happy pride month!

#composers #filmcomposers #steinberg #cubase #daw #musikmakers

Someone added 2500 episodes of a bavarian german TV show to my IMDb profile to which I am not associated with. Audio mixing credits have to be submitted by episode, unlike credits for actors and composers. Thank you very much 🫠

On top of that: it's only rated 4.7

#imdb #nightmare #sounddesign #composers

🎹 #D50 #vstplugin by #Roland on #PluginBoutique, for my fellow #musicproducers, limited time on sale 66% off ends 31st May, buy it to get one #vst free!

https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/4-Synth/15264-D-50?a_aid=63375bfdb595f

#composers

This year I am invited to the "Meet The...Composers" sessions event at MIFA 2026. You can book your time slot with me here:

https://network.annecyfestival.com/en/take-part/meet-the

Or just send me a PM :)

#composers #filmmakers #annecy #animation #networking #filmsound #sounddesign #mifa2026

Phonopolis Soundtrack Offers More Floex Brilliance 🎼

There’s a new Amanita Design game in town! That means a new Floex soundtrack with Phonopolis. The game launched on 20th May and there’s 60 minutes of new musical excellence to experience.

Whilst offering all the familiar looping, neoclassical, electronic familiar Floex-ness, it also has a unique soundscape that has a heavy emphasis on sound effects, drawing players into the experience unlike previous Amanita games. It’s a wonderful score and offers something for everyone.

The Clever Soundscapes of Phonopolis

Amanita Design has very kindly put the whole score up for free on its official YouTube channel. We’ve timestamped our favourite of the lot above, that’s the track called Anton (but feel free to swoop through the whole score, that’s it above right there).

Anton is the eighth composition, but there are 17 in total.

And whilst his previous work (such as the incredible Samorost 3 soundtrack) offers more unusual, cosmic themes of experimentation, we’d say the Phonopolis score is one of his more accessible works.

The genre is sometimes called folktronica. As in, mixing traditional instruments with synthesisers and ambient sound design.

But… that characteristic Floex (Tomáš Dvořák is his real name) style is always there. Like with the beautiful Composer’s Apartment below, that signature blend of electronic production alongside acoustic instrumentation.

He merges tension and natural musicality, always there with that adventurous and nervous spirit.

Amanita Design teased us all pre-release with one of the tracks. Railway Electro is a classic Floex composition, that looping electronic ambience in action. He has this capacity, like all great composers, to make pieces that feel instantly familiar.

If this was an album from the ’70s, you’d bet this would be “the single” studios would hope for a top 10 hit kind of deal.

The work is a collaborative effort, too, as Amanita noted in its press release:

“The music for Phonopolis is being written and produced by Amanita’s long-term collaborator Tomáš Dvořák aka Floex (Machinarium, Samorost, Pilgrims) with sound effects provided by audio engineer and foley artist Matouš Godík (Samorost 3, Creaks). Until now, Amanita Design has been known for including no comprehensible language in their games. That changes with Phonopolis, as its story will be told in a narrative voice.”

That’s correct, as the game features narration for the first time in the Amanita universe. An English guy called Joe Acheson. Very nice, lending a soothing tone to complement the soundtrack. Acheson is a composer in his own right, he works as a solo artist as Hidden Orchestra and he composed the soundtrack to Amanita Design’s puzzle platformer Creaks (2018).

So, yes, Floex doesn’t always do the scores for Amanita’s games.

But he usually does and his style is so distinctive. Every moment in Phonopolis has been meticulously crafted to offer something unique. Heck, even the main menu theme is a melodic little number we’ll happily have drifting in the background whilst we work.

Amanita Design and Floex remain a match made in ambient heaven. These abstract, curious, intriguing games have been brought to immersive life through his music over the last decade. Long may this continue.

This date in 1888 saw the birth of Irving Berlin, US composer who is famous for writing classic American songs like White Christmas, God Bless America, Puttin' on the Ritz, and There’s No Business Like Show Business. 10 facts about him.

https://topicaltens.blogspot.com/2026/05/11-may-irving-berlin.html

#BirthAnniversary #IrvingBerlin #Composers #Music

The Best Video Game Soundtracks of All Time 🎶🎼🎵

In a musical mood, we decided to round up the best video game soundtracks of all time.

Or… the best ones we’ve heard in our near 40 years of playing video games. This is a very subjective list, of course, and isn’t supposed to be definitive or anything. Sorry if we missed any you love! Yet, at the very least, we hope you discover some lovely new music to listen to and coo appreciatively.

The Best Game Music Ever (in our humble opinion)

Here we go then! A big old traditional list article with some excellent music in the mix. We’ve not put anything in any real specific order, it’s more this is a bunch of great music from very talented composers. Enjoy.

A Plague Tale: Requiem

The work of French composer Olivier Derivière, A Plague Tale: Requiem (2022) offers an often brilliant score. There are Medieval moments, folk, and a big orchestral sweep for dramatic moments. It’s not a classic game, but a good enough one, and yet we feel the score doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.

Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus is considered one of the best games ever. It launched on PS2 back in late 2005. The music was by Japanese composer Kow Otani who created an incredible landscape of dynamic, gallant pieces to create a sense of magnitude. And with Swift Horse as an example above, you can hear the grand scope of Otani’s vision. Pelting!

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

It feels a bit weird now, but Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launched in 2015. It’s 11 years old! Two composers worked on the score: Marcin Przybyłowicz and Mikolai Stroinski.

The game is by Polish developer CD Projekt, so Old Slavic melodies drive the music along. Witcher 3 has a strong Medieval vibe and the result is always dramatic, but we particularly like some of the yearning melodic quieter numbers.

World of Warcraft

Our memories of WoW from 2009 involved us journeying around the MMORPG and getting lost in its glorious world. Composer Jason Hayes handled the soundtrack, which has impressive depth.

The game launched in 2004 at a time when game music was stepping things up several levels and WoW (enormously popular as it was back then) was a big contributor to what video game music could be.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Skyrim soundtrack is astonishing from start to finish, a phenomenal work of (frankly) regular genius by American composer Jeremy Soule.

The reason we haven’t done a full feature on the Skyrim score is because Soule was accused of sexual harassment in August 2019. He denied the claim, hasn’t been charged with anything, but has disappeared from public life. It’s unclear if he’ll ever work in music again.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The N64’s Ocarina of Time (1998) is legendary for so many reasons. The company’s composer, Koji Kondo, worked his wonders here for what’s been classed as leitmotif in reverse. Short pieces that introduce stationary environments as the player approaches them, rather than announcing an entering character (Mario game style).

It’s a landmark work in gaming and, alongside FFVII from the year before, helped define what a game soundtrack could be for the new era of 3D gaming.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

One of the best games of all time (if not the best), Breath of the Wild (2017) also includes an amazing soundtrack. The score was handled by Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata, and Hajime Wakai to cover the extensive nature of it (there are dozens of pieces).

As you explore the vast world of Hyrule, these various pieces crop up to create a sense of awe and scale. It’s also often so uplifting, too, and brings Breath of the Wild to life.

Super Mario Galaxy

The Mario Galaxy soundtrack (2007) was composed by Mahito Yokota and Koji Kondo. The latter is Nintendo’s long-term resident composer, famous for all those Mario bleeps and boops!

Galaxy was different as the team approached an orchestral vision for the music, moving away from the traditional Mario level music. It worked so well and was so popular with the public this style has remained in place since. Good! It’s great.

The Curse of Monkey Island

The Monkey Island series has amazing music, but for us the best of the lot is from Curse of Monkey Island (1997). It’s the work of American composer Michael Land for the LucasArts developer.

He really channels Caribbean vibes alongside a great sense of fun, adventure, and mischief. It’s all rather glorious.

Spiritfarer

Max LL’s gorgeous Spiritfarer (2020) score is beautiful, inspired, and uplifting. The game is a kind of death management simulation, where you look after spirits before they’re ready to journey into the afterlife.

It’s a tricky subject to get right, but indie dev Thunder Lotus Games delivers everything with great care and compassion, driven along by the orchestral sweep of Max LL.

Deservedly, Spiritfarer got an in-concert Cadogan Hall special in late 2025 we attended. Every bit as good live as in recording, even if the composer wasn’t present (which was a shame).

Owlboy

Owlboy is a 10/10 game from us and Johnathan Geer’s Owlboy score carries the work impressively. It’s orchestral, sweet-natured, uplifting, and frequently beautiful.

It’s like engaging in a Studio Ghibli film, with Geer’s ability to somehow conjure up the right theme for every area of the game remaining a real treat.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

Our memories of Rare’s Donkey Kong Country 2 (1995) include playing through a fantastic 2D platformer, just also whilst in awe at the music.

The work of unassuming British composer David Wise, it’s arguably the best Super Nintendo score. Even with the technical limitations of the system, Wise used all his guile and skillset to craft this thing. A score of great emotional power that transform a goofy game with monkeys into something genuinely profound.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

David Wise returned to the DK series in 2014 for Retro Studio’s Tropical Freeze outing for the Wii U. The game received a port to the Switch in 2019, too. The game is a masterpiece and the music complements that in classic Wise fashion.

It’s just brilliant. Previously, we’ve flagged the Grassland Groove level as our favourite. It’s flat out when of the best gaming levels in history! A total joy to play.

Secret of Mana

The Secret of Mana (1994) soundtrack was by young Japanese composer Hiroki Kukuta. He completed it in an intensive short period, locking himself in solitude to get the compositions down.

It was very important for Squaresoft as the game developer, too, as the music defined how they’d approach their future Final Fantasy series. And that resulted in the amazing FFVII score.

Final Fantasy VII

We covered the sprawling FFVII soundtrack (1997) recently as it received a 2020 overhaul for the Remake game. It’s an emotive work, driven by the main characters’ search for justice in a deeply unjust world.

Nobuo Uematsu was responsible for the 1997 original, with Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki overhauling his pieces for the 2020 Remake. The results were all very spectacular.

Hollow Knight Silksong

Launching in late 2025, Hollow Knight Silksong brought with it an incredible score. The work of Australian composer Christopher Larkin, it’s a sprawling work of neoclassical excellence.

Samorost 3

The work of Czech genius Floex (aka Tomáš Dvořák), his body of work is vast at this point and it’s difficult to pinpoint his best piece. But the Samorost 3 (2016) soundtrack is something else, showing off his skills across electronic ambience, jazz, classical, and everything else.

Rayman Origins

The work of French composer Christophe Héral, the Rayman Origins soundtrack (2011) covers a huge breadth of genres with relentless inventiveness. He’s an energetic, quirky guy and it really shines through in his work.

It’s difficult to even define what genre the work falls into. It’s an uplifting mix of orchestral, jazz, world music, with whimsical melodies, Latin influences, and just whatever else Héral came up with. All of it mixed together in remarkable fashion that it lifts the game to the level of an all-time great.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Last but not least is Gareth Coker’s Ori and the Will of the Wisps (2020) soundtrack, which we’d argue is very possibly the greatest game soundtrack of all time.

It’s a masterpiece with so many beautiful compositions it seems quite ridiculous one man can come up with it all. It has a melancholic, life-affirming quality where the main character Ori is constantly facing life-or-death struggles in a brutal world.

Through it all little Ori is able to rise above it and fight in with compassion and integrity. That’s what this music represents.

Here are two very different subreddits that I created and administrate.

This is a subreddit for those who love, or are even curious about, opera and its singers from the 1950's and earlier. Feel free to ask questions, share reviews and links, and discuss this wonderful genre of music and the singers and composers who brought it to life. Everyone, from beginners to experts, is welcome.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OldOpera/

If you want to join apositive subreddit for the blind, try r/BlindandFine. The subject matter is far less strict than at r/blind, since not everything needs to be related to blindness. This is more of a place where we can get to know each other and have fun. We allow sighted people to join as well, and we welcome questions about blindness if they are genuine, requests for feedback on surveys or technology about/for the blind, etc. However, I do ask that you join only if you are eighteen or older. Please also note that this is not a therapy/support group. If you need that, then r/blind is for you. I am not an administrator there, only of Blind and Fine.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BlindAndFine/

#accessibility #BelCanto #blind #blindness #composers #friendship #hobbies #music #opera #records #recordings #Reddit #singers #subreddits #technology

A lifelong Beatles fan

https://phicklephilly.wordpress.com/2026/04/30/a-lifelong-beatles-fan/