The Ocarina of Time!

Back in the 1998 for whatever reason I visited my cousin's home and for the first time saw the game "Zelda - The Ocarina of Time" for the Nintendo 64. I was so impressed I went out that week to Toys R Us and purchased the N64 Entertainment system...I had to have this game! The game was unbelievable with most gamer magazines giving it a perfect score. I played it so much that my wife (GF at the time) pretty much memorized all the melodies in the game and could hum and sing along the soundtrack while working on a puzzle or reading a book...she's not much for video games...music a different story.

Symphony of the Goddesses

A few years later I found a copy of an orchestral recording of the Ocarina of Time soundtrack and to this day still have a listen. The whole Zelda score was composed by Koji Kondo a sound designer / director employed by Nintendo and who's known for not only his work on Zelda, but the Super Mario Brother series as well. Probably the most memorable melody in the game is "Zelda's Lullaby" Check it out here:

Anyhow a few months ago my wife found tickets (was a difficult task) for the showing of "Zelda - The Symphony of the Godesses" a concert dedicated to the 25 year history of the Zelda franchise held at the Sony Center for the Performing Arts. The show was completley sold out, filled with a number of fans dressed as Link or other famous characters. For the record I was wearing designer jeans and a nice dress shirt. The concert featured music from many of the different Zelda games along with footage from them played in behind the orchestra. What made it kind of neat was the footage was actually taking from parts of the game that were the most memorable...ie collecting certain items, boss kills or some of the more frustrating parts. The crowd found those most amusing.

For the most part the crowd picked it's moments to be loud and boisterous, and were polite for the majority of the showing.  Shout outs from the crowd, not normal in orchestral shows, were done tastefully and drew smiles from the conductor and members of the orchestra.  However, when the conductor Eimear Noone pulled out the "Windwalker" and used it as a baton to conduct the Windwalker movement everyone went nuts!

Anyhow...I have to say we both enjoyed ourselves. The music was beautifully played and brought back many frustrating memories playing that game.

Here was the programme:

Legend of Zelda Medley
Creation of Hyrule
Kakariko Village
Ocarina Medley
The Ocarina of Time
The Wind Waker

Intermission

Great Fairy's Fountain
Twilight Princess
A Link to the Past

Encores:
 Link's Awakening
Gerudo Valley
Majora's Mask

Such Sweet Vocals...

I have to say that I just love female vocals that kind of wrap you up in a nice cosy blanket and make you feel all warm inside.  Of course a lot can have to do with the production itself but for the most part I can listen to some of these tracks over and over again because I am just drawn to the voice.

 

If I purchased "Fumbling Towards Ectasy" by Sarah McLaughlan on vinyl I would probably have had to replace the album several times due to overuse.  I never really listened to her before that release but for some reason that album was a go to for me if I was in a chill out kind of mood.  I just loved it...lots of emotion.

 

About the same time I came across an LP called "Walking Wounded" by Everything But The Girl a duo out of the UK with Tracey Thorn on vocals.  You may know some of their more popular work on this side of the ocean in "Missing" and "Wrong" two great tracks.  The album was released in 1996 and to this day I still listen to it.  Her mellow soothing voice over some minimalist drum and bass sounds makes for an awesome combination.

 

 

The first time I heard Dido's voice in the song "Stan" by Eminem I had to find out who she was.  Sure enough she was already a star in her own making before that track came out and the lyric used in that Hip Hop song was from her single "Thank You." Once again I was drawn to that soft soothing voice.  "Don't Believe in Love" on "Safe Trip Home" another one of my favs.
  

On the electronica side of things there are several tracks that I just seem to play over and over again.  Deadmau5 and Kaskade have calloborated on several earlier projects and found a gem in a vocalist named Haley Gibby who performed "I Remember" & "Move for Me."  Haley is an electronic music vocalist and has done many collaborations with Kaskade. Check out this cool acoustic version of "I Remember" that I found on youtube:

Recently Kaskade released a track called "Room for Happiness" featuring Skylar Grey (real name Holly Brook Hafermann).  Hafermann is an American singer songwriter who co-wrote "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminen and was featured as a guest vocalist on  "Coming Home" a Hip Hop track from Diddy Dirty Money.  She has her own album called "Like Blood Like Honey" which I have to check out and looks to be releasing a new album in 2013. 

 

 

Out of all the commercial EDM crap that seems to be hitting the airwaves these days I can't get seem to get enough of these three tracks by Deadmau5/Kaskade....mostly because of the voice and the chords used to compliment them.  

 

Anyhow...if you feel like wanting to sit by a cosy fire place and drink a glass of wine and just chill then I would suggest putting a play list of some of these artists together and enjoy.