Welcome to Our Soundtrack Club!

Oh, and of course one of the greatest Gameboy music tracks ever created: RoboCop Gameboy Main Theme. You can find it on Youtube.

I'll nominate Dust: An Elysian Tail OST by HyperDuck SoundWorks. It has really cool battle themes, chill level themes and the sickest Secret Area song "Glick 16". I listen to this OST regularly since the day the game came out. it's manageable with 37 songs and you can find it on soundcloud.

Just in case the comment gets deleted from links, here are the themes I mentioned: Chaos' Shrine (NES): https://youtu.be/0SXhnT9RQ4Q?t=279 Chaos' Shrine (PSX): https://youtu.be/zUAsbFYnFIo?t=502 Mt. Gulg (NES): https://youtu.be/0SXhnT9RQ4Q?t=816 Mt. Gulg (PSX): https://youtu.be/zUAsbFYnFIo?t=1374

César Villa

It may be already too late for this, but how about a conversation from the similarities and differences between the Final Fantasy for the NES and Playstation/GBA soundtracks? The notes are pretty much the same on both instances, but the motives they give are so different that it is impossible to choose one over the other (at least to me) A couple of good examples are the "Chaos shrine" & "Mt. Gulg". I believe all of those are available on itunes, but also can be heard on youtube.

César Villa

For anyone interested, it's available on iTunes. (Wish it were also streamable, but maybe someday.)

lc

Personally, I'd love to nominate Masashi Hamauzu's The Legend of Legacy for discussion at some point. It's nowhere near as well known as Final Fantasy X, XIII or VII Remake, but in my mind it's one of Masashi Hamauzu's most inventive. It even featured a few tracks that never made it into the actual game, like urgent and aggressive "Recapture". And "Unknown Truth" is just a gorgeous track to mark the true beginning of the game.

lc

Welcome to the club!

JessieBlu

I'm looking forward to finding more OSTs to add to my collection. I love music so much and OSTs are great to play in the background at work where music with lyrics can sometimes be distracting. Someone later suggests a "Google Form" for playlist suggestions and I think it would be a great idea. I see posts in forums but there's a lot of scrolling through people's opinions. A google form would keep it simple and have just the basic info one would need to make a playlist suited for their needs. Thanks again for adding this and hopefully it makes GOTYs a little easier to prep for =)

JessieBlu

I nominate Persona 5. With strikers being super popular it would be a great way to dive into what makes that music special and unique among game OSTs. A lot of soundtracks contain music that could fit into multiple genres but I think Persona 5 with it's cool jazz, harsh metal, tranquil piano, and bluesy funk show so much more range than your typical soundtrack. It would be very fitting for the innaugaral episode of your new series.

JessieBlu

OK coming in late with this one but in honor of the Allies 5th anniversary I nominate the soundtrack of Final Fantasy XIII. Not even close to my favorite game in the series (I preordered, started three different times, but could never bring myself to finish... I'm ashamed), but I'm fairly certain it's my favorite soundtrack in the series. I always go back to it because I find it so uplifting, exciting, and just plain gorgeous. Nobou Uematsu deservedly garners the most attention for his work on Final Fantasy, but I personally view Masashi Hamauzu with a similar reverence due to his work on FF X, FF VII Remake, and most of all, FF XIII.

Love this idea though, Bloodworth. Can't wait to check out episode 1!

MountLatino

Not for this episode, but I think it would be super cool to have video game composers as guests as well. How cool would it be to have like Lena Raine on, and ask her about HER favorite video game soundtrack.

MountLatino

Here is one I suspect not many here have heard of: ai war: fleet command. The game itself is slow placed and deliberate, until things start to go wrong. Once it goes bad it goes very bad very quickly, and the soundtrack reflects this well. With electronic tunes calm enough to sleep to, intense enough to exercise to, and many places in between. Look for "Pablo Vega" on spotify

The murderous Pangolin who secretly lives in your sock drawer

I would love to hear y'all talk about Mass Effect 2. One of my all time favorite soundtracks and it would be fun to talk about with the remaster coming next month.

Kate Bishop

This is something I never knew I needed! Any way we can have select songs be placed on an ongoing Easy Allies SoundCloud/YouTube playlist? An alternative is posting an open Google document with the songs so people can make their own playlist. Maybe a playlist for different moods?

Not too late! We'll probably make the tough pick after the weekend. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

Probably too late to suggest this but the first thing that came to mind when reading the post was "Ben Moore - Hollow Knight" and then I saw that Ben was up first. I think both Ben and Blood have wonderfully deep and considered insight when they look at media and Hollow Knight is something I would love to give them both an opportunity to just have fun discussing.

Radioactive Magic

Loving all the comments everyone. Thanks for participating. I feel like even though we'll only end up discussing one of these on the recording, this is a pretty cool chance for people to interact and see what everyone else is into. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

A game soundtrack that I feel is respected, but still gets overlooked a lot, is VA-11 Hall-A. There is a huge variety to the tracks but synths are used throughout to create a cohesive thru-line and evoke the retro-futuristic feel of the Cyberpunk genre. The game is set in 207X and as such has to to envision what music could look like in 50-60 years, what styles might have had a resurgence, but remain aligned to a Cyberpunk feel. In game, much of the music from the OST can be queued up in the jukebox and you can create your own track list, customizing it to fit your mood, a mood you want to set for your bar, just play your favorites, explore some tracks you may not have heard, or just play one song on repeat the whole night if that's what makes you happy. The ability to access the soundtrack in this way makes it feel special and it also helps from potentially feeling fatigued by hearing the same song too often. Outside of the primary OST, there is also a "Prologue" soundtrack which was released well before the game came out and features tracks from the game that are not on the follow up OST. There is also a short "EX Bonus" Soundtrack which features a few additional tracks as well as some remixes. I enjoy just about every song on the soundtrack, but here are a few of my favorites. "A Neon Glow Lights the Way" opens with some ominous synth beats, then brings in a somewhat somber piano tune, evolves into a soft dreamy synth rhythm, and eventually builds to a hopeful crescendo with a guitar track. "Every Day is Night" Upbeat and saxophone heavy, very evocative of the 80's, just good vibes and certainly one of the most popular songs from the soundtrack. "Good For Health, Bad For Education" A more moody synth heavy track with industrial vibes and a heavy beat. The Akira reference gives it extra points. "Your Love is a Drug" This song is interesting since it is canonically performed by a pop star who patronizes the bar in game. The song doesn't have lyrics, but it is constructed in a way where you can imagine lyrics replacing the piano track and I found it really fun to imagine how it might sound with vocals. There is a version on the EX Bonus collection which does feature vocals and a slow jazzy lounge arrangement instead of the upbeat pop version in the game. Admittedly the real lyrics are pretty cheesy but I still love it. The soundtrack is available on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music, and on vinyl and CD via Fangamer.

Brittany Fuller

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. You can go for one song Final Confrontation, or the album.

Stepan Hakobyan

Alone In The Dark soundtrack by Olivier Deriviere is an amazing piece of work. Also, I really adore the soundtrack from the first BioShock game. Especially Cohen’s Masterpiece.

Jimmy Liljegren

Hey Blood, you just started my favourite new podcast format! :-) Especially since it's Ben, the original NieR soundtrack might be a great choice. I love it to bits, most memorable moment is the fight mid-game where "The Dark Colossus Destroys All" plays. It CARRIES that damn fight <3. https://youtu.be/PUfkJrt4dLI Also, the song re-surfaces in a Nier Automata boss fight in a remix version... https://youtu.be/w294pDmTO2o Of course, the rest is stellar as well. There are also piano remixes I love. Maybe it's also an idea to wait until after it released 🤔 seeing there are new mixes of songs included. Looking forward so much to this podcast, Blood! L&R, Sabine

Sabine T

The whole of Legend of Mana's soundtrack is stellar! I used to pop that game in just to listen to the intro song before the title screen. It always had this beautiful sadness and makes excellent use of piano. The soundtrack as a whole is just incredibly varied with tons of different styles to fit each location. Looking back, it's a reminder that I've loved Yoko Shimomura's work my whole life, and sometimes didn't even realize it.

Happy Gaming

Legend of Mana opening theme. I remember trying to search for lyric of the song many many years ago(probably 10+ years ago) and found many comment on Youtube saying they think the lyric is a gibberish. In actually it was in Swedish. I just find it funny that people think language outside of Eng, France, Germany(and other recognizable Western language) is some language from alien planet lol. For the discussion, maybe having Allies listen to the song and have them guess which language the song is :)

Wicky "Pokkuti" Salsa

Dk country series has a great soundtrack infact everything david wise has done is great.

Louise Brown

I recommend you check out Dean Evans, he's a composer that worked on several Ocean published SNES games that have incredible soundtracks but are often bad in every other way and therefore are not remembered. He has a YouTube channel under his own name with lots of his soundtracks. Try the soundtrack to WaterWorld. Yes, as in a bad game based on a bad movie, but the soundtrack is amazing.

Joseph Caruso

Just to keep this brief, I've been playing Persona 4 Golden, which is obviously a great jam like most Persona's. But I'd suggest the sweet jazz tunes from Paradise Killer. I sent this to a friend and he has been waking up to that soundtrack every morning since for a good start to the day.

Zkarts

I'm gonna suggest the Cross Code OST - it's on Spotify so it's an easy listen. And it's a sadly overlooked gem of a game with a great soundtrack that more people should check out. I have reaced out to Ben on Frame Trap before to try to goad him into playing it before to no avail, so I'm giving it another shot here. And hey, it just got a DLC, so perfect time to get into it ;) About the soundtrack itself, it's really a nostalgia tug, that draws a lot of inspiration from late SNES/early PS1 era JRPGs - but a well crafted one that fits extremely well with the style of the game. Each area of the game basically gets it's own soundtrack that ties everything together beatifully. I personally hold it among my all time favorites that I listen to outside of the game, like Xenogears, Parasite Eve and the Final Fantasy series.

Cottelito

I read through and nobody else has mentioned it - I can't believe I forgot the G.O.A.T. Silent Hill 2: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOEAs04auvietkxFG-8hjc80IIVBItX2r Edit: Whilst the above link is a more complete list, the titles are wrong. This is a more cohesive, definitive playlist with correct titles for those included: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF3C30E438550E52A For instance 'Ordinary Vanity' is one of my favourites, but it's titled 'Meeting Eddie' in the first link. L&R

Richard G Flowers

Doki Doki Literature Club! It's both on spotify and youtube. I'm very excited for whatever you're gonna produce for the Soundtrack Club. Makes me happy to see there's gonna be more video game music related content, thanks for doing this, Blood <3 Oh and btw The Medium soundtrack is really solid, I love how recognizable Yamaoka's sound is, made me very nostalgic for Silent Hill.

Monika

I just started a new playthrough of Disco Elysium and was reminded how much I enjoy the music in that game. the music is for me inextricably connected to the city of Revachol, sad, darkly funny and with a glimmer of hope. the possibility of miracles is there, we just gotta hold on. It makes me feel things few other soundtracks do.

Mark van Dijken

Safety comment.

Anthony Stevens

Sonic games have been known for producing really good music overall, even if their games have been a bit hit and miss. Sonic Adventure 2 stands out the most with its variety of catchy melodic rock, rap, jazz and electronic music that not only captures the level being played, but keeps within the theme of the character used as well. Also, the feels with the main theme 'Live And Learn' and Sonic's theme 'It Doesn't Matter', (Even though I personally prefer the Sonic Adventure 1 version of it) is responsible for getting me into rock music.

Anthony Stevens

I have to nominate one of my favourite things in the gaming world EVER, and that is the Tekken 3 OST. That soundtrack is simply divine. Specifically the PS1/Arranged versions (not the arcade). Nobuyoshi Sano and Keiichi Okabe are among the chief composers of that iconic OST. Practically every character's theme gets me pumped. My favourites remain Forest Law, King, Ogre and Julia Chang, but honestly they've all found an eternal home in my head. Would love to hear your and Ben-san's opinions on this, Blood.

Ville Ranto

Mega Man 3 especially the main theme. And Ori and the Will of the Wisps

SuperSushiii

Vagrant Story

Aurélien GRANIER

Yes! I didn't even think of this earlier but the FEAR soundtracks are incredible! So much mood in that music.And Mccann's work on Deus Ex is top tier. Literally my morning alarm is Detroit City HR

Bokthand

ha ha, not only is there an audio version, but I've been back and forth on whether or not to even include video. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

Since we're talking Ben-sama, I'm going to use the opportunity and throw the Persona 3 OST into the ring. It's a great blend of rap, rock and jpop with a couple of piano-heavy pieces that really nail the melancholic vibe befitting to a game with the theme of death. It's available on Spotify should you chose to cover it.

ToiletDrummer

There is so much good stuff out there it's hard to know where to start. I'll suggest this month the music for Downwell, a small and very addictive shooter with a unique soundtrack from Eirik Suhrke (of Spelunky fame). What's great about this soundtrack is the way it begins with 8-bit stylings before morphing into modern electronica (similar to Aphex Twin) as the game progresses. 'Razer Girl' is my favourite track. The soundtrack can be found on most music services but it does also have a cool vinyl too. Enjoy listening :)

I'm good friends with the composer, Mark, as well! I'd be happy to connect Bloodworth if he's down!

Mason Victoria

Endless space 2 is a turnbased 4x game so a having an ost full of relaxing space themes is very much welcome. They released a lot of dlc each with a few new tracks.

Alex_AI

Since the allies play less PC Games and more console games you might not know this one. I bring you Endless Space 2 by the artist flybyno. Very synth heavy and often relaxing. Check this track out https://youtu.be/PeGv-QtHyaA the thing they do with the vocals is very interesting and worth having heard once or twice ;) L&R Alex

Alex_AI

I would love to hear your thoughts on the Metroid Prime Soundtrack, even though this might fall in the category of soundtracks that come up anyway now and then. I am actually working on an essay about how the sound in Metroid games evolved over the years and it would be neat to get your perspective on that.

The original Nier please. Also is there gonna be an audio podcast version or no? Can never get enough of them audio podcast.

Joey Din

This game doesn't get as much love as it deserves, but A Short Hike has a killer soundtrack. It can be found easily on Spotify, Bandcamp, and YouTube.

Garrett Hulfish

Interesting note there. I've had the official soundtrack since it came out, but didn't realize it was so incomplete. Looking at the track list though, it definitely feels like there should be a lot more. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

I knew once you all announced this what soundtrack I wanted to recommend. Probably my all time favorite game soundtracks: Rayman Origins. Each world in the game has a unique musical theme and tone. The forest world uses very "boingy" sounds. The dessert combines wind instruments and drums (which are components of the level design). The food world combines the sounds of bottles popping and clanging with mariachi music. The water area has peaceful gibberish singing, if that makes sense. The unfortunate thing is that the soundtrack is only partially online. Billy Martin's section is available to purchase and on spotify no problem. However Christophe Heral's portion (about 2/3rds the album) isn't officially available anywhere. I encourage everyone to check this one out! It is very whimsical, fast paced, and one of the best uses of kazoos to date.

This is from last year, but I really love Filament’s soundtrack. In my opinion, it manages to both create an atmosphere and be ambient enough so that you wouldn’t get tired of listening the same track for hours while trying to solve various puzzles. Links: YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7YuVu11Ud-IiLqadhZw3zS7--QvgAEjY Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1279680/Filament_Soundtrack/

Alexander Zyryanov

I would like to suggest Katamari Forever for PS3. Damacy and We Love get the most hype online I think, but Katamari Forever has some stellar remixes and new tracks.

Michelle Jackson

Final Fantasy XV!

Brandon Ray

Looking forward to seeing what comes out of this. I'm going to take this opportunity to talk about Line Them Up!, the Origami King Concert by vgmtogether. It involves over 160 performers including David Wise, Austin Wintory, Gareth Coker, Lena Raine, and even the voice of GLaDOS. It's a joyful celebration of video game music overall and specifically a soundtrack that I've championed a lot.

Asbo Zappruder

Maybe not for this week, but I would LOVE you to cover the Outer Wilds soundtrack at some point.

John McCullough

I will suggest something a bit on the older side and soundtrack that gets overlooked. Marvel vs capcom 2. Thank you for this blood i have wanted something with music for a while since backtrack!

Isaias Sanchez

Love the idea for this show, excited to hear the discussions! Would love something by the NES wizard Tim Follin, though I understand if it's an issue since most of his stuff is too old and obscure to have an official soundtrack release. Some great ones for everyone to check out: - Pictionary (NES) - Silver Surfer (NES) - Sky Shark (NES) - Solstice (NES) L&R

Ben Fitter

I second the idea of talking about the Nier soundtrack! It's one of the best soundtrack ever, IMO, and since the remake just came out, it's a great time to talk about it.

MaxVSTheGames

Hey Blood, I’ve never commented before, but I really love the idea of this soundtrack club that I wanted to participate. I love video game soundtracks, and the soundtrack of Nier Gestalt/replicant (composed by Keiichi Okabe) is one of my favorites. I’ve been listening to this soundtrack for a few years now, and it never has a dull moment. All the music is amazing and reaches from softer more emotional pieces to absolute epic pieces. The music from Nier Automata is also amazing, but I prefer gestalt/replicant. Both soundtracks are available on Spotify. I am excited to hear what soundtracks everyone brings to this club! L&R

One of my favourite soundtracks of last year was The Pathless so I'd like to nominate that.

Missilemage

Hey Blood, not necessarily this episode but I'd love if you could cover Nathan Grigg's F.E.A.R and F.E.A.R. 2 scores at some point. I am so impressed by his work because his sound is incredibly unique. In fact when Monolith were bought out by WB and their development kind of took a downturn into licensed work and more obscure F2P stuff, of everyone there, I considered Grigg to be the major loss to potential mainstream acclaim. A couple of years back I tried to find where he was working, but he doesn't have much online presence at all. I did eventually find out that he's still there via a Monolith stream, at some point. In particular, here I'll link 'Outer Shell Suite' (Edit: track #23 - I also recommend 'Fight To The Lobby' #15) from F.E.A.R 2. It's a 13+ minute track that runs the gamut of his sounds. There really wasn't really much like his work on F.E.A.R. and Condemned back in 2005, and I'd say he's ahead of the curve by a long shot. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7A80F926D8E834A1 The entire soundtrack is available via this playlist. Otherwise the two recent Deus Ex soundtracks - Human Revolution and Mankind Divided - are also a great option. L&R

Richard G Flowers

Nice choice. If you haven't seen it already, be sure to check out the video I produced about it last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snFhJS7nNYE -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

I personally loved the score for Ori and the Will of the Wisps. The music intertwining with the gameplay really elevated the entire experience for me. It would be cool to see you guys check out some of the songs from that soundtrack!

This is a really cool idea! I'd like to suggest one of my personal favourites, the OneShot soundtrack, available on bandcamp and spotify. It's not revolutionary or even impressive, necessarily, but it has a very distinct vibe. Soft, often slow, melancholy and often lonely, it's a good fit for story in which a child is separated from everyone they love and tasked with saving a world they do not know. Some of my personal favorites are My Burden Is Light, Geothermal, On Little Cat Feet, Niko and the World Machine, and I'm Here. Love and Respect, Small Leviathan

Small Leviathan

I find a lot of music through my Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify. I never played Planet Coaster (in the album “You, Me and Gravity), but I love Jim Guthrie. I legitimately didn’t know the music was from a game until I saw the trailer for the game coming to consoles. The soundtrack brings such a warm and comforting atmosphere in a way that a lot of his other compositions bring with acoustic guitar, whistling and pleasant vibes.

Happy Gaming

I love anything Darren Korb composes. He’s got such an excellent utilization of modern and classical instrument stylings that makes his work super identifiable, but also always has so much energy! Pyre always gets me in the mood to settle into that world so well!

Happy Gaming

Great idea, Blood, and I'm very excited to participate. The original Bravely Default's soundtrack was very recently added to streaming services such as Spotify, and this is the first time that the song titles have been translated to English. You may know that the composer Revo and his group Sound Horizon also did the iconic music from the anime Attack on Titan. Their style really adds a lot of life and energy to the world of Bravely Default and in particular the Asterisk/Job boss battle theme "He of the Name" stands out in my memory. L&R Anthony

No worries on how old a soundtrack might be. We might lean a little more towards things we haven't listened to a lot before, but if Ben is psyched to chat about FF VII, then that's all good. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

This sounds (Yes, pun intended) so fun, so I wanted to give my submission, preceded by a question: Should soundtracks be more modern/contemporary, or can any soundtrack from any era be eligible? If the latter, I'm submitting my favorite of all time since this is the first episode with what I'm reading to be not that restrictive of criteria: Final Fantasy VII. However, if older soundtracks are not really the point of the show, and it needs to be from games of the current year (or from the previous 24ish months), well I haven't played a 2021 release so far, so I'll suggest FF VII: Remake, because it's only one year old and again: VII is my favorite thing ever (Shocking).

Brandon K Gann

My favorite soundtrack of 2020 was the Hades soundtrack. Edit: I also love the Life is Strange soundtracks. Looking forward to the show. L&R guys.

Hey Ben and Blood, I’ve been really liking more chilled out soundtracks recently. A couple favorites of mine are 6180 the Moon and Monument Valley. Both I believe can be found on Bandcamp and I highly recommend them for some laid back vibes. Love and Respect, Josh.