GameGrooves Founder Is Ready To Collaborate With Video Game Devs For A Creative Project

Story Highlights

GameGrooves was launched in 2018.
The company has already released around 30 albums, including Emo Kingdom Hearts.
We spoke with Allen Brasch, the founder of GameGrooves, over an email interview.

Music plays a crucial role in making a game much more immersive for players. Over the years, we have seen some great soundtracks in titles like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that players return to, even after completing the game.

To share video game music with the world, a company was launched in 2018 under the name GameLark Gazette, which was later changed to GameGrooves in 2019. Over the last six years, it has released around 30 albums.

GameGrooves has only one mission and that is to celebrate the diversity and passion of the video game music community and share its songs with the world. To understand more about its future goals, we spoke with Allen Brasch, the founder of GameGrooves, over an email interview.

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Has One of The Best Soundtracks – Source: Bethesda Game Studios

Could you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your work?

Allen: My name is Allen, and I am the founder of GameGrooves. GameGrooves is a video game music (VGM) record label, podcast, and community that features covers and arrangements from various game soundtracks. To date, we’ve released around 30 albums.

How did GameGrooves initially become involved in the gaming industry, particularly in the realm of video game soundtracks?

Allen: GameGrooves started as a website and grew from there. I knew that I wanted to create a space for video game cover artists, and I knew that I wanted to produce albums as well. I actually created another video game community a few years before GameGrooves called GameLark. I had to step away from that community for a few reasons (fatherhood being a big one), but I always knew I wanted to return to the VGM community someday. Once my children were older, I had some more free time, so I was able to come back and start GameGrooves.

What were some of your favorite video game titles growing up? And when did your interest in the video game music industry start?

Allen: A few games come to mind for me. I remember this one game called “Incoming” by Rage Software, and the menu track was super cool. I somehow discovered that the game disc would also play as a CD, so I would listen to that on my Walkman during car trips and such.

Another game that was instrumental to GameGrooves was Sonic Adventure 2. I loved the blend of genres that you find in that soundtrack, and I tortured my high school friends by constantly listening to that in the car.

Lastly, Metroid Prime was a crucial game soundtrack for several reasons. First, it created such an immersive atmosphere with textures and soundscapes that I had never heard before. Secondly, it inspired me to start making electronic music. Lastly, it’s just a damn good soundtrack.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth — Music Plays A Keyrole In The Immersion of Video Games – Source: Square Enix

What inspired the decision to give iconic Kingdom Hearts and Disney tracks an emo twist for your latest album?

Allen: Honestly, this album started as a tweet that was a joke (like many of our albums). I just thought the idea of emo and Kingdom Hearts made sense since they were in the same era (mid-2000s).

How did you go about selecting which tracks to include on the album? Were there any specific Kingdom Hearts or Disney tracks that you were particularly excited to explore through an emo lens?

Allen: We made a very conscious decision to focus on vocal tracks since emo is a very vocal-heavy genre. Once we made that decision, I knew that we would need to expand the song selection, so I included any Disney track that was featured in a Kingdom Hearts game. What we ended up with was a blend of Disney tunes and Kingdom Hearts, and I’m very happy with the final result.

What were some of the major challenges you encountered?

Allen: Honestly, there weren’t too many challenges for this album. The biggest one is probably manufacturing physicals (CDs and cassettes) for the first time. We had to figure out the CD layout, and that was a bit of a chore, but other than that, nothing comes to mind

GameGrooves Has Released Emo Kingdom Hearts Album – Source: GameGrooves

Is there a particular track that you are especially proud of?

Allen: “Let It Go” by Todd Barriage. I remember hearing the unmastered track for the first time, and I knew that we had something special with this album. I am going to be completely honest and say that I prefer Todd’s version, and I think that’s the power of cover music. When it works best, it breathes new life into a familiar track.

This sort of blend, although unexpected, is something I personally love. There is a lot of familiarity but also an element of surprise with how you change some bits. Could you run us through your compositional process, especially for this album?

Allen: I don’t actually compose any of the music myself, but I do arrange the track order for the album (which is a job that I take very seriously, lol). I did my best to build some calmer moments into the album, but I think it’s a great ride from start to finish.

Is there any other series soundtrack that you would like to add a similar twist to?

Allen: Too many to count, lol. I’ve joked about a Linkin Park/Sonic Adventure 2 album, but I can’t give away too much other than that. I also really want to do a bluegrass and electro-swing album someday, so we’ll see.

The Company Has Also Released An Album On The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Source: Nintendo

Aside from this album, have you ever collaborated with other game developers or composers on a project? If so, could you tell us about that?

Allen: There are plenty of game composers within the GameGrooves community, but GameGrooves has never worked on a soundtrack for an actual video game yet. This is definitely something that I would like to do in the future. If any video game developers want to talk, let me know!

Are there any upcoming projects or collaborations that GameGrooves is particularly excited about or can share with us?

Allen: We just announced a 3-month-long playlist called the Summer of SEGA, so I’m especially excited about that. We are featuring weekly covers from SEGA consoles, and I think that there will be some deep cuts as well as classics.

Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers? Something we haven't touched upon yet.

Allen: I love the video game community because it’s such a collaborative, uplifting, and creative group of people. I am honored to be a part of it, and I hope I’ll be here for many years to come!

GameGrooves has been working in the industry for more than half a decade and has produced some really fun and nostalgic soundtracks over the years. Its unique twist on some iconic scores is something many fans eagerly wait for. We thank Allen Brasch for answering our questions and Jayson Napolitano for helping with the interview.

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