Level with Emily Reese

I met video essayist Jacob Geller during my occasional appearances on The MinnMax Show to discuss the best game music of a given year. Meeting him led me on a journey through his videos, and I absolutely adore his videos. We talk about why in this conversation!

In addition to YouTube, you can find Jacob on Patreon.

You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon. Join us on Discord for free. Find us on YouTube and Twitter. Patrons have access to special Discord events and special guest playlists.

Composer Thomas Cipollone writes 8-bit scores for games that release on NES cartridges. He has to adhere to all the rules composers followed in the 80s, constricted heavily by the size of his audio files and the voicings he can compose.

And he does so brilliantly, with creative textures, great grooves and fulfilling melodies. We spoke about four of his scores, some of which have been released, some of which are still in the process of getting released: Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum, Full Quiet, Unicorn and Beyond the Pins.

You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon. Join us on Discord for free. Find us on YouTube and Twitter. Patrons have access to special Discord events and special guest playlists.

Composer Curtis Schweitzer talks about his hypnotic, largely orchestral music for the indie 2D space explorer, Starbound. I loved how many of the tracks stretch out almost indefinitely, giving the listener time in that musical place. And there's quite a bit of music too - more than 6 hours of it. It's worth your time, I promise.

You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon. Join us on Discord for free. Find us on YouTube and Twitter. Patrons have access to special Discord events and special guest playlists.

Dylan Wiest is the director, drummer and sometimes-keyboardist in The OC Jazz Collective, a talented group of musicians from the legendary OverClocked Remix brigade.

The ensemble released a new album in November, 2022 called Mode Seven: A Jazz Tribute to the SNES. If you've never dipped your toe into the OC Remix crowd, this is a fantastic start. Dylan, who goes by "Wiesty" in the OCR community, has been remixing video game music for more than a decade.

Check out their prior album too, Chronology: A Jazz Tribute to Chrono Trigger, which in addition to Mode Seven can be downloaded FOR FREE on OCR's site.

You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon. Join us on Discord for free. Find us on YouTube and Twitter. Patrons have access to special Discord events and special guest playlists.

Composer Vincent Diamante's music for Sky: Children of the Light is gentle, gorgeous and uplifting. The palette is mostly orchestral, especially in the early volumes of the soundtrack (there are 4 volumes, currently).

The game is from thatgamecompany, known for its brilliantly designed indie games such as Journey, Flower and Flow. Vincent composed for Flower, and that soundtrack remains one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time. There's likely an old Top Score episode with Vincent and me floating around out there in cyberspace about that score.

I loved talking with Vincent again, loved learning about how he composed and recorded it, and loved meeting Copper.

You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon. Join us on Discord for free. Find us on YouTube and Twitter. Patrons have access to special Discord events and special guest playlists.

Nuno Fonseca grew up with an equal love for music, audio and technology. He's a former university professor in Portugal, and he's published more than 20 papers on computer audio and 2 books on sound and computer design.

His interests led him to create Sound Particles, which is immersive software capable of generating thousands or millions of sounds for 3D audio. It's a tremendously efficient way for a composer or sound designer to multiply the sounds they're working with, and to generate other effects for audio.

Nuno generously provided our producer, Sam Keenan, with the Sound Particles software so he could learn about these software tools with regards to Sam's own music. Thank you so much, Nuno!

There are some great FREE TOOLS on the Sound Particles website, including a highly accessible eBook called All You Need to Know About 3D Audio, and their YouTube also has a great series of videos if you don't feel like reading!

And most importantly, if you're a student or an educator, you can get all of Sound Particles software for free.

You can support Level with Emily on Patreon. Join us on Discord for free. Find us on YouTube and Twitter. Patrons have access to special Discord events and special guest playlists.

Kristin Naigus plays dozens of instruments and has performed on dozens of soundtracks. Here's a fraction of her credits: Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, Aragami 1 & 2, ABZU, Farpoint, various Minecraft mythology projects like the Egyptian, Norse and Chinese Mythology packs, Moss: Books 1 & 2, Darksiders Genesis, Hades, The Pathless, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Immortals: Fenyx Rising, Ambition: A Minuet in Power, Chicory: A Colorful Tale, Psychonauts 2, Return to Monkey Island, MultiVersus, and Horizon: Forbidden West.

We had such a great conversation and I loved picking her brain about her artistry and her work! I can't wait to have her back on the show.

You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon. Join us on Discord for free. Find us on YouTube and Twitter. Patrons have access to special Discord events and special guest playlists.

Composer Ed Critchley talks about his music for South of the Circle, a narrative adventure about an academic named Peter and his relationship with another lecturer named Clara. The game is set in the Cold War in the 60's in Antarctica.

South of the Circle came out more than 2 years ago, which matters, because there were a couple of times Ed needed to listen to his tracks in order to know what I was talking about, understandably.

I loved this soundtrack for its simplicity, and how remarkably consonant it is at times, under the weighty circumstances of the game.

You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon. Join us on Discord for free. Find us on YouTube and Twitter. Patrons have access to special Discord events and special guest playlists.

Composer Cris Velasco talks about his music for the game Dauntless, a co-op action RPG that debuted in 2019. This release is Cris's third volume of music from the game. We talk about the evolution of the score over the last several years, and how he takes instruments from all around the world to create the sound palette for the game. It's always so great having Cris on the show!

You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon. Join us on Discord for free. Find us on YouTube and Twitter. Patrons have access to special Discord events and special guest playlists.

Composer scntfc (C. Andrew Rohrmann) talks about two of his scores for games: Gibbon: Beyond the Trees is from 2022 - an ecological adventure game about Gibbons. As a player, you swing, slide and somersault through the trees while learning about these special creatures. Andy's music is heavy on struck percussion, rhythmic and full of energy to match the near-constant motion of the game.

JETT: The Far Shore (2021) sounds entirely different to support the game's sci-fi story in space. The first track sums it all up, designed as an overture to the music in JETT.

They're both so good and I was grateful to Andy for spending so much time with me to talk about these wonderful scores.