Tina Guo

Game Music

Oure Soundtrack out first on PlayStation Store

November 9, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Oure Soundtrack out first on PlayStation Store Share this

You’d be forgiven if the name Oure sounds familiar but you can’t quite place why or from where. It was announced and released during Sony’s Paris Games Week show alongside a huge array of flashy PlayStation VR and PlayStation 4 titles. Little Oure, the stylish, skyborn adventure in the vein of Journey, was easy to overlook. The game debuted on PlayStation 4 but it’ll also be out on Steam on November 14th. That makes this week the perfect middle ground to release the soundtrack.

The score was composed by Ian Livingstone (Warhammer, Total War) and performed by the Sofia Symphony Orchestra along with renowned cellist, Tina Guo. Naturally, the sound relies heavily on strings to capture the flighty, somber feel of the game’s solitary setting and shape-shifting protagonist. You can get a taste of the music through this pair of YouTube clips posted by Ian Livingstone in advance of the album release.

Like the game, the soundtrack is making its debut first on PlayStation where the 10-track album is priced at $5.49. It’s promised to hit “all digital platforms” in the coming weeks and months though so keep an eye on Amazon, Google Play, and iTunes if you’d rather pick it up there.

Let us know what you think of the music samples from Oure or the game itself in the comments below.
Game Music

Just Released: Austin Wintory’s Score to Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate

October 26, 2015 | Ryan Paquet | Comments Off on Just Released: Austin Wintory’s Score to Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate Share this

If you’re on Austin Wintory’s mailing list like me, or follow him on Twitter you already know that his score to Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate is now available for purchase on Bandcamp. Because of the agreement between Mr. Wintory and Ubisoft you cannot stream the soundtrack from Bandcamp – but UbiSoft has made the entire album available on YouTube. I have linked to the album below for your listening pleasure.

In his email Austin Wintory shared his thoughts about working on the music for the game:

To say it’s been somewhat of a dream job is a gross understatement. Never in my life did I imagine I would be given such creative freedom, or be encouraged to take such extreme creative risks. My collaborators at Ubisoft were immense joys to work with!

And the musicians who recorded everything, good lord!! I spent nearly a week at Abbey Road with a killer chamber ensemble of strings and winds, before returning to LA and spending time with a few rock star soloists: Sandy Cameron, Tina Guo and Holly Sedillos. All 3 were given absurdly challenging music and rose to the occasion without breaking a sweat.

The other amazing surprise was getting to co-write songs with the legendary Australian trio TRIPOD. These 6 so-called “murder ballads” were a career highlight for me. He’s a short video about our collaboration which, if nothing else, shows that these guys have way too much fun. 🙂

Austin Wintory

Purchasing the album will only set you back $9, and with it comes a bonus of tracks that were included with the collector’s edition and sheet music.
Featured, Game Music, Indie Music, Reviews

World 1-2: The Complete Collection (Review)

December 23, 2013 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on World 1-2: The Complete Collection (Review) Share this

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the interest of full disclosure … the World 1-2: Complete Collection album was promoted by Scarlet Moon Productions, founded by Jayson Napolitano. Below, OSV writer Michael Hoffmann gives his own opinion of the album.

With most remix albums you usually have some idea of what to expect. There are going to be several covers of the usual old-school vidogames, with genres of music that will vary from classical/orchestral to rock and dance remixes. While that is certainly true of World 1-2: Complete Collection, the album does much more. This isn’t just a straight forward remix album. Not only are there remixes of familiar game tunes, but this album also features several original pieces written by game composers including Chipzel (Super Hexagon), Austin Wintory (Journey), Manami Matsumae (Mega Man), Keiji Yamagishi (Ninja Gaiden) and Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill). World 1-2: Complete Collection is an album that seeks to create a pairing of newer artists remixing older pieces, and in some cases providing original content of their own, with veteran composers from the earlier gaming generations. It’s an ambitious concept and the result is quite impressive. The original World 1-2 album contained 20 tracks that were a mix of original music and remixes. The World 1-2: Encore tracks add another 14 remix tracks to form the World 1-2: Complete Collection. There’s a whole lot to cover, so let’s dive in. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Monaco: The Gentleman’s Private Collection (Review)

December 9, 2013 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Monaco: The Gentleman’s Private Collection (Review) Share this

Listening to arrange albums is always an interesting experience. Having a group of artist arrange another musician’s work can produce fascinating results, especially when said artists have very different styles of music arranging. Monaco: The Gentleman’s Private Collection is an album featuring arrangements of Austin Wintory’s soundtrack Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine. In addition to arrangements, the album includes some unused pieces by Wintory that didn’t make the cut for the OST. The trickiest thing about reviewing an arrange album like this is that you’re bound to find a track in a genre that you have little knowledge about or that doesn’t particularly resonate with you. So inevitably, there will be tracks that you will prefer due to preferences for certain genres. With that said, I’d highly recommend giving a listen to all of the tracks on the album. You will easily find something that suits your tastes.

A majority of the arrangements focus on the main theme,”What’s Yours is Mine”, from the original soundtrack. Tina Guo, the featured solo cellist from Journey, and The Vederi String Quartet take drastically different approaches to arranging the piece for strings. Guo’s “The Dark Heart of Monte Carlo” is a slow and somber approach to the material, featuring some wonderfully expressive cello playing. Meanwhile the Vederi String Quartet’s “A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing” sticks with a tone similar to that of the original soundtrack, switching suddenly from an energetic pace to slow and stealthy tempo before speeding back up for the finale. Chis Gale’s “Song Of Banque” and Tomoki Miyosh’s “The Gentleman’s Partita” take a simpler approach to covering the track, using the ocarina and violin respectively for the melody with a simple piano accompaniment in their arrangements. (more…)