Music to Game to: Andrew Liles - The Dying Submariner: Complete Download Version

I listen to a lot of music (over 41 days worth in 2018 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

Andrew Liles – The Dying Submariner: Complete Download Version

The original edition of The Dying Submariner was subtitled: A Concerto For Piano And Reverberation In Four Movements is extremely minimal in instrumentation but extremely effective at portraying a sinking, claustrophobic atmosphere of being lost at, or worse, below the sea.
Ghostly piano playing echoes through the tracks, recasting the familiar instrument as an eerie explorer diving deeper and deeper into pitch black water. Nearing a length of 3 hours, the album provides plenty of soundtrack, bordering on soundscape, for doomed maritime adventures.
The Aqualungs versions, making up the last seven tracks, expand the instrumentation of the album but retain a maritime theme.

Vocals?...No
Music Genre(s)… Experimental, Ambient
Perfect for… Pitch black, haunted sessions of slowly building tension and dread.
If you only grab one track, make it... The minimal, yet menacing “The Dying Submariner – Part II”, which features rumbling piano lines that emerge from the depths of the track.

Music to Game to: Kristoffer Lo - The Black Meat

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

KRISTOFFER LO - THE BLACK MEAT

I played tuba from 5th grade all through highschool, which instilled in me a deep and abiding love for the instrument, so when I saw this Quietus article about a drone album composed solely on Tuba and Flugabone I got it without a second thought… And I have been well-rewarded for my trust, The Black Meat is an album that evokes oceanic depths, vast echoing caverns haunted by melancholic spirits and the calm at the center of a storm that could roar back at any moment. While not for every game, it is a wonderful backdrop for a game that needs a bit of slow and portentous soundtrack to give it depth.

• Vocals?...No
• Music Genre(s)… Electronic, Jazz, Ambient, Abstract
• Perfect for… Any game where you want to add an understated but haunting and lugubrious backdrop.
• If you only grab one track, make it... The eerily wistful “Front Rows Gallows View”.

Music to Game to: S U R V I V E - MNQ026

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

S U R V I V E - MNQ026

You might have heard of S U R V I V E because two of the band members are responsible for the theme and score of Stranger Things, a little known Netflix series, and I'm not going to lie, if you like the music on that show, you're going to love MNQ026 (or any of S U R V I V E's other releases, to be honest). It's that good, tense, propulsive, John Carpenter inflected throwback Synthwave perfect for any 80's influence or set game.

• Vocals?...No
• Music Genre(s)… Ambient, Electronic Experimental, Synthwave
• Perfect for… Sci-fi and horror games where you want have a 80's throwback synthesizer soundtrack.
• If you only grab one track, make it... The pulsating and propulsive "Hourglass"

Music to Game to: Abominations of Yondo - That Remote and Awful Twilight

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

ABOMINATIONS OF YONDO – THAT REMOTE AND AWFUL TWILIGHT

Originally recommended by Warren Ellis, this is an excellent free album of eerie ambience draws inspiration from the penultimate chapter of ‘The Time Machine’ by H.G. Wells. The minimal and atmospheric soundscapes provide a fantastic backdrop for your players’ fertile imaginations to feast upon as they remain tense and slightly sinister without relying on bombast. A terrific addition to the sonic arsenal of any game master, especially one running a Cthulhu mythos inspired game.

• Vocals?...No
• Music Genre(s)… Ambient, Electronic Experimental
• Perfect for… Sci-fi and horror games where you want to add an understated, unsettling and otherworldly tension.
• If you only grab one track, make it...All of them, you’ve got no excuse not to grab this excellent FREE album.

Music to Game to: John Carpenter - Lost Themes

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

JOHN CARPENTER – LOST THEMES

Again, skirting up against the edge of my “no soundtracks” rule (already broken once and certain to be broken again), I’d like recommend John Carpenter’s Lost Themes album, which as you might guess is not music from his movie soundtracks but rather original music in the style of his soundtracks. The result is thoroughly cinematic music well suited to providing suspense, propulsion and atmosphere to any game that you want to lend a Carpenter-ian flare to.

• Vocals?...Only on the bonus remix tracks on some digital versions or as the Lost Themes Remixed album.
• Music Genre(s)… Ambient, Synthwave
• Perfect for… Sci-fi, horror and adventure games with a 80’s throwback feel.
• If you only grab one track, make it... the eerily melancholy, yet still propulsive “Night”. If you get the remix album or the bonus digital tracks, I also heartily recommend the JG Thirlwell Remix of “Abyss” which sounds a lot like Jim’s excellent Xordox tracks.

Music to Game to: SUNN O))) - Black One

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

SUNN O))) – BLACK ONE

The purveyors of sonic doom took a decidedly bleak direction with Black One, resulting in an album that drips with hopelessness, claustrophobia and terror—this, of course, makes it a fantastic album to have as the soundtrack for any number of horror RPGs. The droning riffs of base and guitar give the songs a sense of implacability… these are not tracks to play when the party faces down a ferocious dragon but rather for when they have to stay one step ahead of an immensely ancient and potent vampire who will surely slay them unless they can remain just outside his grasp until the coming of dawn. This can be unsettling and anxiety inducing music, perfect for putting your players on edge as their characters cope with terrifyingly patient adversaries.

• Vocals?...Yes, heavily distorted
• Music Genre(s)… Black Metal, Doom Metal, Drone, Experimental, Dark Ambient
• Perfect for…Dark horror games where the PCs are relentlessly pursued by implacable horrors given the shape of humans across wind blasted stony stretches or deep below the earth in forgotten caverns.
• If you only grab one track, make it... the epic subterranean “Báthory Erzsébet”. The vocals for the track were recorded inside of a casket, which sounds like a gimmick but lends the vocals a desperate, desiccated sound that underline the ominous and claustrophobic dread of the song.

Music to Game to: Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Black Earth

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE – BLACK EARTH

I wish I still remembered how I discovered Bohren & Der Club of Gore, and through them, the sub-genre of Doom Jazz, but alas that has faded into the mists of my memories. What hasn’t faded is my love for this music-- Black Earth is a perfect example of Doom Jazz in my mind. Slow, even plodding, mellow, melancholic and haunted with a pervasive sense of gloom. It fades effortlessly into the background, letting you forget it and then sending swirling tendrils out to keep you just ever slightly on edge, its dissonances and sinister undertones always lurking below the surface to keep you uneasy without clamoring for your attention. Which is not to say there aren’t beautiful moments too, but they are every bit as haunting and reinforce the ghostly atmosphere instead of undercutting it.

• Vocals?...No
• Music Genre(s)…Doom Jazz, Ambient
• Perfect for…Any game where you want a haunted, noir-inflected backdrop. Horror games where you want to subtly reinforce the tension and uncanny feelings instead of relying on shrieking violins ala Psycho.
• If you only grab one track, make it…”Skeletal Remains”, which morphes slowly from a slow and sad piano, saxophone duet into something decidedly sinister with the addition of haunting and echoey synths and a switch from smooth saxophone style to one that conveys a barely restrained frenzy at times.

Music to Game to: ASS

I listen to a lot of music (over 40 days worth in 2017 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

ARBEIT SCHICKERT SCHNEIDER – ASS

This album might have a cheeky name, but it's got a serious lineage; Günter Schickert was among the first wave of Krautrock musicians, Jochen Arbeit was in Die Haut and now holds the guitar in Einstürzende Neubauten and Dirk Dresselhaus has been making music as Schneider TM since 1997. Without any vocals, these three let their guitars speak for themselves, beautiful distortions and half-imagined riffs rising and falling through the first half of the album (37° to 41°). The second half brings in more organic instrumentation, including an amazing conch melody (yes, a conch) on “Acetyl”. The album might be a little more suited to background for a science-fiction game like Numenera, but I think it would work for mood-setting in a strange fantasy environment like the underdark or the planar environments of the Planescape setting.

• Vocals? None.
• Music Genre(s)...Krautrock, ambient
• Perfect for...Bringing a sense of uneasy wonder.
• If you only grab one track, make it ...“Acetyl”, where the interplay of balafon, trumpet and conch transport the listener to an uncanny and half-dreamt place.