Just curious, and possibily interested in 'catching up' as it were, but what's peoples' favorite game music since the beginning of 2004 or so?
Be it released on CD, an arranged album, free download (link?), or even unreleased....from any game, be it console, PC, mobile, etc
Japanese, Western, doesn't matter either...

I'm sure people will forget stuff, and no it's not a poll or a top list, just mostly wondering what people consider good since then. No limits on numbers either...

I think just about the only stuff I've really enjoyed in the last five years has been from Cave or Konami.  Most of the CDs I get now are older (like early '90s).  There have been some good doujin albums in the last five years as well.

Anyway, the albums I've most enjoyed from the last five years have been:

Pink Sweets OST
Mushihimesama Futari OST
Falcom JDK Band 2008 Spring
Various Beatmania IIDX soundtracks (10th Style, Happy Sky, Gold, DJ Troopers)
Various Konami V-Rare albums (IIDX 8th Style, Pop'n Music 11)
iFuturelist
milestone ~ dj TAKA
Megalomania
Happy Trigger
Energy Force - Gradius and Salamander

Man, that is a tough question.

Off the top of my head, knowing that I'm forgetting LOADS of others, I'll say:

drammatica
the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Guilty Gear Isuka
Lost Odyssey
Kameo Elements of Power
Perfect Dark Zero
Ratchet & Clank: Up your Arsenal
Remastered Tracks Rockman Zero Physis (and the RZ4 OST)
Rockman 9
Rockman X8
Shadow of the Colossus
Shadow the Hedgehog
Silent Hill 4
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Soul Calibur III
Super Mario Galaxy Orchestral Soundtrack

The sad thing is the last five years are so have kind of blended together because I was out of VGM for so long, so some of the albums that come to mind as being "the last five years" for me are actually older than that.  Let's see if I can manage anyway...

No More Heroes OST
Lost Child Infinia / Material (kt2) side
Espgaluda OST
Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu OST
Katamari Damacy OST
Wangan Midnight 2 OST
Xenosaga Ep.II OST
Shadow Hearts II OST
Chaos Theory (Splinter Cell)
Silent Hill Homecoming OST

What a truly gnarly question! Here's what I have in my collection from the past four or five years that I particularly enjoy:

OSTs:

Biohazard 4 OST
Biohazard 5 OST
Biohazard: Umbrella Chronicles OST
Chaos Theory (Splinter Cell)
Devil May Cry 4 OST
Dirge of Cerberus FFVII
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance OST
Final Fantasy Tactics A2 OST
Final Fantasy XII OST
Gallian (Valkyria) Chronicles OST
God Tracks! (God Hand)
Gradius V Soundtracks
Gran Turismo 4 OST
Guilty Gear 2 Vol.2
Hako no Niwa
Katamari Fortissimo Damacy
Killer7 OST
Lost Child Soundtrack Side A/B/Z
Lumines remixes winter
Musashiden II Blademaster OST
No More Heroes OST
Ridge Racer 6 direct audio
Shadow Hearts II OST
Sigma Harmonics OST
Silent Hill 4 OST
Silent Hill 4 LE Soundtrack (US promo)
Silent Hill Zero OST
Silent Hill Homecoming Soundtrack
Super Mario Galaxy OST

Arrange albums:

nde: Shadow Hearts arrange
Psyvariar: The Mix
Rockman 1-6 ROCK Arrange
The Black Mages II ~ The Skies Above
Under Defeat Extended Tracks

Artist albums:

Akashi - Norihiko Hibino
iFuturelist - Akira Yamaoka
KiRite - Yasunori Mitsuda
The Outer Rim
Vielen Dank - Masashi Hamauzu

Ah, thanks Zane you reminded me of a few more I'd forgotten about!

Akumajo Dracula Curse of Darkness Original Soundtrack (2005)
Lost Child Original Sound Track from S.S.H Side-B (2004)
Lost Child Original Sound Track from S.S.H The Final Side-Z (2006)
Rockman X8 Original Soundtrack (2005)
Rockman X Command Mission Original Soundtrack (2004)
- Command Mission is really underrated in my opinion and the music was the best part of the game
Rockman Zero Physis, Remastered Tracks (2005)
- had all the Remastered albums, but Physis has the most staying power IMO
Wild Arms Alter code F Original Score (2004)
- there are some good remixes here (the ones Naruke didn't overdo) and some great new originals
Wild Arms Music the Best -rocking heart- (2006)
- after some of the dismal arrange albums that came out (the rockman rock) it easy to see why this one holds up
Wild Arms XF Original Soundtrack (2007)
- while there is a lot I still don't care for, it easily destroys stuff like WA4 & 5

My list would be entirely too long if I were to list everything...

Soma Bringer and Kirite are probably at the top of the list. Lots of Cave works as well and Yuzo Koshiro's nice little classic revival has been welcomed greatly.

I haven't been 'out of it' or anything, just really declined in my gaming (my newest home console is a Gamecube for instance), so I kinda payed less attention...I kinda wonder what's good that I missed, mainly. Besides, a 'five year retrospective' sort is never bad, since there's been so much difference lately in various ways...

i still haven't gotten the SILENT HILL 5 ost just yet, probably gonna order it from otaku.com sometime in July.

Might also be getting the EarthBound 3 soundtrack too, since MOTHER 2's music is one of my all-time favorites.

..But yeah, i'd definitely recommend picking up both editions of the SILENT HILL 4 albums, as well as his FUTUREList-PATEI release from 2006.

OST

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Original Soundtrack
Infinite Undiscovery Original Soundtrack
Persona 3 Original Soundtrack
Persona 3 Fes Original Soundtrack
Persona 4 Original Soundtrack
Shin Megami Tensei III NOCTURNE Maniacs Soundtrack extra version
Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Army of Ultimate Power Complete Music Works
Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon Soundtrack
No More Heroes Original Soundtrack
Okami Original Soundtrack
Ridge Racers Direct Audio
Ryu ga Gotoku & Ryu ga Gotoku 2 Original Sound Track
Siren Original Soundtrack

Unreleased

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

Arrange

Burn My Dread -Reincarnation: PERSONA3-

Works

iFuturelist
kt2 works 2001-2006

This is basically a list of some releases over the last five years that I still regularly listen to. I've probably missed a lot out and it's skewed towards the last couple of years.

OSTs

Age of Conan
Ar tonelico
Dead Space
DoDonPachi Dai-Fukkatsu
Etrian Odyssey I & II
Dirge of Cerberus
Final Fantasy XII
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
Ninja Blade
Lost Odyssey
Odin Sphere
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams
Okami
Ridge Racer 6
Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song
The Last Remnant
The Legend of Heroes VI OSTs
Ys Origin

Arranges

Distant Worlds
Falcom J.D.K. Band Spring 2008
Metal Gear 20th Anniversary
No More Heroes Dark Side
Passion
Symphonic Shades
Technictix Remixes
The Black Mages III
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria

Works

iFUTURELIST
In My Own Backyard

drammatica

I'll try to pick one album for each year..

2009 (so far) - Biohazard 5 Original Soundtrack

2008 - No More Heroes Original Sound Tracks

2007 - ARMODYNE

2006 - Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack Limited Edition

2005 - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 Original Soundtrack

2004 - COMPLETE TRINITY SONIC HEROES - ORIGINAL SOUNDTRAX
2004 - GRADIUS V SOUNDTRACKS
2004 - Gran Turismo 4 Original Game Soundtrack
2004 - Hako no Niwa
2004 - Katamari Damacy Soundtrack Katamari Fortissimo Damacy
2004 - SHADOW HEARTS II Original Soundtracks
2004 - SILENT HILL 4 -THE ROOM- ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS
2004 - STELLA DEUS Original Soundtrack
2004 - THE BLACK MAGES II The Skies Above

So I've learned one thing from this thread.  2004 was a really good year for VGM!  Like, holy shit.

-Mike

My favorites of the last 5 years:

Burn My Dread -Reincarnation- Persona 3
Persona 4 Original Soundtrack
NiGHTS -Journey of Dreams- OST
Akumajo Dracula - Yami no Juin (Curse of Darkness) OST
Rockman 9 OST
Hudson Premium Audio Collection
Sega Mega Drive Super Medley
Estpolis Biography -Game Sound Legend Series-
Psyvaria 2 Original Soundtrack Plus
Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 OST
Sonic Rush OST
Sonic Rush Adventure OST
Wild Arms Alter Code: F OST
Ollie king OST
KiRite

Surprisingly no big names like Falcom, Uematsu, or Motoi Sakuraba in my list.  Mitsuda barely made it with KiRite.  Soma Bringer was good, but not one of my "favorites."  Ys Origin almost made the cut, but really, I don't listen to it that often.  I think I've leaned more towards upbeat genres like rock and techno in the last 5 years.  3-disc symphonic albums don't really do it for me anymore, unless they're really good.

- Justin Pfeiffer

Well people obviously love Silent Hill 4 and No More Heroes....

Anyone else? Anyone wanna add some?

the Samurai Shodown 5 Arrange and Tenkaichi 3-disc set is definitely worth checking out.

I'm surprised that I'm the first to say Mushihimesama but I'll gladly take the initiative to do so. It was my first Namiki soundtrack and it's still my favorite. Mad props to Nemo for the hook-up!

No mention of Raiden IV, Justin? I remember the rave review you gave it awhile back. I haven't heard it yet myself but I wonder if you've changed your mind about it.

Another one i forgot, but only if you can find it for like $10, would be the Perfect Dark Zero ost.

A lot of filler tracks on this disc, but there's a few like 'DataDyne Demolition Escape' and 'LimeLight' by Kepi and Kat, that are some of the best dance and house music songs that i've ever heard.

I got a copy for pretty cheap at Tower Records a few years ago when they were having their Going Out of Business sale, and it was definitely worth it for those songs.

eternal sonata/trusty bell. i feel this is truly unappreciated, both the game and the soundtrack. not even a huge fan of sakuraba, but i thught trusty bell was exceptional.
persona 4. so hip, so cool.
echochrome. really nice baroque strings and things.
final fantasy 12. honestly, my favorite final fantasy soundtrack. although not quite up there with vagrant story's score, this is one of sakimoto's bests.

How the hell did I miss Ninja Blade. Wow, my level of suck has been elevated to previously unfathomable heights. My review of the album is here, but the bottom line is (to quote myself): "Dude, it’s Ninja Blade. And it’s awesome."