ideas

The creative direction for EyeWire, the citizen-science browser-based neuroscience video game (try saying that three times fast) was one of my favorite to work on. Considering the implications of the project's possible impact on the human race, I decided to take inspiration from the kind of music we hear before keynote speeches, in forward-thinking tech documentaries, and hopeful Kickstarter videos.

This was the very first piece of music I worked on for the project but one of the last that I finished. Funnily enough, after I'd written the first minute of music I felt pretty stuck - I had no clue how to take the idea I'd started with and stretch it into a full composition. Thankfully I found some... ideas.

heh

(from Tunes to Trace by - available everywhere you get your tunes (to trace by) ✨)

The Children of Indigo / azure blue (joy)

It's Juneteenth! which makes today perfect for sharing "The Children of Indigo / azure blue (joy)" the piece I wrote for @inflorescemusic's debut album, Floral Folklore! It's a collaboration with poet, Ben Yisrael (@askabrother) and explores Indigo and the indomitable spirit of Black folk.

From an abridged version of the liner notes:

As I researched for this piece, I became highly intrigued by the history of the Indigo plant.

The other artists on the label had chosen flowers that they felt a kinship to; they’d selected plants that tied into their heritage in some way or form. As an African-American composer, heritage is something that I’ve always struggled with - even the term “African-American” always felt odd to me as I’ve always seen myself as just American.

I learned that the origins of Indigo are as confused as my own. It’s said that the plant comes from parts of Africa or Asia, but its exact roots are unknown. As someone with little idea of their origins, I relate.

I saw more parallels: the way Black culture and Black people have been bought, sold and traded across the world is similar to the commodification of Indigo; the way Black culture has become the predominant “cool” culture across the globe - a sort of revered, elevated status, is similar to the way Indigo dye has been valued throughout history; the way that efforts to whitewash Black culture have never succeeded - it all lines up exceedingly well. Black culture, like Indigo, is not easily diluted.

Yisrael combines those ideas with a reinterpretation of a traditional folktale describing the origins of Indigo and, at my request, ends his work on a note of joy. I knew that I wanted the listener to take time to reflect on these things and the weight of them, but I also knew that I wanted, at least for myself, to explore the experience of joy. As a Black person, my joy is Black Joy, right?

Enjoy!

P.S.: The title, “azure blue (joy)” is a reference to “Azure Blue World” from the Sonic the Hedgehog series and the naming scheme and idea of including two tracks in one is a nod to Tyler, the Creator.

Reinvigorated Soul (Retro Mix)... for Bloodstained: Dominique's Curse

Gameplay footage featuring my track in Bloodstained! I call it.. Reinvigorated Soul! | for Infernal Fortress, the first dungeon in the new DLC, Classic II: Dominique's Curse! i say first however this is definitely the dungeon i tackled second and let me tell you the one i hit first absolutely decimated me 😩

Absolutely love the way this 8-bit version (arranged by the folk at Brave Wave) turned out! Like I alluded to in my announcement post, the original ended up being symphonic fusion: a blend of strings, harpsichord, some big orchestral drums - alongside some subtle chiptune stuff mixed in and a lil bit of electric guitar 🎸

Bringing that baroque-funk-rock-fusion sound to life through that retro aesthetic is exactly what this style is about. I think we nailed it.

I wrote music for Bloodstained!

I am thrilled to announce that I contributed a track to Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night's new DLC, Classic II: Dominique's Curse!

It was an absolute honor to work on; I discovered Castlevania: Symphony of the Night later on in life, but I am fully convinced that it is one of the greatest games of all time, so having gotten the chance to work on something that continues that legacy is definitely a bucket-list item crossed off.

My track, 'Reinvigorated Soul' (I hear it's one of the dungeon themes!) takes big inspiration from the music of the Castlevania series (naturally), blending elements of classical baroque, funk, and rock to create something that fits right in. According to the team, I "attacked it!" and "steeped myself in reference tracks" to which I will add "worked very hard" and "accidentally wrote a mini-symphony" 🫠 Stay tuned, I'll share it as soon as I get footage of it in-game!

Big thanks to the folks at WayForward for reaching out to me and giving me a shot, and Brave Wave for translating my (18 part symphonic fusion!!!) track into something that would slot right in. (Hoping to share the original version sometime! Fingers crossed)

tunnels

This is another one of my favorite "weirdo" compositions, written while I was at Berklee. I think I described it well in my liner notes below: enjoy! (available at my Bandcamp and coming soon to everywhere else ❤)

‘tunnels’ is a sound piece, an exploration of various sound objects. the smallest of these dance around the ear in space, grabbing the attention of the listener as he follows each. the largest of these form the backdrops, the stages for the miniature sound-dancers, and the tunnels through which those performers move.

‘tunnels’ is two and a half minutes long and is inspired by music concréte, taking direct inspiration from Edgar Varése’s ‘Poéme électronique,” one of the most well-known works in the genre. the piece’s form is derivative of Varése’s - this piece, in similar fashion, unfolds in an exploratory nature. various “productions” of stages and performers are introduced, brief sound motives are discovered and reproduced, and a larger, louder moment is reserved for the work’s conclusion. the piece’s penultimate ‘tunnel’ is acoustically literal - and, much like the terminus of any journey by train, the feeling here is evocative of both an ending and a beginning. it is the end of our travels and the beginning of whatever comes next.

Feedback for Diversity in Game Audio (2024)

I had the pleasure of being joined by Chase Bethea, Katelyn Isaacson, and Noa Beazley at GDC this year to present the Diversity in Game Audio roundtable.

If I’m completely honest, walking into these things can always bring a little bit of trepidation. There’s always a question of how truly invested a group of people is when it comes to discussing difficult topics.

Well, I’ll say that I was absolutely floored by the openness, insight, and constructive engagement from everyone who attended. Here’s to a great show and continuing to push the industry forward.

Chase Bethea | chasebethea.com
Katelyn Isaacson | katelynisaacson.com
Noa Beazley | noabeazley.com

internal rhythm

I'm taking inspirations from videos and concepts for my album "flower fields" and exploring how those ideas inspire my writing. "internal rhythm" is inspired by DNA - a minimalistic, repeating piano idea felt like a good way to illustrate what I think of when I imagine the repeating double helix.

(as high concept as that sounds, honestly a lot of the time I just sit down and start playing)

available on spotify + bandcamp + everywhere else~

Waltz of the Faye

One of my go-to books when I was in school was Cal Newport's, "How to Win at College." I can't say that I took every single piece of his advice to heart, but there were a few critical ones that helped me through - including the tip to spend a lot of time at my professor's office hours. My meetings with Duncan Watt at Berklee were absolutely pivotal to my introduction to the games industry.

Another tip I got was to take one assignment every year and give it 110%. At this point, I think that point has slipped into my subconscious. Somehow, there's always at least one piece of music on a soundtrack where I let myself get a little carried away. Maybe our contract said it'd be 1.5 minutes of music.. but I wrote 4 minutes instead. because the spirit hit me.

Waltz of the Faye was that piece for the Calico soundtrack. For some reason I got it into my head that I'd try to write in 5+5+2 (which the astute of us will note adds up to a big 12, but hey who's counting) - but of course I opened the piece in 7. It's also far longer than I'd maybe planned for (hey again who's counting)

I don't know if it sounds quite like 5+5+2, but I think the melody's much more interesting for me having made the attempt.

hope you like <3

Sulfur

This is one of a few sketches I made for a client’s in-development fps project - I took inspiration from my own ambient noise work and from the soundscapes of the Devil May Cry series.

I’ll never forget what one composition professor said to me: ‘The way we get better is by trying new things.’ I had the chance to experiment with electronic noise music at Berklee, but back then, it was just another assignment.

Now, I’m grateful for those experiments and the way they’ve directly contributed to my career. Each of these pieces will be composed of short “noise cells” that can be shuffled and transitioned between each other, to keep the darkness nice and fresh.

rain

Ambient music is one of the more interesting genres that I've explored. I think it, avant-garde noise music, and impressionist piano music all have something in common for me - when I take a freer approach to harmony, I'm able to become a lot more exploratory with the way that I write. It gets really easy to fall into a meditative, flow state, hence the name of this album - meditations.

I don't have much else to say about this one. I think it's pretty.

(available on bandcamp, coming soon to Spotify etc etc)

That Swing... for Penny Larceny

I always get a lot of questions about what kinds of music I make and my favorite answer to that question has always been to say the last few albums I've released, since I like working in so many different genres. If we met during GDC week, I probably told you about the "electorswing / swinghop / jazzhop" album for Penny Larceny: Gig Economy Supervillain!

From my original post about the release:

"It's a world of heroes and villains, masks and capes, and Penny Larceny -- grifter, con artist, catburglar -- is barely scraping by. Life's hard for a young mask trying to make it big, but now she's gained access to Crimr, the gig-economy service for henchpersons looking to help supervillains with their evil, evil schemes!

Guide Penny through her new career, pull off daring heists, and unravel the conspiracies which allow the rich and powerful to maintain their profitable status quo."

This track was the first one I wrote for the project (and it's also one of the few, most genre-consistent electroswing tracks on the album) 0 even though I'd never written anything like it before, I found the genre tropes - creative use of samples, traditional jazz progressions, etc - a super natural fit for my skillset. It's also always fun to start a soundtrack with a "character piece" that's really idiomatic of the kind of soundscape we're looking for, and I think this one does that super well.

Album available (as always) wherever you get your music 💿

flower fields

One of my favorite genres of music is classical. I’m a big fan of works for solo piano, string ensembles, symphonic work for a select few composers (shoutouts to my Mahler fans 👀), but I don’t always get the opportunity to work in those genres.

So here’s a little music video for my piano piece, ‘flower fields’ - from an album I’m working on with the same title.

Stacks

"This Shit Grooves" (available on my bandcamp) is a collection of.. weird stuff! from my time at Berklee. I put the tracks together, found myself looking for a way that they were all connected, and as I was listening to one of them I thought... "this shit grooves"

enjoy 💖 (i hope u dnce)

Writing music for video games is probably my favorite form of self-expression. I was chatting with a friend about my creative approach and said, "I'm somewhere between an artist and an artisan, I don't care so much if I'm building a table or a boat so long as I get to make something out of wood." So far, I haven't met a video game that I didn't find inspiring.

I also love having a theme to base my creativity on, so when I write something outside of that context things can get a little... weird.

Shopping! on Nova Island

This was another fun one to work on - a little supermarket-era shopping music for Nova Island!

I honestly couldn't tell you from whence or at what point the "sounds-like-a-grocery-store" genre trope seeped into my consciousness (although I'm sure excellent references from one Akash Thakkar had something to do with it) but in either case I am super glad with how this turned out!

If you stick around for the second half of the loop, you'll hear an idea that I'm also quite proud of: yoshi bongos.

Akash asked for an additional layer to put on top of the tune after I'd finished it, and I remember saying to him "I think I'm gonna try yoshi bongos" with absolutely no idea whether or not I had any yoshi bongos or if I could successfully pull it off. (but i think it turned out good)

Available on Spotify under the tile, "Shop Theme" on the Nova Island Audioworks vol. 3 album! plz enjoy

Let's Explore Together, Ok?

This is, hands down, my favorite track from the The Stars Between Us soundtrack. I think this one captures the love theme the best honestly, but I think I came across the mood completely by mistake. To me, it sounds like that cautious optimism that often comes with exploring a new romance - it’s cute, it’s gentle, and it sounds like a shy invitation, which inspired the title: “Let’s explore together, ok?”

I like it.

(soundtrack everywhere, check it out <3)

rotations

This piece is from my album, is a collection of electronic art music I wrote during and shortly after my time at the Berklee College of Music in Boston

This one is from a class I took called "Electroacoustic and Acousmatic Music" and was humorously referred to by our professor as, quote, "rock music"

See my (class required 😭) liner notes for the piece below.

‘rotations’ is the story of life as we encounter it. we are not its creator, nor are we of any significance to it. just as we discovered a world that had begun spinning long before we encountered it, so to do we approach this music, joining the piece in medias res.

the composition is as equally inspired by music as it is by action. the musical compositions that inspire it include various works either directly from or otherwise inspired by the compilation CD, “Swarm of Drones.” the action that inspires the work is the same action that inspires its title.

imagine yourself holding a small stone. as you grasp it, turning it around and around in your grip, you observe it - noticing every curve of the stone, every blemish and every unique marking. you see each side of the stone as it rotates into your field of vision. ys you do this, you contemplate the stone, reflecting on how you discovered it and how it was here long before you were.

‘rotations’ captures that experience through sound. the piece twists and turns slowly, revealing every corner of its complexity. it begins mid-rotation. it fades as we end our contemplation, leaving the piece for another to discover.

Adorae: Main Theme

This piece of client work is actually from a title that was in development by the game studio I co-founded, Games Without Words.

In brief, the game (working title: Adorae) was a narrative title focused on developing meaningful relationships over long distances (a pandemic era story if I ever heard of one).

Physically, the main character spent most of his time in his studio apartment, but gameplay revolved around an exploration of gaining an understanding of the nuances of communication and how they develop as a relationship blossoms.

The player would spend much of their time exploring the main character's "mind palace" - I think a bit of a dreamlike quality found its way into my sketch of the main theme as a direct result of that influence.

Featuring cello playing by the marvelous Mason Lieberman, who absolutely crushed it.

Calico: Pawsome Collection

Introducing… the Calico: Pawsome Collection! a …collection… of unreleased tracks from the Calico soundtrack.

The world of Calico has expanded a lil (and is expanding a lil more, stay tuned 👀) and this is a small set of tunes to accompany that growth.

Tracklist!

Makin’ Biscuits - for cookin’ in the kitchen
midnight snack - for cookin’ in the kitchen (at night)
Floating Dreams - for ???
coral beats - for ???
Makin’ Biscuits (Retro Demake) - ?!

Available wherever you get your music!!

Across the Stars

More client work! This is the main theme from The Stars Between Us - released a few years ago. From my original post:

"The Stars Between Us is the story of a message in a bottle, two people fated to meet, and love across the universe. I put a ton of love (ha!) into this soundtrack - it's "digital fusion" primarily mixing elements of classical music, light electronic sounds, and little bits of chiptune. Our keywords for this one were "Longing, Delightful, and Charmingly-Digital" (which is two words). It's also a fully remixed soundtrack: every tune on the album is based on the main theme, Across the Stars."

Funnily enough, I actually took a lot of inspiration from my personal experiences with love to write this theme. It wasn't as thoroughly researched as analyzing my relationships or anything like that, but I did make a semi-conscious effort to channel some of the positive feelings that I've experienced in love and build them into the theme. One of my favorite tracks on the album, "Let's Explore Together, Ok?" does that especially well -- looking forward to sharing that soon ✨

Find the album anywhere you get your music 🎶

bubblegum cherrypop

Here's a piece of work for Nova Island!

I've always been a lover of hip-hop so (surprising, perhaps, no-one but myself) I've found that some of my work has been slowly moving itself in that direction. My direction for this one was, "we need something with energy" and I will say I opened my software and just started throwing stuff in with basically no plan.

I sent it to my audio director, VERY apprehensively (an "ok hear me out" type beat) but he loved it!

You can catch this one on the Nova Island Audioworks (vol. 3) EP (available wherever you get your music) - enjoy!