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Before is of the flood nearly at peak on 13/01. After is post peak on 15/01.

Click and drag handle at the center of each photo to interact (does not work if viewing via RSS).

Few more photos at Twitpic, instagr.am [0] [1]

Aerial photos at NearMap.


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jQuery Before/After Plugin from Catch My Fame

Brisbane Wheel

South Bank

State Library of Queensland

Offline it was a crazy month, but online, it was all about the laughs.

The Godfather (Rémi GAILLARD)
Prankster returns to form.

What Is Your Batman Name?
What was yours?

20 Great Moments In The ‘Am I Doing This Right?’ Meme
I found this hilarious. The progression of this post was genius.

The Best Viral Video Of 2010
I’m not sure about the ‘Best’ tag but it’s very amusing.

Ducks blown off their feet by the wind
So cute yet so exciting!

Logitech Revue with Google TV – Kevin Bacon
A celebrity endorsement done real well.

This Is Spinal Tap on IMDB
Dial it up to 11 (which inadvertently lowers the overall score)

This made my day, thanks @SuperMeatBoy :D on Twitpic
The climax to their incessant pro-meat marketing campaign. Buy it!

Mmmmmmm, Wise Men: The Meat Nativity
While we’re on the meat theme.

How To Turn Google Translate Into Google Beatbox
Isn’t technology grand?

… to the things that made me smile.

Get Your Own Street-Legal Tron Light Cycle
Really needed to be filmed at night time.

Hans Rosling’s 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes – The Joy of Stats – BBC Four
An augmented version of his famous presentation.

Casteller
Humanity is awesome.

Ben the Bodyguard
A very clever use of HTML5.

… and to the things that made me wonder.

DOD tries to uncover secret of flying snakes
Nature is strange.

NASA finds NEW LIFE. Arsenic based life form on Earth.
A good thread if you didn’t quite get the science.

Peering At The Future: Jesse Schell Speaks
These are exciting times for gaming.

The best way I’ve come up with to describe the music on Kid (keeping in mind that I don’t understand a word that’s being sung) is this: it’s as if someone bottled up all the good vibes from a song like Faith No More’s Easy Like Sunday Morning and wrote a whole album from it in Thai. Ignorant comparisons aside, this is the kind of record that you put on whenever you want to feel at ease and, well, quite simply, nice. Which for most people, I assume, is a lot of the time.

scrubb are a singer-guitarist duo, though keyboards, brass and synths can occasionally be heard peeking through the standard layer of drums, bass, guitar and vocals. The production is clean and clear. Singer and lyricist “Muey” has a smooth, very listenable-to croon that reminds me of Blur’s Damon Albarn (sans the cockney, obviously), and the music by “Ball” provides numerous nods to late-90s Britpop-rock whilst staying true to its own twist on the Eastern easy listening sensibility.

Rohi Toh

The ten tracks on Kid are largely split between upbeat, guitar-pop tracks like Prohm and Suk Jai that could transform any tedious household chore or workplace task into an excuse to bop your head, clap your hands and smile; and slower numbers like Ni and Lom Bao whose ideal listening setting would involve being stretched out on a lazy hammock under the stars on the slowly lapping shores of some largely tourist-free exotic island in South-East Asia, gently caressed by a soft summer breeze whilst sipping on the fresh juices of a ripe coconut.

There’s not an awful lot of variety on Kid, but as you find yourself unwittingly listening to it on repeat you’ll come to realise that that’s not the point. The point is that you’ll be feeling better about things after it’s over; that whatever problems or headaches or nuisances that should’ve gotten you down during the day didn’t turn out to be so bad after all; and that songs with intangible feel-good charms like this really shouldn’t be pretentiously deconstructed in a review, but rather shared and enjoyed with friends.

Tracklist
Kid
Black Sheep/SonyBMG Thailand, 26/06/10

01. คำตอบ (Kam Tohb)
02. พร้อม (Prohm)
03. รอยต่อ (Rohi Toh)
04. สุขใจ (Kid Edited) (Suk Jai (Kid Edited))
05. วันเหล่านั้น (Wan Lao Nan)
06. หนี (Ni)
07. ฉันก็เป็นเหมือนใครคนหนึ่ง (Chan Gaw Pen Meuan Krai Kon Neung)
08. คนนี้ (Kon Ni)
09. ลมเบาเบา (Lom Bao)
10. คิด (Kid)

Band

L-R:
ต่อพงศ์ จันทบุบผา (Torpong Chantabuppha)* - Guitar
ธวัชพนธ์ วงศ์บุญศิริ (Thawachpol Wongboonsiri)** – Vocals

* Nickname: บอล (Ball)
** Nickname: เมื่อย (Muey)

scrubb – Official Website (Thai)
scrubb – MySpace

It was a beautiful day. I was in Canberra for the weekend with a friend, who was lucky enough to have a local pal kind enough to spend his day taking us around. Naturally, being my friend’s first time in Canberra (it was my second), we were hitting all the usual must-see spots: the Australian National Gallery, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Parliament House, Black Mountain Tower, the Australian War Memorial, the international embassy district, etc. Personally, having first come to Canberra as a kid, it was nice for me to revisit these places with a few less (pre-blockbuster) Marvel characters battling about in my brain. Despite now being old enough to properly appreciate the impressive collection of cultural, “grown-up” things that Canberra has to offer, none of those places got me as physically and, well, emotionally excited as the prospect of BRODBURGER.

We were sitting around a small table in a cafe on Sunday morning, about to order breakfast. As I hadn’t eaten dinner the night before, I was leaning towards the cafe’s “big breakfast” option, but our guide was hasty to advise otherwise:

“Hey, if you guys like burgers, I know this place I can take you for lunch. It’s next to the lake and their burgers are massive. The last time [his girlfriend] and I went there, we ordered two of their burgers and couldn’t finish them. We took half of them home to finish off the next day. So if you want to go there for lunch, you’d better go easy with breakfast.”

My eyes widened. I may have started breathing a little quicker. I almost certainly splurted out “YES” in a way that made everyone around me furrow their brows out of surprise and worry.

Shortly after, I found myself eating an omelette in lieu of the big breakfast, whilst mentally consuming tantalising thoughts of giant, un-finishable burgers. And not long after that, after a tour of the embassies and an obligatory tumble down the sloping grass roof of Parliament House, we found ourselves in a car on our merry way Bowen Park, and Brodburger.

If you’re driving in, you can’t miss it. It’s literally sat right next to the park’s carpark. And it’s bright red.

If you can’t see a bright red caravan, however, it might very well be for the crowds of burger lovers queuing up outside it. Apparently this is the norm. (Actually, the above picture may very well be considered “quiet” by Brodburger standards).

Whilst waiting in line, you’ll have plenty of time to peruse the menu. As we were leaving town that day with no immediate plans for a return trip in the near future, we simply had to go “all out”. In the case of Brodburger, this meant ordering the “Brod Deluxe” which, like all the other burgers on the menu, came with our own choice of three cheeses: brie, Swiss or blue.

We had to wait 20 minutes for our flame-grilled burgers due to the backlog of orders that had come before us (and that kept coming well after ours had been placed). We figured it was more time for our stomachs to get hungrier… something which, if the legends around this place were to be believed, was a good thing.

Soon enough our numbers were called, and with warm, hefty burgers firmly cradled in our hands and we found a lush, sunny patch of grass nearby to sit down and eat (puzzlingly, there were no picnic tables in the area that we could see).

And there we beheld them: our Brod Deluxes in all their monstrous majesties. Each contained: two “A grade” gourmet flame-grilled beef patties, two strips of bacon, two eggs, lettuce, tomatoes, Spanish onions, home-made aioli, tomato relish and our choice of cheese (Swiss in my case). They were, essentially, two burgers in one.

A small mouth struggled to accommodate a proportionally-upsized bite of the beast. It failed.

My turn.

Halfway there!

We all managed to finish our servings, some sooner than others (I’m pretty sure I got sunburnt by the time I finished mine). At the end of it all, we were united in our verdict: those were some tasty, tasty burgers. Despite the relative simplicity of their composite ingredients, each layer of the towering Brod Deluxe was well prepared and their combined effect was one that all good burgers should convey: it was unpretentious, delicious and filling. Simple as that.

Having said that, those looking for something with a bit more kick in their burgers may want to look elsewhere as some may find that the flavours here complement each other a little too well, i.e. nothing really stands out. But then again, there’s nothing particularly wrong with that if it tastes good.

It was a shame that we weren’t staying in Canberra long enough to be able to sample any of the other burgers on the menu. From what I gather, this little red caravan is a bit of a Canberran institution (even though our local guide — born and bred in Canberra — had only caught wind of it a few months earlier). Reports of hour-long waiting times abound, as does speculation over a potential forced relocation, and debate still rages over whether or not the burgers themselves live up to their now formidable hype. But one thing is for certain: the lovely lakeside location, quality ingredients, even the queues and the eclectic mix of people in them all contribute to an experience that stands playfully alongside (though obviously not equally in stature) the city’s more well-known cultural magnets as a fun twist on what may otherwise be a largely grown-up affair.

Brodburger
Bowen Park Carpark
Bowen Drive/Wentworth Avenue
Barton ACT 2604

Various Images
[1] [2]

Critical Hit LED D20 Die
So nerdy it’s almost unbearable (but so stupid awesome).

Today I Die for iPhone
Have already covered this game in a previous post but the iPhone version is as, if not more effective.

Typewriter as I/O; lets you play Zork
> attack tree

The Real Story Behind the Famous ‘Fainting Kittens’
A tear jerker.

Super There Will Be Blood
A brilliant summary in 8 bit.

Don Draper Says ‘What?’ A Lot
If you watch Mad Men, you’ll love this video.

Wishery
Snow White by Pogo. Amazing as always.

FPS map design: Then and now
As games and films converge. What is the right balance?

Media Surfaces: Incidental Media
Interesting conceptual ideas. Some already exist, the rest will surely come to pass.

Billboard Installation
Beautiful and accessible.

Acrylic Oil Painting Techniques to Transform Human Body in 2D Painting
Has to be seen to be believed. Would love to see a video and in person.

Exclusive: Man in disguise boards international flight
There has to be more to this story than meets the eye. Very very strange.

The Australian app specially designed for the new Samsung Galaxy Tab Android-based tablet
A great move from both companies. It’s interesting to see traditional media experiment in this way though it would have been way more successful on an iPad. I really don’t think the Samsung Galaxy Tab will take off like everyone’s hoping.


Image source (Fubiz, Lead Pencil)

A recovering coffee abuser’s worst nightmare.



Dandelion & Driftwood, each representing one of the owners (Peter and Penny Wolff), is a unique Brisbane cafe nestled in Hendra. What makes it unique is their focus on filtered coffee, notably via: Chemex, Syphon, Aeropress and Cold Brew (yes I had to look these up too).

When we arrived, Peter explained the concept of Dandelion & Driftwood (D&D for short… teehee) to us and you could see he was passionate about his coffee. One could imagine he could speak for great lengths about the many aspects of coffee making and the origins of each bean they stock. Thankfully it must’ve looked liked we needed some caffeine stat, so he proceeded to recommend a few brews to begin with. Begin. With.

For the vast majority of cafés, you don’t get to choose the type of bean your coffee is made from. In D&D’s case you can, and each type of cupped bean was accompanied with a card describing its origins. A nice touch that didn’t feel pretentious.

I opted for a more manly bean (apparently men in general prefer stronger beans to women) in both hot and cold form and it was a damn good coffee. The cold brew came in a ridiculously awesome amber bottle and it tasted as awesome – strong and flavoursome, and reminded me of the iced black coffee you can get in Malaysian hawker centers (in a good way). Sampling from coffees others were having around the table, each was remarkably different. The feminine Dandelion blend didn’t even taste like coffee.

Along with coffee, they also serve all manners of sweets and cakes. They looked great but we didn’t try any. We were already high on caffeine. We didn’t need to add sugar to the equation.

So we’ll definitely be coming back to D&D (…nope still funny). There are still many other beans and methods of preparation to sample. It’s a whole new world!

We left happy and wired, but then again, nothing like the group that left before us – rapidly mentioning something about 5 or 6 cups each before realising they should probably leave. I guess that’s the kind of place this is. Before you know it, you’re a full blown coffee addict (again). And you love it.


Dandelion & Driftwood
Shop 1, 45 Gerler Rd
Hendra, Queensland, Australia

The week on the Internet that was 25/10 to 31/10.


Being hooked on RSS, Twitter and Facebook, I encounter thousands of links every week. Most I skim but some are interesting or inspiring enough to share. These weekly posts are an attempt to collate these links in a single post accompanied with a short description. They are in no particular order.

Not sure if anyone will be interested but not everyone is on Twitter (where I normally share links) and I don’t think I’ll be spamming Facebook with them any time soon.

Never Mind the Bullets
A Microsoft sponsored HTML5 site that runs like a dog on anything but IE9. Not as conceptually interesting as Chrome’s, Arcade Fire – The Wilderness Downtown, but still quite an interesting project.

Doritos Late Night. Doritos presents Professor Green
A panoramic music video. The first I’ve seen. Has this been done before? Surely.

Kanye West’s Epic Hip Hop Opera “Runaway” Debuts Online
For all his uh, Kanye-ness, he does have a creative mind. This was to be expected.

iOS 4.1 Security Flaw Puts Your iPhone’s Information At Risk
This works, though thankfully not on a 3G. Seems more like an undocumented feature rather than a bug.

Fainting Goat Kittens
Latest viral kitten video with a sad ending. Too cute…

Floating cube optical illusion
Optical illusions are awesome because they break your brain.

Part Kid, Part Machine, All Cop.
THE Halloween costume of 2010.

OMGWTFBBQ
The perfect site to have up on a big screen at a party full of Internet addicts.

Invasion of Privacy
Step by step on how to discover all kinds of information on an individual via the Internet. Not enough people are aware of these methods. Protect yourself already.

Miwa Matreyek’s glorious visions
Beautiful TED performance. The amount of everything that went into this is staggering.

Various images that caught the eye more than others (perhaps this should be on tumblr?)
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

Doritos Late Night. Doritos presents Professor Green

Image source (ffffound, キリペチカ)

It was Tuesday.

“Just another café”, I thought, but hey, why not give them a try? It’s not like there’s much else of note in the commercial end of Newstead. Well, I guess there’s the newly revamped Waterloo, but I don’t particularly feel like fighting for service today – and so I mosied on in.

The place is small. There’s no doubt about that. But there’s something about it which isn’t quite… normal. Firstly there’s a chef-lookalike person in the kitchen. If you’ve ever worked in this area, you know this is a rare sight. He surely can’t be real. Secondly, the wait staff are all smiling, and are really friendly. Before I know it, I have a menu in hand, a table, and a glass of water.

I peruse the menu and a few things catch my eye. All day breakfast. Not my thing, but I know a few who would be over the moon. Then I flipped over the menu and there it was – the word, “Chilli”, twice – combined with the word, “Chicken”. This was destiny.

Chilli Chicken with Potato Salad

… and it nearly made my stomach explode. It’s a half chicken AND a choice of salad. It’s tender, succulent, tasty, and they provided an extra bottle of chilli in case I wanted more. They could they read my mind. It’s not spicy hot, just delicious hot, and an hour later I fell into a food coma. The rest is a bit fuzzy and before I knew it…

It was Sunday.

I suggested to the breakfast crew that we give these Symposium folk a chance.  They’re new, they’re friendly, and they make great chicken. Surely this would translate to great breakfast? Fortunately it seems on Sundays, they manage to expand their alfresco seating. It makes the place feel much larger and more Sunday.

Once again I examined the menu and realised something was amiss. There were new things that weren’t present on the weekday menu. New and interesting things, and mouth watering things such as a…

Filo Parcel lined with Prosciutto & filled with Creamy Scrambled Eggs, topped with Hollandaise Sauce

An edible pastry cube lined and filled with the things I like, in my mouth. When I read ‘parcel’, I thought triangle, or at most a square – not a deep 3D square!

It tastes as good as it looks and is now one of my favourite breakfast dishes ever.

And then there is this monstrosity.

Ham Soufflé with Wholegrain Mustard & Cheese Sauce

It really is a reverse cheesy hot pocket. Dip the bread into the sauce. Close your eyes as your taste buds are assaulted. Once you have recovered, cut into the pocket. The pocket is ham and eggs. Brilliant.

I’ve been back several times since. I’ve never been disappointed. Their chefs make great food, and once in awhile their ‘quicker’ food cabinet will ‘magic up’ delicious one-off surprises. The young lads at Symposium are friendly, attentive and have an energy about them. I think it’s because they know they have a great thing going – and it’s about time the rest of Brisbane knew that too.

Symposium Café
Shop 2/26 Commercial Rd
Fortitude Valley, Queensland, Australia

GO!GO! couldn’t have written a better album to mark their 10th anniversary. It is, in many ways, the perfect retrospective – yet it’s a “Best Of” consisting of entirely new songs. The rockabilly surf punk of Dasoku Hokou and Gyotaku; the psych-tinge of Tategami and Ryuuzetsuran; the pop glaze of PARADE and 569; and the random rock melange of ANTENNA… it’s all here in some way, with a production bias towards their earlier, harder rocking sound. And that’s definitely something you’re not going to be hearing any complaints about.

Mayakashi no Sekai

Everything about GO!!GO!GO!GO!! screams energy – the title, the cover art, and most importantly, the songs. If it wasn’t evident before, it should certainly be now: GO!GO! songs are written to be played live. Yet this the first time they’ve been so explicit about it – opener EOEOE begins with nothing less than a live crowd chanting the album’s title before the band “appear” to raucous applause with a tune whose riff must surely be a homage to the Rolling Stones’ Jumpin’ Jack Flash (and probably not the album’s the only Stones homage – check the cover art). From here on in, the band take us on a journey – in turn, though sometimes all at once – of the genres and styles they’ve dabbled with over the past decade. And with 13 tracks averaging between 4 and 6 minutes each, it’s a pretty hefty ride.

Saigo no Bansan and Mimitabu 2gou resurrect the surf twang that got lost somewhere after Gyotaku and this is personally one of the sounds I’m most happy about hearing again in their music. Mimitabu 2gou in particular might be my personal pick of the album but there’s plenty of others putting up a fight for that title… not least of which are its immediate neighbours, the ridiculously-titled Kutsushita no Ana ~Ashi no Ke Chanto Sotta noni~ and the wonderfully schizophrenic SUGAR & SPICE. Along with Ee Janai ka, which follows after SUGAR & SPICE, this run of songs forms the album’s crowded, hard rocking spiritual centre. To experience these tracks live would surely be a treat like none other. Videos obviously don’t do the real thing justice, but here’s a taste:

Ee Janai ka (Live)

The album’s actual centrepoint, however, falls on BALLAD and Rakuen no Ohanashi. The former is an old new song which has been floating around their live shows in very much the same form since at least the year 2000. Who knows what took them so long to put it to record, but I’m glad they finally did because it’s a great tune and yes, it is very much a ballad, complete with an outro consisting of lots of impassioned, yet thankfully listenable wailing by Yuu. The latter is the album’s slowest number – a wandering tale that takes the briefest of dips into psychadelia… though regrettably it doesn’t dive in as deep as it could have.

By the time the hard rocking course ends with Ee Janai ka, things return to pop-rock land with the upbeat Kyou no Uta and Nothing2 (one of the sunniest things they’ve ever recorded) and finishes off with the “extra track”, 365 Renkyuu BOOGIE (good lo-fi fun with Turkey on lead vocals).

I don’t know whether it’s the result of their move to a less iron-fisted label, or of some kind of mid-band-life crisis, but this album is one of the best that GO!GO! have ever put out. Almost everything that the band has been loved for is here – the varied songwriting, the deft mash of styles both old and new, Yuu and Akko’s harmonies, Turkey’s amazing, amazing drumming, throwaway riffs and hooks that lesser bands could form entire songs from, their overwhelming sense of presence… everything down to the bizarre song titles and lyrics is here. But perhaps the most telling and critical inclusion is the sense that you’re listening to a band with the youthful energy of one that just started yesterday, and, moreover, the talent to keep them burning bright for many more years to come.

Tracklist
GO!!GO!GO!GO!!
FlyingStar Records, 02/06/10

01. エオエオエ (EOEOE)
02. リフレイン　リフレイン (REFRAIN REFRAIN)
03. まやかしの世界 (Mayakashi no Sekai · Fake World)
04. 最後の晩餐 (Saigo no Bansan · Last Dinner)
05. 毒リンゴ (Doku RINGO · Poison Apple)
06. バラード (BALLAD)
07. 楽園のおはなし (Rakuen no Ohanashi · Story of Paradise)
08. くつしたの穴　～あしのけちゃんと剃ったのに～ (Kutsushita no Ana ~Ashi no Ke Chanto Sotta noni~ · Sock’s Hole ~Even Though I Shaved My Leg Hair~)
09. 耳たぶ２号 (Mimitabu 2gou · Earlobe #2)
10. シュガー＆スパイス (SUGAR & SPICE)
11. ええじゃないか (Ee Janai ka · Isn’t It Right?)
12. 今日の歌 (Kyou no Uta · Today’s Song)
13. Nothing2

Extra Track
14. 365連休ブギー (365 Renkyuu BOOGIE · 365 Consecutive Holidays BOOGIE)

Band

L-R:
野間亜紀子 / ノマ アキコ (Noma Akiko)* – Bass, Vocals
ターキー (TURKEY)** – Drums, Vocals
中島優美 (Nakashima Yumi)*** – Vocals, Guitar

* Nickname: アッコ (Akko); Maiden name/solo alias: 浜田亜紀子 (Hamada Akiko)
** Real name: 細川貴之(Hosokawa Takayuki)
*** Nickname/solo alias: ゆう (Yuu)

GO!GO!7188 – Official Website
GO!GO!7188 – MySpace

Azel – Panzer Dragoon RPG (Panzer Dragoon Saga in the West) was released on the Sega Saturn in 1998. Despite being a critically- and generally-acclaimed triumph in artistic direction, musical scoring, technical implementation, storytelling and gameplay, only a small number of copies were ever released. Nonetheless, it was regarded by most as the Saturn’s swan song… and what a song it was.

Azel Trailer (Music Track: Atolm Dragon)

The 2 disc Memorial Album soundtrack released in 2001 contains all the music found on the original Complete Album released around the same time as the game, but with one bonus remix track added to the end of each disc. Most of the album’s 59 tracks clock in at between 1 and 3 minutes in length, for a total of just under 2 and a half hours of music.

The Panzer universe, whose locations and inhabitants were visually fashioned from a distinct blend of organic and mechanical textures, managed to ignite within the player a wondrous sense that they were exploring and engaging with a truly unique culture that was at times familiar, yet, simultaneously, impossibly foreign. To get an idea of just how thorough the design of Panzer’s world was, consider that an entirely new spoken language, “Panzerese”, was devised especially for use in the game’s FMV cutscenes (apparently it’s a mix of ancient Greek and Latin). Furthermore, in Azel – the first and currently only RPG in the series (the others are on-rail shooters) – players had access to an in-game encyclopaedia that contained descriptions of every creature and enemy they encountered, as well as various “books” on the world’s history, religion and politics. Yes, this was certainly one game world crafted with care and imagination.

Needless to say, such a detailed world design would have fallen very short of its potential without a suitably unique soundtrack – fortunately, composers Saori Kobayashi and Mariko Nanba not only created something that did justice to the grand scope of the Panzer universe (a remarkable feat in itself), but something which has, over the relatively short course of the series, become an inseparable part of it. As music comprises an integral part of any culture, so it does here.

Much like Panzerese, Panzer’s music takes elements from existing styles and fuses them together into something uniquely, well, “Panzer”. In this case, the composers crafted the incredibly exotic and evocative sounds heard in the games by working with an inspired mix of tribal African beats, Latin American rhythms and Celtic melodies. Asian and Middle-Eastern influences are also evident here and there. In addition, though some of the pieces featured orchestra recordings, most of the music was actually generated in-game using Cybersound, the Saturn’s on-board MIDI instrument set. The result is a slightly electronic, synthesized delivery, which, when coupled with the “earthy” tones of African, Latin American and Celtic music, complemented the series’ organic and bio-mechanical visual designs perfectly.

Transformation 1

Rest

Azel, as a 4CD RPG, is epic, and so too is its music. From awe-inspiring ambient flight accompaniments to heart-pounding, percussion-driven boss battle themes to quiet melodies played by campfires as rider and dragon rest, this soundtrack has the quintessential Panzer experience covered. Much of it resides in ambient territory, with only a few tracks featuring traditionally recognisable melody lines. A palpable sense of the primitive permeates. Make no mistake, this is not your conventional RPG soundtrack. For most part, the tracks are all instrumentals, bar the gorgeous closing song Sona Mi Areru Ec Sancitu, and even then, the vocals by Eri Ito are sung in Panzerese. The two bonus tracks are remixes of this closing song. The first, by one of the game’s sound producers, Tomonomi Sawada, adds a more modern mid-tempo beat to the sampled vocals. The second, by American house producer Ron Trent, gives it a predictably chilled-out treatment and provides the album with its longest track at a slightly protracted 8 minutes. Though largely unnecessary (the original tracklisting was in no way in need of additional support), these bonus tracks are interesting variations that thankfully don’t take away from what is already an exemplary listening experience.

Ancient Weapon

Sona Mi Areru Ec Sancitu

Recommending this album is something that I do both wholeheartedly and with some measure of thought as to how practical such a recommendation could be. Wholeheartedly because, like the game, it’s a stunning work of art and I don’t think there’s anything else quite like it. You simply hit play and let it take you away. However, due to criminally low production runs, both the game and both editions of its soundtrack are now, more than a decade later, incredibly rare to come by. I personally don’t know anyone else who has played the game, let alone who owns a copy of it or any edition of its soundtrack, and I’ve yet to encounter anyone online or otherwise who has gone through the experience of playing the game without coming out the other side completely and utterly converted. In other words, I can only assume that those lucky few in possession of a copy of the game and/or its soundtrack are undoubtedly well aware of its worth, and aren’t likely to part with it for anything short of a lucrative sum, if at all. I personally found my second-hand copy of this soundtrack in the labyrinthine corridors of the Shibuya branch of Mandarake (otherwise known as otaku heaven), safely sealed away behind the window of a locked glass cabinet. So, whilst I cannot recommend this soundtrack enough, I can only wish you the best of luck should you decide to undertake the needle-in-a-haystack search for your own copy. It might take some patience, and few bags of dyne more than it should, but rest assured that this is one gem that’s worth it.

Tracklist
Azel – Panzer Dragoon RPG – Memorial Album
Marvelous Entertainment Inc., 21/04/2001

Disc 1

01. Ecce Valde Generous Ale (見よ，いと貴き翼) (Ecce Valde Generous Ale (Behold, The Precious Wings))
02. 初陣 (First Battle)
03. 高貴なる賊軍 (Noble Rebel Army)
04. 偽りの神国 (A Holy Nation of Lies)
05. 孤独な戦い (Solitary Battle)
06. 翼 (Wings)
07. 永遠の別れ (Separated for Eternity)
08. 戦いの予感 (Premonition of War)
09. 変異種1 (Transformation 1)
10. 静寂の中の混沌 (Chaos Amongst the Silence)
11. 変異種2 (Transformation 2)
12. 巨大生物1 (Giant Creature 1)
13. 休息 (Rest)
14. 生命の息吹 (Breath of Life)
15. 蒼き遺跡のテーマ (Blue Ruins Theme)
16. 放浪 (Wandering)
17. 禁断の地 (Forbidden Land)
18. 純血種 (Pure Blood Seed)
19. 黒き艦隊 (The Black Fleet)
20. 出会いの定め (Rendezvous with Destiny)
21. アトルムドラゴン (Atolm Dragon)
22. 竜巻 (Spirit of the Dragon)
23. 予期せぬ遭遇 (Foreseen Encounter)
24. 帝国 (The Empire)
25. 箱船 (Shelcoof)
26. ゾアの街 (Town of Zoah)
27. パエット (Paet)
28. 水の廃都 (Water Ruins
29. 旧世紀兵器 (Ancient Weapon)
30. Sona Mi Areru Ec Sancitu (Re-arranged)

Disc 2

01. 人ならざるもの (Trapped Underground)
02. 胎道 (Path to the Being)
03. 閉じた魂 (Sealed Spirit)
04. エレベーターチェイス (Elevator Chase)
05. 巨大生物2 (Giant Creature 2)
06. 再会のための別館 (Separation for a Future Reunion)
07. 「譲り火」のもとで (Source of the Protective Flame)
08. 邯鄲の夢 (Delusions of Grandeur)
09. 眠れる鉄塊 (Sleeping Iron Ingot)
10. 帝国軍空中艦隊 (Imperial Air Force)
11. 巨大戦艦 (Giant Warship)
12. 邂逅 (Fading Away)
13. 神の軍 (Holy Chariot)
14. 旧世紀 (A Century Gone By)
15. 迎撃 (Interception)
16. 覚醒 (Awakening)
17. 結末 (Conclusion)
18. シーカーの里 (Village of the Seekers)
19. 森の悲鳴 (The Forest’s Cry)
20. 紅き遺跡のテーマ (Red Ruins Theme)
21. 約束の地へ (Into the Promised Land)
22. 終局への序曲 (Overture to the End)
23. 涙 (Tears)
24. セストレン (Sestren)
25. 幻影1 (Vision 1)
26. 幻影2 (Vision 2)
27. 最後の戦い～回帰～ (The Final Battle ~Recurrence~)
28. Sona Mi Areru Ec Sancitu (其は聖なる御使いなりや) (Sona Mi Areru Ec Sancitu (Art Thou The Holy One))
29. Sona Mi Areru Ec Sancitu (Prescription Vocal Club Mix)