2023 vgm thoughts #3
humanity
- this is an extremely fascinating OST
- it's an ambient experimental soundtrack, with the super repetitive, evolving nature of minimalism and a heeeavy use of raw one-off vocal samples (very much in the vein of oneohtrix point never)
- i've been pondering over it for a while, and my feelings still aren't fully sorted out
- like some tracks are absolutely phenomenal and totally make your head swirl, and then some just feel...almost purposeless? like randomly thrown together for the sake of it
- i love it for its idiosyncrasies, i think i just wish it was more consistent
- regardless, i still strongly recommend giving it a chance!! it's so unique for a game soundtrack and i really admire and appreciate it for that
everybody 1-2 switch!
- ......listen
- the game is ehhhh but with the music isolated, hey ain't too bad
- there are a couple tracks i even......like, whwhwhwhhaaaaaaaa
- the horse is still deeply upsetting though, get him to a glue factory stat
pikmin 4
- alright the big one
- so i didn't fully finish my pikmin 4 thoughts, and since finishing it and nearly 100%-ing it, i can do that shortly here
- overall it's a fantastic game with a soundtrack that gets better as you go along, but i still think there is some serious missed potential both on its own merit as well as in comparison to previous installments
- my favorite tracks are the initial piano intros to each area, some of the side mission themes, and nearly all the music from olimar's shipwrecked tale
- the sparse yet heavily-adaptive systems are really neat, even if i wish it had a little more core personality in the composition
- the generic saturday morning cartoon sections of the OST however are still extremely confusing and frustrating, like to me it feels very dismissive of the series' quirky offbeat individualism in favor of pursuing an easy one-note tone that talks down rather than lifts up
- [insert moss's homophobic glare]
- so yeah i'm obviously pretty mixed on the soundtrack, but hey at least the game itself is amazing, and way more people are playing pikmin now too which is a major win overall
starfield
- you know this game was so completely not on my radar until i was casually watching my sister's bf playing it and my ears went oh
- there's a loooooot of cliche john williams-esque sci-fi music tropes in here, which is obviously expected from a AAA game specifically designed to appeal to the average Gamerâ„¢, so you gotta kinda dig through a bunch of mind-numbingly generic stuff to get to the gold
- if you put some of these chord progressions exactly as written but in a different context (say a modern jazz fusion band), musicians would be wincing in pleasure
loom
- where do i even begin with this soundtrack holy shit
- so this OST is done by heoliene (aka deuveir), who was already one of my favorite music producers. their work is so deeply inspiring to me due to their unflinching dedication to exploring their own unique aesthetic vision in every possible conceptual facet: visually, sonically, even phonetically
- they made "loom"
this yearlast year, which is an atmospheric audiovisual experience on itch.io, and the soundtrack just completely took me out - the music is so intensely enveloping, it just captures muted brightness and liminality so beautifully, like airy and prismatic while still retaining its core warmth
- the attention to detail in the production is unreal too, like it's all so purposeful and distinctive
- i fully recognize i am being entirely swayed by my love for warm experimental ambient music, but hey uh whatever you know
(EDIT: ooh forgot to mention, my only criticism that also kinda applies to a lot of experimental music in general is keeping in very specific loud frequencies that pierce through (or add to?) the texture. that's just a personal thing and i still adore this soundtrack but figured i'd mention it anyway)
more words coming soooooon