Music to Game to: The Bug vs Earth - Concrete Desert

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.

The Bug vs Earth – Concrete Desert

I’ve featured Earth before, with my very first Music to Game to highlighting the two album epic Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light. On Concrete Desert, Earth’s Dylan Carlson collaborates with The Bug, dub/electronic producer Kevin Martin, for an album inspired by Los Angeles in particular and America more broadly. The result is a vast album, where the empty spaces of the American west meet a dystopic futuristic sound. A ghostly menace fills the tracks, which bear names like “Don’t Walk These Streets, givng them a bit of neo-noir flavor, making this album a great soundtrack for a modern, sci-fi, or post-apocalyptic game.

• Vocals?...Yes, but only on the bonus tracks
• Music Genre(s)… Doom, Electronic, Dub
• Perfect for… Modern or post-apocalyptic games set in vast, empty spaces or crumbling cities.
• If you only grab one track, make it... the epically haunting “American Dream” which features an eerie guitar melody that seems to wander a wasteland of drifting sand and broken promises.

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: The Comet Is Coming - Channel the Spirits

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.

THE COMET IS COMING – CHANNEL THE SPIRITS

With the band name, member pseudoynms (King Shabaka, Danalogue the Conquerer and Betamax Killer), and song titles (“Journey through the Asteroid Belt”, “Slam Dunk Through a Black Hole”) you can easily deduce that this is an album well suited for Sci-Fi games. With a skillful blend of Sun Ra inspired jazz, space funk and psychedelic rock, Channel the Spirits is a fantastic fit for any psychedelic science fiction RPG or a superheroes game with a more Cosmic Kirby feel.

• Vocals?...Yes, largely on one song, “Lightyears”
• Music Genre(s)…Jazz, psychedelic rock, electronic
• Perfect for…Psychedelic science-fiction games.
• If you only grab one track, make it... The propulsive and groovy “Star Furnace”.

Music to Game To: Xordox - Neospection

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.

XORDOX - NEOSPECTION

I'm a JG Thirlwell junky...I’ve got a Manorexia tote-bag, I’ve even got Foetus on My Wall. He might be best known for his long-running Foetus project, or his work on the soundtrack on the Venture Bros (which is why I knew about that series before it ever aired back in 2003) but his Steroid Maximus, Manorexia and now, Xordox, projects work better for RPG soundtracks. All three projects share the cinematic feel of his soundtrack work, but the focused musical palette of Xordox, with only synthesizers and Sarah Lipstate (aka Noveller) processed guitars, lend it a cohesiveness that makes it less jarring for playing in the background then say, Manorexia’s The Radiolarian Ooze (which featured a warning that the skipping sound on the disc was intentional). Thirlwell describes Neospection as "Neon Noir" and that encapsulates it wonderfully, with the bright neon flare of 80’s sci-fi and the grittier paranoia of noir creeping in. It evokes those 80s soundtracks of John Carpenter and Vangelis, but without simply being tribute or pastiche. More than many other releases there’s an undercurrent of wonder as well, that keeps the album from descending into full darkness. There is really no way to do the album full justice, but it is far and away one of my favorite releases from 2017. Were I to run a Stranger Things/Papergirls inspired 80s sci-fi/time travel game, this one be a backbone of the soundtrack, along with S U R V I V E and John Carpenter’s Lost Themes.

• Vocals?...Minimal and processed vocals on one song, “Destination”
• Music Genre(s):...Experimental, Electronic
• Perfect for...Any game with a bit of science fiction edge to it or where a bit of 80s throwback synth feel would be appropriate.
• If you only grab one track, make it...“Pink Eye” which alternates between a low and pulsing melody and blasts of synth noise.