Soundtrack Club - June Submissions

Hopefully not too late to contribute for the month: I recommend the Tangle Tower original soundtrack. Tangle Tower is a character-driven detective/puzzle game, and the soundtrack really nails it - brooding tracks of mysterious mansion exploring, playful individual themes for the cast of unique characters, and a surprising depth of instrumentation and variety for a game intentionally set outside of any specific time or place... all in a soundtrack that's about an hour long.

Stackhouse

Quake II! I can see how it would be kind of hard to talk about it though.

Kuranghi

I humbly submit A Plague Tale : Innocence for your consideration. The Allies described the score of APT:I during the 2019 GOTYs as "the one with the aggressive strings". That's because Olivier Derivière matched the strings to the proximity of the rats. This, among many other reasons, is why this score is not only beautiful and haunting but one of the finest implementations of VGM in the mediums history. Criminally overlooked, much like the game it colors, this music is definitely deserving of a deeper look and further appreciation.

Cris

Abzü is almost too good. Words would be wasted.

Cris

Streets of Rage 4 would also be excellent!

Sam

Also I'm just discovering today (6/22) that QUAKE is celebrating it's 25th anniversary!

umryan

After hearing it on the marathon stream, I'd love to hear y'all talk about the Streets of Rage 4 soundtrack, especially Rising Up, which I think is a definite stand out track.

Kate Bishop

How has no one suggested Abzu yet?!?? One of my favourites of all time, especially "Their Waters Were Mingled Together".

Kuranghi

With our resident Suikoden expert Isla coming on to discuss this month, I'd really love to hear her impressions of the Suikoden II soundtrack. The works of Miki Higashino on that OST honestly are in the realm of rivalling Uematsu's work, she's a genius. Her blend of Tribal, Asian, Celtic, and other world music on that soundtrack is such a huge part of making you believe the size of the world, and all of the different cultures in it. It really covers a huge range of styles. Sweeping piano ballads, orchestral epics, organ fugues, and comedic dance numbers alike. It's a master work! With a quick google search, luckily it doesn't seem nearly as pricey as the game itself is these days. Looking forward to hearing whatever you guys go with!

Ciaran Lyttle

Definitely not a suggestion for this month, but an idea that could be fun with some early planning later in the year would be a focus on music from Materia Collective. They publish community driven remixed video game soundtracks in addition to OSTs like Celeste and Carrion. They have a band camp store and spotify playlists where most of their catalog can be listened to, and it would be fun to give some of the Allies and community a couple months to peruse their catalog and bring in their favorite discoveries. It's a weird suggestion, but thought I should put it out in case people were interested.

With Isla on I think it would be a great time to do Deadly Premonition. Much like the game it is odd, exuberant, far too much in places, and too little in other, but all in all just right. I especially recommend Underground and Life is Beautiful.

Madison Graham

For this month, I want to recommend the Oxenfree soundtrack. It does a wonderful job at setting a creepy tone for the game, building a subtle sense of stress and anxiety while simultaneously being serene and beautiful. It utilizes radio noises, static, and lo-fi elements just enough to create the right vibes for the game but without feeling heavy handed and naturally has plenty fo synths. The songs also have all kinds of hidden messages in the form of backwards talking and morse code in the music. The game and the soundtrack both do not get enough love. Highly recommend the tracks Epiphany Fields, Cold Comfort, and Kanaloa. The OST is about 1h 45 minutes, it's available to purchase on Bandcamp from the artist (scntfc) or on Steam

Brittany Fuller

The soundtrack's on iTunes for anyone interested. It's not streamable, unfortunately, but it's as good a $12 purchase as any if you like what you hear in the previews.

lc

Nice pick! Odyssey might be my favorite Mario soundtrack outside of the Galaxy games.

lc

This month I'm going with Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon. I have tremendously fond memories of trekking through the game's post-apocalyptic moonlit anime wastelands one campfire at a time, and Riei Saito's piano-centric soundtrack had a ton to do with that. Tracks were desolate, delicate, and sparsely littered throughout the game, but they each carried an undeniable emotional weight. Special shoutouts to "A Dedication to...Everyone" and "Silver-haired Girl" - both are just so lush and beautiful.

lc

This is a fantastic choice and I second it.

umryan

Love it. All-timer.

umryan

Trent Reznor's haunting, brooding, elegiac score for QUAKE; one that surely Isla and other Allies could identify with and reminisce.

umryan

Yes! My favorite too, though that seems like a rare opinion from most people.

Bokthand

VVVVVV is really great. Pushing Onwards is a banger

Bokthand

Hades gets lots of love from others, but my favorite Supergiant’s soundtrack is <b>Pyre</b>. I used to listen it a lot and I love that final song changes according to choices you’ve made during your journey.

Alexander Zyryanov

Also, as an aside for Returnal, listen to Krolic's work in Midsommar. It's very intense and impactful. The dude really has a specific style - incredible use of huge walls of sound to craft atmosphere.

Bokthand

Sorry - missed the first couple of these. So many great soundtracks out there. I listen to Mirror's Edge Catalyst all the time as background music while I work. That would be a cool one to discuss and open up the conversation on Solar Fields as well (their album "Movements" was also used in the indie game Capsized to pretty good effect.) Also you should cover just about anything Disasterpeace related. He's my one of my favorite working game composers with the criminally underrated musical masterpieces of Fez (this would be my main nominee if there's only 1) and Hyper Light Drifter. Also you should check out the games by Floex - particularly Machinrium. Really chill and well crafted music

Bokthand

This is the right answer. (And as I was typing this, spotify just started playing "Lost Paintings").

César Villa

As to where to listen to it: https://open.spotify.com/album/7CneZnc5pSVscz4QszEGht?si=upYA9xpdSHGW6PAWr7qqww&amp;utm_source=copy-link&amp;dl_branch=1 I believe it i also available in iTunes and youtube music.

César Villa

I won't go as deep as last month since I haven't heard this soundtrack as much to have a detailed discussion as I have listened to Chrono Trigger or The World Ends With You; but since it's Isla and you; I think "The Talos Principle" is a nice fit. I think the score is very subtle, just fitting the mood of the different environments; until you get to the top of the tower and it morphs to this epic tune to accompany the end of the world.

César Villa

This time I'm gonna suggest Sayonara Wild Hearts. I guess it's cheating because the entire game is basically a music album you can play, but the gameplay really mixed with this music to form a unique experience.

Garrett Hulfish

Suikoden 2

Joey Din

Let's keep the H.R. Giger motif going since you're bringing Returnal! I'd love for you to contrast and compare how Axiom Verge uses music to returnal. And, it's not a 3 hour epic, but the whole soundtrack is just banger after banger after banger. If you need a cd copy, shoot me a message and remind me your p.o.box and I will send you my copy ASAP! :P

Kiraz

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

Joshua Turner

Legend of Legaia is my favorite PS1 JRPG soundtrack. “Jeremi” has some timeless old school arpeggios, and the samples for the instruments are generally way better than most of Square Enix’s output from the era. The boss theme, “Attack,” has some industrial percussive undertones that give me chills to this day, and the other boss theme, Disciples of the Mist, has the sense of dread and uphill struggle that many strive for, but few succeed in capturing. The main battle theme is mostly percussion driven, which isn’t for everyone, but I love it. Other standout tracks include Melody of Memories (yes, like the KH game), Jette’s Absolute Fortress, and East Voz Forest. Also, it’s one of my favorite games of all time. I love it!

zak wojnar

Rule of Rose

Happy Gaming

Since no one has nominated this game already, I would like to nominate Psychonauts for discussion. What I love about this game's soundtrack is how each track is so uniquely styled to the theme of the respective mind [level] it's in.

Daniel Schwartz

Shovel Knight and VVVVVV are my submissions. Some new "classics" imo.

For this month, I want to nominate a game I JUST played for the very first time and the soundtrack was one of the strongest aspects: Yoku's Island Express While there are one or two moody or intense tracks, most of the music is quite relaxing and fits the island aesthetic well. It also isn't too much as the game can be finished in about eight hours and since you're traveling between locations often, most of the score is reused, but this is by no means a bad thing as it's the music I probably loved the most. And shoutout to Mr. Casanova for first bringing this up during a stream years ago and bringing this to my attention.

Brandon K Gann

Would love to hear your thoughts on Super Mario Odyssey! My favorite Mario game with so many standout tunes with beautiful instrumentation and vocals.

Brandon Ray

It's not super short (at about 2 hours for the base game soundtrack), but I really enjoy the Rimworld soundtrack by Alistair Lindsay. I believe Isla played the game, but I don't know how much and how long ago that was. You can find the soundtrack on steam (probably on youtube as well). There is also a 1 hour soundtrack for the Royalty DLC, which is also very good, but I would recommend the base game one.

MrMette

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

SuperSushiii

Since Isla's in this time around, I want to throw Outer Wilds back in the mix to get to hear her gush about the music!

John McCullough

I checked the google doc and saw Ghostrunner, so I'm just going to double down and resuggest that. The soundtrack is really amazing Cyberpunk electronica (made even better by the surrounding voice over and sound effects of the game). Synth FTW. The composer also uploaded the full thing for free on his Youtube: https://youtu.be/0FV02Hs41aI

Brainfreeze

would enjoy your thoughts on Oxenfree’s soundtrack(especially with the recent sequel announcement)!

Sam

Yo, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night unless I missed it on the list

Happy Gaming

The Suikoden 2 Soundtrack or Final Fantasy Tactics

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

James Davie

I cast tetrakarn

Alex_AI

Placeholder for smt 4 suggestion which is only 71 mins long and ben had a copy i send to eza from way back when :) Edit: is tand corrected. 71 min ist just Disc one :(...soo i will think of something else :P

Alex_AI