AriTunes - AG Drive Soundtrack

We all know video game soundtracks have become popular as an actual musical commodity, but in general this seems like a bit of a marketing ploy to squeeze more money out of the video game industry. In the case of AG Drive, the racing game by Zorg Entertainment released in February for ios, however, not only is there no large studio paying to release the songs, but the album contains electro tracks which are fully formed, interesting and actually good.

AG Drive, or Anti-Gravity Drive, is what it sounds like - essentially a car racing game in zero gravity with souped-up futuristic vehicles. While playing the game, many people enjoyed the electro, dubstep and house beats which corresponded with the action. Luckily, The AG Drive Soundtrack was produced and mastered by Finnish national Ari Pulkkinen of AriTunes Records, and he is working to make a name for himself and the artists on his soundtracks independently of the games and their deep pockets.

As he produced and released the soundtracks for such popular video games as Angry Birds, the Trine Sound series, Resogun and Dead Nation, Ari Pulkkinen would get many comments and requests from gamers and music fans to have the songs from these games released for sale, and not just in ringtone form. This, of course has been done before with mega-hits like Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock and Resident Evil, but those releases were on a large scale and the rights were owned by the studios who put out the games. Pulkkinen made sure that on his soundtracks, he owned the rights to the scores and after he saw fans clamouring for them, decided to release under his own label. He makes sure to name and give credit to all the artists who contribute songs to the albums he puts together, and he even goes so far as to help promote these once shadowy figures who had no more fame than the graphic designers who worked on the games.

The producers of each track run the gamut of experience in the music industry. For some, the tracks on AG Drive are the first they've had published or released under a label. Others are more or seasoned gaming producers who have never been credited for their work. Still others, like Pulkkinen, are known in both the gaming and music industries.

The music is all electronic on this album to go with the futuristic theme of the game. Robot samples, sounds of machinery and futuristic-sounding melodies are all par for the course on this album, but there are a few surprises as well. Newcomer Burt Kane had the honor of creating the opening track to both the album and the game, aptly named The AG Drive Theme. In this track the influence 80s sci-fi and action movies have had on Kane is made clear, as it plays like a blockbuster movie score. It even has movie announcer vocal samples which explain the game.

'They Call Me Speed? by Joanne Valtonen is quite possibly the highlight of the album. Valtonen is a more established gaming music producer, having worked on the Final Fantasy series, but he is also a classical composer. It's easy to see in the melody of this track where his classical training comes in, though he masks it with heavy electronic synths and a house beat. The vocals on the track also seem classically inspired.

'Delta Course' is the first track by Domestic Machine Movement, the latest incarnation of Marcus Kaarlonen, an artist who is well-known in both gaming and musical circles. This track is a mashup of very techy dubstep and dreamy house and is a piece which sounds like it could easily straddle the gaming and rave worlds.

Pulkkinen has two individual tracks on the album: 'Drive,' a very ravey techno blend and 'Ride Me Love Me,' a more downtempo and vintage electro offering. Both songs sound like they would be right at home in a rave setting just as much as in a video game, showing that Pulkkinen has the technical versatility and musical artistry required to showcase the music in video games as viable art.

Ari Pulkkinen put together this soundtrack not only as a way to promote his own work but to give voice to the gaming producers who so often are not recognized. If this was the only nice thing about the AG Drive soundtrack, I would say don't bother but the songs on this soundtrack are well-produced and could stand up to any electronic music being produced today. The AG Drive soundtrack is available to stream on AriTunes' Soundcloud page and it's available in a number of formats on the AriTunes Records website including vinyl for all you djs out there. Get your game on. Apr 01 2015