To get an otherworldly experience with vocals working perfectly with the instruments backing them up. I point to Imahoritsuneoyoshidatatsuya – Silence.
http://www.mediafire.com/?2k6207sge357epe
Just listen. There's parts where the vocals have this... symphonic perfection, so to speak.
Edit: yeah, I know I used gay language. That translated means: super awesomeness.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Celebrating Ripoffs II: Ico/Shadow of the Colossus Edition
Though both of these soundtracks will be summarized together and though they're in the same series, they sound nothing alike. One is a subtle, atmospheric and melodically nebulous assortment of effects and sounds. The other is a bombastically orchestrated jumble that gains its notoriety from never hiding its epic or melodic compositional intents. Both of them are and try to be entirely different things, mostly because the soundtracks serve the tone of two entirely different games/concepts, and I intend to bear that in mind. But let's make one thing clear: preferences aside, what Ico is trying to do is considerably more interesting and difficult than what SotC is trying to do, and any analysis requires that acknowledgment.
To put it simply, Shadow of the Colossus' soundtrack sounds like it's supposed to accompany a lone person riding through desolate terrain to kill creatures the size of mountains with a situationally effective sword. The ominous application of the strings followed by the blast of a pronounced horn section is supposed to give you the idea that you're fighting (or building up to fighting) something Big and Powerful. The occasional choral flourishes that accompany those instruments are supposed to make you feel as though you're playing out a legend in the making. But since the goal is singular, the approach suffers from that singularity. And what begins as an exhilarating soundtrack that compliments the enormity/impossibility of the concept quickly starts to sound like the last songs you listened to.
The problem with "epic music" - especially in games - is the assumption that there's only way to do it. So themes that - by themselves and outside of the context of the OST - are well composed and engaging, begin to sound suspiciously like other themes that are well composed and engaging in exactly the same way. This leaves you with a long and ponderous OST with songs of varying tempo and quality that try to capture the supposed magic of its surroundings but crumble under the internal and unnoticed need for instrumental variety. It's so consumed with the desire to sound "larger than life" that it makes that desire a compositional constraint. It's no coincidence that some of the best songs on the soundtrack are ditties that barely resemble its more "pertinent" tracks. Shadow of the Colossus demands your attention but the inherent blandness of its chosen course does little to compel it. Through contrived instrumental chest-pounding, it performs the musical equivalent of screaming without ever thinking to alter the pitch of the sounds you hear.
Contrast this with Ico's OST, which compositionally lives behind the music you're listening to. The instrumental sparsity, the muddled distortion of the effects, the pacing between and around the sounds; all of it builds up to music that's intended to be contemplated beyond the atmosphere it evokes. Whereas SotC defines itself through its obviousness, Ico uses the sounds to weave a veil of mystery that deepens the impact of the music under the cursory pretense of doing less. Unlike its successor's music, it doesn't merely content itself with existing: it boldly begs the question. It forces you to ask what the story behind the music is - which makes it more engrossing and effective both in-game and outside of it. There's a confidence to its ability to make you want for more that's impossible to hear behind Shadow of the Colossus' bluster. It's a skillfully executed and imaginative soundtrack that feels no need to prove itself, which is largely what makes it superior.
Contrast this with Ico's OST, which compositionally lives behind the music you're listening to. The instrumental sparsity, the muddled distortion of the effects, the pacing between and around the sounds; all of it builds up to music that's intended to be contemplated beyond the atmosphere it evokes. Whereas SotC defines itself through its obviousness, Ico uses the sounds to weave a veil of mystery that deepens the impact of the music under the cursory pretense of doing less. Unlike its successor's music, it doesn't merely content itself with existing: it boldly begs the question. It forces you to ask what the story behind the music is - which makes it more engrossing and effective both in-game and outside of it. There's a confidence to its ability to make you want for more that's impossible to hear behind Shadow of the Colossus' bluster. It's a skillfully executed and imaginative soundtrack that feels no need to prove itself, which is largely what makes it superior.
The ultimate irony is that Ico does all of this in under half an hour of music. Shadow of the Colossus takes almost two hours before it mercifully decides to end. If nothing outlines the differences between the OST's, that by itself should.
Unrelatedly, I despise Shadow of the Colossus' production. I actually didn't believe it was done by a real orchestra at first because of how the instruments sound. There's an almost tinnish quality to the instrumentation that makes it sound like they're using samples instead of the real thing. It's particularly unfortunate since I can't think of a soundtrack that would benefit more from greater clarity, but alas.
Side note: Out of fairness to both soundtracks, I'm not going to link the stand-out tracks this time. At least not in the post itself (though I'll be glad to share if prompted in the comments). You can't properly get the feel of the songs or the soundtracks unless you're listening to them in context. With both OST's, a bad song might sound inspired and a good song may sound underwhelming if you're listening to them in fragments.
Side note 2: I dislike both games.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Celebrating Ripoffs I: Zone of the Enders 2 Edition
I hate E3. I hate HD rereleases. However, since both will presumably be quite prominent this week, I might as well dedicate a little space to the parts of the games that are - for all intents and purposes - free: the soundtracks. ZOE2's soundtrack is essentially a more polished and less empty extension of its predecessor's sound. Which simply means it's less boring than ZOE1's OST.
Stylistically, it does little more than try to be a semi-contextually fitting take on techno. By tailoring the technoish instrumentation to the orchestral synth and heavily distorted vocalizing, it tries to carve an original and surprisingly melodic backdrop to the space-centric sci-fi/mecha setting. Tries. More often than not, it retreats into the sometimes generic beats and sacrifices its sporadic experimentation for tired conventionality. At its worst, when combined with the lack of instrumental and stylistic variety, even its more experimental tracks can seem bland, phoned in and ineptly composed.
Given that this is a video game soundtrack, it further suffers from the fact that its primary function is as background noise. That allowance forces a talented and potentially interesting team to either create a number of filler tracks or to make a song that stands better with a level or a scene than on its own. It's a shame, too. Many of these songs while imperfect are capable, and at their best, they offer an interesting merger of influences and styles that I'd love to see explored outside of their in-game requirements.
I wouldn't recommend this OST at all. I'd absolutely recommend several songs on it, however, and suggest giving it a once over just to see the ways that gaming compels interpretations of established genres that likely wouldn't be naturally attempted.
Side note: There are two ZOE2 soundtracks. One official, one fan made (which includes songs the official version idiotically omitted). If you want a complete idea of the kind of music ZOE2 has, get both. Stand out tracks:
- Anubis Encounter
- Bahram Battleship
- Beyond the Bounds (Mitsuto Suzuki Mix Feat. Sana)
- Seek Taper
Stylistically, it does little more than try to be a semi-contextually fitting take on techno. By tailoring the technoish instrumentation to the orchestral synth and heavily distorted vocalizing, it tries to carve an original and surprisingly melodic backdrop to the space-centric sci-fi/mecha setting. Tries. More often than not, it retreats into the sometimes generic beats and sacrifices its sporadic experimentation for tired conventionality. At its worst, when combined with the lack of instrumental and stylistic variety, even its more experimental tracks can seem bland, phoned in and ineptly composed.
Given that this is a video game soundtrack, it further suffers from the fact that its primary function is as background noise. That allowance forces a talented and potentially interesting team to either create a number of filler tracks or to make a song that stands better with a level or a scene than on its own. It's a shame, too. Many of these songs while imperfect are capable, and at their best, they offer an interesting merger of influences and styles that I'd love to see explored outside of their in-game requirements.
I wouldn't recommend this OST at all. I'd absolutely recommend several songs on it, however, and suggest giving it a once over just to see the ways that gaming compels interpretations of established genres that likely wouldn't be naturally attempted.
Side note: There are two ZOE2 soundtracks. One official, one fan made (which includes songs the official version idiotically omitted). If you want a complete idea of the kind of music ZOE2 has, get both. Stand out tracks:
- Anubis Encounter
- Bahram Battleship
- Beyond the Bounds (Mitsuto Suzuki Mix Feat. Sana)
- Seek Taper
Saturday, June 4, 2011
I like my post-rock best when it's not post-rock.
Tortoise, the band described by post-rock by some. They're pretty false on this, as the band has enough elements to push it past the post. It dabbles in minimalism, sometimes, but it incorporates enough other to make it more than a few drum hits, guitar strokes and electronic additives.
It's experimental, sure, and I want to see them experiment more.
Take a look.
Compare:
with
It's experimental, sure, and I want to see them experiment more.
Take a look.
Compare:
with
Obligatory File Dump
Ian O'Brien - Veksel: This is a stylish and innovative take on a funk song with purely electronic instrumentals. Built up and layered through an intricate interplay between the established structure of the percussion and the playful fiddling of the bass, synth and background effects. The connected disconnection of the sounds only serve to emphasize how skillfully made the track is and his willingness to use the instrumentation to play with your expectations makes this an enlightening song to relisten to. Veksel gets the Q seal of approval.
Unforscene - Switchin' It On feat. Laura Vane: Switchin' It On is a fun song that has no desire to be anything else, and that's exactly what I dig about it. The fact that it's unambitious doesn't stop it from being a groovy, well paced and solidly produced fusion of broken beat nu-jazz. Switchin' It On gets the Q seal of semi-approval.
Opiate - Pk 50: I do and don't know what I think of this song. You'd think its fluffy, almost saccharine atmosphere would be incentive to ignore it, but it stands as part of what makes the song distinctive and appealing. In Objects For An Ideal Home - and in this song, particularly - Opiate was able to draw stylistic inspiration from a variety of electronic genres from IDM to glitch to drum and bass. But its refreshing qualities come from how deftly they removed the detached, "machineish" components of those genres from the instrumentation. It's...warm. Which is strange to say about an electronic album. Ignoring the nausea, Pk 50 gets the Q seal of approval.
Entheogenic - Love Letters to the Soul: You know, I came into this track with a smidgen of hope. I expected a sprawling, ambitious apology for their last several albums and instead got confirmation that Entheogenic's last good album was their very first. It's sad, because you know they can do better. You know it. But here they are pimping an unremarkable, sloppy and completely disconnected testament to all of the things they should be doing right but aren't.
What's so glaring about it is that all of the influences that made them interesting are still there. They still have the middle eastern and western vocal influences. They still have the ethnic percussive elements. They still have working synth. They still have the capacity to craft an orchestrally inspired soundscape. But in 25 minutes of music, they had no coherent plan for bringing those elements together. It's more of an idea for a song than an actual song, and every time it seems to start, it just boringly devolves into another several minutes of background effects. Love Letters to the Soul gets the Q seal of "WTF HAPPENED TO YOU?"
That is all.
Unforscene - Switchin' It On feat. Laura Vane: Switchin' It On is a fun song that has no desire to be anything else, and that's exactly what I dig about it. The fact that it's unambitious doesn't stop it from being a groovy, well paced and solidly produced fusion of broken beat nu-jazz. Switchin' It On gets the Q seal of semi-approval.
Opiate - Pk 50: I do and don't know what I think of this song. You'd think its fluffy, almost saccharine atmosphere would be incentive to ignore it, but it stands as part of what makes the song distinctive and appealing. In Objects For An Ideal Home - and in this song, particularly - Opiate was able to draw stylistic inspiration from a variety of electronic genres from IDM to glitch to drum and bass. But its refreshing qualities come from how deftly they removed the detached, "machineish" components of those genres from the instrumentation. It's...warm. Which is strange to say about an electronic album. Ignoring the nausea, Pk 50 gets the Q seal of approval.
Entheogenic - Love Letters to the Soul: You know, I came into this track with a smidgen of hope. I expected a sprawling, ambitious apology for their last several albums and instead got confirmation that Entheogenic's last good album was their very first. It's sad, because you know they can do better. You know it. But here they are pimping an unremarkable, sloppy and completely disconnected testament to all of the things they should be doing right but aren't.
What's so glaring about it is that all of the influences that made them interesting are still there. They still have the middle eastern and western vocal influences. They still have the ethnic percussive elements. They still have working synth. They still have the capacity to craft an orchestrally inspired soundscape. But in 25 minutes of music, they had no coherent plan for bringing those elements together. It's more of an idea for a song than an actual song, and every time it seems to start, it just boringly devolves into another several minutes of background effects. Love Letters to the Soul gets the Q seal of "WTF HAPPENED TO YOU?"
That is all.
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