My strange obsession: the Raystorm PS1 OST

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Look, I'm not saying that the only way to properly experience the 1997 PlayStation shoot 'em up RayStorm is in your dimly lit parent's basement with a 13 inch TV cranked up until it's crackling static, but actually I am saying that, and I am sorry if you didn't get the chance.

There's something about Tamayo Kawamoto's electronic compositions that demands this kind of reverence; the kind that makes you realize video game soundtracks had become real bangers around the time you'd catch fragments of MTV's "The Real World" through a cracked bedroom door, understanding nothing except that this was somehow important to your friend's older sisters, who you desperately wanted to impress for some pre-pubescent reason.

The Taito Sound Team: Zuntata's Weird Science

Before we dive into the strangely emotionally charged proto-EDM that is RayStorm's soundtrack, let's take a moment to appreciate the bizarre musical entity known as Zuntata - Taito's in-house band - further proof the 90s were just the remnants of the 80s' beautiful corporate hallucination.

This week on 'unnecessarily hard logo design'

Zuntata wasn't just some corporate marketing gimmick however; these folks were legitimate musical innovators operating in a strange liminal space between commercial game audio and experimental electronic production. They created soundtracks that made perfect sense until you actually listened to them without the cacophony of lasers and score indicators layered on top. Why was it good? What's happening?

In the early-to-mid 90s, while American kids were discovering grunge and Europeans were sweating through warehouse raves, Zuntata was crafting their own unique brand of digital emotive soundscapes. Their music combined heavy synth usage with a dance music sound, but with seemingly random elements thrown in, including liberal use of dissonance and strange chord structures that gave their compositions a unique edge. This wasn't your typical game music; you could genuinely bump this in context with some of the underground's offerings of the day.

Tamayo Kawamoto: From Capcom to Making Me See God

Here comes Tamayo Kawamoto, the mastermind behind RayStorm's soundtrack. Here's where things get interesting, because Kawamoto's journey to creating one of PlayStation's most distinctive soundtracks is itself worthy of a JRPG storyline.

Kawamoto was among the first musicians hired at Capcom in the mid-80s, where she went by the aliases "Tamayan" or "Tamatama." If you've ever found yourself swaying your head while dying repeatedly in Ghouls 'n Ghosts, you've experienced her early work. This was back when composing video game music meant "entering music in a custom music macro language, using hexadecimal numbers for notation". Programming as much as composing.

After leaving Capcom in 1988, Kawamoto joined Taito in 1989 and became part of Zuntata. This career move would eventually lead to her composing the entire Ray series of games, including RayForce, RayStorm, and RayCrisis. (Note: on the Sega Saturn, Raystorm was called Layer Section II, and had a totally bitchin CG intro). The Ray trilogy represents some of the most innovative shoot 'em up games of the 90s, with their lock-on laser mechanics, vertically-layered playfields, and Kawamoto's music matched this innovation beat for beat.

RayStorm's Fucking Incredible Soundtrack

RayStorm released on the PlayStation in 1997 (1996 in arcades), arriving at a fascinating moment in gaming history. The industry was transitioning from the 16-bit era to the brave new world of 3D polygons and CD audio. This technical evolution gave composers like Kawamoto new tools to work with: synthesizers that could produce more complex sounds, CD audio that didn't need to be compressed to oblivion, and sound chips that could handle multiple audio channels, or just straight up play back recordings, like WipEout and it's licensed soundtrack that remains legendary to this day.

The RayStorm soundtrack catalog number ZTTL-0002, released on October 11, 1996, includes both the original soundtrack and exclusive arranged tracks. Kawamoto didn't just compose these tracks; she directed and arranged most of them too, with recording taking place at ZTT Studio and mixing at Dutch Mama Studio in Tokyo.

The brilliance of RayStorm's music isn't in how complex or particularly inventive it is; it's in how it transforms with each new environment, making every level feel like its own mini sci-fi movie. Constantly as a kid, I would challenge myself to get further in the game solely to hear what the next song would reveal about the game's world. The music painted a much denser picture than the beautiful albeit primitive graphics could, and I wanted to explore that world deeper.

The sound design on this weapon changed me as a human being and is something I genuinely strive for in my own sound design to this day.

"GEOMETRIC CITY", the opening track. It doesn't just accompany the first level, it actively constructs it. The pulsing kick and zaps with sharp synth lines sketch futuristic skylines more real than any PlayStation polygon could. "AQUARIUM" does something similar - pairing a very emotive digital guitar pluck with a soaring melancholy lead and images of an abandoned city swallowed by the ocean years ago; yet we're all still fighting over it. Lore! World Building! By "LUMINESCENCE," Kawamoto isn't just scoring a level - she's composing the genuine feeling of a futile fight to save a broken planet from its assailants. It puts you square in the pilot's seat, it makes you feel like what you're doing may be impossible, but you need to try. In short, it made the 7 year old me very seriously determined, and the 34 year old me very happy.

How It Was Made… Sorta

While specific details about the exact synths and production equipment Kawamoto used for RayStorm are frustratingly scarce (or perhaps buried in Japanese magazines I don't have direct access to), we can make some educated guesses based on what we know about music production in mid-90s Japan.

This was the era when digital synthesizers were becoming dominant in electronic music production. Synthesizers like the Yamaha DX7 and Korg M1 were revolutionizing sound production, and Japanese composers were often at the forefront of incorporating this technology. By the mid-90s, many video game composers had moved away from the direct chip programming of earlier eras to more sophisticated digital audio workstations.

What makes RayStorm's sound distinct is its blend of electronic dance music elements with atmospheric, almost ambient passages. Kawamoto's compositions often feature driving techno beats in the A section that suddenly dissolve into spacey, reverb-drenched soundscapes in the B section, creating this incredible tension between action and atmosphere that matches the game's frenetic pace and futuristic setting. The feeling when the enemies in a level start to lessen and fade away and the soundtrack follows, you know you're about to be in the boss fight of your life.

Not just on Playstation!

Here's where things get even more interesting; Kawamoto didn't just create music for the game itself. The RayStorm album released by Zuntata Records includes three distinct "sides": the Original Side featuring the game's soundtrack, the Arrange Side with two tracks arranged by Kuniaki Haishima, and the Acoustic Side featuring arrangements by Kawamoto and Hiromoto Tobisawa.

The Acoustic Side is particularly fascinating, featuring piano by Yayoi Yoshida and a string quartet, transforming Kawamoto's electronic compositions into neo-classical arrangements. This wasn't just game music anymore; this was Kawamoto and team making the case that video game compositions deserved the same respect as film scores or classical music.

I also want to point out this absolutely insane live performance of Geometric City. Genuinely not only is this one of the coolest musical performances I've heard, but just look at these fucking guys: one standing drummer, one sitting - guitarists in C3P0 style skirts, and our fav Kawamoto tearing the keys up completely expressionless. This is what you experience when you overdose while watching Japanese Star Wars.

Sure man, fuck it. Let's go crazy.

And Then…

Kawamoto's work on RayStorm represents a high point in 90s video game music: a perfect synthesis of technical capability and artistic vision. Her soundtrack doesn't just complement the game; it absolutely elevates it, turning what could have been just another shoot 'em up into a best of generation audio-visual experience, in my humble (and objectively correct) opinion.

After leaving Zuntata in 2006, Kawamoto formed the group Betta Flash with singer Cyua (noted for her extensive work in various anime), continuing to push the boundaries of electronic music. But for many of us who spent countless hours dodging bullets and firing lock-on lasers in RayStorm, her legacy will always be those hypnotic, otherworldly tracks that made blowing up polygons feel like something deep and profound.

So next time you're feeling nostalgic for the days when owning that gray PlayStation made you feel like you were living in the future, fire up RayStorm, turn up the volume, and let Tamayo Kawamoto's incredible soundtrack take you to the future you imagined back in 1997.

Gamer street cred - why am I single, you ask??? I don't know either!

Note: This blog post was inspired by my love for RayStorm and research on Tamayo Kawamoto and Zuntata. If you're interested in exploring more of Kawamoto's work, the full RayStorm soundtrack is available on various music platforms, and there's even a comprehensive collection called "Ray'z Music Chronology" that includes all three games' soundtracks along with arranged versions.

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osmo@cosmicosmo.co