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“Thank you so much for your patience and support with the soundtrack. I really hope that you will like the new music. See you in Wraeclast!“ – Kamil Orman-Janowski, Composer
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Indie Music
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Game Music, Indie Music
Composer Previews Music for Path of Exile – Fall of Oriath Act 6
November 2, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Composer Previews Music for Path of Exile – Fall of Oriath Act 6 Share this
As we reported on earlier this year, the music for indie game Path of Exile – The Fall of Oriath has progressively been released by the game’s composer, Kamil Orman-Janowski. Recently, Kamil has released previews for Act 6 of the game, which is being worked on for a release in the near future, as announced on the official forums for the game.
You can find out more about the upcoming Act 6 of Path of Exile – Fall of Oriath as well as information on the rest of the game on their official website. You can also preview more of Kamil Orman-Janowski’s music for the game on his Soundcloud.
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Game Music, Indie Music
Piano Jazz duo The Swinging Globes Debut with Cross-Media Medleys
October 26, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Piano Jazz duo The Swinging Globes Debut with Cross-Media Medleys Share this
If Cuphead (or GameChops’ new remix) has you raring for more jazz, then the mellow style of The Swinging Globes’ debut album Universe might be just the thing. The French duo play piano and percussion giving the album a consistent, minimal feel while each track bounces between themes from games and movies with nods to classical and jazz standards.
Their sound won me over right from the start with an unexpected piano jazz rendition of the Avengers movie theme I didn’t know I needed so badly. While “Avenjazz” sticks almost exclusively to Alan Silvestri’s theme there’s also a tiny bit of Zelda hiding in the track. It’s fairly simple in the first two songs but it seems intentional as an introduction for what’s to come.
Each successive track adds more and more cues. “Quick Call” opens with the Spring Yard Zone theme from Sonic the Hedgehog before swelling into a soulful take on “Megalovania” from Undertale. It suddenly dwindles down to just the piano and builds up once more into Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” from The Exorcist with Toccata and Fugue in D minor as an unexpected bridge.
In “Super Jazz Bross” the pair mix themes from a trio of Super Mario titles with John Coltrane and in “Bond strikes back” they combine the James Bond Theme with a medley of Star Wars tunes in ways I’ve never heard nor expected. Finally, there’s “SIMS” which is the most ambitious mix visiting The Sims, Silent Hill 2, more John Coltrane and “Tubular Bells” along with five themes from Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask.
Six tracks honestly feels like a short album but there’s so much to hear in Universe that you might think you’ve been listening for hours. It also flows really well from one track to another, and back to the start again when you inevitably hit Repeat on your player. Take a listen for yourself over at The Swinging Globes’ Bandcamp page and grab it for 3€ if you like what you hear.
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Chip Music, Game Music, Indie Music
DJ Cutman launches 24/7, lo-fi Game Music Beats Stream
Over the last few months, GameChops founder DJ Cutman has been posting some of my favorite tracks to his personal YouTube channel. They all hail from his older albums and they simply feature game music, with a beat, slowed down to a jam-worthy tempo. It turns out this wasn’t a coincidence as he recently launched Radio Cutman on the channel offering a “24/7 live stream of instrumental & lo-fi hip hop, video game remixes, and chill-out beats”.
Cutman isn’t mixing the music live 24 hours a day but he has curated 231 beats from himself, DJ Grumble (Freestyle Tools), and Bknapp (SNES Beats) into a 9-hour playlist that unfolds differently each day. He’s also edited many of the beats to fit the non-stop stream format — cutting out intros and adjusting the audio to get things into a seamless flow of jams.
As advertised, it’s been a great accompaniment to my workweek. Retro tunes and samples (largely from Nintendo consoles) appear alongside modern indie favorites (like Undertale and Shovel Knight), all aligned with some fantastic beats. Give it a listen above or on YouTube to join the live chat where the GameChops crew seems to be pretty active. Rumor has it a similar live station is coming soon to highlight GameChops releases.
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Game Music, Indie Music
Cuphead OST: Nearly 3 Hours of Jazz, Ragtime, and Surprises
October 6, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Cuphead OST: Nearly 3 Hours of Jazz, Ragtime, and Surprises Share this
You might recognize Cuphead as the dazzling looking “playable cartoon” that we’ve been catching glimpses of since late 2013. Yes, it’s been that long, but most of the coverage over those last four years has come from flashy sizzle reels or the raucous halls of E3 and PAX. In those settings it’s easy to see what makes Cuphead so special but now that it’s out we can finally appreciate the breadth of its soundtrack from Kristofer Maddigan.
And oh what a soundtrack it is! Just check out this description: the Cuphead OST features nearly 3 hours of original jazz, early big band, and ragtime music. Each song is played by live musicians, including a 13-piece big band, 10-piece ragtime ensemble, a solo pianist, a vocalist, a tap dancer, and a few surprises.
As a fan of ol’ timey styles it’s been a joy to soak in this variety with just a few highlights being the vocal theme for King Dice and the surprising performance by barbershop quartet, ‘Shoptimus Prime on “A Quick Break”. I get a serious Skullmonkeys or‘Splosion Man vibe from that one. Speaking of influences, it warms my game-music-loving heart to see Maddigan include some of our beloved favorites alongside genre-defining legends. Uematsu and Mitsuda sit among Scott Joplin, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, John Williams, and dozens of others that led to Maddigan’s huge score.
Take a listen for yourself and pick up the album on Bandcamp for $10 or on Steam alongside the game.
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Game Music, Indie Music
Jettomero and its Spacey Downtempo OST out now
September 18, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Jettomero and its Spacey Downtempo OST out now Share this
Halted by the game’s striking art style, I clicked ‘play’ on the trailer for Jettomero: Hero of the Universe and then immediately went searching for the soundtrack. The game just launched on Steam and Xbox One, and while I’m interested in its procedurally generated universe and hapless hero who’s trying not to destroy everything, I can listen to the music right now.
Jettomero is another one-man production so while Gabriel Koenig (aka Ghost Time Games) was making the game he was also creating the soundtrack. Well, almost at the same time. Koenig outlined his current creative process in a devlog post, “I ended up writing/recording each song in a single session each – usually around 4-5 hours, which I find is one of the only ways that I can work on music these days.”
He cites the likes of Boards of Canada and Phantogram as inspirations and adds that “the overall tone of the album is down-tempo and spacey, a little dark at times but more uplifting in other parts.” Sure enough, it’s been a pleasant ride of crisp beats and even crisper synths, twinkly and pensive, just the way I like my outer space accompaniment these days. It’s a little bit FTL, a little bit PONCHO and I’m really enjoying it so far.
Koenig actually released the soundtrack ahead of the game last November but the final, expanded OST running 90 minutes long across 20 tracks is available now as DLC on Steam or from Bandcamp for $10. Check it out above and definitely take a look at the game in motion while you’re at it.
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Chip Music, Experimental, Indie Music
Mario, Sonic, Bendy & More: A GameChops New Release Roundup
September 13, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Mario, Sonic, Bendy & More: A GameChops New Release Roundup Share this
This surprising “deep house meets future bass” remix of Super Mario 64’s “Dire Dire Docks” makes for a great start to a quick GameChops roundup. The indie game music label is still riding high from the release of their collaborative Sonic the Hedgehog tribute album, Spindash 2, but they’ve been steadily releasing new singles all year. You can catch the full drip feed of colorful music videos and new releases on the GameChops YouTube channel but here a few highlights from their recent releases.
Given that GameChops frequently turns out thumping bangers of wild EDM flavors, I was intrigued to hear their treatment of the classically mellow “Dire Dire Docks” from Super Mario 64. Newcomers to the label – Nokbient and Besso0 – do not disappoint, miraculously turning the peaceful theme into a chopped and chipped rendition complete with the requisite big drop.
Back on the Sonic train, GameChops and Hyper Potions co-produced the track “Friends” that serves as the animated opening theme to Sonic Mania. It’s a major milestone for the label and an all around super sweet and bouncy electronic track that’s made even better when you see it in the game.
DJ Cutman himself recently offered up this “Daft Punk meets Off The Hook” remix of Splatoon 2’s “Color Pulse” by the in-game pop duo, Off The Hook. Lastly is “Bendy and Electro Swing”, a remix from bLiNd of Kyle Allen’s original Bendy and the Ink Machine song. As the name implies it’s swingy and gives the original song and its lyrics a lot of thumping punch.
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Game Music, Indie Music
Dale North’s Gunducky Industries OST Now Available
September 1, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Dale North’s Gunducky Industries OST Now Available Share this
Composer Dale North (Dragon Fantasy Book II, TORICKY) has released his most recently composed game soundtrack for the goofy flight simulator game, Gunducky Industries by The Voices Games.
Gunducky Industries is a relatively short and simple game for those who want to have a bit of fun killing some time. North’s soundtrack for the game, which features four tracks, covers a surprising amount of genres from rock to orchestral styles.
It’s a fun little soundtrack that’s currently available on North’s Bandcamp page at the Name-Your-Price level, so you’re free to enjoy it for, well, free if you choose! I’d say that’s worth checking out.
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