Those of you who are keen followers of musical trends may well have heard of the site Pitchfork. It's been going for a good few years and is viewed by many to be one of the best music sites on the web – and the fact that it has chosen to review Koji Kondo's amazing soundtrack to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time only serves to enhance its standing in our eyes.
The review comes as part of the site's ongoing attempt to give exposure to "any record not in our archives" by delivering an in-depth look at what makes it so special.
The review touches upon the lay of the land when the game was released, as well as Kondo's history within Nintendo. It's well worth a read, and digs deep into what makes the soundtrack so special:
Initially, Kondo resisted morphing his beloved bleep-and-bloop game music into real life music. So he rebelled by keeping things unreal. He would spend days rifling through global curios in Kyoto’s record stores before merging his finds into combinations that broke with chronology, geography, and anthropology—combinations that couldn’t plausibly be found outside of a console. Vocal from as far back as 1990 about the changes sweeping through his profession, Kondo eventually embraced them, forging links to the past and casting forward imagined futures.
The music needs no introduction, but it's interesting to note that the game also marked something of an ending for the legendary composer:
Ocarina of Time was to be Kondo’s last full soundtrack. He was responsible for most of 1999’s Majora’s Mask, drawing inspiration from Chinese opera in line with its mask-based aesthetic, but had a much-diminished role when it came to the Gaelic sea shanties of 2002’s The Wind Waker. He remains in charge of Nintendo’s music department, but as a composer, Ocarina of Time was his way of leaving it all out on a field that was in the process of being aggressively returned. Nintendo’s latter-day scores for Zelda and Mario skew more orchestral, but so do most big-budget titles now. They lack Kondo’s uncanny ability to bind feelings of happiness and sadness into an immediately nostalgic whole, so that your first listen feels like your thousandth.
We'd recommend you give the full review a read; let us know if you think the praise is justified by posting a comment below.
[source pitchfork.com]
Comments (35)
I'll remember tracks from Ocarina and Windwaker long after I've forgotten all the the incidental music in BOTW. I'm not saying that music is bad, just that it hasn't stuck with me as those did. Yet so many great tracks in Ocarina with Hyrule field, Epona's song, Saria's song and I'll never forget the moment I played the song of storms to the guy in the windmill, oh and its Kakariko village music is much better 😉.
While I think Pitchfork’s gone entirely down the tube in the last 10 years, the occasional reviewer still makes worthwhile points. I prefer Rate Your Music since it’s entirely user-driven, a democracy of sorts. Think the OoT soundtrack’s pretty high up there too so music lovers seem to reach a consensus at least.
Now that's what I call a fine article.
@carlos82 of course it won't stick with you. BOTW has medicore OST. When you walk around a complete silence. While Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask had an amazing sountrack when you were outside on the field. It gave atmosphere. But in today gaming silence is a thing. Look @ RE2 remake... sure the RE2 original is optional, but even that one is on very low volume. It's all about sound effects and here and there music. Is a new thing. Well I hate it. It's not quality anymore. I need both music and gameplay to remember a game. I still keep going back on youtube to relisten to the OST of Ocarina of Time etc. But BOTW...NONE! it's not there and i'm not feeling it. Hopefully they will fix it with sequal
@nessisonett I agree with you about Pitchfork and RateYourMusic being better. Found out about about a lot of good records on that site, especially international albums. Its reviewers weigh a bit too much in favor of prog and stuff by Radiohead for my taste, but overall it’s a good site.
Pitchfork loves artist while they are new and hip, then dismisses their sophomore album when the fad falls out of their favor. They even changed their “Best Albums of the ‘80s” list, knocking Daydream Nation out of #1 and putting a lot of 80s R&B on it because it’s the cool new thing. You’d think if it really was the best album of the 80s, it wouldn’t be so easily dethroned.
Well yeah there's Gerudo Valley and... Gerudo Valley...
And yeah that's it, there's nothing really bad in the soundtrack persay but overall I find it bit on the overhyped side, Link to the Past before and Majora's Mask right after both did a much better job in my opinion.
@Alucard83 I was trying to be generous in my wording, I'm actually playing the game again now and apart from Kas and that shrine music I can't think of any. I'm 100% with you one on modern day gaming music and probably why over enjoyed Bloodstained so much compared to many other games this year, apart from Resi 2 but the first thing I did on that game was buy the original soundtrack
@carlos82 That's because you think BotW only had incidental music.
It did have incidental music (and very good incidental music at that). But it also had fantastic "main" tracks. The BotW theme is a stunner and still makes my hair stand up at the end. The Goron, Zora, and Rito music are all magnificently arranged for both day and night — easily some of the best versions we've ever gotten. Villages like Kakariko and Hatano have indelible new themes. And enough can't be said about the layered structure of the Tarrytown theme as it comes together.
The BotW score is one for the ages — a massive undertaking that impresses in ways big and small. I'll honestly never understand why so many people think it's just a bunch of piano tinkling.
@nessisonett I like Pitchfork for exactly the reason you seem to dislike it. They are anti-democratic. They don’t even allow comments or discussion anywhere on the site. In that sense they’re a real throwback, internet-wise, and closer to traditional media criticism. I rarely agree any more with their (positive) assessments in that I tend not to enjoy all that much the music they rate very highly. But if I read the full reviews I get in-depth music criticism rather than mere product reviews, and more often than not excellent writing.
@Alucard83 I disagree with your assessment of the BOTW soundtrack. Instead of the Romanticeque and triumphant soundtracks from earlier games, BOTW favors fragments and echos of past Zelda themes. This perfectly matches the gameplay, since BOTW is a Zelda which has been fragmented and deconstructed. Old themes are only heard partially and have been interwoven with new melodies with calming or sometimes staccato arrangements. The horseback theme is a prime example of this.
The new songs like the one played when fighting the Hilox or the Lynel sound much more like early 20th century Primitivism found in composers like Stravinsky. The main theme of the game sounds like Debussy. The soft piano instrumentals sound like Satie or Ravel.
In some ways it’s Zelda’s coming of age into modernism. I think it matches the game perfectly.
@Tsurii Same. Wasn't hugely impressed with the unique music in OoT.
BotW might have a lot of ambient music, but I can say that, when the music does occasionally pick up, I remember it. And the ambient stuff fits the tone of the open world perfectly, with its gentle notes and fractured versions of classic themes.
@NotTelevision RYM was the reason I tried listening to Jazz, Soul, Death Industrial and Electroacoustic. I fell in love with 3 out of those 4 and Death Industrial was, well.. interesting at least.
I could post A LOT more, but I'll stop here. BotW has a magical soundtrack. It's your own fault if you ignore the great music in this game because it doesn't play as often as the ambient tracks while exploring.
@Razieluigi it feels incidental as you spend so much of your time away from those areas, I've literally played through the game 2 and a half times but still I remember very little of its music and don't particularly like the Kakariko village theme as much as previous incarnations. I'm just in the process of building Tarreytown so I'll be sure to pay particularly attention to that. All I'm saying is that for me they weren't that memorable and certainly not anywhere near as much as previous entries that I've played
I wasn't particularly impressed with BotW's OST either (considering I feel the rest of the game knocks it out of the park). I actually enjoy the choices for the overworld, but the rest of the music is what I have a problem with.
Hateno, Kakariko, Goron City, the Divine Beasts and the snow theme were all pretty forgettable songs, IMO; after nearly 300 hours of playing, I couldn't hum any of those to you. Zora's Domain sounds like a nice update in a vacuum but you can barely hear it while playing in-game.
The song you really hear the most of is one of the most phoned-in to me: the Shrine theme. It's just meandering and repetitive, a far cry from the strong melodies of Kondo's contributions to the series. Not really a song worth hearing 120 times in the game (plus DLC).
On the other hand, I did really enjoy the main theme, the new Rito/Dragon Roost song, and Hyrule Castle. But overall, I'd say BotW has one of the weaker soundtracks in the series by abandoning the emphasis on strong melodies that made the series' soundtracks what they are. It's not really a huge deal since the rest of the game is ridiculously awesome, but with a better soundtrack, I could see it topping OoT itself in my eyes.
I wouldn't listen to anything that Pitchfork say. It's the absolute pinnacle of hipster. The more obscure and lacking in melody, the more likely Pitchfork will give it a good review, it's a laughable site.
@jcvandan I’m no fan of Pitchfork either, but I’d say that’s a pretty inaccurate assessment. Their #1 record of last year was an art-pop record that sold well. Not exactly obscure at all. In fact, I’d say about 50% of their favorite albums nowadays are fairly mainstream. Pitchfork’s popularity has definitely grown since it’s stuff casual music listeners can get into.
I loved discovering the original source for the music in the Forest Temple in that article.
BOTW has one of the most unique OST in the whole franchise. It perfectly reflects the mood and atmosphere of the game. You know, it was a heroic game as the previous ones anymore, the game just could not have such a style of music, it required a different approach. And they nailed it completely.
@NotTelevision you could well be correct, I'm basing my opinion on going on the site years ago!
As much as I hate Pitchfork, and as many layers of pretension you have to get through to get to the core of what the writer is actually saying, I enjoyed that piece.
Pitchfork isn't all that important to me. Their reviews are rarely uniform and mostly are based around how well the artist is known and if they're hipster material.
@frogopus Very well put. Couldn't agree more.
Ocarnia of Time music does rock, its beautiful, relaxing, and happy!
lts way better than BotW music. I can't stand the boring music in botw, its just so silence and not beautiful enough. l only like the final boss music in botw and that's it.
also btw TP music rules!
imo
I love OoT's soundtrack (tbh, I love all mainline Zelda soundtracks).
But to add to the BotW discussion, I would have been able to enjoy the soundtrack in-game a lot more if the volume was a bit higher (or better yet, let me set the music volume manually), the ambient and mood music are mostly fine but 'themes' really need to be turned up a bit.
Overall, Pitchfork is a joke...mostly arbitrary rating, etc. That being said, of course they occasionally get a writer that does an album or OST justice. What a great article, the journalist really included some great info.
@jcvandan They mostly review current pop......if anything, the 'less melodic hipster garbage' will probably get poor reviews.
@nofriendo So glad to see this comment. In 100% agreement.
@arekdougy I think what's going on here, is I have just never heard of any of the new pop musicians or modern genres so I'm assuming it's weird and obscure. I realised I was getting old recently when I started to actively avoid pubs that play loud music.
As if Ocarina Of Time's soundtrack ever needed Pitchfork's approval. The music of this legendary game has been revered by millions of people, both video game players and non-players alike, long before some freelance writer with an English major who played it when he was ten came along to sing its praises. The work of Koji Kondo will be enjoyed long after Pitchfork is defunct (perhaps sooner rather than later? It appears they plan to hide their content behind a paywall by the end of 2019. Is the world ready to pay a recurring subscription fee to be told what music it should listen to?).
@jcvandan Don't worry...I might be a bit of a music nerd, but I understand avoiding pubs with loud music, that's for sure!!
The music in Ocarina of Time has soul. They're amazing soundtracks. Breath of the Wild has stunning pieces too, but they don't provoke such a strong emotional response. I'm pretty sure nostalgia has little to do with it. It's only been a few years since I played Ocarina of Time for the first time.
Some of my favourites:
Title theme, Hyrule Field, Ganondorf's Tower, Gerudo Valley, Lon Lon Ranch
I love the music inside the Deku tree
I loved the OOT soundtrack, my favorite track is the Spirit Temple track, with the ORIGINAL Fire Temple theme as a close second as the Adhan was perfectly used in it(though I understand why they had to take it out).
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