Indie Music
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Game Music, Indie Music, Music Production
Jeremy Soule Declares 2019 The Year of the Northerner
On January 10, 2019, composer Jeremy Soule tweeted “I have two upcoming albums in 2019! “The Northerner: The Moon and the Night Sky” and “The Northerner Symphony” – I hope you enjoy the music!” Many of you will recall that the composer ran a kickstarter campaign several years ago for The Northerner: Soule Symphony No. 1 which had an expected completion date of September 2013. Little information about the symphony’s status was known until late 2017 when Jeremy Soule released The Northerner Diaries Symphonic Sketches album which got a wide release via the Materia Collective on July 5, 2018. Composer Neal Acree’s comments on the album’s wide release remain with me to this day:
Jeremy Soule has also confirmed in replies to his tweet that both of these new albums will be available on bandcamp, and features live instruments and singers.
In the meantime, be sure to check out The Northerner Diaries Symphonic Sketches below, it’s a stunning work.
Check back with OSV in March for news on The Northerner: The Moon and the Night Sky. If you want to be the first to know what’s up I recommend following Jeremy Soule on Twitter. Are you looking forward to these albums?
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Featured, Game Music, Indie Music
OSVOSTOTY 2018: RYAN’S PICKS
2018 has come to an end and it has been another great year game music. Many folks have written and shared their picks for best video game soundtracks of the year, and now it’s our turn here at OSV. If you missed my picks from last year you can check them out here.
My favorite arrangement album this year arrived early in 2018 and my favorite soundtrack this year may surprise some of you unless you’ve been following me on Twitter.
Read on to see what I picked for my favorite game soundtracks of 2018. -
Featured, Game Music, Indie Music
OSVOSTOTY 2018: BRENNA’S PICKS
Yet another year come and gone and it’s been a year of fantastic VGM. Unfortunately, it’s been another year where I didn’t get to play a whole heck of a lot of games, though what I did had some fantastic music. Now it’s time to do the rundown of my 2019 picks for original soundtrack of the year. While it’s likely disappointing to some, I encourage people to comment with their own list for 2018 OSTs.
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Game Music, Indie Music
Indie Platformer Chrono Ghost to Release Soundtrack December 21st
December 14, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Indie Platformer Chrono Ghost to Release Soundtrack December 21st Share this
Last year, I did a artist spotlight on new VGM band Moiré Effect, highlighting the group’s foray into the VGM community. This year, Scott Wells & Drew Etterle from the band will see their first game soundtrack composition release for the new indie platformer, Chrono Ghost.
Chrono Ghost is a soon-released game from NITETIME Studios, featuring the titular character the player takes control of. As the “spirit of time”, you must make yours way through various levels using your chronomancer abilities to determine just what it means to have such a title. The game looks very artistic, with the music combining orchestral and synth elements to highlight the time-manipulating action players will experience. Wells and Etterle have created more rock-oriented compositions for their work on Moiré Effect, so switching up to suit an entire game with a certain tone can prove challenging.
“I met Kelly from NITETIME Studios when they were demo-ing Chrono Ghost at MAGFest 2017. They said they were still looking for music. Scott got a chance to meet them again at this past MAGFest and they were still looking and interested if we’d be a good fit. We came up with a few demo tracks and turns out they dug it.” – Drew Etterle, composer
The music features much in the way of piano and synthetic tones to accentuate the atmosphere of the game, with slow and sometimes somber build-ups that open up to rhythmic whimsy. It comes together to create a simple ambiance that doesn’t try to overplay its hand. It takes flavors of what Yasunori Mitsuda did with Chrono Trigger and shapes it into something with almost a spiritual tone to it.
The Chrono Ghost Original Soundtrack consists of 21 tracks, seven of which are currently available for preview on Bandcamp, with the album in pre-order mode until it’s release on December 21st alongside the game. Chrono Ghost will release for both Steam immediately and consoles early 2019.
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Game Music, Indie Music
Indie Game Steel Rats Original Soundtrack Now Available
November 14, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Indie Game Steel Rats Original Soundtrack Now Available Share this
The new indie game by Tate Multimedia, Steel Rats, recently released to Steam and consoles with positive reviews. Playing in a arcade-like 2.5D retro-future environment, the game is beating Devil May Cry 5 to the punch of motorcycle combat as you wreak havoc with the ultimate killing machine; your flame spewing, saw bladed bike. Given it’s almost cyber-punk aesthetics, composer Arkadiusz Reikowski was brought in to help to contribute to the atmosphere with a synth-heavy soundtrack.
Arkadiusz Reikowski, who has a knack with bringing out a certain flavor of aesthetics to the music of his past game works Layers of Fear and Kholat, continues with Steel Rats. Invoking a bit of a John Carpenter/Vangelis vibe with the soundtrack, Reikowski creates a synthwave soundscape that compliments the backdrop of futuristic robot-slaying.
Spanning 18 tracks, the game’s soundtrack offers an enjoyable retro sci-fi feel upon previewing it. The Steel Rats Original Soundtrack is currently available on Bandcamp and as DLC content on Steam.
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Game Music, Indie Music
VR Hero Sentry Original Game Soundtrack Now Available
November 7, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on VR Hero Sentry Original Game Soundtrack Now Available Share this
The realm of VR gaming is one that is still attempting to pick up traction, and composing for such games can be a daunting task when only a portion of gamers have the equipment to even play the game you are composing for. Fortunately thanks to Materia Collective, the soundtrack to the recent Steam release of VR Hero Sentry is now available through several distributors for a more widespread audience.
VR Hero Sentry is a VR ARPG that makes you take up arms and choose your hero, class and your own build as you fight off hordes and titanic bosses and offers you infinite gameplay and endless customization. Gregory Tan composed the game’s musical score, which works to accent the fantasy RPG elements of the game and create an immersive experience for the player.
The music required for VR Hero Sentry gave me the opportunity to experiment with various soundscapes mixed with instruments. ‘Whispers of The Land,’ for example, is a track that builds in many unexpected ways. That piece utilizes ethnic traditional instruments such as African percussion and pan flutes alongside modern ambient synthesizers, and was a composition that really pushed me out of my comfort zone, especially coming from a classical background. – Gregory Tan, composer
The soundtrack is a short one, comprised of only seven tracks total, but creates enough presence for the listener to get a true feel for the game’s methods and environments. The VR Hero Sentry (Original Game Soundtrack) is now available now on Bandcamp, iTunes and streaming on Spotify. -
Game Music, Indie Music
CrossCode Original Game Soundtrack Now Available
September 21, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on CrossCode Original Game Soundtrack Now Available Share this
The hype train of retro-inspired games keeps chugging along and doing quite well for itself. The 2D Action RPG CrossCode by Radical Fish games has only been out a day and is already receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews from gamers and review outlets alike. You can now also nab the game’s soundtrack on several platforms to enjoy offline too!
The CrossCode Original Game Soundtrack was composed by German indie artist Deniz Akbulut (that “Rice Ball” the devs refer to…yes actually) and features a huge repertoire of 60+ original tracks that themselves harken back to the early days of 16-bit gaming on the SNES and beyond.
I started writing the the soundtrack way back when I was graduating from high school. Since then, I worked on it on the side while I attended university. CrossCode has always been part of my life, and I always tried to push myself to my limits to go out of my comfort zone. I hope you all have a great time with CrossCode and enjoy its music! – Deniz Akbulut, Composer
With well over two hours of music to enjoy, the CrossCode OST is well worth the price of purchase. You can pick it up on Bandcamp, iTunes and Google Play or just nip over to Spotify and stream it for your Friday workday enjoyment.
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