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Castlevania's Michiru Yamane making the 'jazzy' sounds of Skullgirls
Composer Michiru Yamane is best known for her work on Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and other Castlevania games. She also recently contributed to the bouncy soundtrack of Cave's iPhone game Mushihimesama Bug Panic. And now she's working on her first American-developed game: Reverge Labs' 2D fighter Skullgirls. Per the developers' request, Yamane is creating "jazzy" music for the game's "dark deco" world. "I love Jazz and have been wanting to create some of my own," she said, "so I played a bit with the rhythm and different sounds to try and heighten the impact and almost primal nature of the unique graphics." So don't expect the same range of Gothic, orchestral, synth, choral rock we came to know from her work on Castlevania. You can hear a bit of Skullgirls' music in the video statement by Yamane after the break.
David Cox details the 'epic yet sad' score of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
In an interview conducted last summer with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow producer David Cox, we found out that the much loved Castlevania: Symphony of the Night music composer Michiru Yamane wouldn't be joining the team at Konami to compose the upcoming game. What was unclear at the time, however, was who exactly would be assigned the task of creating the game's score. David Cox explained to Joystiq this morning that Oscar Araujo, a Spanish symphonist, has been granted that burden. "Our composer for this game is Oscar Araujo who is a Spanish composer. He is creating a very epic yet sad and melancholy score that perfectly suits the game and emotion that we are aiming for." While Cox added that he's "a big fan of Yamane-san's work," he admitted that her music wouldn't have been a great fit for Mercury Steam's take on the Castlevania series. It certainly doesn't hurt that, according to Cox, she's no longer an employee of Konami. "Yamane-san left Konami quite some time ago as I understand it. She is currently working freelance, though I am not 100% sure. "Yamane-san has a style that fits perfectly to the previous Castlevania games but this game is very different to those more recent 'vania's in style and direction. I don't think I would be doing her any favours by including her music in the game." He also pointed out that we'll understand his point more clearly when we "eventually get to see the game." With any luck, that'll be sooner rather than later. %Gallery-65043%
Mankind definitely needs a Castlevania music collection such as this
Depressed about the lack of availability (as of right now) of Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth in North America? Then you'll be crying Bloody Tears over this Japan-only CD collection, releasing March 24. The Akumajou Dracula Best Music Collections BOX contains nineteen discs of Castlevania music. The collection includes soundtracks for Castlevania games ranging from NES, Game Boy, and MSX releases to more recent games on Game Boy Advance, PS2, and the arcade. Even the spin-off, Kid Dracula, is included on Disc 2! Disc 18 is an "arrange" album, with covers Castlevania tunes by Symphony of the Night composer Michiru Yamane, and disc 19 is a DVD featuring recording studio footage and interviews with Yamane. It's very unlikely this collection will be officially made available outside of Japan, and if an importer does carry it, you'll have to whip a bunch of candles to scrounge up the coins: Konamistyle prices the collection at ¥21,000 ($232). [Via Original Sound Version]
