Screw hip-hop for a second. A group called Zelda Reorchestrated spent the last six years recreating the soundtrack to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time to sound like it was recorded by live musicians. Ocarina is possibly the greatest game of all time and the soundtrack is freaking timeless.

Zelda Reorchestrated almost realizes the dream of a fully orchestrated Ocarina soundtrack – the project uses a virtual orchestra, which sounds good, but isn’t entirely convincing. We’ll have to wait until another day for the real deal.

Download ZREO’s Ocarina of Time Soundtrack

via Joystiq

Like I mentioned before, I rarely post videos..but I had to chirp in about this video, just because of the WTF values of the song/video. This song itself is like as if Lil Kim was itching to make an anthem dedicated to Motorola 2 Way pagers, but didn’t have time to release it (I wonder why?), so she tried to modernize it as an anthem about the internets. Who is this even geared towards? The group of dudes that were in amnesia for the last decade and are desperately looking to Lil Kim to school them on the topic of the internet? At least, there is home honesty in the video, Windows XP reigns supreme! Also, Charlie Wilson (who I do enjoy normally) is not needed in this video..at all. Lastly, you know we are in a recession when instead of using Minority Report style super computers you’d expect to see ala Hype Williams video, you get sub-$300 acer notebooks?? No matter what, in the end, it’s safe to say that Lil Kim is proponent of sexting.

There’s nothing quite like listening to Ghostface tear apart a RZA beat. The Afro Samurai Resurrection soundtrack is out January 27th.

Download: RZA – Whar (feat. Kool G Rap, Ghostface Killah & Tash Mahogany)

via OnSMASH

Biggie is one the few artists whose work I’ve made a point of fastidiously collecting. I’ve tried to get my hands on everything he’s ever laced. Besides his albums, there’s Mister Cee’s Best of Biggie Part 2 mixtape, which contains most, if not all, of Biggie’s collaborations, the recently released “O.G. Edition” of Ready to Die, and countless other tracks and such that are floating around and continue to pop up on rare occasions. The release of the Biggie biopic Notorious, of which I remain extremely skeptical, is one of those occasions. Here are three rare (unreleased?) demo tracks off the movie’s soundtrack.

Download: The Notorious B.I.G. – Love No hoe (Original Demo Version)

via 2dopeboyz

Download: The Notorious B.I.G. – Guaranteed Raw

Download: The Notorious B.I.G. – Microphone Murderer

via Xclusives Zone

In related news, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is attending a screening of the movie Thursday night and will present a proclamation to Biggie’s family. That’s what’s up.

Brooklyn Borough President Press Release via Vulture

I just got this in the e-mail. I love Afro Samurai, and that first soundtrack was my shit. This looks to be just as good. If you haven’t seen the show its on Spike TV, it was a miniseries, so it only ran for 5 episodes but it was the best shit ever!!! The next season is called Afro Samurai: Resurrection and I am psyched as hell for it.

Trailer for Season 2 after the jump.

Tracklist:
1.   Combat (Afro Season II Open Theme) – RZA; P. Dot
2.   You Already Know – Kool G Rap; Inspectah Deck; Suga Bang
3.   Blood Thicker Than Mud “Family Affair” – Reverand William Burke; Sly Stone; Stone Mecca
4.   Whar – Kool G Rap; Ghostface Killah; Tash Mahogany; RZA
5.   Girl Samurai Lullaby – Rah Digga; Stone Mecca
6.   Fight for You – Thea Van Seijen
7.   Bitch Gonna Get Ya’ – Rah Digga
8.   Bloody Days Bloody Nights – Prodgical Sunn; Thea Van Siejen
9.   Kill Kill Kill – Rugged Monk
10. Nappy Afro – Boy Jones
11. Bloody Samurai – Black Knights; Dexter Wiggles; Thea Van Seijen
12. Dead Birds – Killah Priest; Prodgical Sunn; Shavo
13. Arch Nemesis – Ace; Moe Rock
14. Brother’s Keeper – Reverand William Burke; The RZA; Infinite
15. Yellow Jackets – Ace; Moe Rock
16. Take the Sword pt. III – 60 Second Assassin; Leggezin; Crisi; Christ Bearer; Rugged Monk; Tré Irie; Kinetic; Reverand William Burks; Bobby Digital
17. Number One Samurai (Afro Season II Outro) – The RZA ; 9th Prince

[Read more]

The trusty Allmusic weighs in. Here’s a excerpt:

Like the series, this isn’t an easy swallow and it’s not supposed to be. The fact is, though, that it carries its own punchy swagger. It’s not sequenced for approval; it’s sequenced as art — low, high, popular, "edgy," whatever you want to call it. It’s art man, period. It stands on its own, apart even from its obvious referents in the dialogue snippets. This is what radio used to be like back in the day; you never knew what you were gonna hear from one minute to the next. What was radio at one time? It was the soundtrack to life, and in that sense, at nearly 80 minutes, this whompy, unwieldy, unlikely wonder of a mixtape is a representation of that same thing for characters in The Wire.

Read the whole thing here.

Is anyone picking this up or already heard it? I just got into The Wire recently, so give me about 5 late passes. I’m only on season 2 and I’m hooked.

Bonus: My man Jesse from the Sound of Young America interviews The Wire actors Andre Royo (Bubbles) & Wendell Pierce (Bunk).

Listen below or download an mp3 of the interview here.

The Sound of Young America: The Wire’s Bubbles & Bunk

Faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings within a single bound, and no need for a pick-up line, Superman saves the world time and time again from nefarious villains bent on global domination and/or the destruction of humanity. But when he’s not averting nuclear disaster, plugging dams with giant boulders, or tying bank robbers up with steel beams, what does our favorite not-a-bird not-a-plane superhero do?

Perhaps in his Fortress of Solitude, after a long day’s work of saving humanity yet again, our Man of Steel takes off his cape, pops a bag of popcorn, puts on his noise-cancelling headphones, and flips on his MP3 player (full of legally purchased music). Rhino Records’ Sound of Superman is a refreshing collection of songs, new and old, that might be his playlist. It accompanies the recent film Superman Returns, and much like Brandon Routh, the young man chosen to succeed Christopher Reeves on the big screen as Clark Kent’s alter ego, this soundtrack does very well in paying tribute to another generation of Superman fans as well as defining its own.

Paramore’s acoustic rendition of “My Hero” by the Foo Fighters holds its own very well, without needing the stadium-filling grandeur of the original. The Films’s cover of Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman” is a delight for the headphones, and Nightmare of You’s version of the Flaming Lips’ “Waitin’ for a Superman” is another song you might find yourself singing incessently. Plain White T’s, Maxeen and Motion City Soundtrack all put their songwriting skills to use, helping this soundtrack live up to its name.

And for those of you who are still wondering… no, Three Doors Down is not on this album.

-JP

http://www.soundofsuperman.com/

http://supermanreturns.warnerbros.com/

Recent and Upcoming:

June 13, 2006 – Sound of Superman

Tracklisting:

1. The Academy Is… – Superman
2. Plain White T’s – It’s So Easy
3. The Sun – (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman
4. Motion City Soundtrack – The Worst Part
5. The Films – Sunshine Superman
6. Maxeen – Save Me
7. Paramore – My Hero
8. American Hi-Fi – The Rescue
9. The Spill Canvas – Saved
10. Jack’s Mannequin – Meet Me at My Window
11. The Receiving End of Sirens – Superman
12. Royal – Brainiac’s Daughter
13. Sara Routh – You’re Never Gone