Videogame music
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Already in C64 times I was one of those who listend more to musik like intro or highscore than actually playing the games itself 😉
As I’ve said before in this thread, I don’t play videogames anymore. However, I do latch on to new videogame scores quite often, especially if they’re electronic.
Two favourites in recent years are FAR CRY 3: BLOOD DRAGON (2013) and TRIALS OF THE BLOOD DRAGON (2016) by the Australian duo Power Glove. I believe the first is an expansion pack to FAR CRY 3 (FAR CRY is a popular adventure game series). TRIALS is a spin-off of BLOOD DRAGON again. Or something like that. It’s all rather complex for someone like me who’s no longer in the loop.
But it’s the music that counts. They’re not only wonderful synthwave, but have many direct references to Faltermeyer, Fiedel, Vangelis etc. Well worth checking out for other fans of these:
Listening to this, in honour of composer Stephane Picq, who died last year, only 59 years old. He is of course the man behind the music of the original 1991 DUNE game, which I never really played, but I watched other people play it. This 1992 album is his rearranged version of that, with more spiced-up(!) sound, so that it isn’t QUITE as meager and 8-bit as the actual score. It’s a fantastic electronic concept album, really. Alongside Toto’s score for the Lynch film and Knut Avenstroup Haugen’s new score for the DUNE: AWAKENING game, the best produced in the franchise. Sorry Hans, Brian, Graeme and Frank — yours are good too, but not on this level.
This track has a nice Deep Forest/Enigma vibe to it, which was all the rage at the time:
What do you think about the CLAIR OBSCURE video game soundtrack that is a bit hyped at the moment? I have to admit I have not really listened to it – there is a huge 3 hour album out there and several extras… – except the two main songs that even have videos. (Of curse I have not played the game and have no idea what it is about ;-). I do like them and they are kind of earworms a little. They are refreshlingly old school (oxymoron I know) and have that certain French vibe.
I’ve only registered its existence, I’m afraid. I’m very apprehensive when I seek out new videogame scores, and I see they have a running time of 2 or 3 hours (or more). I’m exasperated before I even press play! So I tend to steer clear of them, or save them for last.
The two songs you linked to were okay. I’m sure I’ll get to this eventually, when I explore new videogame scores. I’ve had to prioritize 2025 feature film scores after New Year’s, for the annual top 10 podcast (hopefully released next week).
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