final Fantasy VI (SNES, 1994) by Nobuo Uematsu
“Weapons Factory” from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES, 1994) by Yoko Shimomura
“Crocodile Cacophony” from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest (SNES, 1995) by David Wise
“Team Rocket Hideout” from Pokemon Red/Blue (Game Boy, 1996) by Junichi Masuda
“Dr. Wily Boss Theme + Wily Defeated Fanfare” from Mega Man 3 (NES, 1990) by Yasuaki Fujita
“Intro” from Mega Man 2 (NES, 1988) by Takashi Tateishi
Your Sanctuary features
“Welcome To Your Sanctuary”, “A Flash of Memory” and “Your Sanctuary” themes from EarthBound (SNES, 1994) by Hirokazu Tanaka/Keiichi Suzuki
Tracklist
Digital Media 1 | |||
---|---|---|---|
# | Title | Rating | Length |
1 | This Game Is Baroquen
| 4:29 | |
2 | Boreal Bedlam
| 8:52 | |
3 | Magma Mayhem
| 9:55 | |
4 | Battle Royale
| 17:18 | |
5 | Your Sanctuary
| 4:57 | |
6 | [unknown]
| ?:?? |
Credits
Release
mastering: | Shafer Carson |
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design: | Allan Heppner |
purchase for download and download for free: | https://therunawayfour.bandcamp.com/album/chaos-theatre [info] |
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Discogs: | https://www.discogs.com/release/9951645 [info] |
VGMdb: | https://vgmdb.net/album/63741 [info] |