Artists I've Found Thanks To Games
Video games are often criticized as a source of negative behavior in children. I find that ridiculous. I grew up with Tekken 4 and 5, two really DARK games when you actually go through their stories. I've never retained bad behavior as a result of games, I have however, found artists and soundtracks I've come to love and listen to frequently. There are a few different lists I've wanted to write recently, one of them is this such list: artists I've found as a result of video games. Now one thing I can guarantee is that these are rather unique, unheard of artists. I want people to search up the music of who I list below for themselves and decide if they're good or not.
Jamie Christopherson
Jamie is a composer for several mediums, he's been a bit inactive as of late, but he's done a wide variety of work. From composing the trailer for The Avengers to creating jingles for the Samsung Galaxy, Jamie has composed for music everywhere, however he best known for his work on the soundtrack for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. MGRR is an amazing hack and slash game I've played several times over, one of it's best draws is it's use of electronic, high intensity music mixed with rock and metal. As the composer of the soundtrack, Jamie is responsible for this unique, fantastic blend of high octane music!
My favorite tracks from the Metal Gear Rising Revengeance - Vocal Tracks Selection are A Stranger I Remain, The Stains of Time and The Only Thing I Know For Real. These tracks are featured and each tell a story about characters in the game, but one odd thing I've found is that A Stranger I Remain is only half of a full song! A full song titled Here I Come was recorded, but only parts were used in the official soundtrack. From what I understand, in 2009, a game titled Metal Gear Rising was set for development and release, with a demo coming out for the game as well. However, it was cancelled and shelved for a few years. I believe Jamie recorded a few songs for the soundtrack, Here I Come being included, and in 2013 when the game was revamped as Rising Revengeance, electronic elements were added by Platinum Games (who took over in creating the game), hence why every song in the Vocal Tracks Selection has either Platinum Mix or Maniac Agenda Mix included in the titles (check iTunes for a reference on what I mean). This information about the Platinum Mix is clarified by Jamie in his interview with The Game Music Podcast.
Somehow, someone extracted the original tracks from the demo of Rising before it was taken down and it has sense made the rounds on YouTube. The best quality video I've found of it on YouTube is linked below, as well as the forum where I found mediafile links to the unreleased original demo songs for Metal Gear Rising! Please either check out the demo tracks on YouTube or by the mediafile, as they are epic as original compositions! Or, if you're more of an electronic fan, check out the Vocal Tracks Selection on iTunes!
Mediafile demo links are featured on a comment here: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/960699-metal-gear-rising-revengeance/64811038
Saitama Saisyu Heiki
Here is a name probably no one has ever heard of. Saitama Saisyu Heiki (or SSH) is a Japanese video game music 'fan arranger' specializing in the synth rock/metal genre. He's been creating music for years, however no image of his face can be found online. He's published dozens of albums since 2003, however physical copies are only found in Japan and obviously, in Japanese, making non foreign CD players unable to play them. Luckily, SSH created his own website where he shared a majority of the music. BUT... that website is in Japanese as well... so yeah, rather difficult to understand or access.
I was able to learn the information I know about Saitama Saisyu Heiki thanks to a person known as 'layzee' online and his website about SSH, http://home.exetel.com.au/layzee/ssh/sshfaq.html - also thanks to emails exchanged between him and myself. The astronomical amount of music created by SSH is amazing, just exploring the realms of the internet and finding his creations is a great time killer. Some songs I enjoy from him which are easy to find on YouTube are: Decisive Battle, Neon Night and Ultimate Destroyer.
Throughout his years of creating, remixing and sharing his epic music, fans have downloaded and uploaded his music in order to make it more accessible. This is partly how I found him. I found SSH thanks to Final Fantasy X, a game which I grew up playing (but haven't actually finished). I loved the heavy metal song Otherworld from the game's soundtrack and when searching for it on YouTube, I found SSH's remix of the song. Here is a link to the song, which is my favorite from all I've found:
Tommi Inkilä
Here is yet another name and face you probably don't recognize! Tommi Inkilä, as far as I'm aware, doesn't create much music anymore. He has, in total, 6 official songs released. All of which are awesome. His Facebook hasn't been updated in 3 years, his YouTube channel hasn't been updated in 6 years and his website isn't even active anymore. So... why am I talking about him? Because I want to, that's why.
I first heard Tommi Inkilä's music back in 2011 thanks to a game called Frets of Fire, which is essentially Guitar Hero for the PC. Tommi created 3 official tracks for the game, one of which was my absolute favorite in primary school. With this game, my friends and I always had one song each we could 100%. For me, it was Tommi Inkilä's Bang Bang, Mystery Man. I loved that song so much, I could 100% it without looking at the computer screen.
Tommi's songs released with Frets on Fire are Bang Bang, Mystery Man featuring an artist known as Mary Jo and two rock instrumentals, Defy the Machine and This Week I've Mostly Been Playing Guitar. All can be found by downloading Frets of Fire from the official website. His remaining three songs were released on his YouTube channel, they are XO, Key and Three Seconds' Symphony. All songs are amazing, but I'm incredibly disappointed that he hasn't continued with music, as I personally loved all his songs. His latest update on Facebook from 2015 is about a mobile game he created, Fast like a Fox. Hopefully, one day, he picks up the guitar again and creates more epic tunes. Here is a link to my favorite song:
All images used are linked below. I own all albums so their covers are in my possession.
https://goo.gl/images/BnQoKe