Xenoblade Chronicles X has a… unique soundtrack. But I’m really liking it! Here are a few samples of what you’ll hear during your stay on Mira:
The title screen theme:
Battle theme:
And lastly, the song that plays when you’re flying around in a mech suit:
Yup.
I’ve only briefly mentioned In This Moment on this blog, but rest assured, I am a big fan. Been rocking The Dream for years now. Listen to it all this time. It’s a pretty perfect album for me; one of my all-time favourites (that “Call Me” cover? To die for). Despite that, I never bothered to check out the albums that came immediately before or after it.
I did, however, take Blood out for a spin as soon as it released. I was not terribly into it at the time, as it was way heavy and angry and violent. 2012 Ryan must have been some kind of sissy or something. I’ve been listening to it a lot lately and I’ve really gotten into it. Love the screaming. Love the rawness. Love how absolutely badass Maria is.
The fact is that I’m not good at following music, so I had no idea that In This Moment had released a new album in November of last year. I made getting Black Widow onto my iPhone my number one priority as soon as I learned of its existence. (Also Savages by Breathe Carolina, but that’s a story for another day.)
I went for a walk as soon as it was done downloading so that I could listen to the album without distraction (I can’t sit still for a whole hour!). I was not prepared.
Black Widow opens with a ball-to-the-friggin’-wall instrumental piece that sets the scene very nicely. It’s got this pumping drum beat and air raid sirens and that weird radiation detector feedback noise. And it’s damn spooky. If I played this alone at night, I’d probably be frightened if it weren’t so cool. Great, great intro.
The rest of the album follows suit, with plenty of twisted, macabre lyrics. Maria’s voice isn’t as sweet as it used to be, and that goes very well with the grim subject matter. The industrial metal sound is not the kind of thing that I usually tell people I’m into, but I so am. Guitar riffs that will tear your face off, drums that you can feel in your gut. Even the more techno-influenced elements are perfectly in place, awesome and terrifying at the same time.
“Big Bad Wolf”, “Black Widow” and “Bones” are my favourite tracks, but I can’t deny that “Sex Metal Barbie” and “Sick Like Me” are just as great. “Dirty Pretty” seems like a Lady Gaga song, if Lady Gaga was more angry and hardcore. “The Fighter” is a sweet, confident track that starts with a duet between Maria and a piano, which builds nicely as the rest of the band joins in. “Sexual Hallucination” is an actual duet with some dude from a band I’ve never heard of (Shinedown). “Bloody Creature Poster Girl” and “Natural Born Sinner” are also songs on the album. Perfectly good but not really things that I have a specific thing to say about.
The last two tracks on the album, “Into the Darkness” and “Out of Hell” really turn the entire thing around. “Into the Darkness” is like a minute of Maria trying to justify her existence and express her love to an abusive male voice that is constantly slandering her. Then another solid minute of her sobbing in silence before regaining her composure and heading out the door. It’s one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever heard and makes me feel deeply uncomfortable every time. I suppose that’s the point. Art, man.
“Out of Hell” is a heartfelt ballad devoted to all those who’ve suffered life on the streets. It’s sorrowful and beautiful; tales of downtrodden youth and how difficult it can be to find support. Sadly, it’s hitting a little close to home these days, and makes me want to re-evaluate my entire self-centered life.
So yeah, Black Widow is definitely a home run with me. I’ve listened to it at least twice a day since I got it, so it’s safe to say that I dig it. It’s spooky, emotional, thought-provoking, confident. And it just rocks. There are layers to pick apart here, and I’m barely scratching the surface with this review.
I guess that’s enough words for now. I’m bad at talking about music and generally nobody takes my recommendations seriously anyway. Maybe because I don’t recommend the same cookie-cutter pop garbage pushed by record labels that the majority of people so willingly choke down.
METAL 4 LIFE
As an incentive to have consumers buy Super Smash Bros 4 on 3DS and Wii U, Nintendo put two promotions in place for anyone who registered both versions on Club Nintendo. The first one was the giveaway of the very first piece of DLC for the game: Mewtwo. The character costs $5 to buy for both versions of the game (or $4 if you only want him on one or the other), but people who cashed in on the promotion get him for free, and a couple of weeks early, to boot.
The second promotion was a special CD set that features 72 tracks from the games’ soundtracks. This is the more elusive one, as Nintendo hasn’t announced any plans to actually sell this CD set to anyone who didn’t qualify for the free giveaway.
As such, I’ve uploaded the entirety of both discs for you to download at your leisure. They’re lazily tagged, but they’re good to go. It’s really excellent stuff if you’re at all into video game music.
February, February… I don’t really have any preamble for February. It certainly was a month.
I bought a New 3DS. That’s a thing that happened.
Super Smash Bros 4 (3DS/WiiU) – Duh. For the first time, I think I’ve actually spent more time this month playing the Wii U version. Sounds wacky, but Smash is really great on 3DS.
Hyrule Warriors (WiiU) – Thanks to the new DLC pack, this is back in the regular rotation.
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (3DS) – The cycle begins anew, and I couldn’t be happier.
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP) – My brother had to re-purchase this for his Vita, and started from the beginning. Helping him work back up to a decent rank was a nice warm-up for MH4.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D (3DS) – One of my favourite Zeldas, but with better graphics and a few of the wrinkles ironed out. Terrific.
Lufia: the Legend Returns (GBC) – I didn’t like it at first, then it got better, and now it’s just feeling like a slog. Starting to remember why I don’t play many RPGs any more.
Senran Kagura Burst (3DS) – The shallowest, most action-heavy title on my 3DS. Great for when you just want to kick a bunch of butt without any thought or effort. Also I’m not terribly opposed to all the jiggly bits. The exploding clothes are a bit much, though.
Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatake! Ouendan 2 (DS) – Music is what brought me out of my post-separation slump. This is what put the wheels in motion. Mostly I just played “Bambina” and “Countdown” over and over.
Rock Band 2 (360) – Rocked out a little bit. Why did I bother adding this?
Pokémon Shuffle (3DS) – Freemium match-em-up. Now with Squirtles and Kangaskhans!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (3DS) – Like the movie it’s based on, it’s surprisingly not a massive pile of garbage. Not great, but enjoyable. Much better than Magic Pockets’ last TMNT game, anyway.
Elite Beat Agents (DS) – Eventually I was Ouendan’d out, and moved into something a little more North American. Played obsessively for a week until I was able to be “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” on Sweatin’ difficulty. These games are so fun, I would really love to see another sequel…
Resident Evil HD Remaster (360) – Still a good one. Just a few tweaks away from being my ideal RE experience. Like, get rid of the crimson heads and busywork “puzzles” and it’s golden.
Oh, wait. No, that’s not right. It’s Thanksgiving. In Canada.
Anyway, this adorable little tribute video has been making headlines around the web over the last couple days, and I figure that it’s my solemn duty as a Massive Earthbound Fanboy to share it as well. So here’s an embed of it. Enjoy. And if you tear up a little, it’s quite alright. Nobody’s going to judge.
Oh, and happy Thanksgiving. I give thanks for all the wonderful people in my life, without whom I would be absolutely lost. And for video games. And moments of pure beauty like the one embedded above.
I’m sure that I’ve mentioned before that for at least the last decade, I’ve been introduced to a lot of music through video games. Maybe that seems weird, but I don’t know any music nerds, so it’s not like I have anyone constantly chiding my tastes and telling me what I should be listening to. In fact, I think that I might be the biggest music nerd I know, on the basis of I’m the only person I know who even tried to write about music. And I’m kind of a dick when people listen to things I don’t like. That, I think, would be the better example.
Ever since the first Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, I’ve been picking out songs I like that are included on game soundtracks and following up to see what the bands are all about. A great many of my favourite bands were introduced to me through video games. Thrice, Paramore, The Vandals, Anamanaguchi, Dragonforce. The list goes on.
But today, let’s talk about Sleigh Bells. If you haven’t guessed yet, this post is not just an anecdote, but my monthly attempt to write some semi-coherent thoughts about music. This is where most people will stop reading.
Their debut album, Treats, is my most recent iTunes purchase, and a pretty good one at that. I often sit and listen to track previews for weeks or even months before purchasing an album from a new band, because I’m very indecisive by nature. But with Treats, I pretty much just shouted “Take my money!” at my phone as I mashed the Buy Album button.. It should be noted that I was at work when I bought this album.
Let’s start at the start. Sleigh Bells have a song featured in Lollipop Chainsaw called “Riot Rhythm” that I was totally into, but never bothered to look up. It wasn’t until I heard it again in Saints Row: The Third that I decided to look into this band a little deeper.
I won’t lie, Sleigh Bells, to most people, will simply sound like noise. It’s eclectic and eccentric and all over the place. But there’s also an order to it all, if you’re willing to actually listen and absorb what you’re hearing. I think “brilliant” might be overselling them a little, but they’re in that ballpark somewhere.
Sleigh Bells is the kind of band that you would never expect that I’d like.
The album is not perfect. In fact, it does a lot of the thing I generally dislike in music. Mindless repetition, for example. The lyrics of the song “A/B Machines” are simply “Got my A machines on the table/Got my B machines in the drawer” repeated for three and a half minutes. Yet it’s one of my favourite songs from Treats. The thing about Sleigh Bells is that you’ve simply got to accept the vocals as another instrument, not an actual voice trying to say something. A few songs have a little more depth to their lyrics, but it’s perfectly safe to consider Treats an instrumental album.
The middle of the album is a little weak, too. The first four songs and the last four song are wonderful and I could listen to them forever, but the three in the middle are sort of slow and bland. They’re not unlistenable or anything, but there’s definitely a lull in there. It lacks the energy and creativity of the rest of the album.
That’s it; I’ll keep it short. If you need more to work with before you try Sleigh Bells out for yourself, go listen to “Riot Rhythm,” “Infinity Guitars,” and “A/B Machines” on YouTube. It’s worth ten minutes of your time, don’t you think?
Let’s take a short moment to talk about something completely unrelated to that one thing that I’m always blogging about.
Unfortunately, my diversion is headed right into talk about music, that most loathed topic of the TE readership. Or so I’ve heard. From one person. Years and years ago.
I haven’t bought or even illegally downloaded any music in what seems like forever now. In reality, my iTunes receipts show that I bought two albums in early June: Freezepop’s Future Future Future Perfect and Whitesnake’s… Whitesnake. The second one is the one I want to talk about.
I’ve never been a really big Whitesnake fan, but I suppose that’s because I’ve only ever known “Here I Go Again” and “Is This Love,” which were never really enough to make me want to explore more. Then one morning, I had the song “Still of the Night” stuck in my head, but I didn’t know the artist. I Googled it, and that set off a chain reaction of events that led to me purchasing the album through iTunes.
I think that made it sound a little more exciting than it actually was, yes?
Anyway, I fell for the album from song one. I had always assumed that Whitesnake was just another hair band, but honestly, I think that their music, at least on the Whitesnake album, is a lot more impressive than the likes of Poison or Def Leppard. Heavier and more technical at the very least. I don’t know if I’ll be buying any more of their stuff, but I’ll certainly be more inclined to consider it.
The opening song, “Crying in the Rain” is great, a bluesy track that normally you’d expect to see closer to the end of an album. I think it works pretty well as an opener, though. “Still of the Night” is my jam. And my favourite track is “Straight for the Heart,” which is probably the most upbeat song on the album. It sorta makes me think of Van Halen for some reason, though it doesn’t really sound like Van Halen. It’s also got my favourite guitar solo on an album that is absolutely laden with guitar solos.
I’ll keep it brief. I think that’s already more than enough of my amateurish musings on a 27-year-old album. If you like guitars and 80’s music at all, then this is something you’ll definitely like. In fact, if you’re into those things, you’ve probably already well aware of this particular album. I’m quite late to the party on this one.
I’ve made a handful of posts containing brief thoughts on Shovel Knight. They all essentially say that it’s been added to my short list of Favourite Games Ever. There’s a ton of reasons to love Shovel Knight, but only one exists within the realm of e-commerce: the Shovel Knight Original Soundtrack.
Composed mainly by the exceptionally talented Jake Kaufman (maybe you know him as virt), with a handful of tracks contributed by the legendary Manami Matsumae, the Shovel Knight soundtrack is a thing of rare glory. It’s 48 tracks of nostalgic beauty, perfectly capturing the essence of the best NES soundtracks. Honestly, I’d say that it easily rivals the Mega Man 2 soundtrack, and that’s a pretty bold claim. I won’t say that every track is pure gold, but almost all of them are.
“Strike the Earth” is far and away the best track on the album, and both of the Black Knight battle themes are kickin’. The main stage themes are all really nice, and certainly add an extra dose of personality to their stages. One of the touches that I really love is that The Order Of No Quarter themes are all amped-up arrangements of the a stage themes. Nothing else really stands out to me, but it’s all good listening no less.
If I had to detract points anywhere, I suppose it’s a little silly that they included all three variations of the village theme as separate three-minute tracks. And one after another, even. They’re not really that different from each other, and they certainly didn’t all need to be so long. Ah well, it’s a minor thing, but still pretty odd.
If just the OST isn’t enough to slake your thirst for Shovel Knight tuneage, there’s also an arrangement album available, called Strike The Earth!, which includes 18 remixed tracks by a bunch of artists I’ve mostly never heard of. Most likely they’re arrangement artists from sites OCRemix and whatnot. Also, I guess some are songs that virt made specifically for trailers.
I bought the OST on the day that it was released, but held off on Strike The Earth! for a month or so. That was a mistake, as the remix album is just as good. I don’t want to say better, but it really cuts down on the cruft and keeps all of the excellence. There’s a particularly wonderful remix of the Iron Whale stage theme on there, which was one of my favourite tracks to begin with, so that’s a nice bonus. And of course, the remixes of the Black Knight’s battle theme and “Strike the Earth” are amazing. My absolute favourite of the bunch though, is “No Sense Running,” a dubstep remix of the Lost City stage theme with some vocal flourishes. Normally I don’t even like dubstep, so take that as you will.
Both the OST and Strike the Earth! are available on Jake Kaufman’s Bandcamp page, so I highly suggest that you click over there right away and get busy buying these. Have I mentioned that they’re really good? Because they are. And you can pay as much or as little as you want for them, so there’s really no reason not to get them. If you have any interest in NES-styled video game music, this is pretty much the cream of the crop. Help support an awesome game with an awesome soundtrack and buy at least the OST. Shovel Knight is exactly the kind of video game that I want to be playing, and I’m damn well going to spread the word where I can.
In March I tried to focus on fewer games, getting my count of beaten games up, and cleaving away a small portion of my backlog. But then April came along and I have just been all over the place with my gaming; playing on every platform, new games, old games, half-beaten games. I guess it’s like that rubber-band effect that happens to people who try to lose weight the wrong way.
This month’s list is huge, but at least I beat a lot of the games on it. Lately it seems like I’ve been favoring a system of working on one or two long games, while supplementing that with a bunch of smaller games that can be beaten over a couple evenings or a single afternoon. It’s a good system, and I wish I’d thought of it years ago. Maybe then my backlog wouldn’t be so enormous.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate HD (360) – Unlike many, I quite liked the first Lords of Shadow game, but the 3DS sequel seemed so tepid that I skipped it. Luckily, Mercurysteam saw fit to release an HD version for $15 only a few months later, which then went on sale, and that sounded good enough to me. And, yeah, it’s pretty much as mediocre as the reviews make it out to be. Oh well.
On one hand, I generally hate pop music mashups. They’re almost always stupid and more often than not I hate both of the songs they’re made out of.
On the other hand, I love it when two totally opposite things blend together absolutely beautifully.
That said, guess how I feel about the video embedded below. (Hint: I try to mostly only post about things I like.)
