So, I know this is usually where I post my arrangements, but I rediscovered this soundtrack recently and I genuinely can't stop listening to it and I feel like some of you need to hear it too.
It's the Uncharted Waters II: New Horizons Special Edition, composed by Yoko Kanno. Never played the game. Doesn't matter. This thing is incredible.
If you know Yoko Kanno, it's probably from Cowboy Bebop or Ghost in the Shell or Wolf's Rain. But this is earlier stuff; before all of that, she was writing music for video games through a company called Koei, and honestly? This might be some of the best work she ever did.
The Special Edition is all live arranged recordings; no chiptune, no synth, actual musicians playing this stuff. And the range of it is kind of insane. We're talking jazz, classical, Baroque, world music, acoustic... it goes all over the place and somehow never feels scattered. The game is set during the Age of Exploration, like sailing the world discovering new lands, and the music actually travels with you. It starts very European and then shifts as you go further out... African rhythms, Middle Eastern textures, Mediterranean vibes.
There's a track called "Southern Twilight ~ Dance on a Cape of Good Hope" that's eight minutes long, starts as a slow jazz ballad, and then just kind of... explodes into this big band Latin thing halfway through. I wasn't ready for it. "Catalina," "Fiddler's Green," and "Mast In the Mist," are also incredible.
🎧 Listen here → https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCR_yB6m-QVLWWgHXMzMD2-Z0sJCQcKSI&si=k-Ku96nN3P4pkb2F
Just put it on in the background and see what happens. And if any of you hear something in here you want me to arrange, drop it in the comments. No promises but also... no promises. 😄