p>Composer Dren McDonald pays homage to Galaga, The Legend of Zelda, Sonic the Hedgehog and other well-loved classics in The String Arcade, an album that is due to release in the near future, featuring a collection of game music that has been rearranged for string quartet.
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p>The String Arcade was funded through an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign. https://a1host.net/ It includes 15 original arrangements of classic themes from gaming performed and funded by Bay Area musicians and Boston's Videri String Quartet. Featured games include Altered Beast, Ecco the Dolphin, Monkey Island 2, FTL: Faster Than Light and Minecraft. You can download and stream a demo track from PopCap?'s Plants vs. Zombies here.
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p>The String Arcade will be released on the 11th of February. The digital album can be pre-ordered via iTunes for $7.99 and a special edition CD that includes two bonus tracks is available for $9.99. [Photo credit: Lorrie Murray]
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p>Classic video game music is reimagined in The String Arcade, now available for preorder
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p>String quartet album releases on February 11, all proceeds support Alameda Music Project after-school program
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p>ALAMEDA, Calif. - January 28 2014 In August, Bay Area composer Dren McDonald led an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign for The String Arcade The String Arcade, a recording of classic video game music reimagined for string quartet. The final product was distributed to backers this month , and is now available for pre-order to the general public from iTunes and BandCamp? (see below for links). The String Arcade will be available as a digital download and on CD officially the 11th of February.
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p>About The String Arcade -- http://www.thestringarcade.com
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p>The String Arcade is a meticulously selected collection of music that Dren McDonald (Ghost Recon Commander Ravenwood Fair, Ravenwood Fair) composed for string quartet. The arrangements go far beyond the chamber music emulations of the themes that inspired them, with each piece creatively interpreted, embellished, and reimagined in order to capture the emotions generated by the games. McDonald's was inspired to create the project by John Lurie's Stranger Than Paradise (1984) soundtrack, which featured a moody string quartet score.
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p>The String Arcade will provide gamers an opportunity to experience new ways of playing classics. It's also a great opportunity to encourage young musicians to learn an instrument like a cello, violin, or viola. Several tracks were specifically chosen from games popular among kids, and all album proceeds will be donated to the Alameda Music Project (http://www.alamedamusicproject.org), a tuition-free K-5 after-school program launching in September.
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p>About the Music
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p>The String Arcade's 15 original tracks (plus 2 CD bonus tracks) were inspired by games from Galaga to Minecraft and performed by local musicians, with a special appearance by the Boston-based Videri String Quartet. One preview track, Plants Vs. Zombies' "Grasswalk," has been released as a free digital download: https://soundcloud.com/dren-mcdonald/plants-vs-zombies-from-the
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p>The String Arcade spans a few decades in video game history, from stand-up arcade classics (Galaga, TRON), through the 16- and 8-bit eras (Legend of Zelda Sonic the Hedgehog, Altered Beast, Ecco the Dolphin) and the golden age of 1990s adventures (Monkey Island 2, Outlaws), to more recent popular games (Portal 2, Minecraft), indie favorite (FTL -- Faster Than Light, Scurvy Scallywags), and social games for mobile devices (graBLOX, Pettington Park, Ravenshire Castle). For a full track list, visit http://www.thestringarcade.com/#!about/c10fk.
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p>Preorder Details
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p>Until the album's February 11 release, The String Arcade digital download can be preordered from iTunes for $7.99, a 20% savings over the normal $9.99 price: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-string-arcade/id805763356
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p>The CD version, which includes two bonus tracks not included with the digital download, can be preordered from BandCamp? for $9.99 (regularly $11.99): http://thestringarcade.bandcamp.com
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p>The String Arcade's album of string quartets The String Arcade makes classic game themes more classy
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