Recorded during COVID lockdown, the title (translated: With You in the Social Distance) captures a sense of togetherness during one of the hardest – and most divisive -times in recent memory, and the feel-good heart of Mariachi music is a great way in which to do so.
Composer - Retro Game Remix (Erek Ladd)
Record Label - Troggo Studio
From the Troggo Studio website:
Pressed on 180-gram vinyl, with a "Holy Materia" colour configuration.
Jacket design by the incredibly talented Miguel Co.
"When I was a kid, I remember going into my local video rental store and seeing a copy of Final Fantasy 7 on the shelf and being really intrigued by the cover of the game, with Cloud staring at the Shinra building holding the buster sword. Since that moment I was hooked on the world, the story and the characters.
Lifestream is my attempt at re-telling this classic story through the music featured in the game. I hope that you can listen to this album and re-live the incredible adventure and story that is Final Fantasy 7.
--Erek Ladd (Retro Game Remix)
I have something of an odd history with dance music. Like many who grew up in the mid-90s, my distinct opinion was that proper music had to have proper instruments, i.e. guitar, bass, and drums. Even the keyboard was a bit racy for my liking.
That said, I never turned off thumping video game soundtracks as, to me, they didn’t count, so I would happily listen to the mental Rotterdam Nation across the Ridge Racer games and think nothing of it.
Of course, like every grunge-slash-indie fan, once I heard Born Slippy, all bets were off and I remain a dedicated raver to this day.
When playing a game based in the Wild West, there are certain sounds I expect (and yearn) to hear; tremolo, acoustic guitar, saloon piano, dusty slides and possibly a touch of Mariachi music, If I’m lucky.
Desperado III has all of this and manages to throw some surprises into the mix as well. On a personal level, after covering so many albums of varying genres and styles, it spoke to the string-twiddler in me to hear a full instrumental album of music that featured (tasty) guitars as the main focal point in terms of instrumentation, Yee-haw!
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From the Wayo Records website:
The legendary adventurer Adol continues his journey on the sublime and mysterious island of Seiren! For this new collaboration with the mythical studio Nihon Falcom, we are delighted to offer the cult soundtrack of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana in this beautiful vinyl edition!
Originally released in 2016 on PsVita, and later on PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch, Ys VIII Lacrimosa of Dana revolutionized the series with innovative and increasingly dynamic gameplay, extensive exploration in the enchanting environments of Seiren Island, and engaging characters. In just a few years, it has become one of the most popular instalments in the Ys series.
Composed, arranged and performed by the Falcom Sound Team jdk, the soundtrack for Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana raises the bar with rocking and dreamy melodies that have helped make the game one of the most popular in the series. The vinyl collector's edition includes a total of 54 tracks on 3 discs, an illustrated booklet with numerous artworks from the game.
After covering a couple of G4F releases recently (Road ’96 and the Haven), I was keen to learn more about this French label, as they had incredibly diverse releases on their site.
I was lucky enough to get in contact with Content manager Rémi and Marketing Assistant Yoann to learn more about their history, focuses, triumphs and ideals.
A record label founded by multiple Grammy award-winning musician and composer Nile Rodgers in 1998, Sumthing Records – and the distribution arm, Sumthing Distribution – was at one point the largest African-American-owned distribution company in America, created to produce and distribute video game music.
The label – mainly through the trading style of Sumthing Else Music Works – released music from some of the largest games and franchises of the era, before closing suddenly in January of 2019, with Nile Rodgers’ below statement on his official website:
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Return to Analog – Purchase Link
When I covered the first volume of Dead by Daylight’s music back in October of last year, I remember being struck by how effective it was at capturing the foreboding, building tension – and subsequent explosive terror of the game itself.
Michel. F April completely nailed the tone, and it made listening through the selections of the soundtrack a perfect horror companion. To celebrate Record Store Day, Canadian label Return to Analog has released volume 2 in the series, capturing more of Michel. F April’s thunderous score for the hugely successful video game.
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https://www.g4f-records.com/en/produit/haven-edition-vinyl/
(From the G4F Records website)
"Haven Original Soundtrack Double Vinyl
A double vinyl album (180g) of the Haven soundtrack, the new RPG adventure game from The Game Bakers (Furi, Squids Odyssey, etc.).
This edition includes a selection of 17 tracks (including some LP Edits) from the game’s original soundtrack, composed by Danger.
This edition includes two vinyl records (yellow and red) in a “pastel grain” textured gatefold cover designed by Yukio Takatsu (Japanese animator and director). The inner sleeves also feature their own design in the game’s colors.
Each order includes a digital download of the Haven soundtrack in the format of your choice (MP3, WAV, FLAC…)."
As usual, the records are presented in no particular order.
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I caught up with Jonathan Khersis to find out the history of the label and it’s clear that this is very much a passion-driven company that goes far beyond standard releases.
https://shop.wiredproductions.com/products/the-falconeer-vinyl-soundtrack-2xlp
The vinyl soundtrack to one-man indie developer Tomas Sala’s 2020 release The Falconeer is a somewhat different beast from the type of soundtracks that I usually cover here at GF HQ.
Whilst it is traditional insomuch as it contains 31 tracks from the game, it also contains several passages carefully woven into the music that acts as spoken word accompaniments, allowing the listener to follow the narrative journey of the game in audio format.
The more I listened to the record, the more I came to view it as a hybrid release of soundtrack and audiobook, telling a tale through both the medium of majestic song and richly delivered spoken word segments.
Sony Music Masterworks / Dead Oceans
Nominated at the Golden Joystick Awards 2021 for best audio, Japanese Breakfast (Michelle Zauner) has created a soundtrack that captures the stark, expansive atmosphere of the game on which it was based – Shedworks’ 2021 hit, Sable. The soundtrack is in turn soaring, beautiful, thoughtful, and introspective as the thirty-two tracks unfold their audio narrative.
When I first received Sable for review, I had only heard of Japanese Breakfast in name only, and so had no preconceptions of the style or approach they would bring to a video game soundtrack, with the Wikipedia description of their genre as ‘alternative pop’ leaving a lot of room for interpretation.
Opting against listening to any of their music from outside of this soundtrack, I dived straight in* and the dreamy, atmospheric and often hypnotic sounds quickly won my heart.
Composed by Gabriel Koenig
Purchase Link - https://www.stumpyfrog.com/
A warning that this article contains spoilers for the game Jettomero: Hero of the Universe, if you don’t want to read them but wish to know the outcome of the article - the soundtrack to Jettomero is fantastic and you should listen to it extremely intently and often.
A perfectly-timed release, with Batman being on a lot of minds following Matt Reeves’ (excellent) The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as the scowl under the cowl – Shapeshift Records’ GOTHAM ’89 is a re-imagining of Danny Elfman’s 1989 Batman score as a 16-bit epic. Good.
Considering that this is Shapeshift records’ first release, it’s an impressive achievement as the presentation, design, sound – and quite frankly –the idea behind the album is all awesome.
My esteemed and roguish colleague Pixel Hunted recently covered Road 96, a narrative adventure from French developer Digixart – and had this to say:
“Road 96 has its heart in the right place, looks striking, is crammed full of good ideas, and has an exceptional soundtrack (it’s telling that the collectables are cassettes and that the game is full of tape players to listen to them on).”
Naturally, this information stayed rooted in my brain like an arrow of pleasure fired from a bow of joy, and so when I had the opportunity to cover the soundtrack on vinyl - I leapt upon it ferociously.
Following a news article that I posted on Twitter – regarding the games’ soundtrack now being available on streaming services – the original composer, Module – mentioned that there had been a limited vinyl release in 2011 through New Zealand-based label Mushroom Records…and there were actually a few records still available. Fast forward several weeks and the Shatter soundtrack arrived here in (not so) sunny Wales - and thus my love affair began.
