June 8, 2009

Gonzales’s “Solo Piano” Album

Ryan and I are big fans of Canadian music. By that, I mean that a lot of the artists that we like happen to be from there, like Metric, Reverie Sound Revue, Feist, and Peaches, to name a few.

We noticed that both Feist and Peaches often collaborate with an artist called Gonzales, so finally we decided to explore his other works. I was pleasantly surprised by who and what I found: a pianist.

Jason Beck’s (aka Gonzales’) album Solo Piano, released in 2005, is a collection of short piano works, performed by Gonzales himself. The pieces are moody and minimalistic in nature, at times resembling the works of composers like Erik Satie. I encourage you to check out Gonzales’s piano music if you’re into Satie, or even film composers like Yann Tiersen. For the pianists out there, there’s a sheet music book as well.
Gonzales performing “Gogol.” This piece was used in one of my favorite films, Paris je t’aime.

June 2, 2009

E3 2009 Trailer for Super Mario Galaxy 2

I can’t tell you how excited I am. Looks like Yoshi will play a major part!

Updates & Projects

It’s been slow around these parts, so I figured I’d share what I’ve been up to. Two weeks ago, I composed music for Rozen Maiden, a short film by a graduate student in Hong Kong named Nanami Cen. It’s my first film soundtrack so I’m excited! I posted two of the tracks in the new Film Music section of my web portfolio.

I’ve also been updating the rest of my site slowly, adjusting the layout and trying to finish up my recordings. (I just learned that IE slaughters my CSS code, ugh!) I haven’t had much time for YouTube because of this, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have some projects swimming around. I’ve been toying with these ideas:
  • “Dragon Roost Island” from Windwaker (possible piano/guitar duet)
  • “Melty Molten Galaxy” from SMG (possible duet with zachpiano)
  • “Overworlds of Zelda” medley, featuring themes from OoT, Windwaker, TP, LttP, and LA
  • FFX Piano Collections
Hopefully I’ll have something new to show off soon!