Archive for the 'Soundtrack' Category

I get asked often (as all of you do I’m sure) what my favorite bands are; or what style of music I like the best. This is always a tough question as are most questions regarding music. I was once asked, however, what I thought the best song of the 90s was and I answered in a split second: Primitive Radio Gods’ “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand.”

I first heard this track on MTV. By then MTV was already making its segway from being a music station, but they played the video for this song as an exclusive, so I saw it before it even hit the radio – it was an odd promotional thing. I thought it was a hell of a catchy tune at the time and went out to pickup the album, which really I could never get into and I don’t imagien others could either. The thing is, I once listened to this song for three days straight and never got tired of it. There is something reflective about the simplicity of it, the constant looped beat, the subtle bass and keys, just all around it works. The tone of the lyrics make the song amazing and the lyrics make so little sense they’re almost a kind of koan. Eventually at every hard point in my life I have cranked this song up because it destroys bad thoughts with me – I can’t obsess when it’s on in a bad way. All the same, I can always listen to it without it trudging up bad memories. It’s like the antithesis of “Something I Can Never Have” by Nine Inch Nails. You’ve probably heard this one, but I’m putting it up anyway. You should listen to it again. I’m wishy washy with music, I change favorites here and there, but if I had to choose only one song that if I heard music on any player would be the only one it would be this one. I suppose that possibly makes it my favorite song of all time.

If you wonder – the sample is B.B. King, from the song “How Blue Can You Get.” Also a great.

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Lyrics:

Jan lays down and wrestles in her sleep
Moonlight spills on comic books
And superstars in magazines
An old friend calls and tells us where to meet
Her plane takes off from Baltimore
And touches down on Bourbon Street

We sit outside and argue all night long
About a god we’ve never seen
But never fails to side with me
Sunday comes and all the papers say
Ma Theresa’s joined the mob
And happy with her full time job

Am I alive or thoughts that drift away?
Does summer come for everyone?
Can humans do what prophets say?
And if I die before I learn to speak
Can money pay for all the days I lived awake
But half asleep?

A life is time, they teach you growing up
The seconds ticking killed us all
A million years before the fall
You ride the waves but don’t ask where they go
You swim like lions through the crest
And bathe yourself in zebra flesh

I’ve been downhearted baby
Ever since the day we met

On a side note – if you want a way to get single songs easily, check out Songbird – it’s kind of an open source itunes with one major feature – it’s search will hit and allow you to download search results from music blogs and the like. It’s a great way to collect one-hit-wonders.

Generally, when I’m going somewhere to play, like an open mic or when I occasionally open up for a band, I sit down in front of a the mic and say “Hi, I’m Ghost and I don’t write songs.” It’s actually something I started doing in parody to Johnny Cash’s habit of introducing himself. I then play a lot of songs people haven’t heard in a while or like to sing along to and whatnot and everyone has a good time. Thing is, it’s kind of a lie. I do write songs, just not often and, when I do, they rarely have lyrics. Well, a few years back before my wife and I split up I wrote a song called Somewhere Beneath – it’s an electronic piano piece. I love this song, it’s a melancholy minor bit that shifts into a major on the breakdowns, so it gets a feeling of things not being bad, but turning out alright to me. When I wrote this, I think somewhere I knew that she and I would break up, but I actually don’t consider that in any way an influence on the song. There is a lot of me in this song and that’s probably why I like it so much. It might be cheesy, but listening to this song might actually tell you a lot about some of my outlooks if you enjoy music theory, but aren’t too caught up in the technicality of it.

If you like this song, please steal it – download it, distribute it, and encourage friends to do so. I fully support artists in music, but I think music is a right, something to be shared with anyone.

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An obvious choice for any high-action game, the Juno Reactor has also become the techno-industrial identifier for the Matrix Trilogy. With tracks such as Children of the Night or Masters of the Universe, no gaming soundtrack should be without a little J.R., particularly for those over-the-top combat scenes. Less than popularly known also is the remix Juno Reactor provided of the Gravity Kills song Guilty on the single of the same name. This track is nine minutes of adrenaline from start to finish and is excellent for an Anime-style fight scene in game. Much more of Juno Reactor may be useful in any intensity based scene. With tracks that range from the classic thumping club-style to the near ambient, Juno Reactor provides an excellent addition to any gaming music repertoire.

Pick up some Juno Reactor here.

The music of Dead Can Dance is an excellent addition to any game that goes fantasy/outland and needs a real primal edge. This new age style band speaks often in music of a time long forgotten, of firelit pagan rituals and celebrations and dark cults. Chant of the Paladin is an excellent source of soundtrack for any scene that needs a primal edge with a dark undertone and Host of the Seraphim greatly benefits the same type of dramatic scene. Much of their music would also lend itself to any campaign with an oriental or arabian edge. Visions of a trek across Nepal or such regions come to mind with the track Towards the Within from the album Into the Labyrinth. Check out Into the Labyrinth and the Serpent’s Egg
here.