The same design philosophy carries over to the rear of the album, this time featuring a fox-like warrior brandishing a sword at dusk, as reddening mountains spike from the ground under a deep, orange sun. This side also features the standard album information and credits – although stylishly minimal and tucked away at the very top so as to not obstruct the artwork, which is clearly the centrepiece and focus - whilst the track listing runs down the bottom-left of the image, and below this is the hand-numbered limited edition details. There are only 250 available, so act fast!
The record is encased in one of the most uniquely-shaped sleeves I’ve come across, and adds to the esoteric design of Edo Superstar, making sure it stands out on your shelf! The vinyl itself is clear with candy-red flares leading out from the centre. The entire soundtrack is on Side A, with Side B featuring spiralling cloud artwork and various symbols. The inner-circle sticker on side A is an illustration of the game logo, surrounded again by that wisping, smoky cloud that bleeds through all aspects of the artwork.
Track by Track:
Fubuta Village – The record kicks off with jangling percussion and natural-sounding stringed instrumentation, it’s an energetic start that has the sense of a bustling marketplace. The production feels roomy and organic, there’s a richness to it that is a great balance between a sense of live music and polished production without having too much of an unnatural sheen, good!
Shopping – A jaunty piano tune kicks this off, with mellow stringed instrumentation and an almost pan-pipe sound cutting through. Light percussion adds a busking beat under the piano bass notes, it’s all still upbeat and feels like a cheery, daft smile for its brief running time.
The Forest – A more ominous opening here, as whispering wind instruments echo through the speakers with a more pronounced electronic vibe to the ambient noises and beat, the occasional electric, swirling bass and keening breathy sounds really made this an early favourite for me. The strings pop as they spice up the groovy, low beats. This was the first time that I wished the tracks had more room to breathe, as this felt like a really cool intro that ended all too suddenly. This is a brief soundtrack overall, but The Forest is definitely a track that has vibe and legs, I would love to hear an extended version of this, a keeper!
Chuubei’s Theme – This track takes us closer to the opening songs in that there’s that wonderfully ramshackle sensibility rolling through, with touches of tongue-in-cheek spookiness with the Tom Waits-ian approach of the percussion adding character.
Frozen Coastline – The wind instrumentation that opens this track feels the most traditional in terms of Asian heritage, it’s all shimmering woodwinds and keening notes that keep a surprisingly engaging, toe-tapping beat running through, the cymbals are especially crisp and scene-setting.
Osaka Flourishing Osaka Corrupted – Swiftly-strummed strings and that keening ambient line leads up to the first time a full drum kit is utilised on the album in earnest, this is a great groove and feels like a true meld of the traditional and modern that makes for an almost trip-hop vibe. It’s also the longest track so far, at 2:17 – which is a very good thing, as like The Forest, it’s a standout track that deserves the space to groove.
Tokyo Harbour – A marching drumbeat and fanfare make this quite a different style from the others! It soon opens up, but always has that slightly militarical edge and drive.
Mini Boss Theme – Big ol’ drums boom in on this one, as does what sounds like slightly distorted bass, a huge downscale adds some serious weight to a track that – again – I could have listened to for 4-5 minutes. It feels like a cheeky taster but has massive character and impact in the short time it consumes on the album. Another track that illustrates the tasty production values.
Edo City – Calmer strings tease an intro before the most polished, modern electronica thus far bursts in to spice things up. It’s very clever how the composers have given such character and craft to each track, all have their own identity but feel absolutely cohesive, this one is just pure gold and comes out of nowhere, awesome stuff!
Goro’s Theme – There’s a sneaky, swaggering groove here in the cheeky downscales, vocalisations and chirping over the wandering percussion, it feels like standing in the centre of a circle surrounded by dancing apparitions, which is absolutely fine.
Tsubaki’s Theme – Flowing in seamlessly from Goro’s Theme, Tsubaki’s Theme continues the vibe with some saucy higher-pitched slides and music, I initially thought that this was the same track, so fluidly does it move through!
Fox’s Theme – Again, this feels very much like a continuation of a piece of music that began with Goro’s Theme, all riffing on the same motif. Here, for example, the higher style of the preceding track is replaced with a more metallic vibe, to reflect the character that the music embodies.
Boss Theme – There’s a definite separation here as the music takes on a darker tonality, a much more epic and threatening sound in the musical cacophony, that ends with thudding drums and a single, repeated bend. It’s a hell of a build-up and absolutely calls to mind a feverish boss battle.
Final Boss Theme – After an almost James Bond-ish start, the drums and controlled harshness blend in with swirling ambience, it continues the sense of build and dominance that usually exists in boss themes, but there’s also the sense of a narrative climax building, which makes absolute sense as this is the penultimate track of the album
The Zodiac Tournament – The sense of threat has gone, now replaced by that jaunty style that was present earlier in the record. This is a track guided by the upfront strings and heavy percussion that drops in and out, giving the song a slightly stoned sway. The ambience on this reminds me of John Everist’s work on the Shadowrun: Hong Kong soundtrack and the ghostly vibrato that sees the album out feels completely the right move to end the record.
Edo Superstar is easily one of the most idiosyncratic releases that I’ve covered here at GF.
The striking, genuinely unique design echoes the music, which feels cohesive and slightly drunken in how it weaves its way through permutations of the genre whilst keeping its own identity.
It has a handful of tracks that I really wish had more time to grow and breathe, but that same brevity makes me just want to play the record again to get the buzz back, and I don’t even have to turn it over to do so!
From the Mango Mage Records website:
Mango Mage Records has partnered with dBXY + Jed Henry to bring EDO SUPERSTAR to vinyl.
Edo Superstar is a game by Jed Henry, a world-renowned woodblock painting artist who successfully funded the game through Kickstarter. You can check out Jed’s work on his IG and at his website Ukiyo-e Heroes. Inspired by traditional Japanese hōgaku music, mixed with modern electronic elements using Edo-period instruments, sampled beats, and icy synths; the soundtrack was composed and produced by dBXY and perfectly complements the visual style of the game.
This limited edition release takes a unique approach to vinyl packaging. Hand-numbered copies are housed in an ultra-heavy, textured speciality sleeve made from 1000g/m2 cardboard. The stunning gold, hot foil embossed artwork on the front cover elevates the already beautiful game art created by Jed Henry. Side B is etched with an Asian-inspired cloud motif that carries the artwork off the jacket and onto the vinyl itself.
Bandcamp code will be included with each copy.
Soundtrack was composed and produced by dBXY
Game + Art created by Jed Henry
Additional vinyl art + layout by Abigail Scott (aka Silvermilk)
Audio mastering by Ohad Nissim
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