Notes

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

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Track Notes

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. The Goo Filled Hills Brave Adventurers A livelier version of Ode to the Bridge Builder. Another Mysterious Pipe Appeared World of Goo Corporation Regurgitation Pumping Station From a soundtrack I wrote for a friend's short film about going on a date with the devil. Threadcutter From one of my small games, Blow. Rain Rain Windy Windy From a soundtrack I wrote for a short video made my other students at CMU. Writing kid's music was difficult. Jelly Music I wrote for a virtual reality world. You are in a subway. And you are a giant banana. Tumbler 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! Burning Man Theme I wrote for a fellow student's video project. 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. 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. 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. Welcome to the Information Superhighway I wrote this one back in high school, which makes me feel old. 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. Graphic Processing Unit Years of Work My Virtual World of Goo Corporation Originally written for a friend's NES game Dikki Painguin. Hello, MOM Inside the Big Computer Are You Coming Home, Love MOM 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 iconic western soundtracks by Ennio Morricone. The Last of the Goo Balls and the Telescope Operator 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 video 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. 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 a crappy 90's dance song, one of my favorite genres. The singer was an astrophysicist major named Jessica. World of Goo Corporation's Valued Customers World of Goo Ending Main theme to World of Goo, and used in our third and final trailer.

Thanks for listening!