Level with Emily Reese

Level 176: John Robert Matz (Ambition: A Minuet in Power)

Join us on Discord to discuss the episode!

 

This is music by John Robert Matz for Ambition: A Minuet in Power, an adventure game/interactive visual novel with all sorts of romance options, set during the ramp-up of the French Revolution in the 1780s.

 

John Robert’s music is also set in the 1780s, the height of the Classical era in music, and composers like Wolfgang Mozart and Joseph Haydn were popular in France even if they  weren’t of French origin themselves.

 

Two things: a neighbor started mowing their lawn right as we began our interview. The noise from the mower will stop eventually! And I forgot to hit record on the video, so when you view it on YouTube, it'll be about 20 minutes before the scene kicks in :)

 

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.

 

 

Level 175: Carlos Eiene (insaneintherainmusic)

Composer Carlos Eiene began his career at age 14, uploading video game music covers to YouTube from his living room on piano and saxophone. He posted a video at the beginning of 2022 stating he would no longer be uploading game covers, but that he would be focusing on original composition. Carlos and I talk about some of his new music, and some of his old music, on this episode. Find him on YouTube, Spotify and elsewhere by searching insaneintherainmusic.

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, including a special playlist from Carlos.

Level 174: Lacey Johnson (VGM remix artist, composer, YouTuber)

Video game music remix artist Lacey Johnson is a content machine! You can find dozens of remix videos of Lacey’s on YouTube, she’s got a Persona 4 album on Bandcamp and several more album projects planned (including Persona 3!) with dozens more YouTube videos scheduled.

I got to meet Lacey in April at VGM Con here in Minneapolis. We were on a panel together and we chat about that briefly, but also her background, all the instruments she plays, we talk about Elden Ring, Kirby, Final Fantasy, Persona - and 80s music, including the B-52s.

Patrons have access to a special 5-track playlist Lacey prepared of some of her favorite music!

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.

Level 173: Robert Wolf (Arknights, Call of Duty Mobile, Honor of Kings)

A song by composer Robert Wolf is nominated for Best Original Song in the upcoming Game Audio Network Guild Awards on May 25, 2022. He composed "Immutable" for the game Arknights, a mobile tower defense/ tactical RPG from Hypergryph. Robert is a composer for Hexany Audio, a company that provides music and sound for many different game projects around the world. Robert also composes for Honor of Kings and Call of Duty Mobile. Visit the Level with Emily Reese YouTube channel to see our conversation.

You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon. Find us on YouTube and Twitter. Patrons have access to the Level with Emily Discord server.

Level 172: Mark ”Mahn” Schimmelbusch (Bloodborne Concept Album)

Mark Schimmelbusch - known as "Mahn" in the VGM world - talks about his album called The Old Blood: A Bloodborne Concept Album. This album was recently awarded best remix album at the 2022 VGM Con Remix Awards in Minneapolis. Mahn has remixed many other favorites from game music, and we enjoyed talking together about his musical adventures!

You can support Level with Emily on Patreon. Find us on YouTube, Twitter and Discord.

Level 171: Mason Lieberman (Tencent Games)

Composer Mason Lieberman works for Tencent Games, and writes music for all types of games and projects, like PUBG Mobile and Teamfight Tactics. He's composed for tons of different anime projects too, like RWBY and Beyblade Burst Evolution. Mason has a keen ear for composing J-rock, and other J-styles and C-styles, and was exposed to these styles starting at a young age when his family had a foreign exchange student from Japan. 

You can view the conversation with Mason on the Level with Emily YouTube page, and subscribe to be notified of new videos from us.

Support Level with Emily on Patreon.

Level 170: Dom Palombi (Game Night!)

Drummer Dom Palombi talks about his new album Game Night! with game music covers and three original tracks. The album features several seasoned video game, anime and all the J-styles performers like Patrick Bartley (J-Music Ensemble), Carlos Eiene (insaneintherainmusic), the Super Soul Bros., Charlie Rosen (8-Bit Big Band) and more. Dom and the Game Night! band recently traveled to Minneapolis for VGM Con to perform. Dom and Emily talk about that experience, Dom's background and his KILLER Game Night! band and album.

Find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon!

Level 169: Andrew Hulshult (Dusk and Dusk ’82)

Andrew Hulshult's music for the Quake-like retro first person shooter called Dusk is fabulous. Dusk, from New Blood Interactive, originally came out in 2018. Andrew’s music for the original Dusk is symphonic metal - a lot of electric guitars and epic orchestral music. And that’s all wonderful and amazing and you’ll hear a bunch of it.

EVEN MORE AMAZING, in 2021, New Blood released a tiny prequel even MORE retro than the original Dusk called Dusk ‘82, with pixel art and a conversion of the music from epic orchestral metal to 8-bit metal, and it’s WONDERFUL music.

We loved talking with Andrew about his music for Dusk and Dusk ‘82, and you can catch a video of our chat on YouTube - please subscribe! 

Find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon.

Level 168: Andrew Benon (Chex Quest) VGM Con 2022

This is a panel from VGM Con with composer Andrew Benon for Chex Quest, a game that came out in boxes of Chex cereal from General Mills in 1996. Andrew, at the time, worked for a company in Minneapolis called Digital Cafe.

General Mills also is located in Minneapolis (well, a suburb called Golden Valley, to be more precise). In any event, Andrew will tell you the story of the CD Rom cereal game, Chex Quest.

VGM Con just happened here in Minneapolis over the weekend of April 1st 2022, and it was amazing - we cannot recommend this con highly enough. The musicians who performed were spectacular. It was incredible and if we didn’t see you this past weekend, we hope to see you there next year.

You can see a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon.

Level 167: Lee Jackson (Duke Nukem 3D, Rise of the Triad)

Composer Lee Jackson's legacy in the world of game music includes the theme song for Duke Nukem 3Dcalled “Grabbag”. Lee talks about writing music for Duke Nukem 3D and other Duke projects, as well as how quickly he wrote music for Rise of the Triad, and how he made sounds for Balls of Steel (all games from Apogee Software / 3D Realms). Lee also takes commissions to write new music, and his albums on Bandcamp include music he wrote inspired by Duke Nukem, and other Duke projects. No video for this interview, but please do head over to the Level with Emily YouTube channel to find our newest videos - and subscribe! You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patreon.