Podcast Ross Alexander Podcast Ross Alexander

TSLF Episode 4: Nobuo Uematsu & 30 Years Of Final Fantasy - Part 3

I finally complete the suitably epic saga of Uematsu’s career, thus far.

Uematsu After Final Fantasy

Hoo-boy, I bet nobody expected this episode to come out. I’m not 100% certain I predicted it myself, but here it is! The final part of my mini-series on the career of Nobuo Uematsu. After the PS1 golden age, he stuck around to take part in composing FFX, but he has worked on many other titles since then.

Doing a podcast that required so much research is tricky. Doing it with a PC tower that intermittently clicks and disrupts your recording is worse, so getting this episode out was a true project of passion. If you listen to it, you have my sincere gratitude.

Track Listing:

  1. Zanarkand - Final Fantasy X

  2. Besaid Island - Final Fantasy X

  3. One Winged Angel - LIVE

  4. Don’t Be Afraid - Distant Worlds

  5. Eternity - Blue Dragon

  6. Cave - Blue Dragon

  7. Prologue - Lost Odyssey

  8. Parting Forever - Lost Odyssey

  9. Bout Of Arena: Battle Banquet - The Last Story

  10. Fallen Nobles - The Last Story

  11. Prelude - Distant Worlds

    You can reach me at:

Thanks again for listening!

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Podcast Ross Alexander Podcast Ross Alexander

TSLF Episode 3: Nobuo Uematsu & 30 Years Of Final Fantasy - Part 2

Episode 3 took me a while. (Imagine the surprise!) It’s here now, though. In this episode, I cover what I consider to be Uematsu’s “Golden Era”.

Nobuo Uematsu’s Golden Age:

Thanks again for waiting for me to get this episode out into the wild. It’s here now, and in this episode, I cover Uematsu’s work with the Final Fantasy series through the late 90’s. This is not only the period in the series that I got on board, but it’s also the era of Final Fantasy that I still see as the best.

The technology of the time is a massive driving force in the changes that Uematsu made to his music, and the difference between FF7’s wonderful synth-heavy score and FF9’s fantastical orchestral score is incredible when you consider that they both came out on multiple discs for the same console.

I have created another playlist for the music in this episode, and you can find it here. The articles of interest for this show have been listed in the previous episode’s show notes, as they’re all to do with Uematsu’s work.

Track Listing:

  1. Opening Theme / Bombing Run - Final Fantasy VII

  2. Aerith’s Theme - Final Fantasy VII

  3. One Winged Angel - Final Fantasy VII

  4. Cid’s Theme - Final Fantasy VII

  5. Liberi Fatali - Final Fantasy VIII

  6. Eyes On Me - Final Fantasy VIII

  7. Shuffle Or Boogie - Final Fantasy VIII

  8. The Spy - Final Fantasy VIII

  9. Escape From Alexandria - Final Fantasy IX

  10. Themes For Vivi, Steiner, Zidane & Garnet - Final Fantasy IX

  11. Melodies Of Life - Final Fantasy IX

  12. Balamb Garden - Final Fantasy VIII

    You can reach me at:

Thanks again for listening!

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Podcast Ross Alexander Podcast Ross Alexander

TSLF Episode 2: Nobuo Uematsu & 30 Years of Final Fantasy - Part 1

Episode 2 is finally here! Here is part 1 of my biography of Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu.

nobuo-uematsu.png

Kept you waiting, huh?

So it’s been around a year since I sent the pilot episode out into the wild, I suppose. I definitely miscalculated just how quickly I’d be able to make an episode of the show. After getting the pilot in place, I was hit by an Avalanche of new responsibilities and distractions. All of them are positive, but it did push this podcast back down the list of priorities a little bit.

If you’ve stuck with the show, then thank you. I hope to reward you guys with another episode soon.

The good news is that the full biography show is now written, music is chosen and I am just waiting for an opportunity to record and edit the next 2 parts of the show together. This is looking to be part 1 of 3, and I hope it whets your appetite for more.

Uematsu is a real favourite of mine, and his history is storied and relatively well documented. This made the researching for the show extremely interesting, but prone to distractions I’d fall down a rabbit hole, and end up reading 5 articles with only a little being added to the script afterwards.

Anyway, you can find the track listing below, and I’ve created a youtube playlist of the tracks here, in case you want to listen to the tracks in their entirety. Given that these tracks are from the start of Uematsu’s career, they’re still quite rudimentary by today’s standards, but you can definitely see the start of him developing his style.

Track Listing:

  1. Final Fantasy Main Theme - Final Fantasy I

  2. Cruise Chaser Blassty Main Theme

  3. Prelude - Final Fantasy I

  4. Prelude - Final Fantasy VII

  5. Airship Theme - Final Fantasy I

  6. Theme of Love (Celtic Moon) - Final Fantasy IV

  7. Dear Friends - Final Fantasy V

  8. Decisive Battle - Final Fantasy VI

  9. Omen - Final Fantasy VI

Articles of Interest

I’ve also put together a list of some articles that I used to research the show. Some are old and you need to dig through them to find anything interesting, but some are really modern and directly tell a great story.

You can reach me at:

Thanks again for listening!

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Podcast Ross Alexander Podcast Ross Alexander

TSLF Episode 1: The Pilot - A brief history of music in videogames.

Welcome to the very first episode of "That Sounds Like Fun"; a podcast all about the magic of videogame music and how it makes us feel.

 In this episode, I wanted to give the show a little bit of context, without going too in-depth about the nuances of game music. I will cover the evolution of music in games from the early "beeps and boops" of Arcade classics such as Space Invaders & Donkey Kong, to the grand orchestral scores of modern day games like Journey and Halo.

The Adventure Begins!

Welcome to the very first episode of "That Sounds Like Fun"; a podcast all about the magic of videogame music and how it makes us feel.

 In this episode, I wanted to give the show a little bit of context, without going too in-depth about the nuances of game music. I will cover the evolution of music in games from the early "beeps and boops" of Arcade classics such as Space Invaders & Donkey Kong, to the grand orchestral scores of modern day games like Journey and Halo.

 This has been a passion project of mine for quite some time, which was derailed a little bit and has hopefully found its way back on-track. I am really excited to bring this to people, and I hope that everyone who listens enjoys at least some, if not all of it! 

 As this is the pilot episode, all feedback is valuable, and while nobody dislikes having their ego stroked, I am really welcoming negative (but constructive) feedback. It doesn't matter if you're a seasoned fan of videogame music or you've never really been into games at all. If there's something you feel is missing (or could do with being removed), I am all ears. You'll find ways to contact me at the bottom of this post.

Track Listing

  1. Drake's Theme 2.0 - Uncharted 2 - Greg Edmonson

  2. At Doom's Gate - Doom - Robert Prince

  3. Green Green's - Kirby's Dreamland - Jun Ishikawa

  4. Audio from Space Invaders - Taito

  5. Theme from Donkey Kong - Donkey Kong - Yukio Kaneoka

  6. Go Straight - Streets of Rage 2 - Yuzo Koshiro

  7. Tetris Theme "A" - Tetris - Hirokazu Tanaka (Here's a cool article too!)

  8. Tetris - Dr Spin

  9. Korobeiniki - Nikolay Nekrasov

  10. Guile's Theme - Street Fighter 2 - Yoko Shimomura

  11. "People" Suite - Dragon Quest 1 - Koichi Sugiyama

  12. Overworld Theme - Super Mario Bros - Koji Kondo

  13. Andy's Mission - Heart of Darkness - Bruce Broughton

  14. Medal of Honor Theme - Medal of Honor - Michael Giacchino

  15. Baldur's Gate Theme - Baldur's Gate - Michael Hoenig

  16. Halo 3 Suite - Halo 3 - Marty O' Donnell (Arranged and played by VGL)

  17. Final Confluence - Journey - Austin Wintory

Tell a friend (or 2...or 10)

 So if you've listened to the show, I really appreciate it. If you have submitted feedback, I'm even more grateful! My website will be the "home" of the podcast, and the only place with show notes like this. In the future, I may be able to add little pieces of interviews or articles for people to read, so keep an eye open for that.

 You can also find me on Stitcher or iTunes! I would really appreciate it if you told your friends and family about the show. This is a passion project, but the quality will only improve if I know that people are eager to hear the next one.

 You can reach me at:

Thanks again for listening!

 

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