Games

YOSHI’S ISLAND Music Gets a Soothing Jazz Lullaby (Premiere)

by Derrick Rossignol
Oct 6 2017 • 8:00 AM

The music of a video game shoulders a unique challenge, best summed up by ambient music pioneer Brian Eno’s oft-quoted definition of his own genre: “It must be as ignorable as it is interesting.” In other words, it must be able to blend in the background of the moment, but to sound awesome if you choose to focus on it.

The latest Prescription for Sleep album, Fight for Your Dreams, deals some of our favorite video game tunes that focus, but with one caveat: all these classic heart-pounding boss battle themes have been reimagined as lullabies. And we here at Nerdist are happy to premiere the new and sleepy rendition of the “Mini-Boss” song from the Super Nintendo classic Yoshi’s Island.[brightcove video_id=”5598125362001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=”rJs2ZD8x”]

Performed by duo Gentle Love, consisting of Norihiko Hibino (known for his work on Metal Gear Solid and the Bayonetta series) and pianist AYAKI (Etrian Odyssey, PersonaQ), Fight for Your Dreams also includes music from games like Mega Man 2, Final Fantasy IV, Dark Souls, and others.

Scarlet Moon Records producer Jayson Napolitano stated that he’s thrilled with what the album ended up becoming. “I’ve been wanting to create a volume dedicated to battle music for quite sometime,” he said. “I’ve been trying to increase the challenge factor with each installment of the series, and what better way to challenge Hibino-san and AYAKI than by taking some of the most intense music from video games and having them transformed into lullabies? I thought it would be a unique way to celebrate the Halloween season.”

In the album’s liner notes, he also shared some of his favorite songs from the album: “There’s something here for everyone, from the swaying waltz of ‘Battle with the Four Fiends’ to lighthearted jazz in both ‘Mini-Boss’ and ‘Beasts as Black as Night.’ Mega Man 2’s ‘Boss’ and Super Metroid’s ‘Mother Brain’ are my personal favorites, capturing the essence of what this album is about, with the latter even causing me to laugh from time to time with its clever arrangement.”

Prescription For Sleep: Fight for Your Dreams will be released on October 10th, and can be pre-ordered now right here. Check out the track list below, and let us know in the comments what other video game songs you think it would be cool to see given this treatment.

Prescription for Sleep: Fight for Your Dreams track list

1. “Veiled in Black (Final Fantasy XV)”
2. “Boss (Mega Man 2)”
3. “MEGALOVANIA (UNDERTALE)”
4. “Battle with the Four Fiends (Final Fantasy IV)”
5. “People Imprisoned by Destiny (Chrono Cross)”
6. “Mini-Boss (Yoshi’s Island)”
7. “Autobot-Decepticon Battle (Transformers: The Movie)”
8. “Beasts as Black as Night (Ys III)”
9. “Ornstein & Smough (Dark Souls)”
10. “Intolerance (Raystorm)”
11. “Mother Brain (Super Metroid)”
12. “In a Better Place (Original)”

Images: Nintendo, Scarlet Moon Records

More of Yoshi and friends!

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