Soundtrack Feature: Hue

Hue is a puzzle game that focuses on using colors to manipulate the world around you. It's packaged with an incredibly thought-provoking narrative, and a melodic soundtrack that beautifully captures the soothing atmosphere of the game. The music was scored by Greek composer Alkis Livathinos, and has an emphasis on melodic piano. Hue's main theme can be heard multiple times throughout the album.

The Hue soundtrack can be purchased or listened to for free at Bandcamp. It can also be purchased on iTunes and Amazon, and listened to on Spotify. The game itself is a very enjoyable experience. If you enjoy inventive and relaxing puzzle games you should check it out. Hue is available for Steam, PS4, PS Vita and Xbox One.

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My full Soundtrack of the Month series has gone on hiatus and for the time being has been replaced by much smaller soundtrack features, which I am simply calling Soundtrack Features. Yes, it's quite original.

Soundtrack Feature: Titan Souls

Titan Souls is an adventure game in which the player must traverse a vast overworld, defeating bosses with a bow and a single arrow. As there are many bosses and no ordinary enemies, the soundtrack is composed almost entirely of boss music, but also a handful of beautiful overworld themes for the various areas of the game world.

David Fenn is the composer for this incredible album of music. It can be purchased or listened to for free at Bandcamp, or also listened to for free on YouTube. If you're interested in the game itself, which feels like a hybrid between Dark Souls, Shadow of the Colossus and 2D Zelda, you can check it out on Steam, PS4, PS Vita, or Android.

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My full Soundtrack of the Month series has gone on hiatus and for the time being has been replaced by much smaller soundtrack features, which I am simply calling Soundtrack Features. Yes, it's quite original.

Six Years

Six years ago today I created this blog. That's kind of a long time. I think when I started it I had the expectation that by the time I turned 20 I'd be a published author with a small, but dedicated, fanbase. At the very least I'd have multiple completed novel drafts that I could look back on, and laugh at my amateurity, before moving on and creating better stories. Little did I know how... little I'd accomplish with my life.

It's funny how different reality is from expectation. In the present time, I'm surprised I'm able to live as productive a life as I do. I have three part-time jobs (the most difficult of which is entirely volunteer), a place to stay with a loving family that doesn't mind helping take care of me, a driver's license (acquired far too recently), and loads of free time. Plenty of people would kill for a life as simple as that, and yet I struggle through each day because of my dysfunctional body and mind.

I spend a lot of time gaming and watching shows. As thus, I get a lot of ideas for projects of my own. Unfortunately, none of them are feasible at this time or the foreseeable future because all of my energy is taken up by living. However, there are those ideas that stick with me, that I keep thinking about and expanding on, that I hope someday, under different circumstances, I'll be able to breathe life into and share for the world. At the current time, however, no progress should be expected.

While I've found much of my life to be quite difficult, I really am thankful for the things that I have. I'm sorry to everyone I've let down, but I am enormously grateful to everyone who still cares about me. You're a large part of what helps me through each day. Thanks for the support, and I pray that one day your faith in me will be validated. Until then, I'll just keep my stick on the ice.

Soundtrack Feature: Stranger Things

Stranger Things is an embodiment of 80s nostalgia, with incredible acting, directing and presentation, told through a 2016 filmmaking style. It's been universally praised, for good reason: It's really good. The soundtrack, based on 80s synth, is critically acclaimed. It's a fantastic score showcasing a wide sense of emotions, ranging from joyful times to deep horror. Having the music evoke feelings of nostalgia is not uncommon.

The soundtrack to the first season of Stranger Things was released in two volumes. You can purchase them digitally from iTunes (Volume 1, Volume 2), or pre-order them physically from Amazon (V1, V2). You can also listen for free on Spotify (V1, V2) and YouTube (V1, V2). The second volume features a 5-minute extended edition of the show's critically-acclaimed main theme.

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My full Soundtrack of the Month series has gone on hiatus and for the time being has been replaced by much smaller soundtrack features, which I am simply calling Soundtrack Features. Yes, it's quite original.

Soundtrack Feature: Ant-Man

Some would say that the Ant-Man soundtrack isn't nearly as epic or grand as the music for other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I think it really does stand out as something special. The main theme of Ant-Man certainly sounds the most like a comicbook-esque superhero theme, and it works wonderfully with the film and its themes. Additionally, the soundtrack was scored by legendary composer Christophe Beck, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame. A very enjoyable listen.

You can find the soundtrack on iTunes and Amazon, and you can listen to it for free on Spotify and YouTube.

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My full Soundtrack of the Month series has gone on hiatus and for the time being has been replaced by much smaller soundtrack features, which I am simply calling Soundtrack Features. Yes, it's quite original.

Soundtrack Feature: Overwatch

My most recent addiction is surprisingly not a television series, but an online multiplayer video game called Overwatch. The game itself has no story mode to play through—only online matches—but the developer Blizzard has released a multitude of story and lore for the game through the means of comics, animated shorts, and other methods.

Overwatch contains many memorable melodies, including a grand main theme and various level themes inspired by different parts of the world, scored by a fantastic team of composers. While the soundtrack sadly doesn't feature the scores of the incredible animated shorts, it does include the score to the original cinematic announcement trailer.

You can check out the soundtrack on iTunes, and you can also find it by searching on YouTube. This one's not on Spotify. Sorry about that.

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My full Soundtrack of the Month series has gone on hiatus and for the time being has been replaced by much smaller soundtrack features which I am calling... Soundtrack Features. Yes, I know it's original.

Soundtrack of the Month: July 2016

To close up year two of the Soundtrack of the Month series, I decided to feature something very near and dear to me, a game called Bastion. Settling on an apt description for the genre of the game's setting is, in itself, quite difficult. Perhaps, a post-apocalyptic steampunk fantasy story which takes place on a nation consisting of floating islands. The music is masterfully written and composed by Darren Korb, who also serves as the singing voice for the character Zulf.

The album, like the game itself, is a superb mix of genres, described by Korb as "acoustic frontier trip-hop." It's incredibly unique, and matches perfectly with the bizarrely unique world of Bastion itself. The album opens up with the game's narrator and deuteragonist, Rucks (voiced by Logan Cunningham), giving an introduction, after which the listener is treated to the music of the game.

There are three sung songs in the game, and four on the album. All of them are sung by characters in the game. "Build That Wall" is Zia's theme (sung by Ashley Barrett), and "Mother, I'm Here" is Zulf's theme (sung by Korb). "Setting Sail, Coming Home" is the ending theme, which is an amazing duet hybrid of Zia and Zulf's themes. The final, album-exclusive song is "The Pantheon", sung by Logan Cunningham as Rucks.

Featured Tracks

Track 2: A Proper Story – A proper story's supposed to start at the beginning. Ain't so simple with this one.

Track 12: Build That Wall (Zia's Theme) – When Zia's world literally crumbles to dust around her, her only solace is to sit and play music, and pray that one day help will arrive.

Track 16: The Mancer's Dilemma – A number of the songs can sound quite haunting, highlighting a feeling of tragedy and fleeting hope during gameplay.



Purchase Bastion (Original Soundtrack) on Bandcamp, iTunes, or Amazon MP3.
You can also purchase a physical CD on the Supergiant Games Store.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

Bonus: In celebration of the conclusion of this series' second year, I put together another playlist of various great soundtrack pieces. Some of them are from soundtracks I've featured; many are not. You can check out the playlist here, and last year's playlist here.

Teaser

Here's an obscure teaser for tomorrow's Soundtrack of the Month.

Hint: It's not Overwatch.

As you can tell, I put a lot of effort into this tease, and I definitely didn't think up something to post at 10:30 the night before. Toodles!

Soundtrack of the Month: June 2016

Infinite was composed as the soundtrack to a science fiction exploration-survival video game called Grimm Odds. The game was far in development, but publishing plans fell through last-minute and the game was unfortunately cancelled. Only the soundtrack, composed by Mike Raznick, remains.

The album has a wide range of sounds, from ambient to cinematic. At times it reminds me of another soundtrack Raznick composed, that of Spate, a very dark and atmospheric game. Infinite has much lighter themes, but still contains the same kind of ambiance from time to time.

Featured Tracks

Track 2: Despair Theme – This is the song that most reminds me of the Spate soundtrack. That melancholic cello—so good!

Track 9: Climbing the Peak – The soundtrack was supposed to invoke a sense of awe as the player explored a strange and beautiful alien world. I feel the music accomplished this feeling even without the game to accompany it.

Track 20: Liftoff – This incredible theme was likely to be used for the end of the game, as the player finds a way to leave the alien planet.



Purchase Infinite (Original Soundtrack), or listen to it for free, on Bandcamp.

Writer's Block

Soundtrack of the Month: May 2016

I am a vocal fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The quality of Marvel movies has far exceeded that of most other films in the industry, and has remained consistent in this top-notch quality for half a decade. The storytelling and direction has been absolutely superb, and beyond industry standards nearly every step of the way. Along with this impeccable level of presentation, we have the music.

Iron Man 3 is a subject of much controversy among Marvel fans. I may value it as one of my favorites, but many people don't feel the same way. Even if you found the film less than satisfactory, you'll undoubtedly still very much enjoy the music. Brian Tyler paints an incredible backdrop to the story and Tony Stark's struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, following the events of The Avengers.

When it comes to film soundtracks that could be described as "epic," the names of a few composers often get tossed around. They're typically from past generations, known most prominently for works from decades ago. Brian Tyler, on the other hand, has only been rising to fame in the last decade, and stands on his own among long-time legends in the industry.

Brian Tyler is the perfect fit for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the scale of its films. After Iron Man 3, he would also return to score Thor: The Dark World on his own, and Avengers: Age of Ultron with legendary composer Danny Elfman. No further collaborations with Marvel have been announced, but it'll be no surprise if he returns to the film universe in the future.

Featured Tracks

Track 1: Iron Man 3 – Epic. Epic, epic, EPIC. That is the word the comes to mind when I listen to the main theme of Iron Man 3: Epic!

Track 3: Attack on 10880 Malibu Point – I'm not sure, but this might just be the most intense soundtrack cue in my library.

Track 6: New Beginnings – On the contrasting side, we have softer, more melodic music to accompany the less active and more hopeful portions of this film.

Track 20: Can You Dig It – This song admittedly took some time to grow on me. It's a more active, energy-pumping rendition of the film's main theme, used for the film credits. It's the kind of music you could work out to.



Purchase Iron Man 3 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) on Amazon or iTunes.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

Game Review: Momodora

I’ve had my eye on a particular game series for some time now. It's called Momodora, and it's a series of action platformer games that just released its fourth installment. While Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight looks to be a highly sophisticated and polished game, the original Momodora was released in 2010 with a far more amateur look and feel to it. For me, however, this was a very nostalgic period for indie games, especially those created with Mark Overmars' Game Maker, as Momodora was.

Momodora is an intentionally, and sometimes frustratingly, difficult game. The creator even suggests that players skip this game and move on to its sequels, as it was inspired by the difficulty of early arcade games. I, being the gamer that I am, and knowing that I’ve probably played much more frustrating games from the same era of the industry, promptly ignored this warning and played the game anyway.

Throughout Momodora you get access to a number of different weapons that you can cycle through, although you'll probably just end up alternating between a couple of them. Players are also given two secondary items you can cycle between that you’ll find yourself using quite frequently. One creates an easily-breakable shield around the character offering more defense, and the other is a boomerang that basically works as a secondary weapon, which comes in handy a lot.

The story... is almost entirely in a text document. It's not actually addressed in the game until the end. This, as well, may have been inspired by early titles in the game industry, whose stories would be almost entirely restricted to the games' manuals. The graphics well fit the era and style of game, as sort of a medium between Cave Story and Theseus and the Maze. The music is good, and fitting. The entire soundtrack (and all of the other sound effects) are included in the game's zip folder as .OGG files.

While I was able to get through the game and I very much enjoyed it, it's most certainly not for everybody. If you're looking for a more sophisticated experience that's not so much of a frustrating challenge, perhaps you should just jump ahead to a later game in the series as the developer suggested. I might be a little more sympathetic towards this game if it weren't for the fact that it uses one of my least favorite tropes, which is to have a very difficult boss battle after the final level of the game, with no save in-between.

If you want to try your hand at the game, you can check it out for free here. Look for my reviews of Momodora II, Momodora III, and Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight in the coming months.

Soundtrack of the Month: April 2016

Escape Goat 2 is a platforming game about a goat navigating a labyrinth, rescuing sheep, and trying to escape to the surface. Is this a joke? No, it's not. This is a real thing. It's a lot of fun, and the music is amazing.

Ian Stocker, the game's main developer and soundtrack composer, used to work in the mainstream game industry as a sound designer and composer. So players not only get to navigate a goat through a bunch of crazy puzzle-platformer levels, but they get to do it while listening to totally rad music.

You still think I'm joking. The joke is that I'm not. I'm dead serious.

Featured Tracks

Track 1: Restoration – Escape Goat 2 features a graphics style very different from the pixelated style of the first game. The music style gets a renovation as well, to better mach the new visuals.

Track 5: Reunion – This track is used for the game's secret levels. Yes, you are headbanging to music about a goat.

Track 8: Peaceful Sheep – Did I mention that you're trying to rescue sheep?

Track 14: Caper Erratus – The credits music of the game, and one of the greatest masterpieces I've had the pleasure of listening to. Not only is it a reprise of my favorite track from the first game, but it was also given words, sung by a choir, in Latin!

"Caper Erratus" roughly translates to "The Wandering Goat."



Purchase the Escape Goat 2 soundtrack on Bandcamp, Loudr, or iTunes.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

Miscellaneous Update #483

Hey you. Yeah, you. You're beautiful, you know that? Seriously. Just thought you should know.

It's been a year and a half since I just posted a miscellaneous update. I figured I'd scramble around and try to come up with something new to report about my life. I'm doing plenty of nothings, but also some somethings here and there.

First off, I got a writing gig! A friend approached me to write some content for a sci-fi/fantasy entertainment site. I have some ideas brewing, but there's currently nothing of mine up on the site. Let's hope I don't botch this like the last time I got a writing gig. If you're interested, you can check out the site, Legendarium Media. (I love that name, presumably taken from Tolkien's legendarium.)

Secondly, I have a secret project brewing that I'm excited about which involves music. I'm hoping I can get it off the ground, and then pull through once I get it started. It'll probably be harder than I imagine it in my head, but I won't know until I try. Hopefully more information on that in the future, but no promises.

When it comes to entertainment I engage in, you can of course see everything I'm currently watching, playing and reading on my Status page. What you can't see there, because it's constantly fluctuating, is what music I've been recently listening to. Right now two of my favorite albums are Haunted by Poe and The Human Contradiction by Delain. I've also really been digging a four-track EP I found on Bandcamp called Unexpected, which is completely free.

For television shows, I most recently finished the second season of Daredevil, which was sooooo good. In the last year I also watched the entirety of Lost, and Veronica Mars, along with pretty much everything Joss Whedon ever made (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly rewatch, Serenity rewatch, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Dollhouse, Much Ado About Nothing). Okay, yeah, I still have a little ways to go. At least I've got his TV shows covered.

For what shows I'm currently watching, as I said, check out the Status page. Which, strangely enough, I love updating. I update the Status page every chance I get. I don't care that nobody reads it. I love doing it! I don't even know why!

The last topic I want to touch on is why this post is labelled as the 483rd miscellaneous update.

...Because I wanted to call it that. Now get out.

Soundtrack of the Month: March 2016

It's all Joss Whedon's fault, honestly. If he'd stop making so many diabolically brilliant television series and movies, I wouldn't have to spend so much money on their incredible soundtracks. Angel: Live Fast, Die Never is the official soundtrack to the television series Angel, created by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt, which acted as a spin-off to Whedon's television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Robert J. Kral served as the primary score composer for Angel, although the album features a handful of other individuals and artists as well. The soundtrack very much reflects the dark and twisted themes of the series, but also the prominent, ever-focused theme of atonement; of searching for redemption, but knowing you may never truly find it so long as you walk the Earth.

Initially, Robert Kral began work on the series as an assistant to longtime Buffy composer Christophe Beck, who acted as main composer for the first season. One of Beck's compositions made it onto this album with the track "I'm Game", which occasionally acted as a heroic theme throughout the series, from the very first episode. It can be heard for the final time in the penultimate episode of the series.

Featured Tracks

Track 1: The Sanctuary (Main Theme Extended Remix) – An extended version of the series' outstanding opening theme, composed and performed by the band Darling Violetta.

Track 6: Hero – One of the most memorable episodes of Angel's first season, and possibly the entire series. First soldier down.

Track 15: Through the Looking Glass – One of five tracks that cover the several-episode arc that takes place in the mystical, demon(ish) dimension of Pylea, toward the end of Angel's second season.

Track 21: LA Song – This song is performed by actor Christian Kane, written by Kane and series showrunner David Greenwalt. It's performed in-series by Kane's character, Lindsey McDonald.



Note: The physical version of this soundtrack contains four additional songs by other artists that were featured in the series. These songs are well worth the physical purchase.

Purchase Angel: Live Fast, Die Never on Amazon or iTunes.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

Cat Getting Out of a Bag and Other Observations by Jeffrey Brown

Cat Getting Out of a Bag and Other Observations by Jeffrey Brown is, to put it simply, the greatest thing ever. It's literally a bunch of random, hilarious, and adorable cat videos, in the form of 9-panel (or occasionally 18-panel) comics, instead of actual videos. That's the whole book.

Cartoonist Jeffrey Brown has created over 30 books, about all sorts of different subjects. He even released a follow-up to this book, called Cats Are Weird: And More Observations. This man has way too much time on his hands, and that's why his work is brilliant.

Soundtrack of the Month: February 2016

Remember Me is one of the few incredible games I actually discovered through discovering their soundtracks. I found it one day while browsing Amazon. I'd never heard of the game, but the soundtrack was composed by Alone in the Dark expert composer Olivier Derivière, so I knew that at least the music aspect had to be good. Several months later I acquired the game, played it, and absolutely loved it. I bought the soundtrack very soon thereafter.

I fell in love with Remember Me from the very beginning. I entered the game knowing next to nothing about it, which was intentional as the game begins with the protagonist losing all of her memory. The game takes place in the cyberpunk, dystopian future city of Neo Paris, and has a major emphasis on memory-related technology. The story is unique and highly thought-provoking, and the soundtrack is among the greatest I've heard, with a superb blend of orchestral and electronically altered score.

Derivière composed the entire soundtrack, which was then fully performed and recorded by the Philharmonia Orchestra. He then digitally processed and manipulated the music with multiple layers and effects to create a beautiful, half-orchestral, half-electronic sound which perfectly fits the world and story of the game. I love the amount of detail poured into the world, and the music was a major aspect of that.

Featured Tracks

Track 1: Nilan the Memory Hunter – The jaw-dropping main theme of Remember Me. Our protagonist is Nilan, who used to be the most skilled Memory Hunter in the world.

Track 3: Still Human – I consider this as one of the main themes of Neo Paris, even though a different track is specifically named after the city. Perhaps this is more a theme of the slums.

Track 6: The Enforcers – One of the combat themes for Remember Me, playing when you get into a hassle with the law enforcement, called Enforcers.

Track 10: Our Parents – While Nilan begins with no recollection of who she is or was, her proceeding quest does provide some answers. Which or how many, I will not say.



Purchase Remember Me (Original Soundtrack) on iTunes or Amazon MP3.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

Orc Stain by James Stokoe

The world has been overrun by orckind for a million millennia. Kingdoms rise and fall in a matter of months—or days. The world is chaos, but chaos is all the world's ever known.

However, one day an orc rises to power—and doesn't fall back down. He manages to unite kingdoms never thought uniteable, and conquer lands never thought conquerable. Timeless borders are abolished; ancient lands are littered with the corpses of any who stand in the way of the southern world's new tyrant. Nothing can escape the wrath of the Orctzar.

Far up north lives our protagonist, a one-eyed orc nicknamed "One-Eye". (None of them have actual names, but the greatest are given numbers post-mortem.) One-Eye likes to stick to his own business—busting locks, and surviving. He lives in a part of the world that's mostly at peace—or as much at peace as a province filled with orcs ever could be—doing what he can to stay out of trouble.

Unbeknownst to One-Eye, the Orctzar has learned from an ancient prophetess that in order to find an object of great power that he seeks, he must find an unspecified one-eyed orc in the north. Eager to obtain this object, and be supreme ruler of the entire world, the Orctzar sends multitudes of troops to round up every one-eyed orc in the northern hemisphere of the planet. One-Eye obviously wants nothing to do with these goings-on, and hightails the hell out of there.

This is the premise to the first volume of Orc Stain by James Stokoe, a beautiful, crazy and vulgar graphic novel about a brilliant and insane world. Stokoe is the creator, writer, artist, colorist, and letterer. Seeing as this is a top-quality graphic novel with incredible art, hilarious writing, and an tremendous amount of worldbuilding, that is mightily impressive.

Stokoe takes us on a highly fantastical tale though incredibly intricate lands, full of strange creatures and odd whatnots. It's a very unique concept, and the amount of content packed into this book (168 full-color pages) is impressive. The fact that it was all created one man is awe-inspiring. If this seems like something you'd be interested in, definitely check it out.

Caution: Orc Stain contains adult content and is intended for mature readers.

Soundtrack of the Month: January 2016

Remember when I complained that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. never got a soundtrack release? Remember when an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. soundtrack released five days later? Remember when I didn't realize this for the next month? I blame Amazon and Spotify for neglecting to tell me when they should've. I'd be upset, except for the fact that I get to listen to the soundtrack now regardless.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a television series that takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe about the story of Agent Phil Coulson, after his iconic death at the hands of the demigod Loki in The Avengers. Coulson, having "magically" recovered following the events of the film, puts together an unlikely task force to work various missions for the government organization S.H.I.E.L.D.

Wait, doesn't bringing the character back to life nullify the meaning and heaviness of his death in the first place? Well, if you watched the series for long enough you would know that is not necessarily the case. A lot of people quit watching in the first half season, for no logical reason I can think of, and so they missed out on some pretty powerful story developments.

S.H.I.E.L.D. is scored by Emmy-winning composer Bear McCreary, and performed by a full orchestra, which is a very rare occurrence for television soundtracks. The skill and dedication Bear brings to the series, along with the addition of the full orchestra, brings the quality of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s music up past numerous film scores in the Marvel Cinematic Universe—and believe me, those scores are some of the best soundtracks in the industry.

This single CD covers the first two seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and thus covers many different episodes and themes. As this is compilation of the finest pieces and moments drawn from all over 44 episodes, there is never a single dull moment, nor a single moment that isn't positively incredible.

Featured Tracks

Track 1: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Overture – An outstanding rendition of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s main theme, a.k.a. Coulson's theme. It appears most often and prominently in the score of Season 1, and a version acts as the end credits theme of every episode. This is easily one of the greatest themes among all of Marvel Studios' film and television soundtracks.

Track 6: Aftermath of the Uprising – This is the track that plays at the end of the majorly game-changing Captain America: The Winter Soldier crossover episode, "Turn, Turn, Turn". This is one of Bear's personal favorite tracks, and I understand why.

Track 9: Cello Concerto – One of the most elaborately-composed pieces of score I'm aware of in existence. Bear talks about it extensively here. (Contains major spoilers for the series, up to and including the classic episode it's featured in, "The Only Light in the Darkness".)



Purchase Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Original Soundtrack Album) on Amazon or iTunes.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.