VGM musicians. Who are your favourites?
 

So many talented musicians working in such a great genre of music.

So, who are your favourite VGM composers/musicians? Why are you attracted to their musical style? Do you have any personal favourite tracks of theirs? What compells you to listen to their works over and over?

I really enjoy Junya Nakano's work. It's so mellow and atmospheric. His music usually always gives a distinct feel to a scene in a game. Take for example Final Fantasy X, when Nakano's "This is Your Story" plays during Sin's consumption of Zanarkand. The piece 'took hold' of the FMV and made it all the more surreal and dream-like.

One of most unique VGM musicians I've had the pleasure of listening to in the past few years, is Yoshitaka Hirota, composer of the Shadow Hearts OST. I believe that Hirota-san's dark ambient/industrial composition plays a major role in Shadow Hearts' overall quality as a video game, and the player's experience of Shadow Hearts.

More of my favourite musicians include Hitoshi Sakimoto, Jeremy Soule, Hideake Kobayashi, Masashi Hamauzu, Noriko Matsueda, Yoko Shimomura, Yasunori Mitsuda, Michiko Naruke and Koji Kondo.

NOTE: I have purposefully excluded Nobuo Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda from the poll for obvious reasons.

14 alternatives?? Hey, that's cool. GFF only supported 10. Long live SD.

Ahem, back to the topic: Since I'm a huge fan of any kind of classic/orchestrated music, I definitely have to say Koichi Sugiyama. His Dragon Quest Symphonic Suites are amazing. And his decision to support the Orchestral Game Concerts was a great one.

Iwata? Was not he a composer of the FF Tactics soundtrack? Yep, he's also one to like.

And last but not least Yoko Shimomura. I did not know her before her amazing Kingdom Hearts soundtrack, but this soundtrack is absolutely fascinating. I hope to see her more often in the future.

Some that are not on your list: Yasuhiro Kawakami (Mystic Quest Legend), Motoi Sakuraba (Tales Of Phantaisa!!! Nice one), Noriyuki Iwadare (Grandia. Don't miss that fascinating soundtrack)

PS: A good idea to exclude Uematsu and Mitsuda ;) Otherwise, it would be annoying...

Ah, damn. Iwadare - I forgot all about him!

It's really tough for me to decide between Junya Nakano, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Masashi Hamauzu, Jeremy Soule, Yoshitake Hirota, Yoshino Aoki, Matsuo Hayato (with Hayama Koji), and Daisuke Ishiwatari (who's not on the list.)

The thing that attracts me most about any one of them is how their music has such incredible, unique melodies that transcend its role as mere VGM. They also don't use as much of that annoying 4/4 time that I hear in a lot of Nobuo Uematsu's recent works.

My favorite soundtracks from each of them is as follows:

Hitoshi Sakimoto - Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy Tactics, Legaia Duel Saga, Radiant Silvergun

Masashi Hamauzu - Saga Frontier 2, FFX, Tobal No. 1

Junya Nakano - FFX, Dewprism, Tobal No. 1

Jeremy Soule - Secret of Evermore, Icewind Dale

Yoshitaka Hirota - Shadow Hearts plus 1

Yoshino Aoki - Breath of Fire 3, Breath of Fire 4

Matsuo Hayato (with Hayama Koji) - Front Mission 3

Daisuke Ishiwatari - Guilty Gear, Guilty Gear X, Guilty Gear XX

Though many of their individual styles are very different, each one of them never fails to compose some of the most engaging and complex VGM around. Whatever they compose doesn't normally lend itself to being annoying like some of the most popular VGM that grows stale after a couple listenings.

There are quite a few for me that fall beneath "other" ;)

Noryiuki Iwadare (you got that yourself) who has made great things like GRANDIA music happen. Yasunori Mitsuda (I don't see an obvious reason to exclude him, even if he isn't WANTING to make VGM ;) ) and Motoi Sakuraba, my definite favorite!

Just think about what Golden Sun or even the "Shining" series would have been without his grand music.

Motoi Sakuraba, Noriyuki Iwadare, and Falcom Sound Team JDK w/ Ryo Yominetsu and Tamiya Terashima and Kishimoto!

Motoi Sakuraba and most of the musicians who worked at Falcom in the late eighties/early nineties. They'd all be listed under "other" because they've never worked on Squaresoft games, and that seems to be a requirement for being a poll choice, unless you happen to be Koji Kondo or Koichi Sugiyama. ;)

Polls never work for topics with so many possible choices, though, so I'm not complaing... too much. You forgot Miki Higashino as well, by the way. :p

Sorry, people. I wish there were more than fourteen options, too.

Other favorites are as follows (other than the ones I put in the poll):

Akira Yamaoka
Motoi Sakuraba
Ryo Yonemitsu (arrangers count, right? ^_^)
Sota Fujimori (more underrated than most IMO, especially because few people have heard Gungage...)

Of those listed, Yoshitaka Hirota currently tops my list because he's 100% golden so far (yea, so what if that means 1 for 1...). Nakano, Hamauzu, and Sakimoto aren't too far behind.

Strohmaier

...agh, almost forgot Miki Higashino. :thumbs:

Now that I think about it...isn't it Michiko *N*aruke?

Agh, and how could I have forgotten Yoshitaka Azuma?? Oy.

Yuzo Koshiro isn't there?

Please tell me what exactly Terashima and Kishimoto composed, I feel a little stupid but I really don't know what they did.

Oh yes, what the Hell is he (Yuzo) doing at this point anyway? I'd like to hear some of his music arranged!

Take Super Shinobi, how I LOVED that music! Which brings me to a request I have to make at ... ah... requests.

Tamiya Terashima was than man responsible for virtually all of the orchestral arrangements. I'm not entirely sure if he was the one who arranged Symphony Ys and Symphony Sorcerian, because they were just listed as being by "Sound Team JDK". But I know for a fact that his credits do include the following:

Symphony Ys '95
Ys V Orchestra Version
Legend of Heroes IV Electric Orchestra
Falcom Neo Classics (the first disc)

Tomohiko Kishimoto did all the JDK Band arrangements.

Yes, her name does atart with an 'N', but it was 2AM when I created the poll, so go figure.

Hey, Strohmie - was Higashino responsible for the Nobunaga's Ambition albums? I think I've heard of her before.

Miki Higashino wrote the music for Suikoden I and II, and also for the original NES versions of Gradius and Salamander. Yoko Kanno is the one you're thinking of - she did Nobunaga's Ambition.