Adam Freeland’s ‘Fear’ is an inspired anthem for the push into Rez’s fifth area. The true expression of its ideas, Rez uses its slow opening tempo to kick start a metaphor for the beats of early life, the sample ‘Fear is the mind killer’ scratched over the vacant landscape of a vast digital world as you blast a squadron of enemy planes out of the sky. The techno-trance composition builds as the environment does, the basic geometry evolving terrain and developing an ecosystem of flora and fauna. But it’s also a lyrical representation of its central theme. Rez is a sensory saga of sound and light, a metaphor for the pursuit of knowledge and the quest for enlightenment.
Category: Music Analysis
Double Dragon Neon OST
The Dragon Uppercut to Your Girlfriend’s Stomach
Double Dragon Neon lands a first-frame hurricane kick to the junk with a virtuoso big-hair anthem that recaptures the lost spirit of the original ‘80’s arcade classic while reveling in the decade’s ridiculous excesses. As if powered by compositions spawned by some ancient Chinese magic, Jake Kaufman runs to the right and punches dudes in the face with the confident bravado of an action movie hero.
Ridin’ The Jet Set Funk
Hideki Naganuma is a producer who has earned an impressive amount of respect and professional accolades. Hit play below.
The above track is ‘Let Mom Sleep’, the opening of Jet Set Radio’s soundtrack. Many people who played the Dreamcast classic remember tearing up JSR’s streets to funky beats that added electricity to the gameplay and authenticity to it’s alt-lifestyle and urban youth rebellion stylings. It helped to make that game lively and fluid, colorful and fun. It’s simply amazing.
Combining hip-hop, soul and funk, every track from that game offered something different. Here’s ‘Sweet Soul Brother’, track eight. Continue reading “Ridin’ The Jet Set Funk”
The Songs of Bastion
Bastion’s Caelondia is destroyed minutes before the game’s opening. The Kid, waking from his bed, sets off through a dream that is beautiful and haunting as a nightmare. Supergiant Games crafted a fiction where every element adds to the cohesion of its story. Part of why it works is it’s great sense of place- a fiction that is mysterious and evocative.