4 out of 5

Label: bandcamp digital download

Producer: Danny Baranowsky

Game soundtracks are a fun concept.  Rating the scores for these Flash-based games is, of course, going to be different than some full orchestral, full studio, major video game publisher soundtrack… because they harken back to 8 and 16-bit era music, generally, in that its more level based and cut-scene based than ten minute long flourishes that are supposed to be looped while you wander around some 3D open world.  That’s not at all to discount either the scope of these games …seeing as how I got more gameplay hours and satisfaction out of BOI than a handful of console games… or their soundtracks, since it takes equally creative minds to figure out what works and what makes sense and what your ears will want to hear regardless of the scale.  And, of course, you could note that I purchased this of my own accord since I dug the in-game music.  So that’s a positive right away.

But I guess why I draw the difference here is because listening to this isn’t going to be as direct an ‘experience’ as something promoted by Sony or whatever.  Baranowsky’s work, especially, could be seen as several variations on themes – a handful of level themes that are re-worked, here spread out over 40 tracks (this edition of the soundtrack includes the Wrath of the Lamb songs).  So you could ‘criticize’ that it gets repetitive, but the point isn’t, exactly, to sit down and queue up (cue up?) your Binding of Isaac vinyl during your next dinner party – the completeness of what’s included here, meaning little 8-second title screen tracks, is a favor to you, gamer, for simply purchasing this stuff from Danny for whatever amount you chose.  Yet get it all, just name your price.

And with that understanding in tow, Danny’s BOI work is some of his best, undoubtedly, with surprising depth sprinkled into the main tracks… especially the Wrath of the Lamb picks.  I haven’t covered nearly close to the full selection of Baranowsky’s stuff, but the scattered few I’ve checked out fall into a similar category of 8-bit inspired keyboard jams, normally pretty quick-paced and furious, with a great main tune that’s played around with for different levels.  And the main BOI theme does follow that suit… and because of the length of this total recording, it can be a bit tough to spot exactly how Variation A and Variation B differ beyond the name of the track… but thankfully there’s some sequencing work to buffer that feeling of repetition, happily giving us the intro spoken bit as a great intro to the ‘album’ itself, and then chopping up all the less-than-10-second segues throughout.  While all of the tracks have a bit of an evil sensibility to them, the standout tunes are definitely the more dreary ones – ‘Greed’ in particular stands out, and, as mentioned, the WOTL stuff at the tail end of the disc all feels more amped up and layered than the original BOI soundtrack, sorta bringing out the “back for more” feeling of the add-on.  And then the flipside is that there is some filler when it comes to the more ambient pieces.  While they certainly stand as compositions on their own and, yeah, are part of that completionism offered here, its hard to place them where they might belong in the game (as there really are no quiet moments) and so its hard to sync it up with either the listening or playing experience.

Enough blab?  Yeah.  The point is: support these people.  Sure, they make money, but there’s tireless effort that goes into making some great work and its offered at whatever price you deem worthy through bandcamp so… uh…     uh…..

(uh)