Kanto Symphony, a nostalgia-inducing 35-track collection of orchestrated songs from the soundtrack of the original Game Boy Pokémon Red and Blue Versions, releases worldwide tomorrow on iTunes. The album is full of arrangements based on the classic 8-bit music. In true cinematic style, each track chronicles a different chapter in Pokémon Trainer Red's journey across the Kanto region and includes musical encounters with wild Pokémon, battles with Gym Leaders, and face-offs with the nefarious Team Rocket. Pokémon Reorchestrated (PREO) was inspired by a similar music project, Zelda Reorchestrated, which set out to arrange orchestral music based on the Legend of Zelda series.
Kanto Symphony is a project from the creator of Pokémon Reorchestrated, Braxton 'Skotein' Burks, a music student and composer/arranger from Seattle, WA. He has been a huge fan of the Pokémon series since it made its way to the U.S. in 1998 and continues to play the games up to the current generation. Having grown up with Pokémon and being surrounded by film and game scores early on in life, project creator 'Skotein' always dreamt of what a cinematic, live action Pokémon film would be like. Over the course of 5 years, he then developed his musicianship and sought to realize his dream of breathing new life into the 8-bit music of the original Pokémon Red/Blue games. Kanto Symphony is the result of these efforts. He plans to focus on his music education after the release of Kanto Symphony, but has plenty of other ideas for video game music projects in the works, both Pokémon-related and otherwise.
Joypad Records is an independent San Francisco–based label that provides copyright clearance, digital distribution, and royalty reporting for video game musicians. Their aim is to make it as easy as possible for artists to get their music out to the world without having to worry about the legal complications of selling and streaming their music.
http://bulbanews.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pokémon_Reorchestrated:_Kanto_Symphony
