Year: 2008
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Kyle Gabler
Number of tracks: 27

★★★★★

A soundtrack like a theme park

World of Goo is one of those rare games whose concept is as simple as it is ingenious. The aim is to transport a pile of slime balls, the eponymous goo balls, from tube A to tube B using bridges and crossbars. The trick is that the little Goos are also our building material. If we use too many to stabilize the constantly wobbling construct, we won't have enough to complete the level. If, on the other hand, we are too sparing, our construction will collapse if the load is too high. It is therefore important to build cleverly and with foresight so that the cute, squeaky, googly-eyed balls do not fall into the countless chasms.

Later, other types of Goos are added, such as flammable match heads or spiky balls that can cling to walls. What was as cute as it was fun back in 2008 now brings back memories of a time when something as simple as Angry Birds or Blobby Volley was enough to pass a few hours. So I can give the game a recommendation! But you can probably guess what the real insider tip is here: the music.

Trying to classify Kyle Gabler's soundtrack makes about as much sense as licking the magazines in the doctor's waiting room. You can do it, but it's hard for outsiders to grasp and you end up sick. Since I try to avoid this in times of corona, I'll give you a pointer right at the beginning to just listen to it. Because this varied musical spectacle is as worth listening to as it is wacky. Hardly any two tracks are alike, and if you only listened to the music without knowing the game, World of Goo could be anything. From a colorful carnival simulator to an adaptation of The Matrix-game - the soundtrack is impossible to categorize. The reason is simple: World of Goo was a two-man project and Gabler was not only the composer, but also the illustrator, designer and author. The music therefore comes in part from many of his side projects. This wild mixture is what makes the OST so unique.

Nevertheless, there are a few recurring patterns: while only a few tracks follow a consistent theme and mood, many of the songs break with what has been heard before from the halfway point onwards: Regurgitation Pumping Station begins like the classic establisher in the movie Noire. A few plucks on the double bass, an accompanying hi-hat and a little piano strumming. Sounds like the typical detective story, the murder mystery, but then speeds up and with its wah guitar is reminiscent of the Beverly Hill Cops-films of the 80s. Bam, over. It starts all over again, back in the jazz restaurant, later again on the streets. Then the track ends. In this case, a narrative proximity cannot be denied, both detective music, both told atypically - in a game, mind you, in which the aim is to guide goo balls.

Another example: Jelly. With its undulating 16th-note sixths as a triadic break in D major (I knew this, of course, and just to be on the safe side I had it checked by a music teacher in my circle of friends), it still emulates a gentle breeze at the beginning. We can literally see the play of the wind over the landscape, the passing of the clouds. The song becomes more driving, a drum sets the beat, the wind puffs up and then dies down again. It seems as if there is the atmosphere of a passing train, the rattling of the wagons on the tracks. Now flutes play (again energetically) before an electric guitar finally pulls us out of our dreaminess, like the opening of a Zack Snyder movie. It all happens as fluidly as it does abruptly, there is no logical sequence. Although it follows the classic narrative structure of a calm introduction, a banging main section and a retarding conclusion, it feels sequenced and disjointed at the same time.

This image also continues with the acoustic divergence of musical tropes mentioned at the beginning. We hear accordions, strings, wind instruments, electric guitars, vocals and even a jew's harp. Fairground, western, cyber. With its synths and screeching guitars, Screamer sounds like a sci-fi action thriller from Blade Runner and Deus Ex, while Happy New Year ™ Brought to You by Product Z with its choir and strings sounds like Dracula. Fans of 8-bit music, on the other hand, get something to make them feel good with My Virtual World of Goo Corporation, and Red Carpet Extend-o-matic with its 90s synthesizers is reason enough for me, as a fan of the Sailor Moon intro and the soundtrack from the Sims addon Superstar, to dance the night away.

I wrote this in 2001 as a joke for a music class in undergrad. Only the beginning of this song is used in the game, and for only one level. […] it comes with a warning – this song is designed to sound like a crappy 90’s dance song, one of my favorite genres. The singer was an astrophysicist major named Jessica.

Composer Kyle Gabler on Red Carpet Extend-o-matic

What's particularly striking about the OST are the frequent tempo variations within the tracks. Rain Rain Windy Windy holds us captive between the fast, cheerful lightness and light-heartedness of violins and flutes and the slow, sustained brass and vocals, breaking out briefly every now and then and being recaptured. In contrast, Tumbler starts off quickly in the style of an action piece, the castanets clack merrily to the accordion, the tempo increases, further and further into the inhuman - and then: the break. As a contrast, the theme creeps along at a snail's pace, the cheerful becomes tragic.

I could go on and on and pick out almost every one of the 27 songs, which nearly all have a special feature or represent a musical trope. But as I said at the beginning, that would be pointless. However, I can't finish this review without mentioning at least once the truly fantastic Best of Times which even made it into my Top 100 Video game tracks . An ode that its in no justifiably this good for a little indie game about a few ridiculously cute goo balls, and which, conversely, raises it to such a pathetically high level - simply masterful.

Kyle Gabler shows an appreciable but unexpected compositional sensitivity that impresses and moves me. It may be cheesy. It may, like Brave Adventurers, satisfy my penchant for the bombastic and gravitas, my primitive inclination towards the brutal. But when my chest hair starts to sprout and I want to go hunting for mammoths, one look into those cuddly goo-eyes and I'm back to being the armchair farting nerd who writes reviews of his favorite soundtracks. MOM, I Am Coming Home.

By the way, you can find the complete soundtrack and some trivia about the individual tracks for free download on Kyle Gabler's homepage!

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	World of Goo Beginning	Kyle Gabler	4
02	The Goo Filled Hills	Kyle Gabler	5
03	Brave Adventurers	Kyle Gabler	5
04	Another Mysterious Pipe Appeared	Kyle Gabler	4
05	World of Goo Corporation	Kyle Gabler	3
06	Regurgitation Pumping Station	Kyle Gabler	4
07	Threadcutter	Kyle Gabler	4
08	Rain Rain Windy Windy	Kyle Gabler	5
09	Jelly	Kyle Gabler	5
10	Tumbler	Kyle Gabler	4
11	Screamer	Kyle Gabler	4
12	Burning Man	Kyle Gabler	5
13	Cog in the Machine	Kyle Gabler	3
14	Happy New Year (tm) Brought to You by Product Z	Kyle Gabler	3
15	Welcome to the Information Superhighway	Kyle Gabler	3
16	Graphic Processing Unit	Kyle Gabler	2
17	Years of Work	Kyle Gabler	3
18	My Virtual World of Goo Corporation	Kyle Gabler	4
19	Hello, MOM	Kyle Gabler	2
20	Inside the Big Computer	Kyle Gabler	2
21	Are You Coming Home, Love MOM	Kyle Gabler	4
22	Ode to the Bridge Builder	Kyle Gabler	5
23	The Last of the Goo Balls and the Telescope Operator	Kyle Gabler	4
24	Best of Times	Kyle Gabler	5
25	Red Carpet Extend-o-matic	Kyle Gabler	2
26	World of Goo Corporation's Valued Customers	Kyle Gabler	3
27	World of Goo Ending	Kyle Gabler	4