Tag Archives: winifred phillips

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Higher Plain Music: Top 10 Game Soundtracks of 2012

Game music continues to spread its wings and blur into all kinds of mediums. It’s strange but in 2012, in some ways I’ve struggled to find soundtracks that I think “Yes, that is instantly a game soundtrack”. I guess I still hanker for and enjoy those 2 minute loops of pure fresh melodies that catch your imagination and stay in your head. That said, when the soundtracks I loved hit me – they really clouted me and for that I am reminded exactly why I love VGM.

There’s a couple of honourable mentions I’d like to make before the list starts. One is Ben Landis whose chip story album is fantastic but isn’t really a game so can’t make the list. The other’s go to Jessica Curry’s “Dear Esther”, The SQ Chip series and to a lesser extent the Final Fantasy Chip series which I’ve not had the time to digest yet. TheSword & Sworcery arranged album misses out purely because I only bought it on New Years Eve! Finally the “Dustforce” OST sat in 11th spot after a massive tussle for 10th so sorry Dustforce! Onwards then…

 

10) Jasper Byrne – Lone Survivor OST

The Lone Survivor soundtrack is a strange one because it is very low-fi but has an aura around it that likens it to a MIDI Silent Hill soundtrack. There’s plenty of guitar and bass and the track “Survival” has such a tense keyboard arrangement on top of the rest, you really get where the ambience is coming from. It really hits its stride with the big tracks and tries some interesting low-key stuff too.

09) Chikayo Fukuda – Asura’s Wrath OST

A few of his Hack works, Asura’s Wrath is a soundtrack of epic scale containing all the elements I like in game music. Strong melodies, plenty of drama, a wonderful fusion of Ancient Instruments and orchestrations to boot and a traditional Japanese singer going nuts in despair over the top. Seeing themes come up with different versions – all of which are beautifully accented is always a plus.

08) Various – Beer SQ

Square Enix went arrangement mad in 2012 and this is my second favourite of the ones they released. Beer SQ takes themes from Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Live A Live, Saga Frontier, Unlimited Saga & Seiken Densetsu and turns them into Irish jigs, gypsy travelling music, a good sing-along an eastern boogie. It’s one of the most adventurous arrange albums they’ve done and I absolutely loved it. Having only had the album a week, it’s already risen to number 8 and would have been higher  if I’d had more time with it. Now when can they follow Suikoden’s lead and start doing Celtic and Asian collections?!

07) Winifred Phillips - Assassins Creed 3 Liberation

Often I enjoy cinematic soundtracks but then they don’t stay with me beyond that listen because they aren’t as memorable even if the musicians craft is superb. For once, Assassin’s Creed 3 Liberation proved me wrong. Strong melodies and a wide range of genres keep things moving as well as recurring signatures and a very percussive push with the album. Phillips finest to date.

06) WiL Whitlark – Snapshot OST

“This soundtrack took 22 months to make” says the note attached and you can certainly see the labour of love involved. About as close to an old skool soundtrack as we’re getting in this top 10, the epic 46 track collection stays firmly in the electronic zone but proves many catchy riffs and melodies, never sitting still and always entertaining. There’s always something interesting going on with the instrument frequency levels too, like some are imprints fading away and others are freshly pressed. Superb.

05) Skyler McGlothlin – Retro/Grade OST

Retro/Grade’s excellence comes in the form of its 10 tracks, all of which sound like a complete synthpop album even without having a game to play shooting with. Each one has its own song structure and catchy riffs. Each song clocks in around the four-minute mark too and feels perfectly complete. Other tracks finish off the album too but this is chip-snyth at its finest!

04) Casey Ormand – Final Fantasy XII Piano Collections

I’m such a sucker for piano and wondered why FFXII had been missed out, much like VII on the piano collections front. I struggled with the original soundtrack as was curious to see these arrangements as I found the melodies were so hidden in the original works, I didn’t have the interest to find them. They certainly are there and are brought  to life dripping in emotional in what is more an ivory suite than a collection. The way each track seems to have passes and movements shifting from euphoric climaxes to the gentle plinks of high minor keys in a breath – it’s a joy to listen to and a far superior work than its source (for me at least).

03) Brian D’Oliveira – Papo & Yo OST

This soundtrack oozes Brazil. From the native percussion to the intricate guitar work to the hushed singing child, it’s all shimmering and perfectly balanced. It has a tone where things are playful but underneath you can still tell something is wrong – much like the game and its narration itself. There’s a sadness and a mystery in the mbira and woodwind – an emptiness even though there’s a warm tone to all the instruments. It’s clever and engaging and each time I hear the soundtrack I’m lost in its world.

02) DVA – Botanicula OST

Narrowly missing out on the victory (the top 4 are way clear of the rest) DVA put together an absolute blinder of a soundtrack from Botanicula. Sounding like a happy Sigur Ros on helium is no small accomplishment and once passed the magical main theme you’re into obscure percussive beats, double bass melodies, weird vocal ticks, industrial noises and animal sounds over god knows what. It’s a work of art that will stay in my heart for many years to come.

01) Austin Wintory – Journey

I’m not sure what can be said about the Journey soundtrack that hasn’t already been said before. It simply breaks my heart, rips it to pieces and then mends it with eye watering beauty. Coupled with the game its moving to the core. As a standalone musical work it is still one of the most impressive, important and emotional hours of music I feel like taking time and time again. Timeless.

All of the soundtracks here deserve your attention. I can’t wait to see what 2013 offers us.

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Winifred Phillips – “Assassin’s Creed III Liberation OST” Review

WinifredPhillipsSometimes an artist does something that I think showcases everything they are about. Their quality, their emotion, their commitment to their work. For Winifred Phillips this is her latest work “Assassin’s Creed III Liberation”. From start to finish its an utter joy to behold.

From the opening “Liberation Main Theme” that borrows from different soundscapes the soundtrack has this knife-edge point that makes everything seem very grande yet very intimate at the same time. Juxtaposing gentle vocals and piano plinks with soaring strings for example. “Stealth” too has the claustrophobia and the bubbling power running side by side. “Virtual Pursuit” on the other hand is a blood pulsing  fast paced electronic percussion and sawing strings escape-fest. “Abstergo Ops” reminds me of Ladysmith Black Mambazo with all the vocal samples interwoven with Harry Gregson Williams style dramatic tension.

Another way the soundtrack merges things side by side is in cultures. Ethnic instruments are wheeled out for “Secrets of the Bayou”  and “Mayan Labyrinth” with wonderful tuned percussion leading the way and “Poverty” has some beautiful interaction between the strings and olden instruments. There’s such a depth in even the quieter places – it really feels like every nuance is alive.

The dramatic pacing of “Aveline’s Escape”, “Chasing Freedom” and “The Hunt” (which to me gives a sly nod of appreciation to Clint Mansell) is something blockbuster movies are made of whilst “Society Suite in 4 Movements” harks to a baroque period with Harpsichord and the daintiest string arrangements giving you something you’d hear at a ball. Military music fans are catered for with big brass and drum rolls of “Bayou Fortress” too.

However there are quieter places in the soundtrack for melodic reflection. “Safe Harbor” is a warm and quietly rousing piece with an emotive chord structure and some wonderful woodwind instruments to get you feeling whimsy. It’s one of my favourite parts of this epic soundtrack. “Mayan Ruins” is particularly rousing – like an underplayed snake charm – really drawing you in. When played back to back with “River of the Mayans” they are like brother and sister in their presence.  ”Animus” too is a great abstract piece of sound effects and uneasiness that I’m really glad is included in the soundtrack as it holds its own space.

The soundtrack closes with two epic orchestral pieces “Agate’s Power” and “In the Service of Humanity” which demonstrate Winifred’s ability to command everyone into battle on the audio field with pizzazz and charm and then “Virtual Reality Room” leaves you slipping away into deep sleep with its ambient structure.

Put simply – this is a Tour De Force. I have always thoroughly enjoyed Phillips’ work before but this is something else. Definitely a contender for one of the best soundtracks of the year – there’s a certain roundness and emotion that has filtered through to me. Maybe its the merging of lots of different cultures and thoughts all together. I tend to go for the more straight forward melodic game soundtracks instead of dramatic soundscapes that become like a movie soundtrack. This does a brilliant job of merging the best of both worlds. Stunning.

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Winifred Phillips – “LittleBigPlanet 2 Toy Story Music” Review

Sometimes good things come in small packages… such as a toy box! Whomever the genius was that decided to marry LittleBigPlanet and Toy Story for a DLC expansion pack deserves a huge slice of sack-cake because this is a match made in heaven. Not only do we get new costumes, new stickers, new backgrounds and new contraptions to play with, we get new music courtesy of the ever exciting composer Winifred Phillips.

With the pack comes three fantastically varied themes. “Toy Story Big Band Theme” is perky, upbeat with just a hint of slinky shimmy-shoulders to it. It just oozes Disney from the brass leads to the little piano motifs dotted around the track. I can already picture plenty of comical story scenes playing out to this theme in my head immediately.

“Toy Story Space Theme” is more grand in scope returning to a more traditional orchestrated approach but it’s so heavily layered in instruments and it constantly evolves into something different in tone, tempo and gusto every ten seconds, you’ll be able to enjoy the piece as a great track as well as being able to chop up the various layers for your own levels.

“Toy Story Western Theme” is the final track is a fun ditty that fiddles and finger plucks its way around in a fashion that reminds me not only of Woody but of old silent cartoons and the kind of music you get in the background of wooden puppet shows. Utterly charming and disarming it’ll have you beaming in no time. Again from a gaming point of view you’ve sections of fiddle and honky-tonk you can place nicely for your scenes too.

In just three tracks Winifred crosses chasms in the variety offered and I’m already planning exactly what I’ll be making my little sack bots do with these tracks and the rest of the DLC. An absolute must buy purchase for the levels that come with them and of course for the create mode after.

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Whispers of the Plains – Winifred Phillips

Here at HPM, we make no bones about being fans of Winifred Phillips and so it was with great delight that we were able to ask a few questions about her latest project and gain some juicy nuggets of insight into the creative process of writing a score. Here’s what Winifred had to say on composing, trophies and what a great motif means to her:

 

Congratulations on the excellent soundtrack to The Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole – The Videogame. It feels like such a complete body of work, are you delighted at how it turned out?

I’m very happy that the music conveys a sense of completeness.  I tried as best I could to musically encompass the fantasy world in the Legend of the Guardians story – I wanted the music to help it feel as whole and real as possible.  So I’m glad that the music has come across effectively in that way.

The Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole – The Videogame is such a rich soundtrack of moods and themes, and you mentioned in a video that you had tons of source material to draw on for the music. How do you draw inspiration from the books to make the music? Were there any particularly inspiring parts?

The Guardians of Ga’Hoole series of books by Kathryn Lasky were a tremendously rich source of inspiration for me.  In the books, Lasky created a grand fantasy world complete with a long history, several mythological traditions and cultures, and allusions to multiple languages for both the mortal and supernatural characters in the story.  I think that all music draws a lot of its inspiration from the culture and history of the society that it springs from.  For me, it was a real privilege to try to imagine how the music of Kathryn Lasky’s fantasy world would illuminate the nature of her characters and their civilization.

You have a typically orchestral sound to your soundtrack but this one seems more fierce in places. Were there any challenges or goals you’d set with this production that you really wanted to achieve or meet?

The story in Lasky’s series is epic, so my overriding goal for this project was to make sure that the music rose to that same level.  In the story, an ancient, supernatural evil is emerging from the past and threatening to destroy everything in the present.  The overall atmosphere is very dark.  The battles are really fierce.  The moments of peace are filled with a sense of foreboding.  Also, there is a pervasive sense of mystic timelessness to the setting, and that had to be represented in the score, too.  I wanted to make sure the music expressed all these ideas with the right intensity of emotion.

You were given complete freedom to write the music before anything was penned for the film. How does that influence what you composed?

It was fulfilling for me to be able to communicate my own impressions of the world of Ga’Hoole through my music.  Kathryn Lasky’s fiction was a real treat to interpret as a composer.

There are several motifs that grace the soundtrack throughout in different forms. What, to you, makes a great motif or lead melody?

Music is really subjective, so for me, a great motif is something that’s closely tied to a strong emotion, so that when you hear the motif you always feel a certain way.  For instance, in the second track on the soundtrack (With Heart’s Sublime), I wrote a motif with a certain character from the novels in mind — the singer of the Great Tree, whose voice would signal the end of everyone’s toils and the time to sleep.  I wrote that melody to be as gentle and protective as possible, to convey a sense of safety.  That theme actually turned out to be the most important theme in the score, the “Guardians Theme”, and I think that it was because it represented the safety and protectiveness that are embodied by the Guardians themselves.  It’s a very powerful feeling, knowing that there is a force for good out there that stands ready to protect you and keep you safe.

Of course, your long-term producer Winnie Waldron was involved. What qualities and help did she bring to your latest project?

For this project, Winnie concentrated on the overall impact of the music.  She has a set of golden ears that I rely on, and she gives me her impressions throughout the composition and recording of the score.  For this project, she had an intense focus on orchestral impact, and she would offer her observations about how my arrangements were sounding, and where the instrumentation needed more punch.  It was fantastic to have a set of objective ears that I could absolutely trust throughout the entire process.

Spore Hero was nominated for an International Film Music Critics Award. You must be getting a little trophy cabinet for all these awards soon!

I keep some of them on a shelf in my studio – I’m very grateful to have been recognized for my work.  That kind of affirmation helps a lot, especially when I’m about to start a new project, and I need a bit of encouragement in order to take the plunge and begin.

Is there anything juicy you can let myself and the readers in on for the future?


There are three projects I’m involved with right now, and they are all at varying stages of production.  But as always, I’m under orders to keep them all tightly under wraps.  Come next year, I’ll have some interesting news to share.

Three projects! Yikes! Look’s like Winifred has her work cut out for now so we’ll wish her the best of luck in those new ventures and a big thank for her to take the time to talk to us!

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Winifred Phillips – “Legend of the Guardians OST” Review

Winifred Phillips is no stranger to big theatrical scores with pizzazz and kitchen sink attached but Legend of the Guardians is full on cinematic treats for the ears from start to finish.

Opening “Into the Blackness” opens with a brooding shroud of mystery before the big strings and huge percussion kick in raising the ante up a notch every few bars with dramatic tension and pulsating bass murmurs. “With Hearts Sublime” changes tact completely with a ethereal vocals and sunkissed zithers scoring a beautiful otherworldly tune. The whole track oozes a certain warm glow to it and reminds me of the vocal tracks from Dragon Age Origins in that it speaks a language above man.

“Eyes in the Night” is reliant on its precussive nature and strong brass theme to pound home the message. This track is quite unusual for me because its primarily a pulse raiser but in parts the strings actually feel quite soothing underneath, almost like a calm in the storm. “The Gathering” is a calm track altogether and one that’s noble and forging. The strings effortlessly wind through the track and the harps and wind instruments embellish the track beautifully. It feels like to could be an ending track too, like a return home.

“Take Flight” is a fantastic piece. Its soaring pace against its pretty melodies and flourishes make for a aural treat. Not having played the game, you couldn’t ask for a more on-the-nose piece of music for the words “Take Flight”. It sounds like something straight from a coming of age moment in a Pixar film! “Attack at Dawn” returns to the strong percussive battle tracks however this one has a particularly strong hook to it and the sheer complexity of the track makes for taut listening.

“Deadly Plan” is an interesting hybrid between not quite being a flat out battle track, but still having enough pace and intensity to keep you on your toes. “Nightmare” introduces a full choir into the mix and result is devine. They absolutely dominate the track and the result works as a particularly dark track with organs and thick brass arrangements pushing the pressure passed boiling point.

“The Shape of the Wind” is a thoughtful reflective piece that goes through several mini movements however its from about half way through it hits its stride reprising theme signitures in different fashions and the track evolves into a slightly uneasy bliss. “Wild Fire” is the most taut battle track to date in the album and actually sounds like a real Eastern showdown with all kinds of eastern influences on the strings, percussion and woodwind.
“Legends” and “Devils Triangle” almost feel like they go hand in hand as one feels like a natural progression to the other and the latter is extremely cinematic in delivery and production. How Winifred is not on the new Hobbit film yet is beyond me! “The Seekers” leads on with a more choral piece that calms things down, albeit a notch because the choir is so powerful, before “To Right All Wrongs” gives us a final slice of battle music pie with strings, brass and percussion flying everywhere.

We then enter the final trio of tracks. “The Fallen” is a wonderful merge of orchestra and eastern instrumentation that sends you drifting off with the voices of angelic demons to another (dare we say higher?) plain. It’s effortless and adorable. “The Siege” however is all out mayhem. Shrill strings, heavy orchestrated stabs, soaring brass cries and everyone bashing the kitchen sink percussion wise, its a great end to the battlesque tracks. “The Guardians” is the final track and its absolutely euphoric. It sounds like a battle track that has been given endless continues to constantly slay its prey as there is a motif that pops up throughout that is like a victory dance. The choir harks back to memories of when I first heard the opening bars of “Liberali Fatal” of Final Fantasy VIII. It’s a fantastic track that really shows off the very best of Winifred Phillips’ composing chops.

“Legend of the Guardians” utterly blurs the line between what could be game music and what could be film score. It’s so cinematic you’d be worried for thinking there’s no melody but throughout little motif’s pop out in different forms and if anything the score feels like an epic journey in itself. A must have for any cinematic, orchestrated or dramatic music lover.

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Winifred Phillips – Making of “Legend of the Guardians” Video

Winifred Phillips has her fingers in lots of musical pies and this latest one sounds like its going to be a chef’s special! Phillips’ score to the game “Legend of the Guardians” went on sale today and on her website, she has posted a behind the scenes featurette on how the music was created. This provides insight into the creation of game music we don’t often get to see first hand so it makes for really fascinating viewing. A full review of the soundtrack will be available soon.

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Most Viewed – October 2009

October saw HPM have three distinct leaders in the race for top spot and despite only being a listen-to-the-samples post, Lisa Gerrard topped the bill for October while we all wait in anticipation for “The Black Opal”. Christoper Tin and Winifred Phillips followed closely behind with their interviews and reviews while Anonymous 4 was quickly catching all three at the end of the month. The top 10 are listed below:

01) Lisa Gerrard (^)

02) Christopher Tin (v)

03) Winifred Phillips (RE)

04) Anonymous 4 (NE)

05) Brendan Perry (-)

06) Imogen Heap (v)

07) Tori Amos (RE)

08) Hiroki Kikuta (v)

09) OverClocked Remix (v)

10) Yasunori Mitsuda (RE)

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Game Reviews

01) Battle Tanks (PS3)

02) Shatter (PS3)

03) .detuned (PS3)

04) Trash Panic (PS3)

05) Numblast (PS3)

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Whispers of the Plains: Winifred Phillips on the Making of Spore Hero’s Soundtrack

WinifredPhillipsWinifred Phillip’s latest soundtrack “Spore Hero” was released this week and we gave it two thumbs up! We were lucky enough to get to ask a few questions about her processes when writing a soundtrack and you can read them below…

When you first started work on the Spore Hero Soundtrack, how did you manage to find the music concept that finished up with? There is definitely a very specific style to the music.

My music producer Winnie Waldron and I spent a lot of time thinking about what musical style would best suit Spore Hero.  Since the game is set in the primitive ‘creature stage’ of the Spore evolutionary timeline, it made sense to employ musical techniques that were evocative of an ancient world.  The landscape of Spore Hero is also a very friendly place, so the music needed to reflect that.  But, while keeping all this in mind, Winnie and I knew that the creature creator was at the heart of the game.  It allows the player to constantly reconfigure the anatomy of his or her character, adding levels of complexity that turn a previously simple creature into a more capable and heroic adventurer.  Winnie and I focused on the idea of evolution and increasing intricacy as a central theme for the music of the game.  The music of Spore Hero begins in a very cheerful and primitive place, and then introduces more sophistication and magnitude as the game progresses.

You used some fantastic instruments in the soundtrack – did you have any favourites that you placed in a song anywhere.

I had a great time experimenting with instrumentation that I hadn’t had an opportunity to use before.  A favorite instrument on this project was actually a bowl full of water – it could produce some amazing sounds.  I had a lot of fun with percussion in this project.  Rainstick had this great tribal quality that I liked a lot.  For some tracks I used a plastic jug in the drum section.  The flexatone was super for adding quirkiness and humor.  Also, I loved the spring drum for those rumbling sounds it can make.

Had you played the original Spore game previously and if so did it have any influence on how your soundtrack for the sequel was formed?

When we found out we were going to be working on this project, my music producer Winnie Waldron and I started playing the original Spore game right away.  Our takeaway was that musical content in the creature stage of the PC game is pretty sparse.  This works well for the simulation-style experience that Spore PC offers, but the Spore Hero development team at EA wanted the music in their game to be persistent and knitted continuously into the experience.  So Winnie and I had to develop a completely new approach.

Your musical scores are always very cinematic and fluid instead of being a straight hook-repeat-second hook-repeat style. Is that something you purposely do and do you think writing in a rigid style requires a different type of musical ability to your more fluid style?

I think it’s good to be comfortable writing in traditional song form, which is something I’ve done for a number of my projects.  But song form has a fairly static feel; it expresses a particular mood or state of mind and then re-expresses that state, maybe in a heightened way towards the end.  It doesn’t morph and change very much, and when you’re playing a videogame, things are likely to be changing pretty rapidly.  Song form tends to feel pasted on top of the action, rather than integrated into the experience.  Lately in my composition work I’ve been using gestural techniques – in which the music creates a sense of movement reminiscent of a pair of hands gesturing during a conversation.  I’ll combine that with more thematic, melody-based composition, and the rhythmic structures that I’ve always experimented with.  I think that the Spore Hero soundtrack has some of the most aggressively rhythmic composition work that I’ve done so far.

As always Winnie Waldron worked with you as producer. Were there any particular problems or goals Winnie had for this specific soundtrack?

The Spore Hero project was challenging in a lot of ways.  I was very fortunate to have such a talented and inspired music producer working at my side.  Winnie Waldron contributed immeasurably to all aspects of the creative process during work on Spore Hero, but I’d say that continuity was one of her biggest goals.  She wanted the music of the entire game to feel well knitted together with a consistent style, which was a difficult task to achieve.  The game jumps quickly between picturesque exploration, comedic minigames and epic combat.  Creating a musical structure that could support all three activities and still feel unified was a daunting task.  Winnie’s vigilance and artistic vision kept the score within the framework of a cohesive style, and I’m very grateful to her for that.

A lot of the tracks on Spore Hero have so many different things going on at once – how on Earth do you start to score things on such a huge scale?

I had to start simple.  Some of the tracks were written for piano first.  That gave me the opportunity to create all the counterpoint and gesture lines in a sort of laboratory setting.  I could experiment and see if things worked before I expanded the instrumentation.

Will you be involved in any more Spore related music in the future (if you’re allowed to say) or if not, after having a nice rest of course, what’s next for Winifred Phillips?


All I can say is that I’m looking forward to the next big challenge, and I’m very excited about the future!

HPG would like to thank Winifred Phillips for her time and insight – and it looks like another big projects on its way!

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Winifred Phillips – Spore Hero OST

WinifredPhillipsLast time we spoke to Winifred Phillips she dangled a carrot over a possible secret EA project – well that carrot has blossomed into the wonderfully theatrical Spore Hero OST. The 18 soundtrack is out now and it’s a charming collection of music.

Opening with “Spore Hero Main Theme”, the mood is set with a playful, inquisitive but fully fleshed piece which is instantly listenable and ever evolving whilst not really having a big hook to keep you held. It’s the comical bumbling bass line that does it for me. “Home World” is rich with strings and tuned percussion. The way how it sways from warmth to potential troubled waters and then back again.

“Haven” is where the soundtrack really starts to stretch its legs. The theme is beautifully choreographed and effortlessly envelopes you into its various states of being. One thing that Winifred is able to do is to seemlessly blend all kinds of sensations and feelings into one piece. “Haven” is a perfect demonstration of a fantastic song that doesn’t sit still and has the cutest of embellishments.

“Sporeable” is dramatic in a cartoon fashion. You could just imagine Tom & Jerry playing out a chase with this music overlaid. It’s very cinematic in its tone and scope. “Sporaging” is similar in feel but with more pace and gusto. There’s a nice galloping beat in the second half that really pushes things forward.

“Spore Zone” is a beautiful six minute symphonic suite that combined with electronics and an eastern fusion set the tone for a quirky but atmospheric piece. I especially like how the drums sound like an animal walking through grass. The whole track has a moonlight feel to it too.

“Monster Mayhem” is the first fully fledged ‘battle’ track in the loosest of terms. The brass and timpani really give a great sense of urgency and demise yet the woodwind still keeps everything under a certain umbrella of quirky cartoon sound that the soundtrack carries through as a whole.

“Sporexplore” is a great mood track. It’s got the bumbling animal feel down to a fine art due to the fantastic use of tuned percussion and various instruments from different corners of the globe. The use of instruments from different countries is something that Phillips has really integrated perfectly. “Beast Brawl” is another action packed track that sounds like it should be on Yasunori Mitsuda’s “Box Garden” soundtrack. Anyone that uses a jew’s harp on a dramatic track gets my vote!

“Wanderment” is full of lush sweeping string sections interspersed with more pensive sections and Irish undertones of whistles and horns. This is the majestic track of the album. “Sporeward” is a more mystical track with an ethereal background that shimmers to the foreground in the latter part of the track. It’s strangely compelling to listen to on repeat and has become a favourite of mine from the soundtrack. It just has an understated beauty to it.

“Creepy Things” is no horror. In fact the track is just as much playful as it is pumpkin scary. It reminds me of the PS1 Medieval games scores – very cinematic and children friendly thus its full of charm and oozes a quirky personality. The harp deserves a special mention on this track. “Evolvable” which really needs to be put in the dictionary as a new word from…now… is a great track. It’s full of twists, turns and dramas. Nothing is left out of this track and the whole musical kitchen sink is thrown in and its all the better for it.

“Sporeabilities” is a warming track with lots of wood blocks, marimba’s and Irish flutes it leads nicely into “Nemesis” which is and out and out battle track. The orchestration here is superb as it really bounds out everything with big stabs of brass and bass. Your blood will be bumping at 130bpm by the end of the track. “Critters” then gives you a breather with a spacious track with the wobbliest bass line I’ve heard in ages.

This then leads into “Spore War” which is completely different to the rest of the soundtrack. This track stands out with its electric guitar undertones and choral samples layering what is already a fully fleshed string and bass accompaniment. It more of a battle cry to rouse you up and get fighting – a fantastic track. The soundtrack closes with “Hero Theme” which is a militant style track but with hooks a plenty and all the brass you can shake a conductors wand at. It has a large scale to it that really pays off and sees you finishing the soundtrack ready for another go.

Winifred Phillips is great at crating soundtracks that are more like cinematic scores than game scores. “Spore Hero” falls firmly into the cinematic animation category. It has charm by the bucket load and some really interesting uses of world instruments and tuned percussion. The battle tracks are really something special and there some great clumsy comical tracks here too. Winifred Phillips continues to blur the line between cinematic scores and computer game soundtracks and does it with aplomb with “Spore Hero”!

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Most Viewed January 09

This month was the most busiest month to date with HPM hitting over 2,000 hits for the first time! Vienna Teng & Ayumi Hamasaki’s new releases news were top of the agenda with Winifred Phillips’ latest release and inteview coming in quickly behind. Here’s this months top 10 viewed artists.

01) Vienna Teng

02) Ayumi Hamasaki

03) Winifred Phillips

04) Charlotte Martin

05) Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra

06) Hiroki Kikuta

07) Akira Yamaoka

08) Sarah Slean

09) Emiliana Torrini

10) Brendan Perry

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HPM Podcast #1

DOWNLOAD THE PODCAST HERE

Welcome to the first ever Higher Plain Music podcast! This focuses entirely on video game music and talks about the soundtracks reviewed this month and has special features on Final Fantasy X songstress Rikki & Final Fantasy CC siren Yae – featuring clips from their own albums works.

This is very much a work in progress test and for the future I’d like to include interviews and guests to come along and have a chat with me. It’s going to be very open to whoever wants to come along and talk. If you want to come join in the fun, just give me a post on here, on twitter (Sitorimon) or via email!

Please leave your comments (and the answers to the 3 name the song clips) so it can improve for the next edition!

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Whispers of the Plains – Interview with Winifred Phillips

Last week we bought you a review of Winifred Phillips’ latest fantastic soundtrack “SimAnimals” which was released yesterday. This week we have an interview with the siren of song herself! So without further ado, I bring you Winifred Phillips:

What were the highlights for you when writing for SimAnimals?

Meeting with the development team at EA was a real highlight. My music producer Winnie Waldron and I visited the team early in the project, and they demonstrated gameplay for us and talked to us in great depth about what they were trying to achieve, and how the music should contribute to the overall experience. It was very inspiring!
When you listen to the soundtrack there is always an overall feeling of warmth and almost a motherly-love to it. Was that something you had tried to factor in or did it just happen?

I think it just happened on its own. The game SimAnimals encourages the player to shape the environment according to his or her wishes, and there is the potential to form very warm and friendly bonds with the animals, and to become quite attached to the ever-evolving environment. I think that potential relationship was always in the back of my mind when I was working on the music. Of course, its also possible to wreak havoc and cause trouble for the animals, and some of the music in the game expresses that sentiment, too.

You said originally that you were excited to have free reign from the start over the sound. Did anything in particular inspire you to get the tone you finished with?

I took a slightly experimental approach with the music – not that the resulting score comes across as all that experimental! But when Winnie and I were watching the early gameplay videos and deciding what music would best enhance the experience, it seemed that a sense of perpetual motion was permeating the game at all times. This perpetual motion needed to be mirrored in the texture of the music, and that suggested an experimental approach. The world of SimAnimals is constantly changing and evolving as you experiment with it, adding elements to it and encouraging various interactions within it. This ebb and flow of activity forms the core momentum of the game, and it was very important for us to reflect that in the music.

Your producer Winnie Waldron is a bit of an unsung hero as the producer is never given the same spotlight. How does her input help your work?

Winnie Waldron is a great creative partner. We brainstorm, evaluate various musical concepts and develop strategies together. During the music creation and production process, Winnie offers advice and encouragement, keeping things on track and on schedule, and up to the high quality that the game needs. Her input is invaluable to me, and I’m very fortunate to work with her on all my projects.

How does writing music for computer games differ from writing for TV or radio?

Video games are interactive by nature, so the music requirements are fundamentally different. To create music for television or radio is to craft a linear experience in which events happen in a certain order, without changing. But events in a video game are constantly in a state of flux and change, so the music needs to be created in such a way that it supports the unpredictable nature of the gameplay. It’s always an interesting challenge.

Your God of War compositions won you an award. Tell us how that feels…

I was incredibly honored that Winnie and I were recognized as part of the God of War music team with an Interactive Achievement Award from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.

Is there any projects you’d like to tackle or new things you’d like to learn?

I would love to create the music for a fantasy roleplaying game. It’s one of my favorite types of games to play, and a genre that I haven’t had the opportunity to work on yet. Any game set in a serious fantasy world would be appealing to me, but an RPG would be an especially enjoyable project.

What’s next in store for Winifred?

At the moment I’m working on the music for another title at EA. Also, I’ll soon be working on a highly-anticipated mature game with another developer, but I’m not allowed to say anything about that yet.

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Winifred Phillips – SimAnimals Soundtrack Review

We (ok just me then) at Higher Plain Games have our second pre-release review in our short 9 months of life, however this is our first in the gaming music world and that makes Simon a happy bunny. Winifred Phillips (from God of War fame) has been beavering away composing the SimAnimals soundtrack, which will be released on 19/01/09! Anyway enough of the psychobabble – onwards with the review!

SimAnimals opens with the quirky but magical “Sim Animal Theme” which wouldn’t sound out of place in a regular Sims trailer or opening cinematic. It has a cute charm to it with its clumsy marimba’s, perky flutes and beautifully rich string ensemble. This sound is followed up by the more tense “Trailheads” which has an usual overall sound because the piano and strings sound quite agitated while the woodwind is chirpy and crisp and there’s bird song happily calling you in the background. “Free Play” is an aural delight with little Celtic flourishes garnishing angelic string plucks and percussive tunes.

The soundtrack takes a more darker sound with brass and rumbling percussion coming to the forefront in “World in Need” before turning to sneak/comedic values for “Dry Gulch” which is a fun track that never stays still. “Grassy Glen” is a more regal track with plenty of ambience added to its lush orchestral soundscapes. It’s now you know you’re in very safe hands.

“Castle Ridge” is a downbeat Celtic piece that blossoms out into an intricate call and response piece between various instruments. It works beautifully with its playful wooden block percussion. The whole soundtrack really comes across like Yasunori Mitsuda’s “Hako No Niwa (Box Garden)” in terms of its soundscape and production. Everything is close to the ear. If you take that sound and infuse a small pinch of Kumi Tanioka’s Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicle’s styled songs then you arrive somewhere close to Sim Animals.

“Friendship” is a warm hearted piece with great use of pizzicato strings and tuned percussion which dances playfully through your speakers. “Hard Times” has some nice crow samples and discordant brass to get you going before surprisingly an electric guitar comes in to back up an excellent wind solo. Juxtaposed with “Happy Place”, the two couldn’t be further apart with their emotion, the latter being a riot.

“Orchard Playground” is a playful track that skips on through like a breath of fresh air as even though its a busy track, it never feels like it. “Danger Woods” however is full of brooding tension and is the soundtracks darkest piece. “Foggy Wallow” has running water throughout this dramatic string and wind section which is a nice effect as it sounds quite authentic. “Absolutely Positive” sounds very Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles with its percussive edge all the way through which is no bad thing at all.

“Woodlands” starts off the final run with bouncing song with an unusual time sequence to its bass drum which sets it apart from the rest as it has an understated drama to it. “Perfect World” is soaring track that utilises choral keys very well and gives it an ethereal quality. “Misty Bog” is possibly the most jazziest song on the album if you could call it that due to the brass and finger bells involved.

“Quality Time” is the longest piece on the soundtrack and it deserves to be as it carefully winds its way through a cute melody. “Forest Song” then closes the soundtrack to the most upbeat track. Paced by an acoustic guitar and drums it flies and soars with its orchestra which flows over the top of a happy folksy song to give you an uplifting tune that has Celtic twangs to it.

Winifred Phillips has created a soundtrack that keeps the essence of Sims music intact with its magical melodrama and lush production but she’s also moved it into a world that gives it maturity and a more polished feel. The whole soundtrack gives a certain warmth that I can only relate to with Mitsuda’s “Hako No Niwa” but if your a Sims, Mitsuda, Celtic or orchestrated music, you’ll feel right at home here. The first must have of 2009 for VGM fans is here.

We will be hoping to bring an interview with Winifred Phillips soon.