Dragon God's top 10 reasons to follow the
Game Music Scene.
Hi everyone
!! Here, Dragon God tells us of his top 10 reasons to follow Game Music.
That's right,
DeathJester. Keep in mind folks, this is purely my own opinion. You don't
need to agree with me, but hopefully
this will open up those new to game music to better music outside of the ever
popular Square-Enix music(For the most part). So let's get started.
Worked on : Silent Hill Series, Contra : Shattered Soldier, Sparkster, etc...
Yamaoka is mostly famous for the Silent Hill "music",
in that he employs the barely used
musical genres of "Experimental Noise", "Industrial Ambient"
and "Trip-Hop". But as you
will find out in many of his themes, he is also adept at doing rock and calm
piano solos.
A defenite reccomendation to those who want to discover Yamaoka is the Silent
Hill 2
OST, as it shows pretty much all of his talents.
Toshiyuki Sasagawa
Worked on : Tengai Makyo Zero, Tengai Makyo : The Apocalypse IV.
Yes, this guy seems to have only scored two games so far,
but what you
get here is the recipe for a successful soundtrack : Excellent sound programming
and perfect composition. Sasagawa's pieces are hard to ignore as they are
easy
to get into. Each piece just goes well with pretty much anything. He can do
any
kind of music, but seems to specialise mostly in oriental themes. He also
does
awesome, and I mean "awesome" use of the piano in his pieces. Since
both of
his soundtracks have been long out of print, the easiest way to discover him
is
to download the Tengai Makyo Zero SPC set.
The Super Sweep Gang
Shinji Hosoe, Ayako Saso, Takayuki Aihara & Nobuyoshi Sano
Worked on : Ridge Racer Series, Street Fighter EX Series, Bushido Blade, Drag-On Dragoon, etc...
Now these guys I love a whole lot, not only do they create
the best techno hands down; they also like to
try new styles, like the mix of techno and orchestra in Drag-On Dragoon. Shinji
Hosoe heads Super Sweep,
which is a group of former Namco composers who offer their talent to any product
worth their while. Most
of the time, Hosoe, Saso and Aihara work closely together on a project, while
Sano has other projects of
his own. They've all been in the industry for over 15 years, so they know
damn well what they are doing.
Pick up any of the early Ridge Racer soundtracks and you'll quickly see their
unique approach to music.
They always have synthesizers and they love to use pre-recorded samples to
spice up their themes. In
my honest opinion, these guys are the undefeated kings of electronic video
game music.
Jeremy Soule
Worked on : The Secret of Evermore, Icewind Dale, Giants : Citizen Kabuto, Star Wars : Knights of The Old Republic, etc...
Here we have the finest american video game music composer
in my opinion. Soule started off in the unfortunately under-rated
Secret of Evermore, then moved on to more complex soundtracks like Icewind
Dale. He usually creates his themes sprinkled
with etheral ambience or lush orchestra. Giants : Citizen Kabuto comes to
mind, the music is so stirring and powerful that words
can't describes the feelings that pass through me as I listen. At barely 30
years of age, Jeremy Soule has already attained cult status thanks
to his amazing talent at music composition. I can't think of any reason why
anyone would hate his music, it just dosen't get better than
this if you're looking for pure bliss in orchestral video game music. Icewind
Dale and Giants : Citizen Kabuto are sure ways to initiate
any newcomer to his music.
Hitoshi Sakimoto
Worked on : OgreBattle Series, Final Fantasy Tactics, Radiant Silvergun, Breath of Fire : Dragon Quarter, etc....
Another winner in my book, Sakimoto is one who always uses
strong compositions, and often creates a symphonic
piece, which is a pleasure to my ears. In most of his projects, he has worked
alongside Masaharu Iwata, another
excellent composer. However, Sakimoto is extremely versatile when it comes
to making music, no wonder he's had
nothing but success with his work thus far. Breath of Fire : Dragon Quarter
is a lovely way to discover his talent, as it is
his best solo work yet.
Miki Higashino
Worked on : Life Force Series, Gradius Series, Suikoden, Suikoden II, etc....
A legend at Konami, Higashino quickly became a favorite among
game music fanatics as she is the perfect
role-model when it comes to composition. She may write a lot of tracks on
her projects, but she also varies her music
by a ridiculous amount of diffrent styles. Celtic, epic, gothic, ambient,
techno, military and many more styles await the
listener. I really can't find any weaknesses in her compositions whatsoever,
so you are getting both quality and quantity
at an equal scale. Suikoden II is the way to go to discover this amazing composer,
with 4 discs of pure pleasure, how
can one go wrong ?
Yoshihiro Sato
Worked on : Cyber Org
Yes, only one soundtrack, but what a gem of a soundtrack it
is. Hard rock meets contemporary music, it just doesn't get any
sweeter than this. Sato does whatever he wants with his guitar, from a calming
acoustic solo to godly metal. Not only is he
apt with a guitar, Sato also makes excellent use of an organ, piano and of
course; a synthesizer. Another really special thing about
Cyber Org's music is the ridiculously high sound quality, it is so good, that
often people mistake this album for an arrangement.
Is it necessary to say more about him ? No ? Then go ahead and hunt this sweet,
sweet soundtrack down !!
Daisuke Isiwatari
Worked on : Guilty Gear, Guilty Gear X, Guilty Gear XX
Where to begin with him ? If you love metal, you'd do well
to check this guy out, because that's what he is alllll
about. The Guilty Gear games are famous for not only reviving the 2D Fighter
genre, but also bringing back
heavy metal music into video games. Any of the Guilty Gear soundtracks are
worth checking out, go for it !!!
Motoi Sakuraba
Worked on : Tales of Series, Star Ocean Series, Golden Sun Series, Valkyrie Profile, etc....
While not too appreaciated by most of the Game Music Community,
Sakuraba has still been a success for
nearly 10 years now. His own unique style of progressive rock dates back to
the time he was part of the
band Déja-Vu, which is one of the reasons why I like him so much. Also,
I strongly beleive he uses the synthesizer's
capabilities to the max, as everything sounds clear and crisp. While some
accuse him of sounding the same in all his
works, I disagree as he seems to vary his melodies enough to make his music
quite enjoyable. Pick up Valkyrie Profile
or any of the Star Ocean soundtracks, as he dosen't perform as well in the
Tales of soundtracks for some reason or
other.
Noriko Matsueda
Worked on : Front Mission, Front Mission 2, Bahamut Lagoon, Racing Lagoon, Final Fantasy X-2, etc...
Yes, I know: She's from Square, but she's here for a reason.
Her works in Racing Lagoon made me love
jazz, a genre I dispised before. Not only does she write great jazz songs,
she also does decent techno, ambient
and epic/sweeping scores. Her versatility as a composer makes her #1 at Square
for me. However, I am still
somewhat dissapointed of the music in Final Fantasy X-2, it is good and all;
but I was expecting the same
magnificient approach at jazz like she presented in Racing Lagoon, which is
my opinion; is one of the best
jazz related video game music out there. I'm just hoping she'll pick up from
this slight dissapointment on her
next project. For reccomendations, I highly reccomend Racing Lagoon, if you
can't appreaciate that kind
of music, then too bad.
Well, that's
it, go back to the main
page.