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  A Warrior’s Odyssey, A Composer’s Journey (Review)

  A Warrior’s Odyssey, A Composer’s Journey (Review) 11.08.12 | Patrick Gann | Comment?

  

  Purchase CD – Howlin’ Wolf Records
  Purchase Digital – Amazon MP3 | iTunes

  Bulgarian-born composer Penka Kouneva is a recent member of the game music community, but she’s been doing film and television score for much longer. Her game credits include co-composing Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands with Steve Jablonsky, doing arrangements for the Gears of War games and most recently arrangement for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. She also had an original composition featured on the charity album Play for Japan.

  Recently, Ms. Kouneva released an original album that acts as a sort of homage to modern war-based FPS’s, RTS’s, etc. The album is entitled A Warrior’s Odyssey, and it serves as both an excellent demo album for Kouneva as a composer to send to game developers, and an excellent album for media score nuts to dig into.

  After the jump, I’ll have more details on this lengthy, epic treat from one of Europe’s lesser-known musical prodigies, as well as some photos from the album’s recording sessions.

  (more…)

• Demoscene

  

  Synthetic Orchestra: “Originals Volume 1″ (Review)

  Synthetic Orchestra: “Originals Volume 1″ (Review) 09.12.12 | Patrick Gann | 2 Comments

  

  So I recently discovered a handy-dandy new label that specializes in getting indie and/or fanmade arrangements of VGM licensed and legally distributed: Joypad Records. They’ve published the music of violinist Lindsey Stirling (see: Skyrim Theme, iTunes) and they’re working with many other musicians to legally release more awesome fantastic VGM arrangements.

  One artist in partnership with Joypad is Blake Robinson, who is better known as the one-man crew behind the Synthetic Orchestra. If you check out his covers, they are a variety of vanilla transcription and totally redone arrangements for a variety of classic VGM themes, put to a synth orchestra that’s mighty close to life-like (listen to it through your speakers from a distance while talking to someone else, and you’ll think it’s the real thing: only a close listen on headphones reveals otherwise).

  I’ve been listening to Blake’s covers for awhile now, but what really impressed me is that he also has some fantastic original compositions. These compositions, compiled on a simply-titled “Originals Volume 1,” are the subject of the following review. Join me after the jump to learn more! (more…)

• Indie Music, Japanese

  

  Electro-Nostalgic: baiyon’s “Like a School on Lunch Time” (Review)

  Electro-Nostalgic: baiyon’s “Like a School on Lunch Time” (Review) 08.21.12 | Patrick Gann | Comment?

  

  I remember when one of my best friends introduced me to “noise” as a genre. He started me off with Hanatarash(i), a 1980s group featuring this dude who went by the name “Eye.” This was some pretty hardcore stuff. All noise samples, no tonality whatsoever.

  Since then, I’ve heard “noise” albums with different layers or levels of tonality mixed with the non-musical sounds. Many of them come from electronic artists. I was a big fan, for example, of Michael Bross’ “Subway Meditations” — nothing but hand-picked samples mixed in different ways.

  After the jump, we’ll take a look at one of baiyon’s contributions to the genre with his 2006 album “Like a School on Lunch Time.” (more…)

• Chip Music

  

  A Disasterpeace 2-for-1: Insterstellar Deorbit (Review)

  A Disasterpeace 2-for-1: Insterstellar Deorbit (Review) 06.08.12 | Patrick Gann | Comment?

  

  Rich “Disasterpeace” Vreeland is a powerhouse and a true workhorse of a composer. As revealed on his vgmdb artist page, he manages to release four or more albums a year, an eclectic mix of original works and game soundtracks.

  In 2011, two of his original works were “Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar” and “Deorbit.” The former is available on bandcamp for a $1 minimum (suggested price $5, or $10 for the CD version), and the latter is in the same state, though no CD version is offered (perhaps because it is a shorter work). “Deorbit” is something of a follow-up album to “Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar” as it has unreleased tracks originally planned for that album, though it is also a “catch-all” album in that it has other previously-unreleased tunes included.

  After the jump, you’ll find the results of my critical ear versus these two albums, both of which were featured in the Indie Game Music Bundle 3. (more…)

• Featured, Japanese

  

  Swimming in IMERUAT’s “Black Ocean” (Review)

  Swimming in IMERUAT’s “Black Ocean” (Review) 05.07.12 | Patrick Gann | 6 Comments

  

  When we last spoke to Masashi Hamauzu, he expressed much excitement over his then-upcoming album with Mina, “Black Ocean.” Up to that time, all we’d been able to hear from them was the IMERUAT debut single, which featured 3 songs (all included on, and remastered for, “Black Ocean”).

  With the full album in our hands (presently available CD-only in Japan and Europe), we’re ready to talk about the duo that made Final Fantasy XIII so beautiful and vibrant. After the jump, our review of IMERUAT’s “Black Ocean.” (more…)

• Featured, Indie Music

  

  Module: Imagineering: Amazing (Review)

  Module: Imagineering: Amazing (Review) 03.21.12 | Patrick Gann | 1 Comment

  

  This is the least surprising album review I’ll ever write.

  You see, Jeramiah Ross (aka “Module”) composed this amazing game soundtrack 3 years ago. Remember Shatter? Yeah, that was awesome.

  In 2012, Module finished his original album “Imagineering.” According to his statements in our most recent podcast, some of these songs have been bouncing around in Module’s mind (and computer) for as many as six years. Given time to mature, they’ve become something absolutely stunning.

  We’ll highlight some of our favorite tracks, and why they’re our favorites, after the jump. (more…)

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