Yasuyuki Suzuki - Kaze No Notam (1997)

Composer: Yasuyuki Suzuki

Console: PSX
Game Release Date: 1997-xx-xx
Bootleg Release Date: 2015-04-01
Ripper: Unknown (someone on KHInsider)
Runtime: 1:04:12, 16 Tracks

I have a huge list of all the soundtracks and post ideas saved on my computer. It's too overwhelming and I couldn't figure out what to post today. Thanks to random number generators s I got this one. And it is for a game I have never played but love the soundtrack for. This is actually the case for most people that have heard this. 

Kaze No Notam is a really obscure PSX game that came out in 1997. It was developed by the Artdink Corporation, most notable for their work on A-Train, Tail of the Sun and a few other obscure games (and the bizarre RPG Kowloon's Gate which I will play at some point). The game was published by Sony. 

The game is a simulation wherein you fly a hot air balloon you can do a few different challenges. There are weather controls, scenery options and more. There are ancient earth ruins, cities and more you can explore. The game is comparable to the game Sky Odyssey, released a few years later. Sky Odyssey has far better graphics and a very different soundtrack to Kaze though. From what I can find the game has no story mode and just has a selection of missions.

The game also features its fair share of bizarre PSX-era wonders like balloons in the shapes of animals, an intro cinematic of flying through memories, platforms suspended in air, and medieval castles.
The music was composed by Yasuyuki Suzuki. Yasuyuki is a composer from Japan who composed music for a lot of Artdinks games. Aside from that he also did music for all sorts of games. He's covered bizarre/weird games like Doshin the Giant, VN-adventures like Lux-Pain and intense fighting games like Draglade (really need to play this one again). On RYM he quickly became popular for this soundtrack. Currently he is most known for this soundtrack.

The music features a unique blend of ambient and drum and bass with a large library funk influence. It's reminiscent of the kind of music you associate with golf. Light, almost ethereal but with just enough influence to sound cartoony and stock. The music is tracker based. What separates it from that 'golf sound' is the drums. Most tracks are lot more 'futuristic' sounding and beat driven than library music. 
The soundtrack achieved a bit of popularity when people began noting its similarities to Vapor music. Although Kaze No Notam's soundtrack is not vaporwave if you enjoy Vapor then there is a good chance you will enjoy Yasuyuki Suzuki's work here. 

Below is the link for the original KHInsider upload as well as a link for my properly tagged version. 

KHInsider: https://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/kaze-no-notam-psx
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p@ss: balloonboy