Likening Games to Music (Videos)

March 11th, 2009

They may appear foreign on the surface, but the inherent qualities of music and video games are arguably quite similar. To prove this, I thought it’d be fun then for me to take – what I consider to be – a couple of meaningful music tracks and directly contrast them against their approximate video game counterparts. Pretty self explanatory huh?

Slight Disclaimer: Some of these songs feature comfronting material, themes and a little bit of language.

Angel – Massive Attack

Massive Attack are a widely acclaimed trip-hop/abstract, musical pact that produce provocative music which is highly sensory, intimate and personal. Each track they write seemingly relates to some abstract form of emotion or issue with deep emotional issues – birth, a mother’s anxiety over losing her children, cloning, love between anyone etc. I selected Angel and Inertia Creeps for this experiment, so starting with Angel (the easiest of the two) let’s try and relate the experiences created by the music with similar experiences in video games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygw2zmEVsvc

Angel is a slow burn of energy, a build up, a rush and then a hasty warm down. The name of the song, soullessness of the lyrics, pictures in the video clip and insensate singing all converge at this one idea of some mysterious being in pursuit, some sort of angel perhaps.

The momentum of the song paces itself like many euphoric experiences – think of a few, go on. In terms of games, the flow is very akin to a standard boss battle. You begin in search for a way to damage the boss, you then discover how and continue to exploit that approach. The intensity of the battle increases as your life diminishes and the boss becomes more aggressive. Finally you initiate the final blow and the boss is defeated, you can relax.

The angel part itself is thematic rather than structural. The video clip depicts a man being followed and eventually chased by a mass of people. The same theme of hurried pursuit echoed by the strained in the music is present in games like Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and the Clock Tower series, both which centralize around escaping from the pursuit a dangerous foreign being.

Inertia Creeps – Massive Attack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZB4B5Wdcis

The second Massive Attack song is furthermore unsettling and even more difficult to interpret. You may wish to read the lyrics which can be found here. My interpretation is that this song is related to some twisted murder or rape with interjections of psycho sexual undertones as sung out by the lead. He is in fact the perpetrator of these terrible acts, and the song is a frustrated description of what took place with intimate details clued along.

The closest game experience that I can relate this to is Silent Hill 2, which I haven’t played but have heard much about. The game’s narrative seems equally subjective, with similar psycho sexual themes regarding the protagonist and his obsession to find his supposively deceased wife. The nurses are a good metaphor for this, but I don’t know enough about the game to say much more. It’s on the shelf though. >_<

My Name Is – Eminem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmdRauWVbwg
God I love this song, it’s mastery of annoying and smart arsery – hate the soft radio edit though. The lyricalism obviously carries a lot of weight, but so too does the simple background loop and occasional added sound effects. Like a lot of Eminem‘s work, as much as you may loathe him, he does make a strong point. Trying to interpret whether his words are somewhat justified is another matter of untangling his own hypocrisy and mangled identity. It’s brilliantly destructive in that sense.

Eminem‘s self referential announcement to the world is similar to cult hits, ill of convention such as Wario Ware, Bishi Bashi Special among many others. The back cover of Wario Ware Inc. Mega Party Game$! on the Gamecube has Wario speech-bubbled stating “Hey! Buy my game!” followed by a paragraph of Wario self wankery. Its the same unabashed love for oneself that the song emits. The game itself is full of this too.

Segagaga is another title of the same vein, while Wario Ware is similar in pieces to Eminem‘s introduction to the music world, Segagaga is self referential through and through. Released only in Japan, late in the Dreamast’s life cycle, Segagaga sees you, a young boy saving the ailing Sega corporation from financial ruin.

Paralyzer – Finger Eleven

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYGCT4AQIR0

The Canadian hard rock five-some bang out some pretty rocking tunes. Paralyzer is probably my favourite track from the band. The clip is typically high production, a staple of Wind Up Records with a style that matches the sense of lyrics. I love the wicked dance posse too.

Like many radio rock songs of this nature, there isn’t particularly much that distinguishes this song from similar productions. At the same time the song is fresh, modern and catchy. It reminds me a lot of action games that steal heavily on existing mechanics but hide their unrestrained borrowing with polish or a decidedly new premise. New games built on familiar foundation. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, The Club or Dead Space.

Jack Johnson – Go On

jack-johnson-sleep-through-the-static

You can go ahead and listen to the whole album if you like. ‘Go on’ is the track of interest, but the following playlist is also okay.

All At Once
Sleep Though the Static
If I Had Eyes
Go On
Monsoon
Losing Keys

Jack Johnson‘s music is beautifully melodic, almost soothingly so, with clever, sometimes completely non-caring lyrics.

The pacifist intent behind these songs almost clashes with gameplay itself. Born and still evolving from the arcades, conflict is more often than not the catalyst for gameplay in videogames. Very few games rely on anything but conflict to constitute themselves. I guess this example is a bit of an anomaly then? Not so. Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing are grounded on similar terms. Both Jack Johnson‘s music and the worlds created by these two game are filled only with the trivial conflicts of day to day life. Both media teach you the trade of the simple life. They are born detached from serious drama or threat.

DP’s Favourite Video Game Music

June 4th, 2008

cranky kong music

So you’ve read my reasons why I enjoy listening to video game music and still aren’t convinced that video game music is awesome? Looks like I’m going to have to post up some music samples of particular video game music which I enjoy. I know that this is cliché among us gaming bloggers but I thought that I’d jump on the bandwagon and give it a go. As usual I’d love to hear your thoughts on this and other great game music below.

The Moon – Ducktales (NES and Gameboy)

I don’t think that any song represents the 8bit era quite like this one. I can’t quite put my finger on it but somehow this music captures nostalgia down to a tee, even to people who never played either of the DuckTales games. Capcom owned the rights to Disney games in the 8 and early 16bit eras which paved the way for a solid (infact very good) line up of licensed material sporting the comical cast of Disney characters.

The Best is Yet to Come – Metal Gear Solid

There are only a few songs that I can honestly say tug at my heart strings (some of them I have listed here) and The Best is Yet to Come is one of those songs. Sung completely in Irish the song evokes a strong sense of loss and sorrow which is extremely overpowering and representative of the original Metal Gear Solid. The fact that I cannot understand the lyrics adds further reason as to why this song is a natural beauty. This song reminds me a little of Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy (listen here).

Main Theme – Metal Gear Solid 2

With my anticipation for Metal Gear Solid 4 at fever pitch, this song helps ease my waiting pains. When comparing this to the original MGS Main Theme this is almost laughably better (but the original has its own, PSone campy qualities). MGS2’s Main Theme is again highly representative of this game due to the traces of digital sounds and instrumental arrangement. The sample that I have selected represents a certain pride that I have for the game and captures the heart and soul of this deep series.

The Legend of the Hero – The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

I vividly remember this song at the start of The Wind Waker and if you love this game dearly as well then I think you’ll feel the same way. This track made you feel as though Wind Waker was going to be the game which would sequalize Orcarina of Time in terms of coherent story (that is the described story on the scrolls would actually be the story of the Wind Waker). Unfortunately The Wind Waker actually created a gapping hole in the series timeline but in anycase this music reaches into the core of the Zelda experience. The music itself provides background to the main themes surrounding the Zelda franchise; courageous, youthful adventuring on an encompassing scale all which The Wind Waker made good use of.

Title Black – Final Fantasy Tactics

Honestly I could choose any one of the 71 tracks on this soundtrack and it would still be worth listening to. Title Black is the perfect song to symbolize one of gaming’s most widely acclaimed soundtracks. Stop listening and just buy this soundtrack because it is 100% worth your cash especially to those who played and enjoyed the original.

Bramble Song – Donkey Kong Country 2

I can’t find an actual rip of this song so I am just going to post up an accurate enough version taken from VG Music. Donkey Kong Country 2 was unfortunately my least favourite game in the series and despite my deep affection for this series I only played the DKC2 this year (I had finished DKC and DKC3 back in the day, never had DKC2 though). Upon hearing this music my jaw hit the floor. This music is just so compelling and deep for a song of the SNES era. There is also a track from DKC3 that I like which is the remix of the main theme in the mountain levels. I’ll post it up if I can find it again.

Why People Listen to Video Game Music

May 18th, 2008

video game music

From my experience there appears to be this perception (even among gamers) that listening to video game music is strange and perhaps even backwards. Its one of those stereotypes that I haven’t touched on yet. I used to have this perception a few years ago when the only video game music available to me were remixes and MIDIs from sites like VG Music. Although if you do remember back to the days of MIDIs then you can understand why I am partly justified, they simply sounded awful.

But since video game soundtracks have slowly become more widely available and the overall sound quality of rips and remixes has improved my interest has increased over the years. To the point that I have a small little collection of video game OSTs (original soundtrack) on my shelf. So I wanted to share with you some reasons as to why I listen to video game music because if you’re a gamer that isn’t remotely interested in video game music then, simply put, you’re missing out. So I want to offer a few short reasons as to why I love game music.

The Nostalgic Factor

I personally love anything that is nostalgic and music is one of the strongest mediums for nostalgia, perhaps because its much more easier to become immersed in sound. Not all old game music is nostalgic simply because its old. It all depends on the player and their past experiences. For example, I would find the music from Totally Rad or Ducktales much more nostalgic than say Rygar; an old game in which I have never played.

Great Ambient Music

What I have noticed when listening to some video game music is that it makes for great ambient music. Most game music isn’t made with the intention of constantly grabbing your attention, its made to create the mood and atmosphere within the game environment. Which is why game music is great to set the mood.

Game music more often than not lacks any vocals which is great as general background music. For example, sometimes I want to write a blog article but not be distracted by lyrics so I just play some appropriate game music.

Genuinely Good Music

Sometimes video game music tracks are just downright excellent and deserve a place on your normal playlist. Licensed music tracks are a good example of this. Surprisingly quite often I’ll be playing a game which features a selection of awesome songs which I want to play outside of the game. So I jump onto iTunes and snap them up. Other times I just throughly enjoy the music.

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Tags: video game music