Brave Wave Productions

The Retro-Active Experience

by Keiji Yamagishi

supported by

Joel Hands-Otte What an album! So many beautiful melodies that bring back the nostalgia of games past. Yamagishi writes beautifully. It was so much fun to hear a selection of these pieces played live! Well done, team! Favorite track: Nobody Knows Me.

MyotisMac Wonderful, upbeat, danceable tracks that get me moving. A classic! Favorite track: Kaleidoscope (ft. Manami Matsumae).

TigerTorakio It was an honor to meet Yamagishi-san at MAGFest 2018 and hear his triumphant solo project brought to life by the Super Strikers. I blush a little that my own cheering is immortalized among the applause in the live recording of "Thought Police." Thanks for a great time. Favorite track: Thought Police.

Dawn Watson I absolutely adore this group of talented creators/performers/directors. Loved the MAGfest live stream! Thank you for your hard work!

more...

	/

Digital Album
Streaming + Download

Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

Purchasable with gift card

name your price

You own this
Limited Edition 2-disc CD
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Featuring booklet illustrations by Phillip Summers, cover illustrations by David Hellman (of Braid), and designed by awards-winning British designer Caspian Whistler. This CD release includes the Retro-Active project in its entirety on two discs, plus a 20-page booklet with commentary by composer Keiji Yamagishi and director Mohammed Taher. The second disc includes the MAGFest 2018 live show, featuring the brand-new Brave Wave band Super Strikers!

Includes unlimited streaming of The Retro-Active Experience via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out

1.	First Contact 03:54	buy track
2.	Bounty Hunter 03:11	buy track
3.	Nobody Knows Me 04:41	buy track
4.	Total Escape (ft. Ryuichi Nitta) 04:03	buy track
5.	Starfish Cluster 03:32	buy track
6.	Drifting Love 04:47	buy track
7.	Chaotic Code 03:00	buy track
8.	Thought Police 04:00	buy track
9.	Memories of T (ft. Stemage) 02:46	buy track
10.	We, Robots 04:04	buy track
11.	Kaleidoscope (ft. Manami Matsumae) 03:32	buy track
12.	Eastern Sky 04:12	buy track
13.	Transparent Thorns 05:41	buy track
14.	Artificial Feelings 05:03	buy track
15.	First Contact (Takahiro Izutani Remix) 04:07	buy track
16.	Starfish Cluster (Chipzel Remix) 04:02	buy track
17.	Drifting Love (Kozilek Remix) 05:35	buy track
18.	Kaleidoscope (Daliesk Remix) 04:25	buy track
19.	Keiji Yamagishi + Super Strikers - First Contact (Live at MAGFest 2018) 04:00	buy track
20.	Keiji Yamagishi + Super Strikers - Kaleidoscope (Live at MAGFest 2018) 03:43	buy track
21.	Keiji Yamagishi + Super Strikers - Memories of T (Live at MAGFest 2018) 03:03	buy track
22.	Keiji Yamagishi + Super Strikers - We, Robots (Live at MAGFest 2018) 04:10	buy track
23.	Keiji Yamagishi + Super Strikers - Thought Police (Live at MAGFest 2018) 04:23	buy track
24.	Keiji Yamagishi + Super Strikers - Chaotic Code (Live at MAGFest 2018) 03:13	buy track
25.	Keiji Yamagishi + Super Strikers - Transparent Thorns (Live at MAGFest 2018) 05:59	buy track
26.	Keiji Yamagishi + Super Strikers - Nobody Knows Me (Live at MAGFest 2018) 05:12	buy track
27.	Keiji Yamagishi + Super Strikers - Bounty Hunter (Live at MAGFest 2018) 03:10	buy track
28.	Keiji Yamagishi + Super Strikers - Total Escape (Live at MAGFest 2018) 04:17	buy track
29.	Keiji Yamagishi + Super Strikers - Starfish Cluster (Live at MAGFest 2018) 03:32	buy track

about

"A bright and energetic collection ... Yamagishi is able to create music that sounds both comfortingly familiar and refreshingly new."
– THE VERGE, Andrew Webster

"Yamagishi is a living legend."
– CHIPTUNES WIN, Glenntai

14 studio tracks
4 remixes
11-track MAGFest live album

Welcome to THE RETRO-ACTIVE EXPERIENCE! This project is 6 years in the making, and marks the first collaboration between Ninja Gaiden composer Keiji Yamagishi and Brave Wave director Mohammed Taher. This new release combines the 2 previous EPs, 2 NEW tracks, extra remixes, and a full live album featuring Brave Wave's in-house band Super Strikers.

Keiji Yamagishi is a Famicom-era pioneer and has composed music for some of the most beloved gaming franchises, notably Ninja Gaiden, Tecmo Bowl, Captain Tsubasa and Gitaroo Man. 30 years later and surer of his place in life, Keiji Yamagishi and Brave Wave are releasing the definitive version of his first-ever solo project. Inspired from his Famicom days and fueled with more passion and inventiveness, Keiji Yamagishi sends us all into a "futuristic emotional chiptunes world", as he himself has described it.

In addition to the 14 studio tracks, the album includes extra remixes from Takahiro Izutani (Bayonetta, Metal Gear Solid 4), Chipzel (Super Hexagon, Octahedron), KOZILEK (Minit, Nuclear Throne), and Brazilian newcomer Daliesk.

The album also includes the 2018 MAGFest performance by the Brave Wave in-house band, Super Strikers. The band is made up of Stemage (Metroid Metal), ap0c, Dino Lionetti and Kev Ragone (Cheap Dinosaurs). For the live show, a large portion of what you hear is actually not Yamagishi’s original stems, but instead is made from scratch by ap0c and Dino using authentic VRC6 sounds. The end result is a live album that's uniquely different from the studio album!

Keiji Yamagishi: "This project already feels so nostalgic for me, but I think that's a good thing, given the rose-tinted title of this album. I'll be very happy if returning listeners and newcomers alike can find the same satisfaction in this new release. I offer all the best to my beloved listeners."

credits

released January 28, 2019

Composed, arranged & produced by Keiji Yamagishi
Executive produced, directed & managed by Mohammed Taher

Associate Director, Mixing Engineer: Marco Guardia
Mastering Engineer: Dan Suter
Illustrators: David Hellman (Retro-Active series cover artworks), Philip Summers (booklet drawings)
Designer: Caspian Whistler
Retro-Active Logo Designer: Cory Schmitz
Art Director: Mohammed Taher
Editors & Translators: Stephen Meyerink, Derek Heemsbergen

Special Thanks to Alexander Aniel, Lauren Lucas, Yousef AlNafjan, Super Strikers, Nowa Mogi, John Ricciardi and the 8-4 family, Brendon Pritchard, Tariq Lacy, MAGFest, and the loyal listeners throughout the years.

Tracks 1–14 mixed by Marco Guardia. Tracks 15–17 produced and mixed by their respective artists. All guitars in tracks 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 12 by Stemage.

Tracks 19–29 mixed by Stemage. Performed live by Super Strikers on January 6th, 2018 as part of MAGFest 2018, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center.

Super Strikers is:
Stemage on guitars
Steve ‘ap0c’ Lakawicz on bass, tuba
Dino Lionetti on keyboards
Kev Ragone on drums
Keiji Yamagishi on music production
Mohammed Taher as executive producer & director

Produced and published by Brave Wave Productions.