Hello, listeners!

Thanks for your patience on this episode - it’s a week late, but things are crazy and it’s out now, which is what’s really important In this episode, we jump into Bit Blot’s 2007 game, “Aquaria”, with a score by Alec Holowka (and he’s on the show with us!)

We jump into the experiential view of the game as well as delve deep into harmony and the chord progression, especially with its effect on “Aquaria!” I’ve been at it for a few hours, so let’s hope that everything works out this time!

(last post, there was some hilarity trying to get the right file to upload and into the iTunes cache… not sure exactly what happened, but let’s hope this one works out!)

ERRATA: Apparently, I said “I, IV and V are always major, II, III and VI are always major…” In a major key, II, III and VI are always MINOR! I totally missed that… sorry!

As always, please feel free to leave comments on the post or any other post! Discussion is a great thing!

My humblest of thanks for your continued support!
Kenley

Good day, listeners!

Happy September 2nd, 2009! This is August’s podcast of “Into the Score,” the only podcast solely devoted to the in-depth study of video game music! In this installment, we hammer in a look at Square Enix’s 2008 release of “Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King” with a score by Koichi Sugiyama and performed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra!

We also look at the Classical Era (and all of the coolness that it entails), we look at the life of Sugiyama, the history of the franchise, as well as many other musical and gaming tidbits! It’s sure not to disappoint, so tune in!

Until next time!
Kenley

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Thanks everyone for their continued support!
Kenley

The links for all of the quotes in this episode are below!

Echoes - http://ff4.ocremix.org
Kind of Bloop : http://kindofbloop.com
Waxy.org Article : http://waxy.org/2009/05/kind_of_bloop/
OCReMix Forum Discussion : http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?p=581948#581948
VDGJ Episode! : http://zirconstudios.com/VGDJ/VGDJ%20FinalCut.mp3

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After an unbelievable absence, there is a return… things are going to return to normal. Everything is okay, just being swamped, studios getting swamped and especially comments on the board that have really gotten me thinking - which I think is awesome. It’s important for the listeners to be critical and to put in their own ideas, because that’s part of being a good citizen, as well as a good listener

It’s coming back - “Dragon Quest VIII” is coming up and hopefully, you’ll get to hear it within two or three weeks!

My thanks,
Kenley

Good evening, listeners! While Manitoba may be hit with a torrent of snow, thaw (and subsequent flooding), the March episode of “Into the Score” is finally up, focusing on Takeharu Ishimoto’s dynamic score to the 2008 release of Square Enix’s “Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.” In this episode, we focus on the music from the game, the legacy of Final Fantasy VII and it’s compilation titles, with Crisis Core receiving particular focus. Musically, we’re going to to work on thematic material from the game, remixing, the string quartet and Ishimoto’s departure from traditional “Final Fantasy” orchestration while still staying to musically true to the series.

We ALSO have two sets of guests for this episode! Our first set are two of the higher-ups from VGM remixing community, OverClocked ReMix! To speak about remixing and OCR’s place in the VGM environment, we have founder and head of submissions, David W. Lloyd (”djpretzel”) and Larry Oji (”liontamer”), respectively.

For a roundtable to discussion to cap off this month’s show, we have Kyle Wynen and Laren McFadden from the FXN Final Fantasy XIII podcast. This discussion is insightful, exciting and musical, to say the least!

We have a great show this month, make sure not to miss it!

Kenley

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ps: shownotes will be up April 4th, 2009! Sorry!

Welcome to March, listeners! After a three-month hiatus, “Into the Score” is back on the town and we are ready to go! This month, we study the Sony sound team’s 2005 score to “God of War” for the PlayStation 2, as well as studying the beginning of Western tuning, the work of Pythagoras, as well as orchestration and thematic use in the game’s score!

Thanks for listening and for your patience! Enjoy!

Kenley

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A special thanks to Jeriaska from http://www.nobuooo.com for putting this together for his year-end wrap up! This is only one section from the show, but please go to his site and check out the user-submitted VGM news and if you have some, submit some yourself “God of War” is coming up, really! It might not be for a few weeks, but it’s coming! Please stay with the show and keep telling people about it, your support is continually appreciated!

Cheers!

Kenley

Kenley

Happy November, listeners! I hope that it was stellar and the beautiful fall is drifting into a clear and ivory winter

For this month’s episode, we jump into a 1995  score that made a huge impact in the VGM community, if not as a breakout hit, then as a cult classic.  The game is EarthBound and its score was composed by Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu (”Hip”) Tanaka! So excited, can’t wait to talk with you all about it!

We also have guests on the show! The Canadian VGM jazz combo, “The Runaway Five” is on the show to talk with us about their group, their connection with EarthBound and we get to hear some of their music! To boost this concept up, our big idea is the jazz combo!

Definitely leave your comments on the post - always love hearing from you!

Have a fantastic December, see you at the end of the month
Kenley

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Happy October! Episode 23 of “Into the Score” tackles an incredible score by composers Masaharu Iwata and Hitoshi Sakimoto… it’s called “Final Fantasy Tactics.” It was released for the Sony PlayStation by Squaresoft in 1997 and it is a story of complexity, drama, love and the strive for goodness in the world - not one that you want to miss!

In this episode, we continue the second part of our study of the symphony orchestra, as well as concepts of tone colour, musical texture and thematic pairing!

The two documents that I discussed in the show are below and free for you to download!

Final Fantasy Tactics - Thematic Study
Final Fantasy Tactics - Sound Test Listing

Thanks for listening! Enjoy!

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Good evening, listeners!

After a month of traveling and then a month of research and recording, Episode 22 of “Into the Score” has finally arrived! This month, we chronicle Ko Otani’s moving and emotional score to Sony’s “Shadow of the Colossus” for the PlayStation 2. In the episode, we look at it’s quasi-sequel “Ico” as well as the origins of the symphony, with the Baroque Era in particular!

Emotionally, this episode tries to unravel how the music fits into the game; but also, how the absence of music fits in as well. We look at the sparseness of the environment and the grandeur of each colossus - this is not an episode that you’ll want to miss!

For the dictation of which music plays for which cutscene and colossus, the file is down below!
MusicColossus.txt

For the shownotes, just click on shownotes!

Stay tuned for next month’s episode, studying Square’s 1997 PlayStation release of “Final Fantasy Tactics,” with a thrilling, epic and unbelievably skillful score by Hitoshi Sakimoto!

Cheers!
Kenley

Hey there!

Well, I’m back from Japan and the trip was a blinding success! Much to see and much to do, but now that I’m back… there is still much to see and much to do!

Thanks so much to everyone who stayed subscribed through the show’s hiatus, but now it’s back! Woot!

Up next, we have Episode 22, on Sony and Team ICO’s release of “Shadow of the Colossus,” which came out in 2005. It’s for the PS2 and the score was written by composer Ko Otani! If you want to hear more about this month’s episode, check out the podcast

Cheers as always,
Kenley

Hello, listeners!

After a long break from ITS, it’s back with Episode 21, studying the 2008 release of “Professor Layton and the Curious Village!” It’s developed by the folks at Level 5 and scored by Tomohito Nishiura!

In this episode, we study concepts like the waltz, variations on the beat as well as the historical style of “bal-musette,” which took place in turn-of-the-century France (turn of the 19th-century, not the one that just passed!).

The trailer is below:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/29896.html

Also, two examples used in the episode aren’t cited, so I’ll cite them here:

“Tiger Track” from “Eureka SeVeN OST” and it’s performed by KAGAMI.
“Variations on a Rollicking Tune” by Jack Sirulnikoff

Alright, enjoy the show!
Kenley

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Good evening, everyone! I hope that everyone is excited for Episode 20 of “Into the Score!” It’s been a while coming, but for some crazy reason, this episode took me a long time to write, even though it’s 1/4 of the length of the last episode! In which case, it’s here and I hope that everyone is pumped!

In tonight’s episode, we engage the 1996 collaboration of Nintendo and Square for their SNES release of “Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars” with a terrific score by Yoko Shimomura! While the game has a ton of terrific original music, we largely study the quotation of the older musical themes in this new game… linking the old with the new!

This release is also correlated with the SM:RPG tribute album “Heavy Troopa is Ready to Launch” put on by GameMusic4All.com and it’s definitely worth checking out! For tonight’s arrangement portion, we hear from Jeremy Robson and his 3-piece medley for orchestra called “Three Mushroom Dances.”

Enjoy, it’s a good’er!
Kenley

Enjoy and always remember to leave comments!
Until next time!

PS: Information on Yoko Shimomura’s bio was taken from the wiki on her, found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoko_Shimomura

So… something happened with the last audio file and post… not really sure what, but the ending was cut off for some reason, so I’m just going to re-post the show and I really hope this works!”

Thanks,
Kenley

“Good evening, listeners of video game music! I hope that you really enjoy this episode, as it’s on my favourite VGM score of all-time, Square’s 1994 release of “Final Fantasy VI” with an epic, evocative and memorable score by Nobuo Uematsu! In this episode, we study character themes, also called “leitmotifs” and how influential they are in the score. We also see how Uematsu has taken these themes and changed their meaning according to how he’s arranged them… quite interesting stuff!

Also, lots of arrangements as well as a guest who is a phenom of a vocalist! Her name is Jillian Goldin and she is a judge at OverClocked ReMix, a ReMixer herself and also has a new album coming out on Earth Day of 2008! That’s next week! Also, she used to host VGDJ, which is the podcast that got me podcasting… quite important stuff! She’s great!

Go check her out here: http://www.jilliangoldin.com! Please buy her album, it’s wonderful.

Also, forgive the overwhelming number of “Terra”s in this episode… it’s a bit extreme and I didn’t realize it until it was done. Also, the editing isn’t as good as it usually is, heavy time constraints and even now as I’m posting this, I’m in Banff, AB, Canada with my Senior Band and Choirs… quite busy!

Enjoy and leave comments!
Kenley

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Good evening, listeners of video game music! I hope that you really enjoy this episode, as it’s on my favourite VGM score of all-time, Square’s 1994 release of “Final Fantasy VI” with an epic, evocative and memorable score by Nobuo Uematsu! In this episode, we study character themes, also called “leitmotifs” and how influential they are in the score. We also see how Uematsu has taken these themes and changed their meaning according to how he’s arranged them… quite interesting stuff!

Also, lots of arrangements as well as a guest who is a phenom of a vocalist! Her name is Jillian Goldin and she is a judge at OverClocked ReMix, a ReMixer herself and also has a new album coming out on Earth Day of 2008! That’s next week! Also, she used to host VGDJ, which is the podcast that got me podcasting… quite important stuff! She’s great!

Go check her out here: http://www.jilliangoldin.com! Please buy her album, it’s wonderful.

Also, forgive the overwhelming number of “Terra”s in this episode… it’s a bit extreme and I didn’t realize it until it was done. Also, the editing isn’t as good as it usually is, heavy time constraints and even now as I’m posting this, I’m in Banff, AB, Canada with my Senior Band and Choirs… quite busy!

Enjoy and leave comments!
Kenley

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Recorded on March 20th, 2008, this interview between “Into the Score” and “The Megas” chronicles the journey from the first track of the VGM rock band’s epic and monumental album “Get Equipped” to its release and crowd response! The album covers nearly every track from Capcom’s late-80s release, “Mega Man 2″ and is performed with cutting musical accuracy and polished with clean production in the band’s own “Dr. Light Studios.”

In this discussion, we talk about the band’s creative process, their performances, styles of writing and the eases and trials of the album, from start to finish! We also hear some of the tracks from start to finish, which is really nice!

Thankfully, it’s done. Sorry for the lateness, but after being plagued with technical difficulties (both before and during the interview), it really came together well. Thanks to the band for being on the show!

Sometimes, musicians aren’t the sharpest of folk. This is the REAL show switcheroo episode… yargh!

Hey all! This post is just a heads-up that the next show will not be with Glenn Stafford and Russell Brower, but it will actually be with “The Megas” and we’ll discuss the release of their new album, “Get Equipped.” There were a few scheduling conflicts between Blizzard and myself, so the wait is still on…

… but this is cool too.

The interview with “The Megas” has been on the backburner for a while. “Get Equipped” came out in mid-January and has been subject to an incredible amount of press and success. While there are a few reviews and interviews that highlight the album’s greatness, the interview with ITS is really about the nuts-and-bolts of the album and most importantly, the journey of making the album.

This interview was supposed to be Episode 19, but because our schedules miraculously worked out, it’s going to be this Episode 18 instead. This is just an update to let the audience know that… but you also get a sample of “Get Equipped” too… which is awesome

Game on and enjoy!
Kenley

The results are in from the “Nobuo Uematsu Arranging Competition” put on by Squaresound.com and I got 2nd place! Pretty excited about it! To hear the arrangement, click here:

http://www.squaresound.com/arrangements/competitions/uematsu/submissions/23.mp3

The first place winner was Andrew Aversa, of OCReMix and of Soundtempest.net, as well as zirconstudios.com -and for the record, he was also the project coordinator for “Voices of the Lifestream” AND has been on ITS… quite awesome. Congrats to Andrew and I hope that he has an awesome time meeting Nobuo (and will tell me all about it!)

Cheers,

Kenley

After an unbelievably long wait, Episode 17 is finally here. I can’t believe it took this long! Sorry, listeners!

However, it’s here, and that’s all that matters… right? Well! This episode covers the 1991 release of “Street Fighter II” with its score by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, Yoko Shimamura, Tatsuya Nishimura and Isao Abe! Also within this episode, we look at folk music as well as ethnomusicology and we tackle a basic rock drum beat! It’s an eclectic sort of craziness so be SURE to check it out!

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After a wait that is far too long for any human being to handle, I have finally uploaded a photo stream of my excursion to “Video Games Live” in Calgary! I got a Flickr account and allowed access to everyone, so everyone can go to set and look at it. There are comments on each photo, so feel free to read them, make comments on them - it’s all good!

I have the whole adventure in many separate video clips, but iMovie does not really like my camera’s video encoding, so I have to find a way for them to get along. The audio gets cut out whenever I import a video from my camera into iMovie… if anyone has ever had this problem and can find an answer, I’d be thrilled to hear it!

Without further adieu, this is the photostream! Stay tuned for Episode 17 which should be up by next week!

Kenley

www.flickr.com intothescore’s Video Games Live - Calgary 2007 photoset

Hey there, listeners! It’s been an epic two weeks since last we spoke and there are some big announcements in the VGM community to exclaim to the world!

Online VGM arrangement community, “OverClocked ReMix” has released their most recent album project! It’s a “Radical Dreamers” arrangement album called “Thieves of Fate!” and it can be downloaded FOR FREE at http://rd.ocremix.org!

Also, the Chrono Compendium has released is first ROM Hack (editing material of a game to, essentially, create an entirely new game from old material) called “Chrono Trigger: Prophet’s Guile.” The game follows the sorcerer, Magus, as he attempts to foil Lavos, but fails and gets sent to 12,000 BC… and to the Kingdom of Zeal. It can be downloaded at the Compendium website, http://www.chronocompendium.com.

Also, SquareSound.com has a contest… one arrangement… one recording… one winner. Any piece by Nobuo Uematsu and the winner gets to fly to Chicago for a show at the concert hall, “Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds” and gets TO MEET NOBUO! Needless to say, I entered the contest, and we’ll just see what happens! Stay tuned!

The interview segment of SC is coming up, but there’s still some paperwork to be completed, Blizzard is now a big company… Anyways! The next ep of “Into the Score” follows Capcom’s release of “Street Fighter II” and we study up on ethnomusicology! Lookin’ forward to it, right on!

Kenley

Happy Holidays, Happy New Year… and Happy Birthday? I hope that everyone had a tremendous holiday season celebrating your holiday of choice, the coming of a new year and the first birthday of “Into the Score!”

On December 29th, “ITS” turned one year old, celebrating its first episode “From Silence to the Symphony” and now its 16th episode on Blizzard’s “Starcraft” aptly titled “Masters of the Craft.”

There are a lot of quotes and tidbits from this show, so here are some links to check out!

GameSpy Interview with Blizzard’s Sound Team - “Masters of the Craft”
http://archive.gamespy.com/legacy/interviews/blizzard_composers_a.shtm

Gamer Revolution: StarCraft portion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut2pxYlXK-w

Next episode, we have one of the composers on the show, Mr. Glenn Stafford! Very exciting times, so look forward to that and enjoy episode 16!

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