Friday Video Game Music Round-up – 4/6/12

Let’s take a look at the latest news/information/interviews in video game music for past week or so:

• Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka talks about the decline of the “Japanese video game” in a recent interview with Edge-Online.
• An interview with symphonic director/founder of Video Games Live Tommy Tallarico about his recent performances in the Mid-Atlantic region.
• Gamasutra reports composer Robert Holmes (of Sierra-Online’s Gabriel Knight series) and developer Jane Jensen (known for the same series, as well as Kings Quest IV and she also happens to be married to Robert Holmes, hah) are launching a new company to bring back adventure games.
• An interesting write up in the Denver Post about Symphony of the Goddesses featuring some quotes from director Jason Michael Paul.
• Last but not least, my lovely little video game chamber ensemble, Beta Test Music, will be featured in a showcase this Saturday night, April 7th, in Philadelphia.  For details, take a look here.  We’ll be playing some interesting duets as well as new versions of my Super Mario Land arrangement and Final Fantasy III (JP) Battles arrangement (links will let you listen to the tracks for absolutely free!).  Come on out if you’re in the area.  Tickets are free in advance and $5 at the door.

Have a good weekend, folks, and a good Passover/Easter if that applies!

Lesser-known Video Game Soundtracks: Cruise Chaser Blassty (PC88)

In this series of posts, I highlight soundtracks that we may have overlooked.  Let’s take a look at Nobuo Uematsu’s second game soundtrack ever, Cruise Chaser Blassty.

This space-mecha anime style RPG was developed by Square and released in 1986 for the NEC PC-8801.  The NEC-8801 was a personal computer and not a video game console.  The game was also compatible with the PC-9801 and the Sharp X1, which were also personal computers.

This music is obviously inspired by the space-mecha genre of the game.    The PC-88 is driven by a Zilog Z80 so we hear the typical Z80 set up here:  3 squares and a noise channel.  Uematsu, like in a lot of his early games, does not make use of the noise channel at all except for effect.  This is an interesting window into the humble beginnings of one of the most famous game music composers.  I think you’ll easily be able to identify the “Uematsu-like” motives that occur quite frequently throughout.  At any rate, here’s the whole soundtrack.  Enjoy!

(credit:  Grad1us5)