FM Synth Fans Take Heed - Tree of Knowledge - A PC98 Tribute Album

The landscape of old school Japanese eroge is mystifying to those outside the country, largely thanks to that troublesome issue known as a "language barrier". Still, outside of appreciating them for their obvious qualities (assuming you're down with late 80s/early 90s anime hair/eyes, as well you should be), they generally have some fantastic music, as our recent run in Ryu Umemoto has taught us. (Also check out some music from Misty Blue by Yuzo Koshiro, which isn't an eroge to my knowledge, but is similarly impenetrable to us gaijin.) All it takes is some appreciation for some good FM synth.

Steven "surasshu" Velema and Ken "coda" Snyder, two non-Japanese composers, love this style of music so much that they created their own tribute album, similar to Atsushi Fukai's numerous "Project" albums. Titled "Tree of Knowledge, it comes complete with an authentic late 90s Japanese website at http://yogurtbox.com/, along with a made-up plot, screenshots and character artwork, under the pretense of being a long lost game. The tracklist consists of an opening theme, a couple of general songs, and a theme for each of girls, balancing nicely between the peppy songs and the darker ones. It's quite good stuff, and anyone with a thing for FM synth - if you grew up with a Genesis or an Adlib capable sound card on your PC and dig it - will definitely enjoy it. It can be had for $10 as a digital download or $12 on a CD, and will be releasing on May 1.