Experimental

Experimental

Marty O’Donnell’s Musical Prequel to Golem, ECHOES OF THE FIRST DREAMER Available

October 20, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Marty O’Donnell’s Musical Prequel to Golem, ECHOES OF THE FIRST DREAMER Available Share this

Sumthing Else Music Works and independent game studio Highwire Games have released the vinyl edition of “Echoes of the First Dreamer: The Musical Prequel To Golem,” the new visionary album from Halo and Destiny composer Marty O’Donnell. The LP is released on classic 180g black vinyl and presented in a deluxe gatefold package.

Written for piano and orchestra, “Echoes of the First Dreamer: The Musical Prequel To Golem” is not the soundtrack to Highwire’s forthcoming exclusive PlayStation VR game Golem – it is a musical prequel; composed, arranged and recorded as an independent work that introduces audiences to the world and themes of Golem.

“For a composer, a prequel album is an interesting challenge because, unlike a traditional soundtrack, it cannot lean on the listener’s memories and experiences from the game. It needs to stand alone and have its own independent emotional journey. At the same time, it must relate to Golem‘s tone and world.

The story of Golem is more intimate — it’s about a small family living on the outskirts of a fallen city so I chose to work with a somewhat lighter ensemble than I have in the past: a piano, chamber orchestra and harp. But I wrote them all at the piano and it was interesting how the emotional impact of a piece would evolve from the original piano solo to the fully orchestrated version.” – Marty O’Donnell, Composer

The new vinyl album is currently available on Amazon, along with digital and CD formats.
Experimental, Game Music, Indie Music

“Loose Cannons 2.0” Takes Aim with Analog Video Game Compositions

July 14, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | 1 Comment Share this

This summer sees the worldwide digital release of Loose Canons 2.0, an epic soundtrack of original video game music and sounds performed on vintage 1970’s analog synthesizers.

The debut electronic music release by multi-instrumentalist/composer Steven Jaime Giacomelli, Loose Canons 2.0 is the official soundtrack to the the unrealized video game adaptation of the Loose Canons song suite, as composed and executed on Micromoog synthesizer and arranged into ten separate tableaux. In lieu of the imaginary video game representation, the listener is invited to use the music of Loose Canons 2.0 as a personal soundtrack to their favorite video game. In the event that no video game is available, the listener may perhaps use the enclosed music as an active listening pursuit, or alternately, as a soundtrack to real life.

<a href="http://giacomelli.bandcamp.com/album/loose-canons-20">Loose Canons 2.0 by Giacomelli</a>

ABOUT GIACOMELLI & LOOSE CANONS

Loose Canons 2.0 is an analog synthesizer and retro video game fan’s fantasy come to life, with monophonic Micromoog mandalas of vintage bleep bloops cascading through space and time like an 8-bit calliope of revolving sound. The album is the culmination of years of melodic electronic synthesizer experiments by multi-instrumentalist/composer Steven Jaime Giacomelli, whose dual abstract and hook-laden sensibilities were on display in multiple bands in the Gainesville FL underground scene in the early 2000’s. Chief among these was The Ohm, an instrumental four-piece with a varied m.o. of instant composition, epic noisepop psychfuzz and atmospheric environment enhancement.

A series of underground self-releases yielded new projects, new bands and new contexts, with Giacomelli stretching compositionally into classic American song forms, from doo-wop to metal to orchestral pop to country to surf rock to soul baroque pop to hip hop to americana to spoken word soundtrack to blues to ambient, all the while honing theoretical melodic approaches and atmosphere exploration that would ultimately express themselves after a chance re-discovery of the work of Californian minimalist composer Terry Riley and an embrace of a lifelong influence of Japanese video game music composer Koji Kondo.

Now making his home among analog synths in Silicon Valley, with Loose Canons 2.0 primed for placement, Giacomelli continues to work on his next opus.
Loose Canons 2.0 by Giacomelli is available now at iTunes, Tidal, Spotify, Amazon, Google Play, CD Baby, and all other major digital outlets.

Website: hohmrecordings.com
Contact: [email protected]

Source: HOHM Recordings

[This is an unedited press release made in conjunction with Original Sound Version and Steven Jaime Giacomelli]
Chip Music, Featured, Reviews

Return of the Zen Albatross: SIGINT (Review)

January 13, 2016 | Patrick Gann | 1 Comment Share this

The ZEN ALBATROSS is different from your average albatross. You see, the ancient mariner has nothin’ on him. Nor do invasive government spy agencies. Confused yet? You need to get to know ZEN ALBATROSS then. This bird is a master of cryptography, and he is also good at dodging the slings and arrows of would-be seafaring jerk wads.

My single favorite chip music album from 2010 was a double-single featuring “Mastada Gestalt” and “April 10,” both songs by ZEN ALBATROSS. Since then, we’ve heard precious little from him. Now he’s back with a new EP (almost 30 minutes long), which you can get digitally or on cassette tape via the artist’s Bandcamp page.

This new EP, “SIGINT,” is a head trip from start to finish. Interested in the finer details? Keep on reading… (more…)
Experimental, Game Music, Reviews

Dark Window (Review)

October 21, 2015 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Dark Window (Review) Share this Dark Window (Review)

It’s always interesting to hear a composer go outside of their established genre of music. This sometimes happens in order for a composer to flex their creative muscles, while other times it can be the result of pursuing a passion project. Ben Prunty is probably best known for his sci-fi genre music. In particular his work on the soundtracks for FTL, Gravity Ghost, and Star Crawler. While he has produced a few albums that aren’t related to games, they still maintained a similar tone and style to his game soundtrack work. So when I heard that one of Prunty’s latest solo projects was an experimental horror album, I had to take a listen.

The album, titled Dark Window, is an eleven track album that aims to capture the spirit of horror movies, urban legends, and just good old-fashioned ghost stories. Each track has a title meant to suggest the scene that the music is accompanying. Since this is at its core a concept album, this review will be focus on how well the tracks hit the mark for evoking an unsettling horror experience. (more…)
Experimental, Reviews

Terms, Conditions, Higher Plains – Sitorimon’s Debut Album (Review)

November 9, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 1 Comment Share this

The Terms & Conditions to Unconditional Love is the debut full-length album, and an intensely personal project, from Simon “Sitorimon” Smith.

I’ve known Smith, the blogger behind Higher Plain Music, for quite some time. We have similar tastes in music. We both love VGM, Celtic/World music, Tori Amos, Derek Webb and many others.

So when Smith told me he had his own album coming out, completely about and inspired by his former significant others, I was psyched.

I want to tell you what I think about this album. So join me after the jump for the Bandcamp embed and my thoughts on this 15-track vocal album from a fellow lover of … well … *good* music. (more…)
Experimental, Reviews

The Outer Limits: SOLA-MI “Nexus” (Review)

July 16, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 2 Comments Share this

And by “The Outer Limits,” I’m talking about the outer limits of OSV’s scope of coverage.

Generally, we cover game music. We also, on occasion, cover other media score such as film, television and animation. How about a soundtrack for a fake/non-existent indie film that delves into topics including futurism, transhumanism and religion?

Yeah, I know, I’m stretching it. But this album is just that good. Learn more about SOLA-MI after the jump. And if you want to listen along with the review, grab the album here: it’s completely, and legally, free. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Hideki Sakamoto’s Masterwork: echochrome ii = prime # 4507 (Review)

March 21, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this

Yes, it was just two weeks ago that we mentioned that Hideko Sakamoto is traveling to St. Petersburg, Russia to conduct an orchestra in the performance of his music from echochrome and No Heroes Allowed!, but we’d been meaning to check out his score for echochrome ii for quite some time now.

We posted about the live streamed recording session for this soundtrack last year, where we noted that the game would feature a single track titled “prime # 4507” that would clock in at over 75 minutes in length and act as the soundtrack for the entire game.

Did Sakamoto’s experiment pay off? Find out in our review after the jump. (more…)