Jam of the Day: The Night Before the Decisive Battle by ACE+ (Xenoblade Original Soundtrack)

I gave in and imported Xenoblade from Europe. Of course, it isn’t quite out yet. I really look forward to experiencing the game’s music in context. I am a big fan of the Xenoblade soundtrack. I’d go so far as to say it’s one of the best RPG soundtracks I’ve heard in years.

Last time I featured one of the rock tracks. This time, I’d like to highlight one of the more moving themes in the game. It feels weird to highlight 2 songs without getting into any of the Yoko Shimomura pieces, but ACE+ (Tomori Kudo, CHiCO and Kenji Hiramatsu) did such an outstanding job that I felt like highlighting their work again.

Jam of the Day: Those Who Bear Their Name by ACE+ (Xenoblade Original Soundtrack)

I forgot to share Xenoblade.

I actually purchased the Xenoblade soundtrack shortly before starting this blog. It was Yoko Shimomura’s involvement that sold me on it. To my surprise, though, most of my favorite tracks ended up being by artists I was not familiar with. More often than not, these tracks were by ACE+ (ACE being the collaborative efforts between Tomori Kudo and CHiCO with the “+” referring to Kenji Hiramatsu)

There’s a lot to love in the Xenoblade soundtrack. “Those Who Bear Their Name” only represents one of styles you’ll find, that being a heavy rock sound. The album also has a big focus on live string and vocal performance. It’s not a soundtrack to be missed!

Jam of the Day: Ring Tower by Yasunori Mitsuda (Soma Bringer Original Soundtrack)

Let me get this part out of the way: Yasunori Mitsuda is my favorite videogame composer of all time. I love his stuff and try to seek out all of it. That has led to some interesting finds.

Soma Bringer is an action RPG for the DS that never made it outside of Japan. All of its music is composed by Yasunori Mitsuda. “Ring Tower” sounds like it could’ve easily been dungeon music for Chrono Cross. The shuffle groove, the amount of range on the bass, the chromatic percussion, the acoustic guitar, the occasional staccato chorus bits… it’s all working together to make that signature sound I love so much.