FM Tone Generator / Music of
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Album Title: Music of FM Tone Generator |
| Record Label: hosplug |
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| Catalog No.: HSPL-008 |
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| Release Date: January 20, 2016 |
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| Purchase: Buy at iTunes |
Overview
Earlier this year, Soshi Hosoi released an original album titled Music of FM Tone Generator, featuring music that was written for an imaginary shoot ’em up game. Given its nature, it is a very retro soundtrack reminiscent of the early days of arcade music. How is the overall album?
Body
As with many of the soundtracks of the arcade era, many of the tunes are quite short. “Map Select” starts off the album with an upbeat, adventurous tone with a decent melody, while “Plains Stage” carries the adventurous tone a bit further with heavy percussion and a fanfare style melody. As expected, “Boss” features a somewhat chaotic sound with a mysteriousness in the air helping to create tension.
“Heights Stage” has an airy quality to it with an adventurous melody but is a bit repetitive. “Desert Stage” features a nice melody and a focus on driving percussion while “Desert Stage -Night-” utilizes the same melody but is a bit more picturesque. “North Sea Stage” features a more serious tone overall, giving it a determined sound, with a fairly memorable melody. “Rotten Sea Stage” is slightly ominous in tone and while featuring a melody, is a bit more atmospheric.
More towards the end of the album, “Last Boss” is one of the more memorable tunes on the soundtrack. It features a sinister and tense sound with a nice melody as well. Finally, “Ending” gives off a standard congratulatory sound in terms of atmosphere and a pretty nice melody as well.
Summary
In the end, this short album isn’t Soshi Hosoi’s best work, but it isn’t bad. Fans of his older arcade works will certainly appreciate the music, but much of it is short and hence doesn’t offer great value for the asking price. For those unfamiliar with his work and want to try something new, I would recommend some of his other hosplug albums over this one.
Do you agree with the review and score? Let us know in the comments below!
2.5
Posted on April 27, 2016 by Don Kotowski. Last modified on April 27, 2016.
About the Author
Don Kotowski Currently residing in Philadelphia. I spend my days working in vaccine characterization and dedicate some of my spare time in the evening to the vast world of video game music, both reviewing soundtracks as well as maintaining relationships with composers overseas in Europe and in Japan.
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