drakonium - Music Diaries - Forums : Best Ever Albums

Tha1ChiefRocka
Yeah, well hey, I'm really sorry.

Location: Kansas

Nice to see the good 'ol Louvin Brothers get a shoutout. Not many people know that backstory you gave. Ive always enjoyed there songs, they touch my country roots.

drakonium
coucou

Location: More than one

Luigii wrote:

I am trying the Tarika Blue album. And my god this is some divine stuff. Probably will have this in my greatest charts. Will get in the decade charts for the 70's as well as the year it came out. I thank you for this pick.

Glad you enjoyed it that much!

Hot Dreams by Timber Timbre

I had listened to Creep On Creepin' On some time ago as a rec from meccalecca for some game on here, and thought it was alright, but then kinda forgot about it. Then I heard about this and thought why not, it seemed to get good reviews. It's brilliant. Each song feels really unique, and although the record is pretty dark on the whole, it somehow manages to convey a lot of different moods during its course, from the slow and haunting opener, to the ridiculously smooth title track, to the powerful, glorious ending for Run From Me, and so on. My favorite part is without a doubt the end of the title track, with the saxophone part repeated again and again, with one note added each time, thus creating small parts of bizarre time signatures. It's remarkable how they are able to make songs that are generally gloomy sound so natural, so effortless. A very elegant record. Might make my chart! (edit : it did when the Grand Canyon sax solo kicked in, it was too strong)

drakonium
coucou

Location: More than one

Cuphead by Kristofer Maddigan

Really can't stop listening to this.

So this is the soundtrack to a game released pretty recently called Cuphead. You may very well have heard of it, it was / is kinda everywhere, and for quite a few months now. It's mostly built its reputation on its visual aesthetics, which are based on the 30s rubber hose cartoons by studios like Disney or Fleischer, though it generally draws inspiration from a lot of other sources as well (personalities from that time, other cartoons like Tom & Jerry, and various video games). With that said, it does have other remarkable features, the most obvious ones being its playstyle, which relies almost exclusively on boss battles, its relatively high difficulty, and, of course, its soundtrack.

Said soundtrack is jazz music, with few exceptions. It mostly divides into three main components : first, the boss battle tracks, which constitute the bulk of the record. They are almost all fast, dynamic big band style songs, with each boss having his own one / theme. They sometimes adapt to the boss in question (such as the Eastern-sounding one for the djinn, the queen bee one featuring loud, buzzing brass instruments, or the dancing flower one, loosely based on samba), but most of the time they’re just straight up explosive, lightning fast big band tracks. What’s interesting is that they kinda work in three steps : first, you play the game, die again and again against the bosses, without having the luxury to pay too much attention to the music ; then you get the soundtrack and remember each boss as the songs go on ; finally, you just want to play the game again (on the freshly unlocked expert mode, for example…) to get the best of everything. Tbh I’m rather baffled at how accomplished the songs are : they’re played by a real band, have an end, do not loop like most other video games tracks, and feature extended solos from a lot of different instruments (even vibraphone!). To think that they implemented that into a game where you’re not even allowed to fully enjoy it in context, considering the difficulty of the battles, is really impressive. But yeah these tracks are generally the best ones.

The second kind of tracks are more ragtime or Dixieland-based (generally slower / with more emphasis on the piano), and correspond the various parts of the world map, and the run and gun levels (which are pretty close to a regular platform game and certainly not the most interesting sections of the game). They work wonders ; the tracks to the Inkwell Isle I, with great New Orleans-style playing from the trombone and clarinet, and III, sounding much darker and slower with prominent saxophone parts, are among the best of the record. True as well for the more dynamic run and gun songs such as Funfair Fever, with piano and flute strongly reminiscent of themes from Super Mario Bros. 3.

Finally, the rest of the album is a melting pot of various things, from end-of-levels fanfares to the game intro to interlude themes and so on. They’re mostly OK (particularly the final track, the intro to the game which is sung by a barbershop quartet, and the King Dice theme which represents a nice vocal part in the game / record) but they’re the weakest part of the record for sure. Fortunately they represent only a small part of it.

So yeah, I’m kinda obsessed with this game and its soundtrack as of now. Without playing it, the music certainly has less value, but checking out a few tracks (Junkyard Jive, Fiery Frolic, Botanic Panic, Sugarland Shimmy, Inkwell Isle I and The King’s Court are probably my favorite ones) shouldn’t be a disappointing experience.

Luigii

Gender: Male
Age: 28

drakonium wrote:

Cuphead by Kristofer Maddigan

Really can't stop listening to this.

So this is the soundtrack to a game released pretty recently called Cuphead. You may very well have heard of it, it was / is kinda everywhere, and for quite a few months now. It's mostly built its reputation on its visual aesthetics, which are based on the 30s rubber hose cartoons by studios like Disney or Fleischer, though it generally draws inspiration from a lot of other sources as well (personalities from that time, other cartoons like Tom & Jerry, and various video games). With that said, it does have other remarkable features, the most obvious ones being its playstyle, which relies almost exclusively on boss battles, its relatively high difficulty, and, of course, its soundtrack.

Said soundtrack is jazz music, with few exceptions. It mostly divides into three main components : first, the boss battle tracks, which constitute the bulk of the record. They are almost all fast, dynamic big band style songs, with each boss having his own one / theme. They sometimes adapt to the boss in question (such as the Eastern-sounding one for the djinn, the queen bee one featuring loud, buzzing brass instruments, or the dancing flower one, loosely based on samba), but most of the time they’re just straight up explosive, lightning fast big band tracks. What’s interesting is that they kinda work in three steps : first, you play the game, die again and again against the bosses, without having the luxury to pay too much attention to the music ; then you get the soundtrack and remember each boss as the songs go on ; finally, you just want to play the game again (on the freshly unlocked expert mode, for example…) to get the best of everything. Tbh I’m rather baffled at how accomplished the songs are : they’re played by a real band, have an end, do not loop like most other video games tracks, and feature extended solos from a lot of different instruments (even vibraphone!). To think that they implemented that into a game where you’re not even allowed to fully enjoy it in context, considering the difficulty of the battles, is really impressive. But yeah these tracks are generally the best ones.

The second kind of tracks are more ragtime or Dixieland-based (generally slower / with more emphasis on the piano), and correspond the various parts of the world map, and the run and gun levels (which are pretty close to a regular platform game and certainly not the most interesting sections of the game). They work wonders ; the tracks to the Inkwell Isle I, with great New Orleans-style playing from the trombone and clarinet, and III, sounding much darker and slower with prominent saxophone parts, are among the best of the record. True as well for the more dynamic run and gun songs such as Funfair Fever, with piano and flute strongly reminiscent of themes from Super Mario Bros. 3.

Finally, the rest of the album is a melting pot of various things, from end-of-levels fanfares to the game intro to interlude themes and so on. They’re mostly OK (particularly the final track, the intro to the game which is sung by a barbershop quartet, and the King Dice theme which represents a nice vocal part in the game / record) but they’re the weakest part of the record for sure. Fortunately they represent only a small part of it.

So yeah, I’m kinda obsessed with this game and its soundtrack as of now. Without playing it, the music certainly has less value, but checking out a few tracks (Junkyard Jive, Fiery Frolic, Botanic Panic, Sugarland Shimmy, Inkwell Isle I and The King’s Court are probably my favorite ones) shouldn’t be a disappointing experience.

I need to finish this soundtrack myself. Do enjoy it immensely.

drakonium
coucou

Location: More than one

Luigii wrote:

I need to finish this soundtrack myself. Do enjoy it immensely.

It is indeed kinda massive with its 3 hours of music but it's not really supposed to be heard in one sitting IMO. Randomized listening is particularly fitting for this one. But the more I listen to it, the more I think whether or not one has played the game, the music is way too good to be ignored.

Zentropy by Frankie Cosmos

How something so short can be so touching is beyond me. Seriously considering this for my chart. It's so naive, so fragile, yet so intense in what it manages to convey within its 17 minutes duration. Buses Splash With Rain is a serious contender for my 5 favorite songs of the decade. Its greatest asset may be the exceptional lucidity of the band about the duration of their songs. The moment they stop coincide perfectly with the moment they could possibly run out of ideas. It's always exciting. Sublime twee record, and really looking forward to listening to the last one which I kinda forgot about for some reason.

Also possibly one of my favorite album covers. The dog looks like mine :3

grogg

Gender: Male
Age: 41
Location: Portland, OR

drakonium wrote:

Cuphead by Kristofer Maddigan

Love seeing Louvin Brothers and Cuphead in the same listening thread. I have the Cuphead vinyl set on order; hoping it'll arrive at my door early in the new year.

drakonium
coucou

Location: More than one

grogg wrote:

Love seeing Louvin Brothers and Cuphead in the same listening thread. I have the Cuphead vinyl set on order; hoping it'll arrive at my door early in the new year.

Thanks! How many LPs is that though??

Jaco Pastorius by Jaco Pastorius

Enjoying jazz music more and more as time goes by. Fantastic record. What's interesting with this one is the slower, moodier songs between the massive, faster-paced behemoths. Kuru/Speak Like A Child, Ocus Pocus and (Used To Be A) Cha-Cha are obviously the best tracks here, especially the latter. But the album would not be much without the short, discreet Portrait Of Tracy, or the bass-only opener Donna Lee. They bring a breath of fresh air between the meatier pieces of music they aim to lighten. And obviously great bass playing, yadda-yadda. Like, really great.

grogg

Gender: Male
Age: 41
Location: Portland, OR

drakonium wrote:

Thanks! How many LPs is that though??

Only four, not too bad compared to some of my other vinyl box sets. They opted for period-correct folio packaging. The game and the music are such a big hit for me that I want to give them money in every way possible.

drakonium
coucou

Location: More than one

grogg wrote:

Only four, not too bad compared to some of my other vinyl box sets. They opted for period-correct folio packaging. The game and the music are such a big hit for me that I want to give them money in every way possible.

Awesome. Yeah I get that, I know I wouldn't use the vinyl much so I didn't order it, but I bought everything else Laughing

drakonium
coucou

Location: More than one

Block To Block by De Press

Pretty cool post-punk from Norway. I had found this a long time ago through BEA's world album of the day (that thing did show an interesting rec once in a while hehe) and did not listen to it until now... Its best part is probably its second half ; or maybe I just got used to the language of the lyrics (which is apparently a mix between Polish (the singer's nationality) and English). Otherwise it's your regular post-punk record from the early 80s : angular guitars, deep, anxious voice, solid bass, etc. What I find interesting is its use of ska-like guitar parts to pretty good effect, even if it's not really to be expected in such a record. Overall, a solid release from what seems to be a cult band up there in Norway / Poland. Bo Jo Cie Kochom would probably be my favorite track from this first listen, but that may change with more spins as I get more familiar with the other ones. Not disappointed.