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.