Music Monday: Shatter soundtrack

Music Monday: Shatter soundtrack

I’ve been enjoying writing Music Monday, but what I haven’t been enjoying is figuring out what to post while dealing with the “slop” and dead ends of the modern artist hunt. Today, we’re not going to talk about that. Instead, let’s talk about the Shatter video game soundtrack.

Shatter was a little bundle of joy from July 2009 that eventually saw a mobile re-release and a Remastered Deluxe version for modern systems in 2022. Yes, that includes mobile now too. The composer, Module, is from Wellington, New Zealand, and he created a quite cheery, high-energy soundtrack for it. It feels like a throwback to older arcade games but with a polished, modern sound. It’s a small indie game that saw huge success. Would this count as retro yet?

The soundtrack by Module is still good even after all these years. It’s nice to see he is still making music today. He actually released a “Best of Module (2003–2022)” collection recently, which is worth highlighting.

I was originally going to go with the Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 soundtrack, but finding an official release source for that is impossible. It was composed by Audioantics (real name Chris Chudley), who worked on big titles like Blur, Project Gotham Racing 3, and James Bond: Blood Stone. Unfortunately, it seems he hasn’t been active in the games industry since about 2011, likely leaving after his time as a freelancer.

It isn’t only video game music with licensing issues either. I was thinking about the Teddybears remix of “Still Alive” from Mirror’s Edge it seems to have completely disappeared from official sources. You can find covers or live versions, but that specific mix is just gone. It’s a shame when talented people leave the industry or their work gets buried by red tape, but at least with Module, we still have a creator who is active and easy to find. It makes the Music Monday search feel a little less like a dead end.