The Retro-Active Experience / The Retro-Active Experience / The Retro-Active Experience

"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.""

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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