With Wonder Wickets, Stijn van Wakeren demonstrates their fluency in exactly what every good videogame soundtrack achieves: an eclecticism that does not simply mash together styles and genres, but that wields them effectively to create music that enriches more than just a game’s soundworld. It also marks the second section of the album, which switches around into more electronic territory, emphasizing beats and contrasting rhythms (like the drifting, yet concise “Space UFOria”), culminating with the undanceably fast, mostly electronic “Star Crossed (Karaoke Version)”. “One Here One There”, the longest track in the OST at 8 minutes (most other tracks average about 2 minutes and a bit), is surprisingly engaging given its repetitive nature, its succession of instrumental solos over the same melodic arrangement providing an interesting, jazzy twist on the soundtrack’s themes. This approach grants Wonder Wickets an originality that springs from repurposing genre standards “Birdy Birdy” transforms from fanfare to ultra-short meditative bits to grand fanfare, only to slow down by the end with a playfully tense piano melody and restart everything from scratch. It successfully blends a neoclassical approach to simple emotivity (think Sunwrae or Peter Broderick) with edge-of-your-seat party game use of festive rhythms. “Isn’t Everything Green”, one of my favorite game music pieces of the year so far, begins with a sweet string melody bursting forth with a cheerful energy made only stronger by its dialogue with a quick accordion section that pins down the joyful, dreamy carnivalesque tone. Its classicality transforms the party game musical tropes (dancey, Latin rhythms and fast, sometimes jazzy development) into something to chill out to, flowing between relaxation and excitement with ease. His DK West song combines rap with Malaysian traditional music elements including Dikir Barat.Wonder Wickets is a cheery mini-golf game with a happy soundtrack to match, taking cues from party games and underlined by a Japanese-game-soundtrack melodic sensibility that makes it just shine with color. He is a guest composer for the upcoming game, No Straight Roads by Metronomik. After receiving 4 degrees in music and making music in Berkeley, California Az now is physically based in Kuala Lumpur. He has also been interviewed on GameSpot and featured in the GameSpot Asia Beat Podcast. Prior to moving back to Malaysia, Az played in a video game music band in San Francisco. Do check out the game & the soundtrack if you’re into the 80s and 90s as I am.Īz was the featured classical guitar soloist with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) for the Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy Kuala Lumpur premiere conducted by Arnie Roth (USA) at their three sold-out shows.Īz also performed for the South East Asian premiere of A New World: Intimate Music from Final Fantasy at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas in Kuala Lumpur conducted by Arnie Roth (USA) and featuring pianist Benyamin Nuss (Germany). I could talk more about the Katana Zero soundtrack but these are 10 things that I dig the most about it. Somehow, Katana Zero is both adventurous and respectful at the same time. Some game soundtracks purposely limit the sounds they use and some try to go overboard with the variety. I think the main thing about the soundtrack is that it draws upon a lot of different influences yet still manages to be a strong coherent work. I love how immersive the whole experience feels. Overall, the soundtrack does its job amazingly well to paint the world of the game with the gritty meets noir meets violent underground world. “At Home” paints the Eastern influences – again tastefully done.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |