I am absolutely tickled pink, purple and blue; Mark Mothersbaugh, lead singer of 80's avant-rock group DEVO, has been announced as lead composer on the forthcoming Electronic Arts title, The Sims 2.
Not only am I a big fan of his Whip It!-era music, but I've also enjoyed his soundtracks to the Wes Anderson films Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. Mothersbaugh's music is flippant, lighthearted and, as expected, rather quirky. It's just lovely. Heaven only knows what he'll be doing to those poor little computer people, but I expect some serious vogue-ing on the virtual dance floors.
As I blogged earlier, EA is making a massive push to include top musical acts in its interactive titles. Only a few years ago, the musak associated with most games adhered to the plinky-plonky variety (there were notable exceptions, and I have the soundtracks from Parappa the Rapper, Space Channel 5 and Jet Set Radio to prove it), but the Canadian publishers were keen to do something about it. They pulled in Steve Schnur from Columbia Records to take over music placement and acquisition. Since he adopted the post as Worldwide Executive of Music and Audio, A-Listers like Mothersbaugh and DJ Paul Oakenfold have jumped on the interactive entertainment wagon to try games composition on for size.
According to Mothersbaugh, "Computer games are just another vehicle to express my creativity and allow my fans to enjoy my music." Whip it good.
Some other games music composers of note:
Kojo Kondo: resident Nintendo composer. Credits include all of the Marios and all of the Zeldas. I highly recommend a listen to the Super Mario Bros. theme tune played by the London Symphony Orchestra. Inspirational.
Nobuo Uematsu: composer of the much-adored Final Fantasy games series music. The entire collection was played in concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA in May 2004.
Masaya Matsuura: award-winning composer of Parappa the Rapper (1&2), Um Jammer Lammy, Vib Ribbon and others.
Help me out here with some Westerners...
