Introducing the music of ONCE

File this one under “support your friends”. I’d like to introduce my good pal Lucas Gardiner, aka ONCE. I met Lucas a few years back when we ended up working at the same company and became fast friends. A brother in metal with the same passion for old school video games. And to this day he knows more about gaming than anyone I know.

Lucas is also a crazy good musician. Plays guitar and bass like it’s nobody’s business. But today I’m here to showcase his other musical talent, electronic gaming music. I went to visit Lucas last week and he started playing a bunch of music he had built on the computer and it blew me away. Some are rockin’ and intricate while others are ambient and atmospheric. Some are Contra, others are Secret of Mana. Seriously good stuff, real diverse. Lucas put together a ONCE sampler pack for you to check out:

[audio:https://blog.signalnoise.com/audio/A_Cool_Place_Once.mp3|titles=A Cool Place – Once] [audio:https://blog.signalnoise.com/audio/Detectivity_Once.mp3|titles=Detectivity – Once] [audio:https://blog.signalnoise.com/audio/game_over_death_time_Once.mp3|titles=Game Over Death Time – Once] [audio:https://blog.signalnoise.com/audio/Mishun_Briefs_Once.mp3|titles=Mishun Briefs – Once] [audio:https://blog.signalnoise.com/audio/Old_school_Platformer_Once.mp3|titles=Old School Platformer – Once] [audio:https://blog.signalnoise.com/audio/Old_school_shooter_Once.mp3|titles=Old School Shooter – Once] [audio:https://blog.signalnoise.com/audio/Ultraguy_Stage_None_Once.mp3|titles=Ultraguy Stage None – Once]

And here is a ONCE bonus track for you video game super nerds out there.

[audio:https://blog.signalnoise.com/audio/FFVI_Intro_Nobuo_Uematsu_Once.mp3|titles=FFVI Intro – Nobuo Uematsu]

I know there are some independent game developers that hit my blog, so I’d like to angle this portion of the post at you. Are you developing a game and would like a CUSTOM soundtrack to add the right atmosphere to your masterpiece? Lucas would love to work with you. This kind of music is his passion and he’s DAMN good at it. If your interested, drop him a line.

Can’t say enough good things about Lucas and his ONCE work. Guy is brimming with ideas and nods toward that old school, golden age of video games. These tracks take me right back to when I was 9 years old, rockin’ my NES. Signalnoise got your back ONCE.