Ambient

Featured, Indie Music, Reviews

Module: Imagineering: Amazing (Review)

March 21, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 1 Comment Share this Module: Imagineering: Amazing (Review)

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…)
Game Music, Reviews

One Big Glob of Sound: Osmos (Review)

December 16, 2011 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on One Big Glob of Sound: Osmos (Review) Share this One Big Glob of Sound: Osmos (Review)

One of the games that came with Humble Indie Bundle #2, Osmos is an action-based puzzler where you play as a blob of stuff trying to consume smaller blobs before bigger blobs get you. It’s like a katamari ball that needs to avoid larger katamari balls until it’s large enough to grab those katamaris.

Ooh, competitive katamari. That could be fun if you had like 32-player matches.

Anyway, one thing I really loved about this game was its beautiful ambiance. Space is so empty and so full at the same time, and the game’s audio-visual presentation to the player helped express this concept so well.

Keeping in line with the game’s theme of singular large blobs, the studio behind the game released a 50 minute soundtrack as one single audio file available for free. Though the artist and track titles are listed individually while playing the game, you’ll get them all lumped together in your listening experience. So go grab that music file and follow along after the jump. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Dragonborn: The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Original Game Soundtrack (Review)

December 9, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | 18 Comments Share this

It’s finally arrived. Jeremy Soule’s Skyrim soundtrack has easily been one of my most anticipated soundtracks of the year after seeing and hearing it in action at E3, and while I admit that I’ve been a naughty boy and have yet to play the game (I was trying to jam through Skyward Sword and have just wrapped up Dark Souls), I’ve been enjoying the hell out of the soundtrack.

The Soule brothers gained a lot of attention with their scores for Morrowind and Oblivion, so how does Skyrim stack up? That comparison is hardly even fair, but I won’t spoil too much before the jump.

Check out our review! (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

This is Hell: Shadows of the Damned Promotional Soundtrack (Review)

June 18, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on This is Hell: Shadows of the Damned Promotional Soundtrack (Review) Share this

When Akira Yamaoka left Konami for Grasshopper Manufacture last year, everyone wondered what Yamaoka’s unique outlook on music as a sound design element would mean for Grasshopper Manufacture’s characteristically unique projects. While Yamaoka did contribute a couple tracks to No More Heroes 2 under a pseudonym, Shadows of the Damned, Grasshopper Manufacture’s new collaboration with EA Games is Yamaoka’s first full score with the company.

With that in mind, when it was announced that fans who pre-ordered Shadows of the Damned would receive a download code for a 12-track promotional soundtrack, I was even more interested. What would it offer, and would it live up to Yamaoka’s name, which has been extensively used to promote the title?

Find out in our review after the jump. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Your Mitochondria Know About This: Parasite Eve’s Soundtrack Box (Review)

February 4, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this

I was never a huge fan of Parasite Eve as a game, but I loved the music. I can’t say I remember a whole lot about the first game outside the terribly over-the-top storytelling (the quote I’m referencing in this post’s title pretty much had me wanting to turn the game off about 5 minutes in) and the fantastic score by Yoko Shimomura, and I never got around to experiencing Parasite Eve II or its soundtrack composed by Naoshi Mizuta.

I suppose that’s what makes this box set special to me. It’s giving me the chance to catch up on the first and finally experience the second game’s soundtrack. Likely re-released on Square Enix’s record label to promote the upcoming The 3rd Birthday, there’s no better time than now to bring out the classics that inspired that excellent soundtrack.

But do the original soundtracks withstand the test of time? Find out in our review after the jump. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Just in Time for Christmas: The Horrific 3rd Birthday Soundtrack (Review)

December 20, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 4 Comments Share this

Yeah, a new entry into the Parasite Eve franchise seems more suited for a Halloween release than a Christmas one, but apparently Square Enix thinks otherwise. Just two days away from release in Japan (alongside the soundtrack), events in the game apparently take place around the holiday season, with even a few surprise Christmas songs making their way into the soundtrack.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Series composer Yoko Shimomura returns with composers Tsuyoshi Sekito and Mitsuto Suzuki to provide a pretty sizable 3-disc soundtrack for the third chapter of Parasite Eve on the PSP. Are they able to maintain the quality music that the series was known for in the past?

Find out in our review of The 3^rd Birthday Original Soundtrack after the jump! (more…)
Indie Music, Reviews

Gentle Sounds From the Fabric of Life (Review)

July 5, 2010 | Robert Halvarsson | Comments Off on Gentle Sounds From the Fabric of Life (Review) Share this

Auditory Canvas is the moniker behind David Holmes. With three EPs under his belt, Fabric of Life represents the first album of this original and forward thinking producer. The curious blend of delicate electronics and stuttering rhythms featured in Fabric of Life sculpt a unique world of its own, combining dreamy textures and original ideas throughout the album’s ten tracks.

Additionally, the album aims not only to fund some worthy charities, but was funded itself via means of crowdsourcing via kickstarter.com. Crowdsourcing represents a way for fans and creators alike to fund and follow projects that interest them. As crowdsourcing is a large enough concept to warrant an article in its own right, I’ll leave that at the moment to move onto the tracks themselves.

Read on as we guide you trough the colours and forms of this canvas (more…)