What impresses me about Grant Kirkhope is how he can score games in radically different genres and still nail the soundtrack! I'm a particularly big fan of his work on the Perfect Dark soundtrack (don't worry Perfect Dark, we didn't forget you!)

Great explanation. I think the real difference between the soundtracks isn't in harmony or melody (and you did a great job pointing out the consistencies there), but in rhythm. Virtually every Banjo track uses an "oom-pah" style, where the bass *always* alternates between the root and the fifth of the chord on the strong beats, and a middle voice fills in the harmony with off-beat "pecks." This type of arrangement is rare in Yooka-Laylee (though you can find instances of it, such as a passage in the middle of Moodymaze Marsh). In addition, Banjo uses far more percussion than Yooka. Every Banjo level but one (Mad Monster Mansion) has a percussion track playing a consistent rhythmic pattern. By contrast, only two Yooka-Laylee levels use percusson in this way. One of them, Capital Cashino, evokes a mood that is deliberately different from Kirkhope's usual style. The other, Tribalstack Tropics, lacks the oom-pah pattern in the bass. This means that not a single track in Yooka uses the "oom-pah + percussion" arrangement we hear in practically every Banjo level. That's what people who call Yooka-Laylee's soundtrack "less energetic" are noticing.

8-bit does a super in-depth, 18 minute long explaination of the musical intricacies between both games. My dumb brain: Heh Banjo-kazooie theme has a banjo and a kazoo...and Yooka-laylee theme has a Ukulele ...

4:45, wow I wasn't prepared for that Z-bomb

"Tritone jank" is my new favorite music term.

That Banjo-Kazooie main theme. Instant energy.

When 8bit uploads, it's gonna be a good day

even though I took piano for years as a kid, these videos still blow me away by the amount of knowledge it must take to be able to 1) understand and apply these concepts to analyze the music, 2) communicate the results to a lay audience in a narrated video, and 3) actually reproduce the original music complete with notation. Bravissimo, sir. You deserve all the patrons

Kirkhope's music in Mario Rabbits KB was truly a masterpiece setting the game really nicely and I now see why. The Yooka Laylee's soundtrack really reminded me of the game with those instruments and those progressions.

I grew up with Banjo-Kazooie, and I've found that these harmonic structures are kinda everywhere in my own work. It's a totally subconscious influence and I've only recently realised it.

The fact that you can deconstruct these crazy, wacky game scores and explain how and why they work is mind-boggling to me, as I don't know music theory past the brief bits I'm able to understand thanks to watching your videos. This was really entertaining.

5:55 that switch was already pressed, you can't fool me

Haven't heard Yooka-Laylee's soundtrack before. Everything reminds me of Mario + Rabbids. Must be the modern Grant Kirkhope style

This is my favorite channel on KZfaq, and the subject matter is about as perfect as it gets. Kirkhope had a profound impact on my childhood and his whimsical progressions and melodies absolutely influenced what my ears found interesting to listen to. Today is a great day.

The banjo series is such a timeless classic, one of these days I hope these games get a full on remake to fully immortalize them graphically. Even today, 20 years later, I still get the urge to download an emulator and play through both of them to re-experience the music and gameplay. I still have yet to play Yooka-Laylee but I do know the music is also pretty good. Another informative video!

If you really want Yooka-Laylee's soundtrack to sound more like Banjo-Kazooie's, just add bari sax. Everywhere.

I haven't analyzed it, but it feels like Yooka-Laylee's soundtrack is less playful and varied when it comes to instrumentization. I mean, who could forget the bee choir added to the music of Click Clock Wood, for example? In that regard, Yooka-Laylee sounds a bit less playful and unpredictable, but the melodies are still expertly crafted. There is no other composer quite like Grant Kirkhope.

I found Yooka Laylee's soundtrack to be more complex, but harder to remember as a result. Guess I'm not all that into movie-styled composition.

17:19 Hey I know that guy.

I love how you have to subtitle Kirkhope's heavy northern accent.

BK's soundtrack sounds more like a cartoon YL's soundtrack sounds more like a movie

"I don't use this word lightly" Uh oh, is he about to drop a Z-bomb?

That was amazing man! And very helpful as well. I love Grant Kirkhope! Such a musical genius and this vid proves it. You got another subscriber man.💖

2:45 "Tomfoolery" from the SpongeBob OST has a similar melody. The difference is that it goes up by a 4th instead of a major 3rd before going down by a tritone.

Amazing video!! I’ve been waiting ages for someone to make an in-depth video about Grant Kirkhopes music. Grant is a great guy and an amazing composer.

You're amazing dude. Saw you grow and you improved so much. good job from a drummer to another

Good job analyzing and breaking down Grant Kirkhope's compositions! I have studied music myself and found the video very interesting. Subscribed!

I was a music major for one year before I knew I didn't have what it took, but your videos let me get back into music in such a great way. I love the videos and what you do with them.

I hope that the longer I spend in my classes trying to fill in the holes in my harmony knowledge, as a drummer, the more I can understand of these videos. It's really helpful to know how to apply theory to stuff that you enjoy and all the editing and writing work you put into these are always appreciated! I also wanted to follow up on a light suggestion for coverage of Mickey's Speedway USA on the n64, if you happen to be inspired to. I definitely think the game and the music goes overlooked all the time, and it would be interesting to point out how apt each of the songs fit the location that the track is based off of (or maybe how it could have been done better). Using some historic examples / folkloric music as a comparison point for something composed relatively recently can be such a deep well to dig into, if you get me. Like...what makes the Everglades track music feel like the Everglades, or the Hawaii track theme for Hawaii, etc. There's certainly stereotypes of instruments and melodies that go along with the idea I don't have the know how to pin down harmonically. Just an idea in case you wanted to follow up on it. I know you have a limitless supply of ideas and a limited amount of time in each day, but the stuff you make is great to see in my subscription feed. And the better I get at music theory, the more I can get out of them in the future, so thank you for all your enthusiasm with what you do. It means a lot.

Another epic episode! Great job!

The visuals were noticeably improved here :::))) great as always, dude!

Make a video about what makes the music of Spyro so chill. I’d love that!

You’re currently my favourite youtube channel and I’m so glad I found you! I’d love a video on the musical compositions in the Rayman series (specifically Rayman 3), and how the music is both cartoony and animated but also perfectly captures how dark the game is!

I love watching your videos even though I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about

You have 340k suscribers. You deserve 1M. Thanks for this awesome content!

I doubt he did it intentionally, but it's kind of cool how Kirkhope's use of major-leaning tritone melodies to reference birds is reminiscent of Olivier Messiaen's approach in pieces like Quartet for the End of Time.

11:15 I'm imagining it, and suddenly I'm sad now

This is what I love , games and music. I finally get to watch a video early!!

I really appreciate the time you put into videos like these. Banjo and kazoo is a childhood classic for me, though I didn't have as easy a time with it as with Tooie. Might a tanuki ask an 8bit to do a shenmue video?

You have to remember though, that a lot of Yooka-Laylee's variety also comes from the fact that David Wise scored a LOT of it. Along with Steve Burke. In fact, I would say that while Kirkhope did successfully capture the zany charm of BK in Yooka, it were David Wise's contributions that were the true highlight for me. The music in the Kartos and boss sequences was just... So damn good!

Kirkhope made a reference to dD: Extraction in one of his Yooka-Laylee songs, I respect that

Grant has said Treasure Trove Cove was one of the funnest tracks in Banjo to write. Check out the remix he did on his channel.

Grant Kirkhope could be considered it's own genre of music.

I played both Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie back in the 90s, and I never noticed the complex chord progressions until you pointed them out. To me, it was always "Well, these are simple, catchy, mostly major-key melodies with similar 'bouncy' oom-pa-pa bass rhythms, so...probably nothing all that musically interesting going on." Now that you've pointed it out, I'm thinking back to other songs in both games' soundtracks and I'm like "hey, yeah, there was a lot more to this than I realized." Still sounds very "kiddie," but I'm never going to call the soundtracks of these games simplistic AGAIN. (Especially since this is *on top of* the instrument changes and little variations between different sections of every level, AND the change of Spiral Mountain's BGM from a quick, happy, bouncy tune in game 1 to a minor-key dirge version of the same melody in Tooie.)

new sub here, I dont know anything about musical education but this video really catch my attention, I love B&K so here is why I clicked on the video jaja nice!

Banjos music was my favorite as a kid. It truly made that game amazing.

Your videos are so interesting. I accidentally found the soundtrack of the 2008 not so succesful game Nuts and bolts, I only know the music is great. I instantly fell in love with the LOG 720 themes, they have that musical feeling with the cinematic epic feel and how it sounds they also reminds me monkey Island games a bit.

12:22 Papa Haydn would be proud!

The crazy thing about all those tritones is that... they don't sound like tritones to me? Sure they sound weird, but not anymore than any other out of key chord or direct modulation. They dont have the jarring dissonance of a tritone in classical music or the sweet and sour bite of a dominant #9 chord in jazz or blues. They just sound... well, zany, like you put it Edit: God, Bubble Gloop Swamp is /BRILLIANT/, christ! I shouted out loud when I first heard it, it was only three measures long but it gave me fucking shivers.

5:23 You mention later on that he appeared to have taken inspiration from cinematic composers. On first listening of this section, my thoughts were, "This is what we would have got if Chopin had been watching Harry Potter just before composing his funeral march."

Great channel ! 02:53 I heard "Take the A train" intro :) Didn't know about Yooka-Laylee, i loved so much B-K and B-T i HAVE to try it ! Shadow Dancer's OST is the one i prefer, it's so awesome you might want to review it ;)

Fun fact: The two chords Kirkhope mentions (C major & Ab major) are the two keys the original Thomas the Tank Engine Theme modulates between.

Does anyone else think the Moodymaze Marsh theme sounds like something you'd hear in Banjo-Kazooie?

Love the musical analysis between a game we're all nostalgic about and its spiritual successor! I'm not an expert, but I've been really enjoying Bug Fable's music lately, it could be interesting to take a look at their music as well (though I don't know how comparable its music would be to paper mario)

I know that this is a really specific memory, but the usage of the dissonant tritones reminds me of when I was trying to learn piano, and when my hands would have difficulty making chord shifts. The sudden sound of something out of my expectations is jarring but also kind of comedic, I love it!

Im trying to write music for my indie project and this goes straight over my head Haha. Still love the content so entertaining! I go by the philosophy "Oh this sounds good"

I haven't played Yooka-Laylee (I hope to at some point) so I'm only basing this off of the clips that you played here. But the main difference I feel (which is probably related to the rhythmic distinctions you talk about at the end of the video) is the sense of joy in BK. It's hard to describe but there's always this sunny, up-beat energy that sounds super pleasant and playful, shining through the wacky and often dissonant harmony. YL feels more somber and serious in the clips you played; definitely reminds me of Batman Returns. Don't think either feel is better than the other, that's just what I'm noticing!

This is gonna be good

Great jobs

This is good content. Real good content.

Great vid

The clips at 6:41 and 8:42 are so similar to tracks in Mario + Rabbids in their style, arrangement, and orchestration that they could be swapped between games and most players wouldn't even notice. They may be uniquely Kirkhope but they are certainly not unique to their respective games.

7:16 I'm glad i -> vii is getting some love. vii is a mean, mean boy.

GRETTINGS FROM MEXICO... THANKS FOR SHARING.... EXCELLENT LESSON!!!

In the Yooka-Laylee wintery song I also somehow get a massive Gex 3 flashback of that wintery stage but I'm not sure if that served of any inspiration or if it's just a similar pace with similar instruments.

I would love to hear your analysis on Jazz Jackrabbit (specifically the 2nd game), the soundtrack for that game is phenomenal

I think one of the most underrated soundtracks Grant Kirkhope worked on is Sid Meier’s Civilization Beyond Earth. You can see his overall style in the tracks he worked on for the title.

Lego Racer has a very similar feeling soundtrack

I wish more people would talk about viva pinata's soundtrack. he also nailed it in those games too

This guys the master of whimsical music!

I love your videos and was wondering if you could do one on mass effect's music. if you feel so inclined I think it would be epic.

I was today years old when I realized it's a pun

God Bless and thank you for more Grant Kirkhope analysis

When you played Shipwreck Creek, I heard Peach's Castle from Mario + Rabbids. SOMEHOW. Grant, you just sound so persistent from game to game that I simply don't know which of your songs is playing unless I am told before it sounds.

Banjo-Kazooie is so beautiful... it made my childhood so bright1

13:22 sounds exactly like something Cyraik would make.

Tribalstack Tropics is my favorite song from the Yooka-Laylee score and it's probably because it's both harmonically and melodically similar to a lot of the Banjo-Kazooie soundtrack (lots of major tritones and bVI changes, melody emphasizes chord tones). Much as I would've loved to see that song analyzed I get that it's not the best example to show the differences between the soundtracks

You should make a video on using instruments to symbolize different characters in the same song, like how the sumo bros theme from Paper Mario: The Origami King has guitar for the main sumo bro and synth sounds for the smaller sumo bros.

Can you cover Wise's work for Tropical Freeze?

I have a suggestion: Lyn, Ellwood's and Hector's themes from fire emblem 7. I find them quite interesting how the music sounds so similar yet so different.

I’m a simple guy. I see a new 8-bit Music Theory video, I click like.

Now I want a video about Mario+Rabbids ^^

Man I wish I knew how to do all of this I never knew that like music was really made with such ever like I thought the main point was just to make sure it sounds like the scene and it's good I didn't know you had to do all this other stuff I wish I was a master at it

Very nice.

13:22 ah, the cyriak approach to song writing :P

I would love to see a video on the music of Rocket: Robot on Wheels for the N64. One of the greatest video game soundtracks I've ever heard, and the composer is uncredited, though it is likely Amit Sharif as he worked on the studio's next title Sly Cooper

The forbidden Game Theory channel.

Oh yes the tritone. Basically what the Digimon theme uses nonstop.

I’m sorry if I sound like a suck up. But this is such a great channel.

Oh shit, I've taken a class with Matt Kenyon - cool

I had an idea for a video topic; I picked up Sid Meier's Pirates recently because I'm supremely bored, and I had forgotten how the music in towns changed based on context. The basic melody depended on what kind of town it was, with different melodies for different nations, but it also changed in different circumstances. The instrumentation changed depending on which part of town you were in: the governor's mansion had high class harpsichord, while the tavern had upbeat concertina, etc. Not only that, but the key and tempo of the piece changed depending on the state of the town. Towns could prosper or fall on hard times depending on whether they got new settlers, deliveries of commodities, and troop support, or corrupt government, pirate attacks, or native raids. A rich town would be upbeat and happy, while the music in a poor town is slower and in a minor key. I think it was an interesting choice to highlight the dynamic system of prosperity in the game.

It would be awesome to see a video on the music of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle! :)

Interesting note about the word "Zany" and how and why we use it. "Zany" comes from from an old term from Italian Theater term, "Zanni". In Commedia (this form of theater) actors were type-cast into roles. Masks and costumes were used to denote character from character. Do a little digging into "Commedia dell'arte" and you'll find lots of ties to modern storytelling - from Spongebob to Fawlty Towers, the imprint of this form of theater is all over the world of entertainment.

Kirkhope also uses the chromatic mediant and sustained sharp 4th in Mad Monster Mansion, which he has said is his favorite piece from Banjo-Kazooie. As for those harmonic transitions, pick a boss theme from Banjo-Tooie or DK64. Any of them. DK64's Crystal Caves boss theme is probably my favorite. So yeah, he's been doing these tricks for a while now.

I'd love it if you did the seasonal work music from Don't Starve: Reign of Giants. Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. Each season with its own kind of.music that encapsulates the dangers each one represents.

I’m fairly new to this channel, so forgive me if you’ve done it already, but do you think you could do a video on Tim Follin? I would love to know mathematically why his music goes so hard

Hmm. This music around 6:30 reminds me of Wizard 101. Such great music in that too!!!

1:36 the isekai truck be like

this guy is one of the best things that came out of winnipeg

Nice.