You take one little two-week hiatus and suddenly the floodgates open. After a slow April, the rock gods woke up and directed our attention to a slew of bands and solo artists. In particular, the great white north (Canada) provided us with enough music to keep us entertained for days and weeks. If you don’t find something you like then keep looking. It was quite a diverse month.
 
 

WTCHS – “Mr. Hands”

Described as a “basement recording made for vinyl”, the new track “Mr. Hands” from Canadian band WTCHS is almost like two songs in one. Released back in late April, the track begins with a heavy punk influence and finishes with a turn towards alt-rock. The band compares the latter sound with Queens of the Stone Age and I couldn’t agree more. “Mr. Hands” was released on a 7″ split with “Harness” from Thoughts On Air. You can check out both tracks below.

 
 

Oh, Admiral – Breaking Free

The 5-track album Breaking Free is the first to be released by Oh, Admiral under the Painted Ox Records label. The acoustic collection is the creative output of Mike Berean, formerly of Verse The End. Of the five tracks, I particularly enjoyed the instrumentation of “Here and There” with its combination of acoustic guitar, flute, and percussion work.

 
 

Pete Van Dyk & The Second Hand Band – “Rise the Falling Sun”

Another Hamilton, Ontario band joins our news ranks and this time it’s Pete Van Dyk & The Second Hand Band. Not only has the 4-member group recently released a new track, “Rise the Falling Sun” also has a music video showcasing who the band really is. I really dig the blues influence the band manages to mix into their sound. Have a listen for yourself and you’ll see what I mean.

 
 

Ketch Harbour Wolves - Queen City: Volume 1

It’s always interesting to find out what musicians use for the inspiration in their work. In Queen City: Volume 1, Ketch Harbour Wolves used different locations of Toronto to create a tone in each of the seven tracks. At the same time, the album tries to make a more universal connection by touching on the emotions all of humanity share. The sound really changes from track to track including everything from the instrumentation to the vocals. If I had to pick a favorite, I think “Should Have Learned” would top that list. The entire album is included below for you to find your own favorite, and “The Good Blood” is currently a free download.

 
 

Harvey Dinero – C.T.G.E presents: Harvey Dinero’s A Day in the Life

We step away from the Canadian and alt-rock theme to present Columbus, Ohio native and hip hop artist Harvey Dinero. The 11-track album A Day in the Life (released under C.T.G.E. ltd.) is the first from the musician. It’s not just a solo act, as Harvey includes a handful of the tracks featuring other artists such as “Sunshine ft. Noel Gaines”. The full album can be listened to here (Warning: NSFW).

A*Star - Any Given Moon

A*Star is the first band to make a second appearance in our monthly roundup feature, having previously gained our attention back in February. The shoegaze/dreampop duo from Chicago is back with 2-track EP Any Given Moon. The two tracks complement each other well with the slightly grittier “Any Given Sunday” leading into the more ethereal “Catch the Moon”. Both tracks are available to listen to below.

 
 

Rob Green – Soul Dancing

Some musicians get their start early, others spend a lifetime crafting their talents before accomplishing their dreams. Rob Green falls into the latter category, releasing his first album - Soul Dancing - at age 62. The 12-track album is a work developed over 37 years and a features an eclectic mix of styles including R&B, jazz, soul, rock, and folk. Green’s folkish vocals combine with acoustic guitar and sax and play against lyrics that generally hold a positive outlook on life (though there are exceptions). It’s an enjoyable mix and a sound we don’t hear a lot of around here.

 
 

DAV!D&CLARA – Untitled album

Electronic music made a big showing in last month’s roundup and we’ve seen a bit more of that influence again in May. DAV!D&CLARA isn’t your typical duo though. David is a musician from the American southwest, specializing in industrial dance, electronic, and electro/electro pop music. In an interesting twist, Clara is his laptop. Although the album in progress has yet to receive a title, 10 tracks of poetic lyrics are available to listen to right now.



 
 

DAVIDS – 0613EP

I can’t calculate the odds of this happening, but if you wanted more electronica and more David, well, it’s your lucky day. I present to you DAVIDS and their electronica/new wave/synthpop EP 0613EP. The full album hasn’t released quite yet, but the band has put together a music video for single “Dead Walkie”. The video was directed by Christopher Mills who has worked with such notable bands as Interpol and Rush. Have a listen to the track below, hit the link for the video, and sit tight until June 4th when the album comes out.

 
 

Calgary James - Indian Summer

Combining acoustic guitar, synthesizers, piano, and more, Indian Summer is another eclectic mix of sounds wrapped up into a neat 6-track EP. Calgary James is particularly fond of the second track, “Hammock”. I have to agree that I really like the vocal harmonies which produces a sound that hearkens back to the 50s and 60s. This album also comes with a music video, a psychedelic offering for “4AM”. The experimental album really does go all over the place, but that isn’t a bad thing as it’s consistently entertaining throughout.

 
 

Air Marshal Landing - You Used To Be Me

Last month I had the pleasure of discovering Air Marshal Landing and their single “Little Town”. Well, come June 4th the Canadian trio is releasing the rest of that album, You Used To Be Me. The 11 tracks will be offered in both digital and CD form, and the band is making the first track “Move With You” free to download all summer. I’m eager to hear the full album, but you can hear the first track below.

 
 

Weekend Riot Club - PSYCHOTROPIA

Another band we spotlighted last month is back with a full album release. Weekend Riot Club is set to release Psychotropia on June 4th. The alt-rock group from Hamilton, Ontario has put together a 12-track  album featuring Melissa Marchese on lead vocals, Mike Chetcuti on guitar, and Paul Fontes driving the band’s high energy on drums. The full album can be obtained in digital format or via CD. Have a listen below to track “Give It All” or hit the link to listen to the full album.

This may have been our most musically diverse month yet. Summer’s heating up, everyone’s headed outside, and it’s a great time to listen to some new music. Did you have any favorites from the list above, or do you have any recommendations of your own? Hit us up with a comment, and be sure to check back in a few weeks for next month’s edition.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

While everything from wide-open strategies to environmental manipulation to 22 character classes to challenging AI has been implemented already, the game still needs some fleshing out on the artistic side of things. That’s where the Kickstarter campaign comes into play. Stern is trying to raise $25,500 for the following purposes:

• Hiring a sound designer to create all of the sound effects for every last button click, movement, attack, character death, item usage, and action in the game.  Estimated cost: $12,000
• Hiring a composer to flesh out the game’s soundtrack with more music.  Estimated cost: $4,000
• Hiring artists to create more art: tilesets, destructible objects, character portraits, NPC sprites, and a second gender for each character class.  Estimated cost: $4,000
• Promoting Telepath Tactics* at PAX East.  Estimated cost: $2,000
• Hiring a web designer to build a proper website* for Telepath Tactics.  Estimated cost: $1,000

As you can see, a lot of these items are aimed at giving the game the kind of polish that takes a good game and makes it great. As with all Kickstarter campaigns, Sinister Design is offering their backers something in return for their much-needed funds. While the usual rewards like a copy of the game or listing in the credits are available, some of the more notable rewards include having your likeness placed in a dramatic scene, appear as an in-game villain in the single-player campaign, and getting the chance to design an in-game mission or multiplayer mode.

Sinister Design is doing fairly well with its campaign, having raised over $9,000 at the time of this article’s publication. There’s still a long way to go, though, and less than two weeks to reach that goal. Readers intrigued by the video below can contribute to the cause directly through the Kickstarter page which also includes links to the alpha demo.

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

For gamers like myself who grew up in 1980′s America, one of the best parts of the elementary school day was driving a covered wagon through the harsh wilderness. I am, of course, talking about playing Oregon Trail. The game is a lauded example of early gaming, and for many of us it was our first introduction to digital gaming. Chicago-based studio The Men Who Wear Many Hats have taken this classic game and combined it with a genre that’s incredibly popular today. Organ Trail: Director’s Cut manages to honor its predecessor while adding enough new twists and turns to surprise seasoned veterans of the original game.

Organ Trail maintains pretty much the same goal as its forebearer which is to navigate a party of companions from the east coast of America to the promised land in the west. This time around, it’s not to seek fortune and prosperity in California, but simply to escape the zombie apocalypse. Now aboard a station wagon, players make dozens of stops along the journey in order to scavenge for food and supplies or seek a trade. There are also a couple dozen checkpoints in the form of overrun cities and hovels. While the original game used these spots to mark the progress of a growing, pioneering nation, Organ Trail uses the waypoints to show the decline of both society and humanity.

Oregon Trail is not the only homage to be found

As with Oregon Trail, Organ Trail is not about conquering or dominating. Instead it’s about surviving by any means necessary. Players aren’t going to get the power rush imbued by a first-person shooter, and they won’t find the “a-ha” moment achieved in a puzzle game.  Organ Trail is meant to test patience and resolve. No matter which of the difficulty modes the player picks, resources are always stretched to the limit, the vehicle’s always on the verge of breaking down, and party members are constantly being afflicted by maladies. It’s that fight against the “I’m barely holding everything together” feeling – akin to keeping spinning plates aloft – that is the draw to the game. Lessons learned about when and what to sacrifice are acquired through failure, and it is a large part of the appeal of retrying the game with a different selection of starting resources and different decisions being made. There’s also a heavy dose of randomness to what can happen that will make each playthrough different from the last.

Those random events that occur while traveling the road more often than not hurt the player’s party rather than help. Although these events are a hallmark of the original game, it can be frustrating to repeatedly have precious resources fly out of an open window or have a gas can leak. It would’ve been nice to have a more realistic variety of mishaps. Like with Oregon Trail, the vehicle is constantly breaking down and it’s up to the player to try to keep enough spare parts on hand to repair it. Intermittent action sequences like avoiding stampeding deer or knocking over marauding bikers also have the potential to damage the car. It really felt like the bulk of the adventure was spent maintaining the station wagon, rather than the health of the party. Players can use a variable amount of collected scrap for a chance at fixing the car, but even those scenarios seem to defy the success odds displayed on the screen. However, it never felt like the game was intentionally being unfair as repeated playthroughs were sometimes easier or more difficult from area to area each time.

Zombies aren’t the only hazards to deal with

A large part of the appeal of Organ Trail is naturally going to be the nods to Oregon Trail. The presentation of this game is largely taken from the early versions of the Apple 2′s 16-color game. Retro is in – perhaps perpetually so – and seeing reimagined elements like the covered wagon replaced with a slightly less than modern station wagon is a delight not unlike viewing a well-done mod of a favorite shooter. Broken legs and the meme-worthy dysentery return to make appearances. Even a non-gameplay element like the ability to write epitaphs on the tombstones of fallen comrades is back. There’s a really strong correlation between the enjoyment of this game and whether or not the player has played the original series. That’s obviously the intent of the developers considering the play on words evident in the game’s title.

Old is new again

That’s not to say there’s nothing entertaining here for new players or even veteran players. Anyone who plays Organ Trail has a chance to enjoy a game that includes strategy, mini-game-esque action sequences, a trade/market system, and primitive, but tensely exciting shooting sequences. For Oregon Trail pros, the zombie theme alone opens up new possibilities such as whether to put down a stricken party member or try to keep them healthy enough to not turn into the undead (and boost your GameCenter score at the end). Hunting no longer means shooting prey. It means shooting zombies while you scavenge for food and supplies that randomly appear. Taking a closer look at a grave epitaph or a roadside disturbance can lead to humor and/or profit, but it can also result in a surprise zombie attack. There’s really a lot of variety in the different systems that make up the Organ Trail experience. When combined, they create a satisfying, never tiresome game.

When a developer puts their own spin on an established game or franchise, they walk a dangerous line between an homage and an uninspired ripoff. When the gentlemen of The Men Who Wear Many Hats decided to take on a classic like Oregon Trail, they took a big risk. It paid off. While I think the game can be unreasonably punishing at times, and the first release build experiences some crashes, overall it really offers something for everyone. New players and younger gamers get a modern take on a classic revered by thousands, maybe millions. And for those of us who’ve been gaming for a couple of decades now, we get a bit of nostalgia we can take with us on our own journeys.

Organ Trail is currently available for iOS and Android. This review was conducted using the iPad version.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Chicago-based developers Ragtag Studio have launched their latest title, Unstoppable Fist, for iOS.  The 16-bit graphical style and chiptunes soundtrack – the latter free to download through Bandcamp – set the tone for this “infinite attack game”.

Featuring wave after wave of demonic enemies, Unstoppable Fist challenges players to correctly tap HI, MID, and LOW touch zones to pummel the hordes of possessed wildlife that attempt to overwhelm our mulleted hero. The game obviously has a sense of humor, and the Loafers of Light and Unstoppable Fists you wield help further that tone.

Harness the power of the golden mullet

The game is advertised as easy to pick and play for a few minutes on the go, but it also offers a few extras for the more committed, hardcore players out there. A robust achievement system will challenge the best players to bring their skill level up to the next level. Game Center leaderboards will also give friends bragging rights over one another.

Check out the trailer below, then head on over to iTunes to pick up the game today. For additional news from Ragtag Studio, you can Follow them on Twitter and Like them on Facebook.

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.