In this weekly feature, I recommend game soundtracks. I share a few of my favorite tracks, talk about why everyone should listen to the soundtrack, and a little bit about the composer. This week's choice is Terraria by Re-Logic.
THE STATS
Name: Terraria
Developer: Re-Logic
Publisher: 505 Games
Release Date: May 16, 2011
Genres: Action-adventure, Sandbox
Composer: Scott Lloyd Shelly
MY FAVORITE SOME TRACKS
(The titles link to YouTube videos... and I highly recommend some good headphones to best enjoy all of the subtle elements of the music!)
Pumpkin Moon
(Length: 2:56) My favorite. It's got some great Halloween-y vibes, excellent digital embellishments, and the chord progression/use is perfect for emphasizing something sinister and dark.
(Length: 2:56) My favorite. It's got some great Halloween-y vibes, excellent digital embellishments, and the chord progression/use is perfect for emphasizing something sinister and dark.
Frost Moon
(Length: 2:20) Christmas meets metal and chiptunes... I LOVE IT!
(Length: 2:20) Christmas meets metal and chiptunes... I LOVE IT!
Rain
(Length: 3:15) It's less the melodic theme of this track that interested me and more the extraneous noises and sound-clips thrown together that somehow work, like the randomness of raindrops.
Ice
(Length: 3:12) Something about the echoing chimes at the beginning and the precise rhythms helps us to envision crystals of ice and the hard, sharp texture. It's a sterile-sounding musical theme for most of it, just like ice is pure water in rigid form.
Pirate Invasion
(Length: 1:53) I was obliged to include the pirate-y track. Pirates are a weakness of mine. I can't tell if it's in 6/8 or 12/8 time, but the rolling melody is iconic for pirate tunes, and the off-beat percussion seals the deal. It almost has a Danny Elfman/Tim Burton vibe!
(Length: 3:15) It's less the melodic theme of this track that interested me and more the extraneous noises and sound-clips thrown together that somehow work, like the randomness of raindrops.
Ice
(Length: 3:12) Something about the echoing chimes at the beginning and the precise rhythms helps us to envision crystals of ice and the hard, sharp texture. It's a sterile-sounding musical theme for most of it, just like ice is pure water in rigid form.
Pirate Invasion
(Length: 1:53) I was obliged to include the pirate-y track. Pirates are a weakness of mine. I can't tell if it's in 6/8 or 12/8 time, but the rolling melody is iconic for pirate tunes, and the off-beat percussion seals the deal. It almost has a Danny Elfman/Tim Burton vibe!
You can listen to the full soundtrack on YouTube:
WHY DO I RECOMMEND IT?
At best, I'm going to call this soundtrack average. Some of the themes in some of the tracks were spot-on, but overall it is generic sound that my ears didn't remember longer than the 2-3 minutes each track lasted. If you want some chiptune music in the background without being distracted or compelled to groove out, then this is your OST.
THE COMPOSER: SCOTT LLOYD SHELLY
So, the best I can say of Scott here is that in addition to the Terraria soundtrack, he also did music for three Crocodile Hunter series (Hunter, Diaries, and Croc Files). His website is Resonance Array, and he offers "custom music composition and production for games, television and film." Hailing from Australia, it's no surprise he did the music for Steve Irwin's series. I wouldn't recommend following via Twitter, as it's mostly just retweets of unrelated topics. The last original tweet was in July. So, credit where credit is due: Scott's done some neat stuff, and a variety of it, but is not among the bunch of composers I keep tabs on for upcoming projects.
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