The highly anticipated LA Noire release date is nearly upon us (May 17th on Xbox 360 and PS3) and the developers have given us a treat by releasing one of the songs, called “Guilty” by Claudia Brucken, from the official soundtrack for the game as well as several “Remix” tracks.
Fans of the audio portion of Rockstar’s highly anticipated detective drama will have a couple of different offerings to choose from if they want to get in on some musical action.
The first is the official soundtrack to the game, called quite simply the “L.A. Noire Official Soundtrack”, it is a lush feature-film style score inspired by the 1940s period piece that is L.A. Noire, the videogame (which is actually based on real murders from that period), it was recorded at London’s famed Abbey Road Studios and composed by Andrew Hale of the bands Sade and Sweetback, who composed the score for the films The Getaway and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. It also features three original vocal songs written and produced by Stephen Coates, with vocals provided by Claudia Brucken.
Here’s a fanmade music video for LA Noire.
In addition to the official soundtrack, there is also an EP called “L.A. Noire: Remixed” being released in partnership with Jazz Label “Verve Records” which gives a modern spin to the over 30 licensed Jazz tracks that are featured in the game with a six-track re-intepretation by modern DJs and producers such as TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek, DJ Premier and Ticklah.
Listen to the LA Noire Official Soundtrack and listen to the L.A. Noire Remixed EP album and tell us what you think!
Here are a few portions of an interview about the LA Noire soundtrack.
GameSpot: Could you start off by telling us a bit about yourself and your role on L.A. Noire’s soundtrack?
Ivan Pavlovich: I’m Rockstar Games’ soundtrack supervisor. I work with the studios to ensure each game has the ideal score and soundtrack, whether by tracking down and licensing existing songs, or working with artists to create original new music.
GS: What can you tell us about the score for L.A. Noire?
IP: L.A. Noire’s score was composed by Andrew Hale (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and The Getaway, and the band Sade) and recorded at Abbey Road studios in London, made famous by the Beatles. You will also hear jazz greats like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Jordan on the radio as you drive around the city. In addition, we brought in Woody Jackson, who had done such great work for us on the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack, to create extra incidental music and sounds.
GS: What were the inspirations for the soundtrack?
IP: Brendan McNamara, head of Team Bondi, wanted to create something powerful and evocative that could comfortably live alongside the scores to great films–more specifically, the work of composers like Max Steiner, Bernard Herrmann, and Jerry Goldsmith. Going a little deeper, there are elements of the jazz-fusion sound as heard in work by composers such as Howard Shore and Ornette Coleman or Terence Blanchard.
GS: What is it like working with licensed songs as well as original music? How do you balance the two?
IP: Licensed songs often complement an original score and trigger different kinds of responses from a player. You have less flexibility in using a licensed track, but there’s often a sense of familiarity that is hard to get from creating new songs from scratch. Also, if you want to be sure that you get the perfect tracks for a game, it can often require spending a little (or a lot) more money. With an original score, it’s yours from the beginning, tailored exactly to suit your needs, and will eventually become recognized as unique to the experience of playing that game. The balance is different for every game.
GS: What are some of your favorite tracks?
IP: I love the Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan song “Stone Cold Dead in the Market.” This will also be remixed by Ticklah for the Verve Remixed album. I like how 40s songs always had a playful, double meaning to their titles, which were related to the type of entertainment popular in those days: “Stone Cold Dead,” “Murder He Says,” “Pistol Packin’ Mama,” “I’m Confessin’.” Ultimately, they were all about love and heartbreak.
You can read the rest at GameSpot.