Ryu Umemoto Passes Away

[adversity1]

Confirmed posthumously via his twitter.

http://blog.esuteru.com/archives/4549409.html

Composer behind a ton of music, including Espgaluda II: Black Label and Akai Katana for CAVE.

[iconoclast]

Holy shit.

Both Akai Katana and Espgaluda II BL have amazing soundtracks. RIP.

[adversity1]

About to boot up Esp II Black in his honor.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Man that sucks! RIP

EDIT Im Listening to some of his music now this is so sad.

[iconoclast]

EDIT Im Listening to some of his music now this is so sad.

Same. He was pretty young too, only 37 years old. Very sad news.

I'm gonna play a ton of Akai Katana today.

[drunkninja24]

Does it say what happened? Man, that sucks

[Zeron]

His final work of art Mushihime sama 1.5 has not yet been released well the pcb has but not the ost.



rip

[bcass]

He also composed some of the unreleased stuff that appears in the 360 ports (eg - menu themes). Some really nice VGM. Of particular note is the excellent new title music in XBLA Guwange.

[StarCreator]

Wow, this is a real shame, he was extremely talented and will be missed.

Just browsing his Twitter, it looks like the last posts made by him were around 5 months ago, when he was hospitalized for bronchitis/pneumonia symptoms. I just hope he hasn't been suffering all this time.

[admith]

R.I.P.

His music will remain with us forever.

[chempop]

Yesterday I was listening to the Akai Katana soundtrack, it's one I my favorite. I also beat Galuda2 for the first time, which I had set the Black Label music for, also incredible tunes. Shmup music is one of the reasons why I like this genre so much - this is very sad news.

R.I.P.

[Udderdude]

That totally sucks, he was an amazing composer. My condolences.

[louisg]

Oh man, that's really sad

I really enjoyed this one by him:
http://vimeo.com/1903532

R.I.P.

(edit: link changed since the mp3 on the old link didn't work. He did post some interesting comments there though: http://www.soundshock.se/phpBB2/viewtop ... a1772e38d3)

[Elixir]

Wow, this is a real shame, he was extremely talented and will be missed.

Just browsing his Twitter, it looks like the last posts made by him were around 5 months ago, when he was hospitalized for bronchitis/pneumonia symptoms. I just hope he hasn't been suffering all this time.

Although he was still posting on his site, here, up until June.

RIP, I was always a fan of your works.

[Van_Artic]

very, very sad news

R.I.P. i'll always listen to his music forever

[PixelDharma]

Very sad news. His music has been in heavy rotation on my iPod recently. Tragic coincidence...

No one has mentioned the amazing Nin2 Jump soundtrack yet. It's an awesome fusion of Japanese instruments, techno elements and FM synth. I highly reccomend it. It also contains FM Synth versions of the Akai Katana tracks.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Ive just been listening to the Nin2 Jump OST, its really good. Did he create all the tracks in Nin2 and Akia Katana by himself? With artists making guest appearances and remixing or rearranging other ppls music it can be sometimes misleading as to whose behind which track. Thats why I tend to not know anyting about the artists even if if really enjoy their music.

My favorite track of his atm would have to be Opening - Psyvariar The Mix (FF to 3:15) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRR6rGiUsVo

Ive listened to this track over 10 times in total today and it still hasnt got boring. Its that good imo

[Aisha]

Unfortunate news.

Ive just been listening to the Nin2 Jump OST, its really good. Did he create all the tracks in Nin2 and Akia Katana by himself? With artists making guest appearances and remixing or rearranging other ppls music it can be sometimes misleading as to whose behind which track. Thats why I tend to not know anyting about the artists even if if really enjoy their music.

My favorite track of his atm would have to be Opening - Psyvariar The Mix (FF to 3:15) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRR6rGiUsVo

Ive listened to this track over 10 times in total today and it still hasnt got boring. Its that good imo

Yeah, he is credited for creating the soundtracks of Akai Katana, Akai Katana Shin, Akai Katana FM Towns, and Nin^2 Jump on his own, though he was a frequent guest arranger for Cave since 2008. He was also the main arranger of Mushihimesama 1.5, although there was another arranger who worked on that as well. It's also just my speculation, but in this lengthy interview with Umemoto, it is revealed that virt was his favorite U.S. composer, which leads me to believe that he was at least partly responsible for getting virt to do the Ketsuipatchi soundtrack.

[Sapz]

Damn. R.I.P., man. I really enjoyed his music, especially both versions of the Akai Katana OST.

[BulletMagnet]

From a corresponding thread at HG101, apparently posted by somebody who knew him personally:

He was complaining about bronchitis and fever when I last spoke with him. What caused this is unknown.

In any event, sad to hear.

[BPzeBanshee]

Sad news indeed. Death at 37 is way too young.

Rest in peace. Loved your music, especially the ESPGaluda II material.

[Frederik]

I really loved his style.

[JeanR]

Too bad. I love the OST of Akai.

[DragonInstall]

Damn... was hoping if Esp III came out, he would do the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0972eHP4ao

Still my favorite from all of his work and just cave music in general.

[gameoverDude]

Truly sad news. From the story about him on HG101, he seemed like one of the nicest people you'd ever meet.

R.I.P. Ryu Umemoto.