Level with Emily Reese

It's always a delight having Oleksa Lozowchuk on Level. This time, we're talking about his music for Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores . I love hearing him dig into his process for composing. We talk about the important soloists on the soundtrack: singers Julie Elven and Melissa Kaplan , along with cellist Blair Lofgren . Quick ask: we're getting close to monetization on YouTube, so send some...

Composer Vinicius Barbosa Pippa has held many jobs as a musician working in media. In addition to his work in games and film, he garnered an Emmy nomination for his work as a music editor on an animated show called Go! Go! Cory Carson . And he was the music supervisor on a different animated show that aims to introduce Star Wars to kids called Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures (definitely check this...

Composer Brent Meyer talks about his music for Katoa , a mobile game where you build and manage an underwater ecosystem. A portion of the money spent through microtransactions goes toward charities that support the climate. The main theme Brent wrote is a sweeping, melodic orchestral romp. Once you begin gameplay, the texture simplifies and the music becomes more ambient to support the visuals. I...

It's always a great time having John Robert Matz on to talk about his music. This time, we discuss Tchia , an open-world adventure of a young girl on tropical islands inspired by the real location, New Caledonia . The music is such a joy. John Robert captured a colorful, simple and memorable island vibe with his soundtrack. The game is fantastic too. This isn't some hundred hour open world sprawl...

I love these games! And Sander van Zanten 's music does a fantastic job capturing the wonder, loneliness and splendor of being in space. If you haven't played Deliver Us the Moon , I highly recommend it. And then play Deliver Us Mars ! The gameplay is so engaging and Sander's music is a great part of it all. You can support Level with Emily on Patreon . Join us on Discord for free. Find this conve...

Grant "Stemage" Henry is a composer, a session guitarist and a remixer. In 2003, Grant created Metroid Metal (you can still download all the tracks, just follow the link), and so began his lengthy career in the VGM remix community. Grant and I don't talk too much about remixing, but we focus on a couple of original projects: his original soundtrack for Card of Darkness , a mobile game from the cre...

Mustin 's remixes and albums lift my spirits, and I hope they do for you too! Mustin has an ability to capture juuuuust the right sound to make a track pop and nail the nostalgia. His latest album, Mario Mixtape , resulted from a challenge issued by his son: to create a Mario remix album within a matter of months (about 4 months). Mustin delivered, with the assistance and approval of his son, his...

Joe Newman is a saxophonist who remixes and covers video game music. He's been a regular participant in Dwelling of Duels and recently released an album of some of his favorite submissions. By day, Joe is a lawyer in the video game industry (in consumer protection, if memory serves, he explains it in the chat). We talk about his music, playing the EWI, his passion for games and more! You can suppo...

It's another delightful chat with composer Maclaine Diemer about Firmament from Cyan Worlds , the creators of Myst and Riven . The score is entirely synth with the exception of two or three other instruments, including an esraj and a Fender IV (technically a Squire, which only matters to people who know the difference). It's atmospheric, ambient and round, but with industrial grit thrown in occasi...

Composer Peter Chapman talks about his music for the Netflix comedy Workin' Moms , which just aired its 7th and final season in April. Peter worked with composer/singer Maylee Todd to create music for the series. The music has this energetically fresh, crisp and clean vibe, although there are many examples of grit and grime as well. We chat about that, we talk about his work on Guacamelee and Guac...

I stumbled across Logan "Biggoron" Tucker 's music in early April ahead of VGM Con (which would be worth your time if you can attend next year!).   He regularly participates in the monthly video game music cover contest held at Dwelling of Duels . Cover artists submit their piece anonymously and winners are chosen by the community. For TWENTY years, Dwelling of Duels has held this competition, and...

Composer Lennie Moore talks about his newest passion project, a big band album called Mentors that pays tribute to his musical mentors, like record producer Arif Mardin , pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi and drummer Peter Erskine (who plays on the album). While we do briefly discuss the upcoming Outcast 2 (Lennie scored the first Outcast in 1999), most of the conversation centers around the album and the...

Wes Keltner is the CEO of Gun Interactive, creators of the upcoming game The Texas Chain Saw Massacre . Ross Tregenza composed the music and worked on sound. The game is in the canon of the original film from 1974. We talk about how they pieced together a handful of working chain saws to get the perfect sound from the machine, the same models used in the original film. And Wes had an instrument ma...

Composer Chris Rickwood gets to write in the style of some of the most famous franchises in games and other media like TV, anime and more for Brawlhalla , the free-to-play platform brawler from Blue Mammoth Games and Ubisoft. In this episode, Chris and I talk about what it's like to take the Brawlhalla main theme and rework it in the style of other characters from places like Castlevania, Tomb Rai...

** The soundtrack to The Red Lantern is getting a vinyl release. Anyone who is a patron of Level with Emily by midnight (12:00 AM CDT) on April 17, 2023, will be eligible to win one of 5 records. **   Hrishikesh Hirway is a composer, a recording artist, a podcaster ( Song Exploder , Home Cooking , The West Wing Weekly ) and all-around busy creator. He wrote the music for The Red Lantern , a narrat...

We've had composer Rob Kovacs on Level in the past to talk about his alter ego, 88bit . This time, he's here to discuss his Prophet 5 modern 80s soundtrack for the VR game Straylight , and I love every minute of it. The music is fantastic, and Rob sits at his piano during our chat to demonstrate some of the musical choices he made. It was so much fun! You can support Rob in many ways, whether on h...

Greg Nicolett 's music for Potionomics is as colorful as the game, weaving in and out of various styles and palettes depending on characters and locations. The game is a 3D deck builder/management sim, where you (as Sylvia) brew and sell potions out of your own shop. And go on dates :) Much of the score was recorded with live orchestra, and there are a lot of soloists that stand out, like past Lev...

Pentiment is a 2D narrative adventure murder mystery set in the early part of the 16th century. Director/desinger Josh Sawyer dreamed of making a historically accurate game set pre-Renaissance, and he asked Alkemie Early Music Ensemble to create a faithful musical score for the game. "Early music" at its simplest definition consists of music before the year 1600, when tonality wasn't how we wester...

The music Amos Roddy wrote for Citizen Sleeper is too good for words. I love the music, I loved our conversation about it, and I've loved the game (not finished yet). I'm not alone - players raved about the entire package of gameplay, narrative, music, visuals and all the things that make it Citizen Sleeper. To list my favorite tracks would comprise the entirety of the album, which is a fun thing...

Composer Jason Graves has a new score out, and it's flipping scary. The fourth installment of The Dark Pictures Anthology, The Devil In Me follows a film crew trapped within a replica of H.H. Holmes 's infamous Murder Castle, where he tortured and murdered more than two dozen unsuspecting tourists in town for the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. The antagonist in The Devil In Me slowly herds his vict...

Composer Trevor Gureckis scored about two hours of new music (not all of which is on the soundtrack) for the Dead Space remake . EA kept Jason Graves's original score intact, and Trevor scored the new cutscenes, battles and other content added to the game to fill out the story. And it's great. It's very Dead Space, and is unique to Trevor's style. At the time of recording, I was provided 3 tracks,...

French composer Nicolas de Ferran talks about his groovy music for Scrap Riders , a point-and-click adventure/beat-em-up about a biker gang in the 80s. The last time we had Nicolas on Level , he went by the nickname of Nicolas Diteriks, and we spoke about an orchestral score he composed for the game We Are Billions. The Scrap Riders score is very different stylistically, with a lot of 80s vibes an...

We always love having composer Garry Schyman on the show. His music is so darn great. This time, we talk about his gorgeous orchestral score for Forspoken , the new RPG from Luminous and Square Enix. Recorded live in Nashville, the music is full of energy slathered in soaring melodies that take you somewhere with each new phrase. It's so fantastic. You can find a playlist and support Level with Em...

Composer Jonah Senzel talks about his music for Inscryption . He wrote in a handful of different styles, from music heavy with sound effects to the simplest, slow chip-tune chords. The game also is a bit of a mash-up of styles - a deckbuilder with escape room elements and a bit of horror. It was great chatting with Jonah about his music! You can find a playlist and support Level with Emily on Patr...

Composer Ego Plum writes such fantastic music for The Cuphead Show (on Netflix). The show itself is an absolute delight and it's almost inexcusable if you don't watch it (the episodes are brief enough that you could binge all 3 seasons in a day). And with comedic animation like this, the music is intertwined with the visuals that you really need to just watch it. It's SO worth it. That's my endors...