Video Game Inspired Music of the Day

October 01, 2009

Video Game Inspired Music of the Day

So I have a couple of fun sort of video game related music things to talk about today.

So first off, a friend of mine sent me a link to this YouTube video made by a band called AttackAttack. For the first 30 sesconds I was pretty sure I was watching a typical death metal band, but as the music progressed in stranger ways by the minute I was confused. So I was informed by a friend of mine who owned a recording studio in Austin for awhile that this kind of music is called "Screamo" and one of its characteristics is the way it bounces between singing, yelling and musical styles. I asked in particular about the absurd style change at around 2:45 in the track where the whole thing all of a sudden sounds like a dance club track. His answer was interesting. He said "well most of these kids grew up not being exposed to one or two musical genre's like you and I did as kids... they've been exposed to everything. Video games are also a huge influence that's why you hear bizarre breaks in that track that are reminiscent of old school video games." I'm not 100% sure I buy this theory, however the music is pretty entertaining. Check out the video.

Here are the top 6 absurd things to look for:

1. I'll state the obvious first. The hilarious crouching stance, officially known as the "Crabwalk". The bass player does this especially well.

2. The synchronized head banging that isn't always on beat... love it!

3. The over done auto-tune effect on the singing vocals...

4. Note the ridiculous guitar move at 00:57

5. Absurd style change number one at 1:44, apparently the keyboardist decided the song needed some ballad piano at this point.

6. Doubly good absurd style change at 2:45. Now the keyboardist feels like clubbin! WTF? This was the section my friend said was probably inspired by video games.

Heh... I kid, but I must admit this is interesting stuff and new sounding. I probably wouldn't buy the album though.

The second video game related music snippet I have today is that Christopher Tin's new album "Calling All Dawns" was released today. If you played Civilization 4 you will recognize his work. His song "Baba Yetu" was the theme song. The music is very ethnic and choral heavy and extremely well produced. His work is not for everyone though, if you aren't a fan of choral type vocals this may grate on you quickly.

However, I highly suggest jumping over to his site and checking it out. You can also purchase the album there as well.

http://www.christophertin.com/callingalldawns.html