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Free Music from World of Goo

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One of the most charming and addictive independent games to come out last year was World of Goo. Now you can relive the fun by downloading its soundtrack. Although not an official release, this will probably be your only chance to score the music. It's cool that the game's composer cared enough about the fans to let them share and enjoy his work. He also includes liner notes to provide additional insight into his creative process.

2D Boy is a brave new indie game studio based in San Francisco. The game's composer is also its studio's co-founder. If you enjoy his music, why not support the studio and try out their game. You can purchase it for the low, low price of twenty bones for WiiWare and PC. After you do, you unlock the Warm Fuzzy Feeling achievement [trophy] for doing your part in making sure we get another game out of these guys.

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Track Notes:

1. World of Goo Beginning

This is the main theme of World of Goo, and the first chunk of music I wrote for the game, specifically for our first trailer. I wanted the theme of the game to somehow reflect the song Libertango by Astor Piazzolla, which was the track I used in the original Tower of Goo prototype back in school. Listen for a similar chord progression once the melody kicks in.

2. The Goo Filled Hills

3. Brave Adventurers

A livelier version of Ode to the Bridge Builder.

4. Another Mysterious Pipe Appeared

5. World of Goo Corporation

6. Regurgitation Pumping Station

From a soundtrack I wrote for a friend's short film about going on a date with the devil.

7. Threadcutter

From one of my small games, Blow.

8. Rain Rain Windy Windy

From a soundtrack I wrote for a short kid's movie. Writing kid's music was difficult.

9. Jelly

Music I wrote for a virtual reality world. You are in a subway. And you are a giant banana.

10. Tumbler

11. Screamer

Almost didn't include this one in the game, but a friend convinced me a few days before we finished. I'm glad he did!

12. Burning Man

Theme I wrote for a friend's drama/mystery series. I recorded two friends singing single notes, and then I was able to play them back with my keyboard to get a "choir". This became the theme for "progress" in the game. A variation is used for MOM's theme.

13. Cog in the Machine

You can hear a clip from this track in one of my other small games Robot and the Cities Who Built Him

14. Happy New Year (tm) Brought to You by Product Z

Recorded some great singers from Carnegie Mellon. This is the first time the "what's up there anyway" theme can be heard. You can hear the same theme in the tracks Years of Work and The Last of the Goo Balls.

15. Welcome to the Information Superhighway

I wrote this one back in high school, which makes me feel old. You can hear a nod to phantom of the opera in a section of the organ part. I had forgotten this song existed, and was glad to find it burned onto an old rotting cd-rom. I think this was the first time I ever recorded someone singing. Only the second half of this clip is used in the game.

16. Graphic Processing Unit

17. Years of Work

18. My Virtual World of Goo Corporation

Originally written for a friend's NES game Dikki Painguin.

19. Hello, MOM

20. Inside the Big Computer

21. Are You Coming Home, Love MOM

22. Ode to the Bridge Builder

This was the second track I wrote for the game. The goal was to make a variation on Amazing Grace, in the style of those old western soundtracks by Ennio Morricone.

23. The Last of the Goo Balls and the Telescope Operator

24. Best of Times

This has become the unofficial second theme to World of Goo, after we used it in our second trailer. I originally wrote this for an animated short film I made with some friends. I recorded a bunch of performers all huddled around a single microphone in my bedroom to get the layers used in this track. Drums were made by banging on chairs and cardboard boxes.

25. Red Carpet Extend-o-matic

I wrote this in 2001 as a joke for a music class in undergrad. Only the beginning of this song is used in the game, and for only one level, but it has become one of the most requested pieces of music. So, here's the "full song", but it comes with a warning - this song is designed to sound like every cheap 90's dance song ever made. The singer is great though, an astrophysicist named Jessica. I gave a her a chainsaw for her wedding and we never spoke again. The end.

26. World of Goo Corporation's Valued Customers

27. World of Goo Ending

Main theme to World of Goo, and used in our third and final trailer.


A word from 2D Boy's co-founder and composer, Kyle Gabler:

Thank you to everyone who emailed asking about a World of Goo Soundtrack. This is probably as close to an "official" soundtrack I'll ever make for the game World of Goo. I'm making it available here on my personal portfolio for free. I wrote much of this music specifically for the game, but many of the tracks were excerpts from music I had written previously for various small projects, or just for fun. This soundtrack includes the full versions of most of those songs, as best as I was able to recover them. Notes accompany the tracks below.

The majority of the instruments you'll hear are computer instruments, with a few live performances on top to add a bit of warmth. For the older music, I used one of those Sound Blaster cards that let you load samples into memory. More recently, I've been using the freeware sfz soundfont sampler. I have an m-audio keystation 49e midi keyboard for picking out melodies. Influences include Danny Elfman, Vangelis, Bernard Herrmann, Hans Zimmer, Ennio Morricone, and all the big movie guys. I grew up listening to them, and they remain a big influence in everything I write.

Thanks, and enjoy the music!

Kyle
(at) kylegabler.com

[Source: 2D Boy's Kyle Gabler]

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