2x-Grammy-nominated artist and producer Steve Aoki announces his new full-length album HiROQUEST out September 16, 2022. The highly anticipated record features collaborations with a wide variety of artists in all genres including Taking Back Sunday, Kane Brown, Mod Sun, PnB Rock, Georgia Ku, Bryce Vine, Santa Fe Klan, Lil Xan, Goody Grace, and more. As part of the album release, Aoki is continuing his relationship with MetaZoo Games to create limited edition playing cards available with the purchase of HiROQUEST CDs.
HiROQUEST features the recent singles “Just Us Two” with Taking Back Sunday, “Kult” with grandson and Jasiah, as well as “Save Me” featuring HRVY, and “Kong 2.0” with Natanael Cano. Aoki’s new album taps into the angst, anxiety and pent-up energy felt during lockdown and offers a dynamic soundtrack to what has become the new normal. The tracks draw equally on Aoki’s history with alternative rock bands and embrace contemporary musical trends like Latin and pop while retaining his signature EDM aesthetic.
“The music is a connecting tissue to this universe that I’m creating,” Aoki explains. “This album tells a fantastical story, but it’s also about freedom from restraint. I went right back to my roots—that raw, rock energy and that became the basis of it. From there, I began to explore everything and it sprouted into so many different genres.”
The songs of HiROQUEST will comprise five chapters, each detailing a different mythological faction, and the album opens the door for fans to enter a vast world that threads together the music with a new collectible trading card game co-created with MetaZoo Games, which Aoki co-founded and launched in March of 2021.
For a limited time and while inventory lasts, the trading cards will be available as an insert in the CD of Aoki’s new album, with each CD containing one card from the MetaZoo HiROQUEST set. This special limited presale will be launching exclusively at www.HIROQUEST.com on June 16th at 9am PT/ 12pm ET. Each CD is priced at $5.99.
The MetaZoo HiROQUEST storyline lives in a future world full of chaos, where “Beasties” run rampant through the Cryptid Nation led by a character named Indrid Cold. The hero protagonist, of the group Evergreen Casters, named Hiro, is on a quest to collect Pallet Rings and defeat legions of harmful Zombies, Robots, AI, etc. along the way. MetaZoo promises it to be an adventure that goes down in history in the world of future cryptids.
Fans can expect HiROQUEST to be an epic, multi-genre collection of solo and collaborative songs with a world-building story that extends beyond the music itself. Always looking to break down barriers and unite people together in their shared passions, Aoki hopes HiROQUEST’s innovative and multi-layered output will serve as a great connector for bringing audiences together. “Almost everything I do is some level of collaboration, whether it’s fashion, technology, music, art or culture,” Aoki shares. “I love this idea that we can come together and put aside the things from our past that may have hardened or jaded us, and just be free.”
HiROQUEST Track Listing:
- Hiroquest Anthem
- Astrals Melodia
- KULT – with grandson, ft. Jasiah
- Movie Star – ft. Mod Sun & Global Dan
- Move On – with Kane Brown & Ricky Retro
- OIO Melodia
- Just Us Two – with Taking Back Sunday
- All Hype – ft. Bryce Vine
- You Don’t Get to Hate Me – ft. Goody Grace
- Russian Roulette – ft Sueco & No Love for the Middle Child
- Diasos Melodia
- Ultimate – ft Santa Fe Klan & Sno Tha Product
- Chichi – with Guaynaa
- Kong 2.0 – with Natanael Cano
- Extants Melodia
- Whole Again – with Kaaze, ft. John Martin
- Save Me – with HRVY
- Stop The World – with Marnik & Leony
- Whistle – with Timmy Trumpet & Alligator
- Stars Don’t Shine – ft Global Dan
- Taurobons Melodia
- Nobody – ft PollyAnna
- Demons – ft Georgia Ku
- Stars – ft Lil Xan
- Perfect – ft. PnB Rock & 24HRS
- Black Pullet