Right in time for Halloween, the sequel to the 2014 survival horror-thriller The Evil Within will be having it’s soundtrack dropping on the doubly-spooky date of Friday the 13th!
The Evil Within 2‘s music was composed by Masatoshi Yanagi and Shuichi Kobori (Metal Gear Solid 3), both of whom worked on the original Evil Within game alongside composer Masafumi Takada. Although Takada seems to be absent from composing the sequel, there’s plenty of experience between Yanagi and Kobori to instill a good amount of hope for a return to the creepiness that was delivered in the first game’s music.
The 55-track soundtrack also features classic pieces from Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Claude Achille Debussy, which mimics the original game’s decisions to invoke unease through classic compositions; a common theme in more modern horror gaming.
The Evil Within 2 Original Soundtrack is published by Bethesda Softworks and available for pre-order on Amazon Music for $8.99, with the release date of the album being October 13th; the same as the game itself. It will likely also be available in iTunes and Google Play after it’s official release, and we will be sure to update you if and when it does.
Materia Collective and folk video game group The Travelers VGM have released a new album dedicated to the great love and emotion-filled songs from gaming, titled Ode to the Lovers.
The 10-track album is performed live in the The Traveler’s signature European folk style, giving emphasis to the joy and feelings of some of the love-dedicated music from video gaming history, including “Song of Time” from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, “Trioan Beauty” from Final Fantasy IV, “Simple and Clean” from Kingdom Hearts and more from the group comprised of arrangers Ian Martyn, Josh Barron, and Masha Lepire.
Love is a central theme in so many RPGs, games which have the time and space to really flesh out developed storylines. There is always room for love even when the situation seems dire. Love, whether gained or lost, is also an important theme in folk music from around the world. – Ian Martyn, Traveler’s VGM arranger
The album is fully licensed and available for purchase on Bandcamp and streaming on Spotify. You can find the full credits for the album on Materia Collective.
You can also check out the music video for “Song of Time” from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on The Traveler’s VGM Youtube.
The video game music scene is a vast one, with a growing community that continues to bolster itself regularly. Certainly with events whose core is centered around video game music, such as MAGFest and Gamer’s Rhapsody, as well as the niche industry of game music expanding through both fan projects and composer collaborations, new names pop up in the scene regularly. This is especially true with new performers and bands that dedicate themselves to the celebration of video game music.
Enter Moiré Effect. What is Moiré Effect? Well, ask a visualist and it’s the spacing effect when two sets of patterns are laid on top of one another. So, what does this have to do with video game music? According to the band, it didn’t start out with a dedication to games music and beyond.
MAGFest, the annual gathering for people who love video games, music, and video game music, took place at its usual spot in National Harbor earlier this year. Though the festival’s musical offerings tend toward electronic fare, there are some musicians keeping the tradition of acoustic music alive.
Among these musicians is the Videri String Quartet. The Boston-based ensemble took center stage twice over the MAGFest weekend to perform tasteful arrangements of music from games like Chrono Trigger, Donkey Kong, and Journey. After their shows were over, I sat down to chat with three integral members of the group: Roselie Samter (Viola), Lizzie Jones (Violin), and David Peacock (Arranger). Lounging on the beds of their hotel room, exhausted but still reveling in the thrill of the festival, the three begin to tell me the story of their group: their mission, history, and where they’re headed next.
It is now officially the holiday season, and we can no longer deny the onslaught of questionably festive music that started well before December graced 2016. The good news is that there tend to be a good handful of arrangement albums and collaborative efforts each year towards building fun and interesting holiday music albums, both video game related and not, to keep us all mostly sane. The fine people of Scarlet Moon Records have kicked off the season with one of our first offerings of such sanity-saving musical projects with their Scarlet Moon Christmas Album 2016.
Featuring joint contributions from both video game and film composers, including Hiroki Kikuta (Secret of Mana), Dale North (Silent Horror), Vince DiCola (Transformers, Rocky IV), Robyn Miller (Myst, Riven) and more over nine tracks, Scarlet Moon Christmas Album 2016 is a charming and subtle way of easing yourself into more festive feelings.
“Dale North and I are both massive fans of Christmas music. After releasing the Scarlet Moon Christmas EP in 2014, we wanted to rekindle that passion by creating even more Christmas-themed tracks to get music fans of all ages and genres in the spirit of the season. And as it would turn out, most of the artists on the roster love Christmas music just as much as we do!” – Jayson Napolitano, Producer
The track listing gives you an idea of what to expect to hear, including both video game music arrangements and arrangements of classic Christmas tunes.
01. “Jingle Bells” by Vince DiCola
02. “Christmas Garden (Yoshi’s Island)” by Mustin
03. “Peaceful Christmas (Chrono Trigger)” by Dale North
04. “Some Small Hope (Cherubic Hymn by A. Kastorsky)” by Osamu Kubota
05. “Angels We Have Heard on High” by Hiroki Kikuta
06. “Christmas Comes to Myst (Myst)” by Robyn Miller
07. “Rainbow Road (Mario Kart 64)” by Justin Lassen
08. “Melodies of Life (Final Fantasy IX)” by Goomin “Nauts” Nam
09. “Aspertia City – Winter (Pokémon Black & White 2)” by Materia
“Jingle Bells” (sample) – Vince DiCola
Even if you’re not a huge Christmas person, the album is worth checking out. I myself have a hard time getting into any festive mood around the holidays, but when Vince DiCola’s rendition of “Jingle Bells” makes me envision a Transformers Christmas Special (Complete with transforming reindeer, because why not?), it’s hard not to get a little into the holiday spirit.
Scarlet Moon Christmas Album 2016 is available now for purchase on LOUDr, and soon on iTunes and Spotify.
MAGFest Laboratories was this past weekend. (Full disclosure, I do know several of the bands that played and hosted the Opposing Bloodlines competition panel) Taking the place of MAGFest Classic from the two years prior, the event still retained the same amount of lower-key atmosphere and less of the grandiose of main MAGFest. The concerts, however, were still plentiful in both number and variety.
If you happened to be wary of the new branding of the mini-MAGFest event and missed out, you’re in luck! The crew running MAG Labs were zippy as ever in making sure all of the concert performances were up on their Youtube channel in HD quality within hours of recording, so you can already watch the entire musical entertainment from the event.
Kudos to the MAG Labs music and media departments for their timeliness, and for making sure that those who missed the event can still get in on the awesome. (And that those who did and have any of the dreaded post-MAG depression can receive a nice emotional boost.)
Did you attend MAGFest Laboratories? What did you think of the performances? Let us know what you thought in the comments!
Spotify has offered a selection of video game soundtracks practically since it launched in 2008. At times I’d see a Halo OST float by or the Grand Theft Auto albums pop up with their tracklists of licensed pop songs. I always appreciated that they were offering anything at all but it was never the place I ran to for game music. Over the last few years, though, the streaming service has begun catering more and more to the gaming crowd.
Just last Spring Sony replaced their Music Unlimited service on PlayStation 4 with an exclusive Spotify app that hooks into the console beautifully. Now Spotify has launched a dedicated place for gamers and game music fans with Spotify Gaming. Of course, the focus remains on curated playlists of pop, rock, rap and electronic music but several of them come from today’s tech and game bloggers. Writers from GamesBeat, Mashable, Polygon, GamesRadar and Engadget have submitted some of their top tracks for the new category. Other featured playlists aim to set the mood with absurd titles like “Epic Gaming”, “Mellowed Out Gaming” and “Ultimate Pop Gaming”… whatever those even mean.
I like that they pulled in games journalists to make playlists but let’s be honest: what we’re really here for are the original soundtracks. Over the years Spotify’s catalog has grown to offer around 100 albums but most importantly, they’re all in one place. The Gaming category is available on all platforms (mobile, desktop and console) so you can finally stop rooting through the World or Soundtrack sections hunting for game music.
The selection isn’t all encompassing by any means but it’s a respectable mix of modern, mobile and indie titles. The latest offerings include 65daysofstatic’s soundtrack to No Man’s Sky (which Ryan just reviewed) and Tomoki Miyoshi’s score to I am Setsuna. There are mobile hits like Sword & Sworcery and Monument Valley and indie titles including Bastion, Fez, The Banner Saga and more. There’s even a random Mega Man album but, oh, it’s only Volume 2 of the gargantuan 10-disc 25th Anniversary collection. At least it’s a start.
Do you stream music from Spotify (game music or not) and what do you think of this new dedicated category? Is it enough to entice you to subscribe? Let us know in the comments.
