Jake Kaufman, the Follin brothers... Alberto Jose Gonzalez?

[wyrdwad]

I'm sure I'm just behind on my game music history (I know Discoalucard is familiar with this guy's work, at least), but I promised in my Soundtrack Sleuth hints that I'd post a thread about this dude, so here it is. Hope no one minds, but... well, why would you? This guy deserves his own thread!

All this time, the Follin brothers and Jake Kaufman were pretty much my top-tier picks for non-Japanese game musicians, and I didn't think anyone else could ever quite give them a run for their money.

...Then I discovered Alberto Jose Gonzalez.

I had no idea this dude existed, mostly because he's composed largely for licensed games that are most likely viewed as shovelware (Smurfs and such) and now works primarily on iOS titles and such. But DAMN, this guy is totally up there with the greats.

Just listen to this track and tell me it's not one of the best 8-bit techno songs you've ever heard. (Skip ahead to the 1:00 mark if you don't want to deal with the intro, but I kinda like it -- it adds a little extra mood to the piece!)



Here's a more mellow, emotional piece from him (from his very first NES soundtrack, no less!).



And a couple tracks from the GBC version of Turok 2, including the one I used in Soundtrack Sleuth episode 5. These absolutely SCREAM Tim Follin to me (especially the second) -- I swear, this Gonzalez dude managed to out-Follin the Follin brothers.




For me, discovering this guy was a total HOLY CRAP moment -- he really has shot up my list of favorite VGM composers almost instantly, and I felt compelled to share because... well, just listen!

Here's a full list of his works, and some info on him as well:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Jose_Gonzalez

I hope to hear more of his stuff in the future. Maybe some indie game designer can recruit him into the limelight or something, or maybe his own games will finally hit it big -- either way, he definitely deserves more exposure. It's absolutely criminal that he's as obscure as he (seemingly) is.

-Tom

[Deleted]

Fun anecdote: I looked up Rockin' Kats OST on Youtube and found a comment by Gonzalez (it's pretty easy to find).

Anyway, yeah, I knew about this guy for years,perhaps more if I did actually play Pop-up/Cool Ball for the game boy back in the day.



I mean, that's pretty much distilled nostalgia whether you played it or not.

[Weasel]

Huh! I always wondered who composed Pop Up. What a weird game. I only heard of it because it was on a disc full of stuff that my uncle mailed to me back in '97...

[zerker]

Wyrdwad, are you thinking of chiptunes in particular or any game music? Because I can think of plenty of great western composers:
Darren Korb (Basion, Transistor)
Alexander Brandon (Unreal, UT, Jazz Jackrabbit 2, Deus Ex, etc)
Michiel Van Den Bos (Unreal, UT, Deus Ex, Age of Wonders, Overlord)
Ian Stocker (Escape Goat, Monster Tale)
Lifeformed (Dustforce)
Ari Pulkkinen (Trine series)
Austin Wintory (Journey, lots of other stuff)
Ben Prunty (FTL)
Chris Huelsbeck (Turrican + various others)
Christophe Héral (Beyond Good & Evil, Rayman Origins, Legends, etc.)
Module (Shatter)
Manfred Linzner (Iridion series + others)
Nervous Testpilot (Frozen Synapse)

But yes, these examples from Alberto are pretty rad. Thanks for the heads up .

[wyrdwad]

Oh, I'm not saying those are the ONLY good western composers -- just that Tim & Geoff Follin and Jake Kaufman had always been my top-tier picks. I've heard stuff from a lot of the people you've listed as well, and agree that much of it is excellent... but the Follin brothers and Jake Kaufman still tend to produce content that appeals to me, personally, a lot more.

And now Gonzalez has joined them at the top of that list.

...Though I suppose after hearing the Freedom Planet soundtrack, Woofle and Strife are pretty damned near the top of that list too. Because holy damn does Freedom Planet have a good soundtrack.

-Tom

[Discoalucard]

Here's his Soundcloud!

soundcloud.com/joemcalby

[novicola]

Found an obscure advergame composed by him recently!



Everyone in the comments is lauding the music, even comparing it to other sources, but none seem to realize his name is right there in the credits

[wyrdwad]

Very chill track. The game... honestly doesn't look all that bad, either. I mean, it doesn't look GREAT, and the controls look like they might kill it, but it seems like a decent enough time.

-Tom

[1983parrothead]

What about these?

Mark Miller
David Wise
David Whittaker
Graeme Norgate
Grant Kirkhope
Robin Beanland

[wyrdwad]

Figured I'd post in here and let people know that there's a new ZX Spectrum and MSX2 homebrew game that was just released this past Saturday called "The Sword of IANNA." It's a cinematic platformer in the vein of Prince of Persia -- making it, I believe, the only game of its kind on the MSX, possibly? -- and is an absolutely FANTASTIC title, with great level design, a fantastic atmosphere, a great challenge level, and wonderfully moody music.

And that last part is why I mention it, because the game was scored by none other than Alberto Jose Gonzalez, resurrecting his old nom de plume, "McAlby." It's certainly not one of his "face-melty" soundtracks, with most of the music being very understated and atmospheric, but it fits the game like a glove, and you can definitely tell he's still got it, even after all these years.

Here's a gameplay video of the first stage, which has probably my favorite music track that I've heard thus far (the Follin influence is really noticeable in the latter, softer part of the song):



And if you're interested in playing the game for yourself, you can download the rom for free from the official website here:

theswordofianna.retroworks.es/en/575-2/

Or play it in your web browser here:

www.file-hunter.com/MSX/index.php?id=swordofianna

Note that since MSX controllers typically only have two buttons, and this game very much requires two buttons for ordinary gameplay functions, you have to press "H" on the keyboard to bring up the main menu (from which you can select and use items). (It sounds inconvenient, but comes up very infrequently.)

-Tom

[Snake]

Still love Jake Kaufman's continuous medley on Contra.  It's genius.

[KGRAMR]

Here's a very early piece by Virt before it got remixed for Contra 4 (aka my favorite theme in that game )

[KGRAMR]

Here's the full OST of Mañanitos: The Morning Adventure by Alberto Jose Gonzales