The American developed sequel will feature music by an up and coming American composer.
On his personal blog, Jake Kaufman (better known as "virt" in some circles), has revealed that rumors concerning his involvement in Contra 4 are true. Kaufman's most notable work includes the music for Scurge: Hive (DS), Juka and the Monophonic Menace (GBA), Shantae (GBC) and The Legend of Kay (PS2). Each of these games has received significant acclaim specifically for their music. Kaufman sometimes handles sound effects for games as well (which seems to be the case for Contra 4).
In addition to his work on commercial games, Kaufman has spent a great deal of time writing and giving away original music just for kicks. This includes a collection of original songs that intentionally use NES style 8-bit "instruments" and are specifically inspired by Konami's NES era music (which is "way above" just about everything else on the NES according to Kaufman). Excepting the original composers, you might say that Kaufman is uniquely in touch with the spirit of classic Contra music. This makes sense for a sequel that intends to take Contra back to its roots and bears the first numerical designation since 1992 (with the blessing of Contra III director Nobuya Nakazato).
Jake Kaufman is also known as the founder of the VGMix community, which gives composers a place to swap re-imagined versions of classic video game music.
