Day 8: Best Soundtrack

As a musicologist, this one is quite close to my heart. My music taste in general is quite eclectic so, as is slowly becoming a theme of these blog posts, it’s really really hard to narrow down. I have to choose between the music I listen to at the gym (lol when I actually went), to the music that makes me nostalgic, to the music that has challenged me intellectually, to the music that is just plain fun. It’s honestly really really hard. There aren’t many soundtracks from games that I’ve disliked.

I can’t choose.

Right, there’s going to be three categories to this, okay? Most Effective, Most Energising, and Most Nostalgic. Because there are so many incredible soundtracks out there that I can’t just pick one and know in my heart of hearts that it’s the right one.

Most Effective: Dead Space – Jason Graves

An exceptionally well known composer by any standard, Graves has written music for all three games in the Dead Space series as well as the critically acclaimed 2013 Tomb Raider reboot. I studied a few tracks from this soundtrack as part of my undergraduate dissertation on music for horror games, and Jesus Christ does it get the job done. I don’t think Dead Space would be half as scary without the endless pedal notes and an echo effect like you’re in the biggest cave ever and it’s slowly dawning on you that it’s actually the mouth of an enormous, hideous creature.

Dead Space is set in the 26^th century on an abandoned mining spaceship, the USG Ishimura. Soon after picking up the Ishimura’s distress call, the protagonist (an engineer by the name of Isaac Clarke) is thrust into a life-or-death battle as he navigates through the deserted vessel, facing heavily mutated corpses, called Necromorphs, who follow Isaac as he attempts to repair the ship. The ship itself is vast, with large open spaces combined with hugely claustrophobic corridors that restrict the player’s vision. The ambient tracks of the soundtrack are equally as expansive, with high pitched tones that seemingly come from nowhere.

In contrast, the combat music of Dead Space is erratic and percussive, designed as a jump-scare (sometimes considered a cheap shot but effective for people like me who literally can’t think of anything less exciting or erotic than being fucking terrified). When the Necromorphs show themselves at the beginning of the game, the player is treated to a short extract of ‘The Necromorphs Attack’, a lovely accompaniment to the unarmed and unarmoured Isaac running blindly down a corridor to escape the heavily mutated corpses vying for his blood. Graves makes heavy use of syncopation (emphasising off-beats, making the music sound irregular and unpredictable) and also has a large array of percussion with different timbres and pitches. In the original soundtrack (not sure if it’s heard in-game) there’s a slow bit in the middle where the violinists tap on the body of their instrument, which makes the relaxing sound of many crawling legs along a hard surface. Yeuch.

Anyone who’s played Dead Space may agree with me that after you’ve played for a while you sort of get the effect it’s going for and the jump scares wear off. That includes the musical ones. It’s unfortunate that this soundtrack is so polarised; it’s either super ambient and creepy or it’s STAB STAB MURDER TIME, with not much in between. Because of this, the effect is somewhat lost after a while, a real shame for hardcore horror fans but great for people like me who don’t particularly enjoy having the shit scared out of them.

Most Energising: Bastion – Darren Korb

Before I dive into why this soundtrack is literally the best gym music ever, have a look at this artwork.

How. Fucking. Beautiful. Is That. It was created by illustrator and graphic designer Marie Bergeron, and it depicts the protagonist and playable character, The Kid. The colours are glorious and I find his eyes so expressive.

As relaxing as the artwork is, the music itself is anything but. It’s a steampunk, bluesy, six-stringed adventure that fits perfectly with the aesthetic of Bastion. Relentless drums drive the music forward, and the combination between live instruments and electronic sound makes for an engaging listening experience.

Bastion begins with the protagonist, The Kid, waking up in his bed after some sort of apocalyptic event called the Calamity. It’s never explained what the Calamity is, but it’s left most people in Caelondia dead. It’s The Kid’s job to find and restore the Bastion, a sanctuary. It’s a platform game with a unique art style and a deep backstory which takes a bit of getting into, but eventually will lead you to a choice that tests your courage and moral compass.

The best track on the soundtrack by far is ‘Setting Sail, Coming Home’, which plays at the end credits. I won’t give any spoilers, but it can only be appreciated by hearing two other songs in the game, as ‘Setting Sail, Coming Home’ is a combination of the bluesy ‘Build That Wall (Zia’s Theme)’ and the solemn, regretful lamentation of ‘Mother, I’m Here (Zulf’s Theme)’. The two are beautiful in themselves, revealing more about the characters of Zulf and Zia, but together they bring not just the close of the game but an indication of the hardship suffered by the race of people Zulf and Zia belong to, the Ura. It’s a beautiful ending to the game.

I’ve forgotten that I was supposed to be giving this soundtrack the award for Most Energising. Well, it’s really good to jog to, probably because of the constant driving beat that keeps the momentum going forward. I’m also one of those people that has to walk or run to the beat of my music, and this is at a BPM that won’t leave me collapsed on the floor.

Here’s the full soundtrack on YouTube:

Most Nostalgic: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – Jeremy Soule

If you’re surprised, you really shouldn’t be. You really shouldn’t be.

Actually I get the feeling that you’re not surprised, you’ve just got a dull sense of ‘oh god not this again’.

Well, it’s true. It IS the most nostalgic, to the point where I get a whiff of the main theme and my heart rate goes up like a kid who’s just seen a lollipop the size of their head. I get little heart eyes. Alright, big massive heart eyes.

And why shouldn’t I? The first beat of ‘Reign of the Septims’ always makes me so unbelievably excited, remembering my teenage years when I discovered RPGs. Fantasy has always been such an escape for me, and that first theme embodies everything I loved about the game.

I recently transcribed ‘Reign of the Septims’ for my Masters dissertation and it was no mean feat. There’s a heavy echo effect which makes it difficult to hear, and there are so many layers that I had to work hard to isolate them all in my brain. It took hours, and all the while I was there having a total geek out because I’ve never really listened to the track before.

If you fast forward to 1:49 on the video above, you’ll hear ‘Through the Valleys’, which is a re-orchestrated version of ‘Silt Sunrise’ from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Soule orchestrated it again for Skyrim, and it’s my favourite track of all three games. It compliments the vast landscape and entices you to explore. ‘Look at this’, it says. ‘Look at the wonder before you, and all there is beyond. Go. Discover.’ With surging strings pushing the music forwards and woodwinds adding colour and interest, this track gives me a mixture of so many feelings. Nostalgia is just one of many.

Well, this is officially the longest post I’ve written so far, so if you’ve made it down here, thank you so much for reading and please comment below or tweet me at TCasualGamer with any and all thoughts. I’m always excited to hear about other people’s favourite game soundtracks, as they can be so personal so often. I’m really grateful that video game music can give me a emotional experience like no other music can.

 

 

Ludo2017 – Friday 21st April

The second day of Ludo2017 followed the same format as the first day, and I had the chance to speak to more people and listen to some even more interesting talks. I got the impression that music conferences rarely have such a friendly atmosphere, and I feel that this has something to do with the subject matter. Most of us are gamers ourselves and as well as a vested interest in musicology there’s also a lot of nostalgia and emotional feelings surrounding the games and game genres mentioned over the three days. I noticed that many of the ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s came when recognising a piece of music from a game beloved in our childhood, or a particularly memorable scene either for its sense of heartbreak, an iconic reveal, or simply for its comedy value. I personally felt a deep tug when I saw the aerial shot of the Imperial Palace from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, accompanied by Jeremy Soule’s famously dramatic theme.

I arrived at the conference slightly late on Friday 21st, and so unfortunately missed James Tate’s paper on the video game music canon. Some interesting points are raised in the questions, however, that so called ‘AAA’ games (pronounced ‘triple A’ and meaning games that have the highest budgets and levels of production) have trouble becoming canonised because of the sheer number of them. For example, the Assassin’s Creed franchise is now exceptionally well known and has many titles under its name, but the games themselves perhaps have less sentimental value as more sequels appear. For me personally, the classic AC games are the first one (Assassin’s Creed) and the second ones (Assassin’s Creed II, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, and Assassin’s Creed Revelations). After that, I believe the developers sacrificed plot and script quality for gimmicks and sensationalism. The video game business is, after all, a business, and they obviously saw a formula that worked. The controls also became simpler in Assassin’s Creed III, and after that the plot became so convoluted and far away from the original game that I have trouble connecting with the characters. I miss Desmond. Certainly the AC franchise as a whole is part of the video game canon, but not the individual games themselves and this, I believe, is partly due to the number of them.

James Cook’s paper, ‘Sonic Medievalism and Cultural Identity in Fantasy Videogame’, was particularly engaging as the fantasy genre is one I have identified with for a long time. I’ve enjoyed hours and hours of Dragon Age: Origins and The Elder Scrolls series has a special place in my heart, but James speaks about a game I haven’t played: The Witcher III. He talked about how the fantasy genre takes influence from the medieval in both sound and aesthetic, such as architecture and mythical beings. Some of the musical techniques used in the game come in the form of layering; for example, the same battle music will play when faced with an enemy, but if the enemy is small only the first level of music will play. I assume that more layers are added on according to the difficulty of the enemy. James also highlighted some stereotypes within the fantasy genre, such as northernmost parts of the game being associated with hardiness and deep-rooted traditions, whereas southern countries are known for their wealth, lavishness and comparative femininity. Characters from rural areas often have west country accents, and characters from the north will often have accents from Yorkshire. Wealthy characters, if they have a British accent, will often use received pronunciation found in the home counties of England. This contrast between wealthy and not can be seen in the cities of Oxenfurt and Novigrad which, although the two cities are situated in the north, are two of the most affluent cities in the game and this shows through their architecture. While the rest of the game takes influence from the medieval, Oxenfurt and Novigrad clearly represent the beginning of the Renaissance and the dawn of science, art, philosophy, music, and other intellectual pursuits. The choice to give Oxenfurt and Novigrad this Renaissance aesthetic separates them from the rest of the game, giving them a perceived ‘higher’ status. I’m interested to play this game and see these contrasts for myself.

A highlight of the Friday was listening to British game composer Rob Hubbard giving advice to aspiring composers. I’m not really a composer myself but it was interesting to listen to an expert in the field on the do’s and do not’s of video game composing. He criticised the composers who have no musical knowledge, saying that while you do have to be experimental with your music, you also have to make musical sense. Music theory must make up the foundation of your work, otherwise you risk writing weak pieces. Arguing further for the practice of theory, Hubbard stated that having theory to back up your creativity was important for motivation, as trying to keep momentum without any knowledge is a bit like trying to get a car to its destination by rolling it down a hill with the engine off. The nature of video game music is repetitive; players hear the music time and time again, loop after loop (which is probably why so many of us have such emotional ties to certain music), so the least the composer can do is make it interesting. Again, this comes from having musical knowledge and being able to vary the key, rhythms, and tonal areas around. No one wants to hear annoying video game music over and over and annoying music that uses terrible clichés is even worse. Immersing yourself in the video game music world is also an essential part of being a composer; by simply listening to video game music all the time you will absorb the style and rules of the trade, and the more you write the better you will become at decision making and the faster you will compose. It really was a privilege to hear Rob talk about his work from a realistic but encouraging standpoint.

It was another successful and enlightening day at Ludo2017 and I’ve heard many varied and fascinating perspectives, from analysing the sensory overload ‘brostep’ music of the Major League Gaming videos and their parodies to the Elvis-obsessed Kings of Fallout: New Vegas. The third day was just as exciting and I wish I could write about it all here.

For more information about the Ludomusicology Research Group, visit ludomusicology.org, where you can sign up for email updates and find contact information. If you’re a musicologist with an interest in video game music, I’d encourage you to have a look at the SSSMG (Society for the Study of Sound and Music in Games), a new society with the aim of connecting researchers and professionals in the field for the understanding of music within video games, at www.sssmg.org,