Indie Music
-
Game Music, Indie Music
Lamplight City Original Soundtrack by Mark Benis Now Available
September 14, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Lamplight City Original Soundtrack by Mark Benis Now Available Share this
It’s always a wonderful thing to see artists that made their debut in the video game music community with collaborations and fun album projects graduate to composing full game music soundtracks. Mark Benis, who in the past has collaborated on several fan projects including Materia Collective’s Pokémon Piano Collections and FATE: A Tribute to Majora’s Mask has now seen his first original game soundtrack released in the film noir-inspired video game, Lamplight City.
Lamplight City is a steampunk-ish detective adventure from the creator of A Golden Wake and Shardlight, putting you in control of private investigator Miles Fordham to find justice for his clients and track down his partner’s killer before his entire world comes apart. The music created by Benis is highly immersive, employing little details such as a high piano note for that flickering street light, tremelo and pizzicato strings for the dark alleyways, or an unsettling harp for the unbreakable bond between detectives Miles Fordham and Bill Leger.
“In a cathedral you visit in the game, you encounter the church’s choir director named ‘Singin’ Tom’ who is playing through a piece at the organ. The only problem is he hasn’t been practicing it, a chorale arrangement of ‘Down Among the Dead Men.’ Frankly he’s terrible at it. As the composer I had to figure out a way to create a believably horrible performance so I did it the only way I know how: I played the chorale myself. I stayed up until 2am, took off my glasses, and sight-read it hunched over my MIDI keyboard months after I had first written it. It’s the worst performance that I’ve ever given, but in context maybe it’s my best? On the album you hear the piece after Singin’ Tom practices quite a bit, but in the game… get your ears ready.” – Mark Benis, Composer
The 41-track soundtrack for Lamplight City is currently available on multiple platforms including Bandcamp, iTunes and Spotify.
-
Game Music, Indie Music, Reviews
BATTLETECH ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK (REVIEW)
The soundtrack to Battletech was released on April 24, 2018, coinciding with the release of the game developed by Harebrained Schemes. The music was composed by Jon Everist, who supplied OSV with a review copy of the soundtrack. We interviewed the composer about his past work, and Battletech last year, and recently reviewed his two most recent LP releases of his soundtracks to Shadowrun: Dragonfall and Shadowrun: Hong Kong.
The score for the game is massive and boasts 60 tracks with a runtime of over three hours. For the review I will just be focussing on some of the 48 tracks that make up the main soundtrack. The album on bandcamp also includes a dozen B-Sides tracks. I have been anticipating this soundtrack for quite some time, read on for my full review.
-
Indie Music, Music Production
Jeremy Soule’s The Norther Diaries Symphonic Sketches Now Available
July 5, 2018 | Ryan Paquet | Comments Off on Jeremy Soule’s The Norther Diaries Symphonic Sketches Now Available Share this
Back in early 2013, Jeremy Soule, composer of the scores to Guild Wars 2 and Skyrim ran a Kickststarter campaign for The Northerner. The campaign details stated that Symphony No. 1, “The Northerner” (Opus 1) will mark Jeremy’s first foray into the grand traditions of classical music. This symphonic work is planned to feature live players and singers in addition to the innovative technologies for which Jeremy has become known.
The project was successfully funded and had an expected delivery date of September 2013. Contributors eagerly awaited for the promised results and received nothing until December 20, 2017. The composer shared the liner notes for this release on the project’s Official Facebook page and I have reproduced a portion of them below:
As a composer and performer, The Northerner Diaries are my virtual orchestra and choir sketches as I work towards the completion of my Symphony No. 1. The recordings represent wild and unfiltered ideas created in the same vein as concept art you might see from an artist prior to the commencement of an oil painting. At this stage, I have not paid any attention to structural and compositional forms as abstraction from “GINNUNG” or the “MIGHTY VOID” is never a predictable process. And while the musical instruments and vocal sounds are computer generated, I performed each instrument and vocal using specialized software, digital keyboards and control interfaces. This process required me to play each element individually, one by one, while I recorded into a multi-track digital audio workstation.
Jeremy Soule, Composer
The Northerner Diaries is a 12 track album that runs just under 54 minutes. We don’t know when the Symphony No.1 will be ready, but we’re happy to listen to this until it makes itd eventual debut. Look for it this Friday across digital platforms, including iTunes.
The composer also took to Facebook during E3 this year when Bethesda announced the Elder Scrolls VI to say “While I appreciate all the questions about TES VI, I can’t comment about the game. I can only confirm that I didn’t produce the music heard in the teaser that was released today.” We can’t confirm yet that the composer is involved in the music for the upcoming game, but we hope so!
Have you listened to The Northerner Diaries? What did you think of these symphonic sketches?
-
Events, Game Music, Indie Music
POST E3 2018: MY MOST ANTICIPATED SOUNDTRACKS (Updated)
E3 wrapped up earlier this month and I finally took some time to watch most of the trailers and gameplay videos that were shown during the event. Game music was showcased at the event this year once again, which included some really cool live performances.
In past years I’ve written about my most anticipated game soundtracks. After this year I’ve settled on 10 titles that I’m most excited to hear their soundtracks. Read on for my full list ordered from number 10 to 1.
-
Game Music, Indie Music
MOONLIGHTER ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK by David Fenn Available Now!
May 30, 2018 | Ryan Paquet | Comments Off on MOONLIGHTER ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK by David Fenn Available Now! Share this
The soundtrack to Moonlighter is now available. The music was composed by David Fenn, who is known for his work on Titan Souls and who OSV interviewed in depth back in 2017. You can read the full interview here in case you missed it. The release of the soundtrack coincides with the game’s May 29, 2018, release date. The game was produced by Digital Sun Games & 11 Bit Studios and allows players to run a shop by day, and work to stock it by night. You can watch the trailer for the upcoming Nintendo Switch version below.
The soundtrack contains 25 tracks composed by David Fenn, and a bonus track containing the Nintendo Switch Trailer music composed by Pablo Caballero. You can sample the soundtrack below.
You can purchase a copy of the soundtrack on bandcamp for $7, and if you’re after the game it’s available on Steam for $19.99.
Check back with OSV soon for a full review of the soundtrack.
-
Game Music, Indie Music
Abbey Games’ Rues Original Soundtrack Available May 17th
May 15, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Abbey Games’ Rues Original Soundtrack Available May 17th Share this
Back in 2013, Abbey Games released the indie “God Game” Rues, where you take the role of giants and are tasked with creating and nurturing a baby planet. It’s a charming game with a simulation strategy element not unlike SimCity or Stardew Valley, where you have control over some elements but things that can become out of your control that you must plan for. The game’s soundtrack was composed by Dutch artist Joni van der Leeuw, who now mainly works as a producer at the Dutch games studio. Now, 5 years after the game’s launch, he’s polished up the game’s music to release as a full album.
To accompany Abbey Games’ 2013 Indie God Game hit Reus, this soundtrack captures the mood of a young, but quickly developing planet. The combination of primitive, yet modern percussion beats, hypnotizing motives and charming themes set the tone for relaxed sessions of building a world and managing it’s inhabitants.
Included in the 25 tracks is all the music you hear in-game – specially remastered for listening pleasure outside of gameplay! – plus a couple of previously unreleased bonus tracks. And now, all of it is finally available to download or for streaming.
The soundtrack features simple instrumentation with drums, string plucks and other percussion to invoke a mellow feel while you go about the game creating the landscape of your planet. Joni van der Leeuw emphasized a folk-like quality to the music of the game to help create the musical backdrop.
The soundtrack to Rues releases this Thursday, May 17th on Bandcamp and can be pre-ordered now.
-
Game Music, Indie Music
Find Your Lost Love with Ceress and Orea Original Game Soundtrack Now Available
May 11, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Find Your Lost Love with Ceress and Orea Original Game Soundtrack Now Available Share this
If you’re jonesing for an emotional game with equally emotional soundtrack, then you might be interested in Ceress and Orea. The game centers on the forbidden love between two people, the condemnation of the former, and the story of perseverance to overcome the odds and take back the love that was denied them. It’s sort of a Orpheus and Eurydice story in the form of an indie adventure-puzzle game.
Composed by Ryan Fogleman and blending contemporary classical, ambient, and electronic sounds, the Ceress and Orea Original Soundtrack follows the trials of Ceress as she attempts to fight her way out of the Abyss she’s been banished to for being in love with another woman. The soundtrack takes on both a mellow and haunting quality to convey the themes of love, loss and battling through adversity.
“Ceress and Orea is an intimate, beautiful love story with adventure and puzzle elements. I knew that it needed a score that was touching and gripping without being overly grandiose – since there are relatively few named characters in the game, there was a lot of opportunity to write leitmotifs and focus on the detailed musical representation of every area and character, as well as the relationship between the titular women, Ceress and Orea. ” – Ryan Fogleman, Composer
Ceress and Orea (Original Game Soundtrack) is available now on Bandcamp, iTunes and streaming on Spotify. You can check out more of Fogleman’s works on his Soundcloud.
| « Next Entries | Previous Entries » |
|---|
Join Us Online Or Log in
Search
@OSVgamemusic Feed
Copyright © 2018 by Original Sound Version.
All rights reserved.