Vectormania by Darkman007
Mission Start
Fight the evil Warhead and bring peace back to Earth with Vectormania by Darkman007. Pressed on “Orbot Green” vinyl by Respawned Records, the thrashing synth laden tribute to everyone’s favorite little orbot is here to crush your eardrums into submission. This week I sat down with Darkman007 and Justin O’Rear of Respawned Records to uncover the story behind this album and the birth of a label. Welcome to the year 2049!
Opportunity
Justin O’Rear has had an interesting impact on the video game vinyl scene since his inception as label founder for Respawned Records. Relying on and employing help from many of the great people who make this industry amazing, Justin has come across a few challenges and roadblocks in getting this album and his label off the ground. With multiple releases all planned and in the works before his first album has even shipped to our doorsteps, Justin is firing on all cylinders trying to make the biggest impact he can in the industry we all love. Wanting to garner a better understanding of who Justin is as a person, I asked him to express to me what Respawned Records means to him, how it came about, and who he is as a person:
“Gaming has always been an outlet for me to just sit back and let go of stress, while music has been one of my coping sources for anxiety and depression. Respawned Records is a way to use both of these and give others something that will hopefully give them some nice downtime listening to just relax. I want everyone to know I'm real. I'm not rich. I'm not greedy. I struggle just like everyone else. But I try to live by F³. Faith/Family/Fun
The driving force is God!!! I don’t force what I believe on anyone, but the foundation of this record label is built upon service and obedience to God. That is why I'm not interested in profit or making tons of money doing this! The sole purpose is to take 10% of all profit from each release and donate it, give it away, serve others that are in need of help or that just need to be shown some love! If I can achieve breaking even with each release after giving back 10% of profits.....that is when I have succeeded in my goal.”
FYI
Being a very devout person, Justin has undoubtedly poured a lot of himself into this label and the projects he has taken on. Giving back to the community in this way, Justin is trying to help make the world a better place through his label and that’s a pretty commendable act. However, the ambiguity behind which charities and organizations he will ultimately support has been somewhat of a contention point for some in the community. While Justin has listed some of the ways he has planned to give back, there is a lot of grey area that has led some people to understandably steer clear from this very bold business decision altogether. It was that same tenacity from Justin’s personal life: the love for games, his passion for this industry as a whole, and his love for all things Vectorman that led him into pursuing this cover album with Darkman007:
“Nostalgia is a powerful drug. Vectorman was always a game that has held a place in my gaming heart. The game is AWESOME! and so is the music! While searching for Vectorman covers and remixes I found Vladimir's Bandcamp page which had an album that featured a couple of tracks from Vectorman and I knew instantly that I need to see if he’s interested in completing the whole soundtrack. Needless to say, he was!”
Inaguration
He was indeed! For those that may not know, Darkman007 (Vladimir Tugay) is a super talented composer and musician based out of Russia. Best known for his insanely fun arrangements and original albums that take you through a wide array of prog-rock melodies and synthetic vibes, Vladimir has set his sights on creating one of the coolest Vectorman tribute albums I have ever heard! Having no exposure to Vladimir’s music prior to this album, I felt compelled to ask him to share what he wanted readers of this interview and the listeners of his music to know about him. This is what he had to say:
“I would like people and my listeners to know me as an ordinary simple person, the same as they are. We are no different from each other, I would like to emphasize this. This will make it clear who I really am :) Very often people admire me and other artists of any other creative kind of activity. But it is worth understanding that this is only the result of the hard work of such people, nothing more. I think that any of my listeners could achieve the same results in music, in art, in writing books, in woodwork, it does not matter if he devoted more time to this. I always say: he knows best what he gave his time to the most. I am always sincere in my work and express my soul, all that happens to me in life is the accumulation of all my life experience. So I am always open to transmit my attitude :)”
Terraport
The passion that Vladimir imbued to me through our conversations together went above and beyond in showing just how driven he is as an artist. I wanted to know what games, musicians, or musical experiences drove him into pursuing a career in music?
“I have always been involved in music. My whole family was somehow related to music. Dad and mom constantly played the guitar and sang certain songs. And now they sing, they sing very well for home performance. I think this, in general, was the basis that my hearing was correctly formed in childhood. I have an older brother, whom I am immensely grateful to today because it was his musical preferences that formed the basis for mine. This is exactly the person who drew my attention to what damn good music is in games on the NES and GENESIS. Today, the food for my creativity and inspiration is my listeners and their feedback on my work. Today it is not just an interest, as it was in childhood. This is my life, this is communication with people who are somehow interested in my work. Communication at a different level, I am sometimes very surprised that people write in reviews what I thought when I wrote this or that track. I want to note that I am engaged in instrumental music and there are no words in it. For me, this level of understanding will always be objects of surprise :) Of course, I would have lied without speaking about material support, yes, this is also important, otherwise what to live and exist on? Nevertheless, all this did not begin for the sake of money. In the process of creativity, I feel like a truly free person. And this is the main point.
I will say, even more, everything that we heard and listened to during our life is inevitably rethought in our minds and given out in a creative product. Creativity itself is a mirror of the soul and life experience. So I’m happy to try to list as many artists, authors, game projects as possible, which have had a tremendous impact on the formation of my creative vector. It was:
- Groups: Pantera, Manowar, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, KOTO, Flying Steps, Boney M, Modern Talking, Fear Factory, Helloween, Rage, Annihilator, Alice Cooper, and more more more like this.
- Game composers: Jeroen Tel, Tim Follin, David Whittaker, David Wise, Lee Jackson (for Duke - GRABBAG!), Hidenori Maezawa, Kiyohiro Sada, Kenichi Matsubara, Yasuhiko Manno, Tomoya Tomita, Jun Funahashi, Yoshiyuki Hagiwara, Koji Kondo, Jon Holland, Tommy Tallarico, Jesper Kyd, Don Veca, Tony Williams and others.”
Ride The Rails
The love that Vladimir has for games is heard directly through his compositions and arrangements for this album. Translating into a very real and tangible experience when you listen to this album for the first time, Vladimir’s arranging helps to transport you to a nostalgia-filled universe of notes that ultimately brings you back time and time again. With Vectorman being a very niche yet nostalgic game for many people who played the Sega Genesis/Megadrive, I asked Vladimir the obvious question: Is Vectorman one of his favorite games of all time?
“Of course, Vectorman is one of my favorite games, which can be distinguished from others, since almost everything is unique there. A lot of pleasant sensations arise when you see frames from this game, there is a good atmosphere, which is transmitted by creating a “screen depth” in the direction the player looks at the display. It’s like you’re there, especially the first level - it’s just the feeling that you are in those clouds on tall buildings :) And music is a completely different story. Before, in 2016, I included a mix cover version in my album with covers for game music from video consoles called ‘Sounds From The Past’. Frankly, I considered something else to replace this track, but after watching an interview with my fellow countryman Valentin Kozin with Jon Holland, I was imbued with the whole story told by Jon about how he created soundtracks for this game. By the way, the interview can be found at this link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li0C-iTof-Q And then I thought,’Yes, I’ll definitely record a full cover album with every track from this game!’. And, after some time, Justin O’Rear wrote to me with a proposal for joint cooperation, he really liked that mix cover track and he wanted a full-fledged album with covers to put it in circulation on vinyl in limited quantities. So I agreed - why not? :) In addition, this coincided with my desire.”
Aquatic Nightscape
There’s a deep found respect that can be heard throughout Vladimir’s handiwork on this album. The level of creativity and drive that he poured into paying tribute to one of his favorite games of all time is what I think makes this album so great! The accuracy here is surreal and goes a long way in making me appreciate the music here so much more than I ever thought I could. This same respect and punitive lust for accuracy fed directly into Vladimir’s favorite memory from the writing process of this album:
“I can’t highlight something specific. The answer to this question is this: it was a complete set of nostalgia for the time when I first played this game. Since each track had to be analyzed in great detail and detail in order to bring it as close to the original as possible, that was the task. I like to make covers as close as possible to the original tracks, because it is in the original tracks that everything is what they fell in love with. While I was engaged in this detailed analysis, I remembered a lot of things that were in life in those days. I had a very good time recording this album :)”
-459.67'F
To me, a cover album is the embodiment of our collective nostalgia through the creative lens of someone else, and Vladimir’s interpretation of Vectorman is perfect. There’s a nuance and respect that is given to those that came before us when someone sets out to make a cover album and that’s why I feel Vectormania is a great representation of that fact. This album has a way of completely sucking you into this vortex of notes that pulls you ever deeper into this black hole of sound that just swells with each revolution of this beautiful green disc. Pulsing synths and dichotomies of bass reverb around your head in this hypnotic swirl as an overdrive guitar punches through the cosmos in this momentous way that makes me smile. The creative and respectful arrangements here are definitely on par with some of the best cover albums I have ever heard, and that has a lot to do with Vladimir’s incredible musicianship! But just what instruments or programs did Valdimir use to write the music for Vectormania?
“Since I started my musical practice back in 1995, when I was about 6 years old, on the ZX Spectrum. And they only had tracker music formats and, accordingly, programs that were called trackers. Then, later on, I got so used to them that on a PC I still write music only in trackers. For a long time, it was Impulse Tracker. Later - ModPlug Tracker. And today this is Renoise - a tracker that is very powerful in its functionality, not inferior to sequencers in any way. The only difference is in the representation of patterns and the method of marking. I express immense gratitude to the author of this program!”
Frozen Hydroponics
What’s next for Darkman007?
“Well. In addition to recording cover versions and composing copyright tracks, I also deal with sound and musical accompaniment of game projects. One of the interesting releases in 2017 in which I took part was Super Cyborg - the ideological continuation of the classic Super Contra. Today I work in the same field on projects such as: Iron Meat, iDracula: Genesis, Insatia, Frakktus, and many other things that are under NDA :) Besides, my close friend artist and I came up with a certain character, Nix Nova, who will have a story for comics, possibly even for animation, and will also become the hero of a very cool 2D platform game. There is also a single track to this topic, and it’s called Nix Nova. And a very great desire to record cover albums for such games: Zen Intergalactic Ninja (NES), Comix Zone (GENESIS), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters (NES). I also have an unfinished, but almost at the final stage cover album of tracks from some ZX Spectrum games :) And perhaps one more thing, I have almost finished a cover album for the best tracks of the Panther band in my opinion. It will be executed in the original NES Sound Format :) Every detail, every note, and every guitar reef will be made in accordance with the original. I would like someone to make an 8-bit game about guitarist Dimebag Darrell for this event. This is the best guitar music performer ever for me.”
Rock'n Roller
The social media presence and engagement from Respawned Records in regards to their “Keyspawn Quest” initiative has been a pretty awesome thing to watch unfold. The quest includes a set of three keys that have been strategically sprinkled throughout many of the posts advertising an upcoming release. Fans are encouraged to seek out these keys for a chance at winning a 1/1 “Keyspawn Variant” of that particular album. This has definitely made for some fun social media fervor for fans who can’t wait to be the first to find each key. This unique and engaging way to promote and reward fans is a cool aspect of Respawned Records’ platform!
Superstructure Ruins
Featuring art from the exceptionally talented Wenart Gunadi and additional art from Tom Pollock Jr. & Chris Stein, I constantly found myself marveling at the all the artwork present with this release. The cover art, while simplistic in its presentation, is gorgeously executed and helps to compliment the green and black swirl vinyl housed within. The back cover of this release is without a doubt my favorite aspect of the art direction here — Vectorman’s beam piercing through the starry sky dividing the tracklist in half is a stunning design choice that is absolutely frame-worthy, and is something I found myself staring at constantly while the album spun! Opposite of the included liner notes by me, the highly stylized depiction of Vectorman and his nemesis Warhead absolutely dominate and is one of my favorite pieces of Vectorman art ever made! Included with every copy of the album is a super cool trading card that adds even more flair and collectability for fans of Vectorman, it’s honestly a nice touch from this new label! Adorned with gold foiling and even more incredible art, I can’t wait to see what other goodies are included in Respawned Records’ future releases!
Danger Dancin'
While the artwork here looks fantastic, sound quality is truly why we pick up music on vinyl, and I’m extremely disappointed this album failed to deliver on that front in a few key junctures. This is seriously the cleanest sounding and most bizarrely mastered album I have ever heard. The people over at Precision Record Pressing did a fantastic job in making this a very nice and professional sounding record. However, a host of problems plagued the sound of this record from the start.
Warhead
Due to a regrettable error by Respawned Records, the original pressing was rejected for the simple fact that the music files were taken directly from the composer and sent in immediately for pressing. Disregarding the most basic and important step when making a vinyl release: mastering the audio files for vinyl, Respawned Records brought in Josh Kauffman at Local Legend Studio to do the mastering for this album proper, which is unfortunately all over the place and does not do Vladimir's incredible arranging here justice. According to Respawned Records, the mastering for Vectormania was done in "Maybe 3 days", and that rush job is definitely heard deep within the grooves.
Roll Call
While this album is positively banging at times, some of the tracks tend to fall flat sadly, just when things are amping up, with this sort of one tone feel that is present throughout both sides of this resplendently marred green disc. The dynamic range is seldom present when it’s needed, with various compositions (“Ride The Rails” in particular for me) sounding like they're drudging through empty space to finally get to your ears. The second batch of test presses were done to ensure the album would sound great. Well, that was the intention anyway. While spending my time with this album I often found myself wondering what that original test pressing would sound like in comparison. However, the test press I received from the first batch of records was shipped in a flimsy white mailer from UPS and arrived snapped in half, so I guess I’ll never know. Overall I feel like Respawned Records could have let this album spend a little more time in the production stage to really let the audio shine.
Vectormania is the culmination of two people’s dreams colliding and that’s a magical thing when you think about it. To start a record label is no easy task, and what Justin has done in helping Vladimir achieve his goal in releasing a physical album of his hard work is nothing short of amazing and inspiring in its own right.
Album Details
Music by:
Darkman007
Remastered for vinyl by :
Artwork by:
Wenart Gunadi with additional art from Tom Pollock Jr. & Chris Stein
Vinyl produced & distributed by:
Where to Buy?
This album is still readily available directly from Respawned Records’ website. Limited to 300 copies, this album has most likely sold through quite a bit of its stock before the posting of this review. If you are a fan of Vectorman, Darkman007’s music, or an avid VGM Vinyl/art collector this release might be up your alley. If you are a stickler for sound quality, however, you might want to wait for a sale or just stick with the digital album on this one.