Soundtrack of the Month 08/2008: Lumines Remixes Winter

Lumines (pronounced Loo – mih – ness, similar to “luminous”) is a fun, fast-paced, and popular puzzle title that can be found across many platforms. This past holiday season, additional modes and music were released in the Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) “Rockin’ Holiday Pack.” The songs featured in this advance pack were then released by publisher BrainStorm. And guess what?

They’re really good.

After the jump, details about the music in our August soundtrack of the month: Lumines Remixes Winter.

Putting a “seasonal” spin on music can be tricky, especially in the wintertime. It seems that, particular in North America, winter = holiday = Christmas. But even from the album’s cover art, we can see two things that put a new focus on the season. These things are, essentially, the coexistence of man and nature. The cover art itself is one of my favorites among my VGM collection. The feature art is a quarter-inch cable, signifying the focus on electronic music. However, the rest of the art suggests nature. A blue sky (filled with Lumines puzzle blocks?), a bird, and then a distant landscape shot with trees is also found. But if you look among the trees, you can also see windmills and a group of people walking, all in the stark white that is also used for the cable.

The music itself has a lot of that cool, brisk feel associated with winter. The tempo is fast, but the rhythm is soft. The drum loops are simply masterful; if you heard the original Lumines music, you know you’re in for a treat. But I dare say that, even more than the original Lumines tracks, the “Winter” tracks have a feel all their own.

The big name behind Lumines‘ music is Takayuki Nakamura, an expert in dance, trance, ambient, and other forms of techno music. However, on this particular album, Nakamura is joined by Keiichi Sugiyama (not to be confused with Dragon Quest composer Kouichi Sugiyama) and a mysterious “h. ueda.” The three composer/arrangers take an equal amount of work on the album (roughly 7 tracks each), and one of the best things about the album is that even with a trained ear, it isn’t easy to determine which composer did which track. There are certain markers that give it away for the true veteran (especially for Nakamura fans), but me personally? I had no idea who wrote what without looking at the liner notes.

If you’re a fan of sampled, instrumental “techno” music, this is one of the best albums of its kind in the VGM scene. The album is available at CD Japan, among other stores, so if you’re interested be sure to check it out.