Staff Members :: Chris

Biography

I founded the community of Square Enix Music Online at the end of June 2006. While the site's name reflects its humble origins, the site has grown into a general resource for both Western and Eastern game music. It now covers so many long-running series with its extensive album and book information, review database, concert coverage, and song lyrics. Uniquely, the site provides coverage of game music's most significant composers with authoratitive biographies and discographies. It is also the only English site that provides regularly updated music news about concerts, new releases, and artist developments.

As for me, I am currently an aspiring biochemistry student. Having recently achieved a first class degree through the joint Bachelor's / Master's program at the University of Oxford, I have started an international PhD researching tuberculosis down in New Zealand. I'm highly self-motivated and don't get stressed easily so I tend to enjoy the academic side of university life. I also have a decent social life and a few hobbies I'm really passionate about. Of course, contributing to both Square Enix Music Online and building its successor are among those. As a good multitasker, I'm able to combine tedious activities with interesting ones, which ensures work never really becomes intolerable. I basically work and play hard, sometimes at the sacrifice of sleep, and all because I want to.

While my musical background was initially quite formal, it was only when I discovered the works of Nobuo Uematsu on the Final Fantasy series that I became truly passionate about music and it soon became more an obsession of mine. Before that, I did enjoy classic soundtracks such as the Amiga's Lemmings and SNES' Super Mario World, but it wasn't enough for me to hunt down the soundtracks like I did for Final Fantasy VII. Fortunately, I became interested in game music just at the start of the PlayStation era, as composers were growing more creative and technology was becoming less restrictive. As a result, I was able to observe numerous breakthroughs: the first full orchestral scores in Western games, the development of massive stylistic diversity in the Japan scene, the appearance of numerous major film and popular artists on best-selling titles, and, of course, the spread of symphonic game music concerts around the world.

Though I probably wasn't good enough to pursue music as a career, I am nevertheless an experienced musician. I received classical training in composition, harmony, and theory from a young age up to advanced level. In addition, I regularly perform piano, saxophone, and clarinet as a solo and ensemble performer. I think this background is often reflected in many reviews and articles for the site, which often focus on the creativity and artistry. I'm also now a fan of a range of other types of music, spanning jazz artists, rock bands, cinematic cues, to even a bit of cheesy pop or hip-hop, whether in game music productions or original albums. I get bored quite easily, so I am always looking for new albums to supplement my collection.

As a bit of a wanderer, Square Enix Music Online will remain a significant self-imposed responsibility in my life, but while it requires a huge amount of time and effort to maintain it, I will happily contribute towards doing so. Why? This site means an incredibly large amount to me and I enjoy contributing to it, driven by my passion for music and writing. Thankfully, these activities are rarely at the compromise of my work as a scientist and — now that I'm more efficient than ever — I still manage to have an enjoyable personal and romantic life too. If I have anything to ask of the visitors here, it is to appreciate the hard work of the wonderful supporting staff here. Without their enthusiasm, dedication, and selflessness, I know that this site would be nothing now. If you ever want to make us happier and ensure we continue, be sure to visit regularly and consider contributing or supporting us. Thank you for reading, enjoy the site, and never hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Site Role

As the site's webmaster, founder, and owner, I oversee all content additions, manage the finances, administer the forum, and lead the staff and contributor team. I update the site on a regular basis to deal with all review submissions, create the music news, maintain the composer section of the site, and add album information, lyrics, etc. when needed. I also attempt, and often fail, to keep up with the neverending backlog of emails from site contributors and visitors.

Over my time at the site, I've written nearly 1000 fairly indepth reviews about a range of soundtracks. I've tried to mix reviews of famous soundtracks with exposing some more rare albums. I have particularly focused my attentions on Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Disgaea, Zelda, Megami Tensei, Gradius, and Ys. In addition, I have pioneered new coverage of Capcom, Namco, Falcom, Sega, From Software, and Western game music on the site. My next targets are the Dragon Ball, Samurai Spirits, Langrisser, and Sim series.

Contributed Reviews